With a midterm attack on the line, Vikir goes for a part-time job interview.
When Sinclair hears about Vikir's financial situation, she immediately takes him to the boss's office.
Vikir silently thought to himself.
'It's not time to use Sindiwendi's money yet. It's best not to make any contacts until 'the moment' comes.
Sindiwendy's vast funds would be used later. At a very important moment.
Any contact with her must never be revealed until then, so it's better to refrain from such petty monetary transactions.
The best way for the agents to be discovered was to follow the money trail.
"..., a bourgeois family, I'll leave it as a hidden card for them."
Bikir muttered a little to himself.
Then Sinclair, who was walking slightly in front of him, turned her head with a puzzled expression.
"Brother, what did you just say?"
"Umm. Nothing."
" ... Did I hear you wrong?"
Sinclair shook his head, then turned back to the topic at hand.
"This cafe is the best thing ever. The pay is a little low, but it's inside the academy, so there's no gossip and the work is easy, and the boss lets me make whatever I want to eat if I have extra ingredients. It's close to the dorms and the lecture hall, and there aren't too many people at night, so I can study privately, although I can't sleep, and the uniforms are pretty."
Sinclair quickly explained to Vikir the advantages of working at the cafe.
She added in passing at the end.
" ... I want you to work with my hyung. I think it would be fun."
But.
Contrary to Sinclair's expectations, the cafe owner was firm.
"No way. We only hire girls."
Mr. Pringles, the owner of 'Languid Noon, Moustache', was a middle-aged gentleman with a bushy mustache.
He had his own firm philosophy and beliefs about running a cafe, and one of them was that he only hired women for part-time jobs.
He believed that only a woman's meticulous and delicate hands could make the best coffee.
Faced with a gender barrier, Vikir was inevitably rejected.
But Sinclair is a brave girl who doesn't let walls stop her.
She would break them down. With a weapon stronger than walls.
"But boss, what does my hyung look like?"
Sinclair approached the back of Vikir, who was sitting on a chair, and stretched out her hands and almost hugged Vikir.
Sinclair's hands pulled Vikir's bangs up.
Oof.
The bangs fell back, revealing Vikir's bare face.
"...hoh. Now that's a different story."
Mr. Pringles stroked his mustache once slowly with his hand.
Then, his mouth opened.
"Minimum wage, three months' probation. During the probationary period, I'll pay you seventy percent of your salary. If that sounds good to you."
Sinclair then turned to Vikir and grinned broadly.
"Hyung, that's a pretty generous offer! This cafe usually doesn't hire men at all...."
"I don't."
But Vikir shook his head.
A minimum wage job and an apprenticeship, which would leave him with no time to go slay demons.
Vikir hadn't intended to work here in the first place.
He was just curious about how much kids get paid these days.
'If I want to pay for school, I'll have to find a job that will pay well in a short period of time.'
Vikir was reminded that it's hard to make money with a regular job.
'What kind of job should I do? Monster hunting would be the best, right?'
Once the midterm season is completely over and the holidays are here, I'll go hunting for monsters in the nearby area.
Of course, Vikir knew exactly what dungeons were hidden near the Imperial Capital and what monsters lurked there, so making money shouldn't be too difficult.
But Sinclair, unaware of Vikir's thoughts, could only shake his head.
Then.
"Hmmm!"
Mr. Pringles coughed, for some reason.
He stroked his mustache with a hand gesture that was a little faster than before.
"So, how about no probationary period, just minimum wage?"
"?"
Mr. Pringles suddenly changed his tone.
Both Vikir and Sinclair shook their heads.
"No."
Vikir shook his head again, more firmly, and Mr. Pringles' fingertips twitched once in his mustache.
"Well, then, without a probationary period. I'll add 500 gold to your minimum wage, how about that?"
"No."
"Ugh! Then add 1,000 gold to your hourly wage!"
"No."
"Yuck! Then I'll pay you 1.5 times your hourly rate, just for that!"
"I won't."
"Ouch! Then double! Double your hourly rate! Work for me!"
"No."
Vikir frowned as he watched Mr. Pringles twitch his mustache.
At this point, it was Sinclair who was flustered.
She stopped Mr. Pringles with an awkward smile.
"Oh, Mr. Pringles. You must be disappointed. You're going to have a lot of female customers with my brother, aren't you?"
"Huh? Is that so? Oh, well, I guess that's true. I hadn't thought of that."
"What? Otherwise, why would you hire my hyung at double the hourly wage....?"
