Exclusive Rights to An Online Voice Actor

Chapter 64

Thank you Tinsunny for the treat

Editor: Whiteflare

There were three possible reasons why Crossing the bridge noodles stopped paying him any heed:

1. Crossing the bridge noodles was only slightly interested in him because of Bronze Sparrow Terrace. That’s why he came to take a jab at him and got tired of it after toying with him for a bit, so Crossing the bridge noodles didn’t care for him anymore.

2. Crossing the bridge noodles wasn’t too interested in him because he realised that there were no benefits to associating himself with some nobody.

3. Crossing the bridge noodles was completely uninterested in him.

Of course, the most ideal option for Qi Jing would be option 3, but he knew that in reality, it should be either 1 or 2. Which was honestly still okay, since anything that happens in the 2D world would just go away with the wind once unplugged.

Not finding any more messages directed at him from Crossing the bridge noodles, so he gave himself a relieved pat on the chest and switched over to the forum, carefully reading through the comments made by everyone about the competition.

Apart from expressing their opinions about the matches that have already concluded, the netizens were also engaged in fervently discussing their predictions for the future matches. The main reason for this was that with every instalment of the《Order to End the Heavens》voice acting competition, several CVs would shoot to fame from it. Even for those who didn’t win, their fame was bound to be far greater than before. This was especially crucial in the current online voice acting circle where people were becoming increasingly aggressive and ambitious and popularity virtually determined one’s future prospects.

All the CVs were dying to become famous overnight.

All the producers were waiting to discover talents with great potential.

And all the listeners were looking forward to hearing more great voices, to experience more eargasms—everyone was here with their own motives and purpose, so to speak.

Someone went to the official page of《Order to End the Heavens》and copied over the list of shortlisted contestants. This list naturally included the roles that Qi Jing and Shen Yan would be competing for later.

The discussion surrounding “Kitty の Papa” had been going on since the semi-finals of “Old Man Xiao Shan”. But the crowd was more concerned about Shen Yan’s next roles, “Bai Ke” and “Marquess Shunyang”.

[Comment 462]:

Speaking of the next few matches, I’m especially looking forward to the remaining two of “Kitty の Papa”! ⊙▽⊙

Although the old grandfather he voiced was very nice and touching, I ultimately still prefer listening to youthful voices (hides face) ...His normal voice gives people a comfortable and upright feeling, and for him to voice a despicable scumbag like “Bai Ke”... I find it a little hard to imagine... I think he would be more suitable for “Marquess Shunyang”, yep.

[Commnet 465]:

Shaking hands through space with the commenter on top! I also think it’s quite unexpected for Kitty’s Papa to register for “Bai Ke”; “Marquess Shunyang” definitely matches his vibe more. His “Old Man Xiao Shan” is so kind and amiable; voicing “Bai Ke” is basically a waste of spots. He might as well sign up for two lead roles!! ...It’s a shame just thinking about it!! Why didn’t you apply for a lead role, Kitty’s Papa!!（╯‵□′）╯︵┴─┴

[Comment 466]:

Oh save it, you... =。= With the Great God Bronze Sparrow Terrace there for “Marquess Shunyang”, all the other contestants that signed up for that role can only be cannon fodder, that’s why, it’s only wise to choose to avoid it.

Alright, I’ll admit I’m the Great God’s diehard fan... but I’m just sincerely stating a fact. ╮(╯▽╰)╭ As for the two lead roles, this Kitty’s Papa’s voice is probably only suitable for “Qin Tuo”? Our Great God also signed up for that, so I’m guessing he knew he couldn’t stand up to the Great God and gave up from the start. After all, you still need to look at popularity in the dubbing community. If this Kitty’s Papa isn’t revealed to be some super Great God hiding behind a smurf, it won’t be easy for him to win.

He might still have some hope if he does a decent job at “Bai Ke”, that’s all. (picks nose)

[Comment 467]:

...Wow isn’t a certain Great God’s fan above feeling real good about themselves... Don’t be so quick to declare your victory already, you might trip ╮（﹀＿﹀）╭

Although I also enjoy listening to Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s voice, for something like a competition, I doubt it’s enough to just have a good voice and large fanbase; the judges might not give a hoot about that. Personally, I think this Kitty’s Papa would be able to get at least top three for “Marquess Shunyang” if he’s able to perform his usual standard. As for “Bai Ke”... every cell in my body despises this character, so I won’t comment on it.

