WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live ◈
Chapter 45: Mushrooms and Memories (3)
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Bang.
Ram buried her face in the desk.
She had heard Hae-il's thoughts through the Inner Thoughts Magnifying Glass.
[Rank really is just a number.]
“Hae-il... That's not it...”
“R-Ram...”
“Sam. Did I choose the wrong protagonist?”
“Not at all? He's full of conviction, has great character, and looks good too. You couldn't have chosen better?”
“No. Maybe I'm just worse at making stories than Pam...”
“T-That's impossible! You're way better than some mass-production factory-manager fairy! There's no comparison! And Hae-il is way better than Yulian too!”
Gulp.
Sam tensed.
‘Damn. Her “my protagonist sucks” syndrome is acting up again.’
When a story setting began to shake, Story Fairies blamed others at first.
But when the flow refused to change no matter who they blamed, that arrow eventually turned toward their own alter ego, the protagonist.
Insulting a protagonist was practically insulting the Story Fairy herself.
So Ram was blaming herself right now.
“Hae-il has everything going for him, except his brain is a little...”
“A person who has everything is the number one disqualifying condition in Fairy Corporation's Protagonist Selection Manual, Ram.”
That was right.
To gain one thing, you had to give up something else.
The rest had to be covered with Coins or a little intervention.
“Besides, Hae-il isn't that stupid. You saw what happened with the Champion Goblin, didn't you?”
Kang Hae-il had realized Jun-il's orders were right and changed the plan.
Thanks to that, the party had cleared the dungeon after losing only one member.
“What good is that!? That bastard Yulian came in first!”
Ram suddenly shouted.
“And! We knew the phone was the problem, so we deliberately made him lose it! But he still hasn't talked to the Elf! What the hell is this!?”
“W-Well...”
That was why Kang Hae-il had so absurdly lost his phone.
They had spent Coins to intervene.
They had made the Spirits that followed the Elf hide a nearby phone somewhere.
It had not been an intervention that seriously infringed on the flow, so it had not cost many Coins.
The problem was that it had not changed Kang Hae-il's behavior much, either.
All he had done was wander around a little to look for his phone.
“And why hasn't that pointy-eared bastard talked to him!? We called her there for that!”
If Kang Hae-il would not speak to the Elf, then the Elf should have spoken to him.
But she had shown no sign of doing so.
“We even got t-bagged!”
Instead, Yulian had teased them as if to say, “I talked to an Elf, nyah nyah.”
And it had not merely been a conversation.
[She even gave me a Sub Quest.]
That single sentence had been infuriating enough.
Beeeeeeep!
The exit bell had been pressed.
-I didn't know S-rank stood for SUCK. I'm out.
The sharp Constellations kept leaving after coming up with new interpretations of what the S in S-rank stood for.
“...Damn Elf.”
Ram muttered, her shoulders slumped.
“They're supposed to be useful at times like this.”
Elves, who shared the World Tree's bloodline, were the beings closest to the Story Fairies' dimension.
They lived in the story dimension, but they also had some connection to higher dimensions.
That was why veteran Story Fairies often made good use of Elves.
Without paying a huge price, they could put them forward as agents.
But that came with risks.
Elves were difficult to persuade, and if they misunderstood a Fairy's request, the narrative flow could become even more tangled.
That was exactly what had happened now.
“Elves are double-edged swords, Ram. Still, now that Hae-il is close to one... S-Something will work out.”
“Where's the boss now?”
A vicious light entered Ram's eyes.
“The Necromancer Boss?”
“Yeah.”
It was not only the Constellations who had been thoroughly provoked by Yulian's t-bagging.
Ram had been too.
‘After I set everything up like this, that bastard takes it all and even brags about it on purpose?’
It had been obvious that Yulian had said it deliberately.
As though he wanted them to notice.
‘That bastard is even faintly squatting up and down. He's not even doing squats.’
Creak.
Ram ground her teeth.
A mere mass-produced Hero.
A Hero in one of those factory-made stories Pam put together!
“You strengthened the boss enough, right?”
“Yes, but...”
The Necromancer Boss had already been fairly strong.
Now its enhancement was complete too.
This would crush Yulian.
“Good. Let's go.”
“Ah... Yes. But I recommend leaving Yulian alone...”
“What? Why?”
Because nothing good had ever come from messing with him.
