Zed was born in the 1930s, and was raised in an orphanage after the death in childbirth of his mother, and the abandonment of his father. The orphanage was full of children at that time, and unfortunately he was never adopted. He was a little bit sickly because of the malnutrition he knew and was often bullied by children from the neighbourhood who liked to tease orphans.
He escaped from the orphanage around the age of 14 because he could hardly eat and was afraid that he would not survive. He survived by stealing food, and slept in parks or rubbish cans.
Not liking these living conditions, he found a job in a shoemaker's shop around the age of 17. He had to shine and wash the shoes that his boss made or repaired. He was allowed to live in a room upstairs in the shoemaker's shop, but received almost no money. He used all the money he earned to buy food and clothing. Having very little money, he had to put on the same clothes over and over again for several days in a row.
He attracted older married women who came to fix their shoes. Many of them took advantage of the time it took to repair their shoes to make advances to Zed and sleep with him. He accepted out of fear of reprisal and was even happy when he was given a few coins to thank him. The rumor of his obedience to these advances spread and more and more women and men took advantage of Zed's services. Zed's boss was pleased because he brought him new customers.
Zed lived this way until he was 24 years old, when he finally died of tuberculosis.

In the afterlife, Zed had a hard time finding a place at the Academy, he couldn't do much with his ten fingers, and no one was interested in a shoe shiner. So he started studying to make up for his shortcomings, and seeing that he hated math, he couldn't understand much. He ended up working as a cashier or waiter in fast-food restaurants to at least earn enough to pay the rent. He managed to make friends who advised him to go to cities other than the Academy and that he might like it there.
So he stayed in many cities, but never liked them enough to stay, leaving after a year or two. He finally ended up in Castle Town. Although he had a job as a waiter at the Academy, he decided to stay in CastleTown, since he liked it, he met people he cared about, and his girlfriend was in a nearby town.