“Mr. Chaplain, I’m in high demand right now. I have far better roles to choose from than starring in a stupid romantic comedy. Let me be honest with you, your show has no future. What do you mean by a twenty-million budget? What is that? Peanuts? Don’t waste your time. I will never agree to be the male lead in your show.”The artist, Emmanuel, said this and walked away before Chaplain could respond.(Ding! The system can offer the host a suggestion that can boost the host’s acting career. However, it does not come for free. Fifty Star points. Does the host want it or not?)The system notification rang out.Alex was startled. What kind of system was this? It completely ignored him whenever he asked questions, yet now it had suddenly initiated a conversation without warning.“Why don’t you change your name to Random System? That would suit you better.”The system ignored his outburst and remained silent, as though he were talking to himself. After calming down, Alex began to consider wh

"I understand your point, but I’ll be given the lead role. And besides, I’m aiming for a backend deal," he said."A backend deal? You can’t be serious. That’s even worse. They’ll pay you only thirty percent of what you’re supposed to get, and before you receive anything from backend percentages, they’ll recoup their investment first. Do you really think you stand a chance of getting anything? Look, Chaplain is a good director, but his last two projects flopped badly."She continued explaining why Chaplain was a poor choice, but Alex was certain the system wouldn’t deceive him. After all, he was where he was today because of it.The conversation grew heated. Anna felt Alex was being unreasonable and wanted to set him straight. To her, he was still new to the industry and didn’t understand how things worked.He should at least listen to reason. It was true she wasn’t officially his manager, but given their working arrangement, she was practically one."Anna," he said at last, "let’s jus

“So, was that your little girlfriend?” Anna teased.“Not really. She doesn’t want to date me yet. She wants to focus on her career,” he said with a sigh.“Oh, so you’re going to wait for her?” Anna asked softly.“Wait for her? No way. Unless I don’t find anyone else and I’m still single by then,” Alex replied.For reasons she couldn’t explain, Anna felt a quiet sense of relief.******Three days after the banquet, Alex received the script for Chaplain’s series and immediately began preparing for the audition. He practiced relentlessly. Sometimes he rehearsed alone, recording himself so he could review and critique every expression, every pause. Other times, he dragged Jude out of the studio and made him film take after take until it felt flawless.Finally, Monday arrived.Alex reached the studio, was greeted briefly, and then directed to the waiting room.A few others were already seated there, tension hanging thick in the air.A woman stepped inside and called out a name. A chubby gi

“A music video in March would be great,” Alex agreed. Music videos sometimes paid more than streams. Streaming platforms paid 0.05 per stream and operated on subscriptions.Some platforms sold music directly, but most people purchased through streaming services. Videos and movies, however, were different. They were sold outright on their platforms.Alex had noticed that this world enforced a strict anti-piracy policy. No website pirated music or videos. If you wanted to listen to music, you had to use a legal platform. If you wanted to watch movies or music videos, you had to do the same.Except for Gram creators and Tok Watch creators, of course. They earned through ad views.******Alex scrolled through his phone to clear his head after rerecording a song he felt still was not good enough.It was a normal habit for creators.“Your ex’s birthday is tomorrow, and she invited all our schoolmates,” Jude said, focused on his laptop.“Oh really? Were you invited too?” Alex asked curiously

"Well, that works. Try to get some big features too," he said seriously."I will, for sure," Alex nodded.That evening, Alex dressed in a black suit. Instead of renting one, he had bought three new suits. A Mercedes Benz S-Class pulled up in front of his house.Jude, dressed in a blue suit, walked beside him and froze at the sight of the car."You hired a Mercedes Benz S-Class? This is unbelievable. How much did it cost?" he asked, visibly excited."It costs six hundred credits for four hours. That covers the entire function," Alex replied.The driver stepped out and opened the door for them. They got in with effortless flair."This is my first time riding in such a luxurious car," Alex said. In both worlds, even his cab had been nothing compared to this.Jude remained quiet."What about you? Why aren’t you saying anything?" Alex nudged him."Sorry, I got a bit lost. I used to ride in similar cars when I was younger, before my parents broke up," Jude replied."Oh, your father is loade