A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"I thought you'd go have dinner with them first," said the "Manga Awareness" in a somewhat confused tone. "There must be some plot development there, right?"

Su Bei shrugged. "I already said I want to read the manga first; otherwise, I won’t be able to enjoy the meal. Besides, I need to quickly check on my ability."

At the same moment the "Manga Awareness" informed him that the manga had updated, Su Bei felt a subtle change in his abilities.

A significant part of the reason why he was so eager to return to the dormitory was because of this.

Of course, another reason was that Su Bei needed to adjust his mood before attending any celebratory banquet. After all, he knew that 90% of his actions were motivated by self-interest.

Since he couldn’t attend the banquet with a pure heart, he could only go with a performance mindset. Naturally, a rehearsal beforehand would be ideal, but there was no need to tell "Manga Awareness" about that.

Sitting on his dormitory bed, Su Bei temporarily set aside the changes in his abilities and first opened his phone to read the latest chapter of the manga that had just been updated.

The beginning of this chapter continued from the previous one, with Sun Ming collapsing and Jiang Tianming rushing over to check on him. At this moment, the narrator displayed his inner thoughts: "Is this the 'show' that Su Bei mentioned?"

Accompanying this thought was his instinctive action of looking up for someone. However, since he couldn’t find Su Bei, he focused on checking Sun Ming's condition. Having seen death before, and even killed someone with his own hands, he quickly concluded that Sun Ming was dead.

The following plot was something Su Bei had personally experienced, so he quickly skipped through it, focusing on scenes that involved him and on events he hadn't experienced.

After the teacher confirmed that the three of them were fine, they were allowed to leave. Surprisingly, the manga included Su Bei's comment about the protagonist group, as well as Lan Subing's follow-up remark, "He's so handsome."

This was an unexpected surprise for Su Bei, who hadn’t anticipated that this moment would be featured in the manga.

At that moment, the live comments were filled with excitement.

[K! It's K!]

[So handsome!!!]

[How can he just casually blow a kiss to a girl? Is he a playboy? I love him even more!]

Seeing these comments, Su Bei twitched the corner of his mouth and quickly flipped to the next page.

Next came the scene of Meng Huai's lesson, which wasn’t glossed over. Instead, the manga depicted the expulsion of students who had slacked off during yesterday's run, as well as the lesson on "mental exhaustion not equating to physical exhaustion."

Clearly, this lesson left a deep impression not only on the students but also on the readers. From the readers' perspective, Meng Huai had successfully established his character.

The plot quickly advanced to the arrival of the Sun family, and Meng Huai was called outside. Due to the Ordinary Gear, Su Bei was tested, but he explained himself well, avoiding any suspicion.

The argument outside was conveyed through text, with two panels showing Wu Mingbai bowing his head while facing the accusations of Sun's parents. However, it was evident from the panels that Wu Mingbai wasn’t passively enduring the scolding. His usual smile was gone, and his entire body emitted a dark yellow glow.

This deep brown glow, in Su Bei's view, was likely a representation of mental energy in the manga. In the previous season, when Jiang Tianming and others used their abilities, they were surrounded by different colored auras.

When Su Bei used his ability in the previous chapter, he too was surrounded by a glow, and it was a dark gold color, which he was very pleased with. This color was understated, luxurious, and full of depth—perfectly matching his personality.

Jiang Tianming's aura was black, and Lan Subing's was blue. Both of them perfectly reflected the relationship between their mental energy and their hair and eye colors, making them ideal examples.

As Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing rushed out the door, the perspective shifted outside. The manga fully depicted the friendship, anger, and resistance they experienced.

As expected, the manga readers were furious. Sun's parents were just too disgusting—even though they were grieving parents, it was hard to sympathize with them.

After all, while they were victims, what did the protagonist group do wrong? They didn’t owe anything to these parents, yet they were unjustly blamed and threatened, inevitably angering the fans of the protagonist group.

After the argument with Sun's parents ended, the manga graciously cut back to a scene inside the classroom. The scene depicted Su Bei and Mu Tieren's conversation, including Su Bei's remark that "Jiang Tianming looks like a villain" and Mu Tieren's good-guy behavior.

