What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 383

#383

Discovery (1)

-Miyaaaa!

“Oh. Hello. It’s Yeseo, hyung [older brother/male friend]. Fancy seeing you here again?”

-Haa…

As I carefully climbed onto the bed, the feline spirit beast arched its back and retreated.

It seemed it would take time to win its heart.

Its ears were flattened, eyes wide, radiating an aura of sheer terror, as before.

The little one, clean and well-rested, was incredibly adorable and pitiable.

Christel whimpered and hid at the edge of the bed.

Demi and Rea (Perry was asleep) scurried over to join her.

Eventually, I decided to crawl towards her as well.

I’d heard somewhere that it’s good to meet dogs and cats at eye level—

-Snatch!

“Ugh!”

The Crown Prince grabbed my sleeve with lightning speed. I fell flat on my face!

“Running away?”

“No, the kid’s scared, so just! Let go of me!”

Are you trying to steal someone else’s pajamas just because you’re half-naked!?

Christel is here, this is so embarrassing.

I heard Sir Johann chuckle softly, and my face flushed.

Awkwardly clutching my pants, I barely escaped the Crown Prince’s grasp.

Realizing this wasn’t right, I wrapped him in the blanket before leaving the bed.

He glared at me with burning eyes.

As if he did something right. Eunseo said ‘decent male lead’ is the best!

“Getting close will startle him, so we’ll hide here and show him we’re harmless.”

“You hardly pose a threat as it is.”

Ah, yes. Thank you for pointing out the obvious!

“That child has been hurt by people. He can only assume we’ll do the same. Just being in the same place is terrifying.”

“……”

“You said he seemed hungry, so I’ll give him some aether first.”

Saaaah…. I explained and gently released my energy.

The precious pets fluttered their ears at the sight of the rising golden particles.

They were well-behaved and didn’t paw at it or whine for it.

Fortunately, the cat (for now) didn’t seem wary of the pure aether.

But I had to be careful. He might start hating it because of me.

“Christel, could you coat this with water energy?”

“Huh? Can you do that?”

Her blue-gray eyes widened. I smiled and shrugged.

“I’m not sure, but I thought it should be unique to pique his interest. I want to see if he likes toys.”

“Well, he seemed to enjoy the water droplets last time. Trust me.”

Whisper, whisper. The excited Gain coated the pure aether orb with a thin layer of ice.

I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was surprisingly easy since it wasn’t ordinary water.

Crackle! It couldn’t completely contain the aether, but it looked pretty good.

A toy for the spirit beast, glowing subtly with gold inside and pale blue-white outside, was complete.

I brightly asked Cedric, the Crown Prince, and Sir Johann for the same help.

Mr. So-and-so practically had ‘Why do I have to do this?’ written on his forehead, but he cooperated anyway.

Demi and Rea stuck tulip petals all over the orbs.

The most beautiful children in the world.

“Thank you, everyone. I’ll hand them over now.”

I placed the four orbs in my palm and rolled them onto the bed all at once.

-Haaack!

-Whirrrl…

-Whooooosh…

The spheres imbued with the power of water, fire, earth, and air rolled forward.

Of course, they stopped midway, but with Sir Johann’s help, they were pushed to the bedside.

We held our breath and observed the baby spirit beast’s reaction.

The cat twitched its nose in the air, smelling the aether (is there such a thing?), and glanced at us.

Christel comforted him, saying, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ and his tail floated up.

He pulled his body back, ready to leap, looking adorable.

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.

-Nyaark

-Rustle!

The spirit beast immediately targeted the flame orb.

He tapped it with his front paws, repeatedly bit and released it, raised his upper body once, and pounced!

Whirr! The fire barrier disappeared, and yellow aether was revealed in an instant.

He bit into it and swallowed it in one or two gulps.

He must have gotten hungry after sleeping for a few hours.

His eyes, resembling golden beryl [a mineral], immediately looked at the Crown Prince.

-Nyaaaa

“……You don’t need to ask me.”

-Myaaaaa

“……”

The man’s brow furrowed. In contrast, Christel and I beamed!

“Your Highness, it seems he trusts you. Because you’re the same fire attribute!”

“He must think we’re the same kind. I think I get the gist……”

“What does that mean?”

He immediately glared at Gain, baring his fangs. I quickly intervened.

“Please let him try the others. If he feels safe here, maybe we can get closer next time. Please!”

-Squeak, squeak, squeak!

Demi, on my shoulder, said something to the cat.

