"Here's the braindance you ordered. This one's yours… and you—wait, you wanted the special custom edition, right? That one will take a little longer. My associate is picking it up now."
"Associate?"
Hearing Gaius say that, the male students conducting the deal in the secluded corner looked confused.
Then, they saw David hurrying toward them, slightly out of breath.
"Wait… it's you? David Martinez?!"
Up until now, David had been careful about picking his customers—only selling to those he was sure wouldn't expose him.
Most students at Arasaka Academy knew there was a mysterious black-market braindance dealer on campus—
But they had never known it was him.
Seeing his face now?
It shocked them.
Especially his classmates—
The students who had always seen him at the top of the class rankings.
Watching him now, standing there handing out illegal braindances, their emotions were complicated.
The straight-A student of their class—
Was secretly selling braindances on the side?
A few students, particularly those who read a lot of Japanese novels, had all kinds of strange storylines flash through their heads.
At the same time, an unexpected feeling of relief washed over them.
"Huh… maybe this guy isn't as annoying as I thought."
"So he's not some perfect, untouchable genius. Selling BDs in school? That's hilarious. In the end, he's still just some poor kid from Santo Domingo."
Many of the students who came from corporate backgrounds had always hated David.
He was just a nobody, yet he outperformed them.
Raised in families where competition was everything, they had been conditioned to compare themselves against others.
And when they realized they couldn't beat him in academics, it frustrated them.
But now—
Seeing this side of David—
They felt different.
That natural corporate arrogance they had, the superiority they were born with—
It came back.
"No matter how good his grades are, no matter how much he plays the part in class… at the end of the day, he's just a poor kid from Santo Domingo. When it's time for corporate recruitment, he'll get rejected anyway. No connections? And you think you'll get into Arasaka?"
Many of David's classmates, who once viewed him with hostility, now looked at him with far less resentment.
Seeing him hustling to sell BDs, working under a street braindance dealer like Gaius, they didn't feel threatened anymore.
"He may be an official Arasaka Academy student, but he's already stuck doing errands for some street vendor. Let's be real—his future's just gonna be selling braindances on the street."
Their feelings toward him shifted—
But their actions didn't slow down.
If anything, they smiled at him—
Now that they knew who he was, they leveraged their classmate status to try and get their orders first.
Recess was short—
The sooner they got their braindance, the better.
And if smiling at someone helped speed up the process—so what?
"We're all classmates, after all."
David had no idea what was going through their heads.
To him, it was simple—
Customers were customers.
And as long as they paid, he didn't mind smiling back.
The braindance business was booming—far better than David had anticipated.
His account balance kept rising, euro after euro flowing in.
Even though he knew—
This insane demand for braindances wouldn't last forever.
Once most of the students had gotten the braindances they wanted, the future sales would likely drop to a tenth of what they were today—and that would already be impressive.
But watching the numbers in his bank account steadily rise, David's smile grew wider and more genuine.
"Damn… I can actually make this much money? If I had known earlier, I—"
No.
If it weren't for Gaius, he wouldn't have had the guts to sell in such large quantities.
He wouldn't have had the funds to buy this many braindances in the first place.
As he worked, David glanced at Gaius, and a thought crossed his mind.
Even though Gaius had told him that all the profits from today's sales were his, David felt uneasy keeping so much money for himself.
After all, it was Gaius's investment that made this possible.
Gaius had been the one to supply the goods, set up the sales, and even handle transactions—David had only played a minor role.
He didn't feel right pocketing such a large sum.
Then, he thought about his mother—
The way she had genuinely smiled last night when talking about how he was making friends—
The rare moment of happiness she showed while eating.
With that in mind, after recess ended, David transferred all of the money he had earned to Gaius.
Since they were connected through personal terminals, the transfer didn't require any hacking—just a simple confirmation for Gaius to accept the payment.
"This is the money from today's sales during recess."
David sent a message along with the transfer request.
But—
Gaius rejected it.
"I already told you—today's earnings are yours. No need to send it back. My word is final."
"But this is way too much..."
"Nah, it's nothing crazy. Don't overthink it. You need this money more than I do. And it's not like I'm giving up sales completely—we already agreed on the split going forward. I take 70%, you take 30%. I'm getting plenty."
"Still… we probably won't sell this much again."
"Slow and steady wins the race. I'll be making more money than you think. And once my trial month at school is over, you'll be handling everything alone. You'll have to risk carrying black-market braindances by yourself. And here you are, giving away money when you're only keeping 30%? If you go work at Arasaka with a conscience like this, they'll eat you alive, down to the bone."
After hearing Gaius's reasoning, David reluctantly accepted the earnings.
Meanwhile, as recess ended, Gaius returned to class.
And right after finishing his conversation with David—
He opened a private chat with Oliver and Jack.
Karl: I found some intel on our target, Tanaka. While casually chatting with one of the students buying braindances, I learned something interesting—
There's a student at the academy with the surname Tanaka.
He might be our target's son.
His name is Katsu Tanaka.
And as it happens…
I know him..
.
.
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