Mass-Produced Julian (1)
Moon Junil.
In truth, he was a completely ordinary human being.
If there was one thing that made him slightly special, it was that he understood better than anyone that he had nothing special about him.
For someone as ruthlessly self-critical as Junil, the single advantage he acknowledged was his “perseverance.”
‘I’m not good at anything, so I might as well see it through to the end.’
Because he knew he wasn’t special, he clung to everything with dogged determination. The process might have been a continuous stretch of agony, but the results were always good.
He had gotten into the university he wanted. His grades there had shot straight upward. Junil believed none of it came from any particular talent—only from that one quality: perseverance.
Perhaps that was why.
‘No dating. No emotions. Save your comrades. Don’t bother helping strangers unnecessarily…’
Even after seventeen full years of playing the hero, he never grew tired of it. This time, he was determined to earn an A.
It was an almost transcendent level of tenacity.
No matter how much the modern world claimed time did not flow, the subjective experience stretched across decades. The mental damage should have been immense. Yet Junil paid it no mind and kept volunteering to be a hero.
“Kyarruru…! What a stubborn bastard.”
Somewhere in another dimension, Pam watched the monitor and let out an impressed sigh.
“Hey, Pam. I heard you finished two in a row? Congratulations. The numbers looked pretty solid, too.”
Another Story Fairy passing by greeted her.
“Yeah. I guess I got lucky.”
Pam answered lightly, but it was no small feat.
“I’ve crashed and burned on twenty straight ones. Damn it… Do you have some secret trick for picking heroes?”
“Why are you making such a fuss over two in a row? I told you, it’s just luck.”
Most heroes died midway or gave up, causing the story board to be scrapped. So it was only natural that the other fairies envied Pam for completing two solid runs back-to-back.
Of course—
“Hey, Pam!”
—there were also those who burned with jealousy.
“I heard you used the exact same hero twice!?”
The fairy with sheep-horn curls shouting at the top of her lungs was Ram.
“How can you do something so shameless?!”
“Why? Is there a rule that says I can’t?”
Kyarruru.
Pam shot back with a brazen grin.
“If you’re jealous, just use the same person twice yourself. Oh… but I heard your heroes get so sick of you after the first run that they refuse to come back?”
Kyarruru!
At Pam’s taunting wing-flutter, Ram’s face flushed crimson.
“I-I already reported you to the higher-ups. Cap will be calling you in soon!”
Cap.
The branch manager of Fairy Corporation’s Third Division. Pam’s direct superior and the one who held real power in the branch.
“Whatever~ Cap only cares about results~”
Even so, Pam remained relaxed.
She understood how Fairy Corporation operated better than anyone. Extreme performance-based evaluation! If the Constellations liked it, everything else was irrelevant.
As long as the Constellations were entertained, it didn’t matter whether the protagonist was a one-year-old baby or a ninety-year-old elder.
“You…!”
Ram stormed off, fuming.
The next visitor was the plump fairy Ham.
“Lady Pam!”
A gentle, adorable personality.
“You’re amazing…! Two hits in a row!”
She was Pam’s assistant.
“Hit? This isn’t a hit. My personal best is keeping the peak at ten thousand the whole way through.”
“But I heard pulling off tricks like this consecutively is even harder! As expected of Lady Pam…!”
Ham rubbed her cheek against Pam’s.
“Uh, um…”
“I’m so glad I became your apprentice!”
“Mhm.”
However, Pam found Ham’s clinginess a little overwhelming. She gently pushed the fairy’s chubby cheeks away.
“Yes, yes. Thank you, Ham. I said thank you! That’s enough hugging!”
“Hiiing, Lady Paaam~”
“I get it, okay? I have work to do, so can you head over there for a bit?”
Sluuurp.
At the word “work,” Ham was pushed back like stretched taffy.
“Huh? Lady Pam? Are you starting another story already?”
Ham asked, her squished face still recovering.
“Yeah. I’m jumping right in. The hero already gave the OK.”
“Again…!? You really are incredible! At this rate… won’t you be able to buy ‘Modern Fantasy’ soon?!”
Thud.
Ham pointed excitedly at the largest electronic billboard hanging on the World Tree in the center of Fairy Corporation.
On it were listed the prices of the various Story Boards used as the backgrounds for their scenarios.
Medieval: 700 Hearts (HT)
Early Modern: 550 Hearts (HT)
Modern: 5 Lingering Imagery (YN)
Near Future: 210 Hearts (HT)
SF: 250 Hearts (HT)
Cyberpunk: 380 Hearts (HT)
Paleolithic Era: 310 Feelings (FL)
The currency used in stories. The value increased in the order of Feeling (FL) → Heart (HT) → Lingering Imagery (YN). One thousand Feelings equaled one Heart, and one thousand Hearts equaled one Lingering Imagery.
In other words, the price of Modern Fantasy came to a staggering five thousand Hearts when converted. It was higher than the combined price of every other Story Board.
The reason was simple.
‘The object of everyone’s envy.’
It was the most popular. Many Constellations preferred it, so naturally many Story Fairies wanted to purchase it. It was the same principle behind why the Seoul real estate Moon Junil loved kept skyrocketing in price.
Junil wanted Seoul apartments. Pam wanted Modern Fantasy. In the end, their goals were remarkably similar in nature.
“When you buy Modern Fantasy, you have to invite me too… uuuugh!”
Ham’s face was pushed back even further.
“I get it, so go. Go on. I’m still far from being able to buy a modern board!”
Tap.
At the same time, Pam pressed a button.
Hero Transmission
Junil was on his way home after playing soccer.
As he crossed the crosswalk—
“Huh?”
Beeeeeeeeeeep!
A massive truck suddenly barreled toward him.
“Crazy.”
