Protecting employees was the boss's duty

Evening was approaching outside the Totsuki campus.

A black cat invisible to everyone else suddenly appeared beside the handsome boy carrying a schoolbag.

Meow-chan blinked her green eyes, occasionally glancing back at someone who had been following a short distance behind.

That person was not translucent. Wearing a bucket hat, sunglasses, and a mask to conceal her identity, she had kept following at a distance ever since Yan Huan left school.

"Meow~"

Meow-chan meowed and looked up, taking aim at Yan Huan's shoulder.

Her padded paws kneaded the ground in preparation, then she pushed off lightly and leaped, landing nimbly on his shoulder.

Her liquid-like body deftly crossed from his right shoulder to his left before she stretched her furry head forward to look at Yan Huan.

Soft, smooth fur brushed along Yan Huan's neck, followed at last by her curved tail sweeping across his Adam's apple.

Yan Huan blinked, then heard Meow-chan say,

"Bai Yi seems to still be following you, meow."

"I know. If she enjoys being a stalker, let her follow."

While talking to Meow-chan in his head, Yan Huan also recalled what had just happened in the classroom, piecing together his thoughts.

"I have a pretty good understanding of her modifier's effects. I've read plenty of similar doujins before, so I more or less know all the different ways to play...

"I think there are actually more points to work with when her modifier activates than with Ye Shiyu's, and its effects aren't as intense after the gender switch. Assuming this modifier doesn't have any additional functions."

Indifference primarily targeted Bai Yi herself. Essentially, Yan Huan only needed to pretend he would not notice her. It had no real hard control or compulsory effects, making it one of the easiest modifiers to handle.

"But I don't know much about her as a person. Her personality, her habits, or why she holds such a grudge against me."

Meow-chan glanced back at Bai Yi sneaking along behind them and asked,

"So were you planning to use the same approach as with Ye Shiyu just now? Appeal to her conscience?"

Yan Huan shook his head.

"I just wanted to get a sense of what kind of person she is, so I played up my misery a little.

"When you show someone the consequences of what they've done wrong, some people feel remorse, some don't care, and some get even more excited."

As he spoke, Yan Huan had already reached the bus stop.

He glanced at his phone and said softly,

"Different people call for different social approaches. I think dealing with these modifier hosts is the same."

Meow-chan tilted her head and nodded, looking deeply convinced.

"Mm, I understand."

In reality, she had understood absolutely nothing!

But it sounded impressive!

Anyway, she couldn't go wrong listening to Yan Huan!

"You understand jack. Even I haven't figured it out yet. She kept standing behind me without saying a word, with Indifference active and a mask on. I basically learned nothing."

"Meow!"

Meow-chan reached out and patted his face, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw him open his browser, bringing up a search engine.

"But she's something of a public figure. There should be information about her online."

So he was planning to use the internet to look up information about Bai Yi.

Before he even searched, Yan Huan saw related searches appear beneath the search box.

"Bai Yi movies"

"Why is Bai Yi's acting so bad"

"Bai Yi stunning photos"

"Is Bai Yi male or female"

Yan Huan tapped search, finally reaching Bai Yi's entry.

The first thing he saw was a profile shot of her in a schoolgirl uniform, her wispy bangs curved over her forehead.

A pair of eyes met yours across the screen, as though the gaze of the girl you liked most in your school days had accidentally met yours, leaving you both briefly startled.

The next second should have seen you shyly avert your eyes, but the photograph froze that moment, turning it into a flutter of the heart.

"Bai Yi: young actress from Linmen, next-generation idol, singer."

"A fresh, delicate beauty: discovered at eleven through trial auditions held by Linmen's Yasaka Entertainment Company, she became a child star. Two years later, she transitioned to a new image, stunning everyone with her first appearance on the variety show Youth. Netizens at home and abroad hailed her as 'the idol who best embodies youth.'"

Yasaka Entertainment Company.

That brought back some rather unpleasant memories.

Yan Huan continued reading.

"Acting career: her debut arthouse romance film, Love After Dusk, tells the story of the heroine, A-Meng (played by Bai Yi), meeting, getting to know, and falling in love with A-Ning (played by Bai Yi) from a parallel world."

