📌 Translator's Note:
Hey everyone! 👋If you're enjoying 'Depressive-Style Screenwriter', don't miss 'Rebirth Begins with an Anime Adaptation' — it's by the same author and the full translation is complete! ✅📚
Perfect for binge-reading if you love stories about anime-to-live-action adaptations! 🎥✨Happy reading~ 😊💖
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On this day, on 'SakuraNet', there were many casual viewers like Yue Zhi.
Under the promotional trailer for 'Rurouni Kenshin', a flood of comments quickly poured in.
"Who are the male and female leads of this drama? Never heard of them."
"They're probably rookie actors."
"This is kinda impressive. Are the fight scenes in the trailer CGI?"
"Honestly, I got a little dizzy watching. I used to work as a stunt double in martial arts dramas, and I can tell these fights are real. But the guy playing the male lead — he's way too fast. Plus, his sword grip and movements are spot-on. This actor must have trained in martial arts since he was a kid."
"Only four episodes? That's a shame. Wuxia dramas like this should be longer. There haven't been any decent ones in Xia Nation in years."
"Why's everyone focusing on the fight scenes? I'm more interested in the romance between the leads!"
"Get real. Romance in wuxia dramas is just filler. The real deal is the action. Just wait till it airs — the female lead is probably just there for decoration."
"Exactly. Who needs a female lead in wuxia? She'll only slow down the male lead when he draws his sword. Brotherhood is what makes wuxia great."
"If the fight scenes in the full episodes are as smooth as in the trailer, I swear I'll tell all my friends to buy this show. I don't even care about the plot — the action alone is worth the subscription."
"Thought this was going to be some low-budget mess. Guess I judged too soon."
"This season's web dramas are trash. No wonder that cringe-fest 'Pure Breeze' did so well. Can't wait for 'Rurouni Kenshin' to knock it off the charts."
"You're expecting too much. It's just a low-budget four-episode web drama. If it gets decent paid views and makes a small profit, that's already great. But that male actor... I hope the higher-ups at some production company notice him. It'd be a waste if someone like him doesn't get cast in more historical dramas."
Even though 'SakuraNet' hadn't given the drama much promotional support, 'Rurouni Kenshin' still shot up in popularity after the trailer dropped.
In a short time, it climbed to 22nd on the site's trending list.
And that was about as far as it could go — considering the limited promotion, reaching the trending chart at all was already an excellent result. It meant the drama had caught the attention of a decent number of users.
For key members of the production like Shinozaki Ikumi, Gu Qingyuan, Shi Peihua, and Su Yan, it was a huge weight off their shoulders.
Their biggest fear had been spending all that effort on promotion only for the market to respond with silence.
But with such a high retention rate for the trailer, it seemed they could be optimistic about the official release.
"The audience is all praising your fight scenes, Su Yan. If I'd known, we should've filled the entire trailer with action. We didn't even include your best fight sequences," Shinozaki Ikumi said.
"No need for that," Su Yan interrupted her.
"Our version of 'Rurouni Kenshin' isn't centered around action. Strictly speaking, the fight scenes are just a by-product. The real focus is on the romance between Himura Kenshin and Yukishiro Tomoe. If we over-hyped the action in the trailer and made it look like a hot-blooded combat wuxia, then once it airs and audiences realize it's actually a tragic love story, we might get a wave of bad reviews."
"Teacher Su is absolutely right," Shi Peihua chimed in. "I've never been a fan of misleading or deceptive editing in trailers. If it's a tragic romance, don't cut it to look like a fight-heavy action flick — that's false advertising."
Shinozaki Ikumi gave them both a speechless look.
"I was just hoping the drama would do well after it airs…"
"For a low-budget series, we don't have many options. The only way to succeed is by relying on word-of-mouth from fans. That's exactly why we shouldn't resort to cheap tricks. The trailer should reflect the true tone of the story. If it resonates with someone, they'll naturally help spread the word. And on that front, I'm confident," Su Yan said calmly.
