First things first, food.
Because the smell coming from the kitchen was incredible and Jia Hyson was starving. "Maddy? Monroe?" He rasps out, feeling like a pitiful hungry kitten.
Immediately like she had her face against the door just waiting for him to call, Madeline Fenwick burst out eagerly. "Dinner is ready!" She grins, proudly running down to place the plate of her food onto the shoddy coffee table in front of him. "I give you, the Mad Triple Cheeseburger special! Three patties, six slices of cheese, pickles, beetroot, lettuce, mushrooms and tomato relish on toasted bread! Your favorite!"
Jia Hyson smiles warmly at the bright and boisterous young girl. His memories as Adrian in the past hour had slowly seeped into his soul and the love he felt for both Madeline and Monroe was not weak. Even Jia Hyson who wasn't really that fond of kids over six, felt like it wouldn't be a burden to dote on such a sunny child.
Bebe: What's wrong with children over six?
Jia Hyson: All children reach peak cuteness at around two and generally stay that cute until they hit six, then it really only goes downhill from there.
Bebe: I see 눈_눈
"Thanks Maddy," His smile widens as his eyes set sight of the burger, mouth already filled with drool. As expected of the main character of a cooking story, the food she made couldn't have looked more obviously delicious unless someone wrote the word 'delicious' on top of the bun with ketchup. Even if it was messily made he couldn't help but inexplicably find the ugliness adding further to the home cooked charm. Adrian remembers that he was the one who thought her how to make simple but juicy burger patties, buttery mushrooms and create a fresh and tangy relish but while he's sure that she had cooked to his instructions, his own food while delicious and heartwarming, could somehow never compare.
Jia Hyson: Hey Bebe, will I ever get to be a main character too?
Bebe: Bebe thinks the story would have to be truly horrendous for that to happen.
Well. Never mind then.
Without further ado he hungrily begins to devour the large burger, taking large gulps of water in between to fill himself up even further. It seems, after a quick review of his recent memories, the trio had left his parents broken household and Adrian really hadn't eaten for at least three days as he worriedly tried to find even more jobs for himself on top of his current two to properly provide for everyone. His friend had at the very least kindly allowed him to burrow one of his uncle's apartments, but Adrian had both a large amount of pride and moral integrity, insisting he'll eventually pay rent after two months if they can't find anywhere else to live. Jia Hyson wants to weep a little at this poor original host's life. Such a selfless good child! What shit author would write out such a hardworking angel from their story? Jia Hyson would've given him ten spin offs!
'Bebe has seen host's works and there is a 70% chance you would have made Adrian suffer even more than the current author would have. Do not lie to Bebe.' Bebe interjects. 'Bebe knows this is one of your favorite character types to bully.'
Feeling extremely wronged for being called out on his sadistic tendencies but unable to rebut any of it, Jia Hyson ignores his system in favor of the much better and superior burger in his hands.
The inferior to a burger Bebe: ...
"This is delicious Maddy," He praises genuinely, "did you add something extra in the sauce?"
"As expected of my big brother!" Madeline cries and puffs her chest out proudly. "I bought some chili to give it a nice kick, as well as lemon and some melted cheese."
Jia Hyson stops mid-chew, feeling a little faint as new information provided by Adrian's last few days of anxious research suddenly swirls up urgently in his head. Apparently Adrian had been so scared about their sudden change in economic situation that some of the panic still lingered even after his body was taken over. Asian ingredients like chili was currently a very pricey ingredient in A country, especially in their city. It was currently the period of time before the hype of cooking competitions spread around the world and was really only for proper chefs to prove their worth so more exotic ingredients weren't as well circulated as they could be.
Now that he's no longer so ravenous, his tongue can also taste the fresh tang of lemon and tomatoes, and the smokiness of melted gouda cheese.
Suddenly the food in his mouth felt a little heavy and hard to swallow.
It seems after this he's going to have to teach the children the harsh reality of poverty.
