<“DO YOU have a death wish, you Shittyhead?”>

Zirkus ignored Blob, the rude System.

He didn’t have the energy to bother with Blob since he was already nervous as hell.

After all, Enzo Fenton was in his room. To be precise, the future villain was sitting on the sofa in the living room at the moment.

[Thank goodness he can’t see me from there while I’m here in the kitchen.]

<“Why did you suddenly bring your first Catch here when you don’t have a plan yet?!”>

“Just shut up and let me use that ability,” Zirkus whispered while rolling up his sleeves. “The <Broke University Bro Skill> one. I need that to make ramen for Enzo Fenton before he kills me.”

<“Sigh.”>

It was funny how Blob spelled the word ‘sigh’ on the Window, but he didn’t have the luxury to laugh right now.

A normal delivery box suddenly appeared on the dining table.

Out. Of. Nowhere.

[It’s kinda creepy?]

Oh?

[It looks like a normal package from a delivery food service in my previous world.]

He opened the delivery box in a hurry to check the contents.

Much to his surprise, he found several packs of a famous ramyeon brand in Korea and many more useful ingredients. There were also a dozen of eggs, chicken stock, some greens, tofu, SP*M, sausage, different types of mushrooms, rice cake, cheese, a bottle of kimchi, gochujang/red pepper paste, ssamjang/dipping sauce, and other condiments.

And the best part?

The package also came with a shallow pot and a butane stove.

He silently hugged the box.

[All hail the System!]

“Wow,” Zirkus whispered to himself excitedly. “I can totally make budae jjigae with all these ingredients!”

***

ZIRKUS originally planned to make budae jjigae aka ‘army stew’ for Enzo Fenton because he received more ingredients from the System than he expected. But he changed his mind since he wanted to introduce the future villain to a simple meal first.

[And Enzo Fenton already looks impatient.]

The army stew would have taken at least thirty minutes to cook, and he didn’t think the future villain had that much patience to last.

Hence, he just cooked two packs of ramyeon with egg.

“It’s ready,” Zirkus said, putting the pot on the center of the dining table. It was a table for four, hence it wasn’t that big. “Let’s eat, Classmate.”

To show Enzo Fenton how to eat it, he picked up the soup bowl on the table.

He just found it in the cupboard earlier.

[Too bad the System didn’t send chopsticks. Should I ask Blob later?]

Then he used a fork to put half of the cooked noodles in his bowl.

That was when Zirkus realized that Enzo Fenton had his arms crossed over his chest, and it didn’t look like he had any intention to move at all.

[Aigoo, this kid…]

Zirkus stood up and placed the now-full bowl in front of Enzo Fenton. He even gave the punk the egg.

After serving the boss, he grabbed his empty bowl and filled it with noodles and soup.

“You should eat it now before the noodles get soggy,” Zirkus said, slightly scolding the boy. “If you’re worried about getting poisoned, then don’t be. I don’t mess with my food.”

He was too poor to waste food in his past life, after all.

To put Enzo Fenton at ease, Zirkus began eating his bowl of ramen.

It was hot, but he didn’t care even though his tongue was a bit burned. After all, he missed it so much even though it had only been two weeks since he woke up in that world.

He only wanted to show Enzo Fenton that the ramen was safe to eat.

But, before he knew it, he was already eating with so much gusto.

“Shit, this is it,” Zirkus said while wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead. “Classmate, try it.”

“If it’s not delicious, then I’ll kill you.”

“Sure.”

Wow, Zirkus sounded confident even though the threat actually worked on him.

[Why is this kid so scary?]

Fortunately, Enzo Fenton finally picked up the fork and took a bite of the noodles.

Oho?

Zirkus didn’t miss the moment Enzo Fenton’s eyes opened wide a bit as if he was surprised by the flavor.

[Instant ramen isn’t healthy, but it’s tasty.]

<“FLASH NEWS! Enzo Fenton’s murderous intent had decreased significantly. The future Disaster is calm now.”>

What the…?

