Having no questions about the financials here at the academy, Fabel shook his head allowing the man to continue his explanation.
"Great, here at the bank, we have self-service holograms that allow students to interact from within. Of course, students can also connect their badges to the bank to allow mobile access to the bank interface, not needing to do much."
"Only thing you need to really do at banks is make a deposit." Finishing up with a simple and easy wrap-up, the man waited for Fabel to register his words.
Fabel simply grabbed his badge and gave it to the man asking if he could connect it right away. Smiling, the man nodded and proceeded to input the sufficient information and simply handed it back.
"To access the badge panel, you just need to think about the badge and it'll bring up a hologram for you to access like a computer." The man informed Fabel as he concluded everything.
"Feel free to comeback to the desk if you have any other questions!"
Watching the man walk away, he decided to first try out the badge. Thinking about the badge, an interface popped up in his eyes and decided to see if you can interact with it. Seeing how his finger was able to interact with the hologram, he clicked on his bank where his student balance would be displayed.
Upon opening, he saw '-500,000 Tokens'. Frowning, he clicked on it to see if it was a bugged number, instead he opened up the transactions that compiled everything he bought and what his initial balance was. Surprisingly he had an initial balance of 10,000 Tokens only to now have -500,000 Tokens.
He hissed at all the transactions he made and saw that all of it was from the things he filled out at the housing form. Feeling a burning seer in his heart, he had no choice but to look up at the sky and daydream. Only after small tear came down from his eyes did he snap back to reality and walked around.
The thought of asking for a refund on items didn't even occur to him since he thought these were all basic necessities. Right?
----
After walking around, he ended up in the shopping district. He kept walking around dazed as if his world was crashing all around him, not really keeping track of where he was going. How was he going to get money? Could he beg others for money?
Not knowing what to do, he ended up in front of a large building. He silently stared at it for a while unmoving. He couldn't help but dream about how tall the building was and what it was like on the inside. Soon after, a woman walked out of the building and walked in his direction.
Not noticing the arrival of this woman, he just stood there dazed.
"Hey kid, have you thought about being a model?"
Attracted by the new noise of a person's voice in his ears, his head slowly turned towards the woman that spoke. Looking blankly at the woman, he replied.
"Can it give me money?"
The woman hearing this, smirked. She never thought that the kid who randomly stood in front of the building, receiving security's attention would be some good looking kid. She couldn't help but remark in her head about the features on this kid.
Smooth healthy hair that was parted showing his forehead. Light brown eyes that seem to hold a trace of chocolate color with a hint of hazel. Eyelashes that were medium to long in length that could consider him a pretty boy in the past and present era. The most remarkable thing was his attitude. He carried a look that practically screamed a lost boy with ambitions. Perfect for her company's business model.
If she could recruit this young boy as a child model for her business, her business could potentially attract more attention. If it works out successfully, she would ride the wave to the peak!
'No, no. I need to first think small then I can think about those steps after I secure him.'
Once again, she tried to convey her intentions.
"When you become a model for me, naturally you'll get money. You're low on money? No problem, modeling is one of the easiest money you can ever dream of."
Hearing this, Fabel couldn't help but refocus on her face. A shine in his eyes as if he was brought back to life with those few words.
"Deal!"
The woman looked at the boy and couldn't help but feel that this boy was immature and didn't know what was happening. He simply agreed to be her model without and discussion? Well she couldn't just say no.
Naturally she walked towards the building and beckoned the boy over inside where they could do the paperwork. She handed him the paper work and waited for him to read it.
Fabel saw the paper and started reading it seriously, noting that the last time he read a paper it was for the stupid housing and that resulted in him getting his money drained into the negatives.
At first glance, everything seemed favorable to him. He noticed a few questionable things like 20 year long contract, profit splits, responsibilities, and commitments. Looking up, he wanted to ask about these things.
"What's this about a 20 year contract?"
Hear this reply, the woman smiled softly and said,
"This is the normal contract period for newcomers. Because they're so young we're contracting them for longer periods since normally it takes a significantly longer time before anyone graduates from this academy."
Fabel hearing this couldn't help but think how long it'd take for him to graduate, how long it'd take before he gets to see his mother. Putting the thought aside, he asked about the other parts of the contract.
"What about the profit split of 40/60? What is this about responsibilities that I have to do for the company? What about these commitments? There isn't really much explanation about it other than I have to agree to whatever 'Party B' states I have to do."
Hearing this, the woman silently contemplated on what to tell the boy. He understands what's good and bad for him but doesn't exactly understand to what degree is good or bad.
"40% of profits are given to you while 60% of the profits are retained for the company as we're doing all the work of finding you job commissions and handling paper work for you. As for the responsibilities, they're for whatever company event we hold that requires our models to participate in, some may be required participation while others may be voluntary. As for commitments they're more or less agreements with the management within the company that you have to abide."
Hearing this, Fabel didn't find anything that would seem out of place or unfavorable to him. Profits were reasonable, responsibilities didn't seem too big of an issue. And commitments were pretty much just rules of the company.
"Alright then, I agree to the conditions."
The woman smiled softly as she felt the hardest part had passed. She simply flipped through the papers and wrote down a couple of things on the empty lines and then pointed on an empty line.
"This is where you'll sign your name to show that you have agreed to the contract."
Looking at the line, he lifted the pen and simply wrote down his name, 'Fabel Roam'. After filling out all the pointed out lines, the woman grabbed the paper and neatly stacked them together and held her hand out.
"Let me formally introduce myself, I'm Eve Faust. Welcome to my company 'Holy Yield Agency', Fabel Roam."
After shaking hands with Eve, Fabel left the agency building and proceeded to walk back to his house. After a while, he laid down on the bed feeling exhausted from the emotional ups and downs that he had received today.
What was he supposed to do in the meantime while his balance is in the negatives? He couldn't eat or attend classes, buy techniques. Nothing. His best chance at earning money was praying that he got a job commission soon.