Chapter one: Web Of Lies {I}
25th February 2021 - Drama Academy
Dun knew something was going on which was not quite right. He kept having these nagging feelings at the back of his mind that something was wrong, but he had been ignoring them. Looking at his screen, Dun realized he should not have. All signs were there and were happening right in front of him, and yet he could not piece them together after all this time. In this moment, one of it was glaring back at him through the screen of Boosters app – G3 overcame and took the lead with 55% of votes. "But how on earth had this happened? When did this happen?" were some of the few questions that were swirling around in his head. Dun knew G2 was going to win despite all the commotions over the last few weeks. And yet this... this turn of event left him puzzled more than anything. "This wasn't right, it had to be a mistake" he concluded after blankly staring at the result in disbelief for so long.
Dun proceeded to do his own comparison by going through all of Viva Plus and Boosters results from the start. The stark difference in G3 Boosters result for this round compared to past G3 results was so shocking. He could not put his finger on it, but something did not fit well. Checking social media was a mistake, for all the fandoms were in the same state of chaos as his mind was in that moment. When he felt closer to losing track of his own reason and decided to get away before his mind spiralling any further, he suddenly got a text from his manager "Don't worry, it'll be fine." His current state of mind could not afford a reply to it, so he switched his phone to silent and ignored those reassurances.
The day quickly turned upside down with the result fiasco and it surely dampened Dun's mood as well. He tried to concentrate in the class, but it was too difficult for him. To add oil to fire, Bas had to call him out for the promotion from yesterday. Really? Bas could not wait for a bit. Bas never understood timing, or did he? It was not just the timing but also the action itself that took Dun by surprise. For Bas to voluntarily reach out on social media and ask Dun to do his punishment, even for a promotional event, it was a novel idea that Dun was not used to.
'What are you doing? Can't you see what is going on?' He messaged Bas privately.
'We have to promote.'
The short reply was just as Dun had predicted and it did nothing but fuelled his anger further. Dun was not in the mood now and decided this was not the time to put on a show for others. His manager, P'Big, had tried to contact Dun but Dun flat out refused to be bothered. He just needed a damn minute to breathe. He decided that enough was enough, shut down all communications and headed back to class.
In the end, though, Dun still gave in and decided to fulfil his duty when he saw the fandom getting more restless. Dun carelessly and hastily put together a short chicken dance gif by pasting a chicken body over him. When sending the gif to P'Big, he made sure to include a sarcastic remark clearly expressing his current emotion "There, happy now? I have done my part for the day". P'Big tried to calm him down by saying that the event was just a bump in the road and that they clearly knew that only G2 would win. He knew that fact since the start, he realized to himself. Because they had a well-established fandom, which guaranteed the win, everything was smooth sailing. Until now. What happened? Could it be... he shook his head to disperse that dangerous thought, not ready to go down that road just yet. He needed a quiet place to think and went home to afford one.
Despite spending most of the evening absent-mindedly completing his normal routine, his mind never took a break from all the thoughts and information over the earlier event. Dun was so restless because as the possibility started to creep its way to the surface, the fear it brought was clawing deeper into his bones, slowly freezing, and paralyzing him. Looking down at his now cold, untouched, twice-heated dinner, Dun knew his entire being had hit its limit for the night and it could certainly benefit from some rest. He went back to his room and plopped down on his bed. His mind refused to settle down and instead slowly churned through all the memories of the past few weeks. Dun was suddenly jolted with realization, accompanied by a sinking feeling, that he had missed some glaringly obvious signs. Signs that were there since the start and were the sources of his uncertainty and uneasiness all along.
Dun was transported back to the first time when the three of them – Bigg, Bas and he – were called together to discuss the voting process. They said that fans would be given three choices – Wayu alone, WayuThanu, and WayuPha. Hearing the available choices left all of them speechless as up until then, they, along with all of fans, thought voting would decide the fate between ThanuWayu and ThanuPhai.
Bas being mad was an understatement but Bigg's strong and loud objection surprised Dun more. Bigg accused them of unfairly using his character to win an already won battle. Dun, despite truly feeling bewildered with the turn of events, did not understand what Bigg's tone and attitude meant. They all knew and wanted ThanuWayu to end up together as this had always been the story they intended to tell. However, even though the purpose of the campaign was ThanuWayu since the day they signed the series together, they started campaigning as DunBas. Voting was added as a factor to engage fans' reactions, as well as giving a chance for book's fans to voice their opinions on the new twist. Dun just sat there quietly, for there were many things to process. When the meeting ended with the choices they had intended and the subsequent gear up for promotion, Bigg made clear of his intention when he stormed out, that he would not be part of this. Dun was astounded and then furious of such attitude, especially coming from an actor who was just recently added to the cast.
