Jackson was filling out an application form when he received a call from Chanyeol.
Usually, he would not even bother with answering the phone. However, due to Chanyeol’s persistence, he simply had no choice but to give in to him. It was at this moment that he understood why Lisa put certain individuals in her blacklist. If this continued any longer, he would not think twice before blacklisting people like Chanyeol.
“Don’t you want to patent your cell fusion process? I’m gonna be your investor! Just tell me how much you need!” Chanyeol sounded genuine about this.
Jackson flipped through the papers to confirm its terms. “I gotta say, your proposal is really tempting but this decision is not mine to make. Unfortunately, I am not the owner of this patent nor am I responsible for discovering this process. You should find her if you want to go through with this plan of yours.”
“What? You’re saying that this isn’t your creation?” Chanyeol was shocked. “Then who is she?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? She’s a prodigy student from A University.” Jackson gritted his teeth upon telling him this.
“Then what should I do now?” Chanyeol’s voice sounded despondent over the phone. He thought that he could use his connection with Jackson as a leverage for his plan.
Jackson booted up his computer. “I’m gonna send her number to you. You should talk to her directly about this. Though, I highly doubt that she would accept it so easily. There will be a huge competition between investors should this patent be approved, and that includes international organizations so I wish you good luck.”
He was about to hang up the call.
“Wait!” yelled Chanyeol. “There’s something else!”
“Cut to the chase!”
“… I heard your master’s coming back?” Chanyeol thought back to the thread he read last night; it seemed pretty legit to him.
“My master?” Jackson raised his brow. “Relax, he won’t be after your asses for now. They’re still holding onto him there and it’ll be at least one month before he returns.”
He had no idea what his master was going through nor why he kept demanding to return but because his research was still incomplete, there was no way they would let him back so early.
Chanyeol hung up upon receiving answers to his questions. It was after he had confirmed the time with Nine Heavens that he received a string of numbers from Jackson.
This number… seemed familiar.
Chanyeol thought about his approach before deciding to use the Tang Enterprise as a big fat bait to lure the other party into his deal. Then, he finally tapped on the line of numbers.
“Hello?” A cold and distant voice sounded from the earpiece.
Lisa’s voice was so distinct that Chanyeol recognized who it was in a split second. With a stiff voice, he replied, “I’m sorry, I’ve dialed the wrong number.”
“…”
Face devoid of emotions, Lisa hung up the phone.
“What’s up?” asked Jungkook.
“Nothing, it’s just a wrong call,” replied Lisa as she rubbed her nose.
Chanyeol proceeded to spam Jackson’s phone with calls, one after the other. Jackson was so infuriated that he wanted to mail a bottle of sulfuric acid over to that bastard immediately! “Big brother, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
“Perhaps you have forgotten to tell me that the prodigy you spoke of is Lalisa?” Chanyeol sank into his thoughts for a while after hanging up. People working in the medical field should be fairly careful when dealing with matters so ruling out all other possibilities, that person must really have been Lisa herself!
Thus, he decided to call Jackson to confirm his suspicion.
“That’s right! Of course I wouldn’t say that!” Jackson suddenly came to his senses. “How do you know her?”
“I’m not particularly close to her but I am familiar with who she is.” Chanyeol was confused.
“You know who she is but you are unaware that she is the owner of this patent?” Jackson found it hard to react to this situation.
Chanyeol searched his mind before answering, “Something tells me that only a handful of your people know about this matter.”
Considering how ‘earth-shattering’ Jackson said this patent would be, it was surprising how little it was publicized on the news. In fact, he had never heard her talk about this. She was maintaining way too low of a profile for a person her age. How old was she? Twenty? Weren’t people her age supposed to be going at each other’s throats to be credited for such achievements? Even the older folks in research would make it a big deal if such a game-changing process was indeed formulated.
Thinking back, even Jackson was all the rage in the capital for his achievements. How could she be so calm about this?
“It isn’t just your premonition. It is simply the truth!” It was as if Jackson had finally found someone he could channel his complaints toward. “She’s nothing but a slacker! That girl’s got the brains but she refuses to be serious whenever actual work is concerned. I believe you’ve got a taste of what I’m talking about when she tried her luck in acting! God! Thinking about her makes my heart ache!”
Chanyeol did not expect Jackson to be such a chatterbox. However, what he said suddenly reminded him of Sejin.
“Don’t you ever talk about this in front of Sejin. He thinks that she’s born to act. If you ever tell him that she’s a member of your research team, no doubt, he’d come looking for a fight immediately.” Chanyeol was clueless as to how he was supposed to react to this.