Sam could not bring himself to say that, so he explained it another way.
“It's because he's still just an Extra. The number of Constellations an Extra can accommodate is limited, and the filters have been properly applied. Most Constellations only see information edited around Kang Hae-il, so they don't even know who Yulian is. He's just a niche fan pick.”
He rattled off the explanation without taking a breath.
“...Really?”
Ram was somewhat persuaded.
“Yes. So it's better to gently guide things until Yulian disappears from the stage.”
It was perfect advice.
Sam thought so himself as he adjusted his glasses, his eyes flashing.
“Just slowly wither him away. The traveler took off their cloak not because of a bitter wind, but because of warm sunlight.”
Ram nodded at the story of the traveler.
“...Hoo. Fine.”
She had finally accepted Sam's advice!
“R-Really!?”
“Yeah. Let's watch for now.”
“Ooh!”
Just as Sam was feeling pleased, Ram looked uneasily at the monitor and asked,
“But Sam. What if that guy breaks through the barrier of an Extra...?”
“What?”
Sam waved his hands and laughed.
“Come on. That's not something you can break through easily. He hasn't been involved with Kang Hae-il for long, and there are plenty of Supporting Characters with enough weight already. Why would he stop being an Extra?”
“But... Look. Look at this.”
Tremble...
On the screen Ram pointed to, the image around Jun-il was shaking.
The character that looked as if it had been dashed off with a few strokes of a pen seemed, somehow, to be gradually becoming more detailed.
‘What is this? Something really is strange.’
Why?
Could it be because Kang Hae-il had acknowledged his ability?
Something as simple as that could not overcome this difference in narrative standing.
‘Standing isn't something you break through with ability.’
How many Extras had ability, yet were used only as combat-power meters?
Yulian was no different.
‘Standing is... the narrative assigned to someone, the importance of their relationships... their irreplaceability within a complex story structure...’
All those conditions had to be met.
And for someone who originally had low standing to overcome it, every one of those conditions had to be far more exceptional.
That was why Yulian could never become a Supporting Character.
‘But... why?’
Sam felt uneasy.
There seemed to be a mistake somewhere in the setting Ram had given Kang Hae-il.
Flip.
He went through the setting guide again.
From Kang Hae-il's family, which could be called the beginning of his existence, to his entire life.
“What happens to Hae-il's father's body...?”
The words Ram had said earlier echoed in his head for some reason.
‘The father was set to die simply for convenience and narrative purpose... The exact method wasn't written down...’
Rustle.
Sam searched through the settings again.
Was that not the case?
These were not settings he had made. Ram had planned them.
Several assistants had put their heads together, increased their realism, and applied them to the story setting.
Then they had scattered them across the brand-new Storyboard 3.0, a place full of variables.
How could something not go wrong?
Especially with an absurd bundle of variables called Yulian mixed in as well...
‘Damn. This is crazy.’
Sam's eyes widened.
‘Could it be?’
* * *
“You lost your phone around here?”
Meanwhile, Jun-il was looking for Kang Hae-il's missing phone.
He hoped that being with Kang Hae-il might bring in Constellations by the truckload. He also thought he needed to give Hae-il his number today if he wanted to maintain their relationship going forward.
[Ridiculous BGM]
[Playing]
More than anything, the music made Hae-il look stupid, dealing mental damage to Hae-il's Constellations.
-Is this a comedy or something? LOL
-I seriously don't know why I'm watching this.
-Kang-gu Can't Be Stopped~
-Just buy another phone, fuck.
On top of that, Jun-il kept casually bringing up the Elf to t-bag them.
“The Elf just talked to me first.”
He even mixed in a lie.
-Talked to you first, my ass LOL
-?
-LOL This bastard is flexing so hard.
-Ahahaha
-Meeting an Elf is his greatest life achievement.
“Really? When I tried to talk to her, she ran away. But she definitely stays put when she's with you.”
Kang Hae-il spoke as he glanced at Isillen, who was watching from far away.
“Does she get more wary around higher ranks?”
Hae-il scratched his head.
He had said it without thinking, but...
“...?”
Jun-il's expression stiffened for a moment.
‘No. This bastard...’
-LOL
-That trade was a total loss LOL
-Ahahaha
-It was only okay because he's F-rank~
-She only put up with you because you can't do anything LOL
“C-Cough. Didn't you say rank is just a number?”
