I, who advocate giving up, feel like a disqualified person

"Okay, since you think so highly of me, I'll think of another way." She was almost trying to entice me into saying that... I didn't really object, but her vanity is easily satisfied. How should I put it... she's still childish in some ways.

"Anyway, I'm really happy to meet you."

"Eh? Why are you still saying that now?"

"...If you hadn't come to me...perhaps my life would have taken a different path."

"Hmm..." She suddenly started staring at me. I felt a little uncomfortable with her stare. "What's wrong? You act like you're seeing a stranger."

"Ah, nothing much... I just think that the answer to the question you just asked is actually not complicated."

"..is it about how to continue living or something like that?"

"Right, right. You asked what to do next. Actually, didn't the answer to this question already exist a long time ago? As long as the two of us can live together, that's all that matters. As for what to live on, how to live... those tedious matters can all be pushed onto the game."

"Your idea is really subtle..." I couldn't help but sigh.

"One day wasted in the game is one day wasted in reality. However, compared to the painful and depressing memories in reality, I would rather suffer in the game."

"..Well, I don't really dislike that statement."

So be it - as long as I can be with her, I'm willing to do anything with her - not to mention she likes games as much as I do.

Encounters with excessively different attributes

A person's attributes are always predetermined from the outset. Whether they are a bad person or a good person, the source of everything is determined from the very beginning...Those who think they have changed their fate are actually just following the path that was always meant for them.

However, this truth cannot be explained to those who are self-righteous, those who believe that knowledge can change their destiny, and those who shout "there will be rewards for hard work." Especially those who shout "there will be rewards for hard work."

For example, investing hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars in a fraudulent financial product will yield no returns—even when such a simple example is applied to reality, even those incredibly foolish adults can't wrap their heads around it. Perhaps driven by poverty or sheer greed, some people will invest too much and ultimately achieve nothing.

Of course, this only applies to the average person. If it were a consortium with vast resources and financial resources, their investment would yield considerable returns... Well, even if investment truly guaranteed returns, someone with a thousand dollars investing would certainly not reap the same rewards as someone with ten million.

Why do we all put in the effort, but the rewards vary? Some people always try to attribute the disparity to a lack of effort. Unfortunately, effort doesn't have a price tag. If a lifetime of hard work could buy three generations of wealth, then the very concept of effort would be overvalued. Unfortunately, there's no shortage of hardworking people in the world, but very few possess immense wealth. Those who so-called hardworking individuals are merely pitiful individuals struggling for the meager sum left.

If that's the case, why should I strive so hard? This world is full of deception anyway. Whether we're struggling or struggling to survive, we all harbor the desire for a better life. However, the end of this desire is... spending almost twenty or thirty years just to find a place to live.

Well, if you put it that way, the meaning of life is actually not vague. To put it nicely, it is to find a place to live, and to put it bluntly, it is probably about saving money to buy a house.

Perhaps it's not a good idea for a high school student to dwell on these practicalities all day. However, if one doesn't think long-term, they're bound to have immediate worries... While I also want to recreate my three years of youth, I still can't seem to understand why people call a period of growth, where only the sexual aspects of the body and mind are overdeveloped, the most valuable period of life?

I completely, completely don't understand—as I see it, human nature hasn't changed since the beginning. It's evident from elementary school and early childhood, and it becomes even more unbridled in middle school and high school. Whether it's the urge to destroy or the desire to pursue something else... logically, living a carefree life, I should also pursue these things. However, as I've matured a little, I'm not very interested in anything during this period.

These are merely fleeting and superficial possessions. If there are anything in this world worth investing time to acquire, I think there are only two: money. This goes without saying, as money can buy many things and satisfy most desires. It is undoubtedly a good thing.

The second is technology that can make people make money.

This makes sense. Important things are always tied to more important things. Obtaining one means obtaining the other... While this doesn't apply to all valuable things, money is an exception. There are many ways to make money in this world, and money can replace many things.

As for true feelings and the like...ah, I don't need them.

【逢】Encounter with a huge difference in attributes

For many middle school students who are focused on their studies, clubs are little more than a distraction. Those who don't want to study use them as a temporary refuge. Given the school's inability to disband most clubs, the student union has been tasked with a time-consuming and somewhat unpleasant task. They investigate each club and eliminate those that are not doing their job and are harboring signs of corruption, as well as those with insufficient membership, such as just two or three members or one person occupying a club room.

