Episode 273- If dropping from 3 meters will cause you a good injury, dropping from 50 meters will probably smash you to smithereens.
"Why is there a wall here?" The student muttered as he rubbed his aching head.
"Light it up." The familiar deep voice of the instructor reverberated as he ordered. That was when Eugene furrowed her eyebrows. The sound seemed to be coming from above not to mention it was even echoing?
Eugene's neck was stretched beyond her limits as she stared nervously at the dark sky when all of a sudden light fixtures began to light up. 1 by one, and no more than 50 lights began to light up, allowing the students to see the 'wall' or what you call one mountain of rocks.
"..." Eugene lips slightly gapped at the height that was most likely 50 meters high. If dropping from 3 meters will cause you a good injury, dropping from 50 meters will probably smash you to smithereens.
The students were also quiet, most probably they were frozen in horror as they had an inkling of what they were about to do.
"Attach the rope to yourself and start climbing up yourself." His voice echoed, knifing the hearts of the student's tender hearts.
"You will not die today! As even if you fall, the instructor below will be holding onto your rope, preventing you from falling at all. Your training for today will be over once you get up here." Eugene swore she could hear the mock and laughter in the instructor's voice as he ordered them to climb up as if he knew that everyone was scared.
"You may begin!"
The students were of course still not able to fully comprehend the situation except for Eugene, Neo, and Mas. Maybe because they were the strongest trio, they stepped up first and in unison as well.
The three both got on their ropes and with the help of the instructors, clipped the ropes by themselves which was easier than they thought as it was just wearing a belt and then attaching a metal part to the belt.
After that, all that was left to do was to climb. Eugene took it very seriously and every step she took was out of deep consideration. Of course, it was hard as she was pulling her own weight for a long time but after 10 minutes, she got used to it and shifted her weight to her core and her left leg. Her right leg was used to scout to see if the rock was stable or not and if she found that it was stable she would use that rock to prop herself up. After that, she would shift her weight to her right leg and then scout the area with her left leg.
She repeated this slow process many times and didn't go out of her way to scan the whole area when suddenly a rock fell, hitting the top of her head. Of course, she didn't feel any pain, but she knew she was hit by the dust trickling down her face.
"I'm sorry! I missed a step!" Eugene glanced up to Neo glancing down at her. He was at least 5 meters directly above her. She didn't know how he ended up here because she was sure he was some space away when she started but it was her fault as well for not looking around as she climbed.
Eugene paused until Neo moved to the side before climbing again, this time she learned from her mistake and made sure everything was free above her before moving forward. There were times when she would slip, however, she did not panic and continued on forward. Her careful and slow process repeated for 20 minutes until Eugene reached the top where the instructor, Neo and Mas were waiting. It was now when she inspected everything carefully that she saw metal pieces embedded in the mountain. This means that students rock climb here for training often.
"Congratulations student Eugene, you are in third place." The instructor smiled at her before moving his eyes downwards to the other students who were beginning to climb up.
Neo and Mas walked over to Eugene. Though there was still an uncomfortable air around the three of them, they actually communicated quite frequently, especially when it came to exchanging knowledge. Eugene didn't mind talking to them or exchanging knowledge even though she didn't get anything particularly useful from them.
"Why didn't you climb faster? With your abilities, this should be nothing." Neo asked Eugene. He wasn't poking at her for being third, however, he was just genuinely curious as to why Eugene didn't climb up fast because when they first began climbing, he was sure that climbing would definitely be easy for Eugene.
Eugene turned to Neo and replied, "It is my first-time rock climbing." She answered honestly.
Neo furrowed his eyebrows and turned to Mas before turning back to Eugene, "It is our first time as well."
Eugene didn't say anything anymore to Neo's disappointment. The instructor took this chance to quench his curiosity and asked Eugene in Neo's stead,
"With your natural talent, this would've been easy for you. Why didn't you take 1st place?"
"..." Eugene had thought that it was obvious by her answer but apparently it wasn't. "I don't gamble my life."
She had come to a point in life where she knew that gambling her life, especially in a stupid situation such as wanting to get first place is nothing but a dumb decision. What good is risking your life to get first place? Nothing. And if an accident does happen, what will happen to the people who care about her? That's why Eugene did not hesitate to go slow, especially because it was her first-time rock climbing.
No one said anything after Eugene's answer. Her answer did not truly satisfy Neo who was still a bit immature in his thinking, however, it was not that he didn't understand her. If her words had impacted anyone standing near Eugene, it was to the instructor who has had a good amount of experience over the years. He was shocked by Eugene's mature mindset which was why he kept his silence.
Eugene, Neo, and Mas did not wait for the rest of the students and went back to the dorm with the carriages prepared by the instructor. The first thing Eugene did when she got home was to take another shower before hitting her bed without eating dinner. Although her dinner was left on the table, she didn't want to eat now as she didn't want to go to bed with a full stomach.
When Eugene woke up again, she was like a starving beast. Eating Camille's breakfast was not enough hence Eugene continued her buffet spree at the school's canteen. Once she ate enough for 10 people, she was satisfied and went back to her apartment to formulate her business plan.
With the report that was given to her by Camille this early morning, she went through the recipes that Aernest, Camille, Watt and Ppa suggested.
Because it was going to be a dinner menu, Eugene had to make sure that by the end, the customers had to leave feeling full and satisfied. Aernest suggested fried rice, hence with his fried rice, Eugene paired it up with Watt's minced steak. Of course, the dinner had to look beautiful, which means that the portion of rice was going to be a bit smaller to make the steak look beautiful and big. Combo menu as you may say.
Ppa's suggestion was vegetable soup which Eugene had tried and tested and knew that it would definitely sell. To make his soup look expensive, the bowl of the soup needs to be beautiful, which Eugene already took care of so that was done and dusted.
The third menu is Camille's fried noodle dish paired up with Watt's steak again. And finally, the last creation which took Eugene a long time to decide.
In the end, Eugene chose potato gratin with Watt's steak for the 3rd time. Watt's steak was already fancy hence it could pair up with anything to elevate the dish.
As for dessert… Fried bananas wrapped in pastry was decided. This is a common commoner food that tastes very good. All they had to do was wrap the pastry in a bow shape to make it look beautiful and that was all.
After Eugene finished the report, it was time to head to the supermarket to ask for the ingredients to be sourced next week. Yes, the week after is when they will be opening their grand restaurant. Well, it wasn't grand, but to Eugene, it was because it was something she did of her own accord.
She decided to hire a board of business students to help her which was what she did the following day.. She got a commoner business student on board who gave her reasonable advice like the money situation, keeping track of what she had bought, how much decorating the restaurant costs, how much the ingredients sourced costs and how much the price they would sell their food for.