BXBX NOVEL Chapter 42: Jane's secret
This was an example of passion.
"Things fall apart in my hands,
As I keep grasping at straws.
Laugh, laugh, laugh y'all!
I'm the joke, the big buffoon!"
At this line, Nel suddenly spun in a circle, never stopping playing, and let out a breath of laughter.
"But why cry when you can play?
Dance on the edge of a big mistake.
The life's a theater, and I'm the clown
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I'm owning it!"
Nel hit the strings again and began on the guitar solo, even more wild than the previous one. The man was sweating visibly from exertion and the heat from the spotlights, but playing like his life depended on it.
When the song was complete and Nel bowed to the audience, Tristan applauded with the rest of the audience hall.
He had to respect this man as an artist. If Jane competed with feminine wiles, Nel had pure talent.
The judges noticed it too.
"This young man… His style is very bold. Risky, but incredibly catching."
"This is the type of the diamond in the rough that talent agencies love to snatch."
"Yes, I'm sure he will get a few offers of work after today. But will he reach the next round of the competition?"
"He has good chances, I'd say…"
Tristan pressed his lips together.
He was still sure of his skills, but even with them, he couldn't deny the probability of a failure.
In this moment, Tristan noticed several people from the music hall's security team move around the edges of the audience hall. He tensed.
They seemed to not be looking for him, so Tristan let himself relax a little. Someone must've noticed the dropped gun—or perhaps Nel got to tell the security about what had happened.
Either way, Tristan decided to leave the audience hall before anyone got questions for him.
'It won't hurt to check my makeup again in the dressing room.'
Tristan's makeup was relatively light, but he still had eyeliner that could get smudged.
No one paid attention to him as Tristan went toward the dressing rooms. Even now, the place had plenty of people moving around as other contestants checked themselves up before or after their performances.
Tristan even noticed Jane's helper—Carlos, wasn't it?—walking hurriedly down the hallway.
At first, Tristan didn't think twice about him, besides wondering where Jane went. But a couple of seconds later, Tristan realized that the direction Carlos went in was really strange.
By now, Tristan had a rough map of the music hall in his head. He could tell that Carlos wasn't going either toward the waiting room, the stage, or the dressing rooms.
He also looked strangely agitated.
Curious, Tristan turned on his heels and stalked after Carlos, who was going toward the currently unused and empty part of the music hall.
Tristan's footsteps were entirely silent, and he took care to stay behind a corner whenever he could.
However, Carlos didn't bother turning around.
A short while later, he entered a seemingly random room and closed the door behind with a bang.
Tristan approached the door, wondering if he could peek inside the room somehow, when he heard a voice from the inside. Although Carlos tried to speak quietly, his anger made his whispers very loud anyway.
"The security is crawling all over the place… What the hell have you done?!"
Tristan's eyes widened.
He hurriedly pulled out his phone and set it to record the sound, hoping that the microphone would catch the conversation from the other side.
After whatever reply from the other side, Carlos continued ranting.
"You had one job, and you couldn't even do that right! I swear, if Ms. Greenpawl doesn't win this round, both of you will… how do you, mafia people, say it? Feed the fishes? Swim in concrete shoes?"
Another pause.
"Forget it! Just get the hell out before you implicate us! And I don't care what you call yourselves. I pay you, so I can call you whatever I want!"
After one more pause, Tristan heard a sound of footsteps.
Carlos finished talking and was about to leave the room!
Tristan froze, looking around for cover. However, this was something he didn't think through—the hallway was going in a straight direction for a while.
The nearest corner and the nearest other door were too far to reach in time!
At that moment, Tristan dove for the only cover remaining and froze there, absolutely silent and unmoving.
Carlos pushed the door open with irritation and stomped outside. Still oblivious to anyone's presence, he went back toward the stage.
When his footsteps disappeared in the distance, Tristan let out a breath of relief and stepped from his cover.
[Ding!]
[Sneaking skill increased by 1. Reward: your PP increased by 10.]
[Ding!]
[Observation skill increased by 1. Reward: your PP increased by 10.]
That cover was just the other side of the door that Carlos had pushed open!
Out in the open, he was immediately assaulted by a pair of notifications, which Tristan habitually dismissed.
'That was fucking close… Did I get anything good from it, at least?'
Tristan checked his phone recording. Although his phone was cheap, the hallway was pretty quiet, and the voice carried. Besides, Tristan had it pressed right into the door.
To his relief, it was actually possible to discern Carlos' words, if barely.
Tristan smirked.
'Jane is so unsure of herself that she hires thugs to thin the competition? How pathetic.'
This wasn't hard evidence against Carlos and Jane that would work in court, but it was still a powerful tool in his hands!
However, Tristan didn't have the time to use it just yet.
He went toward the dressing rooms. By Tristan's estimate, his own performance was going to begin in half an hour or so. He didn't have all the time in the world to waste.