Just how I found things :P

I 100% agree it's like your reading my mind.

Luckily, fl like is trying to actively stop any feelings she has for the blue haired guy. She can’t help blushing at him which is ugh but at least she had no intentions of getting in the way of their relationship(also cause she has trauma of her mom homewrecking a relationship before)

Also I’m pretty sure caine is the ml as he has the most screen time with fl and it seems mostly revolved around their relationship

Look at the title. It’s second lead syndrome which is often used to refer when someone likes the 2nd lead. The 1st lead is obvious, the blue dude who is the first one she interacted with and had obvious moments that made him the ideal 1st lead. But then there’s the 2nd lead, who is caine- who is the unexpected love interest that grows on you.

I know what second lead syndrome means. It doesn’t mean the author is trying to trigger that response by making the blue haired guy the ml though. It’s called that cause Caine literally stated that they’re both the second leads of the blue haired guy and orange haired girl’s relationship. (Cause mc is starting to like blue haired guy and Caine has been in love with orange haired girl. That’s the meaning of the title as far as we know. Whether the two “second leads” are gonna get together at the end is the question.)

Honestly it’s not obvious who’s the first ml in this story cause the blue haired guy barely gets screen time compared to Caine so it seems more likely Caine is the first male lead so far.(the fact I don’t even remember the names except Caine’s proves my point.) there’s more drama between mc and caine’s relationship and it just seems like he’s the ml.

What I mean is the story portrayed the blue haired guy as 1st ML in the beginning. Btw, 1st ML does not mean endgame or the official male lead within the story. 1st ML is typically just the first guy who appears or first guy the FL takes interest in, hence why “1st” is even added instead of just saying “ML.” Plus there’s stories where the MC ends up with the 2nd ML, so it doesn’t make sense to add the meaning of 1st ML as official endgame dude.

How you can tell the author planned to make the blue haired guy the 1st lead is because of how they added in cliche meetings and interactions such as the embarrassing bathroom scene, spilling drinks on his clothes and cleaning it up, the acting scene. All happened within the beginning. It’s meant to throw the readers off so that the author can reveal the ML is actually the 2nd guy who appears. I didn’t say blue hair is ML, I said he was FIRST ML. That’s the big difference is all.

Anyways my point is, I agree it’s obvious Caine is ML after all the chapters up to this point. In the beginning, it wasn’t obvious. The title just seemed to point out that was the intent from the start. Usually second lead syndrome is mainly used by girls on 2nd MLs.

lol, no? Whenever people use the terms first male lead and second male lead, the first male lead always means the main male lead. (Unless it’s a harem story) yes, there are stories where the mc ends up with the one people thought was the second male lead, but then they usually change what they call them into the “main male lead.”

(Example: I watched this kdrama where Mc met guy A first and he seemed to be the main/first male lead and then they introduced the second male lead. However, surprisingly, the Mc ended up with who I thought was the second male lead. After that, I’ve always called him the main male lead.)

I’ve never seen people use first and second male lead as order of appearance before honestly. I’ve only seen them use it in terms of priority in the story.

I think the confusion is that most people don’t use “first male lead” but rather “main male lead” whenever they’re talking in the context/relation of a second male lead. Whenever people mention a second male lead, they always mean the third person in the love triangle that doesn’t end up with the other person.

There are main leads that appear to be second male leads, but they aren’t referred to as a second lead after the reveal

Maybe you just are on a different part of the internet then lol. For my experience, I’ve watched several kdramas, asian novels, manhwas, manhua, and manga. In novel threads, kdrama posts, manhwa, manga, and manhua comments, I’ve never seen anyone say “who’s the main male lead?” Everyone always asks: “who is the ML?” In every single one, I have never heard anyone say “main male lead.” That would just be MML, which is unheard of or at least extremely uncommon. Maybe what you’re getting confused by is ML, without the 1st added to it. When anyone refers to ML alone without any numbers, that’s when it is considered the official endgame male love interest. People don’t feel the need to attach main to it because it’s set in stone and known who the mc ends up with. The general public always refers to it as male lead. The only time they ever add “main” to it is if the story has multiple couples.

Also idk if you know this but there’s plenty of stories that list out having a 1st ML, 2nd ML, 3rd ML, and 4th ML. Which automatically cancels out any possible meaning of 1st ML only meaning the official endgame. Idk if you live in a country that possibly words things differently, but most who are native English speakers or read English translated works, at least refer it that way.

Also I have heard several people who have just started learning about such terms mistake the abbreviation: “ML” as “Main Lead.” So maybe that’s where your confusion stemmed from.

The only time “main male lead” is mentioned is when they use the term to separate two different couples. Like in extraordinary you, there was the main couple and then a second couple. That’s when they needed to use the term “main male lead” in order to not get the character mixed up with the second/side couple.

No, I use ml or just male lead when referring to the end game male lead. I just used the term first/main male lead because of the conversation we were having. I also stated before that the usage of the terms to mean order of appearance is usually only used with harm stories from what I’ve read.

Anyway, I’m mostly talking about how second male lead is usually only ever used as a way to describe the male lead that doesn’t end up with the mc. So, when you start using the term in a story that is not a harem, I’m automatically gonna assume the usual meaning of the phrase and not by order of appearance that you were referring to.

I grew up in a country that uses English. I was just talking about how I’ve never seen anybody use second male lead like that(unless it’s a harem story)

Again, as this particular story isn’t a harem story, most people will automatically assume the usage of first and second male lead to be whether one is the endgame and whether one is not the endgame basically. That’s what my original reply to you was about(it’s late at night rn and so my brain is kinda dead when picking words). Honestly there’s just not a lot of stories where I would assume you meant order of appearance, since I just don’t see that often

Fuck I’m so sleepy so I don’t mean to sound combative if I do. I’m like picking at my last braincell to find words hgfff

Oh I seeeee. Yeah usually, I and majority of people refer to the endgame love interest as just “ML.” When it’s unknown, people use 1st and 2nd to not give misinformation.

The reason why the terms are not being used as just ML here is because the story is ongoing and the ML is actually unknown. When people add 1st and 2nd onto ML, they usually use it on stories where there’s no single endgame love interest or no one knows who the FL ends up with, which is why ppl use those terms often for love triangles, harems, and ongoing stories.
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Cause if anyone were to ask a reader/viewer, who the ML is, no one can actually say ML. They can only guess and apply it as 1st ML who appears 1st or often and 2nd ML who appears second or ends up appearing more later. (Cause I’ve seen plenty of second leads that have more screentime than the 1st ML, and still not end up with MC).

People also use 1st and 2nd as a temporary term until the story is finished and the endgame love interest is confirmed. When it’s confirmed, then people often change and officially just say “this is the ML, and that’s the 2nd ML.”

Honestly when the love interest isn’t revealed yet, I see more people using the color of their hair or some type of signifier like their relationship to the mc to describe the characters? I’ve really only ever seen 1st ml, 2nd ml and 3rd ml when they’re talking about a harem series