Rewind With A Superstar System

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Best Song Ever by One Direction>

...

Three weeks slowly passed into the global lockdown, but while the real world stood completely still, Far Away kept soaring higher on the charts.

By the third week, the track had completely taken over. It jumped past Midnight’s hit Best Song Ever at 7th place, climbed above Coming Home at 5th, and finally pushed It Doesn’t Even Matter down to number 3 from 2nd, officially claiming the undisputed number 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100.

The numbers behind the song were staggering. In just that short period, the original track had already pulled in 190 million streams on Musicify alone. The remix was also doing massive numbers, sitting comfortably at 85 million streams. But where the remix truly shone was in digital sales, driven directly by millions of gamers buying the track inside the Citadel game. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

It was an even bigger feat because Von and Aura had reached number one without capitalizing on the industry’s most popular loophole.

During the lockdown, many artists were selling overpriced merchandise on their websites bundled with digital downloads. Because factories were closed, the fans wouldn’t get their clothes for months, but the artist still got the massive unit boost on the Billboard charts that same week.

Von usually collaborated directly with Vanguard for his merch, taking home a massive 50% cut since he didn’t have to split profits with a record label.

But he had firmly decided against using the cheap bundle trick. He chose to wait until the lockdown lifted a little and allowed for proper, honest physical sales, given the loyalty of his fans.

Reaching number one purely off the strength of the music made the victory so much sweeter.

On that particular afternoon, Von was in a video call with Aura, discussing their plans to maintain the incredible momentum of the song.

"Oh, by the way, I was just informed by my team that Far Away is now officially Platinum certified," Aura reminded him, sitting back down in front of her camera after taking a brief break to grab a bottle of water.

"Whoa, the song is doing nuts for real," Von grinned widely, leaning closer to his webcam. "Man, I’m delighted!"

Von shared her exact energy, even though this was already on course to becoming his twelfth Platinum plaque. Just the previous day, Emily had called to tell him that both It Doesn’t Even Matter and Coming Home had earned an extra Platinum certification each due to the lockdown streaming boost.

"Yup," Aura smiled, her eyes shining with genuine happiness. "It’s gonna be my second Platinum after Bloody Paradise. So it’s a really big deal for me."

"Congratulations, you deserve it," Von said earnestly. "Actually, seeing how big it’s getting, I was thinking about our next move. I was thinking of us making a music video."

Aura placed a hand on her chin, thinking at the idea. "Is now really the best time for that? With the lockdown and everything going on?"

"I mean, we could try," Von suggested, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe we could work out something creative even if we can’t physically meet up to film. Or, if there’s nothing we can do on that front, we could just pay an animation studio to make a really cool animated video for us."

Aura thought about it for a while. She looked at Von through the screen. "I don’t really know about the animation stuff. But I’ve enjoyed every single one of your own music videos so far. You always have a great vision. So... I’ll just let you figure this one out."

Von opened his mouth, about to tell her he would start brainstorming, when a familiar sound rang inside his head.

Ding!

A translucent purple screen materialized right in front of his eyes, blocking his view of the webcam.

[New Quest: The All-Around Director]

[Description: The Superstar System demands absolute versatility. You have proven yourself as a generational vocalist and a tactical gamer, but a true icon controls the visual narrative as well. Prove your creative genius by directing a music video that captures the world’s attention.]

[Objectives:

● You must direct and produce the video without spending a single cent.

● Must reach a Video Score of 95!]

[Deadline: 4th May, 2020]

[Reward: 1x SS-Title, S-Ranked Charm]

[Failure Penalty: You will be blind for 15 days]

Von read the wall of glowing text and couldn’t help but frown deeply at the very end of it all.

’I’ll be blind?!’ Von thought, his heart skipping a beat. ’That’s ridiculous!’

What made him truly scared was how insanely difficult the Quest was. Even though he had never actually seen a Video Score metric in the System before, 95 was obviously an incredibly high standard.

And with a strict deadline of just one week, coupled with the requirement to not spend a single penny on production, it didn’t seem realistic at all.

Von was just about to use his [Inspect] skill on his past music videos to figure out what their scores were, when he suddenly noticed movement behind the screen. Aura was waving her hand at her camera.

It was then he realized he had been sitting there, completely zoned out and staring blankly into space for almost a full minute.

"Earth to Von? Are you there?" Aura asked, looking slightly amused.

"Oh, sorry. I’m here now," Von apologized quickly, blinking away the System interface.

Aura waved it off with a light laugh. "Where were you thinking off to? Hey, no pressure on you, though. If you’re not able to come up with something, I’ll just contact my label’s creative director. Maybe you could work with them or something to get it done."

"No, please don’t do that," Von rejected the idea immediately with a slightly panicked voice.

If Aura’s label brought in a creative director, they would definitely spend money on editors and crew, which would instantly fail his $0 budget objective and cost him his eyesight.

His instant, panicked rejection made Aura raise a curious eyebrow. Von quickly cleared his throat to clarify.

"I mean... I already have some plans for the video," Von said smoothly, putting on a confident smile. "It’s going to be something really special. Just give me some time to put the pieces together."

Aura’s curious expression melted back into a warm smile. "I trust you. So I’ll just wait and see what peak you give us this time."

"You won’t be disappointed," Von promised.

"Alright, bye Von. I’ll get going now," Aura said, giving a small wave.

Von waved back at her before disconnecting from the call. The screen went black.

Now completely alone in his bedroom, Von let out a heavy sigh. He didn’t have a budget, he didn’t have a crew, and he only had seven days. He immediately summoned the System back up.

Focusing his mind, Von activated his [Inspect] skill to check the scores of his former music videos.