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

Hideaki Takizawa—this name is familiar to Jun Sakurada, both in his past and present lives.

In Japan, Hideaki Takizawa was a top idol who became popular at the end of the last century and one of Johnny's' signature figures. Jun Sakurada has seen him appear in various TV dramas, variety shows, and music programs since he was a child.

Judging from Jun Sakurada's appearance, his popularity in Japan is probably on par with Yu Yan or Daniel Wu in China.

In his previous life, Jun Sakurada only learned of this name because he happened to see a short essay.

In his previous life, Jun Sakurada suffered a major setback when the BBC exposed Johnny Kitagawa's decades-long atrocities in a documentary at the end of 2022. As a result, Johnny's was forced to disband in 2023 and changed its name to Hoshida Taku, which severely damaged its reputation and caused it to fall from grace.

Regarding this matter, Johnny's fans don't have the guts to criticize the BBC, nor do they have the guts to say that Kitagawa's little boy was reasonable or legal; they can only find some peripheral figures to criticize.

Hideaki Takizawa is one of the biggest targets.

In what Jun Sakurada saw in his previous life, this guy joined Johnny's management after graduating from idol school in 2018, and rose all the way to the prestigious position of vice president.

However, on the eve of the impending Johnny's storm, he chose to leave the company without warning, and when he left, he took away most of the members of Johnny's ace group King & Prince, as well as a large number of high-quality trainees.

He then led these people to establish his own agency, TOBE, specifically to go against Johnny & Associates, poaching Johnny's talent and stealing their business.

It can be said that this was the darkest and cruelest blow dealt to Johnny's Entertainment.

Just then, Johnny's Entertainment was caught in a storm of scandals and was struggling to survive. Instead of trying to ban TOBE from the entire industry as before, they managed to give TOBE a positive image as a pioneer of resistance.

It can be said that they capitalized on the whale fall and garnered significant attention.

This is something that infuriates those fans. The level of filth and hatred shown in the insults directed at TOBE, Hideaki Takizawa, and his former Johnny's idols is truly eye-opening.

Jun Sakurada accidentally clicked on one of the fan essays and was deeply shocked by its twisted and vicious content. He subconsciously remembered the name Hideaki Takizawa.

I finally got to meet the real person today.

It has to be said that he is indeed a top idol who has been popular for twenty years. Even now that he is approaching forty, his appearance is still impeccable.

After shaking hands, Hideaki Takizawa looked Jun Sakurada up and down, his gaze sweeping over Jun's face several times, his smile growing even brighter.

Sakurada Jun felt a chill run down his spine.

Everyone says that Hideaki Takizawa is that old bastard Kitagawa's trusted confidant and favorite. Could it be that he has also been influenced by him to develop some kind of shady hobby?

"So, you are the relative Ms. Takizawa mentioned?" He quickly changed the subject.

Sure enough, you can't have too much contact with those Johnny's guys; the higher your spiritual vision, the easier it is to go crazy.

"That's right." Hideaki Takizawa's smile was almost ingratiating. "Sakurada-kun... came to Tokyo alone?"

"...Yes." Jun Sakurada said sparingly.

"That must have been tough..." Takizawa Hideaki patted Sakurada's shoulder with an ambiguous gesture, and just as Sakurada Jun's polite smile was about to freeze, he finally said:

"Because there was still work to be done in the office, I temporarily arranged for Xiaoling to wait here. I hope that didn't cause you any trouble?"

"No, no, I just arrived too." Jun Sakurada breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Since the focus of the conversation is no longer on me, that makes things easier. I've only met Takizawa Rin once, so we can't really discuss this topic in depth.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, whether out of politeness or genuine motives, Takizawa Hideaki maintained his warm smile throughout.

The only saving grace was that this busy man didn't have much time to waste on a good-for-nothing like Sakurada Jun. He exchanged a few perfunctory pleasantries and then left with Takizawa Rin.

Before leaving, Rin winked at Jun Sakurada, giving him goosebumps.

She couldn't have found out, could she?

Sakurada Jun touched his belt somewhat guiltily.

There, there is a miniature recording device that is hidden in an extremely secretive manner.

Johnny's interview obviously wouldn't allow him to record it, but he needed evidence to prove to his fans that he had indeed done the job.

So after much research, Jun Sakurada decided to present it in the form of a recording.

Johnny & Associates' copyright influence is almost entirely limited to Japan, and its control over overseas markets, especially the international internet, is very limited.

As long as you can ensure that the recording is only released in China, properly handle the voices of irrelevant people, and avoid mentioning the words "Johnny's" in the relevant videos, you basically don't need to worry about their lawyer's letter.

But the prerequisite is... he has to successfully smuggle this recording out.

Fortunately, no one bothered him or his recording equipment until the Takizawa siblings left the waiting area.

After seeing off Hideaki Takizawa, Jun Sakurada rested with his eyes closed in the waiting area for a while. Finally, other interviewees began to arrive, most of whom were even younger than Jun Sakurada.

As more and more people arrived, Jun Sakurada's expression became increasingly strange.

He seemed to understand a little better why Hideaki Takizawa was so enthusiastic:

These people, at least in terms of appearance...aren't they a bit too unpresentable?

Jun Sakurada doesn't consider himself to be a person who discriminates against appearances, but in his opinion, since he's come to audition for an idol agency, shouldn't he at least look a bit like a pretty boy?

But how to describe these people... it mainly comes down to their temperament and talent.

Most of the interviewees were under the age of fourteen, and perhaps because they hadn't fully grown up, their appearances were quite ordinary and lacked any distinctive features.

Because K-pop artists are willing to undergo cosmetic surgery, at least there are still plenty of pretty boys to look at. But these guys in front of us... can only be described as ordinary, unremarkable teenagers passing by.

Their hairstyles are mostly the standard Japanese mushroom cut, which is hard to say has any appealing qualities.

Even more disastrous was his height. Sakurada Jun admitted that at less than sixteen years old, his height of 177cm was only slightly above average. If he were sent to China, he would hardly be the tallest in his class.

And among these talented young people whom Johnny & Associates selects from hundreds of thousands of resumes across the country every year, they still manage to stand out from the crowd.

As for their appearance... just look at how these guys react.

Almost every interviewee, upon seeing Jun Sakurada, would pause for a moment before belatedly putting on a social smile and bowing and scraping to him.

Then he quickly found a place to sit down where he could keep his distance from him, looking very wary.

For no apparent reason, Jun Sakurada instinctively sensed something was amiss.

It shouldn't be that bad... I think I could get selected if I danced "Because You're Too Beautiful".

Can't you?