Witch, Please Open Your Eyes - Chapter 1 - Day 1-01

“Fang Daichuan, get up! Don’t sleep, we’re heading to the airport soon! Have you even looked at the script and character settings yet?!”

Assistant Zhou yelled as she kicked Fang Daichuan awake, her bright red high heels leaving a small round mark on his jeans.

Fang Daichuan struggled to sit up from the backseat, his thin white T-shirt clinging to his muscular frame. He pushed his messy bangs back and casually grabbed a baseball cap to cover his head.

“Come on, I was filming a TV series all night yesterday. I just got the script yesterday and haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. I’ll read it now, I’ll read it now,” he said with a smile, trying to placate her.

Zhou slapped the thick script and character settings into his hands, clearly annoyed. “Who hasn’t been pulling all-nighters for shoots? Look at Mr. Pei-he’s in the same crew as you, with a packed schedule, and he’s already flying to the Maldives this morning for a commercial shoot. And his leaked airport photos still look so sharp and put-together! Now look at you! You’ve been sleeping all morning, didn’t even bother with makeup, skipped lunch, and your face-your eye bags are practically hanging down to your chin! How am I supposed to edit the leaked photos later?!”

“Pei Wenqing’s scenes are nothing like mine,” Fang Daichuan said with a bitter smile. “He’s an award-winning actor-he only does non-action scenes in air-conditioned rooms, while stunt doubles handle all the martial arts and horse riding scenes. If it’s too sunny outside, he even uses a body double. By the end of a shoot, he has more doubles than crew members. Meanwhile, I’m just a Z-list internet celebrity who started with martial arts scenes. I spent the whole night in armor, riding horses, falling off cliffs, and getting beaten up. The fact that I can even get up now is a testament to my physical strength.”

Zhou didn’t care about any of that. She squeezed a large dollop of foundation onto her hand and haphazardly smeared it on Fang Daichuan’s face with a damp sponge, covering up his dark circles, acne, fine lines, and the small scars from last night’s fight. She then traced a thin line of eyeliner around his eyes.

As she worked, she casually shot back, “It’s your own fault for not being more successful. If you ever reach Pei-Ge¹‘s level, you can have seventeen or eighteen doubles too, sitting in air-conditioned rooms all day.”

Fang Daichuan was holding the script, trying to read it, but the eyeliner application made his eyes water. His eyes were already sensitive, and Zhou was in a hurry, applying it a bit too roughly, leaving his eye sockets red and irritated. “Please, be gentle! I’m trying to read the script here! My eyes hurt!” he complained.

Zhou scolded him, “Read while I do this! The program group is so cheap-they didn’t even assign a makeup artist for us. Filming starts as soon as we get on the plane. Do you really want to appear on camera looking like this?!”

When Fang Daichuan heard her explanation, he flipped back to the cover of the script to take a closer look.

The cover was simple and unadorned, with a black background and bold white calligraphy forming the program group’s logo: “Werewolf”. The character was written in traditional Chinese, with the strokes of the character painted a blood-red color, making it strikingly vivid.

“What kind of show is this?” Fang Daichuan muttered as he opened his character setting booklet and compared it to the script. “My character is: ‘Max combat power, luck value -E, IQ below 80, the knight in shining armor for the Wisdom Goddess, deeply impressed by her intellect, hopelessly in love with her, willing to protect her for ten thousand years…’ Excuse me?! What kind of ridiculous character setting is this?!”

Zhou, who was meticulously applying contour to his slightly swollen cheeks, quickly explained, “Werewolf is a new variety show introduced by Pitaya Channel. It’s essentially a nametag ripping game with a Werewolf Game twist. The character settings are mainly designed to boost the popularity of the female MC, who’s set up as the Wisdom Goddess with off-the-charts intelligence and emotional quotient. You guys, as the supporting cast, are supposed to play dumb to highlight her brilliance. You get it, right?”

Fang Daichuan nodded. He got it. At least he’d landed the role of the knight in shining armor with max combat power, which meant he’d probably get a decent amount of screen time.

This kind of show promoting a female MC always followed the same formula. The goddess had to be the brains and beauty of the team, while the other MCs played their parts-some forming a CP, others acting as the devoted backup, and the rest providing comic relief.

