It's Actually Not Easy Wanting to be a Supporting Male Lead

Chapter 17 part1

Translated by Eve

Edited by Kara

Chapters in this arc: 11

When Sui Yuan opened his eyes—or rather, its eyes—he found himself lying on a pile of dry grass. Close to him were several other little, warm, and fluffy bodies that were rising and falling in the rhythm of their breaths.

This wasn’t the first time he had become an animal, so Sui Yuan was very calm. He opened his eyes and took a look at his surroundings. After he confirmed that he wasn’t in any danger, he began to flip through the mission and plot of this world.

He didn’t know if it was because the Origin felt a bit worried about having him face off against a Destroyer on his own or not, but this time, Sui Yuan received an ordinary Actor’s mission. His role in this world was the brother of the protagonist shou.

The settings of this world were quite odd. It could be considered...a beastman kind of animal world? This world didn’t have any true "humans." Instead, animals were split into two kinds. One kind was akin to normal animals—the natural type. The other kind was a variant type that would gain the ability to take human form after reaching maturity.

Even though he had read through the plot, Sui Yuan still wasn’t sure how the difference between the natural types and the variant types had come to be. After all, it didn’t seem to have anything to do with genetics. For example, the protagonist shou’s mother and siblings were all natural types. There was only him, just this one person...or rather, one beast that became a variant after growing up.

The protagonist shou was a transmigrator. He was not an original inhabitant of this world. However, he transmigrated over to this world through a series of unpredictable events.

The protagonist shou was named "Bai," according to the colour of his fur. He was a rare white variant. In addition, the animal he had become was smaller than a wolf but more vicious than a dog. He could be considered a carnivorous animal.

In a blink of an eye, he had unexpectedly become a...dog? Or maybe he was some other canine type? Regardless, the protagonist shou was scared witless! When he finally accepted his new identity, staggered along through life, and reached adulthood, he discovered that he could turn into human form.

Even if the protagonist shou was overjoyed with his transformation, the variant types were actually not popular amongst his pack, so it was a rather difficult life.

It was very difficult for a newly awakened variant type to control their form. When they were in their human forms, they didn’t have the protection of their animal form’s thick fur, sharp teeth, and claws nor did they have the ability to run fast as lightning. They were a burdensome existence. In addition, they looked different from everyone else. Thus, variant types were always rejected by the majority of the natural types. This view only changed after the protagonist shou became human.

Animals that suddenly turn into humans naturally wouldn’t know how to utilize the advantages of their human forms. However, the protagonist shou, Bai, was different. Compared to his beast form, Bai was evidently more used to his human form. Moreover, he brought with him all sorts of "advanced knowledge" from his original world. He proved to the natural types that the variant type was a true form of "evolution."

After experiencing a series of events, the protagonist shou went from a rejected, low-level "beast" to one that stood at the top of the pyramid—the chief of his pack. He led his pack to claim the grasslands as their territory, which resulted in them clashing with another group headed by another variant type. In order to fight for the territory and resources, the protagonist shou fought with the other party. And, the other variant, who was as intelligent and powerful as him, was precisely this world’s protagonist gong.

What happened afterwards was only to be expected. As the protagonist gong and shou fought and fought, feelings began to grow between them. In the end, the two groups were combined, and they got their happy ending. As for Sui Yuan’s role, he was the protagonist shou’s brother, "Hui," a valiant natural type.

Originally, Hui had nearly become the future chief of their group by means of his strength and physique. In the end, the position was snatched away by Bai, his little brother who he had raised. He couldn’t help but feel angry and unresigned towards the protagonist shou.

Only, the minds of animals were simple after all, so Hui didn’t take revenge on the protagonist shou. In the end, in order to protect the group, Hui sustained a serious injury and could not pass the bitter winter. He ended up dying on a snowy day.

There wasn’t much in terms of conflict, grievances, or gratitude. The majority of it was about surviving the wilderness and developing the community. Sui Yuan didn’t feel any pressure and happily stood up from the pile of dry grass, shaking out his gray fur.

Right now, Sui Yuan was inside the group’s cave. For the sake of the newborns, the cave was warm and dry. It was especially safe and could completely allow the group’s young to peacefully pass this extremely dangerous first stage of life. When they were able to run around proficiently, the pups’ parents would allow them to exercise outside of the cave and learn the basics of hunting through play.

As the strongest of the pups, the adults had great expectations for Sui Yuan. Thus, he naturally received the best care. His fur was sleek and glossy, and his whole body was full of energy. Before any of his other siblings, he could stand steadily and even stumbled around.