From the readers' perspective, the content of their conversation was highly significant. First, there was Su Bei, who, in the readers' eyes, possessed prophetic abilities! And yet, this person said that "Jiang Tianming really resembles a villain from a novel."

This led to a mix of humor and anxiety among the readers, with some joking that the fourth wall had been broken, while others worried that it might be a foreshadowing of something ominous.

[Hahaha, a villain? Seriously? But he’s the protagonist!]

[Is this a jab from the author? Jiang Jiang is really unlucky. When will shonen manga finally feature a protagonist with good luck?]

[Am I the only one worried? Su Bei has prophetic abilities! What if this is some kind of prediction?]

[Old thief, this better not be the script where the dragon-slayer turns into the dragon!]

As for Mu Tieren, his big brother personality is indeed common in manga, but Su Bei's final display of doubt as he watched him walk away made the readers wary.

Is Mu Tieren really just a simple nice guy?

Su Bei felt a sense of relief and satisfaction that this part of the plot made it into the manga. It wasn’t in vain that he deliberately put on a show at that time; the author didn’t disappoint him. He could already imagine the intense discussions this plot would spark on the forums, which was evident from the comments.

The manga continued, with Jiang Tianming and the others returning, seething with anger, and immediately seeking out Su Bei. The suggestion that Su Bei gave them was presented to the readers exactly as it was.

The opinions in the comments on this part were not entirely unanimous. A small portion of people felt that Su Bei was too cold-hearted. Sun's parents were already miserable enough, yet he still made such a suggestion, which some felt led the protagonist group astray.

However, more people found it refreshing. After all, compared to other shonen manga where the main theme is "forgiveness, understanding, and tolerance," Su Bei's "shocking" suggestion in the manga world and Jiang Tianming and the others' acceptance of it without hesitation felt both novel and satisfying.

{Following Su Bei's suggestion, the protagonist group decided to work together to bring down the Sun family's company while simultaneously searching for the culprit.}

The detective hired by the school didn’t have much effect, as expected. In Su Bei's opinion, his biggest contribution was introducing the concept of "ability prohibition."

Feeling the pressure, the protagonist group tried to invite Su Bei to join them, but Su Bei declined with an interesting reason—

"If the spectator goes on stage, they become part of the performance. And that... would be boring."

What made Su Bei happy was that the manga didn’t let his half-true, half-false acting go to waste. It even illustrated his lonely expression after saying this.

However, the portrayal was a bit eerie, making him look less like a solitary observer and more like a world-weary mastermind.

Su Bei: "..."

Well, as long as it sparks the readers' imagination, that's fine.

And, as expected, the readers flooded the comments during this scene.

[Su Bei’s playful character remains intact.]

[Stubbornly insists on being a spectator? Feels like a flag, I bet he’ll be dragged into the drama by the protagonist group sooner or later!]

[What does that expression mean? Could Su Bei really be a villain? Why do I feel like this is all part of his plan?]

[So handsome! I want to screenshot every scene with Su Bei in it!]

{After Su Bei's refusal, the protagonist group began their investigation at school. The first to join them was Mu Tieren. The kind class president used his authority to help them question some classmates and, worried about their safety, naturally ended up investigating alongside them.}

Next to join was Mo Xiaotian. From the manga, it was clear that he initially came to find Su Bei. However, with his enthusiastic and harmless personality, he quickly bonded with the protagonist group and learned about their predicament.

Thus, Mo Xiaotian naturally chose to join the investigation, not just out of curiosity but also to uphold the justice he believed in. In a way, he was a textbook shonen manga protagonist.

However, Su Bei noticed something that the readers couldn't see. Mo Xiaotian's involvement in the investigation was definitely not a coincidence. On the day of the incident, when returning to the dormitory, Mo Xiaotian had called out to Su Bei to ask about what happened in the cafeteria.

And in the manga, Mo Xiaotian had also casually brought up the cafeteria incident several times, which successfully opened up the conversation.

This made sense since he was in the same organization as the culprit and naturally wanted to get involved in the case.