Combat power wasn’t an issue. Fang Daichuan was confident that among the new generation in the entertainment circle, whether it came to flashy moves or actual fighting skills, no young actor could match him, given his background from a family of criminal police. The real challenge was playing the fool… that might stretch his acting abilities a bit. Fang Daichuan frowned at the thought.

Zhou opened a box of loose powder and swiftly dusted a layer over Fang Daichuan’s face with a large brush.

She casually added, “I’m not worried about the low IQ part. You can just act naturally-after all, you’ve never won a game of Werewolf. What I’m concerned about is whether your combat power will hold up. Rumor has it that the guest participants often include national athletes-swimmers, fencers, badminton and table tennis players, all towering at over 1.9 meters tall. Since you probably won’t get much screen time in the non-action scenes, if you can’t hold your own during the nametag ripping segment, you’ll just end up making them look good.”

“Low IQ? Acting naturally? Do I really have a low IQ?!” Fang Daichuan grew increasingly uncomfortable, his face filled with question marks.

Zhou paused, giving him a once-over before curling the corner of her mouth into a smirk. “Hmph, hmph.”

Fang Daichuan felt thoroughly insulted. “Hey! What’s with the ‘hmph, hmph’?! Do I really have a low IQ?! I have a legitimate bachelor’s degree from passing the college entrance exams! My IQ is at least above average! How am I low?!”

Zhou gave him a fake smile, expertly conveying her thoughts without saying a word.

Fang Daichuan was about to argue further when the driver turned around and announced, “We’re at the airport.”

The two of them got out of the car, dragging large suitcases behind them. The afternoon sky was thick with storm clouds, and purple lightning flickered within the heavy layers. The surroundings were dark and ominous.

Zhou looked toward the airport with concern. “With this weather, will the plane even take off?”

“Whether it flies or not depends on the mood of the heavens,” Fang Daichuan replied, carrying a suitcase in each hand as he strode toward the terminal.

Zhou followed closely behind, clutching her makeup bag. She snapped a few photos of him, planning to post them on social media to build his image as a responsible, independent, and boyfriend-material young idol. As she quickly edited the pictures on her phone, she continued her usual scolding. “You’d better start praying right now that the plane takes off on time. Do you really think you’re some hot-shot celebrity? If you don’t show up on time, Pitaya Channel can easily replace you with some other good-looking young idol!”

As if on cue, Zhou’s knack for jinxing things struck again. The moment they stepped into the terminal, an announcement blared over the loudspeaker: “Attention passengers of flight CA256 to Qingdao². We regret to inform you that due to weather conditions, flight CA256 to Qingdao will not be able to depart on time. The new departure time is yet to be determined. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Please wait in the boarding area for further updates. Thank you. Attention passengers of flight CA256…”

“Damn it!” Zhou groaned, rolling her eyes in frustration. “What do we do now? Deng-Ge isn’t even here! I’m just an assistant-I can’t handle this kind of situation!”

Deng-Ge was Fang Daichuan’s agent. Fang Daichuan’s career in the entertainment circle had been lukewarm at best, failing to make much of a splash. Deng-Ge managed three or four other young idols and didn’t invest much time in Fang Daichuan. He never bothered with tasks like airport pickups or following schedules in person. As a result, Zhou, being just an assistant, felt completely out of her depth.

Fang Daichuan tried to reassure her. “Don’t panic. First, call Deng-Ge and see if we can get in touch with the program group. Maybe we can figure out a way to get there ourselves and meet up later.”

Zhou retreated to a corner to make her phone calls.

Fang Daichuan pushed the luggage against the wall and sat on top of one of the suitcases, stretching his long legs out casually. He took advantage of the downtime to glance through the script.

The Werewolf Game was a rather cliché variety show, a competitive survival-style program dressed up in the guise of the Werewolf board game. At the start of each episode, players would draw role cards, which included identities like Werewolf, Villager, Witch, and Seer. The gameplay mirrored the classic Werewolf board game.

The Werewolves could kill one person each night. After the Werewolves made their move, the Seer could randomly check one player’s identity card. The Witch held two potions: one was poison, which could kill a player at night, and the other was an antidote, which could save a Villager killed by the Werewolves. Once the potions were used, the Witch became no different from a Villager. During the day, the program group would announce the player who had been killed, followed by a villager meeting where players would vote to eliminate one suspected Werewolf. This cycle would repeat until either all the Villagers were killed by the Werewolves or all the Werewolves were voted out by the Villagers, at which point the game would end. As long as both Werewolves and Villagers remained among the players, the referee would continue to announce, “The game continues.”