Anyway, after this school rule came into effect, the student union members in charge of investigating clubs began their busy work. Meanwhile, clubs with too many ghost members and those with insufficient membership were also trying their best to attract new members... In short, after-school hours were always extremely busy.

"excuse me."

"Oh, are you here to investigate the gang?" I knew they'd already found this place. "Welcome, welcome. Would you like something to drink?"

"No need for that. Are you the club president of this club?" the other party asked directly, looking around. "The room is quite spacious. Did you bring all this?"

"What do you mean?"

I don't think I understood what he said.

"...Those flowers and handicrafts. Did you bring all these?" He looked at me seriously.

"No, I made all of these." I explained with a smile, "This is a handicraft club, so it's normal to have things like this, right?"

"Hmm...it seems that your members are very good at hands-on work...but why are you the only one here now?" He confirmed again that I was indeed the only one in the activity room.

"Oh, they are weeding and watering the flower fields outside the window." I said and waved out the window, "Thank you for your hard work~"

"Oh - it's okay!" "Just buy us some drinks later."

There was also a cheerful response from outside the window.

"...Looks like they're doing a good job. Not bad, much better than those clubs." He turned towards the door where the other student union members stood. "Okay, let's go check out the next club."

"Thanks for your hard work."

"It's okay, we won't bother you anymore."

After the student union members left, those who had been helping in the flower field immediately walked into the activity room.

"Was that person who just passed by a student council member?" "Huh? You're the only one in this club... How did you manage to get through?" "Are you going to be kicked out of the club?"

"How could that be? Seeing that I was doing my job well, they made an exception and let me off." I replied with a smile. "By the way, thank you for coming to help weed today, seniors."

...

Humans are extremely easily led, subconsciously filling in the gaps in information. Thanks to this, I only needed a little persuasion to deceive those who weren't particularly attentive. It wasn't that I wasn't serious, but rather that everything I presented was so natural that they couldn't help but believe it. So there was no need to go to great lengths to recruit people to join the club; a little deception was all that was needed.

"..Did you grow all these flowers?"

"..." As I was standing in front of the flower bed next to the gardening club, watching the flowers grow, a figure I hadn't noticed stood beside me.

She was a girl with long black hair, about my height, about 1.75 meters. Her breasts were well-developed, her legs were gracefully curvaceous, and her skin had a delicate, fair complexion. That delicate quality was particularly evident in her face, with fine eyebrows, bright eyes, and cherry-colored lips. Her features were so striking that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was one of the most beautiful women in the school. And most importantly, I had a vague impression of this girl.

"Indeed, I took care of it. Do you like it?"

"Hmm~ Although I like all flowers...but only those that are freed from the soil and sold as commodities. I believe that only bouquets made by human hands, influenced by human aesthetics and will, can truly be called flowers."

"...Oh wow, that's an interesting idea."

Okay, I remember now. Normally, I don't specifically remember people's faces. The only person who left an impression on me was the image that settled in my subconscious mind when I accidentally glanced at the honor roll every day on my way to school... In other words, this person was one of the top students, and her temperament was more refined than that of the average middle school student... As long as she was in this school, it was impossible not to know her identity.

I've never seen her in person, but right now, the person standing next to me must be her. The legendary daughter of a prestigious company, she'd come here deliberately to experience life, and (it's said) had secured the position of student council president through legitimate means, now controlling every action of the students.

"Is it interesting? I think it's just average—"

The faint smile formed by her slightly raised lips looked to me like the grin of a demon. What was her purpose in coming to see me... Was she discovered about what happened yesterday? But there was no need for her to come to me specifically.

"Logically speaking, the scenery that people see is not necessarily the most beautiful scenery. It only has its own value when it is captured by a camera. Anything that has value will definitely have someone to participate in... Am I right?" In short, just follow her words.

"Now that you mention it, I find it interesting too." She paused for a moment, the smile still lingering on her face. "Having said that, I remember you were the head of the handicraft club, right? Could it be that gardening is also a hobby of yours?"

"...I guess so. Doesn't the school rule say that one person can't be the president of two clubs?"

"That's not the case."

"...That..."