The spirit beast only tilted its head, showing no particular reaction.

He didn’t seem to distrust the red panda, but rather waited for the Crown Prince’s confirmation.

Soon, his thick eyebrows twitched.

The man sighed silently and looked at his bedside.

“……Do as you please.”

-Miyaark

The beast answered cheerfully and pounced on the earth-attributed orb.

The delicate leaves were torn to shreds in an instant.

The cat, having swallowed one aether, targeted the air attribute next.

Sir Johann’s power seemed stronger than expected, and it didn’t seem easy this time.

Then, he opened his mouth wide—

-Haaack!

-Whooosh!

He unleashed a small flame to defeat the wind!

Herit, the father, added, ‘Excellent.’

Gain and I hid behind the bed, giggling. She whispered to me.

“Do you raise cats?”

“No. I only know the cats in the company’s flower garden.”

“‘Knows,’ he says. That’s so funny. Where is your company?”

“Near Yeoksam Station……”

“Ah, you work in Gangnam [a district in Seoul].”

The beautiful woman’s eyes sparkled like the Milky Way.

It was my original sin that I couldn’t smile back at her bright face.

A thunderous baritone voice fell from above.

“……Did you come from the same place?”

My heart sank. He heard us after all.

“Yes. You could say that,”

Christel quickly replied, smiling brightly.

In contrast, the Crown Prince’s face darkened like a volcanic sky.

I looked back and forth between the cat and my friends, feeling anxious.

Was he angry that Gain had been deceiving him all along? But that was nothing.

Compared to what I had deceived my friends about, that was nothing at all.

“You are to return to the Imperial Palace.”

“Yes? Yes?”

I looked up at the Crown Prince in surprise. The orange eyes staring at me were burning.

The atmosphere in the barracks froze instantly.

“Is there any reason to remain on the battlefield?”

His voice was so sharp it could cut.

Overwhelmed by the immense pressure, Demi and Rea hid in my arms.

I struggled not to freeze and hugged the little ones.

Only the feline spirit beast was happily tearing at the aether orb.

“……Yes, of course. Of course, I know there are things that can only be done in the Imperial Palace. Helping the master, or attending fundraising events on behalf of the Imperial Family, are very important public duties during wartime. Public opinion warfare is also very influential, and taking care of the children is important too. But the most decisive reason I came back……”

I said that far, and looked back at Gain.

The sound of something cracking came from the other side as soon as our eyes met.

I was horrified and looked up again.

The Crown Prince was breaking the bedpost with his bare hands.

My jaw dropped at his frosty expression and the blood flowing down his arm.

You crazy bastard! You’re bleeding!

“Your Highness. There’s no need to get so worked up, is there? It seems to me that the balance has finally been struck.”

Sir Johann, who had been silently watching the situation, chimed in. Huh?

“I didn’t ask for the Grand Duke’s opinion.”

The man snarled, baring his teeth. The cat bared its teeth along with him.

The Cardinal smiled gently. I felt a chill for a moment. What was that?

“Your Highness asked the Marchioness for a sacred oath, didn’t you? You promised the future as well.”

“Hey!”

Christel, enraged, jumped onto the bed. Whoa!

-Clang!

The ice club and the back of the Hyegeom sword [a type of sword] clashed sharply.

It happened so fast that my eyes couldn’t keep up with the movements.

The startled kitten jumped and ran under the bed like an arrow.

The two men and women began to grapple fiercely on the bed.

The blanket was torn in an instant, the silk gown fluttered here and there, and pink hair cascaded like a waterfall.

I just stood there, hugging the trembling red pandas. Sir Johann!

-Clang! Thump, thump!

“They say children grow up fighting. They become closer, too.”

Isn’t that advocating violence!

But the Cardinal seemed sincere, and no guards rushed in even in this situation.

He must have blocked the sound.

Bang! Crack! I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them at the terrifying sound.

I couldn’t stand still any longer. This was clearly an emotional fight, not a sparring match.

The hand gripping the Crown Prince’s neck and the hand grabbing Gain’s hair were sincere.

Some skinship is good, but today it was truly chilling.

Christel’s pajamas rode up, revealing the wound on her side.

The moment the Crown Prince flinched at the sight of it—

“It was my fault!”

Finally, a confession burst out.

Words I never imagined I would say in this situation, in this way.

“No! The Marchioness did nothing wrong!”

“Gain, no. I’m the one who’s been deceiving you all!”

“No matter how hard it is! You break your promise unilaterally? Without me knowing?!”

