A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After saying those words, Su Bei didn’t linger. He suppressed the remaining bit of embarrassment and quickly walked to the last row by the window. There was a perfect spot, the second-to-last seat by the window.

The back row by the window, a king’s domain.

He didn’t choose the last seat because someone was already sitting there—a white-haired boy who was sleeping on the desk.

White hair + corner + sleepy, the buffs were all stacked. Based on Su Bei’s years of reading manga, this white-haired character was definitely not ordinary.

So, he chose this seat to create an illusion for readers that he was a big shot and to get closer to this real big shot.

If the white-haired boy made any moves with the protagonist group, Su Bei would be the first to know.

However, he didn’t try to wake the boy up. Haste makes waste. Besides, he had other things to deal with.

Rubbing his slightly warm ears and listening to the “manga awareness” in his mind, Su Bei finally put away his embarrassment from saying those shameful lines and raised an eyebrow in surprise: “You said the manga has already started updating?”

“It’s the pilot episode,” the “manga awareness” replied. “After all, the new season is starting and needs some early promotion.”

******

In the real world.

“Ding!” Lin Xue opened her phone and saw a message from her friend.

“Xiaoxue, did you see? ‘The King of Superpower’ has updated!”

She was taken aback, her eyes widening. “The second season is starting so soon? There was no news about it before!”

After a quick reply to her friend, she immediately opened the manga app and indeed saw the green update mark on “The King of Superpower.”

Hastily, she tapped it open. Lin Xue murmured, seemingly disappointed yet relieved, “It’s the pilot episode.”

Upon entering the “pilot episode” chapter, a full-page color illustration greeted her eyes.

“The artist’s skills have improved,” Lin Xue admired, instinctively saving the image first, then looking at the details.

The background of the illustration seemed to be on the playground of the ability academy. Jiang Tianming and his two friends, who had been missing the entire autumn, naturally occupied the center of the illustration, sitting closely together, all smiling.

Having read the first season, Lin Xue couldn’t help but smile, recalling how wary the trio was of each other at the beginning of the first season, now contrasting sharply with their current closeness.

They had become good friends. How nice.

After observing the familiar trio, Lin Xue shifted her gaze to the other characters in the promotional image. The illustration featured many students: a red-haired boy smiling brightly, a burly and muscular teacher, a short-haired girl reading a book, a white-haired background character poking someone’s XP…

Lin Xue gasped, overwhelmed by the information!

Her eyes sparkled with excitement. There had been rumors that the second season would introduce many new handsome and beautiful characters, and it seemed to be true!

Suddenly, Lin Xue’s eyes fell on a blurry figure in the far corner of the manga. Under the shade of a tree, there was a vague golden-haired figure leaning against the tree, seemingly looking in the direction of the protagonist group.

This slightly dim and blurry figure was easy to overlook, but once noticed, it contrasted sharply with the other bright and dazzling characters.

Was it a key plot character?!

Lin Xue felt like she had discovered a secret, her eyes widening with excitement. She quickly circled the figure and sent a screenshot to her friend: “Su Su! Look at this person, I think he’s quite special!”

She soon received a reply: “?”

Her friend was clearly confused: “What’s special about him? He looks like a background character, otherwise, why would he be drawn so small?”

“But look, he’s looking at the protagonists!” Lin Xue insisted on her judgment.

The friend replied, “You can’t even see his eyes. Who knows what he’s looking at?”

“But he’s so handsome!” Lin Xue gave another reason, “Even though he’s just a blurry little dot, look at his posture! Look at his aura!”

Friend: “…”

Friend: “He didn’t even appear in the pilot episode. I know you’re eager, but don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Seeing the reply, Lin Xue pouted in dissatisfaction and quickly finished reading the pilot episode, which depicted the protagonist group’s summer vacation activities and some rumors about the academy.

Sure enough, there was no appearance of any blonde character.

“Hmph, I still trust my intuition,” Lin Xue muttered softly, “He will definitely appear!”

On the other side, Su Bei had also finished reading the latest update.

There was good news and bad news. The bad news was that, despite his microscopic level of detailed observation, he only found one instance of his appearance in the new content.

The good news was that this appearance was in the promotional page.

Compared to the main content of the pilot episode, the promotional page for the second season was certainly more eye-catching.

Unfortunately, his position in the promotional page was very inconspicuous, in a shaded corner. If it weren’t for his noticeable blonde hair, he might not have found himself.

Su Bei knew why he appeared there, because he was a character who died at the beginning of the manga. Although he was cannon fodder, he was still considered an important character, so he was given a spot that was almost unnoticeable and wouldn’t affect the composition. Most people wouldn’t notice him until after his death, when he could serve as an Easter egg joke…

“At least I appeared,” Su Bei sighed, comforting himself.

