Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Future Insight (Athena)
"Do you want to activate future insight?" The system asked.
Yes.
I decided to wait when we arrived home to use it as I don't want them to see me spacing out and in case I saw something bad I can make the excuse that it was a nightmare.
My vision suddenly turned black before an image started showing.
I'm looking inside the house, in the living room. I looked at the window and saw that it was snowing heavily outside.
It looked like it's around new year's time. There were some lanterns and other festive decorations around the house.
"Captain Zhang, it seems like you finally don't need to worry about your grandson anymore. His shop is already very stable." A man said as he poured alcohol for an older man.
I know who these two men were. The older man was Seth's grandfather and the younger one was his secretary.
Is something going to happen to Seth's grandfather?
I continue to watch the two men drink and share stories.
After a while, the old man got tired and sent his secretary home while he went to sleep.
Around midnight, grandfather started having a seizure.
"Oh my god! Help! Somebody!" I shouted.
Grandfather suddenly stopped moving. He doesn't seem like he's breathing.
I tried to look around the house but everyone was already asleep. I cried in the corner hoping that this would be soon over.
It suddenly became morning, and the secretary knocked on the door and entered. He looked at grandfather first before heading to the incense burner and replaced it.
I looked at him shocked. What is he doing? He then checked grandfather's pulse.
"Captain, I'm sorry but this is for my son." He said.
He ran out and started shouting to call a doctor. He cried while he said that grandfather won't wake up, his body cold, and has no pulse.
I looked at that man with hatred. He...he killed grandfather! He did it!
"Athena! Wake up!" I suddenly heard Seth shout anxiously and saw him shaking my shoulders.
I felt so sad and heartbroken for the old man that I hugged Seth. I need some comfort from what I just saw.
"He did it. It was him." I said while I was crying.
Grandfather was the only one who was helping their family. He was our support, if he's gone, we would be without protection. Stepmother would walk all over us.
"Shh… Athena… It's okay. You're okay." Seth said as he hugged me back and tried to call me down.
I heard the twins crying beside me also. I shakingly push Seth to carry one of the twins to calm her down. Seth also got the other one and got them back to sleep.
"Seth, can you… can you sleep beside me?" I asked shyly.
I'm embarrassed to say that I need to feel the comfort of another person at this moment. I'm scared that if I go back to sleep, I will see grandfather's lifeless body again.
"Sure." He said as he moved the twins a little bit so he would have some space to sleep in.
"Do you want a hug?" He asked cautiously and I nodded.
I moved closer to him so he could hug me. I couldn't really go back to sleep as I'm scared to dream of what happened again.
"Do you want to tell me what you've dreamt about?" Seth asked after a while.
I guess he noticed that I'm not asleep yet. Should I tell him the truth?
"I… It's just a bad dream. I'm sure it wasn't true." I said nervously.
"You can tell me about it if you like." Seth suggested.
"I… I dreamt that Grandfather Zhang died." I said in a small voice.
"What?" Seth asked me, shocked.
I could feel his body tense up.
"It was just a bad dream." I said and Seth seemed to calm down but I could feel how fast his heartbeat was.
He must have been distressed when he heard that. I told him about the dream but I didn't tell him it was the secretary. I only told him that the faces were a bit blurry.
"Don't worry. Grandfather would be fine. It's just a bad dream." He said once again.
I'm not sure if it's for me or for the both of us. Seth brushed my hair with his fingers until I fell back asleep again.
When I woke up the following day, Seth was not beside me anymore. He must've got up already for morning exercises.
The twins were already awake and were staring at me, smiling happily.
"How was your sleep?" Seth asked as he entered the room.
It seemed like they were done with their morning exercises. I'm embarrassed to oversleep.
"Sorry. I overslept." I apologized.
"It's okay. If you're still sleepy you can take a nap in the store." He said.
That's true. We're a little bit free these days as there's another worker.
