Gwen, You're Hired

In the bookstore lounge, Mr. Russell looked at the girl before him in silence.

He had never expected that the first person to come apply for the job would be Ghost-Spider, whom he had happened to meet the night before.

"Russell."

Breaking the awkward silence first, Russell held out his hand.

"Gwen. Gwen Stacy."

Gwen reached out and shook Russell's hand.

There was a hint of surprise on her face.

Clearly, she had not expected the bookstore owner to be the man she had met only once last night.

Pulling back his hand, Russell smiled faintly and teased Gwen, "Gwen, may I call you that? Or should I call you 'Ghost-Spider'?"

"Just call me Gwen normally, Mr. Russell." Gwen looked embarrassed. Having her other identity exposed made her somewhat uncomfortable.

"You can call me Russell too. 'Mr.' makes us sound too distant," Russell replied gently.

"Okay, Russell." Gwen sounded a little more relaxed.

"Gwen, can you tell me about what happened last night? Did they find the girl the Vampire took?"

Russell asked Gwen about yesterday's Vampire incident.

Over the past three months, Vampires had been appearing in New York more and more often. He felt that something major was about to happen. If things went wrong, Russell planned to leave and lie low for a while.

Vampires didn't drop Attribute Points anyway!

"They found her, but she'd already been turned. Damn Vampires!" Gwen's voice sank as she spoke of the girl's fate.

"What happens now?"

"I took her home first and had her family keep an eye on her. She seemed terrified. Poor girl."

"Have there been a lot of incidents like this lately? I mean Vampires turning ordinary people," Russell continued.

"I've run into three or four this week." Gwen frowned. Clearly, she had noticed that something was wrong as well.

"This world... has a lot of Vampires?" Gwen looked somewhat puzzled.

She had arrived in this world by accident half a month ago and did not know much about its deeper secrets. Vampires did not even exist in her original world.

"I don't know, but they definitely do."

"You mean we could catch a few Vampires and ask them?"

Gwen looked at Russell, eager to give it a try.

Faced with Gwen's expectant gaze, Russell declined. "Not we. You, Ghost-Spider! I'm just an utterly ordinary person."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "An ordinary person couldn't calmly kill a Vampire with Ultraviolet Light."

"My mental fortitude is only slightly better than average by the tiniest little bit." Russell gestured with his fingers as he defended himself.

"Let's not talk about Vampires for now. Can you tell me about something else?" Russell changed the subject and asked about the "major event" from last night.

He had no intention of letting Gwen press-gang him into investigating the Vampires. Russell would much rather get Gwen to investigate while he shared the information.

"Which thing?"

"The two robots fighting last night. I saw on TV that you went over there."

Compared with the Vampires, Russell was more interested in what happened next with Iron Man and Iron Monger.

He wanted to know how far the Original plot had gone off course after Spider-Man's unexpected involvement.

"Of course, with Ghost-Spider's help, we finally defeated the evil Obadiah."

When Gwen spoke about her superheroic exploits from last night, her tone became much lighter.

Fighting evil and helping others brought her joy and satisfaction.

"You're saying that huge, clumsy robot was Obadiah, the COO of Stark Industries? And the other red-and-gold robot was Tony Stark?" Russell pretended not to know and played along.

Even a bystander needed to know how to be a good audience. He could not skimp on Emotional Value.

"Shh! Don't let that information get out." Gwen made a quiet gesture and lowered her voice to warn Russell.

"I understand, I understand." Russell nodded.

Without realizing it, Russell had already moved to sit beside Gwen.

Even though there was no one else in the bookstore lounge, the two of them instinctively sat shoulder to shoulder, lowering their heads as they whispered.

"I heard Tony Stark is holding a Press Conference this afternoon. Want to go take a look together?" Remembering a certain iconic scene, Russell could not help suggesting it.

"What's there to see?" As one of the participants in last night's major event, Gwen already knew all kinds of inside information and had no interest in the Press Conference.

"And... weren't we interviewing for a reading room manager?"

Russell's tone shifted as he said seriously, "Gwen, you're hired!"

"Ah!"

Gwen cried out, unable to keep up with Russell's pace.

Russell said, "This job isn't complicated. I'm sure you can handle it, Gwen.

"As for the work itself, you'll mainly be checking borrowers' identities, maintaining order in the reading room, and preventing book theft.

"As for exactly how to do it, use your own judgment."

Gwen said, "..."

Gwen was confused. What exactly did "use your own judgment" mean?

Russell reassured her, "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. I only run this reading room to pass the time, so whether it makes a profit or loss isn't important.

"As for the salary, I don't know the market rate either, so let's start with ten thousand a month. If you have no objections, we can sign the contract right now."

As he spoke, Russell moved to print the contract.

"Wait."

Gwen stopped Russell.

Though they were both visitors from another world, unlike Russell, Gwen had lived in New York of another world for eighteen years.

A monthly salary of ten thousand meant an annual salary of one hundred and twenty thousand. Even her father, George Stacy, Director of the New York City Police Department, earned slightly less than that.

"Isn't the salary a little too high? Also, can we not sign a contract?"

"We can discuss the salary again, but why not sign a contract?"

"Because... because... I..."

Was she supposed to tell Russell that she wasn't from this world, that she had crossed over from a Parallel Universe and was now undocumented?

Something that absurd—if she hadn't experienced it herself, even Gwen wouldn't have believed it.

Seeing Gwen stammering and racking her brains for an excuse, Russell couldn't help laughing.

"Haha! Then we won't sign a contract. Let's talk about the salary instead."

Seeing that Russell didn't press the matter of the contract any further, Gwen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Five thousand a month... no, three thousand."

"This is the first time I've seen someone think their salary is too high. We'll go with what you said." Russell smiled and didn't argue with Gwen over the salary.

"Russell."

"Yeah?"

"Can I get one month's salary in advance?" Gwen looked slightly embarrassed.

"I've run out of money. And I need to rent a place to live."

Only God knew how she had survived these past three weeks.

When Gwen had first arrived in this world, all she could think about was how to return home. But reality soon taught her a harsh lesson—food, clothing, housing, transportation, everything cost money.

Looking at the uneasy Gwen, Russell fell silent.

Were all superheroes this poor? Or was it only Spider-Man?