Surviving a Shounen Manga

How about This?

Creak–.

As soon as he opened the door, the light shining through the windows stung his eyes.

The bedroom was far too sunny.

"So it’s you."

Nergui, fourth prince of the Skull Empire, looked at the man who was sitting at a corner of the bedroom, reading a book.

He could be said to be the one furthest away from the sun shining just outside the palace.

Because the man had become so weak that he could no longer even walk properly.

"Did you hear?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don’t you already know? You’re always the first to hear whenever anything happens."

"The first to hear, huh… but I still don’t know what you’re talking about."

There was no change in the man’s expression, but Nergui thought he must’ve been laughing. Laughing without a single trace of a smile on his face was the man’s specialty, after all.

"If you’re going to pretend you don’t know, I’ll just tell you. Princess Thermis. The second princess of the Mainin Kingdom. Remember, Big Brother? The one you proposed to."

"Ah, her. I heard. She registered to participate in the Warrior’s Path this time, didn’t she?"

"Is that how you should react? How gentle of you."

"Then how should I have reacted?"

"Shouldn’t you at least show some annoyance? It’s like she’s saying she’d rather ride a horse and hold a sword than marry you, Big Brother. Even if she’s a princess of another country, that’s too much."

Nergui thought that the man’s expression might change this time.

But he still just laughed. Of course, in his unique way – without the slightest trace of a smile.

"Well, that’s just the reality. Armour suits her better than a dress, anyway. Of course, that’s not to say she won’t look beautiful in either. And since the coalition government came into power, hasn’t judging people by their countries become meaningless?"

"It’s not meaningless. Wars would no longer be possible if it were. The coalition government is just a fig leaf. I don’t know about the other continents, but at least this one is different. Eastland is a place where the law of the jungle still reigns supreme. The weak are only the meat the strong eat."

Nergui espoused a political theory that any citizen of the empire would agree with all their heart. Words that even a three-year-old child passing by would applaud at, nodding their head.

However, the man still only stared at him.

"The boundaries are breaking down, though."

"Ever since the time of the first emperor, Umir Khan, the Skull Empire never set any boundaries around itself."

"Yeah, that’s true, but… that doesn’t mean you should cross the boundaries all other countries have set up."

"I’ve always wanted to destroy them."

The man’s eyes sank even deeper.

"… Do you want war?"

"… I only seek the ancient glory that has faded."

Even as Nergui said that, he ridiculed himself within his own thoughts.

Because this wasn’t true at all. Because he did nothing but lie.

Because he wasn’t that kind of person.

And the man in front of him knew that very well.

"Don’t just use your head If you have ambition. Do it proudly, with your own two legs. That’s the right thing to do."

"…"

The man just said that. As always.

Why had he come here again? Nergui had already forgotten.

To wind him up[1]? To see if he was angry? Or just to laugh at him?

He always come here with words prepared in his mind, but he always ended up changing them on impulse when he actually faced the man. This time too, was he just going to go back after spewing out some nonsense that he didn’t know whether was his opinion or his grudge?

So this time, he just spat out what he had to say, without thinking about it.

"By the way, why did you do it? Did you really like her?"

"What?"

"That marriage proposal."

There was no other intention.

It was just – a question.

But then,

"Cough… cough."

The man started to laugh. It wasn’t an expressionless face like he had before. Surprisingly, his lips were twitching.

"I now feel bad about doing it. To be honest, I never thought it’d turn out like this."

He scratched his head as if he was genuinely embarrassed.

It was an amazing sight. It was the first time Nergui had ever seen the man like this.

"Do you know? That no one has ever asked me that? People always say that I must have a plan, and they try to dig it up."

"… Is that so?"

"But I knew that you’d ask me this one day. You’ve always been curious about me, about what I think or feel."

"…"

"Isn’t it human nature to covet what they don’t have?"

And the words that followed, somehow pierced straight through Nergui’s heart.

That he’d had never seen such a strong woman before.

Or even such a strong human being.

…

At that moment, Nergui realized a fact he’d forgotten.

This was why.

Those eyes were the reason why. What made such cruelty be born in his heart.

Nergui almost wanted to laugh. To thank his older brother, for reminding him of the purpose he’d forgotten.

His brother shouldn’t have had such eyes.

Eyes that seemed to have been truly impressed by something, eyes that seemed to have fallen in love.

At least not in front of him.

Because for Nergui, the strongest human being… was the man right in front of him.

"… She’s pretty ugly for a woman."

"It’s unfortunate. That your eyes aren’t working properly, that is."

