The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live - Chapter 46

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live ◈

Chapter 46: Grains of Sand (1)

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Fairy Corporation’s detention cell.

A celebration was underway there.

“It’s burning up~!”

“Fiiiiireeeee~~”

Pam and Ham were dancing while replaying the Necromancers burning to death.

“Kyaruru! I raised him, but Yulian is such a talent!”

“Yes. A real human disaster. At this point, he’s a calamity.”

“No, not that kind of talent! Though... I guess it’s close enough? Kyaruru.”

The talented person Pam had raised became a human disaster the instant he entered the story setting of her enemy, Ram.

Things could not have been more exciting.

“But...”

“Yes?”

Even amid the celebration, Pam pointed at something.

[Current Constellations Watching: 899]

The viewer count had stalled before reaching 900.

“It really is hard to break past the wall of an Extra.”

Characters had viewer limits based on their narrative rank.

For an Extra, that limit was 1,000.

A character could not endure the attention of a number of viewers beyond their rank, so there was roughly a ten percent buffer. In other words, if the limit was 1,000, various obstacles were designed to make it difficult to rise from 900 onward.

There were many such obstacles, but the most noticeable was the filter.

“The filter is probably the biggest factor. Most Constellations can’t see Sir Yulian as he really is. They see him in a very roughly rendered state.”

The Constellations’ view changed completely depending on a character’s narrative rank.

Like how a single passerby in a comic was not drawn in great detail.

To the Constellations, Yulian looked like one of the roughly sketched people in a crowd.

“His stream time allocation and algorithm preference are reduced too. That completely seals the deal.”

Once more than 800 Constellations were watching Yulian, he started being excluded from recommendation algorithms.

And if more than 900 still tried to gather around Yulian?

- Ah, this stream is tiny, so it’s lagging.

- Can’t see anything;

- Get out, assholes.

- Nine hundred people in a place this cramped? LOL

- Our Jun-il isn’t world-class yet!

The stream itself began cutting out due to capacity limits.

This was both a safeguard and a restriction provided by the Storyboard 3.0 system.

No matter how extraordinary Yulian was, he could not escape this restriction.

It was like buying the finest sports car only to have a legal limiter preventing it from going over a certain speed.

“Hmm...”

Pam rubbed her chin.

Storyboard 3.0 was certainly far more advanced than the previous system.

“How are we supposed to overcome this?”

“Should we make the most of the Shop we hacked? If we supply more of the As-I-Please Series...”

“No, that won’t be enough. Everything leads back to the protagonist in the end. We need something that can tie him more firmly to Kang Hae-il instead...”

Pam and Ham discussed various possibilities.

As Story Fairies, they were trying to solve this through intervention.

But all their discussion became meaningless.

“Huh!?”

“W-what is it? Why is the screen suddenly...?”

They had been watching Yulian’s stream.

The screen faded to black.

Bzzzzzt!

Then the inside of a subway car appeared.

More precisely, it was footage of a subway car filmed through someone’s phone camera.

“Th-this is...?”

Pam’s eyes widened.

She hurriedly switched to another channel.

Kang Hae-il’s.

“...”

It was the same.

Both streams showed the exact same screen.

“Y-Yulian got caught up in Kang Hae-il’s flashback!”

“What!?”

“Th-this is bad!”

Pam shot to her feet.

“If someone with an Extra’s narrative rank gets caught up in something like this... their character could completely collapse!”

A flashback.

A black hole manifested within a story setting, one that twisted the axis of time and dragged Constellations into the past.

Constellations could endure a flashback like this, but they could still leave in large numbers depending on the circumstances. The surrounding characters caught up in it would have an even harder time.

Even flashbacks related to a protagonist drove viewers away. What would happen if an unrelated Extra was watching one?

“W-what do we do!? Should I go right now!?”

Ham flew up, but Pam stopped her.

“P-Pam?”

“No...”

Gulp.

Pam swallowed.

“What?”

“This flashback... Something is strange. It isn’t completely unrelated to Yulian!”

“...What?”

Come to think of it, this subway was on Line 4.

