Proofreader: Tofu
First things first, food.
Because the smell coming from the kitchen was incredible and Jia Hyson was starving. "Maddy? Monroe?" He rasps out, feeling like a pitiful hungry kitten.
Immediately like she had her face against the door just waiting for him to call, Madeline Fenwick burst out eagerly. "Dinner is ready!" She grins, proudly running down to place the plate of her food onto the shoddy coffee table in front of him. "I give you the Mad Triple Cheeseburger special! Three patties, six slices of cheese, pickles, beetroot, lettuce, mushrooms and tomato relish on toasted bread! Your favourite!"
Jia Hyson smiles warmly at the bright and boisterous young girl. His memories as Adrian in the past hour had slowly seeped into his soul and the love he felt for both Madeline and Monroe was not weak. Even Jia Hyson, who wasn't really that fond of kids over six, felt like it wouldn't be a burden to dote on such a sunny child.
Bebe: What's wrong with children over six?
Jia Hyson: All children reach peak cuteness at around two and generally stay that cute until they hit six, then it really only goes downhill from there.
Bebe: I see 눈_눈
"Thanks, Maddy," His smile widens as his eyes set sight of the burger, mouth already filled with drool. As expected of the main character of a cooking story, the food she made couldn't have looked more obviously delicious unless someone wrote the word 'delicious' on top of the bun with ketchup. Even if it was messily made, he couldn't help but inexplicably find the ugliness adding further to the home-cooked charm. Adrian remembers that he was the one who taught her how to make simple but juicy burger patties, buttery mushrooms and create a fresh and tangy relish but while he's sure that she had cooked to his instructions, his own food while delicious and heartwarming, could somehow never compare.
Jia Hyson: Hey Bebe, will I ever get to be a main character too?
Bebe: Bebe thinks the story would have to be truly horrendous for that to happen.
Well. Never mind then.
Without further ado he hungrily begins to devour the large burger, taking large gulps of water in between to fill himself up even further. It seems, after a quick review of his recent memories, the trio had left his parents broken household and Adrian really hadn't eaten for at least three days as he worriedly tried to find even more jobs for himself on top of his current two to properly provide for everyone. His friend had at the very least, kindly allowed him to borrow one of his uncle's apartments but Adrian had both a large amount of pride and moral integrity, insisting that he'll eventually pay rent after two months if they can't find anywhere else to live. Jia Hyson wants to weep a little at this poor original host's life. Such a selfless good child! What shit author would write out such a hardworking angel from their story? Jia Hyson would've given him ten spin-offs!
'Bebe has seen host's works and there is a 70% chance you would have made Adrian suffer even more than the current author would have. Do not lie to Bebe.' Bebe interjects. 'Bebe knows this is one of your favourite character types to bully.'
Feeling extremely wronged for being called out on his sadistic tendencies but unable to rebut any of it, Jia Hyson ignores his system in favour of the much better and superior burger in his hands.
The inferior to a burger Bebe: ...
"This is delicious, Maddy," He praises genuinely, "did you add something extra in the sauce?"
"As expected of my big brother!" Madeline cries and puffs her chest out proudly. "I bought some chilli to give it a nice kick, as well as lemon and some melted cheese."
Jia Hyson stops mid-chew, feeling a little faint as new information provided by Adrian's last few days of anxious research suddenly swirls up urgently in his head. Apparently, Adrian had been so scared about their sudden change in economic situation that some of the panic still lingered even after his body was taken over. Asian ingredients like chilli are currently a very pricey ingredient in A country, especially in their city. It was currently the period of time before the hype of cooking competitions spread around the world and was really only for proper chefs to prove their worth so more exotic ingredients weren't as well circulated as they could be.
Now that he's no longer so ravenous, his tongue can also taste the fresh tang of lemon and tomatoes, and the smokiness of melted gouda cheese.
Suddenly the food in his mouth felt a little heavy and hard to swallow.
It seems after this he's going to have to teach the children the harsh reality of poverty.
...
The problem, Jia Hyson realizes, with the harsh reality of poverty was that he was also unprepared for it.
Jia Hyson came from an upper-middle class family and before completing his bachelor of science in university managed to snag a literary prize and multiple online awards, cementing his bright future almost immediately. The closest thing he had to a job was volunteering experience which after university, he really only did whenever he felt too much like a rich artsy trash. Unfortunately, that still didn't change the fact that he was essentially a rich artsy trash.
So after a few months of running around doing multiple part-time jobs, from the ever thankless customer service to the literally backbreaking construction work, Jia Hyson wanted to die. His only comfort was that Monroe had picked up the value of money quickly and while Maddy was still trying to process her sudden life changes, she was more or less very understanding to their economic plight now and no longer pestered to buy expensive ingredients to try out anymore, choosing to experiment with cheaper items instead.
Still, despite that, there were only so many hours in a day and because Adrian had to drop out, the jobs didn't exactly pay very well. He was very lucky though, many of his bosses and coworkers were both friendly and sympathetic to his situation and always gave him a little something extra at the end of the day, from small change to candy. It didn't change the fact that he had to face many jobs filled with the greedy, uncaring and just downright cruel people but since he had a good temperament, he hadn't been harassed too badly in his opinion. Still, Jia Hyson curses those people in his heart and itches to write a great face slapping story inspired by them but he really didn't even have time for that.
