WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How to Become a Star Writer ◈
Episode 2: Become the Protagonist (5)
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I thought things would be different.
I was sure they would be different.
So what the hell was going on now?
Whoosh! Crack!
[You have died.]
That’s right. Even after taking an Upper Soul and gaining tremendous spiritual power, I’d been killed by that protagonist bastard again.
No, why?
[A very small number of stars pay 800 Dust for your antics.]
If the stars hadn’t given me extra Dust, I might have withered away in the Abyss, unable to do a thing.
Why was that bastard so strong?
Having barely escaped the Abyss, I was dumbfounded.
After taking the elixir, my Total Combat Power had risen by a whopping 2,000.
And that wasn’t all.
My spiritual power alone had increased by 10,000.
My Total Combat Power was 2,005.
His was 2,281.
I was still below the protagonist, but those numbers should have given me a fighting chance.
Yet my head had been cut off before we’d even exchanged a few blows.
Why? What was the problem?
Was it my skills?
Then a list of the skills I possessed appeared in my mind.
[Writer Skill List]
<Writer Skill: Imagination (Level 2)>
Because you worked in a special profession, you possess an imagination far superior to others. The precise use of this skill has yet to be revealed, but if you imagine hard enough, you may at least become happy in your own mind.
<Writer Skill: Inferiority Complex (Level 10)>
Having experienced repeated defeat and fallen to the depths of life, you possess a severe inferiority complex.
This skill will usually not help you, but depending on how you use it, it may prove useful.
...How was I supposed to beat that guy with skills like these?
And why was Inferiority Complex already Level 10?
But looking more closely, I saw that the skill window had two sections.
Hopeful, I checked the lower section.
[Common Skill List]
-No skills.
...I didn’t have a single skill?
Damn it. Then why had the skill window been divided into two sections in the first place?
If I remembered correctly, the protagonist of 99 Ways to Live as a Regressor had possessed an A-rank swordsmanship skill from the very beginning.
His stamina and spiritual power were absurdly low, but give him even a tree branch and he could kill someone.
And me?
Even holding the finest blade in the world, I was an idiot who didn’t know how to use it.
What good were high spiritual power and combat strength? I had no skills to use them.
My only advantage was that the excessive accumulation of spiritual power had slightly improved my physical abilities.
Crack!
[You have died.]
[The Abyss watches you.]
...
[You escaped the Abyss through your own efforts. 500 Dust has been deducted.]
The one comforting fact was that my spiritual power increased every time I died.
I didn’t fully understand it, but each time I regressed and took an elixir, my combat power accumulated intact.
Was it some kind of inheritance system?
[Lance Pilgrim]
Total Combat Power: 7,005
The effects had started weakening after my fourth elixir, but I was steadily growing stronger and faster.
[Owned Dust: 600]
And I could still die one more time.
“You bastard! What are you stuffing in your mouth?!”
Bintz cried out in shock as the Upper Soul crumbled in my mouth.
Watching the approaching dust storm, I thought to myself.
Soon, that bastard would smash Bintz’s head.
Something was already flying this way.
Whoosh!
But then something unexpected happened.
Trickle.
I quickly wiped the blood running down my cheek and retreated several steps.
Why...?
The protagonist had targeted me first instead of Bintz.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
The protagonist charged toward me at terrifying speed, his eyes fixed directly on me.
Why was that bastard suddenly acting like this?
A chilling thought struck me.
What if I wasn’t the only one regressing?
The protagonist was a regressor to begin with.
What if he had also regressed every time I did?
What if that was how he’d noticed my changes?
“Damn it...!”
Cursing, I drew my sword.
This was frustrating.
If only I had some means of attack.
Just one skill. Even a lousy one. If I had even one skill that could catch him off guard!
[Writer Skill “Imagination” activates.]
[Brain operating at full capacity!]
[You can use “Imagination” to create a skill.]
I was startled.
What?
I could create a skill?
[Skills created with “Imagination” are single-use and cannot be restored after use.]
[However, once Imagination reaches Level 3, created skills can be preserved permanently.]
What? Was Imagination actually an incredible skill?
It was a little disappointing that I could only create single-use skills while Imagination was still Level 2, but I had neither the time nor the reason to hesitate.
If I was going to create a skill, it should be powerful.
A scene from an anime I’d watched long ago came to mind.
The ultimate sword-style skill, where a swordsman dressed entirely in black wiped out enemies by swinging dual blades in rapid succession!
Its name was Starburs...
[The world’s plausibility rejects your imagination.]
...What?
[This skill is impossible with your physical abilities.]
Bintz’s head was flying off.
Damn it, then I’d have to settle for something quick.
A secret ninja-style skill!
Rasen...
[The world’s plausibility rejects your imagination.]
[Some stars doubt your imagination.]
...Had they caught me plagiarizing?
I quickly imagined something else.
Howl! The Reaper Style’s ultimate secret art, Getsu...
[The world’s plausibility rejects your imagination.]
[A small number of stars are disappointed by your imagination.]
[100 Dust has been deducted.]
Damn it! Stop being disappointed!
...
I could at least make something like “Stealth,” right?
