The uneventful break passed by quickly. Still, it was such a good thing that they could have a break once in a while. More so, when they just experienced sothing terrible.
Today, however, they were tasked to gather once again downstairs. Rayen and Adrian headed downstairs, encountering Yeo Haru together with soone unfamiliar along the way.
Rayen greeted the petty dancer, "Yo."
"Yo, brother!" Yeo Haru said cheerfully.
’In a good mood, I guess.’
"I heard about your great tales. You’re so cool!" Yeo Haru continued, but grimaced upon the ntion of his next words. "You even beat that Xu Jiji."
Rayen’s face flushed. Just how much was that tale embellished already?
Ignoring the two’s conversation, Adrian also greeted the person beside Yeo Haru with familiarity. Rayen briefly glanced at the person but didn’t say anything.
’Co to think of it... This person looks familiar.’
He squinted his eyes toward the person, making Yeo Haru notice.
"Ah, this is Xi Huan, my roommate," Yeo Haru introduced.
Xi Huan. Right! That magician who was Adrian’s teammate last round. Rayen couldn’t recognize him imdiately because he no longer wore his hair extention, and his hair was dyed in flashy bright pink.
’So, he was Yeo Haru’s roommate, huh?’
"Nice to et you," Xi Huan said with a flowering smile while holding out a hand.
Rayen reached out for his hand to shake it. "Likewise..."
Just then a flower erged in his hand with just one snap of his fingers. Rayen flinched, already sensitive to that sound. For a mont, he thought he would be teleported to another place again.
"Oh, I’m sorry. Did I startle you?" Xi Huan asked.
Calming down, Rayen shook his head. He stared at the red rose in Xi Huan’s hand. Without ado, Xi Huan suddenly raised the flower and tucked it into Rayen’s ears.
"It’s a token of our eting," Xi Huan said.
Rayen paled and shuddered with the sudden gesture. This person didn’t have any sense of space at all.
Xi Huan went ahead of them. Right after she disappeared from his sight, Rayen felt for the rose on his ears but discovered it was no longer there.
Witnessing the scene, Yeo Haru and Adrian covered their mouths, trying to hold in their laughter.
’What are you laughing about?’
Deeply confused, Rayen looked at them with a scowl. Just then, Yeo Haru approached him, gesturing for Rayen to lean his ears toward him. Rayen obliged.
"Xi Huan’s a girl, brother. She just chose a male Life Book like Iris."
Rayen froze.
’Another fake man?’
"Your reaction is so cute in front of her, though," Adrian teased.
Feigning a cough, he decided to ignore the two. He also decided to change the pronoun he should use when talking about Xi Huan.
At this point, Rayen might no longer be surprised if he t a fake girl next.
They continued heading downstairs together.
When they arrived, a staff mber was waiting for them by the entrance.
"This way, please," the curly-haired staff mber said, gesturing toward the door.
The three guys froze before looking at each other. Were they going to head outside again?
Rayen wanted to head back. Just rembering the sensation of being teleported repeatedly made his stomach turn upside-down.
Fortunately, it wasn’t the case this ti.
"This leads to the greenhouse," the staff mber clarified.
The churning in Rayen’s stomach subsided after hearing the words. He heaved a sigh of relief.
With the guidance of the staff mber, the three ultimately stepped out of the door. As expected, a misty garden appeared in their vision. There, several participants had already been waiting — including Xi Huan, who had just left them out of the blue.
Upon seeing the red-haired participant that just entered, the crowd began to murmur.
"He’s the one, right? The one who swept away all of the sponsors?"
’I didn’t do that.’
"Yeah. It’s so evil. I lost my sponsor because of him."
’What?’
Rayen eyed the participant. It wasn’t as if it was his intention to get their sponsors.
"Look, he’s so intimidating. Maybe I’ll dye my hair red too. I’ll probably sweep so many sponsors."
’Please, don’t.’
Rayen walked to the corner of the garden to avoid the crowd’s eyes. It seed like not everyone was welco to the idea of him receiving so many sponsorships.
Of course. That was how survival worked. One more sponsor for him, one less for the others.
Adrian nudged him on the side. "Infamous Mr. Vocalist."
"I’m not."
Plotter and Director entered the garden followed by a large entourage.
As the self-proclaid emcee of the private broadcast, Plotter stepped out from their group. He was back to his forr self, a playful smile lingering on his lips.
"Okay, now that everyone is here, let’s proceed," Plotter said.
’Everyone?’
Rayen glanced around, but he was sure that it wasn’t everyone. He couldn’t see Binh among the crowd. He also double checked the numbers of the participants and only counted 23 people.
Binh was really missing.
Minho and Renjiro also looked puzzled. They were just about to raise their hands when Plotter brought up the topic himself.
"One participant isn’t permitted to participate for today’s segnt," Plotter said with a smile.
’Not permitted?’
"Less screen ti for soone who screwed up," he further explained. "He’s being punished. Practice room for 24 hours."
Shuddering, Rayen finally understood. The crowd buzzed with murmurs. So, it was that. It seed like it was about the incident that nearly offed Rayen.
’24 hours with that demonic woman seed like hell...’
Shaking his head, he tried to erase the thought in his mind.
Plotter added so more words though.
"It looks like you’re forgetting sothing again. Aren’t you?"
The crowd looked at each other. What did they forget?
"Did you forget that you all failed the second segnt of the private broadcast?"
Rayen blinked.
’What?’
Soone exclaid the sa question out loud.
"How did we fail? Wasn’t it cancelled?"
Plotter covered his mischievous grin with his hand. "What cancelled? You all failed."
Everyone wanted to protest with his words.
"Since none of you had advanced to the third segnt, technically, you all failed."
"....."
Everyone was speechless with his words. Was that how it was counted now?
Looking annoyed, the director finally interrupted Plotter. "Stop playing around, will you?"
Plotter instantly pursed his lips.
He feigned a cough before continuing. "Then, I’ll explain to you the chanics. We’re going tower climbing."
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