Virtual avatar

"Lin Yu, what are you doing?"

Sitting at the counter with a paintbrush and drawing board, Lin Yu jumped at the voice and hurriedly put away the tools of his crime.

"M-Manager, hello..."

Lin Yu felt a little nervous. After all, slacking off so openly during work might earn him a scolding.

Although they often slacked off, they mostly did it on the sly, and the manager simply turned a blind eye.

But this time, he might get a dressing-down. All he could do was pray the manager hadn't seen!

"...I-I wasn't doing anything. You must have seen wrong?"

"Oh? Then why did I just see you fiddling with a pen and paper?"

Oh no, he saw after all. Lin Yu's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally gave up.

He could only take out the tools of his crime.

His crime had been discovered. Any further attempt to hide it would be futile.

"Sorry, Manager. I shouldn't have been doing things unrelated to work during my shift."

The manager was baffled by Lin Yu's sincere apology. He had only been curious about what Lin Yu was doing. Why was he apologizing?

"Um... Lin Yu, you've misunderstood. I was just curious about what you were doing. I'm not here to call you to account."

Hearing the manager's explanation, Lin Yu sighed in relief.

"Oh, I thought you were here to catch me slacking off."

"Hmm? Slacking off?"

The manager immediately picked out the key words, and his tone grew a little sterner.

Lin Yu noticed the change too. Oh no!

This is bad! Now the manager's caught on. How did I get so stupid?!

Lin Yu wanted to slap himself across the mouth twice!

Lin Yu handed over his drawing board and waited for the manager's judgment.

He could already see what the manager was about to do to him.

"Doing things unrelated to work during your shift! You're fired!!"

But what Lin Yu had imagined didn't happen. On the contrary, the manager was delighted.

"Lin Yu, you've really been hiding your talents. You can draw too!"

Rather than scold him, the manager began praising him.

"Manager, aren't you angry?"

"Angry? Why would I be angry?"

"I never expected you could draw, Lin Yu, let alone this well!"

"I remember you're studying computer science, right?"

Lin Yu said, "Yes, that's right."

The manager said, "Looking at this drawing, I'd think you were an art student!"

"I know a little about art myself. I can tell from this drawing that you have a very solid foundation, and it shows your own style."

"You've been practicing for a long time, haven't you?"

Lin Yu said, "Yes. I've liked drawing since I was little. I started learning in eighth grade and have kept at it ever since."

The manager said, "Yes, I can see that love in this drawing."

"But if you like it, why didn't you study it?"

Lin Yu only gave a helpless, bitter smile without saying anything.

But the manager saw the reason at a glance. He put an arm around Lin Yu and said loudly.

"It's all right! There's more than one way to achieve your dreams. Besides, aren't you still sticking with it?"

"Thank you, Manager. You're right. There's never just one way to achieve your dreams!"

After returning the drawing to Lin Yu, the manager spoke.

"It looks lovely. Are you working on a character design, Lin Yu?"

The drawing depicted a girl with long silvery-white hair and purple eyes. She wore a white cropped long-sleeved top and a denim miniskirt, with a pale green firefly printed on the left side of her chest. Black leather shoes and short white socks covered her feet, and a pair of black sunglasses sat on her head. Her overall look was trendy.

Taking back the drawing board, Lin Yu glanced at it before speaking.

"Yes, it is a character design, but this is only an initial draft, not the final version."

The character in the drawing was a virtual avatar Lin Yu had designed for Firefly's future livestreams.

The overall design was based on Firefly's appearance, with roughly a fifty to sixty percent resemblance. As for the outfit, he had indulged his own preferences a little.

He quite liked this outfit, and it suited Firefly, but it was still too revealing. He wouldn't dare dress Firefly like this in real life. He only dared draw it in the virtual world.

Perhaps because he hadn't had much contact with girls, his views in real life were rather conservative. He couldn't understand-wouldn't walking down the street dressed like that make someone feel embarrassed?

But he wouldn't say anything. After all, people were free to dress as they liked. As long as it wasn't excessively bizarre, they could wear whatever they wanted. They had no right to point fingers.

Just then, the manager seemed to think of something. His eyes lit up as he spoke to Lin Yu.

"Since you can draw, Lin Yu, why not draw something for me?"

"It can be your punishment for slacking off at work."

The manager waved his hand grandly, feeling incredibly cool. This way, he had not only maintained his authority as manager but also demonstrated his generosity.

At that moment, the manager was secretly pleased with himself and utterly impressed by his own decision!

Ah, this brain of mine. I'm just too clever.

Lin Yu didn't notice the manager's self-admiration. Instead, he spoke in some surprise.

"That's all?! I thought you were definitely going to chew me out and then fire me."

The smile froze on the manager's face at Lin Yu's words. He hadn't expected Lin Yu to go off script!

His expression began to turn positively murderous as he smiled at Lin Yu with his eyes closed.

That smile made Lin Yu's skin crawl. Although the manager was smiling, he knew the manager probably wasn't very happy right now.

The manager said, "You brat, am I really that petty a person in your eyes?!"

"You've worked here for two years. Do you still not know what kind of person your manager is?!"

"Huh?!"

"Answer me!!!"

Faced with the manager's fury, Lin Yu raised both hands and hurriedly tried to stop the manager, who had already gone berserk.

Then the mood abruptly changed. The manager, who had been angry a moment ago, suddenly grew sorrowful.

He made a show of wiping away tears with one hand, a trace of sadness in his voice.

"Ah-forget it. Even my own employee doesn't understand, doesn't understand what kind of person his manager is. In the end, my trust was misplaced!"

"So I've decided to resign as manager and leave this café forever!"

Watching the manager's cringe-inducing performance, Lin Yu felt his vision go black.

Seriously! Where did the manager learn to say things like that?!

Lin Yu said, "Uh... that's enough, Manager. Stop acting. It's pretty awkward."

Hearing Lin Yu's remark, the manager stopped his performance.

"Was my acting bad? And here I even used lines I'd just learned online."

Lin Yu said, "Uh... Manager, you should learn less stuff online, especially when it comes to lines like those."

The manager said, "Huh? I thought those lines were great. They convey that sense of resolve. Don't they fit the situation perfectly?"

...Forget it.

Lin Yu didn't want to dwell on this anymore. After all, those lines had brought back some unpleasant memories.

Lin Yu said, "All right, Manager, let's drop that and get back to what we were discussing. What would you like me to draw?"

The manager didn't dwell on the matter either.

The manager said, "In light of your behavior just now, I've decided to add a little more punishment. Draw me two pictures!"

Since he was in the wrong, Lin Yu agreed without hesitation.

The manager then explained his requirements.

"I'd like pictures that suit my café, but if that's not your specialty, I can change my requirements."

Lin Yu thought it over, then readily agreed to the manager's request.

"Okay! No problem. It's a deal!"