I will start with the conclusion.
[Your approval rating increases.]
[Currently, 16% of the prisoners in Zone 13 support you.]
Our story was a success.
[Your approval rating increases.]
[Currently, 25% of the prisoners in Zone 13 support you.]
To be more precise.
[Your approval rating increases.]
[Currently, 32% of the prisoners in Zone 13 support you.]
Our stories have become quite popular.
The system message I heard from earlier was proof of that.
[The influence of the story 'The Fox, the Crane and the Wolf—often the Panda' is strong.]
The name may be a bit strange, but it somehow became famous. And as I keep watching, I feel like this is more sensational than 'The Fox and the Crane'.
It's like how the name Yoo Jonghyuk feels more beautiful in terms of naming than Kim Dokja.
"I-I am becoming famous. My story is becoming famous again."
The crane, who checked the message in real time, was glaring at the system window as if his eyes were tearing.
Is it because the story has regained its power? I could feel the magic power overflowing from his whole body.
The other beastmen's expressions also changed when they saw the change in the crane.
"Can you make stories like the crane's?"
A prisoner, who had been hesitating all along, asked.
"My stories too! I want my stories too!"
All the prisoners who were seeing an opportunity also grabbed me and started shouting.
"You should make an appearance yourself!"
"Please let the panda appear too!"
"It's okay even if the story turns into a mess. I want to be remembered once again. Oh my—"
Those who have lost their dreams recognize the void in their dreams more clearly than anyone else.
"I want to let the Star Stream know that I also existed ."
"All right."
As I watched the prisoners' expressions change, I felt an inexplicable sadness.
What drove them like this? Why do they want to become famous and spread their stories?
[The story 'The Swallow Carrying Gourd Seeds' wants to tell its story again.]
Is it their will or the will of the story?
[The story 'The Dove and the Jackdaw' wants to talk again.]
I don't know. It's not a problem I can discuss.
However, I am a writer who writes stories.
[The story 'The Goose that Laid Golden Eggs' wants to tell its story again.]
If there is a story that wants me, I will just live up to its expectations.
"Now, please come here one by one and line up."
The
So, do you know?
Who among the beastmen here will become the new
It doesn't matter if that's not the case.
[Your approval rating increases.]
[Currently, 33% of the prisoners in Zone 13 support you.]
Even at this moment, the approval rating is steadily rising.
Two more days passed like that.
[Your approval rating increases.]
[Currently, 70% of the prisoners in Zone 13 support you.]
Over the course of two days, we transformed numerous stories into stages.
For example, 「The swallow carrying gourd seeds」.
The swallow said that the stage production could not be created because there were no humans during that time.
"As expected, it is possible to escape without notice. I thought it would never be possible to recreate it in Zone 13."
[The name of the story has been changed due to malformed staging.]
[The story 'The Panda Who Saw the Swallow Carrying Park Seeds' was born.]
Stories related to pigeons, jackdaws, elephants, parrots, and hyenas were also performed.
The way we changed it was up to us. Sometimes a wolf appeared, sometimes a panda appeared, and I, who was able to transform using the mask, performed the role they were lacking depending on the time.
"Thank you, thank you so much!"
Of course, not all story transformations were smooth. It was especially dangerous during 「The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg」. A goose that had not laid eggs for too long fainted while laying eggs.
"This guy won't wake up. If the staging ends like this—"
"He's dead."
"Yes?"
A catastrophe occurred on stage in which the actual owner of the story died. In fact, the 「goose that lays the golden egg」 is destined to die from having its stomach ripped open, but isn't it still a premature death?
When opinions arose about whether this story should be abandoned, I called Dansu ahjussi.
"Ahjussi."
"Yes."
"Don't turtles lay eggs too?"
Dansu ahjussi looked back at me with an expression of bewilderment.
"I am not a goose. I am not a goose."
"I'm not asking you to give birth to them either. But wouldn't it be possible for you to incubate the egg?"
Dansu ahjussi was urgently deployed as an assistant incubating geese.
Dansu ahjussi had a strange expression on his face as he held the lukewarm egg.
"It looks like something is wriggling."
He worked hard to hatch the golden egg, and when a goose was finally born from the egg, everyone was so moved that they clapped their hands.
With this, the story of the goose continued.
Dansu ahjussi shed tears as if he were seeing his own child.
"I understand Han Myungoh now."
[The name of the story has been changed due to malformed staging.]
