Chapter 26
Translator: uly
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Black-Haired Storyteller of Chilgok County - 5
I dragged my aching body back to the ramshackle hut on the verge of collapse.
I roughly tore off my rain-soaked, heavy clothes and threw them aside. The old clothes were soaked, torn, and filthy, having turned into rags.
I'll have to ask Uncle Wang for more old clothes next time I see him.
It's a good thing I left my Joseon attire separately. It's expensive and I only have one set. I'd been leaving it at Uncle Wang's fabric shop, and who knew that would come in handy in a situation like this.
I wiped my body roughly and lay down on the makeshift bedding I'd made from straw.
My body was screaming in pain, but my mind was clearer than ever. Is this what they mean when they say a person becomes stronger than anyone in the face of hope?
"Ending conditions."
I shouted for hope.
[Ending Condition: Romance the True Heroine.]
The green window that appeared before my eyes clearly displayed the ending condition in Korean. How long has it been since I've seen Hangul? They say when you live abroad, you cry over food from home. I'm at the point where I'm moved just by seeing Korean.
"Status window, stats, system."
There was no response. As expected, it only reacts to the phrase "ending conditions."
"So, you'll only tell me a way to leave this world. I'm soooooo grateful. Really."
I looked up at the gaps in the leaky ceiling. Did my words escape through them? I hope my sarcastic words reached the heavens.
"Romance the True Heroine? That ending condition is way too much."
A laugh escaped me out of sheer absurdity.
True Heroine. Heroine. The real heroine.
In harem comics or novels, they use the term "true heroine" while fighting over who the real main wife is. But in dating sims, the meaning of "true heroine" is slightly different.
"Does a hidden heroine exist?"
Hidden heroine. That's the most common way the term "true heroine" is used in dating sims.
The developer sells the game using the title heroine as the poster girl.
Even if a gamer clears the title heroine's route, they start a second playthrough wanting to romance other heroines too.
But when you play the game for a second or third time, you discover a heroine with a completely unexpected hidden backstory or twist.
In fact, there's a character with a deeper, more substantial story than the title heroine.
Such a character is called the true heroine.
"Weren't there only two heroines?"
Clearly, even if they weren't heroines in the story, there were attractive female characters. Does a true heroine exist among them?
"But then again, that's not the only way the term 'true heroine' is used."
There are games with only two heroines where a true heroine still exists.
When one of the two characters is extremely unpopular. In such cases, the other heroine is seen as the true one.
"If you ask who's unpopular, honestly, I find both of them unlikeable."
The princess who shouts "Hueeee, Protagonist-emon!" or the woman who annihilates her husband's family just because she doesn't want to get married.
The problem is their looks are so unfairly beautiful it covers for all that. As dating sim heroines, both are disqualified.
So, is it not an unpopularity issue?
There are other cases where someone is called the true heroine.
A game with only two heroines, but one character is given all the substantial story focus. In that case, the heroine with focus is called the true heroine.
"How am I supposed to know who has the substantial story?"
I only cleared the princess's route. I didn't clear Murong Sang-ah's route. Damn this world.
It's true I didn't like the princess's story. But I can't definitively say Murong Sang-ah is the true heroine either. I didn't clear it. I can't do a comparative analysis.
"Even if Murong Sang-ah is the true heroine, that's a problem."
I perfectly faked my death, and now suppose she suddenly appears.
'Hahaha. I was actually alive. Won't you see the true heroine ending with me?'
What kind of reaction would she have?
Would she tremble with betrayal, asking why I deceived her? If it's severe, she might even bury me alive, saying she can't return the assets. It's an unknown what reaction she'd have upon reappearing right in front of me after we parted ways.
On top of that, I'm still a traitor in Joseon.
If I return to the Murong Family, Murong Bi might capture me and send me back to Joseon as a set with Murong Sang-ah. I'd have my head cut off, and Murong Sang-ah would be framed for concealing my death and sold into slavery.
