The following day, The Insiders witnessed a popularity score of 107,000 , while To Your Heart rose to 112,000 .
For The Insiders, making a coback was like a flicker of hope in the midst of despair. If the ratings climbed back up, they could still have a successful finale.
Even Theon was hopeful. If The Insiders managed to remain above 100,000; he could still have that brand endorsent he so desired.
To that cause, Dragon Films even increased the marketing budget for The Insiders to invite more viewers to stream the show.
However, the next day’s rankings shattered their hopes.
The Insiders once again fell below 100,000, coming in at 98,000 this ti.
After so research, the comnts from viewers revealed the reason.
[The plot is engaging, but what’s up with these ssy subplots? It’s like this isn’t a drama but a show to promote Theon.]
[Why is the focus on Theon? It feels like Ryan’s scenes have been cut and Theon’s increased.]
The comnts felt like a gut punch, more so because they were true; Ryan’s scenes had been cut to highlight Theon.
Dragon Films wanted to promote Theon with this show, turning him into a breakout star. They had even signed a deal with Blackshore Managent for that cause.
Ryan and Luna were already successful stars, so even if they had less screen ti, they could still attract a huge audience to the show and not be affected by less screen ti.
However, this strategy had backfired.
In the past, when the platform had forced the writer to include more scenes of Theon, the writer’s original plot had been compromised, making the plot appear ssy as a result.
Unnecessary scenes of Theon only bored the viewers without progressing the plot.
The viewers could feel that ss even if it wasn’t glaringly obvious.
Even the previous rise in the popularity score was simply due to curious viewers still checking out the show, while so had co thanks to Zelda Frank’s article.
However, once they witnessed the ss Theon had created with his extended screenti, they left.
Even then, the plot of The Insiders was gripping enough, only if one was persistent to ignore the glaring ss caused by Theon. This was reflected by the current popularity score as well.
98000 was a massive hit and to get such a high popularity score, it was clear that viewers were still watching the show despite its shortcomings.
It was just the expectations from Dragon Films’ annual blockbuster were too great.
And that disappointnt struck even harder when they looked at To Your Heart’s current 115,000 score.
In that day’s episode, the present was explored with Shin and Leo working together to gather evidence against the villain.
Shin even called his gang, Kite and the others for help.
The next week was the finale week for both shows. In this week, two episodes were released together on the finale night.
These episodes depicted Shin and Leo finally gathering enough evidence and then airing it to the world to let him face his cris.
In the finale, Nataly ca out of her coma; however, Shin remained hidden from her, leaving in the climax with only a few lines:
~
I tear my own heart out nightly so yours beats safe in his arms,
Every breath I swallow is knives, screaming your na in silence,
I’d rather bleed eternity in shadows than let one danger touch your light.
~
The day after finale, The Insiders had ended up with a 95,000 score, whereas To Your Heart had garnered the rating of 121,000 , centing it as the blockbuster hit of this spring.
Multiple articles were released as a result, most by AxisPlay and so by Dragon Films.
HBS released:
’To Your Heart’s popularity score is a disgrace to the television industry.’
The article featured posts from multiple drama critics like Zelda Frank and Conrad Balen, who had criticized To Your Heart’s plot and quality.
After Zelda Frank’s article, many colleagues had criticized To Your Heart for the sa fa that Zelda received.
These criticisms were nothing new; however, they still were enough to change the public narrative.
anwhile, Bonh released the following:
’AxisPlay recorded the highest viewerships and subscriptions in the platform’s history.’
AxisPlay’s executives were grinning ear to ear all week due to the amount of profits they had earned.
Just the subscription revenue was enough to let them produce ten dramas like To Your Heart, not to ntion the revenue from advertisents, endorsents, and television rights.
AxisPlay could now upgrade itself to a mid-tier platform if it desired to.
Other than that, there was soone else who couldn’t calm down after the latest popularity scores.
"Damn it!" Theon hurled his phone to the ground.
He had hoped for The Insiders to surpass 100,000 in the finale, yet he was nothing but disappointed.
His manager, not too far, approached him and whispered, "Dragon Films wants you to take the bla."
