Eden's Distribution was the name of a large chain of dungeon distributors. They were sort of like the middlemen that provided access to dungeons to the guilds.
They had numerous branches scattered across the Earth, but to our disappointment, there was none located on Sun Island, hence why we had to teleport away.
"Remember to be polite and never get into an argument with them. We may be employees of a large Guild, but compared to Eden's Distributions, we're nothing. If we do anything to piss them off, they have the power to isolate our group entirely. If something like that happens, disbanding would be our only option."
Along the way, Dean rambled on about how I should act and what I couldn't do.
"I understand."
The reminder was unnecessary, as the reputation of Eden's Distribution was etched deeply in my mind. Their name reverberated across the globe as one of the most prominent corporations in existence.
Even the biggest guilds had to grovel at their feet. Well... with a few exceptions.
"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Dean Osmos from Emblem of the Sun. I'm currently in charge of Blue Daisy."
"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Liam Marken from Emblem of the Sun. I am the current manager of Blue Daisy."
How is that? Not bad for the first try, eh?
I had rehearsed these words on the way here with Dean. I thought I'd fumble, but I was surprised by how smoothly the words came out of my mouth. It was as if I was used to being a manager, and I wasn't doing this for the first time.
"Oh, sure."
With a protruding stomach, receding hairline at the back, and prominent eyebrows, Distributor Vincent—as indicated by his nametag—appeared disinterested as he cast a fleeting glance our way. Perhaps, he had grown tired of seeing us managers.
"Emblem of the Sun right? Clandice Street?"
"That's correct."
"You guys are in watch room 13. You can set your things up now."
That was all that was said. He left shortly after that. Although I somewhat expected such a reaction, it still left a bitter feeling in me. I'll remember him.
"Watch room 13? I think I know where it is. Come, follow me, Liam."
I nodded in acknowledgment and trailed behind him. We didn't cover much distance before coming to a halt before a metal door.
'So this is the watch room?'
The watch room, as the name implied, was a room where we could 'watch', or monitor the girls' progress throughout the dungeon. Vital information regarding the monsters could be shared from the watch rooms to the girls, making their job a lot easier and safer.
The interior of the room was about twice the size to the girls' dressing room, but it could accommodate about the same number of people. This limitation was primarily due to the presence of sizable monitors positioned at the front of the room, accompanied by the control panels beneath.
"It's too early for you to be overwhelmed. By the time I'm done with you, I'll expect you to remember what each one of these buttons does."
"Yes?"
There were all types of buttons on the control panel, from different sizes to different colors. At a glance, there seemed to be more than a hundred of them. Was I really supposed to learn what each and every one of them did?
"This is the bare minimum you have to know in order to be good at your job. We can't half-ass anything when our every move can dictate the girls' future."
His words sobered my mind really quickly.
He was right.
Since the moment I decided to become a manager, I swore to do my very best at my job. I couldn't let such a small problem hold me back.
"Is there a manual I can study?"
"A manual...? Hmm, I think there's one."
Oh, great.
"May I have it? I'll have a quick skim now so that I can familiarize myself with the device first, and then I'll study the rest in more depth later."
"...Are you sure?"
"Yes."
I nodded firmly. This was the least I could do in order to help the girls achieve their dreams.
"Well... sure."
Dean crouched down and searched through a few drawers before finding a thick book that he could barely grasp with one hand. I gaped at the sight of the book, and when I raised my head to look at Dean, he smiled warmly at me.
"Here you go."
Fuck.
***
"You guys look great."
"Director, I think this is a little bit tight."
"Is it? Did you gain weight?"
"Uh? No? I actually lost weight."
"Then how is the suit tight?"
"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."
"Let me see."
Dean walked over to Mia and carefully touched her suit which featured a matte black finish and perfectly hugged her body. The suit had reinforced padding strategically placed at the shoulders, chest, and knees, providing extra defense in vulnerable areas.
Touching the suit, Dean's brows slowly furrowed together.
"You're right, it does indeed seem a little tight. Are you sure you didn't gain weight, Mia?"
"I didn't! Look, I'm not the only one with the problem. The others also think the same. Right, girls?"
"Mhm."
"Yeah... it's a bit."
Seeing the girls agree, Dean's brows folded even more tightly as he silently cursed to himself.
"It seems like the problem lies with the suit. Hee. I'm sorry girls. If only we had a higher budget I'd get you guys better suits. For now, I really can't do anything."
