Pick The Second Male Lead

07.1 - Easton Zed

"So painful..."

What the hell? How come my words are muted?

"What's going on?"

I could hear Bob's amused chuckles right before the flash of information entered my soul.

The world was ending. I was transmigrated to a world that is damaged beyond repair - both the planet itself and the humankind which lived in it. The once big world with multiple masses of land and countries had been swallowed up by the ocean - leaving only a single continent called Tris. The name Tris was derived from the three segregating groups of civilization - the Harika, the Malum, and the Inops.

The Harika is the remaining green land of the world. Fill with vegetation, splendor, and riches, the Harika is known as the City of Gold where the wealthy and powerful lived. Isolated and highly guarded within the iron fortress walls, the people of Harika live like nobilities - never lack in comfort or fear of hunger. The Malum is the exact opposite of Harika. The City of Darkness resides within cold desert land that filled with coldness and danger. If the people of Harika were the upstanding and culture citizens of the world, the people of Malum are the crooks and killers. Interestingly enough, the two groups held equal power and control of Tris. If one does not step into another territory, the other group will not care or bother each other. Then there is the Inops - the Slum City, overpopulated people who live between the thin line of hunger and death. Alas, the Harika only accepts people with wealth and status, while the Malum only cared for the strong and ruthless. For those who are too poor to within with Harika and too weak to be a part of Malum, they're left to live within the murky, corrupted territory.

The protagonist of the world, Rosie Zoua is the great granddaughter of one of the founding fathers of Harika. Born within the City of Gold, the beautiful golden hair girl was raised like a princess who does not know the hardship and evil outside the hundred foot tall fortress walls. Despite her family's protection and wish to keep her within the golden cage, the adventurous little princess always wanted to explore the land outside of the fortress walls. Ironically, while the heavily secured fort was could not be easily infiltrate - leaving it was possible even for a child. At 17 years old, the heroine of the story left the sneak out of the City of Gold for the first time and was hit with the cruel reality that her world was not all rainbows and colors. For the beautiful golden hair girl, the people immediately took notice. Unfortunately, the first time Rosie Zoua left the golden cage, she was kidnapped by sex traffickers who wanted to sell her off in the underworld black market.

It was at the private black market that the Underworld Boss of the story saw the beautiful Rosie Zoua for the first time. Zed Easton, the story's villain as well as the second male lead, is the leader of largest, most powerful mafia group in Malum - The Gobi. Unlike the protagonist's noble birth, Zed Easton is a product of sin. His grandfather and father is one of the same – an evil and distorted man who brought disaster upon those around him. Raised by such a man, Zed Easton - in nature, became detach and emotionless. The empty heart of his stirred when he laid eyes on the little beauty with golden hair - chain and locked within glass box for everyone to bid on. He didn't understand what he had felt for the girl, but he knew he wanted her. Thus, he bought the girl and took her back to the Gobi's lair deep within the cold desert of Malum.

Rosie Zoua was trapped for four years with the dangerous and apathetic man who never understood his feelings for her. He wanted her but he didn't know what for. Meanwhile, the girl was frightened and begged each day to be released back to her home. Even after she told him who she was, Zed Easton kept her locked up within the Gobi's lair. For the heroine of the story, she could not accept being confined so tried to escape many times. But every time she manages to leave, the second male lead would capture and bring her back. Strangely enough, in spite of his dangerous nature, the second male lead was never hostile to the protagonist. If anything, he was always patience with the young girl - never angry at her no matter how many times she tried to run away. What drove the second male lead to madness was when the male lead entered the story to "save" the princess.

The heroine's disappearance was no small matter. After Rosie Zoua was found missing, her family and the militia of Harika sent people out to find her. Once they finally realized the underworld mafia leader had held their princess captive, they tried to negotiate for her return. When the mafia boss refused, the militia retaliated. But Zed Easton was not a simple or easy character to subdue. It took years before anyone came close to saving Rosie Zoua from the City of Darkness. And it was the story's male lead - Erin Le, Harika's young commander of the military unit, who had eventually brought the princess out of the desert land.

During their escape through the cold dark land, Rosie Zoua and Erin Le naturally developed affection for each other. When the second male lead caught them, they have already intimately bonded. Rage took over while he witnessed the couple loving act. He bitterly understood his feelings for the young woman then and resented the fact that she held no mutual feelings for him – even though she was with him for four years. He had gone against his cold nature and hadn't hurt, forced, or harmed her in anyway. Yet still, the young woman never looked his way. Instead, she fell for the man who she known in the matter of days.

What does the second male lead do?

He tried to kill the male lead of course. But how could the female lead watch her knight-in-shining-armor get hurt by the villain? Just before Zed Easton could kill the male lead, Rosie Zoua used her whole body to protect Erin Le. The sight only enraged Zed Easton. But what could he do when the woman he cared about threatened to kill herself if he hurt the other man? So he left the battered male lead and brought Rosie Zoua back to the den. Of course, the woman continued to keep her heart close. Even when he had her body - it was just an empty shell. He knew her heart belong to someone else but couldn't let her go.

So how does the story ends?

Rosie Zoua was forced to be with Zed Easton for another year before the male lead managed to ambush the second male lead and save the protagonist. The following days were nothing but warfare between the Malum and Harika - all due to the love-triangle between the three main characters of the story. Tragically, no one foresaw the meteorite that would destroy the remaining land of the known world. While flames of destruction spread, Rosie Zoua, Erin Le, and many citizens within the City of Gold escaped on a massive ship to the open sea. Meanwhile, the second male lead had given up - no longer caring to live in such a perilous world.

"Bob, your game is getting out of hand!"

"My dear, don't you like challenges?"

"I'm going to kick your_"

"Good luck Maida"

Other than the name Maida, I was only given three facts about the twelve year-old body I've just transmigrated into. One, Maida was born and raised in the poorest, dirtiest part of Inops. Two, at the tender age of twelve, Maida's parents sold her to the brothel for a bag of wheat. And finally, Maida cannot speak.

"Bob!"

Stupid Bob and his stupid game - but nothing matters at this point. I might as well get into character.