Chapter 100
Qi Jing’s goodbye meant that he had no intention of seeing him again.
Those three words, “Bronze Sparrow Terrace” had already become tantamount to a germ in Qi Jing’s eyes. If there was a disinfectant capable of completely obliterating this microbe, then he would be more than happy to spray his computer inside out with it.
Of course, there was no way something like this existed, but he could at least clean everything related to Bronze Sparrow Terrace from his hard disc.
Qi Jing opened the hard disc dedicated to the voice acting materials. The only thing that linked them together was the ⟪Trap⟫ audio drama, and everything related to it was saved in this folder titled “⟪Trap⟫ production”.
Either way, he had already notified the staff of the production team about his resignation. Him and Bronze Sparrow Terrace no longer had any way of continuing this collaboration, so the dry recordings, script, bonus recordings and everything else in this folder no longer had any reason to remain. The already recorded dry recording for the second episode would probably also need to be discarded.
“This I also gave to you for free,” Qi Jing said as he sneered to himself, “Although you probably wouldn’t even use it.”
He was still high on the pleasure from the box in the ear he gave Bronze Sparrow Terrace just now and his excitement had yet to recede, so his fingers were swift as he right-clicked to delete it without giving it much thought. He was just about to clean the trash bin to completely purge this folder from existence when he suddenly froze.
He remembered a certain very important file—
“Huu…” Qi Jing took a sharp breath and hurriedly opened the file recovery panel, searching for the folder he had almost deleted. He recovered it on the desktop then double-clicked it—only when the folder named “Reference recordings” appeared again before his eyes did he slowly slump bonelessly back on his chair. He almost felt the cold sweat forming.
…Luckily, he didn’t immediately delete it, otherwise he would never be able to get it back.
This folder was made half a year before, and the date recorded in the folder details marked one of the most important days in his life. Just that alone was enough to make it priceless.
Qi Jing’s gaze stayed on it for a long time, unable to look away even for a moment. He extracted this folder—only this one—and opened it. Inside, there were only two audio files.
One was his first dry recording, one that got turned down by the sound designer: “⟪Trap⟫ Ep1-CV Don’t ask for my return date”.
The other one was the one he used as the reference for this version of the recording—”⟪Trap⟫ Ep1 run-through⟫”, the Geese Fly North x Don’t ask for my return date version.
“Hah…” He couldn’t help a short laugh from escaping his lips. Strangely enough, his previously heated mind had already started to slowly cool down, with his reason slowly reverting back to normal as he returned to his usual self.
It’s been a long time already since he went listened to these two. With that person with him, he felt no need to look far to experience what was just by his side.
“Still, it sure brings back the memories…” Qi Jing muttered while looking at the recording, the tips of his brows raising in a smile. How fortunate that at that time, he did press the record button for some unfathomable reason, preserving that first time where they met through the call.
Qi Jing looked at it for a while, then suddenly, he took the laptop together with the headphones and moved from the bedroom to the study. He turned the speaker on, then started that recording which he already knew by heart, then leaned back, laying down on that small and narrow bed.
The bedding had yet to be changed—originally, Shen Yan intended to change it for some similar looking clean bedclothes, but Qi Jing made up some excuse to stop him and hurried him up to go to the work, saying that this could wait until he’s free in the weekend to wash it. But in reality, it was just his selfishness acting up—he wished it to remain there for as long as possible.
The sound quality of the speaker couldn’t compare to that of the headphones, the played audio was mixed with noise and impurities, which in turn added a deeper flavour to that man’s voice.
“I knew from the very beginning that everything you did was a scheme against me—”
“So well acted…” He couldn’t help a sentimental sigh.
Laying on the place the two of them entwined the day before and closing his eyes, he could almost feel the warmth of the voice’s owner slowly pervade him along with the voice, seeping into him inch by inch—from his back against the bed, under his clothes. It was almost… as if he was being held from behind by that warm man’s hands.
He was too embarrassed to continue with that train of thought, so he tugged on one corner of the duvet, hiding his face under it.
And this part happened just before the two main leads of ⟪Trap⟫ made love for the first time, so it could be said that it was just too suitable to listen on this bed. The images from the night before poured into his mind with full clarity and no matter if it was his sight, hearing, taste or touch, they all made his heartbeat speed up uncontrollably.
The recording was two hours long. If it wasn’t for the fact that he wanted to hear the feedback after the audition, Qi Jing would be completely down for drilling under the duvet and relistening it from the beginning to the end.
After listening to around the third of it, he took a look at the clock and estimated that it should be about the time, so he finally got up from the bed lazily and stopped the recording, going back to the competition’s channel.
