Chapter 50

"Does it have something to do with doing every action elegantly?"

I tilted my head to the side after some thought.

It's one of the thoughts that stuck out the most to me, and it also makes sense. Models have to look elegant; it's in the name after all: 'Model'

He nodded in approval.

"That is one of the major points, yes. Do you want to take another guess?"

Hmm…

"Humbleness..?"

I've heard all of Knife Agency's artists are humble and none have black history, apart from that one person that was kicked out.

"Good point, but not what I'm looking for."

His strong expression stared at me in expectation.

Hmm…

"Using my body and muscles efficiently for whatever I could be doing?"

He tilted his face and his eyebrows shot up. He nodded.

"Yes, close."

I looked at him and he continued while staring at my eyes,

"As a Model, you're to fit the feeling of the product right? So in essence you have to be able to control your body and muscles to perfection and the most minimal detail. Do you see where I'm coming from?"

[Modelling has gained 550 points.]

"Ah! I understand," a lightbulb lit up inside my brain.

He nodded at me once again.

"Now, what do you think about speaking about ducks?"

"Sophisticated speech. Being able to speak without looking like an idiot."

I replied immediately.

This one was easy.

He bobbed his head up and down, again. He really likes nodding, huh?

"Yes."

His method of speaking is efficient and doesn't allow for redundant words.

Will I become like this later? Nevermind, Felix is something completely different and he also went through this training.

He took the towel from me and put it back in the dressing room. While he was away, I finally wiped that one trickle of sweat from the sweeping and wiping.

He came back in and the floor had dried by now.

Blake clapped his hand once.

"Let us begin."

…

"Do you know how to do the Asian squat?"

I got down and bent my knees while my butt touched my ankles.

"Good. You have good ankle flexibility already."

The Asian squat is quite similar to the Slav squat, however, the Asian squat needs more flexibility as the butt is practically glued to the ankles while the Slav squat places more emphasis on toe balance.

"Now, quack like a duck," He dictated his judgment.

What?

His words fell upon me and I realized what I was going to do.

He…

I'm a duck?

Do I have to do this?

Quack?

I strengthened my expression and presented my loudest:

"QUACK!"

He nodded and I could see him trying to hold back his laughter.

So this is why he smiled when I chose the Duck flashcard…

"Again," his voice trembled a little bit as he laughed.

He's not as serious as I thought he'd be. That's great though.

I scrunched my eyebrows in determination.

"QUAAAAACK!"

I saw him slip a chuckle out and he got his serious expression back, albeit with his back trembling trying to hold back the laughter.

"The loudest you can."

I freed my vocal cords and opened space. I inhaled loudly and presented the loudest imitation of a duck I've ever done in my two lives combined.

"QUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

He stopped laughing. It looks like it was time to get serious now.

Serious..? Serious.. quacking?

I imagined a certain caped bald man in a yellow and red jumpsuit reformed as a duck.

"Good. Do it again."

He's training my vocal cords. Good thing I trained them a little bit beforehand or my throat would be bleeding right now.

Once again, I voiced a quack of similar magnitude to the last one.

…

My throat began feeling sore and my knees were getting a little tired from the Asian squat.

I've never Asian squatted for so long. I just want to release the pressure from my legs now.

He stared at me while I scrunched my eyebrows.

"Again."

"QUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

"Okay."

I sighed in relief but didn't stop my Asian squat.

Blake nodded and dictated his next death sentence.

"Start moving around and pretend you're a duck."

…

He's not joking… nor is he laughing.

I began tiptoeing around in the Asian Squat and tilting my head left and right every step like a duck.

"Follow me."

He too got into the same duck squat and began walking in a similar fashion to mine.

Rather, he looked exactly the same as me. A spitting image of what I saw myself doing in the mirrors. Wow.

So this is perfect body control?

I got a burst of motivation.

Let's do this.

I followed behind him while he walked around like a baby duck following around his mother.

He quacked loudly.

Following his seriousness, I quacked after him.

I saw him nod in approval from behind and we began walking around the wood-floor while quacking like ducks.

My legs began burning soon after a while but I exerted my maximum effort and tried controlling and relaxing my legs.

"QUACK!"

"QUACK!"

"QUACK!"

"QUACK!"

For a while, all that was heard were quacks in the room.

"LOUDER!"

"QUAAAAAAAACK!"

We quacked and quacked while walking around like little soldier ducks.

My throat by now felt extremely dry and I felt dry wetness in the back of my throat.

"QUACK!"

"QUACK!"

My legs were burning very much and even my abdomen started hurting a little bit after Blake told me to strain my abs at the same time as acting like a duck.

He too told me to exert strength on my butt so now my butt was burning and I could barely even move my legs now.

"QUACK!���

...

Finally, I was released from hell.

