WARNING: MTL
I’m just an insignificant extra, what qualifications and abilities do I have!
Qiao Yu is an author who writes romantic novels.
Since her university days, she has been publishing articles on a website, diligently and with a strong sense of professionalism for three years. One night, while she was typing away in the late hours, her vision suddenly went dark. When she opened her eyes again, there was something claiming to be a system in her mind, telling her that she had transmigrated into a book.
Qiao Yu looked at the loose blue and white sportswear she was wearing and pondered, “Did I transmigrate into my novel 《The School Hunk, He’s the Only One for Me》?”
The system chuckled twice and said, “It’s not your book.”
As it spoke, a light screen unfolded in front of Qiao Yu, projecting novel pages. Qiao Yu, who had personally written various plotlines, quickly accepted everything and began browsing through the pages with ease and familiarity.
She first glanced at the title and discovered that this novel was called 《Affection for Only One》. Qiao Yu couldn’t help but inhale sharply, filled with respect.
Such a concise and meaningful name, it seemed like the work of a master.
With admiration in her heart, she began reading, carefully examining each word and sentence, while the system remained silent throughout.
About an hour later, Qiao Yu looked up in a daze.
“I say, System.”
The system cleared its throat, and a hint of nervousness crept into its mechanical voice: “Wh-what’s wrong?”
“What you’ve given me is incomplete.” Qiao Yu slid down the screen in confusion and returned to the table of contents. “There are only twenty chapters. The male and female leads meet for the first time after they’ve grown up.”
The system remained silent for a while before finally speaking in an official tone.
“That’s correct.”
“These twenty chapters are already the entirety.”
“The author of this book had an accident while writing up to this point. Your mission, along with mine, is to complete this book.”
Half an hour later, Qiao Yu sat cross-legged on the bed—when she transmigrated, she found herself in a bedroom that appeared luxuriously decorated, indicating that the original host’s family background should be quite good—quietly contemplating the words the system had just said.
“…In other words.”
Qiao Yu rested her face on her hand, propped up on her knee, and spoke in a somewhat annoyed tone.
“I transmigrated into a book that only has twenty chapters, and I have to complete it?”
“That’s right.”
The system quickly brought up the article interface, and Qiao Yu noticed two prominent spheres at the top of the interface. One was labeled “Reader Satisfaction” with a value of 25, and the other was labeled “OOC Degree” with a value of 0.
“…What’s this?”
“These are the host’s two evaluation scores,” the system patiently explained. “They change after each chapter is published.”
“Reader Satisfaction is easy to understand. OOC Degree is related to the events happening in this world—it’s a world constructed with the assistance of the original author. Everything that occurs here follows the rules of this novel.”
“In other words, as long as you write down the true story of the male and female leads, you’ll be fine! If you make up things out of thin air, the OOC Degree will increase.”
“…What happens if the OOC Degree is full or the Reader Satisfaction is empty?”
“I don’t think you’d want to know, Host.”
(If you're not reading on littlepandatranslations.com, it means this has been stolen)
Alright.
Understanding the implication, Qiao Yu closed her mouth and silently began reading the book.
The plot of these twenty chapters wasn’t complicated; it followed a very conventional romance novel opening formula.
The story mainly revolves around the childhood connection between the male and female leads. Due to a family upheaval, the male lead had to move away, and they lost contact ever since. In high school, the female lead moved to the northern city with her mother due to her mother’s job changes. While searching for a place to live, they received temporary accommodation from her mother’s high school classmate. It was when they moved in that she saw the long-lost male lead and realized that her mother’s high school classmate was his mother.
The female lead recognized him at a glance, but the male lead acted as if he didn’t know her at all and showed strong resistance towards her. The female lead didn’t force the issue and fell asleep, feeling anxious as she would be transferring to the same high school as the male lead the next day.
The story abruptly ends here, and the subsequent significant plot of their campus life is completely unexplored. Qiao Yu felt a sense of unfinished excitement, but suddenly remembered something crucial. She quickly jumped off the bed and ran to the mirror in the room, carefully examining herself.
