The entire audience was silent, staring at Leon with widened eyes.

I too looked at him with stupefied eyes.

Just...

"Ungrateful. Un—"

"Leon, stop it."

Aoife said all of a sudden.

"Hm?"

"I know you've been exploited by Julien, but the task was to say one word. You're way over the word limit."

"....Oh."

Leon bit his lips, looking all sad.

What the fuck?

"I get it. I'm sorry."

"It's nothing. We all get you."

Kiera waved her hand dismissively. She seemed to understand him.

"It doesn't look like you have a single person supporting you. How do you feel, Julien?"

Suddenly directed a question, I was a bit taken aback, but I quickly recomposed myself before answering.

"Honestly? I'm not surprised. They've never quite liked me from the start."

"No, wait..."

Feeling a little bad, Aoife waved her hand. The others followed right after.

"We were joking."

"Yeah."

"Right... We were, right?"

What's with the hesitation?

"Is that so...?"

I looked at Theresa who flicked her head away from me.

"Her reaction seems to say otherwise."

"Yeah, but her situation is a bit different. She hates everyone, so you aren't being left out on

that one."

"That's true."

I nodded after contemplating Aoife's words. She wasn't wrong. Currently, Theresa hated all of us. Not that I was worried. She was probably going to get over her phase within the next couple of days or so.

Or at least, I hoped it would be the case.

"You guys seem to have quite the chemistry."

Dyrk said after alternating his gaze between me and the girls. He seemed to be studying us with keen interest.

"How long have you known each other? For you to have such chemistry with them, you must've worked with them for quite a long time."

"About that..."

How should I answer this? I didn't know what he was talking about. Chemistry? What chemistry? They were all bashing me.

I was about to answer the question when Aoife beat me to it.

"A year technically, but considering how he tends to disappear whenever he wants, we've probably known him for about a month."

The entire studio fell silent at her words, with the gazes of the people around us becoming even more apparent. Not that I could blame them. I too would've been surprised if I were in their position.

"Known him for about a month?"

"Yeah."

Aoife nodded, crossing her arms and sinking deep into the sofa.

"There was a time when he disappeared for an entire half a year. Ah, that was right before the Summit too."

"Why is that?"

"Well, I don't know. He never tells us why he disappears and we don't really ask."

As Aoife continued speaking, I felt the gazes of those around me change. From surprise, to

what felt like pity. Yes, pity. When I turned to see where those stares came from, I was surprised to see that they came from the other cadets.

It suddenly clicked then.

'Do they think I have some sort of chronic illness?'

"No, I'm not sick. I just... have things to do."

"Wow."

Dyrk directed his gaze toward me.

"I hope you get better."

"Wait, I'm not-

"Eish. I understand. You might not want to talk about this. I'll switch the topic for you."

With an exasperated look, Dyrk switched the topic.

"You may not realize it now, but I'm sure you'll get an earful from our viewers when this episode comes out. For now, let's switch to the last and final segment."

The lights around us dimmed, and a recording device was wheeled in.

"Our daily lives!"

The recording device came alive.

"For the last segment, we will now display short clips of the groups here and their daily lives. We asked each group a few days ago to send whatever they had, and this is the accumulation of the clips that we have been sent."

Hold on. I blinked, struggling to understand his words. This was the second time this had been mentioned to me, and it was also the second time that I struggled to understand what

was happening.

Clips? What clips?

Why was I totally clueless about this?

"Who should we start with first? Hmm. How about the first years? This looks entertaining."

A video started playing on the television all of a sudden. On it were the members of the first years. They were a male group composed of four young men. They were all handsome, and in the clip, they showed several funny clips of what they did in their daily lives, and a little bit of banter here and there.

I wasn't going to lie and say it was boring. It was fun. Very fun.

Unlike before, I actually felt that this segment was extremely interesting. Yet, for some

reason, I couldn't enjoy it.

My mind kept wondering about the clips, and what our clips were going to be about.

Leon had most likely taken it upon himself to do the clips considering how the others didn't look like the type to be interested in doing these things. It made sense, but the thought scared

me.

Just what exactly was he going to show?

Time seemed to pass both fast and slow as clips after clips were shown. The backstage atmosphere had markedly shifted from its earlier gloomy and tense state to a more pleasant

one.

And then it came.

Our clip.

"The second clip is up next! Let's see what we have. I'm rather curious."

He wasn't the only one that seemed keen on watching the video. The people in the audience,

and even some of the other teams seemed to look forward to the clip.

I was too, but at the same time, I felt very apprehensive.

Click.

The video started.

"Check. Check. Is the video working? Check?"

The first one to appear in the video was Evelyn who extended her hands to touch the camera.

But she was promptly slapped away by another hand as Leon's voice echoed through the

speakers.

As expected, Leon was the one in charge of this.

"Evelyn, don't touch the recording. It's working. I'm recording."

"Oh... Is that so...?" Licking her lips, Evelyn took a step back and twirled her hair. Then, casting a quick glance at

the camera, she shyly waved.

"Hey..."

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm... I'm kind of shy. I didn't expect there to be so many people watching."

"There's only me watching."

Evelyn rolled her eyes.

"Play along, will you?"

"I don't have time to play along. We only have a couple of minutes to shoot this video."

The camera shifted away from Evelyn.

"Hey! Wait! Let's re-do it!"

"No! Get away from me!"

"Vice Director!"

