"Hey Sejeong, did you look at this meme? The Jooyoung and bunny mask meme is so hillarious. It's all over social media lately."
"Minju...please, no more talk about Daisy. Seriously, I'm starting to feel sick."
Minju laughed and patted Sejeong's back. "Sick of jealousy?"
"Yep. That's definitely it. Jealousy."
Somehow Jooyoung's appearance at the meet-and-greet became a hot issue on the internet.
'Even a top celebrity needs to do raffle LOL.'
'Bunny is so cute.'
'Jooyoung having his k-drama moment.'
These were some of the top comments. Luckily for both of them, the public was seeing this as a cute interaction between a celebrity fan and a beloved author. Photos of Daisy 'saving' Jooyoung were spreading like wild fire, and the rabbit mask was being used as a meme across the internet.
Naturally, the U magazine interview gained popularity as well. And when it was revealed that Jooyoung's album was actually dedicated to the author, the internet had a field day with wild theories.
"Ms. Sejeong? Could I have a word with you in my office?" Sejeong turned around and felt a sense of deja vu. "Of course, Manager Seo. I'll be right there."
Whatever he needed to talk to her about, she knew it couldn't be good news. For whatever reason, he had been more strict and rigorous with her and her work lately.
"The door is closed this time," she said, naturally taking a seat in one of the chairs.
"I have a proposal for you, but you won't like it."
She knew it.
Manager Seo walked over to her and handed her a stack of papers.
"This is your recent book revenue. Go on, flip the page."
Sejeong gave a cautionary glance and began to look through the report. "200% increase??? This couldn't be right. Did we get scammed or something. Manager Seo, are you committing insider fraud?"
"I get paid enough, fraud wouldn't be worth it. It's the Trio fandom. You know that the Jooyoung guy has been everywhere in the media, right? Well thanks to that, his fans are buying out your books like they got possessed or something. International sales are breaking records too."
Of course they were. Tryangle had an immense fandom worldwide and they were known for selling out any product that the members endorsed.
"Isn't this good news then?" Sejeong asked, continuing to flip through the pages.
"Flip to the next page."
She read the title that was printed in big bold letters:
"Daisy x Tryangle Collaboration Project??"
"Yep, Tryangle's agency contacted us and they want to hold a collaboration project. It seems that they're enjoying the positive media response from Jooyoung's incident."
"What kind of project is it?"
"They want you write a children's book with them. Of course, while filming the entire process."
Sejeong closed the report. "A children's book? That's not even my genre. And I can't go on TV, you know that."
"You can wear the bunny mask. Actually, they want you to wear it."
"No, absolutely not. Holding a meet-and-greet was one thing, but appearing on TV is an entirely different scale. I can't risk it. I can't."
Sejeong knew better than anyone the power of Tryangle's fandom. They had better detective skills than the CIA, and if anything were to go wrong, they were capable of ruining her entire career.
Manager Seo took a seat next to Sejeong and locked eyes. "One hundred."
"One hundred what?"
"Thousand. That's how much they're offering"
Goddamn, that was a lot of money. Sejeong's eyes lost focus at such a large amount, but she knew that her decision couldn't change.
"No."
"And they'll be donating all the sales from the book to the CYPF."
"Do I want to know what that is?"
"The Children and Youth Protection Foundation."
"C'mon, that's not fair!"