Night-Owl Romance

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Chapter 17: Insomniacs Third

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Jumin Han.

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He wasn't a person who appeared particularly fond of the party planner, even less considering the troubles she had stupidly brought to his company. The sensation he was always bringing Mina was similar to the way she felt around Assistant Lee or her managers at work. He appeared fierce, serious and with zero tolerance for mistakes.

It was troublesome to her faint heart! .

Mina was greatly shaken up right after discovering who the caller was. The girl had honestly expected...

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'A-Ah well~!'

Mina did not have time to mentally prepare against the type of scolding she assumed would receive. Yet, none of what she feared came to fruition.

On the contrary...

"I've been notified that one of the perpetrators whom you came into contact with has been apprehended to the police and is locked up for the time being."

"What...?", she froze at that piece of information, trying to make sense of Jumin's words, until he explained it in detail, putting an end to any remaining confusion. He had learnt about everything that's happened from Jisoo's report, purposely requesting it being faxed over to his hotel abroad. Mina did not know whether to scream from anguish or happiness. She felt extreme bitterness, aiming a lot of it towards Jisoo for writing the incident down in a report which could potentially be read by anyone.

"O...Oh...", Mina pulled her legs towards her chest. "That's good."

It did not sound good.

"Rest assured, I will make haste that this dangerous individual will no longer have the opportunity to harm another hair from your body. Unfortunately, he is not the one who had brought you into our view. He has no links with the individual who had delivered the app."

"I know he is not...", Mina answered, receiving a questioning reaction from Jumin. The coordinator did not go too deep into the story, but she offered a brief explanation about the man and how she got to be involved with him. One could choose a place to live but not be prepared for the neighbors of said housing.

She was unlucky. "It's unfortunate.", he concluded, Mina exhaling a bit too loudly, before quickly asking.

"Who else knows?"

"Pardon?"

"Does Jaehee know the contents of Jisoo's report?"

"I presume she must, though I am certain she currently has other pressing matters to worry about. You did manage to create a sizeable ruckus today.", Jumin continued, still not showing any obvious irritation towards the girl's blunder. He was... oddly calm, seemingly understanding of her situation. "Also, Seven has been made aware."

"Seven?!", the girl blurted out surprised, but she bit back the angry words. The hacker was in charge with R.F.A. security and, since a member of their group had been attacked, he was working to gather data about the man.

"I could have saved him the trouble...", she answered upset, however Seven would have researched the man regardless of the information she had on him. "Please, keep this a secret from the rest of the members. Unless... does everyone know?!", she panicked, but Jumin swiftly put those worries to rest. There was a second version of the security leader's report, one that withheld information about the attack, skipping it entirely.

The full version was only accessible to him and Assistant Kang – "if it eases your mind."

"A little. I really don't want to have Zen panic over such a thing", she sighed, suddenly darting her eyes wide.

"Zen?"

"Ah, ha ha ha, forget it~~~!", she chuckled, eventually having to put an end to the discussion. However, not before she apologized once more for the troubles she had caused them. "Assistant Kang will manage to fix any errors encountered. She is a very resourceful person so do not fret over such a minor issue."

"M-Minor issue?!", she blinked a few times.

"Indeed. My father's scandals are much harmful to our company than this afternoon media stroll.", his voice changed drastically by simply mentioning the chairman. It was a touchy subject, Jumin politely wishing the girl to have a restful day and take care of her health.

"I can send a doctor close to your location-"

"No need.", she lied before swiftly hanging up.

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Mina heavily sighed, relieved of this small burden. She was thankful Jumin was not angry at her – really, having another member pissed off would challenge her sanity further.

...

Still,

She really did not want Zen to find out the truth...

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~oOo~

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Soon after, Mina sent messages to the red haired hacker making him aware that she was aware, that he was aware of her stalker problem. "Please, keep the information hidden, I don't want it to spread around and cause me additional distress."

It was the girl's faint attempt to guilt tripthe guy into not blurting out a single word. Almost immediately she got a reply back. His crazy mannerism was ever present, even in writing.

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He had forgotten to express his worries on the phone after he saw the CCTV footage!

It shocked him so much.

He was barely alive, work keeping him awake 24/7/365...

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Mina could understand his situation – too well.

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Was she really alright?! That felt painful enough for him to feel hurt.

Seven wanted to come and take care of her wounds... were they bad?

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They weren't too awful... only bruising.

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But...

Hahahaha! She would probably freak out if he popped up in front of the apartment~~~!

Considering how frightened she is by a locked door, putting so much junk in front of it.

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The girl sweat dropped, hands trembling on the phone out of embarrassment.

