Chapter 1

"Instructor: I'll repeat it again. Find a place where you can intern with all the necessary documents and get an internship certificate. Don't come and ask me if it's okay to intern at the kindergarten downstairs from your house!"

Jiang Juyou stared at the message just sent by the instructor in the group chat, feeling even more despair in her heart.

As a graduate in Ideological and Political Education, there were hardly any career prospects apart from taking civil service exams or pursuing academic research. But Jiang Juyou was never good at studying, and it took her a lot of effort just to get into this major.

She didn't want to take the civil service exams or pursue academia, let alone further studies. So her only option was to find a job, and she also needed the mandatory internship certificate required by the university. However, as someone who came from another province to study here, it was incredibly difficult for her to find a job that could sustain herself.

Jiang Juyou switched to a job search app and closed her eyes in pain as she looked at the list of internship opportunities.

"Internship position available, monthly salary 1500, internship certificate provided, proficient in office software required."

"Internship position available, 9 to 5 schedule, monthly salary 1800, internship certificate provided. Exceptional interns may be offered a permanent position with negotiable salary."

"Internship position available, monthly salary 2000, internship certificate provided, willingness to work overtime and ability to handle stress required."

This was the downside of studying liberal arts. Even in the capital city, the salaries were abysmally low. Jiang Juyou regretted for the ten thousandth time why she had chosen liberal arts and forced herself into this major.

She sighed and scrolled down with her finger.

"Internship position available, 9 to 5 schedule, weekends off, social insurance and housing fund contributions after regularization, internship period monthly salary 8500, free meals and accommodation provided, salary negotiable after regularization, requirements: strong ability to handle stress."

"...Are they trying to steal someone's kidneys?" Jiang Juyou muttered, but her hand, driven by her own thoughts, clicked on that job posting.

There was no other way. This offer was just too attractive for a college student.

It was like a trap designed specifically for college students.

After clicking on it, the webpage was slightly different from other job postings because both the company and position were anonymous, giving it more of an organized crime vibe.

Jiang Juyou tilted her head, and though her rational side told her something was off, she still went ahead and submitted her resume.

It didn't matter anyway. She didn't want to live anymore.

A few years ago, her parents died in a car accident, leaving only the three sisters behind. Unfortunately, her parents were the ones at fault, so they not only had to handle the funeral arrangements but also had to borrow money for compensation. The only house they owned was sold off, and they still owed a significant amount of money.

When they grew a bit older and entered high school, the three of them made a pact to take care of all the expenses themselves and repay the debt together.

Jiang Tang's older sister, Jiang Tang, passed the entrance exam for a second-tier university but dropped out halfway to become a small idol. It didn't seem like a normal job to anyone, as they provided food and accommodation, with a base salary of 3,500 RMB per month. The company's boss was a fan of another group member and started the company to promote that female idol. Jiang Tang and the others were just incidental. After the female idol joined their company, she initially pursued solo activities but later transitioned to acting after releasing a few albums. They were considered a second-generation group and a product of the company's attempt to fill the gap in the idol market.

After joining the company, Jiang Tang trained for nearly half a year and nervously received her monthly salary of 3,500 RMB. Eventually, she realized that the company didn't involve them in any illegal activities, which put her mind at ease.

However, Jiang Tang had complained to Jiang Juyou many times, saying that their company seemed more like a money laundering operation.

Jiang Juyou was the middle sister, with a younger sister who had just turned eighteen after recently taking the college entrance exam. Despite her young age, she was the most promising among the three sisters, mainly due to her ability to make money.

Jiang Liuxing, the youngest sister, was a fan manager. Although she was only eighteen, she had been a fan for ten years and became a fan manager since the eighth grade. Her initial capital came from her two older sisters, and she purchased photos through proxy buyers, following online tutorials to edit the pictures.

