Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Keep Being Entertaining
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Keep being entertaining.
The Mad Hatter stayed silent for a while.
He simply stared at me, looking a bit troubled.
The subtle smile unique to merchants was all he offered.
Then his first words came.
"You've read someone else's love letter in great detail."
"I didn't want to see some guy's dark history either."
It cost 10,000 coins, so I'd honestly been excited.
But when I first saw the contents, I was a little disappointed.
Well, I was surprised once I realized there was a hidden code.
"I'm sorry, but I have nothing to say about that."
"I'm willing to pay for info this time too."
This was info tied to the secrets of this world, after all.
As a reader and survivor, I was curious about this story.
And at the same time, it seemed like it could help with survival.
But the Mad Hatter shook his head.
"It's not that I won't tell you—it's that I truly can't. If I tried to overstep and share that info with you—"
-Crackle!
Suddenly, sparks flew from the Mad Hatter's sleeve, and it burst into flames.
He lifted his charred wrist and gave a wry smile.
"It gets filtered like this."
"......So NPCs can't share unnecessary info?"
"Something like that. In this world, information is power too. If we went around blabbing freely, it'd ruin the balance."
I knew there were restrictions in this world—systems, quests, and all that.
But that applied to NPCs as well?
In the end, from the perspective of this apocalypse, they were just side characters like us.
"So players can never get that kind of info?"
"Hmm, I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to—"
The Mad Hatter glanced slyly at the sky as he spoke.
"Whatever it is, you'll unlock bits of it as you clear the main quests."
In the end, it meant we had no choice but to keep surviving in this apocalypse.
'I thought knowing the world's secrets would boost my survival odds even a little.'
Honestly, I didn't care if this world was some novel someone wrote.
I'd been perceiving it that way thanks to my Metafiction trait from the start.
I just wanted to somehow use that info.
Watching me, the Mad Hatter chuckled softly.
"Don't you ever think things like, 'Lucky me,' or 'Things are going better than expected,' or 'What a timely opportunity!'?"
I didn't respond.
Such situations had happened, after all.
No, honestly, quite a few times.
"Of course, reaching those 'fortunate encounters' was due to your own efforts. Never giving up and coming up with new ideas till the end—that's your skill."
The Mad Hatter adjusted his hat with a smile.
"Truth be told, you're a pretty astonishing player."
"Me?"
"First in this world line to defeat a zone boss, you've already got over 10,000 coins, and your growth rate is top-tier."
That did sound impressive.
I'd taken down a fair share of boss monsters too.
If I'd come this far from the early game, maybe I was actually pretty badass.
"Ah, of course, among regular folks. But if you factor in reincarnators, possessors, regressors, geniuses, superhumans, androids, and all sorts— you're still pretty average."
The Mad Hatter promptly rained on my parade.
"Still, you've made it this far. That's reason enough for NPCs like us to take an interest."
"You guys are interested in me? Why?"
"We're not all that different from you at the core. We have desires to climb higher, to survive. That's why we watch you all enduring this apocalypse."
The Mad Hatter was an apocalypse merchant NPC.
And merchants sold goods to make money.
Did he have his own reasons for collecting coins?
"Ever considered this? That I showed you that letter on purpose?"
"What?"
"You found the letter somehow, read the message inside, and now you're talking about the apocalypse. That's already a ton of info. At the very least, it's clear the apocalypse sees you as special."
"......I'm just an extra."
At my words, the Mad Hatter burst into his biggest laugh yet.
"Hahaha! Where in the world would you find an extra like you?!"
......What was this?
This feeling of getting praised yet somehow insulted at the same time.
"Sure, I agree you're a fairly ordinary human with some special traits. But your actions are far from extra-level."
"Hmm."
I'd seen myself as an extra all this time.
Someone who bugged out and survived by chance in Lee Yoo-ri's protagonist novel.
But if this was a separate story diverging from the original...
I might hold a pretty important position.
'Ah, damn, my head's starting to hurt.'
It was still a novel world either way.
The fact that I needed to keep growing to survive didn't change.
"In the end, this world's a shitty one where we don't even know when it'll end."
"Haha! Well, yeah. The apocalypse might suddenly change its mind, drop a meteor, and end it all."
The Mad Hatter nodded cheerfully.
"Believe it or not, I'm risking my life to talk right now. If the reaction's bad, it'll probably try to kill me. Haven't you seen someone like that already?"
I thought of Han So-young, dragged off to the underworld.
Queen bee, troll, betrayal.
