In the end, Max returned to the hotel with clingy Lily in a taxi. Lisa dragged Flexy to the nearby hostel to spend the night recovering from their drunkenness while Ferin and Atlas continued drinking.
For the first time, Max was able to find out that Lily was a clingy drunkard. He would definitely not allow her to drink unless they were alone.
She wasn't easy to shake off. Even when they arrived at their hotel, she still held him tightly.
"I want to sleep together." She begged with puppy eyes, and he was unable to refuse. She looked so happy when he didn't push her away.
And so... morning arrived. The first thing Max saw when he woke up was his girlfriend's face. He observed her sleeping face for a while until she woke up.
"Morning." He whispered quietly.
"Huh?" Lily was still confused and blinked her eyes.
Then... realization struck her. Find exclusive stories on m_v l|e-novelhall.net
"Ah!" She looked at their situation. "Kyaa! W-What am I doing?"
Lily screamed as soon as she understood the situation and noticed that she was still hugging him on the bed. Her cheek turned red from embarrassment, and she hid her face with both hands as he sat down. She remembered everything from last night.
"Ugh... That was so embarrassing. Please forget about it, Max."
Max smiled at her. He didn't dislike it at all. Rather, he was happy that he knew her other side and how pampered he could be.
"I won't forget my girlfriend's cute act. I can spoil you whenever you want, you know? Just tell me when you need it." He teased with a smirk as he traced his finger along her neckline. "Do you still want the kiss? Or a hug and headpat?"
Lily's embarrassment peaked when she heard that and jumped off the bed.
"I am going to take a shower in my room!" She screamed and ran away like a rabbit.
He couldn't help but chuckle and got off the bed, too. Nothing happened last night except for her acting spoiled and pampered, as if she had released her inner child.
'I want to see her like that often... Without other people watching, of course.'
Morning preparation was easy. He didn't work out this morning because he had to do intense joint training later. It started at 11 AM to 5 PM, followed by a barbeque party before the real tournament started tomorrow.
He did look forward to the tournament. But, there was something he was looking forward to more.
"Alright."
After finishing his morning routine and changing his clothes, Max sat on a sofa and opened the Punch website. Today was May 30th. Something big happened today.
"It's my second, third, and fourth pay!" He exclaimed excitedly and rubbed his hands together.
"Now, now. Isn't this Taka?" He laughed wholeheartedly, stroking his goatee, "What brings you here? Aren't you busy with your new Manager position?"
The approaching man, Mr. Taka, stopped and sat down next to Trey without asking for permission.
"I have finished all the preparations and documents that my predecessor left me with." He answered and pushed up his glasses. "And as to why I am here, I just have free time. Two of our affiliated streamers will join this competition, so I want to ensure everything went well."
"Oh? I remember them. They are on the OrangeSquash team. Flexy and Breeze, aren't they?"
"Indeed. I thought you don't remember anything that's not related to cockroaches."
"That's a harsh statement from you, Taka." Trey laughed out loud.
"I remember them because they brought change to e-sport. After seeing how useful it is, I heard that the most active e-sports team will now do Scrim. And yeah, they are on a smaller scale, but still a Scrim regardless. It will not be much at first, but I believe it will increase."
Mr. Taka's lips curled into a smile, like a proud father who heard about his son's achievement.
"Is that so? It's good that our affiliated streamers' names rise and are remembered as people who made a change in the e-sport scene."
"You seem happy," Trey commented. He lit another cigarette after putting it in his mouth.
"Yeah. It's just between us, but the marketing team has prepared something special for our affiliated streamers before the Streamer Wars in late July. We will focus on increasing Breeze's fame. Our goal is to make him win the new streamer award... Though that won't be hard."
"Fuu..." The man with the goatee puffed smoke into the air, "I don't know what you're talking about, but you seem to like that boy a lot."
"Heh, that's natural." Mr. Taka smirked and pushed his glasses again. It reflected the light from the stage, glistening. "Breeze is my, our Gold. He's a walking bank that gives us profit. And the marketing team is like someone who brings us profit."
"You're just as greedy as usual."
Both of them looked at the stage where 40 VR capsules were put adjacent to each other, with some kind of barrier separating them by 4.
Trey couldn't help but think about what his old friend, Taka, had said. The Marketing Team loved profit and money. Then, what would he, as a production executive, like?
The answer was pretty simple.
"We will make sure to use that money to grow the company more by making this event successful. And bring the proposal about that program to promote the new streamer and other affiliated streamers."
"Sent. It's nice working with you, Trey."
The man with the goatee looked at Mr. Taka, who smirked at him.
"Damn it." He muttered and rummaged his hair, "You're too decisive. And sly."
"Thank you for the compliment."