*Puff*
Smoke drifted in the air.
Myles quietly stared at the floating smoke while holding his phone next to his right ear, the dimples on his face extremely clear.
"Yes, I have presented him with the offer. I think he should accept it without any problems. The terms were quite generous. Enough to make me feel jealous myself."
—Is that so...? Then why don’t you-
"No, I’m sorry. I can’t accept the offer."
Myles replied, his tone softening a little.
"I’m happy where I’m at, and I’ve got something that I want to achieve here."
—....
The line fell silent a moment later.
But then, a soft chuckle filled the line.
—Well, I guess that’s that. I won’t force you. I’m already quite satisfied with what I’ve got.
"Thank you."
Myles smiled faintly, taking another drag from the cigarette in his hand. His gaze followed the cars moving along the road in front of the Guild as he leaned back against the building, eyes steady and expression calm as he took it all in.
—I hope to receive a good answer in the next couple of days. Once again, I appreciate your help.
"Please don’t mention it. I’m always happy to help."
—...I’ll remember that. I hope to talk to you again someday.
"Likewise."
The call ended on good terms.
*Puff*
With another drag of the cigarette, Myles slipped his phone back into his pocket and kept his gaze focused on the cars that passed. A soft smile tugged at his lips, dimples showing clear as day. But gradually, the smile faded, and his gaze hardened, turning cold.
As it did, he mumbled,
"I really do hope everything goes well."
He flicked his cigarette away, turning his attention back towards the Guild entrance.
"...I wouldn’t want to take drastic measures."
After all, he did quite like Seth.
But it was just unfortunate that the two couldn’t coexist. He had something to achieve, and in order to do that, he needed to be the best.
He couldn’t be the best if he existed.
***
I didn’t wake up in the best of moods.
Rather, I woke up feeling like shit.
"Ugh..."
My mood was perfectly mirrored in my energy level, and I could barely get through my morning routine. Everything I did felt half-assed, like I was just going through the motions without really caring.
’I have just two days left to find a solution to this problem.’
I had spent the entire night racking my brain, but no matter how hard I tried, I came up empty. Lowering my gaze to the compass in my hands, I let out a quiet sigh.
"Still spinning. I guess this won’t be any help for now."
My heart sank, though I hadn’t held much hope to begin with. The problem wasn’t a simple one.
"Right, this is also troublesome."
The number of reporters gathered at the Guild’s entrance hadn’t lessened. In fact, it had only grown. With no other choice, I took the long way around through the car park. Taking the elevator, I went to the lowest floor.
Ding—!
"Hm?"
The moment the doors opened, I was greeted by a small crowd.
For a moment, my heart stopped.
Wait, don’t tell me...
Biting my lips, I felt my entire body tense as I walked closer to the crowd. Some people noticed me, but didn’t pay much attention to me as they turned their attention away from me shortly after.
I sighed in relief once I saw this.
’...So I guess nothing happened.’
I walked towards the main area where I spotted several cubicles surrounded by certain groups. Looking around, I eventually spotted the area with the people I was most familiar with and walked up to them.
"What’s going on here?"
They all seemed deeply absorbed in their work, but my attention settled on Zoey. She appeared to be at the center of the group’s focus, her gaze locked on the monitor in front of her. A strange device clung to her ear, looping around it before moving down along her chin like some sort of microphone.
’What the hell is that...?’
That was the first time I had ever seen something like that. It took me a little by surprise, but before I could voice out my confusion, Kyle stopped me, pressing his finger over his mouth as he gestured for me to be quiet.
".....??"
I was even more confused now.
Just what was he so focu—
"Akh! Shit!"
BANG!
A hand slammed down on the desk as the keyboard on Zoey’s desk flipped, and she stood up from her seat.
"Fuck!"
She started to curse all of a sudden, pulling the device from her ear as she glared at the monitor in front of her.
"Fucking shit...!!"
She looked to be properly raging.
I was even more stunned by the sight as she bit onto her fist and sat back down on the chair. Drumming her fingers over the desk, she looked back in our direction, finally taking notice of me.
"What are you doing here?"
"...Going to work?"
"Oh, right."
Zoey rubbed her face while turning her attention back towards the monitor. At the same time, she reached for the strange device again and prepared to put it on when I reached out and grabbed it from her.
"Huh? Hey—!"
"What is this?"
I analyzed it closely. It looked like some sort of earpiece.
"A fashion device? Hmm." I looked at Zoey strangely, her hand reaching forward to snap the device back.
"Give me that!"
Zoey held the device extremely carefully while checking for any damage. Only when she was certain that there were no issues did she sigh in relief as she glared at me.
"Be careful with that. It wasn’t cheap."
"...Oh."
Fashion items usually did go fo—
"It’s my new portable VR device. It wasn’t cheap."
"Hm?"
I stopped, turning my attention towards the device.
"Pardon? What did you just say?"
"What?"
Zoey looked at me weirdly, holding onto the weird earpiece.
"Wait, what did you just call that?"
"...New VR piece?"
"What...?"
VR piece? That...?
Staring at the earpiece, I could hardly make sense of the situation. She wasn’t messing around with me, was she?
How could something like that be a VR piece? And how come I had only heard about it now?
"...It’s not released yet."
Kyle suddenly chimed in from the right.
"It’s just a beta product that Zoey got sent. She was just trying it with a recent game that has been trending lately."
Kyle pointed at the screen of the monitor.
"Funnily enough, it’s a horror game. It’s called ’Death Company’, and honestly, it’s quite fun. Look around. Everyone is playing it."
Kyle rubbed at his nose, his mouth parting slightly before closing again. It looked as though he had something to say, but the words never made it past his lips. After looking at me, he suddenly grew hesitant.
What—
"Attention please!"
A voice suddenly filled the room, gathering the attention of everyone present.
I also turned toward the source of the voice, but the instant I did, my expression froze. A familiar head of silver hair entered my sight, and my body instinctively tensed.
No, don’t tell me...
The Section Chief pointed towards the girl standing next to him.
"I just wanted to introduce everyone to the newest member of our department. Her name is Ariel, and I hope you get along well with her."
As he spoke, his gaze abruptly shifted toward me, and a sudden premonition struck.
He didn’t even get the chance to speak before I spoke up.
"I refuse."