After Third’s story came to a conclusion, Luke watched the back of Third and Umi, who were moving to enjoy the festival with a satisfied expression, before turning to head back to the café.
However, despite having neatly wrapped up Third’s business, Luke’s steps back were heavy.
“Ha…”
The reason was the unfortunate state of the café that awaited him upon his return.
There was no point in going back to a café with no customers, as there was nothing to do.
Thinking of the empty café made him feel restless.
Moreover, he had nothing to say to Kaila, who had been tirelessly distributing promotional flyers in his stead while he was personally dealing with Third’s issues.
Feeling a sense of guilt that his misfortune was affecting the café and causing a lack of business, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for everyone at the café.
Just as he was moving his feet in a tired manner, he thought, ‘Huh? What’s going on? Did I take a wrong turn?’
No, it didn’t seem like he took a wrong turn.
Aside from not seeing the café, the surroundings matched exactly with the place he was aiming for.
However, the strangely gathered crowd and the absence of the café made Luke tilt his head in confusion.
Then, realizing the truth, Luke’s eyes widened in astonishment.
The reason he couldn’t see the café was that too many people were blocking the entrance!
“What… what happened?!”
Despite Kaila’s efforts to distribute flyers, there shouldn’t be this many people gathered!
Luke began to worry that something might have happened at the café.
If not, how could so many people have gathered in the short time he had been away?
‘Was there a fire? Or maybe a fight?’
If that were the case, it would be a serious issue!
Luke hurriedly began to push his way through the crowd.
“Could you move over for a moment? I need to get through!”
“Sorry, I need to pass through…”
“I’m working here, just let me get by for a second!”
When Luke finally managed to reach inside the café, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes at the scene before him.
There were no signs of a fire or scuffle; instead, the interior of the café was filled with people.
Not only that, but there were no empty tables, and even the sofas set aside for people to relax while waiting were crowded.
It seemed that everyone was waiting to order drinks or desserts.
“What the…?”
Luke was left completely bewildered by the astonishing sight.
At that moment, Kaila approached him, happily waving.
“Luke! Look! Customers! Isn’t it amazing?”
“Really? All of these people are customers?”
“Yeah! I’m telling you!”
At that moment…
“Hey? Isn’t that him?”
“Oh my, it is! That’s him!”
“Really amazing!”
“He’s so young, yet he’s incredible!”
Suddenly, a thunderous applause began to pour in Luke’s direction.
Caught off guard by the situation, Luke stood frozen in surprise.
‘W-what is going on…?’
So shocked was he that Kaila, who had been quietly observing him, finally burst out laughing and started to explain.
“Puhaha! Curious why this sudden change happened?”
“Well, of course! Don’t keep me in suspense, just tell me! Why are all those people reacting like that to me?”
“Well, it’s all because of what you did!”
“…What I did? What do you mean?”
Kaila pulled out her phone and showed him a video.
It was a short clip, seemingly taken by a passerby when Luke was handing Jack over to the management personnel.
“This! This! It’s all thanks to this!”
“What?”
After watching the video, Luke’s face went pale.
The video Kaila showed captured him twisting Jack’s arms and seemingly torturing him.
Due to the distance and noise, the conversation between him and Jack was inaudible, but the quality of the video, thanks to the good magic device used, was very clear. It showed Luke holding Jack’s hand, helping him onto a stretcher, and then waving goodbye with a relieved smile, as if to say, “Don’t come back.”
‘Why is this…? How is it spreading?!’
Cold sweat started to flow down Luke’s back.
He couldn’t believe he was being filmed openly committing an act of violence!
No wonder he had such a terrible luck today; this was a huge problem!
Even if at ten years old he wouldn’t face criminal charges, being publicized on a telepathy network like this was far too troublesome.
Luke began to deeply regret it.
‘No matter how angry I was, I should have held back! If Yerna saw this, what would she say…?’
As he pondered this, Kaila tilted her head, appearing confused by his expressions.