Zirkus knitted his eyebrows, a little annoyed.

[Was Enzo Fenton just hungry?!]

***

“HOW WAS it?” Zirkus asked while placing a cup of tea in front of Enzo Fenton. “Ramen is good, isn’t it?”

Enzo Fenton picked up the teacup before answering. “Well, good enough for me not to kill you.”

“Thanks,” he said sarcastically, but he was actually relieved inside.

[Whew!]

“By the way, have you read the incomplete manuscript that I submitted to you?”

“Ah, that one with a stupid title?”

“Hey, don’t judge a story by its title.”

“I was supposed to read it this weekend, but I got busy.”

Zirkus scoffed internally.

[You were probably busy looking for Sea Monsters to buy. But your evil plan didn’t work, all thanks to me.]

Now he really wanted to know how Enzo Fenton got away with it.

[I already have a rough idea about how he got away with it, of course. But as a former reporter, albeit all I did was stalk celebrities, it’s still basic to verify the news first before claiming it as the truth.]

“I’ll read it tonight,” Enzo Fenton said while standing up. “It better be entertaining.”

For someone who had been receiving threats from the future villain from the start, he should have already gotten used to it.

But every time Enzo Fenton threatened him, he would still get chills all over his body.

[This kid is really scary.]

Of course, Zirkus didn’t show that he was scared. “I bet you’d gonna love ‘Garuto and the Hidden Soul Village, Classmate.”

***

“I HEARD Enzo has been looking for Huxford all morning.”

“They said Enzo looks mad.”

“Oh, then Huxford is going to die once Enzo finds him.”

Zirkus, who was about to enter the school dining hall, changed his mind after hearing his schoolmates talk about how Enzo Fenton had been looking for him all morning while looking MAD.

[What did I do this time?]

He didn’t attend his morning classes because he was too busy pigging out– er, making a plan to get closer to Enzo Fenton. After all, he needed to figure out why that crazy bastard ended up as a Disaster.

[But maybe not today.]

Since he was in a hurry to return to his dormitory room, he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings.

Hence, he ended up bumping into someone when he tried to turn into a corner.

Huh?

Golden eyes, blue eyes.

The blinding appearance of the boy Zirkus had bumped into was on the same level as the main characters’ attractiveness. But it wasn’t the stranger’s face that caught his attention– it was the Window in front of him.

<“Surprise again, Shittyhead! You found the KEY you need to find the items you’ll need to unlock the other abilities related to the <Trash Reporter Skills.>”>

“Huxford, your face!”

Huh?

Zirkus was surprised when he saw the “key” cover his eyes with his hands. “You know me?”

“Of course! I need to know all the names of the ugly people in the academy in order to avoid them!”

“Huh?”

“I don’t like looking at ugly faces.”

Wow, the disrespect.

Zirkus was about to tell off the student when he realized that the boy was clad in HOLY ARTIFACTS and RARE MANA GEMS from head to toe.

But he wasn’t shocked just because those items were expensive.

The thing that shocked him was…

[Was the fact that those items belonged to Rivo Creswell in the original novel!]

Could it be…?

<“<Nerd for Life> is now in use!”>

Thanks to that ability getting activated, he remembered a line from the original novel.

[“The Artifacts and Mana gems that protected Rivo Creswell all this time were a keepsake from a dear friend.”]

And that ‘dear friend’ would be…

Zirkus gasped softly. “Klaus Irvin?”

[The schoolmate that Enzo Fenton allegedly killed in the original novel.]

And also…

Klaus Irvin removed his hand that covered his blue eyes to look at Zirkus with an expression that said he wanted to throw up. “Huxford, your face is so offending.”

[And you’re gonna die later.]

There was another line from the original novel that flashed in Zirkus’ mind.

[“That dear friend of Rivo Creswell was a dragon– a dragon slain by Enzo Fenton for its heart.”]