The Greed of Kronos

A help from a Senior

Fifty-seven: A help from a Senior

When Kronos answered bluntly, it was then followed by a long silence. They stared at Kronos for a long time while Kronos was figuring out what they were thinking with a blank expression on his face. What could possibly be their thought while staring at his handsome face? He said nothing out of the ordinary, and he just picked the role that a senior personally recommended to him.

After a few more seconds of staring, Kronos was about to open his mouth and ask what was wrong. But then Astian was already holding his laughter. Senior Tati was snickering while Senior Steffi was laughing nonchalantly with her hands on her stomach. “You actually bought that? Don’t worry~ This senior Steffi is just playing around~.”

“Yeah.” Kronos scowled.

He did not thoroughly think of it as a joke, though. Well, at first, he did. But then, Kronos felt that it was actually the only role that he could execute flawlessly. Trees do not show their emotions, as so does Kronos. That was why Kronos heeded to Senior Steffi’s so-called joke and took it to heart as an opinion of a professional.

Soon after they had a good laugh, the four of them separated ways. The Seniors went inside the small room in that particular room while Kronos and Astian walked towards the pile of scripts that were still without owners. Because it was the first day, role picking was also their first task. The other members seemed to be content with making props and in charge of anything in the backstage that the pile of scripts was still many.

“So which character? I will play the character that’s closest to your character.” Astian asked him as soon as he started to look into the scripts. Astian was merely next to him as he was determined to pick whatever character was close to Kronos.

In order to avoid being a tree, Kronos had his leisure time to find a suitable character for him to portray if ever luck would be on his side. He needed to avoid being a tree. Otherwise, Astian would waste his talent and would also take a tree as a role.

It was a good thing that the character’s description was on the first page. Hence, it was not such a hassle to skim through pages for ages.

And after opening some scripts, Kronos finally had his eyes on one of them. Shortly after reading the character description, he handed it to Astian and replied. “This.”

With that, Astian looked at the script and was surprised to see how it suited Kronos’ personality well. “Huh? Wow. It’s so perfect for you!”

The character that caught his eye had a similar attitude to Kronos. It was the younger version of the male lead, and the stage time was also not that lengthy. Moreover, in Kronos’ appearance, it would be merely a short moment flashback of the male lead’s young self where he was a cold delinquent at school. It was more on narrations, and Kronos would just likely swear to his opponents.

It was as if the role was really for Kronos that he could not help but to feel like everything was in his favor. He merely was hoping that he would not take the role as a tree, and yet who would expect that he had a role befitting to his image already? Guess that luck was on Kronos’ side.

Being settled with a role, Kronos then looked at Astian and asked. “You?”

As long as both of them are not trees, then it’s good.

Hearing this, Astian then returned the script to Kronos and smiled warmly as he replied in an energetic tone of voice. “Well, I said that I would be the closest person to you, so I will go with this role!”

Astian picked up a script without even skimming through pages. As long as the front page says that the character was the teen version of the male lead’s best friend, he grabbed it without hesitation.

If Astian were, to be honest with what he was feeling, he truly was praying that he would not be a tree beside Kronos. While it’s true that he wanted to be by Kronos’ side at the stage play, he could not imagine himself wearing a tree outfit when Kronos replied that he wanted to take the ‘tree’ role. That was why when Kronos was picking up scripts, Astian on the side was silently praying and enchanting that there may be suitable at least one role for Kronos to play. And when Kronos handed him a script, Astian celebrated in his mind.

While Astian was about to hand the script to Kronos, someone snatched it away as he opened the script and checked it for a moment.

Shortly after, the senior member placed back the script and then checked for other available scripts as he replied to them without breaking his eye contact towards the other scripts. “No, you can’t. That character is very hard and rigid. You look so soft.”

With that being said, Astian flushed as he replied to the senior member. “Ah, I’m sorry! Should I pick another character then?”

He definitely did not look into it. That was why he was unaware of the character’s personality. Sure he could pull off any character, but he could not possibly change his soft and warm appearance, no? If Astian were to act rude and delinquent with such a face, who would even flinch and get scared? They would probably think that Astian was being cute. In other words, no one would take him seriously.

But that particular character was the one closest to the character Kronos picked. Hence, he felt not just a little but extremely low.

Seeing the depressed face of the new member, the senior flinched and felt guilty as he heaved a sigh and examined the other scripts while asking Astian a question. “Do you want to have a scene with Kronos that badly?”

“Oh yes, if possible.” Astian brightly answered right away as he nodded repeatedly.

His sudden change of demeanor made the senior and Kronos to feel surprised and, at the same time, doubtful if Astian was seriously depressed a while ago by the way he beamed like it was nothing.

Ah yes. Kronos suddenly remembered a memory at the seashore. Where Astian cried, and then a second later, he was beaming without even having second thoughts. The depressed look was real, as well as the beaming expression.

Feeling responsible for Astian, the senior worked hard to find a suitable character for him to play, and then when he stumbled upon a script that was surprisingly befitting for the soft Astian, he handed it to them and introduced himself. “Then here. I am Bruce, by the way, a second-year student.”

Because of the sudden introduction, Astian did not pick the script on Senior Bruce’s hand. Instead, he bowed immediately and greeted him. “Nice to meet you, Senior Bruce! Kronos! You should greet Senior too!” Astian jabbed Kronos, who was merely standing without doing anything.

With that being said, Kronos looked at Astian and then looked at the script on Senior Bruce’s hand. Shortly after that, he took the script while greeting the Senior. “Hi.”

And by doing so, senior Bruce looked at Kronos with a confused expression as he retracted his hand and curled it up before using it to cover his mouth. “Ahem. Right as I was saying, Kronos picked the right character. Astian did not pick the right one, but this senior will help you. That character is perfect for you.”

