Chapter 258. Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect. (1/5)
When Sunday came around, I briefly met with Angela in the morning. I gave her the ticket I’d printed out the night before.
We talked for a while, but she said she had to leave as she was busy with what we’d discussed the day before. She’d acted fast and her people had arranged a meeting for tomorrow with the company she’d set her sights on. Today, she had to meet up with some of her people to prepare for the meeting with the CEO tomorrow.
I suppose this was the power of a celebrity as big as her. She could get a CEO off their ass to meet with her on such short notice. Well, it also had to do with the fact that both parties were involved with music. It was a big deal for a big singer in the music industry to suddenly want to talk business. If they upset her and she chose to go after them in a copyright infringement lawsuit for her music being used in their app without permission, that would be a big problem.
Though their country didn’t care much for upholding international copyrights and intellectual property laws, if they could avoid potential trouble, they naturally would. Their app had to maintain a good relationship with the music industry to survive. Though their country wouldn’t uphold such laws, that didn’t mean they were invincible.
If the platforms used to distribute their app which illegally made use of copyrighted material without permission of the copyright holder were contacted and threatened with legal action, they would definitely take down the app should the app not rectify the problem. If it was just one artist, it might not be too big a deal, but if the artist was a large one who could convince other artists to take similar measures, the very foundation of the app would crumble.
That was why that company was so on edge and wanted to minimize any potential displeasure that could arise if they dragged their feet.
But anyway, none of that had anything to do with me. This was Angela’s affair now, not mine. A small nobody like me couldn’t possibly play on the same field as these wealthy behemoths who could throw around money like it was nothing.
Once my meeting with Angela was over, my day still wasn’t finished. I’d made arrangements to meet up with the goth girl in the afternoon to discuss the strategy I had in mind. Today’s meet up location was decided upon by Izora.
As for why she got to decide, it was because she complained about it being right before midterms. Midterms had completely slipped my mind.
We met up inside the university center which was pretty close to her place.
“So? What’s the strategy you have in mind that requires us to talk in person?” Izora, who’d shown up in her goth attire, sat down directly across from me and asked.”
I didn’t bother to beat around the bush and got straight to the point.
“For the field trip for your Physics class, I want you to call out sick that day.”
“Huh? Why would I do that? I’ll miss out on my chance to get closer to the guy I like if I do something stupid like that.”
“You won’t be missing out on anything.”
“How would I not miss out?”
I pulled out one of the two remaining tickets I purchased and slid it over the table to her. I had some left over after the bus pass expense so I figured I’d secretly reimburse her a bit like this. “I want you to attend separately from your class while dressed up in your goth attire.”
“Are you crazy! There’s no way I can do that!”
“You will do it if you want any chance of being together with the guy you like.”
“How the hell would doing something ridiculous like this get me any closer to him? The entire reason I dress up like Alicia at school is specifically so he doesn’t see me like this.”
“And that’s exactly the problem. How do you know he wouldn’t be attracted to you when you’re dressed like this? You just assume so because he likes Alicia, right?”
“Of course. We’re two extreme opposites. She’s super smart, pretty, gentle, and popular. I’m dumb, I look scary when I dress the way I like, and I’m not super popular the way Alicia is. What could he possibly like about me when I’m this way?”
“Haaaaaah. You’re running out of time. After midterms, you’ve only got about two months left before graduation. You’ve been keeping this act up and disguising your appearance for how long now? Around two years, right? But you’ve made zero progress hiding your real appearance. Unless you take a gamble, you’ll never be able to attain what you want.”
“A gamble...”
“Yes. The best way to increase your chances of success would also be to ally yourself with the enemy while you’re in your goth appearance. Alicia will need to be informed of this side of you for the odds of success to increase.”
“Why would she need to know?”
“Because… you’re going to go on a date with me to the planetarium as my fictional second girlfriend. I will become... a low-life cheater.”
The instant those bombshell words left my mouth, Izora’s eyes opened wide and her jaw hung open in disbelief. In her dumbfounded state, I explained the entire plan I’d concocted from beginning to end. Of course, I kept out details of Angela. Even if I could tell her about Angela, I still didn’t have an idea on how to best make use of her in the grand scheme of things.