"Synopsis: A-Meng, an introverted girl from an unhappy family, and A-Ning, her rebellious counterpart from a happy family in a parallel world, gradually develop feelings as their world lines begin intertwining after dusk."

"Box office performance: released across the Eastern Continent outside the Dragon Nation, the film met with poor commercial and critical reception. Bai Yi's performance as A-Ning in particular was described by some media outlets as 'disastrous acting.' However, the film received an award nomination at the Western Continent's Rainbow Film Festival a year later."

A Rainbow Film Festival award.

Ah, now he remembered what kind of film award that was.

How should he put it?

Put it this way: last year's Golden Award winner was a historical drama set in ancient Sakura Nation.

It told the story of a Black samurai attempting to assassinate an enemy leader to avenge the lord he served.

When the film's villain asked why he was so persistent, he coughed up blood and shouted,

"Even if we're both men, don't underestimate my love for my lord!!"

It was more or less an award that could be moved by content like that.

As he scrolled down the entry, most of it covered variety shows and events she had attended.

Only the final section offered a sentence or two about songs she had written and sung.

"When Youth Is in Crisis," "Stars Are Not the Moon."

A few pop songs.

After reading everything, Yan Huan found only two places where their paths could possibly have crossed.

Yasaka Entertainment Company and Totsuki Academy.

Totsuki Academy was less likely, since she barely ever came to school.

As for Yasaka Entertainment Company...

As mentioned before, Yan Huan had tried many ways to climb out of the South District, and becoming a child star had been one of them.

He had not originally intended to enter that line of work. After all, he considered himself no good at acting, nor was he someone who liked being in the public eye.

But a Yasaka talent scout had come to the South District to discuss it with him, saying he could start with a trial training period, with a monthly salary-and quite a substantial one.

Yan Huan had gone with the idea of earning his living expenses and tuition over summer break.

What he had not expected was that his own qualities were so good that everything went beyond his wildest expectations once he arrived.

He did not even need trial training. Yasaka insisted on signing him, acting as though they would give him any offer he dared ask for, as long as he came.

Everything seemed pretty good, right?

If you ignored the way the company's boss stared at him so eagerly that he looked ready to devour him.

Yes, Yasaka's boss was a complete pervert, comparable to the boss of Johnny & Associates in his previous life.

Once Yan Huan noticed the improper way that old man looked at him, how could he not run?

Stay and wait to get screwed?

And so the boy, straight as a steel rod and radiating resistance, flatly rejected every invitation from Yasaka and fled.

"Beep, beep, beep."

"Now arriving at Jinghe Totsuki Station."

The sound of the bus pulling in brought Yan Huan back to reality. He looked up, still somewhat puzzled.

Could it be...

Because of what happened at Yasaka?

But how could anything there have offended her?

Had she already started shipping bizarre pairings at just eleven?

Pondering these questions, Yan Huan took out his earbud case and put on his earbuds.

He opened his music app and typed in "Bai Yi."

Mm, it happened to have the rights.

"Passengers, please board in an orderly fashion~"

"Meow~"

Meow-chan moved even faster than her cute meow, hopping lightly off his shoulder and into the bus.

Yan Huan first tapped one of Bai Yi's songs, "Stars Are Not the Moon," before stepping aboard.

There were few people on the bus, so he found a window seat toward the back and sat down.

"A lonely night, dotted with stars"

"Alive with joy, blinking eyes~"

"The Milky Way spills, the moon fills the view"

"Each shines bright, why compare?"

Mm.

It sounded quite nice, and her voice was very clear. He wondered whether she had studied vocal training on her own.

Bai Yi's lovely singing came through alongside a guitar, prompting Yan Huan, leaning against the windowsill, to glance at his phone screen again.

"Lyrics: Bai Yi. Composition: Bai Yi. Arrangement: Bai Yi."

At that very moment, a fully covered, masked figure boarded through the bus doors.

She glanced in Yan Huan's direction, then silently took a seat farther behind him, in the very last row.

Staaare~

Yan Huan ignored her completely, simply leaning against the window and listening to music as he watched the silhouettes outside, his thoughts unknown.

A fat black cat sat primly in his lap with her paws tucked in, looking back at him.

"Meow~"

With a slight smile, he quietly removed one earbud and placed it in one of her upright ears.

