Inside the empty staff area at the back of the restaurant, a rugged-looking old man sat on an old, vintage-looking chair, intently staring at Damien's bandaged injury with a scrunched-up face.
"Hmm... That wound sure looks nasty, eh?"
His questioning gaze shifted to Damien's face as he leaned back on his chair, reluctantly sipping on a cold cup of green tea his wife handed to him a few minutes ago.
"...You said you got in an accident?"
The young man gave him a bitter smile in response.
"Yeah, a lot of things happened and, uh...I had to spend an entire day lying on a hospital bed. But hey, I got my urgent money problem sorted out, so I guess what happened wasn't too bad after all."
"Tsk. Money this, money that... You could've just asked me to pay you in advance if you needed money that badly. Also—"
The old man clicked his tongue, shaking his head in disappointment as he took another sip of his green tea and made an unpleasant face, before stealthily putting down the cup to his side.
With a grave look on his face, he then tapped at the side of his own forehead.
"—You know, the head is too important a part of the body. Getting an injury like that at this young age like yours isn't worth any amount of money! Believe me, I've seen what a simple baseball bat strike to the head can do to even a strong, healthy man if it hits the wrong spot. So don't take my words lightly like an idiot!"
"..."
Seeing Damien remain silent at his words, Uncle Harold sighed a little.
"Haa... Anyway, I can't stop you if you want to quit right now. Though it's a shame, since those kids seemed to like you quite a bit. Whatever, wait here for a moment. I'll be back..."
He then got up from his vintage chair, walking out through the exit door of the slightly cramped staff waiting room.
A minute later, he returned, holding a bunch of banknotes neatly folded into a bundle in his grasp, before extending it in Damien's direction.
"Here, take it. I added a little extra bonus here too."
"Uh... But, I didn't even work here for a full day properly. This... this is too much."
Seeing the thickness of the bundle, Damien soon showed a difficult expression on his face, hesitating to accept his generosity.
The look on Harold's face hardened. He forcefully shoved the money into his hands, before vigorously slapping his shoulders in reprimand.
"Hey, I don't suppose the hospital bills came cheap, so don't try to refuse. You don't have insurance to cover that like others, do you?"
Damien shook his head after hesitating for a moment, indicating that he indeed didn't have one.
"As I thought, huh? Now listen, don't keep sweating about something like this. Just go home and rest. I'll also keep a spot open for you if you decide to come back after you get well, eh?"
"...Okay."
Left without a choice, Damien reluctantly accepted the money with a nod.
'This...sure feels weird.'
Honestly, when he came here to quit this unnecessary job, he didn't expect to be treated so warmly by this old man at all.
But it seemed like his straightforward character and honest behavior when he was purely the transmigrator Daniel, had managed to somehow melt this unfeeling old man's heart.
...It was an unexpected surprise, indeed.
Walking outside the waiting room with the cash given to him by the old man still in his grasp, Damien paused for a second in contemplation, before turning around with a resolute expression.
"...Um, thanks for everything, Uncle Harold. I'll see you later!"
Hearing him, the old man who was about to leave for the cash register abruptly stopped in his tracks. A tiny smile threatened to crack his usual stone cold exterior.
"...Hmph, I don't have a stupid nephew like you! Now go get your head fixed first before calling me that!"
Waving his head in the air without looking back at him, the old man then disappeared from Damien's view, leaving him standing there alone with a peculiar expression on his face.
'What the hell is this strange feeling...?'
Looking at the small bundle of cash that was barely worth anything in his eyes, a familiar prick assaulted his conscience – the same one Daniel had felt when he deceived this old man to get a job urgently.
"Hah... Looks like my dead conscience got revived a little."
Damien let out a suppressed laugh, pocketing the money he unwittingly fleeced out of the old man as he made a mental note to properly pay him back for it later.
*Crack~* *Crack~!*
Coming out of the restaurant, he then proceeded to crack his neck with a vicious smile on his face, dialing up his usual taxi driver.
*Trrrt–!*
– [Hey man, where to?]
"...Central Haven University campus. Pick me up from Martha's as soon as you can."
– [Sure, I'll be there in five!]
"Great, do that."
Damien hung up the call, looking at the current time with a narrowed gaze.
– [3:30 PM]
"Hmm... I'll barely make it in time, then."
