Prologue: Not the Protagonist
Ever since the moment I was born, I could see something that remained invisible to everyone else.
I poked my head around the corner and looked at my parents in the living room.
Role: Protagonist's Father
Info: A pharmaceutical researcher and spouse of Heo Migyeong. Busy with work, he rarely comes home.
Role: Protagonist's Mother
Info: A pharmaceutical researcher and spouse of Kang Chanseok. Busy with work, she rarely comes home.
The translucent words hovering above my parents as they chatted softly in the living room. It didn’t take long for me to realize that these were the roles this world had assigned them.
Semi-transparent text floating over people’s heads. Whenever I saw it, joy would bloom in my chest.
So I really am the protagonist of this world.
Special letters only I could see. A privilege only a chosen one could possess.
Protagonist. Just hearing the word sent a pleasant thrill through my heart.
Once I understood I was the protagonist, I stopped holding back.
I often played pranks on the pretty girls in class.
“Gotcha!”
“Kyaaak!”
“Oh! Rabbit-print panties. Kek, how childish can you get?”
My mother would gently scold me.
“Ijin, shouldn’t you start studying soon?”
“Ehh~ I don’t need to bother with that.”
After all, I was the protagonist. No matter how much my parents worried, I never touched a single textbook.
I also had no qualms about shaking down my friends for money.
“Hey, otaku. Give me a thousand won. I want to buy some Pokémon bread.”
“I don’t have any money, Ijin…”
“Cut the crap! You know Kim Daedu, the boss from the next class, right? We’re tight. Hand it over before I call him to beat your ass.”
“Here…”
“Hiding it even though you had some. Kek.”
The incident brought police to the school and dragged my parents in, but none of it scared me.
Because I was the protagonist.
Until I turned thirteen.
My younger brother came thundering down the stairs from the second floor, report card clutched in his hand.
“Mom, Dad! Look at this! I got first in the whole school again!”
“You’ve done well, Suho.”
“Hoho, just as I thought—Suho takes after me with that sharp mind. It’s such a relief we have you, Suho.”
There had only ever been two people with no text floating above their heads: me, and my brother who was one year younger—Kang Suho.
That was the day I realized how badly I had misunderstood everything.
The day text finally appeared above both my brother’s head and my own.
Role: Protagonist
Info: The protagonist of a romance-comedy story. In sixth grade he experiences a certain incident involving Kang Ijin. Because of it he becomes timid and introverted, but gradually overcomes his wounds with the help of the heroines around him.
This can’t be…
It couldn’t be. I had taken it for granted that I was the protagonist, yet the title belonged to Kang Suho.
There could not be two protagonists under the same sky.
Then what am I? Just what the hell am I?
With a trembling heart I looked into the mirror, and my legs gave out beneath me.
Role: Protagonist's Older Brother, Villain
Info: A mischievous character who enjoys tormenting others. The typical bully within a group of delinquents. Lacking intelligence, ability, and talent compared to those around him, he likes to show off. He envies and is jealous of Kang Suho, who monopolizes their parents’ love, and is the one who causes the protagonist to become timid. In the future he will commit a crime and end up in prison.
I was a villain, designed from the start to envy and resent the younger brother who had claimed the protagonist’s role.