Chapter 1: Disbanded Group
Lu Xu squeezed his eyes tightly, suspecting that he was hallucinating.
He had just won the most prestigious acting award in the industry and was using his phone to scroll through the forum, liking the posts that praised him one by one. However, after just a brief nap, when he looked at the screen again, the pinned post at the top of the forum was unexpectedly a post mocking him.
[Do you think Lu Xu regrets disbanding Verse now that the others are still so popular?]
[Regret what? Didn’t he bring this upon himself?]
[LMAO, he’s now a respected web drama star, don’t try to cling to Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, or Meng Qin!]
[Please don’t use Verse to flatter this person! Lu Xu doesn’t deserve it at all!]
As he read the comments below the post, Lu Xu furrowed his brows, his face contorting into a furrowed “川” shape. After graduating from the Film Academy, he had been acting in films and dramas. Some had flopped, while others had been hits, but his performances in most works were generally praised by the audience.
He had rarely been criticized.
Lu Xu continued to scroll through the posts, and the further down he went, the more mocking and insulting they became. The forum moderator had casually logged in and posted a message forbidding personal attacks, but none of the harsh comments had been addressed.
The more he scrolled, the more something seemed off.
What was Verse? Who were Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin?
When had he started acting in web dramas?
Was his memory distorted, or—
Lu Xu’s gaze shifted slightly, and only then did he notice that the room he was in felt unfamiliar.
The room was a mess, with comic books and albums scattered carelessly on the desk, half-eaten snacks lying around, and clothes piled higher than the sofa on the treadmill. The bookshelf was somewhat empty, with only seven or eight trophies displayed, none of which he recognized as awards he had won.
At that moment, the computer screen dimmed, and the face reflected on it made Lu Xu involuntarily take a sharp breath.
He ran as quickly as possible to the only mirror in the room. The face staring back at him was one he had just seen a few seconds ago, but it wasn’t his own face.
From an actor’s perspective, it was a remarkably handsome face—bright eyes, sharp features. Even though it had only appeared in the mirror for a few seconds, one could easily imagine the shock it would elicit if seen on camera.
Recalling the post he had just read, Lu Xu typed his name into the search bar.
Sure enough, terms like “Lu Xu’s new work” and “Lu Xu XX Award” were nowhere to be found. Instead, there were phrases like “Verse disbanded,” “Lu Xu has been picking his toes for three months,” and “Lu Xu lost fan gifts.”
He clicked on one of the links, and the black trending topics were everywhere. Although some were paid trolls, the fact that no one had come to his defense despite the harsh criticisms showed just how unpopular Lu Xu had become in this world.
Lu Xu dialed his own phone number, as well as the numbers of his agent, family, and friends, but they were all empty numbers. There was no trace of the actor Lu Xu in this world, no record of the prestigious awards he had won or the TV dramas he had appeared in—everything seemed to have vanished without a trace.
He let out a soft sigh and, after a long pause, managed to steady his emotions.
Having been an actor for so many years, he had long been accustomed to facing storms. His career had not been smooth sailing; he had faced many setbacks along the way, but he had managed to overcome them all.
Lu Xu was certain—he was now in a different world.
The entertainment industry in this world was similar to the one he had once worked in, but the owner of this body, Lu Xu, had been a former member of the idol group Verse, which had once been incredibly popular.
Unfortunately, by the time he arrived in this world, Verse had already disbanded for almost a year.
In the popular boy group Verse, the original owner of this body, Lu Xu, was universally acknowledged as the “back,” someone who lagged behind in both popularity and talent. The other three members of Verse had much higher popularity than him.
Though when Verse first debuted, Lu Xu had stood out because of his looks. He was widely recognized as the “godly face” among the male idols who debuted at the same time. The success of Verse could certainly be attributed to his contribution in the early days.
However, Lu Xu’s abilities were average, his personality was plain, and both his emotional intelligence and beauty quotient were unremarkable. Anything he casually said could be interpreted in dozens of ways by marketing accounts and fans.
On top of that, he wasn’t favored by the higher-ups at the agency. During Verse’s active period, the original owner had the worst resources, the least exposure, and could only leech off the group’s collective opportunities. By the time the group was on the brink of disbandment, while the other members and fans were reluctant to part ways, Lu Xu’s scandals were being exposed one after another.
Rumors like slacking off on stage, insulting seniors on a fake account, lip-syncing, and stealing his teammates’ clothes… Even when his screen time in the music video exceeded that of the center member by 11.6 seconds, his teammate’s fans relentlessly attacked him.
Lu Xu: “…”
Really? Adding another decimal point would’ve made him an Olympic timer.
In Lu Xu’s view, these so-called scandals were clearly not the fault of the original owner. They were merely rumors planted by someone who wanted to force the disbandment of Verse as soon as possible.
