Registry

“Welcome to the Hero Registration Center,” a professional looking woman greeted me. She gave me a once-over, her eyebrows inching up slightly. “May I assist you with something?”

“I'm here to register,” I replied, standing tall. The woman raised an eyebrow, her gaze sharpening slightly.

“You'll have to go through a series of tests first,” she began, adopting a more formal tone. “The cost for all this is three hundred dollars.”

I must have grimaced because she was quick to add, “If you score higher than last year's top ten, we will refund your fee. Score the highest, and we award you three thousand dollars.” She said as she started typing on the iPad in her hand, “It's just a procedure we've got. It helps us filter out those who are serious about this. No hard feelings.”

Three hundred dollars was a lot, it'll be the most amount of money I'll spend in a year.

“Cheer up, lad. We're not just getting our money back; we're earning that grand prize.” Ahe's voice rang in my head, brimming with confidence.

I nodded, more to myself than to the woman. “Alright, let's do it.”

The woman smiled. “Great! Let's get you registered, then.”