NOVEL NEXT Chapter 201
Chapter 201
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The Wicked One IV
Another day passed, and another innocent reader was sent flying.
Just as their honor was dragged through the mud, so too was the honor of the martial arts world. It was shocking enough for a reader to beat up a writer, but now, the writer had punched her readers away!
Readers who had come down to Busan with hopes of getting Literary Girl's autograph hastily convened an emergency meeting.
"This morning, the second champion was also defeated."
"......"
"I never imagined Literary Girl would be this powerful. We had no idea."Among them was, surprisingly, Cheon Yo-hwa, the Demoness of Baekhwa Girls' High. In fact, she had been a fervent supporter of The Regressor's Epilogue, also known as TRE, since its early days.
When TRE hadn’t even reached its 12th chapter, Yo-hwa had stumbled upon the novel and immediately ran to the freeboard, posting three consecutive recommendation threads, begging people to read this "masterpiece." To say they were "recommendations" would be an understatement. Considering her social status and temper, it was practically a decree from the Minister of Education.
From that day on, the students of Baekhwa Girls' High had one more textbook in their backpacks. If the revered student council president should ever ask, "What's your favorite arc of TRE?" any student could immediately answer, "The Pathbreaker!"
As such, Yo-hwa was one of the most furious about the "Seven-Year Hiatus Incident." It wasno an exaggeration to say that TRE gained rapid momentum and readership largely thanks to her recommendation threads! And now, after daring to take a hiatus, the author was officially planning to drop the series entirely. It was truly infuriating.
"First, the ordinary folks should step back. If things go wrong, you might actually die."
"But..."
"No buts. Based on my personal investigation into the matter... It’s shocking to say, but Literary Girl's level is almost on par with mine. Maybe even stronger."
Murmur, murmur.
Five hundred readers buzzed with anxiety. Stronger than the Demoness of Baekhwa? Was there really someone of that caliber in the Korean Peninsula besides the Three Witches and the Three Great Demons?
"Most of you probably read illegal copies, right? What nerve do you have to attend a fan meeting? Just get lost."
The ordinary folks had no choice but to leave, tears of frustration streaming down their faces. Not even being able to access SG Net, how else were they supposed to read TRE? Not being born with the Awakener silver spoon served them a lifetime’s worth of regret.
Once the ordinary folks left, only 200 people remained in the meeting room. Finally, Yu Ji-won, who had been silently brooding, spoke up.
"I warned you this might happen. We can’t take Oh Dok-seo’s strength lightly, and we should’ve been more careful in selecting our champions. With two people down, we only have 26 chances left."
Glances of contempt were cast at Ji-won, who seemed to live solely to say, "I told you so." If she weren’t a government official, she would’ve tasted the bitter side of the martial arts world long ago.
Snap.
Yo-hwa raised her hand, and the tense atmosphere immediately eased. "Yes, that’s right. We underestimated Literary Girl. Looking back, TRE was full of details that only a Void expert could capture. Our author has been a master from the start."
"Indeed..."
"Now that you mention it, it did feel strangely realistic."
Sighs of realization echoed around the room.
The actual truth was that during the seven-year hiatus, Oh Dok-seo had power-leveled while the novel’s details had simply been provided by the Regressor. But the readers had no way of knowing that.
"If we let our guard down now, we’ll only become a laughingstock. Let’s proceed with a carousel battle."
"A carousel battle?"
"We’ll select the 24 strongest readers, including those who haven’t arrived in Busan yet. I’ll be the 25th, and I’ll fight after you all."
"Oh."
And so it was decided that the plan would be to force Literary Girl into 24 days of straight battles, all culminating in Cheon Yo-hwa, the strongest reader, delivering the final blow.
It was a shameless strategy, but it was effective. To secure victory, one must be willing to set aside their pride.
Just as the crowd began to nod in agreement, Yo-hwa continued, "I think we should schedule the duels around 10:30 a.m. each day."
"Hmm? Are you planning to just let Literary Girl stand outside starting at 6 a.m.? If it’s to wear her down, I agree, but someone of her caliber won’t tire just from standing for a few hours."
"No." Yo-hwa shook her head. "We’ll poison the Babel Tower Plaza."
"...What?"
"The author bitch said it in the notice. ‘I’ll be at the Busan Babel Tower Plaza from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. for 28 days.’" A smile played about the Demoness’s lips as she declared, "So if Literary Girl leaves the plaza first, she’ll be breaking her own promise. We’ll win by default."