Jun-il tried picking a fight again.
“That's right. Even S-rank isn't anything special. I don't know why everyone makes such a fuss. F-ranks live just fine.”
Hae-il answered absentmindedly as he searched through the bushes.
-Fuck LOL
-Whatever he says, it's a critical hit LOL
-Is this one of those power plays?
-Oblivious flexing versus t-bagging LOL
-Porters live just fine too! LOL
-No, seriously LOL
Hoo...
Jun-il took a moment to steady his breathing.
‘Should I just flex the Wind Spirit at him?’
For the first time, he understood the pathetic people who revealed their income while arguing on internet communities.
‘I've got something too!’
If he flexed the Wind Spirit once, the Constellations would peel away in droves.
That thought kept circling his mind, but he stopped himself.
‘I need to use this as L4GS.’
If he revealed such a good item while he was Moon Jun-il, would that not limit how L4GS could use it later?
“Oh. What? It was right where it had been.”
Then Kang Hae-il found his phone.
‘Right where it had been?’
Jun-il blinked.
‘A graveyard... Liquor...’
The place Kang Hae-il called its original spot was a headstone in front of someone's grave.
A bottle of soju and a small cup sat before it.
It did not look like Hae-il had drunk it himself.
One corner of the neatly groomed grass was damp.
[Kang Jeong-ho]
That was the name written on the headstone.
The same surname as Kang Hae-il.
[One who walked a noble path for others and for society, whose very end was elevated in service of another.]
There was also a flower basket that looked as though it had been there for some time.
[All Staff of Seoul Dongsjak Fire Station]
It was a basket from the fire station.
Instinctively, Jun-il checked the date on the headstone again.
‘That day.’
He remembered that date too.
There was no way he could forget it.
It was the day Jun-il had bought his apartment.
The day the world had been sold off as a story setting.
‘The day Goblins first appeared.’
The day countless victims had been created on Line 4.
“Ah... I didn't come here to see the Elf. It's my father's birthday.”
Perhaps sensing Jun-il's gaze, Kang Hae-il explained.
Then he handed Jun-il the cup.
“Since our paths crossed, offer him a drink.”
“C-Can I really?”
Hae-il simply nodded without saying anything.
Jun-il filled the cup in three pours, then approached the grave.
‘Damn...’
He saw it.
It was a tiny trace, but someone who knew the whole story would notice.
The grass beside the grave had been repaired.
Hae-il probably could not even imagine it.
‘He isn't here.’
The body of the father Kang Hae-il missed so dearly was not here.
Then Kang Hae-il spoke from behind him.
“My father died during the Line 4 incident.”
“!”
Snap.
Jun-il's hand stopped as he was about to scatter the liquor.
“My father wasn't in that subway car.”
At the same time, the space around Jun-il began to shake.
Rumble...!
‘What is this?’
Ding!
[Warning! Too many Constellations are taking interest in you for someone of your narrative standing!]
The noise was so intense that his eardrums rang.
It felt as if the whole world were shaking...
‘Damn it! Why is this happening as though I've made eye contact with the Constellations!?’
This phenomenon only activated when there was danger of the Constellations directly facing a character.
He had experienced it only once in all seven runs.
‘Why is this happening to an Extra?’
It was something Extras would never experience.
Beeeeep!
Another warning alarm rang out.
[Caution! Powerful Flashback Energy generated!]
[Leave the area immediately!]
Leave?
He could not.
His feet would not move an inch.
The space was already completely distorted.
‘This is... the constraint of the story.’
A powerful flow of story that even Yulian's power could do nothing about.
He had fallen into the black hole created by the existence known as a protagonist.
The name of that black hole was “flashback.”
‘Urgh...!’
Jun-il clutched his head.
He could not withstand the pain.
There had only been one other time he had felt pain like this.
When he had attacked Pam and been subdued.
The fear, despair, and helplessness of feeling as if his very existence would be crushed.
The earth shook.
Rumble...!
The scenery around him distorted, blurred like spilled paint, then changed.
Into a familiar place.
[The next station is Dongsjak, Dongsjak Station. The doors will open...]
It was a subway.
The subway from that day.
Footnotes:
“Kang-gu Can't Be Stopped” parodies the Korean comedy catchphrase and title “Young-gu Can't Be Stopped,” replacing its name with Kang Hae-il's surname.
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