“Name.”
“Evan Ashford.”
“Gender.”
“Male.”
“I’m going to ask you a few questions next,” said the woman across from him. She was pretty in a sharp, polished way, dressed in a fitted OL-style outfit. She tapped the clipboard in her hand with a pen, face all business. “This is to confirm there’s nothing wrong with your head.”
“You get to make three wishes, but your enemy gets double. What do you wish for?”
“My first wish is for a hundred billion in assets. My second is a hundred extra years of life. My third is to cut both of those wishes by fifty-one percent.”
Evan answered flatly, fast, without even blinking.
The woman paused for a second, clearly caught off guard, then lowered her head and wrote on the clipboard:
[Careful thinker. Basic logic intact.]
She looked up again. “Would you rather transmigrate into Gojo Shinji and live a happy life with the beautiful heroine, or become Gojo Satoru with full intel and do the Shinjuku showdown all over again?”
Evan didn’t even hesitate. “Dating a cute girl sounds nice and all, but who wouldn’t want to throw hands with Sukuna for three hundred rounds till both sides are seeing stars?”
The woman nodded and added another line:
[Emotions normal. Thought process consistent with adolescent male mindset.]
“Do you think working is better, or going to school?”
“Paid schooling. Obviously.”
This time she studied him carefully for a few seconds before writing again:
[Social cognition normal.]
She flipped the page. “Last question. You’re on a high-speed train. A pregnant woman aggressively demands that you give up your seat, and her attitude is awful. What do you do?”
Evan shrugged. “From a moral standpoint, I’d give up the seat. But unfortunately, I have no morals.”
The woman stared at him in silence for a beat, then let out a long sigh. “Looks like you really are fine.”
“Sis. My actual dear sister.” Evan rubbed his forehead, sounding helpless. “I told you from the start, my brain is not broken.”
“With the stuff you’ve been doing, how am I supposed to believe that?”
Like she’d just had her minefield stepped on, Sabrina Ashford slammed her hand on the table and stood up in one motion.
“Evan Ashford, let me make this crystal clear. This is your last chance. If you still want to glow and shine in the entertainment industry, then when you record Heartbeat Season 2, you better behave yourself!”
“I’m begging you, seriously!”
Her voice was full of that classic I’m disappointed because I actually care energy. She was so worked up her chest rose and fell sharply with every breath.
The moment this topic came up, she got annoyed all over again.
Her little brother had everything going for him.
Looks? No issue there. Sharp brows, bright eyes. Throw him into a hanfu and he’d look like a male lead straight out of a period romance. The kind of face that would still stand out in a crowd like he had his own spotlight.
Acting? Also stacked. Professionally trained, praised by veteran actors, and his crying scenes were absurdly good. In his debut drama, he’d literally cried his way from “supporting male role” into “male lead.”
Talent? Don’t even start. Songwriting, composing, singing, dancing, rap, bask— no, wait, scratch the last one. Anyway, he was good at basically everything.
A near all-rounder like him, if he’d just played it straight, living in a luxury house and driving a luxury car would’ve been a matter of time.
But Evan just had to look at that kind of life and say, nah, I’m good.
A respected senior actor took a liking to him and invited him to play chess, clearly trying to build a connection.
And what did Evan do?
He held his phone in one hand, used AI to beat the seventy-something-year-old veteran so badly the poor man turned red on the spot and got sent to the hospital with high blood pressure.
A top-tier actress wanted to build a CP with him. That should’ve been perfect: mutual benefit, easy traffic, free hype.
And then?
Evan dragged her into Valorant and started calling her “Mom” in-game...
Honestly, that alone could’ve still been spun into buzz.
But then he turned around and dragged her into PUBG to camp a bridge.
And he had the nerve to say stuff like, “Valorant’s where I acknowledge Mom, PUBG’s where flowers bloom...”
There were too many incidents like that to count.
Over time, Evan Ashford went from “the explosive newcomer everyone had high hopes for” to “that chaotic menace nobody wanted to get too close to.”
In the end, with no other option, Sabrina had used her own connections in the entertainment world to stuff her disaster of a brother into one of the hottest romance variety shows around.
She wasn’t even asking him to become insanely famous.
She just wanted him to secure a foothold in the industry and stop self-destructing every other day.
Listening to his prison-warden sister issue her final ultimatum, Evan looked deeply, thoroughly resigned.
He’d been reborn into this parallel world from the womb. Thanks to his absurdly capable parents, he’d managed to land in a life of complete financial freedom right from the start.
Originally, his plan for this life had been simple:
Nobody helps me rise to the clouds?
Cool. I’ll just lie flat and watch the sunset.
But who could’ve guessed that his older sister, who had already carved out her own territory in showbiz, would become the exact pole used to force a duck up a tree— and then kick him straight into the giant mud pit known as the entertainment industry.
Her logic had always been blunt:
“With a face like yours, you’re not going into entertainment? You’re just gonna sit at home and rot like some shut-in?”
“Anyway, don’t even think about running this time. Record the show properly. Got it?”
After tossing out that final warning, Sabrina grabbed her coat, turned on her heel, and left.
Evan sighed.
At this point, he was already at the dedicated filming site for Heartbeat Season. He’d been shoved onto the rack so hard that even if he wanted to bail, there was nowhere to run.
That said, this time, he actually didn’t feel like running.
Because right now, in front of him, a line of translucent text was floating in the air.
[Activation Task Progress: 100%]
[Congratulations! Host has completed the activation task. The Demon Pill Top-Star System has now been bound. This system will help the host become a top celebrity in the industry through various methods!]
That’s right. As a proper transmigrator, Evan naturally hadn’t disgraced his fellow isekai brethren. He had a cheat ability too.
The only problem was, this absolutely cursed system had given him an activation mission first.
For two whole months, he had to keep making trouble nonstop before it would activate.
And that was exactly why the entertainment industry had been in complete chaos these past two months.
Only...
What the hell is a Demon Pill Top-Star System?
Resting his hand against his chin, Evan fell into thought.
[System Description: On the day I bind to the host, I do only three things—make trouble! Make trouble! Still make trouble! As long as the host keeps stirring things up, whether it causes people to break down emotionally or brings in popularity, corresponding rewards will be granted!]
Evan: ……
Didn’t he just promise his sis he’d behave himself?
Ah, whatever.
He was already a rotten egg in everyone’s eyes anyway. Being a little stinkier wouldn’t make much difference.
And if he really did end up stinking out the whole place so badly nobody could take it anymore, then he’d just...
Quit the industry and go home to inherit the family business~
Evan was very open-minded about it.
A rich dad.
A powerful mom.
A hard-working sister.
And a professional slacker version of himself.
With a god-tier opening hand like this, if he didn’t mess around a little, then when would he?
With that thought in mind, Evan leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and pretended to nap while waiting for filming to begin.
.........