Chapter 20 - I'm Changing Schools… RIP Childhood Friend Romance Subplot
Every minute felt like an hour. After three hours of rest, Carn was tired of sitting around and being watched by countless CCTV cameras mounted on the ceiling.
To top it off, his former subordinate's gaze fixated on him, sending goosebumps down his spine. For some reason, Carn felt violated.
Trying to change the mood, Carn got up and paced around the lecture hall. During his wander, he spotted a portable toilet stall in a corner. Seizing the chance to escape prying eyes, Carn opened the door and stepped inside.
The stall was cleaner than he expected, though it had a dusty-like construction-site smell. He closed the lid, sat down, and sighed, glancing up to change his view.
When Carn looked up, he noticed a gap between the door and the ceiling. Through that gap, a pair of watchful eyes stared at him. Rosa was balancing on a desk, peering in.
"HEY!" Carn yelled, kicking the door in frustration.
When he stepped out, she was already back at the podium, pretending that nothing had happened. He snorted and returned to the stall, but as soon as he closed the door, there she was again, peeking through the gap.
Carn sighed deeply. "Is this fun for you?"
Rosa smirked. "Very. Standing here all day in an empty hall is boring. It's different from the dungeon. At least, I had a few mice or bats as pets to watch. But here, they don't let a single fly enter. I'm so bored."
"Can't you leave me alone and let me take a leak? I ain't a monkey in a zoo."
Respecting his wish, Rosa finally relented and returned to her spot.
Carn sighed in relief, but his hope for privacy was destroyed as he noticed the twelve red camera lenses and a glaring light bulb all pointed directly at him. Realizing privacy was nonexistent here, Carn gave up on resting in the stall and stepped out.
As he started tidying the area to pass the time, Rosa called out to him.
"Lord Pebble, may I ask you something?"
"Yeah?" Carn replied verbally, conserving his precious Aether.
"I sense a trace of Holy Power in you. Have you finally converted and accepted the 'LORD'?"
As a former priestess, she was knowledgeable about Holy Power, and seeing a hint of it in Carn thrilled her.
Carn pressed his lips together, wary of the implications of answering. With a quick gesture and a sharp look, he signaled her to drop the topic, not wanting to waste Aether on telepathy.
Rosa pouted, recognizing his silent refusal but respected his unspoken boundaries. Still, she couldn't help feeling overjoyed that Carn had begun to accumulate holy power.
…
A day later, the elevator descended, bringing a team of five men in hazmat suits. They marched into the lecture hall and approached Rosa and Carn, showing no sign of fear.
Rosa glared at the men but looked away afterward, dismissing them as useless since they lacked both Aether and Holy Power.
The lead soldier faced Carn and spoke through a small mic, "Examinee Carn, you've passed the tests. Follow us."
Carn got to his feet and turned to Rosa to bid her farewell. The inquisitor, however, gave no response.
Seeing her lack of acknowledgment, Carn smiled wryly and sighed.
'This is for the best. She can safely gather Aether without lifting a finger, and no one from that world will find her here. And I can finally be myself and move independently.'
He followed the men into the elevator, and the doors closed behind him.
Unseen by him, Rosa's mouth curved up into a sly grin.
…
The team brought Carn back, navigating through a maze of corridors toward the surface. They passed three giant shutter doors, marked G-3, G-2, and G-1 in order. After crossing the last metal gate, Carn got to see the sunlight again.
He looked up, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the bright light, squinting as it hit him. It felt almost like his first day when he emerged from the demon's tomb after years in darkness.
A military jeep awaited him, and in the back seats sat his parents, waving at Carn.
"Over here, Carn!" Han called him over.
Carn was surprised. He turned around to the hazmat soldiers. They nodded and revealed the result, "You've passed all examinations and received a recommendation from ECD personnel. You're exempt from all juvenile explorer courses. Please select your division within seven days. You may stay at the military base's guest house during this time."
"Huh?"
Carn was at a loss for words as everything sounded new and strange to him. He thought to himself.
'How does their scoring system even work? I don't get it.'
The hazmat soldiers returned to the facility, finishing their escort duty and leaving Carn with his family. Carn climbed into the passenger seat and looked over at the driver, who grinned back at him.
It was Eric, one of the researchers Carn had met the other day, flashing a yellow-toothed smile.
"Welcome, boy."
Carn recognized him and glanced back at his parents with a questioning look.
Han smirked and said, "Well done, Carn. Thanks to you, we got promoted."
"What the hell is going on here?" Carn was still clueless about what was happening.
"Simply put, you passed the test and earned yourself a military career recommendation. Since we're a package, your parents got a promotion and a free house. Now, we can finally sell that god-forsaken house and live under the ECD. You just made the American dream come true for us."
