That night Jia Hyson had a delicious meal of stacks of various types of roti prata and warm, flavorful Indonesian and Malaysian style curries. He also eyed up some very good looking hosts and even chatted up quite a number, especially interested in a dashing and militant host of a Bodyguard System whose missions involved protecting certain people, objects or even theoretical concepts like faith.
It was very interesting since Jia Hyson had never read about such a system in the stories, not to mention the host was very talented in talking and handling the mood, it was easy to get sucked in.
However in the end, despite being a little tempted Jia Hyson couldn't seem to muster up any legitimate urges to go through with inviting the man for a night of fun. Even though he had thought to do something, even though the other host was clearly interested, Jia Hyson couldn't deny that instead of anticipation and arousal he only felt anxiety and some guilt. In the end, both of them parted amiably albeit a little reluctantly.
Returning to his safe space, he touches his nose thoughtfully, a little absentminded. It seems it's a little too soon to play around ah. His heart's really not in it.
Opening the drawer that contains the system shards, Jia Hyson stares at the five glass-like pieces with a complicated stare. He doesn't know what this Royal System did to make itself like this but for Jia Hyson to meet these shards consistently in every world was very hard to believe it's a mere coincidence.
Even though he hadn't fallen in love with all of them he at least held some strong feelings for each one of them. That in itself was quite a difficult to accomplish success rate given his attitude in dating in his original life.
Jia Hyson didn't believe in love at first sight and was too impatient and frivolous in a relationship. Before he was bound to a system he lived thinking he had only one life, why should he waste even a drop of it because he wanted to see if he could make it work with this girl or that guy ah? So anytime he felt bored, irritated or sensed even a small amount of incompatibility toward the other person, more often than not he would initiate a breakup.
...He agreed it was a slag move but hey, in his opinion it's better than wasting five years with a cheating green tea bitch scum partner.
However with the shard personas, while he does occasionally think about leaving them or felt a little irritated or annoyed with them, the feeling of repulsion is much more tolerable. It's not particularly any magic or fate or some bullshit past life excuse though. After some thought, Jia Hyson can conclude it's simply due to compatibility.
Jia Hyson likes that they can act clingy and coquettish but also understand his need for quiet time and indulge his prevalent laziness. So far their tastes in food, music, and hobbies were not necessarily different to his own but also not exactly the same, just the right amount of crossover in interests to maintain something in common but not too much to get bored of each other. Overall, even if the other had a split personality, it seems both matches fairly well with his own fluctuating one.
Analyzing this calmly and rationally Jia Hyson recalls his regret and guilt for not being kinder to Sefu. He touches his nose again, tapping it a few more times in thought.
Maybe the next world he should hold more assumptions toward these personas and treat them a little more sincerely. If they disappoint him he can also treat them as completely unrelated people to their previous other shard personas once again anyway, it wasn't any skin off his back. ╮(╯∀╰)╭
After all, even if they are different people, they all form one system. Or at the very least, two personalities. Jia Hyson didn't believe that he can fall in love with all of them- after all, there's no such thing as loving an entire person, just loving them enough to ignore and accept their flaws- however he supposes that if he meets them it won't hurt to treat them a little better than just another passing acquaintance.
….Especially since all the personas so far seemed to have retained variations of Sefu's turtle personality, refusing to confess for x years for fear of blah blah blah. Though Jia Hyson really loves the feeling of tricking someone else to confess to him first, he really couldn't win out against their cowardly endurance.
Seriously. If there was an event for long term relationship chicken, all of them would be national champions.
Bebe: 'Hey, hey, Bebe thought of a joke.'
Jia Hyson: '…You can do things beside scold me?'
Bebe: 'Which came first, the relationship chicken or the scummy bad egg?' (Bad Egg is literally two words that make up the word that means either idiot or bastard lol)
Jia Hyson: 'I don't know.'
