Cool, huh?
If I could, I would've shed a tear. At last, someone was on my side. I hadn't trained her for nothing.
"No... Sarah, what are you doing?"
Mia said all of a sudden.
"Hm?"
"That's not how it's supposed to work. We're a team. You're supposed to join us when we try to do something."
"...?"
"Repeat after me. Teamwork. Teamwork."
"Why?"
"Eish."
Mia waved her hand dismissively. She had finally given up.
"You seem to have at least one person on your side, how do you feel, Mr. Manager?"
Suddenly directed a question, I was a bit taken aback, but I quickly recomposed myself before answering.
"To be honest, I'm flattered. I'm just happy to know that not everyone on the team hates me."
"No, manager..."
Mia hurriedly chimed in. The others followed right after.
"We were joking."
"Yeah."
"Right... We were, right?"
What's with the hesitation?
"Is that so...?"
I looked at Lyla who flicked her head away from me.
"Her reaction seems to say otherwise."
"Yeah, but her situation is a bit different. She hates everyone, so you aren't being left out on that one."
"That's true."
I nodded after contemplating Mia's words. She wasn't wrong. Currently, Lyla hated all of us. Not that I was worried. She was probably going to get over her phase within the next couple of days or so.
Or at least, I hoped it would be the case.
"You guys seem to have quite the chemistry."
Dyrk said after alternating his gaze between me and the girls. He seemed to be studying us with keen interest.
"How long have you been managing them? For you to have such chemistry with them, you must've worked with them for quite a long time."
"About that..."
How should I answer this?
How weird would it be if I told them that I was still totally new to this?
I was about to answer the question when Mia beat me to it.
"Actually, we've only been with our manager for three weeks as of today."
The entire studio fell silent at her words, with the gazes of the people around us becoming even more apparent. Not that I could blame them. I too would've been surprised if I were in their position.
"Three weeks?"
"Yeah."
Mia nodded, crossing her arms and sinking deep into the sofa.
"It hasn't even been that long since we've met him, and yet, it feels as though we've worked with him for a year or two."
"Why is that?"
"Well... I'll be honest. We practically spend almost every hour with him. He drops Olivia and me to the academy every morning. Comes to practice with us, picks us up after the Academy is over, leaves right after we sleep, and arrives before we wake up."
As Mia continued speaking, I felt the gazes of those around me change. From surprise, to what felt like pity. Yes, pity. When I turned to see where those stares came from, I was surprised to see that they came from the managers of the other groups.
It suddenly clicked then.
'Am I a workaholic?'
"We just kind of... spend a lot of time with him."
"Wow."
Dyrk directed his gaze toward me.
"You're a workaholic."
I guess that answered my question.
"I guess...?"
But it wasn't like I noticed it. There were just a lot of things that I needed to do, and what I did paled a lot compared to the times when I practiced all day to become a Star Chaser.
"Eish. As expected. He's really a workaholic. Only they don't know that they're being overworked."
With an exasperated look, Dyrk switched the topic.
"You may not realize it now, but I'm sure you'll get an earful from our viewers when this episode comes out. For now, let's switch to the last and final segment."
The lights of the studio dimmed, and a television was wheeled in.
"Our daily lives!"
The television came alive, displaying several files.
"For the last segment, we will now display short clips of the groups here and their daily lives. We asked their Guilds a week ago to send whatever they had, and this is the accumulation of the clips that we have been sent."
Hold on. I blinked, struggling to understand his words. This was the second time this had been mentioned to me, and it was also the second time that I struggled to understand what was happening.
Clips? What clips?
Why was I totally clueless about this?
"Who should we start with first? Hmm. How about Dark Clouds? Let's start with them!"
A video started playing on the television all of a sudden. On it were the members of 'Dark Clouds'. They were a male group composed of four men. They were all handsome, and in the clip, they showed several funny clips of what they did in their daily lives, and a little bit of banter here and there.
I wasn't going to lie and say it was boring. It was fun. Very fun.
Unlike before, I actually felt that this segment was extremely interesting. Yet, for some reason, I couldn't enjoy it.
My mind kept wondering about the clips, and what our clips were going to be about.
Dean had most likely taken it upon himself to do the clips considering how busy I was. It made sense, but the thought scared me.
Just what exactly was he going to show?
Time seemed to pass both fast and slow as clips after clips were shown. The backstage atmosphere had markedly shifted from its earlier gloomy and tense state to a more pleasant one.
And then it came.
Our clip.
"Blue Daisy's clip is up next! Let's see what we have. I'm rather curious."
He wasn't the only one that seemed keen on watching the video. The people backstage, and even some of the other teams seemed to look forward to the clip.
I was too, but at the same time, felt very apprehensive.
Click.
The video started.
"Check. Check. Is the video working? Check?"
The first one to appear on the video was Mia who extended her hands to touch the camera.
But she was promptly slapped away by another hand as Dean's voice echoed through the speakers.
"Mia, don't touch the camera. It's working. I'm recording."
"Oh... Is that so...?"
Licking her lips, Mia took a step back and twirled her hair. Then, casting a quick glance at the camera, she shyly waved.
"Hey..."
"..."
"What?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm... I'm kind of shy. I didn't expect there to be so many people watching."
