Chapter 26 part 1
◎ We Don’t Use WeChat, Only QQ (Triple Update) ◎
During this meal, only Berlin ate with the most peace of mind. Blocking out the world, he focused solely on reading his e-book.
After failing to join his teammates’ conversation, Berlin simply buried his head and sent a WeChat message to Han Yuzhe. He typed straightforwardly, telling him that the person he dreamed of had removed the mark, and then contentedly continued reading.
Once they finished their friendly exchange, Han Yuzhe would see the message.
Berlin concentrated fully on seizing the time to hold up his phone and “prepare for class,” while simultaneously polishing off a bowl of seafood soup, two servings of steamed pumpkin, and a plate of vegetable salad.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to eat something richer, but having just been forced to listen to his manager’s earnest teachings yesterday, Berlin, as a motivated and excellent idol, felt a certain amount of guilt and remorse for not resisting the urge to finish the tiramisu Han Yuzhe brought him that morning.
However, Berlin was very clear about where the responsibility lay: Han Yuzhe giving him tiramisu was a kind gesture, and he hadn’t forced Berlin to eat it. It was mainly Berlin himself who couldn’t resist.
Out of self-reflection, Berlin deeply introspected and consciously ate a very light breakfast, which also helped him concentrate better on memorizing the book’s content.
His memory was quite good; if he put his mind to it, he could remember the gist of things pretty well.
Seniors in the industry said in interviews that to maintain their figures, they would chew slowly, possibly chewing a mouthful of food a hundred times before swallowing.
When Berlin first heard this: Shocked.
But compared to eating less, Berlin decided to strive towards this direction.
After eating and drinking his fill, and finishing thirty pages of the e-book, Berlin finally spared a little attention for his teammates.
Looking at them… he suddenly understood a bit how certain rumors about Skye started.
Like right now, Hua Yan was loosely swirling a glass of red wine—even though red wine didn’t seem appropriate for the breakfast table.
Jiang Shu’ran was the same. In front of him was a plate of sashimi that Berlin found hard to have an appetite for, and opposite him sat Han Yuzhe, holding a glass bottle of beer in one hand.
Those who knew would understand this was the hotel’s buffet breakfast area; those who didn’t would think it was a bar.
The atmosphere was inexplicably tense, with undercurrents surging, tit-for-tat, ready to explode at any moment.
No wonder entertainment gossip accounts could spin wild tales just by applying a black-and-white filter. Even if they were talking nonsense, there would still be passersby unaware of the truth who would believe the ridiculously fake revelations.
People who didn’t know the truth could perfectly substitute this scene into a Hong Kong movie from the last century, where everyone is a villain.
Berlin occasionally checked Weibo. The trending topics often featured heavily edited photos taken by fansites.
Different fansites had different styles. For the same itinerary, mother-fan sites would use angles and cute filters with red lips and white teeth that made people exclaim “heart soft, good boy, mom loves you”; girlfriend-fan sites were killers, with an aura of 2.8 meters, one look at the camera could make legs weak; CP (coupling) sites focused most on atmosphere. Whether there was “CP feeling” could be said to be metaphysical. It wasn’t guaranteed that two compatible people could be shipped; it depended on the feeling.
The company actually summarized all this. Mastering and understanding the fan circle composition in real-time was basic work for fan operations. Berlin had the most CP sites, the “food” was the most delicious, and the material available to shoot was overwhelmingly superior.
If it were another group, they might need to be wary of infighting within the fan circle—this was too common in boy group fandoms. Not only would solo fans and CP fans fight, but CP fans and CP fans would also fight. It was better if CP fans of AB and CD fought, but once AB and CB both became popular CPs, it could easily turn into a world-shattering tear-down. Being evenly matched was fine, but once one side suffered a crushing defeat and was bombarded with screenshots proving “your CP is fake, ours is real,” it would greatly affect morale, the fandom would face collapse, and broken-hearted CP fans might even turn into anti-fans.
Heartbroken CP fans could hate for a very long time. Even after changing biases eight hundred times, five or ten years later, they would still remember to stomp on their former idols from time to time.
All-Berlin CPs within Skye were very hot, yet they almost never fought—this could be called a miracle whether in C-ent, K-ent, or Western circles.
Besides the reason that most fans who liked Berlin were not very hostile, another reason was that every pair of CP fans firmly believed their ship was absolutely real.
To protect their “real people,” a particularly weird phenomenon would even occur: when their CP was bought onto the trending search by a rival company to stir up trouble, out of fear that the outside world would discover their ship was too real and affect their careers, they would use burner accounts to release some “sugar” of other CPs at the right time, advising passersby not to take it seriously.
When CP fans were convinced their ship was real, they became exceptionally magnanimous, taking the lead in advising passersby: I’m a CP fan, they are fake, I testify.
The hundred other fandoms in C-ent, eager to stir up trouble and pour oil on the fire: “……?”
Shocked.
This point couldn’t be replicated even if they killed the bosses of other companies and pulled out their few remaining hairs.
Fansite technique might be important for other groups, but for Skye, besides needing good equipment for clarity, there was basically no threshold for being a fansite.
The reason was simple: it’s hard to photograph an egg to look like a diamond, but conversely, it’s almost impossible to photograph a diamond to look like an egg.
Berlin didn’t know if other groups photoshopped or how much, but his group didn’t need it.
His teammates were non-humans; their time didn’t flow. From the time Berlin met them until now, they were basically fixed in the same state. Any good-looking star might have bad photos, like looking swollen from staying up late or being in an awkward recovery period after injections, but only they always looked like they had taken preservatives, lasting fresh forever.
Among a group of non-human teammates, Berlin’s popularity ranked as the top within the group, so naturally, he was also very capable.
And this was under the premise that he was the only real human in the group.
However, in the various fake melons concocted by marketing accounts, Berlin’s style was unique, completely different from the “storylines” of his teammates.
The reason was simple: Berlin’s sunny aura was too strong. Even with a black-and-white filter, the evil and conscience-lacking marketing accounts couldn’t use the same dirty tactics they used on his teammates.
Skye had been the top group in C-ent since their debut, with numerous fans, but they still couldn’t avoid the one hundred and eight routines of being blackened.
The market was only so big. No matter how popular, they would still be blackened, rumored, and fabricated to brainwash passersby. Every top-tier treatment was inescapable. If they could dissuade one fan, that was one; if they could cause a negative impact, even better.
Rather than saying one won’t be blackened if they’re red (popular), it’s more accurate to say only the red ones get blackened constantly. The redder they are, the more people blacken them because the interests involved are greater, the exclusive market is larger, and everyone wants to pull them down and replace them. Being unpopular (糊/hu) is actually the best protective color; no rivals would specifically use burner accounts to act as antis, and passerby favorability would be consistently good.
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