I’m a Second Male Lead in a Romance Fantasy, but I Don’t Like the Female Lead

First period, I kept shaking my leg the whole time. Could Seol-ah just be oversleeping? Could that be why she’s late?

Second period, I confirmed during break time that she still hadn’t arrived. Even if she overslept, it’s strange not to have arrived by this time. I started biting my nails. When tension and worry reach their peak, I want to put something in my mouth. I discovered a habit I didn’t know I had. I’m similar to Hestia in this way.

Lunch time, I went to the female dormitory with Hestia. With things turning out this way, I regret not listening to Hestia last night. I should have just gone right away when it came up.

We caught the dormitory maids and asked about Seol-ah’s whereabouts. Of course, they said they didn’t know. After asking the fourth person, we finally managed to find a trace of her.

“She hasn’t come back since yesterday afternoon. Is something wrong? I naturally assumed she had applied for an overnight stay.”

“Since yesterday afternoon?”

My mind went blank. Gone since yesterday afternoon?

“Mikhail? Mikhail! Pull yourself together. Where’s the person who told me to calm down yesterday!”

Seeing me in a daze, Hestia grabbed my shoulders and shook me vigorously. My body shakes wildly.

“Hestia? Okay, stop, stop!”

I grabbed her hands and barely removed them.

“Are you calm now? That person attended today, so the situation isn’t urgent right now. We need to calmly assess the situation first.”

Hestia said calmly. As she said, Wilhelm had come to the Academy with an unchanged face, and what we’re worried about won’t happen immediately.

I recalled what Seol-ah had said during our last meeting.

‘He’ll probably cause an incident within this month. If I’m absent, you should follow Wilhelm when he leaves school that day.’

‘If you fail to follow him, you’ll have to search all the empty buildings near the school, but if you go to a real estate agency near the school and find out which buildings were recently contracted, you can probably save quite a bit of time.’

‘Your role is the most important. If you’re too late, I don’t think anything good will happen.’

Getting excited now won’t help at all. The immediate priority is to wait until the Academy ends and then follow Wilhelm. This is also the method Seol-ah suggested. The original Mikhail probably caught Wilhelm’s tail using this method too.

“Thank you. I’ve calmed down for now.”

I cooled my head a bit. After hearing Hestia’s words, I became a bit more composed. I expressed my gratitude to her. If she hadn’t restrained me, I would have rushed out of the Academy right now and spent time conducting fruitless investigations alone, missing the opportunity. As Seol-ah said, my role is the most important thing now. If I’m too late, who knows what might happen.

Even if whatever happens is part of Seol-ah’s plan, I have no intention of tolerating it. Call it willful thinking if you like. I absolutely cannot agree with her mindset that this world is all false and only the two of us are real, and naturally, I don’t agree with her twisted plans stemming from such an idea.

Even if this world is a world inside a novel and follows the content of that novel exactly, the people of this world are not mere characters. They are vividly living and breathing people. Although this world is based on a novel and I may exploit that fact, I don’t want to treat the people around me as just characters in a creative work. Hestia, Cordelia, and even Wilhelm feel no different to me than people from Earth. It’s a separate issue from my likes and dislikes. I simply cannot view them as mere puppets.

Hestia, who saw my true self, breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad. In the end, only you, Mikhail, can stop that person. Given his position, it’s hard to trust the guards.”

He’s not some chaebol heir from a movie, but the Crown Prince of an empire in a novel. Considering that this is a fictional world, unless some exceptionally justice-minded low-ranking guard appears out of nowhere, it’s difficult to expect intervention from public power. Unless the protagonist is part of the public power, that’s how police or guards in novels are. Who would want to watch if Inspector Lestrade solved all the cases in Sherlock Holmes?

“First, I’ll wait and then secretly follow him as soon as classes end. Hestia, could you find out about buildings near the Academy that have recently changed owners? Wait at the school gate once your investigation is done. If I fail to follow him, we’ll have to check each place on foot.”

In the end, I’m the one who has to solve the problem. Seol-ah said so too. I’ve already divided roles with Hestia. Although I don’t want to think about it, I should consider the possibility of failing to follow him.

Afterward, Hestia and I quietly waited for the end of school. I was so distracted that I couldn’t concentrate on the classes at all.

“Then, I’ll be going. You must succeed.”

Finally, it’s time to move.

Hestia held my hand, wished me success, and then got up first. She’s going to investigate the nearby buildings as I asked earlier. She probably doesn’t have very good feelings toward Seol-ah. Yet seeing her move so dedicatedly in Seol-ah’s crisis makes me feel respect. There’s a saying that you should marry someone you can respect, and I completely agree.

After sending Hestia off, I sat and waited for Wilhelm to get up. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to me. Rather, he seems more stable than usual. He doesn’t look at all like someone who has kidnapped and imprisoned a woman he likes.

‘Is he really a psychopath?’

I cursed Wilhelm inwardly. He finally stood up from his seat. I also followed him, trying to be inconspicuous. In any case, since both Wilhelm and I reside in the same dormitory, it’s not strange that we’re going in the same direction.

