HDIEUMDBTSB Chapter 1: The Beginning of Chaos
Title: "How Did I End Up in a Mess Despite Being the Top Star at the Beginning"
Author: Someone Else's Kitty
Genre: Urban Fiction
Word Count: 2.07 Million Words
Chu Zhi crossed into a parallel world and became the top star in the country, with tens of thousands of comments on every trivial update on Weibo.
Due to a series of malicious schemes involving flaunting, plagiarizing new songs, and secretly marrying while having an affair, he ended up as a mess of a young heartthrob.
As the sky collapsed at the beginning, fortunately, he had a "[Personality System]" that allowed him to do things most celebrities wouldn't dare to do in order to earn points and draw blind boxes.
"Let's reverse the situation." Chu Yan, the Emperor Beast, the Ambassador of Fan Abuse, said.
**Volume One: The Road to Stardom**
*"Tonight, I don't care about humanity, I only care about you."*
**Chapter One: A Catastrophic Beginning**
**Start—**
Spin.
Jump.
Opening his eyes, Chu Zhi felt as if his soul had just experienced severe motion sickness and was immediately pulled onto a ship. The intense feeling of nausea and dizziness left him disoriented for a long while.
It took another ten seconds for Chu Zhi to regain his clarity. The new memories in his mind told him he had crossed over to a parallel world. This world had a history similar to his original one, but its cultural and artistic developments were vastly different.
“What was I doing before the crossover?” Chu Zhi wondered.
At home, pulling an all-nighter to review the planning department’s proposal. As the founder of a small start-up, he was busy in the days leading up to its IPO. He had just finished his work at three in the morning and taken a sip of iced coffee when he lost consciousness.
“Did I die from overwork?” Chu Zhi muttered to himself. “Even bosses die from overwork. Maybe I embarrassed the capitalists so much that the heavens couldn’t stand it and made me crossover? But I didn’t stay up continuously... Ugh—”
The nausea hit again, and Chu Zhi couldn’t hold back and vomited all over the place. It felt similar to a hangover.
“My stomach feels a bit uncomfortable.”
Passing through the dining room, Chu Zhi rushed to the kitchen sink, gulped down some tap water to rinse his mouth, and then supported himself on the countertop with his left hand while massaging his stomach with his right. After a few minutes, the pain subsided a bit. He dragged his legs a few steps and slumped into a chair in the dining room to sort through the original body's memories.
The countertop was made of black and gold marble, and the cold ceramic tiles beneath him were chilly. His left hand felt icy on the countertop, while his right hand, which was holding his stomach, felt warm. This contrast mirrored Chu Zhi’s turbulent emotions.
Elementary school, middle school, high school, university, joining a company as a trainee during high school – all these experiences played like a drama in Chu Zhi’s mind.
“I crossed over into the body of a top idol?”
Chu Zhi opened the original body's phone, which had a Weibo account logged in – "Eat a Big Orange."
【Verified Singer, Representative Works: "My Dream", "Beautiful and Splendid"】 (11.54 million followers_54 following_710 million interactions)
Eat a Big Orange: [Good morning, world. 【Picture】].
It was an ordinary photo of the sunrise, with average angle, composition, and aesthetics. Despite its mediocrity, this post had 180,000 comments, making Chu Zhi realize the exaggeration of being a top idol.
[Ahhh, screaming like a groundhog, I miss you!].
[You are my husband!].
[Your photography skills are amazing, not inferior to professional photographers.].
[Wuwuwu, waiting for you at Huanghua Airport! I bought the ticket.].
[An orange born in the south becomes a king, born in the north it becomes a tangerine, their leaves look alike, but they will always be together.].
[Why didn’t you post a selfie, I have a disease that will kill me if I don’t see you.].
…
Before crossing over, Chu Zhi hated fan circles and despised brainless fans, thinking they were immature. But if the brainless fans were his own... well, that was just great.
Imagine having a group of people who would unconditionally support you no matter what – who wouldn’t like that?
Chu Zhi continued to browse. Whenever the original owner posted a selfie, the comments would exceed 200,000, filled with messages about how great his skin was, how handsome he was, and calling him “husband”. Some exaggerated comments even talked about wanting to have his children.
In terms of business ability, a song released by Chu Zhi surpassed five million in digital sales within twenty-four hours. When he endorsed a specific flavor of milk, a large number of fans rushed to purchase it online, causing the flagship stores on major e-commerce platforms to sell out.
All these influential events happened just two months ago. Now, the latest comments are:
[Turning from fan to hater, being kept, secretly married, haha.].
[How can a scumbag like this be a star? The entertainment industry is too lenient. I don't think he's even fit to be a human.].
[Kept by an auntie, enjoying the steel wool, huh? (dog head emoji)].
[Tsk tsk, playing with steel wool? What if it's a male "auntie" taking the rough path?].
[Chu the scumbag was once a respectable person. Let's spit on him before we leave, ptooey.].
Using fan circle jargon, this is called a "collapsed house." When a top star's reputation collapses, it's a big deal. From June to August, Chu Zhi trended on Weibo’s hot search list 31 times.
Allegations of arrogance, song plagiarism, being kept, and marriage fraud were exposed one after another. From the original body's memories, Chu Zhi learned that he had been framed.