“You think it’ll change anything? Let me tell you this, even if she’s not working here at the laboratory, no way she’ll take her acting job seriously.” Jackson rolled his eyes. It’ll be a fairy tale if she one day decides to take her job seriously, considering how extremely fearful she was of solving problems.
Chanyeol hung up the call. He lit himself a cigarette and sucked in a large lungful of tobacco smoke.
Typically, this method was effective in calming down his emotions.
They were standing from different positions so naturally, what they saw was different. Unlike Jackson who had decided that she was a lost cause, Chanyeol started evaluating Lisa.
When he first bumped into Lisa, he initially thought that there was no way she could be successful in the years to come. This was because by staying with Jungkook alone, it would have inevitably invited envious eyes from countless powerful people from the ancient martial arts world. However, he soon realized what a nightmare it would be to offend this little devil. What’s more, there was an insanely powerful family who had their backs.
Then, he got a taste of how immense her mental strength was the second time he bumped into her. Although he wasn’t able to detect the chi waves contained in her body, he knew instantly after sensing it that she was no ordinary human.
After hearing what Jackson had to say, he couldn’t help but ponder if Lisa had already surpassed the requirements for one to join the ancient martial arts world. In fact, it was also possible that she would create uproar in that world by doing so.
If he actually knew about her ancient martial arts level, no doubt, he would fall from his chair out of surprise.
It would not only cause an uproar in the ancient martial arts world if her identity were revealed but also the reshuffling of power in their domain.
***
Lisa had completed her oil painting. Seeing how she wasn’t going to snap a photo of it, Jungkook picked up his phone and took it himself.
A Flowing River: [JPEG] All done @ForAMillenium
His account was almost microscopic. Virtually all his followers were automatically-generated bots created by the system so everything was eerily quiet when he uploaded the post.
Lisa shot him a glance. “Brother Jungkook! I didn’t know you were a Weibo user!”
Jungkook responded with an unamused look. “The things I have to do in order to stay up-to-date.”
Weibo wasn’t the only new thing he had on his phone. He had also installed WeChat on his phone.
After refreshing her news feed, Lisa liked his new post. She was about to exit the app when her eyes suddenly noticed a message marked in red.
The hottest, most-searched topic was related to the movie star, Song Suzy. The both of them were mutual followers and they even chatted for a while just last night.
And yet, here was some bad press about Suzy on the headlines.
‘Nudes of the suspected movie star, Song Suzy in bed leaked. Rumors of her corrupt private life spreading like wildfire.’
‘Here’s some gossip about Song Suzy’s sugar-daddies.’
***
Related articles started springing up like mushrooms after the rain.
Somebody had obviously paid an Internet Water Army to blackmail Suzy. Lisa glanced through the articles and came to the conclusion that her blackmailer was different from the one from before. Everybody was keen to know more about the movie star’s private life. To make matters worse, the posters of these articles were all well-known Weibo users. Some were even media outlets, who specialized in reporting news about the entertainment industry. It took only a couple of seconds for Suzy to be buried alive by blackmail.
Countless people started sharing these articles, meaning the blackmail was going on with full effect.
Lisa’s brows were tightly knitted as she studied the entire thing, including videos, pictures and the slanderous remarks about her friend. It seemed flawless, as if everything had already been planned beforehand. The puppetmaster behind this was trying his best to end Suzy’s acting career once and for all.
She had just returned from overseas? Why was someone trying to target her?
“Brother Jungkook, I’d like to go to Studio City.” If Suzy’s blackmailing got out of hand, ‘Empire Under Siege’ might very well be under threat too. Judging from Suzy’s personality, she probably would decide to quit the cast and Cheng Zhou would no doubt be strongly against this.
She couldn’t allow Rosé’s first movie to fail like this. Anyway, she was also planning to meet up with Jieun in Studio City to discuss a potential contract.
Jungkook had nothing going on in his life as of late so apart from being her driver, he would also serve as her personal attendant.
If the people back in the ancient martial arts world knew about how carefree Big Boss Jeon’s life actually was, no doubt, they would start coughing up blood.
***
Rumors of Suzy exploded like a bomb, turning the entire frontpage of Weibo into a bloodbath. As if by sheer coincidence, Lisa’s Weibo account too exploded from popularity.
Lisa had just started fiddling with Weibo and whichever post she liked would magically appear on the front page.
And so, when the post of ‘A Flowing River’ appeared in one of her liked posts, countless of her followers scrambled around excitedly.