Wilhelm left the main building and, as expected, started moving toward the school gate rather than the dormitory. I also followed him, pretending to be nonchalant. This much is fine. There are plenty of students heading to the shopping district outside the Academy after classes.

He entered a dark and gloomy back alley very confidently, without any sign of looking around. He still shows no sign of noticing my tail. If I were the Crown Prince, I wouldn’t walk so confidently just because of the gazes.

I also entered the back alley where Wilhelm was heading, hiding among the crowd. The back alley he headed to was more gloomy than I expected. A narrow gap between buildings, an alley where even sunlight barely enters. It’s so full of dark energy that it’s hard to believe a vibrant street full of students and merchants is just a few meters away.

The place he finally arrived at after navigating through the narrow alleyways,

“What the f**k, is he insane?”

It was a brothel. A man who looks like a pimp stands guard at the entrance, and behind him, half-naked women are sitting in bright red windows. A curse involuntarily escaped my lips.

What is that bastard thinking coming here? More importantly, why is there a brothel in front of the Academy? I feel like my brain is shaking. I felt a terrible thought cross my mind but soon shook my head. No way, although I’ve learned about his depravity through Seol-ah’s explanations, he’s still the main male protagonist.

I decided to watch him for now. Perhaps because the sun hasn’t set yet, there didn’t seem to be any customers. The man who appeared to be the pimp waved his hand dismissively as Wilhelm, still a student, approached. Then Wilhelm began explaining something to the man.

What is he saying? It’s hard to hear because of the distance. After listening to the entire explanation, the man turned pale and guided Wilhelm inside. It seems like the man is seeing Wilhelm for the first time, and Wilhelm also seems to be here for the first time.

After confirming that Wilhelm had completely disappeared inside, I also approached the entrance casually. Soon, the man who had finished guiding him approached me.

He asked me grumpily, seemingly not in a good mood.

“What?”

He immediately speaks informally because I’m wearing a school uniform.

“What did the man who just went in say?”

“I can’t tell you that, and if you’re a student, go study instead of hanging around here. Just my luck.”

“Do you know who he is and still act like this?”

“Do you know who that person is and still act like this?”

His voice mixed with irritation shows that he’s already full of intention to drive me away. He probably thinks I’ll turn pale and run away if he sells Wilhelm’s name.

I racked my brain. Soon, a good idea came to mind.

“It’s Wilhelm.”

I smiled as unpleasantly as possible, lifting just one corner of my mouth.

“You, you! Are you crazy?”

When I casually uttered the Crown Prince’s name, the man clearly showed signs of panic.

“No need to be so surprised. Wilhelm is my friend. We promised to play together, but it seems he came here first by himself.”

I decided to pretend to be the Crown Prince’s friend. Not just a friend, but a pleasure-seeking friend. I naturally changed my speech to be as arrogant and condescending as possible. A man who naturally calls the Crown Prince by name, knowing his exact identity despite coming alone. The man believed my lie without any doubt.

“I, I have committed a mortal sin!”

The man’s face turned pale once again. He’s probably thinking he’s stepped in real trouble today.

“Forget the mortal sin. So what did he say?”

“He, he said he doesn’t have experience yet, so he came to practice…”

“Exactly! How could the Crown Prince of the Empire still be a virgin? I was going to teach him properly, but he went ahead alone. He must have been quite eager.”

I somehow held onto my slipping sanity at this unexpected reason and attached a makeshift explanation. Of course, I’m a virgin too. What does he mean by teaching? More importantly, what the hell is that crazy bastard trying to practice? I tried hard to suppress my grinding teeth. The good news is that the terrifying and dreadful hypothesis that Wilhelm might have sold Seol-ah to a brothel stopped at just being a hypothesis.

“Then, should I guide you to the room where he is?”

“No, no, no, no! There’s no need to go that far.”

I hastily rejected the man’s sudden suggestion. It was naturally brought up as if he were suggesting a shared table at a restaurant, but the content was completely insane. Just how horrifying is this?

“Is that so?”

“I don’t really have a taste for that side. By the way, how long did Wilhelm say he’d be here?”

I sincerely dislike it. The thought of having to see that bastard’s naked back and dangling thing makes me nauseous.

He showed the gold coins in his pocket with a lewd smile. One, two, three. How many are there? I tried to count the amount but gave up as the gold coins seemed endless. Anyway, it’s an enormous amount. It’s ridiculous for the price of sleeping with a woman in such a brothel.

“He said he would stay until he finishes practicing satisfactorily.”

‘Crazy bastard.’

I tried to keep my face from crumpling and turned my back.

“I understand for now. I’ll come back later. Good luck.”

I couldn’t find Seol-ah’s whereabouts by following him anymore. In any case, Wilhelm is also a protagonist, so he’s not likely to be a quick finisher, and judging by the amount paid, he’ll be stuck there for quite a while.

I turned my steps toward the school gate where Hestia would be waiting. We need to find Seol-ah before Wilhelm.