I, Hiroshi Nohara, the star of Japanese cinema!

Asumi picked up the microphone himself, his arms trembled slightly uncontrollably.

"How many?"

Both parties asked the question almost in unison!

"32.7%!!"

The young data analyst shouted out that miraculous number in a nearly broken roar, enough to make the entire Japanese television industry tremble!

"boom--!"

This number, like a real hydrogen bomb, exploded in everyone's mind!

"We win! We win!"

In Nohara's classroom, Kei Tanaka, like a general who had successfully fought back from a desperate situation, let out a cheer full of ecstasy that had been suppressed for too long!

"Okay! Hahahaha! Okay!"

In Nobuhiko Sakata's office, Asumi suddenly jumped up from the sofa, and his always elegant and calm face was now filled with undisguised ecstasy and excitement!

And Takada Toshihide sat there blankly, and all the blood color on his face, which always had a gloomy look, faded away in an instant.

He knew that he had lost.

A crushing defeat.

Lost so badly...even the last bit of hope of a comeback is gone.

"National Variety Show..."

Nobuhiko Sakata let out a long breath, with a strange feeling in his breath.

He looked at the show on the screen, his eyes gleaming with passion!

He knew that from tonight on, a brand new entertainment empire belonging only to Hiroshi Nohara had arrived.

And he, Nobuhiko Sakata, will be the most steadfast guardian of this empire.

This is not an exaggeration.

but facts.

Because the leaders of these TV stations know very well that any program with a viewership rate of over 30% can basically be named "national level"!

Last time, the first season of "Super Change" had already reached the threshold of national variety show because of its 29% viewership rating.

Now everyone is involved.

"Super Change Season 2" has been preheated for nearly a month.

As it should be.

In the first fifteen minutes, it instantly broke the 30% national standard line!

It has become a genuine national variety show!

You know, even though variety shows are the easiest to break records in terms of ratings due to their entertainment attributes, and because variety shows are at the lowest end of the contempt chain among Japanese film and television genres, no one takes the ratings of variety shows seriously.

And the ratings are 32.7%!

It's not just about breaking the 30% viewership rating.

But...

Still continuing to rise wildly!

These ratings are from the first fifteen minutes of the show!

According to the rules, the ratings will continue to rise for a while after the whole episode is over.

Even with a conservative estimate, it might reach... over 35% viewership!

Even... around 38% is possible!

This is also the reason why Director Nobuhiko Sakata sat on the sofa, watching the show in front of him with a smile on his face.

This time, he really found a treasure!

If the second season of "Super Change" really reaches a viewership rate of 38%.

Then.

The number one variety show in the history of Japanese film and television, the record-breaking variety show, will be born again on their Tokyo TV!

As the director of the production department of Tokyo TV, he personally planned Tokyo TV's acquisition of Kanto TV and merged the talents of Kanto TV into the first deputy director.

Is it not possible to leave a significant mark in the history of Tokyo TV?

Doesn’t that count as a political achievement?!

"Hehehehe...hahahahaha!"

So just when Takada Toshihide looked as pale as death, he heard a laugh that went from low to arrogant.

This made Takada Toshiyoshi look up subconsciously.

Looked in astonishment.

Only then did he realize in despair that the person laughing arrogantly was none other than Director Nobuhiko Sakata, whom he had always respected very much!

……

In Osaka, in the Kansai Television (KTV) headquarters building, the top-floor conference room overlooking the dazzling night view of Dotonbori was now shrouded in deathly silence.

The air was filled with the bitterness of a burnt cigar, interwoven with the unspeakable despair in the hearts of the group of people, forming a silent elegy.

Ichiro Agaya, the man who has been a big shot in the Kansai television industry for half his life, was staring intently at the ratings report that had just been faxed from Tokyo, which still had some warmth in it.

All the expressions on that face that was always filled with irritability and unwillingness had faded.

All that was left was the bone-deep feeling of powerlessness and awe that came from being crushed by absolute strength.

"Monster...that guy...he's not playing the same game as us..." He muttered to himself, his voice hoarse with complete defeat.

