As a national-level IP in the current music variety show domain, ‘Sing If You Want’ would, of course, not be associated with a fledgling music newcomer for no reason.
If this were any other variety show, most netizens would probably think that Cupid had paid for a hot search, leveraging the heat of a major show for hype.
But for this particular music variety show, known for its basket of unconventional maneuvers, netizens had only one thought in mind.
—Zhao He! What kind of madness are you up to again?!
Sure enough, tracing back to the origin of the hot search, it turned out to be Zhao He, the chief director of ‘Sing If You Want,’ who had liked a thousand-word long review of Cupid’s new song release by a certain music critic on the forum.
Shortly after, a freshly minted hot search tag appeared, hanging enticingly at the tail end of the entertainment rankings.
How much of this was due to marketing accounts fabricating stories to meet their KPI, and how much was Zhao He boosting visibility for his new variety show, no one could really say.
The real-time hot posts under the hot search tag were also quite interesting. Fans from various camps gathered to post accusations against the ‘unscrupulous, black-hearted director Zhao He,’ unanimously ignoring the existence of the other party involved.
Topic: [Zhao’s team really loves to ride on hype wherever they go. How many versions of the proposed guest list have they released? They practically wish they could live on the hot search list all day, having dragged half the entertainment industry through the mud. Seeking a tutorial on how to untie ‘Sing If You Want’ from Zhao He.]
Topic: [Even though I don’t know Cupid, don’t I know Zhao He’s usual antics?]
Content: [For those who don’t know Zhao He, let me give you a rundown. This is the person who single-handedly guided cyberbullying against celebrities across the entire internet, a rat scurrying across the street that everyone shouts and beats!
His representative works include the entire ‘Sing If You Want’ series, which consistently produces victims every year; ‘Shining Queen,’ the girl group survival show where he intentionally used malicious editing to frame trainee contestants; and ‘Z Century Rap Party,’ where he stood by and let good kids be bullied and suppressed by troublemaking cast members. Welcome to add more 🙂 ]
Topic: [Ahhhh! Cupid is the hidden gem musician I just invested in! Please, don’t let him get stuck to this kind of crap program that preys on fans!!]
Content: [Cupid, listen to me, focus on writing good songs and just concentrate on your work. Consider variety shows only after you’ve gained more fame. Don’t be blinded by temporary gains. Once you get involved with Zhao He, your life is over…]
Topic: [Zhao He, you old bastard, are you just scrolling down the Light Music app daily charts, putting every single one into your damn proposed guest list, mass-producing hot search tags and harming as many as you can???]
Topic: [I just went to search for Cupid…. Oh my god, I suggest anyone interested go take a look. Not only are the songs good, but the MV is so amazing too. This time, Zhao He really dug up a treasure!]
“…Xiao Man , what are you doing?”
Mi Tong watched as Wei Man took advantage of the chaos to sneakily post a recommendation thread and couldn’t help but tease: “I’ve never seen you this concerned about Quentin. What, are you planning to climb the wall?”
Wei Man was taken aback, widening her eyes and retorting: “What? No way! I check in and do tasks every day, and all my votes go to Quentin. Does that count as climbing the wall?”
“Hmm…” Mi Tong stared at Wei Man, continuing to tease, “I was just saying it casually, why are you so defensive? It seems you really have thoughts of switching allegiance.”
Wei Man: “What switching allegiance, that sounds so weird. Liking Quentin and liking Cupid don’t conflict. One is an idol, the other is an original singer. I can totally support both!”
Mi Tong laughed and raised her hands in surrender: “Okay, okay, I have no objections.”
After all, Cupid and Quentin were completely different types.
One was a versatile, talented young singer-songwriter; the other was a visually stunning, all-round developing idol trainee. There was no suspicion of climbing the wall for a substitute. Their only common points were that both were very skilled and very charismatic.
Oh, and one more thing: both had very beautiful voices.
While Wei Man and Mi Tong were chatting, the MV for “Greed” quietly set off a buzz in the forum’s video section.
Cupid didn’t have a forum account, but a music blogger specializing in 4K restoration reposted his new song MV. Moreover, due to the traffic diversion from a certain hot search tag, many netizens curiously went to search for Cupid on various platforms.
However, how much could be found about an original singer who had only released two songs and had very little personal material?
Even though educational streamers in the video section recently loved using “Leap” as their BGM, no one would include the BGM’s song title or original singer in their video titles. As a result, this MV reposted by an unknown music blogger unexpectedly took the lead, appearing as NO.1 in netizens’ search results.
Topic: [Cupid’s latest song “Greed” MV, a magical realism work with strong religious overtones, brings you an unparalleled audio-visual feast!]
It was a very simple and unadorned title, hardly likely to entice passersby to click.
If not for this particular opportunity, who knows when this video would have been discovered by the wider netizen community.
But, gold always shines.
The comment section under the entire video had almost 0 negative reviews. Netizens who watched the MV were either genuinely marveling at the talent of this unknown singer, or seriously writing little essays of their thoughts after viewing.
