The Kidnappers (3)
Ram slumped to the floor with a heavy thud.
Chapter 2 was over.
“Th-this can’t be right. I didn’t do anything!”
Throughout the World Boss raid—the grand finale of this chapter—she hadn’t been able to touch the story even once.
The artificiality meter had climbed too high, so Storyboard 3.0 had seized complete control.
And even now, she still couldn’t intervene.
This was the critical phase where she should be preparing for the next chapter, yet the storyboard was still firmly in the driver’s seat.
“What do you mean you didn’t do anything? Kang Hae-il awakened this time, Ram!”
“…Huh? Oh. Right. I guess he did.”
Ram hadn’t done a single thing, yet somehow Kang Hae-il had accomplished a ridiculous amount.
“This is a complete success! The drop in his Constellation support has stopped! It’s even rising again!”
Sam was chattering excitedly, but Ram felt strangely hollow.
‘It’s almost like… things only worked out because I didn’t touch anything.’
All that effort before, and nothing had gone her way. The moment she stepped back, everything started flowing smoothly?
‘Is this the power of Storyboard 3.0?’
Maybe the upgrade hadn’t been pointless after all.
At this rate, wouldn’t Story Fairies like her become completely obsolete?
All sorts of thoughts swirled through her mind.
In truth, this was a fear every Story Fairy carried—the dread that their own creations would lose all meaning.
Chrrrrrr—!
“W-whoa! Look at this! The coins! We’re rich, Ram!”
The sound of coins raining down somehow felt empty.
“This is huge, Ram! Even a mouse gets its day in the sun! And get this—Sagosul barely did anything this time! We even got a Sub-Stream—”
Ram barely registered what Sam was saying.
Her thoughts kept multiplying.
If she reported this to upper management, wouldn’t they see her as useless? Wouldn’t they decide it was better to just leave everything to the storyboard?
Would she end up demoted?
No, she had never heard of a Story Fairy getting demoted after raking in story coins.
After all, this was Fairy “Corporation.” Money was king.
‘Then why?’
Why did she feel no joy when the money was pouring in more than ever?
Whether Storyboard 3.0 had helped or not, a success was a success.
Money was money no matter who earned it.
And how many Story Fairies had never even managed this much?
“Julian’s viewership is dropping!”
At that moment, Sam delivered what sounded like incredible news.
“What?”
“Julian! His ratings during the World Boss fight are terrible! Noticeably bad!”
“…Did he do something wrong?”
She knew he had died and come back after messing around with illusions.
It seemed that had left a bad impression on the Constellations.
“A lot of them are saying his behavior makes no sense!”
“Kiriri…!”
Only then did a smile finally bloom on Ram’s lips.
Julian.
No matter the reason, seeing that bastard fail always felt good.
Because he symbolized Pam’s success.
Julian’s downfall was her victory over Pam.
“I didn’t get that troll move either! The Constellations must be furious! Kiririri!”
Ram was willing to do anything if it meant beating Pam.
Her laughter blossomed fully.
“Right? Switch technique!”
“Switch technique!”
With a flourish of hand signs, Ram and Sam burst into laughter together.
“Kiriririri!”
“Hiriririri!”
Completely unaware that Julian had only pulled that stunt with the illusions to help Kang Hae-il awaken, they mocked his actions.
Who would ever think he had done it for that reason?
To everyone else, it just looked like another failed attempt to mess with Kang Hae-il that nearly got him killed.
Even to the eyes of the Story Fairies, that was all it was.
The behavior Constellations hated most—complacency that caused them to miss an opportunity.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“This will have long-term negative effects, Ram.”
As Sam said, the Constellations would lose trust in Julian from now on.
It was a lasting blow.
But—
“…Huh? Wait a second.”
Sam suddenly waved his hands.
The graph was acting strange.
“What is this? A themed surge? Why is it moving on its own…”
Thump. Thump!
Sam even smacked the monitor, suspecting it was broken.
