Chapter 2
Chapter 2
I Became the Sub Male Lead
A sub protagonist.
A character often called the “sub male lead” is usually born with a tragic fate.
His first appearance is more impactful than the main protagonist, but as time passes, his importance fades and his role diminishes.
The once incompetent main character grows stronger and defeats bosses in spectacular fashion, while the sub protagonist is left dealing with minor enemies.
The heroines who once showed interest in the sub protagonist gradually drift toward the main protagonist.
He is called the protagonist’s rival, yet when you look at the actual setting, the gap is so wide that the sub protagonist should be bowing his head.
Occasionally, there are episodes focused on him, but they usually end within three to five chapters.
After that, the main character takes everything.
Of course, there are works where sub protagonists are treated well, but in the web novel I used to enjoy, their treatment was absolute garbage.
“This fucking shit!”
After reading the ending of the novel today, I spat out a string of curses and started typing furiously.
[Title] Let’s Talk About Bern, the Sub Protagonist of Adochchoi
Before we begin, the author officially stated that Bern is a sub protagonist.
Don’t mistake him for a side character.
His first appearance? He shows up by slicing the neck of an A-rank monster, a Giant Ogre that attacked the academy.
Saving the students with overwhelming power and extending his hand to the protagonist—Bern looked cool as hell, even to me.
He left a strong impression on the protagonist, Kang Junhyuk, who then set him as his goal.
Even though it felt a bit cliché, it was still the kind of classic story you look forward to, right?
But in the very next episode, Kang Junhyuk starts building a heroine flag with Sherin, Bern’s childhood friend?
While the protagonist is setting up an NTR route, Bern is busy training him because he wants to get stronger. LOL.
Up to that point, I accepted it as the fate of a sub protagonist.
The real bullshit started in Part 3, during the Demon Forest exploration arc.
Bern shows up after a long time—and struggles against a B-rank monster, a Shovel Tiger.
What the hell? The guy who one-shot an A-rank monster is struggling against a B-rank?
I’m 100% sure the author forgot Bern’s settings.
Later, the author tried to fix it by saying Bern was weakened by a curse.
But that’s even more ridiculous because Serin, who always travels with him, is a priest.
So what was the healer doing while Bern was cursed?
She could regenerate Kang Junhyuk’s arm but couldn’t remove a curse that could be cured with a potion? LOL.
The author, maybe feeling a bit guilty, later powered Bern up after lifting the curse—but of course, he was still trash compared to Kang Junhyuk.
Two years later, Kang Junhyuk catches up to Bern, and they fight together.
It made no sense that Bern trained for 15 years while Kang Junhyuk caught up in just 2 years, but I still expected a cool moment.
Yeah… I was the idiot for expecting anything.
Bern barely gets mentioned, while all the spotlight goes to Kang Junhyuk.
Junhyuk uses flashy magic and swordsmanship, while Bern is just described as silently cutting monsters’ heads.
After that, Junhyuk surpasses Bern completely.
Then comes the worst part—they fight over Sherin.
Junhyuk crushes Bern and takes her.
I thought Bern would fall into darkness and awaken or something…
But no.
He says, “Please take care of her.”
What a joke.
And you know what’s the most infuriating?
In the end, Bern marries Sherin.
Why?
Because Sherin wasn’t popular, so the author just dumped the leftover heroine on him.
And even after marrying Bern, Sherin still has feelings for Kang Junhyuk.
So Bern ends up as the ultimate pathetic loser, traveling around cleaning up leftover demons for the protagonist.
Summary in three lines
Bern is a pathetic loser.
<Academy’s Strongest Monopoly> is a legendary trash novel.
Author, don’t write another novel—go do manual labor instead.
Originally, I could’ve written over 5,700 characters, but my blood pressure kept rising, so I stopped.
I figured this was enough to show how I felt and closed my laptop.
Lying on my bed, I stared at my phone and, out of habit, opened the web novel app.
The ongoing mark was gone, replaced with a “completed” tag on <Academy’s Strongest Monopoly>.
I removed it from my favorites.
“I loved you, you piece of shit.”
Plot holes, terrible story, heroine distribution, genre drift.
It was a novel I should’ve dropped long ago, but the characters were appealing, so I kept reading.
At first, I cursed Bern for being a pushover, but I gradually grew attached to his personality.
His generosity, his usual gentle nature contrasted with his cold decisiveness in battle.
And his individual story arc—the only truly moving part of the novel.
To me, Bern was the real main character.
That’s why I couldn’t forgive the author for giving him such a miserable ending.
“If I were Bern….”
For a moment, I considered writing a fanfiction IF story—but gave up.
Writing without respecting the original author felt risky.
“Sigh….”
Feeling it was all pointless, I let out a deep sigh and covered my eyes.
After venting, exhaustion washed over me.
I should get some sleep…
“…rn!”
“Mm?”
“Bern!”
A sharp female voice rang out.
Strange. I’ve never brought a woman into my apartment.
To someone like me, who didn’t even have female friends, women were practically fictional.
“Bern! I saw your eyes open. Get up already!”
“Ugh…! You’re so loud my ears are going to burst. Can’t you be quiet?”
“L-loud?!”
Annoyed, I sat up.
Whoever it was, waking me like a military trumpet was bound to piss me off.
Personally, I’d prefer to be woken gently like a newlywed bride.
“Who are you to barge into someone else’s—”
…Huh?
As I rubbed my eyes and looked at the intruder—
My thoughts froze.
A face both familiar and unfamiliar.
Her furrowed brows almost threw me off, but her light pink short hair made me realize.
“Sherin…?”
“So you’re finally awake! Guess my voice really was loud?”
“……”
“Well, since you like quiet, I’ll leave! Bye!”
Bang!
She stormed out, slamming the door.
That sarcastic attitude and sharp personality matched perfectly with someone I knew—
Except she shouldn’t exist in reality.
Yet here she was.
‘Wait… this isn’t my room?’
Everything felt unfamiliar.
The room, the hard bed, the rough clothes, even my height.
Confused, I walked to a mirror.
And saw—
“This is…!”
The man in the reflection.
Bern Kulam.
The sub protagonist who started as a rival and ended as a pathetic loser.
I reached out—and the reflection did the same.
Only then did I realize.
“I… became Bern?”
“What the hell is going on?”
I recalled everything.
My name was Yoon Geonwoo. A 24-year-old college student living alone in Seoul.
My hobby was reading web novels, and last night I read the final chapter.
Got pissed, wrote a complaint post, fell asleep—
And woke up as Bern.
‘Did I get possessed?’
A common web novel trope.
And now it was happening to me.
‘No way… I’m really Bern…!’
Shock and excitement mixed.
Then—
Creak—
The door opened again, and pink hair peeked in.
“How long are you going to sit there? Aren’t you going to the academy?”
“…Yeah, I am.”
“Good! But don’t you have something to say first?”
She wanted an apology.
Even without saying it, her eyes made it clear.
It was true—I had been rude earlier.
If she wanted an apology, that was fair.
I smiled brightly and said—
“Get lost, you pink-haired brat.”
A pathetic loser ending?
Absolutely not.