Novelist Running Through Time
Chapter 41

TL: KSD

The World Tree Yggdrasil.

The homeland of all elves.

Once, tens of thousands of elves formed a civilization in this gigantic tree. That brilliant ancient civilization could not be simply described as a ‘great nation’. They were the only ‘nation’ that existed in this world.

The word ‘king’ referred to the Sun King of the elves, and naturally, the word ‘kingdom’ referred to the only nation that existed in this world – the Elf Kingdom.

And thousands of years have passed.

In the face of the trial of time, the ancient civilization was shattered to pieces.

The Demon King’s forces swept across the continent, and from the ashes of the Elf civilization, humans, dwarves, gnomes, beastmen, and lizardmen, who were nothing more than slaves, built their own civilizations. The Wizard King Reinhardt unified the continent, and even the empire he established crumbled due to the black plague.

The world, ruined by the plague, was saved by the combined forces of the Wizard King’s legacy – the magic towers, and in the rebuilt world, all races gathered in the imperial congress to elect an emperor, and thus the imperial lineage was replaced amidst various historical turbulences for the third time.

Thus, history flowed rapidly like a torrential river.

But the World Tree Yggdrasil.

The homeland of all elves.

The gigantic tree of life that once housed tens of thousands of elves, still remains to this day, thousands of years later.

In the middle of a desert.

Becoming a withered old tree.

Now, not a single fruit grows from the World Tree. There are no green leaves to shade from the sunlight. Now, this tree is so dried up that it cannot sustain even a single person, let alone a civilization.

Yet, everyone desires this tree.

The barely surviving Elf Kingdom, the Holy Mother Church that has continued from ancient times, the empire of nomadic Dark Elves who worship the Moon Goddess, even the Emperor of the empire who claims to be the most devout follower.

Everyone desires the land where this withered tree stands.

The reason is precisely-

“God wills it!”

-Crusaders.

With the knights’ cries, tens of thousands of troops were approaching from beyond the horizon. They were the army of white light, bearing the Holy Mother’s golden cross.

How many Dark Elves’ blood has soaked the desert sands under that golden cross is proven by history.

The nomadic Dark Elves living under the shade of the withered World Tree screamed as if they had encountered a demon and fell into utter chaos.

“The Crusades! The Crusades!”

“The white-skinned devils are coming!”

“Goddess, bestow your mercy!”

“Mom! Mom!”

“Stay hidden underground, never come out! Mom will be okay……”

“We must protect the holy land! Gather all the warriors of the tribes!”

Meanwhile, in the meeting room under the roots of the World Tree, where the elders of the Dark Elf tribes had gathered, the situation was the same.

Tens of thousands of troops were enough to make even the wisest sage lose his reason.

“Is that… merely the vanguard?”

“The spies from the west have told me, the main force of the Crusades is crossing the sea. The Great Mage of the Blue Tower is calming the sea, so it’s futile to hope for a typhoon or such luck.”

“Damn it all! This mess started because an emperor, who boasts nothing but being a descendant of the 27th generation of Elf royalty, has risen to power! I’ve said it several times, wars are started by those without legitimacy to establish it! We should have assassinated that mongrel before this war!”

“It’s too late for regrets now. We are as good as dead……”

“There’s still a way. Let’s convert for now. We can repent later.”

“Shut up! Losing faith is akin to death……!”

The Dark Elf leadership, plunged into chaos, could not unite.

Naturally, a proper defense was not established.

The Crusaders’ command, through the telescope observing the chaos, realized this fact.

“Half are running away, and half are gathering to fight……”

One-eyed Saint Rosalyn, the commander of the Crusades’ vanguard, put down her telescope and, swinging her mace into the air, ordered her lieutenant.

“Drive the Imperial Guard Cavalry around the vicinity of the World Tree! Herd those kkamdungis as if they were sheep, make them flee in terror.”

“Understood, Your Excellency.”

“Grand Master of the Paladins! Gather the knights from the secular lords and charge! We must storm them before they can form their ranks! Archmage of the Tower! Please bless the knights with the fire of blessing!”

“Understood.”

“I strictly forbid acting before the signal- Damn it. Those crazy foals are at it again.”

After months of forced marches breaking through the great desert, the holy land finally comes into view.

Whether intoxicated by religious fanaticism or by the prospect of looting at the Grand Bazaar where all the wealth of the Dark Elves is gathered, the knights were out of their minds.

