Surviving a Shounen Manga – Episode 89

Variable

Except for Tanya, who was the trigger for the Ramirez Scramble, there were a total of three groups who had to obtain the Ramirez at least once, ‘unconditionally’.

In order,

1. The Huntington Bandits
2. The Leo Adventurers
3. The Grey Lion Adventurers (i.e., Karl Zayed)

These three.

Of course, there’d been countless others who’d gotten their hands on it at one point or another in the original work. There was one chapter where I remembered it changing hands five times. True to its title as a ‘scramble’, the process was full of robbing and being robbed in turn.

But apart from these three, nobody had done anything particularly special while they had it.

Meaning it didn’t really matter if somebody else had it. The treasure had to be delivered to the three ‘teams’ when the time came, but the other guys were just ‘temporary storage’.

So it shouldn’t matter if somebody else took over as the storage, no?

This was the first route I’d thought of when deciding how to approach this arc.

I wasn’t going to hand over the Ramirez to anyone other than those three.

Of course, having the Ramirez didn’t mean I’d be in every scene of the arc. Even right now, the leading point of view was with someone else, not the one who held the treasure.

But that didn’t matter either. As long as I kept hold of the treasure, whoever the leading point of view might be, they’d have no choice but to come to me.

And perhaps the main point of view might be offered to me as well.

Anyway, the main approach was therefore easily decided.

Now the problem was to decide exactly when to snatch it and when to give it away.

After deliberating for days, I’d decided on when to commit my first ‘extortion’.

“Now, bring it to me. Hm? Can’t you hear me?”

It was now.

Once the Huntington Bandits fulfilled their ‘duty’ in this arc.

Simple. The Huntingtons’ most important role in this arc was to receive the Ramirez from Tanya. It confirmed that Tanya had successfully transported the Ramirez, fired up the readers by showing the reappearance of these named bandits, and finally provided the structure for the arc’s segmentation.

Oh, and one more.

The news that the treasure was robbed from even these famous named bandits would spread everywhere. And mark the beginning of the Ramirez Scramble in earnest.

In other words, their role was to sound the ‘starting whistle’.

And I was going to be the ‘first’ to start the relay race by taking it from them.

The smiles on the faces of the Huntington Bandits, including Tanya, had faded away by now. They’d realized that my words were no joke.

But,

“We might be a bandit gang, but that doesn’t mean we repay grace with enmity. I think all of us here will be better off keeping that in mind.”

But that didn’t mean they looked scared.

Their hands hovered at their waists and backs, as if preparing to unsheathe their weapons in anticipation of battle.

“Weren’t you telling me to split just now because you had nothing for me? That wasn’t repaying grace with enmity?”

Tanya snorted, ‘humph!’ at my reply.

Then,

“At least I didn’t tell you to hand over your wallet. You want to get robbed blind, you bastard? Is that what this is?”

With a smile on her face, she started openly swearing at me.

Hmmm.

I’d felt this while reading the original manga too. Tanya, this girl, seemed to be the most radical among the bandits.

And also… the bravest.

I took a step forward, towards them.

“You asked me if I knew anything about you guys, right? If I’ve ever heard of the Huntingtons?”

“… What?”

“As it happens, I do know. That too, a lot.”

I was familiar enough to know all their attributes.

Firstly, them putting their hands on the waist or back… was all a trick.

They’d pretend to draw their weapons, but in reality, only dozens of smoke bombs would be pulled out.

The Huntington Bandits weren’t frontline fighters. More specifically, they’d never fight against opponents with a proven level of strength.

The reason was simple. They weren’t interested in fighting.

The Huntingtons had no adversaries in their ranks. Their members were mostly guides and decipherers.

1. Start running once the theft’s done.
2. Avoid fighting.
3. As soon as you see the path, escape.
4. Bow down to the strong.
5. Treasure your own lives more than anything else.

These were the Five Great Principles of the Huntingtons, which made these bandits so unique, and simultaneously justified their longevity.

They were specialized thieves and escape artists, not fighters.

In other words, they wouldn’t fight because they couldn’t fight.

The reason I thought Tanya brave was because she was trying to hold my attention by her declaration, giving everyone else the chance would run away. Even though she’d been by my side, and had seen my power close-up.

I took another step closer.

Then,

“Hmm, does he really know all about us?”

“But still, isn’t he being too reckless?”

“Should we just try having a quick brawl?”

