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

Chapter 9.1

Translated by Eve

Edited by Celtic, Juurensha, Sora, Serefina

Hi. Two things. One, I’m an idiot and kept saying GMT-6....I am apparently currently in GMT-4 hahaha....the novel page has been updated to reflect that. Two, since I know some readers like to wait until the arc is over, I’ll let you guys know how many chapters are in each arc at the beginning of each one. For arc 9, there will be 14 chapters.

When Sui Yuan woke up again, he was lying on a soft bed. Looking up at the ceiling, he felt as if a lifetime had passed while he was cut off from the world.

Since it was late at night, everything was extremely quiet around him. Only the sound of the clock’s ’tick tock’ could be heard, each tick reverberating inside Sui Yuan’s head.

Evidently, based on what 5237 had said, not much time had passed. However, Sui Yuan suddenly felt that everything was extremely strange; so strange, he felt at a loss.

Not long ago he had made the choice to go calmly to his death, was brought back to the Origin from which he had been born, and ‘met’ his creator. While there, he learned a lot of ambiguous but seemingly vital information. Finally, instead of his destruction, he was thrown out of the Origin. Inexplicably, he had returned to his original path of transmigration.

Everything felt like listening to an old worn out vinyl record. At first, the music played smoothly, and then a scratch on the record caused it to skip in the middle disrupting the melody with a loud shriek that made people’s hearts shake. In the end, after this jarring section was crossed, it would once again return to playing the proper melody.

——More importantly, in the midst of this cacophony, he seemed to have lost the man who had always been chasing him.

And, without the other man’s familiar presence, Sui Yuan felt like the worlds that should be familiar instead felt foreign; making him feel anxious and uneasy.

Sui Yuan shook his head, flinging the wild thoughts that had soured his mood to one side. He didn’t feel even an inkling of sleepiness, so he began to browse over this world’s settings. Afterwards, he couldn’t help his automatic sigh of regret.

This world was really too ordinary. It was so ordinary that Sui Yuan felt it was a bit incredible. After having experienced a countless number of weird worlds, to suddenly be faced with this kind of ‘pure and refreshing’ (?) world, he felt a bit unaccustomed to it.

Not only was this an ordinary modern world, but the plot was set in the entertainment industry. The role that Sui Yuan would be playing was that of Li Kun, a keyboardist in a band. Aside from him, the band also had a lead singer named Eason, and a drummer named Huo Ke—who was this world’s protagonist.

It’s a pity, that their band Fashion Mix really wasn’t any good and was already on the verge of breaking up. Their low exposure, combined with their recent album not being well-received, had caused the band members to become divided and look for a way out—except for Huo Ke. Huo Ke felt a strong sense of belonging to the group and was secretly in a relationship with Eason. He alone tried to stop the band’s dissolution.

It was just a pity that Huo Ke only had the strength of one person; furthermore, the other two members were not willing to cooperate at all. They even repeatedly blocked his efforts. Eventually, all his work came to naught, and the band broke up. The three of them each went their own separate ways.

After the band broke up, Eason and Li Kun both found new homes fairly early on and lived their lives rather well. Unfortunately, Huo Ke, who had always given his all for the band, now had nowhere to go, nor did he have members to rely on in times of need. To make matters worse, he was unlucky in love. When he was at his lowest point, he discovered that his lover, Eason, had actually been carrying on a long-standing affair with Li Kun.

Huo Ke was in despair and drifted along, heart broken. A freak combination of factors led him to become an actor. Although his acting wasn’t bad, and he was always noticed by others, his prospects remained just as dismal as before—until he met that person, the film emperor, Le Sen.

Under Le Sen’s guidance, Huo Ke gradually revealed his outstanding talents. Huo Ke also gradually developed secret feelings towards Le Sen. However, because the gap between their statuses was too wide and because he was a man, he kept his lips sealed.

After that, Huo Ke, whose career had just taken off, was involved in a traffic accident and was reborn, finding himself at the moment in time just before the band was about to disband.

...Yes, that’s right, if you were to sum up the story with one genre, it’d be a rebirth story. It also contained elements of a revenge plot against that scum gong and his love rival. When Sui Yuan finished looking over the plot, his whole person was thrown into a mess—This kind of dogblood drama rendered him completely dumbstruck.

According to his character introduction, he was already in an ambiguous relationship with Eason. Although it had yet to develop into a sexual relationship, the two people had fooled around for a long time already. Everything was about to "come to fruition". On the other hand, Huo Ke had already been reborn and was getting ready to deal with this ungrateful, backstabbing pair of "cheaters".

——This was simply great malice being directed towards him from the universe! Even if he had a?Protagonist’s Bestie?halo on him, there was still no way for Sui Yuan to be saved from the protagonist, whose goodwill value towards him had already become such a high negative number that it had already broken through the heavens, was there?!

