Chapter 68: Completing All Preparations (3)

Shub-Niggurath reminisced about the time when she first encountered Han Do-hyeon's web novel.

At first, it was merely a simple amusement. An act of killing time, nothing more, nothing less, to break the monotony of her daily life.

For her, who had been drifting through outer space, bored and weary, if she didn't find new entertainment like this, she was living such a tedious life that she might go mad.

'I thought humans were beings who only ever wanted something from me.'

Before reading the web novel, she thought humans were so simple that they were no different from ants.

Beings who desire, envy, covet, and even infiltrate forbidden realms not allowed to them to make wishes.

So Shub-Niggurath didn't have high expectations for web novels, a human creation, but...

'However, after reading it myself, my thoughts changed.'

She felt a sense of her eyes opening anew when she read Han Do-hyeon's first web novel, "The King of the Vajra Fist." A novel where the protagonist Kim Hyul, who uses his fists, confronts the Heavenly Demon Bi Wol for revenge.

Just recalling it was enough to make the corners of her mouth curl up gently, it was such an entertaining web novel.

Since the standard of entertainment is always relative, even Han Do-hyeon's novels, which were classified as so-called failures, were masterpieces to Shub-Niggurath.

The protagonist's narrative unfolding on the text, the motivations of the villains, the fights showcasing martial arts were all new stimuli for her.

'I knew nothing about martial arts novels, but I liked that it felt like I was studying together with the author...'

For her, who was completely ignorant about martial arts novels, it became the first occasion to engage with human literature.

Through these experiences, Shub-Niggurath would occasionally leave comments asking the author for corrections when historical inaccuracies or typos popped up, using the knowledge she had acquired.

As this repeated, she truly became a fan of Han Do-hyeon, loyally following each chapter daily as a reader.

She was what you'd call an avid reader. Even Han Do-hyeon, the original author, remembered her as someone with such passion.

'When the web novel was being serialized, my monotonous days all turned into days of anticipation...'

If the novel was uploaded at 12 o'clock, Shub-Niggurath's mood was already soaring from 11 o'clock. A thrill similar to creating a new world enveloped her body.

She was curious about how the protagonist, who had fallen into crisis in the previous chapter, would find a solution, and she could let her imagination run wild about how he would face Bi Wol, the final boss.

However,

'...That's when I first learned about discontinuation of serialization.'

Shub-Niggurath's enjoyment didn't last long. Han Do-hyeon decided to discontinue the serialization due to low view counts.

At first, she couldn't understand such a decision. Although the view count was low, its entertainment value and immersion were superior to other novels.

Without this novel, she would have to return to that boring life. And that, after having experienced joy. It was more terrible than experiencing heaven and then falling back into hell.

'I left sponsorships, recommendations, and comments every day, was it not enough?'

In fact, thinking coldly, it might have been because Shub-Niggurath knew the narrative of the human called Han Do-hyeon that she found his web novels more interesting.

A man who wrote novels for his deceased first love.

A human who, despite being pointed at for lacking talent, never gave up and kept challenging himself, bending his dream's direction towards web novels.

'Well, the reason he wrote had already been broken long ago...'

Because Han Do-hyeon had such twists in his life, he was an author who could well incorporate and express poignant love stories in his novels.

Shub-Niggurath became so curious about who the author of the web novel was that she even went as far as to secretly investigate him, so sincere was she about the novel he wrote.

'He probably couldn't endure the falling view counts. It must have been a novel he staked his life on.'

Han Do-hyeon devoted everything to writing for the promise he made with his girlfriend, Yu Seolhwa, who had already died.

He didn't give up on his dream of becoming a novelist even as an adult, not just as a child, and he didn't give up writing even while working part-time as a math academy instructor.

'"The King of the Vajra Fist," "A Hero Must Die," "Possessed by an Idle Game"... A foolish man who couldn't forget his lover, to the extent that characters modeled after Yu Seolhwa appeared in all of them.'

