The Hero
Chapter 156 Trouble in Meet and Great
Two days have passed since the Thorin Gerard incident. Things were going well, and companies were preoccupied with activities as they planned and prepared for the Edelgard meeting. Jade also found herself devoting a lot of her time and effort to making it a success.
If she had personally ranked her relationship with the actress, she would have ranked it "Not Bad". Of course, he believes their friendship would have been even better had it not been for the disturbing "misunderstandings" between Edelgard and Javier, which hovered above them.
Meanwhile, Luca feels grateful and a little proud to have prevented the disaster for Thorin. Javier seems to have moved past the imbroglio since then, because if the man really wanted him, he would have used his money and connections to destroy the Gerard Family by now. The lack of bad news proves that Javier really let it go.
He'll remember this, he decides. He would remember this moment of mercy and make up for that stupidity if he had the chance in the future.
Two days later, the Edelgard Weiss greeting show began at the city's convention center. News of the event has long reached its fan base and those outside it, attracting a large number of fans and media.
Not surprisingly, citizens who considered themselves journalists and reporters instantly emerged among the group. To fight them, Javier has used a dirty trick: He told all the citizens' media representatives to gather in another hall, separate from other forms of media. They will be given good recording equipment and an exclusive opportunity to interview Edelgard if they listen.
Each citizen media representative was excited by this exclusive benefit, so they wasted no time identifying themselves and moving into their special hall. Once they found a banquet of food and drink waiting for them, they were overjoyed. This particular meet-n-greet looks pretty cool to them compared to other similar events. Everyone had always considered the media citizens with some degree of reluctance, but this person treated them like a special guest.
Unbeknownst to them, of course, the actual meeting had begun some time ago. No one told the media representatives of the citizens, though ...
Meanwhile, thousands of fans from all over the country had gathered in the central convention main hall. Edelgard was already in the middle of a lively conversation with the audience, as if they were all just old friends holding a reunion—a large group of old friends, of course. The event lasted about two and a half hours, but soon, it was time to end.
Jade and Javier, who had been standing below the stage, exchanged smiles. So far good. Everything went well.
That's when the most feared thing happens.
A few meters from the stage, one of the spectators took out a hand-held flag and threw it across the stage. Edelgard saw the object thrown over his feet and bowed towards him.
Javier screamed as soon as he saw it happen. "Don't-don't!"
Edelgard thought Javier must have mistaken it for something other than a small flag, so he took it anyway.
As soon as the flag is lifted off the ground, the lights flash and the sound of a photo shutter clicks. His actions took the flag immortalized into a picture: Wide-eyed Edelgard with the Yuzuean flag in hand.
"Oh no." Jade doesn't even need Javier to tell her why this is bad. He already understood how Edelgard's actions would seem out of context. He could even predict the kind of headlines crawling all over the internet.
'Edelgard Weiss waving a foreign flag at his own meeting.'
'Weiss: A citizen of Yuzuean now?'
'Weiss supports Yuzueans in international matters.' Of course, all the headlines will be fake and complete hoaxes. But who cares about honesty on the internet? Few would think it was important! All they want is emotional appeal. The bigger the fire, the more festive the people, so those who want to get a click for this news will definitely add more fuel to the haters fire.
So what if the name is cleared afterwards? A blow to his reputation would be a done deal. How should a bandage slapped over the damage help?
Edelgard himself must have experienced the same thought process, as he angrily threw away the flag. All he wanted now was to catch the culprit— - a reason that made his fans quickly jump in to help.
It was just a child whose naivety had been exploited by others. It can't be fair to hold that child accountable, can it?
Meet-n-greet ends with a dirty record. Motivated by a sense of protection against Edelgard, many fans attending the event began recording their side of the story on the internet to explain the misunderstanding.
It was soon proven that they had underestimated the extent to which cyber violence could occur. At four in the afternoon, news of the Edelgard flag was trending. It was just as Jade had imagined it too. There was a lot of hate, a lot of comments piled up on the victim, and a lot of slander. Influencers, professional internet manipulators, keyboard fighters, abounding haters. The people most angered by the whole imbroglio were the foolish patriots who decided to insult Edelgard despite not knowing anything about the actual case.
Just like that, the name Edelgard changed to the nickname pariah. It was impossible to compare the negative attention he was getting right now with others.
The Reivaj Group may not need to be held responsible for the accident, but they decided that an emergency meeting was needed just because this happened during the event they organized. Every employee, from the planning department to the copywriter, attended the meeting, as everyone brainstormed what the best solution would be to do going forward.
Jade was the acting chairman during the meeting, and Chad also joined. Solutions and advice abound during the meeting, but no one knows how to completely turn the tide in their favor and stop the damage. It seemed that all they could do was watch Edelgard's career plunge from here.
Such was the devastating effect of siding with the patriots. Any celebrity who has to climb out of that hole will more quickly realize that dream by sleeping. Other celebrities had suffered the brunt of this cultural war before Edelgard. After an accident involving a military uniform, she is forced to transform herself into a designer and investor. No one wants to listen to her songs or watch the show she's playing again.
Chad thought about it for a moment before whispering to Jade, “I'll talk to Mr. Kersey. He should have some brilliant ideas.”
Jade wasn't sure what kind of idea Chad had in mind, but she was willing to try anything at this point. Even if someone ignores the budding friendship between him and Edelgard, Jade still wants to do all she can to maintain the company's reputation.
Javier has been smoking in his office and looking out the window, his mind generating ideas to help the girl out. He wanted to send the young woman to Hollawyd, where this scandal would crumble into insignificant trouble, but it would be his last resort.
He racked his brain even harder and thought of a way to clear Edelgard's name and return it to the public. By the time his cigarette runs out, his office door is pushed open as Javier makes plans.
"Trs. Kersey, if we have absolutely no idea how to tackle this, may I suggest using the power of the black market to control the internet? I talk about burying the news, censoring keywords, generally making sure that no negative coverage comes up. I know this is the kind of problem that can probably be exacerbated by sweeping under the carpet, but the storm will only last about a few days, right?
“At that time, we can draw everyone's attention to the latest hot topic, and everyone will forget about it automatically.”
That's a viable solution. The only downside, however, is that Edelgard will find a return to its former glory very difficult - very difficult, to say.
Javier. “No, we won't sweep it under the carpet. We will strengthen it. Makes it worse. Make a storm out of it. We need to make people see Edelgard as a troublemaker and a pariah.”
“We what?!” Chad's dumbfounded. He begins to wonder if Javier has personal problems with the young woman because she suggests something like this.
Javier fills Chad in on his plans once Edelgard becomes public enemy number one. The more Chad listens, the more impressed he is, and the more confident he is about a plan that works.
After hearing the end of Javier's proposal, he gave a thumbs up. “Your plans are always the most ingenious, Mr Kersey! His recovery from this scandal is guaranteed! Alright, I will start preparing now. Edelgard will rise from this like a phoenix rising from its fiery death!”
As soon as Chad leaves the office, Javier's phone starts ringing. He picked it up and was immediately bombarded by Luca's panicked voice from across there.
“J-Javier! It's Edie-he's missing!”
