20.
“Kim So So” froze in place.
I went on, “Also, I saw him using antifungal cream for athlete’s foot, so he must have it.”
The male guest was an idol in a boy band.
He normally had a squeaky-clean image and a huge female fan base.
He didn’t care about that now and nodded frantically. “That’s right! I have athlete’s foot and foot blisters! Don’t believe me? Take a sniff!”
“Kim So So”: “Ugh.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I threw out several talismans.
“Kim So So” realized she’d been tricked and snarled, “I’ll kill you all…”
Its body grew enormous, and a blast of icy wind swept through at once.
Ghostly shadows surged in from every direction like waves.
It had summoned every ghost in the abandoned village!
I didn’t panic at all. I picked up the loudspeaker from the ground. “Hey, hey, this thing still works. Not bad.”
“Kim So So” gave me a ghastly smile. “I know who you are—the only sorcerer in the Mystic Sect in hundreds of years who can cast spells with words.”
“That’s right.”
“You have such abundant spiritual energy. If I eat you, I’ll return to the human world immediately!”
It lunged at me, claws bared.
“Why do you want to return to the human world?”
I didn’t dodge. Instead, I raised the loudspeaker and shouted my question.
“Working day and night just to scrape together a down payment over a lifetime, never being able to pay off the mortgage, your parents pressuring you to get married, your kids fighting over school districts…”
“Tell me, what’s the point of returning to the human world?”
The question left “Kim So So” baffled.
“Or do you think you can use Kim So So’s body to keep being a star and making money?”
“That’s impossible.”
“Kim So So has offended too many people. Without black magic to back her up, all she can do from now on is survive by watching everyone else’s mood—and she might even have to put up with casting-couch demands.”
“She got where she is by sleeping with people!”
A shrill voice cut me off.
It was Qi Meng.
She had woken up.
Qi Meng glared at Kim So So, her face full of resentment. “Kim So So once asked for my birth date and time! She said she’d figured out a way to return. We were good friends, and she promised to give me a leg up once she became famous. But I never imagined she’d use my birth details to perform black magic!”
“But the spell didn’t bring her instant good luck. Instead, it made wealthy men favor her! They had families, but they were obsessed with her, as if someone had bewitched them!”
Qi Meng angrily turned to the guests. “Some of you have been asked for your birth dates and times by her too, right? Think carefully! Did your luck start going downhill after that?”
The guests looked at one another.
“That did happen…”
“She… she asked for my birth date too…”
So that was what had happened.
Becoming a star takes more than talent.
Usually, you also need to catch the eye of investors and managers.
And Kim So So had siphoned away that good fortune.
Put simply, it was the “luck of having benefactors.”
“Heh heh heh.”
“Kim So So” let out a strange laugh. “You should feel honored I chose you. It means you had something I could use. If you were nobodies, I wouldn’t even bother…”
“Shut up!”
I angrily cut in. “So you didn’t need my birth details? Is it because I’m too unknown?!”
“Kim So So”: ?
The guests: ?
21.
At that moment, humans and ghosts alike were of one mind.
They looked at me as if I were an idiot.
Still, what she’d just said had really hurt me!
I knew I wasn’t much good!
But I never imagined that, in a demon’s eyes, I’d be so worthless that my fate wasn’t even worth cursing…
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Kim So So” said, “Heh heh, you’re so useless you could fall straight through the earth!”
It charged at me.
I was still sunk in my misery.
I clamped one hand around its neck, shook it violently, and raged, “I’m not that useless! I’ve even played the second female lead! Tell me right now—you’re lying!”
“Kim So So” could no longer fight back in my grasp.
And I seemed to be going crazy.
But every word I spoke carried spiritual power.
My master once told me I had one major flaw.
Because my talent was so extraordinary, I never felt anger or fear.
And for someone as sharp-tongued as me, the stronger my emotions, the stronger my magic.
I never expected “Kim So So” to actually succeed in making me angry.
I ranted on and on. “Why has no producer ever asked me to act in a movie?”
“Why do I have to wait six months just to get one reality show?”
“Am I really that bad on reality shows?”
“Or am I not pretty enough?”
“My master said that if I can’t make it, I’ll have to go back and inherit his sect…”
Those words took tangible form, turning into talismans that kept flying out of my mouth.
Groans filled the air… ghostly groans.
Under my “attack,” the demon king collapsed unconscious.
The lesser ghosts couldn’t withstand it either.
At last, I lifted my head and cried out to the sky in anguish, “I don’t want to be unknown either!”
I completely shattered the boundary between the two worlds…
22.
The sky cracked open, revealing the earth beneath.
As it turned out, the “abandoned village” where I’d spent the past few days was actually beneath a real abandoned village.
