I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel - Chapter 4

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel ◈

Chapter 4: Chapter

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Any Galler would have recognized that modern word, but I reacted to it like Pavlov's dog.

Was I really an idiot?

The things Gallers had said flashed through my mind.

- For a newbie, this is the worst possible situation.

- Forget the cast. If it were me, I'd just kill myself.

If I carelessly let my identity slip like this, I would eventually die.

I had no choice but to admit it.

Mad Demon or not, I was nothing more than a complete newbie.

I stood there blankly, feeling hollow, when they spoke.

"Interesting. A newbie, and of all people, the Mad Demon. How long have you been here?"

"...Just now."

"Just now? Really?"

Only then did I take a closer look at the Galler wearing the appearance of a middle-aged woman.

Gallers had clearly said that becoming a master, let alone properly learning martial arts, was incredibly difficult.

And yet this person was the Swordwood Lord.

There was a high chance they were a crusty veteran, no, a dusty veteran who had been active in this godforsaken martial world for ages.

Moreover, before they cracked that "Why should I care?" joke, every line they had spoken had sounded exactly like a character from a martial arts novel.

Proof that they were completely immersed in the person they had possessed.

But then...

Something strange entered my sight.

"What's that?"

As a tightness filled my chest, I swept my gaze around. At some point, a translucent white film had begun floating around us.

"Oh, my Sword-Mystic Pure Qi Art? It's a kind of barrier."

"A barrier?"

"It blocks sound. Think of it as a protective qi barrier spread out over a wider area. It'd be a problem if my subordinates overheard this conversation."

A chill ran through me.

I had relaxed for a moment because of that smiling auntie face and the fact that they were a Galler. I was an idiot.

The person before me was still one of the few transcendent masters in this martial world.

Perhaps they read my expression. They soon began snickering as though amused.

"Scared? While wearing the Mad Demon?"

Was this bastard mocking me?

The Mad Demon might have been a protagonist-level villain, but I had no idea how to use this overwhelming body.

I gritted my teeth and gripped the Silent Aeon Demon Soul more tightly.

"Let's just go our separate ways. Gallers aren't supposed to socialize with each other anyway."

"Are you insane? You want to ignore a chapter?"

"...A chapter?"

"You really don't know anything. Well, you just got here."

They nodded for a moment before opening their mouth again.

"We call scenes directly narrated and described by the author, the core scenes of the story, chapters. And when one of those chapters is underway, our unspoken rule is to interfere with the original work as little as possible."

"A rule?"

"Who knows what would happen if things didn't proceed according to the original? No Galler likes variables like that."

"..."

"Of course, you can live however you want in times and places the author never mentions. An ordinary Galler could live here their entire life without ever getting involved in a chapter."

I was beginning to understand.

Gallers who knew the original inside out would want to make the most of that original story.

But if that story became a tangled mess?

Their experience of reading Mad Heaven Records from beginning to end would become useless.

"If you and I start doing whatever we want here, all six hundred remaining chapters will get tangled up."

"Six hundred chapters...?"

Did that mean we were around chapter four hundred?

"Don't tell me you're a skip freak?"

Why was this bastard so absurdly perceptive about pointless things?

"You really just clicked on the ending and came here? And you ended up as the Mad Demon, of all people?"

Then they suddenly began trembling.

"Fuck. You're a walking nuclear bomb."

"Me? Why?"

"A skip freak possessed the Mad Demon!"

"Ah..."

At last, I understood why they were angry.

If the Mad Demon was such a colossal villain, half of his every move must have been a chapter in itself.

If a Galler possessing the Mad Demon ran around without knowing the original, the result was obvious.

Mad Heaven Records could never proceed toward its predetermined ending.

"Ha... fuck. This is a real headache. It's not like I can just kill you here, either."

My eyes widened.

I had gained an enormous realization from those words.

Crusty Gallers who possessed major characters did not damage the original's chapters.

Which meant my death was predetermined by the original story.

I might not have finished reading it, but I knew perfectly well that the Mad Demon was not a character who died before the ending. What luck!

Then what had all those Gallers meant when they said things like, "I'd rather kill myself than go straight to hell"?

"Gallers said it'd actually be dangerous if a newbie possessed the Mad Demon, but I guess that wasn't true? The Mad Demon survives to the end, after all! Ha ha!"

"What would people who never get anywhere near a chapter for their whole lives know? Only a tiny handful of Gallers know the rules on this side."

Then their eyes abruptly turned cold.

They had returned to the Swordwood Lord's gaze, the gaze they had worn before revealing that they were a Galler.

"Ho ho, things certainly are getting interesting. It's already gone this far astray, so it won't make much difference if I fan the flames a little more, will it?"

Their eyes were clear.

Far too clear.

"W-What are you suddenly talking about?"

"Ho ho, the Northern Emperor already ruined a chapter several years ago, you know? We were trying our best to clean up among ourselves, but... well, now that a skip freak has taken over the Mad Demon, my own task has been decided too."

Shing.

"The original is over now. Everything's going completely to shit."

"No! W-Wait!"

The Swordwood Lord dragged their sword across the ground as they approached like a madman.

I desperately began turning my brain over.

