Chapter 31

As he arrived at his parents' apartment, he was greeted by his parents with warm smiles, instantly making him feel at home.

At seven o'clock in the evening, they gathered around the dinner table and enjoyed a diverse meal while sharing stories and laughter.

Later, they sat in the living room to watch TV and chat about various topics before delving into their discussion about the convenience store plan they were considering.

"Well, before I came back home yesterday, I went to the marketplace to inquire, and from a friend of mine, I met a guy named Jonas. He's selling his store due to family issues," his dad explained, sighing.

"Unfortunately, he's asking for a high price, ₱220,000."

"So expensive?!" his mom exclaimed in disbelief.

Although 220,000 may appear to be merely two and a half years of her earnings, when you consider their monthly expenses such as food, water, energy, rent, loans, and so on, her earnings barely support their necessities.

To afford such a store, it would take her decades of hardwork.

Edward responded, "Is it expensive? I think it's a great deal!"

"Really?"

"Mom, the base price of stores depends on various factors such as location, size, etc."

"According to Dad, the size of the store was about 30 square meters, and the location is also good. Just from these, the price can easily be estimated at around ₱500,000 more," Edward explained and then said hesitantly. "I can't believe that they sold it for ₱220,000... Are they stupid?"

"Well, it's indeed cheap," Edward's dad nodded and then shook his head and sighed. "But son, you forgot an important detail. There's no buyer. Let alone ₱220,000, even if he sold it for 100,000, no one would buy it!"

"After all, people are not stupid. There are not too many people in our area, and the market is small. Investing so much money, I'm afraid it will take years to recover."

"What's more, his store is more or less bankrupt. There's nothing to sell because there's no funds. I heard from a friend of mine that he also lost a lot of money from gambling and still has a lot of debt."

"Without funds, without revenue, his store's value isn't that much. It's no wonder he didn't let the real estate company sell it; otherwise, the price would be much lower, minus the commission."

"..."

"..."

"Can it lower a bit more?"

"It's possible, but it might take time."

"No problem, anyway; there's no rush. it'll be a year or two before the local government relocates those people from our area."

"Your friend also mentioned it, right?"

He hesitated before confirming, "...Yeah?"

At around nine in the evening, Edward slowly laid back on the comfortable bed in his previous room.

Anyway, it's the weekend, and there's no class tomorrow, and he was not in a hurry to go back to his apartment.

...

The next day,

Early in the morning, Edward woke up and went through his usual routine, including brushing his teeth and taking a shower.

He then proceeded to prepare a hearty breakfast, which he savored in the company of his parents.

The day was Sunday, and neither of his parents had any work obligations.

Following their meal, Edward left the apartment and began his usual morning run around their community.

Along the way, he encountered many familiar faces, and as they spotted him, warm smiles spread across their faces, and they greeted him with genuine warmth.

"It's Ed. I haven't seen you for a while. Where have you been?"

"I temporarily live not far away from the university, you know. Traveling between home and school is very tiring."

"Yo, Ward! Are you free? Let's play CF. I'm already Brigadier General First Grade!!"

"Unfortunately, I stopped playing a while ago because of classes!"

"That's a pity. Hey, I heard there are new popular games lately, like LoL, you know? It's like Dota but simpler."

"Yeah, it's cool. The game mechanics are good, although the graphics are a bit ugly."

"Ed, Lesly says she misses you."

"Damn it! Pia! Traitor!"

As Edward ran for another lap, he came across a duo he was familiar with from a previous life. Looking at them, Edward couldn't help but stop and greet them.

"Yo, Pia, Les, what's up?"

"Same as always! Ed, Lesly said she has a crush on you!"

"Bitch! I didn't say that! Ed, don't believe her, okay?"

"..."

Edward raised his brows as he looked at Pia and didn't take it seriously. After all, girls at their age have so many crushes.

But thinking about how they would grow up in the future, he still asked.

"Sure, sure. How old are you again right now?"

"12, why?!"

"..."

"..."

"Study well."

"Sure, I'm in the top 5 in the class!"

"Uh, okay, bye."

"Wait, Ed, ask my age too."

"You're 12 too, right?"

"No, I'm 11!"

"..."

"..."

Edward's whole being shuddered in fright. Without delay, he continued his run, repeatedly chanting a mantra to himself, saying, "I'm not into lolis!"

Around nine in the morning, he concluded his morning run and returned home to change his clothes.

For the next few hours, Edward spent his time either watching TV, browsing Facebook, or chatting with his parents.

At approximately eleven a.m., he made his way to the regular meeting spot with his friends for some quality hangout time.

As in the previous meetup, they gathered, engaged in lively conversations, and focused mostly on their detailed skit planning.

"What if we shoot skits on the bus, and the content of the skit is about a girl who falls asleep, and her head ends up on the guy's shoulder next to her?"

"Interesting, but how can we make that funny?"

"Well, we could start with a close-up on the guy, making it seem like he's thrilled and add background music to make it feel like he's in love. However, just as he's daydreaming, the girl suddenly reaches her destination. She gets up, and it turns out she's actually a guy!"

"We can also make it like this: the girl reaches her destination, but instead of standing up, she screams to stop, and his voice suddenly becomes loud!"

"Not bad, we can do that! But who would be the guy that will pretend to be a girl?"

"Obviously, Ed. His hair is already long, and his facial features are a bit girly. We can take advantage of that. Even without that, as long as we dress him up like a girl, it's enough!"

"Wait! How can you decide things without my consent? I ain't doing that!"

"But who else do you think is good enough to pretend to be a girl besides us?"

"Jake?"

"No, Jake is too manly to be a girl!"

"But I'm manly too! Look, I have some muscles now!"

"But you're not tall."

"..."

Edward was dumbfounded and wanted to refute, but seeing them casually talk about script ideas, even he, a time-traveler, couldn't help but astound.

He just briefly told them that a simple scene can be turned into funny skits with the right lines and the right rhythm. The fact that they understood it easily still amazed him.

"Sure enough, I'm a fake time traveler."