Chapter 99

Hard work always pays off, and this saying often proves true for Random Entertainment.

In the end, only five members debuted, but the total investment in this group amounted to nearly 100 million yuan. The effects of this investment became apparent on the very day of their debut.

The debut live performance, lasting just over an hour, attracted 130 million viewers.

The promotion of the title track included an opening dance, an MV playback in the middle, some behind-the-scenes stories shared with the audience, and an encore performance of the main song.

By the time the livestream ended, the song had spread widely, with both digital and physical album sales showing impressive results.

This is the advantage of groups born from talent shows - public interest is extremely high at the time of debut.

There was a celebration party that evening, held at the Random Entertainment building. All employees involved in the debut planning were present. Jiang Juyou arrived a bit late; she could hear the commotion from inside the elevator, and it only grew louder when she stepped out.

The party was held in the cafeteria. The window blinds were drawn, and Timetrain's music was playing. The purple-red mood lighting transported everyone to a club atmosphere.

As Jiang Juyou entered, someone shouted that "Producer Jiang" had arrived. The next second, confetti exploded in front of her eyes, and everyone in the room shouted: "Congratulations!"

A tipsy assistant with flushed cheeks ran over to Jiang Juyou, grinning, and said, "Boss, album sales have broken 3 million! Digital album sales have also surpassed 1 million!"

Hearing these numbers, Jiang Juyou raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise, her expression clearly positive. She raised her hand to calm the group of excited employees, "Everyone has worked so hard. This quarter's bonuses will definitely satisfy you all!"

"Woooooo!" The crowd started howling again at the mention of bonuses.

Although it was a celebration party, Gao Xiayu and the other four members weren't there. Being underage and having a fan signing event scheduled for the next day, they weren't allowed to attend.

By the time Jiang Juyou arrived, the party had been going on for quite a while. She didn't stay long, just exchanged a few words with some executives before leaving.

Perhaps truly satisfied with the day's results, she still wore a smile as she left the cafeteria, her cheeks flushed, either from the alcohol or from excitement.

Jiang Juyou had slipped out quietly. She stood with her arms crossed in front of the elevator, occasionally grinning to herself as she waited.

Timetrain's debut had taken a great weight off Jiang Juyou's shoulders; it seemed she might even get a good night's sleep tonight.

In the dim elevator lobby, the sounds of celebration could still be heard from the cafeteria. The purple-red light occasionally spilled in, bringing some illumination to the space.

Suddenly, several bursts of electronic confetti exploded in front of Jiang Juyou.

"Bang--"

"Congratulations," said Cong Lixia.

Jiang Juyou blinked a few times. "Thank you."

She thought the confetti would stop after a moment, but it kept going. She raised her hand to stop it, saying, "Stop, stop, stop. The elevator's here. I can't see the way."

"...Oh." Cong Lixia's tone suddenly deflated, reluctantly putting away the confetti he was displaying for Jiang Juyou.

Jiang Juyou was still wearing the company vest. After pressing the button for her office floor, she took off the vest. In that brief moment when she lowered her head and blinked, the electronic confetti reappeared.

"..." Jiang Juyou paused her movement.

Cong Lixia, adept at reading situations, immediately understood. She didn't like it.

This time, without Jiang Juyou saying anything, he put away the confetti and added, as if to explain himself, "I saw you smiling earlier, so I thought you liked it."

He was referring to when the employees had set off confetti for her earlier, and she had smiled brightly.

Jiang Juyou laughed at his words, hanging her clothes over her arm and brushing her hair back. "I do like it, but not that much. You just completely blocked my vision."

As the elevator reached her office floor, Jiang Juyou stepped out while saying to Cong Lixia, "Next time, try using a bit less."

"...Like this?"

Cong Lixia started setting off confetti in the corner of her vision, small bursts here and there, creating a feeling that was both poignant and amusing.

His action hit Jiang Juyou's funny bone. After laughing helplessly a few times, she nodded and answered him, "Yes, just like that. Keep going until you get tired."

So Cong Lixia really did keep setting off confetti, right up until Jiang Juyou finished work.

Jiang Juyou took her coat and headed towards the second-floor parking lot. As she exited the elevator, the parking lot lights sensed her movement and turned on. She pressed her remote, and her car beeped twice in response.

As she walked forward, Cong Lixia said once again, "Congratulations. I'm truly happy for you."

-

"Title: Gossip Theory Discussion/Report -- Finally know what the activity sjyl is jointly hosting with universities is!"