To them, I was a major character who would inevitably ruin chapters like a nuclear bomb.

Humans live for profit.

They must have decided that my dying here would benefit them.

If the original story was going to be damaged anyway, earning a reputation for killing the Mad Demon would be a rational choice.

Well, naturally...

It was profoundly irrational for me.

I had just picked up a huge clue from what they said.

If, as I suspected, the Northern Emperor was also a Galler...

I had only read two hundred installments, but anyone who didn't know the Mad Demon's strongest weapon was no true fan.

"The Northern Emperor's daughter! She's still alive, isn't she?!"

"Hm?"

In autumn, she met a man on the Yangtze River and fell in love without knowing he was the Mad Demon.

Im Eunso.

The name of the woman brutally murdered by the man she loved to death.

The beginning of all those grudges and debts had not even happened yet.

The confrontation between the Mad Demon and the Northern Emperor was an event from the absolute climax, near the end of the story.

"So what?"

"Im Eunso's crush is the Mad Demon, which means me! What if I don't kill Im Eunso?"

"What if you don't?"

"The River North Alliance will be ours!"

The River North Alliance.

The absolute martial force ruled by the Northern Emperor.

If I took Im Eunso hostage, that massive alliance would immediately become an easy mark.

Even if the Northern Emperor, famous for doting on his daughter, was a Galler, Im Eunso's fiancé would not stay still either.

"You want to bring the Namgung Clan into it too?"

"Y-You said the original was going to break anyway!"

"Hmm."

The excessive clarity faded from their eyes, and at last, interest began to gather in them.

I desperately kept talking.

"Besides, isn't the Heavenly Demon's Demon-Shedding Seclusion supposed to last until the ending? If I just kill the three Demon Lords the Heavenly Demon left behind, I'm basically the Heavenly Demon!"

"Hah."

They laughed as if I were ridiculous.

"You dream big."

I might not have read all of Mad Heaven Records, but I had not lost my experience lurking in its gallery.

Even if they tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible, when they started arguing over who was strong and who was weak, you could more or less infer the plot.

In any case, their eyes had returned to those of a Galler.

That was a good sign.

If they were not immersed in their role, it meant they no longer considered this moment a chapter.

"But why us?"

In the end, they were asking what any of this had to do with them.

I finally brought out the words I had been holding in.

"Want to make a deal?"

"A deal? What kind?"

"Tell me the rest of Mad Heaven Records, from chapter two hundred to the ending. It's good for you too, isn't it? You're getting rid of a dangerous nuclear bomb. And I can stay faithful to the original."

"That's not a bad idea. But..."

The Swordwood Lord's eyes slowly narrowed.

"What makes you trustworthy?"

After all that, the issue came down to trust.

How the hell were they supposed to trust a Galler bastard who would betray someone after being betrayed themselves?

Like a proper Korean, I held out my thumb and little finger.

"Want to pinky swear?"

"Pfft. You really do everything, don't you?"

Had I won them over halfway?

When they mentioned the Northern Emperor, they had practically gone mad with rage.

That was the look people got when they hated someone with every fiber of their being.

I held a card that could screw over the Northern Emperor, and I was in a position to share that card with them.

"Then give me the Silent Aeon Demon Soul."

"Huh?"

This was the Mad Demon's entire arsenal, and they wanted me to hand it over?

"Doesn't anyone who isn't the Mad Demon fall into something like a brain-dead state if they hold it? Or did I get the original wrong?"

"Who said I wanted that demon sword? I'll just keep it in storage in case you decide to go wild. I'll return it when the time comes. It doesn't suit me anyway."

"I don't know anything like the Six Mad Demon Forms..."

"Would you rather die?"

"Ha."

Needlessly thorough bastard.

Having no other choice, I held out the Silent Aeon Demon Soul.

"You're a newbie, but I didn't expect the Mad Demon to hand over a sword so obediently."

They looked down at the Silent Aeon Demon Soul and smirked.

"You really see everything if you live long enough."

I was boiling inside, but there was nothing I could do. As they said, I was a perfect newbie.

Right now, I desperately needed their mercy and help.

"By the way, can you speak in martial arts novel style at all?"

"About as well as I did earlier..."

"Practice more. If you go around making it obvious that you're a Galler, you'll run into another person like me someday."

"Got it."

"Then let's proceed according to the original."

Shing.

They suddenly drew their sword again.

Why were they going on about the original again at a time like this?

"...How does the original proceed?"

"You get slashed dozens of times by me here."

"D-Does a chapter really have to proceed exactly according to the original?"

"No."

The Swordwood Lord jerked their chin toward the cliff.

"Get slashed a few dozen times by me, then see that cliff over there? Jump off it. Following the cliché, some old man will save you. I'll find my way to that cabin."

"Ah, no. You're being way too..."

I could not finish speaking.

My vision twisted white.

A madly fast sword-light exploded toward me, too swift even for the phrase lightning-fast to contain.

Slice!

At first, I felt nothing.

Only a cold wind passed chillingly across my skin.

But then...

"Arghhh!"

It began with agony so extreme it felt as though red-hot iron spears were tearing my entire body apart.

Slice! Slice! Slice, slice!

Dozens of blue streaks surged into my vision.