Tokyo, Minato Ward, Teito Television Headquarters Building.

The large conference room on the twenty-fifth floor was wrapped in a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

“…So? Is this all you have for this week’s planning meeting?”

The woman seated at the head of the table spoke in a low voice.

Godai Satsuki. Forty-two years old.

At Teito Television, she simultaneously held the positions of Director of Production and Chief Producer, a woman who was, quite literally, the ‘Empress.’

Wearing a well-tailored Italian suit, her neatly cut bob swaying slightly, she casually tossed the proposal documents in her hand onto the table.

“A Hidden Café Special Featuring Handsome Male Staff… Are you mocking me?”

Under Satsuki’s sharp gaze, the young directors seated around the table visibly shrank back.

“D-Director, b-but, according to viewer surveys, there are many voices seeking healing—”

“Healing? Who’s going to feel healed watching a man trembling through a screen?”

Satsuki cut him off coldly.

“You haven’t forgotten the last location shoot, have you? The café clerk who collapsed from hyperventilation the moment a camera was pointed at him. The hell where the shoot ran three hours overtime just nursing him back.”

Silence fell over the conference room.

That was right. This was the current reality of the entertainment industry.

In this world, the media was filled one hundred percent with female talent.

Actresses, singers, comedians, announcers. What appeared on screen was women, women and more women.

The concept of a male idol existed only in history textbooks.

Because the men of this world were simply too ‘frail,’ both mentally and physically.

There were virtually no men who could endure the pressure of being exposed to the gaze of tens of millions.

Even when a ‘beautiful civilian man’ occasionally became a hot topic, the moment he appeared on television, he would either break down crying from nerves, or be hounded by zealous female fans until his mind gave way and he faded out.

“Viewers are already tired of men who are like ‘puppies you want to protect.’ They want something more… something that hits them right in the brain. Do you understand?”

Satsuki didn’t bother hiding her irritation as she spun her pen between her fingers.

A sense of stagnation.

That was the disease gripping the television industry now.

Wasn’t there something—some trigger?

A massive ‘bomb’ that could blow away this stagnant air.

That was when it happened.

From the monitor mounted on the conference room wall, a jingle announced a transition to a commercial.

“—Next, an introduction to a new product from Sumeragi Foods.”

Taking it as a break, everyone casually turned their eyes to the screen.

And in the next instant—

Everyone in the room forgot how to breathe.

Gooooo!!

Crimson flames filled the screen.

“If you’re a man, eat in silence.”

Accompanied by a weighty narration, a single man appeared on screen, wearing a black tank top.

Bronze skin slick with sweat.

Bulging trapezius muscles.

And in those thick arms, he gripped a massive industrial-grade iron wok.

Gakon! Gakon!

It was unbelievable footage.

A man was—yes, with just one hand—casually swinging an iron wok that had to weigh several kilograms.

Golden fried rice danced through the air.

Scattered sweat sparkled like diamonds under the studio lights.

Then, the man shoveled a mountain of rice into his mouth with a renge spoon and shot the camera a sharp glare.

“…Anyone got a problem, I’ll shut them up with this wok.”

Click.

As the commercial ended, silence enveloped the conference room.

No—this wasn’t silence.

Everyone had been struck speechless by the overwhelming shock, seized by a primal reaction.

“……”

Someone swallowed audibly.

One of the young ADs stared at the monitor with flushed cheeks and feverish eyes.

Even a veteran female scriptwriter clutched her documents tightly, breathing roughly.

“…What was that just now?”

Satsuki broke the silence.

Her voice was trembling.

Not with fear.

But with the joy of a hunter who had found her prey.

“Akutsu Jō!”

One of her subordinates answered immediately, almost shouting.

“The actor who played the villain in the film ‘Requiem of Iron and Blood’! You know, the one everyone’s talking about—!”

“I know that much.”

Satsuki kept her eyes locked on the monitor, her thoughts racing at high speed.

Of course she knew him.

The legendary villain whose film screenings had women fainting one after another.

The newcomer discovered by Kujō Hibiki.

But until now, Satsuki had believed he was nothing more than a ‘manufactured illusion.’

That his strength on screen was merely made to look real through clever direction, editing and CG.

Because realistically speaking, there couldn’t possibly be a ‘male’ like that.

But what about that commercial just now?

‘The movement of his muscles. The amount of sweat. And above all, those eyes.’

Satsuki’s professional analytical eye peeled away the truth.

‘It’s not CG. That wok’s weight is real. And the strength to swing it so casually… And those eyes. They’re not afraid. They’re insolent, arrogant eyes that look at us—tens of millions of women on the other side of the camera—as if he’s appraising us.’

He didn’t see himself as a ‘weakling to be protected.’

Rather, his gaze was that of someone absolutely convinced that he was the ‘predator.’

“The real thing, huh.”

Satsuki’s lips twisted into a crescent-shaped smile.

Found it.

Not a once-in-a-century talent.

But a one-of-a-kind ‘foreign substance’ in this female-dominated world.

“Director?”

“It’s decided.”

Satsuki stood up.

Ignoring the chair clattering loudly as it toppled over, she roughly erased the words ‘Café Special’ written on the whiteboard.

“We’re calling him in.”

“W-What? Him… Akutsu Jō? But for what program—”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

With a red marker, Satsuki scrawled words onto the whiteboard.

‘Golden Special’

“My slot. Sunday prime time. We’ll throw him in as a guest.”

A wave of shock rippled through the conference room.

Sunday prime time was the fiercest battleground in the ratings war.

Inviting a newly risen male actor as a solo guest was an unprecedented gamble.

“It’s too reckless! He’s certainly a hot topic, but he has no variety show experience… and if something happens on live broadcast—”

“That’s exactly why it’s interesting!”

Satsuki shouted.

“I’m sick of predictable ‘cute boys.’ He can… Akutsu Jō can punch a hole through this stagnant industry. No—he’ll become a ‘massive bomb’ that burns everything down.”

In her mind, she could already see it.

Him appearing in the studio, overwhelming and tossing around female comedians and talents alike with his sheer ‘male’ force.

There was no doubt it would pull ratings.

“But Director… there’s a problem.”

A woman at a desk spoke with a grim expression while looking at her tablet.

“He’s technically freelance right now, but in practice, he’s backed by Director Kujō Hibiki and actress Tennoji Karen. Rumor has it they’ve completely locked him down… Negotiations may be difficult.”

Kujō Hibiki and Tennoji Karen.

Both were monsters reigning at the top of the entertainment industry.

Would they really allow their ‘prized treasure’ to be exposed on a variety show so easily?

“…Fufu.”

But hearing that, Satsuki’s smile only deepened.

It was the grin of a ferocious carnivore.

“How interesting.”

She looked down at the Tokyo cityscape outside the window.

“The ‘supreme treasure’ those two are hoarding and hiding… I’ll drag it out and strip it bare in front of the entire nation.”

“T-That’s…”

“I can already see fifty percent ratings. Hey, get in touch immediately!”

Satsuki barked.

“The contact point can be Kujō Hibiki’s office. Use any means necessary to bring him in. Pay whatever they ask. Adjust the schedule to his convenience. Grovel if you have to!”

Staff members scrambled for phones, frantically searching contact lists.

Amid the noise, Satsuki returned to her desk and gripped the receiver tightly.

‘Just you wait, Akutsu Jō…’

She licked her lips.

‘The empress of this industry will taste you herself.’

That day, Teito Television’s production division was thrown into chaos over a single man.

Until the ‘bomb’ named Akutsu Jō was dropped, only a little time remained.

The massive beast known as the entertainment industry opened its jaws wide, waiting to swallow him whole.