"There's only me watching."
Mia rolled her eyes.
"Play along, will you?"
"I don't have time to play along. We only have a couple of minutes to shoot this video."
The camera shifted away from Mia.
"Hey! Wait! Let's re-do it!"
"No! Get away from me!"
"Vice Director!"
Dean's refusal and the obvious tussling that was happening behind the camera caused some of the people around to laugh.
The heavy pants of both Mia and Dean echoed through the speakers as they continued to tussle against one another.
"V,vice Director! Let me!"
"I said no!"
The camera ended up resting on a nearby counter which was directed toward the far end of the kitchen, near the corridor leading to the girls' room as Mia and Dean started fighting in the background. And if one looked closely, they'd spot a small figure hiding behind the very wall the camera was pointed to.
'Just what is she doing?'
"Hey!? What's with all the noise? Can you keep it down?"
Clank—!
The door to Olivia's room smacked open as she came out of it. Twirling her pinkie in her ear, she scowled and glared in the direction of Mia and Dean while briefly glancing at the camera.
"It's three in the afternoon, and I'm trying to sleep so keep it d—"
"Boo!"
"Mot******! S***! F*** me!"
The video bleeped continuously as Olivia jumped up in the air, and shouted.
"Where did this gremlin-looking midget come from?!"
Laughter rippled through the room as all eyes turned toward Olivia, who sank into the sofa in an attempt to hide her face. On the other hand, a small smile graced Lyla's lips as she arrogantly looked around and nudged her head whenever someone met her gaze.
'You saw that didn't you? That was me,' was what she was trying to imply with her gaze. This was all caught by the cameramen who smiled.
The clip continued.
"Olivia, you know better than to swear in front of a child?"
Joana was the next one to come out of her room as she started to berate Olivia who was clenching her heart.
"What? I almost died from a heart attack. Have some damn sympathy for your own team members."
"Oh please. As if you're going to die from something as little as that. You've been up against scarier opponents."
"Like what?"
"Like our manager when he smiles."
"Ah."
With a look of sudden realization, Olivia casually nodded her head and returned to her usual nonchalant look.
"If you put it that way, then you're right."
Hold on a second...
"That's that."
Having dealt with the situation, Joana seemed to be pleased with herself and turned to head back into her room, when all of a sudden she jumped up in the air.
"Mot******! S***! F*** me!"
The video once again bleeped as Joana started throwing curses.
"When did you get here?!"
Her anger was directed toward Sarah who had appeared behind her out of nowhere, a pack of candy in her hand. Nonchalantly eating one, she tilted her head.
"I've always been here. Why?"
"No, you scared me."
"Oh."
With a nod, Sarah returned her attention back to the candy.
"Hold on a second. Wait a second. Hold up. Pause."
Massaging her forehead, Olivia looked at Joana.
"...Are you just going to ignore what just happened? Let's set aside the fact that you completely copied every word that I said, but should I remind you of the words you literally said to me a couple of seconds ago?"
"No, that's—"
Olivia started to directly quote Joana's words.
"Olivia, you know better than to swear in front of a child?"
"Oh please. As if you're going to die from something as little as that. You've been up against scarier opponents."
It was now Joana's turn to sink into the sofa as her gaze wandered away from the TV. The laughter continued to spread in the studio.
"Keum."
Joana turned her head away from Olivia.
"You've got no proof of any of that happening."
"No, I actually do."
Olivia's eyes briefly shifted toward the camera that rested on the counter.
"Uh?"
Joana blinked, and it was then that she suddenly noticed the camera that was pointed at them. Her face instantly flushed red and she dashed toward it.
"Hell no!"
Two arms desperately clung to Joana's leg as she made a dash for the camera.
"Olivia! Let go! I'm telling you as the group's leader! You better let go or this won't well end for you!"
"Do your best!"
And so. Another fight broke out.
"Let go you bit**!"
"Over my dead body!"
In the span of a couple of minutes, two fights had broken out and one could still hear the muffled sound of Mia and Dean fighting at the back.
"V,vice Director!"
"No means no!"
"Akh!"
To make matters worse, Sarah and Lyla watched the spectacle with interest from the back as Sarah slowly ate her candy.
Click.
The clip ended shortly after that.
A brief silence hung in the studio as everyone's attention was on the girls who had practically sunk into the deepest pits of the sofa with the exception of Lyla and Sarah. Then, a lot of people broke into smiles and light laughter as the girls sank even deeper into the sofa.
Staring at the scene, I didn't have it in me to laugh. I was at a loss for words. I really didn't know what to say.
Damn it! What was Dean thinking about sending them this video? Don't tell me he sent them the wrong one.
Trring—!
Then, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and I excused myself for a moment.
—So, is everything done? How's the situation?
It was Dean.
"What do you mean how's the situation...?"
—Oh? Did the girls make some sort of mistake?
"No, it's not that..."
—Then...
"It's the damn clip you sent! Did you make some sort of mistake?"
—Clip?
"Yes! The clip!"
—Which one?
Which one...?
My mouth suddenly paused.
There was another one?
And then I turned around to see my face displayed on the screen of the television. Before I knew it, a curse escaped my lips.
"Oh... fuck."