What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 836

D’Artagnan and the Moon Hunt (8)

“Did you post the notice about the hiatus?”

Eunseo asked, glancing around the table.

I debated for a few seconds whether I should kneel, deciding to change my posture later if I got called out.

In front of my sister, Hyunseo had laid out a spread of extravagant snacks that he’d been preparing since morning.

At the center was a delicious-looking strawberry cake, which my brother had painstakingly obtained by going to the department store right when it opened.

Besides that, there were bagels and sandwiches from a famous shop that Eunseo had been singing about wanting to try, donuts that I remembered we enjoyed on Eunseo’s birthday, bags of bread with the names of master bakers on them, and various burgers and drinks from a burger place that was all the rage on social media these days.

Indeed, it was a feast that would capture the heart of any bread lover.

I swallowed hard, looking back and forth between my brother and sister.

“I’m asking if you posted the hiatus notice for *Toegye Gong* [a web novel title].”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Hyunseo calmly replied, and Eunseo nonchalantly picked up a burger.

Then, she turned to us and tilted her chin.

“Eat. It’s been a while since lunch, so you must be hungry.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Thank you for the food.”

Sir Johan answered cheerfully, taking a burger.

I held the burger so he could see it clearly and showed him how to tear the paper wrapper to cover the bread.

The Cardinal was a man who didn’t need two explanations, so he followed my actions more skillfully than I did.

Fortunately, Eunseo seemed to have decided to fill her stomach before talking.

The gluttonous girl quickly devoured a burger and a glass of zero-calorie cola, then immediately placed a plump donut on her plate.

Of course, my brother and I were too busy watching our youngest sibling to eat at our usual pace.

“So. Big Brother wrote *Toegye Gong*?”

“Cough.”

My brother, who was eating a burger, covered his mouth with his fist and coughed.

I quickly handed him a bottle of mineral water.

Hyunseo hurriedly emptied his mouth and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s right. I wrote the manuscript.”

“It must have been tough. Serializing two series at the same time.”

Eunseo said in a dry voice.

The bone in her words was so clear it felt like it had turned into cartilage. It was like a scene from a horror movie.

Terrified, I didn’t know if the fries were going into my mouth or my nose.

Seeing this, Sir Johan handed me a napkin, saying, ‘There’s salt on your eyelid.’ Thank you.

“Well… it wasn’t easy, I guess.”

“……”

*Is it okay to answer like that? Shouldn’t he be more respectful, considering he’s the ghostwriter of the unpardonable Toegye Gong? Shouldn’t he speak more sincerely?*

I chewed and swallowed my burger, pondering Hyunseo’s irreversible answer.

*Wow, this is really good. The juices are bursting in my mouth, the vegetables are fresh, and even the sauce is perfect. It’s not as cold as I thought. No, that’s not what’s important right now.*

“Big Brother has wings too, right? I saw Little Brother’s yesterday.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And a tail, too.”

“That’s right.”

As I finished my burger and picked out a red bean bread, Sir Johan chose the same thing.

I quickly poured him a glass of milk to show him the true taste of red bean bread.

Meanwhile, Eunseo, who had finished her donut, was cutting the strawberry cake without any change in expression.

The red strawberry juice seeped onto the pure white whipped cream.

The plastic knife gently slicing the cake looked ominous and terrifying today.

“……”

And for a while, silence flowed.

Sir Johan seemed quite satisfied with the combination of red bean bread and milk. *Ah, that’s a relief.*

“Hey.”

I flinched, shrinking my shoulders and quickly lowering my eyes.

“I understand you kept it a secret from me. I thought about it all night, and I figured my brothers would do that.”

“……”

“And more than anything, since you said it was for me, I can understand that. There’s no point in serializing *Toegye Gong* if you don’t keep it a secret. You wrote it so I wouldn’t have too hard of a time while studying for the exam. Putting myself in Big Brother’s shoes, I think I would have done the same, and you both apologized to me last night.”

“……”

“You said you weren’t planning to deceive me forever. Besides, I saw in a dream that Little Brother went over there and suffered a lot… So, it’s right to forgive and move on. It’s not like you all had an easy time hiding it.”

“……”

Gulp. My eyes darted around.

“Why? Should I not forgive you?”

“No, thank you.”

We hurriedly replied like robots, afraid that Eunseo would retract her forgiveness.

Then, the youngest sibling grabbed a fork with an expression that was the epitome of chic—at times like this, she was almost like a female Jung Hyunseo, but if I said that out loud, I’d be in trouble, so I had to keep my mouth shut.

I seriously wondered if Jung Hyunseo could drive himself to the hospital emergency room if that fork was stuck in his body, or if it would be better for me to call 911.

Sir Johan had already had his fill and was wiping his mouth, leaning back slightly.

Finally, my brother, who had finished his burger, gently rinsed his mouth with zero-calorie cola.

“Thank you for understanding. Actually, to you…”

“But why did you kill the prince, you bad guy!”

—Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Wow—! The cake flew into Jung Hyunseo’s face!

“You lying bastard! When did you ever say *Toegye Gong* was boring!”

