Chapter 20 - The Celebrity’s Arrival
A strange scene occurred at school the next day. Even the teachers noticed the commotion and wondered why there was a building crowd at the school's gates.
It was as if a celebrity arrived.
Dozens of students, with the majority of the male gender, were huddled up and excitedly talking with someone. Some students were confused as to who was the person standing in the middle of the crowd!
"It's a celebrity!" A female student exclaimed. Her fanatic appearance and reactions had drawn more to gather in the middle.
Several of the students who saw who arrived all gasped in surprise. Many of the students started to run towards the crowd in an attempt to talk to the arriving celebrity. Others caught in the flow decided to go along despite not knowing who it was that arrived.
The entire school quickly noticed the ongoing commotions at the gate, causing many to flock in curiosity.
The startled cry of several males and a few female students confused those nearby. However, the fanatic rush towards the apparent figure made them not voice out their unfamiliarity to this passing figure.
People even started taking pictures and asked for selfies from the strolling person. Most of the fans were male, with a few fanatic females who seemed in love. This confused the onlookers even more.
"Get out of the way!" A voice ordered.
Ted Zycron was one of the more influential Royals in school. His reputation in school was something that not many would attempt to mess with. A Royal with deep pockets and a very arrogant and selfish personality. A pity that he had the strength and smarts to carry this lofty manner. Aside from being the source of victories that the school has, he also hails from an influential family.
"Regulars and Risings, get away from the celebrity!" He ordered strongly.
"The arriving celebrity must receive this schools best. So move away now."
A lot of Rising and Regular students were secretly murdering Ted in their thoughts. But they left this crime enclosed in their imaginations. The crowd slowly parted and gave way to the arrogant parade of the Royals.
The slow movements made by some of the Rising students made Ted angrier.
"Get out quickly! You Rising's don't need to mingle with the Star. It's not like any of you will amount to anything anyway!" Ted moved quickly to the middle of the crowd. Soon he was at the center of the parting people.
Three lone students stood in the center. They were of the Rising group.
"What are you doing here? Can't you see the Royals have business with the celebrity who arrived?" Ted angrily chastised.
"Alright. Sorry for the intrusion." The teen in the middle urged his two companions to join the crowd in the background of this gathering.
Ted stood, confused. There was no one left in the center of the circle.
"Where did the celebrity go?" The confused Ted asked.
People started to laugh. No one knew who started the giggling, but it became louder.
Ted was angered beyond measure. But he tried to contain it as to not embarrass himself from their visitor.
Ted talked to a nearby Royal student.
"Where's the celebrity? I don't see her!"
The Royal student shrugged off and was just as confused as him.
He gazed at the other student standing beside him with a stare that demanded answers.
The Royal student gulped. This was not the first time that he became the recipient of Ted's temper flares.
"I don't know! I don't see any female celebrity here!" The poor youth cried.
The laughing grew stronger when they heard the cry of the unfortunate youth. Who told them that it was a female celebrity?
"Where is she?!" Ted roared!
There were some who also could not spot any celebrity around. Yet a vast majority of the males in the crowd were laughing.
Ted glared once more at the poor youth. The youth was panicking and searched every inch of his surroundings. He surveyed the location, making sure not to miss any faces. None. There were no celebrities even if he searched through the horizon. Just then, he came to a familiar face. It took him a few seconds, and then it struck him.
"CASUAL CARLEAN?!" The youth shouted in shock.
Right in front of the laughing Rising students was Seeker Carlean. He was shaking his head in pity towards Ted.
"You study here?" The youth was unable to hide his surprise and reacted immediately. He was in awe at the gameplay of Seeker. He spent the night studying every movement, technique, and timing that this genius presented.
After the power walkthrough, Seeker's video was shared online and reached a worldwide trend. Any gamer worth their hit points knew the name Casual Carlean now. The insanely impossible stunts and the entirely accurate power walkthrough throttled Seeker's rise to fame quickly.
The video was also supported by various trending memes and comedic screenshots, which gave people outside the gaming community something to laugh about.
Gamers were sharing it, pros were sharing it, celebrity gamers and even celebrities who weres fans of the Piercing franchise also shared it. In fact, Precept Gaming released a quick review and an in-depth analysis of Seeker's gameplay. It was concluded even by the company that his speed and accuracy in playing the game would definitely conquer the world record for beating the game. It was not speculation. People were already accepting it as fact.
Casual Carlean. It was a domineering name that every serious gamer would talk about.
"Where is the celebrity?" Ted demanded as he noticed the youth stare in awe at a random Rising student.
"Bu-but Ted, I think he's the celebrity!" The poor youth pointed at Seeker.
"He's known as Casual Carlean. The current undisputed best handler of Bullet in the Piercing series." The youth was sweating in fear.
There were a lot of cheers as this youth made the compliment. People started chanting.
"Casual Carlean! Casual Carlean!"
Ted realized that Seeker was the person that everyone was chanting as the crowd started to regroup towards Seeker.
"QUIET!" Ted angrily roared.
