Surprise! The Supposed Talent Show Was Actually–?!

Chapter 9 - Debut

translator: xiin

editors: butter, celtic & juurensha

The Crosson Reality Show was bustling with activity.

The waiters respectfully provided them with plain water instead of champagne after they presented their contestant number tags, as contestants were prohibited from drinking alcohol before the competition.

Passers-by would excitedly ask for autographs when they saw the sign on the contestants’ chests as they made their way through the audience.

“Are you guys trainees under White Moonlight?” The corner they occupied was soon filled with chattering fans, “We are die-hard fans of Team Leader Lin! However, Team Leader Lin has been competing in the Deep Space Competition Zone these past two days and definitely won’t be able to come. Keep it up, you guys! White Moonlight’s men will never admit defeat!”

Wu Jin immediately realized that these little fans were referring to the Team Captain of White Moonlight’s official team.

Both Caesar, the assault player, and Zoe, the sniper player, were completely at ease in this situation, even while they reminded Wu Jin to lower the brim of his hat.

Wu Jin gaped at them: “……”

“The program group sold all of the advertisement spaces for the time slots before, during, and after your appearance on stage, totaling up to a full six minutes––for the sake of recovering their investment, the program producer repeatedly reminded us to hide your appearance properly.” Zoe explained gently, “Of course, you’ll be given more of the endorsement fee as well.”

After speaking, he blinked his eyes, “A lot more.”

Wu Jin thought about it. At the moment, he was still considered an unregistered resident, and there was a chance that large-scale spending would also attract Federal attention. He couldn’t help but sigh internally.

Within the auditorium, the ladies were exquisitely dressed, wearing elaborate gauze and mesh hats, and the gentlemen were dressed in formal ties and suits, their demeanor elegant.

Caesar languidly explained, “Women must wear hats with a base width of at least 12cm. Dresses must reach below the knee and can’t have spaghetti straps. Men… Aiya, it’s enough just to look at the girls, who cares about the men! Do you know why the survival show makes so much money? The audience is full of leisurely people who have nowhere to spend their money…”

Sniper Zoe used reason to retort, “Looking at Crosson’s annual financial reports, their biggest income stream is not from ticket sales, but from sponsorships. The most important thing is the life-saving capsule. After all, they are a necessity for survival. Certain events occurring in an important round can cause the life-saving capsule stock of a miscellaneous brand to sell out completely. Other than that, there are also weapons, drugs, tourism-related things…”

All sorts of complex feelings welled up in Wu Jin’s mind.

A thousand years later, science and technology had flourished beyond imagination. Interstellar navigation had led to the development of countless industries, and even the audiences’ preferences had undergone qualitative changes.

A banner fluttered above the qualified contestant zone, displaying Crosson Show’s slogan.

“Courage, Fearlessness, Cream of the Crop.”

Wu Jin had begun to look for a familiar figure within the crowd as soon as he entered.

However, Wei Shi still hadn’t appeared.

The evaluation match began right on time amidst a scene of jubilation and revelry.

Three distinguished judges took their seats and the first group of contestants came up on to the stage to prepare for battle.

All of the group’s details could be seen with a glance to the dome’s projection screen.

This group had drawn a swamp map, and the venue simulated the mud and silt of a tropical swamp perfectly. Three batches of jumping frogs constantly launched their attacks at the contestants’ calves and bellies.

Wu Jin watched with wide eyes, fear lingering in his heart. “This must be an aerial battle… We’re lucky we didn’t get this map.”

Caesar nodded, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at the results. “Two were eliminated… Well, the qualifying players faced a high level of difficulty, but their ratings are also high. One B and two D.”

In the following six groups, only one contestant was given an A grade, and the elimination rate was 20%. No S-level contestant had appeared so far.

“Get ready. We’re up after two more games.” Caesar reminded.

Wu Jin was currently thinking that if Wei Shi couldn’t get an S, then surely none of the other players could, either.

Wei Shi… He even had a vague feeling that big boss was much stronger than many professional players.

Wu Jin asked, “If an individual came to participate in the competition, would they need to pass the evaluation match on their own?”

Caesar shrugged, “They’ll probably form a team. It’s difficult for individuals to beat company trainees. Their strength rarely ever surpasses a D-grade ranking. Think about our company’s training room… Other than an entertainment giant, who else would have that kind of financial resources?”

The elevator took them straight to the battle zone.

The cold and humid air attacked them from all around.

Wu Jin accepted the heavy machine gun that the staff handed over, his somewhat nervous heartbeat finally calming down.

His left hand wrapped around the handle of the machine gun and his right hand stroked the compensator gently before settling in front of the trigger.

When he stood up again, he was full of energy.

Caesar was surprised, “You, you, you’re not nervous?”

Wu Jin was sincere, “Not really, not really.”

Over ten hours of practice every day for a week had formed a degree of muscle memory and his motor reflexes were embedded in his spinal cord, so his cerebral cortex barely needed to get involved.

In other words––it was no use being nervous!