But what's strange is that, aside from that initial part, Mo Xiaotian didn’t deliberately do anything else in the rest of the plot. He seemed genuinely focused on helping the protagonists solve the case, and although his quirky personality often led to misunderstandings, it didn’t seem like he was intentionally trying to delay anything.

Moreover, when Su Bei was kidnapped, Mo Xiaotian also played a major role in capturing the culprit. If Su Bei wasn’t aware of his true identity, he probably wouldn’t have noticed that slight inconsistency.

{Amidst the chaotic and comedic daily interactions, the protagonist group's investigation gradually narrowed down the suspect pool, ultimately focusing on the cafeteria staff.}

Just as they were about to enter the cafeteria, Su Bei sent a message. This message took up an entire panel: "Don’t forget the hint I gave you earlier. If you don’t use it, I’ll be very disappointed."

The comments section buzzed again.

[Oh oh oh! I almost forgot about that hint!]

[It was the purple-red smoke, right? Still don’t know what it means.]

[I came back after reading ahead, and I can only say Su Bei is forever the best! (yyds)]

[I really love these strategic handsome guys. Even when they don’t participate directly, they still manage to make their presence felt at key moments]

[By the way, how was Su Bei able to send the message so accurately at that time? Is he monitoring the protagonist group?]

The comment about "Su Bei monitoring the protagonist group" piqued his interest. Su Bei didn’t expect that the manga author’s choice to leave out the part where Mo Xiaotian told him they were going to the cafeteria would lead to such a misunderstanding.

But maybe this misunderstanding isn’t so bad? Perhaps he could use it to his advantage.

Next was the part where the protagonist group investigates in the cafeteria. Not only did it include their inner thoughts, but after the purple-red-eyed chef was suspected, the manga directly depicted his thoughts, clearly showing no intention of hiding the fact that he was the culprit.

Honestly, when Jiang Tianming immediately noticed the culprit because of his eye color, Su Bei was genuinely moved. He didn’t actually expect the protagonist group to figure out the secret behind the "purple-red smoke" clue; it would have been impressive enough if they just realized the culprit’s ability involved smoke.

Once the incident was over, he could easily establish his role in front of the readers by just mentioning the connection between the clue and the truth.

However, it was much more elegant for them to discover it on their own, especially since Jiang Tianming figured it out early on and used the eye color to identify the culprit, making Su Bei’s hint seem even more useful.

When they obtained the machine to test abilities but couldn’t detect the culprit’s power, and then immediately connected it to the concept of "ability prohibition," Su Bei almost wanted to applaud them.

"Such great teammates!" he couldn’t help but remark, finally understanding what it meant to have good teammates who make everything go twice as smoothly.

What happened next was something he personally experienced. Surprisingly, the manga generously depicted his conversation with the culprit before the protagonist group arrived.

At that time, his mind was full of thoughts of giving up, but from the manga’s perspective, even he thought that the manga version of him appeared genuinely fearless.

{The blonde boy, who was clearly the one being held hostage, seemed like the mastermind behind everything. Instead, the kidnapper appeared more nervous than the hostage.

"You’re not afraid?" The panel showed the kidnapper’s dagger pressed against the blonde boy’s fair neck as he asked, his voice lacking confidence. However, judging by their expressions, anyone would feel a sense of confusion—wasn’t it Su Bei who was actually holding the kidnapper hostage?

The next panel showed a full view of Su Bei, who looked lazy yet relaxed, his expression calm: "Afraid? Of course, I’m scared to death."}

There’s no denying that this lazy yet calculated demeanor really resonated with the readers. Although Su Bei, upon reviewing the manga, only thought he looked unexpectedly punchable at that moment, the comments said it all.

[So handsome, Brother Bei!]

[Handsome, that's all I have to say.]

[What are you afraid of? The kidnapper is the one who should be scared hahaha.]

[I'm dying from the handsomeness! Ahhh!]

[Why isn't he scared? Even if his ability is strong, he’s still a newbie, right? Could he really beat the culprit?]

[Hahahaha, I’m coming back from the future, haha!]

[This scene is amazing! I’m making it my wallpaper.]