“Definitely not. He’s a monster. I’ve been travelling with him, so I know.”

The bastards suddenly put their heads together and started whispering.

Once they became convinced that I knew enough about them, they really became shameless.

Didn’t even bother to whisper quietly.

“By the way, that guy… isn’t he that Squatjaw? The one in the rumours?”

“What? That guy?”

“Right? Right!? Yeah! I was wondering if I should say it out loud or not!”

“Yeah, right? His adventurer team beat Karl Zayed and ranked first in the qualification test. Besides, he’s a hot topic right now at the Leeches’ Cradle.”

“R-, really? I had no idea. That’s kinda scary… But why wait till now? Why not rob you when you were alone with him?”

“Tanya, isn’t it because you made him angry? Maybe we can settle things by apologizing and handing over whatever we have on us…”

“Hm. I don’t think so. He’s obviously aiming for the Ramirez. He must know its value. I don’t know why he didn’t take it while he was with Tanya, though… Anyway, the situation is now clear.”

“It’s time to do what we always do.”

They raised their heads at the same time, a determined look on every face.

They certainly seemed like bastards with firm principles. Even if the principle was ‘run away’.

Then, Tanya took a step forward.

What did I tell you? She wasn’t lacking for courage.

“Hey, I’ll just tell you one thing.”

“What? That you’re going to cut and run?”

“… Huh?”

Tanya froze for a moment as if nonplussed, but then grinned.

“So you know!”

Then she screamed with all her might.

“Everyone go!”

But,

…

No one moved.

Naturally, including Tanya herself.

“… What?”

“You guys outnumber me, don’t you? Eight of you to my one? So I phoned a friend.”

The reason these guys couldn’t move was simple. Because their shadows were bound.

‘That’s quite some improvement. That time just trying to tie Leo down took him so much effort, but…’

To tie up these Huntingtons who were famous for their agility without missing a single one. No matter how long he’d been preparing, I couldn’t help but admire the flawless execution. I’d thought he might miss one or two, or even three, to be honest.

I glanced towards the fountain at a corner of the plaza.

There, a slit-eyed man in a suit was looking at me with a smile.

Giving him a nod, I strode closer to Tanya, who was still in shock.

Then,

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any other purpose.”

“P-, pervert! Take that hand away!?”

I quickly pulled out a small mirror wrapped in a cloth from under her clothes.

The Ramirez. The Mirror of Souls.

A mirror that showed the secret the subject ‘most wanted to hide’.

I didn’t open the wrapper.

Although I did wonder what it’d show me… this wasn’t the place to check that out.

And the time for me to look at this had already been decided.

I carefully hid the mirror inside my clothes.

It’d been easier to snatch than expected.

Of course, this was only the beginning.

Just then,

“Hey, the fun’s started already?”

A thick voice came from somewhere.

I looked back, and saw a certain giant-sized guy approaching with a smirk on his face. Behind him stood a row of figures twice as tall.

And at the same time,

“You, why did you show up so late!”

“Bastard, you missed the time again because you were busy stuffing yourself, weren’t you!?”

“I thought you’d run away!”

“Smash that Squatjaw!”

The Huntingtons all screamed at him in unison.

Ah, so it was those idiots.

The Huntingtons had no adversaries in their ranks, so they’d hire people to fight and make time for them to escape.

These newcomers probably played that role.

And the moment I realized this,

“… Pft.”

I almost let out a laugh.

I didn’t really know these people. But I’d seen them before.

In the original, there’d been a scene where other adventurer had snatched the Ramirez away from these giants, near the border of this city.

In other words, these thugs had originally been the first to rob the Huntingtons.

“Tsk…”

And here these idiot bandits were screaming for their help without knowing anything. But no matter. These bandits had no claim on something that was already mine.

Then,

“The rumours flying around about you these days are no joke. You’ve got some power on you, huh?”

The leader of the giants was already in front of me.

“Oh, a little bit.”

“Hey, is your mouth still running? What’s with this confidence? More than a hundred people have cashed in their chips at my hands, you know. Don’t think I’m the same as you posers. Push comes to shove, all of you turn out to be all talk.”

“Is that so? But I’m not the one bragging here. Aren’t you the one running your mouth, here?”

“W-, what?!”

“Alright, just promise me one thing.”

“Huh?”

“If you get beaten up by me, spread the word that I’m really strong. Then I’ll let you live.”