"…"
Carn frowned, wondering if he'd been set up or if Han had used him for their own gains. Whatever the case, Carn didn't like the idea of joining the military.
Wong read Carn's expression and warned him in her Asian dialect and broken English, "Don't even think about it. Our family's yearly salary now go up to $250,000, and no need pay taxes for whole life! You mess this up, we send you to Jesus!"
"…"
Eric laughed along with the family and tried to cheer Carn up.
"Relax, kid. The bad news is, you'll be required to join one of the divisions. But the good news? Your starting pay is better than most corporate jobs out there, plus you'll get a lifetime tax exemption. You won't find an offer like this anywhere else, so just be a good sport and take it while you can."
Carn paused, trying to wrap his head around Earth's culture and capitalist mindset. He decided to dig a little deeper.
"How much are we talking about here?"
Eric glanced at Han in the rearview mirror, who returned the look, signaling his friend to keep pushing. Clearing his throat, Eric shared the details.
"The ECD has the best pay. Even trainees make $85,000 a year. An average licensed explorer gets about…120K-ish, I think? The other benefits are about the same, though. Oh, if you sign the contract right away, you get a signing bonus equal to the starting annual pay, if I remember correctly. The contract period is usually five years, but that depends on the examination results."
Carn did some mental math.
'That's around $7,000 to $10,000 a month. Not bad, but…eh.'
For a teenager, it was a decent sum. But as a gargoyle who had once sat on mountains of gold coins and priceless artifacts, the amount didn't thrill him.
He had no girlfriend, mortgages, or loans. He wasn't into luxury watches or sports cars. And he wasn't greedy enough to put his mind on investing and financial plans.
Money just wasn't a priority.
Noticing Carn's lack of interest, Han leaned in. "If you join the ECD, you'll have access to the rifts."
"DEAL!"
Without a second thought, Carn agreed. He cared far more about exploring his former world than anything Earth's materialism had to offer.
"GREAT!"
Han, Wong, and Eric cheered, exchanging thumbs-ups with grins all around.
Carn observed them and smiled wryly. Then, a thought struck him.
"So, what about school? Do I still have to go, or can I skip it and join the ECD right away?"
At the mention of school, everyone froze. Their eyes shifted nervously, and Han began to sweat.
"Ah, right... the age requirement," Han muttered, rubbing his forehead.
"What do you mean?" Carn was puzzled.
Han sighed and admitted, "No matter how good you are, the military requires recruits to be at least 18. So…"
Wong added, "You still need to go to school, lah."
Carn thought of the high school that he was attending and frowned. Something didn't add up.
Usually, children of military personnel attended a public school, situated in a special district or within a military resident district. He wondered if he still had to go back to the old place.
"Do I have to transfer to the military base's local school or…?"
Eric chuckled. "Yes, you'll transfer schools, but you'll attend a public school in a military resident base. It's basically a regular school, just inside a military installation."
Chapter 21 - I'm Proud of My Comedian Family
Local Hospital, VIP Suite
A teenager relaxed on a patient bed, wearing a bathrobe. His father, donning a polo shirt and jeans, chilled on a sofa, man-spreading and puffing a vape even though the hospital banned smoking.
The teenager was Jack, who attended the same high school as Carn. His father was also a licensed explorer who worked exclusively for a private mercenary company.
While waiting, an elderly white-haired man in a doctor's gown entered, followed by five top physicians of the hospital. When they spotted that the father had been smoking vape, their expressions changed, but nobody voiced complaints.
The hospital director stared at the explorer and his son. He smacked his lips.
"Smoking in a hospital is illegal, Mr. Hornet. I'll add the smoking fine to the hospital bill after this."
The explorer, Darius Hornet, sneered at the hospital director. He pulled a platinum credit card from his wallet and waved it.
"I can pay. Also, I'm vaping, not smoking. They're not the same."
The director sighed and got to the point, trying to chase this annoying family from the hospital as soon as possible.
"The results are out. Congratulations. Your son's mana concentration is 1.5%. It's 50% lower than average explorers at the moment, but this is enough to take the ECD examinations. Would you like me to file the report to the government for you?"
Elated by the result, Darius smirked and looked at his proud son. He bragged, "He's already a star quarterback in his school. Once he's passed the ECD tests, he will surely rise to the top. Those greedy agents from the ECD will be bidding to recruit him!"
Darius laughed and shifted his attention to the doctors in the room, "You people better treat my son with respect from now on!"
The team of doctors rolled their eyes. The director sighed and informed the family, "The examination is over. Please check out before noon and pay the smoking fine properly."
