III. All you need for guidance is a good editor

Modern Earth, 20xx+3

“YAAAAAAWN…”

Fred gave a big yawn. He wasn’t in the mood to work hard.

Perhaps he had been like that for a week already.

SMASH!!

The ultima-weapon for skull destruction: Harisen hit his head. But Fred didn’t even budge nor respond to the shock that it gave him. It might be because he had been immune to the pain it was giving him everytime he’s being hit already. Physically and emotionally.

“Humu. I wouldn’t wonder how could you mess up this bad with the chapter you’re currently working. This is sp not like you.”

“Shut yer trap. I won’t hear anything from you for now on. In fact, I don’t really wanna hear that from my assistant. I’m starting to doubt if you really support me as an assistant or not.”

“So that’s how it is. Humu… now you’re acting even more childish than me.”

“Siiiigh… Shut up! Can’t I get a day’s worth of procrastination?”

“No. Especially when Editor Seria comes tomorrow to inspect our progress.”

The one that answered Fred was Ara(third).

“Look Fred. I had been tired the whole week because aneki wouldn’t even came out to help. I could only rely to imouto for a very small amount of time. Being out for a very long time like this is already tiring me. Come on, let’s just finish this. I wanna look at the mirror already.”

She went on and ranted about how she was worn out due to the lack of swapping out from her two other splits the past week. All of it to remind Fred that she already need to see herself at the mirror. Still, she did it while finishing the task she was doing. She shouldn’t have any right to complain about something she’s getting paid for.

After finishing, she approached Fred’s desk and handed over a bunch of pages that needed some shading.

“Well, I did my job, I’ll leave the rest to imouto. I’m out.”

Unlike the other two who existed to either prey/pick on Fred, Ara(third) was an identity that popped up after her two identities became conscious that one of each other existed. It seemed like the third identity came up to keep check of the other two so they won’t be led astray. The three of them could tag in and out and toy and interact with Fred as much as they could. Still, that didn’t change the fact that Ara could only look to nobody other than herself. Aside from being that complex, she’s a narcissist too, after all.

She tagged out and the imouto mode who was unprepared for the current situation popped.

“Uh?! I’m up?! So suddenly?! Uwah. Uhm…, so can I help Fred?”

Fred looked around.

The studio looked like it hadn’t had any activities at all. There were less crumpled papers, less spilled ink, less trash, less everything than the usual. For an observer’s point of view, it was a very unproductive week for them.

He then looked at the chart pinned at the huge corkboard placed at the far left wall of the room. There were four weeks in a month and they were currently at the second.

Aaaah… If this keeps up, then we’ll rush another chapter again until deadline.

Fred initially had the idea for the chapter, but he thought it was a ‘no-go’. He brushed off the idea and was thinking of something better. For that he needed more resources and references.

Fred then looked at the pages Ara submitted him.

“Some unproductive week we’re in. We can’t remain like this. For starters, take your early off for the day. Don’t worry I’ll manage to talk my way out of this with Seria tomorrow.”

He then crumpled the bunch of papers like they were a nonsensical love letter written by a young high-schooler.

“UWAAAAAH!! That’s work I spent my energy to, sent right to oblivion!! Noooo!!”

Ara(imouto) was devastated, they shared the same body so the stress one of them experiences should be shared across them too. But if that’s what the author decided, then she would need to tire herself out to another set of pages.

“Sorry. Promise I’ll give you guys a bonus after we finish this chapter. Just please bear with me.”

Fred clapped his hand in attempt to persuade his two assistants to keep up with him a little longer.

Kyrie looked at Ara, and with just that, they came to an agreement.

“Humu. Well then, I think I’m going to visit Anemone’s. Who knows what she could be up to with the shortest time you take your eyes off her.”

“I was just shocked a while ago. Sorry Fred… Uhm…, to be honest there’s still this something that aneki tasked me with. So I’ll take on your offer and head out now. I promise I’ll help you next week”

Fred understood and nodded.

“Both of you guys can have your breaks tomorrow too. But brace yourselves next week. We’ll make sure we finish our backlog tasks.”

