The Comic's Protagonist and Villain: Secret Identities

Virel, a boy who grew up relying on his younger sister and was good at writing stories, suddenly woke up one day to discover that he'd always been living in a comic. He wasn't a villain, a supporting character, or some cannon-fodder passerby NPC. He was the protagonist.

The comic's male lead... me?

There was no time to feel honored about being chosen as the hero of a hot-blooded action comic when he could barely carry a bag of rice up two flights of stairs. The bad news arriving on the battlefield was that the mangaka, that lazy slug, had abandoned the series and stopped drawing!

The comic had suddenly gone on indefinite hiatus, leaving its protagonist Virel with a broken family, a missing sister, friends who'd gone their separate ways, and half a comic world on the verge of being devoured.

Why only half? Because before the mangaka abandoned the series, he'd only completed half the worldbuilding: the details of the protagonists' side, the forces of justice. The villain faction's setting was completely blank.

Tell me, how is a novice hero supposed to skip the middle stretch of leveling up and fighting monsters, then go straight to defeating the final Demon King?

Just as he was at his wit's end, a villain secret identity role-playing System appeared out of nowhere. It had run out of energy and couldn't return home.

Virel suddenly understood. It seemed he could only create secret identities and become his own nemesis.

-

To create an excellent hot-blooded shonen comic, it's especially important to craft a powerful, terrifying villain boss who inspires fear. Virel believed this wholeheartedly.

With that in mind, he drew the first card from the System's gacha pool: white hair and blue eyes! A cold-blooded weapon! A ruthless killer! An enemy of justice!

But:

[White-haired beauty, mwah! I'm kissing him!]

[Sorry, I came up with a hundred ways to redeem him the moment I saw that face.]

Virel fell into thought, but refusing to give up, he drew a second card: black hair and red eyes! Lies and fake innocence! Plays with people's hearts! Selfish and suspicious!

But:

[To be fair, aren't the dumb protagonists who keep falling for his tricks at fault, too?]

[Aw, he's so cute when he's hit with a direct attack! What a shy little bird, always running away.]

Third card: A mask! A mask! A mask! A mask!

But:

[He's a masked character! His body language is so cute!]

Yet the more forgiving readers were toward his villain secret identities, the more absurdly villainous a filter they applied to Virel himself.

He was sincerely following the proper path of a righteous hero, yet readers kept overanalyzing everything he did.

He gathered righteous companions on his adventures.

[Why did he suddenly change course? It's almost as if he already knew the mage would be on this path.]

He fought his way through one obstacle after another, successfully leading his companions into the enemy's lair. At the same time, he carefully planned out the exit scenes for his secret identities.

[The robot guy really has no heart. Little Crow has such a tragic backstory, and everyone else in the group is crying, but he's completely cold and only cares about the mission.]

I-I-I already feel awkward enough knowing so many people are watching the script I wrote. Do I have to act it out with them, too?

No matter how hard Virel tried to restore his real image, theories about him being the mastermind kept springing up in the comments.

I don't think this comic world is worth saving after all. In the end, Virel simply gave them what they wanted, ascending to the throne of the Dark Lord as everyone had expected.

But:

[Robot guy, I'll never call you Robot Guy again. No one can ever truly understand a transmigrator's despair and pain...]

Theme: You can give up on your choices, but don't choose to give up