WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live ◈
Chapter 8: Modern Fantasy (2)
──────
At the center of Fairy Corporation.
A huge banner was hung in the place where the Story World Tree stood.
It was probably the first one since Cap's promotion.
Ta-da~!
[Seven Consecutive Hits! Released!]
[Pam Is Legendary!]
It celebrated her seven consecutive hits.
Colorful fireworks burst everywhere as every fairy circled Pam, singing songs of congratulations.
Pam answered their congratulations with a smile, shook each of their hands, then went to work in her office.
After rising through the ranks, she now had a private office on one of the World Tree's branches.
“Kyaruru. What a lovely view!”
Below her stretched the whole of Fairy Corporation, with countless fairies bustling about.
[Branch Three, Team One Manager: Pam]
She had even put up a stylish wooden nameplate.
Pam looked at her Wisp Watch.
It was an item only team managers could possess, a smart fairy device through which a contracted spirit delivered whatever information a fairy wanted.
“Balance.”
At her words, the round wisp inside the watch popped out, blinked, and displayed some text.
Bzzzz!
'Finally...'
[Current Holdings: 5 Afterglow (YN), 143 Heart (HT)]
That was her story currency balance.
She had 5.1 Afterglow.
A Modern Fantasy Story setting cost five Afterglow.
She finally had enough to purchase Modern Fantasy.
Flutter!
Someone flew toward Pam's tree branch.
It was Ham.
“Pam! You're really going into Modern Fantasy now, right!?”
Ham flapped excitedly, their plump body bouncing along.
It was not even Ham's work, yet they looked more excited than Pam.
“Yes. I can start right away.”
Pam did not push Ham away today.
It was a very happy day.
Instead, she grinned as she pulled out the scenario she had prepared.
Thud.
[Setting Guide]
[Storyboard 3.0 ver.]
[Genre: Modern Fantasy]
“Ooh? Storyboard version 3.0!?”
Ham looked surprised.
“That’s the open-world format where the Constellations watch as if they’re experiencing it themselves, right!? You bought that too?”
“Of course.”
Pam had not earned only five Afterglow during her streak of seven hits.
Even three consecutive hits were a miracle, but she had seven. Seven.
Naturally, she had earned more than that.
She had invested the rest into upgrading her Story setting system.
“The exact same version Cap uses... Wow...”
Cap was the manager of this branch.
Pam could now operate the same version of Story setting that Cap used.
“Now I just need to buy the Story setting and purchase a dimension.”
“Right. Is Yulian the protagonist again this time?”
“Of course.”
Pam smiled, clenching her fist.
She had grown attached to Yulian after working with him so much.
Naturally, she wanted Yulian with her for her monumental Modern Fantasy debut as well.
“All right... I’m buying it?”
Pam operated her Wisp Watch and purchased the Story setting.
Ding.
[Story Frame: Modern]
[Purchase Complete]
Whoosh!
Her balance drained away as the purchase went through.
[You have now been granted access to the “Modern” era.]
“Waaaah!”
Pam immediately activated the Story setting.
[Enter the desired dimensional coordinates.]
[Settings will be downloaded there.]
Pam looked over the Earths scattered throughout countless universes.
Unlike before, when she could only see medieval-looking dimensions, a long list of dimensions with modern technology appeared before her.
Pam had already picked one out.
[Dimensional Coordinates: LmV - x 8348]
[Coordinates Set.]
[Select a Protagonist.]
There were several options for choosing the protagonist.
[Select from This Dimension]
[Transfer from Another Dimension]
There were two main choices.
Use a human from that dimension, or transfer someone in.
Then came the matter of whether to use items like these.
[Use Regression Item]
[Use Reincarnation Item]
[Use Possession Item]
[Use Talent Granting Item]
[Use Perk Granting Item]
.
.
.
They were items that made a protagonist more like a protagonist in various ways.
'Unfortunately, I don’t have a single item.'
Rather than giving her protagonist buffs through those items, Pam had chosen to train the same protagonist by using him repeatedly.
[Transfer from Another Dimension]
[No Items Used]
Naturally, she chose those options.
“Now it begins.”
It was time to see the light.
