Chapter 7
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Withdrawal Symptoms
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"The prose has leveled up."
She was a wuxia fanatic. Wuxia was often dismissed as a niche hobby for guys only, but she'd been hooked on it since her school days.
While all the other kids were idol-obsessed, she admired the masters of the Nine Great Schools. These days, her life was a grind, but diving into a wuxia novel let her forget reality for a bit.
'This is gonna blow up. No doubt.'
She was a total LitWorld diehard. She'd devoured everything out there and was now scraping the bottom of the free serialization barrel.
'The time-travel setup feels a bit offbeat, but that's what makes it even better!'
And the author was a total pro. Day one, they'd dropped eight chapters including the prologue. Yesterday, seven more.
Seemed like a hefty stockpile. Dumping them in big bursts felt so satisfying.
She'd made it into the top 55 pioneer squad and still regretted it.
Should've binged it all at once!
'Who could it be?'
She was dying to know. A parade of established authors flashed through her mind.
The fantasy heavyweights wouldn't handle wuxia this smoothly.
'Woo Baek? Yoon Kang?'
She pictured wuxia prose monsters with similar skill, but the style didn't match at all.
'Not super old, that's for sure.'
Kunlun Return was super readable above all. Not sure if intentional, but barely any hanja.
Even a woman new to wuxia could breeze through it.
Best part: revenge-driven plot, but the overall vibe was light and breezy. Right up her alley.
'Ahh, I need the next chapter.'
Poking rice grains onto her chopsticks and nibbling them down, she left a comment.
Author-nim, you're running today too, right?
Other authors replied to comments, but this one ignored every single one. No trace in the afterword either.
'Seems like evenings or dawn uploads... When am I supposed to wait up? Ughhh...'
Her thirst was driving her insane when two guys strolled into the pantry.
"......"
She deliberately looked away.
"Hyung, you ran yesterday too?"
"Uh......"
"Man, is the game that fun?"
The handsome guy and the new guy entered the pantry.
She'd bumped into the handsome one a few times, but he always gave her the creeps. Like, the kind of vibe where you shouldn't get close? First glance, his face made her heart skip, but the more she saw, the weirder his eyes seemed.
"Hyung, tuna stew order?"
"Thanks, Jin-seong. I'll repay this favor someday."
"Hahaha! You always get like this in front of food, hyung. Take a seat."
"Need a hand with anything?"
"Too cramped. Faster if I do it solo."
The new guy plopped down at the end of the table.
'Hyun-woo or something...'
Through a year and two months in the goshiwon, she'd picked up a few life lessons.
First: get friendly in here, and it's nothing but headaches. Bunch of lonely souls who mistake a little kindness for interest.
'Second: if it's a guy, even more exhausting.'
She roughly tidied her dishes and bounced.
A goshiwon was just a pit stop. Once she nailed the civil service exam, she'd be out without a backward glance.
"Hyung! You like it spicy?"
"Anything! Whatever our Jin-seong wants to make!"
"Hahaha! Time to show off my skills then!"
What was so damn great about that?
She headed back to her room.
Got too deep into wuxia, blew her shot at her parents' dream university. Retakes seemed impossible, so two years grinding for the exam.
'Just one more full binge.'
She knew she had to quit this wuxia crap to pass the exam, but her eyes stayed glued to the monitor.
Day 3 of serialization.
Twenty-two chapters up, prologue included.
"Hmm... Not bad, right?"
Prologue views: 1,891
Chapter 21 views: 1,649
Top free best on LitWorld right now: 7,811 views. At this rate, it'd catch up.
'Serial drops are always the team leader's call, so I'm fuzzy on strategy...'
Still, solid numbers for three days?
Above all, readers were loving it.
Checking the latest chapter comments.
Spirit pills incoming now?
Claiming those spirit pills first!
Such fresh developments—love it, author-nim!
Didn't expect it to unfold like this!
The story was rolling with the protagonist dipping out of Kunlun briefly to raid the nearby Soul-Stealing Poison Demon's secret stash.
Ten years from now, it'd be a tired cliché. Back then, wuxia "fortuitous encounters" mostly meant the hero gets beaten by a villain, tumbles off a cliff, and stumbles into a cave.
Passive as hell. No wonder fans were hyped for an active protagonist who sniffed out the spirit pills first and snatched them.
Haaah, author-nim, how much stockpile you got? Gimme more! More!
Just go paywall already! Take my money!
"No stockpile, though......"
I'd spent ten years grinding solo, hitting S-rank by the end, so I'd seen my share of all-praise comment sections.
This "is it a dream?" phase felt surreal, but I knew the momentum was solid.
'Plenty of hate comments too, though.'
This wuxia?
Not even kid stuff.
Time travel's just a cheat key, right?
'Totally expected.'
Ten years under that demon team leader had toughened me up. The bastard used to spam hate comments on purpose. Said it was to break me down and channel the rage into better writing.
"Hmm......"
Scrolling comments, I made a new folder on the desktop. Not for porn.
"Dumping too much too early ain't smart."
