Chapter 84
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TLC: Lilies
Editing: Whiteflare
If Bronze Sparrow Terrace didn’t think it through, then he would’ve copied all of his performance down to a T without making any changes.
But in the face of the doubts that had been appearing in the public chat, he made slight changes in the latter part of his performance. For example, he didn’t choose to use the most unique part of Qi Jing’s interpretation—that is, the repetition of the lines—weakening the audience’s impression that he “copied contestant No.16”.
And in the scene with the roaring part, Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s having a more suitable voice gave him plenty of the oomph needed while not having to bear the negative effects of pressing one’s voice like Qi Jing, so it sounded much more natural.
The whole process was just like drawing a picture.
It’s much easier to copy an already finished piece than to start from a completely blank canvas.
Moreover, one could improve on the imperfections of the original while imitating it. That way, although it was just a counterfeit, it could still fool the eyes of plenty of common laymen and could even be sold for a higher price.
“We know that you rebels want to make Marquess Shun an emperor… Hehehe…”
Although the details had been tweaked, the overall tone of the performance still followed Qi Jing’s interpretation with a clear difference from how Went off with a bang and other contestants like him had handled it before. After a cold laugh, Bronze Sparrow Terrace used his most outstanding roar to finish his performance, “Marquess Shunyang… He’s only a bastard spawned outside by the previous emperor! It is We who were titled the only true crown prince by the previous emperor—!”
As he finished acting out the third scene, Bronze Sparrow Terrace had a bit more leftover time than Qi Jing and was left with ten seconds.
During this time, Bronze Sparrow Terrace smiled gently at his excited fans and spoke in a seemingly humble and modest tone, “That’s the end of my performance, thank you everyone. Although my position is quite far behind in the line-up, making it a bit disadvantageous for me, I still want to thank everyone for staying till now and listening to my own performance.”
When Qi Jing heard this, his expression changed instantly, as if he had a basin of icy water poured on him from head to toe.
There was a double meaning to those words… That whole “far towards the end” of his line-up made it “a bit disadvantageous” for him—at first glance, it appeared to be accusing Qi Jing of being the real copycat; only because of the line-up would everyone think that it was Bronze Sparrow Terrace that copied him and not the other way round.
And that “listening to his own performance” at the end only deepened such misconception—
What ‘disadvantage’.
What ‘his own’.
“Ha, hahaha…” Qi Jin heard himself laugh mechanically. If it weren’t for the tremble of anger in his voice, his next words would really sound like genuine praise, “Bronze Sparrow Terrace-sama, I actually didn’t know you were such a good actor.”
He did so splendidly at imitating a wronged tone that it was hard to not take his side.
If he used a tenth of the realism from just now in ⟪Trap⟫, then they wouldn’t get scorned by the fans of the original novel as much after the first episode went live. It turned out that he was wrong—it wasn’t that this person couldn’t act, it’s just that he didn’t care to put in the effort.
Either way, online VA circle was just an online VA circle and even voice acting was non-profit, so since one could take it easy while casually garnering some publicity… Then why not?
Voice acting in ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ allowed one to step into the commercial field, so the stakes here weren’t only the popularity, but also the monetary awards for those who managed to get a role. How could someone with a commercial voice acting background like Bronze Sparrow Terrace not know that? It was much easier to understand his conduct once one thought of this competition as a form of a bid for work.
“So your ‘conscientiousness’ is selective, huh.” Qi Jing laughed with scorn.
There were many VAs in the circle who only did it as a hobby in their spare time, like him and Shen Yan, and there were those like Bronze Sparrow Terrace, who treated it as a money-making tool.
To be fair, it’s none of his business whether other people used voice acting as means to make money, but it was a completely different matter when his hard work was being “borrowed” to make that process faster and easier for someone else.
Qi Jing coldly observed as the voting window popped out, then disappeared, sitting motionless on his chair with his back rigidly straight.
He knew that even if he didn’t vote, those fervent little fans of Bronze Sparrow Terrace would still enthusiastically cast their votes for him. This silent show of protest meant absolutely nothing to the great god.
