Project selection (1)

Busy. 

If there was a word that described the past week, it'd be 'busy'. Besides dropping off the girls at the Academy every morning, I had to attend several meetings with PR. Those meetings tended to last several hours and mostly consisted of me needing to contact certain reporters and agencies. 

It was all mainly due to the Dungeon Seekers deal. Given its significance for the girls, everyone invested countless hours to ensure there were no errors.

"Huaaam." 

It was early. Too damn early. 

—We are departing for Sun Island. 

The train's doors closed gradually, and I blinked my eyes repeatedly to stay awake. Not going to lie, I was struggling to keep them open. 

Holding up three fingers, I thought deeply. 

How many hours?

Three, four? 

How many hours did I sleep today…? 

I had practically lost count by this point. Everything just seemed to pass by in a flash. All it took was one long, and tiering blink for me to suddenly find myself in my current position. 

I guess there was some truth in the saying; 'time flies when you're busy.' 

"Kayla, did you receive the notification? The one about Darkness Overload from Emblem of the Sun becoming the faces of Dungeon Seekers." 

"Oh, yeah, I did hear about it. But what exactly is Dungeon Seekers?" 

My focus was abruptly drawn to a conversation happening not far from me. A group of young women, appearing to be in their twenties, was animatedly passing their phones around and making a commotion.

"I've already checked out their site, and it seems rather interesting. The UI is also rather clean, eh, now that I look at it again, it does seem really nice." 

'Oh, so the announcement is out.' 

Dean did previously tell me that the news was going to be released today. I didn't know it was going to be released so early in the morning. 

"Here, look! You can separate the sections from the different leagues. Oh crap, you can also see their rankings in real time!" 

"You're right! I can see the rankings for Tiers. Here, look! Look at the S-Tier, Darkness Overload moved a ranking! Kyle Lawrey is now ranked 29th! Connor moved to 46th place!" 

"Holy crap! They jumped in just a day?"

They did? 

Surprised by the news, I retrieved my phone and looked through the most recent news articles. A couple of scrolls in, I found what I was looking for. 

'Oh, damn.'

[The Emblem of the Sun's Darkness Overload has signed an exclusive contract with Dungeon Seekers, an up-and-coming dungeon streaming website. What will this mean for their future?]

[Dungeon Seekers experiences a colossal surge in traffic, skyrocketing by 300% overnight. Is this the influence of Darkness Overload?]

[The members of Darkness Overload witness a surge in their popularity! Several key members find themselves ascending in fame!]

As I read the articles, the conversations around me continued. 

"How did they manage to climb the rankings? I thought they were stuck at the same rank for a while. Why the sudden increase due to this? It's not even a well-known site..."

"Not until now."

"You mean..."

"The site is blowing up. You've witnessed it yourself. And it's not just Darkness Overload that's skyrocketing in popularity! Look at the other tiers!"

"Oh, damn, you're right!"

The conversation continued along these lines for the next minute. My focus had already shifted elsewhere as I opened the popularity ranking and selected the E section.

'Blue Daisy... Blue Daisy... Blue Daisy...'

As I scrolled through the rankings, I kept an eye out for any familiar names. Though I didn't have high expectations, a part of me secretly hoped to spot the girls on the list.

There were five Tiers to a Star Chaser. For a group or individual to move up a Tier, they needed to accomplish several achievements. The first one was to clear a Red-ranked beast of the same Tier. 

So if they were Tier 1, they needed to clear a Tier 1 Red-ranked beast. That would be sufficient proof of their strength and that they could handle Teir 2 beasts. 

'Hmm, wait, now that I think about it, the girls have already cleared this part.'

Still...

In addition to that, there were several other requirements they needed to meet. Among them, the one we had to be especially mindful of was their popularity ranking. Each of the girls had to attain an individual rank in the E tier of the popularity list.

The list ranked individuals from S all the way down to E, utilizing advanced AI metrics to gauge a person's overall popularity.

Only when one managed to get into the list would they truly be called a celebrity, or Star Chaser. 

Sort of like traditional celebrities who went by 'A-listers, B-listers, C-listers...' and such. 

'Hm, it looks like they didn't make it.' 

Having scrolled down the entire page and not seeing the girl's name, my brows slowly furrowed. To say I wasn't disappointed would be a lie, but I soon understood why. 

"Oh, right, did you also see the news that came along with the announcement?" 

"Which one?" 

"The one about another group from Emblem of the Sun joining Dungeon Seekers." 

"Ah, that one. Yeah, to be honest, I'm not really surprised. I've seen it happen several times in the past. Groups who are pushed by the Guild using the popularity of a certain group. I find it kind of scummy, to be honest. Just makes me dislike them. If a group is good, people will eventually find out about them. There's no point in pushing a group down our throats." 

"Yeah." 

'Do you think they would be in the position they are now if it weren't for the fact that they can't get anyone to watch them?'

The more the conversation went on, the harder it was for me to keep myself calm. I wanted to stand up and tell them that they were wrong about everything and that they were jumping to conclusions, but I eventually calmed myself down and took a deep breath.

That's because... 

—Welcome to Sun Island! 

The train had arrived. 

*** 

"There you are, come here."

Dean hurried me over, waving his hand impatiently my way.

"Did something happen?"

I had just stepped into the Guild when I encountered him in that state. However, it appeared that he was simply overreacting.