...
The problem, Jia Hyson realizes, with the harsh reality of poverty was that he was also unprepared for it.
Jia Hyson came from an upper-middle class family and before completing his bachelor of science in university managed to snag a literary prize and multiple online awards, cementing his bright future almost immediately. The closest thing he had to a job was volunteering experience which after university he really only did whenever he felt too much like rich artsy trash. Unfortunately that still didn't change the fact he was essentially rich artsy trash.
So after a few months of running around doing multiple part-time jobs, from the ever thankless customer service to the literally backbreaking construction work, Jia Hyson wanted to die. His only comfort was that Monroe had picked up the value of money quickly and while Maddy was still trying to process her sudden life changes, she was more or less very understanding to their economic plight now and no longer pestered to buy expensive ingredients to try out anymore, choosing to experiment with cheaper items instead.
Still, despite that, there were only so many hours in a day and because Adrian had to drop out, the jobs didn't exactly pay very well. He was very lucky though, many of his bosses and coworkers were both friendly and sympathetic to his situation and always gave him a little something extra at the end of the day, from small change to candy. It didn't change the fact he had to face many jobs filled with the greedy, uncaring and just downright cruel people but since he had a good temperament he hadn't been harassed too badly in his opinion. Still, Jia Hyson curses those people in his heart and itches to write a great faceslapping story inspired by them but he really didn't even have time for that.
The idea of having to endure this for a few more years was downright depressing.
To think the protagonist would actually abandon such a good cousin like this over one fight! It was one thing to read about but now that he was experiencing the true hell of serving in retail he vows to make sure Madeline Fenwick fucking appreciates what he's been slaving away for. Especially once she marries into money.
God, Jia Hyson misses money.
Then again she had been fresh out of high school at the time and as a late bloomer was probably at the peak of teenage rebellion. Not that it's much of an excuse. Jia Hyson's way of venting as a teenager was through art, reading and depression, it couldn't compare to Madeline Fenwick who moved out of her house and had increasingly shameless sex on a reality tv show. At least Monroe seemed to be a good boy.
Jia Hyson sighs inwardly. He still has a while to seriously consider the best way to change the key plot point anyway, for now he needs all his brainpower to consider basic living expenses, rent and Monroe's future education. He'll try keep some extra savings as a pretence for Madeline's college fund but at this point that sort of thinking might as well be called delusional.
"Bebe," he groans, "next time make me a character that doesn't have to worry about money okay?" Currently he was moving crates and doing inventory at a local grocery. Even putting half his points into his physical strength didn't stop his arms from trembling after a few hours of labour.
'Bebe will take that into consideration as well as request host not to be a whiny bitch.' Bebe replies shortly.
"My system used to be so cute and in awe at the great me," Jia Hyson mutters, "what happened to us Bebe?"
'Bebe realized Bebe's cheap host was not the top quality host Bebe had been promised.'
"Cheap your sister! I am a first rate, handsome author! You're the cheap one to reduce me to this!" Jia Hyson cries in his heart as he transports a crate of citrus fruits to refill the emptying section outside in the store.
As he spends his days working and bickering angrily with Bebe in his head, Jia Hyson is completely unaware of the increasing looks always thrown his way by both coworkers and customers.
After all, both Jia Hyson and Adrian were already very good looking men. The resulting combination of both of their attractiveness stats blew through the roof. Not only physically was he beautiful, with his tall, slightly muscular figure, his pale skin coupled with blonde hair and bright blue slanted and slightly droopy eyes, his personality and temperament was equally as nice. Even the sternest boss must eventually melt and feel some sympathy toward such a handsome youth who had to work for his younger siblings' sake. Whether or not that sympathy shows through Jia Hyson's wallet is unfortunately another matter completely.
However after almost a year, Jia Hyson finally recieved the opportunity he had been waiting for.
