Chapter 1 001 A Stolen Life: The Extortionist and the Imposter...
Chapter 1
[Seriously, are there any people on this forum who followed "Star of Tomorrow"? It's only been a few years, how did Wink become so obscure?]
[Truly the number one boy band that abused their obscurity and acted recklessly. I still remember the scene of their fans sweeping through the forums. Who knew they would all become obscure now?]
[...]
[Ye Liuchuan isn't washed up, is he? He has leading roles in dramas, and last year his film "The Monster" even participated in the HS Film Festival. Some of you who are criticizing Ye Liuchuan, tone it down. Your idol will never reach that level in his entire life, okay?]
[Hilarious! Wink is doing pretty well already. The non-debut group was clearly even less popular. Gao Ming and Teng Zheng used to be on par with the debut group, but now they're practically forgotten.]
[Is Gao Ming playing a supporting role? Is Teng Zheng making music? The only one without a name is Lin Yuan, thank you.]
So, what is Lin Yuan doing right now?
[Is he back to being an ordinary person? I always thought Lin Yuan could debut.]
[+1.]
[...]
[Hilarious! Another "history book" claiming the debut group stole Lin Yuan's life? If Lin Yuan is so talented, why didn't he debut? If he's really that good, how did he end up with his agency going bankrupt and his manager running away? He could easily survive on fan support.]
[…I searched online and found that Lin Yuan's latest news was from six months ago, when he participated in an event at a shopping mall in a county town—the kind of mall where older people gather. He sang with such enthusiasm!]
[How pathetic... The background is full of pirated signs. Other singers call themselves GVM, but he calls himself CVM. Nobody around him recognizes him. He's singing on stage, but there's no audience. The singers who come on stage with him are all local county pop stars.]
In short, Lin Yuan not debuting is definitely not Xie Yu's fault. He, who didn't debut, shouldn't try to piggyback on the success of those who did. It's unbearable.
...
Lin Yuan sighed silently.
Searching for the keyword "Lin Yuan," the reason for his time travel becomes clear—
Three years ago, a talent show called "Tomorrow's Star" suddenly appeared. The contestants went from being unknown to becoming overnight sensations. After four months of closed training and four rounds of voting, eight contestants successfully debuted and formed the temporary group Wink.
From the very beginning of the group's formation, Wink was hailed as a phenomenal idol, experiencing a surge in popularity, endorsements, and resources. Even Xie Yu, the eighth-ranked member in popularity, received nearly ten million votes in the final general election.
Furthermore, because Wink debuted through fan voting, compared to boy groups trained by large companies, Wink has a natural advantage in terms of popularity. Even though they have only been debuted for a short time, their popularity is already comparable to that of top idol boy groups.
The debut group was incredibly popular, and the non-debut group also garnered significant attention. At least a year after the finale of "Star Journey," many contestants remained well-known in the entertainment industry.
There are also those who do particularly poorly.
For example, the original owner, Lin Yuan.
She ranked ninth in the finals and consistently ranked in the top five in popularity during the first three rounds of the competition. However, her popularity plummeted to ninth place on the debut night, making her a recognized overlooked gem of "Star Journey".
Three years have passed since "Star Road to Tomorrow," Wink has long since disbanded, and most of the members who went solo have only managed to become third-tier celebrities in the entertainment industry. The contestants who didn't debut have faded into obscurity and been forgotten.
Among the contestants at the time, Lin Yuan was one of the worst off.
He signed with a small company that was incredibly stingy with resources. As soon as "The Starry Night" ended, the company started throwing Lin Yuan a bunch of fan meetings to make money and getting him endorsements from micro-businesses. They also gave Lin Yuan completely unsuitable makeup and styling. In "The Starry Night," Lin Yuan was supposed to be a cheerful and sunny guy, and his appearance was also bright and dignified. But the company insisted on shaping him into a feminine pretty boy, causing the goodwill Lin Yuan had accumulated in "The Starry Night" to plummet.
In addition, he ranked ninth in the final election, just one step away from debuting. For a debut spot, fans from all sides fought tooth and nail. On the night of the final, besides "Wink debuting", the second most searched topic was "Lin Yuan ranked ninth".
Lin Yuan ranked in the top five in the first three rounds, but Xie Yu was the one who ultimately debuted.
Aside from ranking in the top eight on the debut night, Xie Yu's overall ranking remained outside the top ten in the first three rounds of voting. Naturally, many fans labeled Xie Yu a "vote rigger".
In the early stages, Xie Yu's data was indeed far inferior to Wink's teammates, and his commercial performance was also mediocre. His endorsement data was even worse than Lin Yuan's at the beginning.
However, with Wink's successful debut, the group gained a huge following, and the members received more and more resources. The gap between the debuted group and the non-debuted group widened, and Xie Yu and Lin Yuan's situation naturally reversed.
There's no such thing as vote rigging; Xie Yu was able to debut because of her popularity.
"Lin Yuan must be insanely jealous of our Xiaoyu, right? Too bad you don't have that kind of luck."
"I was monitoring the rankings the whole time. Xie Yu was consistently ranked high on both the CP (couple) and favorability charts. You know what general popularity means?"
"We should be more tolerant of washed-up celebrities. What else can Lin Yuan do besides trying to piggyback on Xie Yu's fame?"
