When he opened his eyes again, Qiu Yuting had become a fake young master who had already been kicked out of his family home. The original owner was a good-for-nothing rich kid who dreamed of becoming a star. His family had finally had enough and tossed him into a closed-off boy band survival show to fend for himself.
The good news: Qiu Yuting had also worked in the entertainment industry in his previous life.
The bad news: He'd been the unscrupulous boss of an agency that exploited its artists. He was hopeless at anything physical, and danced like he was being electrocuted.
Luckily, the ruthless boss hadn't become a boss just by dreaming of money-printing machines. With his experience as an agent, Qiu Yuting quickly mapped out a path to fame for himself:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: pair up with other contestants and stoke shipping rumors until they blow up. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: fake-cry during livestreams to win fans' sympathy and weed out the casual followers. Sunday: jump on a dance trend while it's still hot.
Slogan: If you've got no talent, just leech off the people who do.
When Qiu Yuting debuted as the center of the survival show, his antis mocked him: What is a rich family's ugly (crossed out) kid doing trying to steal a living in the entertainment industry? Does he even know what he's doing?
When Qiu Yuting became a sensation in short dramas, his antis sneered: He's just some short-drama actor. How dare he try to compete with my star, who's about to break out in a primetime drama? 🤬
When Qiu Yuting earned widespread acclaim for playing a devoted second male lead, his antis laughed coldly: Try stealing the spotlight again, you third-billed lackey!
Then word spread across the internet that Qiu Yuting had taken a role in an artsy flop made by a tiny studio with a budget of just eight million.
His antis: Hehe 🤗 A washed-up nobody is just...
Wait, how did Qiu Yuting win three Best Actor awards for that movie and get nominated for a major prize in the main competition at a European film festival?!
Qiu Yuting smiled. "Sorry, I guess even a nobody can show some real talent."
-
His antis were furious and began digging into Qiu Yuting's wealthy family background. What's the point of a rich guy making money off himself?
But industry insiders also revealed that Qiu Yuting wasn't actually the family's biological son. He'd been kicked out long ago. Why would a wealthy family keep promoting a fake young master?
That was both true and not true.
After all, Qiu Yuting was sitting on the lap of the original owner's unrelated older brother, one hand gripping the man's shirt collar, his eyes glistening and his voice unsteady. "Invest another thirty million in my next movie."
The man didn't look up. His hand tightened around Qiu Yuting's waist as he replied carelessly, "Depends on how you perform."
🍏 Bonus Scene 🍏
On Qiu Yuting's thirty-third birthday, a fan happened to run into him at a restaurant in Spain, along with his same-sex partner, who had never been officially announced but was practically an open secret.
Fan A: (photo) I ran into Yuting at a restaurant!!! He's so tall and handsome in person, with such a tiny face, and so, so fair. He practically glows 🥹
Fan B: Who's the guy sitting across from him? He's pretty handsome too. Is he an actor? Since when has the entertainment industry had this type? His face is so sour, like someone owes him money 🫠
Fan C: That's Yuting's husband 🌚
Fan D: That's Yuting's husband 🌚
Fan A: That's Yuting's husband 🌚 He gave me such a fierce look when I tried to sneak a photo that I immediately put my phone away.
Fan C: He's the entertainment industry's most famously grumpy brother-in-law, after all... He's never once looked pleasant when people run into him. But don't be scared. Yuting is really serious about his career, even the little K has to smile for the camera. If he sees this post, he'll probably get into another fight with his husband 🤭
*Little K is Qiu Yuting's dog, a standard-size, long-haired, chocolate-colored Chihuahua.
*It's called Little K because Jin (J) and Qiu (Q) make JQK, a little play on words. A pointless little detail.
💣 Content Warnings 💣
1. A deranged love story between a beautiful, ruthless, low-morality schemer in the receiving role and an extremely controlling, fatherly powerful man in the pursuing role. They start off as enemies who love to fight, then later the beauty trains the dog. At heart, it's a wish-fulfillment romance.
2. The receiving lead is a businessman who'll stop at nothing to rise to fame. He has a weak moral compass, and there is a cannon-fodder pursuer, but both leads are sexually inexperienced. The ending is one-on-one and happy. The characters aren't perfect, the romance isn't purely sweet, and the leads need to grow. Readers with extreme character preferences, please stay away.
3. The original owner and the pursuing lead aren't related by blood and aren't on the same household register. The romance only begins after the pursuing lead learns the receiving lead isn't the original owner.
4. The entertainment-industry scenes are just for fun, and aren't based on real people. If you insist on assigning real people to the characters, your fave will flop to the bottom of the ocean and get mocked to their face by rivals.
5. You can put emoji in blurbs now. This is so much fun 😋
Theme: Strive for self-improvement.