The idea of having to endure this for a few more years was downright depressing.
To think the protagonist would actually abandon such a good cousin like this over one fight! It was one thing to read about it but now that he was experiencing the true hell of serving in retail, he vows to make sure Madeline Fenwick fucking appreciates what he's been slaving away for. Especially once she marries into money.
God, Jia Hyson misses money.
Then again she had been fresh out of high school at the time and as a late bloomer was probably at the peak of teenage rebellion. Not that it's much of an excuse. Jia Hyson's way of venting as a teenager was through art, reading and depression, it couldn't compare to Madeline Fenwick who moved out of her house and had increasingly shameless sex on a reality tv show. At least Monroe seemed to be a good boy.
Jia Hyson sighs inwardly. He still has a while to seriously consider the best way to change the key plot point anyway, for now, he needs to use all his brainpower to consider basic living expenses, rent and Monroe's future education. He'll try keep some extra savings as a pretence for Madeline's college fund but at this point, that sort of thinking might as well be called delusional.
"Bebe," he groans, "next time make me a character that doesn't have to worry about money okay?" Currently, he was moving crates and doing inventory at a local grocery. Even putting half his points into his physical strength didn't stop his arms from trembling after a few hours of labour.
'Bebe will take that into consideration as well as requesting host not to be a whiny bitch.' Bebe replies shortly.
"My system used to be so cute and in awe at the great me," Jia Hyson mutters, "what happened to us Bebe?"
'Bebe realized Bebe's cheap host was not the top quality host, Bebe had been promised.'
"Cheap your sister! I am a first-rate, handsome author! You're the cheap one to reduce me to this!" Jia Hyson cries in his heart as he transports a crate of citrus fruits to refill the emptying section outside in the store.
As he spends his days working and bickering angrily with Bebe in his head, Jia Hyson is completely unaware of the increasing looks always thrown his way by both coworkers and customers.
After all, both Jia Hyson and Adrian were already very good looking men. The resulting combination of both of their attractiveness stats blew through the roof. Not only physically was he beautiful, with his tall, slightly muscular figure, his pale skin coupled with strawberry blonde hair and bright blue fox-like eyes, but his personality and temperament was equally as nice. Even the sternest boss must eventually melt and feel some sympathy toward such a handsome youth who had to work for his younger siblings' sake. Whether or not that sympathy shows through Jia Hyson's wallet is, unfortunately, another matter completely.
However, after almost a year, Jia Hyson finally received the opportunity he had been waiting for.
Adrian was originally configured to be similar to the protagonist since he was her role model. He was hardworking, stubbornly moral and kind-hearted, but unlike her, he was more old fashioned and much more prideful. Adrian refused to accept money from his friends, refused to ask for help from his biological family, and refused to show his siblings how tired he was. And, most adamantly, Adrian refused to use his good looks.
This was shown very clearly in a short paragraph of the story, where the author wrote about how Adrian would occasionally reject various modelling and acting offers when life was still prosperous for the young man. It was said that Adrian found it demeaning and how his face shouldn't affect how his talents should be viewed and blah, blah, blah. Basically, it was bullshit in Jia Hyson's magnanimous opinion.
What was important was that, despite getting many offers when he was still rich, Adrian only got one offer once he hit rock bottom. Jia Hyson has no idea why. Personally, he thought he looked even more pleasing to the eye once he started gaining a bit of defined muscle instead of maintaining his original skinny as a stick figure. Either way, of course Adrian had rejected the tempting offer after a few days of hesitation, choosing to keep slaving away at his multiple minimum wage jobs and probably dying from over exhaustion in the end.
Jia Hyson absolutely refuses to do that.
"Adrian?" Jenna, a petite university student working as a waitress in the same cafe he works in, prompts shyly again, flushing prettily as she glances up to take in Jia Hyson's unreadable expression. "I, I know it's a lot to ask since we've only known each other for a month or so but, but I'll pay you well I swear! I mean," she rambles nervously, "you've been really tired lately, and well, modelling isn't really too hard, well amateur modelling anyway, and you're handsome anyway so, um,"
"I'll do it." Jia Hyson quickly agrees, unable to bear the poor child's awkward rambling.
What pride? Can it be eaten? If it can't fill his stomach what's the point? The original Adrian was cute but he was a fool for refusing to use his god-given face.
"You shouldn't act so out of character." Bebe scolds, "Adrian didn't accept this offer."
"In the story, Adrian didn't immediately refuse." Jia Hyson objects, thankful that Adrian's character had been well fleshed out in the beginning rather than introduced terribly during the period where the plot was at its worst. "He hesitated for a few days as he seriously considered taking it for the sake of the money. He could have very well accepted the offer but Jenna had already turned it down for him since he was taking too long."
"So you think if Jenna let him have more time he would have said yes?"
Jia Hyson didn't even hesitate, "Of course. No matter how high his pride is, Adrian values his family more." He pauses and then squints down at his Bebe Bangle. "Adrian's main personality traits are very simple, even a child could understand... are you really sure you're not the cheap one out of both of us?"
Bebe: ... QAQ
Comments (1)
See all