What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 865

The Sub-Male Lead Goes on Strike – Episode 865

Sometime later.

-Click!

“What the hell was that?”

Gibreel Diop asked, emerging from the bathroom. Herrit stared at him, mouth agape.

“Arisaema [cobra lily], bloodroot, poison hemlock, mayapple,” Yesuh Venetian answered casually, eyes fixed on a notebook while seated on the sofa.

Gibreel toweled his wet hair, inwardly clicking his tongue.

He had anticipated this ever since he taught the Divine Beasts the appearance of each plant and asked them to cultivate them…

“Ah, and I believe I added a bit of Farfugium japonicum [leopard plant] and Asian wild ginger as well.”

“Ha.”

Such poisonous herbs were rarely heard of in the Empire.

He was aware of the various ‘difficulties’ the Prince had faced in the royal palace, but he never imagined he would vividly incorporate his experiences into such a scheme, capturing perfectly healthy knights.

The man looked down at Perry, who had been scrubbed and dried until his fur was fluffy.

‘Kkiang!’ The little one was busy exacting revenge, biting the magician’s shin for daring to dunk him in water.

How prickly, but what an opera actor with amazing acting skills.

This time, the royal asked the imperial.

“Was the antidote you took beforehand effective?”

“Took you long enough to ask. I’m so grateful I could cry.”

“I’m glad it worked.”

-Kkia

Demi approached the Prince and extended a paw.

He shook hands with the sacred being, quietly expressing his gratitude for the cooperation.

Around that time, Benjamin hurried over to Gibreel and helped him into a gown, while Herrit finally blinked.

The Prince naturally received assistance, turning towards the sofa.

“…There shouldn’t be any need to clean up corpses. It would be troublesome if the imperial elders got involved in an accident.”

“The dosage was carefully calculated, so don’t worry. More importantly.”

The Prince chuckled softly, glancing at the magician.

“You’re quite patriotic, Prince. There’s a reason His Majesty is so actively employing you.”

“Why does everyone treat me like I’ve already been given a government job? The meddling doesn’t even discriminate against origins.”

“Huhu.”

The priest chuckled pleasantly, returning to his notebook.

Gibreel narrowed his eyes for a moment, idly thinking.

Like, with that appearance…

‘Be careful!’

‘Ah, ah! Won’t you let go?’

‘What did you do so well to talk back—’

…It would have been quite a sight to see him acting fastidious with that appearance.

-Knock knock!

He startled. The man snapped out of his reverie in an instant.

As he suddenly fiddled with his amethyst earring, Ganael opened the living room door and entered.

Herrit beamed, rising from his seat to receive the young page’s tray of refreshments.

“Your Highness, it seems that His Highness Cedric and Lord Rambouillet have safely entered the labyrinth. According to information obtained from the servants cleaning the basement, there was a commotion a while ago due to an intruder on the lower floor. However, many knights are avoiding giving testimony, so the related investigation is being delayed…”

“That’s good. Thank you.”

The violet eyes, answering softly, were darkening.

Gibreel scoffed, seeing him reveal something akin to emotion for the first time.

“If you’re so worried, why didn’t you go with them?”

“…They are individuals who do not require my assistance.”

“I heard the labyrinth is a maze that only accepts one person at a time. I wonder how those two will cope.”

“It is already beyond our control. Worrying about them from the outside will not change anything.”

The Prince slowly lowered his gaze, looking at the notebook.

The Labyrinth Labyrinthos. Since the tragedy there, this notebook has not been used as often as before.

It mostly contained notes taken at home by the diligent student ‘Jung Yesuh’ regarding .

Having returned to his original self, he chose to interact directly with his friends and confront them, rather than secretly recording and organizing things.

Watching him recklessly throw himself into dangerous operations and express his emotions more honestly, Gibreel sometimes chuckled.

…He cherished ‘Yesuh Venetian’ very much.

Even though he had never spent a single day with him.

