Theater: NovelMaster | Language: English | NEW
Synopsis
Right before bidding for a global luxury perfume campaign, an intern suggested using AI to generate our pitch posters in one click.
My fiancé, Logan, frowned at me. "AI is efficient. Stop clinging to outdated standards and stifling young talent."
The executives chimed in immediately. "Exactly, Scarlett. AI is the future. The client isn't stuck in the Stone Age."
In my past life, I rejected the idea on the spot, pointing out that the AI images plagiarized our competitor's signature motifs. I stayed up for three nights straight to redo the entire proposal by hand.
In return, the intern faked depression, slit her wrist, and Logan's heart broke for her. Together with the executives, he had me locked away in a psychiatric ward, where they tortured me until I died.
Reborn into this life, I stared at the intern's smug smile.
Calmly, I spoke up. "Sure. I'm handing this entire pitch over to you."
I couldn't wait to see how the client sued them into bankruptcy for pitching stolen work.
The conference room fell into dead silence.
Chloe clutched her tablet, swallowing back the tears she had already rehearsed.
Logan blinked, visibly caught off guard, his tone softening.
"Scarlett, that's more like it. The agency needs to grow. The old playbook doesn't cut it anymore."
"Chloe may lack experience, but she gets Gen Z. AI spits out posters in seconds, saving us a fortune in creative costs."
Several board members nodded in approval, shooting impressed glances at Chloe.
"The kid's sharp."
"Using AI for House of V's campaign will blow them away."
I sat back, sipping my coffee.
In my past life, I sat in this exact chair.
When Chloe pitched using AI-generated garbage to land a top-tier luxury brand like House of V, I shut it down immediately.
House of V prided itself on craft and brand heritage. AI art looked cheap, and worse, the model scraped assets directly from their arch-rival. That was commercial suicide.
To save our company, I pulled three consecutive all-nighters, leading my design team through dozens of hand-drawn concepts.
And what did I get? Chloe made a tiny scratch on her wrist in the breakroom and posted on Ins, crying that a senior partner was bullying her to death.
Logan stormed into my office, slapped me across the face, and accused me of being a bitter, insecure woman who couldn't stand young talent.
They bribed a doctor at a private asylum to diagnose me with severe paranoia.
In that windowless cell, pumped full of sedatives against my will, my heart eventually gave out.
Now, I looked Chloe in the eye and spoke gently.
"Since everyone agrees, Chloe can run this pitch from start to finish."
I turned toward Logan.
"I've got pending deliverables for several legacy accounts. My plate is full."
"I'm officially stepping off the House of V project."
Logan's brow furrowed.
"I asked you to mentor her, and you're dropping the ball?"
Chloe quickly grabbed Logan's sleeve.
"Logan, it's totally okay. Scarlett is busy. I can handle this myself. I'll prove it to her!"
She threw me a smug, defiant glare.
"Then good luck," I said.
I stood up, walked back to my office, and summoned my assistant, Zoe.
"Package every single file on the House of V pitch and hand it over to Chloe."
"Then draft a Project Handover Agreement. Make sure Logan and Chloe sign it."
Zoe froze.
"Scarlett, House of V is our biggest bid of the year! You're really handing it to an intern who doesn't even know layout basics?"
I smiled.
"She has Logan backing her. Why should we lose sleep over it?"
"Get it done. And add an ironclad liability clause: all profits, losses, and legal liabilities fall strictly on them, completely independent of me."
Though confused, Zoe followed orders.
Ten minutes later, the agreement came back signed.
Looking at Logan's and Chloe's signatures on the paper, the weight in my chest lifted.
I was finally stepping off this sinking ship.
I opened my laptop and pulled up the profiles of several key accounts.
Over the past five years, I built this agency with Logan from scratch, winning every single one of these clients with my own blood and sweat.
Now, I was taking all of them with me.
My phone buzzed. A text from Logan:
[Scarlett, you acted way too impulsively in the meeting today.]
