Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: A Budding Dream
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Crafting a character requires a delicate touch.
This is especially true for characters in creative works meant for a mass audience.
Think about it. If a character is too one-dimensional, they may be easy to understand, but it’s difficult to feel deeply immersed or charmed by them. They’d just seem like a machine that produces a specific reaction to a set stimulus.
But on the other hand, they shouldn’t be too three-dimensional either.
A character that demands extremely careful observation and understanding risks straying from the primary purpose of popular culture, which is to be ‘enjoyed.’
Thus, my preferred solution to this problem was to use motifs.
By weaving the traits of an easily observable subject into the medium, you allow the consumer to imagine the character’s depth from just a fragment of who they are.
The method wasn’t particularly difficult either.
You just need to do one thing: infuse the character with the ‘thought process’ of the person serving as the motif.
In a way, you could say it resembles programming.
It’s especially similar in that you just need to analyze the subject’s elements, list them, and then output them through the medium of the character.
This time was no different.
“Oh, Yeon-ho, the cherry blossoms are out.”
I decided to extract a thought process applicable to the farmer from Yang Gil-sang, who was grinning foolishly at the view outside the window.
To put it grandly, I concluded that the context of Yang Gil-sang’s reaction to the emptiness of loss or the self-loathing that follows it would be the same as the emotions a farmer would feel while growing and then losing his crops.
It was a task that required a perspective on loss.
So, I decided to poke him a little.
I had absolutely no ill intentions.
“Gil-sang.”
“Yes?”
“Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?”
The probability of him not caring about his hair loss was practically zero.
Of course.
“I told you it’s not hair loss, why are you bringing that up again?”
If he wasn’t concerned, he wouldn’t have immediately thought of a hair loss clinic when I hadn’t even specified what kind of doctor.
Yang Gil-sang shrugged, once again denying reality.
“It’s because I haven’t been sleeping well lately. It’s stress-related. Stress.”
“That’s…”
“Stop.”
“...”
Yang Gil-sang turned his head away from me.
Hmm, did I push too hard?
I was pondering this when…
“...Yeon-ho.”
Yang Gil-sang spoke.
His face, as he turned back to me, was tinged with bitterness.
I started to feel a little sorry.
Was it a mistake to bring up his hair after all?
‘...No.’
Still, it was right to say something.
Even setting aside my personal objective, it was the right thing to do.
He was only five years away from a skinhead.
If he could stop the progression now, he could maintain his beloved pomade hairstyle into his forties. For his sake, I had to give him a heads-up.
We weren’t just passing acquaintances, and if I knew the future and did nothing, I felt I’d be plagued with guilt later when I saw his shiny, bald head.
However, was that too just my narrow-minded thinking?
Yang Gil-sang said…
“...You don’t have to say it. I know. I know, but still. Why do you think loss is so painful? Is it because I can’t go back to when my hair was full? Is it because I look so pathetic now? You’re wrong.”
The profound wistfulness in his tone made my body freeze.
How should I describe Yang Gil-sang as he spoke?
…Yes.
“It’s because the process of losing it was so agonizing. It’s sad because even after all that pain, there’s nothing left in my hands.”
He was filled with a profound wisdom.
His voice, as if he had attained enlightenment, was serene and gentle, seeping deep inside me and helping me understand the man named Yang Gil-sang a little better.
“You see, if I can’t stop it, I plan to accept it. I’m thinking of it as a love affair destined to end. Even if I know we’ll break up eventually, if I love her now…”
“...Then what?”
When I prompted him, Yang Gil-sang smiled faintly.
“...I’ll just do my best in the present. So that it hurts less after the breakup.”
His words made me reflect.
‘So that’s what it was…’
That must have been the reason he took no action against his hair loss, which was becoming noticeable even to himself.
Rather than anxiously wondering when it would fall out, he must have intended to try various hairstyles without regret before it was gone.
Flashes of memory passed through my mind: the Yang Gil-sang from my past life with his bangs down, with a perm, with his back hair tied in a small ponytail—all memories that now lent credibility to his words.
