It's Actually Not Easy Wanting to be a Supporting Male Lead

Translated by Eve

Edited by Serefina, Sora, Juurensha

The new EP progressed step by step. At the same time, the date for the cast and production crew to begin shooting arrived. Huo Ke dragged Sui Yuan to the production team ahead of time under Eason’s cold gaze. After all, these two people were newbie actors. They had to be especially prudent and careful.

Although Huo Ke did not have particularly good people skills in his last life, he had spent a lot of time in these circles and was thus well-versed in how to interact with other people. It was extremely easy for him to integrate himself into other social groups. Therefore, the seniors did not deliberately give the two people a hard time. After all, they didn’t get in anybody’s way and Director Zheng Bin, who would never turn a blind eye to something he disliked, highly disapproved of arrogance.

Only, although nobody deliberately made things difficult for them, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t any contempt. As newbie actors who only came running into the acting industry after a mediocre performance in the music industry, the treatment they received would not be as good as the treatment given to the actors. No matter if it was their makeup, costume order, or the general treatment, theirs would be second class. There would be no assistant who followed after them. Their seating, their water, and so forth—everything would have to be done by themselves. Luckily, Huo Ke had long since been prepared for this. As for Sui Yuan... he didn’t know about this at all.

Since their roles were different, their co-actors were naturally different as well. The role that Huo Ke had gotten, Hao Yuan, only acted together with Le Sen, who played the leading role, at the very end for a short scene. As for Sui Yuan, who played the childlike brother, practically all of his scenes involved Le Sen.

When he recalled the original plot, Sui Yuan couldn’t help but sweep a glance at the ignorant Huo Ke. He inwardly apologized to the other man—this time was probably a lost cause...you guys can cultivate your feelings during the next time you cooperate....

Huo Ke glanced at Sui Yuan, baffled. He stared blankly when he met the other’s remorseful look.

"Yue Minghui—the actor playing Yue Minghui, begin makeup!" A call came from inside the dressing room. Sui Yuan hastily stood up and entered, deciding that he might as well learn how to put on makeup.

In order to emphasize Yue Minghui’s purity, no matter if it was his makeup or his outfits, the vast majority them were pure white. Fortunately, Sui Yuan’s skin was also pale enough, so the clothes suited him very well. In addition, at the director’s bequest, he revealed a frail and vacant expression. He simply looked like an angel that had fallen to Earth by mistake.

When Sui Yuan left the dressing room, the entire place fell silent. Everyone couldn’t help but stop talking– even quietening their breaths, as if they were afraid of scaring him.

Zheng Bin’s eyes lit up as he turned Sui Yuan around. He repeated the word ’good’ several times and praised Sui Yuan’s makeup artist, "Your technique has gotten even better!"

"You’re praising the wrong person!" The makeup artist had obviously worked with Zheng Bin a few times before. His tone was of someone who was familiar with the other man. He looked at Sui Yuan, a bit moved, "Li Kun’s foundation is good. I didn’t have to put much makeup on him at all."

"Then that just means that Le Sen’s and my eye for people are good!" Zheng Bin laughed, sweeping a glance at Le Sen, who seemed to be lost in thought after seeing Sui Yuan.

As long as the camera lens weren’t too rotten, then even if his scenes weren’t plenty, Zheng Bin imagined that Sui Yuan would become the highlight of this production—even if he didn’t say anything, even if he didn’t do anything and only stood there, he would become the focal point in everyone’s eyes. He would easily attract everyone’s gaze.

"Have you ever studied how to find the camera, or how to move?" Zheng Bin subconsciously softened his voice, asking him in a friendly tone.

Sui Yuan shyly smiled, "I studied a little from a book, but I’ve never tried it in practice...."

Zheng Bin nodded, not at all disappointed. He turned his head to look at the surrounding actors that did not have any scenes to take at the moment, planning to help Sui Yuan find a teacher to teach him on the spot. Before he could even open his mouth, Le Sen unexpectedly took the initiative to volunteer, "Director Zheng, I’m free. It’s just the right timing for us to cultivate our tacit understanding. After all, we share quite a few of scenes."