Coincidentally, she didn't have much money at the time and bought photos of the second male lead in a TV drama. She intended to practice editing skills but unexpectedly, after the drama aired, the second male lead gained more popularity than the two main actors, and as the only dedicated fan manager, her fan base increased by nearly twenty thousand within a week.

Jiang Liuxing cried and exclaimed, "Damn, I can finally start making money."

She packaged the remaining edited photos along with a few popular ones, creating a photobook priced at 98 RMB. Tearfully, she made a profit of 60 RMB per book and sold nearly three thousand copies. This marked the beginning of her journey as a fan manager, where she pursued many male celebrities.

Usually, she followed their public schedules and went to the airport to pick them up. As for activities related to TV dramas, she always hired proxy photographers and bought photo sets.

She didn't use all the money she earned to pay off the family's debt but kept it in her account. She repaid the debts on time and in installments. Her two sisters didn't ask her to selflessly contribute the money but instead encouraged her to keep more for herself because both of them lived in the capital city and couldn't take care of her, who was still in their hometown.

Compared to her sisters, Jiang Juyou faced a much more challenging path to pay off her debts. After entering high school, she not only had to find ways to earn her own tuition and living expenses but also repay her share of the debt. That period was truly difficult for her. After entering university, she had more opportunities to make money. She tried part-time jobs at various places near her school just to barely sustain her own expenses.

During her time in school, at least she had access to cheap cafeterias and dormitories. Now that graduation was approaching, she had to face the high cost of living in the city. Jiang Juyou truly felt that she was barely surviving.

"Ding—"

Just when she was feeling down and contemplating finding a place to bury herself, her phone chimed with a message notification.

"Are you available for an interview today?"

Jiang Juyou was almost startled when she saw this message, but then she remembered it was from that "Gā Yāozi" person.

After a brief moment of excitement, Jiang Juyou carefully reviewed the job posting again. Finally, she sighed and said, "Well, it can't be any harder than it is now, can it?"

"Jiang Juyou: Is it possible to have an interview? But I wanted to ask, is this some kind of illegal company?"

"Anonymous: Haha, why would it be?"

"..."

It seemed more likely.

"Anonymous: If you're worried, we can have an online interview. When would be convenient for you?"

Jiang Juyou's thoughts were wavering back and forth. On one hand, she felt like it wasn't a legitimate company, but on the other hand, what if she got lucky like her sister? What would she do then?

She looked at the message from the other side and hesitated for a moment.

"Jiang Juyou: I'm available now."

If it were a legitimate company, she would have chosen tomorrow for the interview so she could go back and prepare. But with this company, she wanted to take a surprise look and see if they would panic upon receiving her message.

To her surprise, after she sent her message, they didn't reply but instead called her directly on video.

It caught Jiang Juyou off guard.

After accepting the invitation for the online interview, her face appeared on the screen. Everything happened so suddenly that Jiang Juyou didn't have time to think about how they managed to make the video call or why their company could remain anonymous.

Only her face was on the screen; the other side didn't turn on the camera, but she could hear a voice saying, "Hello, let me introduce our company to you first. We are a newly established entertainment agency. For the internship period, the monthly salary is 8,500 yuan, including meals and accommodation. We can provide internship certificates, and the salary after regularization can be negotiated. Are you clear about all of this?"

Jiang Juyou looked at the slightly distorted expression on the screen and replied, "...I'm clear."

Her initial doubts began to fade away. Since it was related to the entertainment industry, some of the previous conditions seemed reasonable.

Jiang Juyou glanced at the black screen on the other side and cautiously asked again, "...Are you sure this isn't some kind of scam?"

"Haha, why would it be?" that somewhat cold voice replied. "If you're really concerned, you can come and see for yourself."

"When would be convenient for me to come and see?" she inquired.

"If you agree to the internship, you can sign the contract now. Once it's confirmed, I'll send you the address."

Jiang Juyou couldn't help but close her eyes. It sounded more and more like a scam the more she heard, but when someone is desperate, they're willing to believe anything. After some internal struggle, Jiang Juyou made up her mind and gritted her teeth, "Alright, I'll sign."

