After a week of airing the "Circle of Life" music video, Jem Records reported to Joseph Kennedy Sr. that vinyl and cassette tape sales surged!
Their total sales that week, August 5 to August 11, 1981, had been unofficially recorded at 40,000 sales!
The vinyl sold 27,000 copies, while the cassette tapes were at 13,000!
With these figures, Joseph Kennedy Sr. quickly acted and promoted heavily. And when August 12, 1981 arrived, Billboard announced that Chris Cornell's Ultramega OK album charted at number 20 on the Billboard 200!
With these numbers, James, who was just minding his own business at home, received the system's notifications.
[CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ARTIST'S ALBUM SALES!]
[MILESTONE SALES: 75,000~]
[YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A $7,500,000 MONEY BAG!]
[CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR LABEL'S FIRST CHARTING ALBUM IN BILLBOARD 200!]
[YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A 5-STAR ARTIST CARD!]
James was shocked to see how much he got from the album sales reward!
'Woah woah woah! A whole $7.5 million dollars!? Dang… Good thing the IRS won't ever find I have this kind of cash. Thank you, system inventory!'
'Though I have to be careful about how I release my money bags slowly.'
'As for the new card…'
He quickly activated the gold card and it vanished instantly.
A new system prompt appeared.
[NAME: CARL BARKS]
[AGE: 23]
[POSITION: CARTOONIST]
[RANK: 5-STARS]
[HISTORY]
[CARL BARKS, THE LEGENDARY DISNEY COMIC BOOK WRITER AND ARTIST, CRAFTED THE DUCK UNIVERSE, CREATING SCROOGE MCDUCK AND PENNING HUNDREDS OF STORIES FOR WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES. A FORMER DISNEY ANIMATION INBETWEENER (1935–1942), HE SHAPED CLASSICS LIKE SNOW WHITE AND PINOCCHIO. HIS VIVID STORYTELLING AND WHIMSICAL ART MADE HIM A CULTURAL ICON, INFLUENCING GENERATIONS OF CREATORS.]
[SKILLS]
[A MASTER STORYTELLER AND VISUAL ARTIST, BARKS BRINGS EXCEPTIONAL NARRATIVE CRAFT AND ILLUSTRATIVE TALENT]
[NATIONAL IDENTITY STATUS: REGISTERED (NEW)]
James's eyes were wide open when he saw his new sla— ehem… personnel.
'A cartoonist? Now this is amazing! I have some great ideas to plunder from the future… like… Dragon Ball, Fist of the North Star, Akira, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Berserk!'
'I still remember everything like it was yesterday, and thanks to the system's blessing, my mind's power has improved so I can remember all of the memories I had in my previous life!'
[YOU HAVE SELECTED YOUR COMPLETE MEMORY OF DRAGON BALL (MANGA), FIST OF THE NORTH STAR (MANGA), AKIRA (MANGA), JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE (MANGA), AND BERSERK (MANGA). PROCEED TO TRANSFER TO YOUR 5-STAR CARTOONIST?]
'Oh yeah! Go on!'
[PROCEEDING]
After 5 seconds, the system prompted again.
[TRANSFER COMPLETE]
'Already?'
[YES]
'That's fast…! Oh wait…'
///////////////////////////////////NEXT SCENE///////////////////////////////////
After half a day of waiting, Carl Barks arrived at the mansion and talked with James about his plans for the comics/manga Dragon Ball, Fist of the North Star, Akira, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Berserk. With this plan, James asked Carl Barks how much capital he would need to establish a publishing company and everything else, including a plan to establish a comic store in the Seattle area.
Carl Barks answered within a few seconds, "I need $2,300,000."
James didn't seem surprised hearing the amount needed to do all the things he wanted Carl Barks to do. He quickly withdrew exactly $2.3 million and selected the [BANK TRANSFER] option. The system instantly transferred the money to Carl Barks' bank account without detection from the IRS.
Carl Barks quickly left after talking to him.
James went to see Carl Barks off through the room's window, then went to the telephone and dialed a number. A man spoke on the other line — it was Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau.
James spoke as the man answered the call, "How's the preparation for the movie?"
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau answered, "All good, sir."
James was pleased. "Good then, let me know of any updates later."
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau acknowledged and dropped the call.
James went back to his studio room and stretched his arms wide.
'With $10 million dollars as production capital, Goonies should be released by next year. Can't wait to watch it.'
///////////////////////////////////NEXT SCENE///////////////////////////////////
The whole of August 1981 went by so fast, and when September 1981 came, Chris Cornell's tour started.
As for the sales of his album, it went past 100,000 copies sold — it was recorded at more than 120,000 copies sold!
Vinyl sold the most at around 88,300 copies, while cassette tapes sold about 33,500 copies. These results were due to the airing of the additional three music videos. It really pushed Chris Cornell to the front page of every newspaper in every state in the United States of America.
As for the record labels, they kept buzzing Sub Pop's phones non-stop. Even reporters wanted a piece of Chris Cornell. Good thing Sidney Reilly was there to handle those hounds who wanted to steal Chris Cornell from the label. As for Joseph Kennedy Sr., he made sure that Chris Cornell was not totally affected by the media.
Good thing he had already been trained for these things beforehand.
As for the Billboard 200 status, Chris Cornell's Ultramega OK album remained stable at number 20.
Then, on September 1, 1981, James received a reward again from the system.
[CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ARTIST'S ALBUM SALES!]
[MILESTONE SALES: 120,000~]
[YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A $12,000,000 MONEY BAG!]
'Money keeps rolling in!' James joyfully thought.