After doing the obligatory 'your idea sounds so stupid, don't do this,' talk, Jia Hyson agrees to help. Under the befuddled expressions of his guards- and the very, very unsightly one of his head guard- he orders them to contact anyone capable of good disguises for advice as well as a variety of high quality wigs and clothes.
"You know I'm essentially putting a green hat on myself right now for you right?" Jia Hyson sighs as he looks over at Song Chuntao.
She bites her lip guiltily, she also realised this problem a few minutes ago but didn't know what to say. There isn't a single man who would be happy with her idea if they wanted to pursue her. However for some reason she could not let this absurd idea go in her heart. It was like she just had to do this. So she could only apologise. "I'm sorry."
Jia Hyson gives another sigh again before ruffling her head, "Well, I did like you because you're so interesting. I'll play along for now."
Because he had an easy going to the point of frivolous and fickle personality this sort of attitude was not too strange. Song Chuntao still felt guilty but didn't believe the prince would sabotage her or anything out of jealousy. However humans were hypocritical. Even if she felt relieved she also couldn't help but be a bit disappointed at how passive he was being. After all if you really loved someone they wouldn't be as agreeable right?
For a lover, you don't necessarily want someone stupidly possessive but at the same time having someone who can't be made jealous at all is probably even worse. After all even if there's mutual trust, to act a little uneasy when you're lover is out alone with a handsome person is fairly normal especially when it's an ex. Even though one half isn't jealous, the other half will become insecure instead.
It was a very complicated feeling.
Bebe's feeling however on this was much less complicated.
Bebe: 'Bebe can't believe you 50 Shades of Gr*y-ed this story. Bebe is so upset, Bebe cannot even.'
Jia Hyson: 'Technically it's like the opposite of 50 Shades of Gr*y right? So it would be more appropriate to call it... 50 Colors of Not-Grey haha.'
Bebe: '...Bebe hopes you get pushed off a cliff and die.'
Jia Hyson who is afraid of heights: '...' Sorry I'll be quiet now.
He's also aware that this change was a bit too much. Even though generally the flow of the story was the same, it was the difference between a PG-13 story and a R-18 story. One of them obviously is meant for a wider audience.
However this also is still not too bad. Even though there's a smaller target audience and therefore less variation of ratings that is not necessarily a bad thing. Older audiences want more mature settings and even though the story has been greatly ridiculed by the public it is still an unbiased fact that 50 Shades of Gr*y had sold phenomenally. The problem is whether the ratings will reflect that.
After all you can have a terrible book be popular. Unfortunately Jia Hyson's job isn't to be popular but to improve ratings. Pegging in his original world is a niche kink that only became a bit more mainstream recently when society became more open about sex. However so is being gay but that still gets a lot of shit in the modern day world.
Worst of all, there are also cases of many small-minded readers who will immediately give a 1 star rating if there is something they really don't like in a story despite how much they liked it before. And even if you give proper warning and tags beforehand they will still accuse the author of betraying their trust because they themselves didn't bother reading these warnings and now have had their eyes 'tainted'. These are the bane of all authors who write anything remotely controversial and it inevitably will bring down their score. Jia Hyson who has also experienced this headache multiple times is very aware of this problem.
Even though High-Class Heartbreak will definitely improve its shitty rating when they take out the numerous amnesia incidents, it will probably not improve much due to the pegging aspect. Jia Hyson does some mental calculations and estimations given his experience of readers and determines that the rating could probably not exceed 4 stars. Which isn't bad but also isn't particularly outstanding.
Aiyah, it's a little annoying but it's not like every story he can Beta will be big hits like the previous two worlds. He can accept it.
The disguise Song Chuntao chooses is simple but effective. Her long straight black hair will be tied up and covered with a light brown wig which gives her a curly bob hair haircut. Her light blue eyes will be changed to a warm hazel and she'll also wear glasses on top of it. Using the magic of makeup her face becomes a little sweeter, making her eyes look a bit rounder, using softer lighter tones than she would usually use.
The end result was that the mature sexy Song Chuntao turned into a baby faced lady with youthful, cute and refreshing tastes.
"Waa~h!" Jia Hyson claps as she gives a little spin in front of a full length mirror, her own face in awe at the transformation. She really did look like a different person. It was still a few points similar to her original appearance but it was more than enough to not recognize her. "Chu Chu you look great!"