“Why the long face? Are you feeling guilty? You’re a hero, you know!”
“What do you mean…? Isn’t it wrong what I did?”
Luke made a nuanced expression at Kaila’s words.
A hero? What on earth did she mean by that?
Of course, his actions might have been heroic, but the clip only showed him twisting someone’s arm.
How could they interpret it differently…?
“Puhahaha! You were helping someone who had a broken arm and aiding them to the hospital! Don’t pretend otherwise!”
“…?”
After hearing Kaila’s words, Luke replayed the video.
Looking closely, he realized the title wasn’t “Shocking: Violence by a Maid at Tigr Academy,” but rather “Live: Maid Helping an Injured Person at Tigr Academy Festival.”
Assisting an injured person? What was that supposed to mean? Luke decided to shift his perspective slightly.
‘Wait, seeing it that way… it could be interpreted like that…’
In the video, he was indeed holding Jack’s arm and twisting it around.
As Jack screamed, apologizing that it hurt, Luke thought that if he moved too carelessly, he could really injure him, so he held onto his arm to ensure that the pain was felt without causing damage to the nerves, moving his joints skillfully.
Yet somehow, it might appear as if he were realigning a dislocated arm.
And in the next instant, the festival management came to carry Jack out on a stretcher.
At this moment too, Luke was still holding Jack’s hand, probably to re-align the joint he had deliberately dislocated so that there were no signs of violence when they reached the hospital.
But his gesture might have also seemed like a comforting action until the end.
Finally, with the problem gone, he smiled, waving goodbye in a manner that could look like, “Hope you make it to the hospital safely!”
“…”
Having confirmed all those scenes, Luke couldn’t help but smile faintly.
Isolating those moments, to them, it looked like he was akin to a hero.
‘Is there such a stroke of luck?’
Well, that makes sense.
Psychologically, people tend to cover for a good-looking person even if they were a criminal.
Luke’s unique appearance made it very easy to create a positive first impression.
From the perspective of ordinary people, would they really think that a teenage girl knew how to dislocate and re-align a person’s joint?
Naturally, they would view him more as a helper rather than someone causing harm.
‘This appearance is really doing wonders.’
After casually muttering somewhat self-absorbed thoughts to himself, Luke couldn’t help but ask with a face full of curiosity.
“But even if they know this, how do people find out about our café?”
“Haha, haha. I advertised in the comments of the video. It was a total hit!”
Luke was amazed when he saw the number of ‘hearts’ and ‘replies’ to Kaila’s promotional comment in the video that read, “This kid isn’t a maid, but a student! They are currently running a maid café with the baking club! There are delicious drinks and desserts! The location is-.”
“Mom said that using Luminous wisely would help, and wow, it really does!”
“…Indeed. That’s true.”
Luke thought that perhaps he should look into marketing through the telepathy network instead of just sticking up flyers himself in the future.
The effects were better than he’d expected.
It seemed that Luke’s distinctive and cute face, coupled with the warm atmosphere of the maid service and the touching incident being intertwined with the festival event, had led to rapid dissemination, resulting in a significant promotional boost…
But the problem was that this was completely fabricated.
“…”
Well, isn’t it better if things turned out well?
People misunderstood and assumed positive things by themselves; besides, he hadn’t directly said anything, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?
‘That’s right. Exactly that.’
“Well then, leaving that aside, why was it that for all this time, not a single person came?”
“Oh! That’s what it is! Ah, this part is hilarious!”
“Hilarious? Did you figure out the reason?”
Kaila clapped her hands joyfully, seemingly in disbelief at her own thoughts.
“Our quality in interior decoration and props was so high that people thought it was a place only for maids and their employers to come and buy! Isn’t that ridiculous?”
“…What?”
Luke facepalmed at Kaila’s comment.
He was surprised that trying to improve the quality had impacted things in such a way.
He wished he had moderated his efforts a bit.
