"Little Sprite, wake up, hey, wake up!"
Chen Jing felt someone tapping him. His sword-like eyebrows furrowed slightly as he slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself seemingly on an airplane.
What was going on?
Wasn't he supposed to be in his rented room? How did he end up on a plane?
Could it be that he had simply gotten too drunk yesterday and forgotten, and now he was heading back to a film set today?
Yet Chen Jing remembered wrapping up a shoot just yesterday and getting drunk afterward, and he hadn't even taken on any recent projects!
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Chen Jing felt a hand press against his forehead. "You still feel a bit feverish!"
Hearing this, Chen Hao turned toward the source of the voice, and upon seeing the person before him, his eyes widened in surprise as he blurted out, "Han Geng!?"
Han Geng looked somewhat taken aback by the exclamation, then smiled. "What? Are you burning up so badly you don't even recognize me?"
Chen Jing was about to reply when a sudden, splitting headache struck him as if his brain were about to explode, and countless memories flooded his mind.
After a long while, Chen Jing slowly opened his eyes, looked at his own hands, and touched his face with a dazed expression.
Because Chen Jing had time-traveled!
Same name, same surname, but everything had changed completely!
In his past life, Chen Jing had average looks—neither particularly handsome nor especially ugly, just an ordinary person—yet he had been fiercely determined to become an actor!
However, held back by his physical limitations, Chen Jing could neither play the idol male lead nor become a character actor (with unique features, extreme height, or weight), and lacking formal training, he had wasted years spinning his wheels in Hengdian.
Fortunately, after years of mingling and following countless film crews, his acting had improved, and he had also made connections with influential figures on the sets, eventually becoming a mid-tier extra who never lacked work.
Extras in Hengdian were divided into various ranks. The lowest tier consisted of ordinary extras, paid forty yuan a day for a statutory eight-hour shift, with overtime at five yuan per hour, and any fraction under an hour counted as a full hour.
Call times before 5:00 AM came with a ten yuan per hour early-morning bonus, and another ten yuan per hour was added for work past midnight.
Special scenes such as getting drenched in rain, carrying sedan chairs, being beaten, or mourning required negotiated subsidies, usually between five and thirty yuan.
Extras with lines got an extra thirty yuan, and those playing corpses received a red envelope of one to ten yuan.
Playing prostitutes and interacting physically with customers doubled the pay; kissing scenes added one hundred, exposing certain body parts added over two hundred, and full nudity added over one thousand.
Wages were calculated via vouchers issued by the crowd bosses and settled at the actor guild on the fifth and twentieth of every month.
The second tier consisted of senior extras. These were higher-level extras required to be over 175 cm tall for men and 165 cm for women, preferably with good looks.
Male roles were generally soldiers, eunuchs, generals, bodyguards, and ministers, while female roles included palace maids, prostitutes, and maidservants, mostly without lines.
Pay started at seventy yuan a day, with overtime at ten yuan per hour. Subsidies were the same as for ordinary extras, and wages were also paid via vouchers.
The third tier consisted of resident crew members, generally hired directly by the production team with a fixed salary between two and twenty-four hundred, including board and lodging, on call at all times, offering stability but lacking freedom.
The fourth tier was the special actors, just like Chen Jing in his past life. Special actors were carefully selected, possessed a certain amount of acting experience, and could quickly grasp the director's and character's requirements.
They were generally divided into small, medium, and large categories. Compared to the first three types, special actors had the chance to show their faces on camera.
Small special actors typically earned over one hundred and fifty yuan a day, with no lines or just a few simple ones.
Medium special actors generally made around three to five hundred daily. Those with unique appearances, extreme heights, or heavy builds all fell into the standard of medium special actors.
Large special actors earned anywhere from five hundred to eight hundred yuan per day, handling substantial lines with higher demands for standard Mandarin and appearance, sometimes paid by the number of episodes they appeared in.
Wages for special actors were deposited directly into bank accounts, though the guild took a ten percent commission.
Of course, all of this assumed there was work available; if there were no gigs, there was naturally nothing at all.
Moreover, the real life of film crew extras could never be as clear-cut as the rules on paper. With so many extras in Hengdian, why should a role be given to you?
Sometimes, landing a decent extra role required pulling strings.
In his past life, Chen Jing had spent several years just reaching the level of a medium special actor, because standing out among the vast ocean of extras was simply too difficult.
Across the entire country of China, there was currently only one Wang Baobao who had truly transitioned from an extra to an A-list star—a bona fide extra-turned-idol!
Yet having accepted the memories of this lifetime, Chen Jing realized he seemingly wouldn't need to waste years the way he had in his past life!
Because the Chen Jing of this life was actually a South Korean trainee! Born in 1990, Chen Jing had participated in SM Entertainment's trainee auditions in 2006 and successfully entered SM.
After two grueling years as a trainee, he debuted in 2008 as a member of SuperJunior-M!
SuperJunior-M was the third sub-unit of the boy group SuperJunior, consisting of seven members: Han Geng, Choi Siwon, Lee Donghae, Kim Ryeowook, Cho Kyuhyun, Chen Jing, and Henry Lau.
This group was essentially SM's key to aggressively breaking into the Chinese market, featuring two Chinese members and one Chinese-Canadian!
Han Geng was the leader of the group, while Chen Jing served as the main vocalist and visual center!
Following the group's formation, they had constantly traveled back and forth between South China and South Korea for activities.
However, in a sense, Han Geng and Chen Jing no longer belonged to SuperJunior-M at this moment, because the two of them had officially filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment that very morning, demanding the termination of their contracts with the company.
Without lingering after filing the suit, the two had immediately boarded a plane from South Korea back to China, and by now, they should already be in Chinese airspace!
"Excuse me, hello, excuse me, is there a doctor on the plane?" Han Geng asked anxiously. "My friend is feeling very unwell!"
"It's fine, Brother Han." Having recovered, Chen Jing grabbed Han Geng as he tried to stand up, smiling as he said, "I'm much better now, but I need to use the restroom."
Frowning, Han Geng asked, "Are you sure you're okay? Just a moment ago, you looked like you were in agony!"
"I'm fine, it was just a passing wave, I'm much better now," Chen Jing said. "I want to go wash my face in the restroom, maybe that will help me feel a bit more comfortable."
"Alright, then I'll go with you!" Han Geng said.
"No need, I'm really fine!" Chen Jing smiled, pressing Han Geng back down as he attempted to rise, and then headed toward the restroom by himself.
At that moment, Chen Jing did indeed feel somewhat weak, likely due to the fever, but he was far more eager to see what his face looked like right now.
Though his memories contained glimpses of himself in the mirror, seeing was believing after all—especially since his face had caused him to waste so many years in his past life.
Stepping into the restroom, Chen Jing immediately locked the door and walked step by step toward the mirror.
"Damn... I am so handsome!" Chen Jing muttered as he looked into the mirror.
Just how handsome was he?
With sword-like eyebrows and star-bright eyes, refined facial features, and distinct contours, Chen Jing's looks were on the same level as Louis Koo and Daniel Wu.
Coupled with a height of 182 cm barefoot and 184 cm in shoes, no wonder Chen Jing had been able to become the visual center of the boy group SuperJunior-M!
Chen Jing admired himself in the mirror for a long time, then slowly the corners of his lips curved upward as he whispered, "My entertainment industry life in this lifetime starts with quitting the group!"