Chapter 13 - After Class
"Class 6?" the handsome zombie pointed below.
Mister Jack shook his head.
"No, this is Class 10." he was turned off since this handsome man was a zombie. However, he still answered politely.
"6... where?"
Mister Jack sighed and went outside to point at a direct down the hallway.
"This is 10, besides this is 9, then 8, 7, and 6. That's where your class is."
The zombie looked at where Mister Jack pointed. However, he scratched his head and made a confused expression.
Mister Jack saw this and explained how that class is not 6. However, the zombie was still confused, showing its rock-bottom intelligence.
Seeing how Mister Jack gave his best to teach the zombie the number system, addition, and subtraction, the fish spoke to Joren.
<That seemed like it's going to be a while. While you wait looked at your mission tab. You will see your side missions there. For these missions, you have an option to do it or not. But I greatly suggest that you do them all.>
Joren made a hesitant face and wrote on the page of his notebook.
[Wouldn't the others see the tab?]
The fish didn't respond again. Joren's eyelids dropped. He knew he will look stupid if he's wrong but he still wrote something on the page next.
[Do you not read this?]
<I can, I'm just messing with you.>
Crack* Joren clenched his fist in annoyance and broke the pen. Now its ink covered his hand and his notebook.
A terrifying aura surged from Joren.
<Woah, chill out- wait! That's my awesome sunglasses!>
Joren took the dried fish's sunglasses and held them, threatening to destroy them.
<I'm just joking! Making you angry is one of my specialties. You always have to be in a bad mood. Right now, you have no motivation to be a Gangsta God at all but look at you when you're angry, you're terrifying!>
Joren calmed himself down and placed the sunglasses in his pocket. Since earlier, he had been wearing the fish as some sort of an accessory. However, no one seemed to notice it since amidst every weird thing going on, that seemed to be pretty normal.
"Mister Jack..." Joren stood up and called.
"Yes, my dear student...?" hearing a male voice, Mister Jack turned his head towards Joren while having a gentlemanly gaze to see a demon instead.
"I want to go to the bathroom." he whispered while showing his hand dripped in ink. If it was a red pen, everyone would've been scared out of their wits.
"S-sure... go ahead." Mister Jack nodded.
Joren went down, taking all the attention for himself. As he got out, he got special attention from Minos as well.
"Um... Class 6?" the zombie asked.
Joren's face twitched. This was the first time he saw a zombie but the one scared was the zombie instead.
"Come here."
Fortunately for the zombie, Joren was still as kind-hearted as ever. Only a little rougher right now as he pulled the zombie's collar using his left hand that was free from ink.
Just like him and Minos, this zombie wore the Myth Academy's uniform.
After passing three more classrooms, Joren released the zombie.
Joren casually pointed and turned around, "That's class 6." he then went to the bathroom which was also unkempt.
Minos, who was standing in the hallway, looked at Joren's back and snorted.
"Strong..." he muttered.
In the bathroom, the fish tried to explain.
<I'm just trying to make you a Gangsta God. I feel no motivation from you at all. Since rewards don't appease you, I'll just have to make you angry and aggressive. Just look at the side missions!>
This was the first time Joren saw the fish panicked as he cleaned his hand under the running tap. Although his right hand was still tainted in black, it was no longer slimy as before, relieving some of his stress.
'Don't let the fish gets to you, Joren, relax.'
After a moment of breathing, Joren looked at the mission tab and went to the side missions that seemed to have been just unlocked. There are a lot of missions there with progress bars.
The first side mission rewards him 2 points for stamina! According to the fish, that's already big.
[Mission: Swagger for ten thousand steps.
Time: None
Progress: 0/10,000 swag steps
Reward: +2 Stamina Points]
Then there are four more side missions after that.
[Mission: Kick one hundred doors upon entrance to a room.
Time: None
Progress: 0/100 doors kicked open.
