13. You Have To Be Careful

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By the time I managed to finish everything, it was 7 PM. I could've gone home and continued working from there, eating dinner in front of my computer, but there was something about being able to focus on work while physically at work. At home, I can get distracted by Bondy or Cookie, for example. Once I'm in work mode, it's hard for me to stop, hence why I forget to eat.

There were a few stragglers in the office; one of them went to eat dinner in the break room. I shut my computer down, gathered all my things, and said goodbye to them. I don't work with them directly as we're all broken down into smaller teams. The new guy is starting in two weeks so my workload should hopefully decrease over the next month or so. As soon as he's trained, I'm giving all my shit to him.

I took the lift down to the lobby and made my way towards the bus stop. I wasn't sure what the schedule was like at this time of day but figured they came often enough. There was a ledge to sit on so I wandered over to enjoy my after work ciggy. My original intent was to go to Aurora after work to buy more cigarettes but that clearly isn't happening today.

Bondy had already finished dinner by the time I got home. Since he knew I had a late day, he offered to take Cookie out for a walk which was a relief because that was half an hour I got back. Luckily we didn't have to cook today seen as I made dinner last night which should put us over for a few days. The flat was empty with Bondy and Cookie having just left so I retreated to my room to eat and I started the computer up. I've been staring at the screen for hours and should really take a break but I couldn't help but surf the dark web for easy jobs to do.

People post all kinds of asks, some low risk and some high risk. High risk asks warrant higher pay and I tend to avoid those as I don't have as much time to invest having a full time job. I'm just doing this to make extra money on the side. After jumping from forum after forum, I found a student asking for PDF files of several textbooks he'll need for uni. He didn't have much to offer since he's a broke student barely getting by but he was willing to pay $40 for each textbook. The price of textbooks is downright ridiculous. Students can spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks each quarter, and it gets even worse when you need to buy a code for their online homework. That on top of tuition and living expenses makes universities one of the biggest scams.

It's unfortunate when students can't find a job utilizing their degree after graduation because the job market is saturated and competitive. This results in students unable to pay off their student loans. That's why I prefer countries that make higher education free for their people by utilizing money earned from taxes. Higher education should be accessible to all.

Luckily I knew the right person to ask. Believe it or not, I've befriended other hackers on the dark web. Jeremy—also known as fuck$tudentdebt—has built a website dedicated to providing free textbook PDFs. His website is very hard to access because as soon as companies catch wind of his operation, they'll shut him down. He's very good at his craft, managing to get PDFs of recent releases and he enjoys organizing his growing collection. I went ahead and messaged him.

Nameless: Alreet sern? I'm in need of some textbooks.

fuck$tudentdebt: Almost didn't recognize you with the new name. You back in school?

Nameless: Fuck no. Thought I'd help the less fortunate.

fuck$tudentdebt: Since when were you a good citizen?

Nameless: I can be nice when I want. 😇

fuck$tudentdebt: If you say so. 🙄 What books do you need?

I gave him the list of books I needed and he said he'd look and get back to me. I've managed to get most of my textbooks from him when I was an undergrad. The cost of textbooks annoyed me and I knew there had to be another way around. That led to countless hours on the dark web looking for a solution and that's how I came across Jeremy.

Nameless // Van McCannWhere stories live. Discover now