If she really got scammed or deceived, then her sister and little sister would have to work hard to repay the debt. But if it turned out to be real, she would be overjoyed.

With the mindset of a gambler, Jiang Juyou ended the video call and received the document sent by the other party, carefully reading through it.

The document was nothing special, just a typical contract with terms that seemed overly fair, even to the point of being too generous. Jiang Juyou had never even heard of the six social insurance and housing fund benefits before. She had to look it up to find out what the additional benefit was.

However, she also noticed that the column for the company name on the document was empty, which made her suspicion lean towards it being a scam company.

Nevertheless, Jiang Juyou gathered her courage and reluctantly signed her name on the electronic contract. After all, she hadn't sent it yet; she was just playing around with the signature.

Almost simultaneously, she heard a voice in her mind—

"Ding—"

"Welcome to the Entertainment Company Operations Manual."

"What the heck?!" Jiang Juyou was so startled that she covered her head.

Chapter 2

There is nothing more bizarre in this world than having a voice in your mind tell you that you are actually a time traveler who lost your memory due to a time collision, and that in another timeline you were a very enthusiastic fan who now only needs to earn 100 billion to get back.

"...""

Jiang Juyou really wanted to call the fraud prevention center, but this voice was in her mind, not coming from a phone or headphones.

Although it was very bizarre, it seemed she had no choice but to believe it for now.

She made a pained expression and asked in agony, "So I have to work for you?"

"Yes," the voice answered her.

More than those chaotic stories about her past lives, she cared more about the duck that had been right at her lips. "So that 8,500 a month, with food and lodging and social insurance, was fake?"

She knew it, there was no such good thing in this world.

Just as Jiang Juyou was crying inside, the voice answered her, "It's real. That's your salary during your internship."

Jiang Juyou, who was just about to start sobbing, immediately paused and switched to an expression of pleasant surprise. "Oh?"

The duck had returned!

"You've signed the contract. If you don't delete the file within 24 hours, it will be considered agreed upon to start work. You can also choose to start the onboarding process now, and I will prepare the necessary onboarding items for you."

The voice hadn't even finished speaking before Jiang Juyou hurriedly replied, "Agree, agree, agree!"

"Ding-"

"Preparing, please wait a moment."

Right after the voice finished speaking, Jiang Juyou felt her phone vibrate. She picked it up and glanced at the screen, which was asking her if she wanted to download the Entertainment Company Operations Manual app. She unlocked her phone and tapped Agree.

Almost instantly, the app finished installing.

Just like a tutorial for a new game, the edges of the screen darkened, leaving only the app lit up. Jiang Juyou followed the prompts and tapped on it.

After opening it, the first screen that popped up was a countdown of the amount, along with a reminder: "You still need to earn 100,000,000,000 to get back home!"

Those zeros looked longer than her lifespan.

"Is this 1 billion the company has to earn, or I have to earn?" Jiang Juyou couldn't resist her curiosity and asked.

"It is for your personal assets to reach 100 billion," the voice answered her.

"Alright, no going back then," Jiang Juyou decided then and there and put her heart at ease.

After closing the popup, the home screen showed a dimly lit gray building, with a small arrow indicator telling her to tap Next Page. Jiang Juyou followed the prompts, and on the next page a building lit up.

Tapping it made a window pop up that said: "Unlock?"

Without a second thought, Jiang Juyou tapped Unlock. The next second, she heard the sound of falling money in her mind. "What was that sound?"

"The first building is a system gift. You just need to pay an unlocking fee of 2 million," the system answered her.

Jiang Juyou: "..."

Her silence prompted the system to explain, "Don't worry, the building is owned by the company. Any fees incurred will be paid by the company. You just focus on earning 100 billion for now."

"This amount is a company loan from the system that the company will need to repay after becoming profitable. Interest rates vary by market but are not shown on the books. Don't worry about the system's exposure."

