Tokyo: My obsession with China led me to become the king of Japanese entertainment.

Meanwhile, at Johnny & Associates headquarters.

Hideaki Takizawa seemed somewhat distracted at this moment, but his excellent professionalism allowed him to maintain a facade of focus and a smile, as if he were seriously evaluating the performance of the boys in front of him.

Ono, number 17, has decent dance coordination, mediocre voice, and above-average appearance and temperament. He may have some potential and is okay as a Jr., but whether he will be a debut candidate depends on his own development.

Number 18, Takeuchi, has excellent dancing skills, a strong stage presence, and a decent appearance. The key is that he is only fourteen years old, which is good. He can be given special attention and training.

However, compared to Sakurada, the gap in appearance and talent is still too large.

The 19th...

One by one, the teenagers entered, performed, and left; most were mediocre, but occasionally a few were outstanding.

But no matter how outstanding he is, compared to that young man who was dancing to a song and dance routine he'd never heard of before, there's still a gap in their level.

Hideaki Takizawa couldn't help but feel a little excited.

Although I didn't exactly discover Jun Sakurada's resume myself, I was the first Johnny's executive to contact and mentor him. Later, when he joined the company, I would be able to legitimately recruit him.

If we allocate all the resources, it will take at most two to three years to fit them into the next generation of top groups to serve as ACEs.

And Hideaki Takizawa can naturally use him to build a very solid record.

He glanced discreetly at his companions, who both appeared somewhat absent-minded. However, being elderly people nearing the end of their lives, there wasn't much to say about their lethargy.

On the other hand, the incoming president of Johnny & Associates, Keiko Fujishima, didn't seem to be fully committed at the moment, and her mood seemed rather so-so.

"They're in a hurry," Hideaki Takizawa thought to himself with a smirk.

It's an open secret that there are factions within Johnny's Entertainment.

Before the Bunshun news incident in 2016, Johnny's Entertainment was roughly divided into three factions.

The Iijima faction, centered around SMAP, the supergroup that includes Japanese idol GOAT Takuya Kimura and legendary host Masahiro Nakai, and led by SMAP's legendary manager Michi Iijima.

Centered around the young superstar group Arashi, which includes rising stars like Matsumoto Jun and Ninomiya Kazunari, and led by manager Fujishima Keiko and vice president Mary Kitagawa, nicknamed "Empress," the "Empress Faction" is a group with Johnny's direct lineage.

Finally, there is a neutral faction composed of several boy groups personally selected and trained by Johnny Kitagawa, such as Takizawa Hideaki's Tsubasa and Nagano Hiroshi's V6, which are only responsible to Johnny Kitagawa himself and do not participate in factional struggles.

Hideaki Takizawa, the elder brother of all Johnny's idols since the millennium, is the new leader of the neutral faction.

Until 2016, the internal factional struggles were exposed by the notorious tabloid Bunshun. After SMAP disbanded and Michi Iijima left, the Empress faction took full control, and the Iijima faction fell apart.

The neutral faction, which originally did not participate in factional struggles, naturally became the new adversaries of the Empress's faction due to their lack of loyalty.

As for Takizawa himself, although he always appeared respectful and unassuming in front of Fujishima Keiko and Kitagawa Noboru, he diligently served as his capable assistant.

But if he truly had no ambition whatsoever, he could never have grown into the number one traitor who betrayed the entire Johnny's Entertainment company so cruelly, as Jun Sakurada remembers him.

For the neutral faction, their biggest problem was the lack of a true figurehead.

Just like SMAP from the Iijima faction or Arashi from the Empress faction, their achievements are outstanding and their accomplishments are recorded in history. The members of these groups are fully qualified to be called "national idols".

They are the absolute face of Johnny's Entertainment, and also the absolute face of their respective factions.

While neutral groups like Taki & Tsubasa, Kinki Kids, or V6 (where Nagano Hiroshi is a member) are doing well individually, they are still somewhat lacking in the status of being national-level visual icons.

If Takizawa wants to establish himself, he can only use his advantage of being in charge of Jr. selection and training to discover new promising talents and see if he can cultivate them into the next generation's star players.

Jun Sakurada is the most qualified person he has seen so far.

Although this kid has no experience as an idol and his personality is somewhat eccentric, the potential he possesses is simply too tempting.

His physical attributes are unparalleled in the entire history of Johnny's Entertainment. Although he lacks technique, his top-notch physical and vocal talent are things that countless trainees and debut idols dream of.

Generally speaking, if a student can score around 80 points in one of these categories and exceed the passing grade for idols in the remaining categories, then they are a promising talent worth nurturing.

Jun Sakurada has mastered all of these.

Furthermore, although he couldn't articulate any specific basis for it, Hideaki Takizawa always had this intuition:

This kid is still hiding something.

At that moment, Hideaki Takizawa was preoccupied with finishing the interview as quickly as possible and then immediately inviting Jun Sakurada over for a heart-to-heart talk.

Ideally, we should determine his future development direction and training plan today, and sign the contract while we're at it. Then, starting tomorrow, we can invite a renowned teacher to begin polishing this rough gem.

So, probably because he was in a great mood, he found the other interviewees much more agreeable, and perhaps this time, the number of people who would pass would be quite considerable.

Finally, as the last interviewee finished his performance and left the interview area, without anyone else having to say a word, Hideaki Takizawa stood up very consciously, greeted them briefly, and then strode out the door under the amused gazes of the Fujishima mother and daughter.

He couldn't wait to meet that genius boy.

Upon entering the rest area, the young men who had just participated in the interview all turned around. When they saw that it was Hideaki Takizawa, they became both excited and nervous.

Although, according to Johnny's usual practice, it is almost impossible to announce the interview results on the same day,

However, judging from Hideaki Takizawa's subsequent performance, it is possible to roughly see which contestants have gained the favor or recognition of the higher-ups.

However, Hideaki Takizawa himself was somewhat bewildered at this moment.

Logically speaking, given Sakurada Jun's outstanding appearance, he should have been able to spot the other person at a glance.

But no, it didn't.

At this point, Hideaki Takizawa couldn't directly ask where Jun Sakurada had gone, so he could only probe indirectly:

"Are all the interviewees here? Has anyone gone to the restroom or anything?"

The interviewees looked at each other, and one of the bolder and more eloquent candidates shook his head:

"After the interviews, everyone basically came straight back here. I didn't see anyone leave to go to the restroom."

Upon hearing this answer, Hideaki Takizawa's heart skipped a beat. He quickly pretended to flip through the roster in his hand: "But, the number of people here doesn't seem to match the number of people who came for the interview today."

"This... Sakurada, Sakurada Jun-kun, I don't think I've seen him."

He handed a photo to the interviewee who had answered the call.

The interviewer was taken aback when he saw the face. He naturally remembered Jun Sakurada, after all, the latter's appearance was too outstanding among this group of people.

but--

"As for Sakurada-kun, it seems like he hasn't come back since the interview, right?"

"What?!"

Hideaki Takizawa's expression began to change.