Ye Delun opened his eyes to see the same room he was in before. The free-floating dust particles and the weak beam of moonlight peaking from the window curtains.
[Congratulations on completing Chapter Two!]
[To start Chapter Three, please pick one!]
[Fast pass; 0]
[Wait]
Ye Delun didn't delay and chose to wait. Currently, he was too poor to buy himself a fast pass. And even if he somehow had one, he still wouldn't use it. He could use all the time he could get to make some money.
That's why Ye Delun hurried as fast as he could to Guo Niu's shop.
"Oi, kid, you actually came back?" The large man said to him as he opened the front door. Ye Delun panted like a dog as a response. His running skills were as weak as his ability to conversate with others without it being awkward. Or in short, almost nonexistent.
Ye Delun pulled out the water bottle that Guo Niu had given him from his makeshift bag made from the thin blanket. He wanted to open it to drink, but his trembling fingers couldn't get the right hold on the bottle cap.
Guo Niu gave a heavy sigh and moved to his side. "Kid, are you sure you ain't a minor? How the hell is someone like you an adult? You'll break even if I flicked ya." He took the bottle out of his hands and unscrewed the cap, before giving it back to him. Ye Delun nodded his head as thanks, for his mouth couldn't produce any other sound besides heaving.
"Fix yourself up and head to the back, someone else is here to work with you." He went back to stand behind the counter and cupped his mouth to yell out the entrance to the back. "Huang Song! Get out here to see the newbie! It's the one I told you about!"
"Ight! I'm coming!" Another voice, who Ye Delun recognized as a woman's, responded.
Ye Delun chugged the water out of the bottle like there was no tomorrow. The little amount of water he had left in it from yesterday was gone within seconds. Normally, he wouldn't have been so tired out, but as he was jogging over a sense of motivation entered him once he had thought back to his conversation with Xiang Tingfeng. He ended up forcing himself to run the whole way.
"Heya, calm down with the water, you're gonna choke. No one's gonna take it from you." Guo Niu put his hands out to try and placate him in a weird way. "If you really need it, I can get you another one."
Ye Delun hurriedly nodded his head.
Afterward, once Ye Delun was able to catch his breath and not feel like he was about to pass out, Guo Niu set him onto a wooden crate to rest.
[The character 'Guo Niu' is doubting his intuition of letting you have a job!]
"..." Ye Delun blanked at the message. He shouldn't have expected any less. He was more of wondering why the man was only doubting this now, and not when he had to carry a box for him yesterday.
"Wow, you really weren't kidding when you said he was weak." The same voice from the woman earlier said. She stood beside Guo Niu as they both looked down at the small man seated on the wooden crate.
"..."
'Do you really have to say that in front of me?'
Ye Delun awkwardly peaked up towards the woman. She had tanned chocolate brown skin that glistened with sweat. Her height was intimidating and her arms even more so. They were as thick and hefty as a meat roast. It's a weird thing to compare them to, but Ye Delun was hungry so it made sense.
They seemed even more pronounced in the black halter top she adorned. Perhaps if he wasn't doused in the feelings of envy and amazement, then he could have felt a little fear.
As much as Ye Delun looked up to muscular people, but a woman as strong and powerful as Huang Song was impossible to not feel intimidated by. She was almost too cool for him to look at straight on.
"Not to mention he's a guy? Are you sure? Did you check?" Her wide, expressionistic face grew closer to him and he backed away. She got close enough that they could be touching noses and whispered to herself. Ye Delun didn't know if he was meant to hear it, but it was hard to ignore. "I've never seen an actual male player around here before..."
"!!!" Ye Delun felt his eyes go wide with shock. It turns out, that the huge woman was like him, a player in this otome game.
"Oops, did I say that out loud? Whoopsies, hehe."
"Knock it off, you're scaring the kid." Guo Niu grabbed onto the back of Huang Song's shirt and pulled her back. Ye Delun felt even more surprised by the fact that Guo Niu could move the woman with only one hand.
"Boss?! Hey, let go! You're gonna stretch the shirt!" She struggled out of his grasp and straightened the fabric around her neck. "Do you know how long it took me to get this shirt? You wouldn't even know!"
"Yeah, Yeah, I know about the shirt. Now don't go speaking your nonscene again. Your blabbering hurts my head."
"Eh? You better watch your tone, old man. Or else I'll give you more than just a headache." She threateningly flexed her bicep towards Guo Niu. Ye Delun thought he could almost imagine an apple easily getting crushed in between her arms.
"And you better watch your broke ass and get back to work. Or else you'd have to sell that precious shirt of yours off the street for money." Guo Niu only clenched his hand to showcase his own strength, and yet, Ye Delun could easily imagine a watermelon getting ripped to shreds.
"Wow..."
Suddenly, the both of them paused their showcase and turned towards him. Ye Delun realized that he had said all of that out loud and tried to fix it. "I mean, it's just that you guys being so strong is... really cool, I guess."
Both of their eyes widened and the intimidating air cooled down.
[The character 'Guo Niu' will remember this comment!]
[The character 'Guo Niu' is feeling timid around someone so youthful!]
['Huang Song' lets the compliment go straight to her head!]
Somehow, Ye Delun didn't know exactly why, but he had also gotten a message from Huang Song. He could understand getting one from Yang Lang because he was technically a capture target character in that world.
'Does that mean that I also count as a character while I'm in HQ?' It was the only explanation his inexperienced mind could come up with.
"Wow, why aren't you sweet? Of course, saying something like that is expected from a shrimp like you, but I'm flattered nonetheless." Huang Song said as she wiped back the two messy braids attached to her head. They were obviously done by an amateur, as the braid wasn't tight enough to hold in her curly hair. Instead of looking like braids, they looked like two thick locks of messy hair.
"..."
"Oi, quick being a dumbass and messing with the kid." Guo Niu non-threateningly glared at the woman. "No more messing around, time to get to work." He made his way back to the counter, his hand touseled through Ye Delun's hair and messed it up as he walked by.
"Thanks, kid. Now get to work, you got a lot to do."
Huang Song huffed at the man's back. "Damn workaholic. If you're so addicted then work yourself, dammit."
"I can hear you." Guo Niu said from the other room. His hand gestured towards the clock on the wall. "Now get working, I'm not paying you to laze around."
Huang Song's eyes followed his hand to the clock. "Oh shit, I gotta go!" She rushed off to the back room and came back with a small bag of stuff. Ye Delun assumed it was her supplies.
"What do you mean you gotta go? Your shift's barely started?" Guo Niu frowned unhappily.
An apologetic expression took over Huang Song's features, "Sorry Boss, I got a meet-up with friends in five minutes. I gotta leave." She waved him goodbye before turning her attention towards Ye Delun. "And you, Ye Delun right? I'll make sure to talk to you the next wait time, deal? So don't go working for any other old man, alright!" And with her finishing statement, she slammed the door behind her.
The wall rattled and spare potions sitting on shelves swayed back and forth. "Hey wait," Guo Niu called out. He cursed as he hurried to catch the falling showcase items.
"Damn it." He mumbled. A tired sigh escaped from his mouth as he fixed the tilted shelves.
He rubbed the center of his brow and turned his exhausted gaze towards Ye Delun. "Well, I guess you're working by yourself again."
And so he did. Once again, Ye Delun pushed himself to the limit to move boxes around. Guo Niu came to check on him once a while, more so to help him with the box he was struggling with. He said that he couldn't stay back there with him because of the stacks of paperwork waiting for him at the desk. That and someone had to be there to watch for a potential customer.
Ye Delun ended up going back to his place with muscles so sore that it hurt to walk. He fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.