Chapter 132
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 132
The next day, Dokyun was greeted by a hangover that turned his stomach inside out.
He sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling as he tried to settle his insides.
Did I drink too much…?
The atmosphere had been better than expected, and he must have just kept drinking without a thought for his limit.
“Ugh…”
“Dude, you alive…?”
A voice drifted over to him.
Dokyun turned his head. His eyes landed on Eun-sam, who was half-lying on the sofa, groaning like a corpse.
He glanced at her, then lowered his gaze to her foot, which was resting on his thigh.
“Get your foot off.”
“So heartless, dude…”
Swoosh.
Her foot dropped to the floor.
“Ughhhhh…”
The groan came from Eun-sam.
She was so wrecked by her hangover that she couldn’t even control her own body.
In a way, it was to be expected. Eun-sam had been particularly hyper yesterday, slamming down three drinks for every one of his. It would have been stranger if she wasn’t hungover.
Shaking his head at the sight, Dokyun looked back up at the ceiling. He replayed the events of the previous night, and a certain promise he’d made came to mind.
Come to think of it…
His gaze flickered over to Eun-sam.
…I promised I’d write her a review.
His mind rewound.
- “Eun-sam.”
- “Huuuh?”
- “You know, I’ve been thinking. I really have to write that review.”
- “Huuuuh?”
- “It makes no sense for this Honeybee to read a novel and not write a review, right? Just you wait. I’ll whip up a killer one for you.”
His eyes landed on Eun-sam again.
…Does she remember?
He’d only said it because he was drunk.
…Honestly, he didn’t have the confidence to write it. And how could he? This was The Legend of the Seven Dicks. A novel where characters had sword fights with their dicks.
How was he supposed to explain that in a review? Of course, he could do it if he had to, but writing a review for that novel meant risking a permanent ban from the community.
It meant his account, which he’d used for over ten years, would be gone in a flash.
As Dokyun’s dilemma deepened, Eun-sam called out to him.
“Dude.”
“Y-yeah…?”
Her voice made him jolt, and he turned to face her.
With a face still pickled in alcohol, she stared at him and muttered.
“The review. The promise.”
Flinch.
Dokyun’s body trembled.
This tenacious little shit…!
She remembered. Eun-sam was looking at him with one corner of her mouth pulled up in an incredibly smug smirk.
Dokyun lowered his eyes slightly and gave his answer.
“Ah, I know… I was going to write it right after we ate.”
“I’ll be counting on it, dude.”
“O-of course!”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
Shit!
The time had come.
The time to say farewell to his ten-year history.
*
They had a simple meal of instant ramen.
Neither of them was in any condition to cook a proper meal, and their stomachs were too unsettled to even think about ordering delivery.
After eating, Dokyun took a shower, then sat on the sofa, staring at his phone as he continued to agonize.
A blank notepad. A trembling fingertip.
What’s done is done.
There was no turning back now.
Dokyun decided to humbly accept the situation. Since he’d decided to write it, he would pour his entire being into it.
Deep Sea Honeybee, a first-string, registered user of the novel community.
Once he decided to salvage a novel, he never backed down.
Dokyun closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He filled himself with resolve on the inhale and cast away his hesitation on the exhale.
His eyes opened again.
The blank notepad.
Upon it, following his rapidly moving fingers, characters began to fill the screen.
*
Dokyun checked over the completed review.
No typos, pictures are in the right place, content is good…
That’s what a community review was all about, wasn’t it?
In a word, it was an advertisement for the story.
The goal was to make other people want to read the novel, so as a salvager, Dokyun paid meticulous attention to the quality of his posts.
After checking the post for a good while, he nodded in satisfaction and finally uploaded the review to the community.
He wasn’t worried about the post getting buried.
The community moderators usually put review posts on the banner, even if just out of courtesy. More importantly, wasn’t he a famous user who had been active for ten years?
In real life, he was an ordinary office worker, but in the community, he was a celebrity everyone knew. There were tons of people who would upvote his reviews without even reading them.
Dokyun checked the time at the top of his phone.
6:00 PM.
It was almost dinnertime.
He glanced over and saw Eun-sam, once again completely absorbed in typing.
From what he’d heard, she was doing a final check of the last chapter.
It’ll take some time for it to get to the main banner, so…
He figured he could prepare dinner while Eun-sam finished up her novel.
With that thought, Dokyun carefully got up and headed to the kitchen.
*
Eun-sam had uploaded her final chapter, and they had finished dinner.
Dokyun turned on his phone and went to the community. He was momentarily stunned by the sight of the forums exploding, with several new posts regenerating every second. He navigated to the comments section of his review.
=
- PersonWhoFucksKnotholes: Wow holy shit fucking shit god damn motherfucking shit lololol
- MyPreciousNovelNTR-Fiend: Guys, don’t be like that, let’s offer our condolences. Looks like Honeybee’s gone insane for real.
- GoddessOfAngKimochi: For real, this guy disappeared for a few months, you think he was locked up somewhere and brainwashed?
└ Daughter-in-lawWhoFarted: Looks like Honeybee got his lid popped [lobotomized]. No way a sane person would read this, right?
- tprtmgkrhtlvek: Saw Honeybee's review and went to check it out, but ran right back out.
- WritingStyleAnalyst: Hey, but after reading it, doesn't the writing style seem similar to The Girl Who Catches Bugs?
└ ViciousLoyalist: FR, it's kinda awkward to say this, but isn't that Goni's alt account?
- TS-Lover: But this is fun, am I the only one?
└ DogThatBarksAtIdiots: Bro, my bro….
└ MemoFiend: Memo: Faggot.
=
Dokyun felt a cold sweat bead on his forehead as he read through the blazing comment section.
