What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 868

The Sub-Male Lead Goes on Strike (2)

“Come sit down.”

“Okay.”

I, who had been fiddling with our clasped hands, quickly pulled over a stool and plopped down.

I felt really sorry for always running to Hyung [older brother or close male friend] and whining whenever something happened, but he was the only person I could discuss this kind of topic with right now.

I was supposed to go back to work normally starting tomorrow, but I was worried that something had gone wrong from the very beginning of the contest.

I had only ever read web novels, never written one—and that was before I possessed this body; since then, I hadn’t touched any work other than Toegye Gong [a famous Korean Confucian scholar]—my confidence plummeted, then soared again without any basis.

“You’re thinking you might have done something unnecessary, aren’t you?”

“…How did you know?”

“Your expression says your confidence is digging another underground tunnel.”

I was caught. I bit my lip and quickly composed myself.

“…Still… I can’t give up. I have to try even if it’s unnecessary.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about the view counts, just upload it.”

Jung Hyun-seo replied coolly. I kept tapping the edge of the stool.

“Of course, that’s what I was planning to do from the start… But is this okay? Should I delete it and re-upload it, or is there another way to attract readers?”

“If every work uploaded during peak reader times succeeded, there would be no reason for writers to bother testing all sorts of different times.”

Hyung said, staring into his empty espresso cup.

If he tries to brew another one at this hour, I’m just going to confiscate the coffee machine.

Come to think of it, could it be that Hyung is also a phoenix and gained a steel stomach like me?

“Most of the works you’ve read are probably the bestsellers that are doing the best on the platform, but your story isn’t that kind of novel. You know that better than anyone else.”

“…Yeah.”

“You changed a female lead romance fantasy into a male lead fantasy. It doesn’t exactly pour out instant gratification. You’re not a Mary Sue [an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character] who displays amazing abilities from the start. And you guys aren’t head over heels for each other from the beginning. In short, it’s a long story.”

“Hmm…”

That’s right. Is the barrier to entry too high?

“But you have the ultimate secret weapon that other writers don’t have. I doubt even most hit writers have the same conditions as you.”

“What is it?”

“A stockpile of chapters.”

“…Ah!”

Is that a good thing? Of course, it’s better than nothing.

It was a relief to have at least one strength!

“Usually, if a web novel writer says they have hundreds of chapters stockpiled, most editors or other writers will try to stop them. It’s not always a good idea to just pile them up without knowing if readers will like it or not. You should write about one volume’s worth first, check the feedback, and drop it if it’s not working out. That’s the typical pattern for people like me who make a living writing novels. But you are.”

“…”

“You’re not trying to make a living off this, are you? You have a different goal.”

“That’s right.”

“Then throw them out as you have them. Go for a quantity strategy. You don’t have much time anyway.”

Hyung crossed his arms and nodded his chin.

“Like I said before, don’t look at the comments, don’t check the view counts. Just believe in your story and upload it silently.”

“…Okay.”

“If even one reader consistently reads your novel, just one person. Are you going to drop it because the view count is low?”

“No! Absolutely not.”

That was ridiculous. I shook my head sternly.

“That one person’s affection will allow our world to exist. Maybe, maybe they’ll connect the two worlds into one.”

“…”

“So I think I’d be sincerely grateful. If it were me.”

“That’s good, then. What’s the problem?”

Hyung scoffed and put his glasses back on.

The lenses, which supposedly block blue light, gleamed sharply.

“Be patient and wait. Just find the readers who are as desperate as you are. Then it’s a ‘happy ending’.”

“…”

“Don’t waver, no matter what anyone says. Just keep going, keep going.”

“Okay, Hyung. Thanks… You’re really the only one I have.”

“If you’re feeling better, get out now.”

Jung Hyun-seo immediately issued an eviction order.

I grinned, snatched Hyung’s coffee cup, and quickly went out of the room.

I heard him telling me to brew new coffee, but I ignored him and decided to make him honey milk.

“…Okay, I’ll upload ten chapters a day, or even thirty.”

Anxiety, hope, then anxiety again, and then hope again… I realized today that I had put myself into an endless cycle, but I decided not to fret unnecessarily over something irreversible.

Our Hyung has been experiencing those feelings and that routine every day for years.

So I should be able to do it too.

“Jeong-ah! I’ll write promotional tweets for you, don’t worry!”

Just then, Eun-seo, who was watching Netflix with Knight Johan in the living room, shouted loudly.

I laughed out loud, then saw the TV screen and was horrified.

“Eun-seo, you’re watching something rated R again…!”

“Why? It’s rated R because it’s violent, so it’s okay. And Uncle Johan is explaining that people don’t die quickly when you stab them like that—”

“Aaaagh! Knight Johan Haines!”

“Hahaha.”

*

That evening.

The Moon Hunt party was heading back to Gigolt Village to find traces of the Sacred Relic.

-Whooooosh…

The dusty sand wind left a bitter taste of dirt in my mouth.

Gain felt the thinning exhaust fumes and looked back for a moment.

The Papal Palace building, shrouded in smoke and appearing hazy, had already shrunk to the size of a grain of rice.

