When Alex received a flood of audition requests, he wasted no time. He asked Nadia to spread a simple message through the industry, short enough that no one could pretend they had misunderstood it:
"The female roles are already filled. Please don't inquire further."
And, in truth, there was not much room for inquiry. In One Punch Man, the central female characters were basically the sisters Tornado and Blizzard. If anyone stopped to think about it honestly, could they really remember another major female character in that story?
The news dropped like a stone into a still lake. Within hours, countless actresses wore expressions that were difficult to describe. There was frustration, disbelief, disguised contempt, and above all, that poisonous conclusion circulating backstage that no one dared say out loud: Alex was probably about to shoot another "weird" project, something like JOJO, a work with no mainstream appeal.
After all, JOJO barely had any women either.
If Alex could have heard those thoughts, he would probably have concluded that half the industry had lost its mind.
JOJO, a failure?
Since when did a work need to break every viewing record to be considered alive? Just because it had not surpassed the absurd numbers of Bleach, did everything below that suddenly count as a disaster?
Well... compared to Bleach, maybe it did look a little smaller. Just a little.
But all anyone had to do was go online to see that JOJO was still breathing with a life of its own. Its memes, its poses, its exaggerated lines, and that almost insolent visual humor kept appearing everywhere. It was not the kind of work that vanished after its premiere. It was the kind that slowly infiltrated fan culture and refused to die.
In the audition room, however, Alex was far too busy to care about the opinions of people who did not understand anything.
"Uncle Alex... did I... did I do okay just now?"
The boy standing in front of him swallowed nervously after finishing his scene. There was still tension in his shoulders, and his eyes tried to look calm, but the anxiety behind them was obvious.
It was Ethan Cole, the young actor who had stunned everyone in The Hidden Corner by playing the kind of quiet boy who seemed far too intelligent for his age, with a gaze that made the audience wonder whether he was a victim, an accomplice, or something far worse.
This time, he was here to audition for the role of Child Emperor.
In fact, Ethan and Alex had already worked together before. In Bleach, during the second season's memory arc and the flashbacks related to Gin Ichimaru's final battle, he had appeared as the younger version of Gin. And honestly, the fit had been perfect. With Ethan's acting style, playing a child who looked innocent on the outside but carried eight hundred layers of calculation inside was almost too easy.
Child Emperor, however, was different.
Although he was also mature beyond his years, he still preserved a strong sense of youthful justice, an almost stubborn integrity that ran in the opposite direction from the type of character audiences associated with Ethan. For the boy, this would be a breakthrough. A chance to escape the fixed image of a "dangerous child" that the industry kept trying to attach to him.
Alex nodded slowly.
The performance he had just seen was so solid that Emily and Rebeca Verne, if they had been there watching, would probably have had to go home and ask themselves what they had been doing all those years in the industry. The boy's age might not even compare to the length of their careers, but his emotional precision, restraint, and control of rhythm were on another level entirely.
Even so, Alex did not make things too easy for him.
"I'm very strict, you know that, right?"
Ethan straightened his posture immediately. The tension in his eyes did not disappear, but now there was a firmer determination behind it.
"Thank you, Uncle Alex. I'll work hard."
Ever since the success of The Hidden Corner, almost every offer that came to him followed the same pattern: boys who seemed sweet and harmless, but were cold, dark, and far too clever underneath. Characters like young Gin Ichimaru. Ethan knew that if he kept accepting only those roles, he would eventually be trapped in the same mold forever.
And besides, this was an Alex production.
Given the current state of the industry, any actor with the slightest bit of sense would fight desperately for a chance like this.
Before leaving, Ethan discreetly glanced at Violet Grant. From the moment he had entered the room, she had not taken the initiative to say even a single word to him. She was sitting on Alex's lap, leaning against him in a spoiled, relaxed, completely natural way, as if the world around her did not matter at all.
Seeing that, something inside the boy seemed to hollow out.
Hadn't they gotten along well on the set of The Hidden Corner? Weren't they close? Why did she not even want to speak to him now?
