FP 2: Devil Incarnate

Seeing this sentence, Ling Yi reacted even more quickly than Fang Juexie and immediately turned the laptop to one side. “Ah, so that’s how it’s like now…”

Fang Juexia didn’t actually think much of it. In any case, on the Internet, what’s fake would eventually become the truth after it was repeated a few more times.

Just as he was about to take the initiative to change the topic, Jiang Miao brought out a bowl of soup from the kitchen. “Juexia, Qiang-ge called you just now but you didn’t pick up. He asked you to go to the company for a meeting. Oh right,” he added, “Xiao Pei has already gone over.”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

Under the coercion of the leader who was exuding maternal love, Fang Juexia finished the bowl of chicken soup before rushing back to the company.

He didn’t expect the boss to be there too. Although Star Charts can only be regarded as a small-scale management company at most, its boss was usually quite busy still and wouldn’t often appear in the company.

“Come, take a seat.” Chen Zhengyun, the boss, sat in the middle of the meeting room with his hands folded in front of him, motioning for him to sit next to him. Fang Juexie sat down as instructed, then looked across the long table.

The one with his gray wool hat pulled down to cover both eyes in public, and who was laying on his chair with his head angled upward sound asleep – who could it be other than Pei Tingsong?

“Xiao Pei, wake up.” Cheng Qiang, who was sitting next to him, woke him up. Pei Tingsong lifted his hat up groggily, then took it off and ruffled his hair. Sharp eyebrows and eyes emerged from the clouds and aimed right at Fang Juexie on the opposite side.

“You’re finally here.” His first sentence right after waking up wasn’t polite in the slightest.

His gaze was fixed on Fang Juexie. Fang Juexia subconsciously turned away to avoid it, so his birthmark on the left corner of his eye was now facing Pei Tingsong. This reminded Pei Tingsong of a type of flower he had since when he was a child; it was light pink, had slender petals, and it was identical in shape to the mark at the corner of his eyes.

“The two of you have been ranking high up on Hot Searches since last night, we were quite surprised too.” Chen Zhengyun glanced at the assistant. “Give your report.”

Even though it was an unexpected occurrence, Chen Zhengyun had still instructed someone to record and analyze the data without delay. There were quite a lot of PPT slides. Feng Juexia didn’t speak and just listened quietly, his gaze shifting towards Pei Tingsong once by chance and he saw Pei Tingsong lying on the table, on the verge of falling asleep.

“That’s about it. Not only are the statistics from Weibo and Baidu rather positive, but even the less popular websites without much traffic reflect the same trend.” The assistant smiled. “It whipped up an even greater storm than when Kaleido debuted.”

Pei Tingsong, who had his eyes closed, suddenly snickered.

So he wasn’t asleep. Fang Juexia glanced at him, not expecting that that guy would open his eyes at the same time as well. Both of them were caught off guard when their gazes met. Pei Tingsong has a pair of long, narrow eyes, the black and white within very distinct, and they seemed considerably aggressive.

“Although it was an accident, the popularity is real. You guys should know too that in these two years after debut, Kaleido’s development has not been satisfactory.” Chen Zhengyun’s gaze shifted between the two of them. “We’re holding this meeting today to discuss our proposal for the next phase.”

Feng Juexia understood. Their boss was quite kind to his artistes. Even though they haven’t been the most popular band two years into their debut, he didn’t force them to accept all sorts of variety programs or make public appearances to increase their exposure, unless the artists themselves asked for it.

Also, this band’s debut had been quite hasty, and was once derided as the band with “five leftovers + 1 airborne with connections”.

In the beginning, it was only because their seniors had made a bit of a name for themselves, especially the face of their band, Shang Sirui, whose popularity shot through the roof. By riding on their coattails, Star Chart wanted to push out a new boy band, and Fang Juexia, who had once been the seeded contestant in a large company, was naturally worthy of the center position.

Their other main dancer, Lu Yuanzhi, was once the champion of a hip-hop dance competition, but was kicked out by his original dance group because of an uneven distribution of profits. After several sharp vicissitudes, he arrived at Star Chart. Their main singer, Ling Yi, was born with a good voice. He had joined several children singing talent shows when he was a child. Unfortunately, he only won second place in a contest against someone who had connections. He participated in another talent show when he was 17, but he was cut short in the finals because he had no connections of his own again. After that, he was scouted by Star Chart and came over to become a trainee, then stayed a trainee for three and a half years before debuting.

Their leader, Jiang Miao, was a student of Central Conservatory of Music, and he was skilled in playing zithers. Unfortunately, he came from a poor family and in order to provide for his younger sister, once performed as an anchor who played the zither. But because his face was rarely shown, he didn’t become very popular, then he got scouted by Star Chart and became a trainee there. 

