WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live ◈
Chapter 1: Even Heroes Are Professionals (1)
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Jun-il's dream was simple.
A mid-sized apartment in Seoul.
Marry a beautiful wife, have one son and one daughter, and live well.
“Hmm...”
In a university lecture hall, Jun-il rolled his pencil as he considered his plans for the future.
Whirr.
‘It won't be easy.’
The apartment he had picked out had risen to two billion won.
It had definitely been nine hundred million before he went off to do his military service.
‘Two billion won. Can an ordinary office worker really afford that?’
Jun-il blankly watched the lecture in progress.
Boring, pointless words flowed from the professor's mouth.
At this rate, he was headed straight for life as an ordinary office worker.
Whirr.
Jun-il rolled his pencil again and thought.
‘To succeed, I need to start a business or get a profession ending in sa...’
Business was too risky for an ordinary person.
In the end, a sa profession seemed like the answer.
Doctor, judge, prosecutor, lawyer... You know, professions like that.
Becoming a doctor was out of the question.
Tax accountant, certified public accountant, lawyer...
Of those, becoming a lawyer seemed achievable.
‘A lawyer sounds good.’
Why?
Simple.
He hated studying numbers.
On the other hand, he was confident in his English and grades.
That meant law school.
‘That narrows down the options a lot.’
A third-year university student.
The age when he had to start worrying about his future.
Jun-il seemed to be settling on his career path quite easily.
That was, if this little thing had not appeared.
Bzzzzz.
“...?”
Was some huge bug flying around his nose?
Jun-il quickly swatted at it.
A direct hit.
Smack!
“Eek!”
It crashed onto the desk.
‘Eek?’
It had definitely made that sound.
“What kind of bug is this...?”
But when he looked where it had fallen, it was far too large to be a bug.
“A bug? I'm a Story Fairy!”
A tiny girl-like creature flapped its wings furiously.
A winged little girl.
That was right.
It was literally a fairy.
Flutter!
The creature flapped back up in front of Jun-il.
Then it held out a hand and introduced itself.
“I'm Pam, a Story Fairy.”
Jun-il was so shocked that he looked around.
The other students were listening to the lecture as though nothing had happened.
“What? Did I fall asleep during class?”
“That's right.”
She agreed.
“Huh? That's right?”
“Yep. You're dreaming. How else could you be talking to me?”
That made sense. Relieved, Jun-il touched Pam's tiny hand with a finger.
“I see. I'm Moon Jun-il.”
If it was a dream, he could at least greet a fairy. Of course he could.
“I'll get straight to the point. Want to be a hero?”
“...A hero?”
“It seemed like the perfect job for you.”
“Are you some kind of career counselor fairy?”
“No, I told you. I'm a Story Fairy.”
What was a Story Fairy supposed to be?
“I make stories that entertain people and spread them across countless dimensions.”
That explanation only made less sense.
Dimensions? Why did it have to sound so grand?
“To put it simply, I chose you to be a hero.”
Chose him? Who gave her the right?
“I bought a story setting, and I want to send you there as its hero. Be a hero. Please?”
But he was going to become a lawyer.
“No. Why would I be a hero? I'm going to become a lawyer. I need a sa profession.”
“A sa profession?”
“Yeah, a profession ending in sa. A licensed profession.”
“A hero ends in sa too.”
“...Get lost.”
Point!
That was when Pam raised a finger.
“One hundred million.”
“...What?”
“I'll give you one hundred million if you become a hero.”
One hundred million?
Jun-il perked up at the sudden mention of such a huge sum.
“What exactly does a hero do?”
“What else? You go to another world and kill the Demon King with your companions. Isn't that obvious?”
Seriously?
Kill the Demon King?
Easy for her to say.
But wasn't it a brutally demanding job where he would have to swing a sword outside whether it was hot or cold?
“No. Forget one hundred million. Give me five hundred million.”
Since it was a dream anyway, Jun-il decided to aim high.
“Three hundred million.”
“...?”
“I'll give you three hundred million.”
‘What? She's actually raising it?’
A thought suddenly occurred to Jun-il.
Was this Demon King really that hard to kill?
As if she had read his mind, Pam explained.
“It's not that difficult. If I load you up with protagonist buffs, even an ordinary high school student can do it! You only need to say you'll do it! An upfront payment of one hundred and fifty million will arrive immediately.”
Pam kept tempting him.
One hundred and fifty million.
“Just promise me, okay? It's a dream anyway. Wouldn't it feel great if money really showed up in your account? Kyaruru!”
It was a dream anyway.
That was what decided it.