Finally, parting with his remaining hair, he went for a skinhead.
He had truly decided to be faithful to the present.
Though I really couldn’t understand why a love story was being woven into the tale of his falling hair…
Regardless, I first apologized.
“...I was being shortsighted. I’m sorry. It’s just that a friend of mine has been worried about hair loss recently.”
“I understand. It’s common for guys our age. For those who are starting to show signs, it’s just the beginning.”
I was grateful for his understanding.
Yang Gil-sang chuckled and asked playfully.
“But is it that noticeable?”
I replied, mixing in some playfulness of my own.
“Yes, I could balance a coin on the top of your head.”
“Khaha, maybe I should practice that as a party trick.”
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
He was someone I could learn from as a human being.
His attitude of not getting anxious about something disappearing but instead trying to make the best choice was particularly admirable.
Beyond respect, it was personally very helpful.
Thanks to Yang Gil-sang’s words, I was able to solidify the farmer’s character even more.
‘The reason loss is painful…’
Brimming with newfound inspiration, I sat down at my monitor.
And so, on the fourth day since I began writing the scenario for Chapter 1…
A piece of intelligence came from the early bird (Jo A-yun).
“G-Gil-sang started taking hair loss medication…!”
…Hmm.
* * *
For a week, E-40 helped the farmer.
Most of the work involved helping with the harvest or fending off wild animals trying to ruin the crops.
That time, in other words, was a time to get to know the man called the farmer better.
—I can’t remember what I wanted to do anymore. That makes me sad. Maybe… maybe it’s my fault. I ignored what I wanted to do, telling myself I had to farm, even though I knew I’d end up regretting it like this. For the last ten years.
He would sometimes speak of the things he had wanted to do.
His words were full of regret, and they always ended with talk of other choices.
—What if I had given up on being a farmer? For example, wouldn’t it have been better if I had tried harder to get a face that suited the work I wanted to do?
When he reminisced about the past, his voice always took on a dreamlike quality.
But the moment he returned to reality was truly melancholic.
—Ah, if only I’d struggled a little more back then. I wanted to be a mature, cool person, but I was wrong. I was just a foolish man pretending to be cool.
E-40 listened to him in silence.
He couldn’t speak in the first place.
The farmer said.
—Well, this year’s harvest is done. The tax collector will come tomorrow. You should leave now. If the empire’s dogs find out you’re a criminal, you could be sentenced to death.
E-40 shook his head, but the farmer was adamant.
—Still, thank you. Venting to you has eased my heart a little. When winter passes, I’ll have to repeat this meaningless work again, but at least this year will be less painful.
Those words solidified E-40’s resolve.
To put it simply, he sensed an injustice in the farmer’s situation.
Despite always being melancholic, he could never wear a sad expression.
Even though he was steeped in a sense of loss from having forgotten his dream, he had to wear a face squinting from the sun.
To be unable to even express one’s own emotions.
According to Smile, he was a person as pitiful as E-40 himself, who had been unable to express his sadness.
*Clack, clack!*
E-40 tapped the ground with his sword, then pointed in the opposite direction of the imperial capital.
—You want me to abandon this land? I can’t do that. I could become a criminal.
Wrong.
E-40 didn’t want to call the desire to become what one wants a crime.
What the man, saddened by his forgotten dream, needed was not resignation, but a struggle.
E-40 urged him once more.
At that, the farmer froze.
—…I’m scared. It would be too sad if I tried to challenge my fate by becoming a criminal, only to still not remember my dream. It would be the same even if I did remember. As long as I have this face, I’m destined to live as a farmer forever.
As he fumbled with his own face, E-40 shook his head.
He knew now.
Everyone was born to become the person they wanted to be.
*Shing!*
E-40 raised his sword high.
He expressed his intent through gestures, and the farmer understood him better than expected.
—…Can I do it?
It was then.
—Hey! I have arrived!
The tax collector, ‘the Stern Face,’ had come to visit the farmer a day early.
He spotted E-40 and jumped in surprise.
—What! You’re with someone whose face is covered! Farmer! Are you conspiring with a criminal!
