Chapter 22

"Hey! Wait!"

Hell no. I'm not falling for that one.

I pull Charlotte back to the end of the train. Damn, these trains are way too open.

I glance at Charlotte and see her lips slightly tremble. I feel her hands shaking while I grasp them.

We're all the way back now. I knock the driver's door and a few moments later I see a friendly-looking bald man with a mustache staring at us with a "What's up?" face.

"We're being chased by some guy who wants to stab us. Could you hide us in there with you please?"

His eyes immediately dart around behind us in alert and he quickly motions us to come in. "Get in." He whispers.

I let Charlotte go in first and move in after her. The bald man comes back in and locks the door quickly.

"Why is a man trying to stab you?"

"I don't know, he was just staring at us very aggressively when we came here and he just began walking towards us. I'm pretty sure he had a knife in his pocket he was fiddling with."

"How does he look like?" He kept glancing towards the door.

"He has brown hair, and he's almost my height." He frowned.

He checked the cameras and we saw the man coming down towards us.

"Do you have a weapon?" I ask him.

He begins frowning. Shit, is he spacing out now?

"Hey uh, the guy is coming down."

He begins whispering to himself. Does he recognize the man?

After we see the man's face in full view in the camera his eyes widen in recognition and he bursts into laughter.

Shit. Is he also a psycho?

I take Charlotte and hide her behind me and we slowly inch away from him.

"I'm sorry, pfft– he's not trying to stab you."

What?

He begins laughing even harder.

"John you're a damn idiot," he says to the camera. Okay, I think he's a psycho. He's trying to lower our guard and will probably jump us.

"Why are you laughing?" If I can distract him with questions before he jumps us it would be great.

"Haha– I'm so sorry. You don't have to worry he's a friend of mine."

"You're a friend of a killer?"

"No, no. He's a model agent but he just looks very intimidating. He probably saw you and wanted to recruit you but— pfft." He laughs mid-sentence.

Maybe I go along with his joke?

"Haha." My laugh sounds a little fake but I could not care less.

"God damn John. Don't worry, he's not going to kill you. Man wouldn't even dare hurt a fly. Even though he looks like this he's one of the nicer people you'll ever know."

"Uhh, yup." Hell no. He is planning to stab us.

I slowly inch my hands towards the door handle and find it is locked. Agh, shit.

The bald man opens the door and waves at the brown-haired guy whom I now know is called John.

Damn bald guy, I knew he looked a little suspicious the moment he entered.

The man's eyes light up seeing me and he instantly ignores the bald guy. "Hey, I'm John. I'm a model agent recruiter and scouter."

"Heyyy, John." I squeeze Charlotte's hand.

He takes out the knife from his pocket. The sunlight coming through the window gives it a slight bright sheen. He turns the knife face up and I see... Contact information?

"You'd do great in the Knife Modeling Agency, the #1 modeling agency."

"That's not a knife..?"

"No, sir! This is my contact info!" He looks at me a little confused at the question.

"You're not planning to murder us?" He's going to say no and then probably lower my guard and jump us.

He laughs. It scares me how natural it sounds. "You're very funny. That's one of the qualities we love to see in our models." He continues, "Our company is one of the largest modeling agencies in the entire world. All of the models we recruit reach major successes in the modeling industry. Do you know (celebrity1)? He came from our company and is now starring in the biggest movies right now. That's right, we help our partners achieve their dreams and push them to greater heights not just in modeling, but any of their talents."

"Us at the Knife agency are honored and willing to see you push your talent to its limits and see you to your success. Even better, our recruiting numbers are very scant as compared to other major agencies. What does this mean? This means we'll focus on you because you're not at all just a mere asset to us. You'll be our partner and our friend."

"We have a few recruits every year, and you'll be part of that limited roster."

Okay, what the heck? This doesn't seem at all fake and honestly, I'm not sure anymore that he'll jump us.

I take the knife-shaped contact card from his hands carefully.

"Ah, I'll consider it."

"It's my honor!" He looked very energetic. He moves to the side and I slightly rush out the doors with Charlotte.

Well, I'm going to have to research this to see if it's fake or not. For now, safety first. Coincidentally, the metro stops at the station we get off on and we rush out.

