"Umm... Manager."
"Yes? What's up?"
When I looked up, I was surprised to see everyone staring at me. Ehm, why was everyone looking at me?
"Anything wrong? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"No, it's ehm..."
Joana hesitated to speak as she nudged Mia who was standing beside her.
'What...? why are you nudging me?'
The two immediately started to whisper to each other.
'Mia, I can't do it.'
'If you can't, what makes you think I can?'
'Because it's part of your character.'
'What character?'
'Just say it already!'
'Ah, fine! Fine!'
Was this conversation supposed to be a secret? They weren't really doing a good job at whispering to each other.
Should I tell them that I could hear everything?
"Ehm... Ehm..."
Mia coughed, trying to attract my attention.
I sighed, and played along.
"Yes, Mia?"
"So..."
Her eyes looked elsewhere. From the laptop to the lamp, to the sofa, to her shoes... anywhere but me.
"So?"
"So, yeah..."
"Go on..."
"So, ehm. Like—"
"Jesus Christ! Is it so hard to tell him to stop smiling?"
"Ah? Olivia!"
"What? You were dragging things for so long. What's so hard about saying that his smile looks like that of a serial killer? Uh~ I'm getting shivers just thinking about it."
Like a what now?
"Just look at Lyla. She's so scared that she's even hiding behind Joana."
No, that's... Oh, she really was.
"Is my smile really that bad?"
"Yeah..."
Dean patted me on the shoulder and threw a sympathetic look my way.
"You said you were practicing your smile, right?"
"Yes..."
"Stop that."
Ah?
"Don't even bother. I don't want the police called on me by accident."
"..."
I didn't know what to say.
It wasn't as though I didn't know this. I'd been told this exact same thing thousands of times in the past. It wasn't like this was news to me.
But still, telling me to stop was a bit...
"How are the comments?"
"The comments?"
That's when I suddenly remembered and I turned my laptop.
"They're all good!"
"What? Really?!"
Mia pounced at the laptop like a predator who had just seen its prey. She started reading the comments out loud.
"Wow, I was honestly surprised by their skills. Talk about a plot twist. They were much better than I thought. Their skills are quite good. Perhaps, this is the rise of a new talented team."
Mia's voice hurried as she read through the numerous comments on the screen.
Suddenly, she paused, and her gaze paused on Sarah. She read the following comment in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"Wasn't Sarah the one who made a blunder during the incident? To be honest, I was quite impressed by her skills. I thought she was just a pretty face, but she really did carry her weight. But man, she's fucking pretty "
"Uh...?"
As if not expecting such praise, Sarah's hand which was reaching out for her bag of candy suddenly paused. With a stiff face, her eyes lowered to look at the screen.
"Look, there's a lot of comments about you! Read them."
Mia shoved the laptop to Sarah who quietly took it and read through the comments.
The room turned silent as everyone watched Sarah read through all the comments.
'It's good that I filtered all the comments beforehand.'
There was still a lot of criticism directed her way, but I had removed them beforehand so that the girls wouldn't see them.
"So, what do you think? Are you happy?"
"Mhm."
Handing the laptop back to Mia, Sarah went back to devouring her pack of candy. There wasn't much of a change in her expression as she seemed the same as usual. However, if one paid close attention, they'd notice that the speed at which she was eating the candy seemed a lot slower than before.
Then, as if sensing my gaze, her head turned and our eyes met.
Her hazel eyes which seemed as stoic as ever seemed to tremble slightly as I mouthed to her, 'See? What did I tell you? You aren't useless.'
Lowering her head, she didn't say anything else and continued to eat her candy. But it was obvious that she had understood my words. The pace at which she was eating the candy further slowed.
From there, the day seemed to pass by in a flash.
There were a lot of calls that I needed to take. From reporters asking for interviews, to minor companies trying to negotiate with us for sponsorships.
It was so busy, that I didn't even have the time to celebrate the occasion with the girls.
I was so swamped with work that before I knew it, night had come.
On another note, all through the day, I continuously refreshed the trending page, but no matter how much time went by, the video still hadn't managed to break into the rankings.
It was a little disappointing, but I knew that I was just rushing things. Typically, a clip would only make it to the trending page after 24 hours.
I was just being impatient.
"No, I don't think I can carry on any longer. I have to sleep today."
Closing my laptop and rubbing my brows, I checked the time, 23:04.
My hands were shaky, and my vision was blurry. Having not slept the night prior, I was on the verge of collapse.
There was still so much work that I needed to do, but my body just refused to listen to me.
Packing up my stuff, I looked around me.
I was still at the girls's apartment. Besides me, who had been working until now, the girls had all gone to sleep. Unlike me who wasn't doing anything physical and didn't need to keep appearances, the girls needed to sleep at least eight hours a day.
The place was a total mess with half-eaten cakes all over the place and confetti sprawled all over the floor.
"Huaam."
Yawning, I was just about to leave, when all of a sudden a figure appeared before me.
"Sarah?"
She was dressed in her pajamas, and her eyes appeared bleary and drowsy.