[The next stop is Dongsjak, Dongsjak Station. The doors will open on the...]

* * *

A video filmed by someone.

The Line 4 car from that day, captured in the footage, was a vision of hell.

“S-save me!”

“Aaaagh!”

“Don’t push! I said don’t push!”

It had been pure coincidence.

Even amid all this, someone had been recording it.

The owner of the video had simply turned on the camera out of curiosity when the commotion started.

By the time the person realized they were not exempt from the chaos, it was already too late.

“Uhh...!?”

The person filming gasped helplessly as they were shoved back and forth.

Thud! Thud!

“D-don’t push me! Don’t push!”

It was the voice of a young woman.

The person filming was probably a woman.

“I-I can’t breathe... I can’t breathe...!”

She and numerous adult men and women were packed into an extremely narrow space.

Right in front of the door leading to the next car.

“Open the door to the next car! Open it!!”

Young men nearby shouted their protests, but there was nothing she could do either.

“It won’t open! No matter what I do, it won’t open! Please save us! O-open it!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The person filming was nearly crying as she begged, but the door to the next car would not open.

Then someone spoke.

“I know how to open it! I used to be a firefighter! Please make way... Please make way!”

A well-built middle-aged man pushed through the crush of people.

“It’ll open soon. Don’t push! If you push any harder here, someone will be seriously hurt!”

The man wedged a steel bar, somehow obtained, into the door like a lever and put his weight on it.

Creeeak!

It looked like it would open any second.

“Ah... It won’t?”

Never imagining that people on the other side were desperately holding it shut, he assumed it was a mechanical malfunction.

“It’s really jammed tight.”

The cries from behind him rang out again.

“Open it already! Fuck! We’re going to get crushed to death!”

“Aaaah! A m-monster! A monster!”

The footage did not show exactly what was happening.

But Goblins were clearly rushing in from the other side, forcing the citizens into one corner.

The only way out was to open the door to the next car.

“Open it! Open the damn door!”

Of course, opening it would be no different from giving the Goblins a highway straight through.

But no one here understood what was happening. Naturally, they did not know the same thing was happening on the other side either.

They had only ever seen Goblins in games. This was their first time seeing something like that appear on a subway during the evening commute.

Everything was chaos, and they could see nothing.

They had no choice but to fixate on the only visible escape route, the next car.

Then someone realized.

“They’re... holding it shut.”

The former firefighter finally understood.

He muttered in despair.

Through the fogged-up glass window, he saw suitcases and heavy bags piled against the door. Well-built adult men were using all their strength to keep it closed.

“Why...?”

He did not understand.

No one here, no one in this country, could fully understand the situation.

Except for one man in the car on the other side.

“...!”

“...! ...!”

It was hard to hear, but the men blocking the door seemed to be following the orders of the man standing there calmly.

Their loyalty was almost military in nature, and the area around the man was drenched in blood.

Had they been threatened?

When the door that was supposed to open quickly remained firmly shut, the chaos grew worse.

“T-they’re holding it shut!?”

A man asked again, unable to believe it.

“You fucking bastards! Are you even human!?”

Thud! Thud!

An elderly person kicked the wall in rage.

“W-what do we do... W-what do we do, mister!?”

The girl burst into tears as the crushing pressure grew worse.

The man who had been trying to open the door comforted her.

“I used to be a firefighter. I can open it. No, I have to...”

He put all his weight into it once more.

“Grrraaaaaah!”

Veins stood out in his eyes as he let out a monstrous scream.

Bzzzzzt.

Soon, the audio was drowned out by shrill screams.

Everyone in front of that door was killed by Goblins.

[This video is an edit of the original footage broadcast through Instagram Live. All excessively graphic scenes have been removed.]

A caption appeared, and the video ended.

The white mouse cursor trembled uselessly, unable to move anywhere.

Thud.

Hae-il, who had been staring blankly at the video, fell from his chair and slumped to the ground, his entire body shaking.

“...”

His mouth moved, but no words came out.

Even so, his pain came through.

The flashback ended there.

Chirp chirp.