It was probably just a stupid dream.
If money came in, great.
Thinking that, Jun-il nodded at Pam.
“Okay.”
“Kyaruru! Great.”
Pam excitedly spun once through the air.
Then she gave him a name.
“I'll give you a cool name too. Let's see... Yulian? That sounds good.”
Then she snapped her fingers.
Snap!
Jun-il's world shook and crumbled.
* * *
“Oppa? Are you dreaming?”
“...!”
When he opened his eyes, round eyes were right in front of his nose.
It was Suyeon.
“You were mumbling about one hundred million... three hundred million...”
She was holding back laughter.
Jun-il sprang up and looked around.
“Huh? Class is over?”
The lecture hall was empty.
It seemed he had been sleeping there alone.
“Your class ended ages ago. Why are you sleeping like this?”
Wow. He had slept even after it ended.
Jun-il's face reddened with embarrassment.
Of all people, Suyeon had caught him.
“Wow. Even Moon Jun-il, the GPA fiend, sleeps.”
A friend Suyeon's age standing beside her teased him.
‘This is humiliating.’
Jun-il scratched his messy hair and hurried out of the lecture hall.
“Yeah. Thanks for waking me up. I have to go.”
So he did not notice.
Bzzzt.
A notification had arrived on the phone in his pocket.
[Nara Bank]
[Deposit Notification]
[150,000,000 won has been deposited from 'Fairy Corporation'.]
* * *
After somehow getting through the rest of his day, he headed home.
‘This is insane... Is it real?’
Jun-il stared at his banking app the entire way.
He looked at it during class, while eating, and now as he walked.
[150,000,000 won has been deposited from 'Fairy Corporation'.]
‘I can't believe it.’
He could not believe that one hundred and fifty million won had landed in the account of a poor college student.
‘That dream was real?’
If this money had arrived, then all that talk about becoming a hero must have been real too.
‘Then becoming a hero is rea...’
HOOOOONK!
An enormous horn blared.
Blinding headlights shone on Jun-il as he stared only at his phone.
‘Oh.’
It was a truck.
Crash!
And that was how Jun-il became a hero.
‘Should've asked for five hundred million.’
* * *
Thwack!
Jun-il's sword struck the Demon King's neck.
“Huff... Huff...”
Sticky green blood flowed out.
This bastard had been such a pain.
“F-Finally! The Demon King is dead!”
Jun-il shouted.
“After ten years!”
That was right. Ten years.
Ten years had passed since the hero party was formed and set out to defeat the Demon King.
It had taken a full ten years to kill him.
“Waaaaah!”
“Yulian! Yulian!”
His companions threw down their weapons and ran toward him.
They chanted the name Jun-il was known by here, Yulian.
Everyone embraced each other.
“Damn it! Guys...!”
Tears streamed endlessly from Yulian's eyes.
All the hell he had gone through after arriving as a frail modern man flashed through his mind.
It was a journey that would have been impossible without his companions.
“Waaah... Maylin! Tou! Sei!”
The hardships were over.
From now on, only happy things awaited them.
That was what he wanted to say.
Ding.
[The End]
‘Huh?’
That message appeared in Jun-il's vision, and the whole world went dark as though a drama he had been watching had suddenly been switched off.
‘What... what is this?’
The world was completely black.
A beam of light shone in one spot.
Like a stage light.
A spotlight.
Pop.
Pam appeared there.
The fairy who had first led him here.
“Good work.”
“...W-What? Is it over?”
“Three hundred million will be deposited when you return.”
“Three hundred million?”
“Kyaruru? What, did you forget? You went through all this for ten years to earn three hundred million.”
“...”
Right. That was why.
Damn it.
Ten years of suffering for three hundred million.
Was that really fair?
‘No, putting that aside...’
Jun-il could not let it end like this.
“I can't even say goodbye?”
“You said enough goodbyes.”
“That was because we killed the Demon King! They don't know I'm leaving!”
“Huh?”
Pam looked at him in surprise, then burst out laughing.
“Kyaruru! Yulian, you're a warmhearted guy, huh? Heroes like that aren't popular these days. That's why your story flopped.”
“...What? Flopped?”
Yulian frowned.
He had spent ten years crawling through hell to save the world.
And it had flopped?
“What do you mean, flopped?”
“Exactly what I said. The response wasn't very good.”
It was impossible to accept.
Who could accept having ten years of hardship dismissed?
“Whose response? The people will be thrilled that the Demon King is dead! Everyone liked me!”
“The Constellations.”
“Huh...?”
“Um... How should I explain this?”
