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

Chapter 16 Miracle
"Report..."

"No need to report it, the fifth place is about to overtake us, I can see it!"

Seeing his own song struggling on the charts, He Xichengfu's face turned terribly dark.

"Company J, Company A, and Company S are working together to deal with us..."

In his mind emerged the scene of himself wearing a white judo uniform and fighting against three strong young men at the same time, being countered by the opponents, being hugged from behind, and being pressed to the ground.

"Will we repeat the same mistake as last year?" This horrible premonition uncontrollably emerged in Hexi Chengfu's heart.

"No, Director, what I want to report is... music critic Keizo Horie has released his review of the songs in the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards, and strongly recommended our company's work!"

"What, Keizo Horie, he would actually deign to comment on a new song?!"

"If he gave a favorable review of 'Don't Want to Leave the Bed', that would be a golden certification that money can't buy!"

Upon hearing the news, He Xichengfu roared in ecstasy.

Keizo Horie is a music critic and composer. He has served in many important positions, including chairman of the Eleventh District Wind Band Union, director of the Department of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts, music director of Asahi Film Company, and head of Music World magazine. He has fully translated several classic Western operas and has many musical works that are considered classics. He is an important figure in the music scene of the Eleventh District.

After Keizo Horie retired, he occasionally posted music reviews on his personal account. He was privately known as the most demanding critic in the music critic circle of District 11. It was considered good if ordinary pop music could get positive reviews from him, and entertainment companies had no chance of improving their reviews from him through "economic" means.

Kawanishi Shigeo quickly entered Keizo Horie's personal account and clicked on the newly released article "Simplicity Heals Vanity, Thoughts on Listening to the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards"...

"As the entertainment industry develops, amid the internal competition in technology, style, and genre, the aesthetic taste of music creation by musicians in the industry has been rising, and has long been out of touch with the general public, to the point where 'the music is too highbrow to be appreciated by the public without them realizing it'."

"But at this year's Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards, I was delighted to hear a new song with a very sincere emotion, simple melody, and a simple theme. That song is "Sakura"..."

Seeing this, Kawanishi Shigeo was slightly stunned: "The song recommended by Horie Keizo wasn't "Don't Want to Leave the Bed"? Wait, "Sakura", I think it was the song that got full marks on the spot..."

"You have previously stated that after 'Don't Want to Leave Bed' tops the charts, the remaining traffic will be allocated to 'Sakura'," an employee reminded.

"Sakura, what's your ranking now?" Kawanishi Chengfu asked hurriedly.

"I saw it half an hour ago. I remember it was around 20th place..."

The assistant looked down at the rankings and exclaimed, "No, just now, Sakura moved up from 11th place to 10th place!"

"As expected of you, President, you noticed the potential of this song in advance. Unfortunately, I was ignorant and didn't realize it..."

Silently watching the quietly growing number of downloads of "Sakura", Kawanishi Shigeo's pupils began to tremble.

He originally thought that the perfect score of "Sakura" on stage was mainly due to the singer's extraordinary performance.

For a chart where paid downloads are a hard indicator, this kind of on-the-spot superb singing is of little significance. The key is Sakamoto Shu's fan base and the company's traffic allocation.

But now, the endorsements from industry insiders and online reputation of "Sakura" have clearly slapped him in the face.

As the person in charge of promotion and execution, he knows best that up to now, Bethesda has not invested even a single promotional resource in the song "Sakura".

In just 20 hours, relying on "tap water" traffic, it broke into the top ten in the fiercely competitive traffic competition from th place step by step. How valuable is that? !
"The promotion and marketing of 'Don't Want to Leave the Bed' will continue, but no new funds will be added. Be careful not to bluff and let your opponents see the flaws..."

"Half an hour later, I want to see the follow-up promotion plan with Sakura as the main promotion!"

After sorting out his thoughts, Hexi Chengfu decisively issued a new order.

“But…” “No buts! This song is a miracle, a miracle that must be grasped!”

"Roger that!"

Hearing the word "miracle", the subordinates no longer questioned.

For the "Burning System" with many affiliated companies, although the cultivation system is weak and the quality of products is uneven, with the support of huge numbers, there is occasionally a small probability of giving birth to a dark horse-level work or artist that is far ahead of the rest.

Such existence is called a "miracle" within the combustion system.

“Hahahahahahahahaha… I drew the ‘Miracle’ card. J Company, A Company, S Company… all of you wait for me!”

Then, Kawanishi Shigeo stared at the top three songs on the charts and laughed viciously.

……

“Cheers! I hope Bethesda’s “Don’t Want to Leave the Bed” will drop to fifth place!”

"They signed Sakamoto Shu half a year ago without anyone noticing, and we guessed that they were here for the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards."

"Collecting negative information, buying off self-media and music critics, and swiping paid download data are all common methods. How could we not have responded? Kawashima Shigeo, that old-fashioned guy, is probably looking at the charts in confusion right now, right?"

"Hahahahaha! The super old evil force in the entertainment industry that has dominated District 11 for decades must be eliminated by our 'JAS Alliance'!"

At ten o'clock in the evening, the publicity and promotion representatives of J Company, A Company, and S Company were gathered in a private room of an izakaya, plotting loudly.

Although J Company, A Company, and S Company are ranked right after B Company in the entertainment industry, the size of each individual company combined is less than half of that of the "Burning Series".

With the idea of ​​"the past cannot be changed, so let's fight for the future", the three companies are determined to jointly resist at the "Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards" in order to regain the future direction of the music scene.

"represent……"

Outside the door, an employee rushed in with a tablet computer in his arms and a panicked look on his face.

"what happened?"

"Master Keizo Horie recommended Bethesda's "Sakura" in an article!"

The employee opened his laptop and showed a popular music review to the impatient representative of Company A.

"'Sakura'? The live performance of that song really showed real emotion. It's no surprise that it received such praise from a conservative like Keizo Horie."

"But I just checked this song and it seems to be ranked tenth. It poses no threat to our top three position..."

The Bethesda representative refreshed his phone with some curiosity.

"Wait, are you kidding me, this is already the sixth one?!"

"Hey, what's the speed? When it was launched, I remember that Sakura was ranked outside the top 20..."

Just as the three representatives were looking at each other, the ranking list was automatically refreshed again.

Right under their noses, "Sakura" slowly surpassed "Don't Want to Leave Bed" produced by the same company and came to the fifth place.

(End of this chapter)