"You're the one who is causing all this?" Ted glared angrily.
"It would be falsehood to claim that my existence in this very locus isn't the impetus for this congregation's festivities." Seeker mocked.
Ted was becoming angrier. Seeker was clearly attacking his intelligence. But who could blame him? After arrogantly clearing the path, Ted already spoke to the celebrated figure who arrived but immediately shooed him away.
"Then I order you to stop this! You are causing a disturbance in this school, you Rising Rat!"
"Probably. But I wonder why? You said that no Rising student could ever amount to anything. I wonder why even some Royals know me. Oh, well." Seeker casually left the scene without even paying any mind to the angered Royal.
The crowd started to disperse as many immediately left after finding out it was just a game celebrity.
Ted stood there with angry eyes. But he could not do anything towards Seeker.
Most Rising and Regular students were happy at the misfortune of Ted. It was rare for someone of his power and arrogance to receive their just desserts like that.
After that, the class continued naturally with a full day of learning.
Ted, however, was very frustrated at his current status. People would secretly laugh when he walked by. He went online and searched what made Seeker Carlean so successful. As he started to watch the video, a malicious idea surfaced. There was a way to punish Seeker. He turned to the one person who he knew could help him.
"Miss Cipril. I have something to report, a student of the Rising classes is participating in online gambling. It's Seeker Carlean." Ted approached the walking teacher.
The teacher stopped and smiled. It was Alean Cipril. Though she was wearing thin dark-framed glasses today and not her usual contact lens, her beauty remained unmatched.
"Carlean? You mean the son of Detective Carlean? Interesting." She smiled.
While a dark scheme was being formed, Seeker himself continued to walk around and talked to several students who inquired about his success.
"How did you do it, Seeker?" A fan-driven female arrived.
"Can you teach me how?" She teased.
Lynd was tongue-tied. This was one of the prettiest Royal in school.
Seeker simply laughed and casually talked with the girl. Several Royals were lining up to speak to Seeker. When their turn to talk came, they immediately told business to Seeker. They offered a business proposal to let Seeker stream on their site. In contrast, another offered to pay him for advertising a line of business he was starting.
The Royals were the elite in their school. Many already owned a business.
Lynd and Meryl were flustered as Seeker would immediately point to the two and instruct the prominent Royal students to…
"Talk to my manager."
"Oh. Ok then. Miss Meryl and Mister Lynd, right?" A knowledgeable Royal immediately reacted. Some of the Royals around him cursed. They didn't know the name of Seeker's two friends. Who would have thought that they would be the key?
Lynd and Meryl, who have never received attention from such groups of people, were very startled.
Another Royal approached them.
"Miss Meryl, I would presume you to be the manager of Seeker Carlean. How about I invite you to coffee to discuss a proposal I have for your stream." This tall, dark, and suave Royal approached Meryl and bent down with flirtatious eyes.
The woman who was previously conversing with Seeker frowned. She had gone no-where with her talk to Seeker. So she approached Lynd.
"Haha. You must Lynd, right? You must be as good as Seeker when playing, right? When are you planning to stream your own play?" She teased.
Meryl and Lynd were panicking. Two people who they considered to be way out of their league were now flirting with them. Meryl was blabbering something about Seeker's schedule while Lynd was simply stuttering and doing his best to not suffer from a sudden panic attack.
They kept gazing at Seeker, who would just look back and enjoyed the scene of their suffering.
"Mr. Carlean!" An angry and strict, sweet voice sounded.
Seeker smiled. He already knew whose voice was this.
Seeker turned around, and there stood the secret puppet master who controlled all the puppets in school.
Alean Cipril gazed with a haughty and proud look. Behind her was the Royal, who fell from grace, Ted Zyrcon.
"I have received certain reports that you are participating in various illegal activities here in school." She smiled sweetly. If only she wasn't a demon cloth in angelic grace, Seeker might even appreciate that smile.
"Miss Cipril. I have no clue as to what you are talking about." Seeker casually shrugged.
The Royals talking to Meryl, and Lynd made excuses and started running. They knew things were going badly for the three.
"Come with me. We will be meeting with the Principal to discuss your punishment." Alean smiled wickedly. She turned and walked.
Ted was grinning ear to ear. Meryl and Lynd had an angry look at Ted. They knew he was behind this.
"That's what you get for messing with me, Rising Rat!" Ted gloated and followed Alean.
Lynd and Meryl didn't know what to do, but then Seeker immediately walked.
The two were startled and quickly followed Seeker.
"Zeek." Meryl worriedly whispered.
"Don't worry, Meryl. It's all taken care of. I knew something like this would happen and made the necessary precautions."
Seeker took out his phone and dialed a number.
"Oh, You just woke up? Sorry about this, but you need to get here quick. It's earlier than I anticipated." Without waiting for a reply, Seeker immediately hung up the phone.
The two wondered at the sudden actions that Seeker made. He, however, displayed no fear as to what was transpiring.. Because of this, they sighed in relief. How can these little dramas be of any obstacle to Seeker?