What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 578

Finding the Rainbow (3)

That damned ‘Status Window’!

“Haa…”

-Thud!

The man, removing his rimless glasses, pressed his fingers firmly against his temples before collapsing onto his computer desk.

The brightly lit room felt heavy and dark, perhaps due to his mood.

A deep sigh seemed capable of drilling a hole into the floor.

“He finally said it. He finally said it, Ye….”

Hoo…

Jung Hyun-seo had to wait what felt like years, or perhaps tens of minutes, for his only younger brother to utter that word.

His insides were burning black, and his lips were parched, but there was truly nothing he could do.

It was already hard enough to accept that his grown brother had jumped off the balcony to return to the world inside a novel—if Hyun-seo wasn’t a 21st-century web novel writer, he would have called emergency services [119 in South Korea, similar to 911] and the police [112 in South Korea, similar to 911] and run screaming out of the house—but the man had to tackle an even more challenging task.

“…This is no time to be like this. I need to pull myself together.”

His task, of course, was to bring his troublesome younger brother home safely.

If possible, before the rest of the family noticed his absence.

“Let’s see what he’s saying…”

Hyun-seo pressed his temples and put his glasses back on.

The large desktop monitor continued to display the next scene, still radiating sacred golden light.

But as they say, humans are creatures of adaptation.

A computer that emitted purple light even after all the power cords were unplugged no longer bothered him.

He instinctively reached for a coffee cup but grabbed the water glass he had left by his side instead.

Meanwhile, the scroll bar gradually shrank and slowly moved upward.

However, since a little while ago, along with the problematic ‘□□ □□□ □□□□ □□□ □.hwp’ file….

‘I Quit and Became a Princess in Another World, Episode 130.hwp’

Unexpectedly, Ye-seo’s story was unfolding even within that file.

It was because of whatever antics he was up to in that nameless world.

The time given to Hyun-seo was too short, and he had not yet fully grasped the entire situation.

But Jung Ye-seo, the most exemplary of the three siblings, had a surprisingly rebellious side.

Others might not know it, but it was true.

He was the second child who grew up without causing trouble for anyone, including himself, but he occasionally made shocking decisions.

He sometimes made the most adventurous and dangerous choices out of the three.

So, it was definitely because of Ye-seo that both files were being affected simultaneously.

He hadn’t thoroughly checked that part while reading the previous content.

Dark eyes scanned the screen sharply.

「【Status Condition: You must return to your original world line!】

【Find the rainbow!】

【Find the rainbow!】┃」

“…”

These four lines were what Hyun-seo had just written himself.

It was also the answer he had barely managed to come up with, banging his stiff brain.

The origin of the unidentified file full of squares was not even clear.

As a result, he couldn’t comfortably delete or edit anything.

It would be a disaster if he carelessly tampered with the content and harmed his brother.

Moreover, as a result of his experiments, he could delete the text in the square file, but he could not restore it or add new content.

Not even the number pad worked, let alone the shortcut keys.

So, he had to approach everything cautiously.

His brother was, in effect, trapped inside.

“Ah.”

And the cursor started running again!

「“…Igh Cheueureu….”

I finally muttered in resentment.

But the brazen purple window in front of me showed no signs of disappearing.

It was infuriating.┃」

“Igh Cheueureu? What is he saying?”

On the other hand, was a work in which Hyun-seo had considerable creative authority as a co-author.

So, unless it significantly harmed the plausibility—perhaps—he could also intervene in the story.

If that were the case, helping, protecting, and bringing his brother home might all be possible.

「“Igh Tseeureuge….”

I closed my eyes tightly again and twitched my lower lip.

My head was buried so that no one could see me.

Why are you doing this to me? Huh?┃」

“Hey, speak understandably.”

Once he reached that point, he wondered how he could naturally ‘intervene.’

He couldn’t suddenly grab the cursor like a spear and write, ‘But suddenly, Jung Hyun-seo’s hand came down from the sky, grabbed me, and took me home!’

Actually, he was tempted to do so—but to reiterate—he knew less about this situation than he didn’t.

So, he couldn’t act like a reckless colt without considering the consequences.

And as much as his brother cherished that place, ‘Quitting Princess’ was a very precious story to Hyun-seo as well.

Ideally, he wanted to protect both his family and his work.

To do that, he needed a device that would allow an outsider to intervene in the novel in a plausible way while preserving the story’s plausibility as much as possible.

That was—

‘「After finishing my notebook organization all morning, I took some time for myself and did some additional nonsense.

“…Status Window.”

Of course, no translucent window appeared in front of me, and no letters appeared.

I wondered if I had become the protagonist of a possession novel, but reality was cold, even freezing.

I became embarrassed by my own excessive self-consciousness, and my cheeks and eyes flushed.

I should go eat something…」’

The problematic ‘Status Window’ that his brother had mentioned at the beginning of the square file.

Hyun-seo was a current writer, so he was mostly aware of the trends in web novels these days.

Although the status window did not appear in his own novels, he had often seen it in other works, so he knew how it was used.

Besides, once a word had been mentioned in the story, it seemed like there would be no major problem if it appeared again.

He had considered it three times, but nothing seemed better than this.

“What’s the problem? You called for a status window, and your brother immediately delivered it.”

…Actually, he didn’t have time to measure it more than four times.

What if his older brother could never return home? That’s the biggest problem!