Adrian was originally configured to be similar to the protagonist since he was her role model. He was hardworking, stubbornly moral and kind-hearted, but unlike her he was more old fashioned and a much more prideful. Adrian refused to accept money from his friends, refused to ask for help from his biological family, and refused to show his siblings how tired he was. And, most adamantly, Adrian refused to use his good looks.
This was shown very clearly in a short paragraph of the story, where the author wrote about how Adrian would occasionally reject various modeling and acting offers when life was still prosperous for the young man. It was said that Adrian found it demeaning and how his face shouldn't effect how his talents should be viewed and blah, blah, blah. Basically it was bullshit in Jia Hyson's magnanimous opinion.
What was important was that, despite getting many offers when he was still rich, Adrian only got one offer once he hit rock bottom. Jia Hyson has no idea why. Personally he thought he looked even more pleasing to the eye once he started gaining a bit of defined muscle instead of maintaining his original skinny as a stick figure. Either way, of course Adrian had rejected the tempting offer after a few days of hesitation, choosing to keep slaving away at his multiple minimum wage jobs and probably dying from over exhaustion in the end.
Jia Hyson absolutely refuses to do that.
"Adrian?" Jenna, a petite university student working as a waitress in the same cafe he works in, prompts shyly again, flushing prettily as she glances up to take in Jia Hyson's unreadable expression. "I, I know it's a lot to ask since we've only known each other for a month or so but, but I'll pay you well I swear! I mean," she rambles nervously, "you've been really tired lately, and well, modelling isn't really too hard, well amateur modelling anyway, and you're handsome anyway so, um,"
"I'll do it." Jia Hyson quickly agrees, unable to bear the the poor child's awkward
What pride? Can it be eaten? If it can't fill his stomach what's the point? The original Adrian was cute but he was a fool for refusing to use his god-given face.
"You shouldn't act so out of character," Bebe scolds, "Adrian didn't accept this offer."
"In the story, Adrian didn't immediately refuse," Jia Hyson objects, thankful that Adrian's character had been well fleshed out in the beginning rather than introduced terribly during the period where the plot was at its worst. "He hesitated for a few days as he seriously considered taking it for the sake of the money. He could have very well accepted the offer but Jenna had already turned it down for him since he was taking too long."
"So you think if Jenna let him have more time he would have said yes?"
Jia Hyson didn't even hesitate, "Of course. No matter how high his pride is, Adrian values his family more." He pauses and then squints down at his Bebe Bangle. "Adrian's main personality traits are very simple, even a child could understand... are you really sure you're not the cheap one out of both of us?"
Bebe: ... QAQ
When Adrian arrives a week later at the address he's been told by his incredibly excited coworker, he has to stifle the pure jealousy in his heart as he stares at the luxury apartment before him.
"I used to have an apartment in a building like this," he says sadly as he passes security and enters the elevator. "Actually, forget the apartment, I even bought the building because I didn't want to pay rent."
Bebe ignores the whining of his ex-local tyrant host. Over the past few months it is sure it has heard about every lavish aspect about Jia Hyson's original life and has long grew numb to it all.
"Then I thought, I'm rich, why don't I buy a bunch of apartments to get money from."
Yes. Numb to it all.
"So I bought ten but I didn't like taking care of them."
Numb to it all.
"After a week I gave up and hired a man to do it for me."
Numb...
"But it felt a lot like paying rent anyway so eventually I just bought the guy's company with the money I earned renting apartments and the royalties from my new book. Got turned into a movie you know?"
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ Bebe has gone temporarily offline.
At the notification, Jia Hyson smiles helplessly at his silly, easy to bully system. Feeling great, he steps out of the lift and onto soft carpeting. With a nervousness that's only half-faked, he rechecks the text on his phone and heads to the last door to the left, knocking softly. "Hello? Jenna it's Adrian,"
"Adrian!" Jenna flings open the door with a grinning face so fast he suspects she had been waiting by the door the whole time. He can't help but chuckle a little at how similar she was to Maddy. Her cheeks flush as she eyes up her very handsome coworker in a casual white shirt and tight blue jeans.
