Recap Episode!

"You fucking buffoon! Can't you even fix a simple mistake like this?! What then do I pay your sorry ass for?!" an annoyed, fat-looking man furiously lashed out at his employee, Peter, a young newbie at their company on an early Monday morning.

The fat man was the Editor-In-Chief of their small publication company, and he was currently complaining about a very tiny mistake where Peter had omitted the word 'a' that was linking two sentences together in their published magazine.

This was not the first time he was doing it and everyone at the office knew that their boss just hated Peter because the young chap had won an award for his skills at a popular writing contest which their boss had also partaken in.

Furious that someone that was beneath his hierarchy and working for him could even win against him, the editor then made it his job to make the young man's life a living hell at the office every, blessed day.

Bowing his head while apologizing, the young man soon left after his boss's spit had painted his face while muttering to himself.

"It was you! You went through it yesterday you damn pig and you said it was alright. Fucking bastard! That's why this company will never grow!"

"What did you say you little fuck?!" the editor suddenly called out after him and Peter responded while replying with a wide, fake, happy smile on his face.

"Nothing boss! Just praising your immaculately sleek hairstyle. Really brings out your hidden charms!"

Some people in the office coughed at those words from Peter while some almost exploded into laughter.

Why?

Because the editor was a baldy who only had a small tuft of hair in the middle of his head.

Not really understanding the sarcasm behind his words though, the fatty gently stroked his small tuft of hair with a proud expression while speaking.

"Well at least you have a good eye. Now get out of my sight. I get migraines just by staring at you" he dismissed the young man.

Quickly scurrying along, Peter swiftly went back to his small cubicle and sighed.

Retrieving his smartphone, he navigated to a popular app called webnovel, quickly checking out the progress of his very first novel.

'Wow… 1.5M views within just fifty chapters! Shouldn't I just quit this shitty job at this point?!' he inwardly exclaimed, unable to believe the massive traction his fantasy novel was gaining.

Considering he was from a third-world country, the potential gains he could make in the form of finances was more or less, nothing short of freedom.

That being said, Peter had never really given much thought to publishing a novel before in his life but, when a friend of his had introduced him to the platform, he had seriously begun to consider it due to the ease that came with it.

Not really expecting much from his very first novel though, Peter had decided to test the waters and see if it could work out for him by writing about a great fantasy idea that had always been playing around in his head since his high-school days.

What he had never expected however, was how his novel would have gotten this popular in just a month.

As Peter was pondering over this situation, a notification from his ViewTube app suddenly popped up and he smiled the moment he saw it.

[Rising Voices Recap Episode: Full Feature!]

Considering he had spent all of his Sunday writing and rewriting an article about a popular actor in Hollywood found at an orgy party which his pig of an editor had forced him to do, even though he didn't want to or enjoy doing it, the young man was unable to watch his favorite comfort-show yesterday night.

Looking around and ensuring everyone else was busy doing their own thing, the young man retrieved his ear buds and quickly clicked on the notification with giddy excitement.

Soon, Peter even forgot he was in his office and became so engrossed in what he was watching.

The episode started off with a few words of greetings and pleasantries from the host of the show.

Following up after, Chris's voice then gave a short explanation as to how the themes for each round were selected before the video then transitioned over to the three judges of the show and their creative producer having an entertaining discussion between themselves.

Further giving a deeper expository into how the themes were selected and how Howard had gotten the idea for the blind auditions, the show then transitioned into the meat of the episode, actual contestants themselves performing their chosen songs.

Although the previous conversation between the judges was entertaining to Peter, what he was really after was the best performances of the top contestants so far.

It didn't take long before those performances were shown and the young man was thoroughly satisfied again by each of them.

He wasn't particularly supporting any contestant if he was being completely honest and he really only watched the show for its fun factor.

This season was really turning out to be a smash-hit for the producers of the show and it seemed like the viewers around the world were really enjoying it so Peter genuinely hoped that they could keep up with this momentum.

However, believing that the recap episode had nothing else to give after all the performances were shown, the man was surprised to see about forty-minutes left before the video ended.

[Well, you've seen the contestants perform on stage and you know how talented they all are. But, do you know what kind of people they are when they aren't onstage? Let's take a look!]

Immediately Peter heard that narration from Chris, his attention was once again piqued and he soon found himself just enjoying the snippets of the mundane lives of the show's contestant as they trained, played about and just did day-to-day things.

There were even a few snippets showing the sights some of the contestants went to visit and Peter soon noticed Helena, Ryan, Katie, Steven and Joe among those shown in the video.

In addition to that, a short video of Lily performing a particular complex violin piece was also included and the young employee couldn't help but comment inwardly with an impressed tone.

'Damn… So darn talented…'

The production team however, always looking for a way to spice things up, had went on to also add a peculiarly funny fight between two contestants whom had already been eliminated.

Trying his best to suppress his laughter due to how one of the two contestants in the fight had pulled the other's pants down in their fight to reveal his pink boxer with red hearts, Peter tightly held his mouth.

Eventually, as that scene passed by, the young man kept watching as the video transitioned over to snippets of Kyle humming as he cooked multiple delectable dishes in the kitchen.

