Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 40

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 40

 

 

”…Did you stay up all night?”

The next day, Larry, who was in the kitchen preparing to go to work despite it being Saturday, narrows his eyes as he sees Johann emerge with wet hair, shaking it dry.

A face that looked strangely tired yet vibrant.

“…Sorry.”

‘How long has it been?’

Since he last stayed awake until sunrise like this.

In the forests of the Rocky Mountains, Johann would hunt with his mother and siblings until sunrise, but after following Larry to LA, he would wake up when the sun rose.

‘I thought it would be around 1 AM at the latest…’

He kept telling himself “just a little more, just a little more” and before he knew it, dawn was breaking.

The treasure Ada had given him had made time disappear.

“It’s good to have fun, but go to bed early. That’s how you grow taller.”

Flinch!

“If I sleep late just one day, I won’t grow taller?”

He hadn’t heard such knowledge before.

“You’d grow that much less, wouldn’t you?”

“Ah… Yeah. I’ll be careful from now on.”

Johann sincerely apologized and opened the refrigerator.

“So? Did you create any songs you like?

“…No.”

Now he understood why ‘Eagles, Joseph Fiddler Walsh’, Jimmy Page, and Bruno Mars all said composition was difficult.

‘There’s not enough story.’

Unlike when he first accessed ‘Eagles, Joseph Fiddler Walsh’ and recalled his life in the forest, or when he absorbed the ‘Art Student’, or during his first baseball game, the three inspirations kept mixing and breaking apart intermittently.

Trying to create songs from momentary emotions, especially similar emotions, caused them to mix together and create confusion.

“Do you know what’s lacking?”

“Story, I need to establish a framework with lyrics.”

Usually songs are created first and then lyrics are written, but the reverse is often the case too.

These songs seemed like they needed to start with lyrics.

‘Dream – like a journey departing on a ship.’

Lyrics and musical ideas that came to mind simultaneously, without anyone going first.

‘Tsk. I received such a gift and this is what I get.’

He felt a bit annoyed.

Larry looked at Johann lost in thought with pride.

‘As expected, a genius is different.’

He instinctively figured out things without being told.

“If you need help, just say so. I know some lyricists too.”

“Yeah.”

He’d try it alone first.

And if that didn’t work, he’d get help.

Johann thought this as he downed 2 liters of milk in one shot.

 

* * *

 

“Mom, hurry!”

Downtown LA at 9 AM, when the sun had fully risen.

Emily pulled a middle-aged woman’s hand.

Emily’s mother, Sandra Sherman, who came along as a guardian because the fathers had to go to work.

Ding!

As they opened the coffee shop door and entered, Johann, who had been sitting alone, stood up.

“Hi! Good morning, Johann!”

“Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Sherman. I’m Johann Jefferson, your daughter’s friend who will be in your care today.”

‘This child…’

The child who had a positive influence on Emily.

Looking at his mysterious eyes like the finest topaz and his dark features that reminded her of a puppy yet were strangely wild, she instantly understood why Emily was changing.

‘Hoho.’

His appearance passed.

Her daughter was becoming a woman, it seemed.

“Nice to meet you. Ah, would it be okay to speak casually?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Nice to meet you. I’m Sandra Sherman, Emily’s mother. Please get along well with our Emily from now on?”

“I should be the one asking that.”

“How can you speak so sweetly. But did you come here alone?”

“No. The person next to me is my manager.”

“…Nice to meet you. I’m Rick Bottom.”

“Wow.”

She didn’t know. That made her feel more secure.

If there was one more bodyguard, it would be that much safer.

Ding!

“I’m late! Oh! Hello!”

“Ah, hello? Hello. I’m Mary Thompson, Flash’s mother.”

Mary Thompson, who could only make time on weekends because she commuted to a distant workplace. Now that Michael Thompson had started working, she had returned to being a housewife.

“Hello, Mrs. Thompson. I’m Sandra Sherman, Emily’s mother.”

With Flash’s arrival, all the members had gathered.