After I got through a rather lengthy explanation of my plan, she opened her mouth and asked, “Are you crazy? I can hardly see things working out the way you say they will by going through with this ridiculous plan. There’s no way he’d ever fall for something like this. Plus, even if you’re not actually in a relationship with Alicia, your real girlfriend is still Rosa. You’d be going behind her back by doing this. It’d make you look like a real cheater.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Rosa wants to get the student council president away from Alicia at all costs. We’ll just be acting the entire time, the same way I pretended to be Alicia’s boyfriend at the school dance.”
“But-”
I interrupted and didn’t let her talk, “As a member of the theatre club, I’m sure you can act, right? All you need to do is move exactly as I’ve instructed and the student council president will be chasing after you in no time. It may be fake at first, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to turn something fake into something authentic. With this method, you will be in full control of everything.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Yes. It will definitely work. Just believe in me. You’ve sold your soul to the devil, the devil will naturally deliver on his contractual commitments.”
“The devil? Hmph! Phony devil.” She crossed her arms and scoffed to herself when she recalled the way she’d been conned.
“Hahaha… anyway, I’ll be counting on you to disguise me. I’m sure you’re quite good with that sort of thing.”
“I’ll be sure to make you look like a goth punk.”
“Huh? A goth punk?”
“Yeah. I think it would suit your gloomy appearance pretty well.”
I immediately regretted my decision to rely on her skills. She was in the theatre club and good with makeup so I was convinced she’d do a good job, but to play the role of not only her boyfriend, but her goth/punk boyfriend at that… I’d rather die.
“Can we not go with me disguised as a goth punk?”
“It won’t be convincing at all if you’re not. Besides, I won’t be able to put on my most convincing performance if I can’t get into the act.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“Well… if it means your act will be more convincing, I suppose I’ll make the sacrifice.” The entire plan was dependent on her ability to deceive the student council president in our little play.
“Good…”
“Is something wrong?”
“Doing it like this-”
“Doesn’t feel right? Cut the moral bullshit. It’s exactly what you’ve been doing this entire time, isn’t it? Disguising like Alicia and acting like her. There’s no difference between that and this.”
“You’re… right. There really isn’t any difference.”
Chapter 258. Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect. (1/5)
When Sunday came around, I briefly met with Angela in the morning. I gave her the ticket I’d printed out the night before.
We talked for a while, but she said she had to leave as she was busy with what we’d discussed the day before. She’d acted fast and her people had arranged a meeting for tomorrow with the company she’d set her sights on. Today, she had to meet up with some of her people to prepare for the meeting with the CEO tomorrow.
I suppose this was the power of a celebrity as big as her. She could get a CEO off their ass to meet with her on such short notice. Well, it also had to do with the fact that both parties were involved with music. It was a big deal for a big singer in the music industry to suddenly want to talk business. If they upset her and she chose to go after them in a copyright infringement lawsuit for her music being used in their app without permission, that would be a big problem.
Though their country didn’t care much for upholding international copyrights and intellectual property laws, if they could avoid potential trouble, they naturally would. Their app had to maintain a good relationship with the music industry to survive. Though their country wouldn’t uphold such laws, that didn’t mean they were invincible.
If the platforms used to distribute their app which illegally made use of copyrighted material without permission of the copyright holder were contacted and threatened with legal action, they would definitely take down the app should the app not rectify the problem. If it was just one artist, it might not be too big a deal, but if the artist was a large one who could convince other artists to take similar measures, the very foundation of the app would crumble.
That was why that company was so on edge and wanted to minimize any potential displeasure that could arise if they dragged their feet.
But anyway, none of that had anything to do with me. This was Angela’s affair now, not mine. A small nobody like me couldn’t possibly play on the same field as these wealthy behemoths who could throw around money like it was nothing.
Once my meeting with Angela was over, my day still wasn’t finished. I’d made arrangements to meet up with the goth girl in the afternoon to discuss the strategy I had in mind. Today’s meet up location was decided upon by Izora.
As for why she got to decide, it was because she complained about it being right before midterms. Midterms had completely slipped my mind.
We met up inside the university center which was pretty close to her place.
“So? What’s the strategy you have in mind that requires us to talk in person?” Izora, who’d shown up in her goth attire, sat down directly across from me and asked.”
I didn’t bother to beat around the bush and got straight to the point.