“… What? What are you babbling about?”

“I have to fan the rumours a bit more so the boss mobs hurry up and come to eat me. I’m thinking of gobbling them all up so I can level up a bit in this arc.”

Was it still too complex?

The giant looked like he didn’t understand at all.

“… No, what the hell are you talking about now…”

“Forget it, forget it. Don’t try to understand. Just lie down quietly.”

Then,

“Th-, this bastard! You think you’re giving the orders here?!”

That big face flushed in an instant.

A very mob-like reaction.

“Come at me together, you and those big guys behind you. I don’t have the time to play around. Oh, make sure to spread the word later, you hear?”

Let’s end this quickly.

---

Three hours later.

“Th-, that villain!”

“… I knew it. That guy’s always been greedy.”

“Haah, I thought he was a good guy though…”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve never seen a decent human among the Southland zookeepers.”

It was crazy.

“What the…”

I tried to listen with one ear and let it out through the other, but there was a limit to how much I could endure the black cat’s accusations.

And honestly, if he was that dissatisfied, he should’ve just left. Why was he still sticking next to me?

Even though I didn’t say anything, Coocoo and Nero continued to chew me out. I thought as long as I didn’t respond, they’d get tired and quit, but nope. It must’ve come as quite a shock to them to see me tie Tanya up and snatch the mirror.

Yeah. Tanya must’ve been a friend to them too.

But I didn’t try to appease them. No matter what I said, they wouldn’t listen to me honestly.

And I didn’t really know what to say, either.

Then,

“Haah…”

Coocoo flew into the sky. It seemed his frustration hadn’t subsided.

When his quarrelling partner disappeared, Nero also quietly left.

Maybe he was leaving us and going to Tanya.

Rather, I was hoping for that. Because that way I’d still have some kind of connection with her.

The Huntingtons’ role in this arc was virtually over, but Tanya was the exception. Her role was unique, because this was her true starting point.

Anyway, now that the causes of noise pollution were gone, I decided to focus back on what I was doing.

[Chapter 26 ‘Tanya’ has ended]

[Hiro’s character evaluation has been updated]

[‘Frantic’ has been added to the characteristics]

[The support of many readers followed]

[Awareness increased by 8,500]

[Attracts the author’s attention]

[Author’s favourability has increased by 40]

[Reappearance probability has increased to 60%]

The reason I was rechecking the messages from the last chapter was simple. Because there were quite a few specifics that needed closer investigation.

First of all, the rewards from this chapter weren’t very satisfactory.

Just look at the awareness.

During the Skull Empire arc, in the last chapter alone, it’d risen by a whopping 100,000 and even had an excess runoff, but this time it was less than 10,000. Even though it’d spanned a longer period.

I thought I’d directed some pretty good scenes, but apparently that wasn’t enough to satisfy the picky readers.

But, well. The opponents were all weak, and half the fights were made-up and contrived. This kind of a result might be natural.

‘And, ‘frantic’…’

To be honest, this was a bit awkward.

I’d been hurrying purely to save some time, but it immediately got packaged into a characteristic?

Of course, these characteristics were more like a playful witty introduction instead of explanations of my actual disposition. They didn’t have any real impact on me.

But I couldn’t help but laugh. Because the readers’ perceptions could be affected by even the smallest detail, and you never knew when you’d be saddled with some new and weird concept.

There’d been many cases during the original run where the memes circulating among the readers ended up actually being reflected in the characters. Maybe that was proof that the author diligently kept tabs on the fan community.

What’s more, I had no choice but to notice because weird labels had been sticking to me lately. Perhaps I needed to pay attention to my image.

And finally… the main point.

[Author’s favourability has increased by 40]

This was why I was re-checking it several times.

How unlucky.

Just what had made the author so excited?

It wouldn’t have been strange even if it decreased. Rather, it really should’ve decreased. Because I invaded the chapter titled ‘Tanya’ and took away some of her spotlight and significance.

I didn’t receive a penalty because I hadn’t crossed the line, but the author should’ve still been irritated.

The fact that the favourability rose instead was suspicious, and it was a considerable increase at that. My second-highest ever, if I remembered correctly.

Why?

“Hmmm…”

I could guess one thing.

Since the assassins intervened, there was a possibility that this battle would become even bigger in scale.

Other than that, there was no significant change in the situation that I could see. I’d taken the Ramirez only after the chapter was over.

