Re:life with Karmic Gacha (Modern Family)-Chapter 360: Fight and Make up.

[Edward POV]

Vanessa was still in a mood when we arrived at the production set for the music video, set up on the golf course. She tried to be professional, but I didn't want to start the production like this.

"Vanessa, meet me at your trailer. I need to talk to you about something," I said, stopping the production and giving the order.

Vanessa's eyes widened, and she became docile immediately. "Um... Okay." Seeing me act firm made her feel restless.

The rest of the staff raised their heads like meerkats, but no one dared to question the director's authority on set.

"Is she in trouble?" Jaime, an Indian-American writer, asked her friend. The makeup artist scoffed and replied, "Hardly. They're really close. But I guess he'll talk to her about her attitude."

"You mean bitchiness?" Jaime mocked playfully. "She's not like that. I guess she's on her time of the month," the makeup artist defended Vanessa. Jaime rolled her eyes and said, "I know. I'm just playing. I know she's a nice person."

"Not this morning she ain't," the makeup artist clarified, and Jaime agreed.

This was my personal production team, consisting of 15 humans and 15 androids. The humans were responsible for creativity—writing and props—while the androids handled the grunt work and stunts.

Only the human staff were curious about the altercation between the main lead and the director; the androids didn't even bother to turn their heads in our direction.

As we stood face to face inside the trailer, I said, "We don't have to do this now if you don't want to."

Vanessa's eyes widened, and she grabbed my hand immediately. "I'm— You don't have to postpone the shoot because of this."

I sighed and gently patted her head. "Don't misunderstand me. I'm not angry. The reason I'm doing this is to have some fun with you. Forcing the shoot to happen is the opposite of what I intended today to be."

Vanessa's eyes glistened with tears, understanding that she had been unreasonable; yet it seemed a metaphysical force compelled her to continue acting out, pushing aside her affection and entertaining her insecurities instead.

I chuckled dryly and urged, "Maybe you can tell me a bit about why last night triggered you so much? I'm a smart guy, so I just need some hints. We're in a relationship after all, so let me understand your thought process a little."

Vanessa pursed her lips, her eyes shifting with uncertainty. Then she sighed and decided to be honest. She took out her phone and opened her Instagram, showing me a girl's profile.

"Who— Oh, is that Alyssa? The one Zack cheated on you with?" I saw the girl's figure and immediately understood why last night had happened.

"I'm— I'm really sorry. I think I projected my last relationship onto you. It's unfair since you've been nothing but wonderful." Vanessa's voice broke, and tears began to flow.

I wiped her tears with my finger and pulled her close. "Hey. Don't cry. I'm not mad at all."

"I know. That's what makes me so disgusted with myself," Vanessa cried even harder, opening up about her scars from her previous relationship, sniffling as she told her story.

"She's not prettier, she's not nicer. I did everything he wanted, but I still lost to that—"

"Pair of melons?" I interjected, which earned me a glare from Vanessa. "I'm kidding," I said playfully, running my finger along her chin.

"Well, if we want to do this for a long time, I guess it's time for you to stop treating the relationship like it's going to fail. You had this expectation that I'm similar to that guy, and it's causing some trouble. I also became annoyed when you kept doing that sort of stuff. It's like you're purposely trying to sabotage... our relationship."

"Do you hate me now?" Vanessa nearly cried again. "Do you want to break up with me—"

I gave her a playful karate chop before she could finish. "Oww!" She winced in pain.

"Stop that. We're going to be a couple for a while, so you better rein in your craziness," I said lightly.

Vanessa finally smiled and wrapped her arms around me, giving me a sloppy kiss. She playfully pushed me onto the trailer bed, wanting to go further when we heard a knock on the door.

Randall called from outside, "Edward. Vanessa. I heard there's some trouble. Are you guys alright?"

"No trouble. We've already worked it out," Vanessa said with difficulty, not wanting to move her lips away from mine. I instinctively grabbed her waist, but snapped out of my horniness and stopped the kissing.