"By the way, I'm not very good at standing. Could you please take me to the club room and sit for a while?"

Although it is literally a request, I believe that to everyone, this sentence is a simple and direct command.

"no problem."

...

"Oh, wonderful—"

"Wow, that's amazing..."

"Really? What is this? Why is this happening..."

"Ah, this is unbearable~"

"Why does looking at such a simple piece of craft make you exclaim so much?" I couldn't bear it. It was like she was deliberately flattering me... It was so annoying. Yes, even if you were of a higher status, I still found her annoying.

"Sorry, I lost my composure," she said, still staring at a wooden sculpture in fascination. "Did you carve all these yourself?"

"I guess so...I don't have much to do normally anyway, so I do this kind of thing when I have time. It feels quite interesting."

"It feels like... there's something unique integrated into it," she murmured to herself. "But, since the wood itself isn't very good, you must have put a lot of effort into carving it, right?"

"No way, this kind of thing is not something I can decide."

"It hasn't reached the point of stripping away fate yet~"

"That's a sculpture, a stone sculpture. It's not much like a wood sculpture." Having said that, I'm definitely not up to par yet. And what she was saying was a story from the sculptor Rodin.

"I thought I liked this jewelry enough..." she said, pulling out a pendant from near her chest. "But now it seems that many things here are far more carefully crafted than this one."

"...that trinket...where did you get it from?"

The style is the ubiquitous, small cross made of polished metal. But that pattern... I've designed it before, and only made one, because I didn't have the right materials or molds, so it looks a bit awful... and I sold that sample to a classmate for a very low price.

"This one? I stumbled across it when I was confiscating jewelry, and then I asked a group of people at home to help me copy it."

"Huh...?" This guy really is... "Wait, so you figured out the author of this cross through that guy, right?"

"Correct answer~" The smile on her face became brighter.

Tsk, that guy has no moral integrity at all.

"I'm really surprised that you can use the convenience of the club to do business in school... I've never seen a student like you before."

"That's right... there's not much of a difference in age between us, right?"

"As the saying goes, ambition transcends age. In high school, you didn't waste your youth and studies, but instead focused on making money... and not by any shortcuts. You've piqued my interest, Yi Sheji."

"...Thank you for your kindness, President."

"Huh? You already know I'm the president?" She looked a little surprised. "Since when did you know that? From the very beginning?"

"..Your photo has always been posted at the school gate. I know that without you having to tell me."

"My photo has never been posted at the school gate..." A puzzled look finally appeared on her face.

"Huh?" What's going on?

"I'm afraid you're not talking about my sister. Although she does look a bit like me... I've dressed up to try not to be noticeable. But you can see through her immediately and even confuse us..."

"..."

"You are really, so interesting. I am very interested in you now——"

However, I have absolutely no reason to be happy about this situation.

"So, what exactly is the matter that has brought you here, Mr. President?"

"Eh? Why are you suddenly so distant?" She seemed to notice my alienation.

"..Nothing, I just feel like nothing good will happen..."

"How could that be? Even though I know you don't have any members under you, I still won't abolish these two clubs. If you ask why, I can only say...who makes me like interesting things? Especially interesting people."

"No, no, no, I'm not interesting at all. As you can see, I'm a loner and not good at conversation..."

"You've talked to me about so many topics, how could you not be good at conversation? Although you are a bit aloof, it may be because you don't want to actively make friends with others... But it's okay this way, it's not bad to devote yourself to the things you like."

"...Thank you very much for your understanding."

What's going on... this guy might actually be a good person. My previous impression of her as a demon was probably just an illusion caused by my wariness of strangers.

"Okay, enough pleasantries." She clapped her hands unexpectedly. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"

If I had the opportunity to record her expression at that time, it would help more people understand the meaning of the phrase "smiling with a dagger in one's heart."

"Business...business?"

"Since Mr. Sheji is half a businessman, he naturally understands that there is no free lunch in the world and the meaning of win-win cooperation, right?"

"..."

It seems my hunch was right. She's definitely...someone with some hidden agenda.

Rain after a long drought

There is no shortage of people in the world who have many resources.

However, there are only a handful of people who are born with the ability to use the resources around them to benefit themselves. Even if those who possess such talents cannot become leaders in business, they will not end up in poverty later.