Recruited by a Villainess System

“It’s already been three days. What’s going on, Alex?” Carl’s worried intonation propagated from the phone on Alex’s table. 

“I’m doing my best. Denying the rumors would only be in vain. The person behind this spent a lot of money to get the paparazzi on their side. This will last for a while.” Not a sliver of Alex’s happy-go-lucky façade was left on his face. 

In contrast to the morning sun illuminating the office, the conversation of the two was as dreary as the tundra’s night. 

Carl knew that this wasn’t one of the mundane rumors of the entertainment industry, enormous powers were at play. In apprehension, he uttered the following words between his teeth. “Are they also the one who pushed you to sign a new artist?”

Alex was silent while holding a glass of water in his hand.

Carl drew a sharp breath.

Alex eyed the constant change in the sequence of the numbers on the brightly lit phone. 

It has been 14 minutes since the call started.  

“Do you regret it?” Alex voiced out with a vestige of self deprecation. The pearl that you’ve been treasuring has been tainted because of me.

A second passed before a spiritless sound came. Carl reasoned out. “What’s there to regret? If Lilian’s with me, she’ll forever be labeled as mediocre. I can’t create wings for her to fly to the summit. Besides, it’s not your fault that someone above has their brain filled with water, creating such a malicious rumor to drag you down, tsk.”

Carl didn’t dare to explore this subject and shifted the topic before Alex could react. 

The two talked for a few more minutes before hanging up. 

Alex’s dull stare was glued to the phone until it completely went black. His upright back slouched, and he leaned his head on the backrest of his chair while resting his eyes. 

***Flashback***

Carl walked toward Alex and placed a hand on his shoulders. “Please take care of Lilian.”

Alex raised his head and stared at him straight in the eyes. Alex wanted him to see his resolve. He promised. “Leave her to me.”

He chose this. Of course, he needed to take responsibility. 

Carl was relieved by his reassuring words and laughed. “Good, good. As always, you never disappoint.”

***End of Flashback***

A chilly laugh escaped from Alex’s mouth. His jaw was clenched, and he covered his face with his right hand, imitating the form of a claw, seemingly wanting to rip his face apart. 

The fingers on his left hand turned white as he tightly gripped on to the glass.

The glass only had as much tensile strength as it could hold before it buckled. Saying so, a crack was heard in this piercing silence and the glass shattered into pieces. 

At its last moments, the glass mercilessly took its revenge. It didn’t want its torturer to escape unscathed as it sliced and bored under its torturer’s palms and fingers. Blood encased the slender hand, and drop by drop made a stain on the floor. 

Regardless, the bearer of pain didn’t flinch. A gruff whisper overshadowed everything that was happening. “I’m sorry.” 

***

Currently on the wildfire ravaging the internet…

Under the comment section of a paparazzi’s twitter:

[Netizen A: It’s been 3 days and none of the leads of the scandal denied it. It must be true.] 

[Netizen B: How could my goddess Irene be managed by such trash?! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS! I DEMAND A CHANGE IN MANAGER! CHANGE!]

[Netizen C: A drop of fame and this no-name actress can’t wait to jump into a man’s bed. What a slut.]

[Netizen D: @BigStarEntertainment KICK THESE TWO OUT! DISGRACE!]

[Netizen E: Useless actress, useless manager, why don’t you disappear already]

[Netizen F: Top manager? More like a pompous ass. After you get fired, make sure to include the title “Douchebag” in your resume. Your people will come flocking to you.] 

[Netizen G: TRASH TRASH TRASH TRASH TRASH TRASH TRASH TRASH]

[Netizen H: This leeches dont deserv to live. LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE]

[Netizen I: Urgh, I hate these kinds of people.]  

At the height of the flames, a conspicuous notification popped up on millions of people’s phones. 

[Irene Blake: I believe in them.]

And just like that, the flames’ momentum came to a staggering halt. 

***

Calvin, who was eating his lunch beside Vince, choked. 

*cough, cough* He stretched out his hand to Vince. “Help—” But he was met with a living statue. *cough, cough* “This—” Calvin’s temple twitched. He wheezed and thumped his chest with his fist, trying to dislodge the food stuck in his throat. 

Misty eyes, sore throat, and a puffy face later, Calvin was back to normal. Relieved, he then whipped his head and threw a glare at Vince. 

Useless boss. I was fighting for my life, but I was just ignored. Huhuhuhu. But of course, he wasn’t about to blurt out his thoughts. It would be bad if a termination letter would magically appear on his table.

Ehem, ehem. 

Instead, he expressed his scorn through sarcasm. “Thanks for the help.”

Vince had no interest in dealing with this clumsy assistant of his. “You’re welcome.”

Calvin’s eyes grew big at the response. In his head, he was already thrashing his boss in their chibi form. Such a thick face, huhuhu.

Meanwhile, Vince had something else in mind. Signing a new artist and a three-day long rumor. His gut feeling was pointing at something, but his compass was dysfunctional. He couldn’t grasp what it was denoting. 

Vince’s brow furrowed. 

Calvin noted how he was treated as a ghost by this boss of his and slightly—just a teeny tiny bit—puffed his cheeks. Humph. 

A minute later, he shook his head in resignation and remembered the tweet he was reading before he commenced into a fit of cough. Right! He straight away grabbed the phone that fell on the floor and haphazardly scrolled through his twitter. 

A couple of strokes later. 

There it is! He jumped from his seat. 

“Boss, boss. Look, look.”

7 cm from Vince’s nose was Calvin’s phone. 

The reticent Vince was abruptly pulled away from his tangled thoughts. His dagger-like gaze swished past the phone and went straight to Calvin’s pupils. 

Calvin flinched at that metaphorical look and withdrew his phone. His heart skipped a beat. “Hehehe.” He scratched the back of his neck with his head hung, clearly aware of his wrong.      