Jiang Juyou wasn't worried at all. What did she have to worry about? She was just a worthless nobody. If anything went wrong, they could all just die together.

"So that gray building in front hasn't been unlocked yet?" She quickly shifted her attention and mentioned the building she had seen earlier.

The system answered her: "That's right. You need to meet certain conditions to unlock it."

Jiang Juyou nodded. Following the prompts, she tapped the building on the second page.

It was like a 3D model inside. Some areas were lit up, while others were still grayed out. Jiang Juyou pointed to the lit up area and asked, "Is this where I'll be living?"

"Yes."

The lit up area was a suite, with a bedroom, bathroom, and even a study that could be used as an office. It was missing a kitchen, but Jiang Juyou knew why.

Because this unlocked building was a theater.

The theater was shell-shaped. The biggest area was the auditorium, while the smaller sections in the back were the backstage areas, with various waiting rooms and a pantry, and even two large rehearsal studios for doing a final run-through before going on stage. One of the rehearsal studios was quite big, and was even equipped with practice rooms for vocal warmups and singing practice. On the diagram, the four singing practice rooms looked about the size of rice grains.

Past the backstage area, around a corner, was the lit up suite that would be Jiang Juyou's living quarters.

Although it was living at the theater, everything seemed very complete, so Jiang Juyou was already quite satisfied. She couldn't cook anyway, so a kitchen would be useless to her.

She also tapped through all the unlit areas to check their names. When she saw the theater could seat up to 2,000 people, she was a little surprised. It could basically accommodate most performances.

Having seen all this, Jiang Juyou was raring to go. She immediately asked the system, "What do I need to do to unlock the stage?"

"The Quest Board will provide prompts."

As soon as it finished speaking, the Quest Board popped up into the center of the screen.

Newbie Quest: Please go to the FA Market and sign your first artist. [Tap to jump]

"FA Market?"

Jiang Juyou tapped the screen, and a new section appeared along with a thoughtful explanation.

The FA Market is for artists not currently signed to a company and amateurs interested in signing with a company. The market is divided into Idol and Actor sections. Please sign someone quickly and get your first artist!

Jiang Juyou tapped into the Actor section to take a look, but the rows of signing bonuses frightened her back. "Wah-"

The top few in the Actor section were all actors whose contracts had expired and not been renewed with their original companies. These all had a certain degree of public recognition, so their signing bonuses were frighteningly high. There were actually unsigned actors in the back without signing bonuses, but unfortunately she didn't scroll down that far.

After calming herself down a bit, she tapped the Idol section next door. This side was much friendlier. It was mostly amateurs, so there were no signing bonuses.

Each small square had the amateur's profile picture and resume. Some squares had borders, while others were dull.

Jiang Juyou observed them carefully and realized the bordered profile pictures represented having a skill. The more borders and the brighter the color, the more skills they had.

"This person's picture has three borders!" Jiang Juyou said and was about to tap it.

The next second, a popup prompted her: "View for 1000 yuan?"

"That's so expensive!" Jiang Juyou said this, but still tapped Agree.

After opening the profile of the top ranked person, there was much more information displayed.

Name: Gao Xiayu

Age: 15

Weight: 56kg

Height: 170cm

School: Yongqing High School Grade 10 Class 6

Notes: Art student [Vocals]

Skills: Vocals, piano, guitar, composing

"Not bad, at least that 1,000 wasn't wasted." After finishing looking, Jiang Juyou glanced at the profile picture again. The face in the photo still had some youthful immaturity, with regular handsome features. With some packaging, he would definitely become a little heartthrob.

Jiang Juyou looked at the "Sign" button below the profile picture. Having learned her lesson, she asked ahead of time this time, "This won't cost money, right?"

"If you choose to have the system conduct the casting, there will be certain fees. The specific fees can only be calculated after the signing is complete. If you choose to persuade the other party yourself, there will be no fee. Any transportation and meal costs during this time will be reimbursed by the company."