A character packed with everything readers hated.
She'd died in the original too.
And she'd met the same end this time.
"So if you displease the apocalypse, you get written out?"
"Ah, not exactly. There are rules here too. They call it plausibility or whatever. It'd be weird if you or I suddenly got shot with a pistol and died, right?"
No, I'd just die if I got shot.
A normal human like me would get riddled with holes.
"Anyway, to wrap up—the apocalypse seems satisfied with the current situation, for now. Keep it up like this, and we're good."
"Satisfied how? Like, readers are praising it? Enough to make it want to bow in thanks?"
"Haha! That's something we'll never know!"
I suddenly remembered Comment Search.
The occasional 'comments unavailable yet.'
Sentences that felt like they were watching my situation right now.
Maybe there was a secret there.
"Well, since I did use you, take this as a small token of appreciation."
The Mad Hatter snapped his fingers.
A black ticket appeared in my hand.
"What's this?"
"A VVIP ticket to the Doom Hotel."
Doom Hotel? What, like some horror mansion?
"They've got some fun events going on there. Of course, it's dangerous too, but if you want to get stronger, it's worth a visit."
"If it's a reward, just give me coins."
"Haha! To someone who already has plenty of coins? That'd really piss off the apocalypse."
With that, the Mad Hatter bowed politely.
"Please keep things entertaining enough that others won't get bored. I want to live a long life."
He vanished in a puff of smoke.
'......This really drives home that it's someone's novel.'
I felt dazed, like I'd heard something huge.
'Deadpool was never my thing.'
If you're gonna write it, why not a popular academy story or hero tale?
Why an apocalypse with no dreams or hope?
The monsters didn't even look like they came from a well-done zombie flick.
I suddenly resented the bastard who made this world.
"Did you buy the goods okay?"
Lee Yoo-ri and Yoo Hye-na watched me return with incredibly subtle expressions.
Hye-na's face was a bit flushed too.
"It's not like that."
"It's fine. All guys are like that. Hye-na gets it."
"I get nothing—it's not."
If something lewd popped up, it'd need an 19+ rating.
Apocalypse plus adult content?
Readers would all be waiting for the H-scenes.
But we'd come too far for that already.
'Well, that's the writer's problem for making this world. Not mine.'
No, if the plot went weird and the story tanked...
The writer might suddenly hiatus it.
'Some amateur works I read back then just vanished without a word.'
My life was a candle in the wind already.
Now I had to worry about the world ending too?
What kind of novel was this?
I wanted a munchkin academy story.
"What're you thinking, Ji-hoon?"
"Ah, actually, the Mad Hatter gave me this earlier."
I showed them the Doom Hotel ticket from the Mad Hatter.
"Oh, the Doom Hotel."
"You know it?"
"I've been there once in my previous life."
As expected from a reincarnator who'd seen the apocalypse before.
Show her one thing, and the info flowed out smoothly.
"What's it like?"
"Just what it sounds like—a hotel. Or by this world's standards, more like a resort. A safe spot to rest and avoid the apocalypse for a bit."
"Wow."
Hye-na let out a soft gasp of admiration.
Safe.
The word everyone in this world craved.
"Of course, it's not just comfy. For growth, doing quests is better, but the hotel's real core is..."
Yoo-ri paused for a moment before continuing.
"A place where those who didn't pick a job in the first selection can choose one."
"Ho ho."
Neither Yoo-ri nor I had picked a job.
Honestly, I hadn't felt the need much.
But seeing Hye-na's Best Driver, good jobs clearly had high utility.
"Plus, a VVIP ticket. That's new even for me."
"Rare, huh?"
"If the main quest here runs like others, even a regular ticket's hard to snag."
That much?
The Mad Hatter had handed it over like no big deal.
Turns out it was valuable.
"Thinking about it, this timing's perfect."
Yoo-ri nodded suddenly.
"They've got spots to make other potions too. With an A-grade Essence of Life, we can craft something better."
Making another potion with a 10,000-coin essence?
'Wow, what on earth does she want?'
How big was our protagonist's picture?
Reincarnators really thought on another scale.
I didn't get the potion obsession, though.
"Then it's settled. We head to the Doom Hotel?"
Our driver Hye-na asked.
There was a map on the ticket's back, conveniently.
"Timing-wise, the hotel probably hasn't opened yet. But we should head to where we can use the ticket ahead of time."
"Next stop's here, then."
Unlike the outskirts school or museum, this was smack in the city center.
Time to move in earnest.