The scenery returned to the peaceful mountain cemetery.

Instead of screams, only birdsong and the chorus of leaves rustling in the wind filled the air.

‘Ah...’

But Jun-il could not hear them.

The words Kang Hae-il had tried to say as he collapsed, the words that had failed to travel through the air, formed in Jun-il’s mind and echoed there.

‘...Dad?’

The moment that word formed, something inside him snapped and all strength left his legs.

Thud.

Jun-il’s knees hit someone’s grave.

‘D-damn... So that was it?’

The aftermath of the flashback had been powerful.

It felt like his very existence was being threatened, like every ounce of strength had drained from his body.

Still, Jun-il had survived.

His mind was intact as well.

He had endured a gaze beyond his narrative rank.

“Haa... Hah...”

He panted and blinked until his vision barely came into focus.

His hands were shaking.

Jun-il still held the shot glass of soju that Kang Hae-il had handed him.

Hae-il looked down at him in puzzlement.

“You don’t need to kneel just to pour it out.”

That was fortunate.

He had an excuse.

Jun-il answered in a choked voice.

“Ah... Y-yes. It’s about showing respect, still.”

Trickle.

The smell of alcohol stung his nose.

The drink that made memories fade was poured over an empty grave.

Had the scent alone made him drunk, or was it the lingering aftermath from earlier?

Jun-il’s vision blurred for a moment.

“Why are you tearing up over someone else’s story? Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”

Tap.

Kang Hae-il patted his shoulder and gave a faint, unnecessary grin.

“...”

Jun-il could only look at his mouth.

He could not meet his eyes.

He did not want to know what expression they held, or what they showed when they looked at him.

Heroes sometimes had things they were better off not knowing.

They could not make a choice that was good for everyone.

- Whoa...

- So this was what happened???

- Wait, that was his dad???

- Has this never come up before??

- Oh no...

- So that’s why he hated that bastard.

- Is he really L4GS???

[Current Constellations Watching: 983]

The Constellation count surged toward 1,000.

Bzzzzzt!

[Warning! These are gazes you cannot withstand at your current narrative rank!]

[The boundary of your narrative rank is shaking!]

His vision swayed again as the warning sounded.

A headache came over him.

‘Dizzy. Damn it.’

- So he’s the root cause, fuck.

- L4GS is a devil.

- Fuck, it was this asshole???

- Die, you son of a bitch.

- He isn’t L4GS, LOL.

- Why are you doing this to an innocent Porter?

- But wasn’t there no other choice??

- You’re all only seeing it from Kang Hae-il’s side, fuck.

- He’s still a person of interest, isn’t he?

At the very least, all the Constellations who knew Moon Jun-il was L4GS seemed to be forcing their way in.

Even the Constellations had only just learned what happened.

Those who belonged to that story setting did not know, but not every story setting unfolded in chronological order.

Naturally, not everything unfolded according to the Story Fairies’ wishes either.

Sometimes, even what went according to their wishes led to entirely different outcomes.

Stories were like fine sand on a beach.

No matter how tightly one tried to hold it, it slipped away.

No being could grasp it perfectly.

No effort had any meaning.

Was that not truly cruel?

Countless people despaired before that sandy shore.

Yet they could only accept it.

Because when the sand slipped through their fingers beneath the sunlight, it shone too beautifully.

Ding.

[The narrative rank of Incarnation ‘Hero - Yulian’ is increasing!]

[Extra → Supporting Character]

The fact that Hae-il’s father, who had been set up as simply dying in an accident for convenience, had turned out to be a victim of the Line 4 Incident as well.

[Constellation viewer limit: 1,000 → 5,000]

[You will be rendered in slightly clearer detail.]

[You can generate Sub Streams.]

[Constellations will recognize you more.]

The fact that he had broken through every wall of an Extra and the Constellations had accepted him as a Supporting Character.

They were like sand slipping away.

Nothing had gone according to anyone’s intentions.

Yet their story shone here and now.

- He’s a Supporting Character.

- Whoa, what a twist LOL.

- What’s with the art style changing??? LOL

- Fuck, this is insane LOL.