[The story 'The turtle with the golden goose egg and the panda who happened to be there' was born.]
"Evaluators!"
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' says it was fun because he stupidly didn't cut open the goose's belly.]
[The constellation 'Reclining Dragon' deplores the fate of the goose meta-sacrificing itself to the golden universalism, and is moved by the tragedy of the story that will once again lead to the birth of a new life...]
[The constellation 'The One Who Brought Ten Lambs' says that the turtle's fatherly love brings tears to his eyes.]
"Verification complete! Send!"
We repeated sending the story as soon as it was completed.
The temporal density of the 'Recycling Center' is much longer than outside, so new stories will continue to be supplied in real time outside.
According to Bihyung's fuss, so many constellations were paying coins to read our stories that it would be incomprehensible to anyone outside the center.
—This is an indirect message sent by the constellations outside. Read it when you have time.
Messages from the constellations?
I looked at the list of compressed messages I received from Bihyung.
[The constellation 'Lily Blooming in Aquarius' says the panda is really cute.]
[The constellation 'Friend of Justice and Harmony' says that cute things are always right.]
[The constellation 'Goddess of the Morning Star' asks when the Panda will appear again.]
…
The ones that responded were mainly the constellations of the absolute good faction.
I looked to see if there was a message from Uriel, but Uriel was nowhere to be seen.
I felt strangely sad.
For some reason, the fact that Uriel wasn't there felt like proof that I wasn't a proper Kim Dokja yet.
[The story 'Heir of the Eternal Name' is starving.]
[The story 'Heir of the Eternal Name' is glaring at you.]
[Currently, you have 3 days left to live.]
3 days.
Now is the time to replenish.
Now that I think about it, the time has come for it to come in.
—By the way, the compensation that was delayed has also arrived.
Also.
[The reward for the sub-scenario 'The Fox and the Crane' has been obtained!]
[12,000 coins obtained!]
['Unidentified story fragment' has been acquired!]
The reward for the sub-scenario we cleared earlier—'The Fox and the Crane' has now arrived.
There was a reason for the delay in compensation.
—It was a bit late to explain things to the higher-ups. This is my first time clearing a scenario like this.
I had an idea what the situation would be.
Although the story was reproduced, the name of the story was changed in the process, so the administration would have been at a loss as to whether to view this as a reproduction of 'The Fox and the Crane'.
—Anyway, I got scolded for insisting that it was to protect the Story when the fox and the crane showed up.
'Thank you.'
—No. Rather, the story is going really well, so keep it going.
It seemed like Bihyung's eyes were slowly starting to turn when he saw the coins coming in.
—Did you see the constellations' messages? There are many constellations requesting that the Panda to continue to appear. I don't really understand, but the panda you featured is really hot these days.
'Pandas are cute.'
—Anyway, I don't know the tastes of the constellations. Why do they like that?
I smiled bitterly.
This is why the constellations like pandas.
'It's probably because they're so lonely.'
—Lonely?
Kyrgios once said the following about 'scenarios'.
「 It would be because this universe would be so lonely without them. 」
Even constellations do not necessarily know why they like certain stories.
However, at some point in their lives, they encounter a certain story as if by fate, and seeing that story, they burn themselves and shine.
The story shines brighter under the light of the stars, and it eventually becomes the story that attracts attention in the
'If everyone is watching the same story, it'll be less lonely.'
—What is this nonsense?
Instead of answering Bihyung's words, I tried using the 'unidentified story fragment'.
['Unidentified story fragment' reveals its identity.]
[The story fragment 'Kim Dokja's Third Way' has been acquired.]
The reward received was, as expected, 'Fragments of Kim Dokja'.
When I first entered the 'Recycling Center', I acquired Kim Dokja's 'story fragment' as a scenario reward.
As expected, the 'Recycling Center Director' seemed to be giving out stories like this on purpose as a reward.
Why? For what purpose?
I don't know right now, but it was a very fortunate thing for me now.
Without hesitation, I ordered the story to feast.
[The story 'Heir of the Eternal Name' feasts on the story fragment 'Kim Dokja's Third Way'!]
[The story 'Heir of the Eternal Name''s hunger is appeased.]
A warm feeling spread deep within my heart, and a message immediately came to mind.
[The synchronization rate with the sponsor has increased.]
[You can use the story fragment 'Kim Dokja's third method'.]
'Kim Dokja's third method'.
