Gangnam Station Gate (1)
Pam nearly suffered a heart attack.
“Kyaaarurururuk… Hack! Hack!”
Bang! Bang!
She rolled across the floor for a moment before finally staggering to her feet and wiping away her cold sweat.
“Hah… phew. I barely survived.”
“Are you all right? You got far too immersed! It’s bad for your health when a high-ranking Story Fairy like you over-invests in the narrative, ma’am.”
“Y-you’re right… I slipped up.”
Story Fairies existed to plan stories.
Paradoxically, that meant they could never become too absorbed in them.
That was the job of the characters and the Constellations.
If a Story Fairy lost herself in the tale, her own existence would be put at risk.
“Ham. Can you watch the rest for me? I can’t bear to look anymore.”
“Of course! He’s back to playing porter and even healing on the side, exactly as you predicted, ma’am!”
“Is that so? Good. Very good.”
Pam nodded.
Just as she had expected, Julian was trying to occupy both positions at once.
“He even got a free ride and saved on travel costs! This guy is completely insane… What a hero! The Kang Hae-il Constellations are losing their minds!”
“Kyaaaruru! Of course they are. There are few things more infuriating than this!”
Pam knew it all too well. She had suffered similar things in the early days when Julian was the protagonist.
She racked her brain.
This kind of dark-plot betrayal scenario orchestrated by the Demon King.
When the Constellations could clearly see the betrayal coming, it became the absolute worst outcome.
Wait a minute.
Pam realized the principle behind Julian’s current behavior.
Is he simply returning everything that was done to him?
Julian knew exactly what the Constellations hated.
He had suffered greatly because of it.
And now he was returning the favor precisely to Kang Hae-il… no, to Ram.
This was far harder in practice than it sounded.
Every Story Fairy knew how difficult it was to act according to plan once you were actually inside that situation.
What a terrifying guy…
Pam once again understood why Julian could carry out the unprecedented profession of Professional Hero.
You really are the greatest hero I’ve ever seen.
His ability to perform was undoubtedly top-class among heroes.
Of course, he had never reached A-rank because he failed to obtain “specialness.”
But who cares?
Even across the entire Fairy Corporation headquarters, an A-rank story only appeared once in a blue moon, yet Julian had produced three B+ stories.
That, too, was a form of talent.
“But Pam!”
Ham suddenly called out in a panic.
Main Quest Activated
📍 Objective: Raise level by 20
🎁 Penalty on Failure: Catastrophic
“The main quest appeared! But… it says to raise the level by twenty!”
“What? Damn it! Raise it by twenty levels?”
It was certainly difficult.
Unless another miraculous massive sponsorship arrived like last time, this would once again be a path of hardship.
F-rank experience gain was simply too slow.
“Any chance of breaking through with sponsorship?”
“To break through something like this with sponsorship now… it would require an incredibly big whale to drop an unbelievable amount…”
Above all, the value of sponsorship rewards grew more expensive each time the same method was repeated.
The greater the reward’s influence on the story, the more astronomically the price rose.
“What’s Kang Hae-il’s level right now?”
The standard was always the protagonist.
If the protagonist’s level was low, there would be more time.
“He’s level 22. He was 21 during the fight with the necromancer boss and gained one more level in combat.”
“Fuck.”
The speed at which an S-rank gained experience was terrifying.
He only needed to gain eight more levels to clear the condition.
“He gains a level just from killing a few corpses? Does it go up if he just breathes?”
“That’s how the high-potential setting works…”
It was only natural.
High potential meant learning quickly and realizing truths from any experience.
Seeing one thing and understanding ten.
That was potential. That was talent.
Conversely, having no potential meant failing to realize anything from experience and learning slowly.
System-wise, it simply read as “level does not increase.”
“Is this completely intentional?”
Ham asked whether Ram was deliberately keeping Julian in check.
“It could be. But systems like this exist from the start to increase a Fairy’s intervention power. They want to maintain the minimum restraining force needed to prevent the story board from running completely wild.”
Originally, a story board contained countless unfair situations outside of the protagonist and the supporting characters who had been set up.
It was especially severe for Julian, but it could not be helped.
“W-what are we going to do…”
“Don’t worry.”
“Huh?”
“No matter how hard you try to control a story… the harder you squeeze, the less it obeys.”
Pam clenched her small fist tightly as she stared at Julian.
“He’ll find a way.”
It was funny, but a Story Fairy only held one hundred percent control of the story before the board was even opened.
The moment the story board unfolded, the initiative began to shift little by little.
To the characters and the Constellations watching them.
“Whaaaaat?!”
Ham suddenly screamed.
“?”
“H-he’s been summoned!”
Poof.
The place where Ham appeared was the bathroom.
“Ptooey.”
Junil spat out his mouthwash.
“U-uwaaaaah?!”
Ham had materialized at the worst possible moment and was now drenched in it.
“…Why the hell did you appear here?”
“W-why are you summoning me at a time like this!”
“Because I can kill two birds with one stone.”
After learning he had to raise his level by twenty, every minute and second had become precious.
He had briefly considered calling while on the toilet, but even a hero had to maintain some dignity.
“Anyway. The reason I called is—what’s Kang Hae-il’s level?”
He was so impatient that he continued the conversation even in a situation completely detached from real time.
“Oh, I was just talking about that with Pam.”
“Pam? Didn’t she get locked up?”
“Story Fairies can still watch from prison. Our entire reason for existing is stories!”
“So it’s the same as how they still feed us in prison.”
“S-similar.”
“Anyway, what level is he?”
“Level 22.”
“…Fuck.”
“Pam said the exact same thing. As expected from you two longtime partners, there really is a connection betwe— Kyeeeeeeeek?!”
