Chapter 463: Airing [2]

Chapter 463: Airing [2]



Tensions ran high in a certain studio.

Dyrk, the presenter of the interview paced across the room while holding his fist onto his mouth.

'It shouldn't be too bad, right? Two percent. That's all I'm asking for. No, one point five percent is good too. Even one percent is good.'

The latest interview had aired.

Because of the accumulated nerves, Dyrk decided to stay out of the studio.

He knew the results would only show up once the interview ended. However, he couldn't wait at all.

He was nervous.

So damn nervous.

"Damn it, how much more do I have to wait?"

Pausing, Dyrk checked the time and groaned.

Only five minutes had passed since the interview had aired. It almost felt like an hour had passed, and yet, it was only a few minutes.

The realization felt agonizing.

"Should I just knock myself out so that-!"

Clank!

With the sudden opening of the door, a figure rushed into the room. Frightened, Dyrk jumped back.

He was just about to protest when he noticed that he was familiar with the figure.

"Writer...?"

"Haa... Haaa..."

Holding onto several papers and breathing heavily, the writer of the show, Jack Bannali raised

his head and looked at Dyrk. There was a strange glimmer in his eyes as he looked up.

Holding onto a communication device, he raised it up.

"This..."

Struggling to get his words out under his heavy breathing, Jack took a deep breath before speaking at all once.

"It's a hit! The interview! It's blowing up!"

***

The final rating of the show ended up reaching a staggering 5.7%. This didn't sound like much, but for a mere interview, this was a staggering number.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Not taking into account the fact that people who missed the live broadcast could watch it right after. The number of views was staggering.

The cadets from Haven became the topic of discussion for all those within the Empire.

In particular, a specific person.

"Huek."

Leon's face trembled as he held onto a communication device.

It was a strange sight.

While his face held no expression, his body would tremble from time to time as he would let out strange sounds in the middle of the class.

"...Kh."

He wasn't the only one.

Half of the class was behaving in the same way.

With all attention focused on a single figure, the strange sounds persisted throughout the lecture. They were loud enough to disrupt the lecture, but the Professor turned a blind eye to

it.

Because...

"The spell composition is highly dependent on the... Hoo... different types of runes that... K- eum, excuse me. It's highly dependent on the different types of... Ho."

Even he was struggling to maintain a straight expression.

Feeling the laughs and stares from all the cadets, Julien's expression remained indifferent. It almost felt like he was completely unaffected by the laughs and stares.

Of course, that was merely on the outside.

'Leon, Aoife, Kiera, Professor Karlian, Kaelion? Is he laughing too? Amell? Leon's brother? Oh, right. That guy is royalty. What was her name again? Leon's sister-in-law? Andreas. Carmen.'

Julien was currently busy memorizing the faces and names of those who were laughing. He was currently writing a kill list.

If any of the people on the kill list ever were in mortal danger, he wasn't going to save them. In Leon's case, Julien was prepared to laugh at his death.

'See if he laughs then.'

Julien ground his teeth while adding name after name to the list.

Eventually, his gaze paused toward a bright-eyed figure. With two deep yellow eyes, he was

hard to miss out.

Julien's brows rose up at the sight of him.

'He's not laughing?'

This was a rare sighting.

However, when Julien thought about it, then it made sense.

Caius didn't strike him as a person who would spend time watching that sort of stuff. He wasn't even present during the live interview.

Of course, he wasn't interested in watching the broadcast.

As Julien was about to nod at him, he realized something.

"Oh."

Caius...

He had to make sure that he could leave no way out for the opposing side.

To, Tok-

Thankfully, his assistant was very efficient.

Shortly after Ivan issued the command, she entered the room with the papers in question.

Clara was a new assistant that Ivan had hired just a few months back. While he didn't actually

hire her as that wasn't his job, he had been rather satisfied with her.

She was efficient and never asked questions.

With short brown hair, thin-framed oval glasses, and a dusting of freckles across her face, she

had a slightly nerdy appearance-but one that carried its own unique charm.

"Here you go, sir."

"Ah, thank you very much."

Ivan hastily retrieved the papers and started to sort through them before eventually picking

up his pen where he began writing.

"You may go."

Right as he started, he waved his hand to dismiss Clara.

"Yes, understood!"

Ivan expected Clara to leave, but just as she stepped away, she stopped.

"Ah, right! There's something else I wanted to mention, sir."

"Yes...?"

Frowning, Ivan turned around.

He didn't quite like getting disturbed, but managed to quell his annoyance and spoke with an

even tone.

"You've received a package."

"A package?"

"Yes, it's rather big. I've checked the contents and it looks pretty safe."

Clara held up a small wooden box, rectangular in shape and rather long. Ivan's eyes scanned

the box, but he couldn't sense anything unusual about it.

"Okay."

Without thinking too much, Ivan retrieved the box and opened it.

He didn't have any expectations when opening the box, thinking that it was just a common

gift, but the moment he opened the box, his face changed subtly.

"....Ah."

It was a wine bottle. A well-maintained and luxurious wine bottle.

Ivan's lips pressed together in a tight line as his gaze lingered on the bottle. His grip on the

box tightened noticeably.

After a few moments, he took a deep breath, managing to calm himself.

"Send this gift back. Tell them I appreciate the gift, but I can't drink alcohol."

"Ah? But this looks really expensive."

With a surprised look, Clara took the bottle and closely examined it. Her brows jumped up as

she read the tag placed at the very front of the bottle.

"Wow, this Mount Eclair? Isn't that one of the top brands? It would be a pity to send this

back."

"It's alright. If there's anything that I don't lack, it would be money. I just prefer to not drink."

"Oh, I see. A pity. A pity."

A pity?

Frowning, Ivan opened his mouth to lash out, but before the words could escape, he felt them

get abruptly sucked back in.

"... And here I thought you liked alcohol. After all, given your line of work, there must be

things you must want to forget, right?"

As if he had been struck by a thunderbolt, Ivan's body froze.

Staring at his assistant who was casually admiring the bottle, Ivan felt his mouth grow dry.

She...

She couldn't know, right?

It couldn't be. It...

"Well, what a pity."

With a simple smile, Clara placed the bottle in the box.

"I guess I'll return it now."

Turning to look at Ivan, she smiled and dismissed herself.

"I'll see myself out."

Clank!