The cast of ‘Stars in My Ordinary Sky’ was once again gathered to continue filming. However, when Young arrived, he found the ambiance suffocating.
Yesterday’s circumstances involving Zeno and Jordie definitely left a mark. Aside from that, there was another piece of news that had rattled their set.
”Stars Among Us’ Garners 2 Million Views in Less Than A Week! The Fastest Ever Achieved By A Story Lab Production!’
– Kim Kim created an event for her fans! She says she’ll do a skincare giveaway when it hits 2 million views.
– So, she’s cheating?
– How is that cheating? Why can’t you ask the cast of ‘Stars in My Ordinary Sky’ to do a giveaway, too? Or maybe, they’re too irrelevant to even do that?
– Ah, seriously. I watched both shows, and ‘Stars in My Ordinary Sky’ is so much better. I just wish people would give it a shot.
– That’s so true! It had a slow start, but it’s picking up. I really think this week’s episodes are going to make or break it.
– I think they’re breaking. Just look at their views.
That was what greeted the cast the moment they arrived. What was worse was that their views were stuck at around 300,000 thousand since it was uploaded. It was still a good achievement. However, they were brutally murdered by their competitor when it came to numbers.
Young was aware of it, of course, but he didn’t want it to affect him. However, as soon as he was greeted by their dejected expressions, the disappointment suddenly hit him like a storm.
On the other hand, Zeno was all smiles. He had monitored their views this morning, and it had only moved thrice—when Minji watched it three times this morning. It seemed that the public truly wasn’t interested in their show.
Jordie caught the smile on Zeno’s face and snapped.
“Are you seriously smiling right now?” he asked.
Zeno pursed his lips. It was times like this he couldn’t hide his excitement. However, he quickly went back to a neutral expression once he felt everyone’s gaze on him.
Sammy sighed and slumped on the table. “What are we going to do?” she asked.
Young bit his lip. “Why don’t we start filming?” he started off. “We’re behind our schedule. Yujin will have a hard time editing them if we delay it any further.”
Jordie groaned and leaned against his chair. “What’s the point?” he asked. “It’s not like we can make a difference by working hard. It’s already decided that we’re the filler series—one that would make ‘Stars Among Us’ shine even more.”
Sammy nodded in agreement. “Kim Kim is pulling out all of her tactics. I tried doing the same thing, but her fans called me shameless.”
“I mean, what can we do with it? She has triple the followers of our most popular cast member,” she said, pertaining to Jaehyun.
Jaehyun clicked his tongue and ran his fingers through his hair. “I should have joined their production,” he muttered, but everyone clearly heard it.
That dampened the mood even more.
Zeno couldn’t hide his happiness again. However, Shelly suddenly stood from her seat, slamming her fists on the table. They all turned to her with wide eyes, wondering what had gotten into her.
“We can’t just give up,” she courageously said. “Most people don’t become successful overnight. Let’s do our best, and good results will eventually come.”
“That’s not true,” Sammy chimed, sitting straighter on her chair. “You’ve been on Tick longer than Kim Kim, but you’re still less successful. We just have to accept the fact that not everything or everyone will reach a certain level of fame, and that’s alright.”
“Jordie is saying we should work according to the results we’re currently getting,” she said while Jordie nodded at the side.
Shelly’s courage plummeted after her statement.
Just then, Zeno raised his hand, capturing their attention. “You’ve been talking about this Kim Kim girl for a while. Why does she get to have two names?”
Yujin, who was standing in the corner, couldn’t help but chuckle. What kind of question was that? They were in the middle of a serious conversation, too.
Shelly shyly answered as she sat back down. “Her last name is Kim, and she’s also named Kim.”
“And she’s playing a character named Kim,” Zeno chimed, remembering it from the episode he watched.
She was Kim Kim playing Kim.
If that wasn’t narcissism…
Zeno shook his head. He had no business talking about other people’s names. Instead, he decided to strike now that everything was going downhill.
“I see,” he muttered, looking at their hopeless expressions. He just needed to make them even more hopeless!
“So, you don’t want to work hard simply because we’re not getting the results we want,” he started off. They didn’t look at him, but they listened attentively.
Jordie was sure he was going to try to convince them with false positivity.
“That’s fair, I guess,” he said, surprising them with how laid back his statement was.
Young turned to him with wide eyes. He thought Zeno would cheer them up or give them courage!
“Aside from that, you can’t help but compare your progress to someone who started the same time as you—in this case, a series that is airing at the same time as us. You see their million views while ours is moving at a turtle’s pace.”
“You’d feel discouraged, of course.”
“More than that, the other series have the peers you admire—influencers who have more followers than you. No matter how hard you try, you cannot achieve the same prestige as them simply because you weren’t born that way.”
Every word Zeno said was meant to discourage them even more. Zeno looked around and found them completely silent, so he continued.
“You lack talent.”
“You can’t act.”
“You whine at every little inconvenience because you have glamourized this job.”
“You think you are better than everyone else and that you are defined by the amount of followers you have.”
“You’re here because you want to make some money and, frankly, increase your influence. However, it’s not working the way you expected.”
“And now, you want to give up.”
A pin drop could be heard with how silent the room was.
“So, let’s do exactly as this guy said,” Zeno said, nudging Jordie’s shoulder. They gazed at him, their eyes wide with curiosity.
“Let’s do a half-ass job and get this over with, shall we?”