Gossip is a swift-footed fellow—in such a short amount of time, it had already run the full lap around the online voice acting circle. By the time Qi Jing was back, the news of him unfollowing the great god, leaving the production team on QQ and changing the bio to one that evidently hinted his retirement from the circle had already been passed around.
Aside from the competition itself, this was the most discussed topic among the audience.
Audience 1: I heard that Don’t ask for my return date already left the ⟪Trap⟫ production team, is that true?!
Audience 2: ┭┮﹏┭┮ It’s true… Just now, I asked someone to poke the staff and it really is true…
Audience 3: &#k252B;&#k252R;&#kUR4U;&#k252B;&#k252R; And it seems like he’s preparing to quit the circle aaaahhhh&#k2026;&#k3010;The heart of a little fan that had always liked his Return Date just broke&#k3011;
Audience 4: &#k3J3;(&#k3063; &#kK0;&#k414; &#kK0;)&#k3063;Wha&#k2026; what&#k2026;&#k3010;Shot with a thunder out of a blue sky&#k3011;And I was just waiting for the competition to end so I could beg him to take the main role in my audio drama!!&#k3010;As a producer, I couldn’t get more blue balled!!&#k3011;
Audience 5: But I can kinda understand, the other main role of that drama was Bronze Sparrow Terrace, so how could they continue after such a fall-out, not to mention acting as a CP. And there’s also quite a lot of smut in the second episode… If I were him, I would get sick at the thought of acting out a smut scene with such a person…
Audience 6: Understanding is one thing, but I still feel unreconciled… _(:з」∠)_
Qi Jing chuckled bitterly. “I’m sorry, I also didn’t want it to end like this.” I also ended up like this because of the Great God.
After his sincere apology, he shifted his attention back to the competition, checking the ranking after the contestants performing after his forfeit.
He didn’t know whether it was because Bronze Sparrow Terrace was lucky, the advantage of his voice, or because of his numerous fans that guaranteed him high vote count, but even though a few contestants after him got a better time, they would always lose in terms of score by the smallest margin, all suppressed down beneath him. To this moment, Bronze Sparrow Terrace was still enthroned on the first place.
Gi Jing’s timing was pretty good—the contestant No.29 of this audition had just finished his performance, so there was only one person left. The great god’s victory was already within his grasp.
“Congratulations.” Qi Jing applauded him tepidly.
“Dear listeners, thank you so much for listening for the past two hours! Now there is only one contestant left, so let me first remind everyone that after contestant’s No.30’s performance, we will soon enter the feedback stage. Tonight, the judge responsible for providing commentary will be the voice acting director of ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫, Teacher Yuan Zhengming! Make sure you won’t miss it!” After publicising the score of contestant No.29, Yang Chunqu made a special reminder for the later arrangements .
Since everyone got cut in the middle of acting and up till now, no one had managed to finish the whole performance, the progress of the audition was much swifter than the previous ones, so she had plenty of time to introduce every contestant.
“Next, I will ask contestant No.20—” Yang Chunqu was just about to announce the contestant’s name from the list just as usual, but she stopped right in her tracks, only stammering this ID out after reading it back and forth two or three times, “Eh… Contestant No.30, ‘Gimme a proper dub dumbass’, please take over.”
“Pfft…” Originally, Qi Jing didn’t pay any mind to the IDs on the mic sequence, so when he heard Yang Chunqu’s announcement, he was stunned first, then looked up to see it—and sure enough, it really was a real ID, making him burst out laughing.
The rest of the audience also roared with laughter.
Audience 1: Hahahahahahahahhahaha! What is this ID?!! Help!!
Audience 2: Hahahaha, this ID is so simple and straight to the point!! Pffthaha… Thumbs up!!
Audience 3: ╰(*°▽°*)╯I wouldn’t have thought that there would be someone with just as weird ID as Ape Teacher!【Oi】
Audience 4: ╰(*°▽°*)╯The one above me… How dare you speak out my innermost thoughts so bluntly?【Oi oi oi】
Audience 5: ≧▽≦ With such a dignified beauty as Ms Host to read it out loud, the punchline got me even harder, pffft…
Audience 6: ≧▽≦ Hahaha, that’s right, that’s right! Previously, the whole incident of No.12’s forfeiting and retiring from the circle left me really down【Waaaah, No.12, you really left me speechless…】but now, I finally felt a bit better~
The listeners had yet to stop laughing when they suddenly heard a “crunch” that caught everyone by surprise, then a chewing noise could be heard.This sound everyone was familiar with, especially the snack enthusiast—it was the sound of snacking on potato crisps.
