Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

In the comments section of “King of Superpower”, there were all comments such as:

“This book has always been a good read, until this sudden outburst. Was the novelist drunk?”

“I deliberately flipped through the previous chapters, and discovered that this “Zhang Jiajia” was merely a side character, who was once humiliated by the male protagonist. Surprisingly, her real identity is the final boss of the story! At that one critical moment, she even shot the male protagonist dead. Should we call this novel “Super Side Character” instead?”

“Bullsh*t, absolutely bullsh*t! Anyway, this book is off the shelves now. I’ve blacklisted the novelist too.”

“The terrible ending is exceptional! A side character could even obtain superpowers and emerge as the final boss. The novelist is very creative…”

Looking at the erupting comments section, Zhao Youyue was laden with guilt. Never would she have thought that being a one-time troublemaker would wreak havoc on the novel. Now, she genuinely recalled the criteria that are in order to inherit the character abilities. Obvious enough, she was not allowed to take over those abilities that she simply introduces to the character. Instead, her mission would be to mold an iconic character, who will be remembered by all readers. But now, not only is this character was not an icon, it had turned out to be a complete joke!

Meanwhile, she discovered that, in the “Online Writers” board of “Lkong” forum, some nosy people were actively making posts about this embarrassing incident. Much of the noise was hollow and short-lived. This novel was not really popular in the first place. Nowadays, too many web novelists would come up with outrageous plot twists, throwing them abruptly in the middle of their writing. More often than not, this would lead to a terrible ending…

Zhao Youyue finally came to a realization. Modifying the character as she pleased would not bring about a memorable, iconic character. Hence, she must first understand the background of the story. If she could approach the author for some discussions and take control of the character only after ample preparation, that would benefit both parties!

In other words, she shall not disturb the balancing of the story, as it would destroy the novel itself. But if her participation in the story helps to boost the popularity of the novel, that would be a double victory! For the novel and herself… After all, characters of the popular novels are most likely to be engraved in one’s mind.

Zhao Youyue was not the kind of girl who would run away from her own mistakes. She then signed up for a Qidian account, and with the nickname “Youyue”, easily topped up 5,000 RMB into her account. To her, this was just a small amount, as her monthly allowance was already up to 20,000 RMB. Remember, she is the precious daughter of a hospital director. It was the conviction of her parents, that pampering their daughter would prevent her from hooking up with bad guys who have little money… Another interesting belief they held was that a pampered daughter of the rich will always end up having her heart won over by a poor man. That poor man would have nothing more to offer other than genuine love for her. Well, that would be quite embarrassing.

Zhao Youyue applied for a full subscription to this book and tipped the novelist 1,000 RMB. With that, she was immediately promoted to the Sect Master [1] of the novel. She had even topped the fans ranking list, becoming the number one fan! Indeed, this book has never gained a Sect Master before. Ah, it could not be helped, the novelist was a fresh blood, who had just released a couple of novels up to now.

By this alone, Zhao Youyue was able to atone for her guilt. She had never thought that the “Two Dimensional Gate” was more than just a dream. Come to think of it, that dream was now actually kind of vivid.

Subsequently, her Flashing Red [2] popped up above the comments section — “A Rain of petals is falling from the sky. Tears of joy are rolling down the cheeks. I don’t deserve such an honor! Youyue has tipped me the greatest 1,000,000 Qidian coins.”

In a split second, this Flashing Red had startled the readers who were railing against the novelist.

“Wow, a tycoon came into sight! Wait, has this tycoon read the latest chapter?”

“Is this tycoon encouraging the novelist to write on a whim?”

“I can’t believe that such an awful novel would gain a Sect Master, this is ridiculous!”

“The novelist should show up immediately to apologize. For what you have written, don’t you feel sorry to this tycoon who has tipped you a Sect Master?”

…

Zhao Youyue realized that, by just tipping the novelist, she had attracted a lot of comments. Most of them came from the readers who could not apprehend her actions. Who would tip a novelist for a terrible ending, let alone become the Sect Master of the novel?

