Chapter 9. One day
When the hour hand had just touched five in the morning, Juwel left the bed.
Corvos was someone who did not possess the ability to sleep deeply, so he was dragged out of his drowsiness by the clattering noises made by the other person.
Opening his eyes under the harsh electric light because dawn had not fully arrived yet, he saw Juwel pushing the table and several miscellaneous items into a corner. Then, before Corvos could properly sit up, Juwel shoved the sofa that Corvos was lying on with one decisive push.
Corvos vaguely sensed the floor beneath his back tremble slightly. His body tilted along with the sofa to one side, and inertia helped Corvos return to his original position after the movement stopped.
Juwel did not bother to ask for permission, nor did he spare a glance to see whether Corvos had any objections. He brushed past Corvos's scrutinizing gaze as if it did not exist, and continued pushing away the remaining obstructive items.
After a few minutes of tidying up, the once cramped living room opened up into a space wide enough to turn around comfortably.
The home of the body's original owner was originally a small apartment, simple in design and without a single unnecessary door. It was a space that Juwel, who had once lived in a mansion occupying an entire mountainside, certainly could not call familiar.
Yet he did not find it unpleasant. After all, in his previous life he had not been spared from difficult circumstances either.
After finishing the cleanup, Juwel turned on a performance video of the body's original owner, pulled the curtains aside to let the early daylight pour in, and marked the start of his training time.
He played an old practice clip of the host body.
The opening of the video showed a dazzling stage, where "that person" stepped out into the lights, lips curved in a smile, eyes staring straight into the camera without blinking even once. The gentle and mild aura did not contain even a fragment that belonged to Juwel.
The melody began. A catchy pop song with a driving rhythm, each dance move clearly marked.
"That person" turned around, raised an arm into the air, accentuating every movement with eye contact and facial expressions.
Juwel tried to imitate each of those motions. His left shoulder twitched slightly, his right foot slid along the turn, yet somehow, despite the same movements and the same body, the feeling they conveyed was completely different.
Corvos, the sole audience, was more than qualified to judge that.
In truth, Juwel's dancing ability was not bad at all. Otherwise, in his previous life, Juwel would not have possessed such outstanding combat ability that made many people wary of him. Moreover, as a noble, Juwel had been trained since childhood in swordsmanship, horseback riding, and archery. It could not be said that Juwel lacked any foundation in using his muscles.
What made Juwel's dance appear poor lay in his mindset. He did not have the habit of reading the audience's reactions and adjusting his expressions and choreography to be more engaging. He did not understand the spirit of performance, meaning he lacked the performance mentality needed to convey emotion.
That was only one aspect related to dancing skills.
Being an idol did not only require dancing.
They had to interact with fans, sing, take photos, dress up, and more.
He possessed far too many traits that were unsuitable for this new profession.
Corvos calmly observed Juwel.
"Have you looked enough?"
Juwel felt irritated by Corvos's eyes that kept staring at him.
Staring at other people was probably an uncontrollable and extremely unpleasant habit of Corvos. Whenever Juwel caught that gaze, he could not stop himself from wanting to dig those eyeballs out of their sockets and leave the man completely blind.
After hearing Juwel's sharp tone, Corvos behaved as if this were an everyday occurrence, and then began to speak.
"I think—"
"Do not think about anything at all," Juwel cut him off, then walked over to Corvos's private bookshelf, took out a book that he judged Corvos had not read yet, and slammed it onto the table in front of him.
"Read a book. Do not pay attention to me anymore. Before I go insane."
Corvos looked at Juwel's slender finger pointing right in front of his nose, then looked into Juwel's eyes again. But Juwel gave only that much of a warning and quickly left.
Choreography was the only thing he could fully control. His body was naturally flexible, fluid, and strong. He did not deny that he learned quickly, had good bodily control, and that copying movements from the host body's old performance videos was not particularly difficult.
According to what Juwel had learned, if there was no specific schedule, idols could stay at home, but within a week they still had to go to the company to practice about three to four days to maintain rhythm.
Juwel did not yet have the confidence to face his colleagues when he had not fully grasped all the basic skills of an idol, so today he stayed at home.
PRINZE had debuted for nearly five years. The number sounded small at first glance, but the number of songs they had released was already around twenty. Just learning all of that would take quite a lot of time.