-Typing, typing, tap!

The calloused hand quickly tapped on the keyboard.

「【I am your status window.】

【I don’t understand what the problem is when I’m helping you because you asked me to?】

【First of all, isn’t the top priority to return to the original world line?】┃」

“…Is the status window too human? Should I go for something more robotic?”

In the meantime, the man was worried about such things.

But as a writer and someone for whom writing was a habit, Hyun-seo couldn’t help but pay attention to building the ‘character’ of the status window.

This was practically in the realm of instinct.

Then the cursor paused for a moment.

“…Why isn’t it saying anything?”

Just as the writer was seriously muttering and crossing his arms.

「Jung Hyun-seo, you son of a bitch! Get rid of this!┃」

His younger brother’s subconscious exploded. Hyun-seo’s chair wheels rolled backward in surprise.

「Ah, did someone suddenly appear and ask for a quest?

And how long ago did I ask for a status window? In terms of the novel, I would have mentioned it around chapter 3!

Do you know how embarrassed I was all alone? You completely ignored it back then, and now you’re just throwing it at me?

Instead of this, give me a way to not get caught by that prince!

How do you always write like this? [referring to Hyun-seo’s writing style]┃」

“No…. We can solve it step by step. Why are you so impatient, kid?”

And that file you ran wild in has nothing to do with me.

Hyun-seo scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

The cursor, completely excited, was running wildly across the white space.

「…I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs, but I miraculously suppressed the sound, remembering my current situation.

I had to remember that I was a servant in the imperial palace and that royalty and imperial family members were standing a few steps away.

The red pandas in the ice sled were sitting in order of height, staring at me.

No, to be exact, they seemed to be observing something floating in front of my face.

My heart sank.

“…Demi?”

-Kkia?

Could they see this? Then maybe those people too?┃」

“That shouldn’t be the case…. Usually, the status window is only visible to the protagonist. If everyone else can see it, it’s a KakaoTalk window [a popular messaging app in South Korea, similar to WhatsApp].”

Hyun-seo put the water glass to his lips and replied seriously. It was then.

-Knock knock knock

“Big brother, what are you doing up?”

“Cough!”

‘Cough cough! Cough cough!’ He almost choked on the spot.

The throat that had suddenly caught in his throat complained of tingling shock and pain.

He didn’t know if the water was going into his nose or his mouth, or if what he had just spat out was mineral water or saliva.

But whether he was having such difficulties or not, the troublesome number 2 outside the door only did what she wanted. ‘Cough!’

-Clang!

“Brother, did you lock your door?”

The young voice, full of sleepiness, was asking that while holding the doorknob from outside.

Hyun-seo felt his forehead getting damp and calmly cleared his throat. ‘Ahem, ahem.’

Had he closed the veranda door when he came in earlier? Had he properly closed Ye-seo’s door?

He probably had. The letters on the screen rippled over the transparent lenses of his glasses.

“…Oh, Mom called from the hospital earlier.”

He decided not to tell a complete lie. Hyun-seo wasn’t very good at that sort of thing.

Unless it was complete silence.

“The hospital? Why? What’s wrong?”

The child’s voice quickly turned heavy.

But judging from the fact that she didn’t mention Ye-seo, she hadn’t noticed his absence yet.

Thank goodness.

“She said she wanted to hear little brother’s voice after a long time. To the caregiver. Ye-seo said hello on the phone earlier and went to bed.”

“Ah… I think I heard something in my sleep.”

“Yeah.”

“…”

A few seconds of silence followed.

Hyun-seo’s answer didn’t explain why he was locking the door now, but Eun-seo didn’t seem to care.

She was probably still sleepy.

She must have forced herself to get up because of the bathroom. Her eyes were probably almost closed too.

Hyun-seo calmly wrapped up the conversation.

“I’m going to look at the manuscript for the paperback while I’m awake. Proofreading.”

“Okay. Go to bed soon….”

“Okay.”

‘Tap, tap.’ The sound of the youngest’s slippers dragging faded to the opposite side of the living room.

She wasn’t heading towards Ye-seo’s room or the veranda.

Hyun-seo stared intently at the locked doorknob for a long time….

“Ha, that was close….”

He took off his glasses again and washed his face with his dry hands. His long legs slid down under the chair.

That was really a dizzying moment!

“…Wait.”

Come to think of it, didn’t Ye-seo make a fuss about not getting caught just now?

How did that turn out?

It was a moment when espresso was desperately needed.

*

Swish, swish swish! Swish swish swish!

“Can’t you see it? You can’t possibly see it? This square thing here?”

-Kkieung!

“…”

Prince Cedrick Liester was silently staring at the servant pulling the ice sled behind the prince.

That guy was somehow annoying.

When David first reported about him, the prince simply brushed it off.

From the prince’s point of view, there was nothing more to confirm.

That was because he was a servant, not an attendant.

Anyone could be hired if they were a commoner with a confirmed identity and no criminal record, and Ye-seo Fenetian had spent nearly five months in the imperial palace, building ‘trust’ to vouch for his identity.

Although he was a hostage from an enemy country….

“There’s no way. Can you really see it? Huh?”

-Kkihu!

-Kkheung!

-Kkiit!

…Ha. I don’t have time to think about it any longer.

“Did we hire a madman into the palace? Out of sympathy?”

At that question, the prince finally burst out laughing.

Cedrick frowned again.