A room filled with the scent of musty old people, alcohol, and weed was in full blast. The music was softer so as to not hurt their aging ears. They were in the ‘premolar’ room—one of the VIP areas in the bar, ‘Saliva.’
The third floor had different rooms of varying importance. It had the concept of a mouth, which was why each room was named after different teeth.
There were eight premolar rooms, eight incisors, four canines, and one molar—deemed as the most important room within the club—where only the best of the best could stay.
Ollie, who was massaging a young woman’s side as he smoked a cigarette, chuckled as he looked at the young actors among them.
“Entertain us, will you? Sing us a song,” he said to Minseok, who didn’t hesitate to go to the front and crank up the karaoke machine.
They clapped along, and Ollie couldn’t help but smile. Playing with youngsters brought up his mood quite a bit.
His phone vibrated, and he glanced at it, only to find his wife calling. He sighed and ignored it.
“What a nag,” he muttered. Continuous notifications arose from his phone, making him annoyed.
However, when the clock struck midnight, he knew he had to check his phone.
He went straight to the Story Lab channel to check out their statistics. It had been a great week for them, and they were nearly done with filming.
Once again, he had made a hit!
But, what he saw next made him stand from his seat, the cigarette falling to the floor.
CEO Jean turned to him with one eyebrow raised. “Ollie, is there something wrong?” he asked.
“This…,” he muttered. Then, he turned to CEO Jean with furrowed brows. “Did you give any promotion to ‘Stars in My Ordinary Sky?'”
With the mention of the drama, Jordie turned to them, also curious.
“No,” Jean answered. “I didn’t even give them any budget for the ads. I used it all for your drama.”
Jordie’s eyebrows raised. Did they forget he was here? How could they blatantly say these words out loud?
“Then, what is this?” Ollie asked, turning his very expensive phone toward CEO Jean and the others.
“Why is ‘Stars in My Ordinary Sky’ trending at third among all videos in the country?”
***
Zeno hadn’t come out of his room for the past three days.
He hasn’t touched his Sigmoid account or any applications, for that matter.
Doha brought him food like a prisoner every day and night. He even tried hyping him up through a dance, but Zeno merely stared at him with an empty expression.
“Why do you think Zeno is acting this way?” Minji asked as Doha returned from Zeno’s unit.
“Beats me,” Doha muttered. “Maybe he’s doing some immersive stuff for his last week of filming.”
“I highly doubt it,” Eli muttered, his eyes not leaving the textbook in his hands. He was reading about the power of the human mind and how it had a great influence in a human’s personality.
“What do you mean?” Doha asked.
Eli sighed and placed down his textbook. “He doesn’t like this job.”
Minji stood from her seat, looking at Eli like he had gone crazy.
“Zeno is different from how he originally was, but he’s still Zeno. He’s still ordinary Zeno who wants an ordinary job, an ordinary routine, in this ordinary life,” he continued.
“At the beginning, I thought like you guys, too. However, I see it now. The fact he’s never happy when he’s trending says it all. He doesn’t even talk to us about the joys of acting! t’s clear he doesn’t want the spotlight.”
Minji looked at the book in his hand and frowned. “You’ve read about the human mind, and now, you think you know how Zeno’s mind works.”
Eli clicked his tongue and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “It’s not about knowing the human mind… It’s because we’ve known Zeno for a long time. He doesn’t like attention. He isn’t ambitious.”
“That’s the most frustrating part about him, but what can we do?” he muttered. “He has the resources, but he won’t use them.”
He whispered the last statement so they were unable to hear it.
“He’s persevering, though,” Doha said. “For someone who hates doing this, he’s doing a great job. I think you’re just mistaken.”
“That’s what I can’t understand,” Eli said, biting his lip. “Why does he keep doing this when it’s clear he doesn’t want to?”
“I think you’re reading too much into this,” Minji said, shaking her head. “Zeno finally has something he wants to do, and we should support him for it.”
“Support,” Eli muttered before sighing deeply. Then, a small, bitter smirk appeared on his lips.
What a privilege it was to be supported in what you don’t even want to do.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Eli said. “Let’s just support him.”
Doha nodded. “Yeah, let’s do that!”
“Oh, by the way, the landlady is asking for rent again,” he added, causing the other two to turn away from him. Eli, in particular, seemed pretty devastated.
“Do you need help with paying it?” Doha asked.
Eli clicked his tongue. “You’re struggling to pay rent, too. Just… don’t think about me too much.”
Doha still appeared concerned, but he nodded in the end.
Just then, the door opened, and Zeno appeared, surprising the three of them.
His skin had gotten paler, and his eyes appeared like they lost a lot of life. Somehow, though, they were still sparkling—sparkling with disappointment?
He looked absolutely pitiful, so the others were wary to speak.
“A—are you alright?” Minji asked after building up the courage.
Zeno turned to her, and Minji felt her heart melt. He looked just like Maxie when she didn’t get her treat!
“Yeah,” he said before a small chuckle escaped his lips.
Eli looked at him like he had gone crazy.
“Do you have somewhere to go? The sun will set soon,” Doha warily asked.
Zeno nodded and placed the bowl on the sink. However, instead of washing the dirty bowl, he grabbed a clean one and washed that again.
The others watched him silently.
“We have to film again,” he absent-mindedly said.
The three turned to each other with confused expressions.
Then, Zeno removed his shirt and began wiping down the counter. Doha was surprised to see his toned body while Minji’s cheeks reddened. Since when did he have something like that?
Eli was the only one weirded out with what he was doing.
After that, Zeno grabbed a random tank top from the couch—where Doha had just done his laundry—and placed it on.
“Time to go,” he muttered. “See you guys later.”
With that, he opened the door and left the unit, rendering the three confused.
Eli cleared his throat, breaking the silence.
“Is it really okay to let Zeno go just like that?”