WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live ◈
Chapter 4: Mass-Produced Julian (1)
──────
Moon Jun-il.
In truth, he was an ordinary person.
If there was one unusual thing about him, it was perhaps that he knew better than anyone how ordinary he was.
If coldly self-aware Jun-il acknowledged one strength of his own, it was perseverance.
‘I’m not good at anything, so I should at least see things through to the end.’
Because he knew he was nothing special, he clung to everything until the very end.
The process may have been an unbroken stretch of pain, but the results were always good.
He got into the university he wanted, and his grades there soared.
Jun-il believed it was all thanks not to any talent, but to perseverance alone.
Was that why?
‘No dating, no emotions, save my companions, and don’t help anyone for no reason...’
Even after seventeen whole years of being a Hero, he had not grown sick of it. This time, he was determined to get an A.
It was an obsession beyond reason.
No matter that time did not pass in the modern world, the time he experienced came in decades.
That would take a toll on anyone’s mind.
Yet Jun-il did not care. He was ready to keep being a Hero.
“Kyaruru...! I told you, he’s relentless.”
Somewhere in another dimension, Pam watched him through a monitor and marveled.
“Hey, Pam. I heard you wrapped up two stories in a row? Congratulations. Your results weren’t bad, either.”
Another Story Fairy passing by greeted her.
“Yeah. I just got lucky.”
Pam answered simply.
But it was not an easy feat.
“I’ve had twenty stories go bust already. Damn it... Do you have some secret for picking Heroes?”
“Why are you making such a fuss over two in a row? I said I just got lucky.”
Usually, after a Hero was chosen, they died or quit midway through, and the story was scrapped.
So naturally, the other fairies envied Pam for finishing two stories in a row with respectable results.
Of course...
“Hey, Pam!”
There were also those who grew jealous.
“I heard you used the same Hero twice!?”
The fairy with a ram’s head, shrieking indignantly, was Ram.
“How could you do something so shameless?!”
“Why? Is there some rule saying I can’t?”
Kyaruru.
Pam answered without the slightest shame.
“If it pisses you off, use the same person twice yourself. Ah... Your Heroes get sick of you after one run and refuse to work with you again, right?”
Kyaruru!
At Pam’s taunting flutter of wings, Ram’s face turned bright red.
“I, I reported you to upper management. Cap will call for you soon.”
Cap.
The branch manager of Fairy Corporation’s Third Branch.
Pam’s direct superior and the person who truly held power in the branch.
“Do whatever you want. Cap only cares about results.”
Even so, Pam remained relaxed.
She knew better than anyone how Fairy Corporation worked.
Extreme performance-based management.
As long as the Constellations liked it, that was all that mattered.
If the Constellations were happy, nobody cared whether the protagonist was a one-year-old child or a ninety-year-old elder.
“Tch...”
Ram stormed off somewhere, fuming.
The next fairy to arrive was Ham, who had a plump build.
“Pam!”
Ham had a gentle, cute personality.
Pam’s assistant.
“You’re incredible...! Two hits in a row!”
“A hit? What kind of hit is this? At my peak, I could hold ten thousand all the way to the end.”
“But I heard it’s even harder to produce works this good consecutively! As expected of you, Pam!”
Ham clung to Pam and rubbed their cheek against hers.
“Uh, yeah...”
“I’m so glad I became your apprentice, Pam!”
“Mm-hm.”
Still, Pam found Ham’s clinginess burdensome.
She pushed away Ham’s plump cheeks.
“Okay, okay. Ham, thank you. Ugh...! I said thank you, didn’t I? Stop clinging to me!”
“Paaam!”
“I get it. I need to work, so can you move over there?”
At the mention of work, Ham was pushed back.
“Gasp, Pam? Are you starting another new story?”
Ham asked, face squashed.
“Yeah. I’m going right away. The Hero agreed, too.”
“Again...!? You’re really incredible! At this rate... won’t you even be able to buy Modern Fantasy?!”
Ham excitedly pointed to the largest display board hanging from the World Tree at Fairy Corporation’s central offices.
The prices of Story Settings, the settings used as backgrounds for stories, were written there.
==== ====
[Story Settings]
-Medieval: 700
-Modern Era: 550
-Modern: 5
-Near Future: 210
-SF: 250
-Cyberpunk: 380
-Paleolithic Era: 310 Feeling (FL)
.
.
.
==== ====
These were the units of currency used in stories.
Feeling (FL) was followed by Heart (HT), then Afterglow (YN).
One thousand Feeling equaled one Heart, and one thousand Heart equaled one Afterglow.
That meant Modern Fantasy cost a staggering five thousand Heart.
More than the combined prices of every other Story Setting.
The reason was simple.
‘Everyone wants it.’
It was the most popular setting.
Many Constellations preferred it, and just as many fairies wanted to buy it.
It was the same principle behind the soaring prices of Seoul real estate that Jun-il loved so much.
Jun-il had Seoul real estate. Pam had Modern Fantasy.
Their goals seemed surprisingly similar.
“If you get Modern Fantasy, make sure to invite me too... Aaah!”
Ham’s face was pushed away even farther.
“I get it. Go. I said go. I’m still a long way from buying modern fantasy!”
Click.
At the same time, Pam pressed a button.
[Hero Transfer]
* * *
Jun-il was walking home after soccer.
He was crossing the street when...
“Huh?”
HOOOOONK!
A massive truck suddenly came barreling toward him.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Whoosh!
Jun-il threw himself aside and dodged.
Crash!
The truck slammed straight into a bus stop, and countless people screamed.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
“W-what was that?!”