Jia Hyson smiles awkwardly, looking self-consciously down at his simple clothes, "Is this okay? You just said jeans and a t-shirt but I didn't-" he trails off hesitantly, ducking his head down while his blue eyes shyly look anywhere but at the young woman in front of him, seemingly like a person completely out of his depth.
It was enough to make the coldest person melt much less a young, greenhorn like Jenna. "No way! You, you look good," She stammers.
"Jenna!" A grumpy voice calls out from another room, "Is the model here yet? I have a thing in a few hours remember?"
"Sorry uncle!" Jenna calls out, not sounding very sorry at all. She even has the face to grin and roll her eyes cheekily at Adrian, very different to her usual demure appearance at the cafe. She really is a lot like the main character and he chuckles again. "My uncle has volunteered to help take photos for my portfolio, he's a bit harsh but he knows how important this is to me."
Adrian blinks and nods, following Jenna to her studio. Internally Jia Hyson was a little intrigued at where the plot divergence was leading. Jenna, this barely considered mob character, seemed to be secretly a rich second generation with dreams of being a fashion designer. Her uncle doesn't seem too simple either. If he had followed the plot and refused Jenna's offer he would have never known anything about them.
It truly feels in this moment that he's no longer in a story but a proper world.
"Hello uncle," Adrian greets politely, lowering his head in a slightly submissive pose as he feels a strong scrutinizing gaze hit him. He shivers, feeling a little violated At the assessing gaze.
"Not bad," A gruff voice finally says after a minute of uncomfortable silence, "even if he's just a vase he's a damn pretty one."
"Uncle!" Jenna cries out embarrassed at his rudeness.
Adrian straightens his back and looks directly at this uncle with a faint smile. "Well I trust you'll be able to make this vase shine for Jenna's sake," he lightheartedly flatters with a charmingly self-deprecating smile.
Unfortunately, it seems Jenna's uncle was resistant to his looks. With a snort he goes back to fiddling with his camera, "Even if you were a pile of stinking dung I can still make something acceptable for my niece."
Adrian lightly laughs but under his obedient expression Jia Hyson darkly curses. Who's a pile of stinking dung? Look at this beautiful face and have the gall to say that again! He dares him!
Bebe: Bebe has looked at your face and after careful analysis Bebe can conclude that... you're a pile of stinking dung.
The pile of stinking dung Jia Hyson: "(凸ಠ益ಠ)凸 Cheap systems should learn to shut their mouths! (凸ಠ益ಠ)凸"
Bebe: ╮(╯∀╰)╭
Jia Hyson: F*ck your mom!
Of course none of this even flickered onto his face. His past life experience of being a famous author and his current life of enduring a hundred different jobs in the service and retail industry have hardened his facial muscles to maintain a first rate gentle smile. Unless you were inside his head, no one could know he was silently writing gory, horror torture porn featuring everyone that has ever wronged him.
Bebe who is inside his head: Bebe begs its abnormal host to please stop, Bebe is sorry, Bebe cannot unsee what has been seen ಥ_ಥ
Jia Hyson: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As Jia Hyson changes into Jenna's first outfit, he quietly admired her handiwork. "This girl has good taste," he tells Bebe seriously, "do you think she'll let me keep an outfit?"
'If she says yes Bebe recommends you take the grey suit.'
Jia Hyson raises an eyebrow as he examines a very stylish grey and silver suit. It gives off a novel futuristic without looking too ridiculous that he couldn't walk into the street with. Personally he thinks his original Asian appearance would pull it off better but there was no denying that wearing this suit would make many heads turn for him. "Bold choice, why?"
'Because Bebe believes it matches with your grey morals.'
Jia Hyson: ... system you've changed (°ㅂ°╬)
'Bebe has watched you secretly steal from the trash and scam people for money, Bebe no longer has respect in its eyes for you.'
