Superstar From Age 0

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 519

Seo-jun put down the book [Golden Mermaid] and took out the book [Gourmet Orc] from the nearby bookshelf. [Invitation of the Gourmet Orc] had its ability level increased from intermediate-low to intermediate as the notification said.

“Hmm.”

Seo-jun examined the book to see if there was anything else that changed.

Due to the level increase, there was a new story written on the last page of the [Gourmet Orc] book.

***

Magic that they had never seen in this rural village poured out. Sharp sword blades reflected the light and flashed. 

A terrifying monster that they had never seen before was wearing familiar clothes and running. Green blood, different from humans, splashed over the white snow. 

The gentle voice turned into a painful scream and echoed through the forest.

The siblings stared blankly at the scene. They couldn’t move a muscle.

They stood still in the cold weather with snow piled up until the mage in the robe created a huge fire and burned the monster completely and disappeared with the knights.

Slowly, their breaths that had stopped began to return.

As they regained their senses with their breaths, the siblings ran quickly. 

The gift they brought for the old man was rolling in the snowfield.

The old man was a monster… The orc was the old man…

Their minds were complicated by his identity, but when they saw the cruel green blood and the black ashes and marks that were left on the white snowfield, they just shed tears.

The younger sister cried, calling him old man, old man. 

The older brother didn’t know what to do with the traces that were nothing but ashes and shook his hands. If he touched it carelessly, the weak ashes would fly away in the wind.

He might have been a monster to someone, but he was the only one who shared warmth with these orphaned siblings. 

They even hoped that he would take them with him when he left the village. If they went to another village with the old man, wouldn’t everyone think they were a family? Wouldn’t it be okay to call him dad? They dreamed of that.

But as always, misfortune was close. The siblings’ hopes and dreams were burned black.

As if the dreamlike days were really like a dream, the ashes scattered in the wind. The siblings sobbed and carefully gathered the ashes with their frozen hands.

The siblings with tear-stained faces opened the gift box. 

There were gloves made of scraps of cloth and coarse bread that the siblings made with their own ingredients. 

They started to cry again when they saw the gloves that were bigger than the average adult’s hand. 

They carefully placed the ashes on the gloves and moved their feet that wouldn’t fall.

On the way back to the village, the siblings burst into tears at the old man’s hut that was completely burned down and left no pillars.

Seo-jun turned the page.

Later, the siblings’ appearance was briefly written.

They could have been consumed by revenge, but the older brother became a great cook and the younger sister became a skilled seamstress.

“Is it because he was a monster…”

The mage and the knights just did their job.

They might have resented them at first, but the siblings realized that the gourmet orc was special after hearing stories of monster damage from here and there.

“And they are ordinary people.”

The siblings didn’t have any amazing talent to take revenge on the mage or the knights like the protagonists of the novel.

“No, wait.”

Considering the situation of the era, it was amazing that the orphaned siblings without anyone to rely on became a cook and a seamstress.

And the siblings didn’t forget the gourmet orc.

The older brother who shared food with the children around him and the younger sister who made a huge glove with care every year looked like a good ending for the gourmet orc.

Seo-jun smiled softly and looked at the paragraph below.

[The nameless wandering gourmet orc enjoyed a happy time with many beings and various dishes in a new world. He enjoyed the most delicious meal ever, feeling gratitude and happiness without fear, hatred, or wariness.]

“Ah, I see.”

That seemed to be the reason for the level increase.

“So that was the Blue Dragon Hatchling?”

Something similar happened ten years ago. It was not a ‘level increase’ but an ‘ability transformation’. Seo-jun searched for two books and put them on the desk.

[Weak Blood of the Blue Dragon Hatchling] and [Dignity of the Young Lion King], the abilities that came from the books [Blue Dragon Hatchling] and [Young Lion King]. They were the abilities he used when he played the role of the Blue Dragon in the children’s play [Spring] and the Prince Seongnyeong in [The Royal Physician].

“This was just a transformation.”

[Weak Blood of the Blue Dragon Hatchling] transformed part of the body into a dragon when using the ability, but that disappeared after the transformation. [Dignity of the Young Lion King] only added dignity to the user, but after the transformation, it also increased the ability of the being (Park Do-hoon) in the user’s pack.

Seo-jun recalled.

The Blue Dragon Hatchling achieved his dream of ‘Dragon’s Protection’ on the stage and the ability was transformed, and the Young Lion King had only boasted a lot, but he got a real pack (Park Do-hoon) and the ability was transformed.

“Is it a dream?”

It could also be called a life goal.

It seemed that the ability changed when the dream of that life was achieved with the ability contained in the book of life.

Seo-jun remembered the notification a while ago.

[The being invited by the Invitation of the Gourmet Orc has reached the maximum.]

The gourmet orc seemed to have enjoyed enough of the happy and enjoyable meal he dreamed of.

Seo-jun smiled slightly and tilted his head. But why was the gourmet orc a level increase and the hatchling an ability transformation?

“Is it because the stage play was fake?”

He didn’t have to protect a country to increase the level of [Weak Blood of the Blue Dragon Hatchling], did he?

When Seo-jun looked down at the desk with a trembling expression, the blue book of the Blue Dragon Hatchling seemed to say ‘Hehe. A country is too big, how about a territory?’ [Dignity of the Young Lion King] also seemed to increase the level if he led a pack.

