Well, it seemed like Zeno needed not only to escape the physical murder attempts of his environment but also the emotional ones.
He arrived at the office of their company and was greeted by a frantic Bobby and Moby.
“You responded to your messages on Sigmoid?” Jace asked, popping out from nowhere and holding onto his shoulders.
Zeno nodded nonchalantly. “Yeah. I didn’t say anything bad.”
A small smile appeared on Jace’s lips. “Yeah. I saw some of your replies. They were hilarious.”
“Jace,” Bobby said in a warning tone.
“What?” Jace muttered. “I was just telling the truth.”
Bobby sighed, walking to where Zeno was and placing a hand over his shoulder. “Did your account get hacked?”
“No,” Zeno said, making Bobby purse his lips. “Is that why you called me here? If so, then I need to leave. My parents are in my unit, and they’re leaving by the end of the weekend.”
Moby appeared very concerned. “The hate regarding the casting has increased dramatically over the past day.”
Zeno frowned. “How so?”
“Well, your replies have been revealed, and they think you’re… cocky.”
Zeno clicked his tongue. “I was the one receiving death threats over such a trivial thing. I don’t think it makes me cocky to respond.”
“Of course,” Bobby said. “We understand that. I’ve been monitoring the response since you started the filming, and they’re echoing their complaints over and over again. These people are not sane.”
“However, as artists—”
“We should take the shit people throw at us because we’re famous, is that right?” Zeno asked, finishing his sentence for him.
Bobby and Moby froze. Jace, on the other hand, whistled. “Dang, he got you there.”
“I also understand,” Zeno continued. “Being in the spotlights means being prepared to receive both the best and the worst, but just because it’s normal does not mean that it is right. I didn’t say anything rude to them,” he said, standing by his word.
“Amen!” Jace exclaimed.
Bobby massaged the bridge of his nose. “I hate to do this, but the SK channel has reached out to us.”
Zeno pursed his lips. “Do they want me to apologize?”
“Yes,” Moby said without any situation. “Just for damage control. It can be a casual apology. You can have a live stream and mention it in the middle of it all. It doesn’t have to be formal at all, just that you were hurt by the comments and retaliated.”
Zeno sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Alright,” he muttered. “Got it.”
Then, he brought out his phone.
“I have a stand!” Jace exclaimed. Zeno nodded while Jace set it up for him.
“Thank you, Zeno,” Bobby said. “We will come up with an official statement, too. We’ll also gather some of the hate comments and bring it to court.”
“Do you want to remove your lipstick and concealer? We need to make you look as miserable as possible,” Jace said. “At least, that’s the pattern of most apology videos.”
“I’m not wearing any. I came here straight from breakfast,” Zeno muttered, causing Jace’s eyes to widen. So, this was just his bare face, huh? The world is quite unfair.
With that, Zeno signaled for Jace to start the stream. The latter gave Zeno a signal that he could begin.
The livestream opened, and it seemed that plenty of his followers had been waiting for him to address the hate, so it filled with people right away. It was already at 10,000 during the first minute.
– What the heck. This is what Zeno looks like right now?
– He looks so handsome. I’m going to cry.
– Looking at him like this, I see that he does look like Prince Hajin.
– I was about to curse at him but was taken aback by bro’s face. Insane face card right there.
“Good morning,” Zeno greeted smoothly, as if he wasn’t caught up in another ‘scandal,’ if it could even be considered such. “Hope everyone’s doing okay. I am. Mostly.”
The comments began to flood in.
– Hi Zeno! How’s the filming going?
– Immature ass man. Responding to haters?
– Quick! Send him more death threats. Maybe you, thirsty fangirls, will finally grab his attention.
– Fuck you and the rest of the team for ruining my favorite novel.
“The filming is going great,” he said, already responding to the questions he saw flying by. “No problems so far. I nearly fell off a building yesterday, but I’m alive, so I’d say things are progressing nicely.”
He smiled as the screen exploded with a flurry of panicked, laughing, and borderline threatening messages.
“I wasn’t dangling from a roof or anything. I was caught by the safety net.”
“Also,” he went on, “it’s pretty fun being Prince Hajin.”
He knew that statement would set a fire within those who hated the idea of him becoming the main character. Was that premeditated? Only Zeno would know.
– Fuck. You’re so smug about it!
– You came here to apologize, right? Go ahead and apologize!
– I’m so excited for the series, Zeno. When is the teaser going to be released?
“I honestly don’t know,” Zeno responded. “We filmed the teaser beforehand, so it may be soon. Although, the preview photos are out. You guys don’t seem to like it that much, huh?
A few hearts floated up the side of the screen. Comments rushed in like an enthusiastic group hug.
But then came the hate comments. Some were short and mean. Some were paragraphs long and felt very personal.
Zeno didn’t react at first. He simply read quietly with an unreadable expression. Amidst the silence, the people in the chat started speculating.
Was he going to say sorry? Address the rumors? The backlash? The trending tag that had called his casting ‘an insult to the legacy of SK channel’?
Zeno adjusted his posture slightly and leaned forward.
“I’ve seen the hate,” he said. “Some of it is creative. One person told me to choke on my own balls.”
He nodded appreciatively.
“Which is fascinating, biologically speaking. I mean, I physically can’t. They’re quite large.”
Somewhere behind the camera, a strangled gasp escaped from Bobby. Moby had his face buried in his hands like he was praying in Morse code. Bobby was already signaling to Jace, who was manning the phone.
Jace, however, was chewing gum and shaking his head.
“I don’t know how to end it,” he whispered.
“Yes, you do!” Bobby whisper-shouted.
“No, I don’t!” Jace whisper-lied.
Zeno didn’t even glance at them.
“I know a lot of you think I shouldn’t be in The Forsaken Prince,” he continued. “And that’s fine. I wouldn’t trust me either if an unknown actor portrayed my favorite character.”
He leaned in just enough to fill the frame with his face. “But let’s be honest. You’re going to watch it.”
He smiled. It wasn’t smug, just a small smile that made his statement factual.
“You’ve written too many think pieces on why I’m a disaster not to tune in. I admire the dedication. You’re giving the show more attention than our PR team ever could. I should be sending thank-you cards.”
From the side of the camera, Moby wheezed.
“I’m not here to change your mind,” Zeno said. “I’m not here to explain why I got the role, or how hard I’m working, or how many hours I’ve spent making sure I don’t embarrass the script, the crew, or the writers. Because honestly…”
He looked straight at the camera.
“… you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“So let’s just skip to the part where I show you. That’s the fun part, right?”
He gave the camera a slight nod.
“I stand by what I said. I stand by how I said it. If I’m wrong—drag me then. I’ll hold the mic.”
Off-screen, something fell. A clatter—possibly Bobby’s will to live.
“But if I’m right…” Zeno smiled faintly, “Well. Then congratulations. You just watched the rise of a man you told to go choke on his own anatomy.”