Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

A Preposterous Allegation!

At first, Su Li stared blankly at the screen. It had not yet dawned upon her yet. Her fans were probably staging one of their events again

Everyone knew that the great mangaka Su was an artist, one who was very good at causing trouble and attracting attention. She belonged to the kind that had more popularity than capability. It was no fault of hers, as she was indeed beautiful and extremely good at causing headlines.

Her star project, "Pure Romance" had been immortalized as a meme. "Sc*mbag Ming" was a virus without a cure. Whenever one encounters a Harem anime, comments would always be flooding the bullet curtain, with statements such as "Bro. Ming died so soon," This was where Bro. Ming had fought before," etc. Her work was a staple part of the entire culture.

Therefore, Su Li's fans were rather loyal. Those who only knew her in passing may not have seen her work, but they would be well-informed on various memes related to her.

Her most recent memes included "The Curse" and "The Pan of This Generation." Not many were even into believing it; they simply wanted to give this meme "The Curse," more power. A commentator of Starcraft from another world, Huang Xudong, would be a good example. Many people might have never even watched his game commentaries, but they could easily identify him as a "Mysterious Power of the East."

Su Li was currently in a similar situation as well. As her memes went viral, repeated lies would soon become truths!

The latter title, "The Pan of this Generation," was given to Su Li by those who felt sorry for her. It was a title meant to paint her in a far better picture, compared to the rumors of her black-handed stigma. Like its counterpart, the more it spread, the more people believed in it!

However, those people who felt sorry for the Goddess mangaka Su Li considered her to be truly innocent. Apart from "Xu Jing" who was her own creation in her very own "Pure Romance," be it "Yu Shengfan" or "Chu Luoxun," it was the Godly web novelist, Rosemary and the youth novelist Leng Zi who had written them to death. What did anything have to do with Su Li, the artist?

All these were preposterous allegations. Su Li had carried the pan on behalf of the two original authors.

Also, unknown if it was by chance or otherwise, Su Li had accepted the offer to have an endorsement for an advertisement about the "Super Rice Cooker." For Su Li, it was a good deed. Such a simple advertising job for a few hundred thousand. How could she possibly reject it?

As a result, her title - "The Pan of this Generation" had gained a great deal of popularity after the advertisement. That rice cooker enjoyed great sales as well. It had led more vendors to have Su Li endorse for their products, including products like sanitary pads. Su Li considered making endorsements for sanitary pads a little too embarrassing. Therefore, she could only reject the offer.

Su Li did not find herself any manager. She considered it rather unnecessary. After all, she was self-sufficient. Although she lacked the capability for original composition, her illustration skills were widely recognized throughout the industry. Many original writers were more than willing to collaborate with her!

Su Li felt that it was a waste of money to find herself a manager. Instead of paying a manager, she would rather transfer the money to her mum's card, and provide her two younger sisters a better standard of living.

Without a manager, she would have no PR either. Su Li did not know how to guide the flow of public opinions. She could only defend herself earnestly every single time. She carried no curses. She just drew pictures.

This time, Su Li would be drawing illustrations for the Doujinshi novel "White Clover." According to Lady Zhao, there was only one heroine within this Doujinshi novel. The heroine even had a maxed out 'Mystery' attribute, and she was almost invincible. She felt that it was all at ease. Her latest post was as such——

"You guys have been saying that I will bring forth misfortune to the handsome military uniform princess, if I draw her illustration. I may even damn her to something. How would that happen? I'm a professional mangaka! The entire theme of this Doujinshi novel is on her dimension-traversing abilities. Even herself is unaware of how strong she is! Tell me, how could such a final boss character possibly die? She can't die Impossible!"

Later, when the fan made anime video with the military uniform princess "Altair" as the heroine became popular, Su Li continued to write a post on Weibo proudly——

"The novel neveras picked up, its writings were too obscure. But I, your Goddess, was able to understand the novel completely. I've figured out its charm. Now that it has been adapted into a fanmade anime, it has become popular on Bilibili! I've contributed to the original artwork of the anime. Of course, Ah Yu's voice acting and singing are truly very amazing! I enjoyed collaborating with her very much! Did you guys feel the heroine's power in the anime? I now ask those who have been saying that the heroine would be cursed to death by me. Does your conscience remain untouched if you keep slandering me? You guys know nothing of power!"

Obviously, before "Setsuna's" death news had spread throughout the internet, it made all the sense in the world for Su Li to apply the indomitable heroine Altair as an example to prove her innocence. Yet, there were still some netizens expressing—

"Master Su Li is too cunning. She has purposely chosen such a super strong character for her illustration drawing, so that her curse will not take effect. She is really trying very hard!"

"The military uniform princess shouldn't be counted. She looks like a 'Slice-of-life genre[1]' character on the surface, and never got involved in any fights. Yet, no one has expected her to be so strong. She shouldn't be considered a 'Slice-of-life genre' character."

"No hurries, since you're waving your curse in all our faces, I also feel that the 'flag'[2] is steadily confirmed."

"Ignore those masses. This re-created female character is truly very awesome. I hope that the fanmade anime will continue being released. As for the novel, I truly couldn't understand it at all..I admire Master Su Li's reading capabilities."

…

Right at this very moment, Su Li saw many fans lighting candles for her. She thought that the fans were organizing some sort of event for her. But her birthday was not around the corner yet!

It was at that moment when she noticed some comments got mixed up with the candle comments, uncovering the truth—

"Su, the Great Deity is truly poisonous! She did not curse the heroine to death, but the author of this Doujinshi novel!"

"This is too scary! Does Su Li have a death pen? It's true that whoever she draws will die!"

"Are there any writers within the comments? Please think twice before commisioning Su Li to draw for you! Don't put your neck to the guillotine Either the main character dies, or the author dies, choose one from the above!"

"The problem here isn't about having Su Li draw stuff. What if Su Li insists on drawing something voluntarily? Would the author have to pay her protection fees, asking her to steer clear?"

"I have always maintained that Master Su Li is innocent. She was only carrying the pan. She was never at fault. But this is the fourth time, and it's the author who died, this time! This is truly too scary. Was the character too impossible to kill, that the author took the blow instead? Now that the novel is incomplete, what's the use or such a powerful character?"

…

To be honest, "Setsuna's" death was not supposed to cause such a huge wave. After all, many had died of cancer within that year. "Setsuna" was only an unpopular Doujinshi novelist. But now, her death became a popular search result on Weibo, because of Su Li!

"Setsuna" was never famous during her lifetime, but she had become famous in death!

At the same time, her recreated character "Altair" became hugely popular!

This was because many thought that "Setsuna" had borne the attack from Su, the Great Deity, on her own heroine's behalf!

A certain Doujinshi author had an inspiration. He came up with a new "Altair" ability —— Altair could deflect 'attacks,' forcing others to be her scapegoat!

At that moment, Su Li finally figured out the cause and effect of this latest trend. She was dumbfounded. A person dying of cancer was now her fault as well?

This was a preposterous allegation!

What a tremendously preposterous allegation!

Translation Note:

[1] Slice-of-life genre - It refers to the type of character who usually has the setting of being the center, surrounded by friends and other characters, being depicted about his or her trivial, lazy and miscellaneous daily life.

[2] Flag - From the anime aspect, 'flag' refers to the crucial factors that lead to the change of plot development. For example, "It's very late. Let me send you home." (flag spotted), "Take care, I'm leaving." (no flag). Furthermore, 'death flag' refers to the crucial factors that lead to the death of a character in future. For example, "After this war ends, I will be going back to my hometown to get married." (Death flag spotted). He ended up dead during the war.