Chapter 31 — The New EP

CROWN’s new EP went live quietly and without fanfare.

Jiangshi TV had never been good at marketing. Even when quality was on par, their releases often drew less attention and generated fewer trending topics than those from rival platforms.

The first to notice was Broken Strings.

As a VVIP user across all major music platforms, Broken Strings always listened to new releases the moment they dropped.

CROWN’s EP was released on Lusheng Music—but it didn’t appear on the platform homepage. If not for the members’ self-promotion on Weibo, even fans might have missed it entirely.

Broken Strings clicked purchase.

The new EP, titled Summer Bloom, was a short release with only four tracks. One of the title tracks, Crown, had already been performed publicly. Broken Strings focused his attention on the other three.

Once a musician, now a top music blogger, Broken Strings had felt his love for music slowly fading.

He had fallen in love with music during the golden era of Mandopop—when the industry was filled with gods and goddesses, and you could hear ten masterpiece albums in a single year.

But now…

Though he still listened to music daily, finding something that truly surprised him had become a rarity—maybe two or three songs a month, if that.

For a true music lover, bad music is soul-crushing. If you’re surrounded by it for long enough, you begin to lose hope in music itself.

He started with Summer Bloom.

The EP’s cover art depicted a single flower blooming under the cruel summer sun—one side of its petals scorched into thin black ash. Most of the image was blank white space, with the flower pushed to the margins. To Broken Strings, it radiated both intensity and despair.

The moment the music hit his ears, Broken Strings unconsciously straightened his posture.

This wasn’t one of those easy, catchy tunes made to go viral on TikTok. It felt like a war drum slamming straight into his chest.

The male vocals—layered and harmonious—carried both chemistry and strength. Every artist leaves their mark on a song, and in Summer Bloom, the emotion and heat of the season were so vividly expressed in the voices that it felt almost physical.

“Born to blaze, to burn, to bloom wild.”
“Unafraid of life’s thunder and destruction.”

The chorus surged like waves, each more powerful than the last, until it finally crested into a tidal roar inside the listener’s heart.

He didn’t rush to listen to Savage or Reckless. Instead, he played Summer Bloom again.

Crown had already been a pleasant surprise—measured by average limited group standards, it was well above the bar.

But Summer Bloom?

In just four minutes, Broken Strings felt like he had lived through every majestic second of the flower’s blaze of glory.

By the time he’d finished the entire EP, he had unknowingly typed out over 2,000 words.

He hadn’t felt this kind of excitement in a long time.

In the music industry, people like Broken Strings—who didn’t look down on idol singers—were rare. Idol music often meant sloppy, rushed work that only fans would tolerate. And in most cases… that was true.

But to him, Summer Bloom was no less impressive than any professional artist’s work.

【The brilliance of Summer Bloom, the agility of Savage, the explosive power of Reckless… every song here is worthy of a crown. 】

【“Is it really that good? Is Teacher Broken Strings getting paid to hype now?” 】
【“I’m scared to try. TIX’s last EP nearly traumatized me.” 】
【“It’s an idol group. A limited idol group. That’s like buff-stacking mediocrity”.】

Even though Broken Strings was known for his measured, honest critiques, fans had been burned so many times—especially by influencers who overhyped limited groups.

【“I volunteer as tribute. Ten minutes. I’ll report back.”】
【“Watching.”】

One brave fan clicked purchase on Summer Bloom.

Three songs for two yuan—cheaper than a subway ride. At that price, any disappointment was survivable. TIX’s EP had cost him twelve yuan, and he’d spent the whole day regretting every cent.

Then…

【“Where’d he go?”】
【“Seriously, where is he?”】
【“It’s been fifteen minutes. Did he die from cringe?”】
【“IT’S AMAZING. GO LISTEN. I’M A CROWN FAN NOW!!”】

Initially labelled “for fans only,” Summer Bloom sold modestly on launch day—lower than the debut EP of fellow limited group Hot Blood Rebirth, and only about half of TIMEE’s numbers. It aligned with Jiangshi TV’s expectations.

But then… came day four.

—

At the time, Gu Yi was practicing guitar.

Both Summer Bloom and Reckless featured guitar elements, and for their next stage performance, the group wanted to show off their live playing skills.

Unfortunately, Gu Yi discovered he was the only one in the entire group who couldn’t play a note.

He immediately ordered Guitar for Beginners, These Few Tricks Are All You Need, and similar how-to books. After studying a bit, he turned to Ji Chi—the most technically proficient member—for hands-on lessons.

A few days later, Gu Yi reached a painful conclusion:

“Hands made for lab experiments… are not made for guitar.”