Originally, Emily and Flash had wanted to invite their friends too.

But this was a business that hadn’t even broken ground yet. Due to the fathers’ restraint when they returned home, and to maintain security, only the three of them decided to meet.

“I heard my daughter was very rude to your son recently. I’ll apologize on her behalf, Mrs. Thompson.”

“Oh, no. Since it’s a house with only men, Flash probably wasn’t very considerate. But more than that…”

She wondered if the children could properly choose an office.

The American economic situation was getting bad news from everywhere. Many neighbors had lost their homes. She couldn’t help but worry that someone might take advantage of this opportunity to overcharge them.

“No way.”

Sandra Sherman’s eyes suddenly turned cold.

“Don’t worry about that. It’s probably more than Mrs. Thompson thinks… Hehe. Look over there.”

“Oh my? Hohoho.”

The two mothers quietly pulled out their phones at their children’s earnest behavior.

Rustle!

A map of downtown LA was spread out on a square table.

And Johann, Emily, and Flash each held a red pen.

“Hmm. Where would be good?”

Looking at the spread map, LA was surprisingly vast.

Moreover, there were so many unfamiliar places that it became difficult to choose one location.

“Let’s first check each other’s companies and homes.”

Emily and Flash nodded at Johann’s words.

“Got it. Then Dad’s company is here.”

“Our house is here.”

As Flash drew circles on the map, Johann finally recorded the location of Rocky Management.

“You want to find the midpoint between these three locations, right Johann? Then…”

“It’s here.”

Flash drew a big circle where the three points met.

Seeing this, Johann clicks his tongue inwardly and opens his mouth.

“And let’s also check the areas we like. Two each.”

“That many? Will we be able to look at them all today?”

“…Ada said that with real estate, the more you look at, the better.”

“Huh? Who’s Ada?”

“Stupid Flash. She’s Larry’s girlfriend, Johann’s father.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that name?!”

“Oh, Flash wouldn’t know. Ada is one of my guardians. And Emily, Ada isn’t Larry’s girlfriend yet.”

“She isn’t?”

“Right. Though she is living together with us at our house.”

“Living together but not as girlfriend and boyfriend?”

Emily and Flash are confused by this concept they’re hearing for the first time in their lives.

“Oh, um… I, I want Father to work while looking at the cool ocean!”

Flash, who came to his senses first between the two, draws big circles around Santa Monica and Dodger Stadium, the LA Dodgers’ home stadium.

“So he can occasionally go to the baseball field with you while working?”

“…Yeah. Major League season is starting soon.”

“Baseball idiot.”

“You think you’re any different? Where are you going to choose?!”

“I choose here and here.”

The places Emily checked were Pasadena, a city in the LA metropolitan area where Caltech is located, and Glendale, the city next to it.

“Pasadena has Caltech and Art Center College of Design, which is famous for applied arts and industrial design, so it would be convenient to recruit talent, and Glendale is a quiet city as you know.”

“…Hey. What does that make me when you put it like that?”

“A thoughtless baseball idiot.”

Flash clenches his fist and barely calms down while watching Mother’s expression.

Then he marks an X inside the circle he drew around Dodger Stadium and draws a circle around Westwood, where UCLA campus is located.

“I heard companies are gathering around Santa Monica, so I won’t erase Santa Monica.”

“Whatever.”

Emily with her lips pouted and Flash with his eyebrows twitching look at Johann.

Finally his turn.

Johann picks up the red pen.

“I choose here and here.”

“…Huh?”

Downtown and Manhattan Beach.

“Why, why there? Downtown is a place with bad security.”

“Right. It’s a place Mother and Father told us not to go…”

“Just because? …I’m kidding.”

For a moment he thought he was going to get eaten alive.

“I heard Downtown is where companies gather because real estate prices are cheap, and I checked Manhattan Beach for the same reason as Flash.”

“Same as him?”

“Yeah. Don’t you think we need to see something like the ocean, even if it’s just outside the window, to live like human beings?”

