After Tearing Off the Passerby's Buff, the Manga's Protagonist Became Me

Ze Yao died in the most insignificant panel in the comic.

Only when his soul floated out of his body did he learn the truth:

The world he'd lived in for seventeen years was a battle shonen manga called Age of Superpowers.

And he, Ze Yao, was an F-list extra who didn't even deserve a line of dialogue.

His entire purpose was to die in the manga and push the plot forward.

The System asked him, "Do you want to truly live?"

"Then go earn popularity points. Make the characters in the manga see you, and the readers outside it remember you."

Ze Yao glanced down at his hands, which were gradually turning transparent, then at the corpse on the ground, and laughed carelessly.

A so-called "story" is nothing more than a definition that has been written about too much.

And now, he'll be the one to write that definition anew.

As the most talked-about battle shonen manga of the moment, Age of Superpowers had over ten billion readers following it worldwide while it was still being serialized.

The story begins at the elite academy Starshine, a school that gathers the most gifted superpower users. The main cast grows there, gradually taking on the mysterious organization lurking in the shadows.

Yet the most popular and most hotly debated character in the manga isn't any of the protagonists.

It's a figure who remains impossible to fathom from beginning to end:

Ze Yao.

By poring over the original work again and again, many readers discovered that this extra, who initially didn't even qualify as background scenery, had always been present in the undercurrents of every plotline.

He was like a drop of ink falling into clear water, quietly tinting the story's every thread.

Some analyzed his fight scenes frame by frame, some parsed every word he said, and some enlarged every panel, searching for clues.

Outside the manga, analysis threads ran for thousands of posts overnight:

[Hot take: Is Ze Yao really just an extra, or is he a deeply hidden plot thread planted by the author?]

[A rundown of all the times Ze Yao pulled a dirty trick]

[Author, please say something. Is this foreshadowing or not?!]

[It's terrifying when you think about it. When did Ze Yao figure it out?]

The debate grew more and more heated, but the author remained silent.

Until the final panel of the latest chapter:

The smoke still hung over the battlefield. The main cast was covered in wounds, their will to fight fading.

High above, on a distant ruin, a tall, black-haired boy stood with his back to the ash-filled sky. For the first time, he turned toward the camera and curled his lips into a lazy, languid smile.

Author: Don't ask me. I'm following the updates too.

1. Expect a cool, handsome, overpowered chuuni protagonist who's a total show-off. This is basically a wish-fulfillment story written to indulge my own chuuni side, not a meticulously researched work. There may be plot holes. Nothing in the story is real, so please don't judge it by real-world standards.

2. Includes a forum format where characters jump to mistaken conclusions.

3. Please don't spoil anything ^ ^

4. The romance will be slow-burn, and both leads are strong.

5. The protagonist is chaotic neutral, and his loyalties depend on his mood.

Theme: Stay true to freedom.