Odd Jobs Shop

Life suddenly became leisurely.

A week had passed since the incident at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

Unfortunately.

Magneto had not come looking for him, leaving Kino somewhat disappointed. The Book of Kino had missed out on another "ability."

Rogue, Anna, had also been staying here for a week and had more or less grown accustomed to her new life.

"Hey, morning, Anna." Kino rubbed his sleepy eyes as he slowly came down the stairs.

"It's not morning anymore, Boss."

"Oh, right."

The hour hand of the large wall clock pointed at nine.

To avoid Magneto's threat, Rogue had agreed to stay here until the X-Men sent word. For now, she could be considered Kino's "secretary," paid fifty dollars a day.

"By the way, Anna, has the other side finished designing our sign?"

"Mm, Lake Design Studio sent the design mockups last night, but... I just feel like something isn't quite right." Rogue shook her head and pulled up the mockups on the computer.

Kino frowned after just one glance.

The background and color scheme were fine, fitting Kino's theme of being understated, unobtrusive, and meaningful. At first, Lake Design Studio had been utterly baffled. Was he sure he wasn't messing with them? What shop sign wasn't designed to be eye-catching and conspicuous? There was actually someone asking for the opposite?

Was this client an idiot?

But the ten-thousand-dollar design fee did not seem to suggest that...

Considering that he was Chinese, perhaps he wanted something more reserved, grand, and plain. After pondering it for a week, they had finally come up with this.

Kino was very satisfied with the style, but the translation underneath—what the hell was this?

—[A room with ten thousand things]

Translated back, it meant "a room... with... ten thousand things," or "a room containing ten thousand matters."

What?

Are you sure you're not screwing with me?

Kino glared at Rogue with a hostile expression. "Didn't you tell them what we do here?"

"I did, but... they said... it wasn't easy to translate." Rogue said, struggling to suppress her laughter.

It was too funny.

The boss ran an [Odd Jobs Shop]—a commission-based studio somewhat like a detective agency. It accepted all kinds of requests and helped those in need, so long as they offered appropriate compensation. That compensation was not limited to money; other things of equivalent value would do as well.

Of course, the Odd Jobs Shop did not only accept trivial commissions such as tailing someone or investigating cheating. Its scope of work was extremely broad. Murder was acceptable too, though they did not kill good people.

Besides, the Odd Jobs Shop charged a minimum of ten thousand dollars per job!

"Is Lake Design Studio shit or something? What kind of translation is this? Isn't this just like Lao Gan Ma?" Kino cursed sulkily.

Lao Gan Ma's original English translation had been "old and dry mother," meaning [an old, dry mother].

Pfft!

Kino had laughed over that before, but who would have thought the tables would turn?

Odd Jobs Shop had been translated as "a room containing ten thousand matters"!

Damn it, who would dare come through the door like that? Ten thousand matters... ten thousand troubles?

"If you don't like it, there's another mockup." Rogue covered her mouth and laughed again.

"Just looking at you, I know it can't be anything good."

Kino lowered his head and looked. Sure enough!

"The house of things"—a house with things.

Damn it!

A house with troubles?

Kino's face darkened again and again. Finally, he slapped the table in anger. "Tell them to design it using Chinese pinyin. If they don't understand Chinese pinyin, tell them to look it up."

Then he stormed off.

Rogue giggled before sitting back down and tapping at the keyboard to continue her work. This had been her job as a "secretary" for the past week.

After sending the message, Rogue looked up toward the stairs. She found this boss quite interesting.

He possessed such formidable abilities, yet he could still remain true to himself.

That was incredibly rare.

If it had been any of those Mutants who had suddenly gained tremendous power overnight, they probably would have been so excited they lost all sense of direction. If they were not setting fires, killing, looting, and assaulting women, then they would be robbing banks.

The worse ones might even want to rule the world.

Yet her boss could keep himself in check. Wasn't that amazing?

After a short week of living together, her initial awe and fear had gradually faded.

The only thing that made her a little uncomfortable was that her boss genuinely seemed to have no intention of flirting with her. Did he not find her attractive? That hurt her deeply.

Kino was also holding his laptop and browsing the internet.

"What are you looking at?" Maria Hill came over and asked.

"Looking for an English teacher." Kino answered without turning around.

After testing his own strength at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Kino had felt greatly reassured. In this world, he stood at the very top of the pyramid. For the time being, the danger had passed. So, he had spent the past week dealing with the shop sign. As a result, Kino had finally discovered his weakness—his English was poor, and he sometimes misunderstood sentences.

In some ways, English was similar to Chinese. Different contexts could give the same phrase different meanings.

Take "come on," for example. It generally meant hurry up, start, or keep going.

But at the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, when Steve Rogers was running with Falcon Sam, Captain America said "on your left" three times in a row. In the end, Falcon got annoyed and shouted, "Come on!"

That did not mean hurry up or keep going. In that context, it became a rhetorical complaint—"Are you still saying that?"

The same English sentence could mean different things in different situations.

Kino had suffered from this several times. With only a level-four grasp of English, he always got the grammar wrong. Emmmmm...

"Are you sure you're looking for an English teacher... and not young models?" Maria Hill rolled her eyes.

The screen did not display profiles for English teachers. Instead, it showed a group of beautiful women striking seductive poses. Looking more closely... wasn't this an introduction page on a modeling website?

Kino slowly raised his head. "Uh... did I search in the wrong direction?"

Maria Hill was speechless.

"You don't understand. If I'm facing some old granny, how am I supposed to feel like studying? So of course I need to find someone pretty." Kino turned back and continued his efforts... searching.

Maria Hill decided to add another note to her little mission report notebook—his thought process was abnormal.

Rogue was also rather speechless. Was her boss's mind really that unusual? Even if he wanted someone pretty, he should have looked on an agency site for English teachers! The profiles on model websites listed their specialties, physique, artistic skills, commercials, movies, television shows they had appeared in, and whose supporting roles they had played.

How could the young model circle possibly contain anyone proficient in both English and Chinese?

Emmmm...

There really was no one.

It really was hard to find!

But Kino did not give up. Finally, he found one!

"Aha! See? There really are young models proficient in both Chinese and English. Hehehe, I knew I was searching in the right place." Kino laughed triumphantly.

Rogue refused to believe it and hurried over. "I don't believe you. Let me see."