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Also, he was glad she was sketching again. ^^

He wants new backgrounds to steal for his avatar and desktop like these current ones he has.

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"Eh?", the girl raised an eye brow and suddenly went to inspect his profile page.

"..."

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"NO WAY!"

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Seven chose to use her failed attempt at painting an imaginary solar system where she played with lots of unusually pink colors and unnaturally bright hues for the planets – Mina inadvertently cringed. She had been in a weird phase at the time, being a little obsessed of A-dromeda, a really old sci-fi show from her early childhood, starring Keyen Sorbo as lead. Her favorite character was an alien girl dipped in colorful bright purple tones, really ditzy and fun to watch – until her skin morphed into golden tones, becoming bright in intensity like the sun. *shiny eyes*

"Seven...", Mina was unsure of his intentions.

The naughty red head went on to unlock a new chat room in the app where he suddenly started bragging about his new favorite artist. Blood ran cold as he uploaded his desktop picture, the coordinator's painting, which ended up being a big ass one, nearly half the size of her phone's screen.

"Are you crazy?!", she messaged the hacker directly and his answer caused the girl to nearly smack her head into an actual wall. "Of course I am~"

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"Crazy about you~~~!"

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"Please, don't become another Zen..."

"Ooooo~~~? Already thinking of him when I say such things? Tz, tz, tz... you're that far gone already... It makes me so sad~!"

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm not thinking of Zen this often!", the lie could not have been any more obvious. "What do you mean by far gone anyway?!"

"Nothing, nothing ~ Oh! Speaking of the beast. Ciao ragazza!"

The hacker replied and, almost as if the actor had been purposely summoned by him, Zen instantly joined Seven's chat room, initially confused at how he got there in the first place. His phone was beeping like mad, soon engaging in an odd conversation about Seven's special new taste in –

"- this weird space art...?!"

"Stop posting so much damn spam already! You're flooding the chat room with it. Erase this shit!"

*heart stab* "S-S-SPAM! E-Erase it?! SSSSSHIT?!", Mina's face twisted, upset at the actor's heartless lines and Seven for provoking this disruption! The fuming girl was about to blurt out some nasty lines, but... no. She deleted the numerous sentences, leaving just a few rows of dots and an angry emoji. Mina pretended to go afk, despite being online.

She knew better than to engage in pointless, time consuming activities at the moment.

The clock's handles were threateningly close to the midnight hour.

Thankfully, her nerves were in a semi-decent place to restart her artwork.

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It's a lie, it was killed by Zen's reactions.

Still,

She was pumped with new resolve!

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Partially.

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~oOo~

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Little over 3 a.m and this new pumped up resolve had bludgeoned itself deeply into a wall of depression. Nonetheless, Mina had improved tremendously with the sketches as countless ideas poured behind each drawing. Before she had fallen asleep over the coffee table without warning – f**king again – Mina had... umm... well, gone on an artistic-research spree with the main interest of her searches being...

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There was no tip toeing over it.

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Zen.

It was Zen.

I-In a completely professional way, of course!

N-No ulterior motive behind it... ^^;;;

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The coordinator skimmed through the few released footage and teasers available online with the actor on stage. She had hoped something – anything – would potentially rub off on her and bring forth better ideas that she could use to spread on paper. Sort of similar to how Zen's recent musical attire inspired the final color schemes which Mina deemed were befitting a fantasy theme quite well and perfectly described the play's essence – black for the action happening at night and all the dark elements trying to rip the characters apart, red for the passionate love between the protagonists and the inevitable heartache and bloodshed, green for the pinnacle of the play happening across a plush, emerald meadow and golden tones, for lighting the hope of the lovers future meeting in another lifetime.

Mina envisioned so many possibilities and representation~!

It was shocking how hopeful she got, just by gazing at a few pictures from his work. OwO

The party planner was still lacking that special touch though, the feelings her older drawings would contain even when the quality would often be questionable or subpar. The life within those was ever present, the one picture Seven had chosen as tonight's background having that magic as well compared to what she had been scribbling for hours – lifeless and insipid composition, despite the mix of colors added.

*deep sigh*

She rubbed her burning eyes, feeling worn out again.

Hungry.

Tired.

Hand f**king hurting her to tears.

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Mina feared tomorrow...

A lot.

However, her attention was quickly diverted by the buzzing phone nearby. Mina didn't need to look at the name to realize who the insomniac logging into the messenger was, especially at such a late hour. She drew a faint smile.

The girl could use the distraction away from her problems.