He wished that, after the score came out, the great god would receive a solid slap in the face.
But in the end, the one who was left with his face hurting was himself…
&#k3010;Voice Quality&#k3011;&#kUU1J;4.0&#kUU0A;3.5&#kUU0A;5.0&#kUU0A;average score 4.16
&#k3010;Enunciation&#k3011;&#kUU1J;4.5&#kUU0A;4.0&#kUU0A;5.0&#kUU0A;average score 4.5
&#k3010;Foundation Points&#k3011;&#kUU1J;3.5&#kUU0A;3.0&#kUU0A;5.0&#kUU0A;average score 3.83
&#k3010;Charisma&#k3011;&#kUU1J;2.5&#kUU0A;2.0&#kUU0A;4.5&#kUU0A;average score 3.0
Judging panel’s evaluation: 4.16+4.5+3.83+3.0 = 15.49 points
Additional audience vote points: 72.3% voting ratio = 0.723 points
Overall score: 15.49+0.723 = 16.213 points
Despite having prepared his heart for this, the moment he finally saw the actual score, he felt as if an iron hammer hit his chest.
It didn’t hurt; he just had a numbing sensation gradually taking over his head.
A difference of 0.005 points… Maybe it didn’t look like that much of a difference in terms of numbers, but it was enough to open a gaping chasm in his heart.
“Huuu…”
Qi Jing let out a deep sight, as if to clear his seemingly clogged throat, then slowly breathed in through his nose. Unusually calm, he took off the headphones and rubbed his face so that the continuously updated comments in the chat no longer looked as if he were reading them through a layer of frosted glass—only then had he controlled his emotions enough to take a look.
With the score turning out like that, the audience had divided into two very distinct factions.
One of them was more inclined to his favour.
Audience 1: = = …Oi oi, it happened again, an overall score with this big of a disparity…
Audience 2: = = … Great God Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s final score turned out higher than that of Don’t ask for my return date… Fine, I admit I’m kind of surprised…【Speaking of which, will I get killed for admitting that I didn’t give my vote to the great god just now】
Audience 3:（╯－＿－）╯╧╧ It’s clear as day that No.25 referenced No.16’s acting style!! It’s so obvious, so why does no one hear that!! Anyway, I can hear it!!
Audience 4: Responding to the commenter above, in fact, I also kept feeling so【Although the later part wasn’t as similar anymore, maybe he changed it on purpose? I don’t know…】Also, even though their acting styles were similar, I still liked No.16’s acting more, it felt more realistic, more charismatic. The opinion stated before is only an opinion of a reader of the novel, so fans, please don’t flame me.
Audience 5: I really don’t want to point fingers… But as a small Return Date fan, I feel that Return Date is really disadvantaged for not having many fans, especially when it comes to the voting section… *sobs*.
Audience 6: A certain someone once again started to make some movements in the dark? *Sneers* I can only laugh in contempt. Either way, justice will always prevail—let’s just look at the scores Teacher Pu’s and Longbow gave, I only acknowledge the two of them.
And the other faction, of course, sided with Bronze Sparrow Terrace.
Audience 1: ╮(╯▽╰)╭ It’s really makes me laugh: someone’s actually setting a rule that different contestants have to give different performances? What’s more, it’s so obvious that those two performances were different from each other, I really don’t know why some people are so selectively deaf.
Audience 2: ╮(╯▽╰)╭ That’s right!! I really have no strength to quarrel with those trolls… They’re saying that Bronze Sparrow is plagiarising? Where’s the proof? Have you been to court before? Don’t just slander people as and when you like, okay? Performance is just a performance, who said that the contestants can’t have a similar or identical understanding of the character? Many people can perform in this style, yet as long as you say it’s yours, then it’s yours? Did you apply for the national copyright licence?
