First Round [III]
Reverie Schneider was here, alive.
Lucas bit his fingernails as he stared at Reve. His elder brother had mentioned him multiple times; yet it was the first time he saw him up close.
He was kind of ugly, in a way. The type that girls will find him hot because of his ugliness. He had a large, sharp yet straight nose; his eyes were once blue but had diluted into something that looked to be grey. His dark hair was messy and seemed to be one whole. He had a nice body, sure. But he was kind of nerdy.
And from what Lucas had heard, he had violent habits.
In other words, Lucas didn't understand why he was so popular during his college years. Maybe he had grown uglier since he was nearing his thirties now.
He was only six when his brother, Justin Fleming, had met Reverie Schneider. They weren't friends at all but his brother had a strange addiction to him. As if he was in love. Lucas wasn't sure it was love in the way of dating and marrying. Perhaps he only liked the story Reverie had written.
But even then, it wasn't his original story, wasn't it? His brother was the one who had planned it.
So who owned the story? The planner and creator or the one who made it alive?
It was a difficult question, indeed.
But what if we add another to the equation?
The planner, the writer, and…
The reader.
Justin wasn't the sole reader of Reverie's web novel.
In fact, it was quite popular in his brother's school. That was before the incident happened. Everything changed then.
Lucas nibbled on his fingernail as he stared at Reverie who was staring at what seemed to be his character window.
You don't realize, thought Lucas, how much my brother worships you.
It irritated Lucas, how much his brother spoke about someone who didn't give the slightest damn about him.
Now that they finally met, Lucas was now determined to live.
The first round was easy. In the web novel site it was posted in, it didn't go into detail on what happened since it was from the perspective of the protagonist. Nevertheless, he will survive this round.
He will survive and tell his brother that his "crush" was here.
-
I had chosen a popular song. The more known the song was, the more my plan will work. How would people sing along if they didn't know the lyrics, after all?
The speaker came to be useful. I connected my phone to it and played the first well-known song I saw. This particular song was only released last year but had accumulated hundreds of millions of copies.
Behind the seats of the theater, there lay a large behemoth, larger and plumper than the rest. Dull, thick, green scaled skin. It had more than twenty eyes and a large stomach. It was fast asleep, itching to wake up. If this thing wakes up, everything would be over. It will attack everyone in its sight. I was certain of that.
[Reverie grinned at himself.]
But that was someone else's target, a certain red-haired knight's.
[At that moment, Reverie had an epiphany.]
"You just don't shut up, don't you, Narrator?"
I sighed, not dejectedly. I had been in a good mood now.
All I had to do now was to have the people sing along.
I almost laughed.
It really is such a corny plan.
But it might just work.
"Start the damn show!"
The behemoths began throwing tomatoes and popcorn again, clearly displeased with the current situation. They wanted a show so grand that the tomatoes would evaporate? Sure, I got you. I'll give you a concert even better than Live Aid.
I approached the middle-aged men whom I managed to grab the names of: Jin and Kim.
I tapped Jin's shoulder, his ears roused vigilantly. I put my mouth near his ear and whispered:
"I have a plan. For now, all you have to do is to make the rest sing along. I'll award you points handsomely."
Jin's cut on his chin and stomach danced as he spoke, "Is that it? I'll tell Kim as well."
"Thank you." I smiled.
I grabbed the flute that had once been a simple wooden stick. My clothing seemed to sparkle and the quality had improved.
[Your role is Co?]
Another letter had arrived. That meant I was going the right way, right?
My feet seemed to glide on the way to the podium. Step by step, right and left, front then back.
My body cowered just slightly. Will my plan work? I always had a fear of being on stage. But, as always, people don't seem to notice me even though I stood at the highest peak of the theater besides the balconies.
If my plan failed then…
The flute had turned into what looked to be a magician's wand.
…no, I mustn't think about it. I had no choice. It had to work.
If it didn't, we would die.
…
…
Is that really it?
I could hear the panicking of people on stage. One had begun somersaulting and tumbling; one had begun to dance. Everything was all loud. But…
"Reverie!"
Lucas had called me out. I looked behind me, below me.
Lucas's blond hair glowed in the drop light. His clothes had transformed into white. He looked much smaller and shorter from up here.
"You're enjoying all of this, right?" said Lucas, with a coy grimace that I could barely see. "How can you smile in the midst of all this chaos?"
I didn't understand what he meant but my subconscious seemed to. As I said:
"Damn right!"
Lucas smiled back. I could just barely hear his voice.
"My brother was right. You are the devil."
-
[Music App]
Playlists:
➤ Study playlist
Gym
Sad vibes
.
.
Study playlist
➤ Gym
Sad vibes
.
.
Study playlist
Gym
➤ Sad vibes
.
.
.
Out of Touch
Daryl Hall & John Oates
-
Vienna
Billy Joel
-
➤Bohemian Rhapsody
Queen
[Now playing: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen]
Bohemian Rhapsody
Queen
0:00 ➤----------------------- 05:55
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?"