Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 168 – Any Further Objections?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Everyone turned subconsciously to Harmony, who smiled as if she was preparing to accept her first-place results.

After a brief pause, Walter announced, “…Samantha Larsson!”

Silence ensued, followed by an uproar! Samantha performed well, but in terms of vocabulary, aura, and professionalism, Harmony was certainly much better than her. How could Samantha possibly surpass Harmony?

Jade was the first to object. She asked loudly, “Mr. Schuck, why is Samantha in first place? Harmony’s flawless performance was obviously much better. I disagree with the result.”

She then turned to the contestants whom she was friendly with and asked, “What do you think?”

They echoed in agreement. “She’s right, Mr. Schuck. This competition is supposed to be fair, isn’t it? We’ve all watched Harmony and Samantha’s reporting, and Harmony is undoubtedly much better! Could this be some sort of bias due to Samantha’s status?”

Those words immediately caused Walter’s expression to sour.

No one who was in charge of a competition would ever want to be implicitly accused of unfair treatment. He shot Jade—the instigator—a cold look and shot back, “The results of this competition are entirely fair and just. Since there are some who doubt this, I’ll reveal Samantha’s score alongside Harmony’s.”

He handed their transcripts to the staff, who then projected them onto the screen.

Only one point separated Harmony from Samantha.

They both obtained full marks in their script, fluency, and various other criteria. The only difference between them was in their errors: Samantha made zero mistakes while Harmony made one.

That was why Harmony trailed Samantha by one point and only managed to get second place.

Everyone exchanged glances with each other and Harmony even frowned slightly, as if she was trying to remember where exactly she made a mistake.

Jade thought about it for a moment and could not figure out where Harmony went wrong. Everyone would have picked up on her mistake if there really was one, so that ‘mistake’ had to be an excuse. She asserted herself and asked, “Then I’d like to ask what was Harmony’s mistake.”

If he could not point out a convincing enough reason, she could still bring about a change in the competition results and let Harmony get first place!

Walter knew that she would ask that and was in no hurry to explain. “Samantha and Harmony both performed well, but the crucial components of a news broadcast are truthfulness and accuracy. Mistakes must not happen. One of the terms Harmony used was not very appropriate, and Samantha made no mistakes with that. She fully deserves first place!”

As he said that, Harmony’s mistakes were displayed on the big screen for all to see.

None of the contestants could think of any reason to refute once they saw the term that Harmony used.

It had completely slipped everyone’s attention because the word used was very unassuming. However, if the context of the usage was taken into account, the term did seem quite inappropriate indeed.

Samantha was not surprised by it at all. She had been paying close attention to everyone’s reporting and was therefore able to notice Harmony’s mistake.

Harmony had done a spectacular job and would have been able to get first place but for the mistake.

In a situation where there was nothing to separate the two of them in terms of their ability, the only deciding factor would be their respective mistakes. The three judges were all eminent individuals in the industry, so it was only natural that they could spot those errors.

That was why Samantha accepted Jade’s bet—she was confident that Jade would lose!

Walter looked at the crowd and spoke rather sternly again, “Does anyone have any further objections?”

Even though Jade could not accept it, there was nothing else she could do to refute him, and everyone had fallen silent too.

“Alright. The first round’s ranking is as follows… First place: Samantha Larsson. Second place: Harmony Johnson…”

After reading through the names, he said, “That concludes today’s round. The results will be published on Waybo and you may all go home to prepare for the second round. I hope to see even better scores from all of you for round two!”

…

As soon as Samantha stepped out of Lychee TV’s entrance, a group of people surrounded her suddenly. She stopped walking and frowned.

Did something else happen?