Verse’s disbandment wasn’t due to the original owner’s lack of talent. It was because, at a certain point, the conflicts between the members’ popularity and interests had reached a stage where they could no longer exist as a group.
The situation had gotten so ugly that it was damaging the image of Verse in the fans’ eyes. After all, an idol’s career is limited, and in another ten or twenty years, they might still need to cash in on the “brotherhood” they once shared to make money.
At this point, the original owner, with his lack of popularity and being undervalued in the company, had clearly become the scapegoat.
After dumping all the scandals onto him, Verse successfully disbanded. The other three members continued to sign with the original agency and set up their personal studios, while the original owner was kicked out of the company and left to fend for himself.
“Was it really necessary to go this far?”
Whether searching through the browser or the forum, Lu Xu barely found any praise for the original owner.
What was worse, after Verse disbanded, the original owner’s resources had drastically dwindled. Even when he managed to land one or two business deals, the brand representatives were bombarded by his former teammates’ fans, leading to the collaborations often ending abruptly. The agency that had originally planned to sign him had also backed out before the contract was finalized, leaving the promised resources to evaporate.
In contrast, the other three members of Verse were doing very well. They were acting in films, appearing on variety shows, and still occasionally gathering for meals to show off their camaraderie. Each time they did, the original owner’s inbox and comment section would be flooded with insults like “die” or “go to hell,” overwhelming him.
The fans only hated Lu Xu more, now that Verse was no longer together.
Reading those comments made Lu Xu, who had once been a well-known actor, feel a chill run down his spine.
It didn’t take him long to figure out why he had traveled to this world—he found a bottle of medicine in the cupboard.
For the original owner, being an idol had been his only way to survive. His personality had never been strong enough; otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up like this despite his decent popularity in the early days.
But Lu Xu believed that weakness of character wasn’t a valid reason to be hurt.
The original owner was no longer in this world, and now Lu Xu had to live on in his place, using his face and trying his best to live a better life.
…
Lu Xu opened his phone.
Most of the original owner’s WeChat chat history was stuck around the time of Verse’s disbandment a year ago. Most entertainment agencies had contacted him then, expressing an interest in signing him, but after that period, most of those contacts had gone silent.
The shift from enthusiasm to indifference had been rapid.
Lu Xu had spent enough time in the entertainment industry to be able to read between the lines when a message came through. He could already guess the sender’s intentions. The original owner, however, wasn’t someone with that kind of mentality. He replied to messages slowly, and sometimes, when greeting people, it was obvious he was doing it out of obligation, never able to express his true purpose.
It was because of this that he had never signed with an agency.
As for the other members of Verse, the original owner didn’t have much contact with them. Before the group disbanded, the messages they sent were always along the lines of “We believe Verse won’t break up,” “Verse will always be one,” “We’ll talk to the agent and the boss, you don’t need to worry.”
The original owner would always respond with heartfelt thanks.
He genuinely believed that his teammates wanted to help him, even though, by that time, he was already surrounded by scandals.
But from Lu Xu’s perspective, this was just a sign that the others didn’t want to leave any evidence that could be used against them.
If he went through the call history, it would be clear that, during the time when Verse was falling apart, almost all the communication was between the agent and the original owner. It was likely the agent who had notified the original owner about the disbandment.
A year ago, the original owner’s WeChat messages were still relatively frequent. However, six months ago, only a few short-term business contacts remained, and in the past month, the only person who had been in regular contact with him was someone listed as “Director Hua Zhu.”
Lu Xu looked through their chat history.
A quarter of an hour later, he fell silent.
The script sent by Director Hua Zhu—Lu Xu couldn’t for the life of him figure out how it had been created, or more precisely, why anyone would call it a script.
There was no logic, the plot was nonsensical, the dialogue was cringe-worthy, and it was titled My Precious Prince.
Lu Xu: “…”
If he wasn’t mistaken, this was probably the web drama that had been ridiculed in the forum.
The problem was, even in My Baby Prince, the character the original owner played wasn’t the male lead, but the second male lead—a character who coveted the female lead and constantly clashed with the male lead.
Lu Xu had initially thought the title should be My / Baby Prince, but in fact, “Baby” was the female lead’s name.
Thanks to Verse’s former popularity, the original owner had managed to land a hefty 500,000 yuan for this project.
In the past, if his agent had offered him such a script, he would have immediately paid the penalty and walked away. However, with this script’s payment of 500,000, the penalty for backing out would be… five million.
Right now, his total savings barely added up to 100,000.
Even if they sold him, he couldn’t afford to pay the penalty!
Just finished the 38 posted chapters in two days (would have been quicker but I was at work) your doing a great job translating keep it up.