Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 1

1.

-Dreaming of Tolkien, living in a gutter.

-Everyone’s a writer these days.

-Barely worthy of being called a writer.

-Trash belongs in a diary.

I read the comments filled with criticism, mockery, and even insults.

“I’m starting to miss the insults.”

I gave a bitter smile and closed the web novel app.

The novel I started with such ambition seemed destined to be finished by myself alone.

All the criticism and mockery only lasted for the first few chapters. After that, there were no comments at all.

“Still, I have to keep going until the end.”

Even while working hard at a grueling day job, I never stopped serializing my novel. Regardless of people’s reactions, my personality, which always sees things through to the end once I start, wouldn’t easily allow me to give up.

No matter how tired I was, when I returned home in the evening, I would wash up and immediately sit in front of my old laptop.

Today was a special day for me. It was the day I was publishing my 500th chapter.

I usually wrote a chapter in two hours, but today the words flowed smoothly, and I finished it in just one hour.

I posted the 500th chapter of and took out the squid I had been saving to grill.

I enjoyed a can of beer while checking to see if the serialization was going well.

“Oh!”

For some reason, a comment appeared just 10 minutes after the serialization started.

I quickly checked the comment.

-No improvement at all.

I couldn’t help but frown, but I was happy to see a comment after so long. I calmed my emotions with a deep breath and started typing.

-Why do you think so?

The number of views was so low that I couldn’t even dream of paid serialization, so I had been running it as a free serialization until now.

Honestly, considering that I had serialized over twenty volumes for free and that it was my first work, wouldn’t it be okay to give me some praise?

Unfortunately, that was just my opinion.

The reader was cold.

-It’s a traditional fantasy novel, but the settings are all mixed up. It’s not good to have too few settings, but there are too many. No, it’s okay to have a lot. If there are various settings that buff the protagonist, the story can be enriched, but your settings have no coherence and are just miscellaneous.

I felt parched from the harsh criticism.

I gulped down the beer and, as if possessed, replied to the reader’s comment again.

-I admit that the explanations for the various settings are insufficient, but they were all devices to make the protagonist stand out.

Even I thought it was a really weak excuse.

Perhaps that’s why.

I added another comment before the reader could even reply.

-This work is my first work. You can’t expect to be full on the first try [you can’t expect perfection from the start]. I’m doing my best in my own way, and I think it’s a work that is making enough progress considering my situation.

My words were sincere.

I grew up in an orphanage and became independent as soon as I turned twenty. Instead of going to university, I started working as a day laborer to make a living, and it had become my job before I knew it.

After spending all day on a construction site, anyone would want to collapse and sleep when they got home.

-I’ve never learned how to write novels, and I don’t have much time, but I’m holding on to this story because I think I should see it through to the end since I started it. Please be lenient…….

While I was writing, a new comment notification arrived. I quickly deleted what I had written and read the reader’s comment.

-The author’s personal circumstances are not important to the reader. What the reader sees is only the author’s work. If you want to show yourself, you should incorporate it into your work. We are here to communicate through the work, not through comments.

I didn’t have the strength to refute the words that were so true that they chilled me to the bone.

Aside from everything else, the fact that my work was a failure was undeniable.

-The settings are miscellaneous, there is no coherence, and above all, the characters are not charming at all. Have you ever thought about the characters even once? If you plan to continue writing, at least think about how the characters will act when they are put in certain situations and write accordingly. That’s how coherence is created, and that’s how the charm of the characters is created.

I didn’t reply to the reader anymore.

There was no doubt that they were a very helpful reader, but humans are not beings who easily accept uncomfortable truths.

My mind was already racing with excuses.

‘I’m thinking and working hard in my own way…….’

-I hope you don’t say that you are writing while thinking in your own way. There is no trace of thought in your writing.

I unknowingly flinched.

It was as if the reader was reading my thoughts and writing comments.

-Whether they are protagonists or supporting characters, they are beings that live and breathe in the world you have created. You introduce too many characters and easily forget them. At least as a creator, you shouldn’t treat your creations so lightly.

It felt like the old laptop was shining.

-Thank you for the advice. I will try to incorporate the reader’s opinions into the remaining chapters…….

Again, before I could post my comment, the reader’s post appeared again.

-You need to feel and realize, not just accept. You said you have a personality that sees things through to the end, right?

My body was now trembling uncontrollably.

Was this person watching me from somewhere?

No.

I was the only one in this basement studio apartment.

Even if they were watching me, how could this person read my thoughts and post comments?

Just as fear of the unknown was creeping up, the light from the laptop screen became even more intense.

-Are you ready to start anew?

What on earth was this person saying?

Were they even human?

Numerous questions popped into my head, but I was unknowingly typing on the keyboard.

-What on earth are you talking about…….

-Escape from a reality you have no regrets about and embrace a new reality. I want to see your growth as a writer and as a human being.

-I think you will grow enough if you are in a similar situation to Hero Karen in the new reality.

The reader’s comment popped out of the screen.

-This is a small request from a reader who has followed your writing this far and supports you more than anyone else.

* * *

I groaned at the whispering voices.

Silence fell.

As my vision gradually returned, unfamiliar scenery came into view.

I unknowingly reached out my hand to my stuffy chest.

“Wa, water.”

A young-looking woman immediately brought water.

As I mindlessly took the water and drank, my vision gradually cleared.

“Where is…….”

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

Who on earth are these people?

Where is this place?

I was definitely in the middle of finishing the serialization and exchanging comments with the reader.

“And…….”

The last moment, when the reader’s comment wriggled as if it were alive and popped out of the screen, vividly came to mind.

My body trembled involuntarily, and nausea rose.

“Your, Your Highness!”

