Meanwhile in a parallel universe: Gina & Susan

"Hey, Gina, I've found a parallel universe."

"What? Is this another curse, Susan?"

"Its quite interesting. Here take a look at what this other version of Marcie and Gina have to say."

“Now I will have to give her a spanking.”

"I think Stupid Cow might be channeling Rina."

“Unfortunately, that sweet girl fell victim to the maniacal Marcie Storm and this is the story about how she fights her way back to her rightful place as queen.”

“Really, Gina? You really think this is where the story intends to go?”

"Hehehe!"

"What's so funny, Susan?"

"They really have no idea where this story is going, do they? It'll be interesting for them to see where it goes in three months."

"Who was that, Gina?"

"I don't know."

“Meanwhile, I am once more portrayed as an evil and moronic villain. At this point I really wonder if I should opt for legal actions. This is clearly slander.”

"I resent that, Gina. Slander's spoken. In print, it's libel."

“I would never make such a nonsensical mistake.”

"Actually, Stupid Cow, you did. The only difference is that it turned out Lauren got to Rina first."

"I'm pretty sure that every version of Marcie considers the others to be morons and believes they would never have made their mistakes."

“Yes, is it not great how your redemption happens in one chapter with you realizing your wrongdoings?”

"I like how Marcie thinks that first thing is your redemption."

"It wasn't a redemption. I made a tactical decision to get Susan onto my side."

“...this author is incapable of believing that bad people can change. As such, your backstory was heavily retconned, turning me and Rina into cartoon villains instead.”

"Er... Susan, weren't they already cartoon villains before?"

_"I'll take this one from here. You see the main reason I started writing this story... I read through Hard Candy and there was something very off about it. The_n someone else came over and kept writing her own stuff as well as reviews. And then someone kept whining about "misreading" and muh themes. And that is when it hit me. Now I'm not even sure if the themes were even intended but they completely fell flat and I believe that might have been the underlining problem behind Hard Candy."

"How long is this gonna take?"

"Sorry, Gina but I gotta explain the backstory change and this means going into the themes."

Part 1: Marcie's Corruption

"Please, can we take this from here?"

"Yeah, this is my story."

"Fine."

"Okay, the theme about corruption. Stupid Cow's story is supposed to be that an innocent girl being corrupted by power. But there's two problems."

1. Marcie starts acting like a villain very early on and there's no indication she was ever innocent. If she was never innocent, its not really corruption.
2. There are no consequences for this corruption. The only people who call her out are Gina, who has her own character issues, and Lindsey, who is supposed to be the villain. Everything just works out for her, making it just a power fantasy.
3. The story tries to give Marcie the moral high ground despite her corruption. Its like the author just chickened out.

Part 2: Gina's Rehabilitation and Redemption

"So, I'm redeemed in this story too?"

"Actually, that also falls flat on its face. Now, this bit is important because it is the reason your backstory was changed."

1. Gina's actions are just too severe to ever be considered redeemed. She made a guy kill himself. That's irredeemable and no theme can change that.
2. The theme is hypocritical because Susan and Lindsey are portrayed as irredeemable despite not being anywhere near as bad. We're supposed to forgive Gina but think those two are scum.
3. Another reason it is hypocritical is because Marcie, Rina, Marel and Lauren don't have to go through the same thing despite being either just as bad or even worse. The fact that Marcie is the one "rehabilitating" Gina despite her own crimes makes it worse.
4. Gina never actually redeems and by the epilogue, is still the same person she was at the beginning. She never changes at all. We're probably supposed to think that bringing Marcie back was her redemption but it's actually just another wrongdoing as she ensures Marcie's continued her reign of terror.
5. Gina is still being punished at the end, making the redemption and rehabilitation pointless.

"So it was pragmatic to change the backstory to make Gina more redeemable."

“That does piss me off, the Rina part, I mean. Yeah, she is a bit crazy but this is a poor portrayal of her.”

"Well, unlike someone I'm sure you're familiar with, our author didn't wanna rip off Hard Candy so it made sense for Rina to be my enemy in this story and it made sense to kill two birds with one stone by giving my irredeemable aspects to other characters."

"Er... Gina, couldn't Lindsey just not lose a brother to suicide?"

"Yeah but the author wanted to humanise Lindsey because making her a "psychopath" would be too similar to Hard Candy."

"But what about Marcie?"

"I can explain that. My original plan was not a branch of Hard Candy at. The idea was that Gina would face her own former bully. Unfortunately, as I planned it out, I realised the first fourth of the story would be extremely similar to Hard Candy. I had to choose between blatantly ripping off Hard Candy or starting a branch from when the two stories would have originally have diverted. Obviously, I chose the later."

"So the reveal that Marcie was the one who bullied Gina was a leftover from that?"

“But, why the fuck would I then give power back to you?"

"What the fuck? I didn't give power back to Stupid Cow. Power was never taken away from her. I only managed to save myself from dying. I was never freed from her. I still have to deal with her commands and she commanded me not to let anyone harm her. What am I supposed to do?"

“You know Gina, giving how much the author loves Lindsey and Susan I wouldn't be so sure about that. I don't think you will end up as queen in this story. **Knowing her, this will eventually end up with you, Lindsey and Susan on a council, fighting more and more absurd enemies until the author loses interest and abandons the story.”**

"Oh no, I actually have the ending all worked out. Unlike some people, I'm not planning to start a million branches until this one is finished. In fact, the only other ideas I have are stories where Gina is either changed into a boy or Isekaied which wouldn't work as Hard Candy branches anyway. I was gonna have a shrinking one too where she'd become Susan's pet but I changed that one to an original story in which people buy miniature women."

"Well, Gina, Marcie and this other Gina other will have to wait three months to find out."