Exclusive Rights to An Online Voice Actor

Chapter 68 - f

TLC: Lilies

Edittor: Whiteflare

What surprised Qi Jing more than the appearance of that “Five” was how Shen Yan didn’t reply with a message, calling him directly instead.

“‘Five’? Where did you meet him?” Shen Yan’s voice was small, quite the opposite of the scale of his surprise.

Although that was clearly a question, it could still count as an answer to Qi Jing’s inquiry.

Evidently they knew each other—

“So you really know who that person is.” Qi Jing’s curiosity overshadowed his worries—after all, it was uncommon for Shen Yan to call him outside his break time.

He told Shen Yan about receiving the message from “Five” on Weibo and the content of their conversation. As Qi Jing did that, Shen Yan listened silently on the other end of the microphone throughout, not saying a word. There were a few times where Shen Yan wanted to say something, but he ultimately didn’t and only after the other was done did he sigh softly.

“Since he suggested so, then let’s just do as he says... He has no malice.”

That was Shen Yan’s conclusion.

Having his curiosity increase after reaching a conclusion was something pretty rare for Qi Jing.

That’s why he couldn’t help himself from inquiring about the main point, “So who exactly is this ‘Five’?”

Shen Yan only chuckled weakly, “It’s someone I got to know through voice acting back in the day... His nickname at the time was precisely ‘Five’. Only a few of us knew that nickname at the time, that’s why he came up with this ID on purpose. I don’t think intends to hide his identity.”

So that’s how it is.

If that guy was Shen Yan’s voice acting buddy, then any doubts he had could be dispelled.

But Qi Jing still had one more question, “But putting the matter aside of how he knew we know each other... Since he knows you, then why didn’t he contact you directly?”

Shen Yan wanted to reply, yet he didn’t utter a word for a long while.

“It’s because... I didn’t reply to him for a long period of time, so he might have thought I had blocked him.” Saying this, Shen Yan once again sighed softly, yet he didn’t explain why he would want to blacklist him, “I’m sorry that you got dragged into this... If you are bothered by his actions, I will go have a talk with him.”

At the moment, Qi Jing was still lost in thought, processing what kind of behaviour would make someone as gentle as Shen Yan block that guy, and when he heard those words, he hurriedly said, “It’s okay. At least what he said was quite reasonable; in any case, I should be thanking him for that.”

Hearing him say so, Shen Yan laughed softly and didn’t delve deeper into the topic.

At that time, the meows and barks of the animals together with the nurses’ inquiring voices that could be heard in the background forced an end to their conversation. Shen Yan was still in the middle of his shift, and Qi Jing didn’t want to delay him for too long, so he hurriedly told him to go back to work. He also didn’t forget to remind him to also make some time to eat dinner.

After the call ended, Qi Jing fell into deep thought as he sat before his desk, his attention shifting back from the phone to the computer screen.

To be honest, he did not approve of prying into others’ private matters.

Any VA in the online voice acting circle knew that this kind of behaviour was repulsive.

But the information he had at hand now was like a half-written article—even though after the release, the readers would comprehend the gist of the story, they would still be unable to understand the entirety of it. For someone with a journalist background like Qi Jing, this feeling was really unbearable, as if a hundred tiny little paws were clawing at his heart.

“I really want to ask ‘Five’ why he would possibly get blocked...”

Qi Jing mumbled, doing his best to repress that strong urge to ask that question as he stared at the flickering cursor in the blank private message box. After who knows how many he’s closed and reopened the private message window, he finally couldn’t help but ask a question that was still related to himself, but didn’t really count as prying into Shen Yan’s private matters: How did you find out that I know “Kitty の Papa”?

After leaving this message, Qi Jing fell into the monotonous rhythm of browsing the forum, then browsing private messages, then browsing while listening to that evening’s first competition.

He thought that since “Five” registered a new weibo account to get in touch with him, then he shouldn’t possibly abandon it after using it just that one time.

As expected, that account had once again come online at 8PM, just in time for the break between the auditions.

Instead of answering Qi Jing’s question immediately, he asked him a question in return.

★Five★: ╮(￣▽￣”)╭ Haha, didn’t I say that you have to be careful while using YY? It’s fine if you want to know more, but it would be rather unfair if I was the only one providing the information. Courtesy should be reciprocated—if Mr Don’t ask for my return date is willing to tell me what’s your relationship and how you got to know each other, then I can tell you how I discovered that in return. What do you think? It’s a pretty fair deal, right?

