In Romance Fantasy, the Sub-Male Lead is Possessed by Love
In the original novel, Asrion was an arrogant man whose excellence matched his pride—a genius who was the bloodline of the Mage Tower Lord and had reached 3-Circle at just thirteen. His nose was pointed sky-high. He believed without a doubt that everyone in the world was beneath him when it came to magic.
But unlike the original story, a walking disaster named Rian appeared in this world, and Asrion's solid worldview crumbled to ruins in a single day. Before that overwhelming talent worthy of being called a disaster, his genius was denied.
Driven mad by extreme inferiority, he denied Rian. He tried to destroy him by framing him as a black mage using the power of the Mage Tower. But framing someone as a black mage came with a heavy price. If it weren't for his grandfather, the Mage Tower Lord, he could have faced severe punishment for false accusation in return.
And so, he ended up as a lab rat tester for the virtual reality beta.
Trapped in the body of a hunched old grandmother inside the virtual reality, he endured terrorism from stinky dung stew and fermented fish. His self-esteem drilled through underground aquifers and hit rock bottom.
Even after returning to reality, he was synchronized with the old woman's speech patterns and sensations, plunging him into self-loathing.
At the very bottom of that hellish abyss, he met Seol-ah—a pitiful girl who worshipped him blindly as her hero.
In that brief moment of rescuing her from her pursuers, Asrion perfectly reclaimed his lost self.
'Yes. I am Asrion, heir to the Mage Tower.'
The embers of his dying pride reignited fiercely in his chest.
Hmm.
Rian's brown eyes sank lazily. The contents of the original romance fantasy novel stored in his mind resurfaced.
In the original, Asrion's position was clear: the sub-male lead who went blindly mad with devotion to the heroine, Ardelia. He offered everything for her—his genius magical talent, the power of the Mage Tower, even his life force.
But in the end, he realized her heart belonged to the main male lead, Cassius, and quietly stepped aside.
'The classic doormat position.'
Rian snorted. He couldn't comprehend the idea of devoting oneself to someone, let alone a one-sided sacrifice with no reward.
For his efficiency-obsessed mindset, it was the dumbest, most irrational nonsense imaginable.
'No way that NPC data scrap is awakening doormat tendencies.'
Asrion panted heavily as he looked down at Seol-ah, who leaned against a weathered statue with a stiff expression. Bloodstains still crusted her cheeks, and the wounds peeking through her torn silk robes looked precarious.
"You'll be safe by my side."
"Yes... I believe in you, young master…."
"Haha, yeah. Trust me. I'll protect you."
Asrion said it with feigned solemnity. But inside, he was far from calm.
According to Seol-ah's tearful plea, the Black Snake Sect—a vicious group of demonic cultivators numerous enough to wipe out the Moon Shadow Sect—was after her.
'With 3-Circle firepower, I could ambush and turn six or seven into ash in an instant.'
Asrion coldly calculated his magical output.
'But if their numbers swell to dozens, it's a different story. And they wield some unknown energy called qi that I don't understand.'
He was a genius who reached 3-Circle at thirteen, but mana reserves had limits. A prolonged war of attrition would drain him dry, putting his life at risk.
'Best to wait for them to cluster and wipe them out with a massive area spell in one go.'
That was the most efficient tactic for a mage. But to pull it off, he needed a critical prerequisite: the enemies' carelessness, a safe hiding spot for Seol-ah, and funds to deceive their eyes.
'Can't keep hiding in this ruined tomb. Their search net will tighten soon.'
Asrion's clenched fists trembled. He hated admitting it—more than death. The heir to the Mage Tower bowing his head and begging for help from someone else? Unthinkable.
Especially if that someone was the commoner who had plunged him into the abyss.
'If it were just me... I'd sooner die than bow.'
His gaze turned to Seol-ah. Those frail, desperate eyes looking up at him as her sole savior.
For her sake...!
'But for this poor girl's life and safety... I'll shatter my pathetic pride without hesitation!'
It wasn't the pathetic flailing of a loser seething with inferiority, framing others as black mages. This was the dazzling awakening of the original sub-male lead, shouldering a greater cause to protect his beloved.
Asrion steeled his resolve and stepped out of the ruined tomb.
Emerging from the narrow alley outside the tomb and scanning the street, Asrion froze. His eyes locked onto the grand rooftop of a nearby building.
There, three silhouettes gazed down at him with interest: Rian, Ardelia, and Vesperia.
