The Rise of Otaku

Not only was Zhou Fu angry towards Xiao Yuanxie, but he was also angry towards Zhou Yu, who was acting like it was none of his business. Regarding other people copying his work, the way he was listening to him was like he was listening to an audiobook. It was like he was only curious to know how Zhou Fu was going to do to Xiao Yuanxie.

Can’t you be at least a little bit angry that someone has copied your work? Damnit!

Disappointed, Zhou Fu could only tighten his clothes and continued to talk about what had happened a while ago in the cold Billow Sound Pavilion.

Xiao Yuanxie was very anxious right now, because he had just received a letter from the studio formally asking about the designs he had used in the competition.

In order to participate in this international competition, Xiao Yuanxie originally also made some designs himself, but even he himself also felt that there was no possibility of winning with his original designs.

When his mind was filled with all kinds of irritation in the design room, he suddenly saw the variety show “the little Muli’s incredible maze” on TV, and then the same as Liu Ying, he was also deeply shocked by it.

However, unlike Liu Ying, who went back to continue working on her own design after the amazement, a devil whispered quietly in Xiao Yuanxie’s ears, tossing all kinds of evil thoughts around in his mind.

This is just an animation, and these costumes only appeared for a few minutes in total in the show. Maybe the person who designed it has already forgotten it. This is fair use, not plagiarism, and those who watch animations will not be interested in the fashion circle, so as long as you made some small modifications, even if it was exposed, nothing would happen.

After he finally came to his senses, the design drawings had already been handed over to the production team, and then unexpectedly, he even won the award. The joy of success dispelled the guilt that had been hidden in his heart, and he gradually forgot that he had copied other people’s work.

However, stolen success was always short-lived. When he got off the stage, a contestant came over to congratulate him. However, the unfortunate thing was that this contestant happened to have seen that strange animation.

Clearly, you are a fashion designer, why do you watch anime?

Although he fooled her in the end, he did not know when this secret would be exposed. Getting this kind of fame, status and wealth was very difficult, how could he give it back easily? Moreover, not only could he not return to the past, but his reputations would be completely ruined, and he might not be able to carry on working in the fashion design industry.

He also wanted to stop the car that was sliding towards the abyss, but no matter what he did, he still would not stop the car. He could only watch it move forward a little by little. It was a really desperate feeling.

Sure enough, although he had tried his best to avoid being associated with the studio, and had been struggling to maintain his image, the moment that his reputation might be completely ruined still came.

In the face of the letter from the studio, Xiao Yuanxie thought of suicide for a while, but whenever his shaking hand picked up the utility knife, he couldn’t make up his mind. In the end, he finally made up his mind, but it was not the decision of atonement, but the decision to deny it all the way to the end.

Zhou Fu did not expect that the reply he got would be such a strongly-worded letter. Not only did he completely deny copying their works, but he also asked the studio to stop such slander immediately, otherwise, he would protect himself with legal action.

What the hell?! Are copycats so aggressive these days?

Zhou Fu absolutely believed in Zhou Yu, but he also knew what kind of people existed in Zhou Yu’s team. There was no way that they would show their faces in public.

This was a big problem.

If they wanted to file a lawsuit, the original designer must come out to testify. However, if the original designer insisted not to come forward, without any concrete evidence, they might lose the lawsuit.

Sure enough, when Zhou Fu knocked on the door of the studio again and told Zhou Yu that he wanted to meet the designers, who designed the clothes, he flatly refused. Even if this matter was related to a lawsuit, Boy Yu’s response was to close the opening window of the concealed door without saying anything.

Boy Yu was not an unreasonable person, but regarding this, he was very stubborn, and there was no room for compromise.

Then Zhou Fu felt a headache. After he explained the situation to a lawyer, the answer he got was really not very optimistic. Under the circumstance that they could not offer concrete evidence, but the other party had the proof that he had participated in a big competition, to be honest, it was not easy to win this lawsuit. If the animation studio could find the designers who designed the costumes, then there was still a case to be fought. After all, judging by the time the work came out, the studio was in a good position.

In the face of the lawyer’s reply, Zhou Yu still refused. It made Zhou Fu hesitate whether they should file the lawsuit or not. Probably, they would have to take this loss. Considering this as a lesson, in the future, they must explore more business opportunities in Zhou Yu’s works, and a similar thing must never happen again.

However, the following development was no longer up to the two parties to decide.

Liu Ying felt very strange. Because in the beginning, the animation studio seemed to be angry and wanted to sue Xiao Yuanxie, but there was no actual action from the studio in the end, not even a public condemnation announcement.

But that was the work that had won the international golden award, did they just let him off like that? Could it be possible that Xiao Yuanxie had a very powerful background?

Being burned by the curiosity, Liu Ying asked many people in the fashion circles, however, in the end, she found out that Xiao Yuanxie actually did not have any powerful backgrounds. Instead, the case of alleged plagiarism was quickly spread in fashion circles. It spread more and more widely, and finally, it became viral on the internet.

It was on a video web site, in the discussion forum of “little Muli’s incredible maze”, an exposing post quietly appeared on the homepage.

In the exposing post, the works of Xiao Yuanxie, who won the prize in the international competition, were compared with all the idols’ costumes in the variety show, and the results were surprisingly similar. And then looking at the time when the competition was held, it was at least one and a half months after the program had been broadcasted.

Judging from the simplest reasoning, Xiao Yuanxie undoubtedly copied the variety show.

When people first saw the post, the first thought that came into their minds was that this did not make any sense. Because no matter how strange Qin Zhuan studio was, there was no way that they would hire a great fashion designer to design the clothes for an animation. How rich and how eccentric you have to be to do such a thing.

However, after verification, it was found that the information listed in the post was actually true. A designer, who recently gained a lot of fame for winning an award, has been exposed that more than ninety percent of his designs that were displayed in the fashion show were almost identical to those of the animation variety show.

God dammit, those rich otakus!