"Good, good, good—this is really appropriate!" If Le Sen hasn’t taken the initiative to speak, then Zheng Bin would not force him to help. After all, the other party’s worth and status were both too high; he could not order Le Sen about as he wishes. Only, since he had spoken, Zheng Bin felt like he had won the lottery. Naturally, he repeatedly said words of agreement and impatiently handed Sui Yuan over.

Sui Yuan was pushed to Le Sen’s side. He raised his head to glance at the other, then turned to look at Huo Ke who was looking at this scene from amongst the crowd of people coldly. He suddenly saw the light, "Le Sen Ge, can you also teach Ah Ke Ge? It’s also his first time shooting a movie. He’s as good as me..."

Le Sen stared at him blankly. He hadn’t expected that Sui Yuan would say such words at all. He couldn’t help but look at him strangely, making Sui Yuan look a bit frightened, "If it’s not convenient... then forget it...."

"It’s fine," Le Sen’s appearance softened a lot, and he gently smiled while nodding. He faced Huo Ke, who had been waiting anxiously the whole time and indicated for him to come over.

Huo Ke also never thought that Le Sen would call him over. He quickly walked towards them, baffled.

"Li Kun said that it’s your first time shooting a television series, and asked me to give you a few pointers," Le Sen smiled slightly and nodded towards him, "Is that fine?"

"Of course! Many thanks for your advice!" Huo Ke nodded at once and looked at Sui Yuan with a complicated gaze, looking just like Le Sen just now.

Sui Yuan pulled at the hem of his jacket a bit helplessly and used his white lotus ability to the max. He tilted his head, innocently, "What’s wrong with you guys? You’re both looking at me weirdly...."

"It’s nothing," Le Sen restrained himself. In the end, he couldn’t hold himself back and raised his hand to rub the head of the youth who only came up to his shoulders, smiling while shaking his head.

Huo Ke watched this scene attentively. He couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter—not so long ago, he had stood in Sui Yuan’s place and had been treated intimately like this by Le Sen.

During the following teaching session, Huo Ke was a bit absent minded. Fortunately, he already knew these kind of basic things, so he didn’t make any large mistakes. Only, Le Sen had a good pair of eyes. Very quickly, he realized that whether it was moving around or finding the camera, Huo Ke appeared to be very seasoned. He did not seem like a newbie who had just entered the acting industry. Sui Yuan on the other hand, was truly an inexperienced new student and would make the silly mistakes that rookies tended to make.

After re-evaluating the two boys, Le Sen’s focus during the teaching session very quickly shifted onto Sui Yuan. Sui Yuan studied very earnestly and was also extremely intelligent. Very quickly, he was able to deduce many things from a single case and would rapidly catch on to the main points.

With this kind of bright and earnest student, no matter who was teaching him, they would feel rather happy, as if they had accomplished something. When the director’s assistant told them that it was time to prepare for the shoot, Le Sen and Sui Yuan really seemed like they were a pair of intimate brothers.

Le Sen faced Huo Ke and nodded. He pulled Sui Yuan along and said goodbye. They then went to the other side to familiarize themselves with the script. Huo Ke watched the two people leave hand in hand and couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely. Soon after, he laughed in spite of himself, shaking his head.

Because of their interactions in his last life, he was extremely familiar with all of Le Sen’s habits. Although he appeared to be gentle and carefree and seemed to like to guide the younger generation, it was very rare for him to genuinely hold someone in high enough regard to want to be real friends with them. In his last life, aside from a few actors who were about as famous as he was or directors, the only one from the younger generation was Huo Ke. Furthermore, in order to truly became a part of Le Sen’s life and be taken under the other actor’s wing, he had had to exert a lot of effort.

Seeing Le Sen’s behaviour just now, Huo Ke clearly understood that his impression of Sui Yuan was clearly much better than that of himself. Although he told himself that this was to be expected, that he couldn’t make Le Sen develop favourable feelings towards him at first sight, the fact that he even thought of these things just showed that he still felt frustrated, sad...and jealous.

Keep your composure, you need to keep your composure, Huo Ke warned himself. People need to slowly get to know one another before genuine, deep feelings will sprout between them. He just needed to always work hard in acting out each of his roles. He needed to quickly rise, to be able to stand next to Le Sen and make the other see him in a new light.