Theon gritted his teeth in frustration and yelled: "Why do I need to take the bla? Tell the Blackshore executives to handle it. I have New Dawn lined up. If my reputation suffers, they wouldn’t benefit either."
His manager sighed and left him alone.
Even Theon understood that he could do nothing but be the scapegoat for Dragon Films.
Ryan and Luna were stars and didn’t care about Dragon Films.
If pushed, they could even co out and reveal that their scenes had been cut for Theon.
The director and writer were veterans with a 100% positive record.
Dragon Films couldn’t offend them.
Then who was left?
Theon, right?
He had to be the one to take the bla.
Still, fortunately, The Insiders hadn’t suffered too badly. They had managed to stay above 90,000 and that left them so face.
As for profit, Dragon Films had been able to break even and earn so profit on top. However, it was pocket change compared to the profit AxisPlay earned.
Right now, every platform was green with envy of AxisPlay.
anwhile, Aren was on the last day of his training with rcenaries.
He was wielding rubber daggers against Kendrick, moving with an unseen agility, waiting for an opening.
Corbin was sitting against the wall, watching the spar with astonishnt.
Aren was a fast learner among the ones Corbin had trained. In just two weeks, he had managed to learn various kinds of combat, ingraining the discipline of a soldier in himself.
He was even capable of sparring against Kendrick now, sothing Corbin didn’t predict would be possible for Aren.
Bam!
In front of him, Kendrick had just punched Aren in the face, sending him falling to his butt.
Kendrick smiled: "You are still not able to land a hit on ."
[Ding! Your fa has increased a great amount. You obtain fa points.]
As Aren heard the system’s soft voice, he couldn’t help but curl up his lips, his face still aching from that punch from before.
----------------------------------
Na –> Aren Frost
Age –> 22
Appearance –> B[–]
Acting –> B
Charm –> D[ ]
Fa –> D [ ] —> C [–]
Athleticism –> C [–] —> C
Reputation –> E [ ] —> D [–]
Hidden Stat (locked)
----------------------------------
Aren imdiately invested all thirty fa points that he had received over the past three weeks in Athleticism.
Athleticism –> C —> B
As soon as he saw his Athleticism stat rise to B, he felt his strength, speed, endurance, and everything rising along with it.
He suddenly felt lighter, more robust, and stronger than before.
Jumping up to his feet, he flashed a confident smile. "Let try again."
"Alright." Kendrick nodded. "Co at ."
As Kendrick took a boxing stance, Aren lunged forward.
However—
His speed made Corbin’s eyes widen with shock, whereas Kendrick appeared not so confident anymore.
It was as if Kendrick’s prediction had gone haywire, and before he could understand what was happening, Aren was already upon him.
Aren struck with the right rubber dagger in his hand, aiming at Kendrick’s neck.
Even though Kendrick was surprised, yet thanks to his reflexes as a rcenary, he still managed to raise his right hand to block in ti, his forearm colliding with Aren’s forearm.
However, the force behind that impact was great enough to let Aren break through Kendrick’s guard, bending Kendrick’s arm and striking his neck with the rubber dagger.
"What??" Corbin stood up in shock.
anwhile, Kendrick blinked, dumbfounded.
Aren’s speed now and before were like night and day.
Now, he was like a ninja, trained in agility from a young age, while before he was like a fit athlete.
They couldn’t understand the sudden upgrade in Aren’s attributes.
anwhile, Aren grinned, feeling one step closer to his revenge.
-----------------------------------
(A/N - I want to ntion that starting from the next Chapter, I will slow down the pace to enhance imrsion.
I feel that I’ve been rushing through the story, which may have disrupted your engagent, and I’d like to apologize for that if you have also felt the sa.
Additionally, moving forward, the novel will focus more on revenge.
Lastly, I would like to know if you have any feedback. Anything you want to suggest or feel missing.
Or sothing you enjoyed but has lessened in the recent Chapters or sothing you would like to see more in the future Chapters.
I would appreciate any feedback you might have.
And as always, Thanks for reading. ^..^)
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