WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live ◈
Chapter 11: The Eighth Request (2)
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“Is this really a request from Pam?”
Jun-il asked, as if confirming it.
“Yes. It’s a request from Pam.”
The weirdness of the request aside, there was something to settle first.
“Fine. But I’m a professional hero. I don’t work for free.”
Jun-il deliberately put on airs before Ham.
‘I can’t take everything these people say at face value.’
Thirty years as a hero.
He knew enough about how Story Fairies worked.
‘This isn’t just about my survival.’
Ham spoke as though Jun-il’s survival was the concern.
But the real goal was Pam’s release. This story’s ratings were tied to freeing Pam.
“I want to be paid.”
Which meant Jun-il could ask for more.
“Th, this is all for Lord Yulian’s survival...”
“No, it isn’t. I won’t die if a few tens of thousands of Constellations watch me. I’m confident I can pull that off. Why should I go out of my way to ruin the protagonist? I don’t even know who they are.”
“...”
Ham had no answer.
‘A, as expected. He really isn’t easy to deal with.’
Pam had warned Ham already.
Yulian had already developed an inhuman mindset.
After all, he was the only hero in Story Fairy history to endure seven runs.
His mental strength was no longer human.
He just did not realize it himself.
‘Then... there’s no helping it...’
Ham had already received something from Pam.
Looking dejected, she confessed the truth to Jun-il.
“You’re right. Pam has to be released. For that to happen, Ram’s ratings need to be a total mess...”
“Hah. See? You devious little bastards were trying to trick me again. I won’t take this request for free. Got it?”
“But this is important for Lord Yulian too.”
“What are you talking abou...”
“Your apartment.”
“!?”
Jun-il froze at Ham’s sudden words.
‘Inhuman mental strength. And what drove it. Seoul’s soaring housing prices!’
To catch up with soaring home prices, Hero Yulian had swung a sword for over thirty years.
That was Pam’s analysis.
“If this world keeps going the way it is, Lord Yulian’s apartment will be in danger too.”
“...What?”
“No.”
Ham grinned and snapped her fingers.
A video began to play.
“The danger is already here.”
Whoosh.
An airplane flew along the beautiful Han River.
Wasn’t it flying a little low?
The moment Jun-il thought that...
Boom!
The plane crashed into an apartment building.
‘Huh?’
It was exactly Jun-il’s apartment, the building he had bought.
The building began to burn, then came crashing down.
“W, what is this? It’s a deepfake, right? You made this just now, didn’t you?!”
Stunned, Jun-il grabbed his phone to check.
A breaking news alert had appeared.
Breaking News: Luxury apartment complex by the Han River collapses after plane collision, damages in the hundreds of billions of won.
“A goblin appeared inside the plane, which then crashed into Lord Yulian’s apartment.”
“D, does that make any sense?! Why my apartment of all places? Why my exact tower?!”
“Didn’t I tell you? Lord Yulian is an extra in this world. A hated extra, at that. You’ll suffer forever. Forget good luck. You can’t even expect to avoid bad luck!”
“Is this hell?”
Jun-il stared blankly at the video, unable to believe it.
Ham sighed inwardly in relief.
‘Got him.’
Just as Pam had said.
Yulian’s weakness.
It was his goal and grand dream.
Macro Central River Villadium Grancia.
Even Yulian’s inhuman mental strength wavered when that place collapsed.
Following Pam’s instructions, Ham continued the presentation.
“Reducing Ram’s power is the only way to escape your suffering! That bitch is behind everything!”
Ham was giving Jun-il’s simmering anger a target.
“Ram...”
Jun-il muttered, burning with vengeance.
“She humiliated me.”
Flames seemed to rise from his eyes.
Ham eagerly fanned them, pouring oil onto the fire.
“That’s right! And not just Ram! The protagonist Ram selected is hogging all the attention in this world, along with the Constellations’ energy! They’re... the protagonist! They’re part of the problem too!”
Jun-il nodded.
He had always learned quickly.
After becoming a hero, he had become quick to make decisions too.
“Fine. I’ll go kill them. Where are they? What kind of bastard are they?”
If he was going to kill them, now was the time.
If their Potential was S-rank, the gap would only widen as they grew.
“Eek!?”
Ham frantically waved her arms.
“Y, you can’t kill them! Everyone will die!”
“...Everyone dies?”
