Back to Debut Night

[Expected to go VIP on April 14. Chapters 27, 42, 93, 121, 147, and 161 are forum-style chapters with additional plot, but they have little impact on understanding the main story. Feel free to skip them if you don't like that format.]

On debut night, Lu Zhaiqi, a popular contestant who had been comfortably in a debut spot and felt great about his chances, was stunned to find himself in the elimination zone. At the same time, the System’s “Mission Failed” announcement rang out once again, right on schedule.

The next second, he was back on the first day of filming, about to enter the competition as a contestant from an obscure little agency.

The good news: this wasn’t his first time loading a save after failing a mission. He wasn’t panicking in the least. If anything, he was a little exasperated.

The bad news: if he couldn’t debut on debut night, the System would keep forcing him to reload. He wouldn’t be able to return to his original world, and he’d have to keep suffering through the high-pressure competition.

To make matters worse, he’d transmigrated here with no memories. He didn’t even know what his original name had been, and he’d never heard any of the songs or dances in this world. The original owner was also a complete amateur who’d barely trained at all, dragged in at the last minute to make up the numbers.

...It’s fine, it’s fine! He had a save-loading golden finger. If he tried enough times, he’d learn all the dances. Once he improved and swept the competition, debuting in a top position would be a piece of cake.

But why was he still getting sabotaged by powerful backers? What did it mean to rig the votes? How did they switch the rankings?

This wasn’t an apocalypse where he had to survive and fight zombies. He was just trying to debut, so why was it this hard?

After learning what was really going on, Lu Zhaiqi finally grew sick of this endless talent show and gave up thinking, letting himself go... But why was he getting along better and better with the other contestants this way?

Friends from previous rounds were hot and cold toward him, while contestants he’d never met seemed inexplicably hostile. His performance teammates included a pressure-cooker, a slacker, a chuuni, a short-tempered guy, a goofball, and a smiling schemer. To secure his debut, Lu Zhaiqi was forced to become an expert at defusing trouble, caring for his teammates and talking them through their problems.

Somewhere along the way, one of the precious friends he’d gotten to know anew and kept befriending in every round confessed to him.

Lin Yumu came with plenty of labels: the popular contestant from a privileged background with powerful connections, the talented trainee who made his fellow agency trainees feel inadequate, the surefire debut pick adored by everyone, the poor thing who lost his chance to debut after an unexpected injury... But to Lu Zhaiqi, the Xiao Lin he knew was just a little... spacey and unpredictable.

The production team paired Lu Zhaiqi up with another contestant for a two-person interaction game.

Xiao Lin: While I’m still ranked first, you’d better do more fan service with me. So don’t go looking for anyone else. Pick me.

Lu Zhaiqi: But I only wanted to be friends with you! I absolutely wasn’t trying to sell a ship and leech off your popularity!

Xiao Lin: All right, then let’s sign a contract. A friendship contract. We’ll just be friends while we’re in the group, and after we disband, I’ll officially start pursuing you.

Lu Zhaiqi: ?

Xiao Lin: But friends can hold hands now and then, right?

Lu Zhaiqi: !!!

Wait a minute. Did something get mixed up here?

There’s still one essential step before disbanding: debuting as a group!

Sure, Lin Yumu was kind, handsome, and had beautiful eyes. Dating him would probably be fun... But now was not the time to think about that.

His top priority was to debut. To do that, he had to go back to that day once more: debut night.

A warm-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside, laid-back gamer seme x a cool-on-the-outside, sweet-on-the-inside, naturally spacey uke

Reader’s guide:

1. Seme-focused, 1v1, happy ending, older seme (not just in age, but also... the time difference between each cycle?)

2. The specifics of the transmigration setup are spoilers and aren’t spelled out in the blurb. The seme and uke have only ever loved each other.

3. My take on the entertainment industry and talent competitions. Many of the show’s rules are made up, but I’ll try to keep them logical.

4. The seme and uke don’t date while their main careers are as idols.

5. There will be storylines involving powerful backers and behind-the-scenes manipulation, but this is still a novel. Trust that these few were always meant to debut together. In other words, the final lineup matches the actual results, though the rankings may fluctuate. Please avoid this if that bothers you.

6. No characters are based on real people, and there are no secondary couples.

7. This story is a little... unusual in its wavelength.

If you’re interested, please check out my upcoming novel about a method actor and an acting-school-trained actor

"My CP Is Work, My Rival Is Life"

As the child of a celebrity, Hua Yingtang entered the entertainment industry and was surrounded by sycophants who praised him so much that he became completely deluded. He had no idea how awful his acting was, until a scene with Jiang Fang, a popular and infuriating young actor, left him thoroughly outclassed. The scandalous trending topic stayed on the entertainment charts all night.

To prove himself, he signed on for an acting variety show. The program, "Newlywed Life", revolved around celebrities “pretending to get married.” Each episode had a different theme and tested the actors’ ability to improvise.

But the night before filming began, he got into a car accident. When he woke up, he’d forgotten all about the show.

There was already a camera in his hospital room. From the director’s offhand remarks, he learned something shocking: he and Jiang Fang were married, and the cameras were filming their life as newlyweds.

At that moment, Jiang Fang was sitting beside his bed, eyes gentle and red-rimmed, as if he hadn’t slept all night.

Hua Yingtang’s heart softened. He didn’t dare admit he’d forgotten that the two of them were together, so he played along and kept filming.

On the show, they went on dates, visited each other at work, met each other’s parents and took care of children. They competed to outdo each other, relentlessly trying to one-up each other, and successfully won Best CP at the end of the year.

Hua Yingtang: Wait, what happened to the acting? Is nobody going to praise me?

After the show, the wrap party was underway and the cameras had been taken away. Hua Yingtang, tipsy and beaming, followed Jiang Fang back to their “marital home,” thinking he was about to begin a happy married life.

Instead, Jiang Fang stopped him at the door. “Give me back the key.”

...All right. The marriage was fake, but the heartbreak was real. Hua Yingtang learned his lesson and devoted himself wholeheartedly to his acting career. To his surprise, he achieved some success, and everyone praised him for playing tragic second male leads with such sincere, soul-stirring emotion. The offers kept pouring in.

Hua Yingtang: Thanks to my fans, the Best Actor’s mom, my costars, and my ex-husband, who was never officially mine...

Then he and his on-screen “ex-husband” were cast in the same drama. On camera, his gaze kept drifting toward Jiang Fang, who was supposed to be his rival in love. The perfect mask he’d woven from his acting skills developed a tiny crack.

*

Emotional memory, one of the techniques used in method acting. Actors recall events from their past to evoke genuine emotions, then transfer those feelings to similar situations in their roles. This is the only way Hua Yingtang has learned to act, and he’s grown dependent on it.

Hua Yingtang: The script says I have to sacrifice myself to save you, but I barely know you.

Jiang Fang: ?

Hua Yingtang: For that crying scene just now, I was thinking about the night you dumped me.

Jiang Fang: !

Hua Yingtang: Does it have to be here? We’ve never actually done it, so I don’t know what pose to use!

Jiang Fang: ...

*

Please add this to your collection, I’m begging you!

Theme: Even sweeter when the toil, sweat, and tears are all dressed up