Chapter 123.


    <strong>Chapter 123. Preparations to Destroy a Scumbag’s Life. (4/8)</strong>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Are you looking forward to moving over to the new location in a week?” I figured I’d try to ask her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What’s this all of a sudden? You suddenly feel like talking?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No. I was just a bit curious, that was all. It’s a brand new location, wouldn’t you find it a refreshing change of pace?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm… I don’t know. Are you going to miss seeing me every day or something?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, yeah. I will miss you so much. Whatever will I do without the girl who handles all the small talk with customers?” I raised my hands up and shook my head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You don’t sound the slightest bit sincere.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well, we’ll still see each other on Saturdays.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“True. So it’s not like we’ll never see each other. I just hope whoever I work with is pleasant to be around. If they’re an annoying guy who tries to constantly hit on me I’ll be quite irritated.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’ll most likely be a girl if everything goes as nned.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh? Is someone you know being considered?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm… I see. If it’s a girl it should be fine then.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not so sure about that. I can’t see you two getting along too well. If I were topare the two of you, if you’re cold ice, she’d be a passionate raging me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m quite confident as long as it isn’t a guy hitting on me I can manage.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“If you say so. Just don’t let your wordse back to bite you. Though you’ll probably not be with her every day, only two days I think, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I don’t know anything about who you’ll be paired with on other days.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I see. I assume that person will be paired up with you on the remaining days then, is that right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, that’s correct. If she gets hired that is. She still needs to meet the Owner for her interview.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“As long as she’s pretty enough to meet the Owner’s minimum standards, I’m sure she’ll get hired. That’s all that woman cares about, appearances. Though… your gloomy expression is the only exception to that. To this day I still don’t get how you got hired at all. Does she have the hots for you or something? Did you provide some sort of sexual favors?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Of course not. Do I look like a yboy? There’s no chance in hell I’d be in her strike zone either.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Why not? She’s only twenty-seven. You should be about neen if you’re in your first year of university like me, right? It’s only an eight-year difference. I’ve seen forty-year-old women with guys who are thirty-two before, it’s not that out of the question.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Except for the fact that I’m actually fifteen. It’s a thirteen-year difference, not eight. There is a big difference between a forty-year-old woman with a thirty-two-year-old man vs a twenty-eight-year-old man. An entire decade. It’s enough to be out of her strike zone.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Though… Irene… Ugh. I couldn’t say anything when I thought about the fact that she was thirty-two. She just had strange tastes. Yeah, that’s it. She had a very youthful appearance despite her age and maturity, there wasn’t a single wrinkle on her face. She’d taken very good care of her looks and maintained them well. After all, her appearance affected her job, it was only natural she did so.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Honestly, I’d prefer if she could make a living with a single full-time job. Or just go part-time for both her jobs. I’m sure her children would be happier to see her working less. She’s been at this for two years since her husband abruptly passed on. The only alternative was if Alicia worked full-time. If she did, it would greatly affect her grades, something her mother didn’t want to see happen.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Irene wants her daughter to be able to fully focus on her studies and make a living doing something she truly enjoys in the future. The only way was if she got a job where she could study and work at the same time. Still, working full-time would be way too much on her, it would cut into her sleep and affect her health. The most Alicia could do was work part-time. That wasn’t enough to rece one of her mother’s full-time jobs though. It would still allow her to switch to part-time for one of them though.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Actually… if you took the tax reduction into ount, it might work out. Like me, Alicia wouldn’t be taxed on her earnings as a student. So there was a gain in that Irene’s tax burden would decrease both ways. Hmm… there was also Rosa though… she was going to start working as well. If that happened, then everything would work out even better.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She’d also be receiving money from her parents which she’d save. If Rosa contributed as well, then it would definitely be possible for Irene to survive off a regr full-time job.


    <span style="font-weight:400">In fact, the potential to save on taxes was immense, it could cut her tax bill in half like this. Both Alicia and Rosa should even be able to save money as well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">What the hell, when I thought about it, I got a bit excited.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I pulled out my phone under the counter, opened up a spreadsheet, and started working the numbers out using some estimates.


    <span style="font-weight:400">While I was busy doing that, at some point, Alicia had shown up. She’de for her usual drink. She always came for it without fail. She really enjoyed it way too much. I’d offered to just buy it and bring it back after work, but she said she enjoyed the walk outside. She always went for it as a break when studying, it was also her own personal reward forpleting two hours of studying every day.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Even over winter break, she was dutifully studying on her own. She was such a good girl. She used winter break to get a head start on the courses she’d face during the next semester. Truly, a role model.


    <span style="font-weight:400">I felt bad though. Because I’d been distracted with my little side project, I’d forgotten all about moving her drink to the front. She’d frozen in front of the freezer when she saw it at the back. Her lost puppy dog eyes were locked onto me. They were begging me to help her out.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hey, you forgot to go about your usual routine and now our precious customer is suffering as a result.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaaah. Yeah, yeah. My bad, I’ll do it now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Haaaah, if there’s one thing I’ll miss when I go to the other store, it will definitely be seeing this sweet girle in for her drink every day.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">I approached Alicia’s side and retrieved her favorite drink from the back of the fridge. I handed it over to her and she received it with a wide smile. She suddenly opened her mouth and said, “I thought I did something to make you mad at me and you were ignoring me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, I was just busy crunching some numbers and lost track of the time.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, I see.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Though those calctions were pretty useless considering how Alicia’s mother wouldn’t allow her to work even if she wanted to. For her to be hired while still in high school, she’d require written permission from one of her parents. Which meant she had to convince her mother.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The likelihood of her convincing her mother on her own is as good as zero. It would require cold hard facts to convince her mother, but this girl operated on emotions. Her mother wouldn’t be convinced with emotion alone.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Well, it wasn’t my ce to step into. Unless this girl worked up the courage on her own to make such a life-changing decision, there was nothing I could do about it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Uh… actually… Ran, there was something that’s been on my mind.” She whispered quietly while looking down at the ground.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What is it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well… about my mother… recently I’ve just been wondering if there was any way I could help her.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Help her? As in?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Well… you suddenly showed up and got her to quit one of her jobs, right? I was wondering if there was a way to take up some of my mother’s burden the way you did.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">It was quite a coincidence that we both had such simr thoughts.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You know that’s impossible, right?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Impossible? Why is it impossible?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“To do so requires money. Do you have a source of ie that can rece hers? No, you don’t, so you should just give up on wishful thinking like relieving any of her burdens. Focus on your studies like your mother wants you to. That’s why she’s working so hard in the first ce.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She appeared dejected when I told her what she expected me to say.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“But… you’re free to do what you want. It’s not like you have to do what your mother wants you to do. That’s what a teenager’s rebellious phase is all about.”