After Flying Squirrel asked for everyone else's thoughts and recorded them, he went offline.
Ordinary Group Leader: "Sure would be nice to be able to bring game items out into the real world."
Ordinary Group Leader: "When will my own stroke of fortune come along, I wonder?"
By sheer luck, she ought to be one of the top-tier individuals in that world—even if not the protagonist, she should at least be a major supporting character, if not the heroine herself. But a spiritual energy绝缘体 constitution had pretty much shut her out of any chance of cultivation.
If not for the chat group, she'd still be an ordinary person.
Following normal story logic, she ought to have encountered some fateful encounter that would transform her spiritual energy绝缘体 constitution into an incredibly powerful one, propelling her to the apex of that world at a speed defying imagination!
But when would such fortune ever arrive?
Watching the other members grow stronger by the day—sure, she'd gotten stronger too compared to before, but she still fell well short of the chat group's top ranks.
Even if she couldn't compete with Bai Xuan, Angel Yan, Shendu, or Uchiha Madara, shouldn't she at least be on par with Minato Namikaze or Whitebeard?
While she progressed, so did they. Right now she could only say she was stronger than Whitebeard and the others when they'd first joined—but only marginally so. She had no hope of closing the gap with someone like Uchiha Madara, who'd grown far more.
Utaha: "At least you still have your fateful encounter. For those of us from slice-of-life worlds, there's absolutely nothing."
Utaha: "Why does Su Yan just have to be a plain-jane memory-carrying transmigrator? If he'd had a system, I wouldn't be stuck as an ordinary person to this day."
Richest Man: "Hold up—you were calling him Su-Da from the very start, weren't you?"
Utaha: "A plagiarist who passes off other people's work as his own doesn't deserve that title from me."
Utaha: "And what really gets me—he actually tried to romance me."
Utaha: "Does he think I'm that easy to win over?"
Utaha: "The worst part is, while he was pursuing me, he was also chatting up Eriri and Mikoto. What did he think I was—a side character?"
Ordinary Group Leader: "He probably still sees you as the Utaha from the anime."
Ordinary Group Leader: "If Aki Ringo could manage it, he probably figured he could do it too."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Didn't he also help you resolve the Love Produce matter?"
Utaha: "Yeah, he did."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Which is to say—only because you joined the chat group did you find out his novels were someone else's work, just不存在于你的世界; but think carefully: if you hadn't joined the chat group, and had no idea he was a plagiarist, could you have actually resisted his pursuit?"
Ordinary Group Leader: "Everyone could see how starstruck you were when you first joined."
Ordinary Group Leader: "You even picked a fight with Viscount Warren to defend Aizen's characterization in his work."
Ordinary Group Leader: "Without the chat group, you'd probably have willingly become one of his harem members by now, ready to compete for his attention."
Utaha: "I—"
She wanted to retort. But Utaha found nothing to say in her own defense.
Had she never joined the chat group, there was no way she could have refused Su Yan.
Be it the talent he'd displayed in the light novel field, or his looks and bearing, she found herself unable to resist.
Su Yan was an ordinary person without a system, that much was true—but it wasn't as though he lacked any other extraordinary abilities.
Otherwise, how could he have brought Death Note, Naruto, One Piece, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and other anime and tokusatsu series from memory, whole and intact, into this world?
His learning ability was sharp. His memory was exceptional—even on media interviews he'd demonstrated photographic recall.
Calligraphy, tea ceremony, piano, violin, fine art, Go—he'd shown impressive aptitude in all of them.
After transmigrating, Su Yan hadn't just lazed about living off those works. From a young age he'd kept learning, not wasting a single ounce of his talent.
Not just on the island nation—even globally, Su Yan had amassed a massive fanbase.
In his entire peer group, no one came close to Su Yan's caliber.
Someone like that pursuing a girl—even if he was simultaneously pursuing other girls too—could you genuinely bring yourself to hate him?
No. Instead, you'd mostly worry whether you yourself were too mediocre. You'd even find yourself jealous of the girls Su Yan favored.
Had she not joined the chat group and broadened her horizons, Utaha could never have resisted Su Yan's advances.
Even now, had Su Yan not been pursuing Eriri and Mikoto at the same time, she doubts she could have refused him either.
Su Yan was exceptional. Undeniably, exceptionally so!
Even if he was a plagiarist, it couldn't eclipse how extraordinary he was!
When you got down to it, those works were now just an insignificant fragment of Su Yan's life. He commanded an even vaster financial empire!
Had she never joined the chat group, even if Su Yan had wanted a harem, she would have acquiesced through hesitation—because Su Yan was so exceptional, so far beyond what any ordinary person could compete with, and after having known Su Yan, she'd never be able to settle for ordinary men again.
But after joining the chat group, it was as if she'd found her footing. She felt herself Su Yan's equal—or rather, the more important share.
However exceptional Su Yan was, he was still just a mortal with a lifespan shorter than a century; but her future extended far beyond that!
Whatever Su Yan could accomplish, she could match.
Mastery-level skills cost barely any points!
She saw herself as Su Yan's equal—nay, superior.
That mindset made it unbearable that Su Yan was romancing others while pursuing her, keeping multiple women in his orbit.
Ordinary Group Leader: "Didn't Eriri like Aki Ringo? What's the situation between her and Su Yan now?"
Utaha: "The relationship between a tsundere golden retriever and her owner, I guess."
Utaha: "A few measly tricks, and she'd drifted further and further from Aki Ringo."
Utaha: "Ultimately there was no love between them to begin with—just the guilt Eriri felt over betraying Aki Ringo, and the fondness left over from their childhood friendship."
Utaha: "Those are fragile things. Easy to shatter."
Utaha: "As for Mikoto—she saw through all of it, but she just watched."
Utaha: "She's too self-effacing. Her weak presence makes her cling to anyone who notices her at all times—and Su Yan was so exceptional."
Utaha: "So even after Su Yan showed his womanizing side, she still stayed by his side."
(End of chapter)