Idol Chapter 109 Part 2

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September arrived, and three major events exploded in the entertainment industry.

The first was Corona’s physical album sales in Asia surpassing two million copies, a legend in the digital era.

The physical album itself was not cheap, benefiting from its high quality and aesthetics, the strong purchasing power of the ‘Gem Sisters’, the long history of collectible cards and raffle activities, and the company’s comprehensive promotion.

In an era where everyone listens to digital albums, and even many musicians release songs for free, maintaining sales volume from four years ago is a feat against the current.

This sales figure even surpassed Mei Heng’s 620,000 copies, leading many media outlets to speculate on the final contenders for this year’s Crown Award.

Corona’s growth and professionalism are witnessed by all, recognized as a top presence in the industry.

The career and group fans were ecstatic at the concert, and many started large-scale raffles upon seeing the trending search, thanking everyone who bought and collected the album. Anyone who didn’t badmouth Corona could receive red packets.

Corona’s fans were too happy; haters couldn’t find faults with lip-syncing or lack of professionalism. Every year, they produced popular hits, enjoying excellent resources without any real competitors.

This is the definition of top stars!

The second event was Director Bai’s return to the film industry, officially announcing the joint production of “The Golden Key” with Qi Lin.

Qi Lin, formerly a popular internet celebrity, just finished “The Mermaid’s Song” with Oscar jury member Jiang Yanzhi, and quickly became the lead in an international director’s comeback film, boasting an incredibly strong cast—SPF’s ability to promote talents made many companies jealous.

The third event was the debut of the new boy band FALSE.

Cai Bi Media, a new small company founded this year, had complex backing, but their newly promoted boy band showed real insight.

Five young men, either enchanting or domineering, not only had a full range of styles but also outstanding creative talent. They broke Corona’s nearly five-year record in “I Am the New King,” achieving a staggering 6.76 million votes.

This news was a relief to many onlookers, and Corona’s rivals celebrated.

Corona’s domination of various charts was annoying, and many were tired of the lack of alternatives.

It was time for a new boy band to challenge their dominance—well done!

Not only did they break the record for the newcomer list, but they should also remove Corona’s mark from Bai Chuan’s music show!

They gloated over how the 6.7 million votes crushed Corona’s 4 million from before, and continued their tireless monthly topic—Corona will decline, definitely.

“What a pity, four years and no Crown Award, still calling themselves Corona? A dog group that sells gossip and queer baiting should sink to the earth’s core, haha.”

“Finally, new idols to stan, those six pretentious sissies of Corona disgust me, don’t know where they get their popularity. The day they lose the ‘musi strongest list’ crown, I’ll be the first to celebrate with a raffle!”

“As a bystander, Corona’s songs are getting worse every year, buying hot searches and blowing their own trumpets, so funny.”

While bystanders and rivals noticed the rising stars, the ‘Gem Sisters’ joined six fan groups to check the data.

They keenly sensed something was off.

FALSE had bought a lot of derogatory press releases even before their debut—but Corona being slandered and blood-sucked was normal; the company and fans could handle regular PR control, no need to give much attention to a wild chicken.

They were more concerned about the new group’s ambition.

FALSE’s debut data was inflated, definitely not a good sign.

In September, Corona entered the preparation phase for their new album and also had to prepare for two end-of-year concerts, busy with a multitude of schedules and little time for business.

Fans not following the schedules were bored and saw that episode of “I Am the New King.”

With only about 800 comments, FALSE had already trended, with a large number of bot accounts and marketing accounts using fixed copy to guide public opinion, and the comment section was full of manipulated data.

Moreover, the voting data was obviously problematic, with industry insiders hearing rumors that Cai Bi Media had spent a lot of money to promote this group.

When Corona first appeared on “The Newcomer King,” the topic square was filled with real people, admiring looks, sharing performance screenshots, and various comments.

This time, the topic square for FALSE and the show was similar, with the discussion heat growing geometrically every minute, and the chat topics seemed very real.

