Joker's Band Game Story

Well, Amamiya would never have guessed that Pochi sold tickets through street performances; Pochi is truly amazing.

"Sister Xingge, can I borrow a bass guitar?"

"Just go to the practice room and get it yourself."

With a lollipop in her mouth, Xingge muttered to herself, fuming as she typed away at her computer, seemingly arguing with someone online.

She was indeed in a bad mood. After all, she wanted to smoke, but she couldn't show it in front of her sister. She also felt a bit frustrated because she couldn't go out for a smoke even though she hadn't finished her work.

Therefore, she sounded somewhat impatient with Amamiya's words, and Amamiya immediately sensed that she was not in a good mood.

"What problem have you encountered this time?"

“A band caused trouble and I gave them a piece of my mind.”

Hearing Amamiya speak behind her, Hoshika casually told the truth. She didn't need to hide anything from Amamiya, as Amamiya probably already knew about these things.

When you run a livehouse, you'll always encounter all sorts of people, from guests to performing bands, and there are always some unconventional types.

Undoubtedly, she encountered this again. The other party had broken a guitar at the last performance at Fanxing, which prompted her to talk to the band about compensation. However, they refused to compensate her, saying that the guitar was too old and therefore prone to breaking. Instead, they accused Xingge of renting out a broken guitar to them.

"Really? Which guitar? Let me see."

Upon hearing that such a thing had actually happened, Amamiya frowned immediately; he knew he had to uphold justice.

Chapter Eleven: The Music-Loving Gangster Boss

Running a livehouse often involves a lot of miscellaneous issues, like encountering troublemakers.

These kinds of things usually require special handling. Amamiya needs to collect evidence and then blacklist that band.

This is the kind of thing that should be brought into the spotlight by some criminal elements, but Amamiya always insists on doing things with reason and evidence, and he can only bully someone if he can prove that the other party is evil.

"Why does Brother Lian's aura feel so dark?"

Not far away, Kita was cautiously watching Amamiya Ren, who was emanating black energy next to Hoshika, while Pochi beside her was also trembling.

Undoubtedly, the two were startled by Amamiya's unfamiliar side.

"Oh, good boy, don't look, don't look! That's the dark side of the band world!"

Hongxia pulled the two women away, diverting their attention from Ren Amamiya. Without a doubt, Ren Amamiya's dark form was about to appear.

After all, good people and good children are the easiest to manipulate, so Amamiya was indeed not a purely good person in either of his lives. When facing some bad people, you really have to be even worse than them to defeat them.

So Hongxia told the two not to look over there. Where there are people, there is a world of intrigue, and the world of intrigue isn't all about youthful ambition; it's also about open and covert struggles. However, most bands and livehouses have their own ways of dealing with these issues.

For example, some bands have agencies behind them to help solve problems, while others rely on the owners of well-known livehouses, such as the old ladies of Circle and RiNG who built their own poetry boats.

Fanxing is a small livehouse, and Xingge doesn't have any particularly powerful connections. Most people would choose to keep things peaceful and avoid conflict with her, but occasionally some clueless individuals would come looking for trouble, and that's when Amamiya would step in.

After all, besides being a mercenary, he was also a middleman. Middlemen can help handle these kinds of problems.

"The dark side? Hmm~"

Startled by Hongxia's words, Xiduo and Boqi couldn't help but tremble a couple of times. Ryo, standing next to them, chimed in, "Yeah, playing in a band can cause trouble sometimes, especially for an all-female band like ours. Sometimes we get targeted by male fans or male band members. In their eyes, you guys are like easy prey!"

"A big, fat sheep?!"

Liang pretended to be a big bad wolf, which scared the two of them. They couldn't help but hug each other. They didn't expect the band to be so scary.

I feel like I'm about to be grabbed and devoured by Liang any second now!

"Alright, Liang, stop scaring them."

