The Dance of Fame and Shadows Chapter 2

Seeing this, Max Ling reacted faster than Ethan and immediately turned the computer aside, "Ah, that's probably what happened..."

Ethan actually didn’t think it was a big deal. After all, in the online world, if something was said a few times, it would become true.

Just as he was about to change the subject, Mason Jiang brought out soup from the kitchen, "Juexia, Brother Leo Cheng just called you but you didn't answer, asking you to go to the company for a meeting. Oh, by the way," he added, "Xiao Pei has already gone there."

"now?"

"right."

Under the pressure of the captain who exuded the aura of maternal love, Ethan finished drinking the chicken soup before rushing back to the company.

He didn't expect that even the boss would come. Although Xingtu was only a small-scale agency, the boss was usually very busy and rarely showed up at the company.

"Come on, take a seat." Boss Henry Chen sat in the middle of the conference room with his hands folded, motioning for him to sit next to him. Ethan sat down as instructed and looked across a long table.

The person who pulled down his grey woolen hat to cover his eyes in public and fell asleep with his head tilted back on a chair was none other than Finn Pei.

"Little Pei, wake up." Leo Cheng, who was sitting next to him, woke him up. Finn Pei pushed his hat up and took it off in a daze, scratching his hair. His sharp eyebrows emerged from the mist and pointed at Ethan opposite him.

"You're finally here." The first sentence he said after waking up was very blunt.

His eyes were fixed on Ethan, who subconsciously turned away, and the birthmark on his left eye was facing Finn Pei. This reminded him of a flower he had seen in the garden when he was a child, pale pink, with slender petals, exactly the same shape as the mark on his eye.

"Since last night, you two have been on the hot search list. We are quite surprised." Henry Chen glanced at his assistant and said, "Report."

The incident happened suddenly, but Henry Chen still sent someone to record and analyze the data immediately. There were a lot of PPTs, Ethan listened quietly without saying anything, and occasionally glanced at Finn Pei, and saw that he was lying on the table and about to fall asleep again.

"That's about right. Not only Weibo and Baidu Index, but also some websites with less active users have quite impressive data." The assistant laughed, "It's even more popular than when Kaleido debuted."

Finn Pei, with his eyes closed, suddenly let out a sneer.

It turned out that he was not asleep. Ethan glanced at him, but he did not expect that this guy actually opened his eyes at the same time. The two of them looked at each other unexpectedly. Finn Pei had a pair of narrow and deep eyes, black and white, which were very aggressive.

"Although it was unexpected, the popularity is real. As you know, Kaleido's development has not been satisfactory in the two years since its debut." Henry Chen's eyes moved back and forth between the two people, "We held this meeting today to discuss future plans."

Ethan knew in her mind that the boss was quite kind in treating the artists. Even if they had been tepid in the two years since their debut, he did not force them to accept many announcements to increase their exposure, unless the artists made requests themselves.

Having said that, the group's debut was quite hasty, and they were once mocked as "five people who took advantage of the situation + one person who was parachuted in with connections."

At the beginning, it was because the senior group had made some name for themselves, especially the group's front man Shang Sirui, who was very popular. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xingtu wanted to launch a new boy group. Ethan, who was once a seed player of a big company, was naturally the center.

Another lead dancer, Dylan Lu, won the championship of a street dance competition before, but was kicked out of the original dance group due to the problem of unequal distribution of benefits after the competition. After many twists and turns, he came to Xingtu. The lead singer Ling Yitian was born with a good voice. When he was young, he participated in a children's singing talent show. Unfortunately, he only got second place because of his connections. When he was 17 years old, he participated in another talent show, but he was not allowed to enter the finals because he had no connections. Later, he was scouted by Xingtu as a trainee and practiced for three and a half years before making his debut.