Next was the scene where Jiang Tianming and the others arrived to rescue him. Su Bei carefully watched this part, wanting to understand each of their abilities.

{It was clear that Jiang Tianming and the others were working together. Jiang Tianming was responsible for distracting the culprit by chatting with Su Bei and negotiating with the culprit.

Mu Tieren used his tall stature to block the culprit’s view, preventing him from noticing the others’ subtle movements.

Lan Subing used her "Word Spirit" ability to say "impatience," making the culprit a bit more agitated. Given the significant difference in their abilities, she could only slightly affect the culprit.

Wu Mingbai used his "Earth Element" ability to subtly raise a small lump of earth to trip the culprit as he anxiously stepped forward.

Lastly, Mo Xiaotian, whose specific ability was unclear, created a transparent cube in mid-air. The culprit stumbled into the cube after tripping, which gave Su Bei the chance to escape.}

Most readers cheered for the protagonist group’s seamless teamwork and were happy that Jiang Tianming and the others had made new friends.

However, the comments showed that a small portion of readers couldn’t accept the new members of the protagonist group, especially Mo Xiaotian.

Mu Tieren was still acceptable since his big-brother personality didn’t steal the spotlight and he provided solid support for the group, so he didn’t draw any hate.

But Mo Xiaotian is different. His "little sunshine" personality can attract a lot of fans, but it can also bring in a lot of haters. Those who like him will find his foolishness endearing, while those who dislike him will see him as a burden.

Moreover, at least from the outside, Mo Xiaotian and Wu Mingbai have very similar personas. This makes some of Wu Mingbai's fans not too fond of him.

Seeing Mo Xiaotian play a significant role in this rescue operation, there were a few comments in the bullet chat criticizing him as being part of the "royal family" and accusing the author of deliberately giving him the spotlight.

Seeing these comments, Su Bei raised an eyebrow and suddenly said, "Can we settle our previous bet now?"

Earlier, he had made a bet with "Manga Awareness," wagering that the new character wouldn’t gain much support.

After a moment of silence, "Manga Awareness" finally replied, "You’ve won."

Although not much time had passed since the manga update, the trend was already clear. Even though Mu Tieren hadn't received much negative feedback, Mo Xiaotian alone had definitely garnered over 10% of the attention, and combined with Mu Tieren, it was even more.

Realizing that he had indeed made an assumption, "Manga Awareness" candidly admitted, "Alright, I don’t understand the readers very well. I won’t interfere with your judgment in the future."

Upon hearing this, Su Bei secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With this promise, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about "Manga Awareness" inadvertently making a blunder in the future, which was more concerning than any malicious intent.

He continued reading, and the chapter ended with Meng Huai saying "Well done" to everyone.

But Su Bei keenly noticed that the panel also subtly contained a crucial piece of information.

The composition of the panel showed the students facing the camera, with Meng Huai’s back to the camera, and behind Meng Huai was a plant cage. The culprit, also with his back to the camera, had his collar slipping down due to earlier struggles, revealing a black lightning symbol on the back of his neck.

This was clearly a foreshadowing.

After finishing the manga, Su Bei directly opened the forum.

Every time a manga update was released, there would be a surge of traffic to the forum, and this time was no exception. The entire forum was buzzing with activity, with all sorts of posts appearing, and many hot threads as well.

Su Bei’s eyes landed on one particular thread, and he had a strange feeling that this thread might have something to do with him.

[Polaris Assembles!]

[My God Su Bei No. 0]: I even changed my username just for Su Bei. Now that I’ve joined Polaris, I’m officially an old fan of Su Bei! Blond hair, purple eyes, and a handsome face—definitely a winning investment!

[No. 1]: Su Bei was really handsome in this chapter. I think I’m a fan now. That feeling of not participating but still having a strong presence is something I absolutely love!

[No. 2]: Purple eyes are my weakness, and blond hair is too. I’m in love with this handsome guy who ticks all my boxes.

[No. 3]: So, Su Bei’s fans are called Polaris? I’ve finally found my group. That’s a great name!