"Of course, how you see the world through different eyes than anybody else is what’s the most surprising about you, Big Brother."

Nergui smiled and turned back.

Just then –

"You used to smile like that every time you hatched a bad plan. I heard from the king some people tried to assassinate the princess on the ship."

The man slowly spoke.

"… Is that so?"

"I’m not the Khan, so I can’t stop you. But she’s reached all the way here, so you should understand. She’s a strong woman, so don’t go underestimating her."

"It was more of a matter of luck. A monster came out of nowhere and started sticking to her."

That monster was truly an unexpected variable.

Nergui hadn’t been able to come up with an answer for him yet.

"And you also know, that the Warrior’s Path isn’t just a test to screen soldiers. Rather, it’s more of a sacred ritual. If you try playing a prank in the middle of it…"

"I’m sorry, but I’m not a five-year-old kid anymore. I’ll remember your advice, though. I’ll be going now. Please rest, First Prince."

With those parting words, Nergui left the man’s bedroom. But there was one last sentence that he kept hidden inside his heart.

‘Of course, I still like to play a prank once in a while.’

The Adventurers’ Association’s Barantor branch was not far from the hotel.

This time, I visited the branch office with the princess in tow, not only so I could be ready for any possible attacks, but also to check the reaction of the staff. I was wondering, what’d happen if the mission target was with me?

To be honest, I’d been a little shocked at the Nanma branch office, the last time. Even though the staff had been a member of the association, he hadn’t been very interested in the subject of the mission itself. Since this was the world of a manga, I’d wondered if the process was always that haphazard.

So I took her with me this time, and –

"Thank you. The second quest is also successful."

Again, the association staff just stamped the request confirmation certificate without any verification.

Bang–!

He didn’t even seem interested in whether the woman standing next to me was the princess or not. Even while he was stamping the mission request form to bring in the currently most famous woman in the Skull Empire.

It was an astonishing level of indifference.

‘Huh…’

For a moment, my thoughts flashed back to the choice still sleeping on my background list.

[Expelled Corrupt Adventurers’ Association Member].

That was then –

"Oh, and there’s a linked quest."

"What?"

"Yes, here it is… hmm. Wait."

The staff who was scanning the request, frowned.

Soon after –

"The request is to, uh… to wait in this city until the next request comes in."

He said something very absurd.

"Yes?"

"I think you should just wait. Although, we won’t be the ones to contact your team – the Squatjaw Adventurers, right? – so please just drop by here at least once every few days, even if it’s a bit annoying."

"…"

"Goodbye."

Once I got home, I was able to briefly summarize the current situation.

The author was now quite confused. So he was just going to observe for now.

The reason was also easy to guess. Perhaps it was because I’d registered to participate in the Warrior’s Path.

‘But did he really never consider it at all? That I could apply?’

Hmmm.

Of course, from the author’s point of view, it might’ve been quite reasonable to think that way. Originally, I hadn’t planned to participate at all.

The reason was simple. Because breaking through the Warrior’s Path gave me no benefit. If I could avoid it, I should.

The Warrior’s Path is basically about choosing a warrior who will be loyal for the Skull Empire.

If you pass it, your authority and freedom within the Skull Empire will rise, but at the same time, you’ll inevitably become entangled. You have to swear an oath of allegiance to someone in the Skull Empire.

What if I passed it and then just left? The Skull Empire itself might turn into an enemy. They might think that I’d deceived the Empire.

In a word, this wasn’t something an adventurer like me should do.

So maybe the author hadn’t considered it at all. And now, roughly, his thoughts would be, ‘how are you going to handle it?’ I felt like he was observing.

But despite these conditions, there were two reasons why I had to choose this Warrior’s Path.

Firstly, to protect the princess.

Presumably, there would be people aiming for the princess even in the midst of this Warrior’s Path. There was no way the guys who wanted war could miss an opportunity like this.

Of course, this time they won’t try to kill the princess.

The princess dying while taking the test? No war would break out in that case. Rather, a tragic story would be born, and accusations would come pouring in that the princess died due to unnecessary pressure.

Their purpose would probably be to make the princess give up the test, all by herself. Because then the public opinion would swing towards her being a coward who’d only applied to the Warrior’s Path to escape her impending marriage.

A rude foreign princess who’d insulted not only the first prince of the empire, but also the Warrior’s Path itself.

She’d be buried under a mountain of criticism, and the empire’s anger towards the Mainin Kingdom would surge even higher.

From the point of view of the warhawk faction, it must seem like a very plausible scenario.

But of course, in the original story, the princess had successfully passed the Warrior’s Path despite such dangers. Although I didn’t know how.

