“ARE YOU done talking to yourself, Huxford?”

Zirkus blinked several times when he realized that Yelena Dover, the hidden Mermaid Princess, was still standing in front of him. There was a respectful distance between them, and it looked like she was waiting for him to get back to his senses.

[I forgot that I’m talking to her.]

“How long was I out of it?”

Yelena Dover smiled before answering. “About five minutes?”

Wow.

He was so shocked by the System’s revelation about the Hidden Quest that he just stood there like an idiot.

It was a surprise that Yelena Dover waited for him politely.

“Sorry about that,” Zirkus said while scratching his cheek. “I spaced out.”

“It’s alright,” she said. Her speaking voice really sounded kind, huh? Well, it matched her gentle face, anyway. “Are you alright? You look pale. Should I bring you to the clinic?”

Oho?

He was surprised because this was the first time he was treated with kindness.

The people he had encountered so far would either directly insult him or just plainly ignored him. This was probably the first time he was treated as a human being.

[I’m quite touched.]

“Nah, I’m fine,” he said. “Thank you for worrying about me. And don’t worry because I’ll carry it to my grave.”

“The fact that I put an entire fresh fish in my mouth?”

Zirkus tilted his head to one side, pretending innocent. “I don’t remember anything like that.”

“Pfft.” Yelena Dover stifled her laughter, then she nodded politely at him. “Thank you, Huxford. As I thought, you weren’t as bad as the rumors suggested.”

“There’s some truth in it, though,” he said, shrugging. After all, Zirkus Huxford really used to be a bully. “I went through a rebellious phase and only got my sense back recently. But before, my behavior used to be as ugly as my face.”

“Hey, don’t say that,” she said gently. “You’re not that bad-looking.”

“Someone told me I look like a sheepshead fish.”

<“Because you do.”>

Of course, Zirkus ignored the rude System.

Yelena Dover, on the other hand, beamed. “Sheepshead fish are charismatic, though? Their human teeth are their selling point.”

Zirkus suddenly felt a little bit flustered.

Right, this was the reason why most of the readers didn’t like Yelena Dover as the heroine.

[The readers complained that Yelena Dover’s character is boring because she’s too nice.]

“You may not be conventionally attractive, but you have your own charm, Huxford,” Yelena Dover said while smiling encouragingly at him. When he didn’t respond (because he didn’t know how to respond to kindness), she changed the topic. “By the way, I think I held you up with your appointment…”

“Ah, no. It’s not that important,” Zirkus said while shaking his head. “I was just headed to the Auditorium Hall for some consultation since I failed the recent exam.”

“Me, too, me too,” Yelena Dover said, laughing as if she was happy to find a comrade in failing the exam. “I also failed the exam, and I was told my Aura is too weak. Hence, I’m actually contemplating dropping out of school. After all, I don’t think I’d be chosen to take part in the Internship Program.”

Ah, right.

It was mentioned in the original novel that Yelena Dover left the Holy Sword Academy during her Senior year.

<“<Nerd for Life> is now in use!”>

But the line in the novel suggested that Yelena Dover left the academy for a different reason.

[“Rivo had to leave his first love, Yelena Dover, because of the heavy responsibility on his shoulders back then. Yelena Dover, who wanted to heal her broken heart after Rivo left her, chose to leave the academy and returned to her hometown.”]

Yep, the original novel suggested Yelena Dover left the academy because Rivo Creswell dumped her.

But, obviously, that wasn’t the case.

[As expected, Rivo Creswell is not a trustworthy narrator.]

“Yelena, what’s your plan after leaving the academy?”

“I’m not sure,” Yelena said, shrugging. “Maybe I’ll return to my hometown?”

“Let’s talk later, Yelena Dover,” Zirkus said, smiling like the opportunist that he was. “I’ll teach you how to make raw fish taste better by then.”

[It’s time to introduce the Mermaid Princess to sushi.]

***

ZIRKUS needed to keep Klaus Irvin alive because he needed the dragons to fight alongside the human race if ever the Cataclysm still descended into the world.

And now, he found another student to recruit.

“Yelena Dover’s talent won’t be appreciated in the academy, so it’s better for her to leave,” Zirkus said while staring at the whiteboard in front of him. “But she can’t return to her hometown yet. I need her for my next plan.”

He was planning to leave the academy soon.

But he had to successfully “catch” Enzo Fenton first.

Then he also had to save Klaus Irvin from dying.

[The original novel didn’t mention how Enzo Fenton killed Klaus Irvin, so I need to keep an eye on the two.]

<“Did you finally figure out your true mission, Shittyhead?”>

“I think I do,” Zirkus said while nodding his head, then he pointed at Enzo Fenton’s name written on the whiteboard. “My first Catch is Enzo Fenton, the first Disaster. I believe “catching” him meant preventing him from the atrocities that he committed in the original novel. But that’s already a given, isn’t it?”

<“That’s correct.”>

“What the System actually means by “catching” the Disasters is to turn them into hope and opportunities.”

<“Quite close, but the System isn’t that cheesy. ‘Hope and opportunities?’ Pfft. You should like a teenager in a shounen manga.”>

Okay, he was a bit embarrassed because that was true.

“Just shut up and listen, Blob,” he complained before he continued. “By “catching” Enzo Fenton, I’m also saving the people that already died in the original novel. And if I wanted to build an institution that would nurture the future Fishers, I need people to nurture first.”

Enzo Fenton.

Rivo Creswell.

Nixie Winslet.

Klaus Irvin.

Yelena Dover.

“I need to pull all those kids into the ‘Fish Tank,’” Zirkus said, smiling. “A school wouldn’t be a school without students.”

And the remaining Disasters would provide the rest of the things he needed.

Other than students to recruit, he needed four more things.

Money and land to build the school.

Permit from the Ministry of Education.

Blueprint and the construction company that would build the school.

And finally, the teachers who would raise the future Fishers.

[I have to catch the future Disasters and use them to get everything I need to prepare my Plan B.]

“I’m gonna be the very best, like no one ever was,” Zirkus said while laughing like the villain that he was. Soon, he was already singing while dancing. “To catch them is my real quest, to exploit them is my cause~ I will travel across the continent, searching far and wide~ Turn Disasters to servants, their power is mine~ Disasters! Gotta catch `em all! It’s me and my luck~ I know I’m unlucky~ Disasters! Oh, you’re my best catch. In a world we must saaave!”

<“Tsk, tsk. I think we got the wrong guy to save this world…”>