Looking back on that meeting now, Dun felt foolish for not picking up the first sign. The first warning bell, Bigg's upset reaction and Bas's completely withdrawal behaviour, was glaringly obvious now but Dun was too naïve to catch on then. He always knew, because DunBas had been promoted heavily together as a "ship", the odd was in their favour to have fandom's support so they can proceed with the official pairing of ThanuWayu/Dunbas. But of course, he always knew, with the added element of voting, that there would always exist some unexpected twist along the way. However, the channel had been very confident that they would win no matter what pairing was set against ThanuWayu, as they have had the support of the biggest fandom in this series.
When the voting was announced, the mixed reactions echoing around multiple fandoms were expected. Despite knowing that international fans could not participate, it still made his heart proud to see the dedication and passion their fandom held for them. Dun, at first, did felt a first twinge of uneasiness that fans were spending big money on voting, though was then quickly reassured that this was their way of giving fans a chance to have their voices directly impact the storyline. Looking at fans' determinations further dispersed Dun's worry and fuelled Dun's fighting spirit and resolve to be a part of their journeys and wishes. Dun knew how much of a burden this whole process was on fans and decided to help by not so secretly buying many votes via Viva jelly, which brought much needed encouragement and reassurance to the whole fandom.
Initially, Dun had tried his best and was successful in keep up with the appearances – helping fans, engaging fans, and sailing the ship. Their interviews, which were also scheduled as part of the voting month, fortunately became another effective method for promotion. With each passing week, their strategy proved successfully that their ship was clearly favoured as G2 was in lead for Viva with a gap almost impossible to fill. However, by the end of the second week, he realized how much hard work and pressure this whole ordeal was turning out to be because he was sailing the ship himself. After that meeting, there was clear, yet puzzling then, shift in dynamics coming from the other two individuals. He noticed the change later, though, as voting progressed, that apart from strict promotions, there were distinct silences from the other two which left Dun mystified. Bas, especially, was hardly reachable, let alone available to sort out and answer any questions Dun had since the start.
The major twist occurred during the middle of third week when they received information that Boosters would be introduced to allow international fans to vote. The unexpected news rattled Dun's patience and understanding of what was going on. They had intended the result from the start and fans had given their best efforts to get G2 closer and closer to winning. There had existed a mutual, non-verbal understanding between the company and fans that G2 had been and would be the only choice acceptable at the end. So why did they have to disturb a calm sea? When Dun had raised concern about the purpose of Boosters, the company simply brushed off his worry by saying it was all for interfans.
The excuse sounded weak even to him, a half-hearted attempt to diffuse his questions. Facing this new bombshell and reflecting on the initial behaviours of the others to the voting news, along with the strict rules to maintain distance and silence from fandom, Dun could not help but felt doubts started to creep up toward the surface. He could not quite put his finger on it, so he decided to reach out again for more information. Bas, as usual, was nowhere to be found when he was needed so the next logical option was his manager, P'Big. He had been nothing but obedient, playing by their rules, and now their rules were not making sense. Adding another element of surprise to an already won battle, in Dun's eyes, was both unnecessary to their goal as well as unfair to their fandom either way. Furthermore, getting the same reassurances from everyone else had started to make Dun angry now, since they did nothing to alleviate this uncomfortable feeling gnawing at his chest since the news.
That long night was the first time Dun had entertained the possibility of there being a far more sinister purpose behind these collective campaigns. From the seemingly innocent events – the voting, DunBas promotion – to the more questionable ones – the constantly changing rules, and the indifference toward fans' efforts – all clearly showed Dun that it had not been and would never be about fans. Their only driving force was money from the start. Dun shook his head, barely believing it took so long for him to figure out such a small, obvious detail. However, he still could not understand nor able to wrap his head around the abrupt and unexpected chain of events today. Dun knew he needed to solve this part to figure out all the details.
Realizing that sleep was not going to come easily tonight, Dun decided he might as well make good use of his time. He got on Twitter and started going through the hashtags again. Fans' reactions over the seemingly unreal result were mirrors of his own. Their concerns were sounded and those only further confirm Dun's instinct that something was amiss. As he was scrolling through, a Tweet caught his attention, with content talking about the voting process being rigged. That stopped him fast in his tracks and he went back to re-read it several times, making sure to be careful not to misunderstand the information. The prickly feeling reared its ugly head once more, but this time, Dun was aware of its source, for he had received similar accusations a few days ago, when fans called them out for rigging the votes and manipulating the fans. Truthfully, these accusations that were seen by him were only a few of many more thrown around within the fandom, because none of them were aware of the Boosters campaign.
He had tried to bring up this suspicious topic with P'Big before but was quickly told not to worry about words coming from troublesome fans. Dun had always tried to be as open with fans as he could be in given circumstances, so it did not sit well with him when they were throwing accusations like those. However, as more and more of similar discussions about the possibility of unfairness circulated around fandom, Dun started to question the illegitimacy or rather the legitimacy of their words. Could there possibly be any appropriate reasons behind their words?