【Ahhhhh! Who’s this lucky man?! Why is he in a relationship with my goddess?!】
【Stop talking smack! Look closely! This is an oil painting that my Lalisa completed! Ahh! This work of art is so beautiful I might explode!】
【Am I the only one who noticed the two shadows on the floor?! From his shadow alone, I can guarantee you that the owner of this account is handsome as heck!】
【Shadow! Just look at that slender shadow! I wonder if he’s got the right proportions. I wonder if his face is equally as stunning as his lover’s!】
【I support the JinLis cp!】
【Isn’t it a fact that they are together?】
【JinLis shippers are probably gonna die crying in their bathrooms!】
***
The duo, who were on their way to Studio City was completely oblivious to the heated discussion that was currently going on. Also, Jungkook had no idea that his followers had already breached ten thousand in a matter of minutes. This expansion of his fanbase wasn’t slowing down either.
At the filming set of ‘Empire Under Siege’, Cheng Zhou was sternly barking commands at his cameramen.
Suzy changed into her own clothes before walking up to the director and flashing him a smile. “Director Cheng, I think it would be best if you switched over to a new female lead. This situation is getting increasingly out of hand and the Tang Enterprise’s PR team is still struggling to get this under control. Since I’ve just started working with you, finding another actress for my role shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, I think.”
She didn’t expect her blackmailing to turn out so bad. Her opponent was well-prepared with enough evidence to back up their claims. The false news was so convincing that she would start to doubt reality if not for how sure she was that she did not conduct in the alleged activities.
Even her co-workers started to give her weird looks after the rumors exploded all over the internet.
The ‘evidence’ spreading around the internet was simply too real.
A turmoil of such proportions was comparable to the leaked nudes of a certain A-list celebrity from back then. It appeared that her career in acting would be coming to an end.
Suzy was clueless as to who would spend so much effort in trying to blackmail her.
It must’ve cost the person an astronomical amount to be able to fabricate the supposed ‘evidence’ as well as to buy his way into the well-known gossip accounts. Even the mighty Tang Enterprise scratched their heads while attempting to locate flaws in the false accusations.
“I have switched actors in the middle of a filming project before, but you should know that I absolutely won’t get someone to fill in your shoes this time. I trust that you aren’t the person they are talking about.” Cheng Zhou was calm and collected when responding to Suzy.
No doubt, Suzy was moved by the director’s words but precisely because of this, she was adamant about leaving the cast.
Cheng Zhou had spilled blood, sweat, and tears into this project; she simply could not put the effort of their entire team to waste. “The right to terminate our contract remains in my hand. Switch actresses, Director Cheng.”
“What are you doing! I want you to re-do this scene all over again!” Cheng Zhou started raging again. “Old Xiang! Come here now!”
Sejin was also aware of what was going on. After spending such a long time in the entertainment industry, he knew just how serious the matter was. In this regard, he was far more rational than Cheng Zhou. “Director Cheng, I would advise you to let her leave the cast. What she needs most right now is to step out of the limelight. You’re aiming for an academy award aren’t you? If so, I don’t think it’s suitable for you to use Suzy in your film.”
Cheng Zhou smashed the pen he held in his hand into the ground furiously. He went silent afterward.
The people present all looked over in horror. They started whispering to each other out of fear of angering the already steaming Cheng Zhou.
Noon was soon approaching and yet the entire crew was already visibly bummed out.
Suddenly, the appearance of two familiar silhouettes brought life back into their atmosphere.
That beautiful face and that serene smile she wore, it inevitably gave the entire film crew a sense of reassurance.
“What’s up?” Lisa smiled as she greeted her friends. She felt something off about the atmosphere here at the filming set. Also, she noticed Cheng Zhou’s sullen expression. She turned to face Rosé. “Is Director Cheng angry with something?”
Rosé sighed. “Senior Song’s leaving the cast.”
Lisa expected this to happen but she did not expect the movie star to be so decisive. It was only the very beginning and yet she was already so sure that she was going to quit the cast.
***
“Director Cheng, I won’t say anything much to everyone, you can let them know on my behalf after I’m gone,” Suzy said to Cheng Zhou with a smile on her face. Her assistant had already packed her things. She didn’t expect that she would have to leave the set after just a few days.
“Why are you leaving?” asked a voice from behind.
Suzy spun around to meet a pair of shining bright eyes, like a sea of stars in the night sky. Still, the look in her eyes was not an accusation.
Suzy chuckled to herself. She was satisfied with the outcome. While a great deal of people were against her, she was relieved to see a handful still standing on her side. She was also surprised at how easily she was satisfied this time. “It’s because of the news spreading around the internet that I don’t have a choice but to leave this cast. It’s for their sake.”
