Xiao Wu took a long time to answer: “Ding. It seems that the world suffered a massive quake which caused some loss of data. Due to that, you need higher authority to query. Xiao Wu’s level is not enough. Master, please increase your level.”
“……. You don’t have to change the way you remind me. I know and I’ll try!”
“Forget it, forget it. Why did I bother asking when we have already left? Let’s have a good rest this time. We’ve been busy carrying out the task ever since the transfer. It’s time to give ourselves a vacation.”
“Ding. Approved.”
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As Fan Yuan was happily vacationing, there was a tremendous quake at the source world. The world where he just completed the plot, which he had just walked out of, was completely destroyed.
The cause was unknown.
“Ding. Master has successfully entered the original host’s body. Importing data. Initializing countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Complete.”
Xiao Wu’s mechanical voice sounded in his head. Fan Yuan felt a splitting headache. This part of his acting task was the one he disliked the most. When importing the original’s data and memory, his body would feel some discomfort. Of course, it depended on the circumstances. The last time he entered a child’s body, the unpleasant feeling was somewhat weak. But this time, the body was that of an adult which retained his strong will, making it even harder.
He tried to relax himself and ran through the plot of this world in his head.
This was a traditional school-life Mary Sue hetero novel. The supported character was a [1]Cinderella, Qiu Mimi, [2]who excelled both in morals and studies. Due to family difficulties, she was often bullied by the students in the school. But she was always motivated and strong-willed, and endured it all silently. One day, she met the campus prince, Gu Qi.
As the son of the president of the school, Gu Qi’s peerless appearance and wealthy family made him popular with everyone. Thus, he became haughty and arrogant. Qiu Mimi was unaccustomed to such pride so she repeatedly provoked him. Gu Qi finally noticed this unusual girl and began to pursue her. After a series of ironic incidences, their hearts finally connected and they became lovers.
But how could one achieve happiness so easily? How could they [3]see the rainbow without experiencing the storm? At this time, the male lead’s invisible younger brother, Gu Yuan, who was the original host, became a stumbling block on their road to happiness.
Gu Yuan was actually not Gu Qi’s blood relative. His parents died years ago in an accident. He was adopted by his parents’ friends – the Gu couple – as their own to look after over the years. The male lead treated him like his real brother. The normally presumptuous male lead was very considerate and gentle in front of his only younger brother. Therefore, Gu Yuan had always depended on him for everything.
When the older brother that he long considered to be his everything, brought home a girl with average appearance, and laughed as he requested for his blessing – Gu Yuan expressed his unhappiness. He became a yandere. He turned black, because he loved his brother and would not allow anyone to take him away!
When his yandere and blackened little brother framed his beloved girl over and over again, Gu Qi finally got angry. He confronted Gu Yuan with evidence, and asked him why he did it.
Gu Yuan smiled nervously and answered with deep emotion: “Why? Because I don’t want you to be my big brother. I don’t want to be brothers with you at all. Actually, I have always loved you.”
Gu Qi coldy replied with only a few words, “You’re sick. Go get treated at a hospital.”
The next morning, Gu Qi sent Gu Yuan to a mental hospital.
Three months later, the male and female lead held a grand wedding that became a nationwide sensation. Gu Yuan watched his beloved brother on the television screen as Gu Qi held the hand of a woman and entered the wedding hall. Gu Yuan cut his wrist and died with a smile.
Don’t ask why the male and female lead, who had just graduated from high school, could get married. And don’t mind how Mr. and Mrs. Gu could bear to watch Gu Yuan get sent to the mental hospital, considering how much they cared about him. And furthermore, don’t focus on how a psychiatric patient could get ahold of a razor blade. Under the Mary Sue’s sacred halo, all these questions were stupid and unnecessary!
The plot was complete. The pain had eased. Fan Yuan, a little relieved, told Xiao Wu: “Why do I feel like the original host of this world was not gay? At most, it was just a serious case of brother complex. On top of that, it was just the mental illness later on that led him to commit those terrible things.”
“Ding. Master, please don’t distort the character’s role. Try your best to play the part of the gay minor character.”
Fan Yuan: “…… Alright.”
#Not only does my system not know how to act cute, it also has a sharp tongue _(:3ã€âˆ )_＃
Fan Yuan looked around. This was a room of manga. There were all kinds of manga arranged neatly on the shelves around him. Almost every title had two sets; one with traces of being leafed through often, and another brand-new one, which was purely for collection.
The original host’s dream was to become a good mangaka. He spent a lot of time and energy on it. Unfortunately, he gave up on his dream in the face of a frantic love.
Fan Yuan stood on tiptoe to pull out two interesting comic books from the shelf. He lay down on the cream-colored sofa, and went through them slowly.
Height was a problem that Fan Yuan was too lazy to worry about now. Having experienced so many worlds, he had fully realized that even though ‘male minor character’ and ‘gay minor character’ sounded very similar, their treatment and conditions were light-years apart. The male minor character was the standard edition of a male lead. The gay minor character was an inferior version of the male lead. Not to mention the hardware, even the software was different by a large factor. That’s right! That’s reality! Dwarf? He was not only short, he was also effeminate!