"This is amazing!" She exclaims.
"This is worth a raise!" Jia Hyson immediately points at the artist responsible and the guard who recommended her. They became even more excited than Song Chuntao. Despite the artist not previously being on his pay grade she looked ready to jump up and down. Which person who knew someone who worked under this prince wasn't insanely jealous of that worker? The pay was so good it was ungodly, the insurance was big and the eye candy was top tier. Unfortunately the eye candy was too outstanding and the artist couldn't find a way to wriggle in despite having great skill and a connection.
The artist, a young mixed race lady named Juniper Li stared at Song Chuntao with stars in her eyes. This was the chocolate bar that unlocked her way into Willy Wonka's Factory! Her golden ticket! This was her golden ticket! Must! Hold! Thigh! (╯✧∇✧)╯
Trotting over to Song Chuntao with a sweet 'Sister~' from her mouth she begins to boot lick in a manner that made guard friend unable to look at her anymore. Aiyah how embarrassing she even was passing the woman juice like she was passing tea to a great ancestor!
Bemused Song Chuntao accepts the tea and politely makes some small talk with Juniper. She liked her style and skill very much and the fact she was brought by Farrell's people meant that she could at least be trusted if only for the benefits alone. She must treat this person well. This will be her make up artist who shall help her get revenge in the future after all.
However her smile doesn't last long as after drinking the juice her stomach suddenly aches painfully.
Sefu: Hehe (∩❛ڡ❛∩)
Song Chuntao: 凸ಠ益ಠ)凸
Jia Hyson who had been browsing through the assortment of wigs and clothing that had been hastily brought here looked up in confusion when Song Chuntao ran to the bathroom. "What's wrong?"
"She probably ate something off," Sefu smoothly replies as he glances at a particularly eye-catching purple punk-style wig.
Jia Hyson furrows his brows, but didn't find it too suspicious. His body's immunity was better than hers and they did eat food at a circus yesterday. It wouldn't be surprising if some of the food they ate was a bit dirty. Not to mention they did eat a lot and she didn't feel great after as well.
Politely he ignored the sounds coming from the bathroom and gestured for everyone to move to a different room. Luckily his hotel room is a suite so they could give her some privacy. "Get someone to buy her stomach medication and ginger tea." He orders.
Sefu bows his head in acquiescence but it also made it so Jia Hyson missed the flash of anger in his eyes. To him, Song Chuntao was a bitch trying to step on two boats! Using Farrell's resources to catch another man and yet Farrell is still- how could his kitten fall in love with that kind of person?
And last night! She knew he was in the room next door and she still dared to make his kitten moan so sexily and say that no man could ever satisfy him as much as her! Wasn't that deliberately slapping his face!
So angry!
....
A pale looking Song Chuntao and Juniper Li left with a few guards carrying down the clothes, wigs and other disguise products. It was decided Juniper will room with Song Chuntao to make things easier. Juniper had a very happy go lucky and simple personality perfect for a loyal sister character. She also had experience with scum boyfriends and would be good with teaching the still relatively inexperienced Song Chuntao on the ways of seduction.
After all Song Chuntao has never pursued anyone herself. Her experience in love was being childhood sweethearts with Zheng Jinhai which came from years of slow mutual affection and the fast burning passion of suddenly meeting Prince Farrell due to a terrible scheme and a coincidence. While both colorful in their own ways it was definitely not enough to help her with her plan so the presence of the 'normal' Juniper will help a lot.
And for their compatibility? Well, Song Chuntao is the protagonist, Jia Hyson has no worries about the two becoming good friends.
Honestly during the honeypot storyline Jia Hyson has no reason to appear. Not only would he fail to generate much interest he would also potentially reveal Song Chuntao's identity. If he did appear when Song Chuntao is in disguise it would be best to come early mid-way when the pair had established some stability in their newfound relationship. Right now is the period of comedically and awkwardly trying to seduce the male lead while being teased by said male lead there was no need for this handsome lightbulb.
This meant he had some free time before the first amnesia incident which should occur after Zheng Jinhai and Song Chuntao have sex for the first time in x years.
Given that he's pretty much free from the story for now, he decides to go to a nice cafe and read a nice online story about a mermaid who joins the entertainment world. He's been pretty into those sort of stories recently ah.