Corvos knew that Juwel would not go out today, so he obediently stayed at home reading a book. Yet even though his eyes were fixed on the pages, his ears were constantly intruded upon by that singing voice, slipping into every gap.
Juwel's voice was not unpleasant to hear, but it was not cute either. It was flat and even, and on top of that, Juwel practiced continuously from morning until night. A steady kind of noise.
To save time, he did not cook. As for Corvos, of course he did not cook either, because Juwel still did not trust himself enough to eat anything made by Corvos. If he were poisoned, there would be no one to call for help.
Continuous vocal practice was impossible. It exhausted the body quickly and easily damaged the vocal cords. Juwel knew that as well. So after singing for a while, he would stop and sit down to watch materials related to vocal training, from breathing techniques to mouth shapes and the use of abdominal muscles, then return to practice again.
He made an effort to use every single brain cell to speed learn professional skills. But Juwel knew that this was not truly feasible. He was only trying to pour a single drop of water into a vast pond.
Still, he needed to prepare for all situations in which he might be suddenly required to demonstrate such skills. At the very least, knowing something was better than knowing nothing at all.
Speaking of primary duties, Juwel now knew that within a music group, members were assigned different main roles, and the host body of his, was the main rapper.
Compared to dancing and singing, this role did not look difficult, but it left Juwel unsure of how to practice it.
When Juwel worked, he was very focused, except when Corvos was present.
Juwel had tried to ignore that damn corner of Corvos's clothing, but Corvos kept wandering around the house, making Juwel extremely irritated. Why was it that at times like this, Corvos could not just stay put and read his book properly.
Juwel lifted his head and saw Corvos holding his phone up toward him.
He did not hide it, nor did he appear flustered when caught. There was even a time when Juwel looked up directly, and Corvos pressed the shutter button without any hint of ambiguity or hesitation.
"What are you doing?"
Juwel put his headphones down and conveniently paused the video, but his gaze never left Corvos. He stood up and walked closer, demanding that Corvos hand over the phone.
"Locket."
"Locket?" Juwel did not understand what that was. Corvos did not mind handing the phone to Juwel.
After that, Juwel saw a selfie of Corvos. Because it was an image of someone he despised, Juwel only glanced over it.
"For what purpose?"
"To commemorate the most ordinary moments of life," Corvos replied calmly.
Juwel looked as if he had just heard something disgusting, and tossed the phone back to him. Corvos caught it. Juwel's throw was not strong enough to cause physical damage, but it carried considerable weight in terms of attitude.
Perhaps that sense of disgust could also become some strange kind of artistic inspiration.
In the first week, Juwel did not go outside much.
Mostly because Juwel believed he should not act too hastily in a new environment. His eyes were not yet used to the stark white LED lights. His ears could not stand the sharp screech of car horns from below that sounded like little demons arguing. This world was too loud and too busy and everyone moved too fast. Walking slowly felt like a form of rebellion.
And Juwel was not the kind of person who walked slowly. If he had time, he would spend it learning new knowledge so that he could adapt to this world.
This apartment was fairly quiet, or maybe the soundproofing was good. Corvos usually woke up earlier than him. He would quietly make coffee, quietly read books, quietly eat breakfast.
He would not knock on Juwel's door without a reason or show signs of threatening anyone. Their relationship could be described as two temporary tenants.
The man who used to be the crime leader of the previous century was now busy cooking egg noodles and answering every trivial question from his former enemy with suspicious patience.
"What is this one?"
"A washing machine."
"And this one?"
"A rice cooker. Do not open it when it is cooking."
"…You are not afraid that I will poison you?" Juwel asked because he saw that Corvos was always ready to eat the food he cooked. Juwel could not tell whether he was satisfied with that attitude or not. He did not truly want to examine the feeling.
"If you planned to do that then you would have done it already."
Corvos did this because he did not want to waste food and he did not have any deeper intention. It was simply the habit of a wanderer.
When Juwel cooked, Corvos washed the dishes. The reverse? There was no reverse. Juwel would never eat anything Corvos cooked. Sitting across from a war criminal at breakfast was already something hard to swallow.
