In a Hurry! Who It Is, I Won't Say!

Ian came to class today.

Most of the reason was to look for a backup plan here. Yes, Ian had remembered last night who that boy he had run into in the cafeteria was.

Sam Winchester.

A crossover character on par with Homelander and Hannibal.

He was probably from an old American TV show called Supernatural. Its story spanning over a dozen seasons was easy to summarize: Sam and his older brother Dean started by hunting ghosts. Then they encountered Demons and began slaying Demons. After killing the Demons, they moved on to slaughtering Angels. Once Angels were no longer satisfying enough, they finally killed God.

Perhaps the brothers in this world were not quite so fierce, but Ian believed their family definitely possessed the knowledge he needed—the ultimate answer to preventing his old man's death at the source.

"If you have a fever, I suggest taking some cold medicine." Sam recovered from his shock, his gaze toward Ian filled with the strange look one gave a lunatic.

The overly young Winchester clearly had not yet developed much courage.

"I'm sincerely asking for help."

Ian looked toward a girl chatting and laughing with her friends in the distance. "If you help me find the method I'm looking for, I'll tell you how to get what you want."

He had come prepared.

A true top student never took an unprepared test.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about." Sam's eyes suddenly darted away, and his face instantly turned red all the way to his ears. This was the true blush of youth, more powerful than any confession.

"You're so smart. You definitely know what I mean, and... you should also know what I can do." Ian wanted to use the carrot-and-stick negotiation tactics of the big shots in TV dramas.

However.

The cup he raised and swirled around was filled with cola, while a few streaks of sweet-and-sour tomato sauce still clung to the corner of his smiling mouth. He truly lacked the aura a big shot ought to possess.

Still.

Sam was not very old either, and he was indeed intimidated.

"You! You can't do that!" He anxiously slapped the table. Fire seemed to burn in his eyes, and his knuckles turned white from clenching his fists, though he looked even more flustered because of it.

"Why can't I? This is the land of the free, America." Ian lifted his chin. What he meant was that he had the right to pursue the girl Sam liked.

However.

"My dad is a man! You can't accuse him of molesting you! The police won't believe what you say!" Sam's train of thought was clearly even more abnormal than Ian's.

"..."

Ian was utterly dumbfounded by the other boy's wild imagination.

After a long while.

"That's not impossible. We could give it a try." Ian gave a thumbs-up to Sam's "suggestion." He felt that he truly was not suited to being a villain who threatened people.

"Damn it! You're too despicable!"

Sam became visibly more panicked after hearing that. He had been defeated by his own suggestion. "I'll go back and help you look into it! Don't drag my family into this!"

"They're innocent!" For some reason, Sam's reaction was enormous. He stormed off, leaving Ian sitting there alone, feeling that events had unfolded completely beyond his predictions.

"Gulp~"

Ian took a drink of cola.

He finally understood why Sam could not win over the girl he liked.

"We're both Family Men, so why are we so eager to tear each other apart... He reacted so intensely. This guy must be a fellow patient." Ian shook his cup of cola and lowered his head to take another bite of tomato pork loin.

He sighed from the bottom of his heart.

Then he forked the untouched chicken leg from Sam's abandoned tray onto his own plate.

Food was innocent.

The afternoon class was as boring as ever. The teacher droned on and on, while Ian lay sprawled over his desk with his head tilted, stroking the pendant Madison had given him as he stared at Madison without stopping.

"What are you doing?"

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable under his stare, Madison used her textbook to block Ian's view.

"Don't tell me you really want to date me?" Madison sounded suspicious. She felt that Ian had been especially strange today, stranger than on any other day.

"You can't earn tens of millions a year, have 36D breasts, sincerely love me, relentlessly pursue me, and buy me a Lamborghini. Why would you think I want to date you?" Ian sounded thoroughly confused. He had indeed been furious after his leveling practice was interrupted, but now that he was full and satisfied, his mood had stabilized enough.

Except.

"?????"

Madison was still stunned after hearing him. Seeing that Ian did not seem to be joking, she fell silent for a moment, then gave him a thumbs-up with a strange expression, genuinely impressed.

Once men became shameless, there was really nothing left for women to do.

"Can we be normal? What exactly are you staring at me for?" Madison sighed helplessly. She felt like a raw recruit in front of Ian.

"I was merely wondering whether you might be an awakening superhero, while I'm an ordinary NPC in your Origin Story who is forced to suffer heavy losses."

Ian stared at his personal panel and spoke with feeling.

Indeed, running into Lucifer indulging himself among mortals as soon as he stepped outside, then buying a mysterious pendant from a street stall on the way back—none of that looked like something an ordinary person would encounter.

"Green Wave Girl—no, Miraculous Healer... Damn it, I obviously have writing talent!" Ian wanted to give Madison a title, only to find that he could not think of a good name.

Touching someone could directly cure all ailments, so should she be called Touchy Girl? Self-Touch Girl? For nearly the entire class, Ian felt exhausted because his talent had never truly been allowed to blossom. Madison remained silent all morning in the face of Ian's harassment, while Ian spent the whole morning speculating about Madison's situation.

"First, I don't have superpowers. Second, my dream is to become an actress in Hollywood, not wear skintight clothes and fly around in the sky—though in your fantasy story, I fly like Superman, right?" Madison denied Ian's guess while displaying an inexplicable competitive streak.

"Being a star doesn't conflict with being a superhero. What a coincidence, my dream is to become a major capitalist and one day open a company that sends superheroes everywhere to uphold justice and make money for me."

"Come work for my company. You can be both a star and a hero... the two of us would directly make it a three-way win." Ian was just talking nonsense. He was actually considering whether he should create a The Boys comic. Ever since returning from that nightmare world, Ian had been considering how to activate the [Dormant Class] brought by Homelander.

"Open a company that orders superheroes around?" Madison found it hard to imagine such a niche dream, though she had to admit it was a very capitalist way of thinking.

"Also, why is that a three-way win?"

Madison's curiosity had been piqued as well.

"Of course, because you win once and I win twice. Add them together, and that makes three wins." Ian's answer was flawless. His utter confidence left Madison silent once again.

"Oh, right. How about calling you Wonder Girl?" Ian perked up again and tried to name Madison, only to receive Madison's faint, ghostly response.

"You're plagiarizing so openly. Did you ask Wonder Woman whether she agreed?" Perhaps Madison had been drawn into his nonsense too, since she had actually begun considering whether it was copyright infringement.

"Maybe I could ask?"

"That's hilarious. If you know Wonder Woman, then I'm Superman's fuck buddy!"

"Uh, that really isn't allowed."

The two whispered to each other.

Engaged in an intense discussion.

Since they were speaking quietly and did not disturb the other students, the teacher continued pretending not to notice. Then, just as the dismissal bell was about to ring.

"Ding~"

The bell had barely sounded.

When it suddenly stopped.

Ian noticed that everything around him seemed to freeze again, just like last night. The students around him included. The world before his eyes began rapidly losing color, as though makeup remover had been splashed over it.

At that.

Ian was not surprised. Instead, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The God of Gamblers of Metropolis had shown his power again, allowing him to confirm something else from the strange events of last night.

If he was not in a hurry.

Someone else always would be.

[PS: Please, big shots, keep reading. A new book really needs follow-up reads. I don't have monthly votes or recommendation votes either. My stats are miserable. If you vote, I'll do anything.]