KON POV
Ah, the temperature of my hot bath is just perfect as usual. I submerged my whole body in it and settled down with my head lying down on the rim of the bathtub. This is bliss. The glass of cold milk in my hand agrees.
As I enjoyed the warm watery blanket, my mind wandered back to that incident.
It’s been a week and a half since my talk with Benji. Various thoughts riddled my mind. The state of BOA, Venti’s past as a guild leader, and where I stand as the team’s Pathfinder. I kept on wondering what Venti thinks about the whole situation. He must have still a couple of attachments to BOA as its past guild leader. Now it’s threatened to be destroyed once again by Iron Viper, albeit slowly and in a more gruesome way.
I should prepare myself for the worst just in case Venti wants to go and hunt those Vipers by his lonesome. Knowing him, he would try to do it by himself since it’s his past or something stupid like that. Then again, I also went and confronted Benji and his two guys on my own. So I’m not one to talk.
The good news is, that Elizabeth passed her SpeedGear exam and got her License. AB version.
In a couple more days, Dongu will finalize our SpeedGear. That’s step one done.
The next is to consolidate our Team by naming it and creating a unique badge that only belongs to our team. For that, we would need to commission a design to a digital artist. That in itself is not hard since there are plenty of freelance digital artists around who can do a decent job creating logos, drawings, and whatnot if you know where to look.
The problem? That idiot Zack strikes again. This time he threw a tantrum on the floor saying he wanted an Exclusive Artist. What the heck? We are employing people now? We haven’t even created our team name or any marketing channel!
At least I wasn’t the one who had to look around and search for any digital artist who wanted to be Exclusive only to our team. That’s what I thought too at first. “Not my problem. If you think you can find one, then go for it. You have my full blessing.” I said.
Yeah, I want to go back into the past with a time machine and punch myself in the face for saying that.
Zack managed to find one.
Her name is Kuro Kovanski.
She is the long messy black-haired girl who sits behind me in class. What are the chances of that, I wonder?
I have never taken a look at her closely, because to be honest, she creeps me out. The girl keeps scribbling something on her notepad while staring at people. Sometimes laughing creepily while doing it too.
I don’t have anything against eccentric artists who get their inspiration from watching and observing other people. I was like that too once, as I held on to my Arcanum and went around observing people, trying to see what makes them tick. Their motivation, their history, their relationship, their views on other people.
Sometimes in the middle of observation, I would get bored when the subject was not doing anything interesting. So, I pranked them lightly or made a bunch of weird sounds to scare them for a little bit when they think they are alone.
In a sense, I was way worse than Kuro since she was not causing people any harm. But that was back when I didn’t know any better. I got punished and had to leave the orphanage. Since then I have wizened up and stopped pranking innocent people for fun and laughter. I will reserve that joy for the people who piss me off and deserves it.
So why is it do I want to punch my past self in the face if she is just an eccentric Artist?
I mean if you look at her portfolio, what’s not to like?
She does costume design, logo branding, image and Video editing, and so on.
Recently She even started to branch out into streaming. This means if she does agree to be our team’s exclusive Digital Artist, we can stream and video live our activities for marketing purposes. Video Channels, brochures, Posters, Banners, the possibilities are sky-high. Better yet, exclusivity means that her style will grow into the team’s branding itself making us unique.
Her connection is massive too with a decent amount of followers and she knows people who are good at searching for the latest scoops, but the funny thing is she accepted Zack’s proposal.
Kuro Kovanski, an accomplished digital artist who holds all the bargaining power over a no-name team like us, who haven’t even gotten our own SpeedGear yet, accepted Zack’s request to be the team’s exclusive Digital Artist.
What in tarnation did Zack bribe her with? Now that’s the million-credit question, isn’t it?
I sighed deeply once more and opened up my waterproofed tablet. I navigated Kuro Kovanski’s social media Bio into her social media hub and displayed all of the Links to her various types of past works. Ourtube, SteamStream, Kolufi, and then at the very bottom there is Tonbeeru.
A Hub that links to a comic website. It has by far the most followers and subscribers compared to Kuro’s other social media Hub.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The last time I visited her Tonbeeru page, I got as far as the main page before I shut it off and went to sleep. I tried to sleep that night but for some reason, I couldn’t. My mind just kept questioning a sense of reality. I didn’t even know what I saw but for some reason, my hand just moved on its own to shut down the computer.
After a lot of mulling things over, I finally decided to visit it one more time. To tackle that sense of confusion.
I clicked on her Tonbeeru hub.
I was greeted by two guys kissing each other on full screen with the search bar in the middle of the page next to three-digit chapter links. With my shaky finger, I tapped on the latest chapter and I was shown to a world that is beyond what my intent reading could perceive.
Uh…. I should be mature and just say that people can’t help but like what they want to like yes? I totally would, if what they do doesn’t concern or affect me in any way shape, or form.
Then I recalled how at one point in time I braced myself to intentionally read Kuro during her scribbling time. Curiosity killed the cat as they said. Are you telling me that all those times her intent was constantly going back and forth between me and that one other guy in class was to draw us……Oh god.