Shub-Niggurath sighed deeply while stroking her chin. In possession of Bing Seolhwa's body, she was reviewing everything that had happened so far.

'...If he had properly completed just one, things wouldn't have grown to this extent.'

The first discontinuation was still bearable. There was Han Do-hyeon's assurance that he would soon return with his next work.

He said that now that he knew why the view count was falling, he would try to improve the weaknesses in his next work.

However,

'Originally, web novels should maximize strengths rather than shaving off weaknesses...'

"A Hero Must Die," which Han Do-hyeon boldly brought out, received even less attention than his first work, "The King of the Vajra Fist."

By eliminating the weaknesses of dense text and long-winded writing, the writing that had the strength of deep emotional immersion felt too ordinary,

To recreate the initial success of his first work, he brought over plots and characters in a way similar to self-replication,

And falling into the so-called masterpiece syndrome, setting the final boss Verdandi too strong blocked the progression.

'...Since the perspectives of the author and readers are different, there's a high probability that this Han Do-hyeon fellow didn't know these causes even if analyzed.'

Eventually, Han Do-hyeon chose to discontinue serialization again due to various problems like these. A pitiful figure swallowed by his own writing.

'But I thought it was really too much when he discontinued the third and final novel as well.'

In the end, Han Do-hyeon thought he would succeed this time and brought out his last novel, "Possessed by an Idle Game."

As he was juggling being a web novel author and part-time math academy instructor with little time left, only playing idle games, he must have thought his preliminary research was sufficient.

This time, Han Do-hyeon at the time judged that he had taken the settings easily and brought a title that could draw attention from others.

'...Well, since he ended up writing it because he couldn't forget the girl he had a one-sided love for, there were bound to be limitations in material and plot.'

Once again suffering a miserable lack of views, he showed the behavior of discontinuing even the novel he had conceptualized with Yu Seolhwa as his last attempt.

- Author, you can't discontinue the serialization. I've read all three works, if this disappears too, what am I supposed to read to live!

Shub-Niggurath was so sincere about his novels that she even left such an urgent comment.

Thanks to the web novels, her days had been enjoyable, but now she saw a future without even a next work.

'So I created a world combining the three novels. It was also interesting to implement one world by writing a novel myself.'

That's why Shub-Niggurath came up with one secret plan. She prepared the stage so that Han Do-hyeon, as the author, could create the endings for the discontinued novels with his own hands.

She fused all the final bosses, protagonists, and settings from each work without omission, and divided the continent into Western and Eastern Regions, making each existence acknowledge the other.

'Besides, a novel without a heroine isn't interesting... So I prepared my own twist.'

Reviving only Yu Seolhwa's soul was also part of her plan. If she had directly revived a girl whose body had already been crushed, it would inevitably cause confusion in that world.

Her parents, who already knew she had died, could be shocked, and a new religious group could be formed citing the resurrection of the dead.

Not all Outer Gods had skeptical or hostile feelings towards humans like Mordegian.

Although an Outer God, she who also bore the title of Mother of All, had a side that liked such poignant love stories.

- If it comes to this, I have no choice but to show my 'sincerity'.

The sincerity Shub-Niggurath had prepared was to reunite Han Do-hyeon and Yu Seolhwa, who were lovers in their past life.

"Well then, shall we go and see the ending of this world with our own eyes..."

Shub-Niggurath couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth from rising. From her standpoint too, she had completed all preparations.

She had safely protected the hostages so they wouldn't interfere with the fight, and killed the Demon King who had tried to dominate the Western Regions to steal his power.

All that remained now was for Han Do-hyeon, the original author of this novel, to create a new ending with his own hands.

"I'm looking forward to it. Nameless, Author Han Do-hyeon."

Shub-Niggurath uttered Han Do-hyeon's pen name and began to take a step towards his sect, the Ice Dragon Flower Banquet.