The Trending Topic Herself: The Villainess is the Superstar!-Chapter 39: Internal Rankings

Jacob Miller looked around thirty-something, not exactly handsome but decent, with an aura of success.

"Why would I lie to you? Eric Rowe is Mr. Rowe’s precious younger brother. I heard from people in the circle that he just returned to the country not long ago. You just said he’s hard to deal with, what, did Eric make things difficult for you?"

Madeline Underwood touched her hair, a hint of displeasure in her eyes: "He’s not as approachable as you say, especially on set, always hanging around Maya Monroe all the time and completely ignoring me!"

"Maya Monroe..." Jacob Miller immediately recalled the artist who had always been at odds with Madeline Underwood.

"Maya struts around the set arrogantly, putting me in a difficult position more than once. I hate her so much when I see her. Maya is also an artist with Valerius Entertainment, isn’t she? You can’t do anything to put her in her place? I’m not asking for her to be shelved, but at least take her down a notch!"

Jacob’s hand was wrapped around Madeline’s waist. He usually catered to Madeline’s every request, but this time he showed a troubled expression.

"Madeline... this matter..."

Seeing his hesitant manner, Madeline instantly became angry: "What do you mean by this? Am I no longer important to you?"

Normally, Madeline would comfortably suppress Maya; she had never planned to use any methods against her. After all, without anyone stepping in, Maya would inevitably flounder. Yet now Maya seemed to have suddenly gotten wise, and the recent trending incident was still a thorn in Madeline’s heart.

Suddenly, a sense of panic arose in Madeline; she feared that if she didn’t act now, she would be trampled underfoot by Maya, something she absolutely could not bear.

Jacob saw her misunderstanding and immediately tried to console her: "Listen to me, Madeline, Maya’s identity might be unusual, I can’t just act rashly..."

Madeline’s brows raised, her tone became aggressive: "If you don’t want to help, just say so. Is it necessary to make excuses with me? Although Maya relies on The Monroe Family, who doesn’t know that The Monroe Family is not what it once was? You just give her a little trouble, what’s the big deal?"

Yet Jacob did not let Madeline’s words cloud his judgement: "Madeline, think about it, if Maya only had The Monroe Family as her backer, how could the entire circle allow her to act so brazenly?"

Madeline frowned: "You’re saying Maya has other backing?"

Madeline’s thoughts returned, indeed, with the way Maya flaunted herself, she must have offended countless people. Without a strong enough support behind her, how could she stay unscathed in the entertainment industry?

Seeing her contemplative look, Jacob knew she had understood. He coaxed her again: "No one will like someone like Maya for long, getting dumped by her patrons will happen sooner or later. Don’t worry, once she falls, I’ll make sure she can’t survive in the entertainment circle!"

Madeline breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against Jacob’s chest: "If that’s the case, I’ll count on you to stand up for me!"

*

Maya hadn’t done her styling yet, she was with a few other assistants, waiting for Scott who had gone out for errands.

"Maya, let’s go get styled first, Scott will be back soon."

Maya shook her head as Scott was responsible for the crucial task of buying her milk tea; without the milk tea, she couldn’t focus on styling.

The assistants were at a loss and could only continue waiting with her.

In no time, Scott came running over.

It was the first time Maya saw Scott smiling so brightly, holding a large bouquet.

Maya glanced and saw it was lilies, grabbing her milk tea first, then teasing Scott: "Why so happy, did someone confess to you?"

"This is much better than a confession!" Scott’s cheeks turned rosy with excitement, he thrust the bouquet forward: "Maya, this is from your fan! I checked carefully just now, there’s no prank toys or ugly photos painted on there, it really is just a bouquet!"

Maya was used to hearing about haters, the word ’fan’ was quite novel to her.

However, she had no interest in the bouquet, especially since it was from a fan; if it was a prank toy she could be at ease.

Holding her milk tea, Maya turned to leave: "If you like the bouquet, keep it for yourself!"

Scott chased after her for a couple of steps: "Wait, Maya! There’s sugar in here!"

Maya stopped in her tracks, immediately turning back to Scott.

"Sugar?"

"Yes, yes, yes, the fan said she didn’t know your favorite flavor, so she gathered almost every flavor!"

Maya reached out her delicate white fingers to peel open the lily petals, sure enough, there were colorful candy wrappers.

"Hidden deep, indeed."

She hadn’t looked carefully just then.

Scott said: "This fan is so thoughtful, it’s... it’s just too cute!"

