Chapter 707 - 707: TALKING TO THE FAN CLUB PRESIDENT

TWO days after the screening, [Serendipitous Summer] officially premiered across the Empire. It opened in around 20,000 theaters—a solid number, though not huge by blockbuster standards. For comparison, a typical big-budget commercial movie might debut in 50,000 theaters. But for a smaller movie like this, it was a strong start.

Astrid had no doubt their movie would at least break even. In fact—without wanting to jinx it—he truly believed it could land in the top 50 of the box office premier list for opening day. That was already impressive, considering the lead cast were mostly rookies. Heck, even the director could be called a rookie. And if luck was on their side? After a week, it might even crack the top 20 box office weekly hits.

Well, one could hope, right?

Astrid looked out the car window as Ellis drove through the morning traffic. They were heading to one of the theaters his fan club had booked for a private viewing party. Just as he’d planned when he first heard about the event, he’d decided to visit at least three fan-organized viewing parties for [Serendipitous Summer]. To keep it fair, he’d picked the locations at random. He even recorded a video of the selection process, just in case people tried to accuse him of playing ‘favorites’.

The temptation was definitely there, though. Especially after talking to Muscled Bubblegum. Or should he call him Samuel now?

It had happened yesterday, when he saw Samuel’s latest post about the private viewing parties. Astrid then remembered his plan to surprise fans by showing up at a few locations. But between the movie promotions and the EMMA fashion show, he’d completely forgotten about it.

So, he had explained his idea to Ellis. His agent agreed it would be a great way to show fans he cared, especially after all their effort they had put through organizing these events. But with the premiere just one day away, they needed to move quickly. Their solution was simple—they contacted the fan club president for the schedule of private viewing parties. That way, they could pick from there which locations Astrid would go to.

Since he still had some movie promotion schedules left, he could only pick three locations. He would visit two today and the last one tomorrow. There was actually one place he really wanted to go to, but unfortunately, it wasn’t chosen when he used the randomizer for the three locations.

Which location was it? To answer that, we need to go back to his conversation with Samuel yesterday.

=====

Ellis reached out to the fan club president through Polaris’ official fan site. After introducing herself and exchanging contact details, she video-called Muscled Bubblegum from her Terminal. Using Astrid’s device wasn’t an option—even if the other was his fan club president, some boundaries should still be kept.

“Hello, this is Ellis Payne, Astrid’s agent,” Ellis said, introducing herself first after a momentary silence when the call connected.

Then Astrid heard a deep, flustered voice scrambling to respond. “Ah, yes, hello! My name is Samuel Lewis. Uh, also known as… Muscled Bubblegum.”

Astrid moved into the Terminal’s view, offering a warm smile to the flustered man on the screen.

“Hello, Samuel.” His voice softened, the way it did when he genuinely meant something. “I just wanted to say… seeing how much care you put into being Starlights’ president—it matters. More than you might think. Thank you. Really.”

Samuel froze like he’d seen a ghost—mouth slightly open, eyes wide. Astrid almost laughed, but used the moment to really look at him.

The man was huge. Broad shoulders that nearly filled the screen, thick arms straining against his shirt sleeves, and a neck that looked like it could snap a tree trunk. No wonder Ellis had done a double-take when the call connected.

It was hard to believe this mountain of a man went by Muscled Bubblegum—let alone ran Astrid’s fan club.

After a moment of stunned silence, Samuel’s expression softened—clearly touched by Astrid’s words.

“N-no need to thank me,” he stammered. “I love being the fan club president. It doesn’t even feel like work since I’m such a big fan of yours. If anything… I should be thanking Aster for becoming an actor in the first place.”

Astrid chuckled. “Thanks for saying that. Having a fan like you makes it all worth it.”

After the introductions, Astrid got straight to the point—he explained his plan to surprise fans at three of the private viewing parties. Samuel lit up at the idea and immediately sent Ellis the full list of locations.

“The fans at those locations will be thrilled.” Then Samuel added, his voice turning wistful, “I just wish Alluna could be one of them.”

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Astrid paused, then looked up at Samuel. “Alluna?”

Samuel’s expression shifted instantly—his eyes widening slightly, his mouth snapping shut like he’d just bitten his tongue. A flicker of panic crossed his face before he quickly straightened up, clearing his throat.

He scrambled to explain, words tumbling out too fast: “Ah—no, I just meant—Alluna’s where I live. So obviously it’d be… you know. Nice. If it happened to be chosen.”

Astrid didn’t comment on Samuel’s flustered state. He just smiled and said, “Yeah, it would be nice if Alluna got picked.”

=====

After that talk, Astrid finally understood why ‘White Wolf’ hadn’t become the fan club president himself. Because he’d gotten someone else to do it instead. There was no way it was a coincidence that Samuel lived in Alluna, the same planet Wulfric owned.

Astrid wasn’t sure how that arrangement had come about. But at least he could be glad that the person Wulfric had picked as his stand-in was a genuine fan.

Well, in hindsight, there’s no way Wulfric would have chosen someone who’s not a fan of Astrid.

Anyway, after that conversation, he truly wanted Alluna to be picked. But sadly, it didn’t. Still, tomorrow’s location was on a planet close to Alluna. Maybe he should message Wulfric about it. They might even get to meet.

***

While Astrid was wondering that, Wulfric was currently watching [Serendipitous Summer].

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