Rewind With A Superstar System-Chapter 89: RICH!!
<🎧 Song Recommendation: People Watching by Conan Gray>
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[New Milestone Quest Triggered: The Empire Business]
● Objective: Establish a legally recognized Independent Record Label and successfully release a debut album (Minimum 10 Tracks).
● Reward: 5,000 EXP, 1x S-grade Skill, Title: [Mogul].
● Failure Penalty: Inability to complete the quest before the deadline will permanently reset your [Vocals] stat to base level.
● Deadline: October 30th, 2019.
Von stared at the glowing blue text floating in his vision, his eyes widening in awe. He couldn’t help but smile wryly. If he had previously harbored any thoughts of taking it easy and riding the wave of his hit single for a few more months, the System had just forcefully erased that option.
A permanent reset of his [Vocals] stat would essentially end his career. He didn’t have a choice but to lock in and record a full studio album.
Still, it was a massive plus for his long-term strategy. Dropping a debut album now would perfectly capitalize on the insane, global hype Masquerade was currently generating.
Plus, he already had a handful of unreleased "originals" from his Project: Star days. He wasn’t starting entirely from scratch.
Von swiped the blue screen away and returned his attention to Emily.
"We’re gonna do pretty alright, Em," Von said, offering her a confident nod. "Let’s go home and get to work."
***
The rest of June was anything but smooth sailing.
Returning to Queens didn’t mean returning to a quiet life. The internet was completely ablaze, and Emily had to navigate a minefield of daily press requests, podcast invitations, and aggressive sponsorship emails.
They spent the next two weeks practically living out of black SUVs, doing a grueling circuit of radio interviews, magazine photoshoots, and late-night digital appearances just to keep the Masquerade momentum at a boiling point.
***
(Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019)
Von lay back on the fabric of the living room couch, absently trailing a hand over Loki’s soft, dark fur. The small apartment hadn’t changed at all in the past few weeks. Despite his sudden, meteoric rise to fame, Von simply hadn’t had the time or the energy to move out or buy new furniture.
As he waited for Emily to arrive, Von pulled up his System interface. The Void Lynx had indeed leveled up in this while.
[System Pet Acquired]
● Species: Void Lynx
● Name: Loki
● Level: 2
● Emote Resonance: 15%
● Skills: Shadow Morph (B), Emote Consumer (A)
Von tapped on the new, highly graded skill to read its description.
[Emote Consumer (A)]
● Description: Allows the Void Lynx to permanently consume and eradicate emotions in the surrounding environment.
● Cost: 10% Emote Resonance per use.
Von stared at the text, initially confused by the mechanics, but the implications quickly clicked into place. It was both powerful and slightly scary.
Loki’s innate ability allowed her to passively feed on the excess emotional energy that was generated. But this new, active A-grade skill meant she could act as a literal psychological vacuum.
It was an incredible tool for navigating the high-pressure music industry, but the warning label was clear. Loki could consume genuine positive emotions too, like the excitement of excited fans.
He hadn’t really wanted her to use it yet, preferring to wait for a desperate, high-stakes opportunity before testing an A-grade psychological wipe on himself or Emily.
Just as he closed the interface, three sharp knocks rapped against the apartment door.
Von sat up, carefully moving Loki to the cushion beside him, and unlocked the door.
Emily stood in the hallway. She was absolutely beaming. The heavy, dark circles that usually lived under her eyes were completely gone.
Her hair was styled perfectly, and she was wearing a sharp, designer blazer over a simple white t-shirt.
"You’re looking gorgeous today," Von said honestly, stepping back to let her in.
"Oh, shut up, Von," Emily waved the compliment aside with a laugh.
He really meant it, though. The transformation over the last few weeks was undeniable. She had entirely stopped her bad habit of chain-smoking; the sheer volume of high-level meetings and constant press runs meant she rarely had the time or the privacy to take a drag.
While she still took a puff or two late at night when the stress peaked, she looked infinitely healthier and more vibrant than the broken, exhausted woman Von had first met.
"Well, the compliment doesn’t matter," Emily said, dropping her portfolio onto the small dining table and practically vibrating with excitement. "Because today is the day, Von. I’ve officially secured and consolidated all of our liquid cash."
Von’s ears perked up instantly. He walked over to the table, looking forward to the breakdown. "Talk to me!"
Emily opened her laptop.
"First, the Vanguard contract," Emily began, pulling up a summarized PDF. "We’ve been over the terms, but it’s officially locked. It’s a guaranteed $750,000 base salary for a one-year exclusivity contract. They provide your entire wardrobe for all public appearances, which saves us a fortune in styling fees. They take a 15% cut of any co-branded merchandise we design together. And, most importantly, we retain 100% creative control over your music."
Von nodded, tracing the edge of the table. "Right. And the money?"
"They wired the signing bonus advance this morning," Emily grinned, tapping a key. "That’s $150,000 directly into our new corporate holding account."
Von’s mouth fell open slightly, but he kept quiet, eager to hear the fun part.
"But that’s just the corporate money," Emily continued, her eyes shining as she pulled up the backend analytics dashboards for Musify and InkTube. "Most of our actual capital comes from the streams."
She turned the laptop so Von could see the staggering graphs.
"The lyric video for Masquerade generated three hundred and fifty thousand streams," Emily recited. "Which is solid for a static video. But the official music video? It is still the number one trending music video globally as of this morning. It has racked up 45 million views in just a few weeks!"
Von stared at the number. Forty-five million. It was difficult to even comprehend that many human beings watching him perform.
"And across all audio platforms, Mango, Musify, Tidal, the track itself just crossed 95 million streams," Emily finished, leaning back in her chair.
Von knew the data was climbing, but hearing the consolidated numbers out loud was deeply validating. He was incredibly proud of what they had built.
"So, after calculating the standard payout rates per stream across the different platforms, factoring in the revenue from the three club shows we did last month, adding the Vanguard advance, and..." Emily paused, offering a wry smile, "...after taking my standard cut and setting aside the mandatory state and federal tax reserves..."
Emily hit the enter key on her calculator app. A single, bold number flashed on the screen.
"Our finalized, liquid, operational capital is $1.2 million," Emily announced.
When Von heard the money, he practically went bonkers. He let out a loud, disbelieving laugh, running both hands through his hair.
"A million bucks," Von breathed. "That is literally more than the prize money they offered on Project: Star!"
"Yep!" Emily laughed, closing the laptop with a sharp snap. "You’re a big shot now, Von. And all of this is liquid cash. I’ll be transferring it into our primary business account by the end of the day."