Scott was moved to tears, as if it were someone else, sending flowers wouldn’t be a big deal. But this time, the recipient happened to be the notorious Maya Monroe. Normally, the thing Scott did most often was defending Maya Monroe from the fierce criticism of anti-fans. This was the first time she received a gift from a genuine fan...

"That’s very thoughtful," Maya Monroe agreed with a compliment.

There was also a card with the bouquet, written in neat handwriting, obviously by a girl:

I wish you become more and more beautiful, may your life be as fragrant as flowers and as sweet as candy!

Instinctively, Maya wanted to toss the useless card aside, but considering the hand that feeds you, she tucked the card back into the bouquet and gladly took it from Scott.

"I like it very much."

Scott and the surrounding assistants were deeply moved by the fan’s gesture. It was unimaginable that Maya Monroe actually had a true fan who traveled a long way to deliver a gift.

Scott wiped his face, feeling that life was becoming more hopeful. This was a good start, and surely more and more people would come to like Sister Maya in the future!

*

Unlike other management companies, Valerius Entertainment has a tradition of internal rankings, updating every month. Those ranked higher on the overall list get better resources, while those ranked lower get fewer.

The overall list value is formed by summing popularity, influence, and reputation values. This method applies to both singers and actors.

Maya Monroe came to the company today for some matters, but as she was leaving, Ryan Spencer pulled her over to check the newly updated rankings, claiming it was to motivate her.

Maya was only thinking about getting some skewers later and couldn’t be bothered with the pesky rankings.

Ryan was still analyzing the data seriously: "Hey, your ranking isn’t bad this time, much improved from before. It’s probably due to the hit IP ’Wandering Beyond the Horizon’ and the recent ’Goddess Beauty’ trending topic. If you keep up the momentum, how can you not become famous? ’Wandering Beyond the Horizon’ should be released before the end of the year, and once that happens, your popularity will surely soar!"

Ryan rubbed his chin and then noticed that Maya wasn’t listening to him at all; she was staring down at her toes, unsure if she was just absent-minded or something else.

Ryan pursed his lips and lightly tapped Maya on the head: "Maya, what are you daydreaming about every day? Do you even know what your ranking is?" Ryan grew increasingly frustrated: "I just praised your progress and here you are losing focus again!"

"Oh, Ryan, I didn’t space out on purpose. I just have a bit of a headache and can’t seem to get my energy up," Maya said, touching her head.

Ryan wouldn’t be fooled by her usual antics.

"Take a look at your own ranking."

Maya looked up and quickly found her name on the large display screen.

Forty-three... stuck in limbo, with Madeline Underwood at fifteen, and Kiki Monroe...

Instinctively, Maya looked for Kiki Monroe’s ranking, surprised to find Kiki was below her, at fifty-nine, making her mood worse.

Seeing her dispirited look, Ryan thought her competitive streak was finally kicking in, realizing she needed to work harder.

"Don’t be too discouraged; your reputation score is really low. Things are already much better than before. After ’Wandering Beyond the Horizon’ airs, your popularity will surge."

His words only made Maya feel worse.

Ryan’s gaze shifted to the number one spot on the rankings, where "Serena Sawyer" was prominently displayed.

"As expected, Serena Sawyer is first again this year. She just won Best Actress recently, so she’s quite the spotlight-stealer now!"

Hearing that familiar name, Maya squinted slightly.

Serena Sawyer was an international top actress, her influence rivaling Leo Lancaster. Valerius Entertainment and Simuse Entertainment are currently the two leading star-making companies, with Leo Lancaster being the top star at Simuse Entertainment and Serena Sawyer the leading lady at Valerius Entertainment. Everywhere in the company, you could see her posters and advertisements.

More crucially, Serena Sawyer played the villainess boss in "The Pure White Flower Never Gives Up," a stumbling block in the heroine’s career, her biggest adversary later on. But all villains are destined to be defeated by the protagonist, eventually facing a downfall as miserable as the original protagonist’s fate.

Maya and Ryan discussed the rankings for a bit longer until Ryan finally agreed to let her leave.

Suddenly, some noise came from the front.

A woman in the latest fashion walked over, wearing sunglasses, only showing her rosy lips, her entire demeanor one of inexpressible elegance.

Maya paused for a second, her gaze instinctively following the figure ahead.

Seemingly noticing Maya’s gaze, the woman looked in her direction, examined her through her sunglasses, then curled her red lips into a smile full of goodwill.

Maya immediately dug through the original’s chaotic memories to identify the person, and this exceptionally elegant woman was Serena Sawyer...