"I doubt anyone besides me would be able to take your bullying either," Gustav replied while faking a look of annoyance.

"Hahaha,"

"Hahaha,"

Both of them burst into laughter after that exchange for several seconds before stopping.

Silence reigned for many seconds as they stared at nothing with smiles on their faces while reminiscing.

"Gustav, I will be resigning from teaching..." Miss Aimee finally broke the silence.

Gustav was not surprised by her declaration but he still asked, "Why?"

"Due to your discovery within the border... I have to finish investigating that issue so I will be traveling to another city, two weeks from now," Miss Aimee said with a solemn look.

Gustav stared at her with a contemplative expression. He was quite speechless and didn't know how to respond.

"Don't worry, we'll meet again in the future... Don't forget that I still have to receive my compensation, hehe," Miss Aimee laughed lightly after speaking.

Gustav couldn't help but smile back. This was the very first time he was seeing miss Aimee show so many emotions in an hour.

What Gustav didn't know was, miss Aimee smiled more in the last six months than she ever did in the last six years.

She never shone such in classes or around anyone else he knew besides him so even though she kept mentioning compensations Gustav knew that she truly cared for him and he was very grateful for that.

"So miss Aimee, which city will you be headed to?" Gustav asked with a curious gaze.

---

An hour later Gustav had arrived in his apartment. Today's events played out in his mind and he couldn't help but look very focused at the moment.

"Oh, miss Aimee mentioned the badge," Gustav remembered this and stood up from his bed before he started checking around his apartment for the badge.

Miss Aimee already described its appearance to him and assured him that his apartment security protocols couldn't stop the cube from finding its way in so long as it was sent by the MBO.

Gustav looked around for over thirty minutes but he couldn't find anything like what miss Aimee had described to him.

Even though he knew he had checked properly while also making use of his abilities, Gustav still decided to search the entire apartment once again and this time it took him thirty minutes.

After he finished doing that he sat on his bed with a dumbfounded and defeated expression.

"Did the MBO make a mistake or what? Where is the participation badge I was supposed to receive... Or am I one of those who didn't receive one?" Gustav considered these possibilities but when he remembered miss Aimee's look of confidence when she mentioned he would have gotten one, he stopped doubting.

Gustav's mind wandered to various things and possible reasons as to why he couldn't find it in his apartment.

------------------------------

"Fill your name, address, and other details on the collection form if you are interested in participating in the test!"

"Remember, you cannot participate if you are not a Zulu ranked mixed-blood by then,"

------------------------------

Gustav's mind went back to the time when the MBO inspectors visited their school.

"That's it," He voiced out with a look of realization.

"Looks like I'll have to visit that place," Gustav said with a slight frown.

When he filled in his information on the collection form six months back, he hadn't rented this apartment yet so he filled in the address of his parents' house.

Gustav guessed that the cube must have been sent to his former household.

"If I'm gonna visit them I might as well get it done before nightfall," Gustav muttered and stood up to change his clothes.

After a few minutes had gone by Gustav left his apartment and headed towards the nearest bus station.

Just as he left the building Angy came out of her apartment and headed to his.

Kom! Kom!

"Hey, Gustav are you there?" She raised her voice while knocking on his door.

--

Ten minutes later Gustav arrived in his old neighborhood.

He stared at the familiar bungalow-type houses within the vicinity. He kept walking on the side of the road while looking around, checking for differences but he soon lost interest when he didn't notice anything.

His appearance didn't garner ridiculing glances as it used to in the past because the people moving around the neighborhood couldn't even recognize him. He had changed quite a lot in that past six months. He was close to being six feet tall now with a buff build, charming looks, and smooth blonde hair.

Even his manner of walking had a lot of elegance mixed in. He had a very straight and confident look unlike before when he was always looking timid.

Gustav arrived in front of the butter-colored bungalow building he lived in for seventeen straight years and memories begin flooding in once again.

He had an expressionless look as he arrived in front of the door and knocked gently.

Kom! Kom!

"Darling, please get the door, I'm still busy with this," 

A familiar feminine voice drifted into Gustav's ears from inside.

'Hmm, darling?' Gustav remembered that his mother only said that word when a person was around.

Click!

The door made a clicking sound and shifted to the side.

"Huh?"

"Oh?" 

Gustav stared at the familiar figure that appeared in front of him with a slightly surprised look while the figure stared back at him with a dumbfounded expression.

"Who are you?" The man who opened the door asked with his left eyebrow raised slightly.

It was a middle-aged-looking man with a square-shaped face sporting dirty blond hair. 

Although Gustav also had dirty blonde hair, it still looked more refined and beautiful compared to that of the middle-aged man.

'He doesn't even recognize me,' Gustav smiled as this thought came to his mind, 'I guess this is all for the best then... I don't need any senseless banter,' 

Gustav changed the tone of his voice, making it deep before speaking.

"Erm, I am participating in the MBO entrance test... I seem to have sent the wrong address to the MBO so my participation badge ended up here... I'm coming to get it," Gustav said with a polite look.

"Oh, you mean that?" The man asked while pointing towards the shelf area inside the apartment.

Gustav's sight followed where his finger pointed at inside the apartment from his position at the entrance. He saw a black cube floating above the shelf on the other side of the living room.