Season 4: Chapter 37. The Modeling Club (1)
"Hey, Assistant Manager Kim."
Thunk.
The Manager handed him a can of coffee.
"Ah, thank you."
"Looks like we’re pulling an all-nighter with this non-stop stream. Let’s burn through it."
"Y-Yes, of course."
Tomorrow was a holiday anyway. They wouldn’t be able to sleep with this stream going on, so they decided to stay up and see it all through.
‘At least he’ll get stuck on the investigation part, right?’
The story sections were always good for eating up time.
"Bang!"
The Manager made a sound effect while opening the coffee can.
‘God damn.’
Assistant Kim’s face turned pale for a moment, thinking he was about to get exorcised. The Manager chuckled at his reaction.
"Ah, ohoho. I did that without thinking."
"Haha..."
Assistant Kim wondered if the Manager had lost it completely. He was acting like he’d finally cracked, but maybe that wasn’t so surprising. After all, the Manager was ultimately responsible for this situation.
The first big highlight of the ad, the so-called Newbie Executioner Earthbound Spirit, hadn’t even gotten to do anything. The Angler boss had also gotten blasted into the sky in the most ridiculous way possible.
The Angler had been meticulously designed with three phases. Phase 1 had been skipped with a “Bang!” Phase 2 saw it getting launched like a rocket. Phase 3 didn’t even make an appearance.
The school roof itself had opened up like a convertible when that happened. They couldn’t submit that footage as part of the ad. Not after they had invested every last bit of the budget. Still, it ended up like this.
No wonder they couldn’t sleep. The coffee probably wasn’t even necessary. Assistant Kim looked at the Manager with sympathy as the older man downed the can.
The Manager heartily laughed. "I’ve already forgotten it all. Huh? We’ll just start over! With our ghostly friends!"
The Manager was saying that, but those ghosts were just lines of code. Assistant Kim decided not to point that out.
"Ahem. Yes, we’ll start fresh. This next part should slow them down. It’s the investigation section."
"Right, talking to those kids in the hospital room?"
"Yes. They have to go through them one by one to gather clues. Of course, there are a lot of them, so..." Assistant Kim trailed off.
‘Ah, seriously...’
It was because of what he saw on the monitor. Almond had gone straight to the correct NPC with the most memories. Each NPC had a specific trigger to get them to talk. This one’s trigger was fear.
Almond, without even realizing it, had activated the trigger perfectly. The moment the information spilled out, the rest of the interviews would get easier too. He wouldn’t even need to figure out every other NPC’s triggers.
‘How does he always pull it off?’
He stared at Almond proceeding so smoothly and thought, ‘At this rate, the investigation will be a breeze for him too.’
"Something wrong?"
The Manager noticed the increasingly gloomy expression on Assistant Kim’s face.
"N-No, it’s nothing."
Assistant Kim told himself to just go with the flow. Sometimes it was better not to know.
"They’ll still have to work for it."
"Yeah, let’s see them sweat a bit. Let those bastards taste real frustration!"
Wham, wham.
The Manager punched the air in front of the monitor. He was now fully on the ghosts’ side.
***
A victim’s translucent spirit hovered in the air. Contrary to the Manager’s hopes, she started spilling everything as soon as she saw the talisman in Almond’s hand.
"I-I don’t remember the rooftop! But... I do remember the most recent thing that happened."
— Who would ever doubt Almondoyle?
— LOL, how is that working?
— Exorcism... or intimidation?
— Why is this working so well? Haha
— The seduction technique (physical intimidation)
Viewers were baffled by how easily the spirit started talking, unaware that each NPC had a different approach that worked best.
"Your most recent memory? What was it?"
"It’s nothing really... I just... went with an older girl I know to meet someone."
Almond and Bubblegum met eyes.
‘This might be it.’
‘It’s gotta be.’
Both of them could feel it. Almond adjusted his hat and deepened his tone, playing the role of the solemn exorcist again.
"Ahem. Who did you meet?"
"She said he was someone she owed everything to... a very kind teacher, but we didn’t actually meet him."
A teacher? Someone she owed everything to? One usually wouldn’t hear such words from a university student.
Almond’s instincts went on high alert. This older girl sounded suspicious.
"Where is she now?"
"She’s not here."
"How did you meet her?"
"She was just... a senior from my department. We were in the same club, so we got close."
So it was the Exorcism Club? He recalled the club president who had introduced himself so casually.
Almond leaned in closer. "What club?"
"I-It’s nothing! Just a club!"
"Which one?"
Almond’s face got even closer.
The spirit blushed bright red and mumbled, "The... Modeling Club."
They didn’t expect it to be the Modeling Club instead of an occult club.
"Modeling?"
Maybe she misunderstood the question because she waved her hands in embarrassment.
"I-I know it doesn’t suit me at all! I’m not trying to be a model or anything! They said they’d teach us how to walk properly and fix our posture for free, so..."
"Huh?"
Almond switched to a different mic channel that only viewers could hear.
"Cookie once said this..."
— What is it?
— You’re the one who said it!
— Hahahaha, seriously!
"Nothing is more expensive than free. That’s what Cookie once said when he bought me premium beef."