Many of her friends had started distancing themselves from her the moment news about her scandal broke out this morning.
They all were just trying to protect themselves and although Suzy understood why they did what they did, she couldn’t help but feel her heart go numb. Some of them were close friends she had made five years ago. It was only a few days before this that they took a picture together. Who would’ve thought that she would delete all posts related to Suzy and worse still, write a long paragraph, denying the existence of their friendship the moment this scandal broke out.
Some even tried to use this as an opportunity to attract attention for themselves; the way they acted was far worse than the rookies she met from the cast of this movie. Suzy laughed cynically. The only silver lining about this incident was that she was finally able to see through the facade put up by her so-called ‘friends’. She felt relieved that they severed connections with her. At least from now on, she wouldn’t have to keep up the superficial act with these people.
“The truth will speak for itself,” Lisa smiled when she sensed how blissfully helpless Suzy was feeling. “Sister Suzy, you must have faith that justice will always be on the side of the righteous.”
Lisa whipped out her own phone and showed Suzy her own Weibo page. The discussion on the first page had already reached a whopping 800,000 comments.
There were a lot of haters writing nasty remarks about Suzy but there was also a group of die-hard fans making their last stand to defend their beloved movie star.
【I have faith in Song Suzy! Fellow fans unite! We must drown out the accusations being posted by these haters so our Suzy doesn’t see their nasty insults!】
【I have been her fan for so many years now, I don’t care what she does, I will remain on her side forever and ever! That’s right! Suzy! You’ve braved so many storms in the past! You absolutely must persist through this, no matter what!】
“…”
Lisa reposted Suzy’s first post on Weibo.
For A Millenium: “Justice will forever be on the side of the righteous. Take a closer look at this.” //@SongSuzy: [JPEG]
Suzy held back from checking her Weibo account the moment the scandal surfaced on the front page of the internet. Judging from the reactions of her “besties”, she figured that her account was probably already occupied by her haters. What she didn’t know was how lovable and loyal her true fans actually were.
Now that she has seen their reaction, her eyes started welling up with tears.
“Sister Suzy, what excuse do you have to not persist on?” asked Lisa with a dead serious tone.
“Yeah.” Suzy shut her eyes and raised her head to take in a deep breath.
Cheng Zhou directed a smile at Lisa. “That’s the spirit! No replacements for my current cast!”
Lisa stole a glance at Cheng Zhou and clenched her fists tightly. “Alright, the issue has been solved. Now, it’s time to check on what rumors they have now fabricated. Um… does anyone here have a computer that I can use?”
“Miss Lalisa, I have one here!”
Lisa had just finished asking her question and a few people had already responded immediately, and a few of the staff were coming over in her direction with laptops in hand.
Suzy suddenly realized that the eyes of the crew members who had been looking at her in suspicion at the beginning had suddenly changed.
“Have I done anything?” Suzy asked Seokjin quietly, who was standing beside her. “I feel like their attitude toward me has changed, or am I overthinking things?”
Seokjin glanced at Lisa, smiling softly after hearing those words. “You’re not overthinking it, they really have changed their attitude toward you.”
“?” Suzy didn’t understand, she knew that impressions of a person was difficult to change. Similar to those netizens on the internet, unless there was any black and white evidence, she was fated to bear this black spot on her name for the rest of her life.
“Don’t worry too much about it,” Seokjin said, pointing to Lisa who had placed the laptop on the table as he smiled again. “Those people are all her die-hard fans, you’re basically in a situation of ‘love me love my dog(*)’.”
“Her?” Suzy looked toward Lisa, the bafflement and confusion continuing to climb.
Seokjin and Director Cheng were two very authoritative figures among the production crew, but the attitude of these two had not affected the crew in the slightest. How could this person who had only been on set for a measly few days be more influential than them?
Seokjin didn’t bother to continue elaborating, a mysterious smile appearing on his attractive face. “You’ll understand later.”
He wasn’t very close to Lisa, as she was only on set for two days. During these two days, her capabilities at reading fortunes and doctrine skills have managed to win over the entire crew, and even the strictly impartial and incorruptible uncle who took care of their meals would add an extra chicken thigh for her every time.
As for now, he was just curious, what was she up to? From what he could see, it looked like she was planning to find some evidence?
Seokjin chuckled to himself, the anticipation practically vibrating off him.
“Little Lisa, what are you doing?” Cheng Zhou was extremely puzzled at her actions.
Lisa found a spot to sit down with the laptop, and turned on her wireless hotspot on her phone. After connecting to the laptop, she started to click on the browser. “Finding some gifts to return the favor.”