Jia Hyson couldn't deny that. But who's fault was it to make his character be so caring while having so many financial difficulties?!
He didn't want to eat unwanted food either! But apparently schools were huge money hungry monsters that insist that he had to pay extra for Madeline and Monroe's compulsory end of year middle school and high school leadership camping trips. Adrian's parents told him that they refused to pay for it despite promising to at least cover their education costs so he had to tearfully hand over the cash. They didn't even provide the camping gear so Jia Hyson had to starve himself over a tent.
F*ck his sh*tty parents and f*ck the education system!
Walking out of the closet, Adrian smiles shyly as he spreads out his arms. "Jenna, what do you think?"
Jenna takes one look and then another, before pinching herself and squealing, "Yes! Oh, this is exactly what I wanted! This is perfect!" She greedily takes in the pure white clothes with golden edging and decoration she had painstakingly made in hopes for a prince like man to wear them. Once again she thanks all the gods out there for her good luck in getting a job at that cafe where such a high quality man worked.
Even the old uncle looks pleased at how good he looks. "Not bad kid, now sit on the couch."
Jia Hyson saunters to the couch, giving it a scrutinizing look before laying splayed out on it like a lazy yet elegant noble. He tilts his head up and stares deeply in the camera with an arrogantly seductive stare, like he was goading the camera to pull him off his magnificently high horse and dirty him up. He's an arrogant prince, a tyrant, a domineering beauty, you couldn't keep your eyes away from him even if you wanted to.
The uncle couldn't speak. No one could. Only the sounds of camera shuttering were heard while Adrian adjusts his posture every minute or so.
Jia Hyson feels rather pleased with this result. His original level in modeling was a 42 since he's participated in some photoshoots beforehand and has some idea what to do. Adrian apparently was naturally photogenic so that added an extra 10 points to his stats. During the week before this shoot, Jia Hyson snatched two fashion magazines from the trash, burrowed another from a different coworker and bought a Basic How to Model guidebook (20p) from BeBay to study intently on. Every night he would practice posing for an hour and a half with Bebe being his judge. Since Bebe was a piece of technology that made supercomputers look like children's toys it was nothing for the system to absorb information from the books and the internet and compare them with Jia Hyson's poses.
By the morning of the day, his modeling stats was a very passable 68. It didn't make him a top model by any standards, but his decent grasp of lighting and camera angles as well as a nice variety of poses allows him to have a fighting chance with the above average models.
"That's good, tilt your head a bit to the left, arms on your lap, yes, sneer a little, perfect," the camera uncle rambles, getting happier and happier at how unexpectedly well-trained this amateur seemed to be. Pulling away from his camera he cracks Adrian a satisfied smile. From the way the smile strains against his craggy face, Jia Hyson can't help but assume this old man doesn't smile too often. "You're not bad kid, this really your first time?"
Dropping his icy prince facade Jia Hyson's face softened back into the usual gentle Adrian's smiling face, his cheeks flushing a little at the compliment, "En," he confirms embarrassedly.
"Good," The uncle murmurs as he subconsciously snaps a few more shots. The smile has melted the original cold and haughty demeanor, transforming the arrogant noble into a benevolent pure prince instead. While it wasn't what either Jenna or the uncle had in mind, the change was so alluring they both knew they had to seriously consider keeping those photos. "Good, very good!"
Jenna in the background excitedly waiting with the next outfit in her hands gapes at her uncle. The amount of times her grumpy uncle had complimented anyone out of the family could be counted with her fingers. She knew when she first saw Adrian that he would be a man who could happily live on just his looks alone but she didn't really think he had this much raw talent. Not enough to garner her uncle's praise anyway.
She grins widely. It seems she hadn't mistaken a fish eye for a pearl when she asked for Adrian's help. Not only was her uncle going to take her suggestions more seriously now it was clear her portfolio was going to be the envy of all her classmates.