[Comment 468]:

Ugly sobbing... Every word the commenter above said... Bai Ke, this scumbag, is not one of, but the character I most wanted to kill off when I was reading the novel... My precious Fang Yisheng Ahhhhh! He got disabled because of that horrible poison!! ┭┮﹏┭┮

...

At this point in the discussion, the tide suddenly turned to Qi Jing because he was one of the contestants who registered for and was shortlisted for the role of “Fang Yisheng.” And of course, Crossing the bridge noodles who was also shortlisted couldn’t escape becoming the subject of gossip.

[Commnet 470]:

About that~ Speaking of “Fang Yisheng”, I took a look at the list someone posted above and there are a lot of familiar IDs from the online voice acting circle!! Of which, I think the most famous and high-profile of the bunch is probably Crossing the bridge noodles. In most of the audio dramas that I listen to, his youth voice comes up the most, though I think his teenage voice is really good too! (I really am a Shou voice-con...) “Fang Yisheng” belongs to the cold beauty type and when I tried to imagine his voice in it, it seemed really apt!! ~\(≧▽≦)/~

[Commnet 471]:

A “Moss stan” here to make our presence known!! If Little Sparrow really wins “Qin Tuo” and Little Noodles takes “ Fang Yisheng”, then I’ll really be able to start shipping the first and second lead when I’m playing the game!! ヾ(≧O≦)〃

I’m so looking forward to it with starry eyes!!

But come to think of it, Don’t ask for my return date actually signed up for both “Qin Tuo” and “Fang Yisheng”; is he being serious here... These two characters are completely different though? I actually started taking notice of him because of《Trap》. I liked his voice in the drama, so I went to search up his other works, but they turned out to be so different... I was a little disappointed... I still prefer the sultry 0.5 voice he did when he acted with Little Sparrow... (Fine, I’m con for weak Shou voice)

I’m not really optimistic for his next two matches, and even if I like his voice, he’s going up against two of my life’s cores! That’s definitely not going to work out!! ≧△≦

[Comment 472]:

W-Wha—?? Don’t ask for my return date is going to compete with the “Moss” couple?? Is this the start of a dramatic showdown while getting into a 3P?? (≧▽≦)/

At first, I didn’t really take note of the list but checking it out since everyone was talking about it, I feel really&#k2026; happy to see it! Gahahah!

Let me put on my serious face as I say the next words. I’ve had my eye on him since before he was in《Trap》. Will I say I prefer his Gong voice? Yes, that’s right, I’m a Gong-con, and more importantly, a charming playboy Gong voice-con! Don’t ask for my return date’s voice sounds rather bright and flamboyant—just the way I like it—but just how hard did he have to fake his voice in《Trap》for his dubbing to turn out that way...

Anyway, although I don’t have much expectations, I still want to listen to his performance, be it “Qin Tuo” or “Fang Yisheng”. <(￣︶￣)>

[Commnet 473]:

Weakly drifting through the many Sparrow and Rice Noodle fans&#k2026; I’m just a tiny Return Date fan.

I’ve been a fan of Return Date for a long time now and although he’s good at playing dead and has little work to show (Oi), his Weibo looks really interesting. I feel like he knows a lot, especially about current affairs and news, and I often see him reblogging and then writing comments that are spot on! (I think I’m going off tangent again&#k2026;)

I saw the girl from Comment 471 say that she wishes he would be a Shou all the way, but he’s super Gong on his Weibo, alright! He can either be a strong Shou with Bronze Sparrow Terrace, or a playboy Gong with Little Noodles—I don’t mind either way~ (Oi, oi, oi)

...

“Hey, hey, hey... Ladies, weren’t we just discussing the competition, why have we started to talk about relationship issues now?”

Qi Jing dejectedly banged his forehead on the table twice; he didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Ever since he voiced《Trap》and the drama that ensued on Weibo, every time he was mentioned on the forum, people would definitely bring up Bronze Sparrow Terrace or Crossing the bridge noodles or both.