[My God Su Bei No. 4 (Original Poster) replying to No. 3]: The fan club has already been set up, and the name was chosen there. Come join us!

[No. 5]: They already have a fan club? I’m joining right away!

[……]

[No. 23]: The last part almost made me die laughing. Who would’ve thought Su Bei’s self-rescue method would be that?

Su Bei shouting "Teacher, help!".jpg

Meng Huai facepalm.jpg

[No. 24 replying to No. 23]:

That part was indeed funny, but when you think about it, isn’t it a bit eerie? How did Su Bei know that the school had these protective measures?

From his actions, it’s clear that he knew from the very beginning; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so confident when facing the culprit.

But the other students clearly didn’t know about this, and the school’s protective measures weren’t activated immediately. They were only triggered after Meng Huai fiddled with his phone following the culprit's escape.

From the time the school's defenses were activated to the moment Su Bei was caught by the culprit, it took less than ten minutes, maybe even shorter. How did Su Bei get this information in such a short time?

[No. 25]: Too many words, but I’m following what the person above said.

[No. 26]: Yeah, thinking about it, Su Bei's source of information does seem a bit odd.

[No. 27]: No. 24, you’re amazing. I didn’t notice anything strange at all.

[No. 28]: Wait a minute, why didn’t the school activate the protective measures right after Sun Ming’s death? There’s no evidence that it was Meng Huai’s message that triggered the school's defenses, right?

[No. 29 replying to No. 28]:

No. 24 is correct; the school activated the defenses right after the message. Look here:

Meng Huai rushing towards the culprit.jpg

This part of the plot clearly shows that Meng Huai used his speed to rush between the culprit and Wu Mingbai before the culprit could attack.

If the school's defenses had already been activated at that time, he would have teleported instead of running over.

[No. 30]: Wow, wow, wow, we've got experts on this forum.

[No. 31 replying to No. 29]:

I’m convinced; that analysis is really persuasive. If that’s the case, it is indeed strange how Su Bei got the information so quickly…

But, of course, this doesn’t affect how much I like him. If he’s some mastermind behind the scenes, that just makes him even cooler!

[……]

Seeing that the discussion started drifting to other topics, Su Bei raised an eyebrow and decided to step in personally. In the manga content, he hadn’t shown any new abilities, only reinforcing the readers’ impression that he had some sort of "prophetic" power.

But he wasn’t satisfied with that. Each time his abilities evolved, it had to wait until the next manga update. This meant that if he did nothing now, his abilities wouldn’t change much when the next chapter came out.

But that would be too slow-paced. The only way to strengthen his abilities quickly was to make moves now. So before the next chapter was released, he needed to give the readers some new ideas about his abilities.

Su Bei started a new thread.

"What were Su Bei's sources of intelligence?"

[Prophet No. 0]: Based on the content of the released manga, I believe that Su Bei has a hidden source of information.

There are three reasons why I’ve come to this conclusion:

1. Su Bei sent a message to Jiang Tianming a second before he entered the cafeteria.

If he didn’t know that Jiang Tianming had already arrived, he wouldn’t have sent that message.

2. Su Bei knew that shouting “Teacher, help!” would save him.

This means he knew that the school's protective measures had already been activated. But these measures were only activated after Meng Huai sent a message following the culprit's escape. The timing was so close—if Su Bei didn’t have some special source of information, how could he have known?

3. Su Bei was "coincidentally" captured by the culprit.

Let’s look at the situation when Su Bei was caught. The manga shows that he was running toward the library with a book in hand, back facing the culprit. This means that after receiving the message, he immediately wanted to return to the library.

But in reality, the library is in a remote location, so it wouldn’t normally be the first place someone would go to. Logically, there was no need for him to be in such a hurry.

So, I speculate that he might have known in advance, through some means, that the culprit was heading in his direction, which is why he was in such a rush to go back.

Layout of the Supernatural Academy.jpg

Each of these speculations might seem a bit far-fetched when looked at individually, and they could easily be explained as “coincidences.” But when you combine all three? Too many coincidences make it a certainty.

Note: Please keep in mind that some information may have been lost in translation. Thanks for your understanding!