Velvette led them into a room surrounded by mirrors.
She closed the door behind her with a backhand flick.
“So, are you here to chase clout at my show too?
I originally thought you were here to pitch that…
what was it, Happy Little Hostel?
Cringe.”
“It’s the Hazbin Hotel!”
“Whatever.”
Velvette didn’t look at her again.
She hopped onto a high stool in the center of the room and began scrolling incessantly on her phone.
“Ten minutes.”
She didn’t even bother to look up.
“Make it worth my while, and you stay.
If it’s more of that ‘love and hope’ children’s channel dialogue, I’m having you hauled out.”
Charlie took a deep breath, about to launch into the speech she had practiced multiple times on the way over, but Velvette raised a hand first.
“Oh, right.”
She rested her phone on her lap and looked at Mu En, scanning him from head to toe before her gaze settled on his face.
“Who are you?
Charlie’s new eye candy?
Or some nameless, bottom-tier influencer?”
Mu En took a step forward, his right hand over his heart.
His posture was impeccable, yet his tone wasn’t stiff.
“Good afternoon, Miss Velvette.
I am Mu En, the Hazbin Hotel’s…
let’s call it ‘styling consultant.’ I’ve heard much of your reputation.
It is truly an honor to meet the one who controls not just the trends, but the very flow of public opinion.”
Velvette let out a laugh.
“Good grief.
You talk in lace and frills,” she said, grabbing a cherry from a nearby fruit bowl and stuffing it into her mouth, speaking through the fruit.
“Styling consultant?
Haha, what canceled-thirty-years-ago variety show did you crawl out of?
That accent of yours belongs in a museum.”
“However,” she narrowed her eyes.
“If you’re here to hustle for a cameo to get some traffic, turn right and fill out a form.
I happen to be short a few vases with decent faces.”
Charlie’s brow furrowed and her mouth opened, ready to stand up for Mu En, but he beat her to it.
“That is certainly something to look forward to.
After all, appearing on your program is proof of one’s value skyrocketing, isn’t it?
However, I’m not here for your charity today.”
Velvette raised an eyebrow and sneered.
“Charity?
You’ve got quite the posh mouth on you.”
“Good breeding.
My apologies if it’s a bit much for you.”
Velvette’s lip twitched.
She hadn’t expected him to keep pace with her so easily.
“Tch.
Fine then, Mr.
Antique.
What are you here for?”
“To save you some effort.”
“Ha.” Velvette leaned back.
“Every talentless hack loves to open with that.
Is the next line ‘I understand you’?”
“I wouldn’t dare.
It’s just that simply standing here looking at you, I can see how exhausted you must be.”
The room went silent.
Even Charlie turned to look at him.
Velvette stared at him.
The mockery was still there, but her eyes had turned cold.
“Is your hotel doing psychological counseling now too?”
“If I truly relied on that for a living, I’m afraid I would have starved to death long ago.”
Mu En glanced at the surrounding mirrors.
“I was just thinking that life probably isn’t easy for someone like you.
You have to post to your social feed just to eat, livestream while you walk, and even when you’re cursing someone out, you have to think about whether it can be edited into a short video.
This kind of life is like walking a tightrope.
The moment you stop, you fall.
The moment there’s no new stimulation, those fans will swarm toward the next target like locusts.”
He looked at Velvette through the reflection in the mirror.
“This is the crown of the ‘Queen of Clout’—heavy and unstable.
Am I right?”
Velvette’s eyebrow gave a slight twitch.
He continued, “And the reason you strive so desperately for the extreme, even pushing this show toward a morbid perfection…
I suspect it isn’t entirely out of passion.”
Mu En looked around the luxurious but cold rehearsal room, finally turning back to her exquisitely made-up face.
“You sent the invitation to Charlie for your own amusement, of course.
Watching the Hell Princess make a fool of herself at your venue is certainly good theater.
But if you were only after a laugh, you wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.”
The faint smile on Velvette’s face faded.
