Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Lady Zhao, you are a true f*cking genius!

Han Leng knew all too well what the “Student President” throne of Jiangnan University was like. In this world, many works related to Universities spoke of things like club activities and the Student Council. Even positions like “Discipline Committee Member” could be considered as MOE attribute and applied onto a female character.

2D light novels on the market liked to use Universities as the setting. It was almost analogous to the Japanese light novels of the other world. Those Japanese light novels simply loved taking place in high schools. Their main protagonists would almost always be a Japanese high school student or a Chinese exchange student.

In this world, those protagonists would be University students. Romantic comedies and the like found Universities to be most helpful in getting their points across. University students in romantic relationships was nature in motion. Anything else would be strange and different.

High school students did not have this luxury as they would always be piled under a heavy workload. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a writer to write a realistic love novel that took place in high school, especially if that high school took inspiration from a famous real-life counterpart.

Among the many works related to universities, the Student President usually appeared as a villain. If that Student President was a male, he would spend 80% of his time being humiliated by the protagonist. The girl in his eyes would almost surely fall in love with the protagonist. He was just there as a running gag and a heatsink for hatred.

The fresh twist that broke from conventional writing would involve a Student President being one of the protagonist’s close friends. Proficient writers would even apply a dash of “love-hate” into the chemistry. Perhaps the Student President caused all forms of trouble for the protagonist, but he was actually a tsundere who appreciated the protagonist, and considered him an equal. He might even wish to invite the protagonist into the Student Council and assist him.

Regardless of how Student Presidents were written as characters, they were all born to be majestic and pretentious. It was evident that these writers had spent their uni-lives being suppressed and dominated by their respective Student Presidents.

If the Student President was a female character, it would be even easier to surmise about her relationship with the protagonist. If it was a Harem genre, she would definitely be one of the Harem members. Readers would almost die from the anticipation of seeing what happens when the Student President finally joins the Harem. If you insist on writing without adding the Student President into the Harem, you are just asking for a beating from the readers…

If she was the sole heroine, it would also make a fun read. The protagonist would be the man behind the student president, like a big boss behind the scene, whereas the Student President heroine was just his puppet, or his exclusive maid, even.

Very, very few works had the protagonist personally becoming the Student President. It was an ambitious idea, but they would always be terribly written. The reason was ridiculously simple. The writer himself had never been a student president. He had no idea what a Student President actually was, and what he should be doing. If he attempted to write it in first-person-view, it would be riddled with flaws.

What of those remarkable entities who had once been Student Presidents? Well. They wouldn’t be caught dead stooping low enough to start writing light novels for any reason whatsoever.

Most light novelists were probably on the same standard as web novelists. There would only be a higher percentage of pretentiousness among the light novelists. Just like their web novelist counterparts, they had their share of famous stars and perfectionists. No matter what industry we’re talking about, those who stood at the top would most definitely be awesome.

Zhao Youyue’s classmate, Du Hang was a light novelist. The only issue was that he did not have fame. His career did not exceed a hundred thousand books. It was just barely enough for him to survive.

Even so, he had adequate success for a great deal of attention from the university, but that is only if he exposed his identities. Many light novelists would not even live to see the light of a complimentary newbie award.

We could only assume that the standards of light novels were still slightly higher than their online counterparts.

Han Leng preferred reading to writing. He had read all sorts of books. If a writer did not actively read to widen his horizons, his produced works would most certainly end up shallow and childish.

By simply being friends with Lady Zhao was a particularly eye-opening matter in itself. Now that he learned of her ambition to become the next Student President, he just had to get involved. These were real-time, front seat materials! If he ever wanted to write a novel that is set in a University in the future, he would create a “Student President” character who is way more realistic, compared to other writers!

He would be as good as writing it from personal experience. Besides, Lady Zhao had not spared a single detail in her plans. He considered it an honor to be a loyal confidant. They were almost conspiring an actual rebellion!

Knowing Lady Zhao, she might actually reach the Student Council president’s throne during her first year in university. This was history in the making!

Novels involving University Student Council that were on the market were rather tame and low-key, compared to most books. If the Student President was a girl, she would most likely be a senior. No female character would ever become the Student President as a Year 1 junior!

“The Literature Society was only meant to be a casual past time. I’ve no interest in it whatsoever. Besides, when talking about literary literacy, how could those female youths of the Literature Society compare to you, My Lady? Sorry, it should be Madam President,” said Han Leng.

A satisfied smile finally appeared on Zhao Youyue’s face. She commended him, “Not bad. There will definitely be a place for you within the Student Council in future, Elite Scholar Han. I have complete faith in your capabilities.”

Han Leng had never expected that he would be able to get into a Student Council one day, much less be a part of its upper echelon. Now, he was very much convinced that he should jump aboard the Lady’s pirate ship, plundering and pillaging to greatness.

Wait a minute… He was here to talk to Lady Zhao about the rumors. Why were they conspiring a rebellion instead?

Let’s take a look at the situation again. The reach of the rumors would directly correlate to Lady Zhao’s headstart to renown. When her bad name finally reaches every corner of the campus, the impact would be far greater when she reverses the situation…

Compensation mentality. The desperate, guilt-ridden emotion that drove people into making amends after grossly misunderstanding someone. Would this become Lady Zhao’s stepping stone to run for the Student President’s position, instead?

The more Han Leng thought about it, the more he found Lady Zhao to be more incredible than ever. They were playing a game of “sure win” chess. How could “clarifying rumors” be comparable to “utilizing rumors”?

Lady Zhao must have seen this coming a mile away. That explained her deadly, ice calm!

Han Leng finally realized how foolish he had been to confront Lady Zhao about this. But it was exactly due to such behavior that Lady Zhao was trusting him more than ever. He shrugged. He may have lost some, won some, but he stood here now, and that was good enough.

Han Leng decided to move in the darkness, adding flavor to the existing rumors and preheat the oven. Good or bad, Lady Zhao’s name would be known campus-wide and maybe more. When she launches her campaign, she would turn the entire situation around with a single phone call!

Han Leng left the library, his questions answered, his soul greatly pleased – as if he had just wrapped up a great deal. He had gained the inspiration to write a new book. Of course, “Dragon Raja” was still in the running, but as a writer, wasn’t it normal for him to probe his mind for something new?

What do I call this new book? “Love, Election and Chocolate”? “Maid Sama!”? “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona”?

Should I write this on a side account? If I don’t, I might get beaten to death by Lady Zhao…