Their two rappers were of even more “dubious backgrounds” amongst the other idol trainees. He Ziyan had mingled around in underground bands when he was very young, and he used to sing and wash the dishes at a bar. He displayed great talent in the electronic music genre, just that he has never mentioned where his home was or how his family was like. Pei Tingsong can be considered to be the only one amongst them who was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. An airborne talent who came out of nowhere before the band was formed, he was a young master stuffed into their group who had disrupted all of their previous plans and arrangements.

However, it is undeniable that Pei Tingsong’s rapping and creative abilities were top-notch in their circle. He was only 19-years-old after their 2-year debut; his family background, talent and appearance were all god-tier, so how could he not be wild?

“Not doing it.” Pei Tingsong refused bluntly. With one hand supporting his cheek, his other hand picked up the pen on the table and started twirling it.

Chen Zhengyun didn’t seem to pay much heed. He turned to look at Fang Juexia before continuing, “The planning department worked overtime to give me a new proposal.” The assistant distributed the new proposal as Chen Zhengyun laid out his instructions, simple and clear. “The company is prepared to readjust the way we’re going to market you guys. In short, we want you and Xiao Pei to sell your CP ship. We don’t need you two to be particularly intimate, you can act as per normal, just display a bit more of a camaraderie between teammates.”

Those words struck the two of them right in their sore spots. The two of them have never gotten along ever since their debut – neither thought much of the other. Just that the way Fang Juexia expresses his dislike is through minimizing contact, whereas Pei Tingsong was different; he would play some vile pranks every once in a while. 

Otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

“This is a really good opportunity. As long as we make use of your popularity now, the two of you would definitely have new chances to develop in the future.”

Fang Juexia stared at the proposal and kept silent for a few seconds. He thought about all the friction, both big and small, between him and Pei Tingsong throughout these two years. If it was like before, he could still just avoid him when he could to maintain the harmony within the team. But if he agreed…

The consequences were unimaginable.

He looked up. “Boss, I think we should forget it, I don’t really want to sell a fake ship.”

Right after he spoke, his boss hadn’t responded before the one opposite the table lost his temper first. “Dissatisfied with me as a CP pairing?”

“Come up with a reason to persuade me.” Pei Tingsong raised an eyebrow, seeming to ruminate. “Am I not good-looking enough? Or am I not rich enough?”

His hint was too explicit. Fang Juexia’s expression didn’t change, and he didn’t answer him either.

“Then Xiao Pei, you really want to be a CP with him, right?” Chen Zhengyun jerked his chin at Cheng Qiang. “Record this down, the youngest one has agreed.”

Xiao Pei rolled his eyes, saying lifelessly, “I did not.”

“You look pretty eager to me.” Chen Zhengyun couldn’t be bothered to bicker with someone who could care less. His gaze shifted back to Fang Juexia. “Juexia, this doesn’t involve just the two of you – it involves the whole band as well. Actually, it’s fine even if you’re not willing, you guys would just lose the opportunity to become popular. (the specific term is to become more popular with people who are not your fans) But then again, netizens have already dug out past videos of the two of you, and it would just spread by itself once it gets popular. Even if the two of you don’t take the initiative to sell your ship, from the day the two of you got ranked on Hot Searches, you’ve been bound together without any effort on your part.”

The underlying meaning behind those words was that they might as well adapt to circumstances and change their passive stance into an active one.

Fang Juexia looked at him. “I just don’t want to use this sort of method.”

“This isn’t a ‘method’, Juexia, it’s a chance.” Chen Zhengyun shrugged. “Just based on abilities alone, the six of you can achieve results much greater than what you all have right now. But just having abilities alone without any opportunities is the hardest situation of all.”

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

Fang Juexia’s heart shrank.

He once said, he wanted to stand in the middle of the stage.

But he has no stage now.

Although there were many coincidences behind their debut, their company did put in quite a lot of effort into it. Even their group’s first proposal was personally formulated by Chen Zhengyun himself, and their band name ‘Kaleido’ was a contraction of the phrase ‘Kaleidoscope’ – named with the intent of being ever-changing, like a kaleidoscope. All of them were very clear on what kind of hopes were riding on the meaning behind that.

But there are too many factors that determine the success of a group.

A thin layer of sweat broke out on his palm. His nerves were being pulled apart inch by inch, tightening in the process. At this time, his phone suddenly vibrated, and Fang Juexia felt his hand shook. When he looked at the name of the caller, his eyebrows furrowed even more.