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~oOo~

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The moon was unusually bright tonight, a perfect glowing circle reigning over this darkened sky. Its light engulfed the shine of the surrounding stars, few managing to escape the moon's clutches and join in the nocturnal tableau.

"..."

The weather was quite chilling, many degrees below freezing point – yet, there was no need for extra layers of clothing, Zen feeling content in his gym clothes. The discussion with Seven had taken far too much of his time and messed up his training schedule. He sometimes questioned the hacker's sanity, Seven seeming to have admitted to having more loose screws lately. His new artistic obsession was irritating to say the least.

Should the actor worry... ;;;?

Since when did Seven like art anyway?

Zen questioned what was going throughout his mind. The painting spam from hours ago was really annoying – it made MC run from the messenger and go into hiding thanks to it. That bothered him the most! ;;;;

"Tch.", he brought his cigarette to his lips, taking a deep swift before creating new doughnut shapes in the air, trying to capture the moon in the middle of the circles.

Zen was that bored.

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It was quiet,

Too quiet as the actor was sitting cross legged on top of the roof of his building. No neighbor liked this area of the complex, at least none ever showed up when Zen would be around – his habit did not solely revolve around staring at the night sky, though. Plenty of times, the actor used such relaxing moments to interact with his fans on social media or skim through gossip pages, news sites or...

Or have a breather and simply unwind.

His body was heated up, having recently ended an intensive training sequence.

Zen was incredibly stressed, the director mentioning more things that might happen in the next few days – more scheduled meetings from people whom specifically asked to see the silver haired man. Whether it would be a repeat of that Mr. Lee situation or not, it did not matter for Zen had an obligation to participate.

It was written in his contract.

*cough cough*

That last inhale went the wrong way into his lungs but the actor didn't budge. A few more smoke tricks and he started a fresh new Black Angel batch, going through his daily dosage rather quickly. Although... maybe Zen should slow down a bit. ^^;;;; He would suffer if he had cravings later and nothing to satisfy them.

*looks at the phone*

'Maybe these cravings could be solved in other ways', he thought smiling as his eyes traced the new texts.

The more he interacted with the new R.F.A. planner, the more convinced Zen was of MC being a completely odd and troublesome girl. None like he had encountered before, be it fans, actresses or even girls from his past when he was still attending school. MC did not fully resemble any of those, sporting a pretty color of her own.

And the actor liked seeing that.

She was becoming easier to communicate with, less rigid compared to how she acted the first time they interacted. He was correct in his assessments of the girl; she wasn't the type to socialize comfortably with people she did not know unlike Zen who had no issue in engaging conversations with all kinds of individuals – even when he did not particularly favor them.

Tonight was a new threshold.

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It was the first time MC started asking questions about his pictures!

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His latest one in particular. ^^

Of course, he couldn't pass the chance to insert a few flirting tones to his answers, MC complaining about his blunt attitude. But she was softer in her reprimands, not bothered by them as much.

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Actually, she was odd.

Her questions were suspicious...

It was beginning to feel more like Zen was part of an interrogation with a specific purpose behind it other than the questions being out sheer curiosity. He didn't linger on these suspicions, directly asking MC about them. The girl tried hiding it, initially, but then she caved in after he pretended to leave.

"I have a nasty project deadline by tomorrow... ;; and I feel stuck – been in the same place for hours, instead of finishing my project."

Zen's eye brows knitted curiously. 'Is that why she is always staying up late during nights...?', he thought, pressing his chin on top of his hand. 'Also... deadline set on a weekend...? What is she even doing?', he was legit curious, inquiring some more, but she refused to give in satisfying details.

Only that she did not know how to overcome this annoying hurdle, quite a depressing one as a matter of fact.

"Jagi..."

Zen was unsure how to cheer her up, using his usual methods in an attempt to do so: flirty jokes never failed him~! She reacted accordingly to them, pretending to become angrier – meanwhile, the actor had other thoughts roaming inside his head.

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MC's life before the R.F.A.

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Zen was still very much unaware of her past other than the fact she used to attend SKY as these recent events put this aspect into a new light. He was aware how brutally hard it was to get into such a prestigious university. Years ago, before the R.F.A.'s youngest member became addicted to silly games, Yoosung was a really diligent student. During his high school days, the blonde would always use his free time to study, working his butt off for the university entrance exams. Day and night, the young student would mention his struggles to Rika, sometimes venting off online and getting encouragements from the rest of the members.

Zen had never told the boy but his efforts at the time ignited sparks of admiration in the actor who did not want to linger behind on his own dreams. He continuously pursued his craft with great fire in his blood, hardships never breaking him apart.