“If the protagonist of a story dies, that dimension gets folded.”
“...”
It was a terrifying thing to say.
About as terrifying as saying they would fold someone’s spine in half.
‘Wait, what? Does that mean Maylin almost died because of me?’
Had Jun-il nearly destroyed worlds seven times already?
“So that’s why the request was to interfere with the protagonist, not kill them?”
“Yes! You need to make them unpopular! More unpopular than Lord Yulian!”
“The protagonist?”
Either way, it sounded difficult.
The protagonist was someone favored by the world itself.
“It’s completely possible! Pam wrote down lots of examples based on stories sold in this dimension. There are popular works where the protagonist is unpopular while side characters or villains are liked instead...”
Flip, flip.
Ham leafed through the material and read aloud.
“Nobita and Gian. Team Rocket and Ash.”
“...What?”
Jun-il wondered what Ham was talking about until then.
“Dooly and Go Gil-dong.”
Then he understood immediately.
“Dounor, welcome. Okay, got it.”
“Inuyasha and Iron Chain...”
“I said I got it. Any more and it’ll get weird.”
“Oh, yes!”
Swish!
Ham hid the notebook away again.
“Anyway, that’s how we end up more popular!”
“Hmm.”
Interfering with the protagonist’s popularity and claiming all the attention for himself.
It was not an easy mission.
“Can you do it...?”
Ham was a little worried.
This depended on understanding Constellations.
It was not an ability ordinary heroes possessed.
“Yeah.”
Jun-il answered with complete confidence.
A smile spread across his lips.
‘I know exactly what Constellations hate.’
All the vicious hate comments he had received so far.
He had saved every one on his phone.
He had recorded them to do better next time.
Now, they seemed likely to serve another purpose.
“Oh! Really?! Then...”
“But there’s one last thing to settle.”
“Huh? What is it?”
There was something that always had to come with a request.
“The request fee.”
Money.
“...?!”
This little...
Ham barely held back the words and asked again.
“D, do you perhaps not understand the situation? Hehehe...”
“No. I understand. But I’m a professional hero. I don’t move without a fee.”
“...”
How could he be this shameless?
“That’s what being a professional means.”
Such outstanding professionalism.
Ham was impressed.
“O, okay. Within what I’m able to offer...”
“Listen, Ham. This is a big job.”
“Y, yes.”
“Three billion won.”
“...What!? Where did that completely arbitrary number come from?!”
“Arbitrary? Add another billion for my apartment collapsing.”
“...Y, your apartment will be restored when the world is restored!”
“Then two billion.”
Jun-il did not back down easily.
“The world resets if I complete the request, right? Then just wire it to my account once, like it’s some kind of bug.”
“Th, that isn’t how it works...”
“You won’t even give me two billion? Then I’ll just help the protagonist and grow as much as I can...”
“W, wait!”
Ham waved her arms.
“O, okay. I’ll tell Pam. I, I think one billion should be possible... I’ll try to persuade her about two billion.”
“Okay. I’ll just prepare until then. And for the record, I’m not moving for one billion.”
“O, okay.”
And so the difficult negotiation between Ham and Jun-il came to an end.
“O, one last thing! You must never, ever lose every Constellation! The moment that happens, you’re out!”
Perhaps because she was running out of time, Ham began whispering urgently in a rapid-fire rush.
“And Ram specializes in game fantasy!”
Pop!
Ham vanished with those final words.
“Phew.”
Jun-il looked at the empty spot and grinned.
‘Macro Central River Villadium Grancia?’
I’ll just buy another one.
* * *
The next morning.
‘What? When did I fall asleep?’
Jun-il woke with a dazed expression.
“How long did I sleep?”
When he checked his phone, there were several messages from Suyeon.
[Suyeon: Whoa. What is this Awakening Rank? Did you see it? Mine says B...]
[Suyeon: Did you see the quest? It says they’ll revoke our Awakening if we don’t reach level 10!]
[Suyeon: Oppa, you’re not still asleep, are you?]
Jun-il’s eyes widened.
The B-rank flex aside...
“...What? A quest?”
The moment he muttered that...
Ding.
A window appeared before him.
[Main Quest #1]
==== ====
Reach Lv. 10 within 72 hours!
On failure: Awakening revoked
On success: Random item awarded
==== ====
It really was a quest.
“What the hell... This was here? When did it show up?”
[Time remaining: 64:03:32]
Sixty-four hours remained.