Xie Yu also subtly hinted in several public interviews that although she successfully debuted and was very successful as a member of Wink, "Every day people are criticizing me, saying I don't deserve to debut. I can't sleep at night, and my hair is falling out in clumps..."
"If I could, I would rather I hadn't debuted back then, I might have been happier that way."
Every time Xie Yu gives an interview, Lin Yuan ends up trending negatively on social media.
At that time, Lin Yuan was already completely forgotten. After struggling in the entertainment industry for two and a half years, his trusted agent ran away to Xie Yu's company, and the company owner absconded with the money. The amount of money Lin Yuan received was pitifully small.
Besides this, there were two other things that truly devastated Lin Yuan—
First, Xie Yu publicly declared that "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger," which earned her praise from senior figures in the entertainment industry and fans.
At that time, Xie Yu had just played the second male lead in a very popular drama. Even among the Wink debut group, he was considered a member who was doing quite well.
In the eyes of her fans, this was Xie Yu's "declaration of war against injustice."
Those who steal someone else's life become the side of justice, declaring war on injustice.
Who is the evil he wants to defeat?
It is Lin Yuan.
Secondly, Lin Yuan received a private message from a fan.
Fans say that liking him back then was a mistake. She always had high expectations for Lin Yuan and thought he was her ideal idol. However, in the years since "The Rising Star", she has not seen Lin Yuan shine. She thought Lin Yuan could support her, but because of Lin Yuan, she is even more unhappy.
Even when his company went bankrupt, his agent ran away, and he was threatened with an astronomical sum of money if he didn't shoot micro-business ads, Lin Yuan persevered. He believed that as long as he worked hard, things would get better because even if he was obscure and had poor resources, he still had fans supporting him.
Even after "The Road to Stardom," he continued to hone his singing and dancing skills. He had injured his arm and fainted, but even without a stage, he continued to practice.
At least... if he has the chance to go on stage again, he won't perform worse than the other Wink players.
But this time, Lin Yuan broke down.
The original owner disappeared as a result, and was replaced by the current Lin Yuan.
...
Lin Yuan had read many time-travel novels. In general, the protagonist would transmigrate into the body of a notorious villain whose reputation had been ruined, and then reverse public opinion and reach the pinnacle of life.
But the original owner of this body could not be considered a bad person in any way; he should be considered a good person.
The other person had a lot of dance videos on their computer, both domestic and foreign. They were also studying vocal techniques, reading books on how singers extend their careers, and even learning to write lyrics and songs.
He cherished every opportunity he had to perform on stage, even those opportunities that were often ridiculed as being on rural stages.
As an idol, aside from having very poor resources and being ridiculed for "extortion," the original owner of this body had never been involved in any scandals.
In the entertainment industry, being obscure is the original sin.
Lin Yuan found the video he had watched the most in the original owner's file collection—the first three rounds of voting for "Tomorrow's Star". At that time, Lin Yuan was full of vigor, popular, loved, and shy about being liked by many people.
For Xie Yu, debuting with Wink was an unhappy experience, but for Lin Yuan, wasn't the sudden shattering of his debut dream cruel?
Xie Yu mentioned forming a group and debuting many times, but Lin Yuan never mentioned it once.
In the forum just now, someone said that it doesn't matter whether they debut or not, since Wink is already fading into obscurity anyway, and limited-time groups are destined not to last long. In the end, it still depends on the individual development of the members.
But the original owner clearly didn't think that way.
If he can debut, his life might be different.
Lin Yuan himself is an actor, or more accurately, he is a multi-talented individual, involved in singing and acting, so transmigrating into the original owner's body is a perfect match for his profession.
Although the original owner didn't earn much money, he did save some in the early stages, so Lin Yuan didn't have to worry about making a living for the time being. The recent problem was that he could hardly get any decent work.
After his agency went bankrupt, no company was willing to take him on. He wasn't very outgoing and hadn't built up a decent network of contacts. He barely received any new messages on WeChat all day.
However, for Lin Yuan, the current situation is not a dead end.
He decided to eat and drink his fill first, then sort out his current situation, hoping to find one or two job opportunities he had missed before.
Regardless, Lin Yuan did not want to let down the performing arts life that the original owner loved.
Lin Yuan was halfway through his meal when his phone suddenly sent him a notification—
[After three years on "Tomorrow's Star," Lin Yuancheng has become an artist in the county.]
—A forum post discussing the individual development of the contestants in "Tomorrow's Star" attracted attention, and Lin Yuan's latest situation was also posted online by marketing accounts.
"Hilarious, he's on a completely different level from Xie Yu."
"Xie Yu is too kind. If it were me, seeing Lin Yuan in such a state, I would definitely want to kick him while he's down."
"Who told him to keep putting Xie Yu down, calling him a ticket rigger? I think this is his karma coming back to haunt him."
"Xie Yu is the official GVM ambassador, while Lin Yuan sings in a shopping mall with pirated CVM. It's a two-way race between the fake and the fake, and Lin Yuan deserves it, hehehe."
A note from the author:
----------------------
A new story has been published, but I still don't have any drafts saved. It's about the entertainment industry, and I hope you readers will add it to your favorites and leave comments.
I will definitely try my best! ~ [Noob][Noob][Noob]!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com