Peerless Perverted Actor Has a Celebrity Harem?!

Park had expected something after the audition, not som kind of trumpets of course or the CEO of NX Arc descending from the ceiling with a contract written on gold paper and a small choir singing please never leave us.

He wasn’t that far gone yet.

’But something?’

A meeting with an agency representative, maybe. A quiet room, some coffee nobody actually drank, a few careful questions about what he wanted to do next and a professional conversation about where exactly NX Arc planned to fit Nathaniel Park into its future now that he had apparently walked into their building as an acting prospect and left eight music professionals questioning the basic fairness of genetics.

’That is normal way, right?’

Especially when the agency had gotten to him early, before anybody else had even heard what he could really do and, more importantly, before they had actually tied him down with a proper contract.

Sure, there was a verbal understanding floating around somewhere, and NX had already given him Foundry access, agency transport, the Kim role and several little privileges most unsigned nobodies wouldn’t normally receive.

’But after today’s recent developments, all of that suddenly feel a little like holding somebody’s hand and claiming you were married, doesn’t it?

Park had expected some urgency.

What he got was absolutely fucking nothing.

The audition ended, Park was thanked, told someone would speak with him, and then NX Arc continued operating as though a nineteen-year-old had not just spent a ridiculous amount of time abusing their understanding of musical limits.

At first Park called it professionalism.

Two hours later, he considered being ignored.

He rejected that one immediately.

’Far too damaging to the ego.’

By late afternoon he settled on being kept in suspense, which sounded intentional, important and dramatically useful enough to preserve his emotional health.

’Much better.’

It was almost evening by the time Noah, the New Talent Manager, happened to "stumble" across Park in the cafeteria.

Park had just finished talking with MJ. His notebook still hadn’t returned because CJ had apparently kidnapped the thing for further study, which he didn’t mind. Most of the songs inside were already sitting perfectly in his head anyway.

Drowned Library had made physical paper increasingly decorative.

Noah stopped halfway past his table and stared.

"Nathaniel?"

Park looked up from his drink. "Guilty."

"You’re still here?"

Park slowly looked around the cafeteria, then back at him. "Unless NX has developed teleportation while I wasn’t paying attention."

Noah laughed, although the surprise on his face looked genuine enough. "Come with me for a second. I heard something."

Now that got Park moving.

They didn’t go anywhere particularly secret.

Noah brought him back toward the same general room where the new talents had gathered earlier and Park had already used for his little conspiracy meeting with MJ and CJ, though this time they moved toward the far corner away from the door.

Noah checked the hallway once before lowering his voice.

"Buddy, that was amazing."

Park’s eyebrows rose.

Noah shook his head, apparently still trying to decide what part of the audition had offended him most. "I’ve been around auditions for years. I’ve seen great singers, great writers, kids who walked in and you immediately knew they were going somewhere. I’ve never seen anything like what you did today, and trust me, neither has this agency."

’Well...’

Park’s ego, which had been surviving on cafeteria air and suspense for several hours, immediately sat up and accepted the nourishments.

"Does that mean you guys are signing me?"

Noah gave him a look. "Obviously."

Park grinned.

"There is no way NX Arc isn’t signing you after today. If I’m reading this right, they’re probably already drawing up what they want to offer you."

’Probably.’

That word had never sounded so attractive.

Noah leaned closer and added, with enough dramatic seriousness that Park briefly wondered whether the man practiced delivering confidential information in mirrors: "I’d expect a call within the next two days. Contract meeting. Maybe sooner."

’Two days?’

Park hated that answer because it was reasonable.

He only loved it because contract meeting sounded considerably better than please continue sitting in our cafeteria until somebody remembers you exist.

Then Noah’s expression changed.

"Listen to me, though."

Park waited.

"I’ve seen a lot of young talent come through here... obviously not at your level."

Park almost smiled.

’Now we’re scratching my ego. Continue, good sir.’

"But the same thing happens over and over. They’re excited because somebody finally wants them, so they look at the money, look at the opportunity and stop paying attention to what they’re actually giving away."

Noah lowered his voice further.

"Then five years later, they realize the agency owns more of their career than they thought."

That wiped some of the amusement out of Park.

Noah leaned against the table beside them. "My best advice? Make them treat your acting career and your music career as one package."

Park’s eyebrow rose.

"One?"

