Chapter 55
Newspapers are published every day at a fixed time.
7:00 a.m.
Except for people buying one on the way to work, or people who wanted to see whether their own work had been serialized in the paper,
hardly anyone bothers to come out and buy a newspaper at that hour.
Sleepy, annoying, cold.
Of course, there were also a few readers who came out specifically to catch the newspaper novel the moment it appeared.
For those people.
Arnold, the vendor at the newspaper stand, woke up three hours earlier than everyone else every day, stopped by the newspaper office before anyone else, and brought back today's hot-off-the-press papers.
Pushing his handcart along with a clatter.
He found himself thinking of a certain girl.
- Bring me the papers! All kinds!
She didn't seem to have had a proper upbringing, but whenever he looked at those pure, sparkling eyes, it always felt as though the dawn grew warmer.
And he was reminded of his daughter, who hadn't really spoken to him since reaching puberty.
For that adorable little creature who would be growling and then giggling today too, he dragged the handcart hard and arrived at the square where the stand was located just as the moment came.
"They're here──!"
"The paper! The newspaper!"
"Come on, vendor! Is there enough stock in reserve?!"
"Heh heh heh, I've got every SSR card I own riding on Cao Cao's neck!"
Arnold was swept up in the frenzy.
Before he had even finished arranging the newspapers on the stand, half-crazed citizens were already staring at the handcart with manic eyes.
What was more,
"Just sell them already! Put them out now!"
"Woo! Woo! Woo!"
"Novelpia! I reserved first!"
"Please wait a moment! There are no reservations!"
Arnold shouted, but some people still crossed the line and started reaching for the handcart.
But.
"Look at that bastard!"
"That guy's got dirty hands even in duels!"
"Trying to skim the bottom copies, are you!"
"A surcharge! Charge him a fine!"
Even if their eyes were spinning from wagers, dopamine, or anticipation, most imperial citizens still obeyed the rules.
It definitely wasn't because the living, breathing force out there—the Capital Guard—was already charging over.
Arnold was just dumbfounded.
Of course, something like this had happened before.
It was when that upstart newspaper Novelpia had included a limited-edition card called something like Heroes Assemble.
It was the first time he'd seen newspapers sold wrapped in packaging.
And it was the first time he'd seen people line up through the night, pitching tents just to buy that paper.
But today there were no such freebies.
Why on earth?
"You still haven't read the Two Heroes?"
The one who cleared up that curiosity was old man Cordy, who sold papers at the stand right next door.
"Sir, you're out early today?"
"Yeah, I had to come out early today. It's a big day."
As Arnold glanced over,
"……You've bought only Novelpia?"
There was a mountain piled high with only one kind of newspaper.
"Heh heh, did you buy them all? Today, I don't think you really need to go out of your way for that."
Arnold tilted his head.
There was no plastic wrapping today, and no limited-edition card either.
Just an ordinary newspaper with a bit more novel content than usual.
So why?
The moment the bell rang seven times to announce the official start of newspaper sales at 7:00 a.m.,
"Novelpia!"
"One copy of Novelpia, please!"
"Bring me Novelpia!"
"Two copies!"
"What do you mean, two copies? Get lost and go eat tofu if you want two!"
Only after being assaulted by readers who surged in like Tatars did Arnold finally realize something was strange.
From that moment on, Arnold was so busy selling today's papers he could barely catch his breath, and in his ears...
"Kyaaaak! Lies! It's a lie!"
"Hahaha! My victory!"
"Guan Yu……! Growing out your beard like some girl—I knew it'd be like this! You crazy commoner bastard!"
"Are you insulting Guan Yu right now? Duel me, you bastard!"
"I knew it! Cao Cao couldn't possibly die here!"
"No, but does that even make sense? You'd let him go for the sake of loyalty?"
"You're the one without any loyalty, bastard?"
"I! I'm richhhhh!"
"Nooo! My SSR Peach Brothers!"
The people's joy, anger, sorrow, and delight could all be heard plainly.
* * *
"Unexpectedly, Kim Yul-nim, you seem to have a merciful side?"
"Me?"
The troupe leader I'd met again was overestimating me.
I'm nothing more than a heartless stooge of capitalism, squeezing every last drop out of grad student Kangtong and that nasty elf.
"Of course, the way you cleverly set it up as a wager between Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu was good. But perhaps you couldn't bear to actually kill Cao Cao, the protagonist of your previous work?"
What kind of nonsense is that—like Lü Bu being filial?
Cao Cao simply couldn't die there.
……I couldn't exactly say that.
Instead.
"Listen carefully, Chloe."
"Ughhh……! To inflict such humiliation on this lady is far too disgraceful, aaaaagh!!"
Holding a placard that read, 'I said something mean to my friend,'
I flicked the tip of Chloe's ear hard while she was kneeling there with her hands raised.
Ignoring the hoeeek-wailing hateful elf, I continued talking with the troupe leader.
"Guan Yu's biggest defining trait is loyalty, after all."
Indeed.
And righteousness and duty.
"Loyalty. Fair enough. We definitely emphasized that part in the adaptation. Cao Cao did come off a bit ugly, though."
- I gave him the Marquis of Hanshou title! I gave him Red Hare too! I forgave him for crossing the Five Passes and slaying Six Generals! I gave him absolutely everything! Just spare my life……!
It is the established academic consensus that Guan Yu, moved by Cao Cao bawling his eyes out and sniveling while singing Gwan-pop with his hips shaking like he was back in his rice-monkey days, showed mercy.
