Races: Online

Ordinary. Was it a strange word to choose to depict oneself? Not necessarily, but by far… Most people that he'd encounter wanted to be extraordinary, unique or a cut above the rest. Or maybe, that was how he wanted to be?

When he thought of individuals like Mou Gu who was secretly a cultivator, to Bo Lifen who managed an entire store all by herself in one of the most successful streets in the city—he thought that they were amazing.

That he'd never measure up or amount to anything.

He was just himself. 

Sure, he thought that he was the unluckiest person with a terrible life… but that was just him over exaggerating things. It was another attempt to pretend that his problems were too big for him to deal with—that other people weren't also experiencing the same set of problems that he did.

Han Jing may have realized that before, but it was easy to brush it off and be reassured that surely he was unique in some way, wasn't he? The fact that he was supposed to be some kind of universal representative for mankind was a huge deal, right?

He felt more like a lab rat and an experiment than an actual delegate if he wanted to be honest. But even that wasn't a solo experience for him—he was the sixty-ninth Human to get chosen!

There might have been more of them.

But right now, it just felt… kind of okay, to be ordinary and normal. He didn't have to worry about passing magical exams or trying to sabotage a group of Elves and a Tiefling by having them revisit his city.

Yes, he was clearly not participating in the attack, but that still made him feel nasty. He wasn't sure if he'd feel bad for lying to Lucia, Tierra and that Bleu—or he should feel bad for Professor Owen and whoever was invited to attack those three.

It was like pitting ordinary humans to those who were more experienced. How did his people survive before.... Well, Han Jing didn't have to think about that now!

He was just Han Jing who thankfully had money in his bank account—which wasn't much—but all he had to focus on now was just taking a deep breath, enjoying the fireworks and his company. 

"Hah… studying is too hard, but the thought of working doesn't sound so appealing either." Chan Lee admitted sheepishly. "Does that sound lazy, it sounds lazy doesn't it…why am I telling you this?"

"Hey don't sweat about it. Not everyone gets to do something they like so a little unenthusiasm is normal."

"You mean everyone sort of hates their job?"

"Everyday isn't going to be a bed of roses, I assure you… but like you gotta do it—and when you start earning your own money though?" Han Jing gave her a sideway look and a grin. "That's one of the moments where it's a little hard to concentrate on studying."

She raised a brow. "Did you work while you were studying?"

"A little. It's not hard to want to earn some money when you're in college… and my father isn't exactly the most generous in giving an allowance." Han Jing coughed. "In between me trying to attend regular club activities, I was also a teacher's assistant. The small encoding, filing and paperwork?"

"I didn't imagine you'd do that." Chan Lee replied. 

"Well, what did you think I would do?"

"I dunno… try to aspire to become a pro gamer? Enter small tournaments?"

Han Jing laughed a little. "Nah, I'm pretty casual. I do play competitive games from time to time, but I doubt my farming and kingdom building skills are going to impress anybody."

The two of them have gone through the strange and silly movies that Han Jing had watched and he even recounted a bit of his high school life… which wasn't exactly his proudest moments, but she listened to it with a willing ear and that was nice.

She actually liked the stories more about his time on earth than on the Otherworld—maybe because it was weird when he told her about them? Or maybe she was more fond of realistic stories.

Either way, they were not drunk on juice and they also happened to empty the entire mooncake box except for one final piece. 

"...Still, that's actually pretty impressive. How'd you manage to do all of that?" Chan Lee asked him. "Are you some sort of hidden genius? Studying, working a job and also still having time to do your rather athletic club activities. Isn't that exhausting?"

"Come on, most people do that, right?" Han Jing scratched his head. "At least those who I know do that. You can't forget that it's difficult to get a job nowadays so anything that you can get on your resume—you put it there. Trying to appear like you're put together?"

"...But you're barely keeping it all intact?" Chan Lee added.