Nevertheless, this was her very first time experiencing the power of such presence, despite the fact that it should have come rather easily, being a fair, rich and beautiful girl. In the past, Zhao Youyue has never spent a token to relish the attention and admiration of people.

Zhao Youyue was at once filled with immense satisfaction. An idea had then flashed across her mind. As a side character who has experienced total neglection in reality, she could always pretend to be someone cool on internet with the help of today’s modern networking era!

Meanwhile, in a certain college, four students shared a rather untidy dorm room. The novelist, “I’m the Best” had just waken up with a slight hangover. The previous night, he had gone through some heavy drinking with his buddies. Despite being a heavy drinker, he had unexpectedly turned dizzy right after having two or three boozes of beer. In such a condition, he managed to finish writing several chapters of the novel after returning to his dorm, and … he had even admired himself for doing so! He recalled that a decent mood had flung itself upon him at that moment, which motivated him to keep on writing, as his inspiration was pouring in non-stop. With that, he had resurrected a side character named “Zhang Jiajia” in the novel…

“The heck! What’s with this inspiration? I must be super drunk last night!” I’m the Best had now remembered clearly about those chapters he had written. He abruptly rolled down from his bed and switched on his laptop in a hasty mood. He then opened the webpage of “King of Superpower”, and to his utter surprise, the comments section of his novel had acquired a Flashing Red!

A Flashing Red denotes that someone had tipped 50,000 Qidian coins! This is equivalent to 500 RMB!

Later on, I’m the Best was overwhelmed with excitement, to find out that someone had actually tipped him 100,000. He had started writing novels upon entering university, and ever since then, he had never succeeded. Not until his final year, he finally gained minimal fame from writing this book. While the other students were bewildered by job selections, at least, he did not have to worry about this problem anymore. For a student graduating from this third-class university, 3,000 RMB was a healthy figure. He had now earned himself more than 5,000 RMB from this novel, not to mention he was a lazy writer too. 4,000 words per day, was enough to grant him such satisfaction, as if he had saved the whole world. Hence, being able to complete six chapters which consisted of 12,000 words in one night, gave rise to bewilderment!

Was this tycoon impressed by his immediate release of six chapters, tipping him a Sect Master? Indeed, this was his first time obtaining a Sect Master ever since he began novel writing. This was why he got so excited!

At last, his eyes were caught by the tycoon’s nickname. Surprisingly, it was “Youyue”! Not only was the gender stated as ‘female’, the tycoon had also applied for a full subscription to his book. Now, he has completely carried away. Was the tycoon a true female fan? For such a harem-heavy novel, written by a lackadaisical man like him in a brazen way, would there even be a female reader?

His happiness lasted only for a moment. He soon noticed the scoldings throughout the comments section. He then checked his QQ account and to his realization, that his reader group was in chaos too. Out of just around 200 subscribers, tens of them leaving the group now. Ouch, that’s kind of heart wrenching!

Translation Note:

[1] The word “Sect Master” – “盟主” is used in ancient China to refer to the leader of a Sect alliance. At Qidian Chinese website, “Sect Master” is adopted to address the novel reader who has obtained 100,000 loyalty points of a particular novel, which is done by spending 100,000 Qidian coins (equivalent to 1,000 RMB) on that novel. There are several options which are considered as spending, tipping the author (done by the main character) is one of the options. “Sect Master” is also used to represent 1,000 RMB in the case of tipping, for instance, “tip the author a Sect Master” simply means “tip the author 1,000 RMB”.

[2] At Qidian Chinese website, the word “Flashing Red” – “飘红” refers to the system-generated post which appears on top of the comments section of a novel whenever there is a reader tipping the novelist more than 50,000 Qidian coins. The title of the post is of this standard template: “Rain of petals is falling from the sky. Tears of joy are rolling down the cheek. I don’t deserve such an honor! XXX has tipped me the greatest 1,000,000 Qidian coins.”, while XXX is the name of the reader.