The Unluckiest Showstopper in the Whole Place

Ragu Kulman had not been having a good few days.

As the saying went, it was not thieves stealing from you that you feared, but thieves having their eyes on you.

Aisha was not a thief, but she had indeed set her sights on him, and that made him feel very unsafe.

He investigated Aisha's background and found that her life story could only be described as bizarre.

Before the age of nineteen, she had been utterly ordinary. Her parents were merely small-town merchants running a little shop. Her older brother was something of an exam-cramming success story who had tested his way into a big city, though he had yet to accomplish much.

She had been lucky enough to awaken a talent for magic. Though it was illusion magic, which had little future, it was still better than nothing. She graduated after reaching only the second rank of illusionist, so her potential ceiling was probably not much higher.

The Spellcaster Academy had flexible enrollment periods. Students were generally arranged to graduate once they were found to be nearing their talent limit. Unlike other schools, the later one graduated here, the more skilled they usually were.

And Aisha had graduated at nineteen.

That was when everything suddenly changed.

First, she bought a building on Cornflower Street, one that even he would have needed to consider for a long time before purchasing. Then, in less than half a year, she had built the largest toy store in the city. Her yo-yos and Rubik's Cubes had traveled along the railways beyond the border and sold across the continent. And now she had come up with Magic Shadow?

In Ragu's understanding, such a situation generally meant there was someone behind her. She was the white glove of some wealthy family making money.

His first suspicion was that the Craig family was backing her. After all, their young master visited Drogo’s Toy Store eight times a month.

But that did not seem quite right either. Though the Craig family was renowned, that young master was practically halfway to being an idiot.

Normally, there should have been some rumors about something like this. Yet there was not a single reliable rumor about who exactly stood behind Aisha.

The unknown bred fear.

In his worldview, the strong ought to ruthlessly humiliate the weak. The prerequisite was knowing who was strong and who was weak. Therefore, before his investigation into her background was complete, Ragu, who was used to swaggering through Twin Towers City's underworld, did not dare act rashly.

"Boss, the premiere of Holy Mountain Journey is about to begin. Shall we leave?"

"Fine. Let's go."

Curious about how his own potion factory had been portrayed in Magic Shadow, and wanting to know what exactly Aisha intended to do, he had paid a high price for a ticket to Magic Shadow's premiere.

To show that he had entered high society, he bought one of the most expensive private boxes.

When the theater darkened and Soren's face appeared on the screen, his unease grew even stronger.

A legendary mage had appeared in Magic Shadow. Aisha's background became even more unfathomable.

"What do you mean all of Kullman Potion Factory's healing potions have problems?"

Ragu asked along with the dialogue in the film.

How did they know?

"Can we sue this production company? Say they damaged our reputation or something?" Ragu asked his assistant beside him.

"That will be difficult. They found a loophole. They didn't use the potion factory's full name, just as they can't sue us over Fire-Thunder Boy King."

Ragu slammed his wineglass onto the table in displeasure.

The following plot sent his blood pressure soaring even higher. There were claims that the potion factory was part of a necromancer's conspiracy, that healing potions were the chief culprit behind the zombie crisis.

Ragu had been happy that the film could promote the potion factory, but it was all negative publicity. Ragu did not like that.

How was he supposed to do business afterward?

Worse still, halfway through the plot, a man appeared who looked seven, no, nine parts like him.

And he was a manager at the potion factory!

Where had they found an actor like that?

Or had they even hired a shapeshifter to act, specifically to target him?

Was this a production company or a nest of monsters?

He could already hear curses coming from the audience. Clearly, the character was extremely unpopular.

But he could not understand why. To him, every action the manager took in the story was perfectly reasonable.

Whether it was shutting the door and refusing to let the protagonists enter the carriage, framing the male lead for being infected, pushing the conductor out to die when they were trapped in the restroom, or dragging the train captain down with him in the end—

They were all optimal choices. Even if he himself encountered a zombie crisis, he could not guarantee that he would have done better than the "himself" in the film.

They perfectly aligned with his own interests.

On the other hand, that male lead was utterly ridiculous. For his daughter, he actually disregarded his own safety.

Children were merely resources for continuing one's bloodline. If one died, he could simply have another.

No one was more important than oneself.

Those people who cried uncontrollably over a story would never learn such a simple truth.

"Nothing special. The effects of such cheap smearing tactics won't last more than a few days."

Ragu had thought Aisha might have some real trick up her sleeve. It was just children playing house. The public had no memory. As long as he apologized, laid low for two months, he could keep making money as usual.

The film ended, and the lights came on. He straightened his clothes and prepared to leave.

A furious roar came from outside the private box. "Look! It's that bastard potion factory manager! Don't let him get away!"

What manager?

Was that shapeshifter actor here?

Before Ragu could react, a sharp pain struck his eye socket, and half his vision vanished.

When he touched it with his hand, warm blood ran down his fingers.

Looking down, he saw a water cup.

"Who threw that?!" He grabbed the cup furiously and roared at the audience below. He would make that person pay.

But what answered him was not a person, but more flying water cups, banana peels, popcorn, cosmetics cases, canes, shoes, lighters, and even letter openers.

They came down in a dense barrage, leaving Ragu stunned.

Fortunately, his bodyguards reacted quickly enough. One shield spell kept him from becoming the first person ever beaten to death by an audience in a theater.

Before one wave settled, another rose.

"Move aside! Let me do it!" A girl in a Liebin Spellcaster Academy uniform below began forming a massive fireball two meters tall.

If everyone else was merely venting their anger, she truly meant to kill him.

He quickly ducked down, ready to flee the private box.

"Galina, don't!"

Someone stopped the young mage. The huge fireball grazed Ragu's scalp and smashed into the ceiling of the private box, sending a wave of heat rolling through it.

"Boss, this way, quickly."

The bodyguards displayed exceptional professionalism. One forced Ragu to keep his head down, shielding it as he led him out.

Two cleared the way ahead, while one remained behind to cover their retreat.

They broke through a huge crowd of spectators charging at them like enraged bulls, all wanting to rid the people of evil.

At last, they reached the theater entrance.

"Security! Security!"

The theater was obligated to protect its honored customers who had paid dearly—at least, that was what Ragu believed.

Until one of the rushing guards kicked him too.

Enduring the burning pain in his backside, he finally reached the carriage. Ragu dove inside, then slammed the door shut behind him before his bodyguards could get in.

"Go! Hurry! Back to the potion factory!"

Amid the crackling sounds of who knew what striking the carriage, it lurched away.

Back at the potion factory, Ragu stormed into his office in a towering rage and pulled down a large dictionary from the bookshelf.

The cabinet slowly split open to either side.

It revealed a sinister altar within, along with a dark-red magic array.

Ragu entered the hidden chamber. Blue ghostly flames ignited one by one atop skull-shaped candles with each step he took. He spread a leather scroll over the altar.

Facing the lengthy incantation, he hesitated.