"How could there be this video?"

Lisa was the first to exclaim, "Weren’t the cameras only shooting from the front back then? And when that Mr. Zhou left, he even had his bodyguard take the memory card away..."

The second reason Lisa and Jin Zhixiu hadn’t gone off on Zhou Wang at the time was that Zhou Wang had taken the memory card.

That meant the footage he shot was just for his own viewing pleasure, and didn’t look like it was going to be leaked, so the two girls quickly put it out of their minds.

"You still can’t tell just from the angle?"

Their agent Sister Lin looked a bit irritated as well. "This was obviously secretly filmed by someone on staff at the scene... Even if it wasn’t, at this point there’s no point chasing the source of the video. The key is: how are we going to handle this now?"

As soon as the video surfaced, the PR team at headquarters in Korea had already started moving, but it was the middle of the night. First, there weren’t enough people on duty; second, by the time they discovered it, the video had already spread all over the internet. It was impossible to cut it off at the source...

And this involved BlackPink, the girl group that’s currently at the absolute peak in Korea. In just over ten minutes, it had shot from the bottom of the trending list into the top 10. At this rate, by tomorrow morning at the latest, it would rocket straight to number one.

This also had a lot to do with the image BlackPink’s four girls had built up over the years.

Although there had been occasional scandals, in fans’ eyes the four girls had always been single and pure. In eight years since debut, only Jin Zhixiu had ever had a public relationship, and they broke up long ago.

Now a video like this suddenly blows up, showing a man brazenly taking advantage of them, and it’s even two members at the same time...

It was easy to imagine how big a bomb this would be in the fandom.

If handled badly, this could be the biggest image crisis they’d faced since the group was formed.

Not to mention, among those comments, quite a few of the top liked ones were being steered by haters, saying things like—

"Jin Zhixiu usually looks like a sunny, gentle big sister. Who knew she’s so debauched in private? That guy’s hand is practically in her skirt and she’s still smiling shamelessly!"

"So under Lisa’s cute exterior it really is a horny heart. That ass looks so perky and soft, can I squeeze it? (perv)"

Just glancing at those disgusting comments was enough to make not only Lisa and Jin Zhixiu, but Jenny and Rose so mad they were about to explode.

Even though the video didn’t catch them, the four members each had their own career path now, but at the core they were still one unit. People were already using AI to synthesize fake videos of them and selling them everywhere. It was downright filthy.

Sister Lin was under heavy pressure too. Higher-ups from the company had already called her personally, not only sternly demanding she find out the man’s identity, but also ordering her to come up with a way to refute the rumors fast, or she would have to take full responsibility.

Lisa and Jin Zhixiu were anxious as well. Jin Zhixiu spoke up first: "We have to issue a clarification statement as soon as possible. We can’t wait until tomorrow. The longer we drag this out, the worse it is for us!"

"But how do we explain it?"

Lisa tore off her face mask and said irritably, "The fact is we both got taken advantage of by a man. On that basis, no matter how we argue, the fans won’t believe us..."

"Not necessarily."

By now Rose had already heard from Sister Lin about what happened and about Zhou Wang’s "identity". She said coolly, "I think we can totally shape ourselves as the victims and dump all the responsibility on that Zhou guy. Don’t forget, we’re overseas... and just so happen to be in Huaxia, which is the place most famous for its hidden rules."

Jenny, who’d been thinking along the same lines, suddenly lit up. "Exactly. With Koreans’ stereotypes about Huaxia, as long as we all sell our misery together and show how innocent and wronged we are, they’ll shift all their anger onto this Huaxia man."

The four girls were already "veterans" of the entertainment industry. Lisa and Jin Zhixiu quickly understood what Jenny and Rose were getting at.

In short, they’d completely wash their hands of it. The two of them were entirely forced by the pressure of "hidden rules" to pose for photos with a "powerful figure" like Zhou Wang. It was Zhou Wang who forced them. They felt humiliated inside, but as they were in a foreign country, they could only grit their teeth and endure...

On top of that, Rose and Jenny came up with plenty of extra details, like how they had already lodged protests with the company, it’s just that it wasn’t working hours yet, so the company hadn’t had time to respond.

And how this Huaxia guy actually hadn’t harassed them for the first time; Rose and Jenny had chosen not to attend the fan meet precisely because they couldn’t stand his harassment anymore...

Off to the side, their agent Sister Lin listened to how quickly the girls had put together a counter-plan, feeling both relieved and worried.

"The plan is a good plan, but the problem is... won’t this offend that Mr. Zhou?"

"Sister Lin, didn’t you say it yourself? He’s only President Li of Galaxy Group’s friend, he’s not President Li."

Jenny said disdainfully, "Even if it were President Li himself, his influence is only on Ao Island. Now that this has blown up, there’s no way we can go on with tomorrow’s show anyway. We can just pin it on them, cancel the performance, and head straight back home..."

"But, but..."

Lisa hesitated, wanting to say something but holding back.

The plan Jenny and Rose had come up with was indeed a good one, but smearing someone like this, even dragging in regional prejudice—wasn’t that a bit too much?

That mysterious young man, Zhou Wang, had indeed gone overboard, but he wasn’t the one who leaked the video. Strictly speaking, he should count as a victim too...