Audience 3: I’m so infuriated!! The lines for that character had been issued by the organisators, so that noisy bunch who yells about plagiarism can as well go all “Everyone’s lines are identical, so everyone is plagiarising”!!（╯‵□′）╯︵┴─┴
Audience 4: ╮(╯＿╰)╭ Some people are just too jealous…
Audience 5: ╮(╯＿╰)╭ Some people are just unreconciled with their failure…
Audience 6: Too cool, Bronze Sparrow-sama is just so amazing!! Even with a similar performance, he still managed to win!! (/≧▽≦)/~
“Indeed, I am unreconciled.” Qi Jing muttered.
Still, a loss is a loss, so there’s no way of altering the already published score.
The words in the public chat once again started to blur before his eyes. Qi Jing blinked instinctively and every time he blinked, those letters would clear up a bit for a moment, but it wouldn’t take long for them to blur once again.
Either way, with the way things were now, it didn’t really matter where the public opinion was leaning.
Qi Jing stood up in silence, then left the bedroom and headed to the study. In that study, there was a person he really wanted to see, but now, with him like that, he was no longer suited to face him. That’s why he only silently went over to the door and sat on the floor, his back leaning back on the door gently.
There was no sound to be heard from inside the room.
He didn’t know whether Shen Yan had already fallen asleep, but was rather comforting to not have Shen Yan witness him at his most embarrassing and frustrating moment.
“I’m sorry for being a disappointment.” He whispered under his breath. After a long while, once again he chuckled self-mockingly, “How good it would be if I was just as amazing as you—to have some overwhelming advantage;—I would be able to leave no hole for others to exploit, make them unable to even try and imitate me.”
After that chuckle, his lips pursed slowly, and he sat at the entrance with a blank expression.
He sat very neatly, very upright, because he knew that he did nothing that would make him unable to stand with his chest out. He lost in terms of the points, but in terms of the principles… He had no intention of admitting defeat.
Qi Jing sat on the floor for over ten minutes—his legs went numb, and slowly, so did his mind. As such, the process of accepting reality didn’t feel as uncomfortable, it even took him less time than he thought it would.
“Alright.”
He took a deep breath and said a word of encouragement to himself. Then, he shot up to his feet, patted his clothes clean and went back to the computer.
By that time, the audition section had already concluded and the competition was about to enter the highly anticipated feedback segment. The judge responsible for the feedback for this part was Longbow—he was a model example of mildness and always took the encouraging route. He wouldn’t give too low of a score and his commenting style was also rather lenient, not as harsh as Pu Yuzhi with his remarks.
However, he actually gave Bronze Sparrow Terrace 2.5 points in the last category, which was shocking enough in and of itself.
Qi Jing really wanted to hear his feedback.
Nevertheless, the voices of protest regarding that low score had already appeared among Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s fans. As a milder commentator, he was more adept at finding the positives than picking the faults. In the case that he couldn’t provide a sound explanation of why he deducted the points, the fans would most probably not let him off the hook.
Among the three judges, Longbow was the unspoken representative of the organisers of the competition, so it would be really awkward if the situation was to get noisy.
Moreover… No matter how he looked at it, Longbow didn’t seem like someone who would start arguing with the audience.
That point wasn’t just Qi Jing’s worry, there was also someone else who was worried.
【★Five★】said to【You】：…Godammit! Didn’t we already agree, no funny business!! （╯‵□′）╯︵┴─┴
Sleek horses run fast’s first words were exactly this.
“Pfttt…” Qi Jing couldn’t contain his laughter. Although he didn’t know what connections Sleek horses run fast had behind the scene, it seemed like the events didn’t go as he wished. Still, this action of flipping the table did soothe his heart a little.
【You】said to【★Five★】: I already did my best.
【★Five★】said to【You】：.……
【You】said to【★Five★】: Doesn’t matter, there’s too many variables to the competition, so such situations are hard to avoid. It’s fine as long as my own conscience is clear.
【★Five★】said to【You】：… *facepalms in silence* Forget it, there’s no use for talking about it now. About the stuff behind the scenes, I will go and have a conversation with some people, just don’t take it to yourself. The only thing is, Teacher Longbow, he… I’m really distressed for him… ┭┮﹏┭┮
【You】said to【★Five★】: Why?