Dean truly looked helpless. I could only watch from the side and say nothing. He had already given me a rundown on the situation the girls were in.
With practically all of their budget allocated to the Dungeon acquisition process, they barely had any other money for their daily necessities, let alone their suits.
"Actually, it's not that bad."
One of the girls suddenly claimed. Shortly after that, the others nodded along.
"Yeah. To be honest, I think I might've gained a little bit of weight."
"Mine is not that tight. I can still move perfectly fine."
"Mhm."
"Well, it's obvious for you."
"Ah...?"
"Why are you looking at me like that? All you do is eat candy all day. Of course, you gained weight. My weight gain probably stems from me retaining more water."
Mia immediately started to throw shots at Sarah who looked genuinely confused. Lowering her head and pinching at her stomach which seemed to be devoid of any fat, she looked up again and stared directly at Mia. More precisely, at her chest.
As if enlightened, her head bobbed up a little. Then, as if she couldn't care any less about what Mia thought, Sarah nonchalantly retrieved another pack of candy and proceeded to open it
"I give up."
Mia said, truly exasperated. That was until her gaze fell on me.
"That said, what is he doing?"
"Hm?"
Feeling several gazes fall on me, I raised my head and showed off the book in my hands.
"I'm reading this manual."
"That's... a manual? Isn't it a bit too long?"
"You can say that."
There were a total of 1032 pages. If that was considered long, then indeed, this was very long.
"If I want to be good at my job, I have to memorize all of this."
"I see..."
Mia suddenly seemed to have lost interest. Staring at her, and then the other girls, I went back to reading my book.
They're good girls. Even though I was engrossed in reading the manual, what had happened did not escape my sight.
From how stiff the girl's movements were, it was apparent that their clothes were a little tight. Given their limited budget, the girls couldn't afford proper combat suits and thus got low-quality ones. It wasn't an uncommon thing as on the way here I saw several groups coming in with what seemed to be homemade combat suits.
One could say that the girl's situation was not too bad. However, just because it wasn't that bad didn't mean it was good.
Still, the girls were nice and knew the position Dean was in. Thus, they very subtly and obviously changed the topic to not make Dean feel bad.
They really were... good girls.
To Tok—!
A sudden knock at the door attracted our attention. Immediately after that, a man entered the room.
"Clandice Street. The portal will be opening up soon. May the attendees please show up for the roll call. Please don't be late."
The door closed as quickly as it opened. There was a brief silence in the room before the girls quickly sobered up and dashed for the door.
"Wait, wait. How do I look?"
"Is my hair okay? The clothes are a little stiff, but I don't think it should affect our performance."
"Girls don't worry and just go. Worst comes, we can edit the video later."
"Ah, great. Make me look slimmer if you can. All of this water weight has been—ah, never mind. I think I'm happy with the way that I look."
As if his words seemed convincing, the girls calmed down and dashed out of the room. Staring at their departing backs, I turned to look at Dean.
"Do the girls not livestream?"
It wasn't uncommon for Stars to live stream. In fact, a large chunk of popular stars came from streaming their dungeon dives.
"I wish. We're far from being popular enough to attract any viewers. Plus, the cost of having equipment to stream is too much. Given the low viewership, I decided it wasn't worth spending money on renting streaming equipment."
"Ah, I see."
What he said made sense. Still, it made me question something. Just why were the girls not popular? They had the looks, and from their profiles, they seemed pretty skillful too.
Was there something that they lacked?
"Sometimes it's about luck. You can have the most amazing product and still fail. I've been with them for the past year or so, and I know they're not inferior to the more popular groups out there. It's just that... they lack the luck that's needed to launch their career. Be it a good promotional campaign, or a performance that can't be ignored, neither of those are easy to get. We can only hope and wait for the best."
I didn't say anything, but I fully understood what he was trying to imply. Sometimes, one just needs to have a little luck in order to succeed. In the girls' case, given that they were all good-looking and their skills were good, it was just a matter of time before they would explode into the scene.
The only problem was when, and was the Guild patient enough to wait for that when?
"Ah, it looks like the girls are in position."
My gaze fell on the monitors. That's where I saw the girls.
Within the expanse of a spacious metallic chamber, the girls maintained a composed demeanor as they fixed their gazes upon the immense metallic doors before them. All of them were serious and solemn expressions as they stared ahead.
They looked completely different than their usual selves.
Bringing a small headset to his head, Dean passed me one as well. Pressing onto the side, he started speaking.
"Girls, can you hear me?"