Cheng Zhou opened his mouth to ask, but then he suddenly recalled the video that Lisa had sent him the last time, and his eyes lit up with excitement.
He was not the only one who had his attention on her, the entire crew on set had their eyes on her, their eyes unblinking as they watched her move.
“What do you think Beauty Lisa is going to do?”
“She looks good doing anything!”
“Holy sh*t, hurry up and come see this!”
“What the f*ck!”
“Holy crap!”
“So freaking awesome, is this hacking?”
“…”
The thin slender fingers danced across the colored keyboard, from this angle, you could only see her side profile, and her face was as smooth as jade. She squinted her eyes slightly, and you couldn’t see the deep expression in her eyes. Under the lighting of the set, she looked extremely graceful and attractive.
She sat there lazily, an indifferent expression on her face which exuded a unique air about her, which was slightly different than usual. From the moment the laptop had touched her fingers, her entire demeanor had changed, her flawless face becoming even more eye-catching, dazzling everyone present.
Jungkook leaned against the door, he was standing quite a distance away, but you could clearly see the gentle and warm expression on his face as he kept his eyes on Lisa.
He was staring intently at her, even more so than the others around the set.
As one interface after another kept popping up on the screen in front of her, everyone’s eyes bounced between looking at Lisa and the screen, their surprise climbing higher and higher as the time passed.
The first thing that had popped up on the screen was the Weibo interface, this was the Weibo of a well-known blogger. He was the one who had released the news of Suzy this morning.
Then there was another blank interface on the screen, and Lisa typed in a bunch of codes in almost an instant, and then the Weibo interface jumped to the blogger’s computer desktop screen.
All of this was like watching a circus, everyone watched as Lisa openly hacked into the blogger’s computer, and proceeded to dig out many encrypted files.
In the beginning, they were still able to gasp out some words to express what they were feeling, but eventually, they were all stunned speechless and numb as they continued to watch Lisa work.
“I found a recording.” Lisa finally stopped her fingers, shooting a smile toward Suzy. “It should prove to be useful to you, I’ve sent it to your WeChat.”
She even found a recording?! Beauty Lisa, you were only on the laptop for about twenty minutes!
Suzy flipped open her phone with a slight feeling of numbness, seeing the audio file that Lisa had sent to her. She didn’t even see her holding her phone, when did she send the file over?!
Every staff on the set: Beauty Lisa, if you told us you knew how to ascend to the heavens, we would all still believe your words!
“Cough.” Cheng Zhou glanced at Lisa, although he had some guesses, he could feel his view of the world crumbling inside his mind. He snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat. “Alright then, places everyone, we’ll begin to shoot the next scene.”
“Suzy, you won’t talk about leaving the crew now, right?” Cheng Zhou asked, looking toward Suzy again.
Suzy was listening to the audio file that Lisa had sent over to her, a complicated expression flashing across her face as she did. “Director Cheng, I wouldn’t leave even if you tried to make me.”
Lisa was texting in WeChat at this time.
For A Millenium: Namjoon, dig out your moldy Weibo account, I have something I need you to do.
Namjoon: I don’t even remember my password for it anymore!
For A Millenium: Find it. Immediately. Now. Chop chop.
Lisa was tempted to beat up Namjoon, with his capabilities, it would only take him minutes, if not seconds to retrieve his password, if he really had forgotten it.
Namjoon: I don’t care, I really don’t remember it. I need a decryption route from you to trigger my memory!
Namjoon had a sh*t eating grin on his face as he sat inside the office of Nine Heavens, he was suddenly grateful for his unintentional actions at that time. When Weibo had just started, he had registered himself a hacker account, hacking his way into the Weibo backend system to authenticate himself as ‘God Lo’, and managed to make a super topic on his own homepage.
He was the first hacker in history to register and authenticate himself, and the entire country couldn’t do anything toward his account. The account still existed, and no one else could crack it. Neither was anyone able to find out any real information about this ‘God Lo’.
For A Millenium: It's fine if you don’t want to then, I’ll just blacklist your Weibo account now.
For A Millenium: Don’t expect me to give you any decoding routes in the future either. ╮（╯▽╰）╭
Seeing what she had typed, Namjoon, who had thought he had gotten a one up on her, immediately straightened up in a panic.
Namjoon: Understood Boss Lalisa, I’ve already retrieved my password. What orders do you have for me?
For A Millenium: Wait a while for someone will add you, remember to approve it. You can talk to her privately about the specific matter after that.
Namjoon: Don’t worry Boss Lalisa, I will definitely carry out the task without flaws. （⊙_⊙）
Lisa exited WeChat after that. ‘What a retard!’