... This “Five” really was sharp, all of his questions were on point.

Still, this at least confirmed that he had little understanding of his relationship with Shen Yan, so he probably inferred it from some kind of clue he found on YY.

Currently, the truth behind the relationship between “Don’t ask for my return date” and “Kitty &#k306R; Papa” couldn’t be revealed to the world&#k2014;he had to guard against Jade Butterfly’s little tricks, especially considering those tricks of her could influence their auditions in the future. That’s why not even Shen Yan’s friends could know about it&#k2014;no one could.

Qi Jing thought for a moment, deciding to go with a reply that doesn’t deviate too much from the truth.

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: We’re friends. Since you’ve checked the post thread for ⟪Trap⟫, then you should also know that I’m part of the cast, right? We got to know each other while playing in that audio drama.

★Five★: Is it really that simple? That’s all it takes to get him to willingly take part in the competition? I don’t believe you.

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: That would count as the second question. I’ve already replied to your first question, so you have to reply to mine first if you want me to consider if I want to reply to the second one.

★Five★: ... Pft, hahahaha! I like that counter! Seems like you also aren’t that simple yourself~

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: ╮(￣▽￣”)╭

★Five★: Hehehe, fine, then I’ll give you a clue—do you remember which channel the two of you visited before the “Old Man Xiao Shan” audition?

Seeing this reply, a speck of light flickered before Qi Jing’s eyes, illuminating a certain corner of his memory.

Then it hit him and a soft “ah” of realisation escaped his lips.

Channel... It was the channel he used to help Shen Yan set up his equipment; the channel had quite a funny name—it was called “chitter-chatter”. A few years ago, it was once a channel for the small and obscure CVs to practise voice acting, but it grew completely desolate in the past two years. Qi Jing always thought that those listed in the channel were only there to accumulate points, the “zombie” members who just wanted to level up their accounts—he didn’t know there was still someone “alive” there.

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: So you were in the “chitter-chatter” that day?

★Five★: Mhm... To be fair, it was quite a coincidence; I used to visit that channel often two years ago (of course, at that time I didn’t use this ID). A few days ago, after the “Liu Suyu” audition, I visited that channel during the half an hour break to reminisce, because... a person I know could appear there, so I stayed online to see if they would come.

★Five★: In the end, I suddenly heard someone opening the mic in the channel and saying something about “remembering to change the ID” (that’s right, that person was you), so I took a look and discovered it was you.

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: ... So it was all due to my carelessness... _(:з」∠)_

★Five★: That’s why I said that to prevent things like that from happening, it’s best to use side accounts for safety. Lalala~ ╮(￣▽￣”)╭

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: ... Understood, we will make sure to use a side account... _(:з」∠)_

★Five★: But we’ll still need his consent for this matter.

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: I asked him already, he said he agrees.

With the conversation coming to this point, “Five” suddenly went silent for quite a while, and it took him a long time to send the next reply.

★Five★: Mr Don’t ask for my return date, did you tell him my ID when you told him about it?

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: Mhm, I told him.

★Five★: Then how did he react?

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: He said that you don’t mean any harm, and it’s fine to do as you said.

★Five★: ......

★Five★: ......

★Five★: THEN WHY DID HE BLOCK ME FOR SO LONG!! *topples over* 〒▽〒

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: ... To be honest, he didn’t block you at all.

—He just didn’t want to reply to you, that’s all.

Qi Jing automatically added that sentence in his thoughts.

He didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt that this current “Five” was a bit amusing. He felt the urge to laugh, but he couldn’t help but feel sympathy.

★Five★: He didn’t block me??

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: Mhm, that’s what he told me.

★Five★: He even told you about that?? Tsk tsk, he really tells you a lot... Your relationship can’t possibly be that simple.

Crap...

Qi Jing cursed in his heart. He forgot that the other party was capable of sounding out their relationship based on how much Shen Yan told him—continuing this topic wouldn’t be safe.

Qi Jing didn’t expect “Five” would have a gossipy soul that matched his own; the other kept “hounding” him with questions.

★Five★: Right, I already answered your question, so you should answer my second question—is your relationship really so simple?? (look at my serious eyes)

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: Yes, the answer’s finished.

