What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 870

870. What Happens When the Sub-Male Lead Goes on Strike (4)

“…You saw the comments?”

“Yeah. While eating at the company.”

-Sizzle…

Beautiful, two-plus grade Korean Wagyu sirloin was sizzling deliciously on the grill, emitting a heavenly aroma.

With precise and controlled movements, Jung Hyun-seo, without missing a beat, stopped grilling the meat and looked at me.

Yo Han-kyung next to me, and Jung Eun-seo diagonally across, also turned to me in surprise.

“…I’ve heard that there are many people on the internet who haven’t been educated in proper language.”

Especially Yo Han-kyung, who had recently started searching for various things on the phone his brother bought him, seemed particularly sensitive to the sentences I might have seen in the comment section.

He was expressing his concern with the most refined vocabulary possible, but in short, he was asking, ‘Did you get hate comments?’

I nodded, placing a little wasabi sauce on the beef that Hyung [older brother or male friend] had grilled for me.

“They just said they were disappointed because it was a typical male lead novel.”

“If they’re disappointed, they should just quietly click the back button, but there are always those jerks who leave comments like that to scratch the author’s nerves. Seriously rude. Don’t pay attention to that kind of crap, Oppa [term of endearment used by a younger woman to an older brother or male friend]. And don’t ever read the comments again.”

“And…”

“Huh? There were more comments?”

“Yeah. ‘I’ve read everything that’s been released so far. I’m very displeased that you’re taking a romance fantasy with a perfectly good female lead and conveniently extracting settings to create a male lead harem. Excuse me, but do you really like Toegye [likely referring to a historical figure or philosophical school]? Or are you just using Toegye’s background because it’s good for exploiting various things? If you knew how much Bridgette the author agonized over shaping the character of Ham Ga-in, how much care she put into each line, you wouldn’t be able to write this kind of fanfic. Making the original protagonist a nuisance and pairing her with a fictional male lead everywhere seems like a typical Mary Sue [a character, often in fanfiction, who is idealized and lacks flaws] + protagonist erasure, so I don’t see it favorably. If you’re going to keep writing this kind of content, please leave our girl alone and just add a few original characters and go with a primary creation.’ That’s what the comment said. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the nickname.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…I even searched to see what ‘Mary Sue’ meant. I could see how it could be read that way.”

Having said that, I stuffed six pieces of meat into my mouth at once.

Then, Eun-seo looked at me with a blank face, and Hyung sighed lightly and silently grilled the meat.

Yo Han-kyung wasn’t one to show much emotion on his face, but his chopsticks, which were noticeably slower than before, seemed to speak for his feelings.

For a while, only the sound of grilling meat and the noise of the ventilation fan lingered around our table.

In the meantime, the owner of our regular Korean beef restaurant added complimentary soybean paste stew, cold noodles, and spicy cold noodles for each of us. Thank you, we’ll enjoy it.

“Looks delicious. Hooo, hoo…”

“…The person who commented said they read ‘everything that’s been released so far’? I uploaded a few episodes yesterday and went to sleep.”

“Thirty episodes.”

“Oh, you uploaded a lot at once. I’ve never heard of that much.”

Eun-seo said, cutting the spicy cold noodles into a cross with scissors.

I took a large spoonful of the bubbling soybean paste stew and mixed it with brisket and tofu on the white rice.

Sipping the stew seemed to refresh my mouth, creating a stomach environment ready to start another Korean beef attack.

Yo Han-kyung picked up jellyfish salad with an elegant posture and was lost in thought.

“…At first, it might be a little hurtful and you might be so worried that you can’t sleep, but it gets better over time. Actually, later on, you don’t even have time to think about the comments. I’m too busy writing my own stuff.”

“Yeah. I’m okay, Hyung. Thanks.”

I replied, piling the perfectly cooked meat high on Hyung’s plate.

But my expression must have been terrible because, despite hearing that I was okay, Jung Hyun-seo and Eun-seo’s faces didn’t brighten at all.

I pulled up the corners of my mouth as much as possible and exchanged noodles with my sister little by little.

“I’m really okay. So I changed my strategy. From today, I’m going to make it so there’s no time to leave comments at all.”

“…What does that mean?”

“All-out war. I need to upload more. Like Hyung said, the only weapon I have is volume. So I have no choice but to pour it all out. I looked at the contest guidelines again on the subway, and fortunately, there’s no limit to the number of uploads per day. I checked several times just in case.”

“As expected of Canary. It’s a platform run without any thought, with terrible luck, but it’s a good opportunity for Oppa…”

“Starting tonight, I’m going to upload a hundred episodes a day.”

“Pardon?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

The gazes of the three people took on a completely different hue than before.

I smiled and took the scissors from Hyung’s hand.

“Why? Wouldn’t everyone be too busy reading the novel to have time to leave comments?”

“Crazy… Is he crazy?”

“Anyway, the contest organizers have no legal basis to block or forcibly take down our story. The rules might change a bit for the next contest, but at least this competition is in our favor. So, I have to do everything I can right now.”

“Am I understanding correctly? You’re going to do a hundred consecutive chapters ‘every day’?”

“Yeah. I’ve built up enough of a buffer during the vacation, and Yo Han-kyung kept helping me create files even during the time I was at the company today. Eun-seo, you put in a lot of effort too.”

“No… Well, yeah… Wow…”

“I checked how many episodes can be scheduled, and it’s up to a maximum of one hundred and twenty. Ah, should I just upload one hundred and twenty episodes every day then? Since I’m doing it anyway.”