With the senior uttering the last sentence, he shifted his gaze towards the script that Kronos was silently reading. Because Kronos was keeping a straight face while reading the character’s personality and other descriptions, Astian could not read his mind. He could not guess whether it was a weird character or the opposite. Nevertheless, Senior Bruce already mentioned that it’s perfect for him and his conditions (being with Kronos).

Thus, when Kronos finished reading, he looked at Astian and handed it to him. And so, Astian accepted it with a warm smile. “Thank you~.”

But then, his expression abruptly changed when a word caught his eyes.

Astian abruptly shifted his gaze towards Senior Bruce, whose arms were crossed and expression calm and collected. “Waaah?!?! Senior?!”

Hearing this, Senior Bruce looked at Astian with confusion as they started to ponder what was wrong with the role. And so, the latter observed Astian behavior when he looked at the script once again. As soon as Astian skimmed through some few pages, his ears turned red as he felt flustered.

Seeing him all red, Senior Bruce finally had a hunch on what made him react like that. Hence, the senior clicked his tongue and explained. “Ah right. You do not know the story. It’s about a reunion of the male lead and the female lead. The female lead was a crossdresser who studied at an all-boys academy back then.”

Right. That particular word being placed in a bracket on the side of the character’s name was [Female].

“Is-is this…” Astian stuttered as he remained, his face glued on the script. He was too embarrassed to look at someone as of that moment. Moreover, he was especially embarrassed to let Kronos see his very flushed cheeks. That’s why he decided to dig into the dialogues that they will be exchanging instead.

With that being uttered, Senior Bruce then nodded and replied simply. “Yes. You will be the younger version of the female lead, back when she was still cross-dressing.”

Well, it was not new for members in the drama club to have a role opposite to their gender. Most of them would even dress as the opposite gender and perform on stage. To be frank, Astian would only be a female in name, but he would dress the same, so it does not make any difference.

And while doing so, Senior Bruce felt like he had another reason to react like that. That’s why he thought that it would be fun to tease Astian. With him responding sensitively.

Hence, Senior Bruce showed off a grin and continued to talk nonchalantly. “You don’t need to thank me, but do you know that the younger version of the male lead and the female lead was intimate with each other?”

With that being said, Astian felt more flustered as he buried his face on the script that he was holding and squealed. “Waaah!”

It was really a fun reaction. So fun that when Astian acted shy and all, Kronos, who was beside him, chuckled lowly while enjoying the view of Astian starting to get red from all over his body.

The chuckle was a luxury that seemed to have an effect on a person, stranger or not. Because when Kronos chuckled, Astian flinched and peeked to see his face while the grinning Senior froze and abruptly switched his gaze towards Kronos.

‘So this guy can laugh too?’ That’s what he thought.

More importantly, he still had things to do. Hence, Senior Bruce straightened his back and gave both of them a pat on the head before bidding goodbye and good luck. “Well. Good luck with the two of you. See you two around.”

Hearing this, Astian immediately looked at Senior Bruce walking away and whined for the last time. “Seniorrr!”

It was an odd character. But the person closest to the character that Kronos would play was only his best friend and the cross-dressing female lead. His best friend was rough and rigid, so he could not possibly play it because of his face. While the female lead, despite hiding her gender identity and acting like a boy, the female lead was still feminine and warm looking. So the only option would really be the past female lead.

After pondering for a moment, Astian finally gave up and started to walk while accepting his fate. “Ah, I guess it can’t be helped then. I shall master this role like my life is on the line~.”

Now that they were done with picking up their role and had their scripts, they were on their way to the small room in that room where Senior Tati and Senior Steffi told them to go right after.

Kronos also started to walk beside Astian as he replied to him, giving up. “Good.”

There would always be some times when Astian could not understand what Kronos was talking about. And that was also similar to those times. What the hell is ‘good’ supposed to mean? And on those times when he could not get what Kronos wanted to say, he would change the subject.

Thus, Astian leaned closer towards Kronos and talked in a low volume that only they could hear. “On a serious note, I thought that everyone would be hostile towards us. But it seems like everyone is fine. Right, Kronos?”

Of course, they still did not forget about their side mission. And seeing that the other kids were easy to befriend, it would only be a matter of time before they would open their hearts to the new members.

“Yeah,” Kronos replied as he also thought the same.

With that being said, Astian then suggested a strategy in order to get close to them. “Sir Samael told us to get along with the other kids in the club that we will be picking, so I thought of letting them bully me to their liking~.”

Among all of those students who bully them, whether openly or secretly, Astian could always see one thing in common. And that’s the satisfaction in their eyes. So would it be the best thing to apply in order for them to get used to the new members?

But that time, they did not have the same thought, of course. That’s why Kronos’ reaction changed. He looked at Astian while walking as he scowled. “Silly.”

Hearing this, Astian looked at Kronos with a serious expression as if he was determined to get bullied and was confident that it would be a very good bait. “Yeah, I really thought about that. If they bully me to their heart’s content, won’t they be satisfied and come to like us?”

When Kronos was about to say something, someone from behind gave Astian a pat on the back and laughed nonchalantly as she commented. “You don’t need to do that, though. But I like the self-sacrifice, Astian HAHAHA!”

With that being said, Kronos and Astian looked back to see who was behind them and realized shortly after that it was the two seniors and that they were, more importantly, in front of the little room.

“Oh, Senior Steffi and Senior Tati!” Astian greeted with a surprised look on his face. They did not sense their presence at all.

After Astian’s greeting, Senior Tatiana nodded as she replied while getting inside the room. “Hello. Let’s get inside, gentlemen.”