Rewind With A Superstar System-Chapter 54: Legal Case

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Hope by Lucidious>

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Earlier that evening, Von had received an email that left him unsettled. He was wondering how he’d afford a lawyer, but after seeing how Zack handled the contract, he figured he might be more than competent to look at this.

"Go on," the law student gave his approval.

"Well... The song I performed for the first round of Hollywood Week is my original. But a fellow contestant claimed I stole it. I wasn’t bothered originally because I thought she was bluffing, but a band claiming to be the owners sent me an email today. And somehow... they have proof."

"Let me see the email," Zack requested coolly.

Von complied, unlocking his phone and handing it over. Zack adjusted his glasses and began to read.

From: Lawson & Finch Legal Partners

To: Von Varley

Subject: URGENT: NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUE FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT - CEASE AND DESIST

Dear Mr. Varley,

We represent the musical group "Midnight Pulse. It has come to our attention that you have publicly performed, broadcasted, and claimed ownership of a musical composition titled "Coming Home" on the television program "Project: Star."

Please be advised that this composition is the intellectual property of our clients. Your unauthorized use constitutes a violation of the Copyright Act, Unfair Competition under Florida common law, and unjust enrichment.

Attached hereto is digital audio evidence of our client’s original creation of the work, dated six months prior to your performance.

We demand that you issue a public retraction, compensate our client, and cease all future performances of the work. Failure to respond with a satisfactory explanation within seventy-two (72) hours will result in the immediate filing of a lawsuit seeking statutory damages, profits attributable to the infringement, and legal fees.

Governed by,

Arthur Finch, Esq.

Zack scrolled down to the attachments. He tapped on an audio file. A thirty-second clip played through the phone’s speakers. It was a studio demo, kinda rough, but undeniably the same song. The melody, the lyrics, the progression... it was all there. In fact, the quality was more refined than the acoustic version Von had played on the show.

After Zack was done, he dropped the phone onto the table. "Damn... This is bad. Really bad."

The words gave Von a mini-scare. Especially as he knew the song wasn’t technically his, it belonged to a future that hadn’t happened yet. But he never anticipated that the original artist might have already written it in this timeline, just waiting to release it.

"So..." Zack looked up, his eyes narrowing. "Did you really write the song?"

"Uh, yes. I did. It’s my song," Von lied. He hated doing it, but revealing he was a regressor was not the smartest thing to do.

Zack held Von’s gaze for a few long, uncomfortable seconds. Finally, he shrugged and slid the phone back.

"I don’t fully believe you," Zack said bluntly. "But it doesn’t really matter. I got your back either way."

"So what’s the plan now? Will I need a real lawyer at the end of the day?"

Zack caressed his chin, deep in thought. "This is quite difficult. Indeed, you’ll need a real lawyer if it gets to court. We have to avoid court at all costs, unless you’re ready to get defamed and spend thousands you currently don’t have."

The realization alone was horrific to Von.

"Well," Zack continued, picking up his fork. "I’ll still see if I can do anything to help. I need to look into this Midnight Pulse group. I’ll do some research and get back to you tomorrow."

Relieved with Zack’s answer, Von decided to switch the topic. There was nothing more he could do tonight except trust his friend. They returned to eating their steaks, forcing a lighter atmosphere until the bill was paid and they returned to the dorm to sleep.

***

The next day, Von woke up feeling peaceful despite the reduced luxury he now had to live with. The dorm bed was lumpy compared to the memory foam at the Star Mansion, but it felt like home. He had overslept, so Zack was already gone for his internship when he finally sat up.

"Ah, such a beautiful day," Von muttered, looking outside the window at the humid Miami haze.

He genuinely wanted to do nothing and continue sleeping, but there was work to be done. The looming threat of the lawsuit and the pressure of the upcoming Finale hung over him like a dark cloud.

Von jumped out of bed and quickly completed his daily quests, a few pushups and vocal warmups that felt like second nature now, and had a bath. Refreshed, he sat down at the small, cluttered desk in the room.

Before Von lay a small journal and a sharpened pencil.

Today, he was going to write a song!

The details of the Finale had been revealed to Julian and Von before they left Los Angeles, with a strict NDA attached. The producers wanted a spectacle. The Finale would be a face-off. Not just a random performance, but a duel where the contestants would take turns singing original verses against each other. After the performance, the viewers would vote for the winner.

But there was an extra condition that made things interesting: They couldn’t use any song that had been used before, or prerecorded.

It meant they either needed a secret stash of unreleased music, or they had two weeks to prepare a masterpiece worth one million dollars.

Originally, Von thought he had good chances to win with his catalogue of future songs from the System. But after the situation yesterday with Coming Home, he was terrified.

If he pulled another song from the future, who was to say another band or artist wouldn’t sue him tomorrow? He didn’t know how safe it was to continue plagiarizing time.

"I can just try writing mine instead," Von said, spinning the pencil between his fingers. "I’ve always wanted to do this. How hard can it be?"

Von looked down at the blank paper. He didn’t know a lot about music theory, but from the videos he’d watched, he knew he needed a central idea. A core emotion.

"Now... what will that be?"

For the next thirty minutes, Von stared at the wall, thinking about what he wanted his song to be about. He tapped the pencil. He hummed random notes. But nothing was really coming up. Even when he began writing down some concepts, they felt hollow.

"Love?" He wrote the word and immediately crossed it out. "Nah, I can’t sing about something I’ve never experienced."

He wrote Hard work. Motivation. Drive.

"Too cliché," he mutteredm

Von pulled his hair in frustration as he scribbled on the page. It was getting irritating. Any theme he could think of felt flat.

And even then, there were no lyrics flowing, no melody forming in his head. He felt empty.

"Fuck," Von eventually muttered, ripping the page out and crumpling it into a ball. He threw it into the bin, where it joined three others. "It must be that damn Composition stat."

That was the excuse he wanted to use. His [Composition] stat was pitifully low because he had never invested EXP in it.

"But I haven’t even reached the composing part yet," he realized with a sigh. "I can’t even get something down."

He decided to hold off on spending the few EXP he had left until he had a solid idea at least. He couldn’t waste points boosting a stat if he had nothing to work with.

Von eventually relaxed his shoulders and decided to just invest his time. He opened a fresh page and began writing down main themes again, trying to force lyrics for each of them.

Von spent the next few hours straining his head, writing and erasing, humming and groaning. The mental exertion was more tiring than the physical workouts he experienced every day.

He didn’t even realize when his head hit the desk, and he drifted into a heavy sleep amidst the scattered papers.

He didn’t wake up until the sound of the door unlocking jolted him.

Von blinked, wiping a smudge of graphite from his cheek as Zack walked inside. Zack looked tired from his internship, but there was a wild, excited energy in his eyes.

He set his bag down on the bed and walked closer to the desk with a wide smile.

"I might have just made the perfect plan!"