Chapter 1 Wayne Anderson
Author: M_W Cancer
Proofreader: M_W Miss Fierce
From a small gap between two curtains, the light from the sun shone onto the handsome face of a sleeping young man, causing him to turn around on his bed, trying his best not to allow the annoying light to disturb his sleep. But unfortunately, his turn only made the situation, even more, worse as this time the light directly shone upon his right eye, ultimately causing him to helplessly wake up.
"How annoying," The young man expressed annoyingly while rubbing his still sleepy eyes. He then slowly turned to look at the alarm clock by the side of his bed, specifically right on top of his bedside cabinet and beside his lampshade.
As soon as this young mans' eyes saw the red-colored '6:00 a.m.' shown very clearly on his digital alarm clock, he was immediately jolted awake.
"Fuck!" The young man can't help swearing.
In just an instant, the young man was already standing up from his bed. And half a second later, he swiftly darted straight to the bathroom of his room, specifically located just a few tens or so of meters away from his bed.
This young man's name is Wayne Anderson, an 18 years old college student of one of the inferior and average universities in the city he lived.
Although being a college student wasn't the main reason why Wayne woke up so late at this moment, but rather last night, because it was Friday, thus no classes the next day, he chooses to spend his entire day playing video games and catching up with some anime, mangas, and webnovels he had missed this entire week, in particular the Rise my Elementals webnovel written by the Mischievous Works Studio.
Simply put, Wayne is a gamer and at the same time an otaku, that's why he woke up late.
As for the reason why Wayne is rushing right now, it's exactly because he would be late for his part-time job.
Aside from his identity of being a student, a gamer, and an otaku, Wayne is actually also a part-time janitor in a zoo. One could say that he is a really hardworking person, which he honestly has heard from plenty of people already.
As a college student, though Wayne is a part of a scholarship program that allowed him to study for free, there's still a lot of assignments and projects that needed money. That's why he needs to look for a way to earn more money in order to solve this problem.
Even though Wayne's parents actually give him an allowance every month, but it's still not considered enough with all the expenses throughout the entire month.
At first, Wayne was thinking about choosing to become a Call Center agent, considering that they have a high wage and there's also a lot of benefits given and stuffs along with it. But later on, he decided not to because it would be very hard to balance out his study and work at the same time as he would need to work eight to ten hours for six days a week. It might even cause him to lose his scholarship if ever his grades don't pass the marks.
After searching for many days, Wayne finally stumbled upon a job hiring in a zoo, specifically a janitor position, which the majority of the people might find uninteresting, especially people of the same age as him. Contrary to them, it was something that quickly made him very interested, since it was a janitor position in a zoo.
Ever since Wayne was young, he genuinely loves animals and visiting into zoos. It was a very fun thing to do, especially seeing various kinds of animals interacting with them, and learning more about them.
He also plays a lot of games, watches anime, and reads Webnovels about them, or at least somewhat related to them. Like for example, the game Monster Hunter, the anime Pokemon, and the webnovel Monster Paradise.
Aside from that reason, the janitor position in the zoo surprisingly only required him to work twice a week, specifically Saturdays and Sundays, and the wage was as high as 10,000 pesos a month which is comparable to the money needed for half of a semester in the university he's studying at.
Therefore, without any hesitation, Wayne applied for the job. He even spent an entire week working really hard in making a perfect script for the job interview.
At that time, Wayne was mainly thinking that where else could he look for a job that pays that much despite only working for 8 days a month? That's why he certainly wouldn't want to waste such a big opportunity.
Fortunately, all of Wayne's hard work has paid off since he got hired for the job.
However, at this very moment, it seemed like Wayne would be losing the job as he was already going to be late.
After ten or so of minutes of preparing himself, Wayne finally got out of the bathroom with a fresh look and clean new clothes. He had already finished with almost everything, thus he didn't waste any more time as he dashed out of the room.
Wayne was renting an apartment on a five-story apartment building that cost 20,000 pesos a month nearby from his university. It was his parents that pay the rent, so he has no problem with its expensive price.
Honestly, the apartment was really big enough for Wayne. It has a bedroom with its own bathroom, a living room, a dining room, and even a small library, thus the main reason why his parents choose it.
The only major problem though, especially in this modern world, the data connection of this place is actually extremely slow. He doesn't know the reason why, but it really sucks! The Internet connection that the landlord had installed is even slower, considering that there are many people that had rented in this five-story apartment building.
Well, they did say that all good things come with a flaw. It was already very fortunate for them to find an apartment such good as this one.
.....
Wayne only arrived at the zoo at 8:50.
"You're very late, Wayne!"
The old man who owns the Zoo that Wayne worked at reprimanded him the moment he saw him trying to sneak inside the staff changing room.
