Good Fortune (1)

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[Side Quest 01: Good Deed]

[Task: Feed five homeless people.]

[Time: Infinite]

[Reward: $50, 20 EP, Good Fortune]

[Punishment: None.]

===

"An easy quest," Jack mumbled, eating an orange. "It doesn't offer much money, but I need EP more than money. But I wonder what's this good fortune is?"

He sat outside the house, enjoying the cool wind, when Granny stepped out.

"There's food on the counter," she said, noticing Jack. "You went off without breakfast, so I left it there for you."

"Are you going somewhere?"

"To pick Juan," she smiled. "If I don't go to pick him up from school, the rascal will keep roaming around."

Upon hearing this, Jack quickly got up, shook his hand clean, and pushed Granny back inside. She was taken aback a bit, but he didn't give her the chance to argue.

"I have something to do outside," he said. "I'll do it and pick Juan on the way."

"But—"

"Granny, you're old. So just sit back and relax."

"You don't even know the address…"

"…can you tell me?" Jack grinned, scratching the back of his head.

Granny sighed, playfully hitting his head before telling him the directions.

Jack grinned and then went off like a rocket. He went to the grocery store first, only to find Miyuki there. She was surprised to see him back so soon, but her worries were unfounded since he wasn't there for her. Not yet, at least.

Instead, he picked some food and water for $45 and left as quickly as he had entered.

===

Current balance: $4299

===

Jack shrugged, ignored the notification, and ran to the school. He'll pick Juan first, then complete the quest. After all, it would be rude to keep good fortune waiting.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at the place, considering it was the only school in the locality. He wasn't the only one there. Hundreds of parents were there to pick their child.

To pass the time, Jack looked around, but no one caught his eyes. Just then, he saw Juan waving his hand as he walked out of the gate.

"Uncle, what are you doing here?"

"Uncle?" Jack asked, playfully pulling Juan into a headlock. "Who are you calling uncle? Call me big bro."

"How can you be my big bro? Didn't you tell Granny to call you son? Of course. I'll call you uncle then!"

Jack sighed, ruffling Juan's hairs.

"You're too smart for your own good."

"I'm not smart," Juan said, rolling his eyes. "If I was, I wouldn't be last in my classes. It's more appropriate to say uncle is just dumb. You should thank god for giving you a pretty face, otherwise you'd be a lost cause—Ai, ai, ai!"

Jack's mouth twitched as he pulled Juan's cheeks. The brat looked innocent but had a razor sharp mouth. He won't be surprised if Juan's teachers didn't favor him because of it.

Others who looked at them smiled, commenting on how good their bond was. For a moment, Jack thought the same. He had never connected well with his family, and in this world he was getting to do things he didn't do there.

After a minute of cheek pulling, Jack took Juan's bag, and they left. As they walked, Juan pointed out they were heading in the wrong direction.

"I know. I have something to do," Jack replied. "There they are."

While heading to the school, Jack saw some homeless people around the corner.

[Side Quest Complete: Good Deed.]

[$50 has been added to the card.]

[Current Balance: $4349]

[20 EP was added to the shop.]

[Current Balance: 20 EP]

[Good Fortune awaits you. Something good will happen in: 04:59 hours.]

Jack clicked his tongue, realizing it wasn't an instant reward.

At least I know something good will happen soon.

That thought lifted his mood and turned to leave with Juan when he saw a familiar face.

"Mr. Jack, is that you?" Cindy asked.

As usual, she was on the way to improve people's lives when she saw him. She noticed Jack giving away food to the homeless, and that made her happy.

Someone she helped was now helping other, how couldn't she be happy after seeing that?

Jack looked at the interface, and the countdown was still going on. Which meant meeting Cindy wasn't the good fortune he had worked for. That brought him some relief.

Meanwhile, Cindy ran to greet him, but tripped and fell. Thankfully, Jack was there to grab her.

"We need to start paying attention to our surroundings," she chuckled, tucking her stray hair behind her ear. "Every time we meet, one or the other keeps falling."

"Miss Myers, still helping the homeless?" he said, offering her a polite smile.

"You know the drill… hehe."

"Uncle, who is this pretty lady?" Juan asked.

Jack was about to tell him she was an acquaintance, but Cindy beat him to it.

"I'm his friend," she said, squatting down to ruffle his hair. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Juan Mendez. I'm uncle's nephew!"

Cindy looked confused, prompting Jack to explain what had happened the last night.

"Oh, I see," Cindy said. "You know, we can always arrange something else for you if you'd like—"

So sooner she said it than her gang of apes appeared. At first they were relieved to see her as she had the tendency to run away, but frowned when they saw whom she was with.

"Look who it is," someone barked.

"His shamelessness knows no bounds," the cameraman scoffed. "He didn't accept the job, but keeps lurking around. Go back, pretty boy, we're not helping you again. Don't you have enough self-respect? Go feed on it."

Cindy looked apologetic and tried to stop them, but her kind heart didn't let her yell at them. Unfortunately, not everyone had a kind heart. Especially a kid who was raised in poverty.

Before Jack could stop Juan, he lunged at the cameraman and head-butted his balls. The camera man groaned and sank to his knees, only to receive a proper headbutt this time.

"Who are you calling homeless, you fat pig!" he yelled. "Uncle is staying with us and even paid our rent. He also fed these people. What can you do other than run your mouth?"

This dumbass…

Jack knew Juan had good intentions, but it wasn't something he wanted them to know. In their eyes, he had been a homeless person just yesterday, so how was it possible for him to pay their rent?

Even Cindy was taken aback by Juan's claims, but Jack moved fast, covering up the incident.

"The boy likes me too much, so he said some things he shouldn't have," Jack said, apologizing to Cindy. "We'll take our leave—"

"Where do you think you're going?" a crew member yelled. "You can just beat people and leave. I'll teach this brat—"

Just as the man was about to hit Juan, grabbed his hand, glaring at him in fury. He had tolerated everything they said about him, not wanting to escalate the matter. However, even he didn't care about the consequences anymore and punched him square in the face.

The man fell down as blood rushed out of his broken nose.

The crew members glared at Jack, but before they could do anything, people gathered around. They had seen Jack being good to Juan and also helping the homeless people.

In their eyes, he was a good man, and the crew became the villains. Soon, they began verbally bashing them for playing with people's emotions, saying they only helped other to gain money and whatnot.

Jack had died at the hands of an angry mob before and knew things could explode at any moment. He hugged Juan, trying to get him out of the mess when he saw someone throw something at Cindy.

Without thinking, Jack jumped in front of her.

"JACK!"