Flash had said before. Michael Thompson starts work at dawn and finishes work late in the evening.

“Would other programmers or designers be any different?”

Probably the same. Flash must have chosen Santa Monica beach with that intention too.

“Ah?”

“Hmph!”

Flash snorted at Emily’s surprised eyes as if asking “now you get it?”, and Emily scrunched up her face.

“Kids? Are you all done deciding?”

“Yes!”

The three ran over and presented the map with circles drawn on it, and the two mothers, who had already been listening to their entire conversation, looked at the map with quite serious faces.

These were places their children had checked with thoughtful and considerate hearts.

They should choose from among these if possible.

 

* * *

 

“Huff! Huff! Sorry for being late, Mrs. Sherman!”

Three middle-aged men breathe heavily and bow politely.

Employees of California’s largest real estate company.

“As I mentioned earlier, I’d like to focus on bank properties.”

Not only real estate that banks recovered instead of unpaid loans, but also properties that banks disposed of at bargain prices after going bankrupt despite such recoveries.

“What about the price?”

“…We’ll match it to 30 percent of the existing rental price.”

Right now they need to fill buildings by finding tenants even at 10 percent rental rates. Because once a good building becomes a ghost building, people don’t visit it much even after conditions improve later.

Moreover, the other party is that Sandra Sherman.

Sandra Sherman, wife of the BlackRock LA Branch manager and daughter of a wealthy family. They shouldn’t think of this as just another rental contract they’ve done countless times before, but should look to the distant future.

‘Did you see that?’

Mary Thompson’s mouth falls open.

“Let’s look at the property conditions first. Starting from the farthest one.”

Starting with Pasadena that Emily chose.

She looked incredibly radiant as she said this, and Johann quietly watched her.

 

“This is the best building we own in Pasadena.”

A 6-story building that used to be a bank.

It came on the market when the bank went bankrupt, and since it was a bank, the location conditions were excellent too.

“May I look around?”

“Huh?”

The middle-aged man who was momentarily flustered by Johann’s question soon nods.

“Of, of course. You can look around as much as you want.”

“Thank you. Let’s go!”

The children entered the building that the middle-aged man opened for them, and the two ladies watched them with pleased expressions.

Seeing this, the employees kept their mouths shut tight.

“Wow! It’s spacious-!”

A building that showed only its true form after all the furniture was removed.

Flash’s eyes widened at the echoing voice, but Emily, who had seen many such places, looks at Johann.

“What should we look at, Johann?”

“Water pressure, electricity, lighting, soundproofing. Emily, go to the restrooms and try turning on the water, Flash, tap the walls. There will be places that sound hollow. I’ll check the cleaning condition inside the ceiling.”

“Oh.”

It’s like some kind of treasure hunt.

The children’s eyes instantly sparkle.

“Okay!”

“Roger!”

The children scattered instantly, and the adults who were momentarily dumbfounded burst into laughter.

The real estate company employees’ eyes lit up seeing the two ladies not stopping them.

‘Those children are the key point of this contract!’

Children who will become the bridge leading to future sales contracts.

When the highest-ranking middle-aged man gestured with his chin, the other employees quickly followed the children.

 

* * *

 

In the late afternoon as the sun was setting, Emily and Flash’s expressions are serious as they sip orange juice through straws while looking at the beach.

“They’re all good.”

“Yeah.”

We’ve looked at 15 buildings from Pasadena and Glendale to Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach, but it’s frustrating because I can’t say which one is the best.

“Johann, what about you?”

“…Me too.”

‘As expected, children don’t get tired.’

The adults, exhausted from the forced march, are fed up.

Sandra Sherman looks the most tired of all. Even so, she can’t bring herself to stop Emily who’s enjoying herself, so she says nothing.

Seeing this, Mary Thompson gets up.

“Now, children? Shall we call it a day?”

“What? Already?”

We haven’t decided on anything yet.

When everyone looks surprised, Mary Thompson puts on a stern expression.