"Task Completed. 1 luck talisman received." The system prompted.
Oh! I'm finally done with the children's BMI! Finally!
"New Task Notification: (1)Open a new store in 6 months
Rewards: Land Appraisal Skill, Punishment: Body Ache for 6 months
(2) Get Ashley to have a skill reach to level 2 in 3 months
Rewards: Ashley's Badness level - 10, Punishment: Ashley's Badness level +10
(3) Get Brittany to have a skill reach to level 2 in 3 months
Rewards: Brittany's Badness level - 10, Punishment: Brittany's Badness level +10
(4) Get Christine to have a skill reach to level 2 in 3 months
Rewards: Christine's Badness level - 10, Punishment: Christine's Badness level +10
(5) Get David to have a skill reach to level 2 in 3 months
Rewards: David's Badness level - 10, Punishment: David's Badness level +10
(6) Leave the main house in 6 months
Rewards: 10,000 owo Punishment: All children Badness level +100
(7) Get Seth to acknowledge you as the head of the house. (Time limit: Athena's life span)
**Please see Seth's page to know Seth's acknowledgement level
Rewards: 1 future insight Punishment: Soul will shatter
(8) Buy Seth a truck in a month
Rewards: Seth's Acknowledgement Level + 5, Punishment: Bad luck for a month
(9) Stop Secretary Choi's attempt on Grandfather Zhang's life
Rewards:1 truth serum Punishment: All children Badness Level + 100
" The system prompted.
Oh my God! So many tasks. What is this Seth's Acknowledgement level?
The system opened Seth's page and it showed Seth's Acknowledgement Level that has 20 points and I need to reach 1,000 points to complete the task.
No wonder the limit is my life span. He might never acknowledge me. Why is the punishment so scary?
Ugh… I have so many things to do. Maybe I should choose a skill to help me with this. The children should also get skill to level 2.
Let me check the skills they have now. Ashley, Brittany, and Christine have cooking but Brittany already reached level 3, while Ashley and Christine are level 2 so I guess cooking is excluded.
David has a martial arts skill with a lot of sub skills and it's still level 1. Maybe, I could work on this one but I have no martial art skills. Should I get a martial arts skill? Hmmm… I won't be able to explain it to Seth. Never mind. Maybe there's a school where I can enroll him or something. If there's a school I should just enroll them all.
What were the other tasks? Which one ends first? Ahh, buy Seth a truck but why is the punishment so mean? 1 month of bad luck, it's giving me creeps.
Where will I get the money to buy him a truck? How much do those things cost anyway?
"Hey Seth, do you know how much a truck costs?" I asked Seth who was sitting on the register.
"Do you want to buy one? It's very expensive. I checked last time the cheapest was around 4,000 owo." Seth replied and my eyes went wide from shock.
The system wants me to buy a truck that costs 4,000 owo in a month! The shop's net income a month averages at 1,500 owo and the system wants me to buy a truck that costs 4,000 owo.
"Did you really want one? We can buy one but we'll have to take out a loan." Seth explained.
Yes, loan! We could loan it to the banks but do we have some credit scores?
"Can we?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah, I think so. I'll have to ask grandfather." He replied.
Right, grandfather. I wonder what we could do to save him. Let's think about that some more later.
"Can you? I was thinking it would be a good idea to open another women's clothing store." I suggested.
"Really?" He asked, shocked.
"Yeah, this shop has already stabilize plus it will be the end of the year soon. There would be a lot of people buying things." I said.
"Oh that's true. Yes, it would be a good time to open another shop but who will handle the other shop?" He asked.
"We can hire more people. I'm thinking of letting Cynthia be the store manager there. What do you think?" I suggested.
"Alright. Let's have Cynthia be the store manager of this shop for a month to see if she's ready while I go prepare the new shop." He suggested.
"That's a good idea." I agreed.
"I'll go visit grandfather tomorrow then." He said.
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