Exclusive Rights to An Online Voice Actor

Chapter 65

Lilies: thank you to MCJohnston and Bee for the donation!! σ(≧ε≦ｏ)

TLC: Lilies

Editor: Mashiro

“What is the producer called?”

The other party’s voice sounded plenty calm, like the water of a bottomless lake—so calm that it was almost scary.

Qi Jing hesitated at once. No sound came from his half-opened mouth for a long time as he furrowed his brows more and more.

“… Forgot.” He replied softly, glancing down slightly as he spoke, “I forgot her ID.”

Apart from that message, Jade Butterfly also attached a picture with a comment “got it from an insider in the know”, along with repeatedly urging him not to “leak it to the person in question and take care so it doesn’t come back to bite you”. It was sent via offline message, so he had to click on the attached picture to see it. With a bellyful of complicated feelings, he clicked on the mouse button to open it.

What he saw was a screenshot of a chat log.

In it, the ID of one of the participants had been covered, probably out of fear for repercussions.

On the other hand, the ID of the other participant, Crossing the bridge noodles, was completely out in the open, dark grey Fang Song font size 14 being a font of his choice. As for the content, it went as follows:

Crossing the bridge noodles: Don’t ask for my return date? What kind of joke is it? Who would want to play in the same drama as that shameless person and ruin my own reputation?

■■: But he is working with that CP of yours.

Crossing the bridge noodles: I know he’s cooperating with Bronze Sparrow, so he’s probably about to get popular from now on, but do I, with the amount of my fans in five digits, have to rub off some of his popularity? What’s more, the sheer thought of being in the same production crew as him makes me feel sick, and all of the staff members who know me are aware of that. If either me or one of them is in the production crew, Don’t ask for my return date can forget about staying in it.

■■: Haha, you’re so heartless. How can he get popular with you like this?

Crossing the bridge noodles: He is probably going to get popular through ⟪Trap⟫. Hehe, if he insists on trying to interact with me, then I’ll make sure to return the favour and cast a net to trap him. Then I’ll just toss a bait to lure him into making a fool of himself or something.

■■: You can show him some goodwill first, then find an opportunity to complain on the forum, saying he cheated you and wanted to use you. This way, you would be guaranteed to get him cancelled.

Crossing the bridge noodles: That’s a good idea.

■■: Little Noodles, you have my full support! A shameless wretch like him shouldn’t stay in the circle.

Crossing the bridge noodles: What’s more, I won’t give up Bronze Sparrow to anyone else, especially not to someone this two-faced. No matter if it’s now or in the future, as long as I have yet to retire, they can only pick one—it’s either me or him, no compromises.

… So, those previous production crews “asking” him to leave for no apparent reason were all his doing?

The moment he saw the content of that picture, Qi Jing felt a chill spreading through his very bones; he felt light-headed, as if the blood suddenly reversed its flow in his veins.

He didn’t know how to describe that feeling—he only felt his whole body grow stiff, his hand holding the mouse slowly gripping it harder and harder. Even the cursor on the screen was starting to shake.

No, wait—He should wait first, wait and do a simple test before making a decision.

Qi Jing silently moved the cursor towards the “end the call” button on the window and ended their voice call without any word of warning. Then, he sat there still, waiting. After about two or three seconds, the other party sent another invitation, and he ended the call once again.

After the second call didn’t go through, Crossing the bridgenoodles used the message mode to express his confusion in the chat window.

Crossing the bridge noodles: What happened? The call ended suddenly.

Size 14, dark grey, FangSong font…

Everything was exactly the same as in the picture.

Qi Jing held his breath for a moment, slowly leaning against the back of the chair. His heart throbbed dully deep in his chest, his thoughts flying into disarray.

After a long while, he reopened the voice chatting channel and slowly gave the other an explanation for what had just happened. “… I’m sorry, there was a problem with the internet connection on my side, I just got disconnected twice. It should be fine by now.”