However as he sips on his cinnamon honey latte he gloomily has to delete the tab containing the story site on it. Too bland and the character was too stupid. He couldn't read it comfortably without feeling annoyed. And he wasn't really feeling reading anything else either.
Sighing Jia Hyson leans back on his chair and surveys the cafe crowd. It wasn't a busy period so the place was relatively empty. It was pretty much him, and a few of his guards scattered around. The downside to being a prince was the very limited alone time he could get. It had already been hard enough to convince Sefu to let him sit alone in the corner of the cafe.
Given his boredom he decides to browse BeBay. In order to avoid looking strange Bebe can use his phone to access the system shop instead of the usual holographic screen.
Since this world is on easy mode Jia Hyson didn't have any intention to actually spend anything during this time but it was still fun to look at. BeBay has a great variety of items and because of customer complaints they now introduce a lot of daily sales and discounts in order to promote more people buying things. There's even a review system and a suggestion box for hosts who feel they need a certain item that isn't there or other complaints.
Right now there was a special event on. The system world really knew how to promote ah. Even though Jia Hyson wasn't much of a shopaholic he couldn't help but be excited looking at all these things and putting them on his wishlist. Even though he had earned 32,000 p, two unique skill tickets and 47 skill points in the last world given the wide variety of things he wanted to buy Jia Hyson could only clutch at his purse strings indecisively like an old granny at a high end supermarket.
Forgetting about the amazing Unique Skills like Host's Spatial Storage, Affection Meter, Status Check, Learning Cube and Caught on Camera where he can only currently choose two. You can even buy special skills with p or skill points! Not to mention those magic items! Ahh it's too hard! He was so unwilling to spend, he can only look!
As said before right now BeBay is promoting their new line of Limited Edition Western Fairytale Special Skills along with discounts on items with a similar theme. Apparently there is another type of system which are the R&D systems that are essentially the mad scientists of the system world responsible for creating skills, products and troubleshooting. They essentially run BeBay.
Fun fact, the Overlord responsible for the amazing slogans for a lot of the ghost skills Jia Hyson had gotten in the previous world was part of the R&D group. The systems of the R&D group make up 78% of the votes for his second place ranking of Overlord Boss you Least Want to Work Under.
Jia Hyson browses through this Western Fairytale Special Event interestedly.
~New Special Skills~
My Glass Slipper, the shoe can only fit one! - using this skill will make it so three items of clothing will be only able to be worn by you and you only. Not only that if stolen it will always make its way back to you. Time it takes to come back random. 33.333% chance a Prince Charming will bring it back to you. (5500 p)
Beauty and the Beast, damn beast, be tamed by my beauty! - 30% chance of dazzling a wild beast with user's beauty. 10% chance of completing taming beast with beauty. 1% chance beast will turn into a handsome person and confess true love. (23K p)
Under the Sea, it's better when it's wetter - Escape skill. Only viable when near large body of water. Enter water and transform into a fast swimming sea creature. 4% chance of transforming into an animal capable of attack. 0.8% chance of turning into a mythical aquatic beast. (15K p)
Thumbelina's Curse, pretty as a petal and the same size too- can shrink to Thumbelina's size for an unlimited time. Time limit: 1 hour. Can only be used every 30 hours. Can communicate with animals but best effect with those your current size. (9000 p)
Aurora's Curse, sleep for a thousand years b*tch! - curse a person to feel incredibly sleepy whenever they prick themselves on something needlelike. The cursed person be afflicted by the curse for a thousand years or when the user lifts it. Can only curse one person at a time. The level of sleepiness assigned will be random from drowsy to coma. (100K p)
Jia Hyson: '...' Fuck that's a vicious curse ah! Wishlist it! Wishlist it!
