“When you encounter a song with a relatively long main melody, you can break it down into several smaller sections, which we often refer to as musical phrases. Each phrase may have slight variations in performance, such as this section…”

The next morning.

Composition Department’s professional class.

Lin Yuan listened to the teacher’s explanation while taking notes in his notebook. Although the original owner had transferred from the Vocal Department to the Composition Department and didn’t have a high talent for composition, all fields related to music were within the original owner’s range of interest.

And now, Lin Yuan shared the same enthusiasm for music as the original owner. He didn’t want to end up with a bunch of songs without being proficient in reading sheet music.

However, Lin Yuan didn’t expect that paying attention in class would bring an unexpected reward—

Suddenly, a notification sound rang in his ears: “Ding dong, the host is detected learning composition knowledge, triggering a beginner’s task.”

Immediately after, several lines of blue text glowing faintly appeared before Lin Yuan’s eyes:

[Task Name: A Student’s Duty is to Learn]

[Task Content: Achieve a total score within the top 25 in the class in the next scheduled professional course exam]

[Task Reward: Receive a Bronze Treasure Chest]

This beginner’s task came quite abruptly, but Lin Yuan wasn’t too surprised.

Is it still a system if it doesn’t issue tasks?

He then considered the difficulty of this task:

Qinzhou Music Academy’s Composition Department alone had ten classes, each with about fifty students, and Lin Yuan’s class happened to have fifty people.

But this had nothing to do with Lin Yuan.

Because he didn’t need to compete with students from other classes.

The beginner’s task only required Lin Yuan to rank within the top 25 in his class in the next exam.

For Lin Yuan, this wasn’t a big problem.

Because his usual professional course ranking was around 30th in the class, with a little more effort, he should be able to break into the top 25.

“What happens if I fail the task?”

Lin Yuan curiously asked the system in his mind: “Will the system electrocute me? Or erase me? Wait!”

Lin Yuan’s face changed slightly: “It won’t deduct money, right? No way, no way, no way?”

[System’s First Rule: Never harm the host]

[Additionally, a friendly reminder: Electrocution and erasure are each scarier than deducting money, please prioritize correctly]

“As long as it doesn’t deduct money.”

Lin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, but then he suddenly realized that even if the system wanted to deduct money, he had no money for it to deduct…

This realization left him somewhat disheartened.

…

After class.

Lin Yuan didn’t return to the dormitory but found a quiet place and dialed a number from his phone, which was saved under the name: “Agent Zhao Yu.”

The call was answered after two rings.

On the other end was a somewhat tired woman’s voice: “Lin Yuan? What do you need?”

Lin Yuan said, “I have a song I want to release.”

The voice on the other end suddenly became a bit more lively: “Want to release a song? Has your voice recovered? Can you sing again?”

“No.”

Lin Yuan said, “I’ve transferred from the Vocal Department to the Composition Department. Recently, I have a song and want to see if the company can help find a singer to perform and release it.”

“I see.”

Zhao Jue sounded a bit disappointed, her voice turning low again: “You also want to participate in the November Newcomer Season, right?”

“Yes.”

“I must remind you, you are signed with Starlight Entertainment as a singer, not as a songwriter. The company has a dedicated department for songwriters to connect with singers, and most singers have their own collaborating songwriters…” Zhao Jue’s refusal was quite tactful.

Lin Yuan didn’t give up: “Can I transfer to the songwriting department now?”

He really needed the company’s distribution channels.

Without the promotional resources provided by the company, even an excellent song could easily sink without a trace. In previous Newcomer Seasons, all the newcomers who made a mark had the support of entertainment company resources.

“No!”

Zhao Jue flatly refused.

The air was silent for about ten seconds before Zhao Jue suddenly sighed and said somewhat helplessly: “Fine, encrypt the song through the company’s internal channel and send it to me. If the quality is decent, I’ll find someone to help you release it. Of course, if the quality isn’t up to par, let’s pretend this never happened.”

“Thank you.”

Lin Yuan sincerely expressed his gratitude.

Zhao Jue was the one who initially signed Lin Yuan, and she once had high hopes for him. Unfortunately, Lin Yuan’s voice had an accident, losing its value.

In such circumstances, Zhao Jue was still willing to help Lin Yuan, which was already a significant favor.

“That’s it, I’m hanging up.”

Zhao Jue cut off the call somewhat irritably.

…

Zhao Jue’s irritation wasn’t directed at Lin Yuan, but it did stem from him.

Also, because next month was the Newcomer Season, Zhao Jue had too many things to handle.

She had several newly signed newcomers under her wing who needed to make a push during the annual Newcomer Season.

Originally, Lin Yuan should have been one of these newcomers.

Zhao Jue had even considered inviting the company’s top songwriters to create a few songs tailored for Lin Yuan, hoping he would make a stunning debut during the Newcomer Season because Lin Yuan’s vocal talent was truly remarkable.

But things didn’t go as planned.

“The path of a singer is blocked, so he wants to switch to songwriting?”

Zhao Jue shook her head with a bitter smile. If creating was that simple, why would some top-tier singers still hire professional songwriters instead of writing their own songs?

Is it because they don’t want to?

It’s because they can’t write songs that the audience loves.

In today’s era, a song’s composer holds a higher status than the singer, especially in the current industry ecosystem.

Composers are the big bosses!

Because if a company has a talented composer, they can support a bunch of singers.

In fact, in recent years, listeners have started paying more attention to the names of composers.

