The Eighth Request (2)
“So this is the request that came to Pam?”
Junil asked, as if seeking confirmation.
“Yes. It’s a request from Pam.”
The sheer strangeness of the request was one thing, but there were details that needed sorting first.
“All right. But I’m a professional hero. I don’t work for free.”
Junil deliberately lifted his chin higher as he spoke to Ham, radiating arrogance.
‘You can’t take anything these guys say at face value.’
Thirty years of living as a hero had taught him the inner workings of Story Fairies fairly well.
‘And right now, this isn’t just about my survival.’
Ham spoke as though she cared about Junil’s survival, but her true objective was Pam’s release. The rating of this story was directly tied to whether Pam would be freed.
“So you’re telling me to demand payment.”
That meant Junil could push for more.
“Th-this is all for Sir Julian’s survival…”
“No. It’s not. I won’t die even if tens of thousands of Constellations are watching me. I’m confident I can make that happen. Why should I go out of my way to ruin the protagonist? I don’t even know who they are.”
“……”
Ham was rendered speechless.
‘As expected… he really isn’t easy to handle.’
Pam had already warned her. Julian had long since transcended the limits of ordinary humanity. After all, he was the one and only hero in the entire history of Story Fairies to have survived seven full cycles. His mental fortitude was no longer on a human level. The only person who still didn’t realize that was Julian himself.
‘Then… I suppose there’s no choice.’
Ham had already received instructions from Pam. Looking downcast, she finally confessed the truth.
“You’re right. Pam needs to be released. For that to happen, Rem’s rating has to completely tank…”
“Ha. See? You wicked little shits. Trying to trick me again. I’m not doing this request for free. Just so we’re clear.”
“But this is important for Sir Julian as well.”
“What are you—”
“Apartment.”
“!?”
The word that suddenly left Ham’s mouth froze Junil solid.
The driving force behind his superhuman mental strength. The fuel that kept the Red Witch’s former comrade swinging his sword for thirty years. It was Seoul’s skyrocketing real estate prices.
To keep up with those soaring prices, the hero Julian had swung his blade for over thirty years. That had been Pam’s analysis.
“If the world keeps going like this, Sir Julian’s apartment will be in danger too.”
“……What?”
“No.”
Ham grinned and snapped her fingers.
A video began to play.
“The danger has already arrived.”
Whoosh—
An airplane was flying. It soared along the beautiful Han River. But wasn’t it flying rather low?
The moment that thought crossed his mind—
Boom!
The plane slammed straight into an apartment building.
‘Huh?’
It was exactly Junil’s apartment—the very building he had purchased.
The structure burst into flames and then began to collapse with a thunderous roar.
“Wh-what the hell is this? This is deepfake, right? You just made this up, didn’t you!?”
Junil grabbed his phone in disbelief and checked it. Shockingly, a breaking news alert was already trending.
“A goblin burst out from inside that plane and rammed straight into Sir Julian’s apartment.”
“Does that even make sense?! Why my apartment of all places?! It was exactly my building!”
“Didn’t I tell you? In this world, Sir Julian is an extra. A hated extra, at that. You will suffer forever. You can’t expect good luck—hell, you can’t even expect to dodge misfortune!”
“Is this hell?”
Junil stared blankly at the footage, unable to believe his eyes.
Inside, Ham breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Perfect.’
It had gone exactly as Pam predicted. Julian’s weakness was his goal—his grand dream.
MacroCentralRiverVillaDiumGrancia.
The moment that place collapsed, even Julian’s superhuman spirit wavered.
Ham continued the presentation exactly as Pam had taught her.
“Reducing Rem’s power is the only path to freedom from suffering! That bitch is the root of all evil!”
She was giving the boiling rage a clear target.
“Rem……”
Junil muttered, eyes burning with vengeance.
“She humiliated me.”
Flames roared in his gaze. Ham kept fanning the flames with everything she had.
“Exactly! And not just Rem! The protagonist she chose! That bastard is monopolizing every ounce of attention in this world and all the energy from the Constellations! Because he’s the ‘protagonist’! He’s a root of evil too!”
Junil nodded.
He had always been a fast learner. Once he became a hero, his decision-making had grown even sharper.
“Fine. I’ll go kill him. Where is he? What kind of bastard are we talking about?”
