The Cold and Ruthless Supporting Male Lead

Damn it, such an idiot… Hai Ku almost blurted out but held back, considering the other person was a girl.

When she saw his name still displayed as ‘Hai Ku’ above his head, Bing Jingxue frowned slightly. Her tone carried a coquettish whine. “Why haven’t you changed your name yet? Could it be that you think the name I gave you isn’t good enough?”

Goosebumps rose all over Hai Ku’s arms as he rubbed them, feeling that staying here any longer might make him recall his embarrassing teenage years. After all, everyone had a middle-school syndrome phase during their youth.

“It’s not that it’s bad; it’s just too flamboyant. You can keep it for yourself.” Hai Ku had already started contacting the system. He felt that if he had to listen to this kind of conversation every day, he’d definitely lose his mind.

Every era had its own transition phase. In the past, when Hai Ku read over-the-top novels filled with melodrama, he didn’t find them strange; he even enjoyed them.

However, many years had passed, and both the information he consumed and the times had changed. Looking back at the things he used to enjoy, he found them unbearably cringey.

“Oh my, what do you mean by ‘too flamboyant’? I don’t get it～ Can’t you explain it more clearly?”

Hai Ku: “…”

Without hesitation, he purchased a language conversion system and forcibly applied it to the female lead. Now, her words were automatically translated into something he could understand instead of overly flowery, double meaning speech.

“Hey, why aren’t you talking? It’s really rude to stay silent, you know.” Seeing Hai Ku remain quiet for a moment, Bing Jingxue felt he had no manners.

Here she was, a lovely, flower-like young girl standing right next to him, and yet he ignored her completely.

“I don’t want to waste time talking nonsense. I’m going to play the game.” Relieved, Hai Ku believed the language conversion feature must have worked. Otherwise, if he had to keep listening to such corny lines, he might forcibly exit this world.

Rubbing his arms, Hai Ku walked away from the [Beginner’s Village] without looking back.

Bing Jingxue stomped her feet in frustration, feeling that Hai Ku had absolutely no compassion for girls.

Soon, Hai Ku arrived at the first checkpoint. Although it was called the first level, it was essentially just the first floor of a pagoda.

He had forgotten many of the details, so he clicked on the red exclamation mark to understand the rules for this level.

The first level was a maze. Once inside, players had to keep searching for the exit. Along the way, there were numerous hints. It was said there were 18 exits, but their exact locations had to be discovered individually.

By the time Hai Ku entered, many players had already gathered there, forming small teams of twos and threes. All the teams were preparing to find the way out of the level.

Hai Ku’s level was very low, and the word [Newbie] was prominently displayed above his head. Naturally, no one invited him to join their team.

He didn’t mind at all. Based on his memory, Hai Ku quietly followed one of the teams from a distance.

This particular team was organized by the male lead, essentially a team with a protagonist aura; perfect for Hai Ku to trail behind unnoticed.

The team was actually a private group with only four members, all of whom were from the same dormitory.

According to the plot, they wouldn’t encounter the female lead until midway through.

Hai Ku wasn’t in a hurry. The storyline was too ridiculous for him to follow closely, so he focused on recalling past hints while trailing behind.

Walking at the back of the group, Hai Ku’s presence didn’t go unnoticed by the male lead. However, since their team was small, they didn’t mind having one more person following them.

At first, the male lead and his teammates thought Hai Ku had simply chosen the same path as them by coincidence. But after a long while, they were certain he was deliberately following them and probably had a specific purpose.

“Hey, are you by yourself?” The male lead quickly approached Hai Ku, closing the distance between them.

Initially, the male lead thought his dorm mates alone would be enough to find the exit. But on second thought, having an outsider join them might add some unexpected dynamics.

“Yes.” Hai Ku nodded and smiled. “You can see that I’m just a newbie, so I didn’t want to bother anyone. If you guys feel uncomfortable with me following you, I can wait a bit before continuing.”

Before he even finished speaking, the male lead sent him a party invitation.

After the invite, the male lead’s dorm mates also gathered around and started enthusiastically introducing themselves.

“Hey, little bro, your name is pretty cool—Hai Ku. Do you have a sibling named Shi Lan?”

(T/N: Hai Ku Shi Lan/ The sea dries up and the stones rotting = an ancient poem metaphor for the eternity of time because it is rare to see the sea drying up and stone rotting even after thousands of years.)

“I feel like we’re destined to meet! Look at the four of us; Dong Hai, Xi Hai, Nan Hai, Bei Hai. And then there’s you, Hai Ku. Every one of our names has the word ‘Hai’ in it!”

“That’s right, Dong Hai. How about we rename our squad to ‘Five Seas’?”

Dong Hai was the male lead’s in-game ID. After hearing his roommate’s suggestion, he actually changed the squad’s name to that.

Hai Ku didn’t make a fuss and immediately clicked to agree.

The boys in the group all had great personalities. If it weren’t for the conflicts over the female lead later on, they could have become the strongest team in the game.

***

After joining the team, conversations naturally increased, and Hai Ku learned that they had been playing the game for 3 or 4 days already, yet they were still stuck on the first level.

When he had read about this game, it didn’t seem so detailed. But now that he was experiencing it firsthand, Hai Ku realized that playing it felt completely different from just reading about it.