"Well, our cafe has a nice uniform."
"Yeah, right, except we only have girls' uniforms."
"Exactly."
"...?"
Whatever.
Vikir decided not to take the cafe job.
Leaving the boss's office, Sinclair lamented.
"All the good jobs around here are for women. Cafes, theaters, and bookstores are great places to work."
"Why don't you try cross-dressing? It might not be so bad after all."
Bianca, next to her, said with a rare look of seriousness on her face.
But Vikir shook her head silently.
"It's okay. I already have a part-time job in mind."
"Eh? Where?"
Sinclair opened his rabbit eyes.
There was no way he could say "demon hunting" right then, so Vikir just shut up.
Then.
Dolores, who had been waiting with her parfait, suddenly stood up from the table.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the 'copycat' again!"
She was trembling, clutching in her hand the newspaper that the mailman's owl had tossed through the cafe window just moments before.
[BREAKING] The Night Hound… a vicious act that knows no bounds!? / Views: 3,869
-The worst villain of all time, the Night Hound, has bared his fangs once again.
Last night, a group of students from the Varangian Academy, who were on a school trip to the Yellow Sea, were attacked by a night hound, causing great damage...
There were 00 minor injuries and 00 serious injuries... Among them was the head of the Varangian's academy, ...
Meanwhile, the Night Hound was not targeting the Varangian students in the first place, but had an ulterior motive, but the encounter was a result of the bravery of the Varangian students who spotted a suspicious person and came forward first...
Meanwhile, no fingerprints were detected on the only piece of evidence left at the scene, a "broken vodka bottle"...
ㅇㅇ(Cold Class 1st year): Wow;;; The Varangian kids must have been victimized…
ㅇㅇ(Hot Class 2nd year):ㄹㅇFor so long, I felt like I was a stranger because I was in the academy… but it doesn't feel like a stranger that someone my age got attacked;;
↳ㅇㅇ (Hot Class 1nd year): I can't sleep at night because I'm scared these days….
ㅇㅇ(Hot Class 1nd year): Really that criminal should be arrested sooner rather than later.
ㅇㅇ(Hot Class 2nd year): Wow, I'm so excited for the night hound… He's a villain, but he's cool.
↳ㅇㅇ(Cold Class 1st year): This is crazy;;;
↳ㅇㅇ(Cold Class 1st year): Isn't he a psychopath???
↳ㅇㅇ(Hot Class 3rd year): This guy needs to be checked out.
↳ㅇㅇ (Cold Class 1st year): But there are a lot of Night Hound fans in the academy;;;
↳ㅇㅇ (Hot Class 2nd year): Etta, they're just writing nonsense saying they're anonymous;;; I'm afraid I'll go blind ㅡㅡ
ㅇㅇ(Hot Class 3rd year): I'm a night hounds fan, I support you! Bring a wake up call to this rotten society!
↳ㅇㅇ(Hot Class 2nd year): Imperial Guard members are here!!!!!
.
.
Dolores looked at the newspaper, angry.
"This is not the work of the Night Hound, someone is copying him, a real villain!"
She jumped out of her seat and walked over to Vikir, Sinclair, and Bianca.
"I'm sorry, girls, but I have an emergency and I have to go. We'll talk about the attack test a little later."
"Yes, Ms. Chairman."
Sinclair and Bianca nodded obediently.
Vikir, meanwhile, was a little impressed by Dolores' glare.
'Did you realize it was a copycat? Excellent.'
Vikir read the newspaper article Dolores had left behind.
Apparently there was a madman on the rampage out there.
'No, not one, but two?'
Two copycats. One has been less active lately, the other is still on the rampage.
I was already avoiding eye contact, but now I was getting even more attention.
This had obvious advantages and disadvantages.
The pros are that Vikir's alibi is now stronger, the investigation is in disarray, and, hopefully, Vikir's crimes can be blamed on a copycat.
But there was one major drawback that all of these advantages didn't cover.
'It's that my vigilance is heightened when I'm acting as the Night Hound.'
This could disrupt assassinations.
The more vigilant a society's leaders are, the more guards there will be.
"...."
Vikir made a silent resolution to himself.
To eliminate the copycats, the fake Night Hounds, if possible.
'Once I do well in the attack test tomorrow, I will go straight to catch the copycat.'
I have to get a job, I have to study, I have to take exams, I have to go on assassinations, I have to catch and kill copycats....
Vikir's academic life is indeed busy.