I’d Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please - Chapter 156

In a well-lit and immaculately clean, to the point of seeming sterile, office, only a few blocks away from MF’s Fashion Boutique, a man in his early thirties, dressed in a white button-up shirt and black slacks, is furiously typing away at high speeds whilst seated before a computer setup with four monitors.

After diligently maintaining these efforts for some time, he pauses to grab a large insulated mug of coffee with one fair-skinned hand, rubbing his face with the other. Not that he rubs his face for long, as he stops while wrinkling his nose distastefully, clearly not enjoying the sandpaper sensation of his bristly overdue-for-shaving facial hair.

Shifting to hold the mug with both hands, he takes a moment to savor the aroma before finally enjoying a few sips, making a contented sigh once he’s done.

As he sets the mug back down off to the side, a cellphone placed a short distance away on the desk vibrates, gaining his attention. Once he unlocks the phone, he is greeted by the sight of Mr. Quack’s noble visage. He’s confused for a brief moment, but then chuckles and pulls a cord over, connecting the phone to his computer.

Bringing the recently received photos up on one of the monitors, he gets to enjoy another photo of Mr. Quacks. And another. And another. By the tenth picture, his expression has sunken from amusement into incredulous disbelief.

By the twentieth, the left side of his face is twitching, at least up until the twenty-second image, which elicits a small gasp from him. After deftly saving an additional copy of the shot containing all three members of the Sisterhood of Evil jointly holding out Mr. Quacks before them, he then continues going through the rubber ducky onslaught with a once again sinking expression.

After the thirty-fifth unsolicited duck pic, featuring Mr. Quacks nestled in Mark’s ample faux bosom, he takes his glasses off and sets them on the desk. While leaning forward to hold his face with both hands, his whole body is shaking slightly from his sardonic laughter. His phone vibrates once more, bearing what he can only assume at this point is even more Mr. Quacks glamour shots.

And, of course, he is correct.

While poor unfortunate Ji Soo is suffering from his mental breakdown, there is a brisk pair of knocks from the tightly shut door to his office. Before responding, he draws in and exhales a deep breath, running his fingers through his short black hair and then sitting upright once more.

“Yes?” As Ji Soo shouts this out, he picks his glasses back up and puts them on again, turning to face the door.

Without any further ado, the door swings open. A man walks in, and nearly everything about him is completely blue, apart from his white t-shirt and the similarly white sclera of his eyes. In what must be a very intentional choice on his part, the blue of his denim jeans is an almost perfect match to the indigo of his skin. Seemingly unconcerned with his unusual hue, he’s sporting a trendy chin-length side-shaved navy blue haircut, paired with a neatly short-trimmed full beard which is an equally dark blue like the rest of his hair.

Ji Soo subconsciously sits up a bit straighter as the recently arrived human-shaped blueberry walks into the room. As the visitor heads straight to the coffee machine set on a small table off to the side of Ji Soo’s desk, he makes a point of gently tapping on an air purifier while he is walking past it.

“Oh, uh, hey, Spectrum. Can I, er, help you with anything..?” While Ji Soo is clearly caught off-guard by his unexpected guest, he pointedly changes which of Mr. Quacks’s gravure idol-esque shots are prominent on-screen. The last thing he needs is anyone getting any strange ideas regarding his preferences.

His phone vibrates again. Mr. Quacks is infinite. There is no escape.

“Ah, rather than me, Jeannine is the one that could use whatever help we can manage…” Spectrum’s voice and expression both carry heavy concern, surprising Ji Soo even further.

“Wait, what? Didn’t she already leave for the day? With, uh, whatshisname, that guy that was thinking of joining C.A…? Right! Kamalani!” Even though Ji Soo is still sitting while he asks this, he has kicked off from his desk to wheel his office chair back far enough that he could readily stand up, were he so inclined.