If she succeeded even with Modern Fantasy, becoming the youngest branch manager would no longer be a dream.
Pam grinned and zoomed in on the dimension where Yulian was.
'Transfer...'
Just as she pressed the Hero Transfer button...
'Huh?'
Ping!
[Transfer Unavailable]
[This dimension is owned by another Story Fairy.]
[Ownership Transfer Date: Year XXX, Month X, Day XX]
“...What?”
The dimension where Yulian lived had been sold.
When had that happened?
* * *
[Storyboard 3.0]
[The latest open-world streaming system is being applied.]
Jun-il blankly stared into the air.
'What is this now?'
This was different from what he had seen before.
It was not something he had seen in the other world either.
Then it was not an illusion.
[Downloading settings for this dimension... 4%]
[Genre: Modern Fantasy]
The messages continued appearing without end.
[Downloading settings for this dimension... 24%]
[Energy Source: Mana]
Bzzzzzt!
The more the download progressed, the louder the noise became.
[Downloading settings for this dimension... 37%]
[Intervention Type: Gate Open]
Rumble rumble rumble!
The subway shook violently.
It might have felt like they were passing through a tunnel with rough tracks, but...
“Uh, uhh!”
People tipped in every direction.
“What is this!?”
“Ah, d-don’t push!”
Shove!
People spilled toward one side.
“Urk!”
“We’re getting crushed! People are getting crushed!”
Was the subway car tilting?
More and more people came tumbling over.
“Oppa! W-what is this!?”
Suyeon fell across Jun-il’s legs and gripped his shoulder tightly.
She must have remembered him saving her last time.
But Jun-il did not know what this was either.
'What is it?'
Thump, thump...!
Jun-il’s heart pounded.
[Downloading settings for this dimension... 58%]
[Support Elements: Status Window, Awakeners, Quests]
As the alarming download percentage rose, the train rocked more violently.
Clunk!
“Wh-what!? Suyeon, g-grab on!”
Lee Chang-hun clutched the handle on the pole and reached toward Suyeon.
But Suyeon had already fallen and was holding Jun-il’s leg.
Countless people collapsed on top of them.
“We’re getting crushed! I said we’re getting crushed!”
Suyeon screamed as though begging for help.
She was not the only one.
“No, someone keeps pushing! Who is it!?”
“Hey! Stop fucking pushing!”
The cries of agitated commuters rang out.
“We’re all going to get crushed to death like this! Fuck!”
People spewed rough curses.
“Push! Push back the other way!”
They insisted on shoving in the opposite direction.
To survive.
Only those trapped in the middle suffered.
“Argh! N-no! No!”
It was chaos.
Everyone looked nearly out of their minds.
'What the hell is happening?'
Jun-il stood up, stepped onto the seat, and looked beyond the crowd.
“Keek! Kiiik!”
He thought he could hear a familiar noise cutting through all the screaming and shouting.
[Downloading settings for this dimension... 79%]
[Monster Types: Medieval, Folklore, Localized...]
And there was that troubling message.
Jun-il grabbed the luggage rack like a horizontal bar, pulled himself higher, and properly looked into the next car.
“...Hah?”
He could not stop a laugh from escaping.
“Keeeeeek! Keek!”
It was easy to see why people were pushing this way.
'They’re goblins. Fucking hell.'
A horde of goblins was forcing its way in from the next car.
A horde of goblins had burst into a packed rush-hour subway train.
Of course people were panicking.
At last, the word spread among the passengers too.
“Th-there’s something in the next car! A weird monster! There are monsters!”
“What the hell are you talking about! Are you schizophrenic!?”
“I-I’m telling you, it’s real!”
Of course, nobody believed it.
Even if they saw it with their own eyes, it would not be easy to believe.
Monsters suddenly appearing on the subway?
“Oppa, what do you see?”
Suyeon had somehow climbed onto the seat Jun-il had been sitting on and asked him.
“Uh... Well...”
Jun-il found it difficult to answer.
'What am I supposed to call this?'
So he simply said this.
“You’ll know if you wait a bit.”
“What?”
It was an absurd thing to say.
People were being shoved around and crushed, yet he was telling her to wait.
