The Expert's Way (5)

Ram slammed her head against the desk with a heavy thud.

"Ram! If you keep banging your head like that, you'll damage your brain!"

"It wasn't banging... it was bumping."

"Huh?"

It looked like she had done it on purpose, but her waist had simply given out and she hit the desk without meaning to, so "bumping" was the more accurate description.

Was this the sensitivity to every single word that one might expect from a Story Fairy?

…That was nonsense.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Ram started slamming her head against the desk repeatedly.

"Ram!! You're going to kill yourself!"

Sam wailed and clung to her, desperately trying to hold her back.

With her head forcibly lifted upward, Ram muttered.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Kiriri? I'm not trying to die… I'm just checking if I'm still alive."

"No! You're clearly alive!"

"No. As a Story Fairy, I might actually be dead. This is the realm of the deceased, and I'm nothing but a dead soul. Otherwise, something like… something like this could never happen!!"

The place Ram pointed to as she shouted displayed the number of Kang Hae-il's Constellations.

It was still an enormous figure.

The power of a Storyboard 3.0 blockbuster.

But right beside it was one additional piece of data.

The Storyboard 3.0 system had a 'Subscribe' function for Constellations who wanted to return regularly. Yet 108 of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them had gone out of their way to cancel it.

It was the aftermath of the graveyard incident.

On the other hand—

"Th-these Constellations! They've all gone over there!"

Julian's constellation subscriptions had increased by an almost identical number.

It was obvious to anyone watching.

They had abandoned Kang Hae-il and switched over to Julian.

"Ram… The Constellations didn't leave because they hate Hae-il and like Julian… They left because they want to see when this bastard will finally die."

"I know that! I know there are Constellations like that! But! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Not all of them, right?"

"......"

That was the truth Sam had desperately tried to hide.

At least half of the Constellations who had switched over had begun preferring Sagosul to Kang Hae-il.

It was still a small number, but the fact that the phenomenon had started at all was meaningful.

The villain BGM and the thorough "true education" of Kang Hae-il had been worth it.

Some Constellations had even gone this far.

Day Porter, Night Sagosul.

Constellations were openly spreading this nonsense.

Statements like that usually don't draw much attention at first, but later the story changes.

When a lie is repeated a hundred times, it becomes the truth.

And this wasn't entirely false, was it?

It was only natural that some Constellations would get confused.

In truth, there weren't many other theories that could explain Junil's current behavior.

Who would possibly imagine that his real goal was to steal Kang Hae-il's Constellations in the first place?

"I-is that really it?"

It was even a theory that tempted Ram herself.

"Ram!?"

Meanwhile, in the prison, Pam and Ham watched.

As they watched Julian thoroughly educating Kang Hae-il—

"Kyarruru! That was brutal!"

Pam felt an overwhelming rush of catharsis.

It almost felt like he was beating up the bastards who had thrown them in jail in their stead.

This was a story!

This was a hero!

And on top of it all, the villain BGM playing in the background.

"Kyarrururururu… ruck!?"

The addictive rush nearly made Pam faint.

"Pam!"

While one was trying to die by banging her head on a desk, the other was experiencing a happy death. Sagosul's appearance this time had completely flipped their fortunes.

'Ah. Damn bus fare.'

Even though Junil had received gold coins from the elf, he hadn't actually taken any money. So he had been worried about how to get home, but—

"I'll give you a ride."

Fortunately, Kang Hae-il had a car.

"Can you even drive?"

"Yeah. I'm completely recovered."

And so Hae-il ended up giving a ride in the very car that Junil had beaten him up beside.

"Thanks for saving me today. I'll repay the favor someday."

To make matters worse, Kang Hae-il genuinely saw Junil as his benefactor.

The Constellations called Junil shameless, but—

'Well… I've saved him multiple times. I am his benefactor.'

That was Junil's thought. And quite a few Constellations agreed with him.

Yes. Saving someone was saving someone.

By his own strict standards, Junil had clearly shown Hae-il kindness.

Even so, he said this.

"You don't need to repay anything."

Junil, who had just said there was no need to repay the favor, immediately contradicted himself.

"Just let me join the team when you make one, hyung."

He wanted to receive repayment in the way he preferred.

"Team?"

Kang Hae-il tilted his head at the word as if he didn't understand.

"Yeah. You said you form parties, right?"

"That's just temporary for hunting. It's not really a 'team' concept."

It seemed he preferred working alone whenever possible. He drew a clear line, saying it wasn't a team.

'He's keeping his distance in a strange way here.'

He wasn't the type to be completely ruled by emotion after all. He simply hated Sagosul.

"There will probably be a lot of people trying to form teams now. Gangster types will start roaming around too."

