NOVEL NEXT Chapter 950 Sabotage
According to Lucas, Logan often bullied him, but he never thought he'd stoop this low. He didn't even see it coming…" the manager said through gritted teeth, clearly on the verge of cursing in anger.
"What did you just say?!" Rafael roared into the phone. This wasn't an ordinary scandal; it was big enough to threaten the company's reputation and send their stock prices plummeting.
"When did this start, and how has the PR team handled the fallout so far?" he demanded, already calculating the potential repercussions.
The opposing party was UE, Hera's agency.
His gaze instinctively shifted toward Hera, and he found her already watching him, her brows knit in deep thought. Rafael's own furrowed as he considered his next move. He couldn't let this blow back on her career.
After all, she and Logan were in the same company, and if he remembered correctly, Logan had been scouted by Hera herself. If the netizens caught wind of that, she would be dragged into the center of the storm, accused of being involved, and her name would be tarnished alongside his.
Rafael was now more concerned about protecting Hera's reputation than the company's. Still, he couldn't ignore how suspiciously coincidental this all seemed, and how polished Lucas's account sounded, as if it had been rehearsed countless times.
But Lucas was now one of their artists, and suspecting him would also mean admitting a lapse in their own judgment. To complicate matters further, it was Minerva who had brought Lucas in.
If he truly was the one behind this, people could claim he was engaging in malicious competition, dragging Minerva's name into the mess. That would be devastating for her, especially now, when she was just starting to build her blogging and livestreaming career.
Her reputation and good publicity were her lifelines; a sudden wave of bad press could destroy her growing fanbase overnight and subject her to intense cyberbullying.
"Um, we only started our marketing today, but by the afternoon, the plagiarism accusations had already exploded. Many netizens noticed the similarities between our newly released song and one from UE, especially since I'd been pushing heavy marketing to give Lucas more publicity."
"To make matters worse, UE's artist, Logan, was personally guided by their music director, which drew even more attention to their version. If not for the difference in the singers' voices, most people wouldn't have been able to tell the songs apart."
"It started trending almost immediately and went viral in no time. The PR team tried to contain the situation, but netizens had already saved copies and kept spreading them online. Some even edited the two tracks side by side to compare the tunes, lyrics, and everything else. That's why it blew up into such a huge topic so quickly," the manager explained.
"And on top of that, the debut song was so good it became a hit, which only made the scandal spread faster. Because of its popularity, netizens were desperate to uncover the truth. Our side was taking heavy criticism too, but the other side was getting it even worse," the manager added.
"Investigate it and postpone the debut!" Rafael barked.
"But sir, if we postpone it, won't that look like we're admitting to plagiarism?" the manager shot back almost instantly, stopping Rafael before he could finalize the order. "The scandal has already exploded online. If we back down now, we'll be in the worst possible position."
"Netizens will think we're guilty, and it won't just damage the artist; it'll tarnish the entire company. Even our other artists could be criticized, their projects suspended or canceled. The backlash would be massive."
Hearing the manager's reasoning, Rafael forced himself to calm down. He had been focused solely on the possibility of Hera—and his sister—getting dragged into the mess, forgetting the stance his own company needed to uphold. He couldn't ignore the company's interests. Still, the situation left him feeling trapped between a rock and a hard place.
"Investigate it. ASAP!" he barked before slamming the call to an end. He nearly hurled his phone across the room, but stopped himself; he didn't want to frighten Hera with a violent outburst.
Even so, frustration burned through him, making him feel like a caged beast ready to roar and sink its teeth into someone. He had never imagined such a scandal could erupt within his own company.
He liked money, yes, but he had never done anything unscrupulous with his artists. He always played by the rules, especially with Xavier under his management. There was no need to stoop so low; in his company, money came easily, flowing like water.
Rafael slammed his fist into the wall, anger flaring hot in his chest. He didn't even need to check online to know how viciously the tide was turning, or how loudly netizens were talking.
He had never gotten involved with this new singer-songwriter; the music department had handled the management and training, and he'd left it to them; it was their area of expertise.
As for his sister, mischievous and hot-tempered as she was, he couldn't believe she would ever truly harm anyone. That was why he had never accepted the accusations tying her to the syndicate case involving missing women.
By the same logic, he couldn't believe Minerva would knowingly bring in someone unscrupulous; no matter how foolish she could be at times, she would never damage the family's interests, especially his.
And then there was Hera. He couldn't imagine her actively recruiting someone of questionable character, either. His trust, almost instinctively, leaned toward her.
After a while, once his breathing steadied—at least a little—Rafael dialed his sister's number, setting the phone to speaker as he paced back and forth beside Leo's bed. He had completely forgotten Leo was a patient who needed rest; hunger didn't even cross his mind anymore.
His stomach felt hollow, but it wasn't from food; it was worry and anger churning through him, fueled by the blindsiding blow of this plagiarism scandal.
After three rings, Minerva picked up. Her voice came through small, guarded, and tinged with fear, proof she had already seen the uproar online and was bracing herself for his fury. "H-Hello?" Her tone trembled, fragile, as though she was already on the verge of tears.
"Have you seen the topic online?" Rafael asked, his voice calm, too calm. The unnatural steadiness made Minerva's chest tighten. She knew her brother's temper: quick to ignite, unpredictable, and rarely contained.
If he was this composed after already learning about the online uproar, it could only mean one thing: it was the calm before the storm. That quiet edge in his tone was far more terrifying than any shout.
"I… I have," Minerva replied meekly.
"Do you have anything to say?" Rafael pressed, his voice still unnervingly even.
"I don't know, brother," Minerva began, her voice trembling. "Alice and I entered the university as freshmen in the arts department, and she was the one who introduced me to Lucas. She said she'd heard him sing, that he had potential, and asked me why not recruit him."
"So I went to hear him sing for myself, and he really could sing. At first, I thought about taking him in purely as a singer, but then he showed me so many songs he'd written."
"He told me he'd been working on them for a long time and was planning to release them through another agency, but he was grateful I found him instead. He said it felt like he could finally fulfill his childhood dreams, that maybe he could find his own place in the world… because he'd been living under someone else's roof and not having a good time there."
"So, after bringing him into the company, I often took him along with me. Even the music department said his voice was good, but his songwriting was the real treasure. They said it could bring him to the pinnacle of the music industry. I got excited… but that's all I know."
Minerva broke down then, tears spilling freely. She truly didn't know what had happened or how it had come to this. She feared her brother's anger, feared his blame, but deep down, she also knew she wasn't entirely blameless.
"I… I didn't do any background check on him," Minerva admitted between sobs. "He seemed trustworthy, and Alice recommended him. I trusted Alice back then; she was my best friend. I believed she'd never do anything to harm my interests. And Lucas… he looked so nice too…"
Her voice cracked, the words tumbling out more like a confession than an excuse. She wasn't trying to push the blame, just recalling what she'd thought and felt at the time. But as Rafael listened, his gaze only grew darker.
Rafael's thoughts drifted back to Alice, and suspicion began to take root in his chest. Could it be that she was setting them up? But if that was what he was thinking, then he was mistaken. Why would Alice sabotage him?