“…If they can just safely pass the guardian spirit’s test. Then…”

The Prince whispered, stroking the notebook.

Herrit, watching him intently, picked up a tulip cookie and handed it to him.

“…You can get it back. You.”

‘Crunch.’ The man smiled softly, biting into the cookie.

The light of a new morning streamed in through the large, elongated windows of the Papal State.

*

By the time Sunday finally arrived, it was utter chaos.

I was inexplicably nervous, my fingertips kept tingling, and my heart was pounding.

No, seriously, how? How did the weekend already pass? Is this even possible?

Is the ‘time dilation’ in the special theory of relativity that Eunseo always talks about while watching movies this concept?

Everyone else seemed calm, but my time seemed to be flowing too fast.

No, it was definitely flowing fast.

“…Eunseo, should we eat and then I’ll continue?”

It was a natural thing to say. Because tomorrow was the opening day of the Canary’s ‘Greatest Fanfiction Contest on Earth!’

“No? I’ll keep doing it. It’s not a difficult task, and I can handle it.”

“Really? That’s a relief then… Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, not at all. Ah! If you win an award in the contest, buy me pumpkin rice cakes.”

She said, diligently mixing the extra-large bowl of jajangmyeon [black bean noodles] she had ordered.

I munched on my extra-large bowl of jjambong [spicy seafood noodle soup] and nodded enthusiastically.

I could pay for the pumpkin rice cakes right after we ate, but winning an award…

I had never even dreamed of such glory.

Besides, winning an award wasn’t my goal in the first place.

“Ah, it tastes better when I eat while working. But was the large order of sweet and sour pork always this small?”

“It’s because it’s being compared to the color of the large order of cream shrimp.”

“Oh, that makes sense. The cream shrimp is crispy! The owner fried it and sent it to us, really. Uncle Johann, you should try it too. Cream shrimp is the truth with jjambong.”

…Our ultimate goal is to secure as many readers as possible, that is, as many ‘patron gods’ as possible who will remain in that world line.

Only then will their wishes build a bridge connecting the two world lines.

No, if a bridge is too difficult, they can simply give us the coordinates.

No, if even the coordinates are difficult, then just…

‘An unexpected error occurred and the file could not be copied.’

‘Error 3BOZHENA01:’

‘The requested operation could not be performed due to a lack of plausibility.’

…The error message I saw that day is still vivid.

“…”

“But Little Brother, why is the folder name still ‘New Folder’?”

…I don’t know if you’ll like it, but I’ll tell you a never-ending story.

So please, please…

“…If you give me a new plausibility.”

Then I’ll somehow manage the rest. I promise.

“What? Why not as the fanfic title.”

“I thought you still hadn’t decided on a title.”

“Surely you haven’t failed to fix the most important thing when the contest is tomorrow.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Jung Yesuh.”

Slurp. I inhaled the spicy, hot jjambong noodles and steeled my resolve.

Okay. Don’t be intimidated, Jung Yesuh. You can do it. Of course, I have so many reliable allies…

“Jung Yesuh.”

“…Huh? Sorry, I didn’t hear you because I was daydreaming.”

Then my brother looked at me with a serious expression.

I crunched on a yellow pickled radish and faced him. What’s wrong?

“You haven’t decided on a title?”

“Huh? What title.”

“The title of the work you’re submitting to the contest tomorrow. The title of that story that disguises the story of the great world line as fanfiction.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

I blankly put down my chopsticks and looked back at my siblings and Lord Johann.

But everyone was just watching me and didn’t give me any answers (not even Lord Johann).

Wait a minute…

“…Does fanfiction need a title? I made a note to search for the original title, put tags at the top, and set the category…”

“Hey, you! You’ve never read fanfiction before, have you!”

“Aigo! Idiot! Do you have jjambong noodles instead of brains in your head!”

The dining table exploded!

“This brother of mine doesn’t know the physiology of fanfiction at all, how is he going to serialize a long story! Ah—! We’re all really screwed!”