Reward: +1 Strength Points]
[Mission: Aggressively say "Huh!?" to people calling you twenty times
Time: None
Progress: 0/20 huh!?
Reward: +1 Toughness Points]
[Mission: Put your hands in your pockets for a total of 50 hours
Time: None
Progress: 0/50 hours
Reward: +1 Agility Points]
[Mission: Smoke thirty cigarettes sticks
Time: None
Progress: 0/30 cigarettes
Reward: +5 Health Points, A chance of lung cancer]
"A chance of lung cancer...?" Joren had a lot more to say than just that. But that was the only question he could get out right now.
<Pretty rad, right?>
"Umm, no?" Joren slowly shook his head, "And why is the heath going to increase after 30 cigarettes? Actually, never mind that question."
<Don't worry. In the future, you will get lung cancer immunity. The Gangsta God has one. For now, just smoke in moderation. thirty isn't that much. The possibility of getting lung cancer for thirty cigarettes is too low.>
Joren no longer listened and went back to class.
<Don't you want to swagger now?>
But Joren didn't answer.
<Hmph! You will soon learn the essentials of being a gangster!> the fish then disappeared.
Joren then went back to the class. Mister Jack began his discussion about the ABCs of the alphabet. The ghosts nodded in understanding. The more they learn, the smarter and the more vivid they become. However, this process is so slow that it is unnoticeable to the eyes.
Meanwhile, Joren became so bored that he slept in class. Why would he be interested in learning the alphabet?
Thus, the day ended with Joren continuously dozing off and eventually, sleeping. Since Mister Jack was scared of him, this unicorn no longer wanted to call Joren after class.
Minos, who was just watching from the outside, diligently took notes of the class. In the process, his eyes would glance at Joren from time to time.
Joren walked out of the class and saw the zombie waiting for him.
"Hm?"
The zombie bowed and said, "Thanks..."
"... okay." Joren nodded and was about to walk past him when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned around to see the zombie trying to say something.
"Home..." he finally worded it out and showed the card.
Joren's mouth opened as a silent "oh" came out. He led the zombie to a separate gate. It seemed like the ghosts were all going through the main gate in front of the school building.
"Here, just swiped it and enter." Joren showed how to do it and gently pushed the zombie in, "Get it?"
The zombie expressionlessly nodded, "Get..."
"Okay, bye." Joren casually waved his hand which made the zombie nod with a slight smile before the gate closed.
Right after that, Joren went to his own separate gate to see a man in a black suit.
"Mister Joren," the man slowly said, "I, me, " he pointed to himself, "Will. be. your. guide."
Joren frowned and immediately said.
"I will understand it too if you speak normally."
The man showed a surprised expression.
"I thought he's incapable of basic cognitive skills?" he muttered before speaking normally.
"Hello, Mister Joren, I will be your guide from now on."
Joren's forehead creased, frightening the man, "What do you mean from now on?"
"Y-your... ehem, your previous caretaker, Miss Scarlett has been removed from her duties over you due to some confidential reasons." the man toughened himself in front of Joren's gaze.
"What reason?" Joren asked in a heavy voice, making the man shirk.
"So sorry, Mister Joren, but as I said, it's confidential."
"Hm..." Joren's gaze became a glare as a dangerous aura exuded from him, "Confidential?"
"Y-yes! I don't have the position to answer that question. If you want to know, Mister Joren, you can contact the principal."
"Principal, where?"
"I can lead you to her!" the man said. The more he spoke to Joren, the more pressure he was feeling.
"Go, I will need to talk to her."
"Right away, sir!" the man swiped his card on the gate before it opened. The two came in and the man pushed a button that was not there if it was Joren who swiped his card.
'I was just thinking of relieving my stress by hugging Scarlett all night. If something happened to her, I'm going to raze this whole academy to the ground.' Joren's inner thoughts were leaking inside his mind.
The man was covered in sweat the moment the gate opened again.