Bebe: 'Neither, ☚(ﾟヮﾟ☚) the chicken ran away and the egg got cracked over a fight between hens huehuehue.'
Jia Hyson: '…What an ugly laugh.'눈_눈
Ah, that's right, other than scolding you can also insult me huh. Very good. When my man turns into a big Royal System and finally evolve into the big golden thigh I've always wanted let's see who'll be making egg jokes then. Sneer.gif
…
When he was transported to the training space assigned for the first lesson of White Lotus Acting class, Jia Hyson was greeted by a bunch of big men and middle aged woman.
There were also burly looking muscle men, a punk rocker type girl filled with piercings and gothic black make up, a grandmother and what seemed to be a red-eyed demonic cultivator covered in fierce face tattoos and a middle aged emperor straight from an ancient china world. For a moment Jia Hyson was a little bewildered before he gathered his bearings again.
In a way it made sense. Those that didn't need the skill of white lotus acting are the ones who are already suitable to play it. Who would pay good p to learn what they already know?
Still, imagining these people trying to sell meng and learn to cry on command.. his mouth twitches, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
Bebe: 'Hehe. You should talk, ah.'
Jia Hyson: '…Fuck.'
Jia Hyson's face immediately turns ugly at the reminder. He remembers now he's also in his original body, at the age at which he had died even.
People probably say he had died young but it was still in his mid-fifties okay? Even though he works out enough to maintain his good looks and used a lot of skin care to retain some of his youth, time was a heartless bitch. He looked like he was in his late thirties, early forties at best.
Even though he was very attractive, he now belonged in the description of a mature elegant gentlemen, a handsome intellectual dandy, an ideal daddy top for many.
With his current appearance... the image of playing white lotus was not any less dissonant than the others.
"Okay class, welcome to the introductory course of White Lotus Acting," A soft voice calls out, everyone turned their heads to see a young man with pale blue hair and entrancing violet eyes. He looked young and his limbs were long but not enough to make him look lanky or incredibly tall. His skin looked soft and his mouth looked even softer. Overall he had a sweet appearance that made sugar appear bitter in comparison.
Jia Hyson: 'Fuck, (´▽`ʃƪ)♡ I want him to reverse shota fuck this daddy.'
Bebe: 'It really shows that you've recently been getting into small younger gong x older shou stuff recently ah.'
Usually his cheap host would be thinking about fucking such a beautiful and meek looking man but after reading manga after manga of androgynous and baby faced gongs pushing down big men and older gentlemen down... Tch, tch, does it really matter? No matter what kink he currently favors isn't host still a pervert?
The big focus was.... when did Bebe get so dirty that it can immediately connect such nasty dots together?? ಥ_ಥ
Bebe was no longer pure and clean QAQ
Jia Hyson listened to his system 'yingyingying' with a black face. What pure and clean. This cheap system has been with so many other hosts, if all of them were virgins that never had sex for as long as it knew them than Jia Hyson will change his name to Dengtu Zi.
(famous lecherous character though apparently it's an unfair title given the character is just being faithful to his ugly wife but somehow it stuck, I don't know ah, it took me a while to even dig out this much and it was from reddit and google books of all things, fucking google what good are you ah)
Even if his heart is so dirty that putting the color gray beside it makes it look white, that still doesn't stop it from being the fucking color gray okay? Pure and clean his ass! Pei!
White Lotus Acting class was actually not to different from a normal class. The teacher, Guo Qing, would talk about what to expect from the class, the basics of what a white lotus represents and then show a variety of video clips, taking then as examples of what to do and what not to do as a good white lotus. Afterward, they would split into pairs and begin to act various scenes, swapping roles and switching partners every time.
Despite his good grades, and his old school teachers' praises, Jia Hyson wasn't actually a very good student. Luckily, the theory behind White Lotus Acting he already more or less understood thanks to his love of reading and the online novels he has written. It was pretty straightforward stuff, be naive, be cute, don't show calculation unless your eyes, these sort of things.