But as soon as you clicked into these seemingly real user accounts… they were all bots.

They were all operated by the same company, and the content of their historical tweets was identical.

The latest tweet was all about praising FALSE in various ways, the second was about promoting a movie, the third an advertisement for a heater, and the fourth a retweet of a brand event with flattering comments.

The Gem Sisters had been through thick and thin with Corona over the years. Most of them had been in the fan community for too long and knew at a glance that something was off.

But ordinary people wouldn’t know.

Bystanders would click into the trending topics, follow the lively atmosphere to watch GIFs and memes, and gradually try out the recommendations.

This was not a good sign.

Today, it’s about manipulating data to break Corona’s debut record; tomorrow, it could escalate to more aggressive attacks and even targeting Corona on “Musi’s Strongest List,” performing a scene to surpass their seniors.

SPF entered a state of preparation, focusing first on protecting the artists and managing public opinion.

Taking advantage of Corona’s physical album sales breaking two million and the upcoming birthday of the main member, they launched a clever promotional campaign.

—While posting a celebratory raffle post on the official account, dozens of first, second, and third-tier brands followed suit with additional raffles, and many online platforms joined in to draw cash prizes.

@gy Official: It’s our super handsome Ren-ge!! Boss told me to add a new diamond bracelet to the raffle, but you have to follow the Corona official account to win [star-eyed][star-eyed]

@loji Fashion: Not gonna lie, adding a voucher for 5,000 yuan worth of clothing, a pair of sapphire cufflinks, and a pair of limited edition new shoes to the raffle. Just retweet, my Corona deserves the best [smoking emoji]

@Eighteen Flavors Soy Sauce Duck: Little Duck also loves Corona [dog head emoji] Adding three boxes of fresh duck gift packs, flavor of your choice!! Corona brothers, please enjoy my duck necks and have a flowery path!!!

A compliment from a neighbor worth more than a hundred from oneself; the raffle post initially with only five prizes was supplemented by dozens of brands, offering fresh foods, air conditioners, home audio systems, art collections, dried squid, and more. It took two long graphics to list everything, with the cash prize totaling over 1.5 million yuan.

SPF not only manages Corona but has accumulated a long list of old business partners over the years, all willing to lend a hand.

Many small brands took the opportunity to promote their products, unrelated to SPF but joining the raffle, gaining a lot of retweets and likes.

People were more interested in the raffle than the new artist, debating whether a trip to see the Northern Lights in Finland or eating squid snacks was more exciting—climbing walls was not as important as raffles!

Even some haters couldn’t resist the lure of the generous gift list, switching to alternate accounts to join the raffle and even sending flowers to celebrate Corona’s new achievement and the captain’s birthday.

“Sorry, the gifts were just too tempting, I couldn’t resist.”

When Huo Ren saw the news, he had just finished a magazine interview and was preparing to attend another variety show.

Assistant Xiao Tian was adjusting his hairstyle, and Manager Jiang walked in quickly, looking serious.

“Xiao Tian, can you step out for a moment?”

“Sure.”

Once the makeup room was cleared, Manager Jiang double-checked for any nearby people before closing the door, his brows furrowed.

“Uncle Jiang?” Huo Ren thought he was troubled by FALSE’s actions and instinctively said, “Did you also see the trending topics?”

“Ren Ren,” Manager Jiang’s voice was strained as he spoke, “I just received a message.”

“Your father… passed away in a rental room.”

Huo Ren froze on the spot, his mind going blank.

“He choked to death on vomit while sleeping drunk. The landlord discovered him three days later when he came to collect rent. Someone from the company has already gone over, it’s in the next city.”

“The public opinion is well controlled; paparazzi and marketing accounts don’t know anything about it. The body has been sent to the mortician, there won’t be any trouble.”

At that moment, Huo Ren didn’t know how he should feel.

The last blood relative he had in this world had silently passed away.