Miss Not So Sidekick is a Korean isekai Manhwa written by Ellian Yang in 2017.
It tells the tale of Hyejung, a school teacher who loves romance stories, and ends up trapped in her favourite romance, “The Flower of the Beast”. The romance centers on Ibelin, a female protagonist who has three handsome young men surrounding her: the Prince Rondemio, the Duke Kenneth and the magician Arwin Hebrim. Hyejung ends up in the role of Latte Ectrie, a minor villain in the tale, and plans to befriend Ibelin so she doesn’t have to be defeated/killed, and then just sit back and watch Ibelin’s exploits.
But like most Isekai tales, she makes an impact on the story.
This work provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: It’s never clear how much impact Hyejung’s appearance in the story makes on the narrative. Ibelin is upset that Latte stole Arwin from her, but as a
Designated Hero she has some level of Medium Awareness and wants the story to go as planned. And while the story shows Latte is in the right for acting on her own, it’s disregarding the fact that she’s tampered with the narrative. - Anti-Escapism Aesop: Whether you are a minor character or a hero of a story, try to look beyond the set roles of a narrative and make some effort on your own for yourself.
- Bad Boss: Arwin treats his subordinates like crap. His marriage with Latte mellows him out somewhat.
- Flat Character: Prince Rondemio is taken by Latte, but doesn’t do too much to reach her and stays this way for most of the story.
- Punny Name: The story holds a whole bunch of these: a stalker named Zeelove Cray, the family medic Doctor Tordoc, and a protagonist named after a café latte.
- "Reborn as Villainess" Story: The main character dies and is reincarnated as a minor villain in a romance novel. She plots to befriend the hero and stay safe till her doom flag passes by, but she ends up getting noticed by the heroine's love interests.
- Shout-Out: A bunch of these pop up throughout the tale:
- One chapter has the MGM logo in Latte’s blond hairdo.
- When Latte tries magic flying for the first time, she imagines herself as Henry Cavill’s Superman (complete with a “Save Martha” slogan).
- Arwin’s subordinates resemble Gandalf, Harry Potter and Doctor Strange.
- At one point Latte imagines the three men to be Sailor Senshi.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Ibelin is the ideal heroine, written to have everything she needs: affection, good luck, everything going well for her. But all that counts as the Plot Armor of a fairytale – without it, she is just a hollow Sheltered Aristocrat who never developed intelligence or maturity.
- Duke Kenneth doesn’t like women. But that’s because his good looks have gotten him dealing with a whole bunch of stalkers for his whole life. He takes to Latte as she’s just friendly and not too romantic, something he finds a great relief.
- A seminal moment is when Arwin sees Ibelin give a poor child a jewel, which should be when he falls for her. Instead he’s disappointed – as a child who grew in poverty, he knows that treasure is too high for that kid and it’s going to make him a target by other desperate poor people.
- Trademark Favourite Food: Latte loves popcorn.
- Tsundere: Arwin proves himself a major one. He loves teasing Latte and goading her on, but when her life is in danger he gets her to safety immediately and punishes her attacker with imprisonment in a time loop of getting killed over and over.
- Younger Than They Look: The wizard who resembles Gandalf is only in his twenties. Arwin magicked him to be that way.