[Chloe is just an intern. Why take it out on her? Walking off the project? You think you're punishing her? You're gambling with our company's future.]
Looking at his message, I felt like laughing.
In my last life, I ruined my health protecting the company's future, and he called me a bully.
Now that I stepped aside, he blamed me for quitting.
I texted back:
[You signed the handover. If you trust her so much, let her shine.]
I flipped my phone facedown and started drafting my equity buyout agreement.
I owned forty percent of this agency. Based on our current valuation, it was worth a massive payout.
Once Chloe blew the House of V pitch and faced crushing penalties and brand devastation, those shares wouldn't be worth the paper they were printed on.
I had to cash out and cut every tie before pitch day.Two days later, Chloe dropped a dozen images into the agency's WhatsApp group.
They were gaudy, oversaturated, neon-soaked perfume ads.
She sent a voice note, her tone sickeningly sweet:
"Hey everyone! These are the first-draft posters I ran through the newest AI model."
"Just type in a few prompts and it spits them out in a minute. So effortless!"
"Unlike the art department taking weeks to sketch things out. So outdated!"
The group exploded.
The shareholders who only cared about quarterly spreadsheets rushed to shower her with praise.
[Looks bold and modern!]
[Eye-catching colors. Chloe really knows her stuff.]
Logan dropped a thumbs-up emoji.
[Great work. Keep refining it.]
Zoe sat across from me, rolling her eyes so hard they almost fell out.
"Scarlett, look at the trash she posted!"
She slid her tablet across my desk.
I glanced at it. The images were flashy, but that was all.
The lighting made zero sense, and the perfume bottle was warped and distorted.
Worst of all, the filigree pattern in the background of one ad was lifted straight from House of C's iconic monogram.
Classic AI flaw: scraping generic datasets with zero regard for copyright.
"If she presents this to House of V, they'll sue us into the ground," Zoe whispered.
I let out a cold smirk.
"Then let her present it."
Zoe gasped.
I logged into the internal portal and pulled up Chloe's marketing budget request.
She requested thirty thousand dollars to run targeted pre-launch hype campaigns across social media.
She framed it as "testing market sentiment," but in reality, she just wanted to build clout for herself.
I clicked approve and typed my note: [Innovative concept. Maximize reach. Budget boosted by an extra fifteen thousand.]
Zoe's eyes bugged out.
"Scarlett, are you crazy? Putting these online will trigger a massive copyright lawsuit!"
I leaned back in my chair.
"The person facing that lawsuit is Logan, the legal rep. What does that have to do with me?"
"She wants to fly? I'll give her wings."
"The higher she flies, the harder she'll hit the pavement."
That afternoon, Chloe grabbed the approved funds from accounting. On her way past my door, she knocked and stepped in.
"Scarlett, thank you for greenlighting the budget."
"I honestly thought you'd be petty and block it since I replaced you."
Listening to her passive-aggressive garbage, my voice remained silky smooth.
"Why would I? You're so talented. The agency should support you."
"Keep up the momentum. Knock 'em dead at the House of V pitch."
Chloe raised her chin proudly.
"Don't worry. I won't let anyone down."
She strutted out of my office.
I shut the door and dialed a number.
"Mr. Hayes, did you look over the partnership proposal I sent?"
A deep, steady male voice came through the line.
"I did. I appreciate your sincerity, Scarlett. But you're still Logan's co-founder. How can I trust you?"
I tapped my fingers on the desk.
"In three days, I'll be completely out of the company."
"And I'm bringing Zenith Corp and CloudTech with me."
"As for Logan's agency... in three days, it won't exist."
There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a low chuckle.
"Fair enough. I'll be waiting."
Hanging up, I backed up every client file onto my encrypted drive.
Now, all that was left was watching Chloe's grand performance.Chloe moved fast.
The day after getting the money, those AI perfume posters flooded every major social platform.
