The gentleman sat in silence for a bit. Boipelo doing something on his laptop. While Artyom was scrolling on his phone. After some more time has passed, it was Artyom that finally broke the silence. “Bruno is more irritable than usual today, isn’t he?” Artyom snickered.

“We could just sit here in silence.” Boipelo said, without looking up from his computer.

Artyom let out a big breath. “I see you are in one of your moods again today.” He said. Beoipelo remained silent and just kept typing on his laptop.

“Whatever, bro, I’m going to stretch my legs. There’s no reason to be so cold all the time.” Artyom said, getting up and leaving the car in the same direction Bruno went.

A few minutes of time passed before Artyom returned. When he got back, he took his seat across from Boipelo, leaning over, shutting Boipelo’s laptop. “Listen, man, let me talk some actual business alright.”

Boipelo looked at his coworker with narrow eyes as if he were a predator looking at its prey that disturbed it from its sleep. “Make it quick.” He said.

Artyom raised his hands in defense. “Relax, man, there’s no reason to get so intense.” So, I am looking to break away from Bruno and launch my own channel, and I want to take you as my editor.”

Boipelo didn’t say a word and just looked at him.

“Listen Boipelo, we both know Bruno’s career is slowly collapsing. His viewership has been on the decline for the past 8 months. His subscriber’s growth compared to the last 4 years is awful. We should bail before everything collapse. Haven’t you heard the king and the horse analogy?” Artyom said.

Boipelo continued to look at him. It was as if he was just analyzing each word of the traitor in his organization.

“Do you know what the difference between a king and his horse? If their form, ability, and power are exactly the same, why is it that one becomes the king and leads them into battle, while the other becomes the horse and carries the king? So, what’s the characteristic that distinguishes these two beings? There’s only one answer. It’s instinct.” Artyom said. Sitting back in the chair, he took a sip of the bottle of water in front of him.

Putting the glass down, he continued, “In fact, it forms the very essence of our being—Deep within our body lies the honed instinct to dominate, and take everything that we can. Bruno doesn’t have that. He’s weak and becoming less and less relevant each day. I don’t know about you, Boipelo. But I refuse to play horse with a king who’s weaker than me. In this world, if Bruno isn’t willing to assert his strength and keep the crown, then I’ll overtake him. Which means…… I’ll be king.”

Boipelo looked down at his watch. “You know Artyom Smirnoff. I suspected of a while that you were planning to back stab Bruno. That’s why I took over editing all the videos for each platform.” Then Boipelo pulled out his pulled out his phone and typed something. “Now I know that his subscribers and viewership has be on the sharp decline. Actually, let me offer you an analogy. Have you heard of the Emperor with No Clothes?”

“No, I haven’t heard that one.” Artyom said. Realizing he just shot himself in the foot because his leg bounced up and down.

Boipelo looked up from his phone. He locked it then put it in his pocket and then continued. “There were 5 thieves walking into town. The thieves did not have any clothes besides underwear. One thief had a great idea to pretend they were the emperor and then we can tell them to give us some money as a sign of their affection. Thinking this is a great idea, they rig up a chair that four can carry and one can sit. Then he, the man who made the idea, gets on the chair. The group goes into the town. All the towns’ people see the men carrying the man on the chair and the villagers are excited that an emperor is in town. They don’t know where he’s from, but he’s an emperor. As they are about to throw money, but an old man says ‘Wait, the emperor has no clothes’”

Artyom looked confused. “I’m not sure what that story means.”

“The old man could spot them as frauds because no emperor would be caught in public without their clothes. So essentially Artyom, you may gain some popularity for a while, and you may even make a ton of money. But it won’t last because you will only be a copy, a fraud of the original.” Boipelo gets up and heading the direction Bruno went to the bathroom.

Artyom sucked his teeth and went back to his phone. The pieces are lining up against Artyom, and he is most likely the Killer Moderator. He plans to overthrow Bruno and wants to rally everyone against him. The motive is there, but when will he strike?

Boipelo was only gone for a few minutes, then he returned to his seat. The men sat there in silence for quite some time. Boipelo typed on his laptop, while Artyom continued to look at his phone. Boipelo was the first to break the silence. “Bruno is not back yet? He’s been gone for a while.”

Artyom looked up from his phone. “Yeah, I was beginning to ask myself that same question myself.”

Both of the gentleman stood up, and they walked in the direction Bruno went to the bathroom.

I got up from my seat to follow them, then there was a scream that was heard throughout the whole train. The editors ran in the direction, me and a few other men followed behind them. I could only assume the moderator stuck and none of us were there to stop him.