“Crunch crunch…” Even with the whole chat fool of black lines emotes, this person still had the guts to continue eating unfazed.
“Eh… This, contestant No.30, do you have something to say before the start?” Yang Chunqu’s best attempt at inquiring with her usual grace got drowned in this crunching noise, almost completely unable to be heard.
“I do,” Answered the young man in a voice muffled by the eating, his tone indifferent as he was bold enough to still make requests, “But wait a minute… I still have to finish this bag of crisps.”
And so he continued to chew.
Audience 1: = = …And here I thought that only his ID was weird…
Audience 2: = = …Turns out he’s just completely weird, such a let down… His ID calls people out to dub properly, yet the person himself is so sloppy… I’m not even able to flame it.
Audience 3: = = …Does this fellow even realise that he’s in the middle of an audition? Oi oi, other contestants were all shaky-voice from nervousness when they took over the mic, but you actually keep eating crisps as if it’s nothing! It’s like, almost ten thousand people listening to you right now! So gimme a bag! 【Eh, I feel like I missed the main point】
After a hundred or so “= =” emotes passed in the chat, the crunching noise finally stopped.
Yang Chunqu coughed lightly, politely reminding him of the timing, “Contestant No.30, we’re now in the middle of the audition, could you maybe—”
Who would have thought that a sudden loud “PAH” would interrupt her, making her swallow the rest of her words from the scare.
It was the sound of a heavy bag of crisps falling on the desk—it was hard to tell if it was due to the host’s urging, but this No.30… it seemed as if he was throwing a fussy fit, and it didn’t appear to be a small one.
That person cleared his throat irascibly, like someone who had just woken up and would find a reason to get angry even without one. His voice was filled with the smell of gunpowder as he muttered gloomily, “Actually got me to perform last, I really was about to explode, had to wait for so long to spit it all out.”
…Then why were you idle enough to eat the crisps earlier?! Qi Jing couldn’t help but retort in his mind.
But he didn’t expect for the other to actually direct criticism against him in return, “Fine—No.10 and No.12; that’s right, you two: I really want to scold you both for a moment.”
Oi oi… I think that’s called “shooting a person when they’re down”?
But Qi Jing didn’t get offended, only pointing a finger at himself in great bewilderment. Scolding Bronze Sparrow Terrace was fully justified, but what was that about scolding him?
And then, that person actually started his scolding.
“First let’s talk about No.10, No.10’s has something wrong with his head.” After tossing out the number, he immediately locked the man into his opinion, causing an immediate uproar among the audience. But he ignored everyone’s reaction altogether, speaking without any care for others’ reaction. “Bringing a whole cohort of noisy little girls was already annoying enough, but for you to actually go and plagiarise other people without having any real skill yourself and still dare to play innocent before so many people—just listening to that made my skin crawl! Do you even know how gross your words were, just listening to it made me want to barf.”
At this moment, the emotes spammed in the chat changed from “= =” to “=口=”.
Qi Jing was also completely dumbstruck. He sat there with an open mouth, not knowing what to say. If he were to call his own roasting cultured, then this guy’s roasting… It was more like the boorish cursing of a little street hoodlum, honest to the point of cruelty—Bronze Sparrow Terrace was most likely patina blue on his face.
“Pfft.” Still, it had to be said that these words were what he really had on his mind. After getting dumbstruck, Qi Jing couldn’t help but laugh.
But then it was his turn to get his share of scolding.
“And then there’s No.12,” That guy called him out publicly with not a sliver of subtlety, “No.12, did something happen to your brain? You’re clearly quite good at voice acting but your attitude is so casual, doing whatever you feel like, it might look like you’re free like that but there’s actually no benefit in doing so for you. Why don’t you just try him to the end, make him forever unable to get back up? If you want to screw him over, then do that all the way through, either way No.10 is already far too gone of a trash, wouldn’t it just be better to flush his kind down the sewer? So why leave him on the surface where he can pollute the air for other people? “
…So…toxic…
Hearing this left Qi Jing completely stupefied; he had absolutely no idea: should he cry, or perhaps laugh.
But that person wasn’t done yet with his roasting. “Although No.10 is shameless, has no self-awareness and would only spare his brain cells to toss his weight around, only knowing to pander to the little girls’ liking and making people want to puke—but people who just leave at the drop of a hat also make me fume.”
He stopped for a moment, and the anger in his voice faded, leaving just a questioning tone. “No.12, you had so many ways to retaliate. You could instigate your own fans, you could go to the forum, send a post on weibo, but you chose to use voice acting to decide the winner fairly, so since you have the balls to do so, why won’t you just go all the way in with the voice acting, win against him all the way through? If you don’t love it with all your heart, then why would you stand here? And if you really love it, then why would you abandon it midways for a guy like him—would you actually want to give up something you really love?”