What ability does this fragment have?
[8-day time limit has been added.]
It was then that someone grabbed my shoulder.
"Dokja-ssi."
When I turned around, Ye Hyunwoo was there.
Ye Hyunwoo asked as if he had read my expression.
"Are you okay?"
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry."
The reason I was surprised was simple.
This is because I could not notice Ye Hyunwoo's presence at all.
I used predation after confirming that there were no people around, but when did he approach me?
No matter how much he mastered [Way of the Wind], he was not skilled enough to completely hide his presence.
"I was thinking for a moment. What's going on?"
I remembered what happened when I absorbed Kim Kyungsik's soul.
I couldn't forget Goo Seonah's shocked face when she saw me eating the 'Kim Dokja fragment'. After that, I never met Goo Seonah.
Ye Hyunwoo asked me with the same expression as Goo Seonah back then.
"Would it be okay?"
"Yes?"
"Stories. I was wondering if it would be okay for us to mend the stories as we please."
Ah, was that the story?
I answered with some relief.
"It's okay. They are historical stories anyway."
[The influence of the story you are involved with, 'The Panda Who Saw the Swallow Carrying Park Seeds', becomes stronger.]
[The influence of the story you were involved with, 'The turtle with the golden egg and the panda who happened to be there', becomes stronger.]
[The name of 'Kim Dokja' begins to become known throughout the
Originally, it would have been impossible to repair the stories in this way.
However, this was only possible because this was the 'Recycling Center', permission was obtained from the owners of the stories, and the grade of the story itself was low.
"As you know, if the story level increases, you can't fix it this way."
It is not easy to intervene on stage in a legendary story.
If the repair had been easy, Kim Dokja would have gotten a lot of stories like 「The Secretive Plotter and Kim Dokja」 or 「The Dokkaebi King and Kim Dokja」.
[Attribute proficiency increases.]
Anyway, this 'Operation Repair' was quite enjoyable for me.
I earned coins, acquired story shares, and built up proficiency related to characteristics.
I think my skill level related to 'writer' has probably increased. I can't check it because the Attribute Window is still not open.
"I knew that there were 'story repairers' in the demon world, but this was the first time I knew that we could fix stories like this."
"Because it's a method that doesn't appear in the main story."
"How did you know, Dokja-ssi?"
"I read Ways of Survival."
Ye Hyunwoo chuckled, probably thinking it was a joke.
"At times like this, you really seem like Dokja-ssi."
"It's a compliment, right?"
"Dokja-ssi."
"Yes."
"Dokja-ssi."
"Yes."
"Are you really Dokja-ssi?"
Come to think of it, Ye Hyunwoo had asked the same question before.
"In a way."
At my answer, which was different from before, Ye Hyunwoo was silent for a moment.
Night was falling again in Zone 13.
Ye Hyunwoo asked as he looked at the smoke rising from the chimney of the house across from the vacant lot.
"Do you have a family?"
"I have my parents."
For the first time in a while, I remembered my parents' faces. Parents who remind me of a gentle spring night.
"I'm jealous. I don't have one."
I stood there in silence for a moment, not knowing what to say.
In times like this, should I comfort him or ask him something more?
Now that I think about it, I still didn't know anything about Ye Hyunwoo.
He is the 7th apostle of the Apostle Society, and a friend of Noh Jiyoon, the daughter of Dansu ahjussi.
That was all I knew about 'Ye Hyunwoo'.
What is his real name? Is he a man or a woman, where does he live, and what are his favorite hobbies?
I have no idea.
"Even when I go back to reality, there's no one waiting for me."
I recalled that Ye Hyunwoo was listed as a 'character'. At that time, I asked what our goal was, and Ye Hyunwoo answered like this.
「 "Being happy?" 」
The air in the area felt subtly distorted.
"Hyunwoo, it's not like that. It's definitely true in real life too—"
"Was Kim Dokja happy in real life?"
I closed my mouth.
Ye Hyunwoo continued to ask.
"Could it be that Kim Dokja also ran away to this world because reality was painful?"
I couldn't answer. It was a question that should not be answered now.
"If someone should become 'Kim Dokja'."
Ye Hyunwoo's voice from behind changed.
"Wouldn't it be more reasonable for someone who has nothing more to lose to become 'Kim Dokja'?"
In that moment I turned my head due to an eerie feeling and realized something sharp passed by my cheek.