I got it. Now I understood everything.
Why people were acting like addicts, desperate to watch another episode, and why everyone here was grabbing people and asking if they'd seen it.
The reason was that they'd all been left hanging on a "To be continued"!
Simon exited the Phantom.
A new little spell icon had appeared in his album. He'd originally planned to collect a few more icons.
Now? To hell with collecting!
He just wanted to see the next episode right away!
Simon looked at his hand. A spell mark had appeared there too.
The exhibit description hadn't mentioned this.
Did the Phantom come with the mark?
Then he remembered. Before they'd entered the Phantom, Mick had put a similar mark on him. The number on it seemed different from his own, though.
So Mick had brought him in as a new viewer.
No wonder Mick had grabbed him and dragged him over here as soon as they entered.
Simon looked around the exhibit booth.
There were a lot more viewers than before he'd entered the Phantom. The booth was almost full.
Wait, who was that?
Simon spotted a familiar figure in the crowd. Mick!
He'd already recruited enough people!
Besides there being more viewers, there were also more people desperately begging to see the next episode, clutching the staff and pleading with them.
But it was no use. All the staff on hand were first- and second-year students from the local academy.
Their main reason for being there was to earn credits, and they were following their training to the letter. But their training hadn't covered what to do when someone cried and begged to watch another episode.
Professor Tanshur hadn't expected this to happen either.
Once they realized that "please, I'm begging you" wasn't going to work,