The malicious grin on his face widened. Looking at the original protagonist's smiling photo he obtained from that guy's social media, he then let out a mocking snicker.
"...Hehehe, it's time for us to finally meet face to face, Alaric."
****
– Central Haven University –
It was getting closer to evening. A large swarm of students slowly poured over the campus cafeteria.
With most of their classes being over for the day, it was finally time for them to relax and chatter with their friends for a while over a light snack, before everyone eventually headed back to their dorms.
...Or went home, depending on whether their family lived in the city or not.
Alaric was also walking alongside a bunch of his other classmates, heading to the cafeteria with them.
There was a withered expression on his face. Despite all the hearty and jovial laughter coming from the crowd surrounding him, his eyes impatiently wandered around, seeking out the presence of a specific girl among all the others.
'She's not here either...'
Even after a few consecutive scans, he still wasn't able to find the girl he was looking for all this time. And it was only made worse by the fact that he had seen her coming to the campus a few hours prior to this.
'Why...why is she doing this?! What did I do wrong? At least talk to me, dammit...!'
Absentmindedly sitting down with his multiple companies, he roughly clawed at his thighs under the table, gritting his teeth at his inability to understand what was going through his girlfriend's mind.
He couldn't remember any arguments they had before this, no potential issues that could cause a rift between them like this, nothing.
It was like Sierra woke up one day and chose to ignore him like he didn't even exist – for no freaking reason at all!
'This isn't good, I need to make her talk to me. As soon as possible. But... how do I make her talk to me?'
This relationship thing with the opposite sex was something completely new to him. He didn't have any prior experience to deal with such problems.
...For a moment, he considered asking one of his friends for some advice.
But then he immediately dismissed that thought. Those stupid friends of his tended to get a bit too passionate about things when it involved him, to put it mildly. There was no saying what kind of stunt they would pull off to make Sierra talk to him again.
...And he wasn't desperate enough to go down that route just yet.
"Uhh... Alaric?"
As he was furiously pondering on what to do in order to get his relationship back on track, an unfamiliar, timid-looking bespectacled girl gently tapped on his shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"...Umm, are you not Alaric?"
The spectacle-wearing girl asked him once again, looking a bit unsure of whether she got the right person.
"...Yes, that will be me."
Alaric was obviously confused to see someone he didn't know asking for him. But nonetheless, he nodded at her, causing her to heave a small sigh of relief.
"Oh, great. Uhm, there is someone who wants to see you. He says it's urgent, about your recent problem with someone called 'Sia'..."
Alaric's confusion only increased as she kept speaking, but when he heard the name 'Sia' from her mouth, he immediately stood up from his seat, staring deep into the timid girl's eyes with an intense look on his face.
"Who are you talking about? No, where is he now?!"
The spectacle-wearing girl shrunk back a little under his gaze, barely managing to stutter out what the white-haired hunk told her to say earlier.
"...U-Uhm, h-he said he'll be waiting for you behind the old lecture hall, b-by the green fence."
Alaric's expression twisted a little. He was suddenly having a bad feeling about this.
But he soon shrugged off this baseless feeling. If whoever it was called Sierra by her nickname, then it had to be someone close to her family.
...Then, maybe whatever was wrong with her – wasn't related to him in particular. It could possibly be an important family matter for her, something that she didn't want him to know for some reason.
"Huff... Sorry for getting all worked up like that. And thanks for letting me know, I'll go and meet him."
He gave the timid girl an apologetic smile, before thanking her for taking the time to pass on this information. He then turned around, addressing his friends still joking around the table.
"Guys, I'll be going ahead for now, something urgent has come up. You guys can go back without me!"
"Okay."
"Sure, Rick."
"Uh-huh... So, where was I? Oh yeah, that creepy ridge by the hillside—"
They waved back at him for a moment, before going back to their conversation.
Alaric didn't stick around for their goodbyes though, picking up his backpack and rushing through the campus to reach the old lecture hall.
Walking around the building for some time, he finally came across the green fence area mentioned by that girl.
A bunch of short, green trees and shrubs littered the place. He looked around for a moment, unable to find anyone waiting for him there.
'Was that girl playing a prank or something...?'
But as soon as that suspicion entered his mind, a deep voice suddenly echoed in his ears from behind.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Alaric Vulkas."