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MC had to be a smart girl to have been accepted at SKY.

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Other than that, Zen knew bits and pieces about the girl from older conversations, MC sharing snippets over time. In comparison, the coordinator knew fa~~~r detailed stuff about his acting career than he did about the girl's own passions.

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What were her passions anyway...?

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'And does it somehow revolve around this project she has trouble with finishing?', he curiously thought, bringing the phone closer to his face and squinting his eyes. "I wish I could help you but if you don't share specifics then I can't offer proper assistance ^.~ Not to brag, but I've been told that I'm pretty good at saving damsels in distress ^^ ~!"

"Yeah, I trust you are capable. (_)"

"Ouch.", Zen's smile got wider – he almost felt a real icy sting on his skin due to her harshness.

"Although...", MC quickly added, the actor raising an eye brow.

"Hm?"

"I seriously know I'm going to regret saying this. I mean, I did before – but...", it got him more excited for a reason.

"Well..."

"Stop hesitating~!", Zen complained to no one in particular for he did not like such slow, evasive answers. It bugged him endlessly!

"The pictures on your profile today, they were kind of..."

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The picture were...

Were what?

WHAT?!

WHAAAAAAT?! T-T

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"Inspiring."

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"AIGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!", his outburst was loud.

Very loud.

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'Did she really write that?!'

"A bit! Inspiring a little bit!", MC added instantly but Zen shook his head, chuckling and grinning from one ear to another as he felt his rosy cheeks warming up to the touch, unaffected anymore by the frozen outdoors.

'No.'

MC was now trying to minimize the truth of her words by lying.

MC liked his pictures.

Liked his face.

L-Liked h-him?!

O-O!

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"Seriously, just a bit."

"A tiny, tiny bit."

"A SUPER tiny bit."

"I cannot stress enough how tiny this bit is!"

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Zen's heart made a whooping high-jump, imagining how these last few chat lines were a direct result of his inner thoughts reaching MC. And that she had actually answered his hidden questions. A super tiny bit was still more than the flat-out rejection he had been receiving during their initial interactions.

"Hey, are you still there?"

"..."

"Zen?"

"... ... ..."

"Zeeeeeeeeeeeen!"

He rapidly combed a hand through his long silver locks, feeling utterly restless. The actor darted up from the ground he was lazily sitting on. He was now stress-walking, forward and backward a couple of times, eyes glued onto the screen, forgetting he even had a cigar in his mouth. Zen was too fired up after being depleted due to the aftermath of his training. His shredded energy had gotten an unexpected boost.

This rush of adrenaline was too much!

And it's all due to her messages!

Zen did not want to keep her waiting for too long, however...

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He suddenly felt very greedy.

And wanted more.

Not only shared words online...

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But voices offline.

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~oOo~

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Needless to say how the phone ringing startled Mina whose cheeks could rival a tomato's red by this point. She saw Zen's name flash as the caller ID and freaked out. His ringing was insistent, not showing signs he would be giving up. It would be rude not to answer since Zen knew very well that Mina was online, awaiting for a reply.

So... *inhales deeply*

Biting her lower lips and closing her eyes, face twisting like she was forcefully fed concentrated lemon juice, she answered the call and waited for his-

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"HOOOOOOOWL~~~~!"

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- unexpected, yet expected deafening weapon which was his voice.

"OH MY LORD (E)!", she yelled back, removing the phone as far away from her ears as possible. 'W-Was he out of his mind?!'

"M-My p-poor h-hearing!", Mina cried out, pretending to sob for real. The actor quickly tried to shush her on the phone, apologizing for the sudden scream. It's just that... he was so incredibly happy right now~!

The girl questioned surprised. "Ha...ppy?"

"When I hear how my jagi finds my beautiful pics helpful in life, how could I not be~~~?!"

*exhaled deeply* "For the love of... (E)", she whispered exasperatedly, headache becoming intolerable. The regret was overflowing in waves. Also...

'His-His jagi?! Boundaries, where were his damn boundaries?!'

Soon enough, the topic went straight back to the girl's issue at hand. Mina was fumbling with her words but instead of offering coherent explanations, she actually placed another question... something, she hoped the answer could prove helpful. "Have you ever had a role to play that did not want to fit you at all? And you didn't know what to do with it? And... And no matter how hard you tried, it didn't end up being right, regardless how different your approaches were to the problem?"

"That's... a strange question."

