bChapter /bb839 /b

    Onemented: [Shameless, trying to ride Mono’s poprity. Hope this project crashes and burns.]

    74%

    Johnny had indeed hoped to use the paintings to stir up some buzz, but he hadn’t expected the art style to give otherpanies an excuse tounch a smear campaign and throw a lot of shade.

    The Stars Group’s PR department reached out to Aria. A staff member asked, “Ms. Saxon, is it okay if we let people know these three paintings are yours?”

    “Yeah, go ahead and make it public. Just put out a statement,” Aria replied.

    The staff replied, “Okay.”

    Soon, the Stars Group’s official social media ount posted: [All three paintings were independently created by our shareholder, Aria. There has been no giarism whatsoever.

    [The Stars Group has preserved all necessary evidence regarding those who continue to spread false rumors, and we will take legal action following thew.]

    Seeing the post, oneizenmented: [Isn’t Aria a med student? Since when did she start painting?]

    The trolls came crawling out again, and now the story changed from the Stars Group copying Mono to Aria being used of copying Mono herself.

    Someone tagged the Fine Art Society andmented: [There’s a copycat here,e do something about it.]

    Onemented: [Even daring to leech off Mono’s fame? Aria’s got guts.]

    Anothermented: [The topments are about to get drowned out. Just because the style is simr, does that mean it’s giarism? Mono has never even painted anything tech–rted–it’s just a simr vibe, that’s all.]

    Onemented: [Not gonna lie, Aria is a total badass. Her painting skills just blew me away.]

    Someone else chimed in: [As an art student, I’m dying of envy. How did she even pull this off?]

    Aizenmented: [Y’all can argue all you want. I’m just gonna print these out and study them in peace.]

    The Stars Group acted fast–those paid shills‘ ounts got wiped out for good, and thement section was basically filled with nothing but praise.

    At the Art Department, Tracy saw the trending topic and immediately jumped to her feet. She hurried over to the professor’s office, handed her phone over, and said, “Prof. Moore, check this out.”

    Amy, a woman in her fifties, adjusted her sses as she looked at the paintings. She asked, “Did Mono finally pick up the brush again?”

    Tracy said, “No, it’s not Mono. It’s Ms. Saxon from the Medical Department–Aria. She’s a shareholder in the Stars Group.”

    “Aria?” Amy repeated in surprise.

    “Yeah, Prof. Moore, but what if–just hear me out what if Aria is Mono’s disciple?” Tracy said.

    Amy shot to her feet and said, “To the med school, now.”

    12:41 Fr, 22 Aug

    Chapter $39

    Meanwhile, Aria was getting an earful from Fred.

    Fred said, “Aria, what’s going on with Adrian’s team all jumping ship to the Stars Group? Did you secretly poach them? Do you even realize how pissed off the school administration is? They’re looking for any excuse toe after you.”

    Aria kept her tone calm, trying to soothe him. She said, “Prof. Gn wasn’t nning to renew his contract with Mandino University anyway. The Stars Group yed fair.”

    Fred retorted, “Fair? Come on, don’t think I haven’t noticed you always hanging around theputer science department.”

    Aria had nothing to say to that. She asked, “So, is the school going to kick me out?”

    Fred replied, “That’s not going to happen. Sign on for another three years, and the school will let this go.”

    Aria said, “Maybe you should just go ahead and make a fuss about it. Look at this–I’m already losing hair because of this project.”

    “Don’t worry, you’ve still got plenty of hair. Losing a bit more won’t hurt,” Fred said.

    Aria shot a nce at Fred’s shiny bald head and said, “Mr. Gardner, I don’t want to end up bald like you.”

    Fred thought, ‘Forget it. I am not going to talk sense into her.‘

    “I’ll take this project seriously—just as long as things stay chill around here,” Aria said. She meant that she didn’t want any trouble at her door.

    Fred sighed and said, “Alright, just let it go. Other than Adrian, you didn’t recruit anyone else, right?”

    Aría smiled and said, “No, that’s all.” Her next target wasn’t at Mandino University anymore–it was at Kanit University.

    Just as Fred was about to leave, he ran into Amy.

    Amy got straight to the point. She asked, “Ms. Saxon, did you paint the concept art for the Stars Group project?”