“For the field trip for your Physics class, I want you to call out sick that day.”
“Huh? Why would I do that? I’ll miss out on my chance to get closer to the guy I like if I do something stupid like that.”
“You won’t be missing out on anything.”
“How would I not miss out?”
I pulled out one of the two remaining tickets I purchased and slid it over the table to her. I had some left over after the bus pass expense so I figured I’d secretly reimburse her a bit like this. “I want you to attend separately from your class while dressed up in your goth attire.”
“Are you crazy! There’s no way I can do that!”
“You will do it if you want any chance of being together with the guy you like.”
“How the hell would doing something ridiculous like this get me any closer to him? The entire reason I dress up like Alicia at school is specifically so he doesn’t see me like this.”
“And that’s exactly the problem. How do you know he wouldn’t be attracted to you when you’re dressed like this? You just assume so because he likes Alicia, right?”
“Of course. We’re two extreme opposites. She’s super smart, pretty, gentle, and popular. I’m dumb, I look scary when I dress the way I like, and I’m not super popular the way Alicia is. What could he possibly like about me when I’m this way?”
“Haaaaaah. You’re running out of time. After midterms, you’ve only got about two months left before graduation. You’ve been keeping this act up and disguising your appearance for how long now? Around two years, right? But you’ve made zero progress hiding your real appearance. Unless you take a gamble, you’ll never be able to attain what you want.”
“A gamble...”
“Yes. The best way to increase your chances of success would also be to ally yourself with the enemy while you’re in your goth appearance. Alicia will need to be informed of this side of you for the odds of success to increase.”
“Why would she need to know?”
“Because… you’re going to go on a date with me to the planetarium as my fictional second girlfriend. I will become... a low-life cheater.”
The instant those bombshell words left my mouth, Izora’s eyes opened wide and her jaw hung open in disbelief. In her dumbfounded state, I explained the entire plan I’d concocted from beginning to end. Of course, I kept out details of Angela. Even if I could tell her about Angela, I still didn’t have an idea on how to best make use of her in the grand scheme of things.
After I got through a rather lengthy explanation of my plan, she opened her mouth and asked, “Are you crazy? I can hardly see things working out the way you say they will by going through with this ridiculous plan. There’s no way he’d ever fall for something like this. Plus, even if you’re not actually in a relationship with Alicia, your real girlfriend is still Rosa. You’d be going behind her back by doing this. It’d make you look like a real cheater.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Rosa wants to get the student council president away from Alicia at all costs. We’ll just be acting the entire time, the same way I pretended to be Alicia’s boyfriend at the school dance.”
“But-”
I interrupted and didn’t let her talk, “As a member of the theatre club, I’m sure you can act, right? All you need to do is move exactly as I’ve instructed and the student council president will be chasing after you in no time. It may be fake at first, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to turn something fake into something authentic. With this method, you will be in full control of everything.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Yes. It will definitely work. Just believe in me. You’ve sold your soul to the devil, the devil will naturally deliver on his contractual commitments.”
“The devil? Hmph! Phony devil.” She crossed her arms and scoffed to herself when she recalled the way she’d been conned.
“Hahaha… anyway, I’ll be counting on you to disguise me. I’m sure you’re quite good with that sort of thing.”
“I’ll be sure to make you look like a goth punk.”
“Huh? A goth punk?”
“Yeah. I think it would suit your gloomy appearance pretty well.”
I immediately regretted my decision to rely on her skills. She was in the theatre club and good with makeup so I was convinced she’d do a good job, but to play the role of not only her boyfriend, but her goth/punk boyfriend at that… I’d rather die.
“Can we not go with me disguised as a goth punk?”
“It won’t be convincing at all if you’re not. Besides, I won’t be able to put on my most convincing performance if I can’t get into the act.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“Well… if it means your act will be more convincing, I suppose I’ll make the sacrifice.” The entire plan was dependent on her ability to deceive the student council president in our little play.
“Good…”
“Is something wrong?”
“Doing it like this-”
“Doesn’t feel right? Cut the moral bullshit. It’s exactly what you’ve been doing this entire time, isn’t it? Disguising like Alicia and acting like her. There’s no difference between that and this.”
“You’re… right. There really isn’t any difference.”