"Not one contract where everything gets thrown into a blender. I mean one career. Yours. Don’t let one division decide the other one is expendable. If your music explodes, they shouldn’t be able to tell you acting is getting in the way and shelve it. Same if acting takes off."

’Okay... that ’s actually useful.’

"And above all," Noah continued, "never trust a contract just because somebody tells you it’s standard. Read every word. Have a lawyer read every word."

NX would obviously have lawyers at the signing.

So presumably one of those.

Probably.

’Got it.’

Noah moved on before Park could think too deeply about why hiring a lawyer to protect him from a contract written by another lawyer might involve more than simply choosing whichever NX employee looked friendliest.

"You’re going to be a big name," Noah said. "I can feel it. So act like you’re planning for that now, not after everybody else realizes it."

Park folded his arms. "All right. What would you ask for?"

Noah thought for a moment. "A personal manager. Not somebody handling twenty rookies and remembering you when your schedule catches fire. If they’re serious about you doing two careers, tell them you need someone properly assigned to you. Hire your own accountant once the money starts coming in. Make sure they can’t control your personal relationships, make sure you can reject individual projects, and negotiate the commissions the agency wants to take from your projects."

"How much?"

"For acting? I wouldn’t sign anything giving them more than 20% Personally, I’d push much lower."

Park nodded slowly.

Noah kept going, throwing out smaller pieces as they came to him. Clear accounting, no weird ownership over everything Park created simply because he was signed, no ridiculous relationship ban disguised as image management. Enough freedom to choose roles instead of becoming whatever NX’s scheduling department decided was convenient that quarter.

Not everything Noah said would necessarily make it into Park’s final demands, but Park stored all of it.

Then one thought surfaced:

"What about a personal assistant?"

Noah looked at him.

"Or runner," Park added. "Driver. Whatever NX calls them. Can I choose my own?"

Noah smiled. "If you negotiate it, sure. Especially if you’re willing to provide the person yourself. That’s one less employee NX has to assign."

’Perfect.’

That solved a problem Park was already sick of pretending wasn’t annoying.

The fake apartment arrangement with Mick had been useful when Park needed NX Arc to believe Nathaniel Park lived a perfectly ordinary private life somewhere far away from the Bennett estate.

It had also become ridiculous almost immediately.

Every trip home required that stupid little handoff where Mick dropped him somewhere safe, disappeared, and Quinn or another Bennett vehicle collected him afterward.

That worked now.

’It could become a nightmare later.’

If Park’s career grew and Mick became his regular runner, the man would eventually start noticing patterns.

’Or worse, I would get comfortable.’

One careless instruction, one forgotten address, one day when somebody followed the car properly, and suddenly Nathaniel Park’s mysterious home life became everybody’s favorite investigation.

And Park didn’t trust Mick enough to build his future around him.

He didn’t hate the guy.

’That isn’t the same thing.’

People changed, careers changed, employees became resentful:

Imagine Park becoming some enormous celebrity years from now, getting into an argument with Mick, and the man suddenly deciding gossip money tasted better than loyalty.

’No, thank you.’

Besides, Mick worked for NX Arc.

That distinction mattered.

Park could already imagine future superstar Nathaniel telling him, "Go pick Jessie up and bring her to my place," only for Mick to stare at him and say, "Brother, call a car. I’m off duty."

Absolutely fucking unacceptable.

If NX allowed Park to provide his own person, Quinn could do it, or one of the Bennett household staff could officially become Nathaniel Park’s assistant-driver while secretly remaining exactly what they already were.

Park could leave NX Arc and go straight home.

No fake apartment, handoff and unnecessary stranger slowly collecting pieces of his real life.

And technically, he would even be saving NX money.

’Look at that... a responsible employee already.’

Noah eventually checked his phone and pushed himself away from the table. "Anyway, don’t tell anyone I gave you a whole lecture."

Park smiled. "What lecture?"

"Exactly."

Then the man left him with one final instruction:

Go home, wait for the call.

For once, Park obeyed without argument.

NX Arc could keep him in suspense for another day or two if it wanted. He had survived worse things than corporate foreplay.

Besides, apparently home had decided to provide entertainment of its own.

Because when Park finally returned to the Bennett estate that evening, the house didn’t feel quite the way it had when he’d left.

More cars occupied the private drive, more security stood near the entrance and the staff moved with that particular careful speed people developed whenever the most important residents of a household had returned.

Park stopped and looked toward the mansion.

’Well... the King and Queen of House Bennett are home.’

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