The Imperial Family's Youngest Son

So, there was this meme that had been going around the internet recently.

It was a meme called the "Monkey's Paw," and this fucking Monkey's Paw ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠granted people's wishes—but never straightforwardly. It always did so in some twisted way.

For example, you might beg for your son's life, and it would bring him back as a zombie.

'Ah, I wish I could be born into a world where all I can do is draw manga.'

The wish I had made came back to me—the one I'd grumbled while staring at all the insults and hate comments on the final episode of the webtoon I'd been drawing.

Usually, the last episode of a webtoon is filled with congratulations for the artist who worked so hard and reflections on the work that has reached its conclusion.

But my webtoon, The Imperial Family's Youngest Son, was nothing but abuse.

Of course, it was an ending that deserved it.

'The protagonist gets run over and killed by a dragon—even I think I must have been out of my mind when I drew this.'

This webtoon, based on the romance-fantasy web novel The Imperial Family's Youngest Son, actually still had a huge amount of story left to tell.

But—

'I'm sorry to the artist, but the publisher that had the contract with the original novel went bankrupt, and the rights got tied up in litigation. So we can't continue the series. Please wrap it up by next week.'

Did that even make sense?

But the webtoon platform held absolute power, so the artist, as the underdog, had no choice but to comply.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what came out of that was the rushed dragon ending.

-I've lived long enough to see a dragon ending instead of a truck ending.

-In another sense, this is a work that will go down in Korean webtoon history. In a shitty sense, of course, you son of a bitch.

-Fuck, people with no confidence in their own storytelling always catch some art disease and ruin the original however they please.

I wanted to tell the readers directly that I hadn't wanted to end it this way either, but I never even got the chance.

I had clearly written about 5,700 characters in the author's note explaining the outline and circumstances of what happened, but my editor had lightly cut it out.

I frantically called the editor, but—

'The customer cannot take your call. Please try again later....'

Ah, so the editor was abandoning me. What point was there in calling again?

I finally understood how Sun Wook felt when he received the empty lunchbox.

I chugged four cans of 12,000-won canned beer I'd bought at the convenience store, thinking.

'Where did it all go wrong?'

I'd simply loved manga since I was young, and so I'd started drawing manga.

I'd been told I drew well and that my stories and direction were good, so I'd assumed I would definitely succeed.

'Hyuk, these days webtoons based on web novels are the trend. Let's try drawing this one.'

The romance-fantasy web novel The Imperial Family's Youngest Son, recommended by the CEO of the publisher I'd signed with.

Honestly, it was just a typical romance fantasy, but it was hard to refuse the CEO's recommendation, so I drew it—and this disaster happened.

After putting out a rushed ending like this, I probably wouldn't ever be able to draw a webtoon again.

[If there's a Monkey's Paw, I want to send that artist bastard into his own manga.]

Reading the comments multiplying in real time, I emptied the last beer can and thought to myself.

'Monkey's Paw? I'd be happy if I could get another chance at anything.'

With that thought, I slumped over my computer desk and fell asleep.

***

And when I came to my senses, I was in an unfamiliar place—a development straight out of a web novel.

Beside me in that unfamiliar place were a young girl clutching me and crying, and a middle-aged man who let out a sigh of relief when he saw me wake.

[Rupert, are you hurt anywhere?]

The moment I heard the name Rupert, I understood.

I couldn't know Rupert's family, since they never appeared in the novel and I'd never drawn them.

But Rupert—more precisely, the name "Rupert Somerset"—was a name I knew.

There was no way I could forget it, since he was a character I'd drawn myself.

Rupert was a character in The Imperial Family's Youngest Son.

In the story, he was a typical supporting character who had a crush on the female lead and always tried to approach her but was always one step too late.

'He was a pushover who smiled even while she strung him along.'

I didn't like the female lead either, who had no affection for Rupert from the start but never actually pushed him away when he approached.

What frustrated me even more was this guy, who stayed by the female lead's side despite being treated like that, and—like some kind of slave—came running whenever she needed help.

"But me, Rupert...? This is unbelievable."

I couldn't know why I had possessed Rupert of all people.