However most of his classmates seem to be writing notes very seriously, like these were mind blowing new concepts that completely changed the way physics can be used. Watching them, Jia Hyson couldn't help but feel a little smug. Like a top student who had already done this weeks homework on Monday, surrounded by slag students who were rushing to finish their questions during a very panicked Friday lunchtime.
It was a very good feeling ah.
Jia Hyson: 'Hey, hey, maybe next world I'll ask to be a little genius young master entering high school. Won't I be a male god then? How nice would it be for the number one male god to get seduced by his lackey? Or pushed down by the school flower? Or sexually blackmailed by a teacher? Hehehehehehe.'
Bebe: '…' Why do all your ambitions always have the same rubbish theme? 눈_눈
So when Jia Hyson and the others stood up to prepare to test out what they learnt, he felt very confident.
....
"My heart is beating so fast... if we do anything more, I'll die..." The middle aged auntie coquettishly places a slightly wrinkled hand over her chest to emphasize her words, her face a bit too red and eyes that weren't wet enough. Even though her voice was good, she looked more like she was on the verge of a heart attack then anything else.
Jia Hyson ignores the poor acting, staring at her like she was a tender fresh meat, swallowing heavily before pushing her down domineeringly, smile seductive yet lecherous but overall frighteningly hot, "Then I'll die together with you then." He whispers, handsome voice chillingly fervent and excited.
White lotus Auntie: '???'
Fuck! Isn't that a yandere line? They agreed on a typical overbearing male lead type why is the other person giving himself such heavy tastes?
"CUT!" White lotus teacher Guo Qing's mouth twitches. Jia Hyson was a decent actor but definitely a troublemaker. Unfortunately, his acting is more in line with playing the more seductive mistress role, the domineering male lead, the ruthless and cold blooded yandere and the spoilt, arrogant cannonfodder. In short, nearly everything but white lotus he can do fairly proficiently.
Not to mention... he's either frightened or seduced most of the class with his non white lotus personas. And when he's playing white lotus he would get impatient and break out of character, resulting in him frightening or seducing the other party again.
Guo Qing had led this class for at least three years now and never had encountered such a 'genius'.
"Jia Hyson, you'll pair up with me ah," Guo Qing sighs, rubbing his forehead vigorously. "Everyone else pair up with someone you haven't been with recently. Look through your notes and then discuss the best course of action to Jia Hyson's last line. Even though you're all relatively new and are given nicer worlds, yanderes are everywhere, it's good to know ways to wriggle out of their death flags."
Bebe: 'Hehe you got singled out,'
Jia Hyson: '…are you a child ah?'
"Now, Jia Hyson," Guo Qing sighs, "I can see you have some talent in acting, and from what I see you have a strong foundation in the… basics, the heart of acting."
Bebe: 'He's calling you a liar lol.'
Jia Hyson: '…' Darling what happened to us?
"Unfortunately it's clear you have a comfort zone, I see on my data your system has a lifetime visa?" Guo Qing whistles, impressed. Due to privacy concerns, unless the hosts volunteer their information during introductions no one will know what type of system they have. However as the teacher, he get's access to some information to get an idea of how to best teach each student. For example if the system has only a strict work visa, the host will leave the world immediately after completing the mission, whether they do so by death or swapping with the original host would be the difference in how radical one can act.
"Lifetime visas are quite special, you must have a good system ah," he can't help but praise a little enviously. Guo Qing had introduced himself as a host of Stepping Stone Counterattack System who helps characters who originally were only foil for the main characters finally get the chance to shine and rise to the peak of happiness. His system's visa is a point-based visa, meaning the amount of satisfaction and fame points he earns once the mission finishes will correlate to the number of months he can stay in the world, with 10 points equalling 1 month. This visa can be upgraded but it cost a lot of system points unfortunately.