In the mirror, she saw a female high school student wearing a school uniform. She was quite tall, around 1.7 meters, with semi-long disheveled black hair falling over her shoulders. Her face was fair and clean, with well-defined features. Her eyes had a slight upward tilt at the outer corners, and within the pupils swirled a pool of amber-colored light, giving her a lazy and languid look, like a just-awakened cat.
Alright, it was still her face, just a few years younger. Qiao Yu patted her face reassuringly and asked the system, “What kind of character am I playing? Have I appeared in the book before?”
After careful consideration, the system decisively affirmed, “Yes.”
As it spoke, the screen quickly scrolled and focused on the two lines from the 18th chapter where the male and female leads meet at his house.
【Without even acknowledging her, Cong Ye passed by Lin Qing without looking. His mother stopped him and scolded, ‘Why are you coming back at this hour? Where have you been?’
He furrowed his brows impatiently but still stopped, ‘I went out to hang out with friends.’】
Qiao Yu read and reread these lines, realizing that Cong Ye is the name of the male lead and Lin Qing is the name of the female lead. What does that have to do with her?
Suddenly, a shocking thought struck her, leaving her stunned and pale-faced. “Could it be that I am the mother of the male lead?!”
The system was momentarily at a loss for words.
“…It shouldn’t be,” Qiao Yu calmed down and glanced at the reflection of the high school girl in the mirror, feeling uncertain. “A mother shouldn’t look like me—so, am I this ‘friend’?”
“Yes,” the system eagerly provided further explanation about her character. “Host, you and the male lead met after he left the female lead. And then you’ve been together ever since, even in the same class in high school.”
Qiao Yu’s heart skipped a beat as she listened, hastily interrupting, “What do you mean by ‘together’?”
Please don’t tell me I’m playing the role of a malicious supporting female character! I can’t handle that!
The intelligent system immediately sensed her concerns and proudly straightened its chest, saying, “No need to worry! To ensure that the host can focus on writing without worrying about role-playing issues, your character has no special relationship with the male lead. At most, you have a closer friendship due to similar family backgrounds and studying together. The host is free to interpret the character!”
So, they studied together, Qiao Yu breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “What time is it in the story now?”
“It is the last night of the summer vacation before the first year of high school for the host and the male lead. The events of Chapter 20 have already taken place,” the system responded fluently, and a hint of excitement could be heard in its humanized mechanical voice.
“Which means the female lead will be transferring to the same class as the host and the male lead tomorrow!”
The next morning at 7:20, Qiao Yu, with heavy dark circles almost reaching her chin, sat on the bus heading to school.
After spending most of the night delving into understanding the story’s background and character settings, Qiao Yu suddenly realized, at around three o’clock, that she had to go to school the next day. She hurriedly went to sleep, but ended up getting only a little over three hours of sleep before the system screamed at her in her mind, urging her to wake up.
Qiao Yu struggled to get up, washed up, and had breakfast. By the time she finally settled into the family driver’s car, she already felt like she had lost half her life.
Poor, poor former university student. While staying up late writing was a normal occurrence for her, she hadn’t woken up before six o’clock in ages.
The system, which didn’t require sleep, was in high spirits and enthusiastically cheered her on.
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“Today is such a great day, host! Look at the beautiful weather!”
What a disaster! Gloomy and dark, even the sun couldn’t rise earlier than her.
Qiao Yu, sleep-deprived and suffering from a splitting headache, didn’t want to entertain the system’s nonsensical chatter with her eyes still half-closed.
Thinking about how she had finally managed to get into university after years of laziness, only to now relive the arduous high school days like a practicing monk, Qiao Yu felt a wave of sorrow wash over her. Ignoring the incessant prattle of the system in her mind, she leaned forward and instructed the driver to wake her up once they arrived at school. Then, she promptly tilted her head and fell into a deep sleep in the back seat.
As a result, she ended up oversleeping.
Qiao Yu coldly glanced at her phone, which displayed 8:03. She not only missed the morning reading session but had also missed the start of the first class by three minutes. Instead of rushing to the classroom, she decided to take her time, lazily slinging her backpack over her shoulder as she made her way towards the teaching building.