And if they were following the logic of the original story, wasn't her character supposed to like his character?
Why was reality completely different?
Alex noticed the faint loss in Ethan's eyes. When he saw the boy walk away, he could not stop a ridiculously melancholic soundtrack from playing in his head, as if the kid were leaving alone through an imaginary snowstorm.
Were little boys these days maturing this early?
"Brother Alex, Ethan and I aren't close. After we finished filming that series, I blocked him. If you don't believe me, I can show you."
Violet, still sitting on his lap, was already reaching for her phone to prove her innocence.
Alex fell silent for a moment.
Fine.
Little girls matured early too.
After a full day of auditions and after more or less settling several important roles, Alex finally checked his phone and saw a message from Lena.
"Want to go out for a drink?"
Alex raised his eyebrows slightly.
Was this woman coming to demand an explanation?
In their previous conversations, he had indeed said that if there was an opportunity, he would save a role for her. But this time it was difficult. The main female roles were Tornado and Blizzard. He could not simply invent a new character out of thin air just to fit someone in.
After thinking for a few seconds, Alex decided to accept.
If Lena decided to throw a tantrum over this, he would simply block her.
With his current status, he was the only one allowed to give others attitude. Who, after all, had the right to lose their temper with him?
As long as he was still on the throne, no one could cause trouble.
If he did not give something, no one could snatch it by force.
To Alex's surprise, however, Lena really seemed to have come just for dinner.
During the meal, she talked about small behind-the-scenes stories, mentioned recent moments from his productions, laughed about gossip involving other actresses, and carried the conversation with a natural ease that was almost disarming. At certain moments, Alex even wondered whether she had truly invited him out just to chat.
Still, there was something underneath.
As the leading female face of Aurora Entertainment, Lena might not have been as happy as she appeared. Her position sounded beautiful from the outside, but inside it came with restrictions, silent rivalries, and a constant feeling of being watched.
Alex narrowed his eyes, amused.
She was not even married yet, and she was already thinking about making an escape?
Girl, at least choose your next harbor carefully before abandoning the ship.
"Hmm... we've pretty much finished eating. Want to go sing for a while?"
After several rounds of food and conversation, Lena made the invitation with carefully practiced naturalness.
Alex blinked twice.
Did Lena not know his reputation in the industry?
Where did this courage come from?
Or perhaps Bleach had been so dominant lately, so overwhelming in both numbers and discussion, that Alex's romantic scandals had temporarily been buried. Maybe the women had started to forget what kind of man he was.
So, should he go or not?
Alex rubbed his chin, pretending to think. The decision, however, took less than a second.
Go.
Why not?
He wanted to see just how far this girl intended to take the act.
Two hours later, in a private karaoke room, Alex looked at Lena, who was half-collapsed over the arm of the sofa with the expression of someone deeply drunk. Then he looked at the coffee table, where a few bottles of barely alcoholic fermented soda rested like silent evidence of a poorly executed crime.
He felt as if his intelligence had been insulted.
With that stuff, she wanted to pretend she was drunk?
"Want me to help you back to the car?"
Even though he had seen through her performance, Alex did not expose her. He simply played along, pretending not to notice anything.
"Mm... why won't you cast me in your productions...?"
Lena muttered with her lips slightly pouted, as if the words were too heavy to come out properly.
Alex understood everything immediately.
So she had built this whole scene just to ask that one question?
Typical. She had prepared an entire banquet just to serve one small dish of jealousy.
Naturally, he also understood her caution. Lena did not want to seem too utilitarian. She did not want him to think she was only approaching him out of self-interest, even though, deep down, the topic had been sitting there between them since the beginning of the night.
Alex tried to answer in a way that would not hurt her pride too much.
"The female lead has the appearance of a ten-year-old girl. The second female character's main visual appeal is... a very striking figure. Which one do you think fits you?"
Well.
Maybe it still hurt her pride a little.
For many women, after all, that kind of comparison was almost as sensitive as certain topics were for men. A man could tolerate being called ugly. But certain words about size pierced straight through the armor.