If he was going to kill the guy, now was the time. If the protagonist’s potential was S-rank, the gap would only widen as he grew stronger.
“Hiiik!?”
Ham frantically waved her arms to stop him.
“Y-you can’t kill him! If you do that, everyone dies!”
“……Everyone dies?”
“If the protagonist of a story dies, that dimension gets ‘folded.’”
“……”
It was a terrifying statement—like snapping a spine in half.
‘Wait… then did Meyrin almost die because of me too?’
Did that mean he had nearly destroyed the world seven separate times?
“So the request wasn’t to kill the protagonist, but to interfere with them?”
“Yes! Make him unpopular! Even more unpopular than Sir Julian!”
“The protagonist?”
It sounded difficult no matter how he looked at it. The protagonist was supposed to be loved by the entire world.
“It’s entirely possible! Pam gave me tons of examples. Based on stories that have been sold in this dimension… Among popular works, there are many cases where the protagonist is disliked while supporting characters or even the villain are the fan favorites……”
Flip, flip.
Ham turned pages in her notes as she recited.
“Jingu and Tungtungi. The Rocket Gang and Jiwoo.”
“……Huh?”
“Dooly and Gogildong.”
At that point, Junil immediately understood.
“Doner, come quick. Okay. I got it.”
“Inuyasha and the iron—”
“I said I got it. Any more and it’s gonna get weird.”
“Ah, yes!”
Swish!
Ham quickly tucked the notebook away.
“Anyway, that’s how we end up enjoying far more popularity!”
“Hmm.”
Interfere with the protagonist’s popularity while Junil monopolized it for himself. It was no easy mission.
“Do you think you can do it…?”
Ham looked slightly worried. Understanding the Constellations was the key here—an ability ordinary heroes simply didn’t possess.
But—
“Yeah.”
Junil answered with far too much confidence. A grin even spread across his lips.
‘Because I know exactly what the Constellations hate.’
All the vicious hate comments he had received over the years. He had recorded every single one on his phone. He used to keep them so he could do better next time.
Now they would serve a different purpose.
“Ohhh! Really?! Then—”
“But there’s one last thing we need to negotiate.”
“Yes? What is it?”
Every request came with certain obligations.
“The commission fee.”
Money, of course.
“……!?”
This son of a—
Ham barely swallowed her curse and asked again.
“P-perhaps you didn’t understand the situation…? Hehehe……”
“No, I understand perfectly. But I’m a professional hero. I don’t move without payment.”
“……”
To be this shameless.
“That’s what makes it professional.”
What outstanding professional awareness!
Ham was genuinely impressed.
“V-very well. Within the scope of what I can offer……”
“Hey, Ham? This is a pretty big job, isn’t it?”
“Y-yes, it is.”
“Three billion.”
“……Huh!? Where the hell did that ridiculous number come from!?”
“Ridiculous? That’s with an extra billion for my collapsed apartment.”
“……The apartment will be restored along with the world when it resets!”
“Then two billion.”
Junil refused to back down.
“The world resets if the request succeeds anyway, right? So just dump it into my account like some kind of bug when that happens.”
“Th-that’s not exactly how it—”
“You’re not even giving me two billion? Then I’ll just help the protagonist grow as much as possible……”
“W-wait!”
Ham waved her arms desperately.
“F-fine. I’ll tell Pam. In my opinion, one billion… should be possible. I’ll try to persuade her for two billion.”
“Okay. I’ll just prepare until then. Just so you know, I won’t move for one billion.”
“U-understood.”
And so the brutal negotiation between Ham and Junil finally ended.
“F-finally! You must not lose every single Constellation! The moment that happens, it’s over!”
With time running short, Ham rattled off the warning like a machine gun, then added,
“And Rem specializes in game fantasy!”
Poof!
She vanished along with her final words.
“Whew.”
Junil stared at the empty space where she had been and smiled.
‘MacroCentralRiverVillaDiumGrancia?’
He could just buy another one.
The next morning.
‘What? When did I fall asleep?’
Junil sat up with a dazed expression.
“How long was I out?”
He checked his phone and found multiple messages from Suyeon.
Junil’s eyes widened.
The B-rank nonsense was one thing, but—
“……A quest?”
The moment he muttered those words, a clear chime rang out.
