In Another Worldline, I Became a Singer

Lin Qie used to sing for money alone on the streets, earning less than a hundred yuan a month. Starved and painfully thin, he was spending the night at an internet cafe when he unexpectedly received an email from a stranger.

The sender was his fan.

Just not a fan of the Lin Qie he was now.

[Hello, Lin Qie! I'm the little penguin who exchanged email addresses with you five years ago! I knew back then that you were going to make it big someday, and now you really are so famous! I'm so happy! Gold always shines, right? I was right!]

[I finally managed to get a ticket to your concert for ten thousand people (they're seriously hard to get, orz). The sound at the venue wasn't great, so I recorded it myself. All the penguins say mine is the best recording, way better than the official one, so I'm sending it to you. Please listen to it!]

[Lastly, I just want to say I'll always, always support you! Love you!!]

Lin Qie opened the attachment and heard his own singing.

Except it wasn't his singing.

The singer had the same voice as him, but it was full of breath and emotion, with a strikingly distinctive quality. He performed a love song so movingly that the crowd of ten thousand sang along.

But that very afternoon, before the city enforcement officers chased him away, a passerby had spat in his direction and said, "Ugh! What kind of singing is that?"

Half an hour ago, he had thrown his battered guitar and microphone into a trash bin.

Ten minutes ago, he had messaged his biological parents, admitted he was wrong, promised never to sing again, and begged them to let him come home.

Lin Qie listened to the voice that was his but not his, again and again. On the hundredth listen, he deleted the email.

Then he threw away the guitar pick in his pocket, the last thing he owned that had anything to do with music.

I could have borne the darkness, had I not seen the light.

Lin Qie was so jealous of that other Lin Qie that he was going mad.

.

Meanwhile, on another worldline, Lin Qie had become a first-tier singer when he inexplicably discovered he had acquired a particularly troublesome anti-fan.

The anti-fan had done more than spy on his phone and email. He knew all of Lin Qie's preferences, his inner world, even his entire past... It was as if he were another version of Lin Qie from a parallel world, or perhaps a second personality of his own, all-knowing and everywhere.

He went to a psychiatrist and sought out specialists in information security, but no one could find the other person or explain what was happening.

Until one day, he received a phone call.

The number was exactly the same as his own.

A voice identical to his spoke into his ear. "Are you suffering?"

He froze for a moment. When he understood, he asked the other person, "Are you suffering?"

The answer was a hysterical roar, spoken in his own voice.

He seemed to have gone mad.

No, it seemed that he had gone mad.

And even crazier, after that, every night when he went to sleep, he would cross worldlines and occupy the body of the Lin Qie who had failed to pursue his dream of making music.

Sometimes he would be singing on the street.

Sometimes he would be getting kicked out of his parents' home.

Sometimes he would have won a chance to perform, but would be at an underground live house.

The strangest part was that while he occupied that Lin Qie's body, that Lin Qie would occupy his body in this world too.

And so...

The scenes of superstar Lin Qie making a fool of himself hit the trending lists.

Street singer Lin Qie was discovered by a talent scout and signed to a record company.

Superstar Lin Qie shed his label as a "non-songwriter singer" by writing, composing, and performing a song live. His arrangement skills were excellent, but his singing was a complete mess, and he was mocked by the entire internet.

Street singer Lin Qie gave the record company several excellent original songs, then suddenly claimed he couldn't write songs at all, and was eventually dismissed by the company.

Everyone around them thought the two of them had split personalities.

Little did anyone know that the two personalities had gone from transmigrating into each other's bodies to physically crossing over.

Yes, their soul swapping had upgraded, and they now appeared as independent individuals in each other's worlds.

The first time they met face to face, both of their fists were clenched tight.

Then they started fighting.

.

[Warnings!]

1. This is a selfcest story! Selfcest means falling in love with yourself.

2. The unsuccessful Lin Qie changes his name to Lin Qian.

3. Lin Qian is the seme. This is a seme-focused story.

[Character setup]

A seme with mild mental illness and a jealousy streak, but still retaining a shred of humanity x a sunny, cheerful uke with irresistible charisma who has won countless fans

[Something I really want to joke about:]

Don't feel sorry for the seme. He's filthy rich, and if he quits music, he can just go home and inherit the family fortune.

Don't feel sorry for the uke. He's filthy rich too, and if he gets driven out of the industry by haters, he can just go home and inherit the family fortune.

So really, feel sorry for us instead. I want money so badly! (tears)

Theme: Saving another version of yourself