"So just because Emily has bigger breasts, she's amazing now?"
The explanation made Lena lose control of her act instantly. Her voice rose in indignation, and the drunken mask nearly slipped off completely.
She might not have understood exactly what Alex meant by "visual appeal," but she could guess well enough.
When she realized she had reacted too quickly, Lena saw Alex looking at her with that vague smile, half teasing, half amused.
Her face warmed.
Since she had been discovered, she simply stopped pretending.
"Isn't this already the second time Emily got an important supporting female role because of that? So the standard for being the second female lead in your shows is just having those two things big enough?"
For a moment, Alex did not know how to answer.
Because, thinking about it carefully, many anime really did seem to follow that strange pattern. The main heroine was often more delicate, more restrained, sometimes almost flat, while the second female character appeared with a far more striking physical presence. Rukia and Orihime. Sakura and Hinata. Yukino and Yui.
And, to be fair, the roles Alex had given Emily so far really did highlight her figure.
But resources existed to be used.
"I have a few roles that suit you better. Want to take a look?"
Alex had already expected something like this might happen. So he took out his phone, opened the materials for Inuyasha and Naruto, and showed Lena the summaries for two characters: Kikyo and Kurenai.
These two had much higher compatibility with her.
Lena's eyes locked onto the screen almost immediately.
She was not seeing the full story, but the descriptions alone were enough for her to feel the appeal of the characters. One had that cold, distant beauty, wrapped in fate and regret. The other carried maturity, elegance, and the aura of an adult woman who did not need to raise her voice to command presence.
And both were good.
Very good.
"These... these two roles could be mine?"
Lena tried to hold back her excitement, but her pressed lips and bright eyes betrayed her.
"I can't guarantee that. Besides, don't you think there's someone else who fits Kikyo very well?"
As soon as Alex said that, Lena immediately thought of Rebeca Verne, the actress who had resolutely jumped from television into film and then spent years getting battered by bad box office results.
Fine.
She had to admit it. Kikyo really did suit Rebeca.
And Rebeca had always been especially good at playing serene goddess-like characters, women too beautiful to feel completely human, characters who gave off distance even in silence. At least when she was younger, she had mastered that type of role with frightening ease.
"In the end, you'll choose your dear Rebeca, won't you?"
Lena's voice came out low, carrying an almost childish resentment.
It was not exactly insecurity. It was just that few actresses in the industry could face Rebeca Verne without feeling some kind of pressure. She had started with everything, like an explosion: the face of the nation's first love, the aura of a destined star. Even though she had wasted an enviable hand of cards over the past few years, the weight of that name still existed.
"Not necessarily. To be honest, right now, I like you more."
Alex smiled.
Right now.
That was the key phrase.
But Lena seemed not to notice that small verbal trap. Instead, she gave him an involuntary smile, sweet enough to make her seem dangerously easy to deceive.
Alex looked at her and thought, without much surprise, that she really had a dangerous vulnerability. It was not hard to imagine why, in another life, she would end up being led away by a man almost twenty years older than her.
"When these two productions begin preparation, you're welcome to come audition."
Alex stood up right after that.
"We've sung enough. Want me to tell your assistant to come pick you up?"
Lena lowered her eyes and murmured:
"Well... I think I drank too much. Can you help me up?"
Alex looked at her in silence.
Seriously?
After all this, she still wanted to keep acting?
In the end, he held Lena's hand and pulled her up from the sofa. The movement was simple, but perhaps because of the dim light, the distant music leaking through the padded walls, or her faint perfume, Alex ended up doing something even he had not expected.
He leaned in and kissed Lena on the forehead.
She froze for a moment.
The two looked at each other for a long time. The silence between them slowly grew heavy and warm, while Alex wondered whether he should apologize or pretend nothing had happened.
Before he could decide, Lena held his face with both hands, rose onto her tiptoes, and attacked first.
Alex's mind stopped for half a second.
Damn.
Had this girl borrowed Emily's personality?
Since when was she this bold?