Alert! Alert! Volcanic eruption! Jindo Dog One [A Korean expression for someone who gets angry easily] issued!

“Eunseo, I didn’t say it was boring! I said, ‘It’s so-so and not really my taste’!”

“That’s the same thing, you pig! What would a regular person like you know!”

*Seriously, does that mean she’s not a regular person?*

Of course, an angry child grabbing the hair of her twelve-year-older brother didn’t look normal.

That’s why Sir Johan had been backing away from the beginning!

“Jung Eunseo! My hair is going to fall out! Let go and talk!”

“Then why did you just stand there with your arms crossed when I was going crazy over the limited-edition music box?! You could have gotten a few if you were the writer! I barely managed to get one back then!”

“Ugh, that’s a bit much, Hyung. Didn’t you set aside one for Eunseo?”

“Jung Yeseo! Shut your mouth if you’re not going to help!”

“What did our prince do so wrong! Huh?! How could you kill him like that on the battlefield! Do you know how much people who chose Cedric as their favorite character have been mocking us every day!? There’s constant fighting in the comments, and the reports aren’t being handled properly. I’m so pissed off, I can’t live! What the hell are those Canary bastards [referring to the company employees] doing with the money they’re getting paid!”

“Ugh!”

“Eunseo, don’t rip Big Brother’s head off! You’ll go to jail if you kill him!”

“Yeah, don’t smear the cake on Oppa’s face, just eat it and get angry!”

“Damn it! Buy me cake for the rest of my life if you’re not going to bring the prince back to life!”

—Thump, thump!

In the end, Eunseo, unable to contain her rising anger, jumped over the table, and Jung Hyunseo fell backward.

The breads and cakes were almost completely crushed, but thanks to Sir Johan’s quick action, they were all safe.

While our siblings were wrestling, he cleaned up the remaining food, sealed it well, and put some of it in appropriately sized containers.

He didn’t forget to clean up the cups that were about to fall and wipe the table with a wet cloth.

“Ah, it pisses me off just thinking about it?! So, you knew who the singer was even before the OST [Original Sound Track] came out? But you didn’t breathe a word to me!?”

“That’s confidential now—”

—Crash!

“Ugh! If you can’t talk, just don’t talk!”

—Slap! Smack!

It’s a bit cowardly, but I was secretly relieved that Eunseo didn’t grab my hair.

About three hours later.

“Hyung, there’s still whipped cream on your neck.”

“Leave it. I’ll eat it later when I’m hungry.”

“Okay.”

We were finally sitting around the dinner table.

Jung Hyunseo, who seemed to have lost weight in the meantime, looked haggard under his eyes, but inside, he seemed lighter and more stable than before (for reference, his hair was still abundant).

Even if he was a liar, it seemed difficult for Hyung to deceive his sister for over a year.

Besides, there had been several incidents related to me recently, so it might have been a much more comfortable outcome for Hyung if everyone knew each other’s circumstances.

I slyly placed some pickled Aster scaber kimchi [a type of Korean kimchi] on Eunseo’s rice and watched her expression.

“Looks delicious.”

“Yeah, eat a lot.”

Thankfully, she had a forgiving personality just like Jung Hyunseo, so the youngest sibling was quite calm.

The face mumbling with a nasal voice looked exactly like it did in elementary school, with a little exaggeration.

I smiled faintly as I watched Eunseo put a spoonful of steaming rice into her mouth.

Of course, when this child had collapsed on the floor and started wailing a few hours ago, both Hyung and I were horrified and knelt in front of Eunseo.

She must have been greatly shocked by Hyung’s identity, and she must have been hurt to realize that she was the ‘patron god’ who contributed to the prince’s death.

What about the story that I had been going back and forth between that worldline, and that Sir Johan had left his only son behind to come here with me?

These were stories that were too sudden, shocking, and unsettling for a child who had only lived nineteen years to accept.

We couldn’t even bring ourselves to hug the grown-up Eunseo, and we just held her hand, trembling.

Then, Jung Eunseo cried out, sobbing.

‘Huhu… You bad guys… You bad guys… Why are you cursing at my oppa [older brother]…!’

‘What?’

‘He always writes, and he works without a day off to write and buy me delicious things…! Why are you leaving malicious comments and swearing at him, you mean bastards…! If it’s boring, just go back, ugh! It’s so annoying, really! Huhu….’

In the end, Eunseo was the first to hug us with the force to break our necks.

A sigh mixed with laughter burst out.

My brother and I wrapped our arms around our youngest sibling’s small back and sat on the floor until our clothes were soaked.

Our sister.

“Eat this too. Big Brother made a new side dish this morning.”

“Sniff. I don’t like spinach.”

“It’s not spinach, it’s canola greens. It’s delicious.”

“You have to eat spinach diligently to become Popeye.”

When Hyung spoke in a blunt tone, Eunseo glared at him once with her swollen eyes and picked up the vegetable side dish.

Then, Sir Johan looked at our siblings and smiled softly.

It was then.

“But… ahem. Shouldn’t Little Brother go over there?”