Maybe she’d really broken through all obstacles with that amazing power of hers?

However, the situation was slightly different now. The plot had already been twisted quite a bit due to my intervention, and the guys trying to harm the princess were now a little angrier than they would’ve been originally.

So, honestly speaking, I had no choice but to feel responsible. Just the number of gloomy bastards secretly surrounding our hotel right now was quite intimidating.

To be honest, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat anxious…

And secondly –

Of course, to show off.

Rather, this was the more important reason. Forget taking responsibility or whatever, I still wouldn’t have accepted this if not for the leading point of view.

"Hmmmm."

Currently, I was the main character of this chapter. If you take on the role of the main character leading a scene, shouldn’t you show something fun for the viewers?

Moreover, this chapter wasn’t a long one. Three to four days at most, by my estimate.

Meaning, I had to show off something outrageously impressive in a short time.

And, who knew?

If it went well, maybe my stage would last a little longer?

So I was thinking about how to best direct the scenes, to make it the most outrageous.

The Warrior’s Path, the day of the qualification test.

We were in what looked like a great stadium, surrounded by numerous spectator seats.

This building, that reminded me of the Colosseum, didn’t seem to fit the natives’ nomadic lifestyle, but surprisingly, it was a piece of history eight centuries old.

One side of the field was packed with rocks of all things, ranging in size from as small as a child to as large as a wild boar. And the largest of them was almost the size of an adult elephant.

The princess had said that the test assignments changed every time, but the ‘preliminaries’ and ‘final gates’ that the audience could watch were always fixed. The tests at these two gates were the most basic and intuitive of the qualities required of a warrior.

Among them, the preliminary round was ‘strength’.

The preliminaries were very simple.

Lifting one of the rocks piled up over there, according to your own strength.

Because it was a comparative assessment, the bottom 70% of applicants were dropped here. If there were currently 3,000 participants, just from this simple test of lifting the stones, more than 2,000 would drop out.

Soon,

– Here, on the Warrior’s Path, the first round! Let’s start the preliminary test of ‘lifting the stones’!

"Ooh!"

"Good luck!"

"Show your strength!"

The qualifiers had begun.

The twenty people in the front row headed towards the pile of rocks. Looked like the contestants would rotate in batches of twenty.

The stones had to be lifted above the knees and held there for five seconds. If you dropped it before then, you’d be disqualified immediately.

It wasn’t a big deal, rather it was a very simple test, but it turned out to be better than I’d expected.

The cheers of the audience never stopped as the participants grunted and lifted the stones.

"Lift!"

"You idiot, do you think you’re strong enough for that one?"

"Don’t give up! Lift, yes! Lift!"

After a while, I could start to determine which rocks would give you a passing grade.

A rock roughly the size of an adult human was the standard.

However, those with enough strength tried to lift the heavier ones, because the results of the preliminary round would decide your benefits in the finals.

"What are the benefits?"

"No idea. It’s different every time."

Anyway, the heavier the stone you lifted, the more advantageous it’d be for you.

"Hmm."

Of course, it wasn’t very meaningful to me. After all, my course was already decided.

How long did it take?

While I was suffering from a little boredom, cheers suddenly erupted from the audience.

It seemed that someone famous had appeared.

I quickly found out who.

Among the twenty people who now stood facing the stones, there was one who was particularly large. In terms of pure size, this bald guy was bigger than me.

Suddenly,

"Huh?"

The princess exclaimed in surprise.

"That one?"

But the audience instead became silent. Maybe it was because their mouths were frozen in surprise.

The bald giant stood in front of the largest rock, the ‘elephant’.

Then he grabbed it, and –

"… Ggh!"

– Began to exert force.

"Uu… kkkh!"

While I was imagining that the rock would start shaking slowly,

"I-, it’s rising!"

"It’s up!"

"It’s a monster!"

It rose up into the air in a flash.

In an instant, shouts shook the stadium.

Well, it was natural. This was first monster they were seeing, after all.

And once the audience, who’d been boiling like lava after the bald giant had gotten his turn, had quietened a bit –

"I’m next."

It was the princess’ turn.

"Take it easy."

"I’m thinking of picking ‘that’ up, too."

What the princess pointed to was, naturally, the ‘elephant’.

"Are you sure? If it gives you a hard time, remember to call for the ghost grandpa."

"Don’t underestimate me. You think I’ll need help? I’m undefeated in contests of force… w-, well, almost undefeated, anyway!"

With the appearance of the princess, the audience, which had been quiet for a while, began to boil again.