“God wills it!”

“In the name of the Holy Mother!”

“Kill the heretics!”

Despite the Crusade command’s orders not yet being issued, dozens of knights charged. Seeing this, other knights spurred their horses and rushed forward as well. Thousands of cavalry, including knights, wandering knights, and their squires, charged all at once.

Horses cannot live in the desert. Camels are incredibly valuable. And owning even a hundred camel cavalry was enough to be called a great chieftain of the region.

However, the sight of tens of times more Western heavy cavalry charging all at once was enough to instill an unreal terror in all Dark Elves who witnessed it.

Some were paralyzed with fear and collapsed, while others screamed and ran, only to trip and be trampled to death by others.

But the Dark Elf scout closest to them, through years of experience, realized it was already too late to run.

If the enemy cavalry had started charging from this distance, he was already a dead man.

Thus, the old man dismounted from his camel and knelt on the desert sand. And he prayed earnestly.

“Goddess…”

According to legend, the goddess of the desert is the goddess of moonlight.

She cools the land with darkness, sweeping away the harsh sun that burns the world, and lulls all creatures into sleep with her song in the moonlight, so they no longer harm each other.

When the goddess is angered, it’s when injustice swallows righteousness, when the impure violates the pure, when justice fades, hypocrisy spurns goodness, and all creatures of the world suffer.

Then, the moon turns red, and the goddess sends an avenger to punish the wicked on her behalf.

-Every Dark Elf grows up hearing such old tales from their mothers.

The wrinkled and bearded Dark Elf knelt down, relying on the stories his mother told him in his last moments.

“Sing of your wrath…”

Thousands of Crusade knights, holding spears, charged towards the kneeling Dark Elf elder.

“Holy Mother! Watch over us!”

“God wills it!”

“Eradicate all the heretic unbelievers!”

The goddess did not respond to the prayers.

The Dark Elf elder murmured his prayer and closed his eyes.

“Goddess, sing of your wrath…”

Still, the goddess did not answer.

Just as the Crusaders cavalry was about to trample and shatter the old man to pieces, that was the moment.

A swordsman jumped in between the old man and the knights.

Swoosh-!

A red sword aura swept across the desert. The curved sword strike resembled the red moon at a glance.

Tremendous magical power sliced between the old man and the cavalry, and the peculiar magic left by the sword strike formed a physical barrier.

The knights ended up charging towards that wall.

Crash-!

The Crusader’s charge shattered against the wall. Horses, men, and armor were mixed together in one place.

It was a cruel scene, but even that was just a small part of what was seen from above the battlefield.

The Crusades’ vanguard, quickly regrouping their forces, shouted at the perpetrator who caused this disaster.

“Who goes there!”

No introduction was needed. The moment the swordsman, clad in an old robe, threw off his robe, there wasn’t a single knight who didn’t recognize who he was.

“Josef…!”

“The Sword Devil!”

“Why is the Emperor Slayer in a place like this…!”

His name in the Empire was Josef.

His name in the desert was Yusuf.

He murdered his father, succeeded the earldom, suppressed the rebellious territories around him to rise to the rank of duke, and ultimately caused the retreat of the emperor’s army, leading to the previous emperor’s death from hypertension. There he stood, the master of the demonic sword.

As it had been proven several times that he alone could confront an entire army, the Crusaders halted, and the one-eyed Saint Rosalyn came forward on horseback to negotiate.

“Josef! Why are you, a Duke of the empire, on their side!”

Before answering, Josef consulted with the demonic sword.

‘Demonic Sword~nim…? Should I really answer?’

-It’s time for you to participate in an important negotiation. How long will you keep passing everything to me?

‘But… I’m not good at speaking in front of others…’

-Have confidence! Haven’t you even killed an emperor?

‘That was because Emperor collapsed from hypertension on his own. And dying at that age is just natural causes. I’m being wronged here. Being called an Emperor Slayer…’

-Hurry up and answer! Isn’t that saint waiting?

Josef answered the saint with a tense voice.

“Um… My mom asked me to deliver a letter to my uncle, so I left the domain with my mom and came to the desert…”

“……?”

“That is… You see… my mother is from the Black Blade tribe. So, I was also invited to the Dark Elf tribe and stayed for a bit, and even though they’re heretics, they’re not as bad as I thought… I even met my cousin sister…”

“……???”

