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

"Character? What character?" Jun Sakurada was taken aback, not bothering to pay attention to Minami Hamabe's way of addressing him.

"To put it simply, Toho is going to adapt a classic mystery novel into a movie. The initial casting is for Kamiki-senpai to play the male lead and me to play the female lead."

"If you're interested in showing your face and getting some experience, just let us know. We'll put in a good word for you, and you can ask Mr. Takizawa to help you with the arrangements, and it'll be done!"

Hamabe Minami said casually.

"A movie?" Jun Sakurada's heart skipped a beat.

It's not uncommon for idols to make movies in Japan, especially among Johnny's Entertainment.

Their artists are all multi-talented, such as Hideaki Takizawa, Takuya Kimura, and Tomohisa Yamashita. Their achievements are built on numerous Japanese dramas and movies.

For Jun Sakurada, if he wants to maintain a certain level of national recognition in Japan and avoid the awkward situation of being a "top influencer across the country," then he probably only has two paths ahead of him:

The first rule is to appear on variety shows, using those old-timer comedians as an excuse to create entertainment, but in reality, it's blatant bullying and harm—a kind of "prank"—just to make people laugh.

The second point is to make more films and television shows, especially during prime time, to build national recognition.

Jun Sakurada certainly didn't want to be on variety shows and be ridiculed by a bunch of shady old men, so taking on some acting roles to gain some national recognition in Japan was, in his opinion, somewhat necessary.

"Could you tell me more about the script?" Actually, when Jun Sakurada asked this question, he was already pretty much smitten.

"It's an adaptation of a classic mystery novel that won many awards a few years ago, titled 'The Corpse Manor Mystery'," Minami Hamabe casually remarked.

"Specifically... you can think of it as a locked-room murder in a mountain villa against the backdrop of a zombie crisis."

Sakurada Jun was stunned by Lei Ting's explanation, and subconsciously rubbed his eyes: "What do you mean by 'deduction in a zombie crisis'? Can this still be called a classic mystery??"

"Why wouldn't you call? He's already won every major award in the world of classic mystery fiction!" Minami Hamabe snorted.

"Look up the relevant information yourself. If you're interested, let me know and then report it to your firm."

After hanging up the phone, Jun Sakurada immediately went to investigate what the so-called "Mystery of the Corpse Manor" was all about.

The investigation results made his lips twitch involuntarily: "This is truly classic mystery, absolutely brilliant!"

In summary, just as Minami Hamabe said, The Corpse Manor Mystery is indeed a new work that has emerged in recent years under the new orthodox mystery genre in Japan.

Although it uses the gimmick of a zombie crisis, it is essentially just a newer locked-room murder mystery game that replaces the natural disaster of a blizzard with a more modern zombie, and uses some of the characteristics of zombies to create a new locked-room murder mode.

Sakurada Jun studied it for a few minutes and nodded slightly.

The original work won almost every major and minor award in the mystery genre, and this adaptation also boasts a heavyweight cast including Minami Hamabe and Ryunosuke Kamiki.

With the original work and the cast as a safety net, it seems... pretty secure?

Most importantly, as a mystery film, although it features zombie scenes, the vast majority of the scenes are filmed in a limited number of indoor locations, so there is no need to frequently film in different places.

Therefore, the filming time should not be too long, it will not take up too much of Jun Sakurada's time, and it will not delay his upcoming trip to China.

"I feel... I can accept it!" Jun Sakurada made up his mind.

Actually, if Jun Sakurada really had to pick the movie he most wanted to be in, it would undoubtedly be "Weathering With You," which was released in July 2019.

Even though it's just voice acting, that's exactly what we wanted!

Makoto Shinkai's "Normal Life" series features fashion items favored by female classmates and a few "normative" individuals before Jun Sakurada's time travel, which are incredibly popular in China.

If I could do voice acting for a male lead or something, wouldn't that be a huge publicity stunt?

Unfortunately, the casting for Weathering With You was completed last year, and the male lead's voice actor was chosen through a public vote. By now, the dubbing work is probably almost finished.

No matter how domineering Johnny's is, they can't possibly force Jun Sakurada into this situation and let him reap the rewards.

Alright, Corpse Manor it is. Although it lost some of its popularity last time, at least it's a movie that allows us to get some screen time.

So the next day—

"You've got some connections, huh? You managed to get your hands on these resources?" Takizawa Hideaki glanced at Sakurada Jun with a hint of sarcasm.

"You know how I met Hamabe-senpai, so if you want to thank someone, thank that bear." Sakurada Jun spread his hands.

"Alright, alright, that bear." Takizawa Hideaki was clearly in a good mood.

"I have no objection in principle. It's your ability to find resources for yourself, and you even know to report to me, so I'd say you have some sense of propriety. If you're willing, I can arrange the relevant connections for you later."

But halfway through his sentence, he changed the subject: "But are you sure you want to take on work for yourself at this time? That would put a lot of pressure on you."

"It's not so bad, actually. Wasn't it said that the preparations for V6 would continue until May?" Jun Sakurada asked, puzzled.

"That's true... but are you just going to leave that dinner song playing like this?" Hideaki Takizawa retorted.

"What else can I do? Do you think I can just post it? Are you trying to get a penalty for breach of contract?" Jun Sakurada was full of questions.

This brings us to some of the old issues within Johnny's Entertainment and even the entire Japanese music scene.

As the only country in the world that still stubbornly clings to the physical music market even as 2020 approaches, the Japanese music scene has reached a consensus under years of intense manipulation:

Only by signing with a legitimate record label and releasing physical records can a musician be considered to have made a "mainstream debut".

As the most stubborn of the old guard, Johnny's Entertainment adheres to this principle to the extreme: its trainees will not have any music works before their debut, let alone appear on digital platforms.

If a Johnny's trainee says they're going to release a song, there's only one possibility:

He's going to debut in the mainstream with his group.

This usually involves an activity cycle of about five years, and even after debuting, there are almost no solo singles in the early stages.

This is why Jun Sakurada dared to sign a trainee contract with Johnny & Associates despite the copyright terms being arguably an unequal treaty, without worrying at all about the other party taking possession of his work.

Because he'll only be at Johnny's for four years at most, there's a high probability that he won't have the opportunity to release any songs until he completely retires.

If there are no songs, why bother with copyright terms?

And now, what did Hideaki Takizawa say again?

Release a song? Me?