Kyrie gave him a salute with a ‘roger’ while Ara just bowed down. They both went off afterwards.

Fred was like a boss sitting at his comfy chair in his office after the two left. The childish side of him suddenly took over and he swiveled the chair so he could rotate round and round until he decided to stop because he got nauseous.

He then swiveled the chair a bit more so he could face the window placed behind his desk.

“Well I might die tomorrow… Guess I’ll die.”

---

“YOU WANNA DIE?!! HUH?!!”

All the prediction was accurate.

It’s not like his life was on a real danger. He just exaggerated his interpretation of what was to happen to his assistants. But his current mission was not to make the exaggeration into a reality.

His editor, Seria aka. Grumpy Hag, was a real moody editor. But being moody didn’t necessarily mean she needed to get mad and vent out very often. But miraculously, Fred managed to piss her every time they meet. That’s one of his unique passive traits.

Fred knew that talking back any further increases his chances of death so he was just looking away from her while silently accepting the scolding from the ex-yankee terror editor that was assigned to him.

“LOOK AT THESE. LOOK AT THESE!!”

Seria held two pages of the chapter he presented to her.

Fred just couldn’t obey and look towards her due to his pride instinctively preventing him to fight and protect his life.

Seria then slapped the pages on his two cheeks and sandwiched his face on them. She twisted his face forcibly and made him look only to her.

“What are you?”

“…”

“WHAT ARE YOU?!!”

“A stupid author sandwich.”

Good thing that Ingrid was out that day or there would be another world war if in case she would be seeing what Seria was doing to Fred.

After admitting, Seria then removed her hands from Fred’s face and placed the two pages back at the desk in order. She then sat at his table and lighted a smoke.

“Hey! No smoking! The scent of the cigar will fill the room. Do it outside.”

But despite his warning, Seria continued. Fred was not really at an advantageous position but he still ordered her around with his own house rules. Still, Seria was a former yankee. She could just scare away Fred’s arguments away with a single “HUH?!”.

And Fred wouldn’t want to make matters anymore worse. If she let off some steam with it, then let it be.

It didn’t take a while before she could puff out a whole stick. That showed how stressed she was, hearing the bad news from her author.

Editors were also humans, and were vulnerable to negative emotions too. But they were designed not to immediately give up on their assigned authors. Each of them had been tasked to guide them into producing a manga that could make the readers happy. If we talk about business, a manga that would sell.

There had been cases of authors being reassigned to different editors within their serializations, but those should already be the worst cases which forced the management to move.

But as much as possible, an editor must keep holding on her pride and guide the authors to producing a series that the masses would approve. That’s what Seria must have been holding onto for long already since she had been assigned to Fred.

Seria looked at the tip of the cigar, about to fall down any second.

“You got an ashtray?”

Fred reached out for something under his table and pulled it out. It was an ashtray just like Seria asked.

“Hmp. Despite all your reminder a while ago, here you are, hiding an ashtray under your desk.”

“I do it when they’re not here. I can solo this room most of the time if I wanted too. So I’d appreciate if you keep quiet about this especially for Ingrid.”

THUD!!

“Ugk!”

After hitting Fred with the ashtray on his forehead, she carefully looked at his face again and assessed his current situation. Now she tried talking to him again in a better approach.

“You should worry more about the status of your manuscript and the time remaining. So… What? Are you in a slump?”

“Kinda.”

Seria then stood up. She already knew where Fred was coming from. Rather, she’s already had this kind of experience from the previous authors she handled. With that in mind, she knew the workaround with Fred’s situation.

“Pack your things. We’re going somewhere.”

“Huh?—Wa—wait!!”

Fred was shaken by the sudden notice.

It’s his editor that’s asking him. Whatever she would do, wherever they would go, her only reason should be to help him. Might it be to gather resources, references and needed stuff; or just to unwind somewhere. She had helped Fred that way several times already.

He grabbed a few canvass boards and a pencil. He immediately packed it in his bag and followed Seria.