Even if Murong Sang-ah is the true heroine, I can't return to the Murong Family right now.
"The princess could be the true heroine, Murong Sang-ah could be the true heroine, or a third person could be the true heroine. What am I supposed to do? Ugh..."
As my mind focused, my beaten body screamed in pain again. It's fortunate my bones aren't broken. The Bone Mending Technique is good for this sort of thing.
Even if I find out who the true heroine is, it's a problem.
Who would fall for a black-haired barbarian who has nothing?
"Even if I find the true heroine, I have no way to romance her. How am I supposed to conquer a heroine?"
Since it's 'romance,' I guess I need to make her fall in love first. Once she loves me, will it end?
No. There's a high probability I'll need to proceed with additional story. Because it's the true heroine route. Can I do that right now?
What a frustrating situation.
My body hurts and my mind is growing hazy.
Hope was given, but the answers scattered into the labyrinth.
This won't do. Let's sleep for now.
Let's sleep, recover my body with the Bone Mending Technique when I wake up, and then come to a conclusion.
I forcibly ignored my worries and went to bed to soothe my aching body.
"You. Why are your eyes all black and blue like that? And why does your body look like a beggar's?"
Uncle Wang's fabric shop. After spending three straight days alternating between sleep and the Bone Mending Technique to pull myself together, I came here.
"I ran into those Azure Sand Faction bastards on my way back that day."
"Aigoo, people were talking a lot because the Storyteller hadn't been seen for three days. So that's what happened. Any broken bones or stab wounds?"
"No. There's some swelling, but it's mostly healed."
"That's a blessing in disguise. Because of that Storyteller who got stabbed and died last time, the officials turned the market upside down searching everywhere."
"Yes, no wonder they didn't use swords."
I don't know if it was because of Grandmaster Yun's one remark or because of the officials. The blessing in disguise is that the Azure Sand Faction didn't use swords.
"It's a relief it ended with just that. Then, you probably haven't eaten properly for days, have you?"
Uncle Wang gestured with his eyes toward the food placed to one side inside the fabric shop.
"Looks like you ordered lunch."
Some time had passed since sunrise, but it wasn't quite lunchtime yet.
If he's offering to share lunch, maybe I should take some. Having not eaten properly for three days, I was definitely hungry.
"I'm not eating lunch. It's the brunch I usually eat."
"......What?"
What? For a moment, my mind went blank at the unexpected appearance of the term.
"Don't you know brunch? Brunch? You know, the meal you eat between breakfast and lunch time."
"Don't they usually call it 'brunch'?"
Couldn't we at least compromise with our term 'brunch'?
"Brunch, my foot~, who uses the word 'brunch' these days? This friend, even though he speaks well, being a Joseon person, he uses old words."
"Haha... When I learned Central Plains speech in Joseon, I wasn't taught the word 'brunch.'"
Considering how many martial arts novels I've read, where on earth does the word 'brunch' appear?
"Anyway, there's an inn up front, right? They have a brunch time sale, where they cheaply sell leftover breakfast with lunch ingredients on top. I've been busy at lunch lately, so I ordered a lot to eat at this time. Come in and let's eat together."
Uncle Wang gestured for me to come inside the shop.
"Yes. I'll gratefully accept."
Right. Brunch, time sale, what does it matter? Free food is the best.
"Good. So, are you starting your Storyteller work today? Should I get out the overcoat too?"
After finishing the meal, Uncle Wang handed me some old clothes and spoke.
"I don't think I'll be able to work for a while, Uncle Wang. By any chance, could you introduce me to a paper shop you know well?"
"Paper shop? Do you have a need to buy paper?"
"I have a need to buy some recycled paper and writing supplies."
Recycled paper refers to reused paper. Although the quality is lower compared to regular paper, it's relatively cheaper.
"Recycled paper? What are you going to do with that?"
"I'm going to try writing a book."
That was the conclusion I reached over the past three days.
I don't know who the true heroine is, nor how to romance her. But when the ending condition window clearly appeared, a message popped up.