Of course, there was also the argument that if only Lady Du had been conceded, Guan Yu could have been won over in the first place, but then Romance of the Three Kingdoms wouldn't have become this much of a hit to begin with.
And.
I also just found out that a lot of people had bet on whether Guan Yu would kill Cao Cao or let him live.
Damn.
If I'd known, I'd have shorted Cao Cao too.
"I even made a bet with my husband. If Guan Yu kills Cao Cao, we'll have two more children; if Guan Yu lets him go, we'll be satisfied with one more. Hmm, but it's a shame—two seems difficult."
Please don't say that while smiling…….
What on earth kind of otherworldly sex joke is that.
"How could you say something so filthy──!"
With her trembling arms and lips constantly puckering, Chloe tried to spout more snide remarks again, so I hurriedly yanked her ear hard.
Then I glanced at the troupe leader.
Even so, it was a situation where anyone listening would have clearly had the word 'vulgar' lodged in their ears.
"Wow."
The troupe leader didn't look displeased at all; instead, they stared at me with sparkling eyes, as if they found me fascinating.
"I've felt it since a little while ago, but I never imagined there'd be a human who handles a true high elf so roughly like that."
The nuance makes it sound like they're treating me like some kind of brute.
Are you seriously insulting me right now by comparing me to the Kingdom of Hateful Bastards and the Kingdom of Ebe-beep!
……Of course, I wasn't in any position to be angry, so I took out my frustration by mercilessly fiddling with the tips of Chloe's ears.
"Agh, no, no, nooo──"
Mm.
That does make me feel a little better.
Perhaps the troupe leader felt relieved too, because they looked at the writhing Chloe with a very satisfied expression.
"So you've finally met your match, huh?"
"It's not like that, desuwaaaahh──"
It's not like I particularly want to keep this nasty beast elf around like a slave.
In any case, I could feel the troupe leader's anger toward Chloe slowly melting away.
It seemed I'd successfully removed one obstacle blocking my grand business plan.
.
.
.
After Chloe, who had been attacked in the ears so hard that she went limp and sprawled out in the rocking chair, snoring dororong, I left her there.
I continued the discussion with the troupe leader.
Maybe because I'd taken down a public enemy.
Before I knew it, the troupe leader's tone had become a little more relaxed.
"I've read both the novel and the script. You definitely cut away what needed cutting from the novel and kept only what needed emphasizing; you've got a good sense for it. The idea of bringing the monologues to life as songs instead of just dialogue was also fresh. I never thought of putting songs into a play."
"Haha……."
Of course.
Back then, there was opera.
In modern times, musicals.
In films, OSTs.
Theater and music are inseparable.
At least from a modern perspective.
But in this fantasy world's magical theater, apart from flashy effects and dynamic movement, it was just a somewhat monotonous string of dialogue after dialogue.
"Especially this lyric…… Noble Joseon, our pride, the glory built through the loyalty of millions, our land crumbling under the threat of the Japanese pirates……. Just reading it makes me feel like I can hear the melody. Do you perhaps have talent as a lyricist too?"
"Uh…… well. My cousin wrote it for me."
I couldn't think of anything to write, so I plagiarized something at random and shoved it in there. Why are you getting hung up on that?
Sorry, Kangtong…….
Let's trade on your name a little…….
But.
Had the barrage of compliments that made me cringe finally come to an end, the troupe leader shut the manuscript she was reading and let out a sigh.
"You know that cracks are still appearing all over the Empire, right?"
"Yes."
I read the newspaper every day, so of course I knew.
"To close or suppress the cracks with our own strength, without a hero, we need a large amount of mana—more precisely, mana stones. That's why our troupe hasn't made any new plays lately."
"Does it absolutely have to be mana stones?"
"If the mages could keep supplying mana while I was working, maybe, but I don't think they'd cooperate. Unless we had some object that contains an absurd amount of mana."
There are things money can't do, after all.
It has certainly been a little grim lately…….
Still, it would be a shame to give up.
"What sort of thing would have an absurd amount of mana?"
"Hmm……."
The troupe leader tilted their head.
"It's a bit out of the blue, but there is a legend at the Illusion School Chloe and I attended."
"A legend?"
"There was a great genius mage who laid the foundations of the Illusion School, and they say that mage developed a spell that made it seem as if you had fallen into another world."
That's basically virtual reality.
"It's long since died out, and if you think about the materials listed in the records as being used back then, I wonder whether recreating it would actually be impossible……."
"What materials?"
"Dragon heart."
* * *
"What if the dragon itself helped?"
The troupe leader looked at Kim Yul as if he were a lunatic.
However.
Kim Yul's expression was strangely serious.
"……Kim Yul, do you know what dragons are like?"
No matter how much a writer's job relies on imagination, this was a level of ignorance that was too much even by common-sense standards.
The strongest, most fearsome existence.
Guardians of order and balance.
An arrogant race that thought of humans as less than the dirt caught on their scales.
It had been cross-verified through various records that dragon hearts contain tremendous mana, but how were they supposed to find a dragon, fight it, and even win?
The troupe leader reinforced their prejudice against writers once again, thinking that writers, as expected, were a bit lacking in common sense because they weren't good at socializing.
Whether the troupe leader knew that inner thought or not,
"I'm a dragon expert, too."
Kim Yul uttered the blatant lie without even changing expression.
the troupe leader's brow furrowed slightly.