“How is our best employee doing?” a covered black entity with a deep voice asked as he entered the room filled with similar-looking entities but with white covers.
The one in charge of monitoring Zeno, an Ascendant named Slash, raised his hand. “He’s struggling, Apex. He is slowly losing time, and his gap is getting larger.”
Apex looked at the holographic screen and smirked. “Well, 25 is too good at fulfilling his missions. This is a good challenge for him.”
Just then, new notifications to 25’s stats appeared, causing the Apex to smile.
“Ooh, would you look at that! His stats increased even more. This is amusing.”
Slash, however, didn’t find it amusing. He felt like 25 was straying too far from his mission.
He was the counterpart of 25, so if he managed to finish this mission, he, too, would get 10 years of rest!
“Do you think we should tone it down a bit with the penalty quests?” Slash asked.
Apex shook his head. “We shall not give anyone any special treatment—even to our best employee. Give him a difficult penalty quest this time.”
“I trust you, Slash.”
“Take care of him well.”
***
“Sweet Potatoes…”
“Taro…”
“Carrots…”
“Lotus roots…”
Zeno dreamed of the finest root crops on Earth and how he was able to bring them to Avalis.
“Let us welcome—the savior of our lands—Rennis #25! He had brought great innovations to our planet by cultivating root crops our lands cannot cultivate.”
“For that, we shall reward him by making him our planet’s head farmer!”
His smile couldn’t be painted.
What a great life it truly was. Farming and eating the root crops you’ve planted yourself.
However, he was awakened by Maxie biting his toes. He clicked his tongue when he realized he was still, in fact, on Earth.
He glanced out of the window and saw it was still dark. Then, he brought out his phone to see it was only midnight. He clicked his tongue and was about to scold Maxie when he realized he had stacked notifications.
[+5 Public Perception. Episode Four had reached 500,000 views in 2 hours. Passed 50,000 followers.]
[+2 Job and Income. Praised for acting skills.]
[Notable Meter: 38.5%]
[Penalty Quest: Achieve at least half a million views for the succeeding episodes of ‘Stars In My Ordinary Sky’ in less than a week.]
[+20% penalty if unachieved.]
Zeno’s eye twitched—and no, it wasn’t because of a Magnesium deficiency. A twenty-percent increase for the failure?
“Half a million views,” he muttered.
Did Story Lab lose their minds and suddenly decide to promote their show?
He decided to break his sleep routine and went straight to his YouWatch app, clicking on Story Lab’s channel.
It wasn’t a glitch.
It was real.
How the heck did this happen? He was even on the thumbnail!
As he clicked on the video, though, it made sense.
“Why do I have to be so good?!” he exclaimed to the heavens.
On the other hand, Kim Kim, who had just finished filming her ‘Get Unready With Me’, went straight to YouWatch with a small smile.
After garnering 2 Million views for their pilot episode, she was looking forward to the results of this week.
“Let’s see,” she muttered, smiling widely when she saw that it had already surpassed 300,000 views.
However, her smile quickly dropped when she saw the video next to theirs which already had half a million views. She stood from her seat, the face mask falling to the ground as she looked at the screen with disbelief.
“They… have more views than us?”
She went to the pirated site to see what the hype was all about. She had watched the first three episodes because, frankly, it was pretty interesting. She just couldn’t stomach Jaehyun’s and Shelly’s interactions.
However, as she watched this particular episode, she felt dread pool in the pit of her stomach.
This quality wasn’t something you could find in her uncle’s company. How could they make something like this with the materials they were given?
It was a role given to her first, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be a hit unless those portraying it were good actors.
Did she underestimate the cast members… especially Zeno Han? Was he this good of an actor?
Indeed, the star of the fourth episode was the emerging scene-stealer, Zeno Han. A lot of viewers of ‘Stars Among Us’ decided to give the episode a try after seeing such a handsome man in the thumbnail.
– I can’t wait for the next episodes.
– How did I skip over this hidden gem?
– I can’t wait to watch more. I already have the second-lead syndrome.
– It’s a good thing Jinxie recommended the drama.
Zeno read through the comments; his eyes were already red since he wasn’t used to pulling all-nighters in this body.
“Jinxie,” he muttered. He quickly searched her up and found she was the most followed Tick influencer from their country.
It seemed she had uploaded a story of her recommending the drama, which, in turn, led her followers to watch the series, too.
Zeno stared at the photo of the blue-haired girl and began cursing her inside his mind.
It wasn’t anything offensive, though.
Trust him.
At that moment, Zeno knew.
He was truly, utterly fucked. It only hit him now.
He wasn’t one to lose hope in his missions, but he had hit an all-time low. Aside from that, he only had less than a year to fulfill it.
Forget about the ten-year rest; he might cease to exist if he doesn’t finish it!
He had been alive for more than five hundred years, so it was something he had gotten used to, no matter how tired he was.
With that, he picked Maxie up, causing her to bark. However, when she saw the distress in his eyes, she stayed still, knowing Zeno needed someone to vent to.
“What do I do, Maxie?” he exclaimed, gently shaking the fat, brown dog.
“Why do I have to be so freaking perfect?”
Maxie barked rigorously, causing Zeno to drop her on the bed.
‘Crazy human.’