Captain Mason Jiang is a student of the Central Conservatory of Music. He plays the guzheng very well. Unfortunately, his family is poor. In order to support his younger sister, he once worked as a host and played the guzheng. However, because he did not show his face and was not very popular, he was discovered by a scout from Star Map and became a trainee.

The two rappers seem to have even more "unknown origins" among the idol trainees. Zane He played in underground bands when he was very young, and also sang and DJed in bars. He is quite talented in electronic music, but he never mentioned where his home was or what his family was like. Finn Pei is the only one among them who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was parachuted in before the group was formed, disrupting all the previous plans and arrangements, and inserting this young master.

However, it is undeniable that Finn Pei's rap skills and creative abilities are absolutely top-notch in this circle. He has been in the industry for two years and is only 19 years old. His family background, talent, and appearance are all good, so it's hard not to be crazy about him.

"I won't do it." Finn Pei said bluntly. He held his cheek with one hand and picked up the pen on the table with the other hand and started turning it.

Henry Chen didn't seem to pay much attention. He turned to look at Ethan and continued what he had just said. "The planning department worked overtime to give me a new plan." The assistant distributed the plan. Henry Chen said simply and clearly, "The company is going to readjust your marketing. To put it bluntly, you and Xiao Pei are working together as a couple. You don't need to act too close. Just be normal and have some team camaraderie."

These words hit the bottom of their hearts. They had been at odds since their debut, and neither of them looked down on the other, but Ethan's way of expressing his dislike was to not have much contact with him, while Finn Pei was different, and he would do some bad tricks from time to time.

Otherwise this wouldn't have happened.

"This is a great opportunity. As long as you seize this opportunity, your future development will reach a new level."

Ethan stared at the project plan and was silent for a few seconds. He thought of the various frictions between Finn Pei and him in the past two years. If it was like in the past, he could still avoid them and maintain the harmony within the team. But if he agreed...

The consequences could be disastrous.

He raised his head and said, "Boss, forget it. I don't really want to form a couple."

Just as the voice fell, the boss hadn't made a decision yet, but the person across the table got angry first, "You don't like being a couple with me?"

"Give me some reasons to convince me." Finn Pei raised his eyebrows, his eyes quite amused, "Am I not good-looking or not rich enough?"

His hint was obvious. Ethan remained expressionless and did not answer.

"Xiao Pei, you really want to form a couple, right?" Henry Chen raised his chin towards Leo Cheng, "Remember, the youngest one agreed."

Xiao Pei rolled his eyes and said deadpanly, "No."

"I see you're quite anxious." Henry Chen was too lazy to waste time with Hunbulin, and his eyes returned to Ethan, "Juexia, this matter is not only about the two of you, but also about the whole group. In fact, it's okay if you don't want to, you just lose an opportunity to go viral. But then again, netizens have already dug up your old videos, and as long as the popularity is up, it will spread on its own. Even if you don't take the initiative to form a CP marketing, you have been passively tied together since the moment it became a hot search yesterday."

The implication is that it is better to recognize the current situation and turn passivity into initiative.

Ethan looked at him, "I just don't want to do it this way."

"This is not a method, Juexia, it's an opportunity." Henry Chen shrugged, "The six of you can definitely achieve better results than you have now in terms of your strength. It is the most difficult to have strength without opportunities."

"Or have you forgotten what you said to me when you first joined the company?"

Ethan's heart suddenly sank.

He did say that he wanted to stand center stage.

But he has no stage now.

Although the debut involved many coincidences, the company still took it seriously. Even the initial planning of their group was done by Henry Chen, and the group name Kaleido was also derived by him based on the etymology of kaleidoscope, which means the ever-changing kaleidoscope. They are all very clear about the hope placed in this.

But whether a combination can be successful involves too many factors.

A thin layer of sweat formed on his palms, and his nerves were stretched and tensed. At this moment, the phone suddenly vibrated, and Ethan's hands trembled. When he saw the caller, his brows knitted even tighter.

"Sorry, I... need to go out for a while."