"......!"
"Whatever happens at Babel Tower Plaza, the author bastard won’t be able to run away. Even if the plaza is filled with poison gas and traps."
The readers were horrified. Such a wicked scheme! The Demoness of Baekhwa’s infamy wasn’t unfounded after all!
One of the Awakeners raised an objection.
"B-but President, isn’t the Babel Tower Plaza technically under the jurisdiction of the National Road Management Corps? We can’t just do whatever we want..."
Yo-hwa burst into a hearty laugh. "Why so scared? The operations team leader of the National Road Management Corps is right here, and I’m the student council president of Baekhwa Girls' High. What’s there to worry about?"
Justice is on our side.
The Demoness’s brazen boast was not mere empty words.
Cheon Yo-hwa immediately negotiated with the National Road Management Corps and Samcheon World and received permission to use the Babel Tower Plaza. Not only that, but she also set up a series of vicious traps.
"Hmm."
The next morning, Oh Dok-seo stepped into the plaza and looked around.
—Ahhh—Ahhh—
Speakers were installed at the edges of the plaza, broadcasting a recording of Dang Seo-rin’s Cursed Song Incantation on a loop.
As a highly skilled Awakener, Dok-seo could deduce its effects from the first few notes of the Samcheon Leader’s melody.
"Physical weakening. Target designation. Sensory degradation. Triple-cast incantation."
It wasn’t just the speakers that surrounded her.
Her readers.
During the night, reinforcements had arrived, swelling the crowd of reader’s numbers to 300, who now encircled the plaza.
They didn’t step inside the plaza, instead remaining at its boundary, standing on the edge.
Dok-seo scoffed. "Of course. This must be the plan of Baekhwa Girls' High’s eternal dropout."
"......"
"Given your short education, even your so-called strategies are short-sighted."
Don’t ask me why Oh Dok-seo’s speech pattern suddenly changed like that. I guess her chuunibyou energy just worsened after playing around with that Infinite Metagame AI chatbot all the time.
Crunch.
Dok-seo dug a finger into her ear. Blood trickled out, only to stop abruptly.
She looked around and grinned. "I just destroyed my eardrums."
"......!"
"Samcheon Leader's feeble song doesn’t affect me at all. If you have something to say, say it to my face. I can still read your lips."
Yo-hwa clicked her tongue.
It was true. The Cursed Song Incantation had such a weakness, making it more suitable for buffs rather than debuffs. After all, anomalies targeted by debuffs sometimes had no hearing, rendering the incantation useless.
But to think she would rupture her own eardrums without hesitation!
If she could control her aura that well, she could’ve just destroyed the speakers with a strike. The fact that she chose to damage her own eardrums instead was particularly idiotic...!
"It can’t be helped. Activate the trap―"
"Permission denied."
BOOOOM!
Oh Dok-seo stomped the ground. Red aura surged through the ground like a wave. The plaza crumbled as if struck by an earthquake, reduced to crumbs along with the traps that had been set overnight.
"What...?"
"The relationship between a writer and their readers is pure of heart and spirit." Dok-seo’s eyes narrowed. "To defile such a blank canvas with these dirty tricks is absurd. Truly wicked."
Unable to hold back any longer, one of the Awakeners screamed, “The wicked one is you, you crazy bitch!”
“Did we ask you to be diligent in your serialization?” screamed another. “We’d worship you like crazy if you even posted one chapter a month! But you’re hell-bent on dropping the series for good? Whose fault is that?”
"I’m really disappointed in you, author!"
"How could you, after making us wait for seven years, punch us instead of apologizing? Literary Girl, are you even human?!"
Oh Dok-seo sneered.
Then she closed her eyes.
"I can’t see."
"What?"
"I can’t see anything, and I can’t hear anything. Because I don’t want to see or hear it. My will determines my reality. And the reality I’ve chosen is an eternal hiatus."
―Beep―Beeeeep―Beep―!
Curses that couldn’t pass KakaoPage’s censorship exploded from all sides.
Her parents received their regards, and her species fluctuated between primate and mammal, but she remained unfazed.
She couldn’t hear it, after all.
Finally, someone couldn’t stand it any longer and charged. "You wicked piece of shit!"
It wasn’t just blind rage. Now deprived of both sight and hearing—the two most important senses for a human—it was the time to kill her if ever there was one.
But there was one thing the Awakener had overlooked.
As already proven, Oh Dok-seo in the 888th round was no longer human.