"The group had been guessing if it was like a school festival in Korea, but today we finally got the answer!"

"It's not!"

"It's a workplace-themed show!!!!"

"[Image]"

On the second day of Random iWatch's launch, they officially announced their first original variety show, focusing on the current hot topic among young people: the workplace.

Every major platform has its own workplace-themed variety show. Some perform well, attracting viewers and sparking discussions, while others are just there to be laughed at.

This theme isn't new anymore, and the audience's enthusiasm for such shows isn't what it used to be.

But when Random Entertainment entered the fray, everyone's interest was piqued again.

"Really, I think the people at Random Entertainment are as unique as their company name. How do they manage to make old ideas feel fresh? They weren't the first to do talent shows, they're not the first to do workplace variety shows, but I'm just so curious and want to watch..."

"The planners are so clever, connecting a workplace variety show with the company everyone's most curious about right now. How do the brains at this company work?"

"Can non-graduating students apply?"

"It's airing today, sis. They're not recruiting now!"

"Great, where's that clear-minded, naive college student from our group the other day? You're all college students, how are you getting such good opportunities on the sly?"

"I just want to know how sjyl managed to keep this under wraps. How come I didn't know about any of this?!"

"You think you don't know? My roommate is one of the six interns, and I only found out about this today... I should've spent less time online."

Yesterday, Timetrain's debut sparked heated discussions, and before that heat died down, Random Entertainment was back with more news.

"Six interns who passed the interview will intern at Random Entertainment. They can choose their departments based on their preferences. It's a three-month internship, with final retention decided based on performance. The internship pays 8,500 yuan per month, with 9-to-5 hours, weekends off, overtime pay, free meals three times a day... I'm losing my mind with envy..."

"Isn't the highlight that Jiang Juyou and the five pretty ones will also participate? All the hot topics are covered!"

"The key point is that users who register this month get a free year of membership! Quick, go!!!"

"Am I finally going to learn how sjyl creates those amazing merchandise items?"

"I heard they're preparing a girl group. I hope someone chooses the new talent department. Please!"

"Ahhhh I heard that during the interviews, they didn't even have any requirements for education or major! Any graduating student could apply! Ahhhh why didn't anyone tell me!"

The variety show was officially announced at noon, along with the formal promotion of the Random iWatch app. Riding on the popularity of the variety show alone, downloads surpassed 500,000 in just one hour.

This level of traffic and public trust is enviable to their peers, especially those platforms that had previously sought cooperation with Random Entertainment. They were green with envy for a while, but soon started to gloat.

It's well-known in the industry that long-form video platforms don't make money. Investing in TV dramas is like gambling - you might invest hundreds of millions and get no results, while a drama you casually threw a bit of money at ends up being a hit.

Pirated dramas were everywhere, and to protect their platform, they could only raise prices. As a result, the more they increased prices, the fewer users they had, while those pirate websites were raking in profits.

They didn't believe Random Entertainment could make money, and after taking a look, they saw that its membership was priced at 89 yuan, which was so cheap that it surely couldn't recoup costs.

At this moment, Jiang Juyou was also in the office, browsing through public reactions online.

Although Random iWatch had launched early and officially started expanding its user base, currently it had no TV series, movies, or animations – only one variety show.

Clicking into the variety show section, there was only promotion for "Rookie's Work Diary: Day 1" filling the entire page. Apart from this, there was nothing else. Other sections, when clicked, displayed [Not yet open] with a message saying [Little i will officially launch on April 7th~].

Other platforms relied on low prices and promotions to attract new users, or they had stockpiles of hundreds or thousands of works. Random Entertainment was different, using one variety show as a teaser, with a month to wait before the official opening.

But there was no helping it. Right now, netizens were in a honeymoon phase with Random Entertainment. Whatever it did, everyone thought it was special and couldn't help but want to indulge it a little.

"It just wants me to download an app, it's not going to hurt me!"

"Register this month and get a free one-year membership! Who could refuse that?"

"Open the recharge channel! You must open it! This young lady doesn't lack that bit of money!"

"89 yuan for an annual fee, who do they think they're looking down on?"

"They even have a student discount, but that part is covered up and unclear."

"Customer service says as long as it's not exclusive copyright, whatever other platforms have, they have too."

The variety show was officially announced at noon, and the first episode arrived at 6 PM—

Dropping without warning, very much in line with Random Entertainment's identity.

Ha! How could my plot twists be easily guessed?

First updating three thousand words, another three thousand to be released before midnight!