“Kuh—”

“This is inside a novel!”

I shouted like my last breath. And as if by a lie, the surroundings fell silent.

The two disheveled men and women slowly turned to me. A late realization sent shivers down my spine.

To the utter hypocrisy of the human being named Jung Yeseo.

“……This is inside a novel, and I was possessed by the body of Yeseo Fenetian, a character in the novel.”

“……Pardon?”

My lips trembled as if exposed to sub-zero temperatures.

Have I ever been this scared in my life?

I wasn’t even this scared the day my mom had tests at the university hospital.

Because there was hope then, and even a sense of obligation to have hope.

And my brother was by my side.

“The title is……. The title is called . It’s my sister Eunseo’s favorite novel.”

But now I was alone, guilty.

My miserably trembling voice was pathetic.

I carefully put Demi and Rea down on the floor.

The two little ones looked up at me, but I ignored them.

Once a feeling is known, it cannot be undone.

I was so disgusted with myself that I didn’t want to be near any warmth.

“So that’s what I said earlier. The most shining person here is someone else.”

“Suddenly……”

I had been extremely reluctant to become an important person here.

No. To be honest, it’s been a long time since I became important, but I didn’t want to admit it.

And until now, I thought it was ‘natural.’

Even knowing that this world was a different world line from the original Toegye Gong [a famous Korean scholar], nothing changed.

If a work becomes a great success and a reboot with different content is released later, does the protagonist change?

That rarely happens.

If the movie is made again someday, the protagonist will still be the Little Mermaid.

Even if the director’s interpretation changes greatly and the audience’s tastes change, that won’t change.

Similarly, Gain is the protagonist in any world.

I firmly believed that I was thinking that way.

But it wasn’t.

“……Christel. No, Gain. That’s you.”

By doing so, I unconsciously distanced myself from this place.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about all of a sudden……”

I am the protagonist of this novel.

I was afraid of being incorporated here.

I was afraid of becoming a part of this vast and thin world, of turning into a ‘character’ in a novel.

I was terrified and anxious that I might never be able to turn back.

I didn’t want to lose the shallow belief that I was ‘different.’

‘Hey, don’t do that. The situation is urgent now—’

‘Christel. Only I can do it.’

Even though I felt a vague sense of guilt in my heart, I couldn’t let it go in the end.

I even attached the plausible excuse of a defense mechanism.

I buried it deep beyond my dark consciousness and didn’t even open it in my dreams.

I was an infinitely cowardly and vile guy.

“……”

“Your Highness is the second most important character in the story.”

So I’ve been objectifying the people I like. That’s my bad nature.

“Sir Johann doesn’t appear in the original. I read it diligently when I went back this time……”

A human being who doesn’t deserve to be called a friend.

“Really……. I really don’t know what you’re talking about. Is this a hidden camera?”

“No.”

I felt nauseous.

If I had realized it sooner, if I had known that I was such a bad guy earlier, what would have changed?

“……I’m sorry for deceiving you all this time. I sincerely apologize.”

Would I have been able to avoid disappointing my friends?

It was too late to find the answer now.

“If……. If you have any questions for me, you can ask me anytime.”

Did I just say that? I’m lucky if I don’t get slapped.

“As far as I know……. As much as possible……”

“Serenite?”

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

And I did the worst thing ever.

It was truly the moment when I revealed the bottom of the bottom.

-Flutter!

“Marchioness!”

“Yeseo-ssi!”

Unable to overcome the guilt and shame, I ran out of the barracks.

I bowed my head and ran in any direction, afraid someone would chase me.

Even with a little thought, that couldn’t be the case.

Who would want to follow and comfort a human being who had committed the most terrible deception in their life?

So this was an even more primal fear.

I ran away because I was afraid of being cursed, hated, and told that they didn’t want to see my face.

“Huck, huck……. Cough! Huck, huck—”

So I locked the aether by blocking the whole vessel.

I dug into the dark barracks alleys like a sewer rat and let the cold dawn wind whip me wildly.

I stumbled on the stones several times and fell hard once, but I didn’t care.

Every time the guards passed, I held my breath under the shadows and rubbed my wet face.

This is exactly what a pathetic Jung Yeseo deserves.

I knew it was a cowardly evasion, I knew it was something even a seven-year-old wouldn’t do, but I was too scared.

“Cough! Ugh, ugh……”

The emotions that had been covered with all sorts of rationalizations were finally exploding like a burst dam.

I buried my forehead in my knees and endured myself.

I missed my brother and Eunseo.