Hongxia grabbed Liang and stopped her from going any further: "But what she said isn't entirely wrong. There is indeed a certain probability that you will be harassed, so you should just mention Brother Lian's name when the time comes."

"Is Brother Lian that amazing?"

"He himself isn't that great, but he has a wide network of connections. If you offend him, who knows what kind of trouble your father might encounter."

"Yeah, it might just sink in Tokyo Bay~"

"Isn't that just a gang?! Ugh!"

Liang started trying to scare them again, but what she said wasn't entirely wrong.

After all, only saying half of what you mean can easily frighten others; that's the art of language.

Ren Amamiya does know the yakuza, but he won't let them do anything bad. After all, the current environment is bad, and the yakuza aren't doing too well either. They either act as undercover agents for other big shots or do things similar to city management officers.

They collect protection money and then help maintain order and security, or they double-cross each other. Pure criminal gangs are too few now; they can't survive in this world.

"In short, don't be so afraid. If you run into trouble, just mention Brother Lian's name. He'll usually be more lenient because of him."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do then. So don't even think about becoming an underground band or anything like that. A lot of those kinds of shady places are chaotic. That's just how society is; you'll always encounter these kinds of dangers. You guys have to be careful!"

As Hongxia spoke, she saw Boqi trembling alone there and guessed that she was probably overthinking again.

So she chopped him with her hand: "Don't overthink it! There's no such thing as a trivial matter! Don't scare yourself!"

"Hi!"

Startled by Hongxia's words, Boqi stopped overthinking and immediately said he understood.

Meanwhile, Amamiya has confirmed the condition of the guitar. Although the guitar is not that new, the strings have been refurbished, so they won't break due to their age.

Moreover, the damage doesn't appear to be caused by normal use; it seems more like it was revealed after being hit.

“Is there any surveillance video?”

“The video did not capture him damaging the guitar, but there is video evidence that he carried the guitar in and out of the practice room. It was fine when he went in, but it was broken when he came out.”

"That's fine. Send me the video, and also give me as much information as possible about the band. I'll take care of this."

Amamiya took the video and then prepared to make a phone call to someone else.

Since there's a problem, he needs to find someone to help him solve it. If those people keep bullying him like this, they shouldn't be in the band scene anymore.

Not only did the renter damage the instruments and venue at the livehouse and refuse to compensate, but he also turned around and accused them. Moreover, the damage did not seem to be caused by normal use. Naturally, such a person should be boycotted by all the owners.

Therefore, Amamiya's approach was not wrong. If he could just provide concrete evidence to confirm that the matter was true, then these people would be in serious trouble.

There are all sorts of people, and they'll always cause trouble for others.

"Okay, I'll send you the video and information in a bit. Thanks a lot this time too."

"It's nothing, we're old acquaintances, I'll help with this little thing."

If you're going to solve a problem, then solve it. After today's support activities, Amamiya immediately called someone to discuss this matter.

"You haven't called me in a while."

The moment the person on the other end of the phone opened their mouth, you could tell they were definitely not a good person.

That sinister and cunning voice emerged from the sound.

"Indeed, there's something I need your help with."

Amamiya didn't care about that. He simply replied calmly, "There's a band that doesn't play by the rules. I'd like to ask you for help."

"Hehe, if it were anyone else, I would definitely give it some thought. But you... are an exception."

The other party trusted Amamiya immensely; if Amamiya said someone had a problem, then they definitely had a problem. As a true middleman in the music industry, his trust in Amamiya was arguably excessive.

But there's nothing we can do about it. After all, the other party is indeed an outstanding and talented musician. He also needs Amamiya's help with things on a daily basis, so it's normal for them to give and take.

"Shall we meet?"

"We definitely need to meet. There's something I want to ask you, and I won't feel comfortable until I get to the bottom of it."

Both of them planned to meet and discuss the matter in detail, so they naturally agreed on a place.

