Chapter 2: Afternoon Shift
"Hello, Manager Hanz."
Ethan greeted the man in front of him, who was currently busy ordering the uniformed personnel. They were restaurant employees.
"Why, it's you, boy. Good thing you came, or I'd be worried about what happened to you."
Turning around to face the young Ethan, the manager said.
Hanz was slightly taller and had a larger stature than him. He was also nearly completely bald.
Ethan remembered this person telling him he was like that even though he was still in his early thirties because it was in their family.
'Welp, I guess it suits him anyway,' he thought before bowing slightly.
"Manager Hanz, I'm sorry for missing the morning shift; I had a headache and needed to take a short rest; I'll attend my remaining shift now," he said, repeating the phrase he had practiced this morning.
"Oh? Who are you?" But his manager asked in a somewhat cold tone.
"Huh...?"
Ethan quickly raised his head. His face was plastered with bewilderment.
What happened? He mused but soon he heard a giggle from the man in his front.
"Haha! I like your expression! I've never seen it from you before," Manager Hanz said.
Other employees were also seen smiling.
He was the youngest of all the employees in this restaurant. Because of it, he was always treated as if he were a little brother by these people.
'What? They were the same people I know, right? Did someone mess up my time travel and send me to a parallel world? That moron!' he grimaces on his mind.
"My apologies, Ethan. I just found your tone somewhat formal and was surprised because you didn't stutter at all!"
Manager Hanz excitedly admitted the reason.
"Did something happen?" he asked.
'Stuttered? Ah! Now that he had mentioned it, I'm reminded of how easily I tense up when I'm talking to other people. Ack— just how pathetic I was in the past.'
Ethan paused before responding.
"...It's nothing, Manager Hanz; I just happened to read a series of tips on how to gain confidence in speaking yesterday, so yeah, I'm trying it out starting today."
Ethan stated confidently. Put some dignity into it if you want it to be credible, as the quote suggests.
"Is that so? Then I'm glad; keep up the good work; however, because you're late today, I'll cut your pay in half, you got it?"
"Of course, Manager Hanz," Ethan agreed and bowed again.
"Then I'll be going to change now, excuse me," he said before going where the changing room is.
After a while, he was done changing to his uniform. It was just a simple combination of gray color and small embroidery in the chest area.
"Alright. Man, I really missed this face," Ethan said while looking at the mirror.
His image ten years from now was slightly different from the current time.
His face was still clean, had no short beard, and was gentle-looking unlike the fierce one when he becomes a guild leader.
Surely, the only thing that never change was the handsomeness he carried.
As the time tickled at exactly three in the afternoon, he went outside and start his job.
His task was only simple, just delivering the orders to the customers and hearing their inquiries. A server, waiter, assister... or whatever one would call it, that was his job.
The wage is pretty decent however because 6 hours of work pays 100 Credits.
That amount was already enough for an individual to buy three days' worth of food.
However, since he has tuition to pay for the semester in college, rent fee for his apartment, plus he took an engineering course where there are a lot of miscellaneous things to buy, his everyday wage would surely not be enough.
But things are different from now on. According to the date, it was still in the middle of March. That means the game UTOPIA was still in the beta testing phase.
He saw an announcement as he skim through Twitter (yeah, it was still alive, as well Minecraft but in VR version) after he woke up for lunch.
A lot of threads were happening related to the upcoming release of the most anticipated VR game.
To play UTOPIA, a person would need to buy among the two things that ERIXIS, the company behind the game approved.
A VR headgear and a VR cabin.
Following extensive testing, the ERIXIS company has finally released the latest headgear with 90 percent neural connectivity.
Within the game, this headgear can already accumulate the user's five senses. However, some features could be fine-tuned further, hence the VR cabin was created.
It has neural connectivity of 95%, which results in a slight improvement in things like material taste, a more realistic sense of touch, and finally, better integration of the user's normal thought process and their character's renowned thinking speed due to stat increase.
However, the VR cabin has a higher price. It cost 50% higher than the VR headgear.
Ethan, after recalling these things, sighs.
He was not planning to go back to school anymore.
'Did someone say school? Only idiots went to school,' he was just kidding.
Of course, he still believes that pursuing a profession is the best option for a person because it can provide a decent job after graduation.
But Ethan had already decided that he would devote his time to gaming from now on.
'Seriously, I wanted to focus on gaming.'
As to what reason he was overjoyed to be back in the past? Obviously, because he can play again!
The only problem is, he can't buy a gaming cabin!
'I'm so poor!'
Just several hours ago, he was a man showered in fame, power, and money.
He had billions of credits in his bank account. He can buy anything he wants—except for the approval of the president of ERIXIS (not giving him a chance to change his class kek).
But right now, he was just a poor and nameless guy.
The VR headgear was exactly 2499 credits.
It was too expensive for him at the moment.
Considering his daily wage of 200 Credits if he works from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., he needs to work for at least two weeks to be able to purchase a VR headgear.
Ethan sighs again.
'Hmm might as well sell my body. I'm sure I could buy a cabin without delay.'
He suddenly thought and was not terrified for even a second.
What a courageous man.
"Hey, waiter! Didn't you hear her? She did say combination one. You might as well clean that ear of yours tsk," roared the teenage girl, dressed in a neat yet eye-catching academy uniform.
Pochi.
A small vein protruded on his head.
Ethan tried as hard as he could to force a smile and address the girl.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. Your companion's voice was so weak that I couldn't hear it clearly," he said gently, taking a second to write the order before speaking again.
"Combination one is it. Would you like something to drink, ma'am?"
"Uhh...um...er yes. I'd like pineapple juice please."
The other girl spoke in a somewhat nervous manner. Her voice was so thin that even Ethan must use his ultra-focus to hear the words.
She and the girl who roared at Ethan a moment ago have the same face and the only difference was their hair and expression.
This girl's face was gentle and modest while the other person was more akin to a ferocious beast.
Ethan was not surprised about the polar opposites of these twins because he already knows them.
In fact, these two were previously part of his guild, and executives to be exact.
The timid type, Shaina, and the girl who had mood swings every day, Karina.
They were from a wealthy family and have their school near the restaurant he was working.
Ethan remembered that one scene in the game. The older sister—by minutes only, Karina begged him to recruit them in his guild so many times.
Of course, he was a 'kind' person to not let the girl cry. Really, he was kind.
He knows they were skilled especially Shaina who was playing an assassin class. He was just teasing them at that time.
But right now, they were above him in terms of status so he must endure the swings of Karina.
'I will certainly bully you in the game, I will literally bonk you when we meet there.'
He thought while still wearing a forced smile.
"Alright, so that's combination 1 and pineapple juice. While for you, ma'am, combination 2 and apple juice," he tallied all the orders.
"It'll be served after five minutes, thank you very much for the order," he bowed slightly then walks towards the counter.
Ethan could hear a slight sound of irritation from Karina but he never cares.
'Heh, not gonna lie, I was under the impression that she was tough because she was like that, but who knew this girl was a crybaby on the inside.'
Ethan remembered the scene where Karina was crying on his shoulder.
Anyways, he continues his job and serve the other customers until his shift was over.
It was now evening so he planned to drop at the supermarket to buy some food—some cup noodles.
Goal number one: Save money to buy gaming headgear. Remaining days; two weeks.
This is the start of the battle between his gusto for delicious foods and thriftiness.
—
Author Note: Money Equivalent: $ 0.30 - 1 Credit.
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