I’d Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please - Chapter 157

Upon deeming the prepared beverage offering satisfactory, Ji Soo first heads back over to his desk and pulls open a large drawer, pulling out and donning a cloth face mask with multiple layers of carbon filters. After ensuring it is snugly in place, he pockets his phone, grabs the modified coffee, and ventures out of his safe space, carefully shutting the door behind him.

Out in the front office area, Ji Soo glances over to his right, checking to see that the front door set in the all-glass wall of the entrance has its closed sign in position. Noting that Spectrum is leisurely pacing while on his phone out in the shared corridor of the multi-tenant building, Ji Soo just turns to his left and heads in the direction of the break room.

The office in general has a distinctive art deco style, with a much warmer ambiance than Ji Soo’s private office. Walking behind the peninsula-style front desk, he purposely walks as close to it as he comfortably can, leaving the largest possible gap between himself and the wall bearing the large 3d sign spelling out ‘Concepts Anonymous’ in big blocky silver letters.

His coworkers might be understanding of his enhanced senses, but that still doesn’t compel anyone to climb up on a ladder to clean the damn dust and cobwebs out of that sign. Not that he blames them, either. Fuck that.

Making it into the break room, the first thing he notices is a tangle of multicolored blankets with a white face looking right at him, clearly spooked into looking up at the newly opened door.

“Hey, uh, I hope you’re… holding up okay? Here, I saved it from getting butchered by Boss Blue, maybe it’ll help you feel a little better?” As Ji Soo speaks to her in a softened, yet also slightly timid, voice, the blanket burrito seems to relax slightly.

A nearly pure white arm snakes its way out from the tangle, reaching out towards the offered mug, but then suddenly retracts.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I must stink so bad right now…” With a shudder, the young woman withdraws further and wraps herself even more tightly in the folds of fabric, visibly trembling a few times.

While Ji Soo clearly wasn’t sure how to act at first, his expression genuinely softens after this.

“No, no, it’s okay. It’s not like I haven’t smelled stress sweat before. Don’t worry about it, what matters is you’re okay. Here, here.” As Ji Soo says this, he finally works up the nerve to move closer to her, but not so much so as to invade her personal space.

Once more the alabaster arm sneaks out, successfully claiming the mug this time. As she frees her other hand out of the mass of cloth to hold the offered coffee with both hands, the one blanket serving as a hood over the top of her head slides back.

In addition to revealing a snowy expanse of perfectly straight shoulder-length white hair, an alarming amount of melanin-free skin peeks out from the blanket bundle. Ji Soo immediately turns his line of sight elsewhere, as overtly as possible.

“Ahem, so, Spec said that a young speed supe helped you out? Did you happen to get a decent look at him?” Ji Soo clears his throat and asks this, keeping his attention firmly locked on a large potted peace lily near a far wall.

As he was asking this, she had taken a small test sip of the warm beverage, making a pleasantly surprised hum once she does.

“Mm, it’s perfect! Ah, no, not really. I, uh, caught a few glimpses but I didn’t get all that good of a look. Um, he was in a black formal suit though, that kinda stood out? And he was a bit pale, with black hair? He looked awfully young for how much control he seemed to have too, so I guess he just looks young for his age, or something?” While Jeannine was giving her description of her speedy savior, she removes her left hand from the coffee mug and uses it to tug the blankets back over her shoulders, proceeding to hold them snuggly pulled shut in front of her chest. As soon as she finishes speaking, she takes another, larger, sip of her gifted beverage.

Shortly after she mentioned Jonathan’s suit, Ji Soo pulled his phone out, unlocked it, and began navigating the sea of Mr. Quacks’ pics until he gets to the first one that also included Jonathan’s face and chest.

“Was it maybe him?” Ji Soo asks this as he blindly holds his phone out towards her, displaying the selected image. Throughout all of these actions, he is still facing in the direction of the peace lily.

Jeannine manages to get a sufficient grip on the handle of the mug through the knot of blankets she’s holding in her left hand, claiming the offered phone with her right hand to get a better look.

“Oh! Yeah! That’s totally him! Hehe, what’s with the ducky?” Jeannine identifies Jonathan fairly quickly, and is just as quickly distracted by the majestic splendor which is Mr. Quacks.

“So it was..? Just what are they up to..? Ahem, he and his boss are why I’m doing overtime today. I have no clue where they came from, but they went viral practically overnight, and just started a new organization this morning. That…” Ji Soo pauses for a moment, sighing softly before continuing.

“That rubber duck is a registered founding member, which they consider their mascot… When I asked for art assets for their site, they decided to send… well… Feel free to scroll for yourself. I don’t take any blame for anything weird after a while, I only saw the first, I dunno, maybe thirty, so far?” Once Ji Soo proffers his picture perusal offer, Jeannine takes him up on it posthaste.

Once she is focused on the phone, swiping through at a leisurely rate and occasionally giggling quietly, Ji Soo wanders over to the other end of the break room.

Whether it was because he caught a whiff of something in the sink from where he was standing, or that the stress sweat was bothering him more than he wanted to admit, only he knows why he walked over and started washing the dishes that someone else left behind.

—–

Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas total deaths: 11

Lucas total assists: 1

Lucas current GDV: 17.17 (+.13 +.01 = +.14 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: 5.94 (+.13 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:

Now that the animals have had their time in the limelight, the real chaos begins. The group collectively manages only three normal photographs before they start goofing around. No one is spared from the wrath of bunny ears. NO ONE.

Once Willy has completed his manicure session as well as his share of photos, he and Franz have begun a slowly traveling game of tug of war. Franz is constantly dragging them both backwards, but Willy does manage to keep a firm hold, even when he shakes from side to side, his awkward spindly legs scrambling on the smooth flooring the entire time.

427 is thankful for his mute function, beyond the obvious reason, as he would be concerned that it would encourage Lucas too much if he heard his laughter at some of their antics.

Author, walking over to the edge of the stage and sitting down, kicking their legs in the air a few times as they face the audience: Yes, Mr. Quacks’s photoshoot game is so strong that it gave them a joint effort minor task completion.

Mr.. Quacks, exhausted after all the intense posing he just finished doing, but satisfied with a job well done: Quack.