001. The Catalogue
001. The Catalogue
It was an extremely hot summer.
Not just any summer, but the worst kind of summer where you couldn't even turn on the air conditioner and had to endure with just one fan.
In the corner of the studio apartment ceiling, yellowish mold stains, saturated with moisture, were gradually expanding their territory.
The calendar hanging on the wall showed the beginning of August. The cicada sounds squeezing in through the window cracks sounded like noises mocking him, as if saying, "Are you still living like that?"
The fan, the only lifeline against this heat, made a creaking 'tak-tak-tak—' sound every time it turned its head. Song Jae-pil fixed the fan in place and plopped down in front of the computer.
His massive 190 cm frame, soaked in sweat and wearing a t-shirt plastered to his back, hunched in a cheap chair, looked like a large bear struggling to force itself into a small glass bottle.
Just then, the phone on the desk vibrated. The name on the screen was 'Producer Kim.'
The moment he saw that name, Song Jae-pil's back reflexively straightened rigidly.
He pressed the call button with his finger.
"Yes, PD-nim."
As soon as Song Jae-pil greeted him, a familiar, deep sigh first flowed from the other side of the receiver.
- Writer-nim, everything is fine, but... the protagonist is too nice.
At those words, Song Jae-pil also let out a faint, inaudible sigh.
- Readers these days don't watch this kind of stuff. Make it a bit more provocative, the protagonist shouldn't just yield, he should monopolize. It's not that he has to look like trash, you know? You have to give them that satisfying catharsis.
"Ah, um... Yes, I'm sorry. I'll rewrite it and send it to you."
Song Jae-pil's voice automatically grew smaller.
Even though the person on the other end of the phone couldn't see him, he bowed his head out of habit.
- Sigh, Writer-nim... You write well. I know better than anyone that your writing skill is good. But the characters are too flat.
"Yes, yes...."
- The emotions feel like they're just playing around the knees and waist area, you know? Make them go more wild and crazy. It's not hard, right?
That metaphor embedded itself in his ears. The knees and waist area.
"Yes, I'll write it again and send it."
After the call ended, Song Jae-pil stared blankly at his phone screen. His own face was reflected on the pitch-black, turned-off display.
'The protagonist is too nice...'
Instantly, strength surged into his fist. He gritted his teeth, and his fist slowly rose above the desk.
If he slammed it down, the cheap plywood would shatter in one go. A hot ball of fire welled up violently from deep within his chest.
But, he stopped.
As his fingers straightened one by one, crescent-shaped marks left by his fingernails digging into his palm were revealed, red.
"What's the point of getting angry. It's not like he's wrong."
He threw the words at himself.
"It's because I can't write well."
With that single phrase, the heat that had soared to the top of his head was pushed down below his neck. Besides, if he got angry here, wouldn't that person's day be ruined too.
It wasn't that he didn't know how to get angry. The problem was he had realized too early that enduring was more beneficial.
The thought that nothing changes if you don't endure and just get angry, the compulsion that one must be kind.
"Hoo...."
Song Jae-pil exhaled a sigh and looked at the monitor. Truly, to the point where he thought this large physique of his was wasted on someone who couldn't even properly get angry once.
Truly, it was laughable.
It was right at that moment, after once again swallowing his anger and calming his breathing in front of the monitor.
Ding—!
Piercing through the rattling noise of the fan, a notification sound rang.
Song Jae-pil picked up his phone absentmindedly. A single notification was displayed on the screen.
[The Catalogue installation is complete.]
"The Catalogue?"
His brow furrowed sharply. He had no memory of installing it. He hadn't opened the app store, hadn't pressed a download button, hadn't clicked on any link.
"Did I press something wrong while on the call?"
Among the existing icons on the phone screen, a single unfamiliar icon of a deep red color was wedged in.
"What is this, spam?"
Feeling disgusted by that blood-like, eerie color tone, Song Jae-pil long-pressed the icon to delete the app.
But the moment his fingertip touched the screen, something bizarre happened. The app launched on its own, before he could even finish the long press.
The screen dyed a bright red. Golden letters slowly rose in the center of the screen.
[THE CATALOGUE]
The letters bordered in gold swayed on the blood-red background before settling in place. And below them, UI elements began to unfold one by one.
[D-C-B-A-S-SS-SSS]
A ranking system one might see in a game was listed at the top of the screen.
Song Jae-pil unconsciously touched the D rank. Only a locked notification appeared. C, B, all the other ranks were locked as well.
The shop window and skill window were the same.
There were also three or four unknown tabs where not even text appeared, but they too were simply locked with no reaction.
There was no manual, no tutorial, no guide.
"What is this."
As irritation rose to the top of his head over this spam app where he could do nothing, and he was about to attempt deletion, a massive pop-up window covering the entire screen surged up.