After the system finished speaking, it planned to stay quiet for a while to give Jiang Juyou time to think. But before it even finished speaking, Jiang Juyou had already given her answer.

She tapped the "Sign" button.

"Why bother saving when it's not even my money?" Jiang Juyou didn't consider the company her family.

After she tapped, the "Sign" button changed to "Signing in progress" and a small line of text appeared below: "Estimated completion before 10 PM tonight."

Chapter 3

“What do I need to do now?” Jiang Juyou glanced at the task board. Other than an ongoing newbie task, there were no other tasks left. But that task could only be completed at night, so she couldn't just wait around.

The system reminded her, “You can go submit the documents the school requires now.”

Internship!

“Oh right, right, right, where’s the company’s business license? I need to go make a copy.” Jiang Juyou suddenly remembered that she had real work to do.

“It’s currently at the theater, in your study,” replied the system.

“Where’s the theater?”

-

It wasn’t rush hour now, so there weren’t many people on the subway and there were occasionally a few empty seats. Jiang Juyou sat in the corner and glanced at her family group chat.

“Jiang Liuxing: Sis, have you gotten your internship sorted out? When’s the latest your advisor wants you to hand in your documents? I started a studio, if it comes down to it I can stamp something for you, but I only just submitted my documents today so it might take a few days. @Jiangjuyou”

“Jiang Tang: What kind of studio?”

“Jiang Liuxing: A new media one.”

“Jiang Tang: Huh?”

“Jiang Liuxing: ......An influencer studio.”

“Jiang Liuxing: I started a studio to raise some accounts.”

“Jiang Tang: Where’s the money-making logic in this?”

“Jiang Liuxing: To promote shows. As long as you can plaster enough all over the public eye, you can manufacture top-tier ones too. Propping one of them up will also feed back hype to the fan account, and selling derivative products will be easier later on.”

“Jiang Tang: You’re so ambitious! I’ll work hard to rank higher next year, will you be able to promote me with those top-tier fan accounts of yours on April Fool’s next year?”

“Jiang Liuxing: ......”

“Jiang Liuxing: If you make it onto The Black Blaze Festival I’ll promote you.”

“Jiang Tang: OK! I’ll definitely make it within three years! Gotta go practice now!”

When Jiang Juyou opened the group chat they were chatting about this. Earlier they had been joking around that Jiang Juyou was probably the only one in the family far away from showbiz, but now, it looked like she had joined in too.

She thought about it, then in the end still shared the news with her older and younger sisters.

“Jiangjuyou Sundries Shop: @Jiang Liuxing, no need, I found a job today. From now on all three of us are in the same circle.”

As soon as Jiang Juyou sent this message, the previously quiet group chat became lively again.

“Jiang Liuxing: ?”

“Jiang Tang: ?”

“Jiang Liuxing: Did you get scouted by a talent agent?”

“Jiang Tang: Run away [raising sign]”

“Jiangjuyou Sundries Shop: Got an internship at an entertainment company.”

“Jiang Tang: Are you crazy?”

“Jiang Liuxing: You really do seem crazy. Do you know what interning at an entertainment company means?”

“Jiang Tang: Our #1 trending topic cursed out her assistant for spitting her used gum into their hand the day before yesterday. Do you know that staff are the lowest of the low in this industry? Are you out of your mind?”

The #1 trending topic that Jiang Tang mentioned was her boss's sole stan. Previously, she had always went with the ambitious, career-oriented female idol route, but then the paparazzi caught her doing that at a commercial shoot. The topic trended for an entire afternoon, and antis added fuel to the fire. Within minutes they fabricated seven or eight black materials with shoddily edited photos to keep the topic trending for an afternoon.

Jiang Juyou, who had wanted to explain, suddenly froze up. She had just realized that she hadn’t even asked what the job scope was.

Only just remembering now, Jiang Juyou called out to the system in her heart, “I forgot to ask, what’s my job scope?”

