Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

"Impossible! As a native of District 11, I understand this mentality very well!"

Taking the phone, Akimoto Manjiro looked at it angrily.

After the defeat and surrender, the islanders in District 11, who looked up to the great powers and survived in the cracks, naturally had a contradictory and distorted mentality of "inferiority yet arrogance".

Although he seems to be working very hard and seriously in everything he does, he is actually callous, extreme and stubborn...

On the one hand, they worship foreign cultures and are servile to them; on the other hand, they have a "silent rejection" of foreign races.

The people in District 11, who maintain this contradictory mentality, cannot possibly not care about Xia Fan's identity as a "Dragon Countryman".

Chapter 300: Two More Abdominal Muscles

2024-07-13

"What era is this? Are you still promoting nationalism?"

"Oh, didn't we lose our country and change regions a long time ago?"

"Dragon people? Such a noble bloodline, I like them even more now!"

“These marketing accounts, instead of talking about a trainee’s nationality, should call on the government to improve the economy and people’s livelihood and stop the currency from depreciating!”

In the comment section, apart from those water army accounts, real users had different reactions to such topics, but they all seemed to have little interest.

"Has the current relaxed generation... fallen to this level?"

"The Yamato roots that our generation has always upheld have been wiped out by these bastards who have no fighting spirit?"

Akimoto Manjiro seemed to hear the sound of something shattering deep in his heart, and the light in his eyes gradually went out.

"Director, I have found out the source of the four million votes that exceeded the forecast!"

"According to the data feedback from the consumption of support products and joint activities in the background, because Xia Fan's identity as a 'Dragon Countryman' has been spread, there are more Dragon Countrymen living in many eleven districts among the users who voted for him..."

"Even, Dragon Country's overseas accounts began to appear in payment records!"

Assistant Director Kusata took the opportunity to escape from danger and regain his breath. He quickly typed on the keyboard and listed out data tables.

"What, the people of Long Country are voting for Xia Fan?"

"Get out of here, I'll come and see for myself!"

Pushing Souta aside, Akimoto Manjiro sat in front of the computer and moved the mouse back and forth between several windows.

"That is to say, the 'family-annihilation plan' that I carefully planned and invested a lot of money in not only failed to hurt the national pride of District 11, but also failed to destroy Xia Fan's popularity..."

"Instead, he broke through the circle and attracted audiences from Dragon Country, helping him to win 'nationality votes'?"

Looking at the user data labels fed back by various media platforms and voting channels, Manjiro Akimoto looked haggard, as if he had aged ten years.

The national self-esteem of the Dragon people is naturally a hundred times higher than that of the people in District 11. As long as Xia Fan's reason of "Dragon people participating in the competition in District 11" is attracted to them, it will be enough to make them spend money to vote.

"Let's not talk about the Dragon Country votes for now. What is this strange voting user group..."

He suddenly discovered that in Xia Fan's voting user data, in addition to the fanatical fans who called themselves "Summer Disease", drama fans, gay fans, passers-by fans, abstract fans, hip-hop fans, song fans, Dragon Country fans and other users with complex compositions...

In the voting over the past two days, a new user group has emerged...

The label automatically matched by the big data background is "abdominal muscle fan".

"I have been involved in the idol war for many years, and I have never heard of the term 'abdominal muscle fans'..."

I subconsciously clicked on that strange user tag, and the background system automatically popped up a topic page on a certain social platform...

This is a GIF animation extracted from the second round of performance stage video production.

In the picture, Xia Fan was in the beam of light, his clothes slipped off, his abdomen exposed, and he still insisted on elbowing...

Intentionally slowed down at 0.5 times the speed, the lines were as deep as a sculpture, and the abdominal muscles were as full as mountains. They slowly rotated under the light, shining brightly, like a work of art on a rotating display rack.

The caption of this picture is "Xia Fan is spinning, his abdominal muscles are glowing."

