While everyone was captivated by the Fashion Magician on the Phantomlight Soundscape stage, elsewhere, near Dream Playground's inflatable stage, an old beggar who looked like a vagrant slowly came to.
Zuniga remembered that just a second ago, he had still been in the challenge mission space, lying there with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep.
Waiting for the "Stamp-Collecting Event" countdown to end.
But he had no idea what had happened. The mission had suddenly ended. He had not even truly fallen asleep; he had merely been lying off to the side, slacking around with his eyes shut. Then, a voice from somewhere unseen informed him that the mission had failed.
What exactly had happened? Why had it suddenly failed?
His challenge mission this time had been the "Stamp-Collecting Event": plan a variety show and attract any two of the six designated fashion Demonic Beasts, and the mission would count as complete.
From the mission description, even if he failed, it should only happen after the countdown ended. There was no possible failure point midway through.
So...
Had something abnormal happened, causing his mission to fail?
Zuniga opened his eyes and looked around, only to find that there was barely anyone left around Dream Playground... Nearby, only two children were whispering to each other.
These two kids... Zuniga remembered them. They seemed to be children from the nearby neighborhood. Earlier, they had even asked him to be the seeker in a game of Hide-and-Seek.
After pondering for a moment, Zuniga limped over and asked, "Have you two been here the whole time?"
The two children blinked and nodded.
"Then did anyone come near me just now?"
Faced with Zuniga's question, they immediately shook their heads. "No. Uncle Zuniga deliberately found such a secluded place, so you must have been hiding