My Mr. Mermaid

Untitled Part 18

Chapter 18: Tang Yi-Bai Is Here

June 29, 2019 by ryuxenji

Tang Yi-Bai is here!

This was the headline of the general sports section in 'Sports Weekly' the next day.

By usual logic, neither the Winter Championships nor Tang Yi-Bai was headliner material, but Tang Yi-Bai just had to have broken a record, bringing forward the Asian record by a whole 0.3 seconds in one go. This was unprecedented, and taken together with the hype over his previous challenge towards Arbussy, Tang Yi-Bai was a very hot topic.

And so the newspaper agency published a headline for Tang Yi-Bai on account of 'this person is on a meteoric rise'.

Yun Duo was rather disgruntled. Thinking back, just a month ago, her manuscript on Tang Yi-Bai had been scrapped so casually, and now? News on him so easily made the headline! Oh, life! So thrilling in its dramatic ups and downs!

Done with her musings, she flipped through her agency's newspaper, very narcissistically admiring the headline article she had written. The news piece not only recorded Tang Yi-Bai's strong performance in the arena yesterday, but also included some introductory information on Tang Yi-Bai. It was rich in content, containing both text and pictures. Yesterday, once the editorial department had confirmed that they would be using Tang Yi-Bai as a headline, they had immediately notified Yun Duo that the agency would require more information on the man. Yun Duo did not dissemble, quickly organizing all the manuscripts and pictures she had compiled from interviews since she had come to know Tang Yi-Bai.

The agency finally settled on three pictures, two of them from the event yesterday. One had been taken during the competition, a frontal close-up of Tang Yi-Bai in mid-stroke through the waves. His broad shoulders, powerful and tensed upper arm muscles, and slightly austere face behind the goggles all contributed to his domineering aura of a king within the water. The other photo selected was of the podium. Tang Yi-Bai stood in the middle holding up a bouquet of flowers, while beside him, Qi Rui-Feng was looking at him with a soft smile, his entire expression filled with joy and blessing. This snapshot received the accolades of the agency. As an Olympics champion, Qi Rui-Feng was actually a rather proud and boastful person; for Tang Yi-Bai to be treated so by the proud Qi Rui-Feng, it was clear to see how special he was. Furthermore, it was a widely spread rumour that Qi Rui-Feng was a divo with an attitude who did not get along with his teammates, but this photo suggested that that may not be the truth.

The third photo was the one Yun Duo had taken of Tang Yi-Bai standing beneath the gingko trees, charming and handsome, with the library and teaching areas of the Sports University in the far distance. Even further away in the background was the pure deep blue skies unique to autumn.

Tang Yi-Bai had only resumed competing not too long ago and he was also extremely low-key in terms of personality. As such, those working in the media circles did not have much information on him. In comparison, Yun Duo's interviews could already be considered a rich trove of information. She then added some little touches (after obtaining permission from the person in question) — such as how Tang Yi-Bai was remarkably calm in the face of criticism, believing that results were the most powerful response — and arranged the information together, and the resulting article suddenly became exclusive news. Many web media sites reposted the article on that day itself. Yun Duo's insignificant little name attached to the end of the news article was thus spread around everywhere in this manner.

At the same time, the discussions online were also changing.

Before this, there were quite a lot of people waiting before their television sets or on the online streaming sites for Tang Yi-Bai to be smacked in the face by his own arrogance, but in the end, Tang Yi-Bai was the one who gave them a harsh slap instead by breaking the Asian record. Such results made many of those who had been prepared with a bellyful of vitriol to just shut up. They would never admit they had been wrong. They would just silently leave, pretending they had never been here, had never done those stupid things they had, had never been made a fool of by some of the media. In this day and age where free speech on the internet was a surging beast, as the maelstrom of a scandal reached the end of its development, the best outcome one could wish for was no more than a quick and silent return to calm. The victim would not dare to hope for more; they would not naively attempt to seek justice from the media or the netizens.