Nobody was hurt, but the bus stop had completely collapsed.
How could such an absurd accident happen?
‘Could this be...? Is it that?’
Jun-il somehow felt that he knew what this was.
Then...
Vroooom!
The instant he recognized the motorcycle barreling toward him at 180 kilometers per hour, Jun-il was already flying through the air.
Boom!
“Urk!”
Since he had dodged the truck, something utterly impossible to avoid had rammed into him instead.
‘They could’ve sent me off a little more gently.’
Whoosh!
And just like that, Jun-il became Yulian once again.
* * *
Pam was startled.
“W-what... He dodged the truck?”
It was her first time seeing a Hero candidate dodge a reincarnation truck when the truck driver had not even made a mistake.
“He definitely saw it and reacted, right?”
Did that even make sense?
Let’s take a look.
Chapter One of the Hero Selection Guidebook.
The specifications of a modern human.
==== ====
Maximum speed: 44.72 km/h
Maximum load capacity: 1,800 kg vertically, 5,000 kg horizontally
Maximum punching force: 6,000 N
Maximum visual reaction time: 0.1 seconds
==== ====
Considering all that, Jun-il dodging the truck just now was...
‘Far too difficult.’
It was not impossible.
It was barely within the realm of possibility.
With an F1 driver’s reaction speed and humanity’s maximum speed, it could be done.
‘By Moon Jun-il, a business major?’
Of course, it should have been absolutely impossible for someone like Moon Jun-il.
The only exercise listed for him was recreational soccer.
“Well, he got lucky. I sent him off anyway, so it’s fine.”
Kyaruru!
Pam decided to let it go.
* * *
Yulian opened his eyes on a white bed.
Just as in his first and second runs, a beautiful princess greeted him.
The princesses were so beautiful and so friendly toward Heroes that he had always misunderstood them before.
“You’re awake, Hero...”
“Move aside.”
Bang!
The moment he got up, he grabbed the nearby sword and leather armor that apparently belonged to him, then put them on.
At first, even putting on armor had been difficult.
Now, he could do it in an instant, like pulling on a tracksuit.
“H-Hero? You are Yulian, correct?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Then why...?”
The princess seemed shocked by how absurdly uninterested the Hero was in her.
After all, Yulian had not even properly looked at her face.
‘If I look at her face, I’ll get tempted.’
Fool me twice, shame on me. There would not be a third time.
Yulian only packed as many of the potions piled beside him as he could.
‘No romance. No emotions. Just kill the Demon King.’
The experiences of his first two runs had made him firmer than ever.
‘I’m a professional. A specialist.’
His professional mindset as a Hero.
“Y-You’re leaving already? The King left a letter for you. At least hear it before you go.”
“Kill the Demon King. That’s what it says, right?”
It could not possibly contain anything important.
“Uh... Yes, but...”
“I’m leaving.”
“H-Hey!?”
Bang!
Yulian kicked open the door and strode out.
The princess covered her mouth and stared at the door he had left through for a long while.
“...It also says that you’ll marry me when you return after killing the Demon King.”
The princess could not leave for some time, regretfully lingering there.
Amazingly, Yulian’s behavior was exactly her type.
Of course, Yulian had no idea.
He hurriedly mounted a horse and left the royal castle.
Then words suddenly appeared before him.
Bzzzzzt.
-Oh, I like this protagonist lol.
-What is that presence lol.
-Is he on his second run? He knows exactly what to do.
-Now this is a Hero.
-Didn’t the princess fall for him? lol.
‘Huh?’
Did these not only appear when the story ended?
The words quickly vanished.
‘...What was that?’
Yulian tilted his head and set off.
“Hyah!”
Clop-clop! Clop-clop!
His horse raced toward the rising sun.
* * *
After that, Yulian smoothly gathered his companions and assembled the force to begin pursuing the Demon King in earnest.
‘Repetition really is the best way to learn.’
It was certainly easier than his first and second runs.
He had begun to recognize overlapping patterns.
“Y-You’re already coating your sword in mana?”
“As expected of the chosen Hero...”
The basics of combat, such as how to handle mana and infuse it into a sword, were similar.
After encountering them not once or twice, but three times, they had become second nature to him.
‘I’ve played this game before, you bastards.’
He had even learned what a traitor looked like.
Shing!
While camping with the Hero’s party, he put his sword to a priest’s throat.
“...Hey.”
“W-Why are you doing this, Yulian?”
“You were the informant, weren’t you?”
“Pardon?”
“You’ve been feeding our location to the Demon King’s operatives. Right?”
There was little direct proof, but plenty of circumstantial evidence.
He was absolutely not doing this based only on the priest’s face.
Absolutely not.
“More importantly, where do you keep disappearing to whenever there’s a full moon?”
“Y-You bastard...!”
The priest’s eyes turned bright red, and they began transforming into a werewolf.
But it was already too late.
“You did look like a werewolf!”
Slaaash!
His mana-infused sword had long since sliced them down from a distance.
The traitor’s head rolled across the ground.
Thud.
Yulian looked down at the werewolf’s head that had rolled to his feet and became certain.
‘This will be much faster.’
This time, it would not take five years.
Then...
Bzzzzzt.
The graphics glitched again, and words burst out.
-Pure catharsis lol.
-How did he know? That’s insane.
-Damn.
-This is Yulian.
-Yulian! Yulian!
Yulian could confirm that he was doing well.
‘This time is different, Yulian!’
Six hundred million won floated before his eyes.
Footnotes:
Reincarnation truck is a Korean web-fiction trope in which a character is struck by a truck and transported or reincarnated in another world.
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