“You’re going to take it, right?” Doha asked as they rose from the stairs up to their unit.
Zeno didn’t respond to his question.
“Come on!” Doha exclaimed. “You’ve been ignoring me since earlier.”
“Why do you think so?” Zeno asked, not looking at Doha.
Doha sighed. “Alright, I’m sorry that I took you to such a famous dance class, but in my defense, you asked me! Besides, you even received an offer for an internationally famous show!”
“So now, answer my question! You’re going to take the role, right?”
Zeno didn’t respond once again—not because he was still annoyed at Doha (he still definitely was), but because there was something he was unsure of.
“The director…,” he trailed off.
“The director is amazing!” Doha chimed. “He fought for the script for five whole years until he finally got the approval. It’s a story of rags to riches.”
“Hmm,” Zeno hummed. “Is that so?”
They reached the top, and Zeno entered his unit right away, ignoring Doha’s attempts to get a response from him. He closed the door and was greeted by Maxie. He placed some food in her bowl before sitting on the floor.
[First Mission Accomplished]
[Reward: +1 Dancing. Current Grade: D]
[New Mission: Reconnect with someone from your past.]
He frowned and crossed his legs before leaning against the bed frame. His first mission since the reboot of his system was ridiculous, yes, but it somehow aligned with what he was going for—to become a superstar.
Now, this was something… strange. Why was he suddenly being asked to reconnect with someone from Zeno’s past?
He shook his head and finally stood from the floor to get showered. Right after, he went on and researched about The Ninth Circle, looking at the original cast and roster of directors and producers.
He didn’t have to search hard to find the one he was looking for. In fact, this person’s name was at the very top of the list. Zeno smirked and shook his head while drying his hair with a towel.
“So, you’re still here, huh?”
With that, he went through articles that confirmed the presence of a second season. It seemed there were a lot of people upset with the ending of the first season; however, even then, a lot had become fans of it, so they were looking forward to the second one.
– Send this back to the headquarters.
– You are disrespecting the director’s work! He fought for this for five years, and now you’re acting like those higher-ups who rejected his idea.
– I bet this is going to be a really good season.
– But the first season was already so perfect! I don’t want it to have another ending.
– I heard Misha Choi is going to be in this, though.
– Oh, so I take back my word.
– It’s not confirmed just yet! But there were some press photos of Misha with the assistant director of the show!
– What if Zeno’s there too?
– Not that guy again.
– GAAAH. THAT WOULD BE INSANE.
– Nah, if Zeno’s in there, he’s going to become viral worldwide. I can’t have any more competitors.
Meanwhile, in Doha’s unit, Eli and Minji had just arrived and were waiting for Doha to finish cooking.
“You look like you haven’t slept in days,” Eli said when he saw Minji coming out from Doha’s room with one of his workout headbands on to keep her hair away from her face.
“That’s because I haven’t!” Minji snapped, glaring at him. Eli smirked and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
Before Eli could get a word out, Minji had already beaten him to it. “I get it. I look like shit. I look tired. My undereyes is the same shade as a lead pencil. I can’t help it, alright?”
“You’re still pretty, though,” Eli muttered and turned to the side, where he saw a woman standing out of the window, wearing white. He squealed like a scared hyena and jumped back.
Doha and Minji turned to him in an instant. “What was that?” Doha asked from the kitchen.
Eli shakily pointed at the window, and Minji quickly looked at it. A small scream also left her mouth, which prompted Doha to come out of the kitchen.
“What is happening?” he asked. “Are you guys seeing a ghost or something?”
Minji and Eli still appeared out of it, their gaze focused on the window with shocked expressions.
“Worse,” Eli muttered.
Doha finally turned to where they were looking at. The tong dropped from his hand, splattering some of the oil on the floor.
Meanwhile, the lady outside of the window waved happily at the three, urging them to open the door. With that, excited knocks were heard in the room, making all of them get shivers down their spines.
“What is she doing here?” Doha muttered, looking at the door with a fearful expression.
“Open the door, please!” she exclaimed from the outside.
“Should I?” Eli asked, turning to his friends.
“Should I grab the boiling oil?” Doha asked in a soft whisper.
Minji clicked her tongue and stood. “No one’s hurting anyone. It’s best we just make her leave before Zeno sees her.”
“Good idea,” Doha said. The three of them went to the door, with Minji opening it. They formed a barricade at the entrance, and the lady, wearing a very thin white dress, flowing with the wind, smiled at them.
“OMG, you guys! It’s been so long. So, it’s true that you are living in this…,” she looked around for a while with a slight grimace that she hid with a smile, “… cute place.”
“Don’t lie, Natty. This must look shabby to you,” Eli said without any reservations.
However, Natty only chuckled, finding the situation funny. “Oh, I must have been like that before, but I’ve changed.”
“Anyway, where’s Zeno?” she asked, suddenly appearing sweet.
Minji held her ground. “Zeno’s not here. He’s busy. He’s a star now.”
Natty’s expression turned bitter. “But he’s not in any pending works. I would know since I’ve been monitoring his schedules online.”
“Creep,” Eli coughed through his elbow.
“Anyway, he’s not here,” Minji insisted. “You should come back… never, actually.”
“Zeno probably wants to see me, though,” she smiled sweetly.
“Just leave, you witch!” Doha exclaimed impatiently.
However, at that moment, the door to the next unit opened, revealing Zeno in a white singlet, still a bit wet and showing off his toned abdomen.
“What’s for dinner—”
He stopped in his tracks when he saw his friends looking at him with wide eyes along with a woman who was looking at him with a shit-eating grin.
Just then, the woman started bouncing excitedly before she ran to where Zeno was.
“Babe!”