United States, a hotel residence in Los Angeles.

“Oh no!”

An Yuanshan glared at her flustered young assistant, “What is it?”

“A performance video of Jae-woo just appeared online, and there’s a lot of doubt now.”

The young assistant didn’t have time to explain, he simply handed his phone to An Yuanshan.

“What? How is that possible?”

An Yuanshan widened her eyes and immediately grabbed the phone to check.

At the moment, foreign sites were still calm, but all the public opinion pressure had landed on the home base.

Fans from all sides seized the opportunity and launched a furious wave of mockery, and then Chinese netizens who arrived later poured gasoline on the fire, uploading videos of Han Jae-woo and Xiao He’s performances together to those foreign platforms.

The result was unexpectedly effective.

Not that it meant Han Jae-woo’s performance was better.

The mechanisms and props at the Frank Goethe Grand Theater were obviously far more advanced than the ordinary props used at Xiao He’s birthday party, but starting from different points, Xiao He’s acting stood out.

His performance was more delicate and fluid; even for more complex roles, he could switch seamlessly.

As for Han Jae-woo—before people had seen Xiao He’s performance, many had thought Jae-woo’s acting was decent. Although some of his character expressions and states were a bit indistinct, blurring subtle distinctions, the fact that he could switch through them in one go was also praise-worthy.

It’s just a pity that people shouldn’t be compared.

Otherwise, one is in the heavens, the other underground.

[So who still doesn’t know that Jae-woo’s recent Best Actor award was rigged? South Korea’s youngest Grand Slam Best Actor, what a joke.]

[Han Jae-woo’s acting is actually pretty average. In contrast, this Chinese actor named Xiao He is surprisingly good. I think he was one of the male leads in Law of the Jungle? His acting is amazing! He hasn’t won any awards yet?]

[Oh my god, that’s Xu Ning from Law of the Jungle! My favorite character! Sorry Jae-woo, this time I’m siding with Xiao He.]

“What the hell are their PR people doing? Release a statement right now—”

Seeing those comments, Han Jae-woo flew into a rage.

“I already had them bury the trending topic—”

An Yuanshan said.

“Ding—”

The hotel’s elevator arrived at the first floor. Han Jae-woo, with his agent An Yuanshan, walked out, not expecting to run straight into the production team of Fast Speed Shadow 7 who were checking into the hotel.

Amid the crowd, a young man in a black trench coat stood tall and well-proportioned, his posture erect. The fierce edge in his aura was restrained, and he had an outstanding East Asian face. Even just standing casually there, he drew the attention of passersby.

At that moment, seeing that face made Han Jae-woo suddenly stop in his tracks, his expression turning embarrassed and disbelieving.

As if noticing his gaze, the young man who had been talking with his agent glanced sideways, then casually met Han Jae-woo’s stunned stare.

The young man’s agent was a woman in a black casual suit, wearing light makeup. There was a sharp edge in her brows and eyes; even standing beside the young man, she didn’t tone down her assertiveness and aloofness. In fact, she seemed to radiate even more presence than the young man.

When their eyes connected, the female agent smiled, a hint of pity for a poor creature appearing on her face. Her manner softened slightly, as if offering a last humanitarian courtesy to an enemy.

Then the young man facing Han Jae-woo lifted his eyelids a little and raised his chin, the somewhat mild expression suddenly spiking into a vicious killing intent. Even the way he looked at him changed into a condescending, superior sneer.

Most strikingly, the outfit the man wore overlapped cleverly with the detective costume from the stage play, as if they were wearing the same skin, mocking Han Jae-woo’s clumsy imitation in his performance.

Han Jae-woo was hit hard by that presence, panic rising in his chest, and he unintentionally stepped back.

Then he saw the young man and his agent laugh together.

Their smiles were faint, laced with contempt and disdain, making Han Jae-woo feel particularly uncomfortable.

Only then did Han Jae-woo realize belatedly—

—In that wordless confrontation earlier, he seemed to have lost ground.

After all, no one had expected that the two sides who had been arguing fiercely online would actually meet offline at this crucial moment.

For an instant, even someone thick-skinned like Han Jae-woo felt a twinge of insecurity.

But soon anger swelled up in him.

What kind of look was that? What did he mean by it?

He was, after all, a senior, a Best Actor with far greater achievements—how dare that guy look at him like that?

Damn those Chinese people!

Meanwhile, Liu Rulan told Xiao He, “What a coincidence, truly enemies. I didn’t expect them to be in the United States either.”

And to be in Los Angeles as well, staying at the same hotel.

Xiao He was rather speechless, “I didn’t expect to run into him here either, what rotten luck.”

Of course enemies are bound to cross paths.

What was even more interesting was that many people present actually had no idea about the Han Jae-woo and Xiao He incident. Netizens from their two countries had already been at each other’s throats for a long time, but overseas things were still calm. Many people on the production team were scrolling Twitter and the foreign short-video platform, completely unaware of the online “war” happening here.

So apart from the teams directly involved, the people around were busy with their own things, paying no attention.

It was only when Assistant Director Benconi called out to Xiao He that they were asked to register.

Liu Rulan waved her hand, “Xiao Chen, you go sign in.”

Xiao Chen took a deep breath, “Okay.”

After studying English for so long, it finally came into play!

Knowing the opposing side belonged to Brother Xiao’s rivals, Xiao Chen walked tall and confident, his steps steady. He looked very reliable, carrying a bit of a professional elite demeanor.

After Xiao Chen left, Liu Rulan and Xiao He did not make a move. They simply stood where they were, watching the other people with amusement, clearly looking forward to their arrival.

Han Jae-woo inhaled deeply, his chest filled with the provoked anger, and he wanted to stride over to Xiao He and the others. In the end he was held back by his agent.

“Don’t go over.”

An Yuanshan lowered her voice, “We don’t even know them, and they didn’t come to greet us. If we go now, wouldn’t that make us look inferior?”

Han Jae-woo’s steps stopped immediately.

She had a point.

All the online fuss was mainly between fans and had little to do with the principal actors.

If they pretended not to know and didn’t see it, none of that drama would land on them.

“Let’s go.”

An Yuanshan said, signaling the young assistant to lead the way, while subtly grabbing Han Jae-woo’s arm to calm him down.

Han Jae-woo wasn’t stupid. Although he felt very upset, in the end he only shot a spiteful look across the crowd at Xiao He, then was led by An Yuanshan toward the hotel exit.

“Tsk.”

Watching that group leave as if fleeing, Liu Rulan clicked her tongue in disappointment, “So shameless online, but when it comes offline, they don’t have the nerve.”

What a pity. She had half-hoped they would remain brazen; that way the impending public slap would be louder.

Xiao He snorted a cold laugh, “They won’t dare.”

—And he always liked to chase and finish the job.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep