It was the first time. The first time she had received support from someone. Yeo Woon blinked several times, unable to believe it.
That’s when it happened. Yeo Woon noticed her name being mentioned by the people around. Turning her head, she saw the staff, who she met every day, looking at her with unfamiliar expressions.
Her fist clenched at their curious faces. Suddenly, her face felt hot.
How should she explain the relationship between Seol Ji Oh and herself to these people? Yeo Woon’s vision blurred.
Then, she heard Director Choi’s voice from beside her.
“No, I didn’t know Yeo Woon was close to Seol Ji Oh? Why didn’t you tell me, Yeo Woon?”
Director Choi asked Yeo Woon in a slightly sharper tone than usual. Only then did Yeo Woon turn her head and gave an awkward laugh.
Approaching Seol Ji Oh, who was standing next to Director Choi with a smile, Yeo Woon lowered her voice and said,
“I need to talk to you for a second.”
At that, Seol Ji Oh nodded as if he understood, then respectfully said to Director Choi,
“Director, I’ll be back after a quick chat.”
Turning towards an empty side, Yeo Woon asked,
“What is all this?”
At Yeo Woon’s words, Seol Ji Oh furrowed his brow slightly.
“……Did I do something wrong?”
“Who comes so abruptly without telling me? I’ve never told anyone I was friends with Seol Ji Oh.”
“Then start telling them from now on. I’m fine with it.”
Seol Ji Oh spoke too easily. But Yeo Woon was not fine at all. The combination of Seol Ji Oh, who was clearly successful, and Yeo Woon, who had almost no recognition, made her feel uneasy even thinking about it.
When did they meet? How did they become close? She could clearly picture people eagerly asking these questions.
Looking at Yeo Woon’s face, Seol Ji Oh narrowed his eyes a bit and asked,
“Don’t you want to reveal that we’re friends?”
“……Yes.”
At Yeo Woon’s answer, Seol Ji Oh’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected Yeo Woon to dislike the idea. Turning his gaze, he fiddled with his eyebrows and asked Yeo Woon again,
“Why?”
Yeo Woon sighed and held her head with one hand. She didn’t want to have to say this. Yeo Woon closed her eyes.
“Our levels don’t match.”
“What?”
Seol Ji Oh looked at Yeo Woon as if he had lost his words. Then he gave a hollow laugh.
“What exactly is the level of Yeo Woon that you’re thinking of?”
The corner of Seol Ji Oh’s mouth twisted oddly. Unable to answer Seol Ji Oh’s question, Yeo Woon simply bit her lower lip.
Having lived as a noname for about 8 years, understanding her own status wasn’t hard. In fact, it was painfully clear.
So when she was tied as friends with Seol Ji Oh in front of people, she couldn’t stand the sight of herself shrinking even smaller.
Yeo Woon cast her gaze to the floor.
Seol Ji Oh spoke in his usual, friendly voice,
“If the level is so important, shouldn’t Yeo Woon pay attention to other things?”
“……?”
“Losing sleep and feeling fluttered over a single article, as an 8year veteran? I was quite surprised yesterday.”
Yeo Woon lifted her eyes to look at Seol Ji Oh. His words pierced her heart.
Last night, Seol Ji Oh must have thought she was quite pitiful. Considering he even went so far as to visit the shooting set the next day with a coffee truck to help her.
Seol Ji Oh tilted his head to one side and said,
“If it were me, I would think about climbing up first without any hesitation.”
With those words, Seol Ji Oh turned around. The look in his eyes before he turned was colder than usual.
Looking at Seol Ji Oh’s back, Yeo Woon joked to herself,
It was a mess.
What had she done to the first person who had ever cheered for her?
Yeo Woon arrived home. She wasn’t sure how she managed to complete the shoot today. Her mind kept wandering, and she couldn’t fully focus on her acting.
Every time she managed to finish shooting and had a break, people gathered around Yeo Woon again. The questions were mostly the same.