On this side, Huo Ke was trying to better himself, and Sui Yuan, who had done bad things with good intentions, was not aware in the slightest that he had troubled the protagonist. He was even immensely satisfied with his own work of not squadering any time to ensure that the protagonist shou and gong would have opportunities to develop feelings for one another.

To Sui Yuan, emotions were still too complicated. He was a pure boy that just naively thought that no matter what, the protagonist male and female leads, and the protagonist shou and gong were all ordained by heaven. As long as there was no Zhao Xihe, that pig teammate, in a protagonist role following him, the supporting male lead, then the two protagonists would definitely get to know one another and then logically develop mutual feelings. Finally, it would be a very merry happy ending.

However, the path to love was actually really demanding. For feelings to grow, for it to make progress, for it to change–it required a specific factor every time. If the situation lacked anything, then maybe it would go in another direction—this could be due to destiny. Some lovers were destined to be together forever, while others were destined to break up. Sui Yuan ignorantly interfered with Le Sen and Huo Ke’s destiny. Later on, the the plot king would go cry himself unconcious in the bathroom.

5237：..................【lights candle】

Of course, with regards to the destiny problem, Sui Yuan currently did not understand it in the least. He took one last look at the script, and then quickly entered his role.

The door was pushed open. The eyes of the youth who was sitting on the ground playing with stacking blocks suddenly lit up. He clumsily crawled over, and threw himself into the arms of the tall teenager who had just walked in.

A faint smell of milk lingered. The youth clearly looked about 18-19 years old on the surface, but his bearing was that of a 7-8 year old child. He was childish and innocent, but it didn’t feel wrong in the slightest.

The two boys looked like brothers, but their interactions made it seem like they were a pair of father and son. Sure enough, an elder brother is like a father.

"Was Minghui a good boy at home today?" The older boy asked with a smile, voice overflowing with love. He fretted over the younger boy who was clinging onto him while struggling to remove his coat. He couldn’t cover up the exhaustion on his face, but his voice held no impatience.

"Minghui was really good~" The younger boy’s voice was clear and loveable. Facing the older boy, he extended both arms, "Gege, hold me~ Kiss me~"

"Ok. Gege will hold you and kiss you," The older boy gently carried the younger boy, who reached his shoulders, into his arms. He let the other sit in the crook of his arm, and he kissed his fair cheek, "Is your tummy hungry?"

"Tummy is really hungry..." The younger boy placed one hand on the older boy’s shoulder and put his other hand near his own mouth. He bit his thumb, appearing a bit wronged. No matter who it was, to be looked at with those limpid eyes, they would not have the heart to refuse his requests, "It goes gugu...."

"Sorry Ah Minghui, it was Gege who came home late. Gege will make you some food, ok?" The older boy’s heart was full of remorse. He used his strength to hug the other more tightly, as if he was drawing power from the other’s body.

"En, ok~" The younger boy sweetly replied and was carried to the entrance to the kitchen by the older boy. He then wrapped his arms around the other’s neck and gave him a loud and resounding kiss. Soon after, he was let down.

The older boy patted the younger one on the head, indicating that he should obediently stay here and not go looking for trouble. He then turned around to enter the kitchen.

The younger boy clung to the kitchen’s door frame impatiently, with drool leaking out of the corner of his mouth. The older boy sliced vegetables, stir-fried them, and occasionally glanced at him while doing so, revealing a slight smile. A faintly discernible warmth revolved around this pair of mutually dependent brothers. No one could come between them.

"Not bad! That’s enough!" Zheng Bin clapped his hands, rather pleasantly surprised.

There was no need to doubt Le Sen’s acting skills. What was remarkable was that Sui Yuan did not lag behind at all when acting against him. His graceful bearing was not overshadowed in the least. His portrayal of the character became even more attention-grabbing.

Zheng Bin re-watched the playback carefully. He couldn’t help but feel deeply moved, thinking that each new generation really exceeded the previous. Before the first wave, Le Sen, had even reached the shore, a second outstanding wave tried to catch up from behind.