“I see.” Crossing the bridge noodles didn’t seem to show any unusual reaction and moved on with the topic, “Right, I have yet to thank you properly for the last time.”

“Noodles-sama, you’re too polite.” Hearing this “thank you” after seeing that picture left Qi Jing with a strange feeling.

“No need for calling me ‘sama’, it sounds so strange when two VAs call each other this.” Crossing the bridge noodles paused for a bit, then suggested, “You can just call me Noodles. In return, can I call you Return Date?”

“Of course&#k2026; you can call me as you wish.”

Qi Jing kept cool and exchanged some conventional pleasantries with him as he calmly opened the online voice acting forum. He searched for the audio drama posts of a few of the production crews that kicked him out first, including &#k27RJ;Keep the Cloud, Borrow the Moon&#k27RK;, &#k27RJ;Palace Coup&#k27RK;, as well as &#k27RJ;His Happy Times&#k27RK;.

Although Crossing the bridge noodles didn’t have any role in ⟪Keep the Cloud, Borrow the Moon⟫, The Reed, the director of that drama, was widely known in the circle as a hardcore “Rice Noodles Fan”, so much so that she was even considered his number one “mom”; it wouldn’t be strange if she heeded his every command.

In ⟪Palace Coup⟫, Crossing the bridge noodles played a supporting role, his scenes quite important.

As for ⟪His Happy Times⟫… Turns out Crossing the bridge noodles played the main character for that one.

All sorts of clues came together, almost every single one of them pointing at the fact Qi Jing didn’t want to believe in.

His impression of this person that was about to take shape had suddenly become confusing, as if something that was about to surface had unexpectedly sunk back even deeper into the dark waters.

So when Jade Butterfly mentioned him being “good at playing games”… That was what she meant?

He already experienced Crossing the bridge noodles’ skills at voice acting, but once those acting skills got used in reality, it really made one’s blood run cold.

And that man, at that very moment, was still talking to him calmly. “Return Date, I wanted to talk about something with you.”

Qi Jing closed the post pages in silence, and after a moment of hesitation, he still decided to listen carefully, “Sure, go ahead.”

Crossing the bridge noodles wasn’t quick to continue talking, falling silent for a moment instead. After a while, he said something that completely caught Qi Jing off guard.

“I wanted to ask you, what prejudice do you have against me?”

Isn’t that what I should be asking? Qi Jing’s eyes opened wide with disbelief, full of doubt whether heard that right—he couldn’t help but return that question in his heart.

Yet Crossing the bridge noodles didn’t stop at that, “You previously… withdrew from a couple of production crews I was in. Was there any kind of reason behind it?”

Is it perhaps the legendary “the thief cries thief” situation?Qi Jing was already completely confused about what he should think of this matter.

“Noodles,” He released his breath slowly and made his first move to sound the other out, “Are you sure I left the production crews on my own accord? And how did you get to know about this matter?”

Crossing the bridge noodles went silent for a moment, his voice now mixed with a bit of caution, “… I’m sorry, but to avoid the problems from arising, I can’t tell you who told me about this matter. This circle is only so big, if the two of you were to cooperate later, then knowing too much would make it quite awkward. But… after she told me about it, I went to verify it by myself—those production crews also told me so.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

The other party’s tone didn’t sound as if he was hiding something, or had a guilty conscience—in the end, is this an act or not?

That “don’t believe it” from Jade Butterfly was like a thorn wedged deep into his mind—it caused him pain whenever his will to believe him showed up a bit, so he didn’t dare to trust that man so lightly.

A person’s voice was just so very deceptive, no matter how clear, how innocent it sounded. He was a voice actor himself, he should be even more aware of that.

“Well then,” Qi Jing decided to make a strategic retreat, “To be honest, I don’t have any prejudice against you, not a speck of it.”