"What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"Um."
Sarah rubbed her eyes and looked at me. She took a good look at me before suddenly bowing her head. I was caught by surprise.
"Thank you."
"Um?"
"For not giving up on me, and encouraging me."
"No, that's..."
My hazy mind sobered up.
"Thank you for believing that I'm not useless."
All of a sudden, Sarah handed me what looked like a pack of candy.
"I... I don't need this anymore."
I looked at her strangely.
"Ms. Valeri was right. If I don't want to hold the others back, I need to st—"
"You can eat it."
"Eh? But..."
"Your diet was never the problem."
I had spent enough time to know that while Sarah ate a lot of candy, she still diligently followed the instructor's diet program. It was plainly obvious from her reactions that she disliked vegetables, and yet, whenever it was mealtime, I'd always see her force herself to eat everything.
Pushing the pack of candy to her, I said,
"Sure, you do eat a lot of candy, but you also train very hard. In fact, I'm worried you'll pass out from exhaustion if you suddenly stop eating candy."
No, I really thought this was the case.
She reminded me a lot of my past self when I trained like crazy each and every single day.
"Don't feel guilty about it. If anything, I'm glad that you're feeling better."
Her mental fortitude was a lot stronger than I thought. Plus, the sudden success of the clip seemed to have given her the little bit of confidence that she needed.
But right then, my vision abruptly shifted.
It was windy. Really windy.
SWOOOOSH—!
No, was it actually windy?
SWOOOOSH—!
The surroundings shook.
My body moved on its own as my arm moved to cover my face.
When it all subsided, I found myself standing in the middle of a large crowd. The cheers were deafening.
"She... She did it!"
"She really defeated it!"
"Ahhhh!"
There was fervor in the air. So much so that even I, who was merely spectating, felt my blood boil.
[Has a new record just been set? Have we just witnessed a new miracle? Is... Is this the emergence of a new Sword Saint?]
The crowd cheered even louder at the announcer's words that reverberated throughout.
Just what was this...?
"She's fucking amazing!"
All of a sudden, someone nudged me on the shoulder.
When my body turned, a familiar face appeared.
Dean?
He looked older than now. Quite a lot older as his hair was graying and his face had a few wrinkles.
Turning his head, our gazes met.
"Can you believe it? If someone had told me back then she would turn out to be like this, I would've laughed at them. But she really... Ah, I'm still regretting it to this day."
Regretting what?
I strained my ears to hear the conversation. With how loud the surroundings were, I needed to put all my focus on listening.
My mouth parted.
"I knew she could do it..."
"Hahaha, you're right."
Dean patted me on the shoulder before his expression turned a little gloomy.
"If only the Guild had listened to you back then... Perhaps, she wouldn't have left us, and we wouldn't have suffered so much."
"Right."
My future self turned his gaze away from Dean and looked up where two enormous screens appeared. A large cloud of dust currently enveloped the entire screen.
Once the dust settled, a figure appeared.
Her figure was dazzling. More so than anyone I'd ever seen before.
She looked a lot more mature, but she was just as pretty if not prettier than now. All eyes were on her, and her appearance seemed to take everyone's breath away.
Alone, she stood at the center of it all. Embodying everything that I aspired to be.
I felt a sense of bitterness coming from my future self as my mouth opened to mumble,
"...Had I been more decisive back then, would she still have stayed with Blue Daisy?"
Ah? What did...
Not expecting those words, my mind stirred. The suffocating feeling that had been closing in on me for a while now returned with even greater intensity as I battled to maintain my concentration.
Sarah quit Blue Daisy? The sudden piece of news was like an unexpected thunder that crashed fiercely at my mind.
How was this...?
I was desperate for more, but as I attempted to concentrate on the vision...
It shattered.
"Manager?"
Sarah appeared before me again.
"Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"
I took a deep breath.
I was still struggling to process the vision. It was a lot to process in such a short time, but I knew exactly what I needed to do at the moment.
"Sarah."
"Yes?"
"Have you sorted out all your feelings, or are you just telling me all of this because you don't want me to worry?"
"..."
"Look at me."
Raising her head, our gazes met.
"I wasn't joking when I said you had a lot of talent, and I also wasn't joking when I said I'd train you. You've seen the reactions today, haven't you? You know damn well that not everyone thinks you're useless."
'...Had I been more decisive back then, would she still have stayed with Blue Daisy?'
As if trying to haunt me, the words kept repeating inside of my head.
Indeed, I was being indecisive.
Deep down, I was already aware of her talent. I knew she could reach the top, and the vision served to show me that.
But differently from the vision.
"I know what you're thinking, but all I need you to do is trust me."
I wasn't going to be indecisive and let her slip away from me.
"Trust me and let me help you shut everyone up. Let's watch their faces after we prove them wrong. What do you say?"
Then.
Biting her lips, Sarah finally smiled.
"Okay."
And as if the burden that had been weighing down on her suddenly lifted.
She smiled even more brightly.
"Yes, okay."