Qi Jing was dumbstruck, bewildered even.
—Something I really love.
Thinking so, a silhouette of Shen Yan emerged in his mind. Although it wasn’t what No.30 was talking about, the feeling was the same.
Give up? The mere thought made his heart hurt beyond what he could bear. To really love something, love someone from the bottom of one’s heart means to never abandon them.
In fact, he didn’t count as popular in the voice acting circle and his fans were far from being as numerous as great god’s fans, so for him to still hang on and continue voice acting for over three years, how could he not love it. The idea to retire from the circle was also mostly sparked by the real life reasons, it wasn’t just because Bronze Sparrow Terrace—this conflict only acted as a fuse.
But to be completely honest, for him to have to leave so suddenly, he really felt that… it was such a pity.
His gaze strayed towards that “Reference recordings” folder. He opened it once again, and once again, he examined those two audio files for a while.
His feelings were so mixed.
But it was as if that guy had seen through his thoughts right now as he proclaimed in a cold, self-righteous tone, “If I were you, I would never give what I love, I wouldn’t even give it a thought! Not to mention giving it up for someone like No.10, I would fight tooth and nail to protect it!”
Hearing this, Qi Jing felt his heart sway, his resolve weakening.
To be honest, “Qin Tuo”, this whole main male character or whatever, he wasn’t all that interested in after all. He mainly signed up for it to go against Bronze Sparrow Terrace. But ⟪Trap⟫ audio drama had a very special, unique meaning for him and Shen Yan… Did he really have to give it up?
And voice acting?
Did he have to give it up too?
“No.12, you better listen to me carefully,” At that time, the man raised his voice, just as sharp and powerful as his words, haughty even, “Your current skill isn’t bad, but sorry, it’s not good enough for you to just make a handsome leave yet—you thought that you already don’t have anything to improve, nothing to better, so you should retire? What a joke.”
The man snorted nasally, and he could virtually be seen before one’s eyes, looking disdainfully from above as he tossed out his words. “As for whether you continue voice acting or not, better wait till you can outdo me to decide—”
Qi Jing shook all over, unable to say anything.
Audience 1: Oh my god! Is this a challenge for No.12?? Aooooo—! I’m fired up! I’m fired up! ～\(≧▽≦)/～
Audience 2: Eh eh eh, although this No.30 fellow’s wording is so toxic it’s almost scummy (cough cough), the latter part was actually really reasonable, second that!! I just want to say as a normie from the audience, contestant Don’t ask for my return date, I really like you, don’t leave us aaah!! Please stay in the competition aaah… ┭┮﹏┭┮
Audience 3: Also begging Return Date to come back!! ┭┮﹏┭┮
Audience 4: No.30’s challenge was so powerful!! Though I don’t know if it was really a challenge, it’s just as good as long as it brings the person back!! I hope No.12 will give it a second thought~ 【I only stumbled upon you during the Chang Emperor audition and I appreciate you a lot, so you leaving for nothing would be just too miserable】
Audience 5: (rubbing chin) But bringing the topic back, how should we actually call No.30 ID to make it work… We can’t just keep calling him N0.30, right?? ‘Cause there are also other No.30s from other auditions, it would be easy to get confused during the discussion in the forum, so using the ID makes it much more convenient. But that ID of his… Pffft.
Audience 6: (rubbing chin) That’s a good question, I was also thinking about that…
Indeed.
Calling him “Contestant Gimme” would sound so weird…
Calling him “Contestant Dumbass”, it just sounded as if they were cursing out the guy.
And if they were to call him “Gimme a proper dub dumbass”… That would be straight up escalation of the cursing out, moreover it was just too god, damn, long.
“Eh…” Yang Chunqu also noticed the source of everyone’s conundrum, so she carefully asked another question, “Contestant No.30, do you have any shorter, easier to remember nickname?”
“Nickname?” Hearing the host ask, the man seemed to consider it for a while before tossing out a lukewarm, “Just call me ‘Two’”
A/N:
〒▽〒 The chapter number finally got to the three digits, happy 100st chapter!! Thank you for all the support up till now!!
To express my gratitude, I decided to continue to exhibit my cliffhanger angel powers… (oi)
Guess who this guy is~ \(≧∇≦)/
T/N:
Lucilla: A new challenger appears, you love to see that!!
Happy 100st chapter guys! Thank you so much for sticking with our translation for so long. I appreciate it a lot QAQ
I might have to go into a semi-hiatus till the end of this month since the uni exams are upon me, but I will try to release at least two chapters this month!