Chapter 6 - Episode 2: Become the Protagonist (2)
◈ How to Become a Star Writer ◈
Episode 2: Become the Protagonist (2)
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[Your soul has entered a state of suspended animation.]
I had no idea how much time had passed. There was nothing around me but pitch-black darkness.
Maybe this was what the afterlife felt like.
What happened?
Why wasn't I waking up from this dream?
That was when I felt someone's gaze.
I couldn't see it, but I could feel it clearly. Something was staring at me with greedy persistence.
Below me?
As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, the surroundings came faintly into view.
I thought that might make things less suffocating, but damn it. I would have been better off seeing nothing.
Whoooosh!
The background was shooting upward as fast as if I were aboard a bullet train.
More accurately, something below was sucking me in.
Aaaah, I'm falling!
[The Abyss is watching you.]
I didn't need to ask what that meant.
Dear God, what the hell is that?
At the end of my fall, enormous tentacles swayed like coral reefs in the blackness.
A monster whose height and bulk could not be measured. No, it would be more accurate to call it space itself.
Something like human heads dangled from the ends of its tentacles.
“Come here.”
“Hurry.”
“Give me a chance too.”
“If I kill you...”
That was it. Those things had been calling to me.
Riiip.
Space split between the tentacles, and a colossal maw opened.
[The Abyss wants you.]
The moment I saw the darkness inside its mouth, I understood my fate.
...I'm going to be eaten? Really?
It felt as if my entire soul had been bleached white. Though no sound came out, I screamed.
No. I don't want this. I don't want to die.
If this is a dream, please wake me up. If it's a dream...
Then an overwhelming awareness of reality seized me. I didn't know why, but I suddenly knew this wasn't a dream. Memories flashed through me like a slideshow.
This isn't a dream. Get a grip, Lee Hak-hyeon.
You're really dying.
You're really going to die.
[Writer Skill 'Imagination' activates.]
[You display remarkable imagination and begin adapting to a world beyond the limits of your common sense.]
Are you really okay with dying like this?
You haven't done anything yet.
Are you really okay with it ending here?
[Writer Skill 'Inferiority Complex' activates.]
[Your inferiority complex strengthens your ability to survive. Your mental strength has overcome the Abyss's darkness.]
The darkness around me split apart. With a Gasp!, I drew cold air deep into my lungs.
Space shattered into a riot of colors and began to form a new scene.
[You have overcome the Abyss through your own power. Due to the Abyss's influence, 500 Dust has been deducted.]
[The story restarts from the Save Point.]
[Dust held: 2100]
I slowly exhaled.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in a desert.
Blinking in the scorching sunlight, I looked around.
It was that place called the Tamakan Desert.
Someone tapped my shoulder and spoke.
“Hey, Lance. Hurry up. The boss is waiting.”
A familiar voice. The instant I saw the man's face, I doubled over.
Bleeergh!
“Hey! What's wrong?”
The stomach fluid pouring from my mouth looked exactly like Bintz's brain matter. Every time Bintz patted my back, the scene from before came back to me.
The bandits with their heads cut off, and Bintz's corpse lying there with a shattered skull.
“Lance?”
Only after I finished throwing up did I come to my senses.
Bintz's face was right in front of me. So were the rough-looking bandits whispering among themselves.
I had returned to that situation.
“Lance, you bastard!”
I didn't know.
No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't understand it.
What the hell was going on?
Why had I come back?
Why hadn't I woken up from the dream?
“Because this isn't a dream.”
My clenched fist trembled.
Bintz looked at me with concern. I looked at Bintz. At Bintz, who would soon die with brain matter spilling from a smashed head.
I didn't know.
I didn't know whether this was really a dream or not.
But...
[Writer Skill 'Imagination' activates.]
[You display remarkable imagination and begin adapting to a world beyond the limits of your common sense.]
I didn't want to die again.
“Lance, what are you doing? Why did you suddenly draw your sword?”
“Shut up and draw yours. Unless you want to die again.”
My head felt like it was splitting apart.
My body would barely move, as if I were resisting an enormous, unstoppable current. But I had to do it.
I absolutely had to.
“Die again? What the...”
“Draw your sword!”
At that moment, Bintz's head flew off.
Maybe because I had already seen the same scene once, I didn't panic like before. Come to think of it, something like this was probably commonplace in this world.
If so, I couldn't afford to be shaken by something like this.
[Writer Skill 'Imagination' activates.]
[You use your imagination to overcome excessive fear.]
That fucking protagonist.
Did they think I'd let them get me again?
I ground my teeth with a Grind.
Yeah. Let's do this.