Still, there was some pits with a lifetime visa, especially for someone like Jia Hyson who seems to have a low attention span and ability to commit. "However unless you want to be constantly penalised for ooc and wrack up a big loss of points, you have to learn to stay in your character, or at least find a justifiable way to explain your actions that are in line with their set personality." Guo Qing patiently explains.
Jia Hyson quickly understands, "Like the death of a loved one or physical slash mental trauma,"
"…I was going to say a bad break up or illness but yeah, those are also options."
Jia Hyson nods wisely, "Like getting stabbed and kidnapped by your ex or being forced into a freezer by your current lover's childhood friend who thinks you're not good enough and wishes you to die but fails thanks to a passing good samaritan janitor."
Guo Qing: '…' Sure. Let's go with that ah.
...
After finishing all the lessons he had booked beforehand and coming out in various states of exhaustion, Jia Hyson figures he deserves a reward.
Bebe: 'You always think you deserve a reward.'
Jia Hyson: 'Of course, I always deserve a reward, I'm not like you ah.'
Bebe: '…' This partnership will not be able to stand the test of time, Bebe can feel it.
"So, what's your request for the reward world then?" Bebe asks, "Do you want to choose your identity or the world type?"
"Psh, it's obviously identity ah," Jia Hyson takes out his shards and surrounds his emotional support bunny Fishball with them. Every time Fishball would move closer to a shard the shard would glow and frighten it. It was really cute. Jia Hyson rubs the soft fluffy fur, loving how good it feels.
Ignored Shards: '…' FuriouslyDrinkingVinegar.gif
"Honestly, who chooses the world over their identity?" Jia Hyson disses, "Isn't it better to be more specific? What if I asked for an entertainment world and ended up as a secretary? I would absolutely die ah."
"Some hosts like to take a gamble," Bebe explains, "Besides, it's harder to get certain world types in reward worlds like fantasy and wuxia which are generally considered a high difficulty. Requesting an easy story world with those genres are fairly difficult and the system overseers probably would give you a good identity to compensate a little."
Jia Hyson hums, "Okay, that makes sense." Having a chance to do an easy cultivation world does sound like a good opportunity to get used to fantasy worlds given how cutthroat they are. "But I've already decided my identity-based request."
"And that is?"
"I want to be super cute!" Jia Hyson declares shamelessly, eyes bright and curved like tilted crescent moons, "Absolutely adorable! Beloved even by the heavens! Even the emperor will have to bow down to my appearance!"
Bebe: '...' Most hosts ask for a stable identity where nobody dislikes them enough to dig pits and a loving family background. It's host however can only be a shallow bitch that seeks death.
Still, Bebe obediently types in the request. Surprisingly it did take a minute before the overseer in charge of these things finally approved of it but Bebe didn't think much of it.
"Initializing.. prepare for transmigration in 3… 2… 1…"
…
Jia Hyson could barely open his eyes at first. His limbs felt weak and his body heavy yet completely hollowed out at the same time. It was clear he was both exhausted and starving. This was not a good start.
Weakly, Jia Hyson tilts his head down to look at his body and his surroundings. In his heart he was already imagining that he's probably being hospitalized or something equally awful. However, he deeply underestimated the sinisterness of the system world.
Jia Hyson: '...'
"What the fuck is this?!" He demands shrilly.
"What Host asked for," Bebe replies, clearly enjoying this twist, "somebody super cute, adorable, adored by the heavens to the point even the emperor must bow down to you."
"I'm a f*cking baby lizard!" Jia Hyson howls but in his animal form his mouth could only let out a heart-wrenching 'kreee' sound.
Even if he himself likes lizards and finds them quite good to look at, that's a fucking niche opinion! The general consensus is the one with the fluff is the one who wins! Even he, who has some abnormal tastes with various matters can also agree that dogs were better than reptiles!
No, wait! That's not the point! Why was he a goddamn non-human animal?!
"To be more precise," Bebe chirps cheerfully, "you're a dragon."