All I'd been told was that Rupert, the original owner of this body, had lost consciousness after falling from a horse while riding.

'But was there something like this in the original?'

Rupert wasn't an important character to begin with. He was just a supporting character meant to make the female lead shine, so there were no detailed settings like family or backstory.

The only description of his appearance was that he had blond curly hair and wore glasses, so when I checked my face in the mirror, it was fascinating how different it was from what I'd imagined.

The slightly wavy blond hair was just as I'd pictured, but because he wore glasses, I'd expected a soft impression—yet it was actually quite sharp.

"If he'd seen my webtoon, this guy might have sued me."

Don't blame me—blame the original author who described him so vaguely.

Fortunately, adapting to this body wasn't difficult.

Whether it was an isekai perk or not, I could speak and hear freely, and above all, the status of this body's owner, Rupert, was the second son of a count's family.

On Earth—no, in my previous life—I'd been little more than a drawing slave, ordered by my webtoon editor to fix this and fix that.

But here, if I pulled the cord attached to the canopy of the bed I was lying in, a maid appeared immediately.

There was also a family butler who quickly brought me pen and paper when I asked for them to sort out my situation.

'Water.'

I was thirsty and merely said the word "water," and a maid waiting outside instantly brought me a cup of water—an unbelievable event.

Had I become a dragon? Was this Dragon-Tongue Magic?

To be able to produce this level of water jutsu from a place with no water using just a single word.

'Thank you, readers. Thanks to your hate comments, I'm living in luxury like this. I'll take all the credit for this blessing.'

People really should live kindly, it seems.

***

Perhaps because the shock of falling from the horse wasn't that severe, after resting well for about a day, my body recovered quickly.

Unlike my old body, which had rotted away from pulling all-nighters drawing webtoons every day, Rupert's body was fresh.

'With this kind of condition, I could handle six days a week of overnight shifts.'

To think that even after getting my hands on a young, healthy body, this was the kind of thought I had.

I blamed myself for still not being able to let go of the life of a slave webtoon artist.

Once I'd recovered, I used the excuse that my memory was muddled from the shock of the fall and went around asking people about the situation.

I had read the original novel of The Imperial Family's Youngest Son once through to draw the webtoon, and I'd read certain parts over and over, so I knew the rough worldbuilding.

But since the romance fantasy itself had no detailed worldbuilding or settings, there was a lot I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had to find out by experiencing it directly.

First of all, the Goldpool Valley region, where the Somerset Count's House I belonged to was located, was originally famous for producing placer gold.

But as time passed, the golden days of placer mining had ended, and now it had become an ordinary land with no particular distinction.

Still, I figured that since I was a noble, I wouldn't have to worry about making a living.

"The important thing is, from now on, I must never get involved with the imperial family or the Bluewell Ducal House."

There was nothing good to come from getting entangled with the male lead, the Third Imperial Prince, or the female lead, the duke's daughter.

Whether it was because of the author's convenience-driven plotting, or because of assassination groups whose identities were unknown and who appeared from nowhere, or evil organizations trying to destroy the empire—

people died far too easily, as if the story had forgotten it was a romance fantasy, with characters like the second male lead sacrificing their lives for the female lead.

In that process, the love between the Third Imperial Prince and the duke's daughter blossomed tenderly, but—

"I don't have the slightest desire to be sacrificed as fertilizer for that kind of love."

Rupert wasn't an important character anyway, so slipping quietly out of the story wouldn't cause any problems.

Because all this guy ever did was act like a clown whenever the female lead was hurt or struggling because of the male lead.

"No matter how pretty the female lead is, she's someone else's anyway, and there's no chance she'd end up with me, so I should just avoid getting involved at all."

The villains who appeared in the story would be taken care of by the protagonist's group on their own.

With great power comes great responsibility, and the protagonists had great roles to play.

Just as a supporting character like me had a supporting character's role.

What role, you ask?

Since I'd possessed a noble anyway, I just had to live a leisurely life doing whatever I wanted.

And so, the illusion that I could just eat and play in this other world lasted only a moment.

Of course there was no way it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would be like that. Otherwise it wouldn't be a fucking Monkey's Paw.