Character Workshop

In 2017, renowned bestselling comic artist Tang Chunxue died in a tragic fire. The media raced to report the news. Before the old woman died, she clutched a sketchbook tightly. Every character she had ever named was listed inside, along with a little figure unfamiliar to the legions of comic fans.

[Is this really Teacher Tang's work? It looks like an NPC. Why is it on the first page?]

[This is so half-hearted. Which book is this character from? Avoid!]

[Even my OC is more detailed than this.]

[I'm speechless. Why isn't my baby on the cover? Authors who don't love their own characters are evil stepmothers!]

[The drawing is awful. Did she use ghost artists before? Damn it, refund me!]

Just after Zhou You gained self-awareness, she was transported into a world of line art and told she was a paper character.

The good news: She was the author's favorite character and immediately received a management job offer from the Character Design Company, which spanned the entire universe.

The bad news: She was an unfinished character and completely unqualified for the job!

Her character was flat, with no development. Her features were just two dots and a line, and not at all pretty. Her bob and tiny braids were utterly commonplace. Aside from having six fingers on her right hand, she had no distinguishing features. She had no story, no background, and no characterization. But most importantly, how could she not even have a gender?

Zhou You blinked her beady eyes at the cartoon giraffe by her feet and cried out to the heavens: Author Mom, my life is so hard! Please give me a cheat!

After headquarters hurriedly discussed a solution, Zhou You was sent into the Character Design Factory in her shoddy state, embarking on a quest to find her "character tags."

Zhou You looked at the tags above her head:

[Saint] [Universally Hated] [Protagonist]

Then she looked at everyone else's tags:

[Powerful] [Tsundere] [Villain]

How could the gap between characters be so huge? Zhou You sighed and rubbed her forehead. What could she do? She'd just have to raise herself all over again.

*

On a perfectly peaceful day, Zhou You, penniless but sporting an adorable face and the one-of-a-kind [Protagonist] tag, showed up at the Character Design Company's headquarters and dropped an atomic bomb on the entire management team.

[So this blockhead is the protagonist of our world?]

[I thought "Universally Adored" was the best tag, but the Line Art World has a "Protagonist" tag? That's way too overpowered!]

[I'm so jealous, envious, and resentful!]

Everyone thought the Character Design Division's manager, whose success rate was 100%, would personally guide Zhou You through the factory process. Instead, Zhou You somehow chose Shangguan You, whose success rate was 1% and who was about to be fired.

What a waste of a rare talent... An absolute waste!

At first, she was a socially clueless, gluttonous chimera who gobbled up all kinds of tags, hoping that quantity would lead to a change in quality.

Later, everyone noticed she had become picky. After turning over a new leaf, she went on a rampage, becoming a character-tag bandit who stole all the popular tags.

Later still, countless elite characters clutched their tour guides' sleeves and wailed, "Coach, coach, I want to learn how to have as many different personas as Zhou You!"

...Cut it out. The coach wants to learn too.

*

Zhou You collected countless sets of protagonist traits. In front of people, she played an irresistibly charming social elite; in front of ghosts, a ruthless Villain boss; and in front of her own tour guide, a youthful, innocent, obedient child.

Under the mask... I have a whole warehouse full of spare masks!

Even the monitoring System couldn't help sounding the alarm. Calm down! He's the protagonist of this world! How can you let the protagonist steal the [Villain] tag?

The head of the Character Design Division simply smiled. "Who says the Villain and Protagonist tags can't belong to the same person?"

Reading Guide:

1. Zhou You's personality is highly changeable at first, but she'll settle down later.

2. From universally hated to universally adored.

3. Please don't send unsolicited writing advice.

Theme: Become a better version of yourself