That was also the reason why he never wanted to see what he looked like ever since he came to this world. The brief description in the original novel was concrete enough.
“Fair skin, clear eyes, soft black hair down to the ears – delicate and beautiful like a girl……”
Fan Yuan asserted that he was even a female character once. This was nothing to him!
He read through the manga. As a very professional manga fan, Fan Yuan was sure that these manga were unique to this world. At least, he hadn’t seen any of them in other worlds. The content was not much fun, but it’s okay to pass the time with.
This time, the original had a rather special characteristic. The later blackening made him become bloody and abnormal, but in the early days, he was a quiet and somewhat inarticulate otaku. He was shy and reserved to the point of stuttering when conversing with strangers. So apart from going to class and sticking to his brother, he spent almost all of his time reading manga and drawing. Fan Yuan was very happy and comfortable. The original owner of this body wasn’t fond of evil tricks, which saved him a lot of trouble.
Knock, knock, knock……
It was the male lead. According to the plot, he should have finished consulting their parents and was about to inform him of his school transfer.
Originally, Gu Qi and Gu Yuan went to the same high school as senior and freshman respectively. However, because the original owner was too dependent on the male lead, he didn’t make any friends in the first semester. Their parents became worried, and decided to have Gu Qi leave his brother to let the younger sibling learn some independence.
Gu Yuan called out, “Please come in.”
Gu Qi pushed the door open, and saw Gu Yuan lying on the sofa like a lazy cat and reading manga. His eyes unconsciously softened.
He sat by Gu Yuan, pulling the manga away and placing it on a side table. In a soft voice, he spoke. “Xiao Yuan, you can continue reading your manga later. Big brother has something to tell you.”
Gu Yuan heard his words, naturally sat up straight and waited for him to speak, showing how very obedient he was.
The lovable and obedient younger brother in Gu Qi’s eyes was actually studying him in secret at this moment. Gu Yuan said to himself, “What a worthy Lord Male Lead (Male lead daren), having all the luck in the world to himself like a glowing system. He’s like a portable light source!”
Gu Qi saw his eyes twinkle and couldn’t help but rub Gu Yuan’s head of soft hair. Hesitantly, he began, “You’re now a high school student. You must learn to grow up and be independent. You can’t always follow your big brother. You have to make your own friends and live your own life.”
Gu Yuan’s eyes widened as he looked at his brother. Those eyes were so full of innocence, that Gu Qi felt he couldn’t go on.
“…… In fact, our parents spoke to me just now. We all hope that you would make a few more friends. So, next term, big brother will be transferring to [4]Sheng Di High School. You will be attending school on your own.”
Gu Yuan tugged at Gu Qi’s sleeves and begged. “Brother, can’t you not transfer? I don’t want to leave you. To be alone, I can’t……”
Gu Qi loved his younger brother the most and couldn’t bear to see him sad. He had always been careless. If his parents hadn’t mentioned it, he would never have realized that his younger brother was growing up. The day would come when he would settle down and have his own family. He could only protect him for now, but couldn’t protect him forever. He would have to let him learn to grow.
He steeled his heart and said in a hard tone, “It has been settled. You should study hard at school, and make lots of friends. Gradually, you won’t feel lonely anymore.”
Gu Yuan’s grip on Gu Qi’s sleeve tightened. He stubbornly said, “I don’t want to make friends…… I only want Brother to accompany me.”
Gu Qi frowned and said, “What nonsense are you saying? You’re no longer a child. Stop acting like one.”
Seeing Gu Yuan looking hurt, he once again spoke gently. “Everyone has to have friends. Big brother also has friends, right? You still have a long way to go in your life, and big brother can’t accompany you forever. You’ll meet many people in the future, so don’t be afraid to learn to accept others and you’ll be accepted in return. That’s how it is between people. Slowly, you’ll find that the world is much bigger than you think.”
Gu Yuan’s lips appeared to tighten as he unwillingly nodded. Only then did Gu Qi cheer up, gently pat his head, and leave the room.
When he was gone, Fan Yuan wondered. “…… Xiao Wu, didn’t the male lead add too many scenes for himself? According to the plot, he should tell the original host to stop acting like a child, and leave without turning back, right? Forcing so much chicken soup on me, it doesn’t match the male lead’s cool and overbearing aura!”
“Ding. The plot is influenced by many factors. Master, as the actor, you should just finish your part of the plot, OK? At the moment, Master has neither the authority nor the ability for anything else. It’s out of your hands.”
Fan Yuan felt a pain in his chest and he swallowed blood in silence. “Xiao Wu, would you believe it if I said that I won’t be able to upgrade you anymore?”
“Ding. I don’t believe it.”
“……” As a master with no dignity, his heart was tired. _(:3ã€âˆ )_
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Gu Qi went out and saw his parents lurking at the end of the corridor, staring at him. He gave them a nod, and they high-fived each other happily then quietly descended.
Gu Qi raised his right hand. The soft sensation from patting his brother’s head still remained on his palm. He clenched his hand in silence, the corners of his mouth raised in a faint smile.
Translator’s notes:
[1]Rags to riches;
[2] Chinese idiom, paragon of virtue and learning.
[3]Chinese idiom, through thick and thin.
[4]Shengdi – Holy Emperor
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