"Regarding what we were talking about before," Johnny said, catching Dorothy's attention. "I accept. We don't need to do a contract or anything."It took her a few moments to figure out what he was talking about, and she narrowed her eyes as she asked, "What's with the change of heart?""I had some time to think about it while I was stuck in the toilet and decided to take the gamble," he said as he shoved his hands into his pants pockets.Dorothy grimaced at the mention of what he was doing in the restroom. She did not need to know what he was doing in there. It was obvious to anyone with a brain. At the latter part of his sentence, she immediately perked up. It was still highly suspicious how he decided to go along with it, but it would be better if he just agreed to her proposition.Unbeknownst to her, Johnny was listening to everything she was thinking. This was the reason why he readily agreed to her proposal. He would have never gone along with the idea if it weren't for his mind
"Johnny, do you have a plan?" Johnny's father asked the moment they returned home.Without hesitation, Johnny said, "I do.""Are you sure?" his mother asked with worry and concern written all over her face. "A month isn't a lot of time."It wasn't, and that's why he wondered why his parents had agreed so easily to the duration if they thought that. Well, there was no point in asking about it now. Instead, he needed to think about what he should tell them. He couldn't tell them the full truth, so he had to pick and choose carefully what he should say or keep close to his chest."It will be tough. I won't lie, but I already have ideas on how to handle it. Don't worry," he said.Their doubtful expressions made it clear that they didn't think the same. It was understandable since this was probably something they had not considered being brought up during the meeting. It was sudden and out of the blue. In that case, he needed to sell it hard enough to convince them that he had everything u
Rachel gnashed her teeth together and balled her hands into fists. That was impossible. There was no way she could have lost to some nobody. Even though he was the Burns family heir, they all knew it didn't mean much when he hadn't been with the family for long. He was basically a lucky stranger who got everything handed over to him on a plate.Johnny could instantly tell what she was thinking, even without his power. In fact, her thoughts were so loud that they were practically ringing in his ear. He almost sighed, thinking about how annoying it was to deal with someone like that. Johnny couldn't help wondering if this was her real personality instead of the one she had shown back in the beginning."Now that I have proven myself, what do you have to say?" Johnny asked, wanting to see what she would do now.Her father was the one who answered. "I can see no problem for both families to continue working together to run a successful business.""'I'm glad to hear it," Johnny said with a
Johnny stepped forward as he said, "Anyway, we better get going. We have a lot of things we need to get done."The two women looked at him with annoyance at having him interrupt them. He could hear loud and clear that they couldn't believe he would get in their way. Honestly, he wondered if he was dealing with a bunch of teenagers instead of fully grown women. Were they really the same women he encountered at the very beginning?He shook his head slightly and said, "Dorothy, let's go."Dorothy was reluctant to go, but she eventually caved in and followed Johnny. Before the duo left, the two women glared at each other, telling each other with their eyes that this wasn't over. Johnny was seriously questioning their maturity. He wondered if he had somehow been dropped in an alternate reality where they were immature teens.That was a silly idea. If he really did end up in an alternate reality, wouldn't he have realized it already? He was pretty sure it would be really obvious that he was
Now that the idea was implanted in Johnny's brain, he couldn't shake it off and started his own investigation. Of course, it wasn't that easy. He had to juggle between looking for clues and handling his daily affairs. There was the jewelry business, and he still couldn't figure out how he managed to make it work. The dating business was also hanging over his head.Dealing with the two women wasn't exactly something he wanted to do, but he had to suck it up for now. However, those weren't the only problems. He didn't have much to go on. If the monster thing was true, who knew what else he couldn't remember? He wouldn't be able to be sure if something was just his imagination or not.His investigation didn't go unnoticed, either. The ones that noticed the most were his parents, since he was using the family's resources to do some digging. He had managed to come up with excuses each time, but there were only so many times that he could say it was because he wanted to know more about the
"System, if this isn't an alternate world, could this be a dream or illusion?" Johnny asked.As soon as those words left his mouth, he felt like an idiot. While it was true that the system was probably his best option for answers, it actually didn't make sense in hindsight. If it was either of those options, why would the system know about it or be able to help him? It was all in his head, so anything the system said would be something he would think of.[The system wondered if the user would ever notice.]Startled, he stared at the screen for several long moments before asking, "Come again?"[The system was uncertain whether or not the user would ever recognize that none of this was real.]Anger coursed through his veins as he demanded, "Explain."[The system doesn't understand what the user is upset about.][This is a test designed to see if the user is worthy of getting a power or not.]His eyebrows shot up as he asked, "What do you mean? I thought I already got my power. In fact,
"System, is there anything you can tell me about the test?" Johnny asked. [The user already has all the clues needed to solve the test.] Johnny frowned as he considered the system's words. If that was the case, what was he missing? He had already gone over everything that happened in this fake world. Thinking it over, he still couldn't come up with anything. Well, he did have another idea, but it was so ridiculous that he couldn't bring himself to voice it without looking like a fool. [What will the user do?] However, if there was a slight chance that it might work, he had to take the chance. In the worst case scenario, he would just feel like an idiot. There was no one there to judge him for it, and he didn't think the system would penalize him if he said something wrong. It certainly hadn't done anything to him so far, so he didn't think that would change. "System, can I choose to return to the real world?" he asked. [If that is what the user wants, then the user can.] He star
Johnny focused his attention on the mysterious sixth screen, pushing aside all the others. Since he currently had five powers, it should mean that he should have only gotten five screens. What was the sixth going to say? His eyes widened as he reread the contents over and over again. No matter how many times he read it, the words didn't change.[Adaptation][The user has done the impossible and obtained multiple powers during the test. The user has proven that they are capable of obtaining more than one power without serious consequences or suffering any issues.][The user can earn new powers after the user meets certain criteria.]Looking away from the screen, he asked, "System, is this legitimate?"[The system doesn't understand what the user is asking. Please repeat.]He couldn't tell if the system simply didn't understand what he was asking or it didn't know about the sixth option. It was hard to imagine that the system wouldn't know about it since it was the one offering it to hi