Pam tilted her head.
“Fine. You're a university student, so let's look at it as a grade.”
Pam snapped her fingers, and a huge letter appeared.
Pop.
[Evaluation: C+]
C-plus.
Even though it had been ten years ago, Yulian had once been a monster when it came to grades.
“C-pl... C-fuck?! What did I even do wrong?”
He could not understand.
“About three companions died, sure! But I spent ten years fighting, killed the Demon King, saved the country, and helped the struggling people! Fuck, I did everything for them!”
“Kyaruru? You don't need to get angry. It might be a C+, but the money will still be deposited properly.”
Yulian did not listen.
The resentment he had built up over ten years was finally exploding.
“My ten years! Ten years, and all I get is a C+? Are you kidding me?!”
“I said you'll get paid. Didn't you do it for the money? You'll have three hundred million. The evaluation isn't done by me. The Constellations do it.”
“Is earning three hundred million in ten years supposed to be a big deal?! What am I supposed to do when I get back now...”
“Hey, Yulian!”
Snap!
The instant Pam snapped her fingers, Yulian's throat tightened.
“Ghk... Haa...!”
“That is enough. Calm down.”
Yulian desperately nodded.
Only then did the pressure around his throat ease slightly.
“Cough... Haa...”
Yulian took rough breaths and calmed himself.
What he had just felt was a terror unlike anything he had experienced in ten years of fighting the Demon King.
‘What was that?’
It was not merely that his throat had been tightened.
It felt as if his very existence had been threatened.
‘Damn it.’
Yulian finally gave up.
He had immediately realized that he could not resist Pam.
The instincts he had developed through ten years in another world screamed it at him.
“O-Okay, so... just let me say goodbye. It's my last request.”
“No. Once a story ends, it can never begin again.”
Pam would not let him say goodbye to his companions.
‘Fuck...’
At least she could let him attend the festival celebrating the Demon King's defeat.
‘Maybe not the others, but I have something to say to Maylin...’
Of course, he could not bring himself to say that.
What if she tightened his throat again?
“Doesn't my story even have an epilogue?”
“This one doesn't. It flopped, remember?”
Was that because of his grade too?
“That's cold.”
“Kyaruru. If you don't like it, you should've gotten an A or higher.”
Huh? Wait.
There was one very strange word in what she had said.
“This one doesn't...?”
“Bye!”
He tried to question her, but Pam had already snapped her fingers.
Pop!
The world warped.
‘N-No. What am I supposed to do once I go back?’
He had spent ten years doing nothing but hero work.
What was he supposed to do in society with only three hundred million won?
But before he could receive an answer to that question, Yulian vanished from the world.
Whoosh!
* * *
“Oppa? Are you dreaming?”
When he opened his eyes, round eyes were right in front of his nose.
‘Maylin?’
No.
It was Suyeon.
“You were mumbling about one hundred million... three hundred million...”
‘Huh?’
Jun-il stared blankly into her round eyes.
He recognized that she was Suyeon.
And he instantly understood this situation as well.
As though it had been waiting, his brain poured information into his mind.
When this was. What was happening.
‘This...’
That was why, even though it had happened ten years ago, he remembered it perfectly.
This was that time.
‘The time I was asleep in the lecture hall.’
As a test, Jun-il asked the exact same question as before.
“Uh... Class is over?”
When he had asked that before, she had answered, Your class ended ages ago. Why are you sleeping like this?
“Your class ended ages ago. Why are you sleeping like this?”
It was exactly the same.
And that friend had teased him from beside her too.
Wow. Even Moon Jun-il, the GPA fiend, sleeps. Was that what they had said?
“Wow. Even Moon Jun-il, the GPA fiend, sleeps.”
Jun-il's pupils shook.
‘What is this?’
He hurriedly turned on his phone.
April 17, 2025.
Thursday.
10:55 a.m.
‘This is insane...’
That was right.
It was the day he had dreamed about Pam.
Not even a day had passed since then.
Nothing had changed.
No, that was not right.
One thing had changed.
Bzzzt.
A message arrived on his phone.
[Nara Bank]
[Deposit Notification]
[300,000,000 won has been deposited from 'Fairy Corporation'.]
Instead of one hundred and fifty million, three hundred million had been deposited.
Footnotes:
“Sa profession” refers to Korean licensed professions whose names commonly end in -sa, including doctor, judge, prosecutor, and lawyer. Pam's joke is that the Korean word for “hero” also ends in -sa.
The joke after the C+ grade comes from the Korean pronunciation of “C-plus,” which can begin like a Korean profanity.
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