As Dun started to find more threads on this topic, two potential red flags became more apparent – first one was that the rules for Boosters from that start had never been clear, especially for interfans who had to go through translations – second one was that the idea of presenting another platform such as Boosters for interfans had never once been mentioned from the start. Dun went through voting results week by week once again and the conclusion remained steadfast that every single report up until today remained predictable throughout the weeks, not once breaking out of the pattern. Two main streams of thought for possible explanation materialized in Dun's head – first one was that most interfans were not supportive of their ship and therefore were fighting back now – second one was again rigging of the votes.
He went back to the Boosters app only to find that the reverse was in gear and order was restored back to normal. Dun felt his nerves and muscles loosening up a little bit at the thought that maybe it was a one-off event like he was told. He was about to close it and settle down when the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of something.
Dun looked carefully between the reports, but this time, his focus was not on the results.
According to the official reports, both results today were announced an exact hour earlier than their usual announcement times. The previous results were always announced at 5pm and 5.30pm but today's results were posted at 4pm and 4.30pm. In fact, all the previous results were consistently announced across all platforms, at 5pm or after 5pm, never earlier.
Dun knew that they were always specific about the time because fans were still casting votes until they closed for the day to announce the results up until that point. Therefore, this mismatch seemed not a product of mistake, but rather of deliberation, for the results had turned the tables and threw every fandom into chaos. The question of concern, then, was just how many forces were working behind the scenes to strategically planned and executed these elements. For all the pieces to align and perfectly create a domino effect, it seemed more a work of a carefully planned out strategy, rather than a product of pure passion.
Dun glanced back at those Boosters results, pondering over the fact that they took back the top spot not even two hours later, almost doubling the votes, but nothing came from G3 after those big boosts. He was unable to comprehend the existence of these heavy votes for G3. Records of G3 in past few weeks was a clear indication that this side of fandom had barely been active, and more likely non-existent, compared to their own fandom. His mind started to wander in all directions, leading him to seek out the person he least wanted to interact with - Bigg Thanakorn.
'Did you help with the Boosters today by making those big boosts?'
He waited with anxious breath, but no reply came then. Dun did not know what the answer was that he was expecting, for there were millions of thoughts running through his mind, clouding his clarity on what to believe and what not to believe.
Seeing as how he would not be getting an answer from the other side at this time, Dun looked back to their fandom for more information. Amongst the mixed reactions of fear, determination, and chaos divided the fandom, he came across other sets of tweets about Boosters results being manipulated, with that series of screenshots showing activities on Boosters for almost each hour until the report. Big boosts for G3 all seemed to happen within half an hour before the results were announced. Dun continued to follow the threads about these allegations, needing to confirm his suspicions on what looked now to be a single event that rattled the fandom. Before he could go any further, his phone notified him that Bigg had replied to his message.
'Are you delusional or simply drunk? Why would I waste my money fighting against an unfair battle when I was never given a proper opportunity like you? I have had enough with everyone dragging my name through mud to get their own gains. I was not part of it then nor I am part of this now. Don't worry, you will not be losing to me because I was never your competition from the beginning.'
Dun re-read the message several times, for even not knowing, the answer he received was still unexpected and caught him off-guard. He let those words sink in further into his reasoning, clearly sensing the fury and tiredness from the tone of the message. He pondered over Bigg's words against everything that happened for the past few weeks. Suddenly, the final piece of puzzle clicked in his mind, just like when teeth of a gear fit perfectly into their own socket, and the weight of realization washed over him with the full picture.
The purpose of voting was never about fans or hearing their voices. Fans were blinded and deceived into believing they held the power to decide the fate of their favourites, when in fact the ending of the story had already been written. They, however, played a totally different role in the overall scheme, as generators of money for SH entertainment and sponsors. He could not figure out Boosters role in this, but now he could clearly map it out. SH entertainment introduced 'Boosters' to maximize the overall profit they could gain from this campaign.
The voting was nothing more but to give fans the illusion of control over the series, causing them to literally throw their money at them in the name of voting, moreover in their ship name, in his name, when in fact they were always in control every single step of the way. This was why Bigg was so furious over being his name dragged through mud when clearly there was no chance of his winning. This was why Bas had decided to stay the far away from it with no intention of deceiving their fandom. Sadly, it was only Dun who registered too late and therefore, managed to get played right into their hands.
Dun laid down in pure mental exhaustion for what seemed like an eternity, overwhelmed with emotional turmoil, and sleep completely forgotten. A lone tear of pure fury fell through his eyes as he tried to control the emotional wormhole that he felt himself spiralling further into. By the time the darkest hour of night passed and dawn arrived, the last thing Dun remembered, before weariness took hold, was the remaining numbness, cold as stone.
