(24) Reality is never ideal

Lucas narrowed his eyes, 'Truthfully, I want to conquer Katlyn because I am curious as to how this relationship would develop. It's my first time experiencing this too. And...I feel dirty, I gotta wash myself off.'

'Really, they are not even 18 years old and already have criminal records. They deserve death I suppose, leaving myself out of course, I hope she remembers that I didn't do a thing and just bullied her with words.' Lucas prayed sincerely. 

Hatred would be present, but at least it would not be unquenchable. 

Lucas didn't care much if others killed each other or even committed heinous crimes. He would ignore it as long as it didn't affect him. 

It was the same here, Lucas wouldn't go out of his way to punish those bullies, but he wouldn't leave if a chance arose either. They did drag him into this shit, he had to pay them back with interest. 

Lucas was not stupid, he noticed that someone was pulling the strings in this incident. There was no way kids below 18 would do such a stupid thing without instigation. 

Things became complicated thanks to that. Lucas would be moving in blind unless he finds out about the instigator. 

'I will help her if she needs revenge, I am positive that she does. This would help me win her goodwill.' Lucas thought seriously.

The prestigious school that Lucas attended suffered a major setback due to this event too. The principal was able to immediately recover and even ascend only thanks to the bribes of the parents of the bullies. Its reputation was no good though, even worse.

'It has been around two months, the court procedure really took a long time. Katlyn's parents really fought very rigorously to get justice for their daughter. In the end, it was all for naught seeing the result.' Lucas thought while choosing clothes randomly. 

A mid-class family can't do jack against giants like a business tycoon. In this era, only position, strength, influence, and intelligence were all that mattered. 

'If concrete evidence is revealed, I will have to go to jail being innocent. Being a female lead, I am sure there is some trick here. Some weakness that can threaten me is surely around.' 

Looking at himself fully ready, Lucas did Syuzia's and his own hair once at a time. 

Lucas was not nervous about visiting Katlyn as she was still in a coma for two months. It was apparent just how badly she was beaten, luckily, it didn't seem anyone crossed the line, doing any sexual assault.

If not, this case could not have been buried easily.

Getting in the car, Lucas quickly took the cigarette packs and lit one using basic magic with no circle. 

Puff~ 

With nicotine in his lungs, Lucas felt he had been reborn again.

"...Is smoking good?" Syuzia tilted her head. 

Seeing Syuzia's cute image, Lucas relaxed his nerves even more. 

He began a long lecture to never smoke before 18 and the reason behind their visit to the hospital. 

The driver rolled his eyes unconsciously, 'Aren't you a minor yourself?!' 

No one noticed the driver's inner monologue, thanks to his serious face. 

The atmosphere around Syuzia didn't change even after she got to know about the purpose behind their visit. It didn't matter what Lucas did or wanted to do, she would just follow beside him. 

The smell of the cigarette lingered even though the window was open, but no one complained about it. Awakeners have a high tolerance for smoking, not even a hundred or so awakeners have died by smoking in the past two decades. 

Lucas's body was not accustomed to smoking causing a tingly feeling in his lungs. Still, he calmed down tremendously thanks to it. 

'I don't have to worry about any legal problem for now, most if not all it has been dealt with. I just have to guard against the revenge the protagonist may start in the future.' 

'Until Katlyn wakes up from her coma, no proof will ever reach the surface.' Lucas brushed off the bud of the cigarette in the in-built ashtray of the car. 

'The harem master did have some extreme situations like this. With the direction people's mind was developing then, many liked this reality-filled moment. Good? Bad? I slept with hundreds or even thousands of women without a care for their past.' 

'Only the immature would care about small information. Reality is not some fantasy, ideal situations are nonexistent.' 

Being a mature man, Lucas always knew to accept what we call reality. He was not childish enough to feel anything from it. That was why he always accepted anything with little to no complaints. 

Ring~ 

Picking the call, Lucas found it to be the family judge. 

"Hello?" 

"Good evening, mister Lucas. I hope you're doing well." 

Lucas relaxed his back and answered: "I am good, I guess. Is there something important you want to discuss with me?" 

The judge was taken aback by Lucas's mature way of speaking. He didn't receive any complaints about visiting the hospital as he expected either. 

"Well, I am sure that Sir Terence must have already told you. Please don't do anything to her, just offer a gift to leave a good impression of a friend visiting another friend." The judge spoke as if he knew what the past Lucas would have done. 

"It's alright, I am not a kid anymore. I won't create any trouble." A calm answer was received by the judge. 

Lucas didn't want to act like a kid for no reason, hence he just continued to speak as he did in his past life.

"I shall trust your words. I have been taking care of you since your childhood, so you just have to trust my instructions as usual too." The judge spoke with ulterior intentions. 

Lucas's eyes twitched a little: 'Is that old bigot trying to manipulate my mindset? He must be after my wealth huh...Manipulating the past host must have been a piece of cake for him.' 

Coldness took over Lucas's eyes, "Alright."

Beep.

Cutting the call with no hesitation, 'I didn't realize this before, but being the son of a rich family had demerits too, I suppose.' 

Getting an unneeded enlightenment, Lucas sighed helplessly. 

"Do I take care of that caller?" As if reading Lucas's mind, Syuzia offered, hiding her words from the driver using mana.

"...Someday," Lucas responded impassively, he was resolved to take care of it in the future if the judge became too much of an eyesore. 

It would still take more than ten minutes to reach the hospital, therefore Lucas opened the online website to see the condition of his song. He wanted to distract his mind elsewhere.

"....."

Lucas blinked blankly. 

Views: 3 million 

It was an amount that was produced in not even two hours. 

Looking at the comment section, many requested permission to remix or edit his song. 

Once Dead — this song had already spread worldwide at this time. 

This point made Lucas forget about Katlyn and just smile with sheer happiness. 

'Hehe, I should answer some comments...' Lucas went to the top comments immediately. 

[Don't be restrained by your past friends! I don't know what happened to Mister Lucas, but I will root for you to surpass the past.]

'Haha, I already did, but still thank you I guess.' Lucas thanked the comment and moved on. 

[The voice...voice, it's like a heavenly melody! I was enlightened today, I know what a true song is!]

Lucas replied: [I am happy that you think so *smiley emoji*]

Next comments-

[I am a young idol and I would like to ask for some pointers from sir! I work for this crew ****** ********]

This comment attracted much attention particularly, as many noticed that it was a real message looking at the channel of the commenter. 

[I almost tripped and fell from the steps, getting lost in this song!]

-Lol me too.

And this comment had the highest number of replies. 

Surfing through the internet, Time passed by without him noticing. 

"We have arrived." The driver announced to Lucas who was reading the comments.

"Oh..." And the reality welcomed Lucas.