"That confidence of yours is so strange," Shinozaki said, glancing at him. "You're a rookie screenwriter, after all…"
"Don't underestimate rookies!" Su Yan laughed.
"Who knows, maybe in a few days, you'll see me in a whole new light."
The lunch break passed in a flash.
Soon, it was afternoon, and Su Yan, Shi Peihua, and Shinozaki Ikumi returned to their respective positions.
At this point, the majority of 'Rurouni Kenshin' had already been filmed.
All that remained was the final fight scene in the snow at the end of Episode 4, and the emotional farewell between Kenshin and Tomoe.
Su Yan stood in the snow-covered set, sword in hand. The gentle smile on his face quickly faded.
In its place appeared the broken look of a man teetering on the edge — after learning he had killed Tomoe's fiancé and brought tragedy into her life, Kenshin was now spiraling toward despair, death in his eyes.
Over the past month of shooting, Su Yan's acting had improved immensely.
Even without relying on the system, he clearly had a natural talent for performance.
From the trees, a masked stuntman suspended by wires leapt down. Before the entire crew, he engaged in a fierce, visually stunning duel with Su Yan's Kenshin.
The camera tracked their movements closely.
Elsewhere, Kiyota Sanji — who was feeling a bit gloomy because of a small controversy in Episode 4 of 'Pure Breeze' that caused a dip in paid views — suddenly heard a chorus of exclamations from the screenwriters' department.
"That's Su Yan?"
"He's so good-looking!"
"He's actually playing the male lead in his own script?"
"Unbelievable. How is he doing those moves? Are you sure he's just a screenwriter and not some pro action star?"
"Does Su Yan have a girlfriend? With that kind of physique, she's gotta— Ow! Why'd you pinch me? We're all adults, can't even talk about this stuff?"
Kiyota was very sensitive to praise — especially when it wasn't about him. Hearing all this buzz about Su Yan, he couldn't help getting curious.
What was so great about a screenwriter who'd been gone a month filming?
One minute later, Kiyota pulled his eyes away from his coworker's screen, which was looping the 'Rurouni Kenshin' trailer.
He looked dazed.
Even though Kiyota was a bit of a fraud as a screenwriter, he still worked in the industry. He could tell right away that Su Yan's fights in the video were real — no special effects.
That kind of movement required martial arts training from a young age — and serious talent to boot.
Hearing his colleagues continuously gush over the trailer made it feel even more irritating.
"Su Yan can do that?" Kiyota muttered in disbelief.
He remembered hearing rumors from martial arts stuntmen on the 'Pure Breeze' set — that Su Yan was a natural-born action actor.
Nothing irritated a nepotism hire more than a true genius who broke the rules.
Because geniuses reminded them just how ridiculous they were.
Already biased against Su Yan for various reasons, Kiyota now felt an overwhelming surge of jealousy.
Better looking, more popular with women.
They'd both joined the network as screenwriters, yet Su Yan didn't rely on connections. He got his drama project greenlit purely on the strength of his script.
And now he even had the potential to become a martial arts star?
The more Kiyota thought about it, the angrier he got.
But Kiyota was no slouch — he had a terrifyingly strong mental game. He quickly calmed himself, took a deep breath, and muttered through gritted teeth:
"So what if that's true?
You think that will take you far in this industry?"
Meanwhile, Su Yan remained completely unaware of Kiyota's jealousy or his coworkers' curiosity.
He was fully immersed in filming the final scenes of the 'Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal' with Gu Qingyuan, who played Yukishiro Tomoe.
This arc demanded the highest level of acting from the entire series — and was also where Su Yan and Gu Qingyuan had the highest number of NG (no-good) takes.
Sometimes, they spent the entire morning just to finish one scene.
Two days passed, and progress was slow.
But time waited for no one — July 22nd had arrived.
Tonight at 8 PM, Episode 1 of 'Rurouni Kenshin', titled [The Man of the Slashing Sword], will premiere on schedule.