"We should shoot the music video first before we lose sunlight. I promise I'll make it up to you later tonight."

"We're postponing the makeup sex? Are you sure? That's one of the best—" Vanessa tried to seduce me, but I scooped her up in a princess carry, walking toward the door before I placed her down. She laughed the entire time, showering me with kisses before we faced the others.

As we walked out of the trailer, all eyes were on us. The makeup artist noticed the slight smudging of Vanessa's mascara and assumed I had been harsh with her. They immediately pulled Vanessa aside to confirm her well-being.

"This offends me a little," I muttered as I watched the women rally around her. Vanessa reassured them that everything was fine and that we had discussed a personal issue.

Her bad mood disappeared, which eased the staff's concerns. However, her smile vanished again when she saw the costume she would be wearing for the day.

"A fat suit?" Vanessa was skeptical when I explained the concept for the music video.

"There's a beard and old man makeup too. Prepare yourself; this shoot will be quite straining," I said teasingly.

Although reluctant at first, Vanessa became quite playful once she was in character. She kept swirling her plastic belly and even danced in a silly way, trying to get me to kiss her while she was in her old man makeup, acting in a playful manner.

The shooting breezed by quickly. Before we broke for lunch, 90% of the filming was already done. Vanessa's vast acting experience and my fast filming style made it possible for us to complete the music video in a single day.

During lunch, Vanessa and I sat together outside of Arby's. "The server doesn't recognize me. This is so much fun," Vanessa said excitedly as she continued wearing her disguise while she ate.

"Don't get mustard on your beard—You know what? Do get mustard on your beard. I want to add this to the music video," I said, pulling out my phone to film her.

Embarrassed, Vanessa giggled and tried to stop me while acting adorable. "Stahp~ Let's not film it while I'm eating."

I shuddered and replied, "It's really disconcerting to see an old man acting cute."

"Cute? I'm acting cute?" Vanessa placed her hand on her cheek, tilting her head slightly.

"Stop that. See, I got goosebumps." I showed her the skin of my arm, making her laugh out loud.

There had been a palpable gap between us before—maybe it was due to our years of friendship or the employer-employee dynamic. After our sitcom-style fight, we had gotten a bit closer.

...

Back at my place, I was editing the music video when I received a call from Pepper. He greeted me from Milan, showing the beautiful beach in the background. He was checking up on me, which I suspected had something to do with my "altercation" with Vanessa that morning.

"She's still a talent in the company. You don't have to make her cry," Pepper admonished me.

I smirked slightly, leaning forward and feigning distress. "Why am I to blame here? It's not like I yelled at her."

"You're the CEO of the company; you have to make some concessions." Pepper scolded while giving me advice. "If you can't do it, then ask someone else to handle it for you." He added casually, sipping on his cocktail.

I laughed inwardly, desperately trying to stop myself from telling Pepper about my relationship with Vanessa. "Ah, also, I found a secretary for you," he said suddenly.

Confused, I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Really? Who? You know I have high standards for my employees, especially since I need someone capable to help me with my schedule."

"Don't kid yourself. You have your AI for that. The secretary's function is just to be eye candy while you work." Pepper added sarcastically. "Mr. Upton contacted me yesterday. I think he wants Kate to be your secretary for a while to learn how the industry works—"

"Kate—Kate Upton? No, no, no. Absolutely not." I rejected her instantly.

"Tomorrow is the premiere for NightWitches. Are you going?" Pepper asked, sipping his cocktail, ignoring my rejection.

"Of course I'm going—Don't try to change the subject." I grimaced, looking at him in disbelief.

Pepper laughed and said, "Why are you so against it? I thought you loved girls with big—"

"Pepper," I called him out firmly, making him stop joking.

"Alright. I'm sorry. I'll still need to hire her, though, because I promised Mr. Upton," Pepper said apologetically.

"I have nothing against that. Just don't make her my secretary. Also, when did the rumors about me loving girls with big racks start? I haven't heard anything about this!" I asked urgently.