“Go on.
You’d better have a point.”
Mu En continued, “You want more than a joke.
You need a topic that no one can ignore.”
Velvette’s gaze grew colder.
“You’ve got some nerve, trying to define me.”
Mu En paused slightly.
“Then let me put it more politely.
If I am wrong, you can kick me out right now.”
Velvette didn’t respond.
Mu En went on.
“You deal in fashion.
Fashion is meticulous and fastidious.
No matter how you package it, there is always a threshold: aesthetic sense.
And aesthetics require time; they require understanding.”
“But ‘pornography’ doesn’t.”
At those words, Velvette sneered.
“Oh, here it comes.
You’re going to start bashing Valentino, right?”
Mu En gave a light chuckle and shook his head.
“I wouldn’t dream of insulting your partner.
I’m simply stating a fair point.
Lust is the most primal of desires; it only requires cheap sensory stimulation.
Valentino doesn’t even need to use his brain.
As long as he has his ‘actors’ take off their clothes, he can generate more heat than a fashion show you spent a month meticulously planning.”
Velvette’s expression darkened.
“So what are you trying to say?
That I’m jealous of that flesh-peddling business?”
Mu En raised a hand, gesturing to the room full of mirrors.
“If you were truly jealous, you wouldn’t have made this venue so demanding and perfect.
You simply find his methods too crude, too filthy, too mindless.
But unfortunately, mindless things spread the fastest.
No one would feel particularly comfortable in your position.”
The last bit of condescension vanished from Velvette’s face.
“You have a very annoying way of speaking.”
Mu En gave her a gentle smile.
“I hear that often.
But usually, when we get to this stage, it means progress is being made.”
Velvette stared at him for a good while before she spoke.
“What exactly are you trying to sell?”
“Charlie.”
“Me?” Charlie was startled.
Mu En didn’t turn back to explain to her.
He simply continued, “To be more precise, it’s the old brand she carries.
Royalty, redemption, the Hazbin Hotel, and you.
Put those terms together, and even the most mindless person will stop and look twice.
If you only use her for a clip of her falling down, it’s too shallow—and too much of a waste.”
Velvette’s nails scraped against the armrest twice.
“So you brought the Princess to my door to beg for exposure.”
“Mutual leverage,” Mu En corrected.
“You use her to elevate this show to a height where no one can pretend not to see it.
We use your stage to turn the hotel from a joke into news.
We both get what we need.
It’s much more dignified.”
“Dignified?” Velvette scoffed.
“You’re all so broke you’re rattling, yet you’re talking to me about dignity.”
“Broke is one thing.
But one mustn’t let their manner of speaking fall into the gutter along with their finances.”
Charlie almost lost her composure, but Velvette only rolled her eyes.
“Stop circling me.
Why should I think I’ll give you a piece of this cake?”
“Because you’ve never been after just the hype.
You want to remain qualified to set the tone within the Vees.”
Velvette said nothing.
Mu En pressed on.
“In the seemingly solid iron triangle of the Vees, Vox controls the technology and the platforms, while Valentino controls the monetization of bottom-tier desires.
But you are different.
You handle the most meticulous, fastidious, and labor-intensive part.
It is beautiful, dignified, and high-class.
Because of that, it is also the slowest, the most expensive, and the most likely to be seen as a hassle.”
Velvette sat up a bit straighter.
Mu En’s tone remained polite, but his words were aimed directly at Velvette’s heart.
“Forgive me for being blunt.
If you cannot produce a massive breakthrough soon, then the next time the three of you sit down to divide your influence…
you will be the first comparison used within the Vees.
You will be…
the weak link.”
Charlie held her breath as she listened.
Mu En didn’t stop, politely delivering the final blow.
“So, you need Charlie.
Even if the Hell Royalty is past its prime, the IP still has massive brand recognition.
You need to use it to create a carnival that truly explodes across the entire network.
Only then, at the next board meeting, will you be able to put your feet back on the table when you talk.”