To Live Again, For the First Time!

"Really? That roommate of yours seems quite interesting," Nathan commented.

"He quite readily rejected it seems," Emilin nodded in agreement with her Big Brother Nathan.

"Yeah, it was quite unexpected. I was startled and I think Master Sungcha was too, but the person who was most shocked seemed to be Jenna," Theo thought back to that moment.

"The third placer?" Nathan clarified.

Theo nodded.

"But I guess it was to be expected, this should be an opportunity cherished by most, even the wealthy and powerful, yet it was discarded just like that."

Emilin thought from the perspective of an ordinary student in Theo's school. Even if they were all geniuses, there still existed an invisible, yet distinguishable hierarchy. There were bound to be varying standards.

"So then what?" Nathan wanted to hear that rest first before giving his opinion on the matter.

"Well..."

***

Jenna had indeed been quite shocked. She almost didn't prevent herself from going straight up the Kayden to shake some sense into his mind then and there.

But of course, in the end, this would ultimately be a good thing for her seeing as the spot that would then be opened up would be given to her.

The good news just came too sudden and so she wasn't able to react promptly.

After all, she had already prepared her mind for the most likely outcome, which had been getting nothing out of all this. You couldn't always expect a reward for your hard work, she had already told herself that the experience gained would be enough to satisfy her.

But deep in her heart, she knew that she was still hoping for something, and now this something was right in front of her.

"Could you tell me why?"

Master Sungcha calmly asked.

Kayden looked to have pondered for a bit before responding.

"Well truth be told, I'm really just riding on this guy's coattails. It should be fine since I'm only the second placer, not to mention my death count is also significantly higher than his." Kayden said, pointing at the Theodore who had returned to his lazy bum seating position after greeting Master Sungcha.

Jenna was once again stunned silent.

Even if someone rode on someone else's coattails, which wasn't exactly against the rules per se. She would still have assumed that it was Theodore, who looked much more like a tall sports jockey doing the coattail ridding, even if Theodore wasn't as well-toned as his brother Nathan.

Without his Big Brother Nathan for comparison, he was a prime example of a sports jocky after all. Swimming, running, track, and practically any other sport, seemed strangely fit for him, after all, he was nearing 190 cm in height, packed with a lean, yet muscular figure.

Still, now that Kayden had said it, she had no choice but to believe it.

"Not to mention, artificial intelligence is not exactly my thing, I'm the type to believe that AI will take over the world someday. I don't want to live till that day so it should be best that I don't speed up the process." Kayden sheepishly laughed.

"As if you could speed up the process," Theodore taunted from the sidelines, which only elicited even harder laughter from Kayden.

As for the other two, they weren't particularly amused (.___.).

Jenna: [Please. I swear I don't know these guys. I really don't! AI is great! AI is amazing! I won't believe them even if 20 of them come running towards me telling me that they will try and take over the world!]

Master Sungcha who had previously stayed silent suddenly started chortling.

"Haha! Yes! Yes!"

"Indeed, my babies will take over the world someday. I can respect that you may not want to be in this world when they rule over us all."

Theodore on the side-lines: [...]

Kayden who was semi-joking : [...]

Jenna who had just claimed (in her mind) that AI would never take over the world when trying to suck up to the great buddha in front of her: [........]

Master Sungcha didn't seem to notice the sudden change in the atmosphere, or perhaps he noticed but simply did not care.

"So how about you two?"

Jenna, who was previously 100% on board hesitated after that last interaction.

Jenna: [Fuck, am I going to sell my labor to a madman?]

Still, her human greed was unable to let go of this golden opportunity.

As someone who trusted her handy computer as a reliable companion throughout her life, artificial intelligence was incredibly intriguing.

"I'll do it!"

Hearing Jenna's response, Master Sungcha shifted his gaze to the hesitant Theodore, who had sat up straight in order to think properly.

"I'll need some time to consider it."

Needless to say, Master Sungcha was already getting somewhat impatient. His brows furrowed when he thought of these statistics.

One acceptance, one waitlist, and one rejection.

Why did he feel like he was the one applying for something when it was clearly them who were supposed to be vying for the positions...

"I'll give you three days, after that, we'll be having the Master-disciple inauguration ceremony. As for you, you should get ready, I'll contact you within the next two days." Master Sungcha moved his gaze from Theodore to Jenna as he spoke.

***

"Yeah, so it was something like that," Theodore concluded.

"Well, truth be told, you probably don't really need to become this man's disciple just from the other connections you can access," Nathan, knowing his brother well, commented.

"However, if you do decide to take him as your master, you will finally have something under the identity of Theodore Wei."

Nathan's implied meaning was clear to his two siblings.

Theodore had a giant network, but none of it were things that he could openly use as Theodore Wei, as such, if he ever got into some small troubles, he would have to waste a lot of time just solving them.

It wasn't easy using resources that were currently hard to access while hiding his identity. Theodore was bound to face some troubles in the future, and they would be much easier to solve if he was able to use the title of 'Master's disciple' for efficiency's sake.

Seeing as Emilin also nodded in agreement with her Eldest Brother's analysis, Theodore had already pretty much made up his mind.

"Not to mention, this is also a good experience. Didn't you want to experience college life? This should be part of that," Emilin added.

If all the other students at Theo's university heard this little girl speaking, they would most likely think she was an idiot or just way too naïve.

How was becoming a Master's disciple something that was a part of every student's campus life? If it were like that, then the world would have to be littered with Masters who had nothing better to do.

"Mm... then I'll get going, It's best that I inform Master Sungcha as soon as possible."

Theodore and Nathan both had business to attend to and so after they had said their goodbyes and well wishes, they all went off to do their own stuff.

"One last call," Emilin said to no one in particular.

She had memorized this number even though she didn't have it in her contacts just yet. But that was good since the business card from which she sourced the number was still in her suitcase in her room.

The phone ringed once before it was picked up by the person on the other side.

"Hello, may I ask who this may be?" A female voice sounded from the other side of Emilin's phone call.

"I have previously agreed with Mr. Mason to contact him when the time was right, may I ask you to get him on the phone?"

Emilin was currently sitting on the toilet seat in the bathroom, but she still spoke casually enough to make others imagine her in formal attire in a casual setting.

"I see, I am Sir Mason's assistant, you can call me Lisa. I will inform him right this moment, but I am unsure if he will be able to pick up now seeing as he is currently in the middle of a photo shoot. As you may know, he doesn't like to interrupt his photoshoots unless it is a pressing matter, but seeing as the both of you have already made prior engagements, I will inform him of this call."

Emilin didn't know, but she didn't say that either.

This assistant, Lisa, was on the move while she talked and so she was being a little more wordy than usual so that she wouldn't keep the person on the other side waiting for too long in silence.

Still, she carried herself well and so if Emilin didn't have a rather acute hearing, she wouldn't have been able to notice the slightly heavier breathing that Lisa sported.

"I see, take your time, I am not in a rush as of this moment," Emilin spoke as if she would be in a rush a moment from now which only made Lisa pick up her pace even more.

That was not Emilin's original intention.

Seeing as she was the one asking for the favor, and in such an impromptu fashion too, it wasn't unreasonable to have her wait for a bit.

Even so, Emilin didn't comment when she realized that the assistant on the other side of the phone call had misunderstood and picked up her speed, thus having her rhythmic breathing deepen once again.

"Is there any name by which I can refer to when talking to Sir Mason when speaking of you?" Lisa asked.

Emilin pondered for a bit with her chin resting on her palm before responding.

"If he asks, just tell him it's the young lady who bought the camera in Malalakan."

"Very well."

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