(Elegant + villain protagonist + no heroine or one heroine + a slightly slow start + folklore horror)
My name is Gu Yuange, and I run a theater troupe.
My troupe is rather unusual.
The paper effigy boys have deathly pale faces; Ghost Xiang Yu and Ghost Yu Ji shed bloody tears; the hunched old man and the vicious ghost in her wedding dress... All are marionettes, dancing in my hands.
And I am the only living actor onstage.
Crimson threads descended, disaster zones spread, and evil spirits ran rampant. On this ruined earth, humanity clung to life by a thread.
This world was sick, gravely ill, beyond saving.
There was only one cure: turn all living things, evil spirits, and even the gods in the clouds into puppets in my hands, controlled by my strings.
So I gladly took up the strings and began plotting a grand performance... one capable of turning heaven and earth upside down.
Now, I have become the only taboo in this wasteland.
The name of Gu Yuange, the red-robed troupe master, resounds across the land.
“I am Gu Yuange, troupe master of the Ghost Players.”
“From this day on, I will take charge of every living thing in this world.”