The first level was clearly described as a maze, yet it didn’t look much like one. Ordinary mazes typically had identical rooms and corridors, but this place resembled an ordinary small town instead.

Everything one would expect in a town was present. Apart from its large size, Hai Ku couldn’t detect any traces of a maze.

“I’m telling you, there’s definitely something fishy about this first level. The four of us have been here for 3 days now, and every time, we end up back at the starting point; the spot where we just formed the squad,” Xi Hai, the chatterbox of the group, rambled on to Hai Ku after he joined.

Hai Ku vaguely remembered this setup. However, in his previous experience, he had stumbled through this level and moved on entirely thanks to the female lead’s cheat-like abilities. So, he had no clue where the actual exit was.

As they walked, they explored various locations, from the school to the supermarket, and even the parking lot. Whether the areas were crowded or isolated, they had covered them all, yet they still hadn’t found the mysterious clues with the exclamation marks.

Not wanting to drag the team down, Hai Ku listened carefully when they shared their three days’ worth of experiences and offered suggestions based on his fragmented memories.

The maze on the first level was enormous. However, since it was labeled as a maze, there had to be some subtle mechanism or setup hidden within.

Considering that all the buildings here were different and modeled after real-world structures, Hai Ku speculated that there might be subtle differences worth investigating.

When he shared his thoughts, the Five Seas team found them reasonable and started brainstorming. Each member proposed different ideas, and they decided to implement them one by one.

In the game, players never felt tired, no matter how far they walked. This was why the team had been able to keep going for so long.

After some thought, Hai Ku proposed his first suggestion. “All the buildings here are different, but we haven’t explored them all. Could we find a higher vantage point to look for two buildings that appear similar or identical?”

This idea was inspired by a foreshadowing in the story. Hai Ku remembered that the author had spent significant effort describing the architecture in this maze during the first level.

Although the female lead’s cheats eventually carried them to the second level, Hai Ku vaguely recalled some underlying setup related to the buildings.

Whether it would work or not, the group decided it was worth a try.

They marked their current position and set their sights on the tallest tower in the area.

Climbing the tower required consuming HP points, making it the only unique mechanic on the first level.

Even if one climbed non-stop, it would take a full day to reach the top. This mechanic was established at the start of the game; players could walk anywhere else without tiring, but climbing this tower drained stamina just like in the real world.

Initially, many players had attempted to scale it. However, after reaching the peak and failing to find an exit, they gave up entirely.

Many people believed that the tower was merely a distraction, with no actual exit inside. As soon as this rumor spread, no one was eager to climb it anymore.

However, when combining this setup with Hai Ku’s earlier suggestion, the Five Seas team realized it made sense and might actually be true.

Leaving a mark wherever they passed, they eventually reached the base of the tower, where they received a danger notification.

The notification warned them that climbing the tower would result in equivalent fatigue points being applied.

***

Quietly dismissing the alert, Hai Ku smiled and asked, “What if there really isn’t an exit at the top and my guess is wrong?”

The male lead patted his shoulder. “If you’re wrong, so be it.”

“Exactly. If it’s wrong, we’ll just look for another exit.”

Hai Ku replied, “Then we…”

Before he could finish, a piercing scream interrupted him.

“Ahh! So annoying! How did I end up here again? Wuwuwu…”

Hearing that familiar voice, Hai Ku’s skin crawled with goosebumps.

Although the system had a voice modulation feature, it could only adjust certain exaggerated tones. It couldn’t do anything about the girlish way the speaker spoke.

“What’s going on?” Dong Hai followed the sound and spotted Bing Jingxue sitting on the ground. “Let’s go check it out.”

Hai Ku wanted to refuse, but the others had already walked ahead. He had no choice but to follow. A suspicion formed in his mind; If the female lead was here, there was a chance the exit might actually be nearby.

Sitting on the ground, kicking her feet, Bing Jingxue’s eyes were misty with tears when she saw the Five Seas approaching. However, when her gaze landed on Hai Ku trailing behind them, her lips pursed into a pout.

“Why is it you again!”

Hai Ku: “…”

The four men immediately picked up on the tension between them. Nan Hai couldn’t resist nudging Hai Ku with his elbow and whispering,

“Hey, Hai Ku, when did you meet such a cute girl?”

“Are you blind?” Hai Ku replied, his face a mix of shock and disbelief.

Their hushed conversation went unnoticed by Bing Jingxue, as Dong Hai had already helped her up and was gently asking about her situation.

“I wasn’t originally here, but no matter where I go, I always end up back in this place. I’m starting to think I’m trapped in this game,” Bing Jingxue complained, her tone full of frustration.

Hearing this, Hai Ku felt a flicker of hope. After all, the female lead was the only one fortunate enough to acquire the system’s key.

“Would you like to join our team?” Dong Hai seemed to sense something odd as well and extended an invitation to Bing Jingxue.

Bing Jingxue glanced disdainfully at their squad’s name. “Five Seas? Why is your team name so weird? But all of your IDs have the word ‘sea’ in them. If I join, does that mean I’ll have to change my name too?”

Hai Ku nodded, his face serious as he said, “I’ve already thought of a perfect name for you.”

Bing Jingxue: “What is it?”

With a sly grin, Hai Ku suggested, “How about ‘Dizhong Hai’? It perfectly fits the idea of being surrounded by the rest of us.”

(T/N: Dizhong Hai = Mediterranean Sea.)