To interpret this in a good way from the author’s point of view… Did he get an opportunity to finally cast a lot of characters who’d been present in the settings background but never introduced?

“Really? That’s why?”

I couldn’t be sure, but it made sense. This kind of favouritism obviously meant I solved a problem he’d been sad about.

And next,

‘It’s a variable.’

It meant there was a high chance that I’d encounter unknown characters for the first time. And they’d be strong as hell. The author wouldn’t have felt so sorry if these guys had been weak or incompetent.

A variable…

Meaning it was impossible to know about it in advance or prepare for it.

All that was possible was… a counterattack after the fact?

Suddenly new variables were cropping up, huh…

I felt like I had to leave quickly.

These ‘variables’ might not be so easy to control.

I immediately got up from my seat.

I glanced at the place where Coocoo and Nero had been.

‘Well, I’m sure they’ll follow.’

After a while, I started heading to ‘Clone City’, the city where the goblins were waiting.

---

“Leo? What’re we going to do?”

Kiriko’s words ended in a question mark, but what Leo heard in those words was closer to a prompting.

And naturally,

“Do you even have to ask?”

Leo chuckled.

He didn’t know where the rumours came from, but these days, he heard them everywhere he went.

Two great things had arrived from Eastland.

A treasure, and a monster.

“They say all kinds of famous guys are gathering. The Welsh Adventurer Team, the Turtle Adventurer Team, the Geronimo Adventurer Team… Besides, rumours say that Karl Zayed is also coming.”

“Of course he would. The only one to ever shame him has come back.”

“It’s the same with us. Since he came, we can’t help but go.”

“It’s close, too. Right around here.”

“… Has it been three months?”

Leo had a habit of mentioning that guy, even after he’d traipsed off to Eastland. He was sure he’d beat the guy someday. Especially when he felt he had grown, or when he was dealing with a formidable enemy, it was that squat-jawed guy who always appeared in his mind as the object of comparison.

But now, he’d returned. With a title of ‘Monster’.

“But we’ve become strong too. Right?”

“You’re so simpleminded.”

“Stop nagging me, woman!”

“I’m sure we’ll win this time.”

The others were enthusiastic, but Yan couldn’t easily join in. It wasn’t because he was afraid of Squatjaw, either.

It was because of an ominous premonition that’d creeped up on him out of nowhere.

‘Why? Suddenly…’

This was his first time feeling such a sudden sense of discomfort.

As if the path he’d been traveling on suddenly vanished one day.

A strange twist of fate seemed to be enveloping him.

That was then.

Caaaaw-!

A certain crow flew towards the group.

Yan’s face turned pale at the sight.

“A, a crow…”

The crow had a piece of paper in its mouth. It flew in swiftly, dropped it in front of Yan, and flew away again.

“Yan? What’s wrong?”

“Hey, do you know that crow?”

“Kiriko, you idiot. Why would he know the crow? He must know the owner who sent it.”

It was just as Siana said.

Yan knew very well who the owner of the crow was.

“But isn’t that a letter?”

“Let’s check it.”

“Can I read it?”

“N-, no, I’ll read it.”

After taking a long breath, Yan quickly read the letter the crow had left behind.

After a while,

“Leo… it’d be better to not get involved with that side right now.”

He said hesitatingly.

“What? What’re you talking about?”

“Don’t get involved with Squatjaw? Why?”

“The letter’s from my father. He says he’ll participate in this scramble… and he’ll consider everybody present as his enemies. So if I want to come… I should sharpen my dagger.”

This was another surprise for Yan.

His father had already announced his retirement. Why did the man who’d said he’d never go into the field again, suddenly…

It was strange. All of a sudden, it felt like everything had changed.

“Father? Your father? Why? What’s he doing?”

“My father…”

The master of Black Shadow, Gronyan^[1].

An assassin who was once called the Assassin King, and currently one of the Underworld Kings who ruled Eastland.

And…

“Two days ago, he was elected president of the Westland Assassin Society… I don’t even know what that is… He says the treasure and the monster are all theirs, so try them if we dare.”

However, Yan’s words had the opposite effect.

Hearing this, a grin appeared on Leo’s lips.

And Leo’s words that followed made Yan’s mood sink even lower.

“Everyone, pack your bags. We’re leaving, right now!”

---

Editor’s Notes:

[1] 그로니얀, yes, Yan’s father is literally called Grown Yan. #Dealwithit.

---

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