NOVEL NEXT chapter 46
46 Ambush
Life is fortunate when you have a good advisor.
There are many things I don’t understand.
It’s not just due to “insufficient investigation,” “lack of knowledge,” or “lack of imagination,” but also because I am who I am – for example, because I am a “man,” because I am a “third-year high school student,” or because I am “the son of those parents,” or because “I know someone like Anna and Milim” – there are many things I don’t understand.
If I were a woman, there might be things I would understand. If I were not a second-year high school student, there might be things I would understand. If my parents were different and I hadn’t met Anna or Milim, there would be things I would understand.
I cannot know everything in the world.
Unless I am an all-knowing and all-powerful being who has reincarnated me a million times, I cannot know everything – even that all-knowing being cannot understand the feelings of someone who is not all-knowing, that’s what I believe.
That is why life needs advisors.
Now then, I want to know about women.
Their feelings, their desires… well, to be frank, gender doesn’t matter. As long as I am a worthy candidate to be employed as a full-time househusband or a freeloader, I don’t care about race, gender, age, or anything.
However, when considering stress and other factors with a long-term employment in mind, I do think that women would be better than men, and I also think that it would be better if the age is closer.
In other words – I want to be popular with women close to my age.
But I have no idea how to be popular… It’s always been something I’ve wanted to know, but I’ve never had the feeling that I actually knew it.
So I want an advisor from the outside.
Since I want to understand the feelings of women of the same generation, it should naturally be a woman of the same generation.
I have relied on Millim many times in such situations.
But the results have not been commendable so far. Although I have feelings of wanting to believe in and rely on Millim, I have been forced to strictly judge from the results and change the person I rely on.
So, who is suitable?
As a result of my thoughts, I had invited Sheila to a slightly fashionable café on a holiday.
Actually, I want to understand a girl’s feelings.
“What? Huh? Huh? What? Why? Huh, why me?”
She was so confused that she couldn’t understand the meaning — well, maybe my approach was a bit too abrupt.
But I shouldn’t blur the main point by decorating my words strangely. I decide to confess my sincere belief to Sheila.
I aspire to be a full-time househusband as the top occupation for the future.
For that — I need to find a wife.
“I don’t know what to do, I don’t understand even after hearing the explanation.”
Sheila, who said that, was much calmer than at first.
Maybe the aroma of the coffee calmed her down — it was worth splurging on a pretty good café.
I continue.
Please take a look at the prepared materials. Here is a pie chart of “My Potential.” Nowadays, academic ability is quite an all-purpose “currency to purchase the future,” and I think Sheila is aware of my academic ability.
Now, please look at the second sheet of the materials. I have listed the occupations that I can enter with my academic ability. There are various important and heavy positions, but the average lifespan of those who take up these occupations is summarized on the right of the list. Yes, the reasons may vary, but they can only live to around eighty.
My goal is to “live healthily until ninety.”
In that case, these occupations will undoubtedly shorten lifespans due to considerable stress, resulting unhealthy habits, and difficulties in ensuring sleep time. In other words —
“Wait, wait, wait. I can’t keep up with this! So, what does this mean?”
I — want to live a long life.
Therefore, I concluded that the best occupation for that is a full-time househusband.
So, to become a full-time househusband, I need to find a partner, that is, an employer.
I want advice from Sheila on how to get along well with the partner I find.
“Why did you choose me first!?”
I couldn’t help it. I had to talk about Millim.
I choose an image of Millim saved on my mobile device. It seems okay to show Sheila the photo of the high school entrance ceremony.
“This is your girlfriend?”
“No way.”
“But isn’t the distance between us like that of lovers?”
So, Shiela doesn’t know because she’s been with me since kindergarten. I had to explain the system of the school’s childcare center to her. In the childcare center, children take care of other children, and it’s not rare for the relationships between the caretaker and the cared-for to last a lifetime… in other words, I changed Milim’s diapers. It’s like we’re siblings.
That’s fine. The problem is why Milim isn’t suitable as an advisor, and Milim always says “I wasn’t invited” whenever I try to invite her, and it’s impossible to have a conversation…
Moreover, when I ask Milim if she has a boyfriend, she looks at me with an extremely puzzled face, and the conversation doesn’t go anywhere…
As an advisor, she’s not qualified, but I’ve been relying on her as a sibling, and this time I thought of changing to a more accurate advisor.
And the one I chose was you.
Please accept it.
“Or are you thinking of Milim-chan as your girlfriend?”
That’s not the case… but if the person I appointed as an advisor rejects my opinion with a “no,” I don’t know what the point of being an advisor is.
Does Milim think of me as her boyfriend?… I don’t have any inkling, but that’s because I’m me, and if I look at it from another perspective, I might reach a different conclusion.
Okay, let’s confirm with Milim.
So, I asked Milim right away… but how should I put it?
“Hey, are you my girlfriend?”… That’s a terrible way to ask, even I know that…
“Ahh… Uhh… Nhh… Yeah…”
We’re going out.
“What?”
When I asked Milim if she’s my girlfriend, she said we’re going out?
“No, no, no…”
Shiela refused for some reason, but I persisted and got her to agree.
And so, I ended up asking Milim the question “Are you my girlfriend?” which I don’t think I’ll ever get to ask again…