We grabbed a quick dinner on the way ho, just so burgers and soda. It wasn’t healthy at all, but when I’m stressed, food like that always makes feel a little better.
"Mr. rcer checked Helena’s belongings today," Lando suddenly said. We were eating our burgers in the parking lot while the driver smoked outside.
"Don’t worry, I asked Henry to watch him, so he won’t ss anything up," Lando added. "But more importantly, Mr. rcer found sothing that might be useful for the investigation."
I slowly lowered the burger from my lips. His words made curious, because I—who owned all those things—didn’t even find anything interesting in them.
"What did he find?" I asked, leaning a little closer without realizing it.
"Coupons," Lando replied.
I stared at him, completely confused. How could the coupons I collected ever help in an investigation? I didn’t even rember what kind of coupons I used to save back then.
As if he already knew his answer would confuse , Lando opened his phone and showed the screen to . "Just look at these."
I lowered my gaze, and saw piles of massage coupons, all neatly lined up on his screen. I had no idea when I even collected that many. It seed like I never used them because the massage place was in Shellre City, a coastal city filled with beautiful beaches.
Wait a second, where did I even get these coupons?
Damn it. How could I forget sothing this important? All of these coupons were from my manager, Jasper!
Back then, I honestly didn’t understand why a stingy guy like him kept giving massage coupons at least once every two months, and that only started around a year before my downfall.
Of course, I never used those coupons because I was too busy. Jasper often told to go, sotis even pushing a little, but I didn’t know why.
I completely forgot about those coupons because I always shoved them randomly into my bag, and then forgot about them entirely.
"What’s wrong with these coupons?" I asked, pretending to be clueless. "They’re just massage coupons."
Lando explained patiently, "These coupons weren’t freebies. Soone bought them." He zood in on the photo and pointed at the na printed on the side.
"All of these coupons were issued under Mr. Jasper Thorn, Helena’s forr manager," Lando continued. "And Mr. rcer found out Helena never visited this massage place even once. So we’re guessing Mr. Thorn really wanted her to go to this exact location."
The small lines on my forehead deepened. How on earth did the detective know I never stepped foot in "Calm Touch Massage" back then?
He didn’t spy on in the past, right?!
Well, I guessed a private detective hired by Lando wouldn’t be low-level, so he must have many sources of information.
"Do you think there’s sothing weird in that place?" I asked curiously.
Lando shrugged. "I’m not sure yet, but Mr. rcer will visit the place himself tomorrow." He paused, then added softly, "I’ll let you know if he finds anything useful."
Lando once told he preferred to keep information to himself until he had a full picture of the situation.
However, since I started telling him about everything, he slowly developed a habit of talking to about anything he found interesting too.
Just yesterday, he even sent a random ssage because he saw news about an orange cat living with capybaras at the zoo.
It wasn’t that I disliked exchanging silly information because it was actually fun sotis. I just never imagined that Lando, a man I once thought was stiff, cold, and honestly a bit boring, could be this warm and easy to talk to.
"You can also tell if you find sothing useless," I said. "But... if it’s sothing bad and it might affect my emotions, you have to warn first."
I just didn’t want a bad vibe to ruin my passion for acting, but I also didn’t want to be kept in the dark all alone. I an, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I’m the main character of this case, yet I’m the one who knows the least.
"Okay. I’ll rember that," he said softly. "I’ll tell you everything."
We finished our food, tossed the wrappers into the trash, and headed ho before it got too late. As much as I wanted to spend more ti with Lando, I couldn’t.
I still had to practice my lines for the "My Boss’ Obsession" script reading tomorrow. Since I’m not the main character, I won’t be the center of attention tomorrow, but that’s exactly the problem!
If I wanted praise from the actors or the executives, I needed to stand out. At the very least, I had to make sure my acting wasn’t miles behind the senior actors, or maybe... even beat them.
Marissa had already told who the main actors were, so I could more or less imagine their skill levels.
Even so, I still felt a little nervous. Yeah, I knew I shouldn’t feel this way since I wasn’t a real newcor, but please, cut so slack!
It had been so long since I last worked with senior actors. And after spending years around them, I knew sothing for sure: not all of them had bad personalities, so of them were already... dead inside.
[Penny advises you to take a rest early tonight, Host,] Penny suddenly spoke in my head. [You’ve been reading the script over and over for days. It’s better to rest your mind before the real event starts.]
"It’s easy for you to say that since you’re not the one doing the mission," I grumbled, throwing myself onto the bed. "I’ve completed so many missions, so I don’t want to get my first failure now."
Honestly, the only ti I would ever sacrifice a mission was if it had sothing to do with Lando’s feelings. But other than that? No way. I refused to let myself fail.
[But you won’t perform your best tomorrow if you’re sleep-deprived, Host,] Penny said. [How about Penny sings you a lullaby?]
[SLEEP. SLEEP. HOST! GO SLEEP, HOST!]
I winced in pain as Penny’s "lullaby" blasted inside my head. A lullaby? More like a broken speaker. Her voice didn’t soothe anyone, but it felt like it could crack my skull open!
"Stop! Stop it!" I yelled, covering my ears even though it didn’t help. "Fine! I’ll sleep! Just stop singing!"
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