Chapter 34: He’s Panicking


    Trantor: Min Lee Editor: Tennesh


    Rodney was still at a loss when he arrived on the 50th floor the next day. He wasn’t sure if he’d made the right call in deciding to transfer. He’d had many questions he wanted to ask when he visited the 50th floor yesterday, but for some reason, none of them hade out. He’d signed his contract in a daze and left in the elevator.


    After tidying up in the office Fang Zhao had assigned to him, Rodney entered Zu Wen’s studio.


    "How are you, senior colleague? I’m Rodney, the new hire." Rodney wanted to introduce himself first.


    "Cut the bullshit and start helping out." Zu Wen didn’t bother to lift his head and pointed to an empty work space beside him. A desktop and other equipment were already in ce.


    Besides Zu Wen and Zeng Huang, the studio also housed the three other new recruits and Rodney, for a total of six people. The technicians loaned from other departments had left. From now on, the project was an in-house job.


    Even though the department had expanded, the workload was still very heavy. They hadn’tpleted the day’s tasks yet, so there was no time to wee the newbies.


    Rodney stopped talking, headed to his work space, and turned on his equipment. He scanned the list of tasks assigned to him. He was surprised. No wonder the department had to expand. Large scenes involved so many elements. Fang Zhao was also a demanding producer who paid close attention to detail. There was no room for fudging. It was time to get serious.


    Fang Zhao was recording the second song with Pang Pusong. He still wasn’t happy after two straight days of recording, so they had to continue today. Around noon, Zu Wen’s staff hadpleted their assignments for the morning and Rodney still saw no sign of Fang Zhao.


    "We’ve finally finished before lunch for once." Zu Wen rubbed his eyes.


    "I’ll buy lunch," Zeng Huang said. It was his turn to buy lunch. He left for the cafeteria after asking Rodney if he had any dietary restrictions.


    Only then did Zu Wen turn his attention to Rodney.


    "You’re a new hire? I heard you also graduated from the Yanzhou University of Science and Technology," Zu Wen said.


    "Yes. I’ve heard about you, senior alum. Your graduation project is still on disy in the exhibition hall for outstanding student projects," Rodney responded.


    "Work hard. The future of our department is bright. You’ve bet on the right boss." Zu Wen shifted to morale-boosting mode.


    "Our boss being?"


    "Fang Zhao, of course. He’s the head of our department."


    "Oh." Rodney nodded and pondered briefly. He followed up with another question. "Say, senior alum, don’t you think that Manager Fang looks like Old Shen?"


    The "Old Shen" Rodney referred to was a veteran Reg Dimension instructor at the Yanzhou University of Science and Technology. He was well-regarded within the industry. The only thing was that he was too serious and spooked people wherever he went.


    One particr scene stayed with every single ss of Shen’s students: the sight of the entire ss paying him their undivided attention. Even if their minds were wandering, they would pretend to be listening to put the old man in a better mood, because if he was in a bad mood he could easily flunk a higher percentage of students.


    When the ss ahead of Rodney’s had gotten on Old Shen’s bad side, he dropped the pass rate for the final exam to 50 percent, flunking half of the ss. He also refused to give a make-up exam, so the students who flunked ended up having to retake the course with Rodney’s ss. This time they learned their lesson and managed a bare pass.


    Zu Wen graduated three years ago, so he did remember Old Shen, but he misinterpreted Rodney’sment.


    "How dare you say that boss looks like an old man?"


    "Hush, hush—I’m referring to his aura, not his appearance." Rodney gesticted wildly.


    "You said what you said. I’ll remember this transgression."


    "No, I just think Manager Fang is a bit... different?" Rodney exined frantically. He just felt that even though Fang Zhao was younger than they were, he had the nerve-inducing presence of a senior professor.


    Zu Wen didn’t think it mattered. "Artistic types are different from us technical types. There’s usually something different about them. As long as he treats us well and lets us game during office hours, I don’t care if he’s a monster."


    "True." Rodney forgot about the weird vibe Fang Zhao had given him yesterday. Zu Wen was right. As long as they were well-paid and could game during office hours, who cared about anything else? They just had to do a good job on their assignments. Whatever else was going on, there was a producer to cover for them.


    "Oh, I wanted to ask you something. Senior alum, why is there a lower urinal in the bathroom? Does someone in our department bring their kid to work?"


    Zu Wen red at Rodney like he was an idiot. "It isn’t for you and it isn’t for a kid. It’s for a dog."


    "Oh."


    While Fang Zhao was tweaking with Pang Pusong’s vocal style and artiction and Zu Wen was hard at work with his junior colleagues in the studio, the demo for the second chapter had been delivered to Duan Qianji.


    This was something Duan Qianji had demanded of Fang Zhao. Once the demo was ready, he had to send her a copy for vetting.


    Listening to the demo ended up taking half a day.


    Duan Qianji ended up looping the crude, iplete demo all afternoon.


    She took a long sigh and pressed a few buttons on her desk,manding her assistant: "Send He Hao and Wayne up. We can move on to the next step already."


    Zhu Zhen shed a look of surprise. "Got it."


    ’It’s about time we let the world know that Silver Wing can produce a decent virtual idol, a real idol!" Duan Qianji said, looking into the distant sunset.


    Zhu Zhen ryed thetest gossip. "Boss, it seems that Master Glifetz has been asking around about the Pr Light project."


    Glifetz was the former head of the virtual idol department at Silver Wing, the producer in charge, the master virtual idol producer that Silver Wing wooed with a hefty sry. He had produced a few rtively sessful virtual idols in his day. Heter retired from producing and, as a master of his craft, became a visiting professor at various universities. He taught the asional ss, epted the rare apprentice, and invested in some projects.


    Silver Wing’s lucrative offer had lured this long-retired master producer. Before the project kicked off, he confidently vowed that he would jump-start Silver Wing’s long-struggling virtual projects. But reality delivered a p in the face instead.


    Glifetz had fallen ill afterst year’s virtual idol project had fizzled. The official word was that he was still recovering in the hospital, still remaining there after more than a year.


    When Duan Qianji had purgedst year’s project team, Glifetz was naturally upset. Quite a few staffers were students he had handpicked. They were all forced out by Duan Qianji.


    When she heard her assistant mention Glifetz, Duan Qianjiughed sarcastically. "That old geezer. I’m sure he’s panicking."


    Of course Glifetz was panicking—the virtual idol department he had failed to reform was making waves this year. And it had generated heated discussion right off the bat. That was good news for Silver Wing, but not for Glifetz. If the Pr Light project took off, the reputation he had worked for years to build would be in jeopardy.


    "Ignore him. Let him keep ying ill at the hospital." Duan Qianji couldn’t help another snicker. "I wonder if his condition will ’deteriorate’ again."