This is bad…..this is beyond bad. Zack, what have you done? What in the world did you pay her with? I hope it’s just a bunch of credits that Zack won from his cage fights.
I quickly got out of the bathtub, rushed out of my bathroom, and grabbed my phone to send a message to Zack.
Zack, we need to talk. Right now.
Nah, I’m busy. Tomorrow is the interview process. Good luck.
What do you mean by interview?
I tried calling him, but he was not picking up. Same with Venti. I don’t think calling Elizabeth would help since this realm is beyond what she can perceive. I rather keep her away from this rabbit hole if possible.
Nonono, I’m jumping to a conclusion here. Surely drawing comics is just one type of interest that she does in her free time yes? I mean just look at her other works! A branding project with a Corpo at one time. Wow! And her number of followers on other platforms too! They are at 4 digits compared to her Tonbeeru account where she has……..6 digits…….
……..
I’m going to sleep early. I want to skip class tomorrow, but for some reason, I had a feeling that it would backfire even harder.
I pray whatever Zack’s deal with Kuro is, it has nothing to do with me.
-------
DING DONG DENG!
The last class of the day finished.
The Class couldn’t finish any faster even if it tried and during that whole time, I had to endure the stare from my back as Kuro giggled creepily behind me.
We are now in an empty classroom with 4 tables lined up side by side together facing a single chair. I am sitting on that chair while Zack, Venti, Kuro, and Elizabeth sit on the opposite side. Their hands are forming a steeple, fingers intertwined and resting against their chin with elbows on top of the table.
What is this? I thought we were interviewing Kuro. Why am I being asked to sit on this side!? And for the love of God, is it necessary to force Elizabeth into the same pose? Her eyes are darting around confused!
For the first time, I got a full look at Kuro Kovanski. She wears glasses now and she has this sense of authority to her with an unspoken weight pressing down on the table. Frankly speaking, she is scaring the crap out of me. I don’t even want to use my prana to read her intent any deeper than necessary. If possible I just want to put a filter on her entire thoughts.
“Shall we begin with the proceeding? Kuro, please begin.” Zack offered the girl beside him.
“Ahem, it started as an accident between two boys who were playing tags. For many it was but a happenstance between two kids who were fooling around, but that day, lightning struck and I was awakened to this accursed sight of mine. I see more. Far far more than any normal mortal can ever hope to comprehend. From then onwards, it was a spiral of abyss that went downhill into the world of degeneracy until I was up neck in the mud but my hand could not stop creating these unlimited doujin works that propelled me into the fanatical prayer that is set in the depth of every human’s desire which had yet to be awakened until they finally see the truth in itself that sexes are nothing but a flimsy barrier that can be broken through and transcended by human imaginations and more. Huff Huff, water.”
Zack dutifully handed her a glass of water which she finished in one sitting before turning her attention back at me with a predatory glint in her eyes.
“Pwaah! And then there is you. The third impact, or rather a precursor to the whole new turning point that I had finally stumbled upon amid my creativity drought in a world full of worn-out settings. A shota Gaki.”
…...
She speaks in a universally understood language but I can’t for the life of me understand a word she said. “I’m sorry but can you explain it in a more layman term?”
“Layman term? Very well. I am what people call a Rotten Girl.”
“R-rotten girl desuka?”
“Yes, people have condemned us, and our heritage. And yet our torches have passed down unyieldingly from generation to generation. We have surpassed the mainstream and brought along an army of like-minded people in the eyes of the general public. Our justice can no longer be shunned nor ignored.”
“Justice! Kuro, you have found your justice! Very good desuwaaa!! Ohohohoho!”
“Yes! And my art will no longer be denied! Ahahahaha!”
I had my intent mask stay on this entire time, but on the inside, I was questioning the meaning of life. What she said is the truth, because her heart tells her that it is true. In other words, Kuro Kovanski is complete. She had found her meaning in life, her goal, her Dao, and whatever else you want to call it.
But why is it that I am dreading every word that has come out of her mouth ever since I sat down on this seat? It felt like staring into the abyss, only for a bunch of paper drawings to stare back at you.
“So now that you know why you are here, let’s cut to the chase.”
“No, I still don’t know why I am here actually.”
“Here. Sign this, and your team will become my second most priority in life until the contract’s termination.”
I stood up and approached the stack of paper on top of the table and I read the first few sentences on the front cover. It says Kon Caspier’s likeness Release Contract. My stomach dropped down as I inhaled sharply.
“NO! I won’t accept this!”
“OBJECTION! I seem to recall that we have your full blessing! Venti, play that audio clip!” Zack shouted with a finger pointing at me. When did he wear that suit?
[Not my problem. If you think you can find one, then go for it. You have my full blessing.]
[If you think you can find one, then go for it. You have my full blessing.]
[You have my full blessing.]
[You have my full blessing.]
[You have my full blessing.]
“Ok, OK! I get it! You can stop it now!” I kneeled on all fours, listening to my past dooming me to oblivion. Apparently no matter how good you are at reading people, putting a foot in one’s mouth is still a worldwide phenomenon that’s inescapable from time to time.
A dead-end that I have created. I am truly defeated.
So, with no other avenue of escape, I signed the contract.
For the love of everything holy, what is going to happen to me now?