Return to Kansas Town

Thirteen years later.

In Kansas Town, the billboard that had once been destroyed by the meteor had been erected among the trees again, bearing the familiar words: "Global Creamed Corn Capital."

Vroom!

A roaring sports car shot past the billboard, kicking up clouds of dust as it drifted beautifully around the bend.

Its roaring engine propelled it across the fields and over a creek before it finally came to a sharp stop before an old castle that covered a considerable area.

Two young men stepped out of the car.

The driver had blond hair and a handsome, sharply defined face. His dark brown eyes were like an eagle's, paired with a high nose bridge and slightly thin lips.

He was undoubtedly a handsome, flawless man. The expensive suit he wore only further emphasized his good looks, making him seem like the perfect dashing prince from the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, the "princess" in the passenger seat was a bald young man.

The other man, with his smooth, round bald head, was Lex Luthor.

Well, although he had avoided going bald from being struck by a meteor, Luthor had still lost every last hair during more than a decade of schooling due to being too intelligent, becoming a bald young man.

Jino tilted his head as he examined the old castle before him, sighing with feeling. "Wow, it really is just like you said. It looks like a medieval castle, steeped in something called history."

Lex sneered. "You mean it looks old and run-down?"

Lex waved at the Butler guarding the gate, and someone quickly ran over to drive the car away. The Old Butler opened the castle's front doors with a proper smile, welcoming the castle's owner back to his residence.

The two walked along the tree-lined path, breathing in the fresh country air. Even their moods improved considerably.

Lex looked at his blond-haired younger brother and said irritably, "Congratulations. You've been exiled to this godforsaken town with me by that bloodsucker."

Jino shrugged.

"I just hope this damned castle isn't haunted."

Lex glanced at Jino's muscular build. Others might not know, but he knew exactly what terrifying power was contained within his younger brother's body.

If they really ran into zombies or some other monster, it would be the latter who fled.

"Come with me. I prepared a gift for you." Lex led Jino to the lawn behind the castle, where a silver-white sports car was parked on the broad grassland.

Lex tapped the body of the car. "A Bugatti EB110 Super Sport. It uses a quad-turbocharged V-12 engine and can reach 216 miles per hour."

"Congratulations on officially entering high school."

As he spoke, Lex tossed the keys in his hand to Jino.

"Come on, Lex." Jino caught the keys helplessly. "You don't actually agree with Father's stupid idea and plan to make me attend high school or something, do you?"

"Education is important. Also, you should call me big brother."

Lex grinned. Seeing Jino's frustrated expression made him immensely happy. He snapped his fingers. "Anyway, if you refuse to go to school, I'll tell Mother everything."

"You don't want her flying over from Metropolis to cause you trouble, do you?"

Hearing Lex's words, Jino immediately imagined his mother speaking in a gentle tone while twisting his ear.

The young man helplessly raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, I'll go to school."

Jino took life in stride. Since he could not resist it, he would accept it.

Besides, if he remembered correctly, the famous Mr. Clark also attended high school in Kansas Town. Clark's high school years had been nothing short of disaster-ridden. Going to school meant he would not have to worry about lacking Negative Emotions points. Over the past thirteen years, he had also figured out the system's rules. The maximum number of points one could obtain from a superhero or Supervillain was ten thousand. Therefore, if he wanted to exchange points for more items, he had to keep obtaining them from new heroes and villains.

Lex still needed to inspect the family factory in Kansas Town. Before leaving, he instructed Jino that he had to report to school today.

"Ah, high school life."

Jino looked up at the clear blue sky and instinctively thought of his miserable high school years in his previous life, studying under the grueling 996 schedule. Even after giving it his all, he had only managed to earn a pathetic community college diploma amid the tide of cutthroat competition.

"But now, it's all in the past." Jino smiled at the sun.

The gentle sunlight fell upon him, constantly nourishing Jino's body. He could feel his blood boiling and roaring. The terrifying power contained within this body was enough to make the world tremble.

Jino slowly raised his powerful arm, as though it had been forged from steel alloy, then opened his hand.

He lightly clenched it.

Boom!

The terrifying force detonated the air in his palm with a sonic boom, truly exploding the air itself.

"In this life, I'll never live so pathetically again. I'll embrace every beautiful thing life has to offer!"

With a calm expression, Jino tore off his black suit, revealing a white shirt beneath. He opened the car door and got in.

"High school life."

The young man smiled indifferently and said slowly over the roar of the sports car, "Here I come!"

The Bugatti sports car roared out of the estate and sped toward Kansas Town.

As he drove, the wind rushed past both sides of the car while Jino considered his abilities.

Thirteen years had passed since he copied Clark's talent. He had discovered that the talent copied by the system was the same as young Clark's, gradually awakening over time. For example, he had first awakened the Man of Steel physique and Super Strength, which allowed him to snap a small knife with ease.

"I wonder when Heat Vision will awaken."

Jino turned the steering wheel, and the sports car entered a wider country dirt road.

After taking another turn,

a yellow-brown school bus appeared ahead of him. Only then did Jino realize that his route to school happened to overlap with the school bus's route.

"Wait, that farm?"

Jino frowned as he looked toward the distant farm. Wasn't that the farm of Jonathan and Martha Kent? It was there that he had copied Clark's talent as a child.

As he was thinking this, Jino saw a figure emerge from the farm's red house. The person carried a red canvas backpack and had thick black curly hair and a tall, sturdy build, though the old jacket he wore looked rather unfashionable.

The boy stared at the distant school bus and lowered his head in disappointment.

Negative Emotions from Clark Kent +1, +1.

"The big gift has arrived." Jino glanced at Clark, who stood at the entrance to the farm.

The next second,

the young man slammed on the brakes, and the sports car came to a beautiful fishtailing stop in front of Clark.

Jino flamboyantly removed the sunglasses from his face, lowered his head, and looked at the young boy. "Hey, buddy, need a ride?"

Clark stared in surprise at the suddenly appearing, unbelievably cool silver sports car and the cool blond young man.

"Hello, but I don't think I nee—"

He had intended to say that he could run to school, but Jino interrupted him before he could finish.

With an exaggerated shrug, the young man said, "Come on, you're a high school student too, right?"

"I just arrived at this school today, and I'm on my way to register."

Jino pointed at the school bus gradually disappearing into the distance. "Do you want to walk all the way to a school several kilometers away?"

For those esteemed readers asking why the protagonist is attending high school, if you are curious, skip ahead to Chapter 20 to see the reason. Little Mo originally intended to leave this as a mystery that would lead into a major future event in the Wizarding World, but too many readers asked about it, so consider this a spoiler.