---

“Say… This isn’t some kidnapping or some sort, right?”

“I’m going to eject where you’re sitting right now if you keep on talking like that.”

“It makes me feel more nervous is you’re keeping an eject mechanism on your car…”

It’s been 30 minutes already since they started travelling by car. They shouldn’t be that far away but since they were already at the highway and there was no traffic encountered due to Sundays, Fred lost track of the distance they’ve traveled.

He eventually gave up and started talking nonsense with the chance of getting hit by something.

“You know, I really hope I could get back in one piece. I got some people waiting for me to return…”

Fred stopped a bit. Then he looked at Seria via the rear view mirror.

“Heeeh. Must be nice, having someone waiting for you to return.”

While they’re at it, Fred started the topic.

“Yeah, sad I can’t live up to your preferences of a sad lone author, huh? How about you? I haven’t really known anything about you. Mind sharing up some?”

Fred tried to pry within her personal life. The confident Seria knew she could escape the topic using her vast experience on conversation. But instead, she chose to take the bait.

“Sharing up which? Which part of it? You see, I’m already at a forgetful age.”

“Just how old do you think you are?”

“An elite professional at her mid-fifties?”

“Wha—but—what?—Quit screwing around.”

Fred already assessed by how Seria looked that she’s someone just at her early thirties. She couldn’t have that much of life stories to tell Fred like how he previously lived for more than a hundred years from the world he was from.

“You talk like somebody who had lots of time in her whole life to do lots of stuff. Don’t you have a family too? Or somebody that’s waiting for you to return after a whole day’s worth of outside work?”

“Well I could travel a few hours from the city to where my parents are currently living. They’ll be surely happy to see me. Come to think of it, I haven’t really visited them in a while.”

“I’m not talking about that. Come on, get a hint already. Or is it because you’re already at your thirties and you still live alo— uwaaAAAAAH!!!”

Fred’s mighty speech was suddenly cut off because Seria purposely swiveled the car towards the opposite lane in attempt to crash it to the incoming truck, but then switched it back to the proper lane just a second before impact. Only she was one of the few who could try to attempt that stunt and could execute it properly without dying.

Fred was still gasping in fear.

“WHAT THE HELL!! ARE YOU TRYING TO SEND ME BACK TO MYTHERION WITHOUT A SHORT NOTICE?!!!”

“HA HA HA!! YOU REALLY TALK FUNNY AT CONVENIENT TIME LIKE THIS!! Hahaha seriously, let’s do that again. You’re reaction and the way you talk was priceless. I should have recorded that.”

Fred just couldn’t take Seria’s normal jokes.

“Come on, seriously. I’m going to file a complaint against your boss.”

“No. please hahahaha. I still need to see those reactions of yours or my work would just be as boring as the previous ones. Sorry. I won’t do it again… hahaha…”

Fred was still in shock due to the ‘normal things’ that Seria just did. He went quiet for a while.

Seria then continued driving until they exit the highway.

The road suddenly went rough. Fred noticed that they were actually climbing an off-road hill. He then looked at Seria via the mirror again and saw her focused on driving. She wouldn’t want to have a crash accident, with a cliff several tens of meters of height and narrow track they’re crossing.

“Shush, don’t look at me like that it would distract me.”

The view of the cliff was suddenly covered by tall thorny bushes. The whole scenery went dark like they were in a tunnel, indicating the light post ended some few distance they passed. They couldn’t place the posts at the current part of the road due to the number of bushes. But what’s scary wasn’t the darkness. It was the sound of the bushes hitting the sides of Seria’s car as they still continued the literally thorny path just to arrive to their destination. Fred could only cover his ears due to the painful screeching he could hear.

The situation made Fred close his eyes to focus on other things than the horrors he was currently experiencing.

Then after a short thrill-ride they finally reached the top of the hill.

There, Seria parked her car beside a medium-sized cabin which could fit a whole family of six. There were trees around the perimeter, and the whole garden looked like it was being kept properly. The way the yard looked, it’s like Seria had been visiting the area once or twice a month to keep the weeds from growing.