How did she know Seol Ji Oh? How did they become close? What do they usually do when they meet? What is Seol Ji Oh’s real personality like? And so on.
When Yeo Woon gave her answers, they all looked at her with envious eyes.
“Yeo Woon, you’re really lucky. Yeo Woon, I’m envious……”
This was why she hated it. Yeo Woon closed her eyes. Seol Ji Oh’s expression surfaced in her mind, making her feel uncomfortable.
Chewing her lower lip, Yeo Woon picked up her phone. Seol Ji Oh’s name was still at the top of her call list.
Yeo Woon’s finger hovered over Seol Ji Oh’s name for a while as she gazed at it.
After taking several deep breaths, she seemed to make up her mind and pressed the call button.
The monotone dial tone made her heartbeat speed up gradually.
Just as her anxiety started to show, making her toes wiggle, the dial tone cut off, and she unknowingly held her breath.
“[……Yeo Woon?]”
Seol Ji Oh’s voice was calm.
“Ah, hello.”
Yeo Woon opened the conversation in an awkward voice. Seol Ji Oh just listened without any particular response to her greeting.
“I didn’t even thank you for coming to the set today and I only said weird things……”
[…….]
“I’m sorry. And thank you. The coffee truck you sent was really delicious. Actually, it was my first time experiencing something like that. The drama leaving a trace of Yeo Woon… I really liked the cheering message too……”
Her words began to ramble on. A snicker of disbelief could be heard from the other end. Yeo Woon tightly closed her eyes, then she brought up the main point.
“I’ll just be frank with you. You might not remember, but I had my own picture.”
[……Picture?]
“Yes. I wanted to become a successful actor and confidently appear in front of you, Seol Ji Oh. Saying that I’ve grown up well. It’s funny, right?”
[…….]
“But it didn’t work out. For the past 8 years, I’ve been on the bottom while you, Seol Ji Oh, kept becoming famous. So I didn’t want to admit it to people. I was embarrassed to say that I was friends with Seol Ji Oh.”
[Yeo Woon…]
“My inferiority complex…… it’s so pathetic. I’m sorry.”
Yeo Woon laughed softly.
Although nothing had gone as she had imagined, acknowledging her situation somehow made her feel relieved.
Yeo Woon let out a sigh while looking into the void, and then scratched her forehead as she continued to speak.
“And I really want to make it big. It’s not like I don’t want to be successful……”
[Ha.]
Seol Ji Oh let out a sigh mixed with a laugh.
After a moment of silence, as if he was thinking, Seol Ji Oh suddenly spoke.
[Do you want to come to my house?] “Excuse me?”[Let’s have a strategy meeting.] “A strategy… meeting?”
Yeo Woon’s eyes widened.
Yeo Woon’s car entered a neighborhood filled with luxurious houses and villas. Following the navigation’s directions, Yeo Woon slowly drove into the parking lot of a highend villa.
After completing several vehicle recognition procedures at the entrance, she entered a parking lot filled with gleaming supercars. Yeo Woon parked her car neatly in the parking slot and then turned off the engine.
“Wow. Even the parking lot is impressive.”
Yeo Woon grabbed the gift that was in the passenger seat and got out of the car. Entering through one of several entrances connected to the parking lot, Yeo Woon took the elevator.
I think he said it was the topmost floor.
Yeo Woon checked Seol Ji Oh’s text once again and pressed the floor button. The elevator moved quickly and soon with a pleasant ding, the elevator came to a halt.
There was only one house on the floor she arrived at. This must be Seol Ji Oh’s house.
Taken aback, Yeo Woon pressed the doorbell. Even during the brief waiting period, her heart pounded wildly.
She couldn’t believe that she was standing in front of Seol Ji Oh’s house. Soon enough, the front door creaked open, and Seol Ji Oh peeked out.
“You’re here?”
Yeo Woon’s eyes widened slightly. Unusually for him, Seol Ji Oh had his hair down to his forehead and was dressed casually.
“Come in.”
Seol Ji Oh stepped aside and said to Yeo Woon.
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.
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