Darius scoffed and flickered the credit card, which hit the elder's forehead. The edge of the card left a small cut wound on his forehead.
"Heh, doesn't matter. Get it done for me."
"…"
The director calmly wiped the dripping blood from his forehead and picked up the credit card. He scoffed in disgust and turned around, leading his people out of the suite and closing the door behind him.
After the doctors had left, Jack got up in excitement. He asked his father, "So, when are we going to the ECD and take their tests?"
Darius proudly smiled, "Probably tomorrow or a day after that. The Secret Service moves fast. They will come to our house early in the morning."
Jack continued to ask, "So, what's the comparison between your company and the ECD? I heard you quit ECD because of the low pay?"
Darius reminisced about the past and laughed. He bragged to his son, "Private mercenary companies pay more than those lousy government jobs. We lose the tax exemption, but we can earn millions from one exploration! Do you know how much my company earned from the last expedition? My cut was 20 MIL AFTER TAXES! How do you think I bought you a Lamborghini and a mana potion to spike the concentration in your blood?"
Jack smiled, proud of his father, but he was more interested in another perk. He thought about Carn's childhood sweetheart, who had been catching his eye recently. He wanted to humiliate her in front of Carn.
"About the slavery rights, father. Is it true that private explorers can possess slaves?! Can we enslave people too?"
Darius grinned as he could guess his son's evil thoughts and intentions. He revealed a secret that no government agent wished to disclose.
"Yes and no. Obviously, it's impossible in our country or anywhere in Europe. But if we're talking about a third-world country somewhere, yes, we can!"
Jack laughed, "What about the enslavement restrictions? Can I enslave anybody I want?"
"As long as you have enough hush money to pay their relatives and the permanent immigration fees if you want someone from our country…"
Darius and Jack exchanged looks with each other. Figuring out their true intentions, they burst into laughter.
.
.
After completing the examination in the maze-like facility, Eric led the family to an office, where Han, Wong, and Carn sat, filling out a daunting 20-page document to register their family and finalize Carn's enlistment in the ECD.
In the stack, Carn was handed a contract to sign. He paused, reading over the header and clauses carefully.
Most clauses covered the standard military requirements like service obligation, training commitment, and code of conduct. But in the benefits section, Carn spotted something interesting.
[As a pre-enrolled candidate in the Eldritch Containment Division (ECD), Party A (Carn) shall receive a monthly stipend equivalent to 50% of the entry-level ECD salary. This stipend is designed to support the candidate's educational and personal needs while enrolled in the military installation public high school.]
Carn pursed his lips, surprised by the ECD's generosity that he would receive around $3,500 monthly just for attending high school until graduation.
Then, he found a clause that made his parents practically salivate:
[Upon Party A's formal agreement to join the Eldritch Containment Division (ECD), Party A's parents will receive a one-time signing bonus equivalent to one year's worth of Party A's entry-level ECD salary.]
In summary, his parents were selling him out for $85,000. Carn shot them a death glare in protest.
In response, Wong grinned shamelessly while Han avoided eye contact, sweating bullets.
Shaking his head in resignation, Carn signed the paper. He might be surrendering his freedom today, but he vowed to decide his own future once he graduated.
"Well done!" Han let out a sigh of relief, wiped his sweaty face with a handkerchief, and passed the stack of documents to the officer seated across from them.
Carn looked up to size up the officer.
The man wore a black military uniform, different from the usual army attire. The clothes came with an octopus cartoon character emblazoning over the U.S. flag on his right shoulder, which looked strangely out of place on the official uniform.
The officer flipped through the documents, checking if all signatures and details were in order. After checking every page thrice, he nodded in approval.
"Thank you very much for choosing ECD. Please stay in a designated guest house for the time being. We will finish the transfer protocol within seven working days."
Wong wasn't finished. She asked to make sure, "When will we get the signing bonus?"
The officer laughed as he could see through Wong's greedy nature, "It should be next month on the 20th."
Wong widely grinned and patted Carn's head.
"Finally, you are a decent human being!"
Carn rolled his eyes, "So, I wasn't a human for the past 16 years?"
"Of course, lah! You were a pig. You ate. You slept. And you fu… No, you didn't even know how to fuck a woman. What a spineless pig. You were supposed to score some rich chicks and give me 20 grandsons while you make seven figures before you reached 15. What a disappointment, lah."
"…"
Carn shot Wong a strange look, speechless by the impractical demands.
The officer and Han looked away and held back their laughter. The other officers in the same room overheard the conversation and giggled.
Carn facepalmed, but he inwardly smiled. Thinking back and comparing to other unfortunate children without parents, he felt lucky to have such a warm and funny family.
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