Yesterday, she had hastily caught up on the original character’s background. Sharing the same name and coming from a wealthy family, the original character was a true second-generation heir. It was precisely because of their similar backgrounds that Qiao Yu and the male lead, Cong Ye, ended up walking together on the same path.
Considering the original character’s somewhat spoiled and capricious tendencies, being late shouldn’t be such a big deal.
Qiao Yu yawned and began to recall the hasty knowledge she had absorbed yesterday.
As for how to continue writing this story, she had inquired carefully.
As the system had explained, she had now entered a complete world within the book, where the plot and character relationships would naturally unfold. All she needed to do was observe carefully and then write it out.
Considering that time flows differently inside the book compared to the outside world, not every day would bring about crucial plot developments worth writing about. She only needed to ensure a minimum of one chapter per week, which was incredibly lenient compared to the daily updates she used to do in the original world.
“Post it here,” the system displayed an operating interface on the screen. Qiao Yu looked at it blankly and immediately noticed a 【View Comments】 button next to it. Without much thought, she clicked on it, and instantly, thousands of comments unfolded before her.
【Ah, when will the author come back to update?】
【Don’t rush the author, people! The author said they don’t like being pressured to write! The more you rush, the less likely they’ll update!】
【I’m dying for the continuation! I haven’t tasted the sweetness of both cohabitation and campus romance!】
【In my heart, the male and female leads have already gone through ambiguous misunderstandings, fallen in love, gotten married, and even had three children. Amen.】
Qiao Yu couldn’t open her eyes due to the overwhelming anticipation coming from the comments. She trembled as she read a few of them before quickly closing the window.
“…That’s how it is,” the system said softly. “There are truly a lot of readers eagerly anticipating this book. That’s why, despite the long delay, it still maintains a 25% satisfaction rating.”
Qiao Yu suddenly felt the weight on her shoulders increase three hundredfold. Trembling with a glimmer of hope, she spoke up.
“W-Will these readers… react the same way after I finish and post each chapter?”
“Ah, they will still leave comments.”
Qiao Yu let out a silent scream and rolled onto her bed, clutching her head. As a result, the remaining three hours of her sleep were filled with nightmares of being mercilessly criticized by readers after posting her writing.
After recollecting that memory, Qiao Yu let out a long sigh, and a sense of grandeur welled up in her chest.
…Even though she had been forced into this position, she was, after all, a romance writer, and she had some dignity!
Qiao Yu straightened her back, determined. She tightly gripped the strap of her backpack, her whole being radiating a resolute aura as if she had decided to storm a fortress.
Not only did she have to complete this book, but she also had to write it in a way that would please the readers!
“Since that’s the case, let’s hurry to the classroom!”
The system sensed her determination and instantly became energized.
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“It wouldn’t be good to miss the female lead’s transfer to the school!”
This was a crucial plot point that would definitely be written in the story. If they missed it, they would have to rely on asking others or the host’s imagination, and that could potentially lead to an OOC writing.
Poor system, it had acted as an alarm clock twice in the morning but still couldn’t get the host to the classroom on time. But it’s never too late to mend. If they hurried now, perhaps they could still catch up!
“That won’t do.”
To its surprise, Qiao Yu coldly rejected the system. She had already entered the teaching building of the second year of high school. When she arrived at the entrance of her own Class 2, she just crouched outside, acting all sneaky without pushing the door open.
“…What are you doing, host?”
Her 1.7-meter-tall figure looked quite comical as she furtively peeked from outside. The system couldn’t help but ask her, only to be silenced with a hushing sound.
“Don’t disturb me!” Qiao Yu carefully looked inside through the closed window on the door. Sure enough, she faintly saw two people standing in front of the blackboard. Apart from the teacher, the other person was wearing a school uniform, their appearance indistinct through the glass.
She was certain in her heart, pressing her ear against the door to listen carefully to the sounds inside, all while taking the time to explain clearly to the ignorant system in her mind.
“The female lead is about to do her self-introduction as a transfer student! During such an important moment, either she shouldn’t be disturbed at all, or only the male lead should disturb her. What can I, a mere supporting character, do in such a conspicuous manner? What have I done to deserve this?!”
LP: I’m sorry, I forgot to put the MTL warning (edit date: 1/15/2024)