The system answered her, “Your job scope is decided by your tasks.”

“......” That was the same as not saying anything.

“Jiangjuyou Sundries Shop: Don’t worry too much, I'm just an intern.”

“Jiang Tang: I guess so, it’s unlikely they’d let an intern come in contact with celebrities. What if their true face got exposed?”

“Jiang Liuxing: If it really doesn’t work out, come to my place.”

“Jiangjuyou Sundries Shop: I’ll chat more details with you guys after I settle down, I still need to hand in my documents. Going offline first.”

“Jiang Tang: Remember to save up some goss for me to eat.”

“Jiang Liuxing: You haven’t even said which company yet!”

Jiang Juyou, who hadn't exited yet, glanced at the message Jiang Liuxing sent.

“......”

“What’s the company called?” She had just been too excited earlier and hadn’t cared about that.

The system's voice popped up. “Please name the company.”

“It doesn’t have a name yet?” After Jiang Juyou spoke, she remembered the blank line on the contract and realized, “Then I’ll be the boss in the future?”

“Yes, after converting to full-time,” replied the system.

She had almost forgotten that she hadn't graduated yet.

But she was still very happy about this—at least life had prospects now. She hummed a little tune and continued the topic from earlier. “The company name...just randomly pick something.” She wanted the system to randomly choose something to fill in there. It would definitely be better than her skills at naming things.

“Understood. The name Random Entertainment Company has been inputted,” said the system.

Jiang Juyou closed her eyes. She should've realized earlier, when it had said, “Haha, how could that be?”

The subway announcer rang to indicate arrival at the station. Jiang Juyou immediately regained her senses, picked up her bag, and prepared to get off.

The company was near the East Third Ring Road. It only took ten minutes to walk there from the subway exit, but that wasn’t even the main point. The main point was that it had its own plot of land. Not only did it have its own building, there was also a theater. Other than those two buildings, her phone screen also displayed another unlocked building right next to the company building.

Just selling this plot of land alone would earn quite a bit of money.

As Jiang Juyou followed the navigation to her destination, upon seeing the actual faces of those buildings, the light in her eyes dimmed a little.

“......This building isn't even finished yet!” She was referring to the one called the company building. Even the three-story building next to it was surrounded by green construction site barriers, still looking under construction.

The system spoke up. “Haha, how could that be? You just haven't unlocked it yet.”

“......”

She glanced at the map on the system app. It showed that the theater was behind those two buildings, and there was an extremely wide corridor between the two buildings that could even be called a small plaza.

Jiang Juyou walked forward a bit holding her phone, and saw that corridor.

Smack in the middle of the near 10-meter wide road was a white, acrylic-looking sign about the company name “Random Entertainment Company” blocking the way.

She pointed at the sign. “How do I get past this?”

Right after Jiang Juyou finished speaking, mechanical movement sounds emitted from beneath the sign. The next second, the six big words slowly tilted to the side to leave some small passages for people to go through.

She understood—this was the ticket checkpoint for entry.

Upon approaching, it was indeed as Jiang Juyou had guessed. The sides of those words all had a scanning port, and there were even NFC ports. You just had to tap the checkpoint for it to open.

But there was no need for that now since the checkpoints weren’t closed.

Jiang Juyou was convinced now. “The 2 million really was worth it.”

For some reason, the system didn't chime in this time.

She had only swept her eyes around the entrance briefly before entering the theater interior. Compared to the lavish exterior design throwing money around, the inside was like an unfinished concrete building.

"No, why is this place made of cement?" Jiang Juyou had never been to a theater or concert before, but in her mind, such places would definitely not have cement floors, let alone appear undecorated.

She didn't even wait for the system to answer before responding to her own question, "...Don't tell me I have to pay to unlock all this?"

"Yes," the system replied.

"So that means the electronic screen and lockers outside also can't be used until I unlock them?"

"Yes."

"..."