Chapter 4.

Why This Man Has to Be the Male Lead (1)

“You… I told you to stay out of my sight.”

Eunho’s brow furrowed deeply.

I realized that I had been sitting on top of Eunho and that I’d managed to upset him yet again, so I hurriedly got to my feet.

Eunho dusted off his clothes, looking utterly incredulous.

“What the hell have you been doing all day? Why do you keep picking a fight with me…?”

“It’s not like that, Eunho. There’s been a misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding?”

“Just a second!”

Just as I was about to apologize for my sudden behavior, a familiar voice came from behind Eunho.

I immediately turned toward the sound.

Among the brightly blooming flowers in the flower bed, I could see Semin drawing, while Dokyeom was talking to her.

“What misunderstanding? I’m telling you, explain yourself…!”

“Just be quiet for a second!”

I sat down and covered Eunho’s mouth with my hand.

Then I strained my ears, trying to listen to Semin and Dokyeom’s conversation.

“Damn it, I can’t hear a thing….”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

But they were too far away, and the sound of the wind mixing with the rustling leaves made it difficult to hear anything.

I narrowed my eyes and watched Dokyeom’s expression as he talked and laughed with Semin.

A strange feeling of anxiety rose inside me.

He was smiling differently from the smile he’d given me earlier.

Even though I’d taken on Semin’s role and tried to interfere, the two of them had still ended up alone together.

“So I can’t easily change things just by interfering as an extra…?”

My gaze quickly shifted away from the two of them and back to Eunho.

I looked once at the hand Eunho had grabbed and once at his face, which was filled with displeasure.

He had grabbed the hand I’d used to cover his mouth and pulled me toward him.

I stared blankly at Eunho’s face, which had suddenly become so close.

Good grief.

How could someone be this handsome?

“What the hell are you? You said I’m your favorite, then you suddenly swore at me. Now, on top of sitting on me, you even cover my mouth?”

“Eunho, that’s not it. I…”

“Why are you doing this? Do you think I’m a joke too?”

“Well….”

Because I’m so happy to see you.

Because I’m so glad I can see the person who saved my life like this.

Those were the things I wanted to say.

But everything I was feeling was nothing more than a one-sided confession.

And after making such a terrible first impression on my favorite character, I couldn’t even come up with an excuse.

I merely opened and closed my mouth, and Eunho let out a deep sigh.

Still holding my hand, Eunho lowered it.

“Even without you, I’ve got plenty of things giving me a headache. So please, just leave me alone. Okay?”

“….”

“That’s my final warning.”

Eunho stood up and walked away from the rooftop, swinging his long legs with every step.

Perfectly timed, the bell rang to signal the beginning of class.

I sat there blankly, looking back and forth between the spots where Semin, Dokyeom, and Eunho had already disappeared.

The chaotic day finally came to an end.

I was walking down the stairs with heavy, exhausted steps when I spotted a familiar back in the distance.

There was a student who immediately stood out even from far away.

“Semin!”

It was Semin.

At my call, Semin turned around.

She looked startled and confused that the class president, whom she had barely ever spoken to, had called out to her.

I naturally walked over to Semin and quickly took some of the handouts she was carrying.

“Ah, thank you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Oh, you know me, right? I’m…”

“I know, Mun Yerim. You’re the class president.”

“You know me?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t know you knew me….”

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re good at drawing!”

At my words, Semin blushed and shook her head as if to say she wasn’t that good.

I’d been so distracted by my favorite Eunho that I’d forgotten just how cute my second favorite, Semin, was.

Cute Semin and handsome Eunho.

They were such a perfect match….

Once again criticizing the author’s questionable judgment, I casually asked about what had happened on the rooftop.

“Semin, I saw you going to the rooftop. Do you like it up there?”

“The rooftop? Ah, I go there often because it’s not strange even if I’m alone.”

“I see~ So you don’t go there to meet anyone or anything? You just go up there by yourself to relax?”

“Yeah. Ah… but I did see the transfer student earlier.”

“Dokyeom? What did he say?”

“Oh, is his name Dokyeom?”

[‘Oh, is his name Dokyeom?’]

Even though I’d separated the two of them, things were still progressing exactly like the novel.