She hired PR influencers to push sensational headlines:
[Genius Intern Redefines Luxury Aesthetics with AI!]
[Traditional Design Is Dead: AI Is the Future of High Fashion!]
Paid bots swarmed the comments, hyping up the visuals as "next-level cyberpunk luxury."
Logan watched the metrics climb in his office, grinning ear to ear.
He called me into his room.
"Scarlett, look at this traction."
He pointed at the engagement numbers on his screen.
"A small marketing spend for this kind of viral reach. Chloe played her cards perfectly."
"When House of V sees this market response, they'll hand us the account on a silver platter."
I stood beside his desk, looking at the over-sharpened images.
"Impressive numbers," I remarked casually.
"You're just too conservative, Scarlett," Logan sighed, slipping into his condescending lecture mode.
"You need to adopt the younger generation's mindset. Once we land House of V, I'm promoting Chloe to Creative Director."
I didn't argue.
"Whatever you decide, Logan."
I dropped a folder onto his desk.
"Here's my equity buyout agreement."
Logan's smile froze.
"What is this?"
"Exactly what it looks like," I met his gaze.
"I'm burned out. I need a break. I'm selling my shares back to you at a twenty percent discount on current valuation."
Logan slammed his hands on the desk and stood up.
"Scarlett, are you done throwing a tantrum? Just because I put Chloe on one project, you're selling out?"
"Do you have any idea how high this company is about to soar?"
I shook my head.
"I'm not throwing a fit. I just genuinely feel my philosophy doesn't fit the agency anymore."
"Didn't you say I was too conservative? Take my shares. From now on, you call all the shots. You can promote whoever you want."
Logan stared at me for a long time, convinced I was playing hard to get.
"Fine. Don't come crawling back."
He grabbed a pen and signed his name with a flourish.
"I'll notify finance. The wire will hit your account tomorrow."
"I hope some time off helps you realize where you went wrong."
I picked up the signed contract and walked out.
Where did I go wrong? I went wrong five years ago, being blind enough to start a company with an arrogant idiot like you.
By afternoon, the full payout cleared my account.
I had Zoe file the ownership changes with corporate registry immediately.
From that exact second, the agency's survival had nothing to do with me.
Right before closing, Chloe rushed into the creative department in a total panic.
"Mark, look at this! What's wrong with the file?"
She shoved her tablet in the lead designer's face.
"Someone commented that when you zoom in, the model has six fingers!"
"And in the background, people are saying there's another luxury brand's watermark!"
Mark glanced at the screen and pushed the tablet right back.
"Chloe, this was exported flat from an AI tool. There are no layers. It's unfixable."
"The only way to fix it is to paint it from scratch."
Chloe turned pale.
"We don't have time to repaint! The House of V pitch is tomorrow morning!"
"Can't you just stay late and Photoshop over it? Just clone-stamp something on top!"
Mark spread his hands.
"Sorry. Scarlett just approved our department's annual leave. The whole team is boarding a flight to Miami tonight for our retreat."
Chloe's blood ran cold.
She spun around looking for me, only to find my office completely cleared out.
Pitch day arrived. House of V's North American headquarters sat at the top floor of the Empire Tower.
It was a heritage fashion house with a century of history, fiercely devoted to original craftsmanship.
Leading the meeting was James, the newly appointed North American Managing Director.
He was notoriously ruthless, an uncompromising perfectionist who hated mediocrity.
I skipped the pitch entirely. Sitting in my brand-new office, I watched the live video stream Zoe secretly sent over.
On screen, Chloe stood at the podium. Logan sat behind her, puffing out his chest with smug confidence.
James walked in with his executive team, sitting down with an icy expression.
"Begin," James said bluntly.
Chloe took a deep breath and clicked open her slide deck.
The projector flared to life, splashing the distorted, garish AI posters across the massive screen.
Chapters (3)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Watch & Promotions
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