How to Survive as a Supporting Male Lead

“Of course I remember.”

Kallian said it with a faint smile, lost in the memory. When he thought about it, it was true. Iann had always been there. From those early days Iann himself didn’t even remember, all the way to now.

With Iann there, everything felt lighter. His heavy, dark life would turn into a bright fairytale. Fairytales were like that, where someone would appear out of nowhere to save the protagonist from pain and sorrow.

So maybe, his savior was…

A shiver of instinct ran through Kallian. What the hell am I even thinking? Have I lost my mind? But before he could sort out his confusion, Iann’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Ha! Kallian.”

“…What.”

Kallian, just barely managing to hide the panic in his chest, tossed a dart as he answered.

“You sucked at darts back then, and you’re still bad at it now?”

Iann was laughing as he insulted Kallian.

“What?”

That finally snapped Kallian out of it.

“Wow! We won, Derrick!”

“It’s all thanks to you, Lady Yuhwa. You’re very good at darts.”

He saw Yuhwa and Derrick celebrating in the distance.

“Hey. Are you kidding me?”

Iann’s furious face loomed in front of him.

“I told you to take this seriously, play for your life! Even if you were trying to miss, you couldn’t have done worse!”

Kallian stared in dismay at the pile of blue darts at his feet. Except for the first few, they’d all fallen to the ground.

“Why did I even team up with you? You know, I always say ‘good job, good job,’ and you actually believed it?”

“When have you ever said that to me?”

Kallian shot back in frustration. If he’d even been praised once, he wouldn’t feel so resentful. And anyway, whose fault was it that he hadn’t played well? It definitely wasn’t his.

“Last year, you even beat me!”

“That was…!”

‘Because I wasn’t having thoughts like this.’ Kallian bit his lip hard, holding the words back. As the two of them started arguing, Yuhwa and Derrick, the victors, walked over.

“And now, it’s time for the sacred granting of wishes!”

Yuhwa spoke in a reverent tone, but the flush on her face showed how much she was enjoying this.

“Lord Derrick? What’s your wish?”

“Since it’s thanks to you that we won, Lady Yuhwa, you should have my wish as well.”

“Wow, thank you!”

“This is ridiculous!”

Iann let out a wail of despair. Kallian was still reeling, unable to make sense of the whirlwind of emotions and thoughts swirling inside him.

“Then for my first wish… I’ll tell you privately later, Lord Kallian.”

“Yuhwa, please, can’t you just use both wishes on Kallian? It’s all his fault we lost!”

“Nope. It was a team game, after all.”

Yuhwa refused brightly with a smile.

“You two really don’t seem to be getting along at all.”

She was thinking quickly. Her plan was to use her first wish to ask for free access to Kallian’s library. If she could pull that off, it wouldn’t help her to have Kallian in a bad relationship with Iann, whom she was indebted to.

“Alright! My second wish will be to help you two mend your relationship!”

“Ugh, I already hate this…”

“Alright, give each other a hug of reconciliation!”

Iann’s face froze.

“Ha…ha, Yuhwa. That might be the most shocking thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“Come on, hurry! We don’t have much time.”

“No! No way! Kallian, say something! You don’t want to hug me either, do you?!”

Iann was practically screeching. But Kallian, lost in his own tangled emotions, couldn’t say anything, couldn’t offer any help.

And Derrick… Derrick knew the one word that would get Iann to do anything.

“Iann.”

“Why?!”

“Scared?”

“You crazy bastard! Why the hell would you say that now?!”

“What, you’re so scared that you can’t even handle this little challenge?”

“Ah! Don’t be ridiculous! Of course I can handle this! Hey! Kallian!”

“W-what?”

Only when Iann’s voice cut in did Kallian lift his head and react. Right. There was no way he’d ever see someone this idiotic, reckless, and foolish as his savior, someone to cherish, someone to like.

“Alright, that’s enough!”

…There it was. Kallian went still in the warmth of Iann’s arms. His heart pounded wildly. Iann’s gentle scent filled his nose, the soft tickle of that silvery hair brushing his skin. And just like that, all the questions and tangled emotions that had tormented him seemed to come unraveled.

Kallian realized that the game had ended long ago. He just hadn’t had a chance to see it before now. The moment someone else appeared who drew Iann’s attention more than he did, the moment Iann held him, everything in Kallian’s life broke apart. His daily life, his peace, everything had already belonged to Iann for a long time.

Long ago, already so long ago that he hadn’t even noticed, he had fallen in love with Iann.

He was only realizing it now.

‘I’m ruined.’

Kallian understood, in that moment, that his life was completely and utterly fucked.