Wu Jin felt a little emotional about the knowledge for his college entrance examination that he had all but forgotten, then walked onto the battle platform with a gun on his shoulder.

The staff to the side immediately reminded him, “Contestant 300012, your hat––”

Wu Jin was only reminded about this now. He immediately thanked the staff and pulled off his baseball cap, entrusting it to them to put away.

The battle platform slowly began to rise up.

The staff member gave a sudden start, then quickly ran backstage to watch the broadcast.

In the middle of the arena, the judges had just finished reading out ‘White Moonlight Entertainment’ when the audience stands rang out with a series of loud cheers. There were many White Moonlight fans in the audience, and their goodwill also extended towards its trainees.

By this time, the battle platform was already in place, with the four players still standing there in the dark.

Immediately after, their war song began to play. Zoe, who was their c-position, was suddenly caught in the bright, magnesium lights.

Zoe smiled and waved to the audience off-stage, hefting the sniper rifle he held in his hand. He was then followed by his support, then Caesar, whose entire body was covered in shades of gold––

Finally, the lights stretched out to include the machine gun-holding Wu Jin.

The camera zoomed in from a distance and paused at Wu Jin’s side profile. His slightly curled hair looked both fluffy and soft, and the corner of the teenager’s eyes curved with what seemed more like excitement than nervousness. His delicate features looked extra innocent and cute due to the magnification of the zoomed-in lens, and the silver scorpion and decorative glitter teardrops on his left cheek glimmered slightly under the magnesium lamp––just like a dazzling star.

The entire scene was silent.

Wu Jin curled his right index finger around the trigger lightly in a shooting position, keeping it there as he bowed politely to everyone off-stage:

“Hello, everybody. I’m trainee Wu Jin from White Moonlight Entertainment.”

––There was a sudden reaction from the audience off-stage, and shrill screams burst out one after another.

If Wu Jin could see the scrolling comments on the live screen right now, he definitely wouldn’t be as calm as he was now.

Loyal fans of the Crosson Reality Show were already boiling with excitement on the live screen.

––”My god, I’ve fallen in love again ahhhhh!! This spicy chicken reality show brought such a cute little thing onto the stage for the sake of emptying my wallet, right?!”

––”I’ve already seen through your strategy! You’ll throw little brother Witch into an extremely terrible place, then blackmail fans to give this little brother some help! 100 credits for a piece of bread, 500 credits for a gun!! Ahhhhhh, you guys are a group of bastards, alright? But I still want to pay…”

––”He’s really full of that youthful feeling Q_Q! This old aunt is already soft-hearted!! Begging you guys not to harm small animals! It’s against the law!!!”

––”Wait a minute, something seems to be wrong with me, how come I’m so excited?! Ahahahaha I’m just so excited, why do I really want to see this little cutie fall into a quagmire…”

From behind Wu Jin, Caesar gave him a thumbs up.

The judge coughed softly, then cleared his throat to stop the noise from the crowd.

“Well then, please begin your performance.”

Wu Jin nodded, found his tactical position on the stage, and quickly set up his machine gun.

The four trainees exchanged high-fives, then dispersed to hide in the darkness.

Before this evaluation match began, the program team had stuffed in a full six minutes of advertisements, which heaped quite a lot of pressure onto the contestants who were currently in the field.

Wu Jin took a deep breath and fine-tuned his shooting actions in the dark.

The moment his right shoulder sank down, six days of repetitive muscle memory poured in like the tide. Each muscle stretched out in the most comfortable direction, and his willpower began to tense up, magnifying his five senses within the darkness.

The surface temperature rose.

The virtual desert scene had been set up.

The scope on the gun glowed green as it matched up with the rising temperature.

The six-minute advertisement intermission ended, and the scene suddenly lit up––

Wu Jin squinted slightly. In the instant when the virtual giant lizards launched their attack, he did not hesitate at all to shoot, firing three times in a triangular shape and accurately outlining an area for his teammates to aim a secondary wave of fire.

Caesar’s assault rifle followed suit, the two streams of gunfire crossing to form a wall of death that extinguished all creatures stepping within the area.

“Attention, coordinates 52, 171.” In the sixth minute, the support abruptly spoke up.

Sniper Zoe made a swift judgement, “Let it into North 2.”

Caesar no longer used his gun to apply pressure, but raised it with precision, reliably using a string of fire to force back the giant fiery red lizard that represented 20 points. Wu Jin followed suit almost immediately with amazing accuracy.

There was a bang.

The sniper bullet left its chamber, leaving a blood-red hole in the lizard’s head.

The virtual scene suddenly disappeared.

Enthusiastic applause erupted at the scene, and a line of large words appeared on the dome screen.

Annihilation.

Butter: Little staff member left to become a little fan, will spend all his income on support for Little Witch!

Celtic: Go Little Witch! Shock ‘em all!

fanart from discord~ the one on the left of Little Witch eating a wrap is by ari, the one to the right of Little Witch and Brother Rabbit is by con.