He raised his voice, waving a pitch-black rod.
The farmer tried to protest, but then he looked at E-40.
E-40 nodded and thumped his chest.
—…I understand!
The farmer replied with a resolute voice, then shouted at the tax collector.
—I’m not going to farm anymore! I’m sick of it! I never wanted to be a farmer in the first place!
—How dare you defy the will of the empire! You are a traitor! Receive your punishment!
The tax collector charged.
The tax collector’s stern face was a fearsome one that made his beatings hurt even more.
But he was no match for E-40.
For he was the former greatest knight, who possessed the most special smile in the world.
—Aargh!
He struck down the tax collector, and the situation became irreversible.
The farmer collapsed to the ground at the astonishing sight.
—Who in the world are you?!
E-40 sensed that he could no longer hide the truth.
He lifted the black veil covering his face.
The farmer gasped.
—S-Smile…! The symbol of the Master!
He trembled in fear, about to bow his head.
Realizing there was a clear misunderstanding, E-40 hastily stopped him.
But it was not a good choice.
If he wasn't the Master of the empire, there was only one other possibility: possessing a smile meant he was a highest-grade criminal.
—Gurgle…!
The farmer foamed at the mouth and fainted.
E-40 scratched the back of his head.
—Ugh…
He woke up the next day.
After calming down, he belatedly realized that he, too, had become a criminal. Surprisingly, he looked at ease.
—Right, I would have just withered away living like that. I’ll struggle! I think I’ve lived like such a fool. I never even thought of resisting until someone pushed me from behind! Oh, right, could you come with me until we reach the end of the wheat fields?
E-40 nodded.
They left, and as soon as the wheat fields ended, the farmer spotted something and stopped in his tracks.
—Ah…!
At the edge of the wheat fields, where a dirt path stretched far into the distance…
At the farmer’s feet, a cluster of wildflowers was in bloom.
Even in this chilly autumn.
The farmer’s body trembled.
To E-40, it seemed like a tremor born of intense emotion.
He wasn’t wrong.
His voice came out trembling.
—…I remember!
He fell to his knees and reached out a hand, very carefully stroking a petal.
—I actually wanted to grow flowers. A garden filled with small, beautiful things in full bloom.
His voice was thick with emotion.
If he could, E-40 would have let out a cry of admiration at the sight.
The image of the farmer caressing the flower was being etched onto his retina like a painting, holding a strange and poignant beauty.
As the scenery touched his heart…
What happened next was completely beyond E-40’s control.
He unknowingly reached out and placed his hand on the farmer’s face.
And gently, he peeled his face away.
He was driven by a strange conviction that he had to do it.
And then, something was revealed.
—Huh…? Why does my face look like this?
Beneath the peeled-off ‘face squinting from the sun’…
The farmer wore a dazzling smile.
As naturally as if it had been there from the beginning.
The farmer shouted.
—Aargh! This is terrible! I’ve become a highest-grade criminal too!!!
As the farmer hopped around in a panic, E-40 recalled Smile’s last words.
—Actually, a smile is something that spreads.
E-40 vaguely understood what those words meant.
* * *
In the end, I think it was for the best.
Perhaps Yang Gil-sang just needed someone to push him to go to the doctor?
Now that he’s started taking medication, his hair loss won’t progress any further.
I have altered the sad future that awaited him.
As a regressor, there can be no moment more satisfying than this.
On a separate note…
‘The gathering system is more or less complete.’
While I was revising the scenario, the prototype for the gathering system was finished.
Before me was the QA report related to it.
It was a document that needed to be read thoroughly.
After all, QA wasn’t just about finding bugs; it was also the most immediate feedback the development team could gather during the development phase.
It was necessary to nail down the details that could be missed by the creators.
Anyway, I opened the document.
‘Hm?’
And I came across a rather interesting reaction.
『—The gathering and cultivation were fun.
—It would be nice to have a separate plot of land for cultivation content.
—Will there be more types of crops to grow?』
Unexpectedly, the QA team was showing a slightly greater positive response to the gathering and cultivation than to the combat.
Possession (1)