“That crazy bastard…”

“Would readers dislike it if one hundred and twenty episodes were uploaded every day?”

“No, usually it’s the opposite. There are times when I wish one hundred and twenty episodes would be uploaded every day. But Oppa, you’re really out of your mind. That seems right.”

“I’m an idiot for worrying about you even for a moment…”

Jung Hyun-seo clicked his tongue and gulped down zero-calorie cola like alcohol.

Only then did I laugh out loud and put new meat on the grill.

-Sizzle…!

The red meat was deliciously cooked again.

Before I knew it, Yo Han-kyung was wearing a satisfied smile like a well-fed lion.

*

That night, Eun-seo’s room.

-Click

“…”

Turning on the bright light—the result of her brothers nagging her for nineteen years that using the computer in the dark would ruin her eyes—Jung Eun-seo sat in front of her desk with a serious look on her face, displaying the PC screen of the web novel platform ‘Canary.’

Since it was a site optimized for mobile, the screen ratio and content readability were quite inconvenient when viewed on a PC.

But the work she was about to start today had to be done in parallel with the computer, no matter what.

Using all ten fingers is much faster than using just two thumbs.

“Sub-male lead, sub-male lead, sub-male lead… Here it is.”

There was no need to search for the title separately.

The problematic work, with a whopping one hundred and twenty episodes additionally uploaded a little while ago, was linked to the number one spot in the contest’s real-time search rankings.

Since there’s no author who would upload a hundred, one hundred and twenty episodes a day unless they were completely crazy, there was no other way to attract attention like this.

Even people who had no interest in Toegye would have the audacity to click on that fanfic at least once to see what it was about.

My silly little brother probably didn’t even anticipate this effect…

-Click click

“Oh, there are definitely fewer comments compared to the number of episodes uploaded. Are they all busy reading?”

‘Good for them.’ Roughly grasping the atmosphere, Eun-seo smiled wickedly and rolled up the sleeves of her pajamas.

First, she quickly copied the novel’s URL and posted it on all her SNS accounts…

‘I clicked on the real-time search ranking because I was curious, but ahㅠ who uploads 531325 episodes of a novel a day pleaseㅠ’

‘I’m chanting and rapping that it’s a failed contest, but someone who’s on the same wavelength as me is doing a great job thereㅅㅂㅋㅋㅋ’

‘I knew there were many crazy people in the Toegye fandom, but writing a novel longer than Toegye is a completely different storyㅠㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋ I sincerely respect you…’

‘Guys (0 people), someone is uploading the Toegye Bible to the contest, what’s going on, is our Yeseobang [a character name] finally becoming Jesus’

‘Now I want to catch the main namju [male lead] instead of the fxxking sub-male lead’

Shamelessly writing various comments and promoting it appropriately…

-Click!

“…From here on out, I need to loosen up my fingers a bit.”

‘Ah, I need to steal Jung Hyun-seo’s hand massager later.’ Muttering to herself, Eun-seo clasped her hands together and stretched them out, then shook them off, and gently rotated her wrists in both directions.

Then, she finally placed her fingers on the keyboard with a determined expression. Tap.

“Yeah, I’ll show you how much free time and fun a freshman has after finishing midterms.”

Daring to leave hate comments on Jung Ye-seo, who is almost untouched by internet culture, our pure, untainted…

“Let’s go to a comment-ridden, chaotic dogfight.”

Her black eyes narrowed, creating a chilling smile.

Jung Hyun-seo, who happened to peek into his youngest sibling’s open door, quickly changed direction as if he hadn’t seen anything.

*

May 11, 1615, Holy Era.

‘Gigolt Village Ancient Relic Excavation’ Day 1.

-Kugugugung…!

“That’s right, our Demi is doing well! Leia is awesome! Perry is handsome―!”

-Woong!

‘Yahoo!’ Ga-in, raising her voice, waved the blue cloth scraps in both hands.

Tite, wrapped in a swaddle, also poured out pearl beads from his fin feet, cheering.

Jibril Diop, who was watching the work process a few steps away, silently gestured to the knights.

Then, those who had prepared sacks and pouches since dawn busily picked up the pearls, scallops, and abalone that Shin-soo [likely a mythical creature or being] had shed.

If you shift your gaze dozens of steps away from them, you can see the residents who were surprised by the news of the ‘excavation work’ that flew in like a bolt from the blue and ran out.

Fortunately, there was no major opposition to the fact that the Imperial Army was responsible for carrying out the work, but many were uneasy because it was such a sudden event.

“…Young Duke Diop. With all due respect, is the information that a relic is buried here certain?”

“Roughly.”

“Pardon?”

It was a question from a knight of the Imperial Army who was quite old, but the answer that came back was extremely insincere.

The Crown Prince and his party, who had returned without any warning, checked the ground in the northern part of the village without any notice, and then began large-scale mining in a place that was not even Imperial territory, without giving any further details.

Jibril, with his arms crossed, gestured towards the Crown Prince and the Holy Knight, adding.

“To be precise, it’s closer to a situation where it ‘must be’ there. But it will be there. So, you should keep your subordinates under tight control. Because it’s an order from someone higher than me.”

“…I will keep that in mind.”

“You will be sufficiently compensated, so don’t worry.”

The knight, confirming the Crown Prince’s large back, quickly lowered his head.

…However, the alchemist over there, sitting tied up with ropes, was very concerning.