Charlotte is still trembling and I bring my hand up to her hair and stroke it.

…

We get home and I comfort Charlotte for a while until her nerves are gone.

I, on the other hand, calmed down much quicker; though I can't fathom why.

I notice she's now more comfortable with me as she just kept hugging me. It'll be a little troublesome if she gets too clingy, though.

After a while, Charlotte falls asleep. She'll probably be a little frightened if she wakes up and I'm not there.

I check the date. It's Wednesday.

I pull out my phone and send Natsumi a message that her gym buddy won't be there and turn it off immediately after.

I'll just skip running today and do some at-home cardio workouts.

Getting up from Charlotte's bed I walk towards the kitchen. I'd make a workout smoothie but we just drank smoothies at school so it would not be too healthy.

My arms move as I jump doing jumping jacks.

My physique is noticeably getting better. I probably won't be having too much problem doing the exercise today.

As I warm up, I open up the system tab and check my achievement points.

[Total Achievement Points: 572 {160 / 3,000}]

Holy mother of god. I got more than 200 achievement points just right and what are those brackets right next to the points?

My finger taps the notifications tab.

[Congratulations host on completing the quest, Cafe Piano Performance pt 2!]

[Rewards have been issued!

100 achievement points(Impact on the audience)

+1 Achievement Egg]

[Host is accumulating fame!

Total points gained from viewership: 160 achievement points]

God damn!

I'll be earning these achievement points in no time!

I look at the Achievement Egg reward and in my mind appears a golden egg with shiny luster leaking out light from inside.

Next to it, I see 160 / 3,000.

Those were the brackets then. I tap on the egg and it slightly shakes but nothing else happens.

Okay, I need 2,840 achievement points to finally get my other point in luck. I honestly can't wait.

I feel a burning heat and excitement coming from deep within and feel more motivated for the workout.

I begin blasting some music in my room and do the workouts at 120% of my capacity.

...

Needless to say, I finished extremely fatigued, and now with my senses dulled from the exhaustion, I head into the shower.

As the cold water hits my back, my eyes stare into space and I drift into my thoughts.

Since I now have a job, I can go buy the streaming tools right after work. I'll be a waiter and play a few piano songs occasionally for 2 hours. With tips, I'll probably get more than $100 which should be enough for a decent streaming software and microphone. Right now, I don't need anything else and I'll accumulate some funds.

The computer runs okay, so I don't need to ever get a gaming set up. I probably won't be playing games that require amazing specs either way.

Today is Wednesday, tomorrow I'll go get the worker contract after school from the cafe manager. It shouldn't be too troublesome.

I'm going to have to inform my parents and Charlotte about this. About Charlotte now, so do I walk her home every Friday and then go back to the cafe to work after dropping her off at home safely? That sounds okay.

She'll probably be a little shocked from the event and there's absolutely no way I am going to let her walk home alone.

Drifting to the man named John that approached us, I'm going to do research on him and the world. Pangaea Charlie did not bother to know about any of the big companies or any common modern information on trending things.

If Knife agency is legit, it'll be my extremely lucky day. I didn't even use a point of luck either, which is weird. Does this mean I was just destined to meet up with this John guy and the world didn't have to influence anything?

Hmm, this concept of luck use is very interesting.

Well, if he's legit I'll probably get some exposure, and judging by how he's introduced the company, it isn't just a modeling agency but also an industry that encompasses all show business? Do they train their models to also be talented at their own things? He did say the agency helped some celebrities become a huge actor and they help develop other potentials of rookies.

Isn't this just one big idol company?

Why is it called a modeling agency?

If it's true I'm probably going to have to push streaming to fit more time into my schedule from modeling training and work. About the cafe job…

Hmm, it's still free money on a Friday, and playing the piano is just one of my hobbies. I think I'll keep it for now.

Streaming I do plan on doing since viewership seems to be the biggest way to currently gain achievement points.

About the songs and compositions I play, I'll just go ahead and directly put them under my name. Without me, they probably wouldn't enter this world anyway.

I get out of my thoughts and turn off the shower.

[Author Note: a little late once again! I apologize.

I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Please leave your thoughts down below.]