There was also a small portion of trouble-makers who actively tagged Zhao He, directly stating that they wanted to see Cupid appear on the stage of ‘Sing If You Want.’
Netizen: This time your taste is good. I like this guy too. Old man, work hard, produce more gold coins, and try to bundle him into ‘Sing If You Want’!
Another commented: I haven’t seen such a brilliant and talented original musician in a long time. Isn’t this much better than those young singers on the rumored guest list who lack works and only have minor internet celebrity-level traffic?
Besides, some netizens’ focus quietly shifted.
[Who exactly is the actor playing the male lead? Such an amazing physique, truly Pacific Ocean-wide shoulders. This is what Koreans want when they say ‘double-door refrigerator,’ right?! And yet his waist is so slim…]
[I want to know too… This MV doesn’t even have a cast list, no director team credited, just a ‘Cupid Studio’ covering everything. Don’t tell me everyone from the actor to the director to the photographer are all your studio’s employees?]
[Did anyone screenshot 2:32, where the male lead kneels weakly in the center of the hall, the felt cloak falling from his shoulders, looking up while enduring the pain… so sexy www]
[Even though his face isn’t shown, the veins on his neck, the curve of his heaving chest, and his spread kneeling thighs… from the back, it’s a perfect inverted triangle physique!]
[Grow out! You useless thing! Grow out for me!!!]
[Ah… satisfied]
[He didn’t take anything off, his clothes are even so proper, but it’s just explosively sexy, the sexual tension crushes some idol drama male leads… Can he please act in more dramas and benefit the public’s eyes more?]
[If I can’t have this man this year, I will detonate the whole world boom boom boom!!!]
[Strongly suggest he play masked characters. I suspect it’s because he didn’t show his face that I find him devastatingly handsome. There’s a saying: imagination is rich, reality is bony.]
[Don’t just talk about the male lead, the Greed demon isn’t bad either~]
[True, even with his skin dyed purplish-grey, you can still tell his physique is absolutely great. His long fingernails at most make people find him strange, not ugly at all, and the weirder he is, the more you can’t help but look twice……]
[As expected of a hellspawn that can play a false god. Compared to those bizarre devils, Greed is actually more handsome the more you look.]
[Don’t gouge out the male lead’s heart! Come gouge mine, Greedddd… I guarantee what comes out will be bigger than yours, oh hehe (≧▽≦)]
[You people and your non-human fetishes…]
“What? Say that again!”
The haggard looking young man sat in front of his computer, grinding his teeth as he questioned the person on the other end of the phone: “We agreed on results in three days before. It’s been a week now. Where are you? You said you could investigate even the target’s eighteen generations of ancestors as long as you had the target!”
A girl’s sweet voice came from the other end, sounding a bit wronged: “Sorry, boss. There’s a big shot protecting the target. You know our studio’s capabilities; every technical employee is a top hundred global hacker. Theoretically, this kind of situation shouldn’t happen.”
Shen Yuchuan closed his eyes: “You don’t need to say more. Refund the money.”
“That’s not possible, boss. The terms and conditions before placing the order clearly stated that refunds are not available regardless of the outcome~”
Shen Yuchuan: “… You know that makes you a black shop, right? If you don’t refund, I’ll call the police. You figure it out!”
The girl paused, her voice becoming even sweeter: “Boss, we advise you to think twice~ Although we couldn’t find out Cupid’s background, we can find out yours. You wouldn’t want others in your company to know that you tried to buy negative water armies for a colleague, would you?”
“?!!”
Shen Yuchuan was furious and ashamed: “I didn’t actually buy any! My money all went to you to investigate Cupid! Who the hell has the mind to care about Wen Xinyi’s life or death! It’s not my fault he got criticized for messing up the performance!”
The girl said with a laugh: “Why are you telling us this? We certainly want to believe you, boss. But whether others believe it or not, we don’t know.”
Shen Yuchuan: “…”
Shen Yuchuan gritted his teeth: “Fine, I get it. I won’t ask for a refund, okay!”
“It’s great that you’re so understanding. Although we couldn’t find out Cupid’s identity for you, boss, Xiao Yun will still provide you with a few after-sales messages as a bonus.”
The girl completely ignored the resentment on the other end of the phone and added matter-of-factly: “The online rumor about ‘Sing If You Want’ proposing to invite Cupid isn’t entirely baseless. The theme of this season’s ‘Sing If You Want’ is ‘Mass Popular vs. Niche Music.’ Director Zhao He has indeed considered having Cupid join the niche music judging panel or even the guest lineup for ‘Sing If You Want.'”
“Additionally, the heat for the ‘Greed’ MV is spreading towards the anime and gaming sphere. Project managers from game companies have already taken notice of the MV and sent private messages inviting Cupid. On one hand, they believe a song style like ‘Greed’ is very suitable as a character song for a fantasy MMORPG. On the other hand, they are very interested in the MV’s filming and post-production team.”
Shen Yuchuan listened very attentively, but after hearing it, he curled his lip in disdain: “What’s the use of telling me this? Does it have anything to do with me?”