“What did I tell you to do when the sun sets, Flash?”

“…We have to come home. But!”

“Shh!”

Flash falls silent, and Emily also shrinks back.

Mary Thompson, wearing a satisfied expression, looks at Sandra Sherman.

“Let’s call it a day here, and tomorrow we’ll look around Long Beach, Mrs. Sherman.”

‘And we’ll make the children do water play or surfing to drain all their energy, then look around Downtown separately with just the adults during weekdays.’

Gasp!

‘There’s such a method!’

Is a mother who raised three sons really different? It was a plan worthy of respect.

‘I should get close to her!’

Sandra Sherman was already worried enough about her son Billy, who keeps trying to be alone these days.

“…Shall we do that?”

She gets up while exchanging grateful glances.

When the two adults made the decision like that, the children were very disappointed, but they get up as if they have no choice.

That was the moment.

“Hmm. Then can we just look at that building as the last one?”

“Johann?”

“If that building is vacant.”

People looked at the distant three-story building that Johann was pointing to, and Johann’s eyes lit up.

‘That was the place.’

The place where part of The One Who Became a Star’s inheritance lay dormant.

 

* * *

 

“Thank you. They say they’ll open it soon.”

The employee who made calls here and there and found the management company. It happened to be a company they knew well.

Emily approaches from the side.

“Why did you choose this place?”

“Because I thought we’d have a good view of the ocean from here.”

A three-story building built at the end of an uphill road, the same height as the surrounding buildings.

‘The One Who Became a Star always dreamed of a happy retirement.’

A beach with blue ocean spread out, waking up to fresh sea breeze, drinking morning coffee while walking on the beach, surfing.

Then in the evening, drinking beer at the bar on the first floor that he rented out.

To achieve such a dream, he secretly bought this land and built a building.

A safe house that wasn’t a safe house, unknown even to the government agency The One Who Became a Star belonged to. A place made with money collected while conducting operations in various countries around the world.

“They’re here.”

“This place has been empty for 5 years…”

If he hadn’t paid 20 years’ worth of cleaning fees, if they hadn’t been managing it, it would have already become a ruined building.

“Keep quiet and open it.”

“Got it.”

“You can go in.”

“Thank you. Let’s spread out.”

“Okay!”

When the door opens, Emily and Flash spread out like they did today to check the water supply and soundproofing.

Johann heads to the top third floor.

And he opens the door right in front of the stairs and goes in.

‘This is it.’

A spacious area with only a thin layer of dust, as if it had been cleaned not long ago.

Johann enters the restroom attached to the room, opens a small door in the ceiling, and squeezes his body inside.

And…

‘Found it.’

A black backpack placed deep in the ceiling.

‘There was one reason for making this place secretly, unknown even to his affiliated agency.’

Because he couldn’t trust his affiliated agency.

An agency that always taught to doubt everything.

The One Who Became a Star couldn’t help but question whether a complete retirement was possible.

This was the result of that.

‘Though he died without knowing whether that thought was true or not.’

The One Who Became a Star, who died after being discovered by an enemy agent during an operation.

Johann’s eyes light up as he pulls the backpack toward him, revealing several CDs and two notebooks, passports of different colors, and cash bundles wrapped in plastic.

‘This CD was that thing, right?’

Information obtained by chance during operations, unrelated to the missions.

Some have owners, some don’t.

One of the information safes to spend his later years blissfully after a safe retirement, to become lottery tickets later or to make deals with the agency when situations arise.

This place was a safe house with that meaning.

‘Then shall I try to make these things mine first?’

Rustle, rustle.

Johann’s eyes light up as he searches his pockets.

 

‘Hmm. He’s been in there a long time.’

It was the moment when Rick Bottom, standing in front of the restroom door, was checking the time.

Suddenly!

Johann pokes his upper body out of the small door made in the restroom ceiling as if falling.

“Rick, there are passports and cash here?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Passports from various countries with the same face but different names, and money from those countries.”

Rick Bottom’s eyes widened.

 

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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