I was the first to spot a familiar face.
Dương Thiệu jumped down through the crack. “Master!”
His call left the guests behind him stunned. “Master? Trần Tuyết Điềm is really Dương Thiệu’s master?”
“Oh my God… The one who’s never shown her face?!”
“The demon-banishing motormouth, the mysterious master… Could it be…?”
That wouldn’t be entirely wrong.
Dương Thiệu took out a magical artifact, gave it a few whacks, and subdued “Kim So So.”
“Master, don’t be sad. So what if you’re unknown? If all else fails, you can just go back and inherit the sect.”
“Thanks. Somehow that makes me feel even worse.”
I was only in my twenties. I didn’t want to spend my life growing old with my disciple hanging around.
The outside world was a lot more interesting.
Dương Thiệu kept comforting me, then finally asked, “Master, what should we do with Kim So So?”
I’d almost forgotten about her.
She was nearly drained dry, but still alive.
I kicked “it.” “Get lost.”
This is a command.
Whether the demon king wanted to or not, it was forced out of Kim So So’s body.
Kim So So had grown terribly thin and lay motionless on the ground.
“Master, do you want to save her life?”
“Dying like this would be far too easy for her.”
I looked at Kim So So coldly. “As a human, she has to live and face her punishment.”
The rest was simple.
The production crew took the guests away.
Some received medical treatment, while others got counseling.
The director knelt in front of me and apologized.
The director said Kim So So had contacted them because she wanted to sponsor the show.
Even the guests had been invited by Kim So So.
So they hadn’t known Kim So So planned to do any of this.
“Then why did you invite me?”
The director said awkwardly, “We hadn’t settled on the last guest yet, and you were cheaper…”
So I’d just been added to fill out the numbers.
But Kim So So hadn’t expected that the sacrificial lamb brought in to make up the numbers would end up derailing her entire plan.
Dương Thiệu handed me his phone. “Master, look at this.”
I was surprised.
A million new followers…?
23.
Everything that happened in the deserted village underground had been livestreamed in the chat.
Even the production crew had no idea what was going on.
Afterward, I took people from the sect to investigate again.
After the demon king vanished, the deserted village underground disappeared too.
There wasn’t a clue to be found.
I had no choice but to go home and review the livestream.
I came across a lot of interesting comments.
When Kim So So first stole credit for my demon-banishing work.
Her fans:
[Sis, why would you do something like that?]
[So So must have her reasons. The Kim family’s forces trust her!]
[Exactly! If you don’t believe her, then unfollow!]
But the second time she stole credit from me, no one stood up for her at all.
[I really misjudged Kim So So! She’s the one who’s been lying!]
[Unfollow, unfollow. I don’t even know what to say. I must’ve been blind to follow her.]
[This reminds me of a coworker who took my plan to the boss and claimed the credit. Disgusting.]
When Do Linh defended Kim So So, Do Linh’s fans nearly went crazy:
[Sis, you trusted the wrong person! Ahhh!]
[Sis, run! Kim So So tricked you!]
[Do Linh, you’re so silly. Go cling to Trần Tuyết Điềm!]
When I freaked out over being so unknown, the screen filled with:
[I hate to say this, sis, but you really are so unknown…]
[Hahahaha. Other people’s breakdowns: there’s a ghost! Sis Tuyết’s breakdown: realizing she’s even more unknown than she thought?]
[I’m following Sis Tuyết from now on!]
[Sis Tuyết, I’ve been your fan for ages. Can I become your disciple?]
Of course, the little news item about “Male Actor Has Athlete’s Foot and Warts” had also stayed on the trending searches for days…
Now, whenever I post on Weibo, I get tens of thousands of likes right away.
My schedule is packed, too.
But it’s impossible to tell how many of those are real work opportunities and how many are people hoping I’ll help them.
To avoid the hassle, I decided to take some time off.
When our sect gathered for dinner, my master gnawed on a rib and asked, “Disciple, do you know why I never let you reveal your identity?”
I’d just finished my fifth call of the day requesting an exorcism.
I sighed and said, “Master, you really did see far ahead.”
“Dương Thiệu likes taking these jobs. Let him handle them.”
Dương Thiệu: “My life matters too, Grandmaster.”
Hadn’t Dương Thiệu spent all these years out in the world to support our lazy, reclusive sect?
Oh, Kim So So is about to face a whole string of lawsuits.
One of them is Dương Thiệu’s suit against her for damaging his reputation.
Everything was gradually getting back on track.
Until one day, when I came home, I found a camera on the table.
It flashed with a mysterious light.
As if it were saying to me…
“The game isn’t over yet.”
—THE END—