“Haiz, I rather you guys put Kitty’s Papa and I together in discussion,” He sighed feebly and gave a helpless chuckle. He commented thusly although he understood that this was the most unlikely situation to ever happen.

He more or less had an idea of the direction the competition predictions were leaning now. Whether it’s “Qin Tuo” or “Fang Yisheng”, there wasn’t anyone who had much hopes for him, due to his lack of fame and sparse portfolio...

“But that makes it all the more exciting,” Qi Jing laughed.

He’s so excited for that moment when the tables are turned.

However, where there were fans, those antis could often soon follow after.

Qi Jing watched the many fights that revolved around him and through all those back-and-forths, the people engaged in it could be divided into three categories: real fans, real antis, and antis that disguised themselves as fans.

The real fans, for the most part, were open-minded and cheerful, liked to listen to dramas, liked good voices, and would often persuade both sides to reconcile when their idol got into an argument with someone else.

The real antis would ignore everything and as long as the target of their hate was there, they would just go up and curse, without any reason or trigger.

As for those disguised antis, they would appear to be talking out of anger for their favourite CV, but in reality, they were just attacking someone in the name of being a fan, and might not genuinely like that CV. After all, if one genuinely liked someone, they would not push that person to the forefront of the storm. Their real motive was to sow discord and take pleasure in the fans of different idols going at each other.

These few comments before him right now would fall into the last category—

[Comment 484]:

What a joke. I’m really thoroughly disgusted seeing those people talking about CPs on top. Is this Don’t ask for my return date person addicted to riding on others’ coattails? First, he had this ambiguous relationship with Bronze Sparrow, and now he’s instructing his fans to pull some publicity stunt by hyping the CP? If I remember correctly, didn’t he drag the Great God down because before he took a long time to submit his recordings, and ended up exposed by an insider for being two-faced?

Although that post was deleted later and he was in the limelight for a good while after the release of《Trap》and no one found trouble with him, however, the heavens know everything that we do. He’s recently gone back to his old tricks by riding on Crossing the bridge noodles’ coattails now, isn’t he? And what’s up with Crossing the bridge noodles, being baited so easily. What a waste of any fondness I felt for him... Fan turned passer-by.

[Comment 485]:

╮(￣▽￣”)╭ Hahaha, I think the joke is you, comment 485. You call yourself a Rice Noodle Fan? Then do you know the people who say the nastiest things under the《Trap》post are all you Rice Noodle Fans?

There is no evidence to support the claim that Don’t ask for my return date, yet you’re still bringing it up to stir shit, then can I suspect that you’re the one who made that post? Taking a hundred steps back, Crossing the bridge noodles is obviously the one who’s riding on people’s coattails. Look at that confession he made towards Don’t ask for my return date, the Weibo is still there and he even did it in front of his official CP, Bronze Sparrow Terrace. So can I say that this Crossing the bridge noodles is very cunning? After becoming popular from being with the Great God, he immediately turns around and seduces other people. It’s not even an exaggeration to call him a white-eyed wolf.

Go have a look yourself, there are still posts related to the “Time Limit” ship floating around. Do you dare say that those weren’t created by you Rice Noodle fans yourselves? You shot yourself in the foot and still don’t know, truly deplorable.

All the best, Return Date! Snatch the Great God over and let those Rice Noodle fans cry themselves to sleep!

[Comment 486]:

I can only scoff at the two comments above mine. Little Noodles’ ability is there for all to see, you think he needs someone else’s help to make it? Don’t go around spreading such moronic thinking.

While Little Noodles might not have as many fans as Bronze Sparrow Terrace, his followers on Weibo are at least in five figures, and he has more dramas than Bronze Sparrow Terrace, all of high quality too. He’s not someone who made it thanks to fans. You Sparrow fans are really shameless, constantly crediting it to the Great God, quit being so narcissistic already.