Around eight hours had vanished.
‘Why did I sleep for so long?’
Maybe fighting goblins with this body had exhausted him more than he thought.
‘Th, the Constellations?’
A chill ran down Jun-il’s spine.
Would they all leave if he slept like that? There was no reason to watch someone sleeping.
-Whoa, he’s awake now?
-That F-rank isn’t even leveling up.
-Why does he sleep so much?
-Poor Jun-il...
The chat was still there.
Some Constellations had watched even while he slept.
‘Thank goodness.’
Relieved, Jun-il quickly got up and prepared to leave.
‘There’s no time.’
Being F-rank was already dangerous enough.
If he could not even maintain his Awakening, he would fall completely into Ram’s grasp.
He probably would not even die peacefully.
‘Did Ham say she specialized in game fantasy?’
Jun-il opened the window of his studio apartment and looked outside.
The world had become dangerous, and barely anyone was out.
‘Where are the goblins?’
Wearing only a hoodie, Jun-il headed outside.
‘I hope I run into something that gives a lot of experience.’
* * *
Jun-il had slept for a full ten hours, but Constellations still remained.
It was because of the news article calling him the Hero of Line 4.
His actions on Line 4, where he had tried to protect others, had extended his own life.
It was a heartwarming story.
Anyone would like it, right?
But one person was an exception.
Bang!
“Damn it... How did that bastard kill all the goblins? I deliberately put more of them in there.”
It was Ram.
She trembled with rage as she slammed her fist against the desk.
“Why are five people still watching him?!”
[Current Constellations watching: 5]
Five Constellations were watching an F-rank extra.
It was enough to make her angry.
“Looks like he did not spend seven runs as a hero for nothing.”
Another Story Fairy beside her adjusted his glasses.
He was Sam, Ram’s assistant.
“Hey, Sam. Is this someone else’s problem to you? I know he was a hero seven times. But how can he fight like that even with a body from the Blue Zone dimension?”
Boing!
Ram shoved Sam’s head.
“O, oh dear. Well... I don’t know either. Even Seraphim did not know. Still, trained soldiers can normally kill goblins easily.”
“With ballpoint pens?”
“...That’s a matter of taste.”
Sam shrugged.
They had little understanding of this dimension. It was not the stage where they normally worked.
They also knew little about the phenomenon Yulian was experiencing.
It was an irregular situation that no fairy had anticipated.
Ram covered her face.
“Ugh... I’m doomed. I should not have crammed so many goblins into that slot. Do you know how many coins that cost me?”
Once a story setting opened, a Fairy’s intervention became extremely limited.
Even then, they could interfere only by spending their currencies: Feeling, Heart, and Afterglow.
Storyboard 3.0 was even more expensive.
‘This insane money pit.’
She had chosen the system because the potential earnings were substantial enough to match the investment.
For now, though, it was a loss.
She had tried to kill Jun-il, only to give him more attention.
“Still, you successfully assigned him F-rank. You used a loophole, so it barely cost any coins, right?”
Fairies could easily interfere with elements that were random from the beginning.
That was one of the typical low-cost methods for supporting a protagonist.
The so-called “Lucky You” strategy.
It could also be used in reverse, to send someone else crashing into the abyss.
That was how Jun-il had received F-rank.
“After he was assigned F-rank, the number of Constellations watching him fell from ten on the subway to half that. The effect was enormous.”
“Phew... Right. With Potential F, no one will even treat him like a person.”
“Yes. Even when he levels up, his growth values will be tiny. And leveling up itself is difficult. It’s a completely fucked balance system.”
“...Are you insulting me?”
“N, no. It’s high praise in our industry.”
Ram shot him a glare, then let it go.
“Hmph. Just you wait, Yulian. The viewers will probably drop to zero soon. Then I’ll just use a truck and...”
“Uh, Ram!”
That was when it happened.
“I, I don’t know what it is, but Constellations are suddenly flocking to Yulian!”
“Again?”
The number had clearly fallen to five.
But the Constellations watching Jun-il steadily increased.
[Current Constellations watching: 56]
Astonishingly, it had grown by more than ten times.
Something had definitely happened again.
Footnotes:
Ham’s final Inuyasha example garbles Tetsusaiga, the name of Inuyasha’s sword, by dropping its final syllable and making it sound like the ordinary Korean word for an iron chain.
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