The way forward

Was this bloody panel broken, or did it have some way to identify people who actually like him? No– not 'like'. More like, all of these ten thousand fans are probably following him due to his, or rather Feng Xi's face!

'The rest are probably antis or just passersby, who joined in for the fun.'

Ten thousand fans didn't sound like anything at all, and it was more likely that he would lose a good half of them in the coming times. But, that didn't mean that Yang Jingshen thought any less of this meager number. More than that– there was a feeling of working hard to earn his keep?

'...'

Even back in his original world, when he has been running around playing small roles and trying to establish himself, he doesn't remember having similar thoughts. Was it because this world's setting was different and as Feng Xi, he didn't have any other troubles tying him to the secular world and forcing him to take up burdensome responsibilities and duties?

'No matter what, the best thing is that I actually got five soul coins from this. It means that I can earn more as long as the number of fans increases, right?'

About the matter regarding earning soul coins– Yang Jingshen had thought long and hard about it and he realized that what the soul guardian told about it being easy to collect soul coins might be actually correct.

But, after much thinking, Yang Jingshen still decided that he didn't want to be too hasty.

From the looks of it, if he worked in a few more small jobs in quick succession, he might be able to earn a hundred soul coins really quickly. But was that worth it? He didn't think so.

In his last life, he participated in all sorts of small jobs just so he could grab a foothold in the industry. He didn't consider whether the characters he played were good or bad or whether they were meaningful. Or whether the brands he partnered up with were good for his future development.

He worked as extras, stand-ins, and side characters, and represented small brands– whatever he got in his hands, he did that. But, this was more about not having proper guidance on selecting jobs, in addition to his own eagerness.

His talent agency when he first started his career as an actor was a small company. They of course had very limited resources at hand to give to their artists, much less have enough experienced personnel to properly guide them.

And by the time Yang Jingshen realized his blunder, it was almost too late. Hopefully, he had talent and managed to star in a few good roles. Finally, before he floundered further, he was offered a contract with a reputable talent agency.

Well, from there onwards, his future had turned better. But what was done in the past couldn't be undone. No– don't misunderstand. It wasn't that he despised all those times when he acted in stupidly boring side characters or extras or represented worthless brands.

Nor did he resent the instances when he managed to cast himself as stand-ins or sometimes ran around crews doing small handiwork. No— all of those were extremely valuable experiences he gained in his nearly decade-long career.

If Yang Jingshen had tried finding a similar successful actor like himself back in his last life who also had experienced similar things early in their career, afraid that there would only be a few handfuls.

Actually, he kind of envied Feng Xi. she had a caring agent who was also her cousin and who seemed to have her best interest at heart and another agent of the company, who helped her and her sister out of goodwill and probably also as a way of repaying a favor?

But most of all, she had a powerful talent agency behind her back. Even when he was at the peak of his career in the last life, Yang Jingshen didn't have this privilege.

Not to mention, this world favored arts. It didn't just consider artists as mere entertainers, but instead accorded them a more honorable and prestigious position. Isn't that the biggest cheat of all?

'This time around, I don't want to go the hard way nor the easy way with regards to my acting career.'

He had already experienced all sorts of things in his last life. And in this life, he could turn those experiences into a treasure trove. Earlier, he might have decided to act as a villain side character in 'My forever spring', but that was only because he thought to leave this career.

As for his early wish to leave this industry, it rose from nothing other than a bone-deep, no– it was a soul-deep weariness he felt about life. He imagines that he could live his life the way he wanted if he left this field, but was giving up on something he truly loved considered as living the way he wanted?

Because, after all, Yang Jingshen knew that he loved acting deep in his heart– loved it with a passion actually. And, he was just trying to lie to himself when he thought to give up on it.

But now that he was forcefully thrust back into following this path– he felt that he didn't loathe it as much as he thought he would.

'Actually, I think I really should be grateful to that soul guardian for this.'

'... Hope it didn't hear me thinking like this!'

So, he won't go the hard way! Then what about the easy way? A.k.a. Becoming a traffic artist?

Of course not! Nope! Nada! He won't! Like– what's the use in that? He would have instant fame, a lot of drama -he already does with this body's original owner's scandal and all- and considerable social media traffic. But that would be it!

This type of fame– it tended to fade quickly unless you constantly feed it with more drama. And Yang Jingshen decided he didn't want that. No, to be honest, once he gained some fame as Feng Xi after more of his work are publicized in the future, he'd involuntarily become a traffic artist, whether he wanted or not.

After all, his reputation at present was quite scandalous. But this wasn't what our hero wanted.

He wanted to be remembered and respected and revered. And for that, he'd select his future work carefully and work hard, regardless if he had this mission-thingie from the soul guardian or not. And, he'd get whatever soul coins that came his way in the process, no matter how little or huge that amount is.

After all, he had already started on this path for the second time. And now, there's no going back.

'And I don't want to go back either.'

#####

A/N:

Heya all,

Hope You guys are enjoying reading this so far. Today I thought to do a little explanation on why I write these Author's notes directly under the chapter most of the time, instead of putting them within the creator's thoughts section below. It's because people rarely read them ah!

if you find these A/N sections annoying, I'm very sorry. But I still like to communicate with my readers in this manner. If you guys really, I mean like really dislike it... you can just skip over and move on to the next chap ne! ≥∇≤

Alright, that's it for today!

Soooo... have a fun read!