Zeno was confused for a moment before shaking his head. Children also said things that didn’t make sense at times!
As he opened the door, he stopped once more when he realized he had forgotten an important detail.
“Oh,” he said, glancing at Mara and Kwong, who still appeared emotional, “don’t tell anyone about this.”
Kwong and Mara chuckled, already understanding a part of Zeno’s personality. For someone getting popular, he didn’t like bringing attention to himself.
“Alright,” Mara said. “The secret is safe with us.”
Zeno bowed his head before shutting the door and leaving the hospital.
Meanwhile, just a few meters away, Minseok covered his mouth as he leaned against a cold, hard wall. He wanted to get checked because of his burnt hair. It turned out, it was just truly that—nothing else was burnt.
However, he didn’t regret coming to the hospital.
“He’s even taking money from sick people in hospitals?” Minseok muttered, shaking his head.
He clutched his phone to his chest and smiled as he replayed the footage he had gotten.
“Finally,” he said. “I can show everyone you don’t deserve the popularity.”
***
[-1%. Not enough money to pay utility bills for the month.]
[Notable Meter: 19%]
Zeno sighed in relief. However, that relief was quickly erased when he saw that his penalty quest still remained.
“Sign with an entertainment agency?” he muttered. That was the last thing he wanted to do.
With that, he boarded the plane and went back to Seoul. He connected to the in-flight wi-fi and began researching different entertainment agencies.
Like perfect timing, Zeno received an email.
His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw it was from the same guy at Moonrise Media—Joohyuk Jang. He had voiced out his interest in recruiting Zeno back then, but the latter was too focused on getting money for Maxie’s treatment.
“Moonrise,” he muttered, thinking about it for a while before shaking his head. Moonrise Media was a very successful company. He would just be ruining his mission if he signed with them.
With that, he replied and deleted the email, leading himself back to the main dashboard. At that moment, he saw that he actually received plenty of emails over the course of two days.
“Evergreen… Continuous Dominance?”
As expected, because he had gone viral, more companies wanted to take him in.
Evergreen wasn’t considered more successful than Moonrise Media, but they were known for their popular ‘indie’ films that got nominated in international film festivals. Meanwhile, Continuous Dominance was known as a ‘dirty’ company. They had some successful actors here and there, but most of them left the company after their contract.
However, Continuous Dominance was known for creating lawsuits that made it harder for the artist to live. As much as he needed something to bring down his meter, he didn’t want to go through the trouble.
With that, he sent them the same generic response before closing his eyes. It was only at that time that he realized how tired he felt.
Meanwhile, the companies who wanted Zeno to become a part of their roster of artists, waited excitedly for his response. He was a rising artist with no agency. They bet he was dying to get signed, and they were ready to offer him a big signing fee to get him to join!
“He has responded!” the assistant of J-Slick, CEO of Continuous Dominance, burst into the room.
J-Slick, who had created an entertainment agency after his failed rapping career, sat up straight.
Their company was losing noise at the moment, and he believed Zeno Han was the person who could bring back their hype. Otherwise, he needed to ruin another one of his artists.
“What did he say? I bet we were the only one to mention the signing fee right away,” J-Slick smirked.
However, the assistant appeared hesitant, making J-Slick frown.
“He refused, sir,” he sighed, causing J-Slick to stand from his seat. He removed his sunglasses, showing his sharp eyes. The assistant had to look away out of fear.
“What is his reason?”
The assistant pursed his lips. “Nothing, sir. He just said—’No thanks.'”
J-Slick couldn’t believe his ears. No thanks? After he had offered him such a great signing fee? Who does that man think he was?
“Find out his reason,” J-Slick said through gritted teeth, “and stop him from signing at bigger companies.”
Meanwhile, in Evergreen, the scouts were also having a hard time deciphering what Zeno Han meant.
“No thanks? What does he mean by that?”
“I think he means no.”
“Well, we’re not taking no for an answer,” the casting director said, slamming his hands on the table. “We need to bring Zeno Han to our company at all costs!”
On the other hand, Moonrise Media was also in disbelief.
Joohyuk began chuckling, and then it turned into full-blown laughter. His colleagues began glancing at each other out of nervousness.
“Sir, are you alright?”
Joohyuk continued to laugh for a bit before calming down. He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head.
“I don’t know if he’s playing hard to get or not,” he muttered. “This is the first time I feel like I’m playing some kind of mind game with a rookie artist.”
An employee raised her hand. “Maybe he needs to see the signing fee first.”
Joohyuk placed his fingers under his chin. “Is that so?” he muttered. Zeno did demand money during the signing of ‘Code Black.’
“Alright,” he said, clapping his hands. “Raise his signing fee. We’ll make sure he comes to our company.”
While these companies scrambled to recruit Zeno Han, an employee from a company that appeared out of this world, hesitantly tried suggesting something during their monthly meeting.
Their meeting room was filled to the brim—a culture they had created since the company was established more than 50 years ago. The size of the room was no joke, too. It was as big as the entire building of smaller companies.
The employee, a timid woman wearing glasses, gathered all her courage and raised her hand.
“How about Zeno Han?” she asked, capturing everybody’s attention.
The CEO, a relatively young and handsome man, pursed his lips.
“Zeno Han?” he asked with one eyebrow raised. “Who is that?”
She cleared her throat, feeling intimidated. “He starred in ‘Broken Chains of Justice’ with Daniel Byeon and Hyunbin Lee. I believe multiple companies, including Moonrise Media, are trying to recruit him because of the hot issue of him saving one of the staff members at the set of ‘Code Black.’ I think he would be a great addition to our artists.”
She felt everyone’s eyes on her, making her nervous. As she looked up, she felt like her heart had stopped. Their CEO smirked and shook his head.
“The fact that you have to explain to me who he is means you already have your answer.”
“Our company does not mess with small shrimp,” he smirked. “Those kinds of artists, who thrive on short-lived popularity, are not going to last in the industry and will only become a burden in this fine institution.”
The other employees began chiming in agreement. She pursed her lips. It seemed these employees would do whatever their CEO would tell them.
“So, let them be,” he chuckled, sitting back down on his chair and placing his glasses on.
“We’re not going to fight over some unknown artist.”