She heard little of the song, but it tickled Meow-chan terribly.

She immediately shook her head and scratched her ear with a hind paw, voicing her protest along the way.

"Meow!"

"Beep, beep."

"Beep, beep."

Only when the phone in her hand chimed did Bai Yi's muddled, almost sleeping mind regain a little clarity.

The trip from Jinghe District to the South District really was rather long. After running away from home in fear yesterday and spending all day out today, she felt sleepy as soon as she tilted her head.

Looking ahead and seeing the boy still leaning against the window listening to music, she relaxed a little.

She glanced at her phone. A few messages had come through.

"Sister Yinuo:"

"Little Yi, the police just called me."

"Your mom is looking everywhere for you."

The sight of those messages instantly cleared Bai Yi's head.

She hurriedly sat up straight and typed with a frown.

"Just ignore her, Sister Yinuo. Tell her you don't know where I went."

The name on the other end changed to "Typing..."

"You don't need to worry about me selling you out, but you can't keep this up forever. You have to resolve things with your mom.

"Where are you now?"

I'm...

I'm following that guy.

Just as Bai Yi was about to brush her off with a few casual words, the bus slowly stopped, and Yan Huan stood up ahead of her, shouldering his schoolbag.

His stop!

Bai Yi hurriedly locked her phone, then quietly followed Yan Huan off the bus.

There was an intersection near the bus stop, in what counted as a very lively part of the South District.

The sun had already set. Nights in the South District belonged to neon lights, clamor, and the bustle of everyday life.

That atmosphere seemed to surround the boy, accompanying him into a tavern called "Nursery Rhyme."

By contrast, Bai Yi, her face covered so tightly, looked utterly out of place.

Passersby kept casting glances her way, making Bai Yi lower her head and avoid them in great discomfort.

At some point, an exquisite pocket watch had found its way into her grasp.

Does he work at that tavern?

Just as Bai Yi stood at the entrance examining the tavern, which already had quite a few customers seated inside, her phone sounded again.

"Beep, beep."

She looked down. This time, it was an incoming call on Plane.

"Sister Yinuo"

Unsuspecting, Bai Yi answered and brought the phone to her ear.

"Sister Yinuo, you-"

"Bai Yi, where exactly are you right now?!"

It was Zuo Jiangqin's voice.

Bai Yi stiffened slightly and said in disbelief,

"Mom?"

"So you still remember I'm your mother? You ran out in the middle of the night and stayed out all night. Do you know how worried I was?!"

Hearing the slight tremor in her mother's voice, Bai Yi pressed her lips together, still unable to harden her heart.

But the place in her heart that her mother's words had wounded still ached.

That pain rejected reconciliation and forced her to fight back.

Even though fighting back had always led to conflict.

After a moment of silence, she finally gritted her teeth and said,

"I'll go home on my own later. You don't have to come looking for me."

"What do you mean, I don't have to come looking for you? If I hadn't, I wouldn't even know you were still in touch with this Li Yinuo!"

Sure enough, Bai Yi's defiance infuriated Zuo Jiangqin.

"I told you not to associate with these shady people! That tattooed girl is the one who led you astray! You won't take the good path laid out for you. All you think about is messing around! Just wait until I get my hands on you. Where exactly are you?!"

At those words, the anger building inside Bai Yi ignited as well.

She cupped her phone and shouted into it,

"Everything is my fault, everything is someone else's fault! Have you never done anything wrong?!"

"Then tell me what I did wrong! I gave birth to you, raised you, made sure you had food and clothes every day. What else are you unhappy about?"

"You-"

Bai Yi's face flushed red. Holding her phone, she was about to say something when she realized that many people along the street were already looking her way.

Embarrassment flooded her cheeks. With tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, she hurried toward a nearby side street, clutching her phone.

But that stretch of silence made Zuo Jiangqin truly furious on the other end.

From last night until tonight, she had spent an entire day searching, and she believed Bai Yi's immaturity had caused all of it.

"Look at yourself! You don't take your classes seriously, you don't take your activities seriously, and you never put your heart into anything. How am I supposed to watch without worrying? You act like this, then get upset when I say a few words to you. Do I have to put you on a pedestal?!"

