After the Beloved Protagonist Bottom Was Erased

Coming next: the angsty ancient-setting danmei novel about faking your death, The Guide to Faking Your Death After Failing to Redeem the Villain. Please add it to your reading list! Blurb at the bottom.

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[Older top, size difference, young married couple, angsty sweet-and-sour romance, handsome top and beautiful bottom]

A gentle, resilient, sharp-tongued secretary bottom x a cold CEO top with a paternal, commanding streak

Chu Yu is the secretary to the president of the Huo Group.

He is President Huo’s spouse.

And practically his childhood friend.

Clever, beautiful, and frail, Chu Yu is decisive and has been by President Huo’s side since he had nothing, helping him build his success.

Secretary Chu is dearly loved by the company president and treasured like the apple of his eye. He is never allowed to do any heavy work.

One day, the company suddenly hires an intern even more delicate than he is.

The intern starts causing trouble on his very first day. In just two months, he ruins three projects. Every day, he waits along the CEO’s usual route, either tripping on flat ground or spilling coffee on him, then putting on a tearful little show.

Chu Yu: “...”

Chu Yu finds it hilarious and doesn’t take the intern seriously.

After all, President Huo’s eyes are practically rolling into the back of his head.

But after the intern is fired, Chu Yu has a dream.

In it, he is a disposable side character in a transmigrate-into-a-book novel, and the intern is the protagonist.

The intern is a “transmigrator” who is supposed to steal CEO Huo Zhuo away from a “disposable background character.”

The newcomer is supposed to defeat the original partner. The newcomer is supposed to defeat the childhood friend.

But something went wrong with the setup: Huo Zhuo’s favoritism toward Chu Yu is far too firmly entrenched.

The protagonist suffers setback after setback, and the plot can’t move forward. So the author tears up the original setup and starts over, deleting Chu Yu.

Someone else becomes Huo Zhuo’s secretary.

Huo Zhuo never gets married.

Huo Zhuo never loves anyone.

Huo Zhuo has only one childhood friend.

One person is missing from the group who built everything from nothing alongside Huo Zhuo.

Chu Yu disappears.

When he wakes, Chu Yu tumbles out of a pile of garbage in an alley.

Everything from his dream has come true. Huo Zhuo doesn’t know him, his name is gone from the company, and none of the people in his phone recognize him.

As Chu Yu stands there, bewildered, a voice appears in his mind:

[Hello. This is the Erased Character Contest System.]

[The world’s will to forcibly delete you has been stopped.]

[It may not be much, but twenty percent of the traces of your existence have been preserved.]

[Please reclaim your existence.]

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Do you still love me?

Forget all those settings and ask only your own instincts: can you do it?

Reading notes:

1. This is not a typical workplace novel. Workplace details may be inaccurate, and everything is fictional, so please don’t scrutinize it.

2. There is an amnesia plot, but the top does not get involved with the green tea character. After his memories are altered, he is simply much nicer and more tolerant toward the green tea character. They do not date, and there is no falling-in-love scene. He still cares more about his original partner. If you can’t accept this, please leave in time. There are countless great stories on Lujjiang, so don’t let mine upset you.

3. There are high school scenes. Flashback chapters will be marked in the chapter titles.

4. The bottom is very cute, and the top isn’t a jerk either. If you have a problem, take it up with Teacher Mo. You may be wondering who Teacher Mo is. Teacher Mo is me (dear readers, please look up at the pen name).

4. For details, please see the author’s note in Chapter One.

Blurb for the next book, The Guide to Faking Your Death After Failing to Redeem the Villain

An awakened beauty with a heartless Daoist master x a vengeful, cruel, and violent reborn snake demon top

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Xuanshan Li, leader of the Sword Sect of the Heartless Dao, is as cold and beautiful as ice and snow. With one stroke of his sword, frost blankets fourteen provinces.

Then he suddenly awakens.

He discovers that this world is a story, a novel, a “male-oriented cultivation novel.”

And he, a supporting-character master, will soon raise two protagonists:

One is the righteous male lead, who will save the world and ascend to become a Celestial Venerable, revered by all.

The other is the villainous demon, who will destroy the world and become the Demon Venerable, hated by all.

The villain will kill the male lead, slaughter his sect, send the plot spiraling out of control, and eventually turn Xuanshan Li into a human-skinned husk.

[The male lead hasn’t joined your sect yet. The great demon is at your feet right now,]

says the “System” that has suddenly burst into his mind.

Xuanshan Li looks down.

A little snake who can take human form has just been beaten half to death by him and is kneeling at his feet.

Xuanshan Li: “...”

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The little snake is a demon disciple who happened to come and seek entry into the sect.

Upon hearing this, Xuanshan Li draws his sword to kill him, but the System stops him.

The System directs him: [You must win him over with love and set him back on the right path!]

Xuanshan Li says expressionlessly, “I’ve already dug out his golden core.”

System: “...”

Xuanshan Li: “He must already want to kill me.”

System: :)

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There are always more solutions than problems.

The System creates a secret identity for Xuanshan Li. Xuanshan Li takes on the identity of the sect’s “eldest senior brother” and approaches the little snake, treating his wounds, helping him cultivate, and teaching him swordplay. After decades of trying to reform him, the little snake finally sets his heart on the righteous path.

Once the job is done, the System and Xuanshan Li can’t be bothered to keep up the act. They stage a scene together and let the senior brother die.

But at a later plot point, the little snake turns evil.

He points his sword at Xuanshan Li, every word soaked in grief and fury: “Pay with your life for Senior Brother!”

Xuanshan Li: “...”

System: “...”

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The mission has failed.

The little snake wants to kill Xuanshan Li.

The System has no choice. After an electronic sigh, it uses its last points to give Sect Leader Xu one final option:

[Fake your death]

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One-on-one, happy ending, both leads sexually and romantically inexperienced, but full of angst and melodrama.

For details, see Chapter One. Please check the content warnings.

Both leads have personality flaws, and neither is a good person. This is not a perfect, wholesome romance. Expect plenty of outrageous melodrama. At the beginning, the bottom genuinely wants to kill the top, and the top genuinely wants to kill the bottom. If you can’t accept that, please leave in time. There’s no need to tell me you’re dropping the novel.

Theme: Take charge of your own life.