"Boss, I won't disturb you any longer. See you."
"Fisk, Vanessa, take care."
After Kingpin and Vanessa left, the shop finally quieted down again.
Rorschach had been thinking that since there were no customers around, he might as well play a few rounds of Honor of Kings.
But then Deadpool started bombarding him with private messages.
"Boss, you wouldn't be that cruel, would you? That heartless? No way. No way, right?"
"I was just welcoming the new group member! Did you really have to mute me for that?"
"Boss, do you know you've wounded my soul, my emotions, and my body?"
"You might be wondering why my body too. That's because Vanessa just beat the hell out of me!"
"She said I made you unhappy!"
Then came a whole flood of messages.
Rorschach immediately felt a headache coming on. Deadpool really wasn't someone an ordinary person could handle.
"Stop immediately, or I'm blocking you."
Rorschach shot back an irritated reply.
It wasn't that he lacked manners, and it definitely wasn't because he had anything against Deadpool.
This was simply the result of painful experience.
Because if he didn't deal with Wade like this, the guy would never shut up.
Sure enough, the moment Rorschach said that, Deadpool stopped spamming.
"Boss, let me tell you something serious. You might see me on TV soon."
Deadpool's message carried a clear hint of smugness.
"What, Wade? Did a talent scout discover you? Are you about to become a movie star?"
Rorschach teased him.
"A movie star? Not a bad idea. I like it!"
"Honestly, I really might go into film and become a celebrity one day!"
"My God, Boss, you're a genius. You've just helped me find a new direction in life. I heard Green Lantern might get adapted for the screen. If I could play Green Lantern…"
And just like that, Deadpool started enthusiastically fantasizing with Rorschach.
Rorschach: "…"
Wade, are you serious?
Honestly, Rorschach was looking forward to it.
If Deadpool really went off to star in Green Lantern, would he regret it so badly he'd want to kill himself?
That would be hilarious.
"Green Lantern, huh? Wade, I think that role was made for you. Go for it. I believe in you."
With just a touch of evil delight, Rorschach encouraged him.
"Then I really have to perform well this time!"
Deadpool sounded full of energy.
"Even if it's just a commercial, I'm sure this is the beginning of my journey to becoming a superstar!"
A commercial?
What was that supposed to mean?
So Rorschach asked him about it and quickly figured out the whole story.
Apparently, Deadpool had been seen by accident by a marketing manager from a famous cosmetics brand.
The guy had been stunned by Deadpool's flawless skin on the spot.
So they invited Deadpool to be their brand ambassador and help promote their face masks.
And if the response was good enough, they even planned to shoot commercial spots with him.
When Rorschach heard that, he was completely dumbfounded.
Deadpool selling facial masks?
How was that even a thing?
How had the story gone this crooked?
"Honestly, I didn't even want to do it at first," Deadpool went on, "but they were just way too sincere. They told me all I had to do was stand there and let people admire my face. I wouldn't have to do anything else."
"And they're even paying me a pretty good price—ten thousand dollars per event. It's basically free money!"
"I even told them they'd need to book a hotel for me because I was bringing Vanessa along, and they didn't mind at all!"
"The only condition they gave me was that I had to say my face was thanks to their face mask. Boss, you don't mind that, right?"
Deadpool was practically glowing as he bragged about his bizarre new adventure.
All Rorschach could do was sigh inwardly.
Deadpool really was one of Marvel's most outrageous weirdos.
A weirdo attracting weird situations.
Absolutely perfect.
After he finished chatting nonsense with Wade, Rorschach finally had time to pick up his phone and log into Honor of Kings again.
He played a few 3v3 matches and, as expected, received a fresh wave of abuse from his teammates.
"A bunch of noobs. And they still have the nerve to blame me."
"Only bad players blame their teammates."
Rorschach curled his lip in disdain, ignored the idiots, and jumped straight into the next match.
…
Meanwhile, at Helen Cho's research center…
"Professor Xavier, it's an honor to finally meet you."
"No, Dr. Helen Cho, lately you're the one whose name has been making waves."
Professor X, seated in his wheelchair, smiled as he greeted Helen.
"But as you can see, certain objective limitations make it impossible for me to stand. So I hope you'll forgive my rudeness."
"Professor Xavier, you're joking. This way, please."
Helen shook his hand politely, then personally led him into her lab.
She knew Professor X was a mutant, but like Rorschach, she didn't particularly hate mutants.
At the same time, she didn't especially support them either.
She simply felt indifferent.
Still, for the famous Professor X, Helen had genuine respect.
Setting aside his identity as a mutant, Professor X was also an exceptionally knowledgeable scholar.
In the field of genetic mutation, he was a world-renowned authority.
Helen had always respected true academic giants like him.
"Hank, would you mind pushing me inside?"
Professor X said to the man behind him.
Then, as Helen led them farther in, the two began chatting as they moved.
"Dr. Cho, I'm not trying to flatter myself, but I've experienced many things in my life. Very little can still surprise me anymore."
That wasn't arrogance.
Looking back over his life, he had fought alongside people from the future, stopped machines that nearly destroyed the world, and battled aliens.
His life could truly be described as extraordinary.
"And yet what happened to Orks genuinely caught my attention. I didn't expect him to recover so quickly."
There was still a trace of surprise in Professor X's tone.
Not long ago, one of the students at Xavier's School had been hit by a car and suffered a shattered leg.
The result?
After being brought to Helen Cho, the boy was up and running again the very next day.
That was simply unbelievable.
It practically qualified as a supernatural event.
Professor X's first reaction had been that the one who healed him must have been a mutant.
Because only that explanation seemed to make sense.
But when he located Helen Cho through Cerebro, he discovered that she wasn't a mutant at all.
She was just an ordinary human.
And that was exactly why Professor X had come to see her in person.