In the comment section of this topic, a fan of Takahashi Yu responded by posting a GIF of his own giegie "flashing the wind and exposing her belly".

However, Xia Ribing took screenshots and compared them, pointing out that Xia Fan has eight abdominal muscles, while Gao Qiaoyou only has six, and they are not as symmetrical as Xia Fan's...

While Takahashi Yu's fans were speechless, the comment section generated hot words such as "Xia Fan has trained two more abdominal muscles than Takahashi Yu", "Which is better, four-pack, six-pack or eight-pack abdominal muscles?", and even attracted a doctor of sports physiology to publish a paper on "The relationship between the number of rectus abdominis muscles, tendon lines and genes"...

"Just abdominal muscles, lower body fat percentage, something that everyone can show off, can actually attract tickets?"

"Well, Director, just think of the abdominal muscles as the chest, legs, and waist of a girl group idol."

"I see. Are abdominal muscles so attractive to boy band idols? Moreover, this is the first time I know that the number and symmetry of abdominal muscles are actually determined by genes. It's true that you never stop learning..."

After the explanation of Assistant Director Souta, Akimoto Manjiro, who was full of confusion, gradually became clear.

“Ugh! I’ve been led astray by these asshole netizens. What I need to think about now is how to solve the problem of Xia Fan monopolizing the most popular position!!!”

Recalling the topic they discussed, Manjiro Akimoto roared in annoyance and grabbed Assistant Director Souta's collar again out of habit.

"Ahem... If you strangle me to death, won't that mean there will be one less person to help us figure out a solution?"

While struggling, Cao Tai was bumped by a mouse nearby and accidentally clicked on a hyperlinked image between the floors in the comment section.

An advertisement page suddenly took up the entire monitor screen and caught their sight...

In the advertisement picture, Xia Fan is wearing the "Idol Birth Festival" uniform, with eyes like stars and a face like jade.

The background behind him was a huge hexagram.

The six corners are marked with words such as stage appeal, face, abdominal muscles, dance, vocal music, and academic qualifications...

"Excuse me, I would like to recommend the excellent trainee Xia Fan to you."

"A hexagonal devil with no weaknesses, a person with the ability to turn elbows, a ceiling of E8 high notes, a great talent from the Tokyo Arts Institute, the most soulful voice in Tokyo, a person with eight-pack abs, and an S-class handsome face from every angle..."

"Xia Fan is participating in the 'Idol Birth Festival' program. Thank you for following Xia Fan, meow. Thank you for casting your precious vote for Xia Fan, meow."

The blank space around the picture was densely filled with various meaningless Amway words.

The most eye-catching thing is that Xia Fan, who was clearly wearing a uniform, was edited with very sophisticated techniques to make the clothes on his abdomen appear to be "bursting open", revealing his strong abdominal muscles.

"Xia Fan's fans actually raised funds for him to put up this kind of psoriasis advertisement?"

“Is it because of insufficient funds, or is it because they plan to win by quantity?”

Maintaining an "intimate" posture, the two stared at the advertisement and fell into silence for a moment.

It is very common for fans to spontaneously place advertisements to promote their own idols during talent shows.

Not to mention this kind of low-cost pop-up web page, even booking the Akihabara outdoor large screen is not uncommon.

"Although it's a little crude, this picture is pretty good..."

"From the production team's perspective, even if Xia Fan is knocked down from first place, it will definitely not stop him from debuting in the top nine."

Staring blankly at the advertisement picture, Akimoto Manjiro loosened his hands on Souta's collar and rubbed his chest with some disgust.

"Now, we can only solve this problem through higher-level means. Before things get out of control..."

He calmed his breathing, took out his cell phone with a serious expression, and dialed a number.

……

Chapter 301 Jenny's Offer

2024-07-13

J Society Building, top floor.

"Xiaoyou, before the second round of performances, I risked being investigated for tax and made a batch of internal tickets to get you to the third place."

"After the latest episode was aired, you should have made a comeback in the rankings, but instead you fell to ninth place. It's really ironic."