[A very small number of Stars admire your resolve and pay 200 Dust.]
[You begin to act through free will.]
[You have become a Supporting Character.]
The protagonist was looking at me.
* * *
“Are you suggesting we make the two of them compete?”
“That's right. Lee Hak-hyeon versus Gu Dae-seong. Literary fiction versus genre fiction. Aren't you curious too?”
At Team Manager Kim's mischievous tone, Ji Eun-yu narrowed her eyes.
“Why would we do that? There may be no precedent, but if we make the two of them co-authors...”
“Why? Do you think you'll lose?”
“No.”
“Good. Then you agree. Of course, a simple bet would be boring, so let's set some terms.”
“...Terms?”
“Gu Dae-seong and Lee Hak-hyeon. Whoever loses gets kicked out of the Hatchling Project.”
Ji Eun-yu's expression wavered sharply.
“But that...”
“A bet needs stakes like that. How long are we supposed to keep wasting budget on writers who don't make any money?”
The Hatchling Project was a long-running program at Dragon Management for developing new writers.
It was a long-term project that gave aspiring writers a minimum living stipend while supporting their web novel writing.
Lee Hak-hyeon, one of Ji Eun-yu's assigned writers, was currently receiving support from the Hatchling Project.
“Well, Writer Gu will obviously win, so this might be a meaningless bet anyway.”
Ji Eun-yu knew Writer Gu Dae-seong well.
Compared to a major name like Yoo Chan-young, Gu Dae-seong was still a newcomer. But Gu Dae-seong was, at heart, a genre writer. Before the web novel market opened, Gu had been considered an A-list author of standalone print novels.
Even if Gu had failed to adapt to the market, that skill had not gone anywhere.
Could Lee Hak-hyeon really defeat someone like that?
“Fine. Let's do it.”
“Really? That's unexpected. No backing out.”
“Instead, I'd like to add one more condition.”
“A condition? What is it?”
“The winner gets twice the funding, including the loser's share.”
It might be a self-defeating move. But Ji Eun-yu thought it could also be the decisive gamble.
Lee Hak-hyeon had nowhere left to retreat to.
So trust myself.
Trust the writer I raised.
Trust that potential.
“Ji Eun-yu, you're quite bold. Fine. This is how you get the competitive spirit going.”
Kim Myeong-hun gave a provocative whistle.
“Then should I call Writer Gu? I gave them the manuscript last week, so they should be getting ready to start serialization soon. Heh. I wonder if this match will end far too easily.”
“...”
Ji Eun-yu gently bit her lip.
A week was a long time.
If he worked hard enough, it was enough time to build up a backlog for serialization.
Kim Myeong-hun's fingers danced over his smartphone.
The sound of Beep, beep, beep. rang out, and then someone answered.
“Writer Gu! This is Team Manager Kim. About Writer Yoo Chan-young's manuscript I gave you last week... Uh... Isn't this Writer Gu's number? What? You're Writer Gu's mother? Oh. My apologies. Ma'am, then... Yes. Ah, Writer Gu...”
Kim Myeong-hun's expression changed.
“What? What did you say?”
An unsettling atmosphere settled over the room. Nearby employees cast curious glances toward Kim Myeong-hun.
Then, a moment later.
After ending the call, Kim Myeong-hun stared blankly into space like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Cha Jin-hee spoke up.
“Team Manager? What's wrong? What happened?”
“...”
“Team Manager?”
Kim Myeong-hun, who seemed to have briefly left his body, came to his senses over a minute later.
“He ran.”
“What?”
“That bastard Gu Dae-seong ran off.”
Light returned to Kim Myeong-hun's eyes.
“Writer Gu's mother filed a missing-person report this morning. She hasn't heard from them for three days, and when she went to their rented room, they were nowhere to be found.”
“A missing-person report? Isn't that serious?”
“Serious, my ass! They obviously ran off because they didn't want to write! Ha... This is driving me insane. Why did Gu Dae-seong have to pull this too...?”
Kim Myeong-hun shot Ji Eun-yu a glance, then disappeared through the office door as though he could not stand the sight of her, slamming it shut with a Bang!
Cha Jin-hee winked at Ji Eun-yu and quickly followed after Kim Myeong-hun.
Left alone, Ji Eun-yu suddenly looked down at her smartphone.
Writers suddenly disappearing was all too common in this business. There were so many cases that counting them was meaningless.
It happened even to writers in the middle of official serialization, so there was no need to mention writers who had not even started serializing yet...
But why?
Ji Eun-yu felt uneasy.
After hesitating for a moment, she began dialing Lee Hak-hyeon's number.
Lee Hak-hyeon did not answer.
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