The girl pretended to be confused: “Oh? Really? Aren’t you a big fan of Cupid? But during our call, you’ve been playing ‘Greed’ on loop the whole time. Could it be that I misheard?”
Shen Yuchuan silently reached out and clicked the mouse. The computer screen froze on the scene in the “Greed” MV where the adventurer offered his neck for execution, liquid gold overflowing from his eyes.
He said nonchalantly: “You heard wrong.”
The girl laughed: “Well then, in any case, it was a pleasant cooperation. If you need anything next time, feel free to contact me again~ Or if you still want to buy negative water armies for your colleague, you can also pay for expedited service anytime. We can act as an intermediary to connect you with eight hundred marketing accounts, and we absolutely won’t reveal your identity.”
Shen Yuchuan: “Heh.”
Get lost! If he ever falls for this again in this lifetime, he’s a dog!
*
“The progress bar for Main Character No. 2 moved again?”
Quentin looked up in surprise, pausing the action of marking his score: “When did it happen?”
The system replied: “Just now, while you were writing the score, it suddenly increased by 14.9%. Currently, the redemption progress bar for Main Character No. 2 has reached 20%.”
Perhaps because these inexplicable progress bar increases had happened enough times, the system wasn’t as excited as before.
Quentin showed a thoughtful expression, mentally eliminating several possible reasons for the progress bar increase, and could only attribute this 14.9% to off-site factors.
Lately, although he was busy with performance rehearsals, learning and practicing dances, livestreams, and other miscellaneous tasks related to recording the show, he still spared some attention to observe the other trainees, mainly those in Class A, trying to identify the identity of Main Character No. 2 or trigger the progress bar for the third main character.
However, he had no success.
Even though he had basically narrowed down the candidate pool for the protagonists to a certain circle, even pinpointing half of the likely candidates…for example, Yan Qiao, Xue Mingzhu, and Wen Xinyi, these three respectively represented the highest skill levels in dancing/rapping/vocals in the original storyline of “NS,” and were highly likely to occupy three main character slots…he still hadn’t triggered any movement on the progress bar during his interactions with Xue Mingzhu and Wen Xinyi.
Actually, it was somewhat normal. After all, the system said the BE storyline officially starts after the show ends.
But… Why wasn’t there even a little movement?
Before, just making eye contact with Yan Qiao would make the progress bar increase!
“20%……Was there no reward from the original storyline this time?” Quentin asked.
“No. Headquarters indicated it’s because you haven’t had direct contact with the key figure yet, so the reward is temporarily withheld.”
The system paused, then whispered: “According to headquarters, once you meet this key figure, you should receive the reward.”
So there hasn’t even been contact…
Quentin understood: “So this 20% isn’t coming from Main Character No. 2 himself, but from someone causing Main Character No. 2’s BE, just like Zhong Qu.”
Based on the experience from Yan Qiao’s storyline, every action by Zhong Qu that deviated from the key plot directly caused the progress bar to increase significantly, often more than Yan Qiao’s own influence.
For example, Zhong Qu falling out of Class A, Zhong Qu not becoming Yan Qiao’s roommate, Zhong Qu leaving NS……
So, what exactly had this “someone” related to Main Character No. 2 done that was completely different from the original plot development, and what was the reason that caused this person to change?
No matter what, this reason must be related to himself (Quentin), though he found it difficult to determine whether it was a direct effect caused by one of his own actions or a more distant butterfly effect.
The former was simply a choice between the main NS episodes airing and Cupid releasing a song, while the latter was harder to gauge.
Quentin rubbed the space between his eyebrows, lowered his head and looked again at the messily scribbled and amended score in front of him, deciding to set these matters aside for now. After all, worrying was useless.
The pressing matter at hand was the selection of the second pre-release single for Cupid’s first personal album, as well as the promotional activities before the album’s release.
If he were an ordinary musician without a “golden finger,” one could imagine how difficult it would be for one person to handle promotion without company support.
But not selling albums made it hard to earn enough money in the short term to establish a company, rent office space, and hire employees.
It was a vicious cycle.
Fortunately, he had the system, which could directly create NPCs with maxed-out marketing skills to act as his company employees.
Moreover, he didn’t need to consider work hour issues. As long as he provided sufficient basic energy points, the NPCs could work day and night within the system’s data space.
Even after establishing a company in the future, he wouldn’t need to rush to spend money renting office buildings or hiring new employees.
The only expense from start to finish was the three thousand yuan spent on registering the company with the Administration for Industry and Commerce.
The author has something to say:
Next up is the broadcast of the second main episode! The theme song MV, fancams, and “Daily Dorm Life” updates were about to begin!
Also, while checking information today and looking back through previous chapters, some data was revised.
1. Before the program aired, Quentin gained nearly a million fans within a week due to exposure from his official promo photos. The power of his phenomenon-level divine looks continued to work, but since Quentin had no company behind him doing marketing, he didn’t break through to a wider audience yet.
2. Qi Yang gained nearly ten million fans the previous year thanks to his supporting role in “Po Jung Xing.” He was a breakout new male actor from last summer, with traffic higher than a third-tier actor but a weaker foundation than a second-tier actor, placing him between the two.