Sui Yuan made a sad face and stood in silent tribute for 3 minutes for his own gloomy future.

Compared to the dogblood drama in BL worlds, the previous BG worlds’ romances seemed much fresher and purer. This made Sui Yuan want to weep hot tears as he reminisced about them. The only bright side to his misfortune was that this was a world where the people were law-abiding citizens. The worst that could happen was that he’d be ridiculed and then forced by Huo Ke and Film Emperor Le Sen to quit the entertainment industry in despair.

To Sui Yuan, who had killed before, fought in wars, been injured who knows how many times, and had also died numerous times, this was a piece of cake!

In brief, he just had to secretly cause some mischief. Then, the protagonist will take his revenge. At the very end, he’ll just obediently leave the entertainment industry, and it’ll be good enough. Actually, this could even be considered as a very relaxing role.

The only troublesome matter was how he should act towards Eason.

Sui Yuan had to admit that aside from Zhao Xihe, who had disappeared without a trace, he did not want to be intimate with any other man at all.

Sui Yuan didn’t understand what being faithful meant. He only knew that he rejected the idea of getting intimate with anyone else.

In any case, he’ll cross the bridge when he gets there. Even when he destroyed the plot so badly before and had been taken to the Origin to be fixed, he was still able to return unscathed. If he were to alter these minor details, there shouldn’t be much of a problem, right? After all, Li Kun, who he replaced, doesn’t end up with Eason anyway.

——He didn’t know since when, but the Sui Yuan who used to carefully follow the plot had already been led astray. In other words, after having experienced so many twists and turns, to unexpectedly still follow the plot out of his own initiative was already an example of conscientious work!

What a pity that this sense of conscientiousness met with crookedness. This just made people want to cry hot tears of regret in his place?candle?.

After he made up his mind, Sui Yuan stood up and stretched. Li Kun’s body was rather thin and weak, which made Sui Yuan, who had gotten used to Zheng Yu’s excellent soldier physique in the last world feel quite a bit out of sorts.

He rubbed his incessantly rumbling stomach that kept reminding him of its hunger. Sui Yuan then prepared to leave his room to look for food. At the same time, he casually familiarized himself with his current apartment along the way—according to the plot’s summary, the band’s three members all lived together. It was reportedly so that the members of the band could get to know each other better and deepen their relationships.

How unfortunate that in reality, the opposite had happened. What should have been harmonious band members living together instead created a dog-blood love triangle involving a two-timing, scum gong. It was bitter to the point of being too pitiful to behold.

The apartment was not particularly large. However, its decor wasn’t bad. One could see that the company that was currently managing the band was rich and imposing. In the entertainment circle, it was considered outstanding. Similarly, the company could easily dissolve the band that had already been active for five years without even a tiny bit of reluctance.

Sui Yuan browsed Li Kun’s character settings in more detail while walking towards the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge and pulled out a bottle of milk—in the last world, as a conscientious soldier, Sui Yuan had already gotten used to ignoring all sorts of junk food. Perhaps this should be considered a good thing?

He opened the bottle. Before he had drunk several gulps, the main door of the apartment opened.

Sui Yuan subconsciously straightened his posture and looked at the door, alert. He happened to see a man with shoulder length black hair and green eyes walk in.

The man was of mixed blood. His facial features were deep like that of a Westerner, but also delicate like that of an Easterner. It was extremely eye-catching. He was also fairly tall, at least a head taller than Sui Yuan, making Sui Yuan involuntarily feel a bit oppressed—clearly, the other was just an ordinary singer. He shouldn’t make Sui Yuan, who had been ’tempered on the battlefield’, feel this disturbed.

When their eyes met, the man’s expression softened. The other’s fierce aura completely dissipated, making Sui Yuan doubt whether he had actually seen it.

"Why haven’t you gone to bed? It couldn’t be that you were waiting for me?" The man spoke, his voice low and sweet-sounding. He deserved to be called the band’s main vocalist. He was clearly very well-versed in how to make his voice even more charming.

"No, I was just a bit hungry so I came out to grab something to eat," Sui Yuan replied, sounding unmoved. He watched as the man came towards him and opened the fridge as he had done earlier and looking inside.

"Eason Ge, why did you come back so late?"

"A dinner party. You know, the band’s situation isn’t that great," Eason swept a look inside the fridge. He did not seem to find anything to his liking and quickly closed the door in passing. His tone was a bit like that of a tantrum-throwing child, "You’re so good at choosing. That was the last bottle of milk."

This familiar tone distracted Sui Yuan to the point that he forgot to dodge when Eason stretched out his hand to grab the small of his back, pulling him close. The other man lowered his head to press their lips together.