Whoosh.
Ham was instantly sucked into the inventory.
Back when Julian’s transmitted power was below ten percent, Ham could at least tell he was being shoved inside.
Ptooey!
Now he only understood the situation after the inventory spat him back out.
“Why did you do that?! Seriously!”
“You were talking nonsense. Here, at least wash up with this.”
Shaaaa.
Junil turned on the sink faucet.
Ham happily stepped under the water to rinse off the mouthwash.
“Where’s the World Boss?”
Junil asked while Ham was washing.
“How would I know! We’re watching from an even worse perspective than the Constellations! We’re stuck in prison, you know!”
“Hey. Aren’t you and Ram from the same company?”
“Well, yes…”
“Then do something, idiot! Search the desk, dig around, anything!”
“Hmph! Do you have any idea how much it costs for me to appear like this and cut into the runtime? Besides, I already let Julian use a cheat item with the story coins that were supposed to go to Ram! What more do you want?!”
He wasn’t wrong.
But Junil didn’t like the guy’s attitude, so it was time for more inventory education.
Whoosh!
“Aaaaack!”
After a brief scuffle, Ham surrendered.
“Hiiing… Y-you don’t actually need to locate the World Boss right this second. The World Boss concept is literally a boss that destroys the world. Once it begins its activities, you’ll definitely know…”
“Really? Then say that from the beginning.”
“I-I thought you were asking for its exact location right now!”
Junil cleanly ignored Ham’s resentful cry and moved on to the next question.
“How many Kang Hae-il Constellations are there?”
“The number exceeded one hundred thousand and kept growing, but it has now entered a stagnation phase. Thanks to Julian’s last performance, it dropped back to the ninety-thousands.”
“Hmm.”
It was the typical early-story pattern.
Though the drop felt unusually steep.
Still a long way to go.
Considering the distance Junil needed to cover to catch up, it was still far.
Time would solve this eventually.
“Strangely, the number rose a little when Julian beat up Kang Hae-il… Is that a coincidence? Other than that, you’re doing well.”
It didn’t seem like a coincidence.
The number of Constellations saying things like I’m going to watch this son of a bitch until the day he dies had increased noticeably.
“Ahem. Understood. You can go now.”
Ham still bowed politely, treating him like a proper hero.
“Yes. I’ll take my leave, Hero.”
Poof.
After Ham disappeared, Junil naturally finished brushing his teeth and stepped out of the bathroom.
It had become so routine that not even the Constellations complained about buffering anymore.
I’m getting more and more used to this.
To Junil, the phrase “I’ve adapted” carried a terrifying weight.
Just consider the level of optimization he had achieved after adapting to hero work.
He had been on the verge of establishing the world’s first three-month hero crash course.
The fact that someone like him had decided he had adapted to living as Sagosul was a red alert for Kang Hae-il and every force supporting him.
First, I need plenty of money.
Until he learned the World Boss’s location, Junil’s daily life became extremely simple.
He hunted down every goblin hiding in the mountains, wiped them out, and sold the resulting items to Isilen.
“You… came again?”
“Yes.”
“I built a mushroom farm nearby.”
“You mean a mushroom plantation.”
“Whatever. Anyway.”
Isilen’s magic prevented anyone except those with direct business at the cemetery from entering the area.
In effect, only Junil could maintain any connection with her.
His only interactions with Isilen were occasionally visiting the mushroom farm, pretending to admire it, and exchanging the cheap items he got from goblins for gold coins.
Every second counts.
Having to reach level thirty left Junil with no time for anything else.
After trading with Isilen, he exchanged the gold little by little to cover living expenses.
He always went in wearing a hat and mask to hide his identity.
“Wait… where on earth are you getting all this gold?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Unknown identity, strange engravings, and gold of impossible purity.
It was only natural that people would grow suspicious.
But Junil knew how to dispel those doubts in his own way.
“This should be worth around… three million three hundred thousand won…”
“There’s a saying I like, sir.”
“What is it?”
“Negotiate with gold, settle with steel.”
Shing.
He drew the short sword goblins loved to use.
“Four million five hundred thousand!”
“Deal.”
In this way, he earned just enough living expenses to get by while raising his level to a “whopping” eleven.
Exterminating goblins across the nation’s mountains, trading items, exchanging gold.
These three routines alone.
Of course, some Constellations were growing bored with the repetition.
Current Watching Constellations: 1,089
The number had once climbed into the fourteen hundreds but was now down to around a thousand.
Yet Junil didn’t pay it much mind.
Once he linked up with Kang Hae-il and entered the mainstream, the viewer count would rise again.
That aside, that bastard Kang Hae-il still hasn’t contacted me.
He wasn’t sure if the guy had forgotten or if he simply decided a porter wasn’t necessary.
There had been no contact.
Nor could Junil reach out first.
A supporting character approaching the protagonist first was dangerous.
Not only would the Constellations dislike it, but it might make Kang Hae-il suspicious.
Asking to join his team really was the best move.
Any more contact and it would look suspicious.
He would reach out eventually.
Let’s see…
Click.
As usual, he woke up in the morning, turned on the computer, and checked the boards.
How to Survive as an Awakened
There were two posts he was waiting for.
One was information on the World Boss’s activity.
That one seemed like it would take more time.
The other was…
A crisis caused by a Gate explosion.
Oh.
Junil saw it as quite a major event.
Maybe this is the main stream?
The moment that thought crossed his mind—
Vrrrrrr…!
[Hae-il’s Ham]
A call came from Kang Hae-il.
Good.
There was no need to search for the World Boss.
I just have to make sure he doesn’t catch it.
If Kang Hae-il couldn’t catch it, no one could.
All he had to do was stay close.