In an unfamiliar room, I stood in front of a mirror, utterly dumbfounded.
“What… what is all this?”
Before I could admire the stunning beauty and tall figure reflected in the mirror, I was seized by an intense fear.
The ‘me’ in the mirror was not me at all. How could it be that I fell asleep after some drinks and woke up in a strange room, with my appearance completely changed!
“Ah…”
I collapsed onto the floor. What on earth had I done last night?
I decided not to panic and to slowly piece everything together.
It all started with a text message.
‘Lumi is in the emergency room.’
I checked my phone again in disbelief. The sender was Lumi’s parents.
I hurriedly took a half-day off work. As Lumi’s only real-life friend, I had to get to the hospital immediately.
Upon my arrival, Lumi’s parents clung to me, crying.
“Jin!”
I was speechless in front of them.
Lumi suffered from severe depression. That’s why he started freelancing instead of taking a regular job.
If only he had earned good money, things might have been better. Unfortunately, the income of a novice freelancer is almost negligible, and Lumi was no exception. His depression worsened.
A few of his friends, including myself, tried our best to hang out with him. But like most young people caught up in their own lives, we couldn’t give Lumi the attention he needed. Even our group chat, which was his lifeline, soon quieted down.
Lumi became resentful and cut off all his human relationships, except for his parents and me. I occasionally exchanged messages with his parents, which is why I was spared from his block list.
Thus, I became the only friend in reality who faced Lumi.
“Whatever happened, he just wouldn’t wake up.”
His parents, with haggard faces, explained the situation.
Lumi hadn’t come out of his room for more than a day, so his worried mother knocked on his door only to find him unconscious. No matter how much they tried to wake him, he wouldn’t open his eyes, so they called an ambulance and rushed him to the emergency room.
There was no evidence of poisoning. After examinations, the hospital concluded that Lumi had fallen into a deep sleep.
Lumi’s mother said with a somber expression, “We won’t discharge him until he wakes up.”
Lumi’s father sighed deeply beside her.
“If only our Lumi could be like Jin.”
“Stop saying that!”
“Alright, alright. I’m just frustrated.”
I left the hospital feeling drained after asking Lumi’s parents to contact me when he wakes up.
A deep sense of guilt overwhelmed me.
I thought I did my best to alleviate Lumi’s loneliness and depression. Yet, a sharp question pierced me.
Did I really do my best?
Depressed, I stopped by a convenience store to drown my sorrows with beer. I had recently moved into a studio apartment to be closer to work.
The sound of fizzing carbonation was refreshingly contrary to my heavy heart. I chugged down the beer without taking a breath. Only after almost finishing a can did I finally pull it away from my lips.
“Sigh…”
Drinking so fast wasn’t good, but it had become a habit.
My heart sank again.
The helplessness of not being able to assist a friend in despair, the regret of not being a reason for him to find life worth living, all tangled up in a chaotic mess.
Holding my phone, I mindlessly tapped the screen, opening the personal conversations I had with Lumi. Scrolling through, I found where we had shared thoughts on a web novel.
“Story of a Countess’s Comeback.”
It was a typical romance fantasy novel, filled with clichés and nothing particularly special.
In fact, what had somewhat alleviated Lumi’s chronic depression were these numerous web novels. I too read along with them, as an effort to maintain conversation with Lumi, who found little joy in life.
Honestly, I was more of a realist than a fantasist. Initially, I had no great interest in fantasy novels, but they grew on me as I read more. Gradually, I became quite familiar with the clichés in web novels.
“Well, thanks to Lumi, I did gain a new hobby.”
I spoke out loud, trying to shake off the gloom. Since I was alone, who would hear?
While I enjoyed most of these stories, being a realist, I took them for what they were – just stories. Once finished, I would coolly move on to the next one without much afterthought.
But Lumi was different. He immersed himself in every story as if he were one of the characters. Sometimes, he would post almost troll-level comments if he didn’t like the ending.
He often said, ‘I wish I could transmigrate into a novel.’ I would respond, ‘It’s a good thing that’s impossible.’
[It’s fun because it’s fiction, Lumi.]Imagine transmigrating into a novel character! Most romance novels are set in backward societies with no concept of human rights or equality, let alone modern hygiene.
As I sipped my beer, I checked my rarely used personal email account. That’s when I saw it.
“Huh…?”
I straightened up, my heart pounding.
There was a familiar email address. It was from Lumi.
When male lead is the homewrecker
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.
Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