Pepper shrugged, as he wasn't clear on it either. I vowed inwardly to track down the source of the rumors.

Although I finished editing the music video that night, I decided to wait until June before releasing it, aiming for it to become the song of the summer.

There was also another reason: I wanted to finish the choreography version of the music video. It wouldn't be released at the same time, maybe around two weeks after the official music video drop.

I contacted Lia Kim, the prestigious dance choreographer the company has on retainer, to create the dance for the song. It would be a waste not to use Vanessa's pretty face to market it.

...

The next day arrived, and the NightWitches premiere was finally here. I went to the premiere with Vanessa as my date, and the reporters asked us multiple questions about the movie and some personal ones.

"You guys have been seen together a couple of times in the last week. Has your relationship changed?" a reporter from Entertainment Weekly asked with an excited, gossipy expression.

Vanessa and I exchanged glances before I replied, "No, not yet. Although I would be blessed if I managed to land a girl like her."

"Edward's also a little bit okay. Maybe he needs a few tweaks, but I think I can fix him," Vanessa said playfully.

The reporter and many others began showering us with questions. I stopped them and said firmly, "I'll answer questions about the movie only. Let's end the questions about me and Vanessa now. Otherwise, I'll walk away."

The reporters calmed down slightly after that.

"Is it true that the crew of NightWitches filmed the aerial battle in Serbia?" a movie reporter asked. "There's a statement from the Serbian government saying it was an honor for Entertain to use their country as the location for the aerial battle."

"It is true," I said, dropping a bombshell on the reporter. "The aerial battle was filmed without any CGI. It was quite expensive since we had to build World War II Russian planes from scratch and then blow them up."

Many thought I was emulating Christopher Nolan; however, I wasn't the director of the film. Kate Bush, a director with five years of experience, four short films, and one indie film in her filmography, was hired to create the biopic. She looked just like the 1970s English singer-songwriter with the same name from my previous world.

Kate had quit her work after getting sexually harassed by someone at Miramax, which we all knew who. She was blacklisted from Hollywood for about 4 years before Paige convinced her to return and became the director for the movie. Paige worked with the director before and knew of her capability, so she trusted her with the production.

Although I planned the aerial battle and the war scenes, Kate was responsible for everything else. She has talent that I wish she would hone further.

There were a lot of talents which were blacklisted by Hollywood execs for stupid and dubious reasons. Many talented actors quit halfway because of the high cost of living in LA and the rampant nepotism hiring practice in the industry.

Thanks to social media, a lot of them started to produce their own skits and uploaded them on Youtube or Entertain Videos for monetization. Thanks to that, I managed to discover many talented actors and writers and brought them to the company.

Back at the theater, Vanessa and I knew that if we vaguely confirmed our feelings for each other during the premiere, it would help with the marketing of the movie. It was a manipulative move since we were already dating, but it's Hollywood, baby!

The more people talked about us, the more exposure the movie would get. It took $50 million to produce the film, so we had to earn around $80 million to break even.

"Any plans for Universal Pictures after the acquisition is complete?" a reporter asked.

"There are no plans to change what the company has been doing, but I'm planning to raise the number of original screenplay productions. I want to support the creativity that has been overlooked in the past two years since the study came out."

"Are you referring to the 'Economics of Motion Picture' study conducted by SNL Kagan?" The reporter was surprised to hear I quoted the research paper.

Films that cost more than $90 million to make generally produce the greatest profit, the report found.

SNL Kagan found that the 83 films with budgets greater than $100 million averaged $247.3 million in net profit under a major-studio distribution fee structure, followed by those in the $90 million-$100 million range with a $117.9 million average net profit. The 764 films in the study averaged $50.5 million in net profit.

The shift to high-budget blockbusters and the decline of mid-range budget movies began during the 2010s, and the study played a part in that.

Major studios stopped taking risks and focused on guaranteed-profit blockbusters. While there were several exceptions, the production of mid-range movies became increasingly scarce.