“Ah, anyway, I think harassing the Dark Elves is wrong…!”

“What are you talking about, Duke Josef…?”

Saint Rosalyn was dumbfounded by Josef’s eloquent speech.

Unable to watch any longer, the demonic sword took control of Josef’s body again.

Josef’s blurry eyes sharpened.

“Enough. That’s it.”

Using Josef’s body, the demonic sword pointed with his finger at the line it had drawn on the ground with a previous sword strike.

“Anyone who crosses this line… will be cut down.”

“……!”

“Pull back the troops. I’ve come to end this war.”

EP 3-Magic Sword~nim, please control me!

“Okay. That’s it for today.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Mun-in closed his laptop.

Kim Byul stretched refreshingly, and

Gu Yuna shook her head in disbelief.

“Phew! Great job, everyone!”

“To stop here? How cruel.”

The pop culture and arts research club was smoothly sailing as usual.

After school ended, they gathered in the club room to write one episode, and then dispersed.

This routine had been established for quite some time. The kids packed their bags while chattering about what might happen next.

Kim Byul asked,

“So, what’s next?”

As a writer, one must carry a solid plot and lead the story with strength. But there are ways for the orthodox and ways for the unorthodox.

Thus, already optimized for web novel writer mode, Mun-in confidently answered,

“I don’t know. Tomorrow’s me will handle it.”

Kim Byul was shocked.

The trauma switch was activated.

If it were a drama, lightning would strike in the background.

Boom!

“Page-by-page script…!”

The hell starts the moment the filming catches up with the script development. Mun-in creates the script on the fly, but at best, it’s only a page long, hence the term “page-by-page script.”

For the actors, it’s the beginning of a nerve-wracking performance. They have to act based on the current situation without knowing what will happen on the next page.

A slight misstep can lead to a mismatch in the drama’s context, and the actor alone gets the blame. People say the drama was ruined because of so-and-so’s bad acting.

The funny thing is that it becomes true if you just go along with it. Actors are easy to replace, but writers are not. If you’re not careful, you can quickly become garbage…

“Argh!”

Kim Byul snapped back to reality from a painful past.

And she pointed at Moon In-seop, yelling at him.

“Hey! If you’re a writer, shouldn’t you plan the next content in advance!”

“Why are you suddenly getting angry, Kim sunbae?”

“Shut up! Don’t ask!”

“Sometimes you really have a weird personality…”

“Ugh…”

Kim Byul,who had tapped Mun-in’s blanket-covered forearm with her fist, and looked at Gu Yu-na and tried to show a worried expression.

“Yu-na, what should we do about Demonic Sword’s next part? Even if the desert episode ends with receiving the title of the great chieftain, we’ve already smashed the count, the emperor, the church, and everything else.”

“We could just go back to school.”

“Are you a genius, Yuna?”

Meanwhile, Min Hyo-chan, who had been staring at his phone with flushed cheeks in the corner of the club room, was muttering something with a dazed face.

“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand…”

Counting again, the result was the same.

Even pinching his cheek hurt.

It wasn’t a dream.

“Why…”

Min Hyo-chan suddenly stood up and yelled.

“Why is this novel selling so welllll-!”

“Ah, you scared me.”

Min Hyo-chan was closer to a boy group member than a rapper.

He’s an idol.

And idols don’t get paid until they’ve paid back all the ‘lesson fees’ they owe to the company through their earnings.

So, it was impossible for Min Hyo-chan, a member of a newly debuted unknown boy group member, to have earned money from idol activities.

Thus, the royalties from “Demonic Sword~nim” were the first money Min Hyo-chan had ever earned.

“This is… more than my dad’s salary…!”

An enormous amount (by middle school standards) had come into his hands. He could sneer at the most expensive menu at the snack bar, buy new games without waiting for a discount, and afford a game console worth hundreds of thousands of won without asking his parents.

Even after splitting it four ways, the amount that fell into Min Hyo-chan’s hands was enough to feel like sitting on a money cushion.

“Guys… Is it really okay for me to take this money?”

In truth, Min Hyo-chan’s contribution to the novel was not significant. His role was merely advisory, which became obsolete once Moon In-seop’s runaway train started moving.

But the other members happily shared the profits with Min Hyo-chan.

“We agreed to split it equally from the start.”

