Chapter 312 - 240: Zog Film Studio’s Big Flop?

Chapter 312: Chapter 240: Zog Film Studio’s Big Flop?

You didn’t even have to see the movie to comment. That removed a major barrier.

Zog logged in.

He searched for *Beyond Reach*.

The results popped up.

Good lord, a 2.2.

It was dead last among the Shadows of Evil released at the same time, and by a landslide.

The second-to-last one still had a 5.4.

The gap was wider than the lead Zog’s own rating platform had over its closest competitor.

Zog understood. He didn’t know why yet, but the armchair critics—the ones who hadn’t even seen it—had come to despise this Shadow of Evil.

That’s why even after the film’s fans saw it, they couldn’t attract the general audience.

’I’m starting to get murderous thoughts,’ Zog considered. ’Maybe I should just find an excuse to get this Shadow of Evil forum shut down.’

’No, that won’t work. You can’t kill the desire to speak out. If I shut down the forum, these people will just find somewhere else to gather.’

’They might even end up hating *Beyond Reach* even more because of it.’

So, Zog reluctantly clicked on the details, preparing to study just why the online mob hated it so much.

"This Shadow of Evil is dogshit! Suck my d***!"

"Don’t you just love whitewashing Tieflings? Go on, keep whitewashing them. See if you can sell any more tickets."

"Risking my life to sneak a picture of the empty theater."

Below was a picture of a screening of *Beyond Reach* in a completely empty theater.

"Serves it right!"

"Just a reminder, the lowest score is a 0, not a 1. Don’t get it wrong, people."

"I always thought there was something wrong with the Zog Group. It’s named after an Evil Dragon, so how could it be anything good? Now its true colors are showing. It’s starting to suck up to Tieflings."

Zog’s eye twitched. The Zog Group had five times as many Human employees as all other races combined.

That might change, perhaps, when the Inferior Demon laborers arrived.

He scrolled through several pages before finally finding a positive review.

"I’ve seen this Shadow of Evil, and it’s genuinely excellent. It’s incredibly moving. The friendship between the caregiver and the Sir is so sincere, the character development is remarkably deep, and the acting is phenomenal. I had no idea actors this good even existed; I’d never heard their names before. It was like they were just playing themselves. I highly recommend everyone go see it."

’Ah, so there are some normal viewers out there,’ Zog thought, feeling a little better.

Then he noticed the more than four hundred replies stacked below this positive review.

Zog could already guess what the replies would be, but he clicked to view them anyway.

"You got paid for this, didn’t you?"

"Another Tiefling bootlicker."

"Did you crawl out from that biased rating platform? Get lost and go back to circlejerking over there."

"Sorry, everyone, I didn’t keep a good eye on my dog. It’s embarrassing that it ran out here."

...

He felt a moment of sympathy for the person who wrote the positive review.

Zog now understood the problem.

His actions to improve the public image of Tieflings had caused a backlash, and that backlash had exploded, concentrating all its force on *Beyond Reach*.

Reviewing it now, he had indeed been too hasty.

Most people’s hatred for Tieflings was based on a thousand years of accumulated experience.

It wasn’t that Zog was trying to blame the victim.

If one race was hated by another, there might be a specific reason. But if a race was hated by *all* other races, then the problem was likely with that race itself.

The Five-Color Dragons were seen as the embodiment of evil.

Because the Five-Color Dragons *were* the embodiment of evil.

The Zog Group had already issued bounties for the capture of unrepentant Tiefling criminals, and recruitment had begun to offer jobs to Tieflings looking to turn their lives around.

But it would take time for this shift to be reflected in public opinion.

Releasing sponsored articles about the redeeming qualities of Tieflings before public opinion had a chance to change had naturally provoked dissatisfaction.

Whitewashing Tieflings!

That’s what everyone thought the Zog Group was doing.

Zog was, in fact, doing it, but he wasn’t whitewashing them mindlessly. The ones who deserved to be caught were being caught.

But the public didn’t care about Zog’s specific intentions.

If you looked biased, you were biased. End of story.

Zog slapped his forehead. ’This is bad. Now I’ve become IGN.’

He had indeed paid for the sponsored content, but the positive reviews for *Beyond Reach* weren’t something he’d paid to fake.

’How can I fix this?’

"Elsa!"

"Yes?"

"For now, slow down the frequency of the sponsored articles about the Tieflings. We’ll reassess when to release more later."

"Understood."

"Hmm..."

Zog thought for a moment, then asked, "Have you seen *Beyond Reach*?"

"Huh? Yes, I’ve seen it."

"Do you think it’s a good Shadow of Evil?"

Asked so directly, Elsa hesitated for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

She thought it wasn’t just a good Shadow of Evil; it was the best one she had ever seen.

When Sir Gordo and Lady Roline were finally reunited at the end, she had felt a strange sense of detachment, since she knew both of them in real life and it felt like watching acquaintances act. Still, the moment the music swelled, she had burst into tears.

"I think so, too."

Zog decided to put his faith in the quality of *Beyond Reach*.

"Alright, let’s do this. Arrange a ticket giveaway. Anyone who buys one of our new products gets a free *Beyond Reach* Shadow Demon Ticket. Also, run a lottery on the Shadow of Evil forum. Pull some strings in the background to make sure the ones who are hating on it the most have the highest chance of winning."

Zog was willing to sacrifice some future box office revenue to get these armchair critics into the theater.

Watching a Shadow of Evil wasn’t a cheap pastime. The ticket price of Five Copper Coins, if you were frugal, was enough for two days’ worth of food.

He believed that if they could get a free ticket, most people would still go to the theater.

The common thinking was that passing up something free was the same as losing money.

Zog was confident that once these critics actually saw the Shadow of Evil, their opinions would definitely change.

He believed in the power of the Shadow of Evil.

"That’s the plan. Go get it done."

"Right away."

—

In the Factory District, inside a small but decent house, sixteen-year-old Peter was shooting the breeze in a group chat.

"Anyone win a Shadow Demon Ticket?"

"I did. Already tore it up. No way in hell I’m going to see that piece of crap."

Peter glanced at the two Shadow Demon Tickets on his desk and replied to the group, his conscience pricking him.

"Yeah, totally. I won one too. Burned it immediately. The Zog Group can’t brainwash me."

"Nice one."

"That’s the way to do it!"

...

He put down his phone, hesitated for a long time, then picked it back up. He opened his messaging app and tapped on his pinned favorite contact.

He took several deep breaths before his trembling fingers managed to type out the message.

"Grace, I bought two Shadow Demon Tickets for *Beyond Reach*. Are you free?"

The moment he sent it, he flipped his phone face down, not daring to look.

After a long while, a pleasant notification chime sounded.

Peter picked it up, but kept his eyes squeezed shut.

He spent a long moment mentally preparing himself.

’It’s okay,’ he told himself. ’Even if she says no, it’s not a big deal. It’s totally normal.’

He slowly opened his eyes.

"Sure!"

"Yes!" He jumped up in excitement.