【★Five★】said to【You】： His heart is too soft and he doesn’t have a sharp tongue… *sobs* I had really wished that at least during the feedback a certain person would get his face slapped… ┭┮﹏┭┮
【You】said to【★Five★】: …
If Pu Yuzhi gave off the feeling of a strict mother, then Longbow was the kind older brother next door.
It could be heard from the first words he said to Qi Jing, “Contestant No.16, your voice sounded as if you made it a bit more raspy… Did you do something to your throat?”
Unexpectedly, Longbow didn’t start off with a feedback, but asked him a question.
“Oh…” Qi Jing opened his eyes with astonishment and touched his throat subconsciously. Could it be that his little scheme of rasping his voice by drinking sugar mixture and upping his sense of age had been seen through by Longbow?
“Was it to make you sound a bit older? I feel like your original voice is of a more youthful and bright type.” Longbow continued with his reasoning.
That’s right…
“This time, you probably either drank alcohol, some juice concentrate, or sugar solution of some kind.”
That’s entirely right…
After asking this, Longbow smiled gently, “Oh, please don’t misunderstand—I just remembered the times when I just started voice acting professionally and would sometimes get assigned an older role, so I also hurt myself like this to perform it. These methods are indeed effective, but they can damage your voice with long-term use If you voice act a lot, then you need to be more careful in that aspect—the burden of damaging our throats is heavy for us voice actors, so it’s still best to use your usual voice which is the least harmful to you.”
So he was just reminiscing about his past experiences… Qi Jing thought that he exposed him to criticise this kind of voice acting as unnatural, but hearing this, he subconsciously heaved a sigh of relief.
Compared to an educator like Pu Yuzhi, Longbow was speaking more from the voice actor’s perspective as a voice actor himself, giving Qi Jing a more amiable impression than before.
“To be honest, I kind of regret giving contestant No.16 3.5 points in the ‘voice quality’ section…”
Longbow suddenly cut straight to the main topic.
Qi Jing got surprised by him speaking of such “regret” and promptly focused on listening to the following explanation.
He knew that his natural voice qualities were below that of Bronze Sparrow Terrace, but it seemed like there was more to Longbow’s words, which aroused the interest of that ever-curious mind of his.
“‘Voice quality’ as described by the competition organisators should ‘accurately reflect the character’s temperament, personality, and age’, and since the very beginning of the competition I always judged the contestants according to these criteria.” Saying this, Longbow sighed softly, “My first impression when contestant No.16 spoke was that… His voice lacked a sense of age a bit.”
Just as expected.Qi Jing also thought that the biggest obstacle in embodying “Emperor Chang” was his age, especially if it was supposed to match the in-game character design after it was created.
“Still,” At that moment, Longbow made a sudden turn-around, “After listening to the first scene I realised that this voice had been altered. I reckon that contestant No.16 already knew of his shortcomings, so he used clever means to make up for it before the audition—I don’t condone this way of altering one’s voice as it’s damaging and unnatural, but this attitude of recognising one’s own shortcomings, as well as trying to do one’s best to make up for them during voice acting is something I respect and admire.
Before he finished this long speech, Qi Jing didn’t dare to move or even breathe; not until he heard the final word, “admire”, when he finally exhaled with relief.
Longbow continued, “Not only that, later, I also realised that… This way of changing your voice could also hold another meaning. As ‘Emperor Chang’ kept taking the drugged immortality pills all year round, his body was already completely debilitated. Thinking carefully… A hoarse voice seems like a more fitting way to express this character’s sickly condition.”
At that point, the voice in his headphones hesitated for a moment, as if Longbow was deliberating something.
“It may be that I only realised that point after listening to contestant No.25’s performance…” Longbow slowly said the crucial point, sighing vexedly at the same time, “Because since those two contestants’ performances were similar, only after comparing them I suddenly realised: ‘So that’s how it should have been done’… I’m sorry, I think I might have stripped you of points.”
T/N:
Lucilla: Great God Bronze Sparrow Terrace truly is godly, to think that he could cause even such a mild person as Longbow to say something this savage… As veiled as his savagery is xDD
Whiteflare: I’m so glad that Longbow is speaking up!! Five is so funny in this