Leon's refusal and the obvious tussling that was happening behind the camera caused some

of the people around to laugh.

The heavy pants of both Evelyn and Leon echoed through the speakers as they continued to

tussle against one another.

"L,Leon! Let me!"

"I said no!"

The camera ended up resting on a nearby counter which was directed toward the far end of the common, near the corridor leading up to the dorm room as Evelyn and Leon started fighting in the background. And if one looked closely, they'd spot a small figure hiding behind the very

wall the camera was pointed to.

'Just what is she doing?'

"Hey!? What's with all the noise? Can you keep it down?"

Clank-!

Kiera rushed down the stairs with a frown. Twirling her pinkie in her ear, she scowled and

glared in the direction of Evelyn and Leon while briefly glancing at the recording device.

"It's three in the afternoon, and I'm trying to sleep so keep it d-"

"Boo!"

"Mot******! S***! F*** me!"

The video bleeped continuously as Kiera jumped up in the air, and shouted.

"Where did this gremlin-looking midget come from?!"

Wait, hold on...?

Laughter rippled through the room as all eyes turned toward Kiera, who sank into the sofa in

an attempt to hide her face. On the other hand, a small smile graced Theresa's lips as she

arrogantly looked around and nudged her head whenever someone met her gaze.

'You saw that didn't you? That was me,' was what she was trying to imply with her gaze. This

was all caught by the recording devices around.

The clip continued.

"Kiera, you know better than to swear in front of a child?"

Aoife was the next one to come out of her room as she started to berate Kiera who was

clenching her heart.

"What? I almost died from a heart attack. Have some damn sympathy for your classmates."

"Oh please. As if you're going to die from something as little as that. You've been up against

scarier opponents."

"Like what?"

"Like Julien whenever he tells a joke."

"Ah."

With a look of sudden realization, Kiera casually nodded her head and returned to her usual

nonchalant look.

"If you put it that way, then you're right."

Hold on a second...

"That's that."

Having dealt with the situation, Aoife seemed to be pleased with herself and turned to head

back into her room, when all of a sudden she jumped up in the air.

"Mot******! S***! F*** me!"

The video once again bleeped as Aoife started throwing curses.

"When did you get here?!"

Her anger was directed toward Delilah who had appeared behind her out of nowhere, a

chocolate bar in her hand. Nonchalantly eating one, she tilted her head.

"I've always been here. Why?"

"No, you scared me."

"Oh."

With a nod, Delilah returned her attention back to the chocolate.

I stared at the scene with wide eyes.

What in the hell is she doing there? Turning my head, my eyes met with Delilah's. Strangely,

her face was a little red.

"Hold on a second. Wait a second. Hold up. Pause."

Massaging her forehead, Kiera looked at Aoife.

"...Are you just going to ignore what just happened? Let's set aside the fact that you

completely copied every word that I said, but should I remind you of the words you literally

said to me a couple of seconds ago?"

"No, that's-"

Kiera started to directly quote Aoife's words.

"Kiera, you know better than to swear in front of a child?"

"Oh please. As if you're going to die from something as little as that. You've been up against

scarier opponents."

It was now Aoife's turn to sink into the sofa as her gaze wandered away from the projection.

The laughter continued to spread in the studio.

"Keum."

Aoife turned her head away from Kiera.

"You've got no proof of any of that happening."

"No, I actually do."

Kiera's eyes briefly shifted toward the recording device that rested on the counter.

"Uh?"

Aoife blinked, and it was then that she suddenly noticed the camera that was pointed at them.

Her face instantly flushed red and she dashed toward it.

"Hell no!"

Two arms desperately clung to Aoife's leg as she made a dash for the camera.

"Kiera! Let go! I'm telling you as the group's leader! You better let go or this won't well end

for you!"

"Do your best!"

And so. Another fight broke out.

"Let go you bit**!"

"Over my dead body!"

In the span of a couple of minutes, two fights had broken out and one could still hear the

muffled sound of Evelyn and Leon fighting at the back.

"L,leon?!"

"No means no!"

"Akh!"

To make matters worse, Delilah and Theresa watched the spectacle with interest from the

back as Delilah slowly ate her candy. From time to time the other cadets would come down to

watch what was happening before fleeing the scene.

It was a mess.

A terrible mess.

Click.

The clip ended shortly after that.

A brief silence hung in the studio as everyone's attention was on the girls who had practically

sunk into the deepest pits of the sofa with the exception of Theresa. Then, a lot of people broke into smiles and light laughter as the girls sank even deeper into the sofa. Staring at the scene, I didn't have it in me to laugh. I was at a loss for words. I really didn't

know what to say.

Damn it! I was gone for just a few days and this was the end result?

What sort of situation was this?

'No, never mind. I should be glad I was gone. If not I would've been implicated."

I sighed in relief when my thoughts paused there.

Trring-!

Then, I felt my communication device vibrate in my pocket, and I excused myself for a

moment.

-So, is everything done? How's the situation?

It was Leon.

Eh? Leon? Wasn't he...?

"How are you talking to me?"

-I recorded the message beforehand.

"Huh? Why would you?"

-I thought you might not like clip.

The clip was fine. It didn't implicate me anyway.

Not sure he would think I would not like it.

-I mean the second clip.

"Eh?"

Second one?

My mouth suddenly paused.

There was another one?

And then I turned around to see my face displayed on the screen of the recording device.

Before I knew it, a curse escaped my lips.

"Oh... fuck."