The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era [BL]

394 THREE VARIATIONS

ASTRID and Ellis were already on their way to the spaceport. It’s because the venue for the ad shoot would be held at FS03.

“I do wish there would no longer be any sabotaging during the shoot,” Ellis said, remembering what happened during the screen test. “They already made that unfair contract, the least they could do is to let you have a peaceful shoot.”

“Don’t worry, Sister Ellis. I have a feeling that they won’t,” Astrid said not the least bit worried about that.

Cassius would definitely monitor everything about the shoot to make sure that no kind of sabotaging would occur. Unless those people who suggested that clause in the contract truly wanted to make him angry. It’s like saying, ‘I already agreed with that trash clause, so why are you still making a move behind my back?’.

Honestly, if this was not EMMA, Astrid would have walked out of that office the moment he read that clause. But it was EMMA. A company that was named after his mother. It was also her favorite clothing brand. Call him sentimental or whatnot but Astrid really wanted to represent it.

It also didn’t hurt that EMMA was a huge luxury brand that was at least in the top 3 of all luxury brands in the Empire. They had a good reputation within the industry and most of their ambassadors were at least at the top 10 of the [Star List].

This was the first time that they chose a newcomer just two months into his career to be their ambassador. Just by that, anyone could see that he was the only one who would benefit in this deal. In the perspective of those people sitting at the top of EMMA, he had nothing to give their brand.

Even if that clause in the contract was revealed to the public, the general populace would definitely not side with him and would just think that he was already lucky to even be given a contract.

That’s just how business worked. To those people at the top of EMMA, the current him had almost no value. Of course, it would be another matter once he started to enter the [Star List]. But the next list would be released two months from now. So, yes, basically, he was still a nobody in their eyes.

.....

That’s why Astrid managed to keep his temper and could only make that condition. At least with that, he would earn more than what he was paid for. Just imagine getting paid only 100,000 star coins for all the work he would do, now that’s more unfair than that stupid clause.

Arriving at the spaceport, there were some people who recognized Astrid despite him wearing a mask that covered half of his face. He smiled and waved at them. Which caused some to rush towards him. They asked for autographs and pictures and he obliged them with a smile.

It’s a good thing that they weren’t too many of them so he and Ellis still managed to get on the spacecraft without much problem.

“I wonder how they knew it was you when you’re even wearing a mask,” Ellis said once the two of them sat down on their seats.

“Maybe it’s the hair,” Astrid said.

“Well, at least this showed how much your public recognition increased,” Ellis said. “It will definitely increase a hundred times more once the ad campaign for this new perfume line started.”

Astrid nodded, agreeing with the other. From what they discussed with Mr. Cook, the videos they would shoot now was like a 10-second short commercial. This short video would then be a video ad that would appear in various billboards all throughout the Empire.

At the start, they would only appear at the capital star and then would spread from there to other places in the Artemian Galaxy. Then, it would slowly appear in other planet of the other three galaxies.

Just by hearing about it, one could only imagine just how much money EMMA would use for this campaign. And yet, they were ready to throw that away just to prove that he wasn’t the right person to represent their brand.

Astrid shook his head. Really, how insane.

—–

After arriving at FS03, Astrid and Ellis went straight to the first filming location. They had to ride a cable car to go there though. Since it’s on a snowy mountain.

The new perfume line was called [Eros] – named after the god of love. The perfume’s main idea was to evoke the desire people had. Or at least that should be the case.

[Eros] had three variations, each representing a different image – Frozen Aquamarine, Iridescent Opal, and Midnight Onyx. These variations represented the three concepts he did during the screen test. The cold and indifferent type, the cute and bubbly type, and the dark and sexy type.

The ads for each variations should all evoke the image of ‘desire’. One would think that was quite an impossible feat. After all, the three variations were just too different from one another.

Especially the Iridescent Opal one. How could something cute and bubbly evoked one’s desire? But it’s Astrid’s job to make that possible. Besides, it’s not like there’s only one type of desire out there. He’s confident that he could go around that and portray the version of desire each variation needed.

The cable car stopped and he and Ellis got off it. They were immediately greeted by the cold temperature. Good thing that they were wearing insulated jackets. Snow was also falling down, making everything white.

A snow mobile was already there waiting for them. Since it was driven by AI, they just needed to ride it and it would bring them to their destination. Once they got on the snow mobile, it immediately started.

They arrived at their destination in just a matter of minutes. It was a frozen lake at the crater of the snowy mountain. Just by looking at it, one could already tell what variation among the three they would shoot here.

It’s the Frozen Aquamarine.