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

Chapter 86 After the Grand Event

Hideaki Takizawa felt that his mind was really out of touch with the times, to the point that he couldn't understand the thinking of today's young people at all.

What did that kid just say?

Not debuting?

If you're not going to debut, what are you doing at Johnny's? Just hanging around?

He looked at Jun Sakurada with an almost horrified expression, only to find that the latter had no intention of joking at all, but instead seemed quite pleased with his own idea.

That's right, not debuting—that's the most unique solution Jun Sakurada has given to his Johnny's career.

To understand the specific meaning of this solution, we must first understand what the word "debut" actually means.

At least within Johnny's Entertainment, the word "debut" has only one meaning:

Signing with a record company recognized by the Recording Industry Association of Japan and officially releasing a physical record is what's known as a mainstream debut.

In some ways, the debut process of Johnny's Entertainment is quite similar to the process of writing online novels.

The JR period is roughly equivalent to the new book period. New books do not have a fixed income; their income comes only from a very small amount of merchandise and freelance work.

They compete with each other through official channels to gain better exposure, gradually building up their popularity and brand awareness, and eventually cultivating their own fan base.

Once the new book period is over, it will be released to the public, and once the juniors have leveled up enough, the best ones will be ready to debut.

Although unlike other platforms where anyone can list their books, Johnny's debut is an opportunity that only top-ten or even top-three authors on the new book charts can get. But in essence, debuting and listing are the same – both are ways to officially monetize and reap the popularity accumulated in the early stages.

However, in theory, even without officially debuting, Johnny's Jr. members can still appear in dramas and movies to gain exposure, and participate in events and variety shows arranged by the agency. These activities are not prohibited.

The only difference is that they lack the most important monetization channel, and while they can't compete with other debuted idols in terms of sales performance, they also earn much less money.

But then another question arises: is Jun Sakurada really lacking that little bit of money? Obviously not. Whether it's investing or making games, his monetization speed has already surpassed that of most idols below Johnny's Arashi.

Does he need to compete with Johnny's debut groups in sales to deceive the public? Obviously not. Those fans who are obsessed with idols were never his target audience in the first place.

What he needs is Johnny's Entertainment, a platform with plenty of gossip, resources, and opportunities to showcase his talents, to build enough fame for him to create big enough projects.

Then, they use their total achievements and contributions to exchanges between the two countries to obtain a get-out-of-jail-free card for themselves.

Johnny's money wasn't a necessary source of income for him to begin with.

Furthermore, even if he wanted to debut and make money, he was destined not to do so for very long.

Johnny's Entertainment has less than four good years left. Given the increasingly longer time intervals between the formation and debut of Johnny's groups in recent years, it is highly likely that unless Takizawa and Keiko give Sakurada Jun a hard time, he will have a hard time completing the entire debut process within these four years and making a lot of money.

If that's the case, why are you still thinking about this money?

Jun Sakurada's thinking is very clear. He doesn't lack money in the short term, and what he needs most is fame and freedom.

If sacrificing the money earned from his debut can preserve these two things to the greatest extent possible, then it would be worthwhile for Jun Sakurada.

"——Are you serious? You don't even want to debut?" It's no wonder that Hideaki Takizawa lost his composure. He's been with Johnny's for over twenty years, from trainee to idol to behind-the-scenes boss, and he's never met anyone who's just like Jun Sakurada.

They don't want to make money after their debut, just to fight for absolute freedom?

"If necessary, I can do without it, provided that I have the freedom to move around on my own." Jun Sakurada's attitude was quite serious.

Because he lacked the ability to see beyond the heavens, Hideaki Takizawa, who had no idea that Johnny's would fall apart four years later, couldn't understand what gave Jun Sakurada the confidence to do this, or what his intentions were.

After a long moment of confusion, she said uncertainly, "I can ask for you, but be prepared."

"Thank you very much then." Jun Sakurada nodded.

"Also, there was supposed to be a victory celebration banquet tonight, but it was changed to tomorrow because it was too late. Go back and get some rest tonight. You've worked so hard, so don't let anything go wrong after the victory."

After expressing his concern for Sakurada Jun, Takizawa Hideaki left without saying anything more.

On the one hand, he wanted to stay away from Jun Sakurada, that eccentric genius who never failed to make outrageous statements; on the other hand, he did indeed have a lot of work to do.

Watching his retreating figure, Sakurada Jun stretched and finally began to relax.

Yes, we can think about the future later. Today, it's time to relax.

After packing his personal belongings and taking out his phone, which had been turned off before the broadcast, Jun Sakurada went out and greeted and said goodbye to each of the main guests of the live broadcast. He was even hugged by Shinjo, Munakata, and Daigo.

