Festival Of Discourse

In the comment section of an online article, a war was currently underway.

- Who is this damn Averie Quinn Auclair?

- What do you know about being handsome?

 - Come on now. I don't like what he said either, but he is a handsome guy.

 - He is plain as my ass!

 - Oh yeah? Should we hang him for it then?

- He said nothing wrong! I am tired of these shitty dramas. My little sister watches them and worships these damn actors religiously. I am sick of it!

 - Is this you, Brother? Get off the internet, or I'll tell Mom!

 - No, I won't!

 - Get back into your cage, Brother! Or dad will be furious!

 - No! I am finally getting the haircut I want!

- What do you mean, a generic slop? Who do you think you are?

- Amen, Brother Averie! You should join the religion of Toenail Gemini!

 - Holy! Is this not a fellow Toenail Gemini that I spy?

 - It is, Brother! What Toenail are you?

 - Left Toenail, Brother!

 - Gemini keep this fellow Left Toenail safe!

- What are you so heated about, idiots?

- Yass, Quinn!

- You got the role because you are hot; don't get a big head!

 - Oh, you would know, wouldn't you?

 - What does that mean?

 - Ha-Joon Chae is a fraud! He is all face, no acting!

 - Shut up! You know nothing, you incel! Get back to your dungeon!

- He must be talented if they are willing to give a main role to someone so young and new to the industry.

 - He got in through connections, you f*ck!

Reading all this, Hyerin was sweating buckets.

"Oh, god," she exclaimed every time she scrolled down.

Every forum was on fire, and it only increased her anxiety. On the other hand, her friend was enjoying the chaos. He laughed every time someone cursed at him online.

"Don't go out until all this calms down, okay?" Hyerin said, almost pleading to her friend.

"It's always the zealous children who like to make such a fuss over something so dull," Averie commented.

"Did you hear me?" she yelled, disgruntled.

"Oh, don't worry," Averie replied, laughing at the morons fighting amongst themselves. "This is good publicity. Their fervor will calm down eventually. In the end, all they want is to be entertained."

Averie rubbed his hands and grinned mischievously.

'And they will be entertained.'

He was trying to look as evil as possible, but the good man did not need to try. Even Hyerin considered him a little shifty.

***

Ha-Yun Jung took a sip of her scotch. It was strong, exactly the way she liked it.

"I probably shouldn't spend so much time at your home."

She stirred the glass needlessly.

"Why?" Su-Bin Kang asked.

"We start drinking right away, and I shouldn't be drinking so often."

"Oh, it's fine. It's not like you have a concert coming up."

Ha-Yun turned to her in irritation. "Did you forget? NeRen has a big concert in a few weeks. I even sent you a ticket."

"Ah, right, you do. I forgot all about it."

Ha-Yun looked offended. "It's because you are so lost in your phone today."

She craned her neck to catch a glimpse of her friend's screen.

"Is that a comment section? Didn't you warn me against ever reading any comments? And you are doing it now?"

"It's not about me, you dummy." Su-Bin clicked her tongue and passed her phone to Ha-Yun. "Take a look."

Ha-Yun read a few comments. Confused, she scrolled up. There was a short clip. She pressed play, and a voice flowed out.

"In all honesty, I don't consider them our competition. I happened upon their script and was amazed at its utter lack of creativity. I suppose they plan to rely heavily on their good-looking cast. This contrived enthusiasm surrounding such a mediocre project is a desperate effort that will only serve to amplify the audience's eventual disappointment."

"Isn't this the actor from that drama trailer?" Ha-Yun paused the clip, her brows furrowed. "Why would he say this? Did their press agent not prepare him?"

"There is no way." Su-Bin laughed, finding it all amusing. "Look at the way he is speaking. He is clearly having fun at their expense. He is insulting them without looking like a callous offender. He was aware of what he was doing, I am telling you."

"He is bold," whispered Ha-Yun, reading the comments.

Su-Bin thought that it was a refreshing attitude. She had wanted to see someone be so openly unapologetic in the industry for a long time.

"I saw Ha-Joon Chae, yesterday." Su-Bin swirled her wine glass. "Normally, I would avoid him; most actresses do. But I was curious, so I asked him if he had listened to the press conference."

Ha-Yun raised a brow. "And?"

Su-Bin shook her head. "He was as overconfident as always. He was talking some nonsense about how this new actor was a plain-faced nobody."

"He has always been arrogant. Even our youngest finds it off-putting. I hate him!"

Su-Bin raised her glass. "To forever hating Ha-Joon Chae."

They clinked their glasses and poured the contents down their throats.

Even after, Ha-Yun had left, Su-Bin remained stuck to her phone. She had just discovered Averie's newly created Delfa account.

There were only a couple of posts, most being pictures of delicious food as well as Averie conversing with his co-actors. The follower count was a measly hundred.

Suddenly, Su-Bin smiled.

She had a fun idea.

***

Hyerin was scrolling through Delfa when she came across a post from one of the best actresses in the country.

And the girl's eyes widened.

"Averie!" she shouted. "Look at this!"

She ran towards her friend, who was in the middle of practicing his signature.

"Su-Bin Kang has just made a post about Binsfeld's Seven Princes of Hell!"

He looked at her like she was an idiot. "So?"

He had not an inkling about who Su-Bin Kang was.

"She used your poster and tagged you!" Hyerin yelled.

Drama shows often created a variety of posters—season-specific posters, character-specific posters, and premiere posters being the most common.

The poster that Su-Bin Kang had posted on her Delfa account was the character-specific poster of Asmodeus Binsfeld. It depicted a bored Asmodeus sitting in a luxurious maroon armchair while Sarah filed his nails.

At the bottom, the information about the premiere of the show was printed. And the words in the center read: Averie Quinn Auclair as Asmodeus Binsfeld.

"'Excited for Binsfeld's Seven Princes of Hell' is what she wrote!" Hyerin jumped around the room in excitement. "I don't know why she has posted this and why she used your poster, but she tagged you! And she has millions of followers!"

Hyerin kept fussing about it, but Averie remained unenthused.

Over the next few days, the discourse set about by Averie's answer at the press conference calmed down significantly. It was replaced by excitement and ferocity. Bets on which would garner more attention were placed on the two upcoming, highly-anticipated shows: An Everlasting Romance and Binsfeld's Seven Princes of Hell.

Drama enthusiasts, now divided into two groups, were predicting and debating which drama would win just based on their promotional material. It was almost like a festival, and the supposed thinkers were feasting good.

And finally, the day of the premiere arrived.