The Mysterious Black Magician

Finally, the start of the second half of the final round was about to start.

Yman and the others were already marching towards the stage to represent themselves as the finalists. 

Everyone was full of determination to win. Their eyes were on fire. Though, only Yman had a usual calm demeanor.

Kiko, on the other hand, had an unusual grin on his face. Most of the audience was shouting his name a while ago when he was monitoring the betting event. Though, his MTMD battery got emptied a second before the countdown hit zero. However, he was certain that no one could surpass the bets he received.

Even Almina was far behind him.

While they were walking towards the stage, they noticed the atmosphere was kinda unusual. Just a while ago, they could hear the lively shouts of the audience. But now, why did everyone suddenly fall silent? They wondered why it seemed as though the plaza was deserted.

But when their feet stepped on the stage. They noticed the plaza was full of people. However, everyone's gaze was not on them.

Suddenly, 

"Hehehe…"

They heard a chuckle. Yman glanced at where the chuckle came from. It was from Kiko. He wondered what this idiot was so happy about.

The others also wondered why Kiko suddenly chuckled. On the contrary, everyone else was wondering about the strange atmosphere around the audience. 

Then, Kiko glared at Yman. "Didn't you hear the recent announcement?" 

He asked. His eyes were scanning all of them. He wasn't only asking Yman, but all of them.

Yman and the others frowned as they did not hear any announcement. They were so focused on their stuff inside their private room.

Still, the audiences were having stunned faces, though they heard some whispers like "unbelievable…"

However, their attention was on Kiko, who suddenly walked ahead of them. "I see. You didn't hear the announcement, huh," Kiko said with a smug.

Meanwhile, most of the audience's attention was not on them.

Kiko continued saying, "There was an announcement recently, saying that whoever comes out at the top of the betting will receive the most popular award and have the privilege to receive a special reward!" Kiko's face was facing below and his shoulders began shaking when he started to chuckle.

The others had an expression of "o" upon hearing it. Right, they didn't hear it.

"Yman, do you know about it?"

Almina stood beside him and asked him. But it was also the first time he heard it. He shook his head. 

"No," then threw back the question. "How about you?" 

Almina also shook her head. "Same. I don't either."

"I see. Well, looking at the others, it looks like none of them knew about it as well…" he paused for a moment and asked the person on his other side. "How about you, Maena?"

"Uh?!"

Maena was quite surprised. She did not expect her name to be called by this man.

"Uh—eh, I…!" Maena bit her lips when she noticed she got flustered, then secretly reprimanded herself. 'Tsk! Why do I sound so flustered? Damn self! He will think I am weird.'

She heaved a deep sigh.

Yman and Almina were staring at her, wondering if she was fine. She looked like she was troubled by something, though.

Then they noticed she slowly opened her mouth. "I don't either…" she replied in a cold voice, though it sounded forced.

"I see," Yman said with a bead of sweat at the back of his head. "It looks like the others too hadn't heard it. Probably only Kiko hears it."

"Right," Almina agreed to him.

"R-Regardless, a special reward, what could it be?"

Maena added.

"Money?" Almina whispered.

"I don't think it is," Maena shook her head.

"Well, based on Kiko's tone of speaking, it looks like they did not announce it. Perhaps to add spice and entice the audience to support their favored contestants more," Yman said his speculation.

"I see. That must be it." Maena and Almina agreed to him.

While the three of them were talking, Kiko secretly sent a glare at them.

'Just wait, frog!' He whispered in his mind in a cold voice. 

"Now, everyone! Look at the betting poll!" Kiko said as he raised his finger, pointing above, to where the large monitor was hanging.

There was a sadistic grin on his face as he did it.

In Kiko's mind, 'Ehehe! Now, show me your sweet envy!' He was delighted at these fools.

After Kiko did it, they followed to where he was pointing. Just then, everyone instantly gawked.

"What!"

"How!"

"For real?!"

"OMG!"

Even Yman, who always acted calm, had his jaw dropped on the ground. It was just surreal!

Now, they finally understand why the audience was showing such similar expressions.

"Hehehe…" Kiko secretly loves the expressions on their faces.

At that moment, 

"O-one million…?" A mutter was carried by the wind and reached Kiko's ears.

'What? One million?' Although he managed to gather many connections from rich people in the city, he did not expect that they would bet such a huge amount. At most, he estimated it would reach 500,000. But, one million? That's beyond his expectation.

Regardless, wasn't it much better? Kiko thought so.

Then he chuckled. "Hehehe!"

However, everyone's attention was on the monitor.

"Now! Everyone! Don't feel envy—-" 

"Congratulations Yman! You got the top spot!" Almina suddenly exclaimed.

"Wha—!" Kiko froze on the spot upon hearing it. Then he hastily glanced at the monitor.

Just then, he transformed into a block of ice. "H-how did it happen…?" He muttered in disbelief. But no one heard it. Everyone was saying their congratulations to Yman. They already forget Kiko existed. However, what the hell was happening!!!

He wanted to shout.

In truth, it's not only Kiko who was surprised by it, even Yman himself was surprised as well.

But he could guess who was the person behind it.

A while ago, before the countdown hit zero, someone betted 10,000 Imperial Coins. Since one Imperial coin was equal to 100 gold points, it was 1,000,000 gold points in total. However, everyone was wondering who was the rich person who betted such a large amount of money.. Even the VIPs turned pale at the amount.