Namjoon on the other hand, once he exited WeChat, ‘Lazy *ss!’
“Sister Suzy, the recording alone will not explain anything. I’ll introduce you to a well-known hacker on Weibo, he’ll be able to help you,” Lisa said as she sent Namjoon’s WeChat ID to Suzy.
The netizens would definitely accuse her of faking the recording if she were to do anything with it alone, but with Namjoon backing her, it was a different matter. As a well known top hacker in the circle, Namjoon had the power and authority. Let him find and reveal the source of the fake pictures and videos on the internet, the rumors would then naturally dispel on its own.
Suzy didn’t know that the hacker Lisa talked about was Namjoon, and assuming that it was just an ordinary hacker, she wasn’t too concerned about it. “Miss Lalisa, thank you.”
If you were to give too much gratitude, it would seem insincere. The dead end was broken by Lisa this time, and Suzy could only vow to keep this matter firmly in her heart in order to repay her someday.
Lisa gave her a gentle smile. “The evidence has already been found, as long as you make a Weibo post, adding on the company’s PR, this whole matter can be overturned.”
Her right hand squeezed her phone tightly, and her heart finally relaxed a little. She would find a suitable time to post it out, and she also wanted to see what kind of expression her ‘girlfriends’ would have at that time?
“Director Cheng, how long more before this movie will finish its shooting?” Lisa turned her head toward Director Cheng as she asked.
Cheng Zhou recalled the matter that Lisa had told him last night. “It won’t be too long, I will send you all the clips once I’m done with it!” He obviously remembered what she had said, especially now since he had seen her abilities with his own eyes, he was really looking forward to it.
“…” He was so obviously reluctant last time, it’s a bit too fast for him to change his stance, right? “The script has already been sent to your WeChat, remember to look over it.”
“I’ll look at it tonight.” At this point, Cheng Zhou seemed to think of something. “Shooting a movie is not some trivial matter, you have to plan ahead properly. Don’t look at how efficient ‘Empire Under Siege’ was, we had to use an entire year to prepare the costumes and props for it prior to the start of shooting.”
Looking at the girl in front of him, she really was so young, and it made Cheng Zhou slightly apprehensive when he remembered how young she was.
“Director Cheng, someone else has already arranged for all of it. The costumes and props are all in the middle of being customized and constructed right now,” Lisa said thoughtfully as she rubbed her chin. “I think I need to give you a bribe.”
“What the heck for?” Cheng Zhou was alert immediately as he narrowed his eyes at Lisa. Every time she said something like this, he could feel the frustration eating at him.
Lisa laughed happily. “I have a candidate for the female lead in this script, can I bring her through the back door?”
“Xiao Rosé?” After thinking about the relationship between Lisa and Rosé, he immediately assumed that it was her. If it was Rosé, he didn’t have a problem with her at all. He would look at the script again later, if the character didn’t have too much of a difference, then it was fine to use Rosé.
“It’s someone else.” Sejin had given Rosé a role in a web drama, and Lisa had faith in Sejin’s judgment. “A person who has the looks, but been in quite a string of bad lucks. It’s definitely someone who will not let you down.”
Hearing Lisa’s words, Cheng Zhou’s curiosity was piqued. This was the first time he had heard Lisa boasting about someone else, and damn it, he was moved. “When will I meet her?”
“When ‘Empire Under Siege’ is done, then we can start anytime.” Lisa glanced at Seokjin who was standing beside him. Using this actor to enhance Jieun as a stepping stone, would he be big enough of a foil?
“Miss Lalisa?” Seokjin could no longer ignore the intense gaze that Lisa was giving him, and he turned to meet those clear eyes of hers.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t been the subject of intense scrutiny before, but Lisa’s gaze was far different than those others that he had been under before. Those clear eyes of hers didn’t contain any impurity, but they looked at him like she was looking at a gold mine. It really wasn’t an exaggeration when he said that, and he shuddered slightly inside.
Lisa turned away, thinking that she had to find a suitable opportunity for this.
Moreover, Yugyeom’s script would definitely be a big hit, so dragging Seokjin in was definitely not a loss in his favor, right? Now, the real question was how to con him into it.
“Director Cheng, I’ll be leaving first.” Looking at the time, it was about time for her to meet Jieun. That was the reason for her coming here today.
Cheng Zhou waved his hands dismissively, an expression of disgust on his face. “You’re not even here to film anymore, you’re just an eyesore to me!”
“…”
Jungkook only got up when she walked over, and they both left together.
