Dominate Showbiz: Media Tycoon Discovered My Talent-Chapter 38: One Hundred Thousand S Dollars

Both Dani and Kaija turned around. It was Liisi.

Kaija could already feel her head cooling seeing Liisi again after that time Liisi creepily overheard her conversation with Karl.

"I’m so jealous of you, sister," Liisi said with a light chuckle. "You get to drink boba tea all day and still stay so skinny! I have to eat vegetables like a rabbit and work out like crazy just to maintain my body."

Kaija wasn’t sure how to respond to that kind of flattery. "Uh... and you, uh..." she stammered. "You seem to have a lot of free time! Aren’t you on tour or something?"

"Oh, we’re on our break period for now. Plus, the KE Annual Festival is coming up. I have to get ready for that."

Kaija raised a brow. "Festival? Annual?"

Liisi brought a hand to her mouth in surprise. "Oh my God, sister, you haven’t heard? The KE Festival is something you cannot miss! Everyone looks forward to it every year. I bet the competition will be extremely fierce this year, especially now that we have someone as talented as you here with us."

"Eh, okay..." How did Liisi go from a festival to a competition? She totally didn’t get this girl. And she was sure Charles had never mentioned anything like that. She turned to Dani. "Do you know about this too?"

"Of course," Dani said nonchalantly. "The festival’s in two months. But it’s none of my concern. Only signed trainees and artists participate, competing against each other. I’m just a backup dancer. I might join the performances, if they ask."

She turned back to Liisi. "But what’s the point of all that? Aren’t you guys already debuted and famous?"

Liisi chuckled. "Because competition makes us all better, sister! It’s part of KE’s tradition that everyone must keep improving. But also... the grand prize is really worth it. There’s only one prize for everyone."

On her first vocal training day, she remembered all the trainees and artists filling the theatre hall must’ve been close to one hundred fifty people. That meant one against one fifty. "Only one prize for that many people?" Kaija asked. "What’s the prize then?"

"One hundred thousand S dollars."

Kaija’s eyes widened at once. Did Liisi just say S$100,000? That was almost half her godforsaken debt! She leaned forward over the table. Now Liisi had her full attention. "What does it take to win?"

"Nothing complicated!" Liisi claimed. "We produce our own songs and perform on the festival day! Like, an entire professionally produced single. We’ll have to handle everything, from songwriting to choreography, to the album cover, to the final production."

Kaija’s brow furrowed. That did sound complicated. "If so, then isn’t it a little unfair? I mean, you have your girl group, and I’m all alone. How can I handle all of that?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention!" Liisi exclaimed. "Everyone has to sign up as solo participants, even if they’re in a girl group like me. The festival is a playground for everyone to shine on their own!"

"Okay... then how’s the winner decided?"

"That part’s straightforward, sister. To keep it fair, the board of the KE Festival will take their vote."

Kaija fell silent. The whole thing didn’t sound like an easy catch at all. No wonder the prize was so huge.

"You have no idea, sister," Liisi sighed dramatically. "The songwriting is killing me! If you have any tips, please teach me! Now I have to go and prepare. I really want to win this year! Hope I’ll run into you again soon!" With that, Liisi flashed a sweet smile and headed off.

As for Kaija, she wasn’t sure if she hoped to run into Liisi anytime soon, but she had to admit, it was useful learning about the KE Festival from Liisi.

At the table, Dani and Kaija sat in silence, sipping their tea. Her mind was already spinning, trying to figure out how to pull all of that off. She could handle some songwriting, but choreography and production? Who was going to help her with that? She was still stuck on the ABCs of dancing. The S$100,000 grand prize suddenly felt way out of reach. She could practically feel her face drooping.

"Thinking about the festival?" Dani suddenly asked.

She startled, snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah... It’s just, I kinda need that money."

"What do you need that much for? A vacation?"

She waved Dani off. "Nah, it’s not like that. I’m just... deep in debt."

Dani raised a brow. "You’re into gambling?"

"Gosh, nooo," she exclaimed, pinching her temples. "I just got unlucky! I made a horrible mistake, and my previous employer demanded a huge compensation before they kicked me off the job!"

Dani scoffed, her lips curling into a smirk. "So you’re not just horrible at dancing. You’re horrible at everything."

Kaija scowled. "Will you please stop? Or I’ll never buy you boba again."

"I didn’t ask for it," Dani shrugged.

Kaija sank deeper into her scowl, chewing the boba in frustration.

A while later, Dani suddenly said, her tone turning serious. "You know, you’re not exactly as hopeless as Antony said. At least you matched the beat today after we figured out your problem."

Warmth bloomed in Kaija’s chest. She looked up at Dani, eyes sparkling with gratitude.

"I’ve watched that video of you," Dani added. "With a voice and stage presence like that, you could actually beat most of the artists at KE, if you put in the effort."

"You really mean it?" Kaija gasped.

"I do." Dani’s face eased into a confident smile. "And I’m gonna make sure you beat every single one of them at the festival this year."

Kaija stared at her, completely stunned. "Did you just say you’ll help me with the competition?"

"Did I speak an alien language?" Dani shot back dryly.

Kaija stayed frozen for a second, then jumped over and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Dani!" She shouted, shaking Dani wildly, her excitement overflowing. "You’ve saved my life! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Dani’s body stiffened at her sudden burst of joy. Her face contorted, but she didn’t push Kaija away. "Just make sure you get me more boba tea," Dani said, rolling her eyes.

Kaija kept smiling slyly like an idiot. She was sure Dani secretly loved that hug.

"By the way..." Dani said, "You haven’t even signed up yet."

Kaija froze in place. A moment later, she shot up from the chair, grabbed Dani and their boba teas, and sprinted toward the registration office at lightning speed.