Kill the Author, Then to Hell - Chapter 2.2
I quickly turned back to the bookshelves I had passed earlier and started scanning them.
“Really? Any story here, the choice is up to me?”
“Yep.”
The girl didn’t even bother to look up, but her casual response was all I needed.
I, Lee Jinseo[1], had devoured every genre from the rental shop era to the current web novels, and my MBTI might as well be NNNN. Imagining myself in novels was my specialty.
I read to escape reality.
‘Who’s better prepared than me?’
A classic fantasy with elves wandering through forests and adventures?
It’s fun to read, but if I actually went in, it would be too hard.
I had reached that conclusion more than a decade ago.
Martial arts in a world of chivalrous warriors?
Not really my favorite genre to begin with. Plus, the protagonist faces too many life-threatening situations with all the ambushes, evil sects, and poisons.
Eliminated.
A modern romance where I’d fall in love with a chaebol’s[2] third-generation director while being his secretary?
‘Gross.’
I’ve seen too many unpleasant things working in an office.
And if I’m entering a story, the further from this dreadful reality, the better.
Narrowing down the choices, it boiled down to two options.
Either a hunter story where I awaken special abilities and hunt monsters after a gate suddenly opens, or…
Or should I choose a romance fantasy in a world filled with various forms of magic?
‘Hmm, I should take a look at the works first.’
Both genres typically offer cider developments without any sweet potato twists[3], so I’d likely hit the jackpot with either, but I needed to be cautious.
Intending to read some of the works first, I started by browsing through the <Fantasy> section, reading each title on the spines of the books.
But soon, I was baffled.
“Not a single one?”
With so many books in the world, surely a rental shop this large would have at least a few of the stories I loved.
Not necessarily masterpieces like <Lulusia> or <Omniscient Bystander’s Viewpoint>, but at least classics like <Harry Potter> or <Lord of the Rings>.
All the titles were ones I’d never heard of before.
“<Surviving as a Giant Squid in the Deep Sea>? Such a book exists?”
As I flipped through the pages, an even greater absurdity hit me.
Flutter— Flutter—
“There’s nothing written here?”
No matter how many pages I turned, other than page numbers, it was just blank paper. The same went for other books.
<SSS-Class Sticker Master>
<Noble Lady Who Picks Her Nose Excellently>
All empty inside.
Not that I particularly wanted to dive into those stories.
But I was used to such scenarios. In novels, the good stuff usually comes with conditions.
And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from novels…
‘There’s always a catch.’
Battling head-on is a fool’s game. No matter how sneaky it seems, one should use everything available in the given circumstances.
‘So, what can I use here…’
“Ahem, excuse me.”
I cleared my throat in front of the girl who could easily pass for an MZ generation representative. Given this mysterious place, she didn’t seem like an ordinary person.
“Have you made your choice?”
She responded nonchalantly, without looking up.
Of course, I knew how to catch her interest.
“Not yet. Actually, I was wondering if you could recommend a book.”
I knew from my extensive reading experience. That look in her eyes, as if she was about to be sucked into the book, was ‘real’.
And such people were usually lonely, with no one to talk books with. When asked for recommendations, they pour out suggestions until they’re told to stop.
Sure enough, she finally looked up and made eye contact.
“Me?”
“Yes! You seem to love books, so please recommend something. I trust your judgment.”
“Ah… I’m not sure…”
Contrary to her words, she stood up and began to pull books from the shelves at an alarming rate.
The unexpected variable was…
Her taste.
“This one’s good. The protagonist gets stung by a poison dart and dies vomiting blood. I cried so much.”
Either someone dies.
“…So the female lead kills the male lead and then commits suicide.”
Or they kill each other.
“Hmm. Ah, this one’s really something.”
“What’s it about?”
“Suddenly, aliens pour out of a Gate, and hunters form a brigade to fight them.”
“And then what happens?”
“Obviously, the aliens win. All the hunters die.”
Or everyone dies.
A hopelessly juvenile taste.
Granted, I was into tragic stories at that age too…
‘Haa… How should I wheedle this kid then?’
[1] Lee Jinseo: our MC’s last name is Lee, first name Jinseo. ↩
[2] Chaebol: a large family-owned business conglomerate. A third-generation heir to a conglomerate is a popular character archetype in modern romance stories in Korea. ↩
[3] Cider and Sweet Potatoes: Slang within the Korean webnovel/webtoon community that refers to satisfying and frustrating developments in a story, respectively. ↩