“She came running back some time ago. Right now, she’s huddled on the sofa in the backroom, wrapped up tight in a couple of blankets. She might have calmed down a bit more by now, but from what I could make out of what she said so far; some group of three or so guys apparently were making some, er, vulgar remarks, and decided to have some fun when she tried to just ignore them. One of ‘em apparently cut Kamalani pretty bad when he tried to stand up for her, too.” While Spectrum is saying this, he has finished his examination of the coffee rig, discovering that there seems to be about half of a mug’s worth of something warm and ready to go. After a slight pause, he continues speaking, as Ji Soo seems to be stunned silent, being at a complete loss as to what to say.

“I’m not sure how far any of them got, and I certainly don’t have the heart to pry, doubly so in her current condition. But, apparently, some speed supe kid took them out. She said she didn’t stick around long enough to find out if he outright killed them or not, though. It sounded like she ran straight here, too scared out of her wits to do just about anything else, and I can’t say I blame her for not wanting to go home alone.” As Spectrum continues getting Ji Soo caught up on current events, he claims one of the clean mugs from a shelf over the table, flipping it over to set it down right-side-up next to the various coffee paraphernalia nearby.

“Fucking hell! Is she hurt? I can message Min-” As Ji Soo is shouting this out, he stands up in a rush while unplugging his phone.

“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t anything that’d be right to call him over for. I’d bet she got a few scrapes and bruises as she got away, but at least they didn’t cut her too. Kamalani probably could use his help, but, he ran off in another direction, hopefully to get bandaged up. I already promised Jeannine I’d give him a call in a bit to make sure he’s okay. I just really don’t like how much she’s shaking, though. So, I figure, the least we can do is help her warm back up. Hey, this isn’t anything weird, like that guano or whatever, right?” By the time Spectrum is done elaborating, he has finished setting the carafe back in place, having emptied its late contents into the chosen mug.

“Tch, don’t knock it till you try it. But, no. It’s a pretty strong batch though, here, I’ll take care of it and bring it out for her, go make sure Kamalani’s holding up all right.” As Ji Soo chases Spectrum off, he heads over and opens a small mini-fridge that only contains milk, half and half, a variety of creamers, and butter.

Spectrum just shakes his head and leaves the office, pulling his phone out of a pocket as he’s walking out the door.

After spending what most people would probably consider an excessively long time debating between two particular creamers, Ji Soo gets to work.

By the time Ji Soo has finished his modifications, the previously roughly 60% of a cup of coffee has now turned into a 90% full mug. After giving it a sniff test, he frowns slightly and then stirs in another quarter of a teaspoon of sugar before finally deciding it should be sufficient for Jeannine’s palate.

—–

Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas total deaths: 11

Lucas total assists: 1

Lucas current GDV: 17.03 (+.01 +.01 = +.02 net change)

Lucas’s fame level: 5.0* (Already beginning to receive authentic global attention. His local levels are effectively maxed.)

Lucas’s hero suspicion level: 2.5* (More than just passing suspicion for many paranoid individuals, numerous people have realized he’s an impulsive idiot.)

Jonathan total kills: 7

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 5.81 (+.01 net change)

Jonathan’s fame level: 2.5* (What fame he does have is predominantly local.)

Jonathan’s hero suspicion level: 3.0* (More than just overly-paranoid people are suspicious at this point.)

Willy’s fame level: 1.5* (Anonymous meme fame, local fame primarily as ‘Xenoclast’s dog’, but some strangers know him as William/Willy now.)

Supervillain social circle size: 15

—–

Little character theater:

To say that the human members of the Lynn family roster are having too much fun with the Mr. Quacks photoshoot would be an understatement. It has proven infectious as well, as the second half has evolved into featuring a double-shoot of him and Sylph now posing together, with every step of the way being actively supported by Mark, Miss Chievous, and Miss Masher.

Willy has been making some decent progress in his grooming, but, as Dan expected, the quick has grown pretty far out, so they’re pretty limited for how much can be removed comfortably.

427, who would absolutely be shaking his head if he could: ‘Why are BOTH of you like this!? No, actually, ALL of you!? HOW!?’

Author, cackling as they take behind the scenes photos of all the weird setup involved for the increasingly odd digital ducky documentation: You know, these are the photos that Ji Soo would actually use, heheh.

Mr. Quacks, greatly pleased to be receiving the exact amount of attention he rightly deserves, and in such finely feathered company: Quack!