The World Is Not Equal
I hate frustrating stories.
Thwack!
“Ugh—!!”
I slammed my fist straight down onto the bastard’s skull.
“Krrgh. That’s it. That’s the real shit. That’s proper education right there.”
I like refreshing stories. The kind where the protagonist barges into a tangled, suffocating mess of a plot and cuts right through the bullshit with a single decisive strike.
“Wasn’t that the Knot of Arius and the Gorgon or something?”
“It’s the Gordian Knot of Alexander the Great. And the cliché where someone suddenly shows up and fixes everything is called deus ex machina. If you’re gonna read, at least do it with some variety, you idiot.”
“I am reading with variety. Modern fantasy, medieval fantasy, school life, sci-fi, ensemble casts, all that shit.”
“That’s not what I meant… Never mind. You know the assignment is to write a book report on Animal Farm by George Orwell by next week, right?”
“I already read it. It was so damn frustrating and rage-inducing that I’ve been washing it down with some proper cider novels.”
The guy sitting next to me nagging away was a classmate from the same English Literature course. He had an incredibly rigid personality and couldn’t understand the refined hobby of reading web novels. Poor bastard.
“You already finished it? Your reading speed is insane.”
“Yeah. Anyway, looks like my bus is here. See you next week.”
I got on the bus and headed home. On the way, I kept thinking about deus ex machina. The god from the machine. Back in ancient theater, when playwrights screwed up their pacing and needed a happy ending no matter what, they’d pull this: ‘And then suddenly a god appeared and fixed everything. Happy ending! Ta-dah!’
Honestly, it wasn’t one of my favorite tropes, but after reading Animal Farm, I started wishing for even that kind of ending.
Animal Farm is a novel about livestock on a human farm who revolt, kick out the humans, and run the place themselves. The chaotic revolution and the animals trying to manage the farm and survive was actually kind of fun at first. But then that son of a bitch pig named Napoleon suddenly launches a coup, puts the farm under martial law, and turns it into a dictatorship. A total sweet-potato novel.
If it weren’t for the assignment, I wouldn’t have had to stress myself out reading this crap. If only a ninja had suddenly appeared and roasted those pigs alive—now that would’ve been refreshing…
By the time I reached my one-room apartment, the door was plastered with the utility bills and the rent increase notice I’d deliberately ignored that morning. I pulled myself together, grabbed the papers, went inside, and flopped onto the bed.
Reality is already suffocating. Can’t I at least read something refreshing when it comes to novels? Goddamn it.
If only I were the god from the machine…
I was lost in that fantasy, in the perfect mood to fall asleep, when the crumpled bill in my left hand suddenly began to glow brightly and transformed into something else.
The original text on the paper vanished, replaced by information about an ability.
“Masterpiece Intrusion?”
The moment I looked at the paper in my hand, I instinctively understood. It wasn’t that the paper itself was special. My ability had manifested.
I had awakened.
“Hell yeahhhhhhhhh!!!!!”
Masterpiece Intrusion
Intrusion In Progress: None
Intrusion Available: Animal Farm
Read more masterpieces to update your library.
“Wait, hold the fuck up. Masterpiece Intrusion? Not some ‘leisure life in another world’ or entering any random creation, but specifically masterpieces?”
My overheated brain cooled down instantly. I didn’t know what counted as a masterpiece, but it clearly wasn’t based on my standards. By my standards, Animal Farm was a frustrating, sweet-potato novel that made me want to scream.
Why weren’t refreshing masterpieces like One Punch Man on the list? The kind where the protagonist either hides his power or doesn’t, but still beats the shit out of everyone in the most satisfying way possible?
Don’t tell me the status window is bugged too…?
“S-Status window!”
Kang Cheol-in
Health: 12
Strength: 14
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 6
Mental: 7
Points: 30
Thankfully, the status window didn’t look particularly weird. Seeing that my intelligence was 6, the average was probably 5.
“Was I always this agile? I thought my running speed was just average.”
It seemed like I could raise my stats using points.
“Real men go all-in on strength!!… is what I’d like to say, but these uneven numbers are bothering me.”
Kang Cheol-in
Health: 15
Strength: 15
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 15
Mental: 15
Points: 3
After raising the points, I understood clearly. Ten was the average value. And dumping everything into strength probably wasn’t the best choice. Strength seemed to represent the upper limit of muscular pressure, while agility controlled the speed and precision of that pressure. If I only raised strength, I’d just become a human hydraulic press.
My body and mind must have been distracted for a moment while adapting to the sudden changes. I checked the paper again.
Masterpiece Intrusion
Status Window
Gacha
Shop
“Gacha?”
*Items drawn can later be purchased in the Shop.
Points: 3
I couldn’t hold back anymore. As if possessed, I pressed the gacha button.