Han Guo Shi Ma Entertainment.
Chairman's Office.
"Oppa, have the results of the discussions with the Huaguo authorities come out yet?"
Park Min-young is the leader of Han Guo's hottest girl group, EOY, and also the rumored girlfriend of Kim Geun-suk, chairman of Han Guo's largest entertainment company, Shi Ma Entertainment.
Holding a glass of red wine, she naturally sat on Kim Geun-suk's lap.
"Times Music is still in talks with the Huayu music scene, but it should be fine." Kim Geun-suk held Park Min-young in his arms, his hand naturally slipping inside her clothes.
"Mmm... Then can you put me in the same group as Kim Sung-hyun for the preliminary round this time?" Park Min-young trembled slightly, her tone of voice changing.
Kim Sung-hyun debuted through the Han Guo national-level producer program, and after winning the championship, he is now the hottest producer in Han Guo, bar none.
The songs he performed during the competition have been consistently at the top of Han Guo's music charts, with very high popularity.
He even has songs in the top ten of the Times Music chart.
Currently, no one in the Han Guo music scene wants to sing his songs, as his songs represent guaranteed success.
He can also be considered Han Guo's Ting Yu.
"Haha, of course. Being a singer for Kim Sung-hyun, as long as you perform well and win the preliminary round, you'll be able to appear on the world stage of 'Times Music King'." Kim Geun-suk whispered in her ear.
"Then... shall Oppa experience Min-young's vocal skills, pronunciation, and breath first?" Park Min-young patted his hand, then stood up.
"How will you experience it?" Kim Geun-suk was stunned for a moment.
Park Min-young turned around and slowly squatted down in front of him.
"Hiss... Ahxi8!"
...
Lin Family Manor.
Su Yu and Lin Zhaoyang were drinking tea in the courtyard.
"Xiao Yu, do you resent me?" Lin Zhaoyang asked with a smile.
Su Yu was stunned and then asked confusedly, "Resent you for what?"
Lin Zhaoyang said, "For constantly making you participate in various competitions."
Su Yu couldn't help but chuckle, "Honestly, participating in competitions is indeed tiring, but if I really didn't want to, no one could force me."
"Do you know about 'Times Music King'?" Lin Zhaoyang took a sip of tea and said with a smile.
"I know. I've already received your message..." Su Yu shook his head helplessly.
He hadn't expected that the authorities had been planning for a year.
And he hadn't expected to be inexplicably drawn into this international war.
'Times Music King' is a competition jointly organized by the most authoritative Times Music Awards on Blue Star and all countries, held once every two years. It's akin to the Olympics of the entertainment industry.
Several "Song Gods" from the Huayu music scene, Jiang Qian and Mo Yan, had participated before, but their rankings were not high. Only Mo Yan achieved fourth place. Later, with the advent of the era of traffic, the Huayu music scene began to decline, and they had refused invitations to 'Times Music King' several times.
However, according to information revealed by Times Music, for this edition of 'Times Music King', the Huayu music scene had been preparing for this competition for a long time.
'Times Music King' has preliminary rounds in each country to select producers and singers to participate. The official Huayu music scene competitions are naturally 'Ace City Competition' and 'Masked Singer King'.
The City Competition selects Song Gods to represent the Huayu music scene as producers.
The Masked Singer King selects Singing Gods to be the backbone of the singers in the competition, meaning those with the most powerful vocals.
This is the preparation made by the authorities and several entertainment companies in the domestic entertainment industry for the world-class competition, 'Times Music King'.
Initially, they just wanted to try. If there were no remarkably talented newcomers, the authorities would have similarly refused the invitation from Times Music.
Unexpectedly, with the emergence of the Song God Ting Yu, coupled with the excellent performance of Masked Singer King's Dark Night Rabbit.
This gave the domestic entertainment industry the confidence, and the authorities then asked Lin Zhaoyang to inquire about Su Yu's opinion.
Of course, it was not forced. If Su Yu disagreed, they would refuse the invitation from Times Music.
If Su Yu agreed, they would accept it directly.
Others might not know Su Yu's situation, but the people in the authorities knew. They knew what kind of prodigy the domestic entertainment industry had, because Song God Ting Yu and the Dark Night Rabbit, who dominated 'Masked Singer King', were the same person!
Su Yu, the moment his identity as Dark Night Rabbit is exposed, would definitely shock everyone!