"Did I ask you to do any of that? You never even asked for my opinion! Whether it was all those activities or going to Totsuki, you decided everything! Since you've made all the decisions, go do it yourself! What do you even need me for?"

"Who do you think I'm doing this for? It's all for your own good! You turn your nose up at these opportunities, but other people couldn't get them even if they begged! Do you know how many favors your uncle owes because of you? Do you think making it in show business is that easy?"

At that moment, on the other end of the call, in a room on the second floor of a tattoo parlor, a group of police officers and the tattooed woman surrounded by them, with her multicolored hair and lip piercing, all sighed.

They had already told Zuo Jiangqin to persuade her child to come back first, no matter what.

But as soon as Zuo Jiangqin heard the chaotic noise on the other end and thought of Bai Yi's immaturity, her temper flared.

Especially after Bai Yi talked back, her anger only grew.

"You have me and your Uncle Jiang running around helping you. Does that Yan Huan at your school have that? He has no mother or father at home, and he still has to work to pay his living expenses! You don't want to go into show business, and you're unhappy with our arrangements? Fine! Then show me some results in some other area!

"Your grades have been a disaster since you were little! You love writing songs so much, but how many people actually appreciate them? Even good songs need distribution and exposure, never mind those amateur songs of yours! You can't do anything right, yet you keep arguing about this and that. How can you possibly have so many complaints? Tell me!"

On this end of the call, having a mask over her nose and mouth already felt stifling. Hearing her mother reject everything she had chosen, sentence after sentence, made it even harder to breathe.

Especially when she finally heard her mother's opinion of her songs.

Of course she felt angry, as though she had a thousand things to say, but for some reason, she could no longer hold back her tears.

"Zuo Jiangqin, I really hate you more than anyone."

The next second, she suddenly hurled the phone in her hand.

Crash!

The phone, unprotected by a case, slammed into the wall. Huge cracks burst across its glass screen before it hit the ground hard.

From inside, Zuo Jiangqin's voice came through in fragments.

"...You... hear me..."

Then the screen went completely black, and the sound cut off.

Bai Yi leaned against the wall with her head lowered. Inside her sunglasses, droplets gathered, then spilled down onto her mask.

Her body slowly went limp, sliding down the wall until she finally sat on the ground.

Hugging her knees, she could no longer keep herself from crying.

"Waaaaah..."

She really did not know what to do, what she had to do to satisfy her mother.

She knew she really did not work hard enough at school. She knew the road to stardom was not easy, that she could not have everything go her way.

But did any of that really conflict with what she wanted?

She just did not want to be compared to Yan Huan anymore. She did not want to keep hearing her mother praise other people and tell her to learn from them.

She just wanted to do something she liked, wanted her mother to listen seriously to the songs she wrote and say, "Not bad."

But all this time, she had never gotten anything she wanted.

From beginning to end, all she had received

was rejection.

"Waaaah... waaaah..."

Click.

Just as Bai Yi was crying on this nameless side street, the door beside her suddenly opened.

Bai Yi hurriedly lifted her head. Through the double obstruction of her tears and sunglasses, she could only make out a blurry figure carrying a garbage bag and wearing a bartender's uniform.

The other person seemed to pause in surprise as well, not expecting someone to be crying here.

Then a familiar voice sounded.

"Miss, this is where we dump the garbage. You can't sit here."

"..."

Seriously? I'm heartbroken here, and you're talking to me about whether I can sit here?

Bai Yi stared up blankly.

As she raised her head and changed the angle, she caught sight of the smiling young man through a clear patch of her lenses untouched by tears.

Yan Huan?!

This... this was the back door of the Tavern where he worked!

He had already walked over to Bai Yi and tossed the garbage into the bin beside her.

Only belatedly did Bai Yi think to get up and leave, but then she heard him say,

"Want to come inside and rest for a bit?"

"..."

Sniffling, Bai Yi shook her head almost imperceptibly.

She lifted her fingers to wipe the inside of her sunglasses, then awkwardly pointed at the nearby phone and said quietly,

"My phone's broken... I can't pay."

"That's fine. There's no charge for sitting a while."

Yan Huan smiled faintly and picked up her fallen phone with its shattered screen.

Then he held it out in front of her.

