A month and a half later—exactly two months since Yang Xiao had arrived at Seaside Park—he had spent every day rising early and sleeping late, training for a full two months.
But because of financial constraints, he had no choice but to find a part-time job first to make ends meet.
Two months had brought rapid improvements to Yang Xiao's physical fitness. He was now fully ready to begin training his Quirk. With eight months still ahead, if he trained both his body and his Quirk at the same time, the entrance exam should pose no problem.
That day, Yang Xiao searched online for part-time job listings and discovered an interesting shop nearby that was hiring. The shop was called "Problem Solver," and its listing stated: No matter what problem you have, bring it to Problem Solver and it will definitely be resolved. Problems that cannot be resolved should be resolved on your own.
"Damn, this description is complete bullshit." Yang Xiao smiled helplessly. Still, the pay at Problem Solver was pretty good—4,000 Huaxia yuan a month. And this was only a part-time job.
Huh, there did not seem to be much difference between part-time and full-time work...
Yang Xiao decided to check out this "Problem Solver." He felt it was a bit like the Yorozuya from the Gintama anime. The setup was similar enough; it all depended on how things actually worked.
After breakfast, while the sun was clocking in for work, Yang Xiao put on his shoes, grabbed his keys, and locked the door behind him. Problem Solver was less than a kilometer from the residential buildings. In under ten minutes, Yang Xiao was already standing outside its entrance.
Problem Solver really lived up to its name. The three characters on its sign were battered and worn, as though the sign had not been replaced in over a decade. Its rolling shutter was closed, and Yang Xiao could even make out grime and graffiti on it. It had to be the work of some bratty kids.
Problem Solver was located in an alley. There was a utility pole outside its entrance, and Yang Xiao could smell a faint stench beneath it. He had no idea which bastard had been relieving himself there.
Two large black characters—"Hiring"—were written in the center of the shutter. They had clearly been there for quite some time, yet it seemed no one was willing to work here.
Yang Xiao was starting to have second thoughts. Problem Solver was definitely an unmaintained shop. Even the owner was probably extremely lazy; otherwise, how could the front of the place look like this?
Whatever. Since he was already here, he would check things out first. Yang Xiao walked up to the shutter, knocked on it, and waited for a response.
Several minutes passed without the slightest reaction from inside Problem Solver. Yang Xiao knocked again, this time harder and for longer.
"Who is it?! It's way too damn early to be making this much noise!" As expected, Yang Xiao's method worked. An irritated voice came from inside.
Several dozen seconds later, the rolling shutter was pulled open. A silver-haired man with a toothpick in his mouth stared blankly at Yang Xiao. "Huh? Not one of those bratty kids?"
"What do you need?" Once the silver-haired man realized Yang Xiao was not one of the annoying brats he hated, his tone became a little more polite.
The bratty kids were children under ten. They usually liked scribbling and drawing on his shutter, and some of them had even peed beneath the utility pole outside. The smell was truly unbearable.
Silver hair? Yang Xiao froze for a moment. Could this really be the owner? He looked very similar to a certain someone from an anime, though there were some differences. At the very least, this owner looked far more worn-out and listless.
"Are you the owner of Problem Solver?" Yang Xiao asked while covering his nose. The smell from beneath the utility pole had drifted over.
"I am. Come in and talk..." The silver-haired man invited Yang Xiao inside, then pulled the shutter back down.
The room was very dim. Only after the silver-haired man turned on the lights could Yang Xiao see what Problem Solver looked like inside. It was something else, all right—an absolute mess. It did not resemble an office at all, more like a private room.
"Heh, it's a little messy in here. Don't mind it." The silver-haired man had already guessed why Yang Xiao had come, but he still asked, "So, what did you need?"
"Oh, right." Yang Xiao nodded. "I saw the job posting you put online, so I came by to take a look. Can I apply?"
"Of course! Absolutely! You can start work tomorrow." The silver-haired man immediately replied, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
Yang Xiao should have been happy, but seeing this guy's expression and attitude, he could not help feeling that working here might not be a good thing.
"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Wu Shiyin. You can call me Gin-san. I can pay you 70,000 Island Nation Currency here, paid monthly with no delays." Wu Shiyin spoke very smoothly, as though he had said those words countless times before.
Seventy thousand Island Nation Currency was equivalent to 4,200 Huaxia yuan. That was already pretty good for a part-time job, but Yang Xiao still felt that Problem Solver was strange, as though he had walked into a wolf's den.
Seeing that Yang Xiao was still hesitating, Gin-san said directly, "All three meals are included. Three meals!"
"Deal. I'll start tomorrow!" Yang Xiao agreed without a second thought. With three meals a day included, what the hell was there left to consider? Most workplaces were doing well if they provided two meals a day. Three meals were practically unheard of.
Some places even provided only one meal a day—lunch. Breakfast and dinner had to be handled yourself.
"Report here at eight tomorrow morning. All right, I'm going back to sleep. You can head home now." Gin-san yawned.
Yang Xiao said goodbye and left. He knew there might be something wrong with Problem Solver, but he could not worry about that now. The money on him would last him three or four days at most. After that, he would have to go hungry.
Things were different now. Problem Solver provided three meals a day. Regardless of the food quality, he could not refuse such a lofty job based on three meals alone.
"Heh, it's not often someone comes to apply. How could I keep him without using a few tricks?" Wu Shiyin gave a sly smile. After stretching lazily, he went to his desk, propped his legs on it, picked up his phone, and made a call. "Hello, boss? I've got an employee, so we're open for business. Starting tomorrow, I need monthly meal deliveries. You just handle the delivery. Remember, one meat dish and two vegetable dishes will do. Go light on the meat in the meat dish—make it cheaper."
"Congratulations, Boss Wu. I'll deliver it for you tomorrow, then," a man's voice came from the other end. After thinking it over, he still added, "By the way, Boss Wu, you should be a little more generous this time. There are only three dishes to begin with, and you want to cut down on the meat. He probably will not stay for long."
"You just worry about cooking. Are you paying my wages or something? I'm covering all three meals a day here. What do we need so much meat for? As long as it's edible, isn't that enough?" Wu Shiyin raised his voice.
"Fine, fine, I spoke out of turn. I'll deliver the meals on time tomorrow." The boss ended the call with a resigned remark. What he had not expected was that Wu Shiyin was actually covering three meals a day for an employee this time. No wonder he wanted to reduce the meat portions. Problem Solver's business had been sluggish for quite a while, after all.
More importantly, Wu Shiyin was lazy and rarely cleaned up the storefront. Who would want to come to a place with such a filthy, chaotic environment?
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