Ding.
Main Quest #1
📍 Objective: Reach Lv.10 within 72 hours!
❌ Failure: Awakening revoked
🎁 Success: Random item provided
It was a real quest.
“What the hell… This was here the whole time? Since when?”
[Time Remaining: 64:03:32]
Sixty-four hours left. Roughly eight hours had already vanished.
‘Why did I sleep so long?’
Maybe catching all those goblins with this body had been more exhausting than he realized?
‘What about the Constellations?’
A chill ran down Junil’s spine. If he slept like that, wouldn’t they all leave? There was no reason to watch someone sleeping.
The chat was still active. Some Constellations had even watched him sleep.
‘Phew.’
Relieved, Junil quickly got up and prepared to head out.
‘There’s no time.’
Being F-rank was already dangerous. If he lost his awakened status on top of that, he would fall straight into Rem’s clutches. He probably wouldn’t even be allowed to die cleanly.
‘She said game fantasy, right?’
Junil opened the window of his studio apartment and looked outside. The world had grown dangerous; there were hardly any people on the streets.
‘I hope I run into monsters that give a lot of experience.’
Wearing nothing but a hoodie, Junil stepped outside.
Even though Junil had slept for a full ten hours, the Constellations were still watching.
It was all thanks to the news article titled “Hero of Line 4.” His heroic actions on the subway—protecting others—had ironically extended his own life. A heartwarming story like that was something anyone could root for.
But there was one exception.
Bang!
“Damn it… How the hell did that bastard kill all the goblins? I placed way more than usual!”
It was Rem. She slammed her fist on the desk, trembling with rage.
“Why are there still five watching him?!”
Current Viewing Constellations: 5
Watching an F-rank extra was infuriating enough.
“It seems the seven cycles as a hero weren’t wasted after all,” said another Story Fairy beside her, adjusting her glasses. She was Rem’s assistant, Sam.
“Hey, Sam. Is this someone else’s problem? Huh? I know he went through seven cycles too. But how is he fighting like that with the body of someone from a Blue Zone dimension?!”
Thud!
Rem shoved Sam’s head away.
“Ouch… Well… I don’t know that either. Even Seraphim didn’t understand it… Still, even trained soldiers can usually handle goblins.”
“They catch goblins with ballpoint pens?”
“……That’s just personal preference.”
Shrug.
In truth, neither of them had much understanding of this particular dimension. It wasn’t their usual stage.
“Is… is that so?”
They also lacked insight into the phenomenon Julian was currently experiencing. It was an irregular situation no fairy had predicted.
Rem clutched her face.
“Ugh… We’re screwed. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have crammed so many goblins into that section. I spent so many coins on that.”
Once a story board opened, fairy intervention was extremely limited. They could only act by spending their currency—Feelings, Hearts, and Lingering Imagery.
On top of that, Storyboard 3.0 was even more expensive.
‘This insane money pit.’
It had been chosen because the returns matched the massive investment, but right now it was clearly a loss. Trying to kill Junil had only created more buzz around him.
“Still, we successfully assigned him F-rank, didn’t we? We used a total loophole, so it barely cost any coins.”
Random elements were easy for fairies to manipulate. It was a classic low-cost method to push a protagonist—the so-called “You’re so lucky” strategy.
It could also be used in reverse to drag someone into the abyss. That was exactly how Junil had received F-rank.
“After assigning F-rank, the number of viewers who had been at ten during the subway incident has now been cut in half. The effect was tremendous.”
“Sigh… Yeah. With F-rank potential, no one will treat him like a person.”
“Exactly. The growth rate is terrible, and leveling up is incredibly difficult. It’s a completely broken, dogshit balance.”
“……Are you insulting me?”
“Ah, no. In our industry that’s actually high praise.”
Rem glared at her once before letting it slide.
“Hmph. Anyway, just wait. That Julian bastard will drop to zero viewers soon. Then we’ll just hit him with a truck……”
“Uh? Rem!”
It was then.
“I-I don’t know what’s happening! But suddenly a ton of Constellations are swarming toward Julian!”
“Again?”
It had definitely been down to five. Yet the number of Constellations watching Junil kept climbing.
Current Viewing Constellations: 56
It had ballooned more than tenfold. Something had clearly happened again.