"I'm not joking this time, I'm very serious about you making a choice. You can refuse, because if you agree, you will be carrying the burden of the entire Huayu music scene," Lin Zhaoyang said, his face showing an unprecedented seriousness.
He knew what this represented.
If they won, Su Yu's name would absolutely become an object of attention from the whole world.
But if the results were not good, given the current public opinion environment in the domestic entertainment industry, Su Yu's reputation would likely be severely impacted.
This was a choice with very high risks. Su Yu's current achievements were already close to being the number one person in the domestic entertainment industry. If he obtained the title of Singing God, he would be the undisputed number one, an unprecedented achievement, enough for him to stand at the pinnacle of the domestic entertainment industry. He could afford not to take this risk.
"This... You're being so serious all of a sudden, I'm really a bit unaccustomed to it." Su Yu took a sip of tea, then twitched the corner of his mouth.
In his impression, Lin Zhaoyang always used rewards to entice him to participate in competitions. In fact, Su Yu knew that Lin Zhaoyang was paving the way for him.
Moreover, his smooth progress on this path was definitely due to Lin Zhaoyang shielding him from some things, even though Lin Zhaoyang never told him.
Now that this matter was so serious, Su Yu also understood the stakes. This time was different from before. This time, it was about carrying the honor of a country. If they won, everyone would be happy, but if they lost, given the current online trolls, they could definitely spew enough to shatter his mental state.
It was thankless work.
The risk was extremely high.
That was why Lin Zhaoyang, who was usually fearless, was so solemn.
"The authorities didn't announce it earlier, were they afraid of being attacked online if I refused?" Su Yu asked with a smile.
"That's right, the domestic entertainment environment is like this. If it were publicized beforehand and you refused, you'd likely be subjected to a lot of moral blackmail," Lin Zhaoyang nodded.
If the authorities had announced earlier that these two competitions were to select participants for 'Times Music King', then if Su Yu won both championships and refused to participate, he would definitely be subjected to moral blackmail by some people.
The reasoning was simple: you won the championship but backed down, which was a disgrace to the entire Huayu music scene.
They wouldn't care how difficult the competition was.
"Don't worry, the authorities didn't have high expectations anyway, especially since there are quite a few geniuses overseas this time. The authorities just want you to make your own choice. If you're willing, we'll go all out together. If you're not willing, we'll stop here, and it won't affect you in any way. Once you become the Singing God, you will be the number one person in the Huayu music scene," Lin Zhaoyang continued as Su Yu remained silent.
Although Su Yu's performance was astonishing, there were also many formidable geniuses overseas.
"Do you just trust me to become the Singing God that much?" Su Yu chuckled.
"Do I need to repeat how incredible you are, you kid?" Lin Zhaoyang said irritably.
Then Su Yu smiled, lowered his head, and gazed at his reflection in the teacup, remaining silent.
Lin Zhaoyang did not rush him, waiting patiently.
After a long while.
Su Yu took a deep breath.
He raised his head.
And said to Lin Zhaoyang with a smile, "I agree."
When he uttered those three words, Lin Zhaoyang was stunned for a moment, then goosebumps erupted all over his body.
"Why?" He felt like he suddenly couldn't see through Su Yu anymore.
After all, in his eyes, Su Yu had always been somewhat lazy. Despite his immense talent, he was reluctant to showcase it. Even for the City Competition and Masked Singer King, he had been enticed with things like arranging weddings.
"Didn't you say that geniuses are meant to be stepped on?" Su Yu's lips curved upwards.
"Holy crap, kid, your showboating is giving me goosebumps!" Lin Zhaoyang rubbed the goosebumps on his hands, realizing that he, who had been showing off his prowess his whole life, was now being outdone by a young brat.
With that, he got up to call the authorities. Since Su Yu had agreed, he also needed to start making some preparations with the authorities. At the very least, he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario, ensuring that Su Yu would have a plan for controlling public opinion even if he lost.
"By the way, is there a prize for the champion?" Su Yu suddenly asked.
Lin Zhaoyang almost slipped and tripped. He stumbled and then said irritably, "Fifty million."
"Only that much?" Su Yu was somewhat disappointed.
"US dollars!" Lin Zhaoyang said, and then did not linger.
Su Yu was stunned for a moment, then a smile spread across his lips.
That was more like it, after all, it was a global event.
However.
He wasn't really doing it for the money this time.
He was doing it to recover a promise he had made in his memory, in a rented apartment:
"I will definitely make the entire world hear my singing!"