As a Z-list celebrity, Fang Daichuan wasn’t given a significant role card. In scripted shows like this, while the roles were supposedly drawn randomly, each participant’s script clearly outlined their identity and the direction of the game. The main host (MC) would have a follow PD (program director) nearby, ready to remind the guests of their next moves. Having been in the entertainment circle for so many years, Fang Daichuan was well-versed in these tricks.

In the first episode, his role card was Villager. He was completely fooled by the Werewolves, blindly following the vote in the first round to eliminate the Seer, a goddess-like figure, leading to a crushing defeat. The final shot would cut to his face as he stared dumbfounded at the revealed Werewolf, utterly clueless about what had just happened. Then, amidst the group’s condemnation, he would kneel and beg for forgiveness, ultimately being won over by the goddess and becoming her loyal follower.

-Perfect. It fit the brainless enforcer character setting to a T. Fang Daichuan sighed in resignation.

In the second episode, he was assigned the Witch role, but his intelligence hadn’t improved much. He became the goddess’s die-hard fan, following her lead in every vote. When the goddess was killed by the Werewolves, he even used his precious antidote to revive her. However, the ending took a dramatic twist-the goddess turned out to be a Werewolf. The final shot would show him, heartbroken, as the goddess tore off his nametag.

Fang Daichuan hung his head as he flipped through the script. He had signed on for all twelve episodes of the first season, and for eleven of those episodes, his character had been portrayed as a complete fool-losing every single round, always on the losing side, and with a big, bold “luck value -E” stamped on his forehead. On top of that, he had spent eleven episodes hopelessly fawning over a goddess with a surgically enhanced face. When he was a werewolf, he foolishly let her trick him into revealing his identity; when he was a villager, she effortlessly eliminated him. The one time he and the goddess were on the same team, he sacrificed himself to protect her and got his nametag ripped on the very first night. A tragic, bold-printed backup character.

Fortunately, the twelfth episode brought a jaw-dropping twist.

To spice things up, the program group introduced a new identity card in the twelfth episode: the “White Werewolf,” adding an undercover element to the game. Perhaps to make up for the lack of screen time Fang Daichuan had received in the previous eleven episodes, he was assigned this game-changing role in the final episode.

The White Werewolf was a role card added in the second expansion of the Werewolf Game, equivalent to the “spy” in Legends of the Three Kingdoms³. To win, the White Werewolf had to eliminate all the other werewolves and villagers. Drawing on the goodwill he had accumulated over the past eleven episodes and his well-established “brainless” character setting, Fang Daichuan finally had a chance to shine. He played a brilliant reversal, leaving the other players deeply impressed.

Closing the script, Fang Daichuan felt a quiet sense of satisfaction. If handled well, this kind of character setting could actually attract a lot of fans. He had entered the entertainment circle as a child star in kung fu dramas and genuinely loved acting and martial arts. He dreamed of one day playing the lead role in a proper kung fu drama. But in today’s world, fame was the key to getting roles, and popularity was the currency of the industry. To act, you first had to make yourself famous.

“I hope this Werewolf Game will be the turning point in my life, the thing that finally makes me famous,” Fang Daichuan silently prayed, unknowingly setting up a bright red flag for himself.

Not long after, Zhou returned with two cups of coffee. “I’ve contacted the program group. They said your follow PD and the assigned photographer are already at this airport. They’re going to arrange a car to pick us up, and they should be here around one. We just need to wait a bit.”

Fang Daichuan nodded as he took the coffee, then turned to look out the window at the heavy rain and fog. The downpour obscured the roads leading outside, making it impossible to see the direction or the path ahead.

Footnote:

1. -Ge(-哥):In Chinese, using “xx哥” to address someone is quite common, especially in Mainland China and other Chinese-speaking communities. This way of addressing typically carries a sense of affection and friendliness, indicating respect and amiability towards the person.
2. Qingdao(青岛):A major city in eastern Shandong Province, China, known for its beautiful coastal scenery and the annual Qingdao International Beer Festival.
3. Legends of the Three Kingdoms(三国杀):A popular Chinese card game based on the historical Three Kingdoms period, similar in style to games like Bang!