★Five★: ... I don’t believe you... （︶︿︶）

CV-Don’t ask for my return date: That’s the truth.

Boyfriend also counts as a type of “friend”, and a romantic relationship is a very simple relationship as well—

Qi Jing played around with those definitions, his face not even blushing. Seeing the content of the private message box refreshing continuously, the corners of his lips curled up slightly, and even typing with one hand became less of a hassle.

In fact, even if it was just a misunderstanding on his part, it seemed that he and this “Five” really hit it off, and he didn’t feel the distance or awkwardness between strangers with the other party..

Looking at their chat record alone, it seemed just like Shen Yan said—that guy held no ill will. He didn’t know what could have happened in the past that would result in “Five” only daring to help Shen Yan by contacting him covertly. Qi Jing wished to help recover that relationship, since friends that truly cared about oneself were hard to come by.

Unfortunately though, the “Bai Ke” audition was about to start soon; Qi Jing needed some time to help Shen Yan with the preparation before the competition and couldn’t continue chatting, so he hurriedly said his goodbyes. The other party didn’t stop him, only begging him to not tell Shen Yan about the content of their conversation, his reason being that “otherwise, he would not only block me, but even possibly blacklist me this time”.

Saying so, he also included the crying thick noodles emote for the effect.

Qi Jing laughed as he agreed.

After leaving the weibo page, he signed in with the new YY account he created that afternoon. He prepared the account name and the account data beforehand, then entered the channel dedicated for the competition according to the official guidelines. He logged into that account using Shen Yan’s computer, then logged into his account with his own computer in the other room, so that it looked like Kitty の Papa and Don’t ask for my return date were both present at the same time. When Shen Yan was back, he would immediately run back to his own room to listen from that side.

After seeing quite a number of auditions already, Qi Jing was already more or less used to the boisterous atmosphere at the opening, as well as thousands of people being online at the same time. Yang Chunqu’s introduction was about the same every time, so the first minutes before the actual start of the competition were relatively easy on the contestants and the listeners alike.

But the moment the lines chosen by the organizators got published, any calmness ceased to be.

“Dear contestants, attention please! It’s now 8:21PM Beijing time, and we’ve just finished introducing the competition rules as well as the three judges for this stage. Next, we will be publishing the lines for the semi-finals of the “Bai Ke” audition, please pay attention to the announcement!” It was already the third day for Yang Chunqu to host the competition, yet she was still just as full of vigour—it truly made one admire her.

Qi Jing fixed his gaze on the announcement window.

He wanted to send Shen Yan the lines, so he had a chance to think through how he would act out those lines before he’s back at home.

Soon enough, the content of the official announcement changed from the contestants’ numbers to the lines for three scenes. Without any surprises, according to the prompts for the scenes those lines appeared in, the two of them were dialogues with “Fang Yisheng”, while the last scene was a dialogue with the master “Old Man Xiao Shan”.

Shen Yan’s prediction wasn’t wrong, that character truly had a lot of opportunities to play in the same scenes as “Fang Yisheng”.

The finals would be in a format of acting with other voice actors, so aside from being familiar with one’s own role, knowing the other contestants’ roles was also crucial.

But because of “Fang Yisheng” in scene prompts, the fans of the original novel caused a bout of complaints in the chat, especially the numerous “Squares” fans of Fang Yisheng.

Audience 1: （╯‵□′）╯︵┴─┴ I just knew that there would be the scenes involving Fang Yisheng in the lines the organisers chose! Just looking at it reminds me of the scenes in the novel! I hate it so much I’m typing these words through clenched teeth!!

Audience 2: （╯‵□′）╯︵┴─┴ The commentor above, you’re not alone!!【*sobs* I clearly hate Bai Ke so much, yet still came to listen to this audition, I must be a M...】

Audience 3: Pfft hahaha, looking up at the novel fans above. The non-novel reader expresses my lack of pressure, as long as it’s a nice youthful voice, I won’t refuse anyone (facepalm).

Audience 4: ... No offence to the commenter above, but Bai Ke’s youthful voice is definitely not nice.

Audience 5: ... Bai Ke’s youthful voice has no chance of sounding nice +1 His character setting is a sinister and petty person, right? I imagine his voice should sound rather sharp and evil, the kind that you know he’s the bad guy the moment you hear it.

