The End of the Line that leads to a new Beginning (Part 2)

The sound of running water stopped and a young man stepped out of the shower cubicle with a towel around his waist. Approaching the sink, his eyes couldn’t help glancing at the mirror once again.

“I can never get used to seeing this face…”

It was a weird thing to say, but it was not without a reason. After all, the body was foreign to him. He remembered that when he woke up on the hospital bed, how relieved he was to be saved from the blowfish poisoning, only to find out that his body was not his own. Not only that, he also found out that he was transported to another world altogether!

Putting two and two together, he had concluded that he had died from the blowfish poisoning, but somehow, his soul went ahead and attached itself to this body. Now that he thinks of it, he truly regrets accepting the invitation to be a judge for a Junior Cooking Competition. If it were not for that, would he still be poisoned to death?!

Unfortunately, it’s of no use to cry about it now. At the moment, all he wanted to do was survive in this unfamiliar environment. Picking up the toothbrush from his set of toiletries, he began the process of brushing his teeth.

His eyes once again stared into the mirror and a thought crossed his mind.

‘Come to think of it… It’s a little off, but this face is a bit similar to how I used to look…’

Other than the hairstyle and the eye colour, he truly looked 90% similar to when he was still 18. He’d give it some more thought, but now is not really the time to ponder about it. Especially with the robotic voice that sounded from behind the door reminding him of his limited time.

[Student number 0341, there are only ten minutes left to your allotted 30 minutes. If you fail to reach the training ground within the time limit, your points will be deducted!]

As much as it annoys Chef-kun, there was nothing he could do. He could only pick up his pace, spit out the foams, wash his face and dry his hair. Once he was done, he grabbed the spare clothes that were prepared inside the bathroom and put them on.

As soon as he came out, the round robot from before recorded him once again. Chef-kun only glanced at it once before he exited the room, knowing that the robot would follow suit.

During the walk to the training grounds, Chef-kun couldn’t help remembering the first time he realised he was in another world.

‘Back then, I was too shocked at how advanced the technologies are here.’

Few days after waking up from his supposed death, he had learned a lot… in the hard way.

First, it was the identity of this body. He was a young man who goes by the name: A-kun, a student of this academy.

‘Though I say academy… it feels more like a labour camp,’ Chef-kun thought. Even the sports attire he’s currently wearing gives him the feeling of wearing a prison uniform.

‘Not only that, the punishment for failing a task was also ruthless!’

He recalled the unpleasant memories of him being punished for A-kun’s failure. The reason A-kun was in the infirmary in the first place was because he ‘died’ during training. That was the only logical reason why Chef-kun could occupy this body. The reason he died?

Cardiac Arrest.

During the ten kilometres run, A-kun died and he took over.

‘Maybe it’s because I was also dead, so I didn’t wake up even after the emergency treatment. So they rushed me to the infirmary. But… because of that, I had to complete the punishment in A-kun’s stead after waking up.’

Chef-kun really hated it. A 10 kilometre run was still alright. Even though he was a chef, he still exercises regularly. But the punishment was five times the original distance! And he has to complete it in two-and-a-half hours!

He immediately passed out in his new room after he finished the punishment. And the next day, he was punished again for missing morning training. His punishment spree continued for a week until he learned about the existence of points in this academy.

‘To think the damned ball won’t remind you about points if you didn’t have one. Just how bad was A-kun doing when he was still alive to not get any points?’

Points, in his opinion, are like a currency. A currency that can be exchanged for luxuries such as better meals, hot water, entertainment and much more. It can even be exchanged for an off-day ticket where you don’t have to worry about lessons, tasks and training for a day. But for him, all these are nothing but unnecessary luxuries.

The method to get it was quite simple. Just complete the task in a set amount of time or, if they are confident, just get to the top ten ranking at the end of each day. The top ten naturally get more points than normal, but to get to the top ten is as hard as finding needles in a haystack for someone like him.

Because of the difficulty of getting the points, Chef-kun doesn’t want his points to be deducted since they can also use it as a bargaining chip with the punishment supervisor.

That’s right. The points system is not just for the students, even the staff in this academy are using the same system.

‘Though… thinking of it, I find it weird that they also use points. And not to mention, each class has only one instructor, and every instructor competes with each other…’

Chef-kun’s thoughts was cut off when he felt a sharp slap on his back, making him wince in pain.

“What the heck?!” he cried out as he turned to face the perpetrator.

“What do you mean by that? I’ve been calling you for a while now and you didn’t respond!” the culprit, who is a young man with blazing red hair, replied. Chef-kun swears that it had to be dyed because no natural red hair can be of that shade.

“I didn’t hear you call me,” Chef-kun retorted.

“Huh?! I’ve been yelling ‘Kyle’ that everyone in the training ground could testify. You can ask them!” the red hair then pointed at a group of people who are waiting for them to join so they could start the morning exercise.

Now that it was mentioned, Chef-kun seemed to hear someone shouting ‘Kyle’ repeatedly. But he paid it no heed, thinking they were calling someone else.

‘Ah, right. This is also another thing I need to get used to… In this world, I am Kyle now.’