“Who was that?” Suzy had wanted to bid Lisa goodbye, but she was taken aback when she saw Jungkook. When his obsidian eyes had landed on her, she felt like she was frozen in place, a chilling feeling washing over her.
But when he lowered his head, his face melted into a warm and gentle expression. It was two completely different temperaments, but the transition had been so natural.
“He’s even more stylish than any other guy I’ve seen in America? Let me tell you, Seokjin, don’t be deceived by his thin figure, his body under that white shirt is definitely not any worse than those male models you always see. These are all observations based on my past experiences.” Suzy only has one hobby in her life, and that was to study and research the figures of men, and this was one of the reasons that people were able to exploit her weakness.
Seokjin spared her a glance. “Experience from corrupting someone’s life?”
“… I just think that man has an unusual aura. What does Miss Lalisa do actually?” Suzy said, ignoring his previous comment.
“Don’t worry about that, they’re both on the same level of abnormal.” Seokjin replied easily, turning his gaze away.
Suzy thought back to the words that Lisa had said. “You said that Little Lalisa wants Director Cheng to shoot a movie, why would she get someone other than Rosé to play the lead?”
“It depends on who she’s pulling in. I don’t know who’s the lucky one to have caught her eye.” Seokjin lifted his hand to wave at her. “It’s my scene now, you should change your clothes quickly, so that Director Cheng won’t have to scold anyone later.”
Suzy contemplated the words that Seokjin had just said, “It depends on who she’s pulling in.”. She always thought that Seokjin had a better understanding of Lisa than he was letting on.
The person who had caught her eye was indeed a very lucky person.
Turning around to head to the dressing room, she almost slammed into Sejin. “Brother Sejin, what are you doing?” Usually he would go on and on about how great Lisa’s acting skills were and how he needed to convince her to develop her skills in the entertainment industry, but today he had vanished the moment she stepped foot onto the set area, what was up with that?
Sejin had not said a word since Lisa’s appearance, and he remained invisible the entire time, and now he raised his head as he said quietly, “How curious indeed.”
Suzy didn’t understand what was happening, and could only watch as Sejin left without offering any explanation. The phone in her hand rang twice, and she looked at the screen to find it was her manager calling. After staring at it for a while, she picked up the call.
“Suzy, the matter is blowing up and spiraling out of control, especially when it’s reposted by those extremely popular artistes, which is now affecting you even deeper now.” The manager’s tone was frustrated, if it was just the media that was spreading the news then that was still controllable. What was more terrifying was the fact that Suzy’s so-called ‘besties’ were all stabbing her in the back, which made all the netizens who read the news more convinced of it.
“Don’t worry about it, the matter is going to be resolved soon,” Suzy said quietly with her eyes lowered, her tone not any different than usual.
***
At the same time, in another dressing room of a certain crew…
“Sister Wen, will we be alright?” Wen Wen’s assistant asked.
A well-manicured hand touched the long, ebony locks, and Wen Wen’s lips twitched slightly, mockery flashing in her eyes. “With such a situation, do you really think Song Suzy can turn the entire thing around?”
When Wen Wen’s assistant thought about it, she did make sense. Every time something like this happens, the actress would be forced into a corner with no way out, and although it wouldn’t be any different this time, she still felt some anxiety about it.
Seeing that Suzy was about to plummet to the bottom, the people who were close to her were quick to cut ties with her, for fear that they would be dragged down together. Wen Wen and Suzy were roommates during their college days, they had auditioned and joined competitions together, and finally, they had entered different companies. While Suzy was regarded as a film queen by Cheng Zhou, Wen Wen was, until now, just a small-time actress who could barely get a few lines every time.
It’s impossible to say that she wasn’t jealous, and Suzy would talk about her experience abroad every time, in her eyes, that was just showing off!
The envy and contempt accumulated in her heart over time would definitely erupt one day.
Wen Wen went about her day, shooting her parts, and as soon as she was done and returned to the dressing room, she came back to her terrified assistant.
“Sis… Sister Wen, Miss Song, she posted a Weibo post.”
“What of? Did she admit her wrongdoings?” Wen Wen laughed coldly, taking the phone to look, the smile on her lips fading away as she read it.
How was that possible?! It was completely impossible for Suzy to be able to do this! Who?! Who the hell had helped her?! She hurriedly scrolled through the comments, and the phone slipped from her grasp, dropping to the ground with a loud ‘bang’.
It was over. That was the only thought in her mind.
(Verified) Song Suzy: I have submitted an application to the court regarding this matter, and I will definitely investigate all the way to the end! Recording link address
(Verified) Song Suzy: Justice is at the will of the people // (Verified) God Lo: I saw a few interesting videos and pictures today. The cropping and editing methods were too clumsy. I have restored the originals, no thanks needed.