But there was nothing wrong with it.
“Why is it skyrocketing all of a sudden!?”
Julian’s Constellation count was genuinely surging.
“…Kidnappers?”
Ram shot to her feet, dumbfounded.
A kidnapping had broken out without warning.
“Wh-why are these bastards showing up now!? Are they insane? Storyboard!”
She had wondered who was behind the kidnapping.
It turned out to be characters who shouldn’t have appeared until deep into Chapter 3.
“B-but the storyboard touched it, so the results…”
“Shut uuuup!!”
She was already furious that the storyboard had done everything while she sat on her hands.
And now these random kidnappers had shown up and were boosting Julian’s Constellations.
Current Constellation Viewers: 3,408
The Constellations who had left had all come flooding back.
“Why… why are they increasing? Do they want him to save Kang Hae-il?”
Sam was still a rookie and didn’t understand.
Even if they wanted Kang Hae-il saved, why were so many pouring in?
It wasn’t like Julian could even see their messages.
“They didn’t come to ask him to save Kang Hae-il.”
“Huh?”
“They came to watch.”
“…Watch what?”
Tap—
Ram pulled a book from the “Cliché” section of her bookshelf.
“The Fate of the Scumbags Who Messed with a Retired Special Agent Living a Normal Life.”
“…”
* * *
Rrrrrrrrr—!
Inside the helicopter.
Junil stared openly at the chat window.
‘Kidnappers?’
The chat window was exploding without warning.
Just from a glance, it was clear the Constellations were extremely excited.
It seemed some of them were already famous.
‘Come to think of it, I had no idea what was happening outside the Main Stream.’
No matter how much the story revolved around Kang Hae-il, that was limited to the main plot.
Events outside that region were unpredictable and didn’t necessarily revolve around him.
‘I wonder if the Kill Law or something mentions this…’
Junil pulled out his phone, thinking he might check a community for information.
But the squad member right beside him was staring at his phone screen with a murderous glare.
“Please switch your phone to airplane mode.”
“…Ah, yes.”
That was when it happened.
Ding.
Unread Message (1)
It wasn’t a phone notification. It had appeared directly in his vision.
In other words, it was a message for the Awakened.
‘Ah. So that’s what it is.’
Junil had a feeling he knew what the message would say.
This is a Free Chapter with no active Main Quest.
Considering the adaptation period for all Awakened, inter-dimensional interference has been minimized.
Until the next quest arrives, please train your mind and body to prepare.
It was an explanation about the Free Chapter.
It wasn’t much different from the previous notice.
It was essentially saying they would be given a period of peace so humanity could adapt.
A kind of break time.
‘Break time, huh…’
The phrase brought back a memory from his orphanage days.
There had been a time when break periods between classes were extended by ten minutes.
Normally it was fifty minutes of class and ten minutes of break, but it became fifty minutes of class and twenty minutes of break.
He couldn’t remember why it had changed, but it didn’t matter.
Whatever the reason, the system was scrapped almost immediately.
‘Because kids started getting sent to the hospital every break.’
Just ten extra minutes. Violent incidents between the children had increased more than fifteenfold.
Fights broke out in every area during every break, to the point that even the teachers couldn’t stop them.
That was when Junil realized something.
Without purpose or rules, humans became animals.
And now, with this Free Chapter that lacked any quest.
A lot of things might happen.
‘Are these guys part of that?’
The moment Chapter 2 ended, they had kidnapped Kang Hae-il as if they had been waiting for it.
This was definitely not an impromptu operation.
Paramedic uniforms, a paramedic helicopter, and so on.
They had prepared all of it in advance.
‘But why?’
The only question was why they were doing this.
What was their goal?
This wasn’t something ordinary thugs could pull off.
“We will be landing shortly.”
The helicopter began to descend.
Junil examined the landing site.
‘It really is a hospital?’
The place they were landing at was an actual hospital building.
* * *
Clunk!