Arriving in Shinjuku by train, Amamiya saw a black car parked not far away as soon as she got off at Shinjuku Station. A familiar man in a black suit was standing next to the car.

"Mr. Amamiya, please come in."

The man in black noticed Amamiya's arrival and immediately opened the car door, inviting Amamiya to sit in the back seat. After closing the door again, he took the driver's seat and began diligently driving him to see the boss.

That's right, their boss, the middleman in the music industry, the underground emperor of Shibuya—Junya Kinjo. He has been privately trading records for years, finding suitable employees or musicians for record companies or film and television companies. Although he seems tyrannical, he has an extreme obsession with music.

What? Drug trafficking? The profits from drug trafficking are nowhere near as high as those of signed and photo albums. Those fans are more terrifying than drug addicts when they go crazy. They can easily inflate prices by two or even three times.

However, Amamiya was relatively at ease with Kinjo's work because he knew his limits. Kinjo had an almost obsessive faith and dedication to music, so as a middleman, he actually curbed the exorbitant prices charged by scalpers and other smugglers, keeping prices below three times the normal rate.

Without him, things would only get more chaotic. Scalpers don't care about your costs; they drive prices up to the sky, potentially five or ten times the original price. In this world that loves music, tickets for superstar performances are incredibly hard to come by, and even the wealthy might be willing to pay forty or fifty times the price for a front-row ticket.

Amamiya was favored by Kinjo because of his creative talent. He could compose, play musical instruments, and was handsome. If he hadn't been unwilling, Kinjo would have pushed him to become a male idol.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Kinjo is Amamiya's only fan. If he didn't need to make money, he probably would have really only supported Amamiya.

Amamiya roughly understood Kinjo's thoughts. Once he was sure that Kinjo didn't have any physical desires for him, he felt relieved. As for the music, they treated it as a business transaction. Kinjo offered him very good prices, and he was quite satisfied.

Arriving at the familiar karaoke bar, Amamiya ignored the hostesses waiting at the front desk for people to call; he was already used to seeing such people.

Kinjo is a gangster, no joke. He's not running a charity, so of course he'd do things like this. But it's just a service industry job; at least in Japan, you can often get away with this kind of thing.

I wonder what other amazing tricks Jin Cheng can pull off.

"You're finally here."

Upon noticing Amamiya's arrival, Kinjo grunted twice. He was quite obese, resembling a pig. His hairline wasn't low, but he insisted on slicking all his hair back, making him look like a giant fly.

His fierce gaze made him clearly someone not to be trifled with. His blue suit was open, unable to conceal his large belly, and his tight jeans only added to his unsightly appearance.

But it was something Amamiya never expected that a bad guy like him would be so obsessed with music.

Sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, Jin Cheng leaned back and couldn't help but sigh. Normally, he would already be accompanied by beauties at this time, but today was an exception because Amamiya was there. He didn't like this kind of thing, so Jin Cheng didn't call any women and only had a one-on-one conversation with Amamiya.

The bodyguards were waiting outside the door, ready to burst in as soon as Jin Cheng called them from inside. Jin Cheng usually kept the bodyguards inside, but since the person he was talking to was Amamiya, he couldn't let them eavesdrop on their conversation.

That's right, in Kinjo's eyes, Amamiya is the one who deserves special treatment. It's just that Kinjo isn't exactly a beautiful girl, otherwise, who knows what strange things might have happened.

"You must be having a good time lately, right?"

When he opened his mouth, Jin Cheng spoke as if he were having a casual conversation, but this made Yu Gong raise an eyebrow slightly. He didn't remember Jin Cheng being the kind of person who knew how to make small talk.

I enjoy interacting with this person because they are straightforward, so why are they suddenly being so indecisive?

"Just say whatever you want to say."

Amamiya had no intention of beating around the bush with Kinjo. He leaned forward, wanting to hear what Kinjo had to say, but Kinjo just chuckled twice: "Why have you suddenly been getting so close to the Toyokawa family lately?"