As I got closer to him, he handed me his phone, displaying a well-detailed poster. The image featured the girls in a pose, with a release date displayed at the bottom. The design of the poster was quite nice, and the color contrast was pleasing to the eyes as well. 

"Take a look at this."

"What about it?"

"What do you mean, 'What about it?' This is the girls' first poster in a couple of years! This is the kind of thing you should hang on your wall after work and burn incense in front of every night."

"Oh."

Well, it wouldn't hurt the look of my room. It wasn't exactly adorned with much to start with, so it would be a welcome addition. 

But burning incense would be a bit... 

"…Are you seriously considering it?"

"The poster part yes, not the burning incense part."

That'd be pretty weird. 

"You had me worried for a second."

As if he really believed I would do it, Dean patted himself on the chest. 

No, but I really wouldn't…

"Follow me to the girl's residence."

Just as Dean turned around, it hit me. How had the girls reacted? I'd had numerous occasions when I wanted to tell them about the ongoing deal, but Dean had always stopped me. 

He would always go on about things like, 'Now's not the right moment. Let the girls concentrate on their work. This would just add unnecessary stress to them. They'll learn when it's time.'

Well, in short, I never got to tell them.

"How did the girls react?"

I was curious. Really curious. So much so that the curiosity was killing me.

"Well, just the usual…"

Just the usual? 

Dean dragged on as he placed his hands in his pockets and walked out of the Guild.

Fuck, I know you're doing this on purpose.

"Sarah dropped her candy, Joana's face froze, Mia started bawling her eyes out, Olivia looked blankly at the sky, and Lyla, well… Lyla is still too young to understand. Since she's at the age where she copies everyone around her, she cried, dropped her food, blankly looked at the sky, and had a stiff face."

Covering his face, Dean sighed.

"Just recalling it makes me wonder whether the guild did the right thing placing her in this group. I feel like she's learning all their bad habits..."

"That's pretty funny."

I could pretty much imagine exactly what happened, and the idea made me laugh. I guess I now understood what he meant by, 'just the usual.'

"Laugh."

Dean looked straight at me, startling me. 

"Yes…?"

"If you think it's funny you can laugh."

"Yeah, I was."

"You call that laughing? Your face didn't even change."

"That…"

That wasn't something I could control.

"Goosebumps. I'm getting goosebumps."

Holding onto his trembling shoulders, Dean walked up to a familiar door and knocked on it.

"Girls, we're here."

Just as he knocked, we heard muffled scrambling noises, and the door swung open abruptly, revealing the girls in a disheveled state.

Clank—!

"Vice Director!"

Mia shouted, rushing toward us. As she approached, I couldn't help but notice that her eyes were red and puffy. Clearly, she had only stopped crying a few moments ago.

"Please tell me it's all real! That this isn't a lie and I'm not in a dream!"

"No, you're not. Calm down, everything is real."

"Uwaaa!"

Mia burst out crying all of a sudden as her legs gave out.

"This really isn't a dream…"

I had initially expected Mia to be the only one reacting so strongly, but as I entered the room, I grasped the gravity of the situation. Apart from Lyla, who was observing and mimicking the others, nearly everyone in the room resembled statues, their vacant gazes fixed upon us.

Their expressions said it all. 

Only when Dean confirmed it again did the girls finally react as the girls started to hug each other.

"We… really did it!"

"I can't believe this is… thank you!"

"This is insane...!" 

"Thank you, Vice Director!" 

"Don't thank me, thank him."

With the sudden surge of attention focused on me, I found myself at a loss for how to respond. But as Dean placed his hand on my shoulder, he continued.

"Not only did he help you out with the dungeon, but he also managed to get you guys this opportunity. I don't know what dog sh-scuse me, what kind of luck this guy has, but without him, none of this would've happened. If there's anyone you need to thank, it's not me, but him."

Feeling the girl's burning gaze, and listening to Dean's words, I didn't know how to respond. I felt flattered, but at the same time felt a heavy burden.

While the opportunity was there, we still needed to wait before the video came out. As of yet, the girls had still not accomplished much. In fact, they were getting criticized as we spoke. It was a good thing Dean had taken their phone away from them a couple of days ago with the excuse that it was bad for their eyes. 

"What's with that heavy look?"

Mia suddenly said, and I raised my head. Was I showing a heavy look? 

"Manager, you should smile more. You always seem so serious, so it's like—"

"Ah."

Dean suddenly clapped his fist against his palm. For some reason, as I looked at him, I had a sense that something was about to happen.

Right, as expected. My gut instincts were right.

"Girls, you might not know this, but Liam over here has a resting poker face. Apparently, he finds it hard to smile even if he feels like he is." 

"Ah?"

"That's a thing…? How does that work? Smile even if he feels like he is?"

"A resting poker face?"

"Yes."

Dean nodded, before suddenly smiling.

Oh no.

"Apparently he practices his smile every day, saying things like, 'I've got the most beautiful smile in the world…' over and over again."

Fuck.

I glanced up and noticed the girls staring at me with peculiar expressions, particularly Joana, who covered her mouth with her hand as her shoulders trembled. 

"Keuk… is that so?"

Mia too.

Fuck, they were all holding their laugh.

"You can laug—"

"Hahahaha."

The sound of their laughter echoed throughout the room. Staring at the girl's laughing, I shook my head. The tense atmosphere that used to hang in this apartment was long gone, and all that replaced it was the sound of their laughter. 

In all honesty, this sort of atmosphere... 

I could get used to this.