It was a deep kiss that almost made Sui Yuan unable to breathe. It seemed as if all of his strength to struggle was sucked into the other’s lips. Sui Yuan’s eyes widened and he just stared at Eason, who was engrossed in kissing him. From those long, slightly trembling eyelashes, to the high bridge of his nose, he didn’t want to miss a thing.

Who was Eason? Was he just the original inhabitant? Or.....was he Zhao Xihe?

From that plundering kiss, Sui Yuan seemed to sense many emotions. Adoration? Anger? A feeling of having lost something, and then having regained it? However, this feeling was as if it could just be a product of his deeply buried misconceptions and wishful thinking. This made him unable to discover what the answer truly was.

Was Eason Zhao Xihe? In order to save him, had he been stripped of his male lead identity and changed into a supporting male lead like Sui Yuan? However, hadn’t the voice said that Zhao Xihe had a special identity and that he wouldn’t receive any sort of penalty?

Sui Yuan’s brain was fuzzy. His expression changed into one of confusion, face blank, as if he was so immersed in the kiss that he had no idea what day it was. Eason, who ended the deep kiss, raised his eyes to look at him, expression unreadable. His lips lifted in a frivolous smile though, and he lightly kissed Sui Yuan’s lips again, "The taste of milk isn’t bad. Thank you for your hospitality!"

After saying that, he released Sui Yuan, whose expression gradually cleared, and left the kitchen, gently gesturing, "Go to bed earlier. Don’t you have an audition tomorrow?"

Sui Yuan watched Eason with an attentive and complicated gaze. He watched as the other entered his room and closed the door. Then, he turned his head to look at 5237 at his side. He hesitatingly asked in his mind, "Do you think......that he’s a bit like Zhao Xihe?"

5237 secretly cursed the fact that Zhao Xihe’s ghost still lingered on and even stole Sui Yuan’s soul away! Its outer appearance however seemed very unbiased as it swayed its body, "He’s a bit similar, but I can’t say for sure—do you want him to be Zhao Xihe?"

Sui Yuan blinked without a word.

He hoped that he was Zhao Xihe because that would mean that he hadn’t abandoned Sui Yuan and had always stayed by his side. However, at the same time, he didn’t want him to be Eason. After all, playing a supporting male role was much harder and Sui Yuan did not want to see the other man ’sacrifice’ himself on his behalf.

"There’s no use thinking so much. Wait until the male lead, Le Sen, appears before making a decision," 5237 advised, "Just in case you mess with the wrong person, it’ll really be too troublesome."

"You’re right," Sui Yuan nodded in agreement and placed the milk, which still had half left over, back into the fridge, as he no longer wanted to continue drinking it. He then turned his body to return to his own room and catch up on sleep.

——The group was facing disbandment. Being an artist who was trying his best to look for a new path was very difficult....

The kitchen and living room were quiet once more. The doors of both bedrooms were tightly shut. The last room was slightly open, just a crack. A pair of dark eyes peered through the crack. There was no hate, but there was obvious disgust in them.

Huo Ke, who had just secretly watched as his nominal ‘lover’ and his ‘good friend’ had passionately made out behind his back, didn’t know how he felt. Nauseated? Resentful? That he had already seen it coming about it?

In any case, the previous Huo Ke, who had been made to run in circles while being played with, no longer existed. Huo Ke, after being reborn, had a great advantage. He could walk along a much brighter path than that of his previous life—he could also possess greater power, so that he could stand by that person’s side.

When he thought that he could see Le Sen tomorrow, Huo Ke’s eyes softened and his lips slightly carried a smiling expression.

In this life, he absolutely wanted to live well. He would repay the people who have helped him and would not let off the people who betrayed him!

The author has something to say:

To be a good bestie is hard this time. I can only let Sui Yuan and the protagonist shou be in a love-hate relationship?(???)?. The ladies are dissatisfied that I did not abuse Zhao Xihe. Actually, I am innocent, ok QAQ Please look at the tags [relaxes] then you’ll know that from the start ’til now, I have had no opportunities to bully him. I completely do not know how I should bully him, can you guys advise me?! Even if I force myself for a short while, I can’t continue on for a long time. The audience will lose interest in an instant, don’t you think so......especially if I use the shou’s perspective to antagonize the gong. As far as I’m concerned, this is an impossible task. I am also suffering QAQ Please let me off.......unconstrained happiness is the theme~

Recently, I’ve been doing daily updates, but I’m not looking for praise~

Eve: Hello. Welcome to the sequel of ’Guess What Happened to ZXH’, ’Guess Who ZXH is’! More guesses~ There will be hints in the next few chapters and we will meet more of the characters of this world, including the male lead. The answer will be revealed in 9.4~

Juurensha: oooo it does seem like Zhao Xihe could have been demoted.

Serefina: woww but then he doesn’t have his OPness...

Celtic: ...my brain melted.