Modern Monster

Sen heaved a tired sigh, as if he had just run a marathon. Exhausted from exerting so much energy, he was relieved to be sitting in the library, finally getting some much-needed relaxation. Unfortunately, his attempt to unwind was abruptly interrupted when a familiar blonde-haired woman approached him.

“Why do you look so goddamn tired? Did you start a new workout routine or something?” she asked.

“No, Brittney. It was something even tougher than that,” he groaned, leaning back on the recliner. He had to admit, the addition of the comfortable chair was a great improvement to the library.

“For you to say that, it must have been pretty strenuous,” Brittney observed. “You know what else is strenuous thou—”

“Don’t start,” Sen cut off her smug grin before she could continue. He couldn’t go into the specifics of why he was so tired—it wasn’t necessary for her to know.

“Well, geez, remind me never to greet you when you’re tired,” she pouted.

“Let’s just say it’s hard not to be myself,” he said vaguely. Brittney, with the common sense of a rabbit, just stared at him blankly.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Don’t even bother using your brain cells. Just use your hacking magic and do what I say.”

“A PLEASE WOULD BE NICE!” she snapped. “Anyway, I wasn’t able to hack into the government files and change your ID,” she added with a defeated groan. Sen took the book off his face and turned serious.

“You couldn’t change what Sense I have on my government documents?”

“No, I couldn’t. It’s one thing to hack into a database and another to actually edit it. You can easily copy it and make a counterfeit, but the government will still have access to your original documents. Not to mention, even if you find a way to delete and edit all of them, they have hundreds of backup databases with your original documents.”

Sen instantly found a flaw in her statement.

“You say they have hundreds of backups, correct? In that case, my father should have his deleted documents somewhere. Meaning I could just prioritize finding those rather than going through the hassle of entering the academy.”

The only reason he had asked Brittney to find and edit his documents was to make it easier to enter the academy. He thought if worse came to worst and they didn’t allow him to enter, he could just present them with fake documents proving he had a Super Sense. However, she had mentioned something that piqued his interest. If it turned out to be true, then his whole act with his friends was useless. But it was still necessary to carry out his plan at the café yesterday, just in case nothing else worked in the meantime.

Everything Sen had said and done with his friends wasn’t exactly real. Every word he had chosen was perfectly calculated to increase the likelihood of success. And by success, he meant getting Kaiyo to back him against her father.

He wasn’t too concerned about gaining Hyo and Hana's cooperation; the main part of the plan was to secure Kaiyo’s help. Of course, there was an equal chance that Asashi wouldn’t bother him. However, Sen always liked to stay two steps ahead. Was it low of him to manipulate the situation like that? Probably, but it didn’t hurt Kaiyo at all.

“Sadly, in your father’s case, that’s not how it works,” Brittney said, shaking her head dishearteningly.

Sen didn’t understand her reasoning. She had just told him they had hundreds of backups for every individual. So, his father should be no exception.

“I tried hacking into the recovery info database, too, as well as a few other servers, to find it. But sadly, they were nonexistent.”

This new information didn’t put Sen at ease. In fact, it only made him more skeptical of his father's past and background. Looks like that glimmer of hope faded quickly. Guess I’ll have to stick with my original plan.

For now, everything was going according to his strategy. He had convinced Kaiyo to help him if her father tried to throw him out, and he had also secured Hana and Hyo's support in the meantime. With that out of the way, he needed to come up with a plan for the academy exams. However, that was proving to be harder than it looked.

Each year, the academy conducted different exams, sometimes reusing ones from previous years, but they were still unpredictable. For him to memorize each exam held in the past, just for the slim chance that they would reuse it, was a waste of his time.

He only had four days to calculate exactly what needed to be done. Unfortunately, he couldn’t calculate something he had no control over. The most straightforward guess he had was that these exams most likely utilized Senses as their main focus. So, he devised the simplest and least risky plan possible, despite having little to no knowledge of the exams.

“Britt, did you get the other thing I asked you for?”