Han Jing coughed. "Yeah. Most of us are burnout—just a thing. I'm kinda glad that in a way, my father thinks I'm a failure… but that just means he's putting more effort in raising my sister unlike me. Jinjing's in a private school that's pretty damn expensive, unlike me who went to public school." 

Chan Lee told him that she'd listen, but there was a look of surprise that hung on her face. 

He quickly picked up on it and waved a hand. "But yeah, that's like too much information. Nobody needed to hear that, my folks would think I'm blabbering. What about you, Chan Lee? Got siblings? Or what about your classes?"

"My family's kinda alright. Like you said, almost everyone has an overbearing parent at some point." Chan Lee cleared her throat. "Although, now I realize that I'm kind of lucky… I shouldn't be complaining that much."

"Everyone has their own struggles, it's just different from one another." 

"Yeah, I know that. Like… my friend—you remember Wang Liquin?" Chan Lee began, looking away from him and fiddling with her thumbs. "His family is kind of rich."

"The guy paid me two hundred yuan to help you out back then," Han Jing remembered. Not exactly liking it, but then… maybe Timothy would have thrown gold coin at him—and he'd pick those up.

"We just kinda ended up using it to buy snacks after that, didn't we?" She laughed. 

Han Jing rolled his eyes. "I would have done it for free—but hey, money is money… but what about him?" He wouldn't have cared at all, but she brought him up.

"You said something about how all of us have different problems. But it doesn't mean that we shouldn't undermine our own circumstances, right?" 

"Impressive, you've put it into better words than me." 

"So back to that idea," Chan Lee raised a hand to pause him. "Well, it's like… kind of ridiculous not wanting to introduce your friends, right? I thought it was kind of mean and stuff, but maybe there's a reason for that."

Han Jing blinked and then frowned. "Hold up, what?"

"It's pretty silly—I shouldn't care that much." Chan Lee buried her face into her knees. "I mean, I just can't help but compare how sweet your family is, inviting me over to dinner and your mother sometimes giving me food? That's really generous."

"...My mom is nice." Han Jing agreed. Knowing that she ate dinner with his father as well… his father was pretty good at appearing sociable when he wanted to be. "But what about this Liquin guy not wanting to introduce you to who? His family?"

The silence was kind of unnerving and also annoying at the same time. 

"Well, you introduced me to your family and it's not a big deal to you, right?" Chan Lee looked up with a pout on her face. 

Han Jing scratched the back of his head. He never really experienced this kind of situation with Bo Lifen before and neither did he get this from his sister… The worst complainer he  ever met was Mou Gu. So this was rather new and somewhat familiar at the same time.

She wanted him to take her side, didn't he?

"Of course it wasn't a big deal to me." Han Jing replied. Neglecting to mention that he also didn't want her to meet his family at first—and that was because he didn't want to embarrass himself. 

Jinjing practically threw him under the bus back then when Chan Lee first joined them for dinner! 

"But I guess that's not applicable to every family." Chan Lee said and seemed to have finished collecting her thoughts. Somehow, she was convinced by Han Jing himself—or convinced herself with his words—-that other people like this Liquin must have reasons for not doing something.

In this scenario, introducing her to his family.

Han Jing doubted that was the same thing for this Liquin guy. But he couldn't help but remember meeting Timothy's older sister… and that was an experience of its own. 

"So does this Liquin by any chance have a sister? An older one?" He finally picked up the last mooncake and bit into it to make it seem like this was a casual question.

Chan Lee raised a brow at him. "Are you asking that because you want to date someone? I guess Liquin does have some very feminine features that can make one imagine him as a girl if you squint your eyes a bit."

Han Jing started hacking loudly—and soon received a wild thump on his back—before Chan Lee moved quickly to pour him a glass of juice again. 

He gulped it down and then threw her a harassed look. "I did not ask that question because of any agendas like that and neither have I ever looked at the guy and imagined him as a girl. Not now, not ever."

"...such a long and detailed rebuttal. One could even call it heartfelt."

"Shut up, please."