— Hahahaha!
— Cookie is a philosopher, huh?
— Daddy Cookie!!
— He’s always dropping these proverbs, man.
— ??? Let me tell you how I won first place in the National Competition by eating beef~
"Ahem. Anyway, this is suspicious."
Free lessons sounded suspicious, at least according to Almondoyle’s standards.
Bubblegum asked, "But... what’s a modeling club doing in the theology building?"
"Huh? Oh, I’m not in theology. I’m in communications... And besides, anyone can join. I mean, you’re a monk with a belly, right?"
"!?"
— Hahahaha!
— Out of nowhere, critical hit!
— Let’s hear the wooden fish once!
— What’s wrong with a monk having a belly?
— She’s just spewing nonsense now, haha.
The victim seemed mortified at the idea of actually modeling. Honestly, Almond and Bubblegum didn’t think it was that weird. It just threw them off because they had assumed she was a theology major.
A nun model would definitely be a bit odd, but her major turned out to be journalism. That tracked with a modeling club if one thought about it, yet a new question popped up.
— Wait, why were comms students in the theology building?
— Wasn’t this about the exorcism club?
— What the heck were they even doing there?
What were these comms kids doing on the roof of the theology building? Were they dragged there? Almond scratched his chin.
‘I thought it was the Exorcism Club causing trouble, but... was I way off?’
He asked a few more questions and moved on to other students.
"I’m just going to interview everyone."
***
With the first victim’s story, the rest of the interviews went smoothly.
"They said an older friend from the club would introduce me to someone. I remember that was the last thing."
"I just remember an older guy from my travel club said he’d hook me up with someone pretty."
Every conversation with these spirits revealed the same pattern. They had all joined different clubs and had all been invited to meet someone.
"The Modeling Club? Nah, I’m in the Travel Club."
"I’m in the Classical Music Club. Someone said they would teach me how to play an instrument."
"I’m not in a club. I was in a small departmental group meeting."
Despite the different starting points, they all ended up in the same place to meet the same person.
"They said to meet at that big MetaBucks at the end of the main road."
"Yeah, I think it was the MetaBucks by the intersection."
"There’s that big MetaBucks building on the boulevard..."
— MetaBucks, haha. VR coffee shop?
— MetaBucks, what’s that even supposed to be?
— The metaverse is here, boys.
Almond jotted down notes in his pad.
"So everyone was meeting someone, and the place was MetaBucks."
The different clubs and different stories always led to the same location. This someone had been described in all sorts of ways: an older friend, a kind teacher, a hotshot at a big company...
Not a single clue led to who they actually were. Not even whether they were a man or a woman. It was as if those memories had been scrubbed away. Some students couldn’t even remember that they’d gone to meet someone at all.
"How are we supposed to find this person if they can’t even remember?"
The truth was buried in their memories, but this was a full playthrough stream. Almond didn’t want to waste time. As he was thinking, Bubblegum placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Almond..."
"?"
"You’re in a hospital, but you’re half-drawing your sword..."
He had already half-drawn the exorcism sword at his side.
"Huh? Oh, my bad. Didn’t even realize..."
— Hahaha, the sword, lol.
— Murder for a clue, huh?
— He’s got his hand on the sword, asking if they "really" don’t remember...
— Seriously, stop solving everything with violence!
— Memory recovery... with a sword.
"Do they really not remember anything?"
"In most games, if they say they don’t remember, then they really don’t. No matter what you do."
Bubblegum’s gaming experience lent some credibility to that, but Almond was different. He was the type who had to try before he believed.
"Have you ever tried... actually killing them?"
"Huh? No—no! That’s not what I meant! And besides, how would you even ask them questions if they’re dead?"
"But... we’re talking to them now even though they’re unconscious."
Almond motioned to the spirits hovering near the hospital beds. He had a point.
Bubblegum considered it.
— Oh my god.
— True.
— Wait, are the spirits turning to look at Almond? Lol
— This world’s logic is unbeatable: you can always interrogate the dead.
It almost sounded worth trying.
"I’m joking. They’re victims. We can’t do that to them."
Bubblegum was left speechless.
‘This bastard...’
— So what about you, Bubblegum?
— Bubblegum is the real villain here.
— Poor Bubblegum.
— He’s just left holding the murder plan like an idiot, lol
Bubblegum quickly changed the subject.
"Ahem. Okay then, what if we just... joined one of these clubs ourselves?"
"What?"
"Come on, these kids were all invited through their clubs. If we join, maybe we’ll get an invite too."
Bubblegum’s idea was quite out there. Did they really have that kind of freedom in this game?
"But... which one?"
"The Modeling Club."
Surprisingly, it was actually possible.
***
"Ahem. Okay then, what if we just... joined one of these clubs ourselves?"
"But... which one?"
"The Modeling Club."
As soon as that idea was spoken aloud, Assistant Manager Kim spat his coffee all over his desk.
"Pffff!"
"Assistant Manager Kim? Are you okay?"
"Cough, cough—yes, yes. I just... swallowed wrong. I’ll clean this up."
‘This is insane.’
He somehow managed to keep his face neutral.
‘How do they keep getting everything right?!’