If the first post had garnered the attention of countless fans around, then the second post had sent the entire hacker community into an uproar.
Speaking of ‘God Lo’, it was obvious how renowned the name was. He had once hacked into the military system of America, and specifically left his own name in it in an arrogant challenge for them to track him down, and even till the end they couldn’t manage to find a hide of him.
That incident was already known to be a legend these days, and countless enthusiastic and passionate youth blindly worship this person.
Sejin was completely dumbfounded at the post. “Suzy, you’re actually acquainted with God Lo?!”
Suzy also had a dumbfounded look on her face. “I didn’t know, it was someone Miss Lalisa introduced to me, she just said that he was a hacker.” She didn’t know the name ‘God Lo’, but from all the comments that were left on the post, it seemed like he was some sort of great person?
Sejin: ‘Why are the people around Lalisa all kinds of insane and crazy?!’
Thinking of that, Sejin turned to glance at Rosé. Fortunately, this person seemed to be normal, at least. Or so he thought, until the next second when Rosé lifted a box with one hand, a box that he was sure needed at least two men to lift!
… that was a real quick slap of reality to the face.
***
“What did you want to say to Li Seokjin just now?” Jungkook asked, seemingly casually as he drove the black Bugatti.
Lisa did not suspect anything about his question at all, but when she recalled the conversation, she felt a little depressed. “I wanted him to take a role in the movie, but I couldn’t find a good way to hit him up.”
“Hit him up?” Black eyes narrowed slightly, his tone rising a little.
“The revolution has yet to succeed.”
“…” Jungkook glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. “He’ll come begging for the role from you.”
“How would you know?” Lisa said, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
The corner of his lips quirked up, though the indifferent expression on his carved face didn’t change. “Just a prediction.”
“Where are we going?” Although he wanted to say something else, he followed up with those words. Lisa scrolled through her phone, before rattling out an address.
She had miscalculated her timing. When she had left to look for Jieun, she found that the other had already returned home, so she could only head to her home to find her now.
There was actually no rush to look for Jieun for the next few days, but Lisa had read her fortune and found that today was one where she would have an encounter with some mean men, so she deliberately called Jieun to ask for her address.
The low-key luxury car drove toward the indicated address slowly.
***
Jieun’s community area was older than even Yugyeom’s, and the roads inside were extremely narrow, making it hard to park in front. Lisa got Jungkook to stop the car, and the both of them got off.
Jieun was feeling extremely unlucky today, when she reached the set she was late, and the minor role that was promised to her had been given to others and she had gone for nothing.
If that wasn’t enough, the landlord that had promised her a five-year lease suddenly said that his son would be getting married and was saving money to buy a new house, so they were intending to sell this house. She hadn’t found a suitable accommodation yet, and she didn’t have any money left. Where she was going to stay tonight was also another problem.
The landlord was an elderly couple, and looking at them, Jieun didn’t have the heart to ask them for the compensation of breaking the contract. So here she was, dragging her luggage out with no money in her pockets.
Behind her, the two pairs of elderly eyes were full of apologies.
“Ning Jieun, if you’re willing to sign on with me, I’ll arrange for you to enter the company’s apartments immediately!” Her former agent, and Soohyang’s current manager was standing beside her.
Jieun looked at him and smiled coldly. “Sign on with you? Do you think I’m stupid like Jin Soohyang? Letting you sell me off like some possession of yours?”
“You!” Soohyang’s manager was flushed red, since Soohyang had disappeared without a trace, he currently didn’t have any artiste under him, and the company no longer paid any attention to him, and none of the new artistes were willing to work with him.
It was difficult for him, but he had managed to make some connections yesterday. The real estate tycoon that had been obsessed with Jieun still couldn’t forget about her, and the mind of Soohyang’s manager had immediately perked up at the opportunity.
After so many years of being an agent and manager, how could he not have some sort of savings? He had spent a sum of money on bribes and management, it was not a problem with Jieun’s arrogant behavior. If there was a first time, there would naturally be a second time. As long as a person was driven into a desperate situation, how would it be impossible to control her?
Soohyang was gone now, and Jieun was his hope to turn things around.
Looking at Jieun leaving, the manager’s eyes flashed. “Ning Jieun, if you don’t agree to this, don’t even think about changing your fortune in this entire lifetime!”
This was probably the most vicious and spiteful punishment for an artiste.
Just as he said those words, a crisp chuckle sounded out.
(*) To describe the case in which the love for a person extends even to the things or persons related to him/her