Free Web NovelChapter 774: Chapter 745: Gage Grant vs. Maeve [007]
On his first day as a student, Gage Grant was tasked with editing Maeve’s airport paparazzi photos.
Normally too lazy even to take selfies, Gage, a quintessential straight man, found himself forced to give up his lunchtime nap and sit in the office using Photoshop to touch up Maeve’s photos to make the evening deadline.
The Head Fan assigning the task said, "The goddess has great skin, nothing much to fix, just looks a bit tired. Make her complexion rosier, touch up the lipstick, cover the dark circles, and that’ll be it. Absolutely no major edits, ’cause her persona is not a delicate, pretty girl but a free-spirited, powerful singer."
But once he opened Photoshop, Gage completely forgot the Head Fan’s instructions. His first move was to give Maeve long curls, followed by a large bust and curvy waist and hips.
After he was done, he folded his arms and sat in front of the computer, admiring his work for quite some time, muttering to himself, "This girl is way too skinny. I wonder if holding her would hurt me..."
He was so worried about this issue that he barely slept that night and even looked up how to avoid getting hurt while holding her.
It took him over half a month to finish editing those photos.
During those weeks, he didn’t have time to flirt with other girls. Besides his job, all he did was edit various photos of Maeve—airport snaps, event pictures, promo shots—so much so that she appeared in his dreams every night, but he could never hold on to her, which was quite frustrating.
Through this editing and these dreams, the woman he initially just wanted to have fun with seemed to gain a different significance in his heart—much like how feelings develop naturally over time.
He was eager to meet Maeve and mentioned it to the Head Fan, but they told him he needed more practice and had him write half a month’s worth of fanfiction. Slogans like "Shine bright for you, turn around for you, cheer for you day and night" and dramatic origin stories and passionate visions for the future—Gage wrote them all! He transformed from a middle-aged man who only knew how to draft work reports into a fandom soft-writing whiz.
After finally finishing the fanfiction, he thought he would finally get to meet Maeve with the other Head Fans, but in the end, he was roped into participating in an international-level large-scale activity—a fan war!
In the fourth round of the 6-to-3 competition on "Original Female Voice," Maeve ranked third and advanced to the finals, while Candice Chase stopped at the third round in fourth place and didn’t make the finals. After that episode aired, Candice’s fans began spreading rumors online about the show being rigged and Maeve being backed by sponsors.
The first and second place singers were recognized divas in the music industry, and everyone assumed their place in the finals was well-deserved. However, Maeve’s gradual progress and sudden breakthrough in the fourth round with original arrangements seemed suspicious to some, who speculated she was planted by a sponsor.
Most netizens didn’t have deep music expertise, failing to recognize the high professional standards of Maeve’s compositions, and preferred Candice’s catchy and easy-to-remember pop tunes. This misunderstanding, coupled with Candice’s fans stirring the pot, created a nationwide call questioning if Maeve deserved to be in the finals at all, with extremist fans even starting a #MaeveGetOutOfTheMusicWorld viral campaign on Weibo.
It was a Saturday when Gage, after sending the fanfiction to the Head Fan, took a break and went out drinking with Logan Lockwood and other friends. The laser lights in the bar were mesmerizing, and his eyes caught a sexy girl in the adjacent booth. Just as he was about to make a move, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Checking his phone, he saw it was a call from the Head Fan. Assuming it was to criticize his fanfiction writing, he clicked ignore without hesitation.
Tonight, he wanted to let loose; he couldn’t continue living like a monk and explode from holding it all in.
Just as he hung up, he received a mass message from the Head Fan: "Someone’s smearing our goddess online! Everyone gather for a meeting. There’s a new mission!"
Seeing there was a new task, Gage reflexively opened the group chat.
The screen was filled with screenshots and vile language, accusing Maeve of having a sugar daddy, buying her way into the competition, and using unethical means to reach the finals. The post was so intense that even Logan, who glanced by chance, shook his head and said, "Online violence these days is terrifying; handled poorly, it could cost a life."
Cost a life?
Gage felt his heart drop.
That can’t happen, he hadn’t even become a Head Fan or won Maeve over yet! She can’t die!
Amidst his friends’ astonishment, Gage rushed home, turned on his computer, joined a voice meeting organized by a few Head Fans.
Everyone in the meeting was given tasks, and Gage’s was to operate multiple accounts to engage in fan wars with the opposing fans, equipped with evidence and data.
This almost-40-year-old man went without sleep for two days and nights, switching between various main and alternate accounts online, engaging in all-out warfare with the opponent fans, using national and regional insults in rotation, presenting data and facts, but the dispute didn’t calm down, and it escalated to the point where the sponsors of "Original Female Voice" publicly declared they had never collaborated with Maeve, and wouldn’t now or in the future.
In recent years, excessive capital involvement in entertainment projects had caught the attention of relevant departments. Sponsors, fearing scrutiny due to the event’s escalation, pressured the show’s production team. If things didn’t go well, they advised Maeve to withdraw from the competition for personal reasons, letting the fourth-place contestant take her spot.
The production team, under pressure from the sponsors, sent someone to Maeve’s studio to persuade her to withdraw from the competition. Maeve was unwilling, leading to a stalemate where the team argued she may insist on participating in the finals, but given her current poor image, the audience and judges might not vote for her, leading to her winning third place by a significant margin from the second place. Such a result would be meaningless and could risk prolonging scandals that would harm her future.
Maeve calmly asked if by withdrawing, the fourth-place contestant would take her place in the finals. The production crew hesitated before admitting it.
At that moment, a Head Fan delivering freshly printed posters to the studio overheard Maeve, her manager, and the production team’s argument, recorded it secretly, and released it in the fan group.
The fans were furious, finally understanding the online attacks!
All of this was Candice’s dirty trick to knock Maeve out and become the backup finalist herself!
The Head Fans shouted in the voice meeting about protesting at the show for justice for Maeve, and the Head Fan who led Gage assigned him: Monday morning at eight, wear a T-shirt with the goddess’s image, bring an amplifier, and gather at the recording center entrance!!!
Gage had a meeting to attend on Monday morning, a formal one chaired by the director, one he couldn’t excuse himself from. Even if he was on his last breath, he had to attend. Plus, he thought, what’s the big deal about a lousy competition? If she withdraws, let it be; they’re blowing it out of proportion like it’s a national crisis.
He messaged the Head Fan: "Not going! Meeting on Monday morning!"
The Head Fan quickly replied, yelling in the voice chat, "You won’t go?!!! Then you’re out of the fan club! Blacklisted! You’ll never see the goddess again in your life! Get lost, you traitor!"
