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

Chapter 376 Refrigeration
If it were other "limited groups" in the past, J Company would mostly adopt methods such as internally determining debut quotas and purchasing trainees' agency contracts in advance to take control of the ownership of all members, and then invest resources to decide whether to transform it into a "permanent group" based on market conditions.

But now, the most popular member of this limited group has an agency contract with a burning company, and all plans such as J-company investing huge resources and converting it into a permanent group in the future are impossible to realize. In the idol market, which is already highly competitive and has a shelf life shorter than a bento, forget about achieving results.

"This limited group has no performance evaluation indicators. You only need to do one thing..."

"While maintaining the normal operation of the group, prioritize 'freezing' Xia Fan's popularity."

"Once this is done, you will be the first one to be selected for next year's new group..."

Matsudaira Johnny turned around and put forward his conditions with a calm face.

"They are willing to put the top player on ice even at the expense of the development of other members of the group, and they also offer a condition that I cannot refuse..."

"Does it make people even more curious about Xia Fan?"

Iijima Yozo licked his lips excitedly.

"Since the president has personally asked for this job, I naturally have to take it."

Even though she is a veteran agent, the fireballs in her hands have been "retired" one by one since five years ago...

In recent years, the idol industry has been hit hard by the two-dimensional world, and the performance of the new group she joined has not been ideal, causing her annual salary to decline year by year. Next year's priority right to choose a group will undoubtedly be a life-saving straw for her.

Moreover, for an industry veteran like her, there are countless ways and means to freeze a newly debuted idol.

"You may not understand this Xia Fan, he is not as simple as you think..."

"It's unlikely that he will be completely eliminated by operational means alone."

"So, I have already found someone from the Special News Agency and asked them to keep an eye on Xia Fan..."

Matsudaira Jenny said in a cold voice while crossing his Buddhist beads.

"Special News Agency? Aren't those the paparazzi that Bunshun has been working with for a long time?"

"He has put down his pride and gone to look for those people. It seems that the president doesn't want to 'hide' Xia Fan at all, but wants to destroy him completely."

When he heard this name, Iijima Yozo, who was not even afraid of Matsudaira Johnny, showed a rare look of fear.

……

An office building in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

On the top floor of an office building close to Hibiya Station, in a narrow apartment that is used both for business and residence, a man is crouching in a "hill" of beer bottles and takeout food packaging.

"Xia Fan... debuted with the highest popularity..."

"Damn it, if I hadn't been the only one who could stop him, and I had been blocked by the police...it shouldn't have ended like this..."

"HAPPYENDING! I should be the one driving the latest machine to completely defeat him!"

His dark, sunken eyes stared blankly at the screen of his mobile phone, at the recording of the "Idol Birth Festival" ranking announcement, while he muttered incoherent words to himself.

"Hey, Fukuyama, are you watching that recording again?"

"I've run out of cigarettes...give me one of yours..."

Inside the room, another man, standing at the French window covered by black curtains, turned around and called out.

In front of him, a tripod was mounted with a super telephoto lens that looked like a cannon barrel, and next to it was a very advanced monitoring display. "You can watch over such a shabby place for half a month, and you don't find it annoying, Miyamoto..."

The man in the living room stood up weakly, handed a cigarette and lit it for the other person.

If Lao Tai, who is in prison, were here, he would definitely recognize that this decadent man is the former president of "Tenjin Network Customer Service Co., Ltd." and the current fugitive wanted criminal, Fukuyama Yamato.

"We paparazzi are like this. We don't open for half a month, and we can make a living for half a year after we open..."

"Compared to the hellish special training my master put me through when I was a 'trainee paparazzi', this environment is pretty good."

"If I hadn't rented this 'paparazzi house' with a fake identity, I wouldn't have dared to take in a wanted criminal like you."

Even as he was greedily puffing out smoke, the man called "Miyamoto" never took his eyes off the viewfinder for even a second.

He and Fukuyama were best friends in the high school sports club. They went their separate ways after graduation, but eventually became "colleagues" in the entertainment industry.

Unlike Fukuyama, who is a "network opinion producer", Miyamoto is a gossip news photographer, commonly known as a paparazzi.

Their shooting techniques range from disguise, lurking, tracking to the current "long-distance sniping". Not only are their techniques varied, but their subjects range from celebrities, politicians, royal families to business celebrities, and the content of their shooting ranges from embarrassment, ambiguity, cheating, secret talks to exposure in the wild...

In short, in order to take photos with explosive enough content, paparazzi have no bottom line.

"There are few high-rise buildings around the Imperial Palace. This apartment, which I rented at a high price, is the only one nearby that overlooks the main entrance and exit of the Imperial Palace. In the jargon of the paparazzi world, it can be said to be a Feng Shui treasure land..."

"The financial sponsor behind the scenes wants us to film gossip or scandals about royal family members, probably to use them as bargaining chips for political issues..."

"But even if the sponsor cancels the order, as long as we get a photo, we can sell it back to the royal family for hundreds of millions of yen."

At this moment, within Miyamoto's frame, a huge city consisting of palaces, squares and forests, hidden in thick stone walls, ancient trees and narrow moats, is in full view...

The Imperial Palace, covering an area of ​​about 17 hectares, is divided into several areas including the Imperial Palace, Gaien, Toen and Kitanomaru Park. It was built by the shogunate in the early Edo period and was called "Edo Castle" in ancient times. It is now the palace where the emperor and his family members live in the eleven districts.

"We have received a tip-off that a member of the royal family will bring his 'illegitimate child' back to the Imperial Palace to recognize his ancestral roots. Could this be fake news..."

"Wait, there's something going on over there at the Double Bridge!"

Just as Miyamoto was muttering to himself, a black business car stopped in front of a stone bridge in front of the moat.

Behind this centuries-old "Nijubashi Bridge" is the main entrance to the Imperial Palace.

A graceful figure in red and white got out of the car and said something to the guard at the main gate.

"Miko?"

The camera zoomed in, and when Miyamoto could see clearly that it was a girl dressed as a shrine maiden, she had already walked back into the car.

Then, the gate of the Imperial Palace opened and the business car drove in with great arrogance.

"Write down the license plate first, and check it later..."

"Is this shrine maiden from the Tokyo Grand Shrine or the Meiji Shrine..."

"It's not a blessing season recently. Is she coming to the Imperial Palace to provide some special 'ancient spiritual communication' service to the royal family?"

Miyamoto's fingers pressed the shutter rapidly, and his imagination as a paparazzi began to ferment, generating all kinds of suspenseful, thrilling, and erotic news in his mind.

(End of this chapter)