The gourmet orc probably had a very difficult condition in the first place.

“The power of video is amazing.”

Seo-jun recalled the number of views of [Mukbang 2] that he had checked before, which was uploaded on YouTube. If he had actually met and eaten with that many people, it would have been hard to increase his level even after two more lives.

There were two more reasons that came to his mind.

They were Seo-jun’s guesses that these two factors might have influenced the level increase.

The first one was that [Invitation of the Gourmet Orc] was an ability that he used after the highest-grade library opened.

“Well, it would be strange if they only gave me a bed after opening the door of the highest-grade library, which is the hardest to open.”

The temporary level decrease also became available when he opened the door of the intermediate-grade library of life, so it didn’t seem to have nothing to do with it. Seo-jun guessed that it had some influence, whether it was a lot or a little.

He thought he could also consider the highest-grade library as one of the causes if there were any abilities that increased their level in the future.

And another guess was,

“…the previous life.”

[Golden Mermaid] and [Gourmet Orc].

Seo-jun looked at the two books side by side.

The more he read the book [Golden Mermaid], the more he felt Parvita’s obsession with food and enjoyable meals. And at the same time, it was natural that another book of life came to his mind.

“The previous life of the gourmet orc must have been the golden mermaid.”

If the highest-grade life and the intermediate-low life are connected, it is natural that the highest-grade life affects the intermediate-low life. 

The previous life that changed the evil orc into a good orc and made him live a different life from the ordinary orcs. 

That was the golden mermaid, Parvita.

“I’m glad my previous life was ordinary.”

Seo-jun sighed with relief, recalling his previous life. He shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if Parvita had been his previous life. He might have put acting aside.

It seemed to be a problem whether the previous life was good or evil, if it had a strong influence on the next life.

Anyway, he guessed that reading the book [Golden Mermaid] might have influenced the level increase of [Invitation of the Gourmet Orc]. The probability was low, but still.

Seo-jun looked down at the books.

“Well, I don’t need a high-level ability anyway.”

He also lowered the level of the ability temporarily when he filmed. He didn’t need a high-level ability now.

“But…”

Seo-jun looked at the old and black book that occupied one shelf alone. It was a book of life that seemed to crumble because it was so old.

“Has the dream of the first life not been fulfilled yet?”

If the ability of the first life that filled the library of life was the infinite reincarnation.

He reincarnated with that ability and became the protagonist, no, the superstar, but the book of the first life had no change.

Even if the level increase was impossible because it was the highest-grade ability, wouldn’t a sentence like [The extra became the protagonist in a new world.] appear as an ability transformation? Seo-jun thought.

Was it different from other abilities?

Seo-jun tilted his head and smiled brightly with a twinkle in his eyes.

“He hasn’t been satisfied yet.”

Fortunately, Seo-jun was the same.

There were too many works he wanted to film, and more would come in the future.

“Then I’ll try harder!”

Seo-jun, who had become friends with the first life who had the same dream, hoped that a new sentence would appear on the last page of the first life someday and smiled brightly.

“Oh, first, I have to read the book.”

The book [Golden Mermaid].

There was still a lot left.

***

A sunny day in Paris.

All his friends left and only Seo-jun remained.

<They don’t have a show in the morningㅠㅠ

<I booked a ticket and I’m waitingㅠㅠ

-Ji-ho: ㅋㅋㅋ So what are you doing now?

Seo-jun, who woke up with enthusiasm and was going to see a show, met an unexpected obstacle. 

There were hardly any places that had shows from the morning on weekdays.

<I’m watching at an open-air cafe while eating cake.

<The cake here is deliciousㅎㅎ

So he sat down at an open-air cafe and played with Ji-ho, who was training in Spain.

-Ji-ho: Is there anything to watch?

<Yeah

<There’s a piano quartet playing right in front of me.

<They seem to be students from a nearby music school, but they are good.

-Ji-ho: Piano quartet?

-Ji-ho: Four pianos?

<…Ji-ho, didn’t you listen to the music class?

-Ji-ho: I’m in the soccer clubㅎ

Seo-jun, who was listening to the soft melody, laughed incredulously and sent a reply.

<Usually, they play with piano, violin, viola, and cello.

-Ji-ho: Oh. Violin.

-Ji-ho: Seo-jun, you play the violin well tooㅋㅋ

-Ji-ho: Can’t you ask them to join?ㅋㅋㅋ

He was tempted for a moment, but soon shook his head and tapped his phone.

<I’m in Europe and everyone knows that, and if it spreads through video, I’ll be caught right away.

-Ji-ho: Ah. That’s true.

Of course, if Seo-jun did busking, he would cover his face and act so that no one would notice, but there was already a record of busking in [Over the Rainbow], so there would be people who would think ‘maybe…’ .

‘It would be fine if I was alone, but…’

It was better to think about this and that since he was traveling with his friends.

-Ji-ho: You still have a lot of schedule in Paris, so it would be hard if you get caught.

<Yeah, that’s right.

<But it seems fun, so

<I think it would be okay to do busking before I leave Parisㅋㅋ

-Ji-ho: Do it quickly and run away overseasㅋㅋㅋ

<Your words are weirdㅋㅋㅋ