Semin, who had shown Dokyeom where the teachers’ office was, hadn’t known his name either and only learned it later.

“He said he’d like to see the storyboard… later.”

Ha.

So he noticed she was pretty.

When had he even seen Semin drawing her storyboard?

I stopped by the teachers’ office with Semin, left the handouts there, and then walked down the hill with her.

It had only been a brief interaction, but I felt as though Semin had opened her heart just a little.

In Welcome! Summer Film, Semin appeared as the ultimate loner.

She had been bullied in middle school and had closed her heart to other people.

I couldn’t expect her to become completely close to me from the very beginning.

“Semin, are you taking the bus? Let’s go together if you are!”

“Ah… I’m taking the subway.”

“Oh, I see. Then see you tomorrow!”

“Wait!”

Just as I was about to head toward the bus stop, Semin stopped walking and turned around to call me back.

She hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking to me.

“Thank you… for talking to me.”

Perhaps she was embarrassed.

After saying those words, Semin quickly walked away toward the station.

I watched her retreating figure with a pleased smile before turning around.

Then I spotted Eunho waiting for the light to change at a crosswalk.

I immediately waved my hand enthusiastically, trying to apologize for what had happened earlier.

Our eyes definitely met.

But Eunho looked away.

“Eunho! Talk to me for a second!”

This time, Eunho started walking in the opposite direction from where I was standing.

Was he really going to leave like this?

I hurried after him, trying to catch up, but it wasn’t easy to compete with those long legs.

Eventually, I managed to grab Eunho’s arm and stop him, panting heavily.

“Hey. Is bothering people your hobby?”

“No, it’s not. I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry for suddenly swearing at you this morning… and I’m sorry for sitting on you. And I’m sorry for ignoring what you said and covering your mouth too.”

“What a busy day you’ve had.”

“…Even if I had ten mouths, I wouldn’t have enough to say.”

At first, I had been happy simply to have fallen into this world and gotten to see my favorite and second-favorite characters with my own eyes.

Then I’d wanted Eunho to become the male lead.

But even after trying to interfere from the sidelines, nothing had changed.

Of course it hadn’t.

A supporting character—or rather, an extra—had no power.

Was the only reason I wanted Eunho to become the male lead really because he was my lifesaver?

I didn’t know.

With a strange, uncomfortable feeling weighing on me, I continued apologizing.

My desperate apology made Eunho let out a deep sigh.

That’s right.

Eunho wasn’t a cold person.

His eyes had softened considerably compared to earlier.

“Just be careful from now on. And I was a little too harsh earlier too….”

Screeeech!

It happened then.

With a deafening roar, Eunho instinctively pulled me toward him.

I knew that sound.

The sound of car tires grinding against the road.

The sound of something scraping.

The sound of something being smashed apart.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I slowly turned my head toward the scene of the accident.

A car had crashed into a utility pole and was spewing smoke.

The driver got out and stared at his car with an expression of despair.

Fortunately, no one appeared to be seriously injured, but my heart was pounding violently.

[‘Senior, I’m really sorry.’]

[‘Where are you? Please, don’t hang up. Okay?’]

[‘I feel like I’m just causing you trouble, Senior. No, I mean… older sister.’]

[‘No. That’s not true.’]

The terrible memories of that day flashed through my mind.

The junior’s repeated apologies.

The roar of the car that followed.

And, just as it had been described in the epilogue, the alternating images of Eunho’s fading eyes and the junior’s fading eyes.

Only then did I finally understand the reason for the uncomfortable feeling I’d been carrying around.

“Now I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“My favorite isn’t simply a second male lead, or just the person who saved my life.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“If you stay the second lead here too….”

I wanted to prevent the car accident, at the very least, for Eunho—my favorite character, the person who had saved my life.

Once was enough.

If I wanted to prevent it, Eunho couldn’t remain the second male lead.

He had to become the male lead.

I grabbed both of Eunho’s arms as he tried to pull away from me.

“Eunho. Listen carefully to what I’m saying.”

That’s right.

There would always be limits to how much an extra could change the ending.

If I couldn’t completely change the story because I was only an extra….

“I’m going to make you the male lead.”

Then the only way was to make the protagonist himself move.