'Good Lord! That's some high-level chef skills right there!' Peter thought to himself, his mouth watering at the dishes.

Soon, the video cut to the moment Kyle entered the brightly lit living room of the hotel at night with the sumptuous dishes, five contestants sitting about and discussing mundane things.

The young man recognized all of them as Lily, Katie, Steven, Ryan and Joe, all of whom along with Kyle himself, were among the top contestants to watch out for this season.

Enjoying the fun conversation that was being exchanged between them, Peter especially listened intently when the part where Lily was playfully asking Kyle about why he didn't just pursue cooking as a job came up.

---

"Say Kyle. Really, why join this crazy show when you have skills that would equally ensure you a stable life outside of it?"

"Hmmm… Well, that's because passion can be a curse Lily"

"How so?"

"You want the serious answer or you want me to play along?"

"Hmmm… let me in on the serious one first"

"Well, just like me, and all of you here, I'm sure there's one thing or the other that you can all do to effectively live a stable life…"

"But you won't do it because you don't love it as much as wanting to be a well-known artist or a star. You might even be willing to make big-tradeoffs and sacrifices just to reach it. I don't recommend that though. Usually leads to eventual disaster…"

---

'I couldn't agree more…' Peter smiled to himself, agreeing with Kyle's every word.

'I actually like this guy. He's pretty mature. That was very insightful' the man nodded to himself, already beginning to have a favorite contestant.

However, what really sealed the deal for him, was when Lily had then asked him about the other answer.

---

"And now, you play along! What's the other answer?"

"So, I'd rather be here, cursed to be on this show, doing what I love, than have some foul-mouthed, rude, short-tempered, blonde-haired, sassy British chef, calling me an idiot sandwich!"

---

The moment Peter heard those words from Kyle in his almost near perfect British accent, he instantly burst into laughter, his loud voice startling everyone in the office, including the Editor-In-Chief who was not happy at the occurrence at all.

However, Peter who didn't even care at this point anymore, soon stopped his laughter after a while, already knowing that his boss would soon make his way over regardless in a few moments.

'Passion can be a curse huh…'

'It can also be a gift too…'

'But why then am I even wasting my skills at this company when I'm not even able to write about the things I love…'

'Why not just drop this damn bore of a job and actually focus on what I'm best at even if it might not work out easily. Won't I be happier that way?'

Pondering over these thoughts in a span of mere seconds, Peter soon gained enlightenment as he came to decision.

Bringing his attention back to the screen though as the video was about to end, the young man widened his eyes in a wave of surprise when Chris began to explain something that he had never expected them to do considering they had never even done it in the past seasons!

[Starting upper week, Rising Voices, for the very first time, will make use of a voting system! Contestants' performances from thereon henceforth will be livestreamed to viewers all around the world!]

[So get your phones ready as the link for the app you will be using to vote will either be shown here on the screen for those who are watching through cable TV or will be placed in the details section ViewTube description!]

[Time limit to download the app will only be available till upper week so don't lose your chance to download it. Remember, the fate of your favorite contestants, will soon be lying in your hands!]

And with that, the video finally came to an end and Peter slowly removed his ear buds as he spotted his boss trudging over like a sack of meatloaf, his potbelly jiggling like jelly.

Walking up to him with a pissed expression on his face, the fat man began to scream at Peter again in fury, his spit splattering across the young man' s face.

This time though, Peter just casually got up, and with the calmest possible voice, uttered a few words that absolutely shell-shocked his boss while donning a very gentle smile.

"I quit baldy-locks"

And then, before his pig of a boss could even process his words, the young man delivered a hot knuckle sandwich to the man's face, a satisfying grin on his lips!

A year from then, Peter would eventually go on to be interviewed about how his novel became so insanely popular and what spurred him on to become a full-time webnovel author, a question to which he would end up replying to with the words; 'Kyle Kestis's commentary on passion being a curse are what spurred me on.'

* * *

Lily and Katie casually opened the doors and strolled into their theatre club while having a pretty mundane discussion.

The moment they did though, most of the ladies in their club quickly rushed over!

<You got to eat his meals. No fair…> Christina had a script sheet in her hands with that sentence boldly written on it in caps.

"Dammit! I envy you guys!"

"You got to stay in such proximity to an absolute charmer of a guy!"

"Come on! Tell us more about him! How is he so mature yet playfully witty at the same time?!"

"How many times did he cook for you guys?! Be honest! Were those dishes just as tasteful as they looked?!"

"Give us his social media handles! I'm sure you guys must have it!"

A bit taken aback yet not also completely surprised by their reactions, Lily and Katie just sighed in resignation at the grown-ass ladies who were behaving like total fan-girls.

Just a few days ago when he had arrived back at college, most of them had pestered them over wanting to know more about him but they had decided not to say a thing because they wanted to respect Kyle's privacy.

Even now, they along with Ryan, were still planning to maintain their status-quo.

"Listen guys. He'll probably come over again today… hopefully…" Katie explained and Lily completed her sentence.

"And when dreamboat actually does, you can ask him about everything you wanna know!" she gestured while spreading her arms out wide.