The old man had already seen Wayne from their CCTV the moment he arrived, so he purposely waited inside the staff changing room as he already expected that he would go there first to change his clothes.
"I..."
Getting caught red-handed, Wayne was having trouble making any excuses to defend himself.
The old man crossed together his hands in front before asking, "Now, tell me, what is the reason why you are late?"
But fortunately, the old man himself actually gave Wayne the opportunity to make an excuse.
However, there was one problem...
Since this was Wayne's first time working, he doesn't have a lot of experience in making 'reasonable excuses'... or to be more precise, to bullshit his way out. He certainly can't say that he had played video games, watch anime, read mangas and webnovels all night, right? It would definitely cause him to lose this great job.
Suddenly, he remembered one very effective excuse that might just work...
"I overslept after working for a project all night long..."
Wayne used the 'Project-card'!
It is the most effective excuse a student part-timer like him could use whenever they are late for their part-time job. This was a method that one of his friends had told him about after telling them that he works part-time in a zoo.
However, the downside of this excuse is; one can only use it a few times. Repeatedly using it would lose its credibility, hence invalidating it whenever they try using such an excuse again.
Such excuse though was actually not encourage, or one could say that it's not a good example. But given Wayne's current situation right now, he could only desperately choose to do it in order for him not to lose such a great job.
Unbeknownst to Wayne though, the old man actually knew already about the so-called 'Project-card'. He is just not sure enough whether Wayne was really using that or not. Nevertheless, as someone who manages the zoo for decades now, he knows for certain that he should not believe someone, especially a part-timer student when they use the 'Project-card' as a form of excuse.
"In consideration of this being your first late, I will let it pass. Next time, you will be punished. Now go and change your clothes to start cleaning the zoo."
After saying that, the old man then left the staff changing room before making his way towards his office Building, just on the opposite building from this place.
"Wews..."
Wayne can't help himself from wiping off the sweat that covered his forehead just now. What he had just experienced was really a close call. If he didn't know about the 'Project-card', then he wouldn't have been able to think of an excuse for why he is late. Of course, he should also not forget the 'First-Timer-Card' as well, as it was mainly because it was his first offense that's why the old man decided to let it pass.
"No time to waste," Wayne thought inwardly before quickly changing into his janitor uniform in the staff changing room. His janitor uniform was always inside his locker. It's because the old man had reminded every staff that works in the zoo that they would send their uniforms to the laundry every day after work. It really seems to be the case, as he always noticed his uniform being newly cleaned and it also smells like roses all the time.
As soon as Wayne finished changing into his janitor uniform, he immediately left the staff changing room before making his way towards the canteen to buy some bread for breakfast. He hasn't eaten his breakfast yet, so he needs to have that first before working to have enough energy for the day.
After buying 3 pieces of cheese bread for 10 pesos each and a bottle of mineral water for 20 pesos, Wayne then slowly walked to get the wheeled trashcan to begin cleaning the zoo while slowly munching on his breakfast at the same time.
The zoo wasn't really that big. Base on the zoos that Wayne has visited in the past when he was still a kid, he could say that this zoo is just considered as a medium-sized zoo.
The animals here were also the most common of all, including monkeys, parrots, snakes, and other common animals that could be found practically inside almost every kind of zoo.
The main attraction here was the Crocodiles, Eagles, and the most important attraction of all, the male Lion and female Lioness. It was through these 3 species of animals that this zoo was able to gain some fame and popularity that attracted a lot of visitors to come. Its entrance was also cheap, just priced for 50 pesos per person, which allows them to stay until the zoo closes. So it's also one of the reasons why it attracts a lot of visitors.
Wayne always believes that a zoo should not be all about money, but rather about the animals. So, the more he observed the old man's zoo, the more he loves it. But of course, he also knows that a zoo should have a way to earn more money in order to be able to buy the supplies they needed and to also keep on operating, so its only natural to have something expensive, which in this zoo's case, is everything in their canteen. Like for example, the piece of cheese bread he had bought actually only cost 3 to 5 pesos each in almost every bakery and the bottle of mineral water would only cost around 10 to 15 pesos.
Wayne really hates that it's the food that became expensive. Food is life, but due to how expensive it was, he was unable to live the fullest of his life when eating in the zoo's canteen.
Anyways, it's now time to begin cleaning.
"Wait... what is that?"
Author’s note:
This is my second time writing a novel, or maybe the third time if you consider Chess of Mystery as well. I really hope that you like and enjoyed reading the chapter 1 of MGZ.
For those that came from RME, thank you for reading MGZ as well. It really encourages me to see more people reading my works, or the works of MW Studio. I suggest you also read, GLGW (A Girl’s Life In a Gaming World)
Not to make this Author’s note long, I only want to say, HAVE A HAPPY READING!