After moving around the inside of the cave, Sui Yuan’s eyes very quickly locked onto the protagonist shou of this world. He was the weakest of the pups inside of the cave. His fur was a dull white without any lustre like blanched straw. At this time, he was listlessly lying on the floor, eyes half open. His puppy-like face was full of shock and conflicted emotions—don’t ask how Sui Yuan could read these emotions on a dog’s face.

An animal’s world was very simple—it was also extremely cruel. An adult animal would do its best to take care of its children. However, at the same time, they would sometimes be forced to abandon their weakest young for the sake of the group’s existence and reproduction so that they could allocate the resources to the healthier children who had a greater probability of survival.

The year during which Sui Yuan and the protagonist shou had been born, there was a drought. The prairies’ vegetation had withered; the herbivores had either migrated or died of starvation. This meant that Sui Yuan’s group of carnivores were facing a great crisis. Thus, under such circumstances, the protagonist shou who was born very weak—so weak that his fur was coloured white, which was considered the most disadvantageous colour— was naturally the first to be abandoned by the group.

——Fortunately, he encountered "Hui."

Sui Yuan was not clear on what the original Hui thought. In short, Hui used his healthy body to steal quite a bit of food from the other pups and gave it to the protagonist shou, ensuring that he would be able to pass this drought. As a qualified supporting male lead, Sui Yuan naturally had to continue this altruistic behaviour and work hard to ensure the protagonist shou’s survival.

After circling the protagonist shou, Sui Yuan used his nose to poke at this listless fellow. The protagonist shou slightly raised his eyes, looked at Sui Yuan, dispirited, and emitted a quiet whimper from his throat as if in complaint of Sui Yuan’s disturbance of his own self-reflection.

After ascertaining that the protagonist shou’s current mental state was not bad, Sui Yuan could lie down beside him at ease. He yawned lazily. At the same time, he could clearly perceive that the protagonist shou’s body had become instantly rigid and nervous the moment Sui Yuan had stuck close to him.

Having just arrived in this world, the protagonist shou, Bai, was very vigilant. He didn’t want to get too close to any other animal. Unfortunately, this body of his hadn’t eaten its fill for a long time. His rumbling stomach left him with no energy to move even the slightest bit. He could only watch helplessly as the gray pup laid down against him. The gray pup even rested its chin on him, looking like it finally found a comfy position.

Bai wasn’t stupid. Although he didn’t really understand animals, he knew that white variants were not worth as much and that survival would be hard. The pups in the cave were taken care of rather well, and their fur was darkly coloured. This made Bai realize that his current body was not favoured by the adult animals and had even been vaguely given up on.

If he couldn’t successfully steal some food the next time food was delivered, then he would very likely reach the end of his new life. Bai felt extremely bad. He didn’t have any energy to escape the willful, overbearing, little fellow next to him and could only do his best to think of a way to survive.

While Bai was thinking that he would soon faint from hunger, food finally came. First, there were several small-sized prey, still dripping with blood. Then, there were several breast-feeding females.

As the best-developed pup, Sui Yuan easily took a prey that would be enough for him to eat his fill. Although it was dirty and raw, Sui Yuan didn’t mind it that much. He had a moment where he felt some disdain though before he ripped into the tender flesh.

He didn’t know if it was because of his animal taste buds, but Sui Yuan didn’t think that raw meat was that bad. He even thought that the taste was rather good? At least, it satisfied his hunger. When he was nearly full, Sui Yuan slowly stood up, held the remaining portion of his prey in his mouth, and approached the protagonist shou ,who was struggling to cram into the crowd to get some of the breast-feeding female’s milk. Sui Yuan charitably tossed his remains to the protagonist shou and used his nose to push it towards him.

The protagonist shou, whose face was splashed with blood?".............................."

Bai was surprised. He didn’t think that this willful little thing who had used him as a backrest would unexpectedly give him food to eat. Even if he found the bloody meat to be a little unbearable, his hunger and desire to live made him open his mouth and take a bite. In the end, even after exerting all his strength, he failed to tear off even a single piece of meat.

Sui Yuan, who was silently watching ?".............................."

The protagonist shou, who was panting and had no way to eat?"..................QAQ"

——Clearly, there’s food right in front of my eyes and yet dying from starvation is still a possibility. This must be the malice of the universe! It’s too f*cking unfair! (????)?????

