Quentin clicked into the Light Music app backend and registered a new account.
This time, he did not use the account name “昆廷Quentin” that had accompanied him for over ten years.
“昆廷Quentin” would only be Quentin, the boy band member, not Quentin, the original musician.
This alternate identity had to be kept tightly under wraps; aside from himself and the system, he didn’t want anyone else to know.
As for the boy band teammates, the six main characters he will spend the next two years with day and night…
If, and he meant if, they could become true friends…
Then there would be no harm in confessing.
In his previous life, due to his biological father’s existence, he had developed a deep aversion to love, and his longing for familial affection was buried in his heart after his mother passed away.
Only friendship was something he had always believed in and yearned for.
Unfortunately, due to his personality, he was never the proactive type in this regard.
Quentin was born extremely sensitive to emotions, perhaps this was a common trait among creators.
As a child, he didn’t know how to conceal his gifted emotional perception, so the peers around him accused him of being a freak who eavesdropped on others, and everyone in the neighborhood avoided him.
His mother worked hard and was busy, so most of Quentin’s childhood memories were of him alone. The only friend he made completely lost contact after he moved to the United States at age ten.
Quentin’s early days in the United States were very tough. The language barrier was the primary challenge, and furthermore, American education, food, customs, and so on were all vastly different from what he had experienced before. Of course, the most important factor was that he had an extremely unreliable biological father.
Forget making friends; just barely supporting himself was already an achievement.
Later, Quentin ran away from home, stumbling along the path of pursuing his dreams, gradually learning to conceal his edge.
However, at that time, his situation in the entertainment industry was like being surrounded by wolves…countless hands waited to drag him into hell, and most people who approached him had ulterior motives. He still failed to make friends.
At the age of 19, Quentin achieved fame and success, but he had also offended most of his peers in the industry.
Everyone said he had a difficult and unapproachable personality. No one knew that this genius, who stayed home all day with music, was actually an ordinary young person who hated loneliness and quiet.
After transmigrating, Quentin was very grateful to have a presence like the “system” by his side. Having a lively voice chattering in his ear every day, with simple emotions, always positive and optimistic, and consistent…compared to pin-drop silence, this was undoubtedly a very comforting presence.
The system said he had a 90% chance of finding like-minded friends in this world. In fact, even if it were only a 10% chance, Quentin was willing to believe in that possibility.
Quentin named his Light Music account “Cupid”, the title of the first song he released in his previous life, a sweet R&B song that satirized love.
So, which of the four completed songs should he release first?
For a hit song to blow up, timing, location, and harmony are all essential.
As for Quentin now, he didn’t have any of these three conditions.
If he started with a high-quality global hit, without any existing fanbase, he would likely be suppressed by competitors and companies in the music industry.
After all, the competition on daily and monthly charts was fierce, and the rise of an outstanding new singer would inevitably squeeze the survival space of other singers.
Especially since Quentin did not plan to sign with a company, he had no one behind him, aside from the system.
In the early stages of being forced to fight alone, all he could rely on was gradually accumulating fans, but the growth of fan loyalty and numbers also required time.
So, he still had to take it step by step.
In the end, Quentin chose to upload the only B-rated song, “Leap,” a song about the stars and ideals that had once been used as the theme song for the League Of Legends World Championship.
The original lyrics of this song were entirely in English, so Quentin rewrote them.
Fortunately, he had never let go of his Chinese. Speaking of which, in his previous life, he had dabbled in Chinese rap for a while, and his ability in lyric writing was evident to all.
@Cupid
Following [0] Followers [0] Songs [1] Albums [0]
>New song “Leap” released 1min ago, come give it a listen!
…..
One week before the program recording, the 101 trainees of [Next Stage] checked into the Four Seasons Hotel, Global Hotel, and Gold Label Hotel nearest to the filming base.
On the day of the recording, three buses parked in front of the three hotels, with the camera crews ready to go.
From the moment the trainees stepped onto the buses, cameras were everywhere.
The night before the recording, Quentin surprisingly slept soundly through the night. He was woken up on time by the system in the morning, his black hair a mess as he groggily made his way to the bathroom to wash up.
“Splash! Splash! Splash…”
He bent down and splashed cold water on his face, asking in his mind, “System, has the program’s bus arrived downstairs yet?”
System: “Yes, currently 11 trainees have boarded.”
“Okay.”
Quentin turned off the faucet and wiped the water from his face. “I’ll change clothes and go downstairs.”
His luggage had long been packed. From the pile of flashy clothes prepared by the system, he picked out a dark-toned silk shirt, paired with black casual suit pants, and ordinary white sneakers.
The clothes generated by the system were not only flashy but also subtly coquettish.
For example, this shirt, at first glance, appeared to have dark purple double-layered roses blooming all over, but upon closer inspection, one could see many passionate kissy lips resembling petals hidden among the branches.
The shirt collar was also very low-cut. Although Quentin didn’t mind showing a bit (men with good figures show it off openly, right?), considering the style of “La liberté,” he still fished out a black tie and fastened it in front of his chest, barely securing the buttonless collar.
Quentin dragged his luggage and opened the door. This time, he didn’t run into anyone while taking the elevator downstairs.
He walked out of the hotel entrance. The sunlight pouring down was intense and dazzling, almost overexposing him, making him as white as a splash of white paint on vibrant oil colors.