“The one who suggested writing a web novel was Min sunbae…”

“I don’t mind either.”

“Guys…!”

Touched, Min Hyo-chan looked around at the club members.

Moon In-seop. A genius writer of the century.

Kim Byul. An S-class actress, national little sister, CF star. (10 years ago)

Gu Yu-na. Daughter of Gu Hak-jun.

“…”

Maybe this amount of money was just pocket change for them.

Min Hyo-chan’s emotion faded slightly.

But Min Hyo-chan was not without pride, even if he didn’t have money.

“Hey! I’ll treat today! Order whatever you want, chicken or pizza!”

“Wow…!”

Gu Yu-na (13 years old), with her elementary schooler’s taste, sparkled her eyes for once, but Kim Byul and Moon In-seop shook their heads.

Min Hyo-chan asked with a crestfallen face.

“Why…?”

Kim Byul answered crisply.

“Weight management.”

“Ah.”

Kim Byul was still appearing in dramas. Although she was a supporting role with little importance, she was still an active actress.

“And you, In-seop? Don’t tell me you dislike me! Because I begged you to appear on Rapid Boys’ YouTube? I’m sorry! Forgive me!”

“It’s not that, I actually have something to tell you…”

Moon In-seop smiled awkwardly.

Then, shocking news was dropped.

“It seems difficult to continue daily updates for Demonic Sword~nim.”

“What…!”

“Suddenly, something came up at the company…”

***

The chairman was on his deathbed.

Baek Seol did not feel much sorrow at this fact.

Mourning is for those you love, but the chairman had never given her love, nor had she loved her great-grandfather.

However, she did wonder why he was looking for her, especially now, on the brink of death.

She even blushed at the materialistic thought that maybe he wanted to leave her something.

The answer was simply ‘protocol.’

The chairman wanted to assert his authority until the very last moment.

He wished to die surrounded by dozens of relatives and hundreds of subordinates bidding him farewell.

As a result, Baek Seol, who was not particularly close to many of the relatives, ended up playing a mere decorative role among them.

“……”

Baek Seol couldn’t even hear the chairman’s will from where she stood. Protocol dictated attendance, and the place for a family of illegitimate children was on the outermost edges.

Although she wasn’t pushed out as far as the hallway, Baek Seol found it ridiculous to follow along with the others’ ‘yes, yes’ and sobbing without even hearing the will.

Politely clasping her hands at her navel,

Bowing her head,

Dressed in an uncomfortable black suit,

She stood for hours.

The chairman died.

People in the middle started to wail. She heard cries of ‘Father-!’ Baek Seol joined in the sobbing to blend in with the atmosphere.

And a little while later.

“You may leave now.”

An associate of the chairman, who was organizing the funeral, granted Baek Seol permission to leave.

Given the lack of specific instructions, it seemed she was expected to just take a bus home.

After being kidnapped in a limousine on the way here.

And, of course, it was so early in the morning that both the buses and subways had stopped running.

Baek Seol called a late-night taxi. These days, when you call a taxi with your phone, it shows the fare upfront, and the cost, inflated by the late-night surcharge, made her sigh.

“Haah……”

Moths buzzed around the yellow street lamps.

Whether they were moths or some other kind of night insect, it was hard to tell from a distance what they looked like exactly.

Baek Seol thought irreverently that the chairman’s death was like those night insects.

It wasn’t just the chilly weather or the dawn breeze that soured her mood.

Baek Seol looked at the chairman’s death from a distance.

Both in physical and social terms, she was far removed.

Being in no position to inherit anything from the chairman’s death.

Thus, from a third-person perspective, the chairman’s death was not,

The dimming of a significant star in the Korean economy,

Nor the crumbling of the foundation of Baekhak Group,

But merely the death of an old man.

No matter how much wealth one accumulates,

No matter how much authority one surrounds themselves with,

Eventually, everyone dies.

Baek Seol directly felt this fact today.

All humans are just like night insects in the face of time.

Regardless of their appearance or how much wealth they’ve amassed, just like one cannot distinguish a single insect among a swarm, everyone dies just the same.

Then, how can one become special?

How can one make one’s life worthwhile,

And how can one die differently from others?

The radio in the late-night taxi seemed to ask her.

-As time goes by, and our lives come to an end.

-If someone asks you in a soft voice,

-Can you answer? That you have no regrets about the time that has passed.