Of course, I couldn’t be certain whether it was because she was a woman, or because she was the second challenger of the ‘elephant’.

"Hey, girl!"

"You aren’t planning to lift that one, right?"

"Crazy! Does this make sense!"

The audience began to watch the scene with half expectation and half doubt. Or perhaps more precisely, one expectation and ninety-nine doubt.

But then,

"Huuuuuk!"

The princess grabbed the rock and began to use her strength.

And surprisingly –

"L-, lifted!"

"A monster!"

"A monster woman!"

She lifted the rock much faster than the bald guy had done before her, and even looked a lot more relaxed doing it.

"Heeeh…"

Really, that woman was a monster.

After the princess returned, she briefly announced her impressions.

"It was quite heavy, but not so much that I couldn’t lift it. If it were you, maybe you could pick up two of them."

"Hmm, is that so?"

After a few more batches, it was finally my turn.

– Participants in front!

Giving a sigh, I slowly walked towards the pile of rocks.

"… What to do?"

In fact, I wasn’t the only one who was worried.

Of course, I wasn’t worried about not being able to lift that ‘elephant’.

My worries were about how to direct the scene.

If no one had lifted that rock before me, it wouldn’t have mattered. I’d just go and pick it up. Because that’d have been enough.

But now, there were already two pioneers before me. Besides, one of them was even a woman. Being the third one to do something, didn’t sound particularly outrageous.

"My head hurts…"

As I trudged my way through to the front of the elephant rock, the audience cheered.

"Hey!"

"I think that squat-jaw is also trying to challenge the elephant!"

"Chin up, man!"

‘No, lifting it is not the problem…’

If there were a few more copies of it, it wouldn’t have been such a problem. I could just take two or three.

‘Should I do some stunts with this one… Maybe juggling? Something else?’

While I was pondering for a while…

– You there, you with the squat jaw! This isn’t the place to worry. If you don’t feel like lifting that, go and grab another rock. Don’t waste time!

One of the moderators saw me hesitating and shouted.

And then,

"Boo!"

"If you can’t do it, screw off!"

"As if any Tom, Dick or Harry could lift that!"

The audience immediately changed their attitude and started cursing at me.

It wasn’t funny. It hadn’t even been that long.

‘Hah, how noisy.’

There were even people telling me to fuck off, and throwing the food they’d been eating.

That was then.

‘… Throw?’

In that instant, an idea flashed inside my head.

Throw it… throw it.

I quickly looked around. A place to throw at, a place to throw at…

And finally –

‘Oh, there it is.’

A suitable target caught my eye.

I caught the face of a prince who was sitting idly on one side, in a section with luxuriously decorated seats, as if they were reserved for the nobility.

Nergui or Merogui or whatever.

Of course, it was impossible to predict what the future consequences of such behaviour would be.

Maybe a lot of annoying things would result from such a provocative action.

But I didn’t have to ponder too deeply. Was showmanship more important, or some behind the scenes events more important? Besides, I was a villainous role from the start. I was already used to it.

And I thought it might be a good idea to give that guy a proper warning once in a while.

Without hesitation, I grabbed the ‘elephant rock’ with both hands. Then I immediately lifted it up.

– W-, wait, Squatjaw! Before you get disqualified, just go find another rock… huh? Huh…?

‘It’s pretty heavy, though. Can I make the throw from here to there?’

The distance to the audience seats was about 40-50m.

To be honest, it was a long shot.

Still,

‘Ah, screw it. Even for the leading point of view, this should be enough.’

Somehow, I felt like I was getting stronger.

"He really did it!"

"Hell, don’t you think he picked it up too easily?"

"That Squatjaw is another monster!"

But I was not satisfied by the murmuring of the audience.

"Can you call somebody strong just because they lifted one of these?"

And then,

"This is how you do it…!"

I threw the rock towards the side where the fourth prince sat, with all my might.

Boom–.

Of course, I wasn’t aiming for him or anything.

Rather, I threw it with the intention of narrowly passing over the audience. Because I didn’t mean to cause any casualties. This was just a ‘warning’.

And, fortunately –

Boo-ooom–.

The rock sailed over the auditorium by a narrow margin.

…

The place was quiet for a moment.

And then,

Booooom–!

There was a roar as if something had exploded (the rock, if I had to guess), but there was still no sound from the audience.

Only silence.

With the silent stadium as my background, I returned to my seat.

Of course, I didn’t forget to smile once towards the air.

"How about this?"

Editor’s Notes:

[1] 약을 올리려 (lit. take medicine), to make somebody angry.