“…Holy shit.”
A trainee sitting by the window on the bus suddenly caught sight of a white, dazzling figure. Squinting for a better look, he exclaimed again, “Holy shit!!”
The trainee sitting next to him elbowed him in amusement. “What’s wrong with you? We’re on the show now, watch your language.”
“No… you, look for yourself!”
Lu Kui grabbed Zhong Qu’s arm and pulled him toward the window, pointing vigorously at the glass, his words almost incoherent. “Oh my god, that person… how can someone look like that in real life?”
He didn’t control his volume much, so many people in the bus followed his words and curiously looked out the window.
Thus, the camera crew outside the bus captured a scene where all the windows were filled with wide-eyed faces, one head, two heads, three heads stacking up, and some faces even pressed directly against the glass…the scene was quite comical.
This scene was later called “One of NS’s Top Ten Famous Moments” by viewers.
Haha, I’m reminded of that one scene where Jinu in Kpop demon hunters first appeared before Rumi.
Quentin boarded the bus under the stares of so many people.
He didn’t look up at the windows before getting on, so the moment he stepped through the bus door, he felt countless intense gazes piercing toward him…
“…”
Quentin made eye contact with the crowd standing in the bus and felt a rare moment of hesitation. Was this some kind of welcome ceremony? With everyone standing up to greet the new person… or something like that?
He was puzzled internally, but his expression remained calm. Unfazed by the countless stares, he picked up his luggage and continued forward.
“Does the luggage go here?”
Quentin noticed that the first ten rows of seats on the bus were empty, with gaps between seats stuffed with large and small bags of luggage. Before placing his luggage, he turned to the staff by the door and asked quietly.
“Y… yes.”
The staff member couldn’t help blinking repeatedly. Being stared at up close by these green eyes face-to-face was… truly breathtaking!
“Thank you.”
Quentin nodded politely, then effortlessly lifted his suitcase and stuffed it into the aisle in front of a seat.
After storing his luggage, he walked toward the trainees sitting in the back.
“Um… Quentin?”
A gentle voice came from the window seat on the left side of the second-to-last row.
Quentin followed the voice and met the gaze of a handsome boy with pleasant features who looked easygoing.
The other party smiled, his eyes curving. “Do you want to sit next to me? There’s no one here.”
Just as Quentin was about to respond, the system’s voice suddenly rang out in his mind;
“It moved, it moved, it moved!!! Host!! The plot deviation of that main character from last time moved again!!”
Quentin didn’t change his expression and walked toward the boy who had spoken to him.
The central aisle of the bus divided the row of seats into two sides, with three seats on each side.
The boy who invited Quentin was sitting in the middle of three seats. The window seat to his left was occupied by a boy with a foil-permed hairstyle, who was looking back and forth between Quentin and his companion with a horrified expression.
Quentin sat in the empty aisle seat and heard the boy next to him introduce himself. “I’m Zhong Qu, ‘Qu’ as in channel. I saw your official photo online a couple of days ago…it looked really good.”
“Thanks, I think so too.” Quentin replied modestly. “It’s hard to take a bad photo.”
Zhong Qu fell silent for two seconds, then burst out laughing. “So that’s your personality? I thought you were the cold, aloof, hard-to-approach type of handsome guy.”
The system muttered quietly, “Isn’t he?”
Quentin raised an eyebrow slightly and met Zhong Qu’s gaze. “I’m not aloof.”
The black-haired, boy with fair skin showed little expression. He had typical eyebrow-pressing eyes, with exceptionally well-defined brow bones…facial features that easily appeared cold and intimidating, giving a strong sense of distance.
He looked at Zhong Qu, the shadows under his brow bones covering his eyelids and the sides of his nose bridge, making the light green irises in the shadows appear bright, clear, and penetrating.
Zhong Qu felt his heartbeat skip a beat, and his breath stopped for half a second.
He didn’t suppress this small emotion, letting it show directly into his eyes. He looked at Quentin with admiration and smiled, “Yes, not aloof, just looks aloof.”
He asked again, “Are you alone? No teammates?”
Quentin withdrew his gaze and leaned back lazily against the seat. “Yeah.”
“So… you’re an independent trainee!” Zhong Qu suddenly understood. “No wonder I didn’t see a company label on your official photo. You’re performing alone? Aren’t you nervous?”
Quentin told the truth. “Not nervous.”
Zhong Qu laughed. “Right, you’re already this handsome, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Host, host…it has gone up 1% since just now!” The system chattered in Quentin’s head. “That main character card has unlocked 1.5%!”
Quentin replied mentally, “From now on, call this main character card No. 1, the next one with progress unlocked No. 2, and so on.”
“Okay!”
The system looked around the bus from the host’s perspective. “Host, so many people around are sneaking glances at you, hehe. They must also think you’re the best-looking! By the way, No. 1’s progress bar started moving after Zhong Qu initiated a conversation with you. Does that mean Zhong Qu is likely No. 1?”
“Plus, Zhong Qu also stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel. A week ago, you took the same elevator down with him…that 0.5% from that day must have been because of him too!”
“I ran into him a week ago?” Quentin was quite surprised.
System: “Yes, there were four of Zhong Qu’s teammates in the elevator that day too.”
Quentin said, “Oh, tell me, which four?”