"I suppose so."

He didn't seem to have considered team activities at all.

'This worked out perfectly.'

If Junil brought it up before the team became solidified, his priority would rise.

"If you end up forming a team, please include me."

"…By the way."

Kang Hae-il changed the subject.

What now?

Was he suspicious?

Hae-il asked as if conducting an interview.

"Why do you do this job?"

'Wait, this crazy bastard—I saved his life and he's interviewing me for team membership?'

F-rank life really was unfair.

"Sorry? What do you…"

Junil pretended not to understand and asked back, but Hae-il persisted.

"This job. Should I call it being a porter…? Anyway, you're trying to keep doing something as an Awakened."

It was indeed a sharp question.

For a normal Awakened, there was no reason to endure the F-rank hate and continue this line of work. They could simply live an ordinary life.

E-ranks at least gained experience through production classes without facing combat threats. F-ranks had no class, so they had to hunt constantly.

Anyone who kept at it despite that would naturally seem strange.

'I need to answer this carefully.'

Since Junil's position improved the more he stayed close to Kang Hae-il, he had no choice but to think hard about his response.

'He's probably asking about my convictions.'

This job.

The work of an Awakened.

To Junil it overlapped with "the work of a hero."

Perhaps that was why.

He turned his gaze to the streetlights flashing past the car window.

Seven lives as a hero.

There had been as many events as those passing lights.

How had he managed it all?

In the first round, it had been thanks to Meyrin and his comrades.

What about the second round?

The third?

How had he kept doing such things?

'To buy an apartment.'

That was the biggest reason, but it wouldn't be a good answer for Kang Hae-il.

'That must be it.'

Suddenly something occurred to him.

The Constellation who had kept leaving encouraging messages.

-I was so touched at the end! Julian really pulls through! Hehe I hope things work out for me someday too~! It was so fun, Julian! Hehe

A first-round villain.

The Constellations who had loved the washed-up first-round hero Julian.

There were people like this too.

"Someone kept cheering me on."

There were people who cheered for someone like him.

"......Cheering?"

"Yes. Strange, right? I'm a failure. But they kept cheering as if that didn't matter. Maybe that's why I do this job."

Kang Hae-il scratched his head.

"Cheering for an F-rank can't be easy."

'Hey. Didn't you say ranks are just numbers?'

"He's a good person. Treat them well."

He seemed to think it was a girlfriend. Otherwise he wouldn't cheer for an F-rank.

"Yes, well…"

"That's a good reason too."

"!"

A good reason.

Kang Hae-il had liked Junil's answer.

"I'll contact you if I form a team."

Thump—

Back home, Junil threw himself onto the bed like a sack of potatoes.

"Whew. Saved some money."

He had completed the sub quest, hadn't taken a taxi, and had even received gold coins.

'Maybe I should look for other sub quests too.'

Sub quests weren't limited to that graveyard. He could probably find them elsewhere.

If he cleared them he would receive special items or rewards, but—

'It's meaningless.'

After all, Junil was growing stronger by inheriting Julian's power. If his goal was simply to become stronger, he needed to gather more Constellations.

When he had left home for Pocheon earlier that day it had only been around seven hundred. Now it was approaching fourteen hundred.

Nearly double.

'Not bad.'

Satisfied with his day's work, Junil fell asleep.

And once he was asleep, the Constellations began leaving one by one.

The hour when only the strange ones remained.

.

.

.

While he slept, many things happened in the world.

The brief rest period that had been granted was over.

Because the linked sub quest that Kang Hae-il should have completed had been thrown off from the very first step by Junil, a large number of other Awakeneds had cleared them separately. The total was twenty-one people.

Those quests should have funneled toward Kang Hae-il as linked quests.

Of course, compared to the total number of Awakeneds it was an extremely small figure.

Who would risk their life during a Free Chapter specifically created for rest in order to hunt down and clear sub quests?

It wasn't something that would normally happen. Most people hadn't even known such quests existed until the notification arrived.

With that, the Free Chapter passed, and the story stage moved on to a new chapter.

With that notification, many things were adjusted.

A heavy roar echoed through the world.

At the sound, even Junil opened his eyes.

'What the hell?'

What greeted him was a new quest.

"Fuck, it's levels again?"

It seemed this level restriction appeared every chapter. This time it was level thirty. He needed to raise his level by twenty.

'How the hell am I supposed to raise twenty levels in seventy-two hours?'

But this time it wasn't that simple.

'Huh? Wait a second.'

There was no time limit.

'Until the boss is defeated?'

The condition wasn't time-based. As long as the boss wasn't killed, the given time was infinite.

'Should I… make sure they can't kill the boss?'