Do I Really Have to Keep This Stand-In?

After living for twenty-seven years, Lu Yunbian learned that he was actually the scum villain in a substitute romance novel.

Apparently, he had a wealthy family's unattainable ideal, a playboy friend, a bitter enemy, and a gentle, obedient substitute he kept around. According to the plot, he was supposed to torment the substitute, body and soul. Only after the other person came to their senses would he realize he had fallen in love with them. Then the other three, who had met and fallen for the substitute through him, would torment him until there was nothing left.

But...

Looking at the man before him, whose gaze was icy and whose entire being screamed "don't mess with me," Yunbian couldn't help questioning the System: "Are you sure he's really the substitute?"

That gentle, obedient substitute?

The System: "I'm sure."

Lu Yunbian: This plot seems to have a problem...

Later,

even the unattainable ideal started acting strangely. With a cool, indifferent gaze, he would advise Lu Yunbian, "Counterfeits can't compare to the real thing..."

The playboy friend seemed to have changed too. Instead of chasing the substitute, he grew increasingly fond of sticking to him.

Even his ever-gloomy, sharp-tongued enemy handed him a black rose one morning.

Later still, as the others closed in on him more and more blatantly, even the substitute he was raising stopped playing along. Every now and then, the substitute would grab him with a sinister look and warn him in a chilling voice:

"Try bringing up breaking up and see what happens!"

Lu Yunbian: There is definitely something wrong with this plot.

Coming soon: He Seems to Think I'm Love-Brained. Blurb:

Sang Ji transmigrated.

But his new body had a limited lifespan, and he was on the verge of dying.

To gain more life points, he had no choice but to follow the System's advice and diligently raise the protagonist's affection for him every day.

He delivered meals, umbrellas, and jewelry; joined him for meals, outings, and parties; and gave him his time, effort, and money. He was practically at his beck and call.

Until one day, the protagonist turned his attention to Sang Ji's roommate.

After sharing an apartment for a month, Huo Huai felt that his roommate was pretty decent. He was aloof and distant, but polite and well-mannered. Their habit of keeping out of each other's business made him seem far better than most of the awful people Huo Huai had met before.

So when a friend told him that Sang Ji was a lovesick fool chasing after the illegitimate son newly acknowledged by the Jiang family, he didn't believe it at all.

After all, how could a cool beauty who wanted to wash his hands three times just because someone touched him be a lovesick fool...

Then, at a get-together with friends, they unexpectedly crossed paths.

At midnight that night, Huo Huai received the first message Sang Ji had ever sent him since they added each other as friends:

"Hello. Could you add Jiang Xun as a friend? He likes you."

A moment later, he received a second message.

"I can pay you, too."

Huo Huai's first reaction to Sang Ji was a disbelieving laugh: Is love-brain really that contagious?

Later, he gritted his teeth: If you're going to love someone, why can't it be me?

Theme: Every relationship deserves to be taken seriously