Henry Chen nodded and asked everyone to take a break. He also went out to smoke. Finn Pei and Leo Cheng were the only ones left in the meeting room. Finn Pei was bored and practicing calligraphy on the project plan. He wanted to write his own name, but as soon as he wrote "fei", he heard Leo Cheng sigh. When he looked up, he saw that his face was full of worry.

He was a little curious, "Brother Leo Cheng, what's wrong with you?"

It was their fans who first called him Brother Leo Cheng, because when they were picking him up at the airport, the band members were all calling him Brother Leo Cheng, Brother Leo Cheng. The fans misheard it and kept calling him Brother Leo Cheng. Finn Pei thought it was interesting and followed suit.

Leo Cheng said irritably, "Fcuk, I get angry when you say that..."

Ethan walked around for a while before finding an empty meeting room on the same floor. He didn't want to answer the phone, but this Deputy Director Yang was not only his assistant director for the variety show, but also a small executive of the show's broadcasting platform. As a not-so-famous idol, he had already rejected too many favors.

"Director Yang."

The person on the other end of the phone seemed to be a different person, speaking in a kind tone, "Xiao Fang, are you not busy now? I was indeed a little angry yesterday, and my words were harsh, so don't take it to heart. You also know that I like you very much, and it's because of that that I was a little anxious..."

The words "like" coming out of his mouth made Ethan feel nauseous. He put his phone back in his pocket and adjusted his wireless headphones. "Director, I have clearly expressed my wishes..."

"Kid, listen to me first. You were also on the trending search yesterday. Are you happy? Look, you actually have great potential. You are so pretty, right? You have business skills, but you just lack a step to climb up."

The more he talked, the more disgust Ethan felt. It was as if this paunchy and arrogant assistant director was standing in front of him right now, his eyes full of lust, stroking his shoulder with his thick hands. At this moment, even the sound of breathing through the receiver made him sick.

"Director Yang, if you insist on forcing me to do something..."

Before Ethan could finish speaking, the person on the other end loudly refuted.

"How can this be considered as forcing others to do something? This is about each taking what they need. The trending searches on the Internet these days were bought by your company, right? That's fine, you know how to promote people. It should have been done a long time ago. But you have to think clearly, there are always new people emerging in the circle, and if the current popularity is not followed by exposure, it will be in vain. The money you spent on buying trending searches will be wasted, do you understand?"

The sharp sound materialized into a burr-like sound of electricity in the headphones, cruelly cutting through Ethan's proud self-esteem.

He has now become a cheap commodity on the shelf, even if it does not reach the pathetic situation of forced buying and selling, it can be crushed inside by anyone, leaving only the fragile plastic packaging. Pick it up and shake it, and all you can hear is the crisp wailing of shattered dreams.

The other party became more and more confident as he spoke, showing off and tempting, "What is exposure? Of course it's the reality show! Speaking of reality shows, your company doesn't have the connections I have..."

Nausea, dizziness, excessive fatigue and lack of food made his vision dim and his legs and feet weak. The sound in the headphones split into countless sounds, superimposed into waves of buzzing.

"What's the point of being on a variety show? If you want to be on a show, just go on a satellite TV show. Your popularity will rise in a minute. Xiao Fang, just relax. As long as you follow me, I promise to tailor a show for you..."

Suddenly, my cheek was rubbed by cold fingertips.

The source of hatred disappeared as the headphones were removed. My ears felt empty for a moment, and the noisy and chaotic world suddenly became quiet, as if it had sunk into the deep sea.

"Assistant Director Yang."

A hand casually rested on Ethan's shoulder, causing him to stiffen and turn his head to the side in a daze.

The old man who had been talking nonstop on the other end of the phone was stunned when he heard the voice, and the exaggerated words he had been holding up fell to the ground in embarrassment. After all, this deep voice didn't sound like Ethan at all, and the cynical tone was even more different.

"I recorded it."