"Isn't this guy shameless? He chased Film Emperor Gu's car until he passed out..."
"Tell me about it. He sticks to Film Emperor Gu like a plaster. Wherever Film Emperor Gu goes for an event, he's always there. So disgusting."
"He's been lying on the ground for half an hour now... Isn't he playing dead a little too convincingly? He hasn't actually died, has he?"
So noisy. My head's going to explode... What's all this noise around me...
Wasn't I supposed to have been killed in that car accident? Did they save me after all?
Chi Yining felt an unusually bright light against his eyelids, so dazzling that he couldn't open his eyes.
He weakly raised his left hand to shield his eyes and propped himself up with his right, slowly sitting up.
He felt the ground beside him. I'm not in a hospital?! Where am I? Startled, he hurriedly lowered his hand despite the glaring light.
Braving the dazzling sunlight, he opened his eyes, and red spots dotted his vision.
After three or four seconds of this forced boot-up, Chi Yining finally made out his surroundings.
He was sitting outside a building, surrounded by an impenetrable crowd. Some people had even taken out their phones to film him.
Someone was even holding up an apple, and it didn't look as though they intended to give it to him to eat. It looked more like they were about to throw it at him!
Chi Yining wanted to ask where he was, but he didn't dare. He didn't even know who the people around him were...
"Hiss..."
His arm stung fiercely too. It seemed he had scraped it while chasing the car.
He could only try to recall what the people around him had said. Before he could put his mind to work, his head began aching again, and unfamiliar images instantly flashed through his mind, frame by frame.
Chi Yining froze. He couldn't even feel the burning pain in his arm anymore, nor could he spare any attention for how others looked at him or filmed him.
Because he had transmigrated into a novel! A novel he had once read.
And of all people, he had ended up in the body of Chi Yining, the villainous cannon fodder hated by the entire internet. He had only read the whole novel because he shared the cannon fodder's full name...
The villain, Chi Yining, had publicly declared his love for Film Emperor Gu Chengyuan on multiple occasions. Even after Film Emperor Gu got together with the shou protagonist, he refused to repent and repeatedly caused all sorts of accidents for the shou protagonist. In the end, he was not only hated by the entire internet but also thrown into prison.
Calculating where he was in the novel's timeline, he was fortunate that the shou protagonist wouldn't return to the country until next month. As a law-abiding citizen, Chi Yining wouldn't let any of that happen.
Today, the original owner had even chased a car until he passed out, leaving him baking on the road for half an hour. But the original owner was a social butterfly. All Chi Yining wanted right now was to find a hole to crawl into.
Embarrassing. So embarrassing! Chi Yining had never experienced anything so humiliating in his life.
Don't these people have jobs?! Lives?! They just stood around gawking at someone this long, baking in the sun together! He'd been down for over half an hour, and not one of them had called an ambulance.
He felt dizzy, his head hurt, and he was a little nauseated. His clothes felt soaked through with sweat. The original owner had probably died of heatstroke.
Under all those stares, he slowly stood and straightened his tight white shirt. His trousers were tight and black too, and his shoes were black driving loafers...
Fuck! Why did the original owner wear such tight clothes?! He was one of those flashy street punks!
Feeling bashful, he quickly covered his chest, hoping to pick any direction and walk out of the crowd.
After composing himself and getting his emotions in order, Chi Yining approached the people in front of him. Extremely nervous, he struggled and, with no other choice, uttered the words that marked this historic moment: "Excuse me..."
The girls around him looked up at him when they heard him. As if he were something filthy, they quickly moved aside in disgust.
"Oh my god... Just looking at those green dreadlocks and that freakish makeup makes me sick."
"Yeah, I don't know why, but whenever I see Chi Yining, I want to slap him. He's so annoying! Every single time, he shamelessly clings to Film Emperor Gu and won't leave him alone."
"Exactly! He's always either waiting for his car or meeting him at the airport! A few days ago, he even boldly confessed to Film Emperor Gu at the airport. It made me so mad! Who knows where Film Emperor Gu picked up this brainless sasaeng fan! And they're both in the entertainment industry, so it's even harder to shake off this sticky pest!"
Having broken out of the encirclement, Chi Yining couldn't avoid hearing them even if he wanted to. Are these girls talking so loudly because they're afraid I won't hear them...? Sigh, I'd better figure out how to get home. This sun feels like it's going to give me heat rash.
Without lingering any longer, Chi Yining went to the building's designated pickup area. He watched the crowd disperse in the distance, though they didn't leave. They were probably a fan group waiting for a bus to pick them up.
He wiped away the sweat that was about to run from his forehead into his eyes.
Then he took out his phone. Needless to say, he already knew that the original owner had borrowed 200,000 yuan online from a shady lender and spent it all on chasing his idol. Now the minimum monthly repayment was 20,000 yuan...
The next payment was due in just half a month. The original owner had been robbing Peter to pay Paul, sinking deeper and deeper into debt.
He had also spent 8,000 yuan on Alipay's Huabei, leaving only 2,000 yuan of available credit.
What a fucking mess! He had never imagined that one day he would actually inherit someone else's Huabei debt! Right now, he wanted to cry but had no tears.
He soon booked a ride through an app. Once the car arrived, he would head to a hair salon near his rented place and get his hair dyed back to black.
Author's note: If this isn't for you, please avoid it! Don't force yourselves!
1. Even a hero can be brought low by a single penny. People with social anxiety still have to face life, and when setbacks come, they will grit their teeth and push forward too.
2. Social anxiety varies depending on the people and the occasion. Once the surroundings and people become familiar, normal communication is possible. Around people they know well, they can even let loose.
3. Elementary-school-level prose. Painfully bad.
4. Everyday embarrassment intense enough to toe-curl a three-bedroom apartment with a living room into existence.
5. A brainless, simple read. Reading with your brain switched on is not recommended, lest it cause psychological discomfort.
6. Sticklers for accuracy, proceed with caution.
7. Both leads are virgins.
8. The author is letting loose, has basic tastes, and loves writing simple stories. Friends who don't like that, please steer clear!
9. An addition: Everyone's social anxiety presents differently. If you find the social anxiety in this book strange, I'm truly sorry. People with social anxiety are people too, and they still have to work and live. Constantly hiding in a corner and trembling isn't the only way to prove someone has social anxiety. (The shou appears cold and aloof on the outside but is a nonstop snarker inside. His social anxiety symptoms will lessen later on.)
10. The author is intellectually challenged and hopeless at logic, and does not accept writing advice. (If you can do better, do it yourself. Don't yell at me. Sorry, I was wrong. Nope, I'm not changing it.)