As for washing dishes, actually. Juwel tried to wash once and clumsily dropped a glass cup into the sink.
Who knew whether that triggered some strange instinct in Corvos or not. But he accepted the job of washing the dishes and Juwel did not care what Corvos thought, nor did he care about fairness in distributing housework.
Why should Juwel care about the rights of an enemy?
Enemy. That was the only reason for Juwel's stance. There was no need to be kind to one's enemy.
Phones and AI were two things far beyond anything Juwel could imagine.
He did not like the small handheld machine but he still used it because its usefulness was unimaginable.
Juwel also went out to explore the world, but because he knew his current job, he became more careful.
Just like his first impression, this city knew how to make people lose their sense of direction. Store signs looked as if they were shouting with eye-catching slogans, and the buildings were tall to the point of suffocation. One afternoon Juwel stood at a bus stop for over an hour because he did not know he had to tap a card to use public transportation. After that incident, Corvos left a travel card on the table.
Yes, that card was a transportation card. It was also called an electronic fare card. It was used instead of paper tickets or cash. When boarding the bus or other public vehicles, passengers tapped the card on the scanner so that the system could record the trip and deduct money.
The apartment had a small balcony. Juwel often sat there in the afternoon when the sunlight was not too harsh. Below was a stream of vehicles flowing like a swarm of machine ants, and across the street was a facing building where someone often sat reading behind the window glass. One afternoon he saw a gay couple holding hands on the street. They stayed together without hiding. Juwel blinked in that moment because he remembered those who had died for the same reason in the old world.
Well, calling them gay was not exactly right, since the current world had six genders, so the experiences from his previous life could not fully match this place.
Corvos's daily life was not very different from a forced "retirement", of course it was like that, because Juwel forced him to stay home and not wander anywhere outside his control.
In truth, this matter had already been agreed upon by Corvos when they discussed it on the first day he was reincarnated. They had exchanged quite a lot about their upcoming plans.
Juwel had the responsibility to keep close watch over a criminal in case he did something harmful to society, so whenever Corvos stood up to take his coat, before he even managed to turn the doorknob, he already saw Juwel rise from the sofa, calmly taking his phone and putting on his jacket.
"Where are you planning to go?"
"Downtown."
"Let's go."
The attitude was clear: I am going with you.
No further discussion needed.
At first Corvos acted annoyed, but he did not refuse. Juwel followed him from convenience stores, gas stations, to the second-hand bookstore at the street corner. Once he wandered into an alleyway—it was unclear whether he really got lost or used it to do something bad, but not even three minutes later, Juwel appeared like a ghost behind his back, holding the milk tea can he had forgotten.
"Do not go into places without security cameras. If someone dies you know who will be the first suspect."
Corvos looked at him for a long moment.
Juwel had learned about cameras by accident. Their shape looked like a pair of eyes, and they had a small blinking red light so they looked even more mysterious. He had stood there studying one for a while, and unfortunately that embarrassing moment was seen by Corvos, so Juwel swore that whenever he felt curious about something the first thing he would do was ask the AI.
To be honest, Juwel was still not used to guarding a wolf dressed in striped pajamas. Emphasis: striped pajamas. Truly disgusting.
In reality, Juwel did not need to do much to keep him within sight. Corvos did not escape, resist, or cause chaos. Any scenario he imagined had shown no signs of happening.
He lived as if he had nothing to hide, and that made Juwel feel even more danger than if he tried to run.
The modern world was far different from the old one. Here, a criminal could livestream lectures, be adored for philosophical speeches, or become an idol just because his face matched the LED lights.
Juwel had recognized several dark sides of this world with only one reflection.
And Juwel would not allow that to happen.
"What are you sneaking around doing?"
"Nothing at all."
Juwel grabbed Corvos's collar to pull him close.
After checking, it really was nothing. Corvos looked at Juwel's unpleasant expression and adjusted his collar.
At night, if he was not reading (Corvos had left him a row of modern history books), Juwel would zone out drawing diagrams on scrap paper of the things he did not understand. Or he wrote about certain experiences and the changes he had brought into the original body's life in his journal. There was one night Juwel wrote something in another small notebook.
No one knew what Juwel wrote.
But afterwards he crumpled the paper, threw it into the trash, and sat staring at it for a long time.