He opened the forum, which had exploded with activity due to the pilot episode after being dormant for so long.

“Finally, the second season is starting!”

[Holy Fire Meow Meow Sect no0:

I’ve been waiting so long from summer to winter! Finally seeing the light! Second season, here we go!]

[Night Light Manga no1: So excited!]

[Coca no Pepsi no2: I couldn’t believe it when I saw the update notice. This teaser even made it to the trending topics. The old artist still has it.]

[I Don’t Have Water Articles no3: I have a goal: teaser today, main content tomorrow! Who agrees or disagrees?]

(To avoid filler, unnecessary names are omitted.)

[…]

[no32: The summer vacation activities cracked me up. Bing Bing’s family is so rich, they took everyone to the beach for vacation.]

[no33: My tears of envy are falling from my mouth. I want a rich bestie too!]

[no34: They even hired an ability user to introduce their experiences at the ability academy. Truly a conglomerate.]

[no35: Seriously, I didn’t expect the ability academy to be divided by ability levels. Why does that make me even more excited?]

[…]

[no70: The old artist did a great job with the promotional page this time. My son never showed such a relaxed smile in the first season.]

[no71: Look at those drawing skills. No wonder it’s the hottest manga right now.]

[no72: So many new characters on the promotional page, I’m already excited!]

[no73: Obviously, there are a lot of handsome guys and beautiful girls. Some of my friends are already betting on the next hot character.]

[no74: There’s a white-haired hottie in there that really hits my spot! White hair is engraved in my DNA!]

[no75: Hehehe pecs hehehe butt hehehe slurp slurp]

[……]

As expected, no one discussed his character. After thinking for a moment, Su Bei asked, “Can I have a forum account?”

The “Comic Awareness” quickly responded, “You can, but it can only be activated when the main content starts updating.”

So it seems I can’t build momentum in advance, Su Bei sighed, but he wasn’t too disappointed.

He put away his phone and looked up at Jiang Tianming, the protagonist who had followed him: “Classmate, is there something you need from me?”

Hearing this, even someone as composed as Jiang Tianming couldn’t help but twitch his eyelids.

Is this guy trying to turn the tables?

Clearly, he was the one who said those strange words first, catching Jiang Tianming’s attention. Now he was asking if Jiang Tianming had something to discuss.

Although he thought this, he still politely asked, “I wanted to ask what you meant by what you said earlier.”

After saying this, Su Bei keenly noticed that they had attracted a lot of attention, with many people openly or secretly paying attention to their conversation.

This was normal. After all, he didn’t lower his voice when he said those words earlier, so many in the class must have heard and were naturally curious about what he meant.

“It was just a joke,” Su Bei said, half-lying on the desk, propping his chin up with one hand, smiling innocently but with a hint of malice and cunning. “You didn’t take it seriously, did you?”

Jiang Tianming, being the popular manga protagonist he was, didn’t show the slightest anger at this near-provocative “joke.”

He just gave Su Bei a deep look, then shrugged, “I misunderstood. It was an interesting joke.”

He continued, “We’ll be classmates for the next three years. Can we get to know each other? My name is Jiang Tianming.”

“Su Bei.”

After getting his name, Jiang Tianming didn’t hesitate and went back to his seat.

Watching his back, Su Bei slightly curled his lips. Jiang Tianming’s comment, “We’ll be classmates for the next three years,” was very interesting.

If Su Bei had ill intentions, this statement was a warning. If he was neutral or friendly, it would be seen as an olive branch.

No wonder he’s a rational protagonist.

Su Bei was curious about what Jiang Tianming was thinking. He was sure Jiang Tianming didn’t believe his explanation. But Jiang Tianming didn’t pursue it further, showing he was indeed very smart.

In the first part of the manga, Jiang Tianming had a less noticeable but reader-favorite trait—being a schemer.

In one scene, Jiang Tianming was in a factory’s broadcast room when a brainless rich kid started provoking him. He deliberately turned on the loudspeaker, letting everyone hear the rich kid’s disdain and misdeeds, causing the workers to riot.

It was satisfying to read, but in real life, Su Bei didn’t want to be the target of Jiang Tianming’s schemes.

He knew Jiang Tianming’s polite behavior was because he wasn’t sure of Su Bei’s background. So, he must not let Jiang Tianming find out he was bluffing, or he’d be in big trouble.

He muttered to himself, “Being a fraud doesn’t feel good. I need to make it real soon.”