And he really meant it—even though the other party’s fans smeared him in the thread for ⟪Trap⟫, that was only his fans’ behaviour, the VA himself didn’t need to assume the direct responsibility. And as for the indirect responsibility… The opinions varied when it came to that one, but he wasn’t the type to take the online slander personally, so he didn’t think much of it.

“If that’s the case, then that’s good.” The calmness of an early morning could be easily heard coming from Crossing the bridge noodles’ side of the call as he breathed, as if he was now a lot more at ease, “I know that some of my fans were rude towards you before, and thought that was the reason.”

“If you’re talking about the matter of the comments in ⟪Trap⟫ thread, that happened after I left those production crews.” For now, he settled with the version of him leaving by himself.

Crossing the bridge noodles’ voice got a bit more serious after he heard that, “It happened after you left?”

“That’s right.” Qi Jing replied according to the truth as he observed his reaction.

“Ah…” Crossing the bridge noodles suddenly exclaimed softly as if he had realised something, then said in a low voice, “It seems like I overlooked a certain crucial detail… Let me go back and ask around a bit more to clarify that.”

Qi Jing kept listening to him in silence, then decided to take back the initiative.

“Since you already asked your question, then Noodles, I also would like to ask you something—that time when you posted on weibo that you like me, it wasn’t for real, right?”

Yet the other man unexpectedly returned him the ball with a single strike, “No, compared to Bronze Sparrow Terrace, I indeed like you more.”

Can you not admit that so outright… Qi Jing felt his brain hurt.

“In that case, what did you like about me? I don’t think we ever actually interacted before?” Since the other was so straightforward, then he could only get right to the point.

“Your voice,” After a moment of silence, Crossing the bridge noodles said in a lukewarm tone, “it’s closer to the voice of a person I like—”

Qi Jing momentarily went dumbstruck.

Wait…

Bronze Sparrow Terrace was his boyfriend.

But Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s voice didn’t resemble the voice of a person he liked.

Compared to Bronze Sparrow Terrace, it was his voice that was closer to the voice of the person he liked.

So there was definitely one statement from above that didn’t hold up—Qi Jing was digesting the heavy load of information packed in that sentence, honestly feeling as if he had been played by the other man, “… Wait, the Great God Bronze Sparrow Terrace isn’t your boyfriend, and he isn’t the person you like?”

Crossing the bridge noodles’ next words were enough to shatter the heart of every “Moss” stan, “Nonsense, when did I ever say he’s my boyfriend?”

So the 3D matters are truly different from what is being said in 2D…

The people of the online voice acting circle often were quick to believe the rumours, and wouldn’t think as deeply about it.

But just like this, some of the things that didn’t make sense before suddenly became clear. “So that day at the competition when you said I can make you feel a bit better, you meant…”

“I had listened to your audio dramas before, and always felt like your voices were quite similar, so as long as I listened more to your voice, I could easily substitute it for that guy’s. When you came to wish me good luck, I could imagine your voice saying it, making it feel like he was the one to wish me luck.”

“Turns out you’re a hopeless voice-con huh…” Qi Jing facepalmed in silence.

“It was indeed because I liked his voice that I got to know that guy.” Crossing the bridge noodles truly laid it on the line.

He’s not just a voice-con, but also a severe case to boot—Qi Jing couldn’t help but feel pity for that unknown boyfriend-kun.

“Then, why not invite the person himself to wish you luck?”

Any sound from Crossing the bridge noodles’ side disappeared for a moment, and it took a long while for him to say slowly, “It’s because… it was only my one-sided ‘like’. He doesn’t have that kind of intention.”

Qi Jing suddenly went silent. So it’s a not yet established relationship, no wonder he can only use substitutes…

Crossing the bridge noodles was very composed throughout their whole conversation, and it was only when he spoke the next words that some of his personal feelings slipped through. His voice low, he said, “That guy really is cunning. He never let me record him, never sent me any voice messages, insisting that it’s only worthwhile to talk in person when something has to be said, and even calls can’t count as talking to each other. To be honest, it’s all because of my one-sided love—he probably just didn’t want to let himself get trapped.”

