Premiere night.
The crimson limousine squealed its tires on the wet street. Roman Stax pranced out and stood at the edge of the red carpet. A thunderstorm of lightning illuminated the night sky around him. Thousands of people waited in line and clapped towards his direction. At least thirty cameras maneuvered around to record his arrival in pixel-perfect dimensions. What a bummer, Roman said to himself. Thirty cameras aren’t enough to capture his perfect angles, but that was going to change once he revealed today’s announcement.
Laci joined him at his right side, told him which blog reporters he should go to. A bit of chitchat and interviewing before the big presentation. Roman cringed during chitchat, but even he needed to play the social game once in a while. Besides, it was all part of the plan.
Laci said,
“Here’s Suan Shen, editor-in-chief of the daily Techplosion.”
Roman nodded and approached the woman.
“Mr. Stax, your announcement has gone viral across the networks, although no one knows for sure what your show is actually about. What can you tell us about the contestants ?”
“You know, I think we have a great roster of vloggers. A 3D printing gun maverick, a fitness obsessed health girl, a controversial trickster slash comedian and a hi-tech clothes designer. Not to mention the DIY TwinBuilds and the psycho-logic Elli Mental. They are all explosive individuals that the audience will love. Or hate.”
The reporter smiled.
“So, is it true that you just selected them based on their video profile view counts ?”
“Obviously, that was a major criteria point. We want luminaries that bring their own audiences to our show. But just as important as their views are their personalities. I wanted to invite passionate go-getters that do whatever it takes to win the Blogbuster.”
The reporter nodded. Roman wanted to start chitchatting with the next reporter in line, but a voice took him out of the moment.
“What are you going to do about the new Bam video ?”
Roman frowned and turned around. A guy in suit was looking at him from the third row.
“What do you mean ?”
“Haven’t you seen it ? Millions already have.”
The reporter smiled, as if he was happy over the fact he was one step ahead of Roman. Stax thought about the incident that had just occurred about a half an hour before. Nah, it couldn’t be, not that fast.
But then the reporter showed him the video. Stax saw a shaky view of his limousine, saw Bam crashing into its trunk, the limo stopping, saw himself walking out with the repeater pistol aimed at Bam. It was already online. And with it, thousands of inflammatory comments down below the vid. Not to mention the view count.
“Over three and half million people have watched it within the last thirty-one minutes,” the reporter said with a smirk.
And for a sec, Roman’s ever-glowing smile made way to a stoneface. Was this going to ruin his image ? Nah, he didn’t do wrong. The guy crashed into his limo, he was the perpetrator. Roman took out the gun to protect himself. And he didn’t even shoot. So it was all good in the hood, at least on the legal side.
“Mr. Stax ?”
He felt a pinch from Laci who motioned him to go on.
“Yeah, well, what can I say ? The guy’s a troll. He attacked me and put up the video online. Five seconds of fame, he’ll need them, once my lawyers get to him and pull him off the limelight.”
He waved the reporter goodbye and noticed more media wo/men to his right. Under normal circumstances, he’d do two or three meaningless chitchats, but that whole situation rubbed him the wacko way.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure to talk with all of you, but we have to stick to the schedule. I shall see you all inside for the Blogbuster presentation.”
He saluted them. The crowd roared, reporters pleaded for more comments, but Roman said it was time to move on, so it was time to move on. Before he entered the building, he took a deep breath. Laci noticed it.
“Are you okay ? Are you still thinking about that incident ?”
Roman smiled without looking at her.
“It’s cool, Laci, let’s go on with the show. After all, everyone’s burning for the big reveal.”