Side character

After the heavy rain, the roads looked like they were washed clean but the sky was still overcast. But apparently, this dreary and damp atmosphere didn't seem to deter the constantly milling crowd as they went here and there like headless flies.

In a corner of this busy city, at one end of a street that looked as busy as the rest of the sprawling metropolis was a small and slightly old-looking coffee shop. Despite its worn-out appearance, this shop was quite famous in this area. It was because the old barista was quite skilled in making the most delicious latte with even more eye-catching latte arts.

Even so, unless it was a hopeful customer looking forward to a hot cup of coffee to dispel the cold, no one in the crowd would usually glance through the floor-length glass windows of the shop to see what was inside. But today, it was different.

One or two among the bustling throng -many of them men- would turn around and glance at the store, not just once but at least two or three times, their eyes showing naked appreciation. The cause of this was none other than the beauty who sat near one of the windows.

On a slightly round but finely-boned face was a pair of beautiful, dark brown eyes, which had a slightly somber look to them. Her shoulder-length hair was also dark brown and quite curly, looking different from the majority of women in this country.

Fair white skin with no signs of blemishes, except for a few smattering of freckles across her nose, which would have usually been rejected by the natives of this land– But on this young lady, anyone would agree that they only increased her charm.

This beauty was none other than our Feng Xue. Despite the picturesque visual she posed in the onlookers' eyes, at this moment, she was doing nothing but staring aimlessly at the bustling crowd on the street.

"–e! Little Xue!" The voice that suddenly called out her name finally startled her out of this trance. Turning towards its source, Feng Xue saw a man who looked to be around thirty-something years in age, staring at her while smiling lightly.

This man was neither handsome nor beautiful, and at most can be described as having a neat and gentle look. But when she saw him, the melancholic expression on Feng Xue's face disappeared to be replaced by a sincere smile. "Brother Han!"

After Han Qi ordered a cup of double espresso for himself -he had never been fond of all that milk and sugar and was a firm believer that a cup of coffee should be strong like a punch to your stomach- and a latte for his junior, he carefully observed the other's subdued form seated opposite to him.

Even though Feng Xue had perked up when she first saw him, the cloud of gloom that had been surrounding her before he approached had returned now in full force. Seeing this, he finally sighed and put down the cup on the table.

"Little Xue– I know you're worried about this matter, but what's the point in getting depressed over this? You should try to think of a solution ah!"

"I'm not worried. But…"

"What then?" Han Qi slightly stirred the steaming drink in the cup before taking a little sip. No matter what others say, he personally believes that the old barista's best creation to date was this thick and strong double espresso.

Feng Xue worried her lips wondering how she should tell this to her senior. Would he think that she was troubling him over nothing? After all, asking for advice about this type of minor matter from her busy senior was truly shameful. But then again, she doesn't have anyone else to turn into, right?

"That– senior. Actually, little Xi kept on telling me to get a script with merit points I have, so I got one that looked slightly better. The thing is, now she keeps on telling that she wants to act a villain role in that drama, and it's even a side character."

"A side character?" Han Qi lifted one of his eyebrows. "In an unrated script?"

"Yes ah! I tried to persuade her, but she's quite stubborn and now I don't know what to do."

In the world of the novel 'How to be a super star', except from the merit point system based on the evaluation of artists and employees within organizations, two other main systems for evaluating arts were in existence. One of them was the rating system.

Just as the name suggested, it would rate things and people related to entertainment arts; it could be web series, movies, scripts, lyrics, songs, reality shows or it could be actors, singers, and even agents and talent agencies as well.

This rating system was primarily divided into four categories as bronze, silver, gold, and finally platinum in ascending order. This division of course existed in some special cases like award ceremonies in Yang Jingshen's original world, but here, it was different as the classification didn't stop at that.

This was because, each of the categories of bronze, silver, gold, and platinum were further divided into five stars and each star was again divided into two halves. Like, a film can have a rating of silver-3 stars or it could also get a rating of silver-3.5 stars.

Yeah yeah! I know. When Yang Jingshen first learned of this overly and uselessly complex rating system, his reaction had also been the same. But what could be done? After all, it was what that damned book said.

And, how could some punny mortal like Yang Jingshen or the reader populace dare to complain? That was the choice of the author god ah! The author god!! The mighty creator of this– *cough* Pardon the deviance. We'll now return back to our original discussion. ≧⧢≦

Anyhow, in the beginning, this system only had these 4 major divisions and the star ratings of each division. But then, after some time, a genius of the art world -let's not mention his name here as it would be the start of another long story- proposed a new theory.

With the way the arts were flourishing, more and more works and artists and organizations and whatnot were springing up like mushrooms on a hillside. But, was it really fine to include them all in this rating system since many of them were trashy works? Wouldn't that bring down the prestige of the true masterpieces and real masters?

Actually, this ideology was not wrong. All throughout history, if you look at paragons of any type of creation, their cheaper versions and counterfeits could be found abundantly. But, this particular old gentleman decided that he had had enough of these low-level goods. His own works were superb and incomparable. How can they be lumped together with all that garbage? (╯^╰)

Anyway, the final result was that after nearly a decade-long debate between the so-called top experts of the field, where much spittle flew and quite a handful of them ended up fainting due to anger -not surprising since almost all the involved great masters were spending their twilight years- a newer and improved version of the rating system was introduced.

According to it, there was a new classification; the unrated works and artists; the ones that were not good enough to be rated as either bronze or silver or gold, not to mention platinum. This of course increased the quality of works being produced, but even still, the majority were still junkyard creations and mediocre artists.

"Send the script to my phone. I'll check it and see if I can get an idea."

"Ok"

Feng Xue hastily dug around her bag for her phone and after finding it, quickly sent the file to Han Qi's WeChat. No matter how much her cousin had argued, she was not convinced. Not only was this an unrated script, but it was also of very low-quality judging by the price set by the company. Auditioning for the main character or second leads was fine, but what's the use in acting as a side villain in this type of third-rate drama?

"Hmmmm? Eh, little Xue– this script. This was the one I got for Siqi to audition ne."

"What? Such a thing… then brother Han, do you think it's good?" Feng Xue looked suspicious and hopeful at the same time. But contrary to her expectations, Han Qi shook his head.

"Actually, I selected this because Siqi doesn't have much experience in acting. He had only acted in some stage drama while in school. Even after signing up at the company, he only acted as a side character in a web drama. That's why I thought to let him audition for the second male lead in this."

"Ah, I see…"

"Also, I wanted to keep a low profile. That Wang Zhou–" Han Qi stopped talking and chuckled, making Feng Xue blush due to embarrassment and she quickly defended herself.

"You can't blame me for this ah! That piece of…. Even now, I feel so angry when I think about it."

"I know, I know! Even ghosts can get fed up with that bas–"

"Wait!" Feng Xue suddenly interrupted her senior and narrowed her eyes. "That fatso– he's not making trouble with you because of me, right?"

Hearing this, Han Qi smiled helplessly and shook his head.

"That guy, he had always been on loggerheads with me. Whether you beat him up or not will not make much of a difference. I just have to lie low for a couple of days until he forgets it… But Little Xue, you'll have to be more careful."

"Hmph! Like I'm afraid of that useless piece of work." m(_ _)m

Hearing this, Han Qi sighed and shook his head, but still decided to warn his junior. Better be safe than sorry. "That wang Zhou, he holds grudges. He won't easily forget what you did, especially because there was an audience."

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A/N:

Another chapter with detailed background information. I tried to make it as short and sweet as possible. Sincerely hope that you guys weren't too bored! What to do? It was a necessary evil. T▽T