Laohu entered a small, dark room inside the large building. The hallways should have been empty at this point, but two individuals remained.
The sound of keyboard clicks resonated in the room, and only the monitor screen illuminated the entire place.
"I've thought about it," a man with a bowl cut stood and faced the tall guy who had been pestering him ever since 'Rising Stars' started.
"I don't think I can do it. Lin Zhi's rank had been dropping every week, and it's getting harder to keep him in the top ten, much more the top eight. It would be too suspicious," he said.
"You can just do what you've always done, Jo," Laohu said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You just need to click a few buttons."
"It's easier said than done," Jo sighed. "With the gap getting bigger and bigger, it's harder to make it less obvious that everything's not what it seems."
"Do you need anything?" Laohu asked, already brewing a plan in his mind.
"I don't," Jo shook his head. "I just need to keep this job. It pays better than any other office job out there. Besides, I've worked so hard to get to this position. I want to keep it."
Laohu clicked his tongue. "I'll pay you more than fifty percent of our agreed payment."
Jo clicked his tongue, his hand hovering over the mouse. The monitor was showing the real-time rankings of the trainees, and at that moment, Lin Zhi's name shifted down, his rank now being fourteenth.
"See," Jo gestured to the screen. "I can't just move him six ranks up."
"I'm not talking about merely six ranks here," Laohu said. "Move him even further."
"You're asking for the impossible," Jo said. "Our CEO just came back and did an inspection this morning, so everyone's on edge. He's a very fair-minded man, so if somebody finds out that I'm doing this, I'll get fired."
Laohu clicked his tongue as he pulled something out from his pocket—a blank check.
"Nothing's impossible in this world," Laohu said, a smirk appearing on his face.
He knew that every boulder could be moved with the right motivation.
And that motivation was usually the same for most people—especially those with weak minds.
"Here," Laohu said, tossing the piece of paper with numerous zeroes in Jo's direction.
Jo frowned as he looked at the piece of paper in his hands. The number of zeroes was definitely tempting. It was quadruple his monthly salary!
"Nobody has to know about this transaction," Laohu convinced Jo. "No one has ever caught us until now. We're already in the finals, aren't we?"
Jo bit his lip, his mind racing with a thousand thoughts.
Laohu smirked as he watched Jo's conflicting expressions. Then, Jo sighed, and that's when Laohu knew that his plan had worked.
In the end, everybody was truly a slave for money.
"Alright," Jo said. "What do you want me to do?"
***
In one of Azure's dorm rooms, a small laptop was propped on a low desk. A group of trainees sat in a circle, their eyes focused on the countdown displayed on the screen.
The trainees decided to watch the show in this room because it oddly smelled like…chocolates? It was June's favorite scent, so he had sprayed it all over the room. And maybe that's the reason why Akira, Jisung, C-Jay, and Jaeyong decided to watch the ninth episode in his room—it smelled oddly comforting.
Or maybe because the other rooms looked like a mess and smelled of wet feet.
"I thought only the five of us would be watching?" June asked, glancing at the three additional trainees in the room.
"I told them not to come!" C-Jay exclaimed. "But that guy," he pointed at Casper, then whispered, "was creepy as hell. He kept telling me that he wanted to watch it with us."
"I can hear you," Casper deadpanned.
"Good," C-Jay smiled. "You're really weird, bro. I don't do well with weird people."
June clicked his tongue. C-Jay was probably the weirdest in the room right now.
"How about you two?" June asked, looking at Ren and Zeth, who appeared to be in a better state compared to the past few days.
"Didn't you guys have a fight?" Jisung innocently pointed out, causing Akira to nudge his side.
"You can't just ask that," Akira whispered.
Zeth chuckled as he shook his head. "No, it's alright. We didn't fight. We just had an intense conversation."
"It was my fault," Ren said. "I was too insecure since Zeth kept beating me in everything."
"It's also my fault," Zeth said. "I was insensitive with my words, and I also have a bragging tendency."
"You don't say," Casper coughed, causing Zeth to glare at him.
"But we're okay now. We talked it out," Zeth smiled.
"You didn't answer my question," June said, reverting the topic. "Why are you here?"
"We wanted to watch it with you, too," Ren shyly said. "Are we not allowed?"
June pursed his lips. How could he deny Ren when he looked so pure while asking that question?
"Fine," June groaned. "You can stay. But we're watching it silently, alright?" he said.
The other guys nodded enthusiastically, already feeling elated that June agreed to watch the episode with him.
The happiest in the room was undoubtedly Casper, who reached out his hand to try and pet June's pink hair. However, Jisung quickly saw the action and slapped his hand away before it could touch June's hair.
Casper looked at Jisung with wide eyes. The younger trainee narrowed his eyes at Casper before placing two of his fingers in front of his eyes—like an "I'm watching you" gesture.
Casper felt a shiver run down his spine as Jisung continued looking at him. Then, he turned away his gaze and focused on the small screen.
'Damn, these people are scary,' Casper said in his mind.
"Shh!" C-Jay exclaimed loudly, startling the other boys. "Keep quiet. The episode is starting."
Akira weirdly looked at C-Jay. "We weren't even talking—"
"Shh!" C-Jay covered Akira's mouth with his salty hand.
Wait, salty?
Akira pushed his hand away and drank some water, glaring at the oblivious trainee.
"Ah, fuck," C-Jay suddenly said, holding onto his stomach. "This diarrhea is killing me. I swear the cafeteria ladies have it out for me. I'll be back in a bit. Just need to use the restroom."
Akira looked at C-Jay with wide eyes as he ran to the bathroom.
"It's starting," Jaeyong said, making the wide-eyed Akira face the laptop screen.
Then, Kang Minho was shown on screen. The comments burst just in time with C-Jay's diarrhea, causing the others to exclaim in disgust.
"Oh, that felt good," C-Jay sighed in satisfaction.
"I present to you—the Production Mission!"