The reaction was far more explosive than he’d anticipated.
There were curses, there was praise, and there were sharp deductions that made him flinch.
Scrolling past the comments to the other posts, he saw a scene of pure chaos.
The arguments ranged from whether the story was fun or not, to whether it was gay fiction or not, all the way to speculation that this was Eun-ah’s alt account under her pen name, ‘Goni.’
The community was in a state no different from the apocalypse.
Dokyun felt his heart plummet.
This has gotten way too big.
Honestly, he’d expected it to get flamed in the comments and maybe a few angry posts, and then it would be over. He had never imagined it would set the entire community on fire.
As Dokyun reeled in shock, Eun-sam’s voice pierced his ears.
“Dude.”
Thump.
Dokyun’s body jolted.
Filled with panic, he creakily turned his head. There stood Eun-sam, a strange expression on her face.
It was a bizarre look—she seemed to be on the verge of tears, yet the corners of her mouth were turned up, and her brow kept furrowing and relaxing.
Dokyun shrank back.
“Y-yeah?”
In response, Eun-sam shoved her smartphone in his face.
“I-it’s blowing up…”
At her words, Dokyun’s eyes fell on the screen.
Displayed there was the main banner for Eun-sam’s novel, The Legend of the Seven Dicks.
The view count…
It was at 500,000.
The novel was around 300 chapters long.
The cumulative view count, which had been at 600 from just his and Eun-sam’s views, was now soaring past the hundred-thousands.
The recommendations were at 50,000. The number of favorites was at 10,000.
Dokyun stared blankly at Eun-sam.
“This actually worked?”
The words escaped him before he could think.
Eun-sam looked at Dokyun’s dumbfounded face, then spoke in a voice thick with emotion.
“Did you write the review?”
Dokyun realized she hadn’t seen his review yet and gave a small nod.
“Y-yeah, I wrote it…”
“Thanks, dude…”
As he watched Eun-sam’s strange expression, he felt an odd emotion welling up inside him.
His stomach fluttered, and he felt so awkward that his mind went blank.
With a face full of awkwardness, Dokyun avoided her gaze and replied in a slightly snappy tone.
“It’s nothing. You asked me to write it, so I did…”
Even as he answered, the fluttering feeling grew stronger.
A question surfaced in Dokyun’s mind.
Why is this so awkward? Why do I feel so flustered?
After mulling it over for a long moment, he finally found the answer.
…Because this is what I wanted.
This was why he had started salvaging novels in the first place.
This was what he had always hoped for when he supported and helped someone. He had wanted to hear words of thanks, to see an expression full of sincerity.
That must be why he felt so awkward and fluttery.
Realizing this, Dokyun turned his gaze back to Eun-sam.
She was staring blankly at her novel’s main banner.
Then she went into the comments, reading them one by one, a smile spreading across her face.
He thought it was a very un-Eun-sam-like sight, but for some reason, watching her made his own chest swell with emotion.
Dokyun watched her for a long time before letting out a soft chuckle and speaking in a playful tone.
“You happy?”
At his words, Eun-sam’s head snapped toward him.
She stared at him, her lips parting and closing, her expression shifting again and again. Then, she took a deep breath, composed her face into its usual mask, and shouted.
“Fucking right I am!”
It was a truly Eun-sam-like answer, one that made a hollow laugh escape his lips.
Dokyun let out a disbelieving chuckle, finally thinking, That’s Eun-sam for you, as he giggled.
Eun-sam watched Dokyun laugh for a moment, then shot up as if she’d just remembered something.
“Ah!”
“Hm?”
Dokyun, still laughing, tilted his head at her sudden movement.
Eun-sam turned to him and exclaimed in a thrilled tone.
“Th-this is no time to be sitting around!”
“Huh? Why?”
“With so many people reading, shouldn’t I at least post a ‘thank you message’ on the ‘community’!”
Dokyun felt a sharp pang in the back of his neck.
“Wait, hold on!”
“Huh?”
Dokyun stopped Eun-sam just as she was about to open the community site and quickly checked her expression.
A wide, beaming smile.
A cold sweat ran down Dokyun’s forehead.
No!
Absolutely not. There were several secondary reasons, but more importantly, if Eun-sam went on the community right now, she would see it burning to the ground.
She would see all the insults directed at her novel.
That couldn’t happen.
Dokyun had seen far too many amateur authors die off after ego-searching and finding posts cursing out their novels.
Eun-sam had already finished her story, so there was no risk of that, but Dokyun didn’t want to ruin this wonderful mood.
He had to stop her, no matter what.
Of course, she couldn’t remain ignorant forever, but it would be better for her to see the community after the flames had died down a bit and people had calmed down.
Having made his decision, Dokyun put on the kindest smile he could muster and spoke to Eun-sam.
“Hey, you know how it is. Whenever a post blows up on the community, there are always people who try to start shit.”
“Huh? Ah, you mean the pests?”
“R-right! The trolls!”
Dokyun seized on her words and continued.
“Those guys will curse out anything you post, so they’re probably all over the community right now, flaming your novel because it’s popular. So, how about you wait until they’ve quieted down before you go on…?”
Dokyun looked at Eun-sam, his eyes filled with desperation.
Eun-sam pretended to consider his words, letting out a “Hmm,” before her eyes narrowed and a grin spread across her face.
“Dude.”
“Y-yeah?”
Dokyun stared at her, his face tense with anxiety.
He was praying she would just calm down a little.
But perhaps that was too much to ask for.
“Who do you think we are?”
He had forgotten, since she’d been quiet for a while. When it came to pure madness, Eun-sam was the number one personality among all of Eun-ah’s alters.
He could feel the fighting spirit radiating from her eyes.
Shit.
He squeezed his eyes shut.