Next One Is a Babe

However, people were still surprised to hear that Valerie had admitted it on her own. They hadn't expected Valerie to speak up about this matter after her decline in popularity. Furthermore, judging from the way she wrote her confession, it seemed like she was pretty firm and committed to her relationship. Some of her fans were understanding and supportive, but others were furious to hear about the news.

Some of the more mature fans didn't seem to care much about the news, but the hardcore fans were more resistant toward the idea of their idol dating, and they voiced out their desire for Valerie to break up with her boyfriend. A few of the more logical fans tried to speak some sense into the crazier fans. Valerie had a right to her private, romantic life—fans weren't supposed to get too involved with their idol's life.

Once Valerie's news was out, the news of the guy who had exposed Ian started to die down a little. Ian felt rather amused upon realizing this. His scandal had helped Valerie to dodge some attention from the public eye previously, and now, Valerie was exposing herself to take the attention away from him. They really worked well together. Ian went through the whole article before he handed the phone back to his driver. "Her fans seem more normal in general," Ian commented.

The driver nodded in agreement before sitting down beside Ian. "You have some normal fans, too. They're starting to be more receptive to Cindy." However, Ian didn't agree with this. I don't think they accepted her—they simply gave up. When the news of Ian's relationship with Cindy was first released, his fans were furious. Some of them even cried and threatened to stop supporting him.

In fact, there were fans who had left the fandom, and there were even fans who had turned into haters. However, as time went on, the fans realized how good his relationship with Cindy was going, and they gradually gave up on pestering him. Ian had never been one to pay much attention to his fandom, so he didn't know the extent to which he had lost fans or gained haters. He had been involved in too many scandals at one point, and there had been too many comments and discussions surrounding him.

Fortunately for Ian, he had a relatively healthy attitude toward those matters, and he wasn't too bothered, so he managed to pull through. He would've suffered a lot more if he had been a sensitive person who put too much value into his career. After a while, Ian laughed to himself. I may have survived all of this; I may have regained a stable fanbase, and I may be growing in my career, but… I'm also feeling less and less invested in this job.

There were tons of people who were desperate to crawl their way into this industry, but Ian was simply waiting to leave. He hadn't managed to settle the contract with his company. He had been hesitating for a long while, but he felt like he was close to making a decision. After a short rest, Ian stood up to finish the rest of his scenes. "Good luck!" Ian's driver cheered for Ian while remaining in his seat. Ian turned to give his driver a playful grin.

If I leave, I'm sure the driver will be allocated to a different artist. I wonder what his job will be like then. There will probably be a lot of people who would feel sad and disappointed if I left this field. But I'm sure there will be people who'll be happy, too. This industry will survive no matter who leaves—I shouldn't think too highly of myself, Ian thought.