Hollywood Zenith



" I have been meaning to ask, where is Mayra? I thought you would invite her too." Darren asked as they were driving toward the venue.

" You really want me to? I thought you didn't like her." Samuel answered.

" I just wanted to know; who knows what you are thinking? She might come separately with her husband or something." He shrugged, but it only made Samuel smirk at him.

" What? Am I missing something?" He asked, seeing his unusual reaction.

" Nothing; she had been taking too much time off, so she had to compensate by working overtime. Unlike you, who are still unemployed, other people must work to make ends meet!" Samuel chuckled.

" What do you say?"

" Did I say something wrong?"

" Guys! We are about to reach the place. Where should I park the car?" Rupert was driving; they had to take a large vehicle to accommodate everyone, and he volunteered to go because no one else was interested unless it was some fancy car!

" I think the south entrance; just turn left, avoiding the crowd. She said someone would be there to receive us."

" Seriously, are you sure you got the right tickets? If I can't meet them, I will surely make you pay!" Emma said, glaring at Samuel. Darren did mention she was a massive fan of the girl group, but was that something that important that she was threatening her friend?

" Don't worry, Lucie is dependable. She said she acquired the 'best' seats, so you don't have to make a fuss."

" Hoo, you sound confident. That's a good sign."

They chatted along the way and reached the entrance. Few people were there, but no one paid much attention to it. 

" I can't wait to see them." Emma smiled and was the first to exit the van, but a loud shout resonated across the venue as soon as she exited.

" WELCOME, YOUNG MASTER. We are honoured that you graced us with your presence!" Ten or so people screamed when the door opened.

" Shit! Not this again!" Samuel immediately reacted, fished for a hat, and put it on to hide his face.

Others didn't know what was happening; they carefully stood beside the car, watching people bowing at them. They were wearing suits with an overhang, which looked like service attire.

" What's happening?"

" I don't know, Sami?"

" How should I know?" Everyone waited for the other party to respond. For a few seconds, no one moved; the people were bowing down, waiting for Samuel to say something.

" Umm...Hello?"

" Ha ha, Your lowly servant Jean greets the great young master Samuel!" one middle-aged man came forward and bowed to him again. He was the person who hung up on Lucie and hosted the event. After a thorough 'enlightenment', he was reborn as the perfect organizer for Samuel's every need tonight!

" Yes, but why are you doing this?"

" Answering to master, I must be tasked to show our gratitude for visiting this shabby establishment."

" Fuck! That's what you said earlier!?" Samuel wanted to scold him, but he felt numerous eyes looking in their direction.

" Wooo, you are right! That's Emma Watson!"

" Omg! Ron is here too!"

" Hermione! I am your biggest fan!"

" Who is the other two beside them?"

" Who cares? Hey! Where you come-"

Hearing the commotion, a few people came to see what was happening, and as soon as they looked at Emma and Rupert, they went crazy! It was their once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet their childhood heroes in person, but too bad, around fifty people came out of nowhere and surrounded the place.

These guards were tasked with securing the private entrance, courtesy of the Minister of Defence, who deployed six special forces teams under him.

" This is crazy.." Emma sighed. She expected Samuel to go overboard when Darren told her he was taking care of the tickets, but she never knew what she was getting into.

" What the hell did you do?" Darren shook Samuel for answers.

" Guys, it's not too late to head back?" Rupert said, scratching his face.

" Relax, maybe Lucie wanted extra security. It will all be over once-"

" What are you doing? Spread it! Don't keep our precious guests waiting!" Jean cut him off and gave a few commands.

Just like that, a few people came in carrying something. After laying it before Samuel, they pushed it elegantly, making an artificial garden along the way.

It was a red carpet specially designed for today that had sophisticated embroidery at the centre, along with exquisite flowers scattered around the sides. Within a few seconds, a beautiful pathway connected Samuel's feet to the venue's entrance.

" Fucking hell!" Darren couldn't stop from cursing. He had seen royal treatment before, which reminded him of that; no, it was even better.

"...." The other two were silent, looking at Samuel's face.

" Let's just go in fast. I can't take it anymore." Samuel led the group inside. What pissed him off even more was Jean, who kept glancing at his face like he was expecting him to praise him.

It was his luck that he didn't get beaten by him! Samuel hoped there were no other surprises, but he didn't even know it was a starter compared to what was coming!

...

...

...

Meanwhile, inside a building adjacent to the venue was a gathering of people. It was purposely built as a big hall to help performers practice before their live concert.

A large mirror covered the wall on one side, and the whole place was built like an auditorium, only on a much smaller scale. Two groups were dancing, trying to synchronize their movements while singing to the music playing over the large hall in moderate volume.

"Haha, why don't we take a break for a few minutes? It's not great pushing ourselves right now." one of the girls suggested while panting. It was not easy to move and sing simultaneously; one had to always be conscious of their breath the whole time, or else they would mess up their singing.

" Yoona is right; it's no use practising this hard. Asking us to perform together suddenly, what's wrong with them?" her teammate complained. She also looked tired after hours of practice.

" That's not good; this is our chance to make an impact. None of us ever performed in front of these people. I know it's an unreasonable request, but I am sure the manager asked us because he believed we could do it." One of the boys from the other group urged them to continue.

He was worried they would not be able to shine during the live performance because, for one thing, they would be performing in Korean, and hardly anyone from the public would know the meaning of their song. There were some die-hard fans, but he wanted to make an impact through their dance to make it a memorable event.

" What are you mopping about!? We may be famous, but here, we have to work hard. Don't you know our fans count on us to show them our best performance!" Another boy exclaimed; he was second in command in seniority and had numerous fans due to his good looks and impressive singing skills.

Everyone respected him for his work ethic, but two hours before their turn to perform, they could only do one more round before their manager would be here with the styling crew.

Samuel might have come here half-heartedly, not knowing who was performing, but it was a big deal for them and their fans.

SK Town was a musical collective for recording artists under the South Korean entertainment company SK Entertainment. SK Town artists have performed at the annual SM Town Live world tours since the SK Town Live '08 Asia tour 2008. As of 2010, the SK Town Live concert series had attracted over 1 million audience members.

In only two years, they had expanded their location to include western places like Paris and New York. For these two groups, it was their first tour outside Asia and their first collective performance, consisting of a boy and a girl performing one single together, excluding their other single performance.

It was something that their HQ decided after seeing the response when their two aces would interact on stage after the events. Being under the same label meant they had few interactions with each other and often depicted good chemistry during interviews.

But they were not over-friendly like Western bands because any romantic rumour for members meant another 'scandal' to take care of. Thus was the perception of Korean fans for their idols; they worshipped them like gods, and getting into a relationship meant being tainted by earthly pleasure.

How could they ever accept it!? However, the manager wanted to shock the people by collaborating with the Western audience, which would make them more famous worldwide. It could backfire for the native fans, but they already had several contingencies. A few included releasing new singles-fearing members from the other band, a formal photoshoot and ads involving members.

Everything would emphasize a 'friendly' theme to shave off any negative response online. Besides, social networking was not as advanced, so there would be little video evidence! They could contain the ' damage ' with word of mouth and still images.