On the way, Jun Sakurada saw the ordinary juniors who were dancing with him again. This time, it seemed that they had been scolded by Hideaki Takizawa, or perhaps they didn't have the guts to cause trouble in public. They just lowered their heads, hurriedly greeted him, and left in a hurry.

This made Jun Sakurada almost laugh.

After saying goodbye, Jun Sakurada finally left the studio and walked home. He took out his phone and turned it on, and unsurprisingly, a massive amount of information began to flood in.

There were greetings from my maternal grandfather, congratulations from friends like Vaundy and Ryunosuke Kamiki, and even ordinary female classmates I met in Akita asking if that Jun Sakurada was him.

It was as if all the nodding acquaintances he had ever had contact with, or even those he had never had contact with, suddenly became highly active in front of Sakurada Jun.

Is this what it feels like to be a star? Jun Sakurada couldn't help but wonder.

Before I could reply to all the messages, a phone call suddenly came in.

After the call connected, a muffled voice came from the other end: "Senior brother—"

"Is Xiaoqing hiding in the closet again?" Sakurada Jun guessed Sawaki Ao's situation as soon as he heard Sawaki Ao's "reverb" and couldn't help but chuckle mischievously.

"Hmm—recording a song—Senior brother looks super handsome today—" Ze Muqing's voice became a little more lively, with a hint of straightforward admiration in the last syllable.

For an introverted girl who had always longed for the stage but had no direction or way before meeting Jun Sakurada, she sincerely admired Jun Sakurada's glamorous stage presence.

Before Sakurada Jun could answer, she asked impatiently, "When you sang the theme song on the show today, were you deliberately holding back?"

"You noticed that?" Sakurada Jun smiled, not denying it. "The audience wants to see Nagano-senpai and Daigo-kun. What would it mean if I stole the spotlight?"

"I see—" Ze Muqing nodded vigorously.

"Don't be too envious. With your rate of progress, it shouldn't take you too long to get onto a stage of this level." Jun Sakurada's words were sincere.

While achieving the incredible scale of simultaneous viewership of a live stream like Ultraman Tiga's might be very difficult, even just for a studio of the same caliber, if Ado were to release her debut hit that swept across Japan, more than one show would soon be begging to have her on air.

"I, I will try my best!" Although she gained some confidence with the encouragement of Jun Sakurada and Taka, Ao Sawaki still habitually regarded most of Jun Sakurada's encouragement as just polite words.

Jun Sakurada didn't mind. He figured he'd take her to record some songs in a while, and she'd realize what a rare genius she was.

"Hey, Run'er's got some ambition now, huh? Tell me honestly, was that live stream that Johnny's organized today your doing?"

Not long after I encouraged Ze Muqing, a second call came, this time from an old acquaintance.

As one of the few outsiders who knew Sakurada Jun's online identity, Hamabe Minami guessed who the real mastermind was after watching only the beginning of the live stream.

So while the older generation at Toho was still marveling at Hideaki Takizawa's sharp eye and genius design, she was already thinking about how to "interrogate" Jun Sakurada.

"I guess so, but please don't tell anyone, senior." Although he had no intention of taking credit from Takizawa, since Hamabe Minami had already guessed it, Sakurada Jun didn't hide it and answered frankly.

"I knew it! Junior, you're good at creating funny things!" As if she had won, Hamabe Minami celebrated a little before becoming a bit more serious, her tone full of laughter.

"Now that things are settled here, when are you free to audition? I feel like you could compete for the position of Senior Mingzhi now."

Kyosuke Akechi can be considered the second male lead in "The Mystery of the House of the Hōjin-sō".

As a newcomer to Johnny's Entertainment, Jun Sakurada's casting in such an important role right from the start was somewhat controversial.

After all, there's a difference in their status, and he's competing for this position with formidable figures like Tomoya Nakamura.

However, now that he has the support of this legendary live broadcast that paralyzed most of the entertainment industry with its data, Sakurada Jun only needs to put those eight- or nine-figure data figures on the screen, and at least in the Corpse Manor crew, there will be very few people who can find fault with him based on his status.

Even disregarding star power, 16-year-old Jun Sakurada, like 18-year-old Minami Hamabe, is one of the actors whose age and temperament best match this work.

Compared to those older actors who are already in their thirties or even forties but still play the roles of eighteen or nineteen-year-old college students to appear younger, he has a huge advantage in terms of his innate image.

"It should be soon, I will do my best." Jun Sakurada smiled.

Why not take advantage of a free promotion? Since he's qualified to compete, Jun Sakurada is quite willing to fight for a major role.

But he still had to ask first, "Senior, can I ask if there are any things to keep in mind for this audition?"

Hamabe Minami was silent for a few seconds before blurting out, "Take it easy, don't scare people."

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