The same goes for Don’t ask for my return date. Putting aside the matter of him being entangled with Bronze Sparrow Terrace, what’s he trying to do mentioning Little Noodles Weibo the other time?? He only has a few thousand followers but I guess he’s managed to gain quite a lot of attention from leeching off others left and right. He didn’t even perform well on his most popular work《Trap》. Tch. ╮(╯_╰)╭

[Comment 487]:

...I wanna say that this is the thread for discussing the 《Order to End the Heavens》competition. Can the people who want to bring up all these love dramas open your own thread!! Be it Bronze Sparrow Terrace or Crossing the bridge noodles or Don’t ask for my return date, you can discuss it here if it’s related to the competition, but settle your personal affairs elsewhere! Don’t dirty my eyes!! (I originally had a pretty good impression of these three CVs but I’m about to turn into a passer-by thanks to these fans...)

[Comment 488]:

I originally had a pretty good impression of these three CVs but I’m about to turn into a passer-by thanks to these fans+10086

I’m not interested in CVs’ private life at all, I’m purely a drama listener; if both their voice and acting skills are good then it’s plus points for me; if the fans are sensible people, additional points. However, whatever point I have for these three are almost exhausted by the fans... Look, I will be objective when voting for the competition—I will vote for whoever that can impress and move me. Who cares if they ride on coattails or try to pull publicity stunts with ships, this lady here only cares about skill, regardless of character.

...

The comments following that were finally brought back on track, but before that, some of the words said were still so nasty they were too hard to ignore.

Qi Jing sighed a second time.

He had a bad habit—it’s something Ninth Lady had mentioned to him before, other people had also told him about it, but he hadn’t been able to correct it. Whenever it came to matters in the 2D world, he always adopted the attitude of compromising to whittle down a major issue until it became nothing. Sometimes, because he’s unwilling to meet the disputes head-on, people would take that as a chance to attack him and accuse him of feeling guilty, and things would end up spiralling in a worse direction.

If he had been more assertive and insistent in his ideas back then, he wouldn’t have performed《Trap》the way he did.

If he had drawn a line back then, there wouldn’t be all these people constantly bringing up who’s coattails he’s trying to ride on and who he was trying to use to get exposure through their ship.

“Looks like I have to set things straight,” he muttered to himself; not just for himself, but for Shen Yan as well.

First, he wanted to start from Crossing the bridge noodles.

He had personally witnessed the way Crossing the bridge noodles treated his fans, and honestly... although those little girls were young, they didn’t seem to have that much firepower. Moreover, through some clues, he could see that Crossing the bridge noodles usually made sure to restrain them, so it’s unlikely that they would do something like launch malicious attacks. He’ll have a talk with him and the two of them would issue a statement together to clear up the matter, which would probably be able to prevent more offensive comments from coming.

“Noodles-kun, looks like I really need to have a good talk about life with you...”

As he said that, Qi Jing opened Weibo again and searched for Crossing the bridge noodles’ homepage after taking a deep breath. It was then that he suddenly noticed that there was a tick mark next to Crossing the bridge noodles’ avatar—it was a sign that this person was already following him. Qi Jing was stunned. When did this happen? He didn’t even notice.

Back when《Trap》was first released, he only followed Bronze Sparrow Terrace out of courtesy, but he had never followed Crossing the bridge noodles.

This time, it’s really... Ah, he feels so embarrassed.

It just so happens that the little dot next to the private message button was green at the moment—an indication that the other party was online. After Qi Jing clicked on the follow button, their status became “Mutuals” and since he saw that Crossing the bridge noodles was online, he clicked on the private message box and got ready to use his right hand to slowly type out his message. But to his surprise, a private message alert popped up in the next second.

CV – Crossing the bridge noodles: You’re online now, right? I just saw that you followed me.

—It’s really rare to find people online this early in the morning.

Qi Jing could only close his own message window and directly reply to the other party.

CV – Don’t ask for my return date: Mhm.

CV – Crossing the bridge noodles: You didn’t add me on QQ, is it because it’s inconvenient?

CV – Don’t ask for my return date: QQ? I don’t know your QQ number...

CV – Crossing the bridge noodles: I pm-ed you two days ago, you probably didn’t see the message.

Two days ago—the day of the “Liu Suyu” match.

When Qi Jing saw that message, he suddenly remembered that there was a new feature on Weibo called “Messages from non-mutuals”, so he hurriedly went back and saw the message quietly sitting there in his mailbox.

