“There’s a group stirring up drama about you lately.”
Stirring up drama, as the name suggests, is a bunch of people on forums posting baseless rumors and grasping at straws to drive a narrative.
Like the recent drama about Chang Hansui.
“What, I had no idea.”
The Blue-White Creature floating in midair had shifted its form at some point, now resembling a fluffy little sheep emitting a soft, gentle glow.
Its light, like a warm-colored nightlight, cast a fuzzy, cozy halo over the scattered instant noodle cups and blueprint edges on the desk by the computer.
“That’s because the main battlefield isn’t on your own forum. Sigh… since you’re completely oblivious, I’ll just say it outright. Lately, the entire magical girl community across the internet has been buzzing with rumors that the forum admin behind ‘firemaru’ is a depressed, unappreciated beautiful girl.”
“Pfft—cough, cough!”
Chang Hansui nearly choked on his own saliva, wearing an expression like he’d just seen a ghost.
“What beautiful girl? Look at me from head to toe—which single strand of hair looks like a beautiful girl to you?!”
“So isn’t that exactly what stirring up drama means? I’ve seen plenty of drama-bait posts on your forum too. Their angle on you is just picking apart your gaming habits, your temper when handling banned accounts, and some of your word choices. On the internet these days, anyone who doesn’t post selfies and has a somewhat casual management style can get shaped into a ‘pitiful, lovable beautiful girl’ by those over-imaginative types.”
Chang Hansui rolled his eyes and slumped back into his chair in irritation.
“Unbelievable. These people only know how to stir up drama all day.”
“You’ve got some nerve talking. Starting a alt account to bait people and give those two hype is also stirring up drama.”
The room fell into an awkward silence.
“…”
“Ugh, whenever it’s a hard question, you go quiet again.”
“Anyway… this is my ability. When enough people on the internet firmly believe you’re a beautiful girl, even filling in your persona, backstory, and narrative for you, then on a conceptual level, you ‘are’ one. Your ‘beautiful girl’ image in the online world has been hyped to the heavens by them.”
That bizarre creature was inexplicably excited about all this.
“Some say you harbored resentment toward the current Magical Girl Association because you were ostracized and bullied there. Others say you’re jealous and can’t wait to see your peers fail… In short, in their script, you’re not just a magical girl—you’re a story-rich, beautiful, strong, and tragic ultimate beautiful girl.”
The corner of Chang Hansui’s mouth twitched so hard it was nearly cramping.
Refusing to believe it, he sat up straight and placed his hands on the keyboard.
“I’ll see for myself today what kind of flowers they can cook up.”
He rapidly typed a famous blue-and-white themed large forum into the browser’s address bar.
The moment he hit enter, on the trending list at the top right of the homepage, several bold titles with “HOT” icons caught his eye.
<Shocking Turnaround! Grey Ivy Lands the Biggest Magical Girl Contract!>
[Main Post]
Our Grey Ivy has finally truly taken back her life! As a former bottom-tier magical girl, she’s used her connections through Magic Girl Association staff to secure an unprecedented, the biggest magical girl contract ever! From now on, becoming the top magical girl is within reach!
For years, she’s hidden away in the ‘firemaru’ forum, stirring up drama about herself and her peers, finally managing to threaten the reputation of headquarters and forcing the association to bow! Once the old contract expires, our Grey Ivy can happily rake in the dough (✿^‿^)!
All those bottom-tier magical girls and bottom-tier weirdos better step aside! Let’s all look forward to the super beautiful news coverage of Grey Goddess returning to the stage!
<Discussion: Why do I suddenly feel a bit sorry for Grey Ivy…>
[Main Post]
Think about it, she’s like that classmate in school—the pretty, airheaded girl who’s desperate to save face.
She’s got admin powers over the biggest magical girl forum on the internet, and when she picks fights and trash-talks online, she can roar with the force of an Eight-Level Typhoon. But the moment it comes to real-life magical girl combat—whether standing alongside her peers or facing off against monsters and weirdos—she instantly turns into a timid, cowardly Quail.
I’d bet my life she’s reread her group chats dozens of times in private, secretly hoping some other magical girl would @ her and invite her out. But when no one does, she has no choice but to forcefully post on her feed something like, ‘What kind of big news should I cook up tonight?’
(Actually, what you don’t know is that her desktop wallpaper is definitely already a local map, with several newly opened dessert shops carefully marked on it, like a pathetic girl desperately waiting for her peers to invite her for cake. In reality, no one cares, and she can only stir up drama on her own forum to find some sense of existence.)
As a bottom-tier magical girl, she’s better than anyone at giving people an out and making them happy.
But when it comes to her own awkwardness, she can only delete and retype, retype and delete the words she wants to say in the chat box.
Until a friend really can’t stand it anymore and DMs her directly: ‘Grey Ivy! You couldn’t even provide decent support against that little monster yesterday!!’
She gets startled, replies with a quick ‘?’, then slowly and pitifully turns off her phone, red-eyed as she types: ‘You guys really are something…’
Wuwuwu, our Grey Ivy is adorable, hardworking, and pretty… How dare the Magical Girl Association bully her like this…!
“???????”
Chang Hansui was dumbfounded, as if petrified, frozen with his hand on the mouse for a full half minute without catching his breath.
‘This… what kind of utterly absurd nonsense is this?!’
First of all, Grey Ivy is indeed his main online ID, but these people…
He’d been busy stirring up drama on his own forum, and meanwhile, the outside world had become a bloody storm?
These people’s drama-stirring had some real skill to it.
The titles and content were quite attention-grabbing…
The writing had that clickbait-marketing flavor with quotes and references, and even the emotional manipulation of a “beautiful, strong, tragic little thing” was executed perfectly.
The only problem is that the foundation was built in the Mariana Trench from the start!
It’s all fake!
Every single post from these people was built on the premise that Chang Hansui was a bottom-tier magical girl desperate for attention, reduced to running a forum in frustration.
And even if the foundation being wrong from the start wasn’t enough, the titles and formatting reeked of clickbait marketing, and it was all lies!
The thing is… Chang Hansui is a guy!
He’s not a magical girl either!
And he’s not that starved for affection like the drama claims.
Running the forum started as a hobby, and now it’s just life…
Chang Hansui sat up straight and slammed the table.
“You drama-stirring bastards… always wanting to cook up some big news, but you’re cooking without any basis! These people! Argh!”
The water cup on the table rippled from the impact.
The glowing little sheep hovered silently in midair, watching Chang Hansui.