Buying Universal Pictures for $15 billion was a way to avoid that. Small studios suffered due to the uneven profit distribution when their movies were distributed by the Big 6 studios—Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal, Sony Columbia, and Warner Bros.

Universal was supposed to be acquired by Comcast back in 2010, along with NBC. However, due to my Starlink causing their customer base to drop by 85%, they could only buy NBC.

Acquiring Universal wasn't easy—not because of the high acquisition cost, but due to the egos of the Board Members. They kept interfering with the acquisition, demanding more benefits and control, looking down on Entertain and me because I was young—too young. Their pride couldn't accept that.

That's why none of them remained with the company. Everyone quit 'on their own' after being forced to sell their shares.

In Hollywood, the degeneracy knew no bounds. Oh, so you're a worshipper of Baphomet? The great demon lord has spoken directly to the high priestess, and he wants you to become Edward Newgate's subordinate.

Oh, you're part of the Illuminati? Same thing—surrender everything to Edward Newgate. freёnovelkiss.com

After I extracted every single thing they could offer, I sent them away to the wolves. Hollywood was a small town, and the other big studios decided to steer clear of anything I had my eyes on since they didn't want to face the same fate as Universal Pictures.

Suffice to say, the Hollywood elite were scared of me. But if there's anything admirable about them, it's that they had very thick skin. It wasn't long before they changed their tune and welcomed Entertain as part of the Big 6 studios.

Jurassic Park, Fast & Furious, Despicable Me, Addams Family, How to Train Your Dragon, The Purge, Halloween—all of these franchises came into my hands.

It was amusing since Universal bought DreamWorks in 2008, and they were on the verge of going their separate ways in 2010. But because of my intervention, I managed to acquire both DreamWorks and Universal at the same time.

DreamWorks was quite excited since I brought new animated technology with me, and I wasn't like Universal, which interfered with their work at every step. They felt stifled under Universal, unable to make any decisions.

But with me, they really enjoyed working together. The studio retained its creative control even under Universal, and I had no intention of changing that.

Their next movie, Rise of the Guardians, was co-produced by Entertain, and I voiced the character Jack Frost in the film. The movie was set to be released in late November, just in time for the Christmas spirit.

Of course, when too much power congregates in a single person, there are many voices of opposition. It wasn't too much to bear, but it became bothersome at times.

Well, after a decade, they would finally realize the benefits of what I was doing.

NightWitches opened with an impressive $8 million at the box office on its opening night. It grossed over $40 million on its opening weekend, with only a 30% drop-off the following week.

Paige was thoroughly shocked by the success of the movie. By the time the film finished screening, it was projected to have earned around $250 million in box office.

Since I already bought Universal, I didn't have to share the distribution profit with anyone other than the Cinema Alliances, which took 30%.

The main reason I bought Universal was because I didn't want to share the profits my movies made with the other studios. The big 6 relentlessly tried to bully Entertain while it was still in its infancy. Now, they didn't even dare to look in our direction.

NightWitches was part of the World War II biopic collection I had planned for the company. Following this would be The Imitation Game, along with stories about Alan Turing, Oppenheimer, Curie, and many more hidden figures of the World War II era.

I also decided to reboot the Addams Family on Netflix. There were a lot of projects in pre-production right now, which led to an influx of invitations from talent agencies to go to a party and actresses sliding into my DMs.

The premiere ended on a high note, and no one was sent to the basement. The actresses in the movie did invite me to a private afterparty, but I rejected their offers.

"You must've been so proud of yourself when a lot of beautiful girls throw themselves at you." Vanessa rolled her eyes and snarked as we drove home.

I smirked and said, "They saw me as their ticket to stardom. They don't mind throwing their bodies at me if they can get it. But the only body I want thrown against mine is yours."

Vanessa snorted, a smile creeping on her lips. She acted indifferent and said, "Too bad for them. I have already gotten the most perfect boyfriend ever."

"Eh, you think I'm a fixer upper. I'm not letting that go." I shrugged slightly.

"Oh come on! You know I'm joking when I say that!"