“Hey! If you see something, say it!”
Lee Chang-hun snapped.
“Yeah. Goblins are advancing from the next car. Looks like there are around ten of them?”
“What did you say!? You bastard, do you think this is the time to joke around!?”
“I’m not joking.”
“?”
[Settings Download Complete]
[Storyboard 3.0]
That was when it happened.
The download finally finished.
[Tutorial Beginning.]
The tutorial began.
He did not yet know exactly what that meant, but...
'What the hell did Pam do?'
Jun-il immediately suspected Pam.
He had heard that she wanted Modern Fantasy.
It felt like something Pam would do.
'I just bought a house. What are you trying to turn this place into?'
Haah.
Jun-il sighed.
“Keeeeeek!”
Meanwhile, goblins appeared.
Not the ones forcing their way in from the other car.
These ones simply burst out of thin air inside this very car.
Like popcorn!
“What the fuck is that!?”
“Keek!”
A goblin burst from the ceiling and thrust down its dagger.
Stab!
The crown of a man’s head in a tie was pierced.
The man died instantly without even getting a chance to scream.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
That scream came from the people around him.
Rush!
In an instant, people scattered away from the goblin like a wave.
“D-don’t push!”
Unfortunately, this was a rush-hour subway train.
There was nowhere to go.
[The next stop is Dongjak, Dongjak Station.]
Unless the doors opened, people would be left standing there, doomed to be stabbed to death by goblin daggers.
Thwack! Thud!
“KEEEEEEK!!”
The goblins climbed onto people’s heads and hammered down with their daggers.
Blood splattered everywhere as people fell one by one.
“Oppa... W-what are those things?”
Suyeon’s hand trembled violently.
“I told you, they’re goblins.”
Tap.
Jun-il climbed back down from the seat and stood beside Suyeon.
“Do you have a pen in your bag?”
“...What?”
“A pen. A ballpoint pen or something. That should be enough. There aren’t that many of them.”
Jun-il held out his hand.
Though her hands shook, Suyeon pulled a pen from her bag and gave it to him.
She remembered what had happened before.
'Even when he dodged that motorcycle... he wasn’t normal.'
It was an embarrassing memory, since she had thrown up everything she had eaten.
Still, Jun-il’s movements back then had been beyond human.
That experience was why she kept talking to him.
“Stay right here.”
Thump!
Jun-il leaped up from the seat and climbed over the corpses.
“Keek?!”
Stab!
He easily pierced a goblin through the neck as it turned around.
'It works.'
At that moment, Jun-il became certain.
The punch that had broken through his exterior wall had not been an accident.
Suyeon covered her mouth in shock.
'A... pen?'
He was killing monsters with an ordinary ballpoint pen.
“Next.”
“KEEEEEEK!”
The small green monster lunged nimbly at him, but the instant it brushed against Jun-il’s ballpoint pen, it became a lump of bloody flesh.
Pshhh...!
“Keek...!”
Thud.
The goblin collapsed limply.
“K-keek!?”
“Keek! Kiiik!”
“Kiiik! Keek!”
The goblins that had spread out to happily slaughter people looked at one another.
“Yeah. That’s right. Kill me first.”
Just as Jun-il said, they all rushed at him at once.
'I know your habits too well.'
Jun-il grinned, his eyes flashing.
'You always come bouncing in like that.'
The ballpoint pen swept through the air, creating a blue arc.
Slash!
'You leave too many openings.'
Thud!
Five or six goblins that had charged at him sprawled across the floor at once, spraying blood.
“Ke... keurk...!?”
The goblins twitched with fatal wounds.
-Wow
-Damn
-What? Are they all dead?
They were not dead.
'Now they are.'
Jun-il walked up to them one by one and cut off their breathing with the ballpoint pen.
Stab. Stab. Stab...
He killed the monsters simply and leisurely, like popping bubble wrap.
The entire subway car fell silent.
“Fuck...”
Even Lee Chang-hun could only mutter in a shaken voice.
Before long, the car became deathly quiet.
-What is this guy?
-Is he actually strong? lol
-I thought he was just an extra, but he’s insane
-The Ballpoint Pen Killer, holy shit
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