"There are still seats inside. You can leave if the place fills up."

Bai Yi raised her eyes to look him over, unsure what to choose for a moment.

But Yan Huan simply pressed the phone firmly into her hand, then walked ahead to lead the way.

"Follow me."

"...Okay."

Bai Yi could only follow.

They entered through the Tavern's back door. This was the inner section, with a table or two. Customers rarely came here; only that drunkard Tong Yingying would sneak drinks here.

Yan Huan had Bai Yi sit here to rest and added,

"This is the South District, miss. You'd better be careful around the little streets and alleys. Don't go into them alone, understand?"

He got her a glass of warm water nearby and handed it to her, thoughtfully including a straw.

"The people who run around the South District don't care whether your face is covered. To them, it's as exciting as opening a blind box."

"Mm-hm."

Looking at the hot water in front of her, Bai Yi did not drink. She just turned to look at him beside her again.

The closer she was, the more Bai Yi felt that it really was no surprise the station's higher-ups had picked him out at first sight.

Ha. Such good grades, and he could even be student council president.

The more Bai Yi thought about it, the more miserable she felt.

Her mother's words really were like a scalpel, cutting open everything inside her.

Even singing, the one thing she liked, had been rejected. She really did not know.

Ding, ding.

A bell rang inside the Tavern, but Bai Yi did not know what it meant. She only heard Yan Huan say,

"Then sit here for a while. Leave whenever you want, and remember to stay safe on your way out."

She lowered her head. After a moment of silence, she suddenly asked hoarsely,

"Um... you're really handsome. Haven't any talent scouts approached you about becoming a star?"

"Yeah, a few have..."

"...Then why didn't you go?"

Yan Huan blinked and was just about to say something when the bell rang again.

He glanced back, then turned to look at the girl before him, her head lowered and her whole body unconsciously curled inward.

She really seemed to have taken a terrible blow.

The closer someone was to you, the better they knew you, the deeper they could hurt you.

In fact, Yan Huan had heard the conversation between her and her mother earlier.

When she had not followed him, Yan Huan had wondered where she had gone.

But he could not exactly take the initiative to look for her, so he had gone back to work first to see what happened.

Who knew he would stumble onto the drama while heading out back to throw away the garbage?

He seemed to have a rough idea of why Bai Yi hated him so much.

Could you say it was entirely her fault?

Yan Huan did not know either.

But from the perspective of dealing with the Modifier, it was necessary to give her a little extra care right now.

He thought for a moment, then smiled and said,

"Although being appreciated does feel pretty good, I always felt that wasn't what I wanted to do. That's why I didn't go."

Ding, ding.

"...But that's because you have a choice, isn't it?"

Ding, ding.

"Does working here count as having a choice?"

Ding, ding.

"..."

His helpless self-deprecation made Bai Yi stop crying.

She lowered her eyes and was about to say something when she saw a beautiful red-haired woman appear beside Yan Huan, her gaze somewhere between "I'll kill you" and "Just kill me."

She held a service bell, seemingly a "magical capitalist tool" used to summon employees to work.

Oh.

After seeing the masked, crying Bai Yi, her gaze leaned more toward "I'll kill you."

Tong Yingying looked Bai Yi over. Actually, ever since Yan Huan had brought Bai Yi inside, she had felt something was going to happen. Sure enough, it had.

Quitting smoking and drinking was already irritating enough.

You think you've done a good deed and saved someone, without realizing how easily a bad woman can latch onto you this way.

Look, the moment she came in, she latched onto you and wouldn't stop talking.

Then she adds you on Plane, pesters you relentlessly, gives you a little extra money...

Wouldn't you end up turning straight into some bad woman's dog?

And you're only a freshman, with hardly any dating experience, and looks that girls like. Those bad women love boys like you most.

Huan, the waters of the South District run deep. You can't handle them.

Protecting innocent employees is the boss's responsibility.

Yan Huan blinked and looked at Tong Yingying beside him.

"Sister... Sister Tong?"

He was just about to say something when Sister Tong sat down across from Bai Yi, waved at Yan Huan, and instructed him,

"Get back to work. The customers are getting impatient."

Then she turned to Bai Yi, who still had tears on her face, took out a cigarette pack, and said,

"Just leave things here to me."