Hup!
Just as the Awakener’s blade was about to reach her cheek, Dok-seo swung her fist.
Boom!
Her left fist twisted the blade, and her right fist struck the enemy’s abdomen squarely. The impact caused a storm to erupt.
The Awakener coughed, spitting blood. Without even a chance to scream, he collapsed. It was a one-hit KO.
"So slow. Even in falling."
"......!"
"When I stomped earlier, did you think I only destroyed the traps? How foolish. My energy spread across the entire plaza, so now this place and I are one. There’s not a single movement—whether a step or a hand gesture—that escapes my senses."
The ultimate fantasy of all otaku: a Reality Marble!
Of course, Oh Dok-seo had been tirelessly working toward realizing her delusions for the past seven years. She had always been a prodigy, which was why the former Admin of the Infinite Metagame had chosen her as a rival to the Regressor.
"It seems too trivial to drag this out for weeks."
Dok-seo opened one eye and grinned. She had a natural talent for condensing the essence of an otaku into every pose, provoking an indescribable rage in those who saw her.
"Come on. If you want, all 26 of you can challenge me right here, right now."
"Tsk."
Yo-hwa bit her lip. If she retreated now after being so humiliated, Baekhwa Girls' High’s honor would be trampled!
“...It can’t be helped,” she decided. “Next up, numbers 2 to 24, take your turns! It’s okay if you don’t win! Just do your best to wear that bitch of an author down!”
Dok-seo beckoned with a wiggle of her finger. "Come."
And the result was a series of crushing defeats.
Even though they were some of the foremost Awakeners on the Korean Peninsula, none of them lasted more than 20 moves, some falling in just one.
Even Cheon Yo-hwa, who went last, was defeated.
The spectators were horrified. How could a mere writer possess such overwhelming martial power?
No matter how many Voids she had conquered or how much time she spent leveling up in the Dream Simulation of the Rebirth Project, was it really possible for a person to become this strong?
Just because she didn’t want to write?
Incredibly, it was possible. Oh Dok-seo, and the 25 readers sprawled on the plaza floor like corpses, proved that.
She harrumphed. "Disappointing. Even the Demoness of Baekhwa is only this strong."
"Tsk...!"
With Cheon Yo-hwa underfoot, Oh Dok-seo sneered. The most humiliating moment of the Demoness’s life was being live-streamed into the brains of all the spectators.
"Now, there’s no one left to stop my hiatus. Even though it was a life-or-death match, I mercifully spared your lives. Don’t forget this mercy, and don’t ever pester me to resume the series."
"It’s... It’s not over yet...!"
"Hmm?"
"You said 28 readers in your notice... Including me, 27 have fallen. So there’s still one more left!"
Dok-seo tilted her head. "You were the strongest among my readers. How could anyone else defeat me?"
"There is someone!"
"Interesting. Who?"
Tears welled up in Cheon Yo-hwa’s eyes. She gathered her remaining energy and shouted, "Teacheeeer! Help meeeeee!"
Dok-seo flinched and took a step back. Then she quickly turned her head, scanning the area. She didn’t need to search for long. Soon, her eyes found me, and her expression froze.
"M-Master."
"......"
"Wh-when did you... get here?"
I felt a little sorry for Dok-seo, thinking she must be reliving her trauma from seven years ago, but I knew I had to say what was necessary.
"Dok-seo, you’re talking like an idiot. Let’s go back to the way you used to talk."
"Ugh."
"And to answer your question, I’ve been here from the beginning, of course."
For the past seven years, the Saintess’s Clairvoyance had been monitoring Oh Dok-seo, and I had subscribed to her growth story through the Saintess.
Why wouldn’t I?
As you may remember, the reason I first took an interest in Oh Dok-seo in the 555th round was simply because "she was fun." Considering how many regressors give up because they get bored, Dok-seo was the light of my life.
I put on a solemn expression. "Why? Did you really think I wouldn’t come here? I was almost always the first person to read your drafts. Did you think I wouldn’t notice that you were deliberately avoiding me, using Void exploration as an excuse?"
"M-M-Mister..."
"And since you asked me a question, I’ll ask you one in return."
I looked around the plaza, now a complete mess, and at Cheon Yo-hwa, who was in tatters, then finally back at Oh Dok-seo.
Now, she was more of a Martial King than a writer.
"Answer me honestly, Dok-seo."
"Yeah..."
"Have you been corrupted?"
"Ah. Yeah."
Well.
That figures...
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