Japanese Entertainment: A Comeback Beginning from Bankrupt President

The term "exile" refers to a tactic used by major talent agencies to completely block their artists.

In short, the goal is to prevent ordinary people from hearing her name or seeing her, and to prevent her from earning more money. The specific operation is to unite various channels to ignore Amano Aki.

While it's not easy for music platforms to forcibly remove songs, they can make technical adjustments to exclude Amano Aki's songs from their recommendation algorithms.

If you do this, you won't receive any recommendations for that song unless you're specifically looking for it.

Then there's the traditional media field, which is also a core area constrained by large agencies. As long as they offer their artist resources, no one will refuse such a simple request. Even if Aki Amano and her songs are very popular, they won't get any media recommendations.

From television stations to magazines, any organization that still cares about making a living will abide by this default rule.

With such a combination of moves, most celebrities would definitely not be able to withstand it, because celebrities without popularity will not receive attention.

However, considering Amano Aki's situation and Watanabe Souta's reaction just now, the secretary felt that things were not as simple as they seemed. After all, he had been working for Watanabe Souta for several years and knew Watanabe Souta's personality very well.

"Ordinary methods may not be effective, nor will they satisfy him, so we need to use unconventional methods..." The secretary suddenly realized as he muttered to himself.

Watanabe Sōta wanted to be the villain but didn't want to get his hands dirty, so he had his secretary do things on his behalf that involved criminal activities. That way, even if things were exposed later, Watanabe Sōta wouldn't be implicated.

This was indeed a clever scheme, but the secretary didn't want to take such a big risk.

He thought for a moment and immediately came up with an excellent front man—Yamada, who had switched jobs to come here a few months ago. That guy used to be Kazuya Sawashiro's chief agent, so it was perfect for him to do bad things.

He had mainly heard that Yamada had recently been very dissatisfied with Sawashiro Kazuya, which was a good opportunity to take advantage of.

With that in mind, the secretary called Yamada, trying to lure him into the web of crime.

"Yamada, you worked at that copper manufacturing company for so long, you should know a lot about the president's situation, right?" The secretary focused on Kazuya Sawashiro, coaxing Yamada, "I think I heard someone say something about how the president took controlled substances due to too much stress?"

"No, that guy can't even pay his salary, where would he get the money to buy this?" Yamada hurriedly denied on the other end of the phone, kicking away this landmine.

He wasn't a young man anymore, so he knew exactly what the secretary wanted him to do.

He had also seen the discussions about Amano Aki's situation. To be honest, he was indeed furious, but he hadn't reached the point of losing his mind. If the secretary said that he was being framed like this, he could end up in jail if he wasn't careful.

"Looks like you know him quite well... Heh," the secretary chuckled, unsurprised that Yamada would refuse. She continued to pressure Yamada, "Do you think you have a choice? You have three days to investigate this matter thoroughly, otherwise, you know the consequences will be no less severe than if this were discovered..."

By switching jobs to Watanabe Entertainment, Yamada was essentially handing over his weaknesses to the company. They could easily find a reason to show him what it means to be cared for by a major agency.

Not do it?

If the shrimp at the bottom aren't eaten by big fish like him, they'll be thrown into the garbage dump.

Shrimp should act like shrimp and not think they can fight back against big fish, just like he couldn't fight back against Watanabe Sōta.

That's how the world works. Only by constantly regaining confidence from other weaker people can you make up for the damage you've suffered in front of the stronger. The consequences of resistance are far more serious than you might imagine.

Yamada fell silent.

When he switched to Watanabe Entertainment, he did a lot of illegal things, and now that evidence is his lifeline, and it's being held tightly by others.

"I understand..." Yamada had no choice but to obey Watanabe Souta's instructions. "I will have someone put what you said in his room, and then notify the Narcotics Control Division to take action and catch someone in the act of possessing it."

"Are you kidding me? When did I ever say any of this to you?" The secretary became wary, not giving Yamada a chance to record. "I'm just asking you about the situation. After all, you're the person in this world who knows that company president best right now, that's all..."

The secretary hung up the phone, and Yamada's face darkened completely.

The attempt to counter-threat by recording failed.

Evidence is a sensitive matter. Unless the secretary explicitly told him to do so, his recording would pin him to the criminal record.

With no other option, Yamada deleted the recording, then went to a gangster to get some marijuana, and had someone dump it in Kazuya Sawashiro's internet cafe cubicle.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to see you doing better than me."

...

Meanwhile, Kazuya Sawashiro, who was discussing his next move with Aki Amano at an internet cafe, also received news of his exile.

Amano Aki's fan club is full of talented people, including staff working at a radio station and people working at Watanabe Entertainment. Without exception, they all want to see the combination of Sawashiro Kazuya and Amano Aki sink.

However, Watanabe Entertainment has been doing things like exile all along, so the fact that this news is circulating now makes it seem untrue.

Of course, it wasn't that Ze Cheng Kazu didn't suspect the fans; he just suspected that Watanabe Entertainment might do something like feigning one thing while secretly doing another, because Ze Cheng Kazu had already demonstrated this once.

"Amano, look at this," Kazuya Sawashiro showed her the email. "The news of Watanabe Entertainment's exile has been confirmed elsewhere. Do you think this matter is that simple?"

"...It's not that simple," Amano Aki glanced at the contents, then looked away and shared his understanding of Watanabe Souta. "That guy doesn't follow the rules. He used to threaten me with his tax situation to get me to agree to his demands."

"Taxes? What an annoying thing, but they're very useful for celebrities," Kazuya Sawashiro rubbed his goosebump-covered arms, thought for a moment, and then asked, "So how did you do it?"

"Hehe... I didn't do anything," Amano Aki said with a smile, leaning against the wall leisurely. "I just told him that from the moment I signed with the agency, these things were entirely the agency's responsibility, and any problems would be the agency's responsibility."

Kazuya Sawashiro was somewhat surprised.

Surprisingly, Amano Aki, who seems so dull, actually knows a little bit about the law and understands the obligations that agencies have to fulfill for their artists.

Judging from this, the person Amano Aki was talking about wouldn't play by the rules.

Reflecting on the past, Kazuya Sawashiro gradually came to a conclusion: "Exile was just a smokescreen, because such a tactic wouldn't affect the internet. The best way to exploit the internet is through scandal, which can ruin an artist's future."

"Oh? Could it be?"

"Yes, I've already figured out where they'll start," Kazuya Sawashiro nodded confidently, revealing the crimes that could ruin the future: "Taxes, underage drinking, illegal possession of weapons and drugs—can you and I guarantee these things haven't been recorded?"

"You?" Amano Aki was genuinely taken aback. "The company president is also a potential girlfriend?"