[The world’s plausibility rejects your imagination.]
[Your imagination is insufficient.]
Fuck! Then what could I make?!
[Your impoverished imagination has successfully created a shoddy skill.]
Huh?
I stared open-mouthed at the temporary skill window floating before me.
...No, wait.
This might work.
It bothered me that the skill I’d gained by operating my brain at full capacity was this pathetic, but I thought it might have a chance.
The blade that had massacred the bandit gang was right in front of me.
I could gamble here and now.
But if I made it through one more cycle, I could take the next Upper Soul and raise my Total Combat Power even higher.
In other words, my plan would have a better chance of succeeding.
Without hesitation, I drew my sword and stabbed it into my heart.
[The Abyss watches you.]
[Your mind has been partially corrupted by repeated death.]
...
[Writer Skill “Inferiority Complex” activates.]
[Your jealousy toward the protagonist strengthens your mental fortitude.]
...
[You escaped the Abyss through your own efforts. 500 Dust has been deducted.]
The desert appeared before me again.
Come at me, you damn protagonist.
This really was the last time.
* * *
‘Where is he? Where is that bastard?’
The protagonist of 99 Ways to Live as a Regressor, Fehilt Rune, was using the B-rank Common Skill “Hawk’s Eye” to observe the desert.
“Hawk’s Eye” allowed its user to survey an entire designated area at once.
This was why Lee Hak-hyeon couldn’t escape his sight, no matter how hard he struggled.
‘Found him.’
Soon, Hawk’s Eye detected his target.
The target was wriggling like a bug among the bandits.
‘A strange one.’
Fehilt Rune frowned.
‘His behavior keeps changing. He was clearly an extra with a combat power of 5. Why?’
Fehilt Rune, no, writer Gu Dae-seong, recalled the movements of the bandit lackey who had avoided his blade.
Those movements could never belong to someone with a Total Combat Power of 5.
Why had the behavior of a mere extra changed?
Beep.
The vision provided by Hawk’s Eye disappeared.
He’d confirmed the location, so there was no need to keep watching.
‘I’ll catch him and question him. He might know something.’
Gu Dae-seong looked down at his body.
Firm muscles and flawless skin.
A body overflowing with power.
He liked this new body he’d obtained.
It had been three days since Gu Dae-seong became the protagonist of 99 Ways to Live as a Regressor.
On the day Gu Dae-seong revised Yoo Chan-young’s manuscript received from management, he had been sucked into the novel through an unexplained phenomenon and become its “protagonist.”
He’d been confused at first, but as a writer of genre fiction, Gu Dae-seong quickly adapted to this new reality.
It was the very moment he’d always imagined.
And that wasn’t all.
Using several privileges granted to the protagonist, he’d learned the truth of this world.
Gu Dae-seong was shocked when he reached the truth, then filled with exhilaration.
It felt as though lightning had struck inside his head.
So that was it.
That was why my novels could never succeed.
That was why incomprehensible novels could occupy the top rankings.
If what he’d discovered was true, his life would now be a smooth road ahead.
Through this, he would walk the same path as the top 1% of writers, earning an annual income of over a hundred million won.
That was what was supposed to happen.
If not for the unexplained regressions that had suddenly begun repeating.
The regressions had started a few hours ago.
Fehilt Rune had originally been a regressor, so regressing itself wasn’t strange.
What was strange was that he was regressing “regardless of his own will.”
Just before the first episode ended, Gu Dae-seong had been caught up in a sudden regression and returned to the prologue.
Something had gone wrong.
The story had changed.
And already, Gu Dae-seong had repeated only the prologue more than ten times.
An endlessly repeating prologue.
Gu Dae-seong didn’t know what it meant.
He wanted to open the Dust Shop and ask about it, but he didn’t have enough Dust left.
[Owned Dust: 10]
It was a dangerously small amount.
Every time he turned back time to avoid death, he had to pay 500 Dust.
Gu Dae-seong could no longer afford to die.
‘There’s no reason I should die anytime soon.’
The troubling thing was that the stars’ messages had become harder to hear a few hours ago.
Many stars had clearly been watching him, so where had they all gone?
Gu Dae-seong grew impatient.
‘I need to kill him quickly and move on to the next episode. I have to draw the stars’ attention again.’
He had to escape the prologue somehow and move the story forward again.
If the information he’d heard from the Dust Shop was correct, he didn’t have much time left.
‘...Found him.’
The ground caved in, and Gu Dae-seong’s body shot toward the bandit gang.
As his steel sword, infused with spiritual power, moved, the heads of every bandit flew off in an instant.
But that bastard was nowhere to be seen.
If Hawk’s Eye had worked properly, he should definitely be here...
Gu Dae-seong used Hawk’s Eye once more.
To his surprise, a marker appeared, indicating that the target was at the place where he stood.
Where the hell was he?
A bad feeling passed through him the moment he noticed the crater beneath his feet.
Gu Dae-seong reflexively looked up at the sky.
Like a hawk hunting its prey, a shining blade fell straight toward him.
Footnotes:
The unfinished skill names reference famous anime techniques, but the system interrupts each attempt before the name is completed.
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