“Shi...” He sucked in a breath of cold air. So the other person was the one who wanted to talk about life? Ah... he’s sinned...

The other party had come to ask for an explanation, because he had seen the unpleasant comments on the forum—was what Qi Jing thought. So he painstakingly typed down his reply, word by word.

CV – Don’t ask for my return date: I’m sorry, because there was no notification I didn’t see it in time. It’s quite inconvenient for me to type, so if we can voice call on QQ, could we do that?

CV – Crossing the bridge noodles: OK, but I have to go to work at 9 AM, so I can’t talk for long.

So he’s a working adult huh... As his voice sounded very young, Qi Jing thought he was a fresh-faced college freshman or even a high school student or something. How surprising.

Qi Jing instinctively looked at the time—it was 8.30 AM now, they still had half an hour.

He opened the QQ app and the moment he logged in, his auditory senses were completely taken over by a loud, non-stop beeping sound, giving him a headache for a moment. It’s okay, he’d voice call Crossing the bridge noodles first, then look at the messages people left for him during the call.

He sent a friend request to the number given by the other party.

He didn’t think that Crossing the bridge noodles even set three questions for incoming requests:

1. Who are you?

2. What are you contacting me regarding?

3. I’m not accepting new shows, do you still want to continue?

Qi Jing raised a brow and after some thought, typed out his answer:

1. Don’t ask for my return date.

2. Shouldn’t be anything bad.

3. It’s okay, it’s a drama you’ve already accepted.

After sending it, the friend request was quickly approved. Qi Jing was still fiddling with the audio jack of his headphones when the voice call from Crossing the bridge noodles already came. After he accepted it, the voice that came to his ears was one that sounded rather unfamiliar but it did sound “clear as water”, as the fans put it.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” The nasally sound in his voice from the day of the match was gone; seemed like he was recovering quite well from his cold.

“Mhm,” Qi Jing replied and didn’t know what else to say in that moment so he politely greeted the other man, “...Good morning.”

The person on the other end of the line seemed to be slightly taken aback as he only replied after a pause, “Good morning.”

Thank goodness, the atmosphere was much more peaceful than the hostile, tense atmosphere he had expected—it wasn’t to the point that every word they said was covered in gunpowder, ready to start a fight any time.

“What did you mean when you said ‘it’s a drama you’ve already accepted’?” After a short moment of silence, Crossing the bridge noodles suddenly brought up this abrupt topic.

Hearing those words, Qi Jing lifted his head in confusion and stared blankly at the undulating green dots in the volume area.

What? Has this man completely forgotten that he’ll be playing as a couple in an audio drama with me? Or is it that this drama is too absurd that he selectively erased it from his memory? Ah, but those lines that’d zap anyone with a hundred thousand volts of lightning really make you not want to recall it...

“You probably have too many dramas on your plate and forgot about it,” Qi Jing offered an explanation for him.

As he said that, his fingers moved to click on the flashing penguin avatar at the bottom right corner of the screen, intending to take a quick glance at the other messages during their conversation.

And quite coincidentally, the first message he clicked on was actually from the producer of this show they were talking about—it was from Jade Butterfly.

Looking at this ID which he hasn’t seen in a long while, Qi Jing thought to himself: how timely of her.

“The producer is called...”

Before he could say the words Jade Butterfly, his eyes suddenly landed on the contents of her message and his voice instantly stalled. Blinking at the screen, he slowly straightened his sitting posture as his brows furrowed together.

Jade Butterfly: Return Date, this Crossing the bridge noodles is really too cunning and good at playing games. I’m so disappointed in him. Don’t ever believe anything he says to you. Don’t believe it—

A/N: _(:з」∠)_ Needing to split myself into so many different commenters in also skill...

Congratulations on Little Noodles’ official appearance!! ~\(≧▽≦)/~

Congratulations to the return of Jade Butterfly!! ~\(≧▽≦)/~

Lilies: For those who aren’t on the discord, we’ll be taking a break from updating until the end of Aug cause my exams are here

Whiteflare: nearly forgot Jade Butterfly existed... The plot thickens!