“Oh right, come to think of it, you were sick that day.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s more, it was the first audition, and you had that misfortune to be the first to perform.”

“Yeah.”

“I get it now…” I can understand those difficult feelings, but Noodles-kun, please, remember to consider the feelings of your substitute, don’t ignore the psychological burden on them. Qi Jing took a deep breath, silently reminding himself that he needed to be a gentleman, needed to show consideration—under no circumstances should he turn his roasting mode on now.

Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly hesitated, feeling as if there was still something iffy about it.

His gaze shifted back towards the picture Jade Butterfly sent him, the doubts in his mind getting stronger by each moment.

If… if Bronze Sparrow Terrace isn’t his real sweetheart, then wouldn’t those cocky words of a lover scrambling to fight with his rival, all that “won’t let him have Bronze Sparrow Terrace”… wasn’t that completely illogical?

Or was it that he was leading people both in real life and online, but because of his ego, he wanted to be only looked upon favourably, and that’s why he cared so much about his in-name-only online CP?

Or maybe he was faking that story about a man with a voice similar to his; maybe it was all a lie?

“Don’t ever believe anything he says to you.” In the end, Qi Jing still couldn’t forget Jade Butterfly’s warning.

If their whole conversation from today was just one big lie, then it could truly make the blood in one’s veins go cold—

“There’s also another reason besides your voice.” Just as he was deep in his thoughts, Crossing the bridge noodles spoke once again, going back to their initial topic, “That guy, Bronze Sparrow Terrace, is always so high-profile with the way he deals with stuff. He keeps indulging his fans, but never really cares about what kind of troubles it may bring to other people. Taking the comments in the ⟪Trap⟫ thread as an example, I think more highly of the way you responded and handled the situation.”

Qi Jing was thus taken aback.

By the time he came back to his senses, his curiosity was piqued, so he couldn’t help but continue the topic, “Is that so? All of my friends believe I didn’t manage that situation well.”

“It wasn’t the best way to handle this, yes, but compared to Bronze Sparrow Terrace, you still managed it far better than him.” Even though Crossing the bridgenoodles didn’t deny, he still accentuated his previous comparison.

“Thank you.” His gaze moved between the current chat window and Jade Butterfly’s chat window, unable to draw the final conclusion.

“I feel like you’re a rather reasonable VA, so if there’s any sort of misunderstanding between us… then I hope we can clarify it, the sooner the better.”

That was what Crossing the bridge noodles said.

It’s just that whether those words were trustworthy was still up to consideration.

Half an hour passed in a blink of an eye; they didn’t get particularly deep into the conversation, but Crossing the bridge noodles already had to hastily go offline.

Qi Jing knew that mere thirty minutes is far from enough to determine the truth, but he didn’t urge him to stay.

Having personally come in touch with Crossing the bridge noodles there was nothing objectionable about him apart from the two complaints Qi Jing had about him being a severe voice-con and arbitrarily using someone as a substitute. But that Crossing the bridge noodles from the picture was so completely different in behaviour, it kind of made Qi Jing think of those characters with split personalities who appeared so often in the Hollywood movies.

But in reality, there were way more good actors in this world than actual DID cases—

Qi Jing thought for a long time, then decided to reply to Jade Butterfly’s message first.

Don’t ask for my return date: Miss Butterfly, about that picture… Can you find some time to talk about it?

T/N:

Lucilla: … Noodles, I kinda admire the extent of your voice-con tendencies *bows in admiration*

It’s also my birthday today, so we’ll be releasing another update this weekend! Stay tuned for the bonus chapter~

Mashiro: Well, this chap made me so confused, but I have a feeling that maybe it’s Jade Butterfly who has a problem and not Noodles…….I could also be wrong.

Anyway, Wishing you a very warm Happy Birthday, Lucilla!! 🥳 🎉 🎊 🎁 🎂 🍰

Hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you. (Lucilla: <3 *blushy* )