Aren’s hotel room...
Livia was sitting on one of the chairs that Aren generally used to sit on while dining at the small table in his room. There was another chair beside it, empty right now.
anwhile, Aren was sitting on his bed, scripts from nurous productions scattered in front of him.
"Are you sure you are not interested in listening to the endorsent offers?" Livia asked with a puzzled expression, unable to understand the reason behind him refusing to listen to the endorsent offers he had received in just the past two days.
Any other actor would’ve jumped in joy if they received so many endorsent offers at once.
After all, just the endorsent fee they offered would be more than what Aren would be able to earn from acting in the whole year.
Moreover, as a rookie actor who had acted only in a single drama, the amount of offers he received was mind-boggling.
Brands were ready to pay ridiculous amounts to have him as their brand’s face and endorse their products.
So why was he refusing?
What was the reasoning behind his decision?
She was curious.
"Just think about it," she added, attempting to entice him with money. "If you just endorse three to four luxury brands, your inco would be more than a hundred million solely from endorsents. You can buy a mansion and stop living in this hotel room."
The reason she was trying so hard to persuade him was that for diating the endorsent deal, she would receive a commission from the brands. So brands even offered her bribes to persuade Aren to endorse their brand instead of their competitor’s.
She was determined to change Aren’s mind and make so real profit out of this.
"Livia, it’s useless. I’m not going to change my mind." Aren muttered without even looking at her, flipping the pages of a script in his hand.
Livia’s lips twitched as she, with a forced smile, asked, "Why? As your manager, I should know why you’re refusing."
Aren’s hands stopped, and he sighed, looking up at her with a calm expression.
"I’m just telling you that I’m not going to endorse any brand right now. Sa is true for Lisa. I already instructed her to not accept any endorsent offers."
"But why?" Livia questioned, "Many brands want to sign both of you. You both can profit greatly if you accept."
Aren smiled wryly as he shook his head.
"You are wrong... We will profit in financial terms, but our reputations will suffer."
Livia frowned. "What do you an?"
"Think about it. Lisa and I have portrayed ourselves as the victims, soone pitiful who needs people’s support to fight against the evil Titan Crest Entertainnt. People are boycotting Titan Crest Entertainnt because they believe that if they don’t do so, the pitiful victims will suffer."
Aren smiled and asked: "Now, what will happen if they see us smiling in advertisents, praising so brand’s product?"
Livia’s eyes widened as she understood what Aren was hinting at.
Aren’s smile deepened in satisfaction upon seeing her reaction as he continued:
"People will think that we no longer need their support and are doing good in our lives. Our image will shift in their minds from pitiful to prosperous. Yes, there will be many people who will still call Titan Crest Entertainnt evil and boycott them; however, people will soon lose interest, thinking that if the victims don’t care, why should they?"
He leaned back, his palms pressing against the bedsheet as he sighed.
"Livia, people lose interest in things very fast. I need to make sure that doesn’t happen with this scandal. I can sacrifice any amount of money just to see Titan Crest Entertainnt suffer and burn. Nothing would bring greater joy."
Livia stared at Aren with a complex look in her eyes.
Why was he so hellbent on destroying Titan Crest Entertainnt?
Was it solely because of what Lisa went through?
Did Lisa an that much to him?
Had she underestimated his relationship with Lisa?
She didn’t know; however, after hearing his answer, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to change his mind about the endorsents.
With an aching heart, she put the endorsents to the back of her mind along with her plans to buy nurous things for herself and her family.
She decided to move on to another topic.
"So? Have you liked any of the scripts so far? There are many more that arrived today. If you want, I can bring them. They are in my car right now."
After the evidence video that Aren posted, the whole industry realized that Titan Crest Entertainnt had lost this battle and Aren was the unexpected winner of this altercation.
Soon after, all platforms, drama productions, independent productions, and even unknown writers sent scripts to Livia for Aren to have a look, wanting to cast him as soon as possible.
Most of them wanted to cast both Aren and Lisa, recognizing the amount of profits these two would bring to any drama they joined as the cast.
Even movie scripts from small production houses had made their way to Aren; however, most of them were either weak scripts or his role was that of a small side character. These productions just wanted to cast him to ride on his current popularity.
For high-budget movies, he still wasn’t considered an actor capable enough to play the lead and bring in viewers to the theaters just to watch him.
Moreover, he wasn’t really keen to venture into movies so early on, and that too, when he hadn’t even played the lead role in a drama yet.
For now, he kept his focus on the drama scripts. He knew he could only choose one, so it had to be the best among them.
He liked many scripts; however, none made his heart go like, ’This is the one.’
From his past life, he had developed an instinct, sowhat of a gut feeling, which would send an exciting warm current throughout his body whenever he found sothing that would be the right decision.
None of the current scripts sent that current running in his body.
He looked at Livia and nodded. "Bring them."
Livia nodded and called her assistant—soone she hired recently at a very cheap salary, using him as her driver cum assistant.
In under five minutes, the assistant appeared with a pile of scripts in his hands, wheezing like an old man as soon as he placed them on the bed.
"You can go now." Livia instructed him.
Taking heavy breaths, he bowed respectfully to Aren and left without saying anything.
"You know... Symphony of Shadows wants you back." Livia inford as Aren picked the first script from the pile, flipping the page to start reading.
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(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)
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