Hearing the director call cut, Le Sen took off the apron on his body and turned around. He first looked at Sui Yuan who still stood by the door way, gazing at him impatiently with a look that said ’please feed me’. He couldn’t help but stare at the other blankly. Soon after, he laughed while approaching the other and teased, "Is your tummy still hungry?"

"Hungry~" Sui Yuan instantly replied. Soon after, he woke up after hearing the sound of roaring laughter. He flushed and turned his head away, embarrassed, breaking away from his role of the silly brother.

——This kind of being in your role for one moment, only to have to break free in the next was simply unbearable! Would it kill you to be a bit more coherent? Luckily, it’s just one role right now. If, in the future, he has to play multiple roles in multiple productions at the same time, then Sui Yuan would wonder whether or not he’ll develop a split-personality disorder!

He completely didn’t want to go see Le Sen who couldn’t cover up—or rather, didn’t want to cover up his ridiculing smile. So, Sui Yuan walked to the side, a bit gloomy. He showed the other a particularly cold view of his back.

Seeing that Sui Yuan was like an angry puffed out cat, Le Sen made a fist and lightly coughed, forcing himself to push down his laughter. Soon after, he took the mineral water that an assistant handed to him and took a sip. However, his gaze remained on Sui Yuan. He felt that this child was simply so silly that it made people’s blood boil. This made him really want to pull him into his arms and pet him, smoothing the hair back down.

Film Emperor Le, who was ’menged to death’, hadn’t finished fantasizing when he saw Huo Ke indicate to Sui Yuan to turn to look outside the set. Soon after, Sui Yuan looked like a puppy who had just saw his owner as he happily hurried to the other’s side. He was taken into the other’s arms, head forcefully rubbed.

Even though he had been □□ until his eyes were brimming with tears, Sui Yuan could not conceal his happiness that radiated from his head to his toes. His whole person seemed to be glowing, making people unable to look away.

Le Sen frowned internally. He felt a bit unwell, and couldn’t help but quietly size up the person by Sui Yuan’s side.

He clearly looked like a person of mixed blood. Whether it was his appearance of his grandeur or his spirit, none of it was inferior to him. It was even a bit more remarkable than his. If he recalled correctly, he seemed to be that singer who was highly discussed as of late. He was called... Eason or something? Le Sen remembered him because his manager had used him as a pretext to tease him, saying that their names sounded quite a bit familiar....

Anyways, he was just a mediocre artist. The difference in their status was basically the difference between heaven and earth. Even if he was a bit handsome, so what? You shouldn’t just look at what’s on the outside when comparing men. Le Sen unconsciously compared himself with the other and felt rather satisfied of his ’complete victory’. Soon after, he found himself to be a bit laughable. He must be crazy to actually think of such ridiculous things.

Probably because his gaze was too obvious, but Le Sen saw the man who was speaking to Sui Yuan raise his head. That man looked straight at him.

When their eyes met, lightning flashed between them. Le Sen could explicitly feel the other’s hostility and warning. He couldn’t help but deepen his gaze and return it back to the other person, not in the least inferior in any aspect. In just a split second, they declared war and met the enemy head on.

Eason retracted his gaze and looked at Sui Yuan once again. His gaze turned from sharp to gentle.

Meanwhile, Le Sen lowered his head and took a sip of water. He was baffled at his own subconscious intense reaction just now—Although he felt a bit unwell when looked at with such a hostile and warning gaze, according to how he usually is, shouldn’t he have acted ignorant and smiled politely at the other and turned their hostility into friendship?

It was clearly the first time they’ve met, but what the hell was with this ’extremely jealous rivals in love meeting in person’ kind of manner?!

The author has something to say:

A love triangle is an everlasting theme. [beats a wooden drum] Only, right now I guess it’s a love square?

Sora: fight-o Zhao Xihe!! Oh wait, I forgot my character setting is to support the second ML.... GG Le Sen

Juurensha: Aw, I kind of want Le Sen to still get with Huo Ke

serefina: as Sora noted: "press F to pay respects to the forgotten protagonist"

Eve: FFFFFFFFFFFF. Poor Huo Ke is forgotten because SY is such a Mary Sue. Everyone loves him. Also, Minghui!SY is so cute I just want to gather him up in my arms and plant kisses on his cheeks.