Audience 6: I’ve checked the list of contestants who qualified for this round, and indeed there’s a lot of “bad guy” kind of youthful voices! Ahahahaha~

...

“Then wouldn’t that be pretty bad for Shen Yan?” Qi Jing instinctively shook his head.

To be honest, it wasn’t only the listeners—he also felt like Shen Yan’s voice sounded way too... not evil.

There was one thing Jade Butterfly said right—whenever Shen Yan talked, the feeling he gave as he spoke was that of an upright young man, that went without saying. Moreover, Qi Jing already pretty much had a fixed image of Shen Yan through their interactions in real life, so to be perfectly honest, looking at those lines, he just couldn’t imagine how Shen Yan would act them out.

It shouldn’t be that bad that he makes himself a laughingstock, right...

Qi Jing silently rested his forehead on his hand.

It’s half an hour before the end of Shen Yan’s shift... He said that the evening shifts aren’t that busy, so he should be able to take a call.

Qi Jing took advantage of the fact that the first contestant had yet to start his performance and took off his headphones, calling Shen Yan’s phone number.

“Duu—duu—duu...”

Because no one answered the call, Qi Jing was greeted with a long series of dial tones until a beep from the telecom sounded, redirecting him to voicemail.

It took Qi Jing by surprise; he simply hung up and tried again—still, not one answered.

He began to feel especially uneasy for some reason; sitting in his chair, he straightened his back a little, calling that number for the third time, unwilling to give up. At last, a second before the redirection to the voicemail turned on, the call came through.

Qi Jing breathed a sigh of relief, then said hurriedly, “Shen Yan, you finally—”

But to his surprise, the voice he heard was that of a young nurse, who told him in a crisp voice, “I’m sorry, it’s not Dr Shen who took the call. May I ask you if you’re Mr Qi?”

Qi Jing was taken aback, and it took him a while to come back to his senses, “That’s right, I’m Mr Qi.”

The young nurse continued, “Dr Shen is currently in the clinic, I’m one of the assistant nurses. We have just received an emergency patient—the animal was in a very dangerous state and needed to undergo surgery immediately. Dr Shen had just started the surgery five minutes ago, and he’s currently in the middle of it. He told me that if Mr Qi were to call, I should pass you the message that the surgery might go on for a while, but he will do his best to be on time.”

A surgery—

Qi Jing felt his heart drop, and the urgency in his voice couldn’t help but go up a notch as he asked, “May I ask, approximately how much time this surgery might need?”

The young nurse thought for a while, “That’s hard to say, it depends on the exact circumstances of the animal’s injury. It could be half an hour in one case or up to an hour in another case. Out of all our surgeons, only Dr Shen is on shift tonight, so there’s no other surgeon to help him, so it might take a bit longer.”

He was very clear about Shen Yan’s style when it came to surgeries—he wouldn’t possibly skimp over his work because of his personal matters, and he would always make sure to carefully and conscientiously do his best all the way to the end.

That’s why he wouldn’t possibly do sloppy work during the surgery.

“I understand...” Qi Jing took a deep breath, doing his best to sound as composed as possible and forced a laugh. “Then I’d ask you, Miss nurse, to not tell Dr Shen that I called before he wraps up the surgery, no matter what. I don’t want to hurry him up, so please, let him do his work at his pace.”

“Okay.” The little nurse quickly ended the call.

Qi Jing put down the phone, his heart in a mess.

He looked at the lively comments in the chat, as well as the flickering of Yang Chunqu’s voice activity indicator—suddenly, he couldn’t even muster the will to put on his headphones.

Turns out his disparity from the character wasn’t the worst part of it.

It’s the fact that he won’t even be able to act it that’s the worst.

“Sigh...” But work is work, and you can’t treat the lives of small animals like child’s play.

It was only when the first competitor was put on the microphone that Qi Jing finally put his headphones on in silence. He tried to convince himself to listen to that audition, at least for the sake of his “Fang Yisheng” audition later. Currently, the worst case scenario would be Shen Yan not being able to get back in time—when the time came for him to perform, Qi Jing would need to fake problems with either the equipment or the internet and forfeit his qualification.

T/N:

Whiteflare: love how gossipy Five is, hahhaha

Lucilla: Gossipy like an old aunty from your neighbourhood!