She gave him a delighted nod while pulling out a small black box from between her breasts.

“I’m not even going to ask why that was there,” Sen sighed, unamused. He didn’t care if he indirectly touched something that had been between a woman’s breasts. He wasn’t interested in those types of things. Most teenagers in his position would either be too nervous to touch it or frothing at the mouth.

“Well, I didn’t have pockets, so…” Brittney shifted awkwardly, holding out the box. Sen didn’t hesitate and took it from her hand. Brittney seemed surprised by his bluntness, but she should have known how he acted by now.

These types of things were mundane to him. He couldn’t fathom caring about them.

Sen was pleased when he opened the black box. Inside were several sets of small rubber earpieces, not the size of regular earbuds but rather the size of a small blueberry. They were barely noticeable once inserted into the ear.

“Ha, ha, ha!” Brittney puffed out her chest proudly. “Behold the most advanced Bluetooth earbuds on the market. Not only are they barely visible, but they’re also entirely made of non-detectable metal, making them untraceable through security.”

Sen gave a satisfied nod. This was exactly what he needed. It would play a significant role in his plan to enter the academy. No one could predict the exact security measures of the exam with one hundred percent certainty, but after doing extensive research on past exams, Sen had a decent grasp of how everything was done.

First, the probability of someone entering the academy without a Sense was already zero percent. With the Internet at his disposal, he looked back at the last hundred years or so and found no records of his case.

Second, knowing how rare it was, he doubted there would be any security that would even care or knew how to deal with it. Furthermore, there was a chance of a mandatory background check for each individual. That was common sense. During the background checks, he also worried that his lack of a Sense would be exposed by looking through his documents. Either way, there would be a high risk. But he was willing to take it. When the time came, he needed to somehow slide his way through the security if the worst scenario happened.

Sen looked down at the small blueberry-sized earbuds with a slight leer, recalling what he had said to the others yesterday—

“When the time comes, I will fake that I have Hearing as my Super Sense. And to make it more believable, I’ll use a non-detectable ear device that I’ll share with all of you. This will be insurance in case we need to separate or if I need your help.”

It was a simple and straightforward plan that many wouldn’t need if they weren’t entering without a Super Sense. That’s why he was taking advantage of such an overlooked plan.

With that, there wasn’t much more he could prepare for without knowing what the exams would entail.

“Does your mom know you're going to enter?” Brittney asked as he pondered the plan.

“Oh…” He paused. That’s what he had forgotten. The thought of what to do about his mother had completely slipped his mind. But it wasn’t something to be overly concerned about.

“I just won’t tell her,” Sen shrugged. “I’ll just say I'm going to the library or on a school trip for as long as the exam lasts. The thought of me entering the exam isn’t something she would ever think of in a million years.”

“But she’ll eventually find out, right?” Brittney probed. Sen couldn’t deny that the chances of her finding out were very high. Knowing her overly protective nature, Sen estimated it would only take around six hours before she panicked and tried searching for him. But he honestly wasn’t concerned. His main obstacle was joining the academy, not worrying about his mother’s feelings.

And there wasn’t much she could do to get him out. She would most likely contact Asashi to have him thrown out, but he had Kaiyo on his side. All in all, it seemed like checkmate in Sen’s eyes. This was the only chance he had to obtain any information about his father, so he needed to plan carefully. Fortunately for him, he was a good thinker.

Letting out a tired yawn, he put the black box into his pocket and lay down once again on the recliner, placing a book over his eyes.

“Wow, so you’re just going to ignore me and take a nap?” Brittney pouted.

“I need to save my energy for the exams, Brittney. Don’t disturb,” he replied bluntly.

“Well, good luck, Mr. Thinker!” she snorted.

Sen found that remark amusing. “Luck doesn’t exist. Every action causes a different outcome. A fool blames luck, but a wise man rethinks what he did wrong.”

“Well… which one are you then?” Brittney leaned over him as he rested. Sen paused momentarily, then took the book off his face.

“You don’t need luck when you know you’re going to be right…”