To Live Again, For the First Time!

Xander POV:

I can't believe it! Am I really going to be working with M now? What if this guy is a scammer? How does he even know who I am? If this TWO can encrypt M's information so well, he must have already gotten my information by now. ​​

These were the questions that I should have been asking before I had already agreed. Things I should have been worried about back then. Too late now.

{One thing I didn't understand back then is that once you sell your soul to the devil, the devil won't sell it back. Well, maybe you're a masochist and you don't want it back anyway.}

No. He must be like me, wanting to save the lives of the ones in need, and he's already done it. A true superhero!

I had many doubts about the deal I had just accepted. But deep down, I was excited more than anything.

On the same day, TWO sent me another message.

TWO: [*contact card*]

TWO: [This is M's work number. Hehe, good luck.]

My gut feeling told me that the 'good luck' he had sent wasn't anything good. Then, I told my gut to shut up.

I had already added TWO's number and now I had, what I hope, was M's number.

M: [*Report* *Report* *Report* *Report]

'???'

M: [Send these ones under my name. After sending the first wait 6 months for the next and do the same for the following ones.]

'Why in 6-month intervals? If he already has so many procedures that can save lives, why does he not want to turn them in now? If I don't turn them in now, won't people who could have been saved die?'

M: [Don't do anything you'll regret]

'Does he mean sending them all at once? Or something else entirely? This conversation seems more stressful than any test I have ever taken.'

M: [If anything happens, just put it under my name, credit included, everything else can be pushed off or ignored.]

'What do you even mean? What pushed off? What ignored? What if my superiors ask me about it? Do I ignore them too?'

M: [good luck.]

'Why was everyone saying good luck as if I'm going to a death mission?' In the end, I wasn't able to say anything other than 'understood'.

What kind of pressure would M emit in real life if even through the screen I can barely withstand the aura he creates? Probably the aura of a superhero.

Wait. Why do I feel like I'm working for M rather than with him? I guess I'll learn from him first. A superhero's sidekick? No, more like a protégé, yeah. Well, I guess I'll figure it out as I go.

I did as M said and submitted the first document directly to the higher-ups. When they heard it was from that 'M' the first to react was Mr. Lander. He wanted to see if this savior was a true genius or if finding a cure for PHP was just a fluke.

Was he a one-hit-wonder? That was a question I also wanted to know the answer to.

The Association had already tested the procedure for the Pacemaker's Heavy Paralysis in multiple simulations. The thing is, the patient would always die in the simulation, yet when they followed the steps with real patients who were in critical condition, every single one was cured.

This made them believe their simulations were faulty, or maybe their system just hadn't been developed enough to be able to process the procedure.

This just made M even more mysterious.

The following weeks for me were just testing the new procedure that M had sent. Following the instructions was very simple. M seemed to have written the report so that even newcomers with the most basic knowledge of medicine would be able to follow his instructions.

In other words, it was written like a 101 for Dummies

I didn't really know how I should feel about that.

This was once again a procedure that was made to cure a disease that wasn't very well known but also had no cure with a 100% mortality rate. I wondered if M was choosing such illnesses to build a reputation of doing the impossible because it was working pretty well.

My days got busy as the patients I was in charge of were showing signs of recovery. When my colleagues and superiors saw the results of the procedure, they went into gossip mode.

There were all types of gossip, but I didn't pay them any mind.

My mind was set. Being M's protégé would definitely be a steal for me. I had to hold on to this golden thigh.

He was going to teach me how to become a proper superhero!

{Yeah, please don't judge me, I was pretty delusional when I was a teenager. So delusional that I never noticed the changes in my workflow.}

Slowly, my work, my goals, and my aspirations were mutating. And I seemed to be the only one who had yet to notice this change.

My mantra became the one that M gave me: 'everything else can be pushed back or ignored'.

Only now, nearly 10 years later, did I finally realize how much that one order changed my views on life.

***

Levi Stanley (a supervisor for the interns) POV:

It was absolutely absurd. A teenager working as an actual doctor. My first instincts told me to question his qualifications, but as an avid reader of online novels, I wondered if this Xander was the main character. If so, I didn't want to become a cannon folder this early in the story, I still wanted to live a long life.

This is what led me to take an observer's role.

At first, I thought I might have been mistaken because Xander was just too naïve. He was like a 5-year-old when it came to his aspirations and a 40-year-old when it came to his medical knowledge.

It was just too tough to read a novel with a super naïve main character, even if he was a genius in the medical field.

In the first year, he showed to everyone, who cared to pay any attention, that his knowledge in medicine was no less than anyone there, if not more. But that wouldn't be enough for him to be the main character.

The main character needed a little more.

Not even two years had gone by since he first came, and he was already becoming infamous.

Everyone was raving about how lucky he was to have gotten his hands on M's report first. Then, not a single person in the lower ranks wasn't wondering why M chose Xander to be his 'handler'.

His personality started to change too. At first, he acted like that little kid in front of the superiors, but lately, he had become much more like them. Sly and cunning. Using the files as leverage he was able to keep the ones who were scared of M's possible identity, the ones who were in debt to him, and the ones who admired him all on a leash. Getting opportunities others could only dream of. Going to various conferences and getting hands-on-experience. The speed of his improvements was through the roof.

Genius. Check.

Luck. Check.

Handsome. (maybe not as good looking as me but I'll reluctantly check it off.) Check.

Mysterious Backer. Check.

This proved my original decision to be the right one. Xander was now either the main character or the canon folder second male lead.

I really wanted to watch the development of this story close up. I'll admit it, while I wasn't working, I did what some would consider semi- stalkerish actions. But I call it research, which is exactly what employees at the International Medical and Procedural Association should do.

After thinking it through, I told my superior that I wanted to watch Xander in order to get a better picture of M. That's what landed me the 'demotion' to becoming his assistant. It didn't remain a demotion for very long.

I was at least 10 years older than him, which made me a little embarrassed at first. Then I realized that it didn't really matter. It wasn't shameful at all working so close to a possible main character.

The longer I spent assisting Xander, the more convinced I was. He rose in ranks quickly, not only because of his connection with M, but also his personal skills.

He was the person who studied M's procedures the most thoroughly and when they became more complex, he was the one that took charge. This also gave him the opportunity to finally start participating in surgeries. Starting as an assistant surgeon and then as the primary one.

Throughout these years he took every opportunity he could find to improve himself, and just 2 years ago, he became the youngest department head at the age of 23, younger than the previous record-holder by a whopping 20 years.

There were of course a lot of silent protests, but none were voiced.

This was something that was going to go down in history, and because I followed the 'main-character' I was able to watch the show on a front-row seat.

But we obviously still haven't even reached the climax of the story.