Whoosh!
Junil threw his body aside with lightning speed and dodged.
Crash!
The truck slammed straight into the bus stop, and countless people screamed.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“Wh-what the hell!?”
No one was hurt, but the bus stop had been completely destroyed.
How could such an absurd accident happen?
‘Is this… that thing?’
Junil had a feeling he knew exactly what this was.
At that moment—
Vroooom!
The instant he registered the motorcycle charging at him at 180 kilometers per hour, Junil was already flying through the air.
Baaaaang!
“Guh!”
Because he had dodged the truck, the system had simply sent something absolutely impossible to avoid crashing into him instead.
‘Can’t you at least send me off with a little dignity?’
Swoosh!
And just like that, Junil became Julian once again.
* * *
Pam was startled.
“Wh… what? He dodged the truck?”
It wasn’t even the truck driver’s mistake. This was the first time she had ever seen a hero candidate dodge the reincarnation truck.
“He definitely… saw it coming and reacted, right?”
Did that even make sense?
She decided to check the numbers.
Hero Selection Guidebook, Chapter 1.
Modern Human Specifications.
Maximum Speed:44.72 km/h
Maximum Load Tolerance:1,800 kg vertical / 5,000 kg horizontal
Maximum Punch Force:6,000 N
Maximum Visual Reaction Speed:0.1 seconds
Considering those numbers, the fact that Junil had just dodged the truck was…
‘Way too difficult.’
Not impossible. But it was right on the edge of what should have been feasible. It would require reaction speed on par with an F1 driver and the ability to produce humanity’s maximum sprint velocity.
‘From a business administration college student named Moon Junil?’
Of course, such a feat should have been utterly impossible for the human known as Moon Junil. According to the data, the only exercise he did was casual soccer.
“Well, he must have gotten lucky. Anyway, he’s been sent over, so it’s fine.”
Kyarruru!
Pam simply brushed it off and moved on.
* * *
Julian opened his eyes on a pure white bed.
Just like in rounds one and two, a beautiful princess greeted him.
The princesses were so beautiful and so favorably disposed toward the hero that he had always misunderstood their intentions.
“You’re awake? Hero—”
“Move.”
This time was different.
Bang!
The moment he got up, he immediately grabbed the sword lying nearby and the leather armor that was clearly meant for him.
At first he had struggled just to put armor on.
Now he could do it as fast as throwing on a tracksuit.
“H-Hero? You are Julian, correct?”
“Yeah. That’s me.”
“But why…”
The princess seemed shocked by the hero’s complete indifference toward her.
It was understandable. Julian hadn’t even properly looked at her face.
‘If I look at her face, I’ll catch feelings.’
Fool me twice, shame on me. Would he fall for it a third time?
Julian simply gathered up all the potions piled to the side.
‘No romance. No emotions. Only killing the Demon King.’
Thanks to the experiences from rounds one and two, he had become far more resolute.
‘I’m a professional. This is my job.’
His sense of occupational responsibility as a hero was ironclad.
“Y-You’re leaving already? Before that, His Majesty left you a letter. Please listen—”
“It’s just ‘Please kill the Demon King,’ right?”
There was no other content anyway.
“Um… yes, that is true, but—”
“I’m going.”
“W-Wait!”
Bang!
The sight of Julian kicking the door open and leaving without hesitation.
The princess covered her mouth and stared at the door he had disappeared through for a long time.
“…He also said that once he kills the Demon King and returns, he will marry me.”
The princess lingered in that spot for quite a while, looking genuinely disappointed.
Surprisingly, Julian’s cold attitude seemed to be exactly her type!
Of course, Julian himself had no idea. He urgently mounted a horse and galloped out of the royal castle.
Then, suddenly, letters appeared before his eyes.
Crackle.
‘Huh?’
Weren’t these only supposed to appear when the story ended?
The letters quickly vanished.
‘…What was that?’
Julian tilted his head in confusion and set off.
“Hya!”
‘I guess I’m doing well so far.’
Clop! Clop!
His horse galloped toward the direction of the rising sun.
* * *
After that, Julian rescued his companions with incredible speed and assembled a full party capable of beginning the real pursuit of the Demon King.
‘I guess repeated learning really is the best.’
It was definitely easier than in rounds one and two. The overlapping patterns had started to become visible.
“Y-You’re already infusing mana into your sword?”
“As expected of the chosen hero…”
The way to handle mana, the method of channeling it into a blade, and other basic combat principles were all the same.
Having gone through it three times now, it had become completely ingrained in his body.
‘I’ve played this game before, you idiots.’
He had even figured out which physiognomy would end up betraying him.
Shing!
While the hero’s party was camping, he pressed a sword to a cleric’s throat.
“…Hey.”
“Wh-why are you doing this, Julian?”
“You leaked it, didn’t you?”
“Pardon?”
“You’ve been feeding our location to the Demon King’s underlings this whole time. Right?”
There was almost no hard evidence, but there were countless circumstantial clues. He was absolutely not doing this based solely on physiognomy.
Absolutely not!
“More importantly, where do you keep disappearing to every time a full moon rises?”
“Y-you son of a—!”
The cleric’s eyes turned blood-red as he began transforming into a werewolf.
But it was already too late.
“So that’s why you looked like a werewolf!”
——Slaaaaaash!
He had already sliced the traitor from a distance with a mana-infused blade long ago.
The traitor’s head rolled across the ground.
Thud.
Looking at the werewolf head that had rolled to his feet, Julian became certain.
‘This run will be much faster.’
It wouldn’t even take five years this time.
At that moment—
Crackle-crackle.
The graphics glitched again as more letters burst forth.
Julian could now confirm that he was doing well.
‘This time will be different. Julian!’
Six hundred million was already shimmering before his eyes.