The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era [BL]

436 NEW VARIETY PROGRAM

ASTRID and Ellis were on their way to a broadcasting station to film a variety program with the main cast of [The Great War]. This variety program would be broadcasted live. And then, at the end of the program, the trailer for the [The Great War] would be shown to the public for the first time.

It’s a great way to promote the show. Especially since the public’s interest was starting to wane since it had been two days since the concept photos were released. With the variety program and the trailer, the attention of the public would focus again on [The Great War].

The variety program they would appear in was called [Penalty Quiz]. Just by the name, one could see that it’s a quiz show. Of course, it’s not just an ordinary quiz show. The quiz had a wide range of topic. From science to general knowledge, to math and history.

Those who answered correctly would be rewarded and those who made a mistake would be given a penalty. The questions were all pretty hard. That’s why, more often than not, the guests of the program were subjected to different kinds of penalties. Thus, the name of the show.

The penalties that the guests experienced were the main attraction of the program. It’s shown after lunch time, a period when people in their homes usually took a nap. The program made sure to make entertaining penalties to keep the audience awake.

Because of this, established celebrities, usually those in the top 100 of the Star List, rarely guested in this variety program despite it having a high rating. Because the penalties usually ended up with the celebrity in an embarrassing situation, many felt reluctant appearing in the show.

But those who were starting out in the industry, or weren’t that famous yet, couldn’t really avoid appearing in the program. Especially if they were there to promote a show or movie they were part of. They didn’t exactly have the luxury to do so.

It was the same for the cast members of [The Great War] that were tasked to appear in this program. Four cast members were sent to appear in today’s episode of [Penalty Quiz]. Being a rookie, Astrid was one of them. Yujin would also be there, as well as the third and fourth female lead.

He wasn’t that nervous about the program. He didn’t really care much if he ended up in an embarrassing situation because of a penalty. It’s not like something like that could really affect his career or something. Instead of the penalties he’s more worried of embarrassing himself and appearing stupid if he didn’t manage to answer a lot of the quiz questions.

.....

Although he was confident of his educational knowledge, it’s not like he had a perfect memory that remembered everything he had learned. So, the possibility of him making a mistake and giving an answer that would make him look stupid was not entirely non-existent.

Soon, they arrived at the broadcasting station.

Astrid and Ellis walked out of the car after the latter parked it and both walked towards the entrance of the station. Since Ellis was familiar with the place, they didn’t need to inquire as to where was the studio where the program would be filmed. They simply went straight to it.

Since they arrived much earlier than scheduled, Astrid and Ellis went around the studio to say hello to the staffs, as well as the program director. After doing that, they went to the waiting room. As expected, they were the first ones to arrive.

As Astrid sat down to wait, he glanced at his agent.

After that news about Olivia and her family’s ‘death’, they had never talked about it again. As if the two of them had a silent pact to move pass it and treat it as something that didn’t happen. Which was fine by Astrid.

It’s not like he’s particularly interested in Olivia. The only reason why he was even remotely affected by her situation was only because of Livi. Even if he and Ellis talked about their situation, it wouldn’t really change anything. So, it’s better to just move on from that.

It didn’t take long before Yujin arrived, followed by his agent. A small smile appeared on Yujin’s handsome face the moment he saw Astrid.

“You came early,” he said, as he approached and sat down beside Astrid.

Astrid smiled. “It’s better than being late.”

“So, how have you been?” Yujin asked.

He actually wanted to ask stealthily how Astrid was doing after that news about Olivia Crane and her family losing their lives in an accident. Since the other was in a program with her son and all. But Carmine warned him to not even mention it. Probably for the sake of Ellis Payne who was not only Olivia’s agent, but also rumored to be her ex-lover.

It frankly surprised him. Since it seemed that his agent hated Ellis. So, he thought she wouldn’t care about what the other could be feeling. But then again, this was one of her good points. She might appear tactless and all, but she still had a good heart.

“I’m fine, you?” Astrid asked back.

As the two chatted, Carmine walked carefully to Ellis’ side. She was wondering how the other was doing. But asking her directly seemed to be too presumptuous. After all, it’s not as if the two of them were close. Silence would probably be a better consideration.

Ellis, of course, noticed the fidgeting red-head beside her. It didn’t take long for her to understand why that was. Since Carmine would normally say sarcastic comments to her right about now, the fact that she didn’t, mean that something was preventing her to do that.

It’s not hard to think of the reason. It must have been related to Olivia. This woman was probably trying to be thoughtful in her own way. Somehow, that put a smile on Ellis’ lips.

As she was about to say something, the door once again opened and a very unexpected person walked in.