Scraping By on a Survival Show

[Content warning] Skin hunger syndrome + girl group survival show + everyone-loves-her romantic battle royale with multiple love interests. The characters and plot are entirely fictional, so please don’t draw comparisons to real people.

One-line synopsis: How a girl group member with skin hunger syndrome struggles to survive a survival show

Dream101, the first girl group survival show, became an instant sensation across the Asian Alliance. The five-member group FIVE, formed from the show’s winners, captured everyone’s attention.

However, the day before FIVE’s first album was released, their agency announced that the group would be renamed FOUR. Lin Lian, who had placed second on the show, was leaving the group for personal reasons.

From then on, “Lin Lian” became the name that FOUR fans agreed not to mention.

Two years later, the DREAM303 girl group survival show officially launched.

After two years of silence, Lin Lian’s personal Weibo account reposted DREAM303’s official announcement calling for contestants to assemble.

Her fans exploded.

Lin Lian had her reasons, but she couldn’t explain them.

Anyone would despair at discovering she had skin hunger syndrome on the eve of her group’s debut.

After leaving the group, Lin Lian left the stage and kept away from crowds. She diligently sought treatment, and her condition almost never flared up again.

But her dream of debuting never changed. The astronomical appearance fee offered by the DREAM303 production team convinced Lin Lian, now impoverished by treatment costs and breach-of-contract damages, to accept the invitation.

Only...

Could it be that her skin hunger syndrome only came back when she was in a girl group?

Lin Lian had thought she and the contestants and group members were just good, innocent friends.

They all let her hold their hands and hug them, never turning down physical contact, and even offering the kisses and cuddles she wanted most.

Until the Demon Queen, who held the top spot firmly, used Lin Lian’s condition to blackmail her and forced her to plead in a soft voice; her close friend, who had stood by her through two seasons, suggested pretending they were dating so their intimacy would seem perfectly natural; and a contestant who claimed to be her devoted fan gazed at her with shining eyes and used that excuse to cross the line...

Then there were her former bandmates, all keeping an eye on her, openly or covertly...

Reader’s Guide:

1. My own take on skin hunger syndrome and survival shows; all the settings are made up.

2. There may occasionally be online forum-style sections.

3. Not all characters are listed in the synopsis; there will most likely be multiple endings.

Moral: Strive tirelessly and cultivate virtue