Asrion bit his lip and clenched his fists. Then he bellowed toward the rooftop at the top of his lungs.
"Rian! I... no, I need to talk to you for a moment!"
His desperate, anger-laced shout pierced the market noise and reached the roof intact.
"Huh. He's calling me first."
Rian snapped his fingers.
Snap—.
In an instant, Rian, Ardelia, and Vesperia floated lightly into the air, defying gravity. He had twisted the physics of the virtual reality server, conjured by illusion magic.
The three descended to the ground as gracefully as falling leaves, landing before Asrion's eyes.
"Why'd you call?"
Rian asked indifferently.
Seeing Rian's apathetic face ignited a fire in Asrion's gut. But he desperately suppressed his rage and forced himself to bow his head.
"…I have a favor to ask."
Ardelia's red eyes widened slightly at those unbelievable words from Asrion's mouth. Vesperia, hugging her black cat, stared at him in confusion too.
The arrogant young noble who had been hostile to Rian was begging him for help?
"Help me hide the girl inside safely from those demonic sect bastards using your power."
Humiliation dripped from Asrion's voice, but it didn't waver.
"You can get her out safely in ways I can't imagine. Please help. I need your advice."
It was a desperate plea, admitting his own incompetence to protect Seol-ah.
"I can't understand it."
But Rian's response to that noble, heroic request was ice-cold and dry.
He shot back incredulously.
"Why should I?"
A merciless rejection, sharp and to the point.
At that perfectly logical and concise refusal, Asrion lost it and raised his voice in fury.
"Don't you have even the bare minimum mercy to help a poor girl clinging so desperately?! You heartless bastard!"
Asrion gnashed his teeth, looking ready to grab Rian's collar.
But Rian remained utterly unmoved, staring at him with calm eyes.
"You're getting too immersed."
"W-What…?"
"That kid crying in there. You think she's a real person?"
Rian jerked his chin toward the tomb, driving in the cold fact.
"Her and those demonic sect guys chasing you—they're all fakes I made in this virtual reality. You're bowing to me to save a fake? Aren't you an idiot?"
Rian patted Asrion's shoulder with bone-chilling advice.
"Don't get too attached to fakes. They're not people anyway."
The creator's cruel, realistic rebuke.
Ardelia inwardly agreed with Rian's cold fact-bombing. No matter how realistic and intricate this world was, it was just a product of illusion magic from Rian's mind.
Empathizing with fakes was foolish.
"……."
But Asrion's reaction differed.
Despite Rian's harsh advice, his gray eyes didn't waver an inch. If anything, they burned deeper and fiercer.
To him, Seol-ah was the sole light that had saved his shattered pride and awakened the thrill of being a hero for the first time in his life.
To him, Seol-ah was real. Her warmth, her emotions—they were unmistakably human.
"I don't care what you say."
Asrion roughly slapped Rian's hand away and declared firmly.
"She's real to me. No—your rotten mindset, calling a being breathing and crying so desperately a fake, that's the abnormal and twisted one."
That unshakeable, blind declaration overflowed with the stubborn, heroic madness unique to a love-crazed sub-male lead.
Rian stared into those fanatic eyes for a moment, then shrugged with a wry chuckle.
"Well, since you're a tester with merits, I'll support you."
Rian's finger lightly swished through the air.
Jingle—.
With a crisp friction sound, something materialized in midair and dropped into Asrion's hand. A silk pouch heavy with weight.
Asrion flinched and opened it. Inside gleamed stacks of silvery ingots—the silver currency of the martial world.
"This world's money."
Rian pointed indifferently.
"Get her some new clothes to replace those rags, then book a decent room at an inn to hide her safely. And a mage's tip: in that desperation, wring your brain to the limit and yearn for it intensely. You'll awaken something."
Rian even tossed in some mage advice.
Asrion's shoulders trembled faintly as he gripped the silver pouch tight. Gone was yesterday's pathetic, rage-fueled accuser.
With a face more serious and grave than ever, he bowed deeply to Rian.
"…I owe you."
The boy who cast aside the Mage Tower's pride, standing firm on nothing but his resolve to protect someone.
Even if that someone was a scrap of data in virtual reality, in that moment, he perfectly embodied the noble, devoted sub-male lead who had stirred female readers' hearts in the original.
Rian clicked his tongue at the heroic retreating figure.
'What a textbook doormat.'
No matter the original setting, to Rian, Asrion was just a pitiful beta tester lost in over-immersion—utterly incomprehensible.