“I don’t know… life……”

Even as Baek Seol threw herself onto her bed upon returning to her studio apartment, she couldn’t let go of these complex thoughts.

Still in her suit, she hugged an IKEA shark plushie and stretched out under the blanket.

She might not know what life is about, but she knew this much.

She had to sleep if she was going to go to work in a few hours……

“Life……”

A wave of sleepiness swept over Baek Seol and closed her eyes.

How can one become special?

That question too flew away into the land of dreams.

“……Snore.”

Thus, Baek Seol fell into a peaceful sleep.

And not long after,

Baek Seol would become very special.

* * *

Reflecting on the upheaval surrounding Baekhak Group’s inheritance, one must look back to the last presidential election.

That election was an anomaly.

A candidate whom no one had anticipated would become president managed to overturn the political landscape at the last moment, securing victory over the candidate most people had expected to win.

And Baekhak Group is a media conglomerate. It’s impossible for it not to be involved in politics. In fact, Baekhak Group vehemently criticized the candidate who ended up becoming the ‘president-elect.’

It was naturally an attempt to intervene in the election to curry favor with the next president. It failed, however.

If one could ask the chairman why he did it, he might have said:

-I didn’t know! I didn’t know that guy would become president!

But the dead cannot speak.

Thus, his children inherited the consequences.

[Breaking News, Baekhak Group Inheritance Tax Warrant Hearing Concludes, Vice Chairman Baek to Detention Center]

[Vice Chairman Baek Under Arrest… Arrives at Seoul Detention Center]

The eldest son, who was supposed to inherit the chairman position, ended up in prison.

It seemed natural, as the eldest son had led the election interference on behalf of the aging chairman.

The second son, however, did not let this opportunity pass by.

He decided to oust his elder brother and take over the group.

However, breaking the circular ownership structure meticulously crafted by Korea’s top legal and financial minds was nearly impossible.

The control system, which allowed a family to dominate a massive conglomerate with just a few percent of the stocks through legal and illegal means, is akin to a kind of legal-economic art.

A scheme was necessary.

So, the second son allied with his distant relatives.

He brought in the illegitimate family of his father’s half-brother as allies.

Even his closest aides were shocked, but he responded:

-Baekhak is valuable enough, even if it means sharing stocks with the illegitimate family.

The president’s half-brother, that is, the founder’s illegitimate child.

And this illegitimate family has been in a legal battle against the main Baekhak house for a rightful share for seven years, claiming they, too, as the founder’s children, deserved a part of Baekhak.

Of course, the court wouldn’t listen to them. Not because their argument was necessarily wrong, but because the law is on the side of the powerful. It’s made by the powerful.

In the same vein, it was entirely possible for the second son to manipulate the legal system and change the outcome of the lawsuit.

[Breaking News, Civil War in the Baekhak Family… Inheritance Takes an Unexpected Turn Due to Court Decision.]

The coup struck like lightning.

With the court’s decision allowing the ‘illegitimate family’ to finally obtain a portion of Baekhak Group’s shares, they supported the second son’s succession as chairman.

Once he became chairman, the game was over. The second son quickly ousted the elder brother’s faction from the group and distributed fiefdoms to those who fought for him.

Naturally, the head of the ‘illegitimate family’ was among the chief contributors.

Although they received a portion of the company’s shares, the moment he secured the chairman position, those stocks became irrelevant. A slight tweak in the governance structure could render those shares worthless. After all, power at its extreme is indistinguishable from magic.

But neglecting a benefactor would tarnish the court.

The new chairman appointed the head of the ‘illegitimate family,’ his small uncle, as a vice-chairman without any real power and placed his elder and younger sons in key positions within the group.

And the head of the ‘illegitimate family’ was Baek Seol’s biological grandfather, and his sons were, of course, Baek Seol’s elder uncle and father.

As a result.

Baek Seol received sudden news upon arriving at work.

It was not a notice of dismissal but of promotion.

“I’ve been promoted to Deputy Head?” (TL: Position of someone just below the Department Head)

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“You tell me.”

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

The unfortunate princess, Baek Seol.

Integrated into the main family!

*****

TL: The chapters are getting longer and longer, now twice the length of typical Korean novel chapters.

Also, thank you to everyone who has left a review on NovelUpdates. To those who haven’t, if you can, please leave a rating and review on Novelupdates.

*****

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