[Minimum Fame stat achieved. Ending conditions have been unlocked.]
Fame stat and Money stat.
Stats you need to raise to romance the princess and Murong Sang-ah in the story. For the princess, it was Fame; for Murong Sang-ah, it was Money. This is one of the reasons I cursed this game.
What happens if the protagonist clears the main story with the princess without caring about the Fame stat?
I experimented, partly to give feedback. The result was that the princess leaves the protagonist. And marries another man with high Fame.
No, does it make sense to look at him so affectionately and then just disappear?
I'd understand if the main story didn't open because the Fame stat was low. But the main story progresses regardless of the Fame stat, only the ending changes?
She even sends the protagonist a wedding invitation.
What kind of teabagging is that?
But because I fell into this world, that fact has become my hope.
I don't know who the true heroine is, but even on a second playthrough, the game UI didn't change. That means, to see the ending, these stats being important hasn't changed.
Searching for the true heroine is too vague. How am I supposed to know who the true heroine is in this vast Central Plains? But money and fame are different.
Even if I don't find the true heroine, if I accumulate money and fame, she will come to me someday.
"A book? Are you trying to write a storybook or something?"
"Yes. I intend to try writing a storybook."
Even if I travel the country on foot doing the storyteller's work, I'll only become a Storyteller somewhat famous in a county or province at best.
Would that be enough to achieve the Fame stat required to romance the true heroine?
I don't know. What's certain is that no martial arts novel ever says a Storyteller telling stories in a village is more famous than the Number One Swordsman in the World, the Heavenly Demon, the Sword Emperor, or the Martial Alliance Leader.
"A storybook written by a Joseon Storyteller... I am certainly curious."
After much deliberation, the conclusion I kept circling back to was, in the end, a novel.
Of course, the fact that I can't make money from a book right away remains unchanged.
But fame might be different, don't you think?
The novels in this world are stiff and uninteresting. Most of the writings are used for biographies of great men or to convey moral lessons.
If a book becomes famous, it spreads widely on its own. My fame could resonate from the very spot I'm sitting.
Build fame and fortune through novels.
And the true heroine will come.
Right now, that was the only attempt I could make to romance the true heroine.
"Yes. If I write it well, I'll show it to you once."
"Good. If you go out of the fabric shop and keep going to the right, there's the Yang family's paper shop. If you say you came on my introduction, they'll give you a bit of a discount."
"Yes, thank you."
I bowed to Uncle Wang and left the fabric shop.
"Even after scraping together all my money, this is all I get?"
Uncle Wang's introduction, my haggling, the money I buried in a corner of the hut.
What I managed to obtain by mobilizing everything was ink of unknown quality—whether it was proper ink or just lye water. I couldn't even afford recycled paper, so I got weed paper made by mixing weeds with recycled paper.
A brush on the verge of losing all its bristles. I couldn't get an inkstone, so I'll have to grind ink on a rough stone.
"I can barely make one book with this."
Yellowish, poor-quality paper. Ink full of sediment and a dull color.
One book made from that.
With that, I'll make a name for myself across the nation.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
I know, even I can see it's a foolish endeavor.
It's merely the act of a person wandering in pitch-black darkness, blindly following after seeing a small light.
Even though I was possessed, this is undeniably a real, existing world.
Thinking I can raise my fame by writing just one book. If someone in the heavens is watching me, they'd laugh.
But right now, I want to cling to this small hope.
Living without hope isn't living; it's rotting.
I don't want to rot away in this world.
This irrational, unreasonable act seems like it will give me hope.
Just like when I, tired from work, wrote web novels and found solace in them.
Writing to avoid rotting.
Words I write to find hope, thrown into this world.
So, what should I write to find hope in this world?
"Let's write a martial arts novel."
A martial arts dating sim world without chivalry.
The Mount Tai and Big Dipper of the martial world.
Southern Respect for Mount Hua.
A Mount Hua Sect protagonist.
The theme is.
"What is chivalry?"