The Cruel Porter

"Porter-sensei is such a jerk! Why does he always have to turn a lighthearted story into something so tragically dark?!"

"I cried! What is this?! I feel awful. I want to send razor blades to Porter-sensei!"

"Amitabha… Every time Porter-sensei starts a new series, I always tell myself to approach it with a zen-like attitude. After all, his reputation is that of a 'tragedy artist.' I thought I was prepared, but where's my knife? I'm going to confront him. This is inhuman! How can anyone think up a plot like this?!"

"I feel sick... I really thought Porter had changed for the better! The earlier episodes were so fun and lighthearted. The goofy goddess's expressions were hilarious. But why… Why does Porter always have to turn a perfectly good story into something so heart-wrenching? Is he an alien from the Planet of Tragedy?"

"I feel so empty after watching this. Especially when Seiya regained some of his past memories right before he died. I kept wishing that somehow, miraculously, he'd be saved!"

"That line—'I must be cautious, cautious, and more cautious. Even if I'm misunderstood or hated, I will save the world, my companions, and the ones I love.' It hits so hard. Even the goofiest shows have deeply emotional moments, and in Porter's hands, those moments are always incredibly moving."

The final episode of Cautious Hero sparked an intense discussion online, even more than previous episodes.

The day after the finale, Cautious Hero topped the trending charts. In fact, three of the top twenty trending topics were related to Cautious Hero, Seiya, and the heartbreaking twists Porter delivered.

On major anime forums and discussion threads, posts about Cautious Hero flooded the boards, occupying nearly half of the trending conversations across all anime series.

Of course, the majority of these comments were curses directed at Porter.

After all, the emotional blow Porter dealt with this final episode was something most readers never saw coming. He had killed off the main character, Seiya, in the cruelest way possible.

What made it worse was the way Porter toyed with the readers' emotions.

In the twelfth episode, Seiya's first use of the Gate of Heaven's Punishment left him on the verge of death, making readers anxious. Then the goddess revived him, filling the fans with relief and hope. But not long after, the Demon King returned, forcing Seiya to use the Gate of Heaven's Punishment once more.

The readers' emotions went from despair to joy, then back to despair, crashing like a rollercoaster.

It was as if Porter was mocking them, enjoying their torment!

Why did he seem to love watching his readers fall from hope to despair?

So, whose fault was it? Of course, it was the fault of the mangaka—Porter!

If not for him, this story wouldn't have ended this way. People couldn't resist cursing him, venting their frustration.

And so, many heartbroken readers flooded Ren's social media with complaints and insults.

Not only that, but Picca Comics received thousands of negative letters from all over the country, expressing the readers' dissatisfaction with Porter. And that was just on the second day—more letters were sure to come in the following days.

Even the customer service hotline was overwhelmed with calls.

In some of Picca's other games, like Elf Legend and Elf: Go, players bought announcement features to broadcast their anger at Porter across the entire player base.

After all, they knew Porter himself played those games too!

As for Ren? He knew this was coming. Before the latest issue was even published, he had already stopped checking his social media.

He didn't need to see it to know that fans were roasting him online. He understood their frustration, but that didn't mean he was going to face the backlash head-on.

Playing dead was the safest option.

To borrow a famous phrase from a certain someone, Ren knew the fans would eventually get over it and move on.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining. Because of all the online discussions, Cautious Hero attracted a lot of attention from people who hadn't previously heard of the series.

As a result, this issue of Picca Comics sold even better than usual, surpassing previous sales records.

...

In the bedroom, Jada was picking out clothes from her wardrobe.

"Why don't you go respond to them? Your fans are pretty mad at you right now."

"I don't have time for that! I'm busy, okay?"

"Your definition of 'busy' is playing video games all day?"

"I'm just testing for bugs! As the owner of a game company, if I can't enjoy the game myself, how can I expect my players to enjoy it?" Ren replied confidently.

"Sure, like I don't know you. You're just scared of seeing all the fans mad at you. Speaking of which, more letters have piled up at the company again," Jada said, pulling out a swimsuit, examining it, and putting it back. "I'm thinking of starting an online shop to sell razor blades."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Ren said, still lying on the bed, chasing after a rare Pokémon on his game. "I can use those razors to shave my legs. You can add photos of me doing it to the product page. They'll be the very same blades used by the great Ren. Collectible items!"

"..." Jada gave him a glare. "At this rate, people are going to send bombs next."

As she spoke, Jada pulled out another swimsuit. "How about this one?"

Their daughter had aced her exams, scoring over ninety-five on all of them, even getting perfect scores in her finals. So, they were finally keeping their promise and taking Yueyue to the beach.

"Nope," Ren said instantly after glancing at it.

While he didn't mind Jada wearing swimsuits at the beach, he wasn't keen on the idea of her showing too much skin.

"Why not?" Jada asked, though she already knew the answer.

"It's too revealing. You can wear it for me at home," Ren said without hesitation.

"You really never change, do you? Always so shameless," Jada rolled her eyes.

"What can I say? I'm in love with you." Ren stood up and wrapped his arms around Jada's waist from behind.

"You're just saying that to make me happy." Jada placed her hands on Ren's and gently slapped away his creeping fingers.

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