“Your Highness!”

The voices of the people confused my ears. I barely suppressed the rising vomit and was finally able to look around.

The young women were wearing maid outfits, and two middle-aged men were wearing white robes that looked just like the priests in the novels.

And among the many people, there was someone who boasted an overwhelming presence.

A man wearing an unfamiliar Western-style suit. My tongue stiffened at his piercing gaze.

I wanted to ask where this place was and who they were, but his fierce gaze did not allow any questions.

It felt like my safety would be in immediate danger if I said even one wrong word.

“Ho, are you perhaps the reader?”

The reader, who had shown an unrealistic ability, came to mind, and those words popped out of my mouth.

“Is he mentally unstable?”

One of the middle-aged men in priest robes quickly opened his mouth at the man’s voice, which lightly ignored my words.

“We need to examine him further. But since he was hit by the Orc Shaman’s mental magic…….”

“Explain it accurately.”

The middle-aged man in priest robes was startled by the man’s momentum and blurted out the truth.

“Rather than being abnormal, it seems that His Highness the Crown Prince is somewhat confused because he has no magical immunity at all. But he will be fine soon.”

The man turned away at that.

“Take care of it.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the man leaving the room.

It wasn’t just because of his presence or his terribly cold voice.

The square window that could be seen right next to the man caught my eye.

-Ron Karl Leord

-Calpheon Empire

-Emperor

The man who had just left was named Ron Karl Leord.

A character in the novel Hero Karen that I wrote.

Not the protagonist.

The protagonist was, of course, Karen, as the title was Hero Karen.

Ron Karl Leord was…… the final boss in the novel. Like any other novel, my novel Hero Karen also had a final boss who opposed the protagonist.

He was the one who destroyed the protagonist’s family, instilled the protagonist with the powerful motive of ‘revenge’ to become stronger, and was eventually defeated by the protagonist.

“Is His Highness the Crown Prince alright? Please look at me.”

The title calling me, Crown Prince.

In other words, it meant that I was the son of the Emperor Ron Karl Leord in front of me.

-Arun Karl Leord

I swallowed a hollow laugh.

‘Am I crazy? How else could the characters in Hero Karen…… above all, I was in my studio apartment with a strange reader and comments…….’

Only then did the suspicion about the reader’s identity surge.

Who on earth was he?

This situation seemed to be clearly related to that reader.

The fact that he read my mind and answered before I even posted a comment, the fact that his comment popped out of the laptop and covered me…… all of these were things that could not be explained scientifically.

I unknowingly opened my mouth.

“Ge, get out.”

* * *

I needed to be calm.

The two fat priests went outside with annoyed expressions.

Considering the Arun Karl Leord that I knew, I could fully understand their reactions.

The worst idiot of all time.

A piece of trash that was hard to believe was Ron Karl Leord’s son.

The shame of the Leord bloodline.

The empire’s troublemaker.

These were roughly the words used to refer to Arun Karl Leord.

Judging from the situation a little while ago, I could accurately deduce who I was and what time it was.

If you live in an orphanage, you will naturally become more perceptive, and you will become several times more sensitive to other people’s emotions than others.

‘Even so, that reader said that I had never thought about the characters.’

I could once again accurately recognize my problems as a writer.

‘That was right. I have never thought of the characters in the novel as living people even once. There’s no way the characters’ charms could come out properly.’

Fortunately, I have a good memory. The reason I maintained a mid-level grade in school was thanks to my good memorization skills.

I remembered most of the characters in Hero Karen, which I had written up to 20 volumes.

Moreover, Arun Karl Leord was constantly mentioned from the beginning and began to endanger the empire in chapter 500.

Arun Karl Leord is the leader in dragging his father, who opposes the protagonist, into the mire [a difficult or entrapping situation].

-It was unfortunate for Ron Karl Leord, but Arun was granted talent after being cursed by the Orc Shaman. The fact that he, who was nothing more than an idiot, gained uncontrollable power became the decisive reason for the collapse of the Calpheon Empire.

“Considering that, becoming Arun Karl Leord isn’t all that good.”

I muttered alone in the empty room.

“Arun gradually became devastated by his brothers’ ridicule, his father’s indifference, and his mother’s absence. Around the time his father’s attention began to focus on his younger brother, who was developing dazzlingly, he unknowingly went to the northern forest out of fear that he might even lose his position as Crown Prince.”

I was starting to think about the characters in detail for the first time, and I was organizing the characters’ positions.

Because I am not a character in the novel now, but myself.

‘Perhaps that reader wanted this from me?’

Arun Karl Leord’s talent was non-existent until this point.

The reason he even tries to do something is thanks to the curse of the Orc Shaman in the northern forest.

In the future, it will become a huge misfortune for the Emperor, and for Arun, it will be an opportunity to at least act like a human being.

“This is inside the novel, and I’m Arun Karl Leord…….”

It was inside the novel, but no, this is reality now. No matter how many times I pinched my cheeks, it wasn’t a dream.

I said quietly with a slightly nervous heart.

“Status window.”

Will this work? I saw square windows earlier, but…….

-Arun Karl Leord

-Crown Prince

A laugh escaped my lips.

The status window appeared, making it clear.

I came into the novel.

In the first place, I can’t believe that I came into the novel, but how would I know how to get out?

However, the only regret is that I couldn’t finish Hero Karen.

“It’s a shame that I’m not the protagonist here, but Arun Karl Leord isn’t bad either.”

The life of the protagonist, who is blessed by God and filled with luck, is good, but I also had affection for the life of Arun Karl Leord.

“Whether he is a reader or a god…… yes, the story will be very different from now on.”

I knew this world I was going to live in better than anyone else.

In the world I created, I became the son of the final boss.