Two months ago, at a business cocktail party that Chu Zhi attended with his manager, he took a "close" photo with a female sponsor. The next day, rumors of him being kept surfaced. Weibo exploded like tempura in hot oil. Before his company could issue a statement, another allegation followed. A woman claiming to be his girlfriend of five years exposed their relationship.
Over the next week, more and more dirt surfaced online, igniting a chain reaction like a fuse in a dynamite depot, leading to one explosion after another.
In the midst of the rumbling, only the allegations of song plagiarism and arrogance had some truth. The former happened because the company paid for songs within the industry without proper vetting. The latter was due to the original Chu Zhi losing himself after his sudden rise to fame, indeed acting arrogantly towards his staff and in scheduling.
“When reporters fabricate rumors about you being kept by a rich woman, it's best if you actually are being kept,” Chu Zhi murmured to himself. “Then you could use her connections to settle the matter, but unfortunately.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t.
For an idol without substantial work, maintaining a good image and looks is crucial. Fan loyalty is everything. You can act arrogantly, have parents who are debt dodgers, or even make unpatriotic statements, and there will still be fans who will defend you blindly, without any moral compass. But you must never have a romantic relationship that breaks your image, or you will learn what “love turning into hate” means.
Moreover, Chu Zhi was both secretly married and being kept, a monumental collapse akin to an avalanche on Mount Everest!
The rumors definitely needed clarification. Kangfei Entertainment, the company Chu Zhi belonged to, missed the initial opportunity and then made a series of blunders by attempting to take legal action.
There’s a saying: "Justice may be delayed but will not be absent," but public opinion and rumors can delay justice indefinitely.
Big Vs, self-media, and major portals all started fabricating dirt on Chu Zhi. When a whale dies, its carcass feeds many creatures, known as whale fall. When a top star "falls," it can fatten many marketing accounts, known as blood bun.
It got to the point where people even started claiming he was gay. The original Chu Zhi endured this hostile environment for two months until Kangfei Entertainment delivered the news that, due to resource constraints, they were suspending further legal support. In plain terms, the company had given up on him. Surrounded by malice with no hope in sight, he took an entire bottle of sleeping pills. Normally, half a bottle would be enough to cause shock and death; the original Chu Zhi was resolute in his decision.
Up until his death, he never understood why he had to endure such suffering.
“Although there is unprovoked malice and jealousy in the world, the systematic and organized nature of the attacks, along with the actions of the trolls and marketing accounts, indicate a well-funded effort costing at least several million. This isn't unprovoked.”
Only a conflict of absolute interests would drive such actions. Before crossing over, Chu Zhi was adept at analysis. Based on his memories, he identified the likely suspect: his former agency, "Dahua Entertainment."
Dahua Entertainment is one of the three giants in the industry, with a comprehensive trainee system and selection process. The original Chu Zhi joined as a trainee at sixteen but was blacklisted for five years after refusing the improper advances of the deputy director of the artist department.
After his contract expired, the ambitious Chu Zhi did not renew and instead joined Kangfei Entertainment. Dahua Entertainment didn't pay much attention to a minor trainee, but unexpectedly, Chu Zhi skyrocketed to fame as an ordinary contestant on the talent show "The Son of the Future," becoming an overnight sensation due to his looks.
How exaggerated was it? "The Son of the Future" focused on selecting original talents with good voices. Despite his mediocre skills, Chu Zhi’s fans voted him to the championship, his votes surpassing the combined totals of the second and third places.
Events and endorsements flooded in, and he quickly ascended to the top. Seeing a former trainee making money, Dahua Entertainment was more pained than seeing their stock prices plummet. They first sued him for violating preferential terms in court.
“The court ruled a compensation of one million RMB. Dahua Entertainment wasn’t going to let it go.”
Unable to succeed openly, they resorted to covert means to destroy Chu Zhi. Judging by the current situation, their plan worked.
“It seems the entertainment industry is not viable anymore.” Chu Zhi weighed the pros and cons.
The wooden dining chair was a bit hard, so he reclined on the sofa, stuffing a cushion between his back and the sofa. His brows were tightly knit; the situation was dire.
In the two years of his meteoric rise, he earned a lot of money. But with the avalanche of scandals, endorsements from L’Oréal, Givenchy, Helena Rubinstein, and others were terminated, demanding compensation.
Capitalism always “lends an umbrella on sunny days and takes it back on rainy days.” If they aren’t kicking someone when they’re down, it’s because they’re not thinking straight. Chu Zhi’s earnings were all gone, and he was in debt.
**Details of liabilities:**
1. **"The Most Beautiful Harmony 2" breach of contract compensation: 4.7 million RMB.**
2. **Yum China Holdings, McDonald’s endorsement reputation loss compensation: 5.09 million RMB.**
3. **"The Life We Long For 3" breach of contract compensation: 1.97 million RMB.**
…
Chu Zhi listed the debts in a table on his phone's notepad. The total debt amounted to over 47 million RMB, after deducting the portion covered by the agency. His head ached; the endorsement fees were high, but the breach penalties were astronomical.
“This is a hellish start,” Chu Zhi murmured, tapping his head lightly to relieve the stress. Even as a scheming and composed person, he felt the overwhelming pressure.
After a moment, a crisp sound, like typing on a keyboard, echoed in his mind—
“Snap!”
[Personality Star System awakening, starting to bind—]
[3, 2, 1, binding successful]
[Your system assistant is at your service.]