He remembered his original "Anti-Nohara Hiroshi Alliance" which was full of black humor, his confident "encirclement and suppression" declaration, and his contempt for "amateur variety shows" which was full of professional superiority.

At this moment, they were all completely crushed to pieces by that terrifying figure of 32.7%!

"Deputy Director..." The most capable section chief spoke in a dry voice, trying to break the suffocating silence. "What...what should we do now? Should we...immediately launch our 'New Strange Tales' project and challenge him...compete with him?"

"A fight?" Ichiro Goya slowly raised his head, a look of self-mockery bordering on fear in his bloodshot eyes. "What are we going to use? Using our old, tired-looking story to fight the rule-maker who can manipulate the entire Neon world?"

He threw the report lightly in the middle of the conference table as if it were a piece of waste paper.

"Don't you understand yet?" His voice was soft, but like a heavy hammer, it struck the hearts of everyone present. "This is no longer a simple ratings battle. This is... a massacre. A one-sided, dimensional attack launched by that young man named Hiroshi Nohara against us old guys who cling to the old rules!"

At this moment, the heavy mahogany door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open, and a young assistant rushed in, crawling and tumbling, his face full of horror and fear.

"Deputy...Deputy Director! Oh no! The final...final ratings are out!"

"How much?" Ichiro Goya already had an estimate, but when he saw his assistant so panicked, his heart sank instantly.

"39.8%!"

The young assistant shouted out that miraculous number in a nearly broken voice, enough to make the entire Japanese television industry tremble!

"boom--!"

This number, like a real hydrogen bomb, exploded in everyone's mind!

39.8% viewership rating!

On Saturday afternoon!

what does this mean?

This means that during that period, nearly 40% of all households in Neon that turned on their televisions were watching the same program!

This is no longer just "national level"!

This is a kind of cultural fanaticism that is almost religious!

"It's over..."

Ichiro Gaiya could no longer hold on. This man who had been a big shot in the Osaka television industry for half his life, slumped down in his chair like a puddle of mud.

The face that was always filled with anger and unwillingness was now as pale as death.

He knew that they had already lost the war.

A crushing defeat.

Lost so badly...even the last bit of hope of a comeback is gone.

However, this is not the scariest thing.

The most terrifying thing is that the fire called "national carnival" ignited by Hiroshi Nohara himself has long crossed the cold screen and burned into the real life of each of them with an unparalleled prairie fire force.

'Beep! Beep!'

A burst of rapid electronic prompts broke the silence in the conference room.

A section chief in charge of program planning subconsciously took out the pager from his pocket and took a look at it. His already pale face instantly turned even paler.

"Yamamoto-san, I'm the wife of the Yamada family next door. I heard you work at a TV station? Could you please... could you please vote for our good-for-nothing son? He's representing our shopping district on that Super Mutation! Please! I'll have his dad bring you some of our newly brewed plum wine someday!"

"Bakayarō!" He cursed under his breath and was about to delete this harassing message full of "human relations and worldly wisdom".

'Beep! Beep!'

'Beep! Beep!'

In the conference room, the sound of pagers coming one after another was like a hornet's nest that had been poked, and it suddenly became a cacophony!

Everyone frantically pulled out their pagers, and without exception, they all saw the same message, which was in almost the same format and full of the polite yet firm "please" message unique to Japanese people.

[Section Chief Watanabe, I'm your child's homeroom teacher. Regarding your son's midterm exam results... Oh, sorry, I sent this to the wrong person. I meant to mention that our school also has a team participating in the show "Super Transformation." See...]

"Director Ito, I'm the manager of 'Kikuxialou,' the restaurant you frequent. Regarding the private room you reserved last time... oh, sorry, my finger slipped. Actually, I wanted to ask you to do this for our Fukuoka team..."

This is no longer just a simple canvassing for votes!

This is a pervasive, total mobilization of the entire nation!

It is a kind of huge web of human relations that a young man named Hiroshi Nohara has laid for them in the real world in a way that they can't understand at all. It is an inescapable web of human relations!

"This is unreasonable! This is simply unreasonable!"