Seria acted like wiping the sweat on her forehead even though the cooler was working.

“Phew that was a ride! I’ve just recently got my own car. I normally hike that road up to here. But good thing the car fit. That really gave me a scare.”

Fred gave him an ‘are you serious’ look.

The sides of her car had scratches all over due to the hard branches on a section of the road they went through. If cars had souls on them Fred would have heard Seria’s new car pleading for help from him to make her owner stop and tear down the road obstacles first before proceeding.

Fred looked at the car with a pained expression. But he then shook his head.

As if I have time to think about inanimate objects.

Fred hold on to the fact that a car is a car, and that car was not his, so no worries mindset.

“Well, I should start asking myself if this is your real house.”

“I own the whole hill. You can say it was awarded to me after being relieved at a military duty. … Just kidding. Lol.”

“Well no shit. I might believe that since it’s coming from you. I’m starting to grasp what’s normal and what’s not when it comes from you.”

“Hahaha!! That’s funny. But you still have lots of grain to eat before you can say that, young man.”

She boasted about wisdom. But Fred knew he had a lot more so he gave Seria an unyielding look, forcing her to give a faithful answer.

“I still live at the city. This is just like… uh… a vacation house?”

“Jeez. Such a grand vacation house for a single lady like you.”

Thud!

“Ouch!” –went Fred’s lacking reaction, anticipating he’s getting hit with something afterwards.

“So, what’s your main reason for bringing me here? Am I here for a scolding or something? Or are you finally resorting to torture?”

“Hmmm. Close but if you’re really a masochist then I got tools at the basement, if that’s what you want.”

The whole sentence sent chills down Fred’s spine. What could she be hiding under it? –is the only thing he could ask himself.

“Ah, no I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Seria gathered her things at the trunk of her car and headed towards the cabin.

“Don’t worry. Mobile phones still work. You could contact Ingrid to tell her that you won’t be home for a few days.”

“Well I was about to ask that. Good thing. I don’t want to return home to have Ingrid spew out fire from her mouth again like a dragon, while scolding me like her kid.”

Both of them entered the door.

“She must really like you a lot.”

“Yeah. To the point that it bothers me.”

“Do you not like it? You’re single anyways?”

“That’s… It’s complicated.”

A convenient thing to say to brush off somebody prying onto someone’s life. Fred successfully managed to fend off Seria with that statement.

Fred must be able to contact Ingrid already. But he didn’t. He could always inform her later on. He just wanted to take a rest for the day. But he started doubting himself. Something started to bother his thoughts.

“…”

Fred looked at his phone again

CREEEEAK… SHUT…

He heard the sound of the door slowly closing behind him.

CLICK

He heard something following it, which he assumed to be the lock.

He looked back and saw the door shut with Seria holding a key which she just used to lock the door.

There Fred rewind the time a few seconds from they were still outside. He then remembered something Seria told him just a few moments ago.

You could contact Ingrid that you won’t be home for a few days

You won’t be home for a few days

For a few days…

Fred honestly looked at Seria. He needed answers.

“Will I die here?”

“No silly. You’ll just be ‘M.I.A.’ in a few days. Come, give me your phone.”

Seria extended his hand to Fred.

Fred handed his phone to her slowly. He knew that once he entered the cabin, he already lost. Seria just became his commander at arms. Just like a lowly officer, he must obey her until she pulled out the best of him.

“I call this cabin the reverse-door cabin, aka ‘The Vacation House’. Don’t worry this method is very effective against authors under slump. I’ve brought a few here already, during my entire editor career. Why was it called reverse-door cabin? Pretty simple. The locks are oriented outside. You should know how works. That saves me time explaining. You really can’t escape until I open the door with this key.”

The way Seria named it sounded like a foreign horror survival movie.

Fred looked at the doorknob and confirmed Seria’s claim. He then gulped.

“You said a few days, right?”

“That’s if you finish the chapter in a few days.”

Fred took time to absorb everything. Then after, a loud faint sound of somebody screaming was heard by the villagers down the hill.