Snow White's Poison Apple, take a bite, it'll be your last - Curse a piece of fruit and gift it to your enemy. They will die if swallowed. 50% chance that something will cause them to choke and fall into a deep sleep instead which will only stop once the apple is dislodged from body. If apple is swallowed in that state the person will also die. (17K p)
Peter Pan's Shadow, one can't just leave their shadow lying about - Can turn your own shadow into a separate entity for a short amount of time. Only you can understand your own shadow. It can separate a certain distance and hide in other shadows. Warning- small chance that a shadow that doesn't belong to you may attach instead. (45K p)
Cinderella's Little Helpers, it's very 'mice' to meet you- Summon three loyal mice to help you with your tasks. Levelling them up will increase time they can stay and intelligence. If you treat them kindly and increase their affection for you it will automatically level up. Calling you Cinderelly is non-negotiable. (9500 p)
~Special Bundles~
Three Blessings of Aurora Bundle: Basic Beauty Pill (10x), Sing with the Colours of the Wind Level 1, One Curse Pass - allows user to avoid one curse in the current world as long as someone kisses you within 24 hours. (3300 p)
Socialite Princess Bundle: Perfect Poise Level 3, Elegant Etiquette Level 2, White Lotus Tears Level 1, Random Special Tiara. (2200 p)
Kiddie Meal Bundle: Goldilocks's Special Oatmeal (50x), Life Size Gingerbread House (10x), Jack's Magic Beans (3x), Golden Goose Egg. (1100 p)
~Discounted Skills~
Sing Like No One's Watching - Make someone sing a full song. Can choose song. Cannot improve their singing voice. Singer can stop if given enough external stimulus. Can only use once per world. (20K p -> 15K p)
Royal Authority - gives you the aura of royalty. Can make people with weak wills kneel before you. (25K p -> 19K p)
Skills of the Shoemaker Elves - Able to craft really good shoes. Best with leather. (2100 p -> 1000 p)
~Fairytale Items on Discount~
Pixie dust - 30g. Sprinkle it generously over anyone or anything and they will be given the ability to fly for a short period. (40K p -> 25K p)
Fairy Godmother's Wand - Three uses only. Improve clothing. Create a vehicle out of vegetables. Can turn animals into men. Can use three times. Effect lost at midnight. (220K p -> 175K p)
Princess Makeup Kit (5x) - Look like a Princess! A variety of styles! Guaranteed Beautifying effect! Latest option is Snow Queen Elsa! (500 p -> 410 p)
Glass Slippers - Wearing it will attract foot fetishists. 2.5% chance will attract a goldmaster-level pervert. (1650 p -> 80 p)
Jia Hyson: '...' Some system in R&D clearly overestimated the worth of those slippers ah. You can sense the desperation in that discounted price.
'As you can see,' Bebe coughs, 'not every system that produces skills for hosts can be so successful. R&D systems have it hard especially if they don't get hired by a big company and can only rely on commission from the sales of their products.'
Jia Hyson sighs. Even systems have commissions ah. No matter where you are money will always run the world. So sad. 'What about skills we earn naturally?' He can't help but question.
'Technically a lot of skills should be capable of being unlocked naturally but it depends on the host's innate abilities of course. For example the God's Scribe Skill Host owns is part of the God Line of special skills and is marketed at 1.87M p. And it's one of the cheaper God skills one could purchase.' Bebe explains, 'Of course those attack and curse type skills can only be gained through very special and specific conditions or through blind luck with getting a character that already has such a skill and being able to take it with [Skill Stealer]. Many R&D systems actually prefer if hosts can learn it 'naturally' instead of buying it since they have to give 20% of the profit to the R&D funds when they do buy it.'
20% feels a little tyrannical ah. Then again what can they do there's only one system site. They can only cry.
'And when they don't?'
'They're given points from the R&D funds, give them full market worth.'
Jia Hyson: '...' Can't tell whether this is fair or unfair.
'Those funds are usually to support and encourage systems to work harder on making unique, useful and interesting skills. Those new skills in the Western Fairytale line are most likely the winners of a contest funded by R&D.' Bebe adds.
It's a little like funding in his original world's science and technology fields he supposes. But simpler. And nicer. And probably less boring. Jia Hyson wonders what it would be like to be a system.
Bebe, reading his mind: 'It's pretty good as long as you don't get a spicy chicken for a host.'
The spicy chicken host Jia Hyson: '…'
In the end he couldn't help himself and ended up buying a bunch of things. His willpower wasn't strong ah.
Even though he doesn't necessarily need a lot of skills since his aim isn't to counterattack or anything, these products could help him in a pinch or for survival. He gets [My Glass Slipper (Active) Level 1] and [Cinderella's Little Helpers (Active) Level 1] since they're definitely quite practical and relatively low key. He also buys [Skills of the Shoemaker Elves Level 1], the Three Blessings and Kiddie Meal bundle.
And finally, the Glass Slippers because, come on. It's cheap and hilarious.