No matter how fast an author drops, readers need time to catch up. We were nearing the end of volume 1—physically needed time for the audience to build.
The team leader had mastered that timing.
"Kunlun Return sticks to four chapters a day for now."
Two in the morning, two afternoon. Better for holding rank.
Rest of the time? Other experiments.
Two more days passed.
Four chapters a day took six hours of focus. The rest? Grinding prep work like a beast.
Especially scoured female-oriented platforms hunting that unforgettable style—trying to reach out to Number 7 before the team leader sniffed her out.
Chapter 29 views: 5,912
Kunlun Return bouncing between best 3 and 4. Day 5 feat.
Keep this up, number one soon.
'I really time-traveled back...'
Otherwise, how explain these insane records?
'Hold up...'
I'd gone all-in writing to test it.
'When's the paywall?'
Forgot that. Had minions for backend crap, so I was clueless.
'Looks like around volume 2...'
Volume 2: chapter 50. At four a day, hits in a week.
'No rush anyway.'
Jin-seong covered food for free. My cash could hold out three more months here.
Act rash, risk bumping the team leader and that nightmare ending.
Author-nim! Spill your previous works! Haaah haaah! Dying of thirst here—need something to tide me over!
Drop the next chapter. Now. Hurry.
Author-nim, I'll send steamed dumplings to your place. Address pls.
Locked in writing all this time—even jokes like that sent chills down my spine.
'Crazy. Like I'd give out my address.'
Even deleted the phone number registered on LitWorld. Knowing that team leader might be lurking? Had me bolting awake at night.
'Still... gotta hit paywall eventually...'
Can't trust publishers. Gotta duke it out direct with the platform.
'Webnovels not in their golden age yet—competition's light.'
Latte used to drop hundreds daily back then.
Knock knock.
"Hyung, you up?"
"Yeah!"
Door handle within arm's reach. Ruffled my bangs up and stepped into the hall.
"Ugh, slept late again? Dark circles are brutal."
"Had important stuff."
"Raid leader something?"
Watching him sparked a wild idea.
"......Wanna go blow off some steam with me later?"
"Huh? Mr. Gamer suddenly wants an outing?"
"Got business outside soon."
"What? Job interview?"
In a way, yeah?
"Kinda."
"Got a suit?"
"......Obviously."
I was a job hunter once too, punk.
"Haha! Got it! Breakfast first!"
Pantry had someone already: a woman with hollow eyes, counting rice grains.
"Whoa, what's her deal? Gaming hard?"
Jin-seong whispered, glancing her way.
She looked rougher than me. Studying must suck that much?
"Hnnnghh......"
A groan leaked from her open mouth.
I flinched back on instinct. She lifted her head and stared blankly at me.
"......"
"......"
Didn't seem like she was really looking.
"Uuuu...... Withdrawal's hitting too hard......"
She mumbled while tidying her dishes.
"W-Withdrawal symptoms! That girl! Gotta watch out!"
Jin-seong pulled a face at me.
Clueless, she zombie-shuffled out of the pantry.
"Whew...... Looks so normal otherwise. Tsk tsk. Hope she's not breeding something in her room?"
"Got space for that?"
"True."
Jin-seong chopped veggies like a pro.
"Hang tight. Spices first, then done quick."
Getting good at cooking now too.
"Anything goes! Dirt's fine! I'll chew stones!"
"Hahaha! No eating the bones though!"
Yesterday's pork from Jin-seong had me at heaven's gates.
'Anyway.'
Today's chapters were crucial. The stretch where later readers hit paywall after freebies.
No need for overkill shock. Just keep it thrilling and heart-pounding.
I'd botched it early on with obsession for a massive bombshell here. Nah—just build on the fun so far and hook 'em on the protagonist's charm.
'That's how they stick even if the hero takes a dump later.'
Build solid to volume 7, and readers flock for the characters, not the plot.
'In that case, today...'
Time for Number 1 author's special sauce.
'Pure romance.'
Slurrrp...
First, chow down on Jin-seong's grub.
"Ta-da! Galbitang!"
"Take me away!"
An emergency meeting was called.
How long since LitWorld scrambled everyone like this?
"Lucky it's not jumping to another platform..."
A major rookie had surfaced after ages.
LitWorld was a serialization hub. Any publisher could reach out, sign the author, and poach to a rival site.
"Said they wanna meet outside?"
Deputy Manager Kim asked again.
"Yes, sir."
"Young voice?"
"Twenties? Hard to say, but hates exposure big time."
Lots of genre authors hid it—didn't want it known, or side gigs banned it.
"Got it. Other demands?"
"Handle all the legwork ourselves. Contact them only when absolutely necessary—let us deal."
Authors came in all picky flavors, so par for the course.
"When?"
"Tomorrow, 2 p.m."
"Roger. I'll handle it personally."
"You, sir?"
Author meets were usually editing or planning team turf.
"It's Kunlun Return. Gotta lock it down."
He rated the work sky-high for pioneering a genre.
Not sure what to call it yet, but that "return and restart everything" hook? Felt like future mainstream.
"Oh, right—where'd they say?"
"Lotte World."
"......"