In the Buddhist temple where a white bone Buddha statue is enshrined, Matsudaira Jenny, whose sturdy body is faintly visible under his loose monk's robe, is sitting cross-legged on a cushion, looking at his mobile phone with a surprised expression.

"Ahem... Gulp... Sorry, President. I tried my best, but I didn't expect that Xia Fan..."

Takahashi You, who was kneeling under the monk's robe, raised his head with tears in his eyes, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

"I didn't expect that his dancing skills are better than yours, right?"

Matsudaira Johnny sighed silently.

"This Burning-type Xia Fan is in the first position, running further and further away..."

"For this show, I specially transferred Akimoto to run it. What on earth does he do for a living?"

He glanced at the real-time ranking of the "Idol Birth Festival" on his phone, frowned slightly and opened the address book...

"Oh? Could it be that my words have reached the point where 'what I say will come true'?"

The next second, a call from "Akimoto Manjiro" appeared on his phone screen.

"Be quiet."

Matsudaira answered the call only after holding down the back of Takahashi Yu's head and forcing him to surrender.

"Akimoto... I hope what you want to say is the same as what I am thinking."

"This new guy from the Burning Department is so special that even you are helpless?"

"But the last time the people from the Brokerage Division made an acquisition offer to the Burning Department, it was rejected..."

"Okay, I understand. I'll go find that old guy in person and give him some face."

After hanging up the phone, Songping's expression was a little complicated.

"President... that was Director Akimoto..."

Takahashi You raised his head and asked with some concern.

"Did I ask you to look up?"

But before he could finish his words, Matsudaira pressed him down again.

"Mr. Zhou, long time no see, are you feeling well?"

After calming down, Matsudaira dialed the number of "Shou".

"I'm still in good health, playing golf, so don't worry about me, Jenny. I don't come to you for no reason, just tell me what you have to say."

On the other end of the line was the weathered and loud voice of Be Company's president, Suho.

In the background, you can faintly hear the sound of a swing and the cheers of "good shot" from others.

In an oligopolistic industry like the District 11 entertainment industry, the bosses of several leading entertainment groups are naturally "old acquaintances" who have known each other for many years.

"Let's be frank. Your trainee disrupted my biggest talent show this year..."

"Name your price. I want to buy out Xia Fan's agency contract."

Suppressing the anger in his heart, Matsudaira spoke calmly and got straight to the point.

"Xia Fan's agency contract?"

"Remember, our performing arts department has already declined your company's inquiry last time?"

Zhou Fang pondered for a moment before answering slowly.

"Hey, I asked for the price myself, so of course we're talking about more than just money. In addition to Xia Fan's 'liquidated damages' calculated at fifty times the current popularity, there's also the debut position other than the C position in this 'Idol Birth Festival', the spot in the Red and White Songs Contest, the schedule of the NHK TV program, the role in the investment movie..."

"These are the resources under my J Company. If you like them, just ask..."

Matsudaira Jenny smiled playfully and made a bold offer...

"Hmm...what..."

Before Zhou Fang on the phone could say anything, Takahashi Yu, who was busy working below, let out a muffled cry of surprise.

You know, although J Company is not as large as the Burning Company, it has an absolute monopoly in the field of boy group idols, as well as related industries such as music, variety shows, concerts, movies, TV dramas, etc. Be Company has always coveted these markets but has been unable to get involved.

What surprised him was that in order to obtain Xia Fan's agency contract, Matsudaira Jenny was willing to offer almost "unlimited" resources as bargaining chips.

What is more worrying is that if Xia Fan also becomes a member of J Company, then the "first script of counterattack" in his hand will change hands, right?

"As expected of Jenny, right from the start, he made an offer that was hard for me to refuse."

On the other end of the phone, there was a hint of smile in Zhou Fang's voice.

"So, what Mr. Zhou wants is..."

Just when Matsudaira was getting ready to listen to the other party's "lion's mouth"...