Noticing Averie, one of the actors nudged the other and giggled.
"Yeah, who let him in the industry? They should be fired."
They said it all as if they were talking about someone other than him.
One of them even nodded at Averie with a fake smile.
And the man nodded back with an even faker smile. He was practically grinning ear to ear while looking at his prey.
He walked over to the furthest sink, washed his hands, checked himself in the mirror, and went into the nearest toilet stall.
With the door closed, he could hear the pair’s dreadful conversation. They were being loud on purpose so that he could hear.
Averie had two ways to handle this situation.
First, smash their skulls on the sink and rinse their eyeballs under running water.
’Nah, can’t waste that much time on these morons.’
So, Averie chose the second option.
He closed the lid of the toilet, perched on it, and crossed his legs. Everything was already in place. He did not need to do anything but wait.
’This is going to be boring,’ he thought.
He didn’t have his smartphone on him to pass the time. Addiction to smart devices was something he had quickly learned to embrace.
Listening to the pair of actors cursing and calling him names, Averie felt satisfied. He was thankful for the beautiful material they were providing.
’Santa Clause is bringing gifts early this year, boys.’
He didn’t even know their names, but he knew their futures.
’His sack must be heavy with the fruits of your actions.’
In the flickering lights of the underground parking lot of the hotel, the teams of the attending celebrities were lounging around, chatting and smoking.
Some distance away from them, with her feet on the dashboard, Min-Ha was lounging in the front passenger seat of the car.
She was enthusiastically browsing the internet, reading about the latest and hottest in the fashion world.
As she swiped on her phone, a wolf whistle naturally escaped her lips.
She was looking at the latest pictures of Averie on his Delfa account. Hyerin had posted them only after she had parked the car.
The simple post had blown up significantly.
Hundreds of thousands of views within less than an hour wasn’t something to sneeze at, and Min-Ha knew it.
Averie Quinn Auclair was trending on Delfa, and his follower count was going up rapidly.
’It was the right decision to leave the company for this. This is worth it.’
A beautiful painting needed a beautiful model, and Min-Ha believed that Averie was exactly that model. She had never seen someone as exciting as him.
She had seen actresses with pleasant vibes. Their mere presence made one feel grateful for being alive.
But Averie was different. He had a different kind of energy about him. It was thrilling—as if he were dancing on the line between life and death.
’He has a mysterious charm. It’s as if he is above all this. As if all the fame and reverence in the world belongs naturally to him and only him.’
Averie believed he could achieve anything he wanted. It was about when he would achieve it, and not about if he would achieve it.
Min-Ha scoured the internet.
Photos and videos from the event were being uploaded one by one.
The story had been picked up by fashion and entertainment journalists.
’[Fashioned & Sensed] Chic and audacious: the latest style of Asmodeus in black.’
The door to the driver seat opened, and Hyerin entered.
"Are you sure you don’t want to come in?" she asked, handing her a well-packaged box of pastry. "They have a lounge set up for staff. They have donuts and coffee, you know?"
"Oh, I’m fine." She lightly bit her lip. "I am feasting well."
"Eww." Hyerin cringed. "Don’t do that! He is your employer and my friend!"
"Friend, huh?" Min-Ha shook her head. "Sure, he is. He is still my favorite eye candy. Look at that bad boy."
Hyerin held her head in her hand.
"Why did I even suggest hiring you as his stylist?"
"Because I am one of the best in the business and the only one willing to charge less."
Singing praises of herself, something caught Min-Ha’s attention.
"Hey." She nudged Hyerin. "Look at this."
An unknown Delfa account with a history of trolling loud fans of popular celebrities had gone live.
But the odd thing was the number of viewers. Within minutes of going live, for some reason, hundreds of people had flocked to the live stream.
"Those are Jiwon Kim and Min-Ho Kim from Loret Entertainment, aren’t they?" Min-Ha asked, raising the volume of her phone. "Are they in a washroom?"
But Hyerin did not reply. The content of the live stream interested her more.
"Lucky fucker got to put it in that red piece of white ass."
"Do you think they did it afterward?"
"Don’t know about him, but I would have taken her back home after every shoot."
"Yeah. I bet she would suck you off if we got her drunk."
"Do you think the carpet matches the drapes?"
"She looks like the kind that shaves."
"Oh, gross. They wax or something, don’t they?"
The two continued spouting some truly horrendous and despicable stuff. It sounded like a meltdown.
It wasn’t hard for Min-Ha and Hyerin to guess whom they were talking about.
Min-Ha cursed under her breath. She wanted to tear the two a new one for disrespecting her beautiful painting, her art.
But something else concerned Hyerin.
"Whose account is this? I feel like I have seen it somewhere."
After a long time, once the pair of disgraceful actors had left, a creaky stall door opened.
The clinking of silver chains drew closer, and the live stream ended abruptly.
Once the pair had left, Averie quietly appeared out of the stall. He carefully walked to the sink while sticking to the wall.
Leaning against the faucet and hidden behind the soap dispenser was his smartphone.
He turned off the live stream and pocketed the convenient device.
He looked at himself in the mirror and blew a kiss.
"You beautiful beast."
He was feeling giddy like a little child on Christmas Eve.
"What a wonderful way to ruin unsuspecting careers."
Averie had learned that the Eastern cultures were far more sensitive to such incidents than their Western counterparts.
He knew apologies would soon be dispensed, and he was planning to make it an even bigger issue than it was brewing up to be.
He emerged from the restroom and walked over to where Ellie and Peter were awaiting his return.
Peter heaved a sigh of relief.
"What a surprise. For the first time, you didn’t do something rash. I was afraid you would beat them."
Averie’s cheeks swelled.
"Why would I do anything like that?" He was trying very hard not to laugh sinisterly. "I just listened to their problems."
He linked arms with Ellie and skipped away in a good mood.
"Let’s loot—I mean, meet some rich people."
As he was walking away, Peter’s phone rang.
One of his friends had sent him a link. When he opened it and turned down the volume, his complexion turned deathly pale.
"You should have just beaten them. This is far worse."