While the group did care about sales, they also knew it wasn’t something they could control. In fact, they didn’t think sales numbers mattered all that much—everyone knew limited group albums were only bought by fans.

Then Yuan Cheng came bursting into the room, breathless.

Before he could even sit down, he blurted—

“Have you checked your sales numbers?!”

“We saw it,” they said calmly. “It should be levelling off now, right?”

Usually, second-day sales are less than half of the first, and by the third day, it halves again, then gradually declines.

“It went up,” Yuan Cheng said. “I don’t know why.”

But today’s sales numbers had already matched those of the EP’s second day.

Still fiddling with his phone, Yuan suddenly looked up.
“There’s more.”

“Ren Ni wants to buy the rights to Summer Bloom.”

Ji Chi nearly dropped his guitar. “Ren Ni?”

Even Gu Yi had heard of him—Ren Ni was widely recognized as the last king of Mandopop. If a regular singer could live off one album for a lifetime, Ren Ni could live ten.

To CROWN, a collaboration or connection with Ren Ni had always felt completely out of reach.

“You’re sure?” they asked again.

“Positive,” Yuan said, nodding with full seriousness.

The members quietly opened Weibo and typed in “Summer Bloom.”

And discovered—

It wasn’t just fans who were paying attention to this EP anymore.

“What’s going on?”

Yuan’s expression was just as stunned and excited.
“I think it’s going viral.”

They didn’t fully realize the scale of it until they started hearing Summer Bloom as background music on every major video platform.

But in truth, Summer Bloom was even more viral than they thought.

Every year, Lusheng Music updated its Top EP Sales Rankings, and the #1 spot had been held since late 2019 by Julia, an EP by the K-pop group SEM.

SEM, though based in Korea, had a massive fanbase in China. Back then, Julia shattered all sales records. Years passed, and no other EP had come close to beating it.

SEM fans always carried a bit of superiority when talking about Chinese idol groups.

At first, Summer Bloom seemed unremarkable—its first-day sales were average for an idol group. Even as sales began climbing during the week, SEM fans didn’t think much of it.

But the EP they thought was “mediocre” and “not even half as good as SEM” suddenly, quietly overtook Julia’s sales. 

【“THESE nobodies?” 】
【“C-fans are clearly mass-botting sales. How dare you even mention Julia in the same breath?” 】
【“SEM are industry giants in Korea. CROWN isn’t even qualified to carry their shoes.” 】

K-pop fans were notoriously intense. Even though they were smaller in number compared to domestic fans, their volume and ferocity could crush almost anything. Ji Chi and the others had seen it all before—but Gu Yi, wide-eyed, asked:
“Is it… always like this?”

Then he went and listened to the “legendary” Julia himself.

Four songs. Priced 20 times higher than Summer Bloom.

And… well.

It wasn’t bad. But it definitely didn’t live up to the massive hype. Even without deep music theory knowledge, Gu Yi could tell that two of the songs used overly elaborate arrangements to hide weak melodies.

He logged onto Weibo—and immediately saw SEM fans calling him “ugly trash.”

Gu Yi: “…”

He was genuinely stunned.

SEM fans had a reason though—SEM was a “perfect visual” group in Korea. Even Chu Chi, TIMEE’s former centre and current A-lister, had once been a junior to SEM. Back then, standing next to them, Chu Chi got absolutely outclassed. 

【“And come on, CROWN’s sales are obviously botted. Two yuan per EP? Have some shame.” 】

CROWN: “…”

They were stunned by how many colourful nicknames they’d acquired in just one afternoon: “ugly,” “flop group,” “shameless,” “beggar-tier.”

“Forty yuan for an EP—and that’s the digital version,” Liu Junyuan muttered. “That’s like ten years of breach-of-contract fees.”

“That’s enough for Teacher Gu to buy 0.1 grams of californium.”

Gu Yi: “…”

He silently thanked his teammates for memorizing the periodic table so enthusiastically. 

【“The bolder the man, the bigger the yield.” 】
【“Their EP is called ‘high quality.’ Yours is called ‘low.’” 】

Getting flamed was fine—they could take it. Honestly, CROWN didn’t even blame these fans for venting. Two yuan for an EP was definitely easier to sell than one priced at forty. And sure, believing “you get what you pay for” wasn’t entirely wrong either.

They thought the drama might pass.

But then, a few days later, CROWN received an invitation to a major awards show.

And among the invitees was—SEM.

【“Ah yes, the showdown we’ve all been waiting for!” 】
【“Let’s just hope the oppas haven’t seen what went down on Chinese social media. I’m dying of second-hand embarrassment.” 】
【“Too late. Word is they already found out and cancelled their S City concert.” 】
【“I’m in agony!!” 】