[Tutorial]
[Are you ready to face your hidden desires? Collect various characters through The Catalogue!]
The word 'desires' particularly caught his eye. And below it, the golden letters glinted subtly on the red background, as if enticing him.
"Character collection? Is it some sort of gacha game or something?"
[Starting Special Sample: S-rank - Elf Saintess]
[Sample Preview]
"Elf... Saintess?"
Those four words captured the attention of webnovel writer Song Jae-pil.
Saintess, Elf, S-rank. How many people could truly resist the curiosity sparked by that combination of words.
'Just what kind of game is this, throwing out keywords like that?'
Curiosity overcame reason. Song Jae-pil's finger descended onto the [Sample Preview] button.
Though he had no idea what kind of 'preview' they intended to show him.
Tap.
A faint vibration transmitted to his fingertip, and the brilliant white light that erupted from his phone screen instantly swallowed his studio apartment whole.
"Aah- what the hell!"
His vision turned white, and the first thing to vanish was smell.
The unique damp humidity of the studio apartment, mixed with the scent of sweat. All of those smells disappeared.
Next was sound. The rattling of the fan, the chirping of cicadas, the footsteps that had been coming from the floor above—they all vanished one by one.
His bewilderment was short-lived, as the world suddenly changed.
"A fragrance...?"
A sweet, refreshing fragrance flooded his nostrils. It was the scent of a forest brimming with life, one he had never smelled before.
"Ugh..."
Finally, the blackout lifted, and when Song Jae-pil opened his eyes, he was no longer in his moldy studio apartment.
It was a large room. Outside the window, colossal ancient trees that had to be centuries old covered the sky, and the sunlight pouring through the leaves scattered in the air like gold dust.
"What... is this."
But there was one strange thing: time was frozen.
A bird outside the window was frozen mid-flap, its wings spread. A single drop of dew, having slipped to the tip of a leaf, hung suspended, refusing to fall.
"...What is this. Some kind of hidden camera show? Ouch!"
Without thinking, he pinched his own cheek, but let out a yelp at the pain he felt.
"So this isn't a dream?"
Simultaneously, a semi-transparent window floated before his eyes.
[Elf Saintess Erin]
[Description: An extreme human-hater. Holds extremist ideology, claiming "All humans must be killed and an elves-only paradise must be built."]
Song Jae-pil's eyes scanned the description. Human-hater. Kill all humans. Extremist.
"Wow, a typical bitch. She's a Saintess, but her personality is rock bottom, huh?"
The remark slipped out the moment he read the description.
As if reacting to his muttering, a new objective unfolded beneath the system window.
[Conquest Objective: Take the virginity of Elf Saintess Erin.]
[Secondary Objective: Achieve 70% or higher on the Elf Saintess's Conquest Gauge]
[Main Objective Reward: +1 Shop and Skill Point]
[Secondary Objective Reward: +1 Shop and Skill Point]
Song Jae-pil's expression hardened.
"What...?"
Right now, this situation, this system... was urging him to violate that Elf Saintess.
A familiar brake was slammed in one corner of his heart. You must not do wrong. That speed bump made Song Jae-pil hesitate.
The system displayed the same phrase to him once more.
[Are you ready to confront your hidden desires? Try collecting various characters through The Catalogue!]
And beneath it, a line of text so small it was almost unnoticeable.
[Failure Bonus: Death]
Song Jae-pil's face instantly turned pale.
"Fuck... bonus? Not a penalty, but a bonus?"
His heart began pounding violently. It felt like a sick joke. His own death being called a bonus.
"No, you brought me here without my consent, and on top of that... you'll kill me?"
Doing such a thing to a woman he doesn't know, a Saintess at that, is morally wrong.
But that insane system was pushing him over a cliff called death.
If he doesn't do it, he dies. The goodness he had tried to live by his entire life had returned as a rope tightening around his own neck.
But the system showed no mercy.
[Confront your suppressed desires through the tutorial.]
[Try collecting various characters through The Catalogue!]
"Right... characters... she's just one of the collectible characters in a gacha game."
The moment the letters flashed, the frozen world gradually began to move.
"Right, that's it. If I don't want to die..."
The fragrant forest air suddenly felt chillingly cold.
The bird began flapping its wings ever so slowly, and time began to flow at a snail's pace.
Song Jae-pil's gaze was fixed on a spot five meters ahead.
Long, shining hair like gold. Beneath it, ears that stretched too long to be called human.
The chest area of her pure white robe was particularly prominent, and the outline of her body was more sensual and unreal than any human-drawn illustration.
"She's... incredible."
No, even if she is a bitch, to survive, he has to forcibly have his way with an elf like that.
"Ah, who..."
Her closed eyelids slowly lifted.
Transparent sapphire-blue eyes.
At that impossibly beautiful sight, Song Jae-pil's heart began to pound like mad.