Seeing his assistant’s dumb image, Vince sighed. “What is it?”

In no time, Calvin immediately bounced back upon hearing his question. “Boss, read this.” 

He handed his phone to Vince.

In front of Vince were four words. 

[I believe in them.]

A new tweet from Irene.

“Alex’s side has moved! Only God knows how I’ve been anticipating their counter attack. It’s finally here!” Calvin was giddy; he could at last indulge in some top quality face slapping. 

Vince listened to Calvin, who kept running his mouth. “There would be fewer people who’ll curse Lilian and Alex. Those haters can kiss their ass goodbye, hehe. A rainbow has eventually emerged after a long storm, ah.”  

An imperceptible arc materialized for half a second in Vince’s lips before it was replaced by a horizontal line. The duration was so short that even the owner was oblivious to it.

***

Just under one hour after posting that tweet, Irene got a call from Alex. 

“You didn’t have to post that.” Irene discerned a weary tone from him. Besides Lilian, this was also one of the reasons why she did that.

“I wanted to.” Irene wanted to help. “Besides, I’m a heavier figure to move. They have to think twice before doing anything.” And that was the case with every big name celebrity. If you sought to involve them in a rumor, you better be ready to have a portion of your flesh be bitten. You would receive a couple of sympathy or nods from passersby, but you would have to tear down the wall of at least a million people thick. 

Fans adhere to the statement, “Innocent until proven guilty”.

Unfortunately, this didn’t bode true to actresses like Lilian—a sapling in the industry.

On the other side of the phone, Alex was frustrated. “I don’t want you to get involved, Irene. This…” Alex was apprehensive before continuing. “This is different. You… you really could get implicated.” In that last syllable, fear was insipidly transmitted from the speaker to Irene’s ear drum. 

I know that it’s different. That’s why I acted. You’ve remained staunched with your support the moment I met you; now I want to lend a hand. Irene couldn’t deny it anymore. Alex grew on her. 

It has been a tough ride, and she wished to aid her solace. If she was a nuisance… “Am I making it difficult for you? I’m sorry.”  

Her response only made Alex’s heart ache more. Changing his pitch, he said, “What are you worried about? I have this all under control. Just look after your cute little sister there. She needs you more now.” 

Irene could tell he wouldn’t budge and was instead trying to create a lighter mood; so she gave in.

Fine. She didn’t wish to burden him more. “Don’t worry, it’ll be the only tweet I’ll make till this gets resolved.”

She picked up a sigh of relief from the other end, and she soon followed. At least her actions bore fruit. Now, fewer people would regard the rumor as true. 

Alex added, “I didn’t let Vince arrange too much for you today. You can take it easy.”

At this, Irene laughed sweetly. “Hahaha. I noticed.” That’s why I could become Lilian’s tail for the day. “Thank you.”

Before ending the call, Alex coaxed her. “It’ll be over soon.”

“Hmm.” Irene trusted him.

Irene walked back to the dressing room. Twenty meters away from the door, she heard an altercation and slowed her steps. 

Irene’s eyes turned dark.

“Stop the act, Hattie. We already know how fake that smile of yours is.”

“To think that we genuinely thought you comforted Lilian these past two days. Instead, we found you calling her derogatory words. How awful can you get!”

“If we hadn’t walked in and overheard your conversation in the room just now, would you continue to deceive everyone like this?!”

“I’m not awful. Isn’t what I did a fitting treatment for her? She’s the one who climbed into someone else’s bed for fame. How can she not be a slut? You’re defending the wrong person here.” Hattie bypassed the deceiving part.

“That’s just a rumor. Nothing’s confirmed yet. And you don’t get the right to bully someone for any reason.”

Hattie’s words were cruel. “No, that Lilian deserves much worse.” 

In return, the guy gritted and said, “We presumed that the rumors about you were false and people just misunderstood you. We were wrong. Immensely wrong.”

Hattie couldn’t hold it in and raised her voice. “What? A video or two of me scolding a person in the wrong means I’m a bad person? Slander! And you’re even defending that slut!” She was indignant. You’re all wrong!

Right then and there, an apathetic tone called her name. “Hattie.”

Irene found three people standing outside of her and Lilian’s dressing room. One was Hattie, while the other two were the people Calvin introduced to them during the tour of the studio. 

Irene was secretly relieved. It’s nice to know someone looking after Lilian.

Hattie froze on the spot when her eyes landed on Irene. 

The eyes of the guy and the girl confronting Hattie went bright. They knew Irene believed in Lilian, hence she sided with them. A comrade!

The snow queen’s frostbite inducing look swept through Hattie. 

Meanwhile, Hattie refused to face Irene with people around. She had zero options other than to step back and leave. And so she did. 

She immediately left without a second thought.

Seeing her withdraw, the man and the woman were taken aback but were also glad. It was tiring confronting Hattie. However, they still couldn’t relax their stance, facing such a frosty Irene made them nervous. With no common enemy, their comrade became a commander in no time. 

Irene softened her aura but it didn’t help abate the other’s uneasiness. She watched the two of them restlessly shifting their feet. 

She found them adorable and waited for the two to open their mouths. “We’ll, we’ll, we’ll get going then.”

Irene’s relaxed facial muscles sent them a charming smile and nodded. “Thanks for today.”

They understood that this thanks was for shielding Lilian. In perfect synchronization, the two briskly waved their hands and shook their heads to Irene while a pink tint slowly crawled to their cheeks. 

“No need, no need.” Their minds were already a clean sheet of paper from Irene’s beauty attack. They threw all caution out of the window and swiftly lifted their feet and ran to who knows where lest they suffer more injury. 

Pretty, pretty, pretty. Escape the beauty. Their cheeks flushed red.