A Second Life, A New Power

Demi smiled and shook her head. "I have no objections."
"Alright. Demi and Maria will be in a team. What about the others?" Matt turned his attention to the rest of the group.
"I'll team up with Anna."
"I'll team up with Wendy."
"Then, I'll have to team up with Mr. Lenon."
Chad had just returned from Kinlat, so he was still accustomed to their culture. For instance, he would bow frequently and liked addressing people by
their seniority.
Moreover, Chad wasn't very fluent in Cartroan. He could handle simple conversations, but more complex dialogues were a struggle. He had openly
mentioned this in his introduction.
"Next up is one of the most classic parts of variety shows. We'll be dividing up the rooms. In this box, we have the numbers for the different
courtyards. Each team will send one person to draw lots," Matt announced.
After a short pause, he continued, "Before you draw, let me briefly introduce the features of each courtyard. First is courtyard one. The main feature is
that it has a lot of chickens and ducks. So, you can eat the eggs. Second is courtyard two. There are three pigs inside, but the pigs can't be

slaughtered for food."
The online commentaries began.
"The director's got quite the sense of humor!"
"Seriously, slaughtering the pigs? I doubt any of them even know how to do that!"
"What if someone knows how to? Maybe Demi can."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence in Demi!"
The guests were also at a loss for words.
"Don't worry. We'd love to, but we're just not capable," George said.
Matt chuckled and said, "You've given me an idea! Next time, I'll bring you all a pig and let you butcher it yourselves."

Everyone, including the netizens, was speechless.
"Mr. Hahn, could you at least pretend to be humane!" someone blurted out.
"Alright. Enough chatter. Let's move on. Courtyard three has a persimmon tree. You can eat the persimmons there if you like. Finally, courtyard four
has no electricity."
"What?"
Everyone froze in disbelief.

"No electricity? How are we supposed to live in that?" a few of them asked in unison.
"You'll figure it out," Matt said nonchalantly. "Now, line up for the draw."
One by one, the guests headed toward the staff member holding the box. They lined up in order of age.
Maria insisted that Demi pick the draw. She reasoned that Demi required more screen time and she couldn't always be hogging the spotlight.
Ahead of Demi, Chad clasped his hands together in a silent prayer.
"Look at how scared Chad is."
"Don't worry. He can just borrow some candles from Demi."
Eventually, Demi drew courtyard two—the one with the pigs.
"Thank goodness we dodged courtyard four," Maria said gleefully.
Nigel and Wendy drew courtyard one, while Chad and George picked courtyard three. So, Ana ended up with courtyard four.
Ana stared at the paper in her hand, on the verge of tears. Her luck couldn't possibly be worse.
"Okay. The draw is done. Everyone can head to your courtyards for lunch," Matt announced, clearly enjoying the mix of reactions.
"Wait. What are we supposed to eat?"
"Is lunch provided by the show?"

"You'll cook for yourselves. The ingredients have already been prepared and are in your kitchens. But from now on, you'll have to earn your meals
through labor," Matt explained.
Nobody seemed particularly surprised. It was a reality show, after all—these setups were part of the game.
Following the directions from the production team, everyone set off to find their assigned houses.
...
"Demi, do you know how to cook?" Maria asked eagerly while holding Demi's arms.