“Sorry, I was so focused on the manuscript that I didn’t think deeply about other parts. Shouldn’t the title just be easy to read? Since there’s still time left, something like …”

“I’m not curious at all! Sorry, but the content seems really obvious!”

“You really don’t know the world of web novels at all…”

“Seriously, this is also a talent, not thinking about the title until the day before the serialization starts is also a talent! Jung Yesuh. Stop thinking about saving up today and worry about the title first.”

‘No snacks until you come up with a title that grabs attention. Starve!’ Jung Eunseo, who was excited to the point of boiling over, snapped fiercely, puffing out her nose.

I nodded, shrinking my shoulders.

Lord Johann, sending a pitiful look, put a serving of fried dumplings on my plate as a sign of encouragement.

Thank you…

“…I’ll try my best to come up with a title.”

“Hey, don’t try too hard. I’m already scared of what kind of modern literature will come out.”

Ugh. Jung Hyunseo threw the last punch.

The tension of the day before the serialization disappeared like a lie, and now all that remained for me was the pressure to come up with a proper title.

I was cornered in an instant.

“…I can do it. I can do it.”

Yeah, summary… If I roughly summarize our story and make it a sensational title, it’ll work.

Like picking a newspaper headline!

*

“…I should have pulled out his head like a radish.”

-Thud!

‘That damn guardian spirit.’ Gain muttered, cursing as she sprawled on top of the black World Tree root.

Cedric barely stood, supporting himself with the scabbard of the Hyegeom.

For a while, only the heavy breathing of the two people lingered in the dark labyrinth.

Sweat poured down their foreheads and cheeks like rain, and their necks and backs were already soaked.

How many hours has it been already… Bullshit. This is definitely not in ‘hours’.

“Your Highness, did you bring your pocket watch? How much time has roughly passed?”

“It’s been broken for a long time.”

“Ah… Because it’s a mana stone watch. Haa…”

What they could know without saying a word was that it had felt like a day had passed since they entered the labyrinth.

Maybe two days, or three… If they were terribly unlucky, about four?

Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was five or six days.

I had a dirty feeling that it had been a week.

“Aigo… I’m so hungry I’m going to die, and I’m going crazy from not being able to sleep. Seeing our condition like this, it’s clear that it’s been a long time since we came in. I personally think it’s been at least a week.”

“I agree.”

“But is the labyrinth usually this long? I remember you came out faster than this back then?”

Gain asked, wiping the sweat from her temples with her damp sleeve.

Instead of giving a clear answer, Cedric aimed his glaring gaze into the darkness.

As she said, the maze was excessively long.

No matter how much it was a space that lived and moved according to the will of the World Tree, the guardian spirit’s test was too much.

Moreover, it was so dark on all sides without a single point of light that they were gripped by a primal fear that they might lose their eyesight.

On the other hand, the guardian spirit’s illusions mostly presented a fixed repertoire, and only inflicted hardships that they could endure.

“…”

For example, his father. Gain’s sister.

There were also times when her bloody father, who had died in a car accident, appeared.

“Aoh… I honestly think I’m going to faint if my dad comes out one more time. I’ve been forgetting about it all along, but how did you dig up those memories again… Ha…”

-Kkiwoo…

Gain muttered curses and buried her face in her palms.

It was a sentence disguised as anger, but through the connection of the vessel, Cedric realized that she was very tired.

His condition was not much different.

Cutting down his father, who was covered in blood and dying, while asserting that he was ‘fake’ gave him a heart-wrenching pain each time he repeated it.

It was exhausting. So now…

「Gain.」

He startled.

「Crown Prince.」

It was then.

「Please…. Please save me….」

From the far end of the distant cave, a man as pale as a corpse staggered out.

Gain and Cedric’s pupils dilated at the same time.

「I…. I, cough…. It hurts too much…. It hurts so much….」

It was ‘Jung Yesuh’, bleeding all over from being stabbed by a scythe.

-Clang!

The sword fell from his strong hand.