They yanked the mobile bed carrying Kang Hae-il roughly as they shouted.
“Inside!”
They didn’t seem to care about the patient’s condition at all as they sprinted forward.
It looked like they were simply trying to deliver fresh, living prey while it was still as fresh as possible.
‘What is their goal?’
The Constellations weren’t saying much about their purpose either.
Since he couldn’t ask them directly, he could only make guesses.
‘Black mages?’
Black mages might want high-quality sacrifices.
Offering a powerful Awakened would probably grant them even greater power.
But these people didn’t give off any black mage vibes at all.
‘Their physiognomy is different…’
They didn’t have the resentful, dead-fish eyes typical of necromancers, and he couldn’t sense any magi or sulfur stench.
“Guardian! Hurry!”
“Ah, yes.”
Junil followed along for now.
He could handle most situations anyway.
‘Thanks to the Troll Scroll, I’m almost fully recovered.’
His chronic low-battery body issue had also been resolved after getting some sleep and using the Troll Scroll.
Most importantly…
‘I need to find out why.’
He wanted to know why they had kidnapped Kang Hae-il.
It definitely wasn’t something he could just let slide.
‘But how long are these guys going to keep up the paramedic cosplay?’
They must have watched some medical drama, because they kept shouting random things at each other while running.
It seemed like they were deliberately spouting nonsense.
They must have run out of scripted lines.
“Suction! Suction!”
“Please doctor! Love sick! I’m in love sick!”
“Emergency!”
The quick-witted Constellations realized they were just saying whatever came to mind and burst out laughing.
Junil ran after them and shouted as well.
“Viiiiiitaaaaal! Kang Hae-il’s viiitaaaals!”
“?”
Everyone gave him strange looks.
But they kept running.
And then—
Bang!
When they finally burst through the last door, their true identities were revealed.
The place that should have been an operating room had no operating table, no medical equipment—nothing. It was completely empty.
A man stood by the window, looking down, surrounded by a large number of bodyguards standing in formation.
“Boss. We’ve brought them.”
The squad members all removed their caps and masks and bowed their heads.
“Kang Hae-il and… one other person.”
Junil pretended to be shocked to play along.
“What? This isn’t a hospital? Hey, what the hell is going on!? Who are you people!?”
Kukuku.
The man called Boss seemed pleased by Junil’s reaction as he stood up.
Huge build, gold necklace, gold bracelet…
He looked exactly like a mafia boss.
“Oh, so this punk is the porter?”
“Yes, sir.”
Another squad member beside him nodded.
“Since they brought the porter along too, it really must be the real Kang Hae-il, huh?”
Junil, who had suddenly been treated as a certificate of authenticity for Kang Hae-il, shouted.
“What is this place!? Who the hell are you people!!”
It was a truly dedicated performance.
“Why would you need to know? You’re all gonna die soon anyway.”
“…What?”
The boss extended his hand toward his subordinates and said,
“Alright, someone go ahead and take a bite. He’s only F-rank so he probably won’t taste very good, but it’s still experience. Every little bit counts, right?”
“…”
The subordinates hesitated.
“What? Is messing with a measly F-rank too beneath you? He should still be over level 30 though.”
The boss smiled and offered Junil his congratulations.
“Man, you porters really have high standards. Well, congratulations. You’re lucky you’re F-rank, porter. That’s what saved your life, huh?”
‘This son of a…’
You’re lucky you’re F-rank.
The words grated on Junil, and he was about to snap back when—
“Since you’re alive, shall I tell you one of this world’s secrets?”
The big boss made an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“…What is it.”
Junil asked while acting like he was trembling.
The boss, clearly drunk on his own sense of superiority at how entertaining Junil’s reaction was, began to boast.
“At some point, it became possible for Awakened to raise their level by killing other Awakened. The stronger the target, the mo~re it rises.”
“!”
The boss had no idea.
That Junil’s eyes had already locked onto the word “experience.”
‘Is that true?’