I Picked Up the Male Lead

Suh Ji-han read a novel before he died.

‘Flowers Blooming in the Light’.

It wasn’t a fantasy novel of the trendy type these days, but it was a Western fantasy novel that had quite a hit with readers who missed the classics.

Suh Ji-han had also been healing quite a bit by reading that novel when he was bored.

The protagonist, Theodore, was a character who grew up experiencing all sorts of hardships from a young age.

He was driven out of the place he was born, met a villain, was abused by him, and barely escaped to meet his companions and begin his adventure to find his place.

The last scene of the second part was when he defeated the villain and made a wonderful proposal to the female lead.

Suh Ji-han, lost in thought about that scene, ended up dropping his phone, which he hadn’t let go of even when he was hit by a car.

Thud.

The only thing Suh Ji-han thought of until the moment his vision turned black was the novel.

‘I should… read part three when I get home.’

He didn’t have much attachment to his ordinary life anyway, but he was incredibly curious about the novel that he still had left to read. Suh Ji-han closed his eyes in despair.

***

“……Who is this?”

When he opened his eyes again, Suh Ji-han was no longer ‘Suh Ji-han’.

He frowned at the unfamiliar figure in front of the mirror. At the same time, all sorts of memories began to flow into his head.

“Ugh…!”

It felt as though something alien was forcibly mixing and merging with him. But soon, his jumbled mind began to organize itself little by little.

“Ugh, I…”

Suh Ji-han, barely regaining his senses, slowly opened his mouth. He continued to speak in a shocked expression.

“I, have transmigrated into a villain….”

It was truly a lamentable statement.

Among the many roles in the novel, to be the villain who gets disposed of by the protagonist.

Suh Ji-han couldn’t speak for a while due to the tremendous shock.

The evil dragon, Drake.

He was the main villain who tormented the protagonist in the first part.

As the last remaining dragon on the continent, he was an arrogant and eccentric character.

With masochistic tendencies, he brought the protagonist and subjected him to all sorts of abuse under the guise of experimentation.

Later, the protagonist, who escaped from Drake, returned as an emperor and disposed of him.

That scene was one of the contents of the latter half of the second part, which Suh Ji-han had read before he died.

‘I can’t die like Drake.’

Suh Ji-han, gritting his teeth, made that resolution. Fortunately, he had quite a bit of time. It was because the time he transmigrated was long before the original work began.

And so, 200 years. Having transmigrated into the body of a dragon, Suh Ji-han spent a very long time.

It would have been a difficult time for his mind, which was originally human, but as he adapted to the body of the dragon, he began to become increasingly insensitive to the passage of time.

Drake was truly the worst character. Even when Suh Ji-han first transmigrated, Drake had wiped out the human village nearby and was taking a long nap because it slightly displeased him.

Suh Ji-han, remembering those memories, felt a sense of disgust towards the owner of the body.

Fortunately, just because he had Drake’s memories, Suh Ji-han did not become like him.

He was able to adapt to the dragon’s body while maintaining Suh Ji-han’s personality.

That was a stroke of good fortune for him.

So, it took a few years to adapt to the surroundings, a few decades to clear up the countless fights and troubles.

It took quite a long time to spend time in peace. When he came to his senses, 200 years had already passed.

In the meantime, he had changed his name and was living like a new person.

After all, the name ‘Drake’ was just a reference that only referred to dragons in ancient languages.

He had abandoned that name and was living under the name ‘Sian’ now.

It was because people in this world found the name ‘Ji-han’ difficult to pronounce.

‘Anyway, it feels like I’ve forgotten something lately….’

Sian, who had come out of the house to get some fresh air after a long time, tilted his head.

He was lost in thought as he went down the mountain.

Even with a dragon’s extraordinary memory, he couldn’t quite remember.

‘Did I ask for new seedlings for Kali to plant in the ground? Or did Kunta say he was short of iron ore to process?’

But there was nothing in particular that came to mind.

Both of them, though usually noisy, had personalities that would have said things clearly if there was something they needed.

Sian kept thinking and then shook his head.

“Ah, I don’t know.”

He had no choice but to keep taking a walk.

Although the place where he lived was called the ‘Land of Death’ and was shunned by people, Sian, being a dragon, didn’t mind it much.

Rather, after adapting, he even felt a refreshing feeling now.

After all, everything that came into contact with him, the black dragon, was bound to rot and decay.

The reason he hadn’t moved his place on purpose was also because of that.

He had originally planned to settle down in another place, but then he realized that it would also contaminate that place, so he gave up.

“……?”

But why was he trying to live in another place? Sian, who had come about halfway down the mountain, tilted his head.

Some memory kept coming up and disappearing. Sian stopped and frowned.

“Oh?”

But then, an alien feeling was felt from somewhere. A sense of discomfort that he couldn’t put into words drew Sian in.

He began to move his feet again as if he were possessed.

“……Ugh!”

Sian was startled to find a child lying next to a thick tree.

The child, covered in red blood, looked very small and weak. About 7 years old… or maybe 8 years old…?

It was hard to guess the age because his face wasn’t visible due to the bangs flowing down, but judging from the small and frail body, it seemed like a very young child.

But the old clothes he was wearing didn’t look good as he continued to bleed, turning blood red.

“Hey, are you….”

“Ugh….”

Sian, quickly approaching and examining the child’s body, widened his eyes as if he had been greatly shocked.

It was because some memory came flooding in as the half-open yellow eyes turned to him.