He remained on the floor and watched me.

Knowing what he was doing, instead of doing what I really wanted: collapse on my butt and lay down on my back, instead I stood up while my legs trembled and almost fell out of balance.

He nodded.

He stood up with ease and patted my back once and twice.

I almost fell, but I maintained my balance.

…

My singing skill had leveled up once and was a quarter to leveling up once again.

I guess yelling out quacks with all of your might does help strengthen your voice.

The quacks are still present in my throat.

While drinking from my water bottle, he told me it was okay to sit now.

Gulping, I shook my head and remained on my toes.

He nodded.

"Good job. We've just been training your physicality. Next time we'll be conditioning your expressions and atmosphere you radiate."

"Alright."

"I received instructions that we'd be doing your first photoshoot now. You're quite sweaty. Did you bring a towel?"

"Ah, I forgot to."

"That's fine, I'll get one for you."

He patted my back once again.

Quack...

...

I almost had the urge to collapse on my legs. This training is extremely straining and even though I've been gaining muscle, this squatting and keeping the buttocks and abdomen tight trains hidden muscles that I haven't been exercising.

With my head feeling a little dull, I followed him to the lobby where Jessica, John, and Felix waited for us.

Felix was pointing his phone at me but his expression was in an O and his eyebrows were raised.

He probably wanted a funny video of me struggling to walk. Not today.

Jessica smiled and nodded while John scanned me with his discerning eyes. He stared at me with similar intensity as the other day when I thought he was chasing us.

Felix yelled:

"How are you not collapsed on the floor dead and squirming around like a worm?"

The others laughed and Blake smiled at him.

"For some reason, he's already trained some uncommon muscles already."

Oh, probably my great body passive. Haha, suck it.

"WHAT?! What animal flashcard did he choose?"

Blake began laughing wholeheartedly for the first time since I've been with him. No longer was he hiding his laughter.

"He got the duck."

They all began laughing and Felix slapped his thigh.

Still a little dull-brained from the exercise I just smiled with tired eyes.

"Felix, don't laugh too much or I'll show the recordings of you barking and howling."

He immediately quieted down and coughed once and twice.

"Wait, I haven't seen them yet," Jessica smiled intrigued.

"Haha, I'll show them to you guys later."

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

…

Felix patted my back in greeting.

"How was the training? It's hellish isn't it, huh?"

"It's difficult, yes."

Blake perked his ears up and Felix stared at me like a monster.

He glanced at me and glanced back at Blake.

"How are you not tired? You still went to school right?"

"Huh, well it was just sweeping the floor, a few questions, the duck speech, and acting like a duck."

"What the heck? Did he not make you take notes on a presentation?"

Blake's voice came out.

"He didn't need to. He got questions quite easily."

Felix stared at me.

"I see."

He patted my back extremely hard.

"I see."

"Felix?"

He smiled at me.

"Oh right, by the way, I listened to your songs the other day. They're really good."

His face morphed to a childishly excited expression with bright eyes.

"You liked them?"

"Yeah, they're good."

"Great! Which one's your favorite one? By the way, did I tell you I have a concert coming up? Do you want to be invited? The others in the Agency are always too busy to go to my concerts."

"Chill there Felix," John palmed his shoulder.

"Am I allowed to go? Won't I be behind for the winter show?"

Blake nodded.

"If you want to go, we can add an extra two hours of training every day to compensate for the time you spend in Petra."

Ah… Aren't there headquarters in Petra? Can't I just train there after the concert?

"We'll see…"

"You also want to go Blake?"

"Yeah, I'll go."

Felix's eyes smiled brilliantly.

Jessica smiled at us.

"Well, we don't have much time left so we've got to go get the photoshoot done. Charlie, are you ready?"

She likes asking me if I'm ready.

I nodded at her.

"What'll the photoshoot be?"

"Hmm, well we adjusted a few things and thought it'd be great if you could make one of your first officially posted performances, instead of just being recorded informally."

"Oh… sounds reasonable. What song will it be?"

"Hmm. Well unless you have something grander, we'd like you to do Canon in D."

"Works."

We got up from our chairs and began following Jessica.

"I was thinking you'd be busy since you've got a concert coming up."

"Well yeah, I just freed up some space in my time to record you and make fun of you and listen to your recording. I was thinking I could get inspiration for a new song or something."

I nodded, "I see."

"Oh god, you're already becoming like Blake."

Blake smiled and nodded at the mention of his name.

"Felix at one point was exactly like that as well."

"Don't remind me of those dark times."

…

[Author Note:

How's it going all? Hope you're enjoying it so far!! :)

Please tell me what you thought of the chapter in the comments:)

Song recommendation:

Thomas Reid - Stay Asleep

Dormio - behind my eyes]