At least the exterior looked intact, but everyone now knew how terribly foul the stench of its rotten insides was.

Rumors would probably be spreading like wildfire among the nearby merchants and residents. Just thinking about it made me sigh deeply.

“…So we’re leaving after smashing another place to bits again. Geez…”

“…”

“It’s rewarding—I feel great!”

-Beep—Boop—

‘I have to brag to Master!’ Gain wiggled her shoulders and did a silly dance on the saddle.

Then, Dduk-simi flapped his wings from the top of Doria’s head, imitating her.

Prince Yeseo and Herrit watched them and laughed happily, while the two royals ignored the commotion as always and led the way.

Benjamin and Ganael earnestly asked them to rest for at least a day, but the weighty responsibility of retrieving the lost moon was too urgent.

Moreover, the Moon Hunt party were the ones who had devastated the Shrine of Boundary.

Just as Cardinal Aurelius Boutier had turned the opinions of the high-ranking clergy upside down and suddenly left to be by the Emperor’s side, they too had to leave to avoid getting caught in unnecessary crossfire.

The Crown Prince ordered his two aides to lie low for a while as well.

Then Gain quickly added from the side.

‘I’ll definitely come back. For our lost Master, and for your lost memories.’

‘…’

‘You don’t know exactly what you’ve forgotten yet, do you? That’s okay. We know.’

It was a truly reliable declaration.

Benjamin finally gave them a kind smile and sent them off.

And it had already been half a day since they packed their bags and left…

Gigolt Village and the Caravanserai were just around the corner.

Gain fiddled with the worn cloth doll, sniffled once, and tucked the doll back into her arms.

She also cherished the white whip inherited from His Majesty, the Sacred Relic ‘Cursed Coral Whip’.

She had so many stories to tell her mother and Lynn when she returned. And of course, to her Master as well.

“…Huh? Wait a minute. Your Highness, look at that?”

Gain, who had been looking at the ground and the sky in turn, blinked quickly.

The clever Charlemagne quickly turned towards her.

The two holy knights looked up at the same spot at the same time.

“…There, inside the black moon shadow. I think I see a faint light, but am I imagining things?”

“…Indeed. There is a light rising.”

“What? Is the lost moon coming back on its own?”

Gibreel said, biting into a Touron [a type of almond candy] he had sneakily stolen from the temple.

Then the Prince immediately responded.

“Even if that’s the case, we still cannot stop the Moon Hunt, as there is a possibility that it is not.”

“That’s right. I agree a hundred percent.”

Gain nodded.

In the middle of the darkly stained night sky, a faint speck of light was clearly being born within the even blacker moon shadow.

This might mean that Master was returning to them, or it might be a completely unrelated astronomical phenomenon.

Either way, their plan remained unchanged. It was as if…

“Remember that time? They said there was only one use left for the Sacred Relic. Those damn hags said that.”

Gain whispered, looking up at Cedric.

Of course, when those vicious Probability Hags were spouting such nonsense in the Main God’s universe, the two were busy recovering from massive hemorrhaging and internal injuries.

However, not a single line of information they heard that day was forgotten and was tattooed on their minds.

“…Since Master used up all the remaining uses when he saved Prince Yeseo… I was wondering for a moment if that’s why the Papal Palace doesn’t have any Sacred Relic fragments left? When we were eating lunch.”

“I’m surprised your head isn’t just for decoration.”

“Do you want to die? Judge, the previous statement was made by our Tithe [a religious offering]. Anyway.”

The holy knight calmly lowered his eyes.

“…Even if the Sacred Relic wasn’t absorbed by Master and was completely destroyed that day, we’re not going to give up forever, are we?”

“Is that a question?”

“I thought so. Just checking.”

The two men and women nodded at the same time.

Gibreel Diop, who had been silently listening to their conversation, felt goosebumps on his arms and chewed and swallowed an almond.

The Master in question, it seems like it would be more comfortable for everyone if he just stayed where he was…

-Squeak?

At that moment, Perry, who was sharing a saddle with Gibreel, wiggled his ears.

The man widened his eyes.

“What is it now? I told you, I can’t move the oasis, no matter how much you beg.”

-Kkiwoo!

The little divine beast stood up as if to say, ‘That’s not it!’

Then Demi, who was riding in front of Gain, and Leah, who was riding Espirit, also stood up.

There was still an ambiguous distance to the village.

It wouldn’t be impossible to enter on foot from here, but it was already dark, so it was wiser to travel by horse in many ways.

The three people exchanged glances, observing the strange reactions of the divine beasts—

“Ah!”

-Beep beep beep!

“There, there is something.”

Herrit, Dduk-simi, and Prince Yeseo pointed to one place at the same time.

Everyone’s eyes turned sharply in that direction.

It was a point quite far south of Gigolt Village or the Caravanserai.

Wait a minute, that shape is definitely…

“A prison? It looks like a prison. It’s just too much of a cage.”

“They’ve locked someone inside.”

“Huh?”

The shocked mage dropped a Touron.

…It seemed that ‘some prisoner’ was receiving a terrible punishment outside the village.