Altogether that's 20,480 p he spent. Leaving 11,520 p from his original earnings in the last world.
…Aiyah why can't they transfer real life currency into points? What is the point of being so rich if he couldn't even purchase a Fairy Godmother's Wand. He wanted to get the whole Cinderella set now!
Swallowing back his first world problems, Jia Hyson finishes his drink before leaving the cafe. All his guards getting up and quickly following behind him like big scary ducklings. Sefu the scariest duckling was right on his heels. "What do you wish to do now my prince?" He rasps.
"Shoe shopping." Jia Hyson answers after some thought. "I want to go shoe shopping."
Sefu: '???' Didn't his prince dislike shoe shopping the most? His prince's mind was so unfathomable sometimes.
It was true Jia Hyson didn't like shoe shopping. He just felt there were better things to do than buy things that literally barely anyone looks at. He was really glad he was a man in this aspect alone since that meant he only needs a few good formal shoes, sneakers, sandals for the beach and like two pairs of decent boots. Nothing else. However he needed an excuse to be able to wear his new magic glass slippers ah.
Five pairs of silvery, glassy and, or diamond studded pairs of shoes later Jia Hyson is at the hotel room trying out his Glass Slippers while the guards recover from their shopping trip.
The glass slippers, thank the lord, can change it's appearance to a few different options even if they're all obviously feminine in design.
He picks a simple low heel slipper and changes into a black, white and silvery outfit to match. Looking in a mirror, even though he looks damn fine in his clothing, his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to his shoes. He had to admit, even though feet were not his thing, when he wore the glass slippers Jia Hyson couldn't help but admire them and find them strangely erotic to look at.
Excited, he sneaks out of the hotel room to show off. Of course Jia Hyson isn't stupid, he doesn't intend to leave the hotel without his guards. He just wants to hang around the lobby and bar for a bit. See if he can catch the secret foot fetishists around here.
Surprisingly the glass slippers were not uncomfortable. Even if they were a bit heavier than he was used to the insides were surprisingly soft, as if lined with padding despite being pure glass. Jia Hyson was getting more impressed by these shoes. It turns out even shitty unwanted products were still top goods.
As he the elevator doors open he comes face to face with an incredibly handsome older man. From his appearance it looks like he came for some sort of business as he carried a briefcase and was wearing a light grey-blue suit. Then again with his serious looking face and silver rimmed glasses it was hard to associate the word casual with him. He seemed to be the type that worked all day and didn't like to play.
Still, he was quite his type ah. (≧◡≦) ♡
Bebe: 'Is there anyone not your type?' 눈_눈
Jia Hyson: 'I don't like people with too many tattoos I guess? You know, the ones who have more tattoo than exposed skin? Oh and abusive assholes and child murderers.'
Bebe: '...That's a disturbingly small amount of people.' Also Bebe hates that you had to specify the type of murderer you wouldn't sleep with.
Jia Hyson: 'Hehe.' (∩❛ڡ❛∩)
After another glance Jia Hyson ignores him. That sort of man, while very good looking seems like the type that will only pursue their one true love. Probably straight too. Better not provoke.
However even though he didn't provoke the man that didn't mean the man didn't get provoked. As the lift started to slowly go down Jia Hyson noticed the man's breathing getting heavier. Frowning Jia Hyson turns to look at him only to meet his eyes.
The man coughs, face a little flushed and nervous. Jia Hyson does not miss the way his eyes flick down to his feet incased in glass. "You-" The man clears his throat, "Are you staying here long? In the hotel?"
Jia Hyson blinks in surprise. The power of Cinderella's glass slippers were no joke. It really attracted a foot fetishist! And so quickly! He remembers how sad the discounted price was and silently swore to give the product a good review as he nods at the man.
The man looks pleased that he responded. Encouraged he pushes a bit more, "Do you, do you want to go get a drink? The private bar at this hotel is very good."
"I don't even know your name," Jia Hyson was a little impressed at how forward this clearly nervous man was.
The man looks embarrassed again and fumbles to take out his business card. His serious domineering appearance ruined by his fumbling. Finally he takes it out and passes it to Jia Hyson, introducing himself.
"My name is Zheng Xin. Have you heard of the Zheng Family? I'm the heir."
Jia Hyson: '...' It seems he caught a goldmaster level pervert on the first try.
(ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