Clearly, the public is beginning to realize that composition is the soul of a song, with performance being secondary!

Other aspects like lyrics and arrangement are also very important, but the core element, more important than performance, is definitely the composition—

A good tune sounds great with any accompaniment!

Whether you use a guitar, piano, bass, or oboe, if you really want to have fun, even a suona can make the tune shine.

“This kid is also quite pitiful.”

Recalling some past events, Zhao Jue sighed.

When Lin Yuan was hospitalized, Zhao Jue, as his agent, actually went to see him, but she ultimately stopped at the door.

Because through the door, she heard the hoarse and sobbing cries from inside the ward, a sound like a wounded puppy…

Everyone has compassion.

That’s why Zhao Jue was willing to help Lin Yuan.

Regardless of success or failure, at least give the kid a chance, so he knows that in this world, many things aren’t as simple as just doing them to succeed.

“But, you’ve really put me in a tough spot.”

Zhao Jue sighed, worry creeping onto her face, which was the root of her irritation—

The annual Newcomer Season is when major companies push their newcomers.

During this time, major companies are fiercely competitive.

Even across the eight continents, Starlight Entertainment is a well-known company.

And in Qinzhou, Starlight Entertainment’s overall strength ranks in the top three!

But Starlight Entertainment has been underperforming in the Newcomer Season for three consecutive years.

In the past three years, the company’s best performance was two newcomers making it into the top ten, and they were only ninth and tenth, barely hanging on the list…

Compared to companies of the same level, it’s quite embarrassing.

What infuriates Starlight the most is that their arch-rival, Sand Sea Entertainment, occupied four spots in the top ten of last year’s Newcomer Season.

Among the four spots, they even secured the highly coveted second and third places.

This left Starlight’s executives collectively humiliated, as the major entertainment companies in Qinzhou don’t get along well, so the executives naturally pressured the company’s chief agent, Zhao Jue.

Zhao Jue, with no other choice, made a military pledge in front of all the executives:

This year’s Newcomer Season will produce a top-three newcomer!

If not, she would voluntarily step down.

And the reason Zhao Jue dared to make such a pledge was not only because of the pressure from the executives but also because she had just signed a young man named Lin Yuan, whose voice had amazed her, and she was eager to make a big impact—

She believed Lin Yuan could help her complete this task.

But now Lin Yuan’s voice was gone, and the military pledge remained.

The executives only care about results, not the changes that occurred along the way.

So Zhao Jue has been frantically searching for someone who could replace Lin Yuan and help her fulfill the pledge, having already submitted nine newcomers.

But Zhao Jue knew in her heart.

The nine newcomers she had submitted had a chance to break into the top twenty, but breaking into the top ten would require luck.

As for breaking into the top five or even the top three?

Might as well dream, anything is possible in dreams.

The company can allocate resources for ten spots, and now there’s only one spot left, but Zhao Jue still hasn’t found anyone who can replace Lin Yuan.

She’s already in a state of semi-abandonment.

That’s why she eventually agreed to Lin Yuan.

After all, it’s just the last spot, and if Lin Yuan’s song is barely passable, why not fulfill the wish of that poor kid?

Just then.

Her phone rang.

It was a notification from her email, sent through the company’s internal encrypted channel, and the sender was Lin Yuan.

Opening the email.

After decrypting it, Zhao Jue saw the audio file Lin Yuan sent, titled: “Life Like Summer Flowers.”

Life Like Summer Flowers?

Zhao Jue didn’t understand the meaning of this phrase, but she could vaguely associate some imagery with it.

She put on her headphones and clicked play.

Immersed in the music, she quickly finished listening to the song.

Zhao Jue’s expression was somewhat surprised and a bit astonished.

Unlike those rough demos, the song Lin Yuan sent was very complete. Not only was the melody already very complete, but even the arrangement part was done—

This wasn’t something that could be done in a short time.

And the singing part was purely a humming tune, synthesized by a machine.

However, this sound was less rigid than typical machine-synthesized voices, appearing quite natural.

But Zhao Jue could judge from experience that if this emotionless humming were replaced with a human voice, it should have great potential.

“Interesting.”

Zhao Jue was an agent.

She might have only a superficial understanding of composition, but after years in the industry, her basic judgment wasn’t bad.

Her eyes faintly brightened; she felt that “Life Like Summer Flowers” might be a very good song because she was already somewhat attracted to it, even though it currently only had a melody and synthesized humming.

“Does this guy really have a talent for composition?”

Raising an eyebrow, Zhao Jue made three consecutive phone calls.

The first call was to the review department: “I have a song here; review it, expedite it, and give me the results by tonight.”

This was a necessary checkpoint.

Technical review is to prevent Lin Yuan’s “Life Like Summer Flowers” from being too similar to other songs on the market, raising suspicions of plagiarism, which would be a severe blow to the company’s reputation.

The second call was to her subordinate agents.

As the chief, Zhao Jue’s voice was full of decisiveness: “Record the song tonight, the last spot for the Newcomer Season, give me someone reliable, don’t make it too hard for the sound engineer.”

For Zhao Jue, newcomers without top-notch voices were all the same.

It’s just a matter of the company’s sound engineers working a bit more overtime.

The third call was to Lin Yuan, her tone the softest, far less forceful than the previous two calls: “What time do you finish class today? I’ll pick you up from school, and we’ll record the song.”

“Okay.”

Lin Yuan replied.

This tone seemed… not surprised?