Rewind With A Superstar System

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Replay by Iyaz>

...

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

Several smaller blue screens popped up in front of him, displaying the data he needed.

[Song Name: Masquerade]

[Song Score: 81]

[Video Score: 86]

[Remark: The music video carried great emotional weight and uniqueness. It perfectly managed to capture the raw support and energy of your fans in the streets. However, it failed to fully embrace the song’s intended concept as a direct, targeted diss towards Julian West.]

[Song Name: It Doesn’t Even Matter]

[Song Score: 90]

[Video Score: 96]

[Remark: With the help of a very high budget, the video managed to capture its grand idea more than perfectly. The visual aesthetics were industry-leading. It would have achieved a perfect score if the overall acting from the leads were a bit better and more believable.]

He quickly checked the rest of his portfolio. Coming Home sat at a Video Score of 71, Thousand Miles reached a solid 90, and You’re Gonna Come Home scored an 85.

Von found the results incredibly strange because Masquerade was obviously his most famous video. Although the video’s growth had recently slowed down as it hovered just above five hundred million views, it still remained his most viewed InkTube video by a margin. It was undoubtedly the fan favorite.

But it seemed the System was judging him on more than just views and hype. The System didn’t care about virality; it cared about artistic execution. It made things much more complicated.

"Now I have to make sure the acting is absolutely on point," Von muttered to himself in the quiet room. "I’ll also have to ensure it embraces the exact idea of the music, while also involving Aura in the project without spending a dime."

He already knew the core themes of Far Away. Even though the beat was fast and pulsing, the lyrics were heavy. He identified the main themes to be isolation and deep longing.

Von was already having a faint idea of something, a small spark of inspiration regarding the lockdown, but he wanted to nail this right away.

With the strict seven-day deadline and the threat of blindness hanging over his head, he decided to purchase a pill to speed up the process.

Von pulled up his main interface.

[SUPERSTAR SYSTEM — STATUS PANEL]

[BIO]

● Name: Von Varley

● Age: 19

● Class: Artist

● Title: Uncrowned King (equipped), Street Performer, Mogul.

● System Level: 1

[STATS]

● Vocals: A (0/3000)

● Composition: A- (0/3000)

● Charm: A (10/3000)

● Willpower: C- (0/300)

[PROGRESSION]

● Skills: Basic Instrument Mastery, Resonance (D), Emote (B), Advanced Choreography Mastery (B), Master Chef (A), Golden Vessel (S).

● EXP: 6,080

● Current Fans: 8,650,004

● Quests: 2 available.

● Star Shop: 104 Vouchers

Looking at the numbers, Von let out a soft breath. He had a really good stockpile of EXP left over, and it was mostly as a result of hitting his recent fan milestones.

It was still crazy how much his fanbase had increased in the past few months alone. Between dropping a record-breaking album and winning a global gaming tournament watched by millions, his popularity had skyrocketed. He was rapidly approaching the ten million fan mark.

But now, it was about time he spent some of those hard-earned points.

Von knew he might have to buy a specific skill to assist with the making of the music video later, but before that, he needed something crucial. He needed the vision.

He opened the Star Shop and navigated directly to a saved item he had used a lot in the past.

[Zone State Pill (A)]

● Cost: 1,000 EXP

Even though he naturally felt creatively disposed to think of something great on his own, Von couldn’t deny using the pill’s effects, especially when you considered the incredibly strict conditions placed on him now.

There was absolutely no debate that he would do so much better with it. A zero-dollar budget meant his creativity had to carry the entire weight of the project.

Von didn’t hesitate to spend one thousand of his EXP on it, sealing the purchase.

[-1000 EXP]

[Zone State Pill (A) acquired!]

A crisp, white pill instantly materialized in the palm of his hand. He didn’t waste any time to throw it into his mouth, swallowing it dry.

[Ding! Zone State Activated]

[Time Left: 0:59:58]

Just like his previous experiences with the item, Von’s vision briefly blurred. When his eyes focused again, he found himself standing in the familiar, endless white space.

The silence was absolute and his mind began moving at a terrifying, hyper-focused speed, connecting dots and ideas faster than a supercomputer.

The first thing he did was to visualize what he had in mind for the music video.

He pictured his massive, nine-million-dollar Pinecrest mansion. But instead of showing it off as a luxury flex to his fans, he visualized it as a dark, empty prison.

He stripped away all the glamour. The only light sources would be the harsh, cold blue glow of televisions, laptops, and cell phones. Just screens.

’The theme is isolation,’ Von’s accelerated mind processed. ’So, Aura and I cannot be in the same room. We shouldn’t even pretend to be.’

The idea formed together in his head flawlessly. Aura’s parts wouldn’t require a professional camera crew.

She would simply film herself on her phone, giving it that authentic FaceTime quality. She would be the visual anchor, smiling warmly and trying to comfort him through the digital screen while the world outside remained shut down.

He visualized the first verse. He saw himself sitting alone on the dark living room floor, the TV playing muted news broadcasts. When he sang the line about reaching for her, he would literally reach out and touch her frozen contact photo on his phone screen.

Then came the pre-chorus. The beat would build, and so would his panic. He visualized Max holding a normal, handheld camera, following him as he paced down the long, empty hallways of the mansion. He pictured himself pulling at his hair, tugging at his collar like he couldn’t breathe, eventually sliding down the wall in a visceral display of a lockdown-induced panic attack.

For the chorus, the energy shifted entirely. He visualized himself casting Aura’s video call to the massive eighty-inch TV in his living room. As she sang her echo lyrics from the giant screen, Von would perform a raw, chaotic, unchoreographed dance in the empty room.

He saw himself jumping, knocking over a chair, and screaming the lyrics out into the empty space. It would be a desperate, cathartic release of energy.

Finally, the climax. Von visualized sprinting out the front doors of his mansion into the dark.

In the absence of rain, he would just turn on the estate’s lawn sprinklers. He pictured himself completely soaked, looking up at the night sky, screaming the final chorus at the top of his lungs.

The video would end quietly in the morning. Golden sunlight streaming through the windows, showing Von asleep on the floor by the front door, exhausted but peaceful, with his phone resting on his chest as Aura whispered her final line from the screen.

The concept was raw, intimate and perfectly captured the lockdown reality that billions of people were currently living through. Best of all, it wouldn’t cost a single cent to produce. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

After planning every single camera angle, lighting cue, and transition, the one hour was suddenly up.

The white space shattered like glass. Von found himself back on his mattress, staring at the ceiling of his bedroom.

This time, his head was throbbing a bit from the mental exertion, but he had a wide, accomplished smile on his face. He knew this idea was more than perfect. It was a guaranteed masterpiece!

"Now, almost everything is complete," Von whispered to himself, rubbing his temples to soothe the headache.

"The concept is there, my budget’s still zero. But... my acting has to be really convincing if I’m nailing this right."

He remembered the System’s remark on his It Doesn’t Even Matter video. A great concept wasn’t enough if the acting fell flat.

To pull off a genuine panic attack and the desperate, chaotic energy he had just visualized, he needed to make the audience feel his pain through the screen.

"I guess it’s time to spend my EXP," Von smirked, pulling his System interface back up to look at his skill list.