“Please excuse me, I…have to go out for a bit.”

Chen Zhengyun nodded. He asked everyone to take a break and went out to have a smoke. Only Pei Tingsong and Cheng Qiang remained in the conference room. Pei Tingsong, who was bored stiff, started practicing his handwriting on the proposal that was handed out. He had wanted to practice writing his own name, but right after writing a ‘非’ (top part of his surname), he heard Cheng Qiang sigh. When he looked up, he saw Cheng Qiang’s face clouded with gloom.

He was a little curious. “Qiang-ge, what’s wrong?”

The name ‘Qiang-ge’ was first given to him by their fans, because the band kept calling him ‘Qiang-ge’ when he was picking them up from the airport and was heard wrongly by their fans so they kept calling him Qiang-ge. Pei Tingsong thought it was interesting, so he copied them. (Cheng Qiang’s Qiang is 羌 but the fans misheard it as another Qiang 强)

Cheng Qiang was all worked up when he answered, “Fuck, I get so angry just at the mention of it…”

Fang Juexia made a few rounds before finding an empty conference room on the same floor. He didn’t want to answer his phone, but not only is this deputy director Yang the deputy director of the variety program he was recording, but he was also one of the smaller big shots at the broadcasting platform the program was airing on. As a little idol who wasn’t considered to be very popular, he had already offended him way too many times.

“Director Yang.”

The one on the other end of the call seemed to be a different person now, saying with a kind tone, “Xiao Fang ah, you shouldn’t be busy now, right? Yesterday, I did lose my temper a little and said some rather harsh things, don’t take it to heart. You should know how much I like you, and it’s because I like you that I got a little anxious…”

When he heard the word ‘like’, Fang Juexia felt like retching. He placed his phone back in his pocket, then adjusted his wireless headset. “Director, I have clearly expressed my wishes…”

“Look at you, kid, just listen to me first. You managed to rank on the Hot Searches list yesterday, so you must be feeling quite happy, right? See? You actually have a lot of potential with such good looks. Your professional capabilities aren’t weak either, you just lack an opportunity.”

The more he spoke, the more disgust Fang Juexia felt. As if this portly and insolent deputy director was standing right in front of him, his obscenity in full view, who was using that thick hand of his to rub his shoulders. At that moment, even the sound of his breathing through his earpiece made Fang Juexia sick.

“Director Yang, if you must force me…”

Before Fang Juexia finished, the one at the other end retorted loudly.

“How could this be considered forcing you?! We’re just taking what we each need. Your company should’ve bought their way up to Hot Searches these few days, right? Not bad, they know how to support people now. They should’ve done that long ago ma. But you must think this through – new people pop up all the time in this circle. If this popularity has no follow-up to keep up with the exposure, it’d just be a waste, and all the money you guys spent on your hot search would be squandered. Do you understand?”

His sharp voice through the phone sounded like the burr of an electric current that cut through Fang Juexia’s pride without mercy.

Right now, he was a cheap commodity that could be easily reached for on a shelf. Even though it wasn’t to the point where he had to be sold by force, he could still be crushed by others at wanton will, with only a fragile piece of plastic packaging left behind. When it’s picked up and shaken, all one can hear is the clear clinking of lament as broken fragments of dreams collide with one another.

The more the other party spoke, the more confident he became, flaunting as he continued his coercion, “And what is exposure? Of course it’s all about reality shows! Speaking of reality shows, your company surely doesn’t have my kinds of connections…”

Disgust, dizziness, and excessive fatigue in addition to his lack of nutrition turned Fang Juexia’s vision black, and his knees felt weak. The voice in his earpiece split into countless pieces, superimposed into bursts of buzzing sounds.

“Online variety shows aren’t worth it. If you really want a show, you have to get one at China TV, and your national popularity would rise every minute. Xiao Fang, just rest assured, as long as you follow me, I can guarantee that I’ll customize a…”

All of a sudden, cool fingertips brushed past his cheek.

The source of disgust disappeared along with the departure of his earphones, and his ears felt empty in an instant. His clamorous, discordant world suddenly turned quiet, as if he had just sunk into the deep sea.

“Deputy director Yang.”

A hand was casually draped over Fang Juexia’s shoulder, turning his whole body stiff. Stunned, he looked sideways.

Upon hearing that voice, the old man on the other end of the call who had been gabbling non-stop was startled dumb, the exaggerated words he had held up high all crashing onto the floor in a sorry mess. After all, this low voice didn’t sound like Fang Juexia’s in the slightest, and its cynical tone was even less similar.

“I recorded that.”

—

T/N: haha sorry but I didn’t edit this…I’ll look it over again sometime later