After being speechless for a long time, in order to make sure the protagonist shou didn’t actually die of starvation—or die from anger— Sui Yuan could only inconvenience the little friends who were drinking milk. He lowered his head and dragged the dying protagonist shou towards the breast-feeding female who was lying on her side. He then emitted a threatening growl with his fangs bared at the half-full pups.

The pups trembled but were reluctant to abandon the food at their mouths. Thus, Sui Yuan naturally swiped with his claws without any politeness and directly pushed a rather strong-looking black-furred pup to the side.

The black pup rolled several times before stopping. He shook his dizzy head and growled back at Sui Yuan in discontent. However, Sui Yuan was naturally too lazy to pay any attention to him. He directly pushed the protagonist shou to the breast-feeding female’s side.

The female calmly watched this all happen and did not interfere with the pups’ fight over food. After all, this was survival of the fittest. Under a scarcity of food, it was more advantageous to allow the ones who were more likely to survive obtain food. Although...the actions of the gray and white pups were indeed rather strange....

Meanwhile, Bai was stupefied with what had just occurred! Right until he placed his mouth on the female and could faintly scent that brackish but very sweet scent of a mother’s milk, did he come back to himself.

He had yet to react consciously when he instinctively began to drink in a hurry. Because he was too impatient, he choked and ended up coughing several times. However, he was still unwilling to let go.

Seeing that the protagonist shou had finally succeeded in eating something, Sui Yuan relaxed. Then, based on the principle of compensation, he threw the remains of the prey that were originally intended for the protagonist shou to the black pup who he had stolen a position from. The pup who was not yet full did not have any prejudice towards accepting "handouts" and immediately forgot about his hostility towards Sui Yuan. He lowered his head and sniffed the prey twice before chowing down.

It had to be said: this pup was much more efficient in using its teeth than the protagonist shou. He very quickly ate the prey up and then licked his lips as if wanting more. Soon after, he completely forgot about his previous grudge over the breast milk matter and went over to Sui Yuan’s side with a wagging butt, sniffing his scent. He then licked Sui Yuan’s fur in a fawning manner with his tongue.

Although it was weird to be licked, it had to be said that it felt pretty good. After all, he had to interact with these little pups for a long time after this, so Sui Yuan naturally did not reject the other’s expression of goodwill. He even returned the favour and licked the other a few times.

Thus, after the protagonist shou, who regained his strength from finally eating his fill, turned around, he saw that the two little pups who had just been fighting like mortal enemies now seemed very close. One black fluff ball and one gray fluff ball were gathered together, licking and rubbing against each other now and then, playing around awfully happily.

He didn’t know why but Bai suddenly felt unhappy and jealous as if his treasure had been stolen away. He staggered over to the two pups and then flopped onto Sui Yuan.

Sui Yuan, who was not at all prepared and ended up being squished until he almost couldn’t breathe: ".............................."

The black pup growled unhappily because his "game" was disrupted. Meanwhile, Bai only casted him a casual glance and then placed his attention on the gray pup who had saved his life for some reason.

This was the first time Bai had seriously sized up his "fellow clansmen." Although he wasn’t one who cared much about fur before, perhaps because the other had helped him, he couldn’t help but feel that the other was really too beautiful. The other was so beautiful that just looking at him would make one’s heart soften.

His azure eyes that were like pure crystals were currently glaring at him with some discontent. They were watery, making people conjure up tender feelings towards him. For some inexplicable reason, Bai scuttled over and licked the other’s eyes like the black pup had earlier. He then licked the other’s fur.

The protagonist shou, who silently turned around to spit: ’".............................."

Although Sui Yuan didn’t mind being "disliked" by the protagonist shou like this, his current role had an extremely high ego.

Sui Yuan’s body froze, and then, he suddenly wriggled, pushing the protagonist shou off his body. He glared at the other and then ran off to the other side of the cave, leaving the puzzled protagonist shou wondering why the other had suddenly fallen out with him.

Seeing that the protagonist shou had been "mercilessly abandoned," the black pup waved his tail in a schadenfreude manner and sashayed over to Sui Yuan’s side. He was even in the mood to turn his head and "spit at the ground" while looking at the protagonist shou. He was full of malice.

The protagonist shou, who finally understood what happened after being "spat at"?".............................."

——He felt that he probably had to reconsider the intelligence of the animals in this world. Could normal animals make such human-like actions?! Did you have to be so obvious while rivalling for his affections, ah?!

Eve: This is so fluffy and cute awwww.

Kara: Wait, this is adorable!! I’m healed (´???*)?But...I also can’t wait to see how SY’s halo will affect this fluffy animal world...heheheheh (•??•?)