"Ah ha~! Yeah... I guess it's a silly one. F-Forget it~!", Mina backed away, ashamed and knocking hard on her skull. She should have searched for the answers online, from actual painters who experienced severe art block –

"There were a few roles in the beginning which seemed like the opposite of my personality and unlike me. Since I was still a Rookie at the theatre, my acting in such roles would always seem like an obvious lie when portraying them on stage."¸ he started, taking the girl by surprise who gasped softly. "The director would end up scolding me a lot. Heh, I was constantly interrupting the rehearsals – and, mind you, the role was a small one, barely a page of script for me to learn."

"Oh!"

Little by little,

Zen's story unfolded, sharing how he overcame these obstacles of his youth. Unfortunately, Mina did not have the luxury of time to discover her own method of fighting off problems. In Zen's case – over the years, he had learnt to empty his mind of everything. Remove traces of who he was as a being, his own past, problems, present, future, wants, needs etc., before taking on the stage.

"Everything."

The goal was to become a blank canvas, allowing each role to paint his essence in a new, different color, which would end up dominating his body and feelings. This mindset greatly influenced his performance and the more he understood a character, lived his character, the better he could represent his story on stage. It took the actor many years of practice to reach a point where he had enough confidence in his skills to know he could face off any given role regardless of his real personality outside the theatre.

Even those roles he did not find particularly enjoyment in. "You really had roles you did not like?"

"Of course. Many times after I started acting.", he explained how there were often odd jobs he had to take in order to survive, unable to cherry pick his roles or pick those he fancied most. Those would usually end up in the hands of the more experienced performers. A professional could take on anything but some were just too crazy for his own taste. Funny thing, he had one bizarre show in recent years,

"It was something called like... hm... Jalepeno Pumpkin Spice... Jalapeno Spicy Topping...?"

"That sounds like a dodgy restaurant dish.", she had no filter in admitting that, escaping by accident and horrified she might have upset him. She was relieved, earning chuckles from the actor. "If you believe the name is crazy, then that musical was far worse, but... people loved coming to that show. To this day, I am not sure why it became so popular."

"The story was a complete mess and the author even admitted to have written it during a soju daze."

"Well... no, I DO know why~~~!"

"Why...?", she asked suspiciously, but Zen was being playful. He wanted her to guess~! "That's a hard question to answer. Could it be... thanks to your face? (눈_눈)"

It was dully mentioned.

"Jagi...you have to see one of my shows. Only then, will you truly understand my amazing charms!", he complained, this time the girl unable to stop herself from giggling out loud. Zen exclaimed in amazement – he liked hearing those cute giggling sounds~!

"Ugh...", he ruined it for Mina, clearing her throat in the process to try and stop.

He did not like that outcome!

Still,

Zen's story held elements that could be applicable to the coordinator's situation but... time was of the essence and the hours left were demoralizing, to say the least. Mina's best might not be good enough in the remaining time frame, no matter the tricks she'd apply.

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*deep sigh*

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~oOo~

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The actor hoped MC found anything remotely helpful from what they had shared, although judging from the tone of her voice, there was a lingering pressure she could not shake off. Zen clicked his tongue.

"Sorry, you were indeed helpful!"

"It's... I can't help feeling I will fail this regardless of my best intentions and efforts~! ^^;;;"

"Jagi, you need to have more confidence in whatever you're doing!"

"Have a more positive mindset~~~! Like me. ^.~"

"It's so hard...", she admitted, her nerves always getting the best of her in pressuring situations.

"Then think of me in those situations~~~!", he joked, but that earned him a choking sound from her end.

"Are you trying to ruin me?!", MC whined upset, the actor sighing deeply.

"So cold..."

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Jokes aside, Zen was serious.

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The party planner should take a step back and refocus her energy away from the thought there was a deadline the next day. It was hindering her progress from what he could gather, so... MC should try to will her mind into imagining that the project she had been working on so far was purely for her own self enjoyment.

"My own enjoyment...?"

"If there's anything you like about it, focus on that part and build from that point forward, without worrying about the consequences."

"Oh?"

"If you like the end result, that's the best achievement you can have~!"

"Oh..."

"So try to stay positive~!"

"Hm..."

"Think it with more conviction... ^^;;;; "

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Jagi?"

"You know, Zen...You're actually pretty good at giving advices."

"Of course~!", the actor gloated happily, pointing out he was amazing indeed at them. Among other charms of his, he could enumerate them all if she cared to listen.

"If only you didn't ruin my compliments all the time...", MC muttered in a scolding tone, making use of the usual grouchiness present there.

"Yo. It wouldn't be me if I didn't.", he replied haughtily, hearing the girl snort from suppressing the upcoming laughter.

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"Thank you for listening so carefully."

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"O-Oppa~~!"

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"Eh?"