Nicknames could be created however you liked.

If it's not a big deal, you could even use a name like 'AnyNickname'.

But hero nicknames were distinctly different.

To a hero, a nickname was as crucial as their life, and if that name became a strange moniker, they would do everything to change it.

No matter how kind an ability user might be, if her nickname was 'Cliff Rider', she would sue the person who gave her that nickname for defamation and slander.

This wasn't just limited to heroes.

If a villain was called by a weird moniker, they would track down the person who named them and stab them in the back.

And most importantly, giving a strange nickname was a surefire way to make someone a so-called 'demon'.

-Teacher! Has the nickname from the Hero Association come out yet? It must be a really cool name, right?

-Well, um...

-Why are you hesitating? Is there a problem?

-Calm down and listen carefully. Your hero name is...'Bald Knight'.

-...Ugh! I feel like a demon!!

Giving someone a strange name was a surefire way to turn a normal ability user into a demon.

To protect an ability user's mental state, the nickname should consider their personality, traits, abilities, and everything else as much as possible.

And above all, it should respect their own choice.

If they chose their own nickname and there's no reason they couldn't use it, it's natural for them to become attached to that name.

In that sense,

I decided to seriously explore why Laplace's demon named themselves 'Hyangdan'.

Hypothesis one: Was there a previous existence that used the name Hyangdan?

"Brewer. What's the result of the investigation?"

"Zero. Nothing."

Summoned to the pension on Ulleungdo, Brewer - Celestia quickly investigated and compiled the data I requested.

"There was no ability user with the nickname Hyangdan. I checked not only Korea but also the entire Chinese character cultural sphere, and there was none."

"What if the Chinese characters were different or if the pronunciation was changed to Korean?"

"Not at all. I checked Japan, China, and even North Korean communities. There was no ability user named Hyangdan."

According to Brewer's investigation and my own checks on wikis and communities,

"There are absolutely none. No ability user."

There was no ability user with the nickname Hyangdan before.

Not someone deceased, nor anyone with different Chinese characters.

There simply was no such existence.

"The first hypothesis is wrong. Then the second. What if Hyangdan is a 'name' itself? Either a real name or an alias?"

"If it's an alias, it's hard to find, but there were a few with the real name Hyangdan. But they were all ordinary people. Not ability users, not from Pandemonium."

The second hypothesis: If Hyangdan was not a nickname but an actual name.

It might be strange for the demon of Pandemonium to use their real name, but considering the case of Duoexini, it's a mistake to expect common sense from them.

You shouldn't approach it with common sense.

You needed to approach it in a way that matched the sentiments of aliens soaked in national pride.

"Really none?"

"Yes, none."

"Then the next hypothesis."

The third.

"...Related to Seong Chunhyang."

Now, we need to seriously explore the 'motif' behind the name Hyangdan.

Where did the name Hyangdan come from?

Naturally, it's from 'The Tale of Chunhyang'.

One of our traditional pansori, in the romance story of Seong Chunhyang and Lee Mong-ryong, the maid serving Seong Chunhyang was named Hyangdan.

"Pansori practitioners, people researching the tradition related to The Tale of Chunhyang, the city of Namwon in Jeollabuk-do, where The Tale of Chunhyang is set. Anyone likely to use the name Hyangdan there...?"

"None."

According to statistics, the population of Namwon in Jeollabuk-do was about 100,000.

Even if we tried to find someone with unusual behavior among those 100,000 people, it was already time-consuming. All the Brewers under Gunggi also investigated and found no relevant data.

It wasn't a matter of time; there simply was no relevant case.

"In that case... I have no choice but to consider the last hypothesis."

All three hypotheses were off the mark.

"The remaining one is..."

"Even after looking at Chunhyang fans, there were no particular points of interest."

"Damn."

The fourth hypothesis also crumbled.

If someone who loved The Tale of Chunhyang had used the name of a character from the story as a nickname, it would have been understandable, but there were hardly any who openly did that.

"Apparently, Hyangdan isn't in the same category as Duoexini. Duoexini was a notorious troll with secondary accounts."

"If she were like him, it would have been easier to catch them. Tsk."

Now, the only thing left was to use the final resort.

"I didn't want to use this method."

Finding a specific fish in the vast ocean was difficult, but we had no choice but to bait the ocean and wait for the fish to bite.

"Wait a minute, I need to make a call."

In the end, I had to use the last resort.

Knowing there's a risk, but still, I had to do it.

"Hello?"

[...Ah, hi...?]

A voice as tiny as an ant.

[Uh, um, what's up...? Did our kids do something wrong or anything...?]

A very introverted, gloomy voice that feared the phone call with me and avoided conversations with people.

"Not at all. I'm calling to ask a favor."

[A f-favor?! From you...? To me?]

"Yes. Your team under the Director, they need to quickly produce some 'content'."

[What kind of content...?]

"Bait content to lure out Laplace's demon, Hyangdan."

[A propaganda piece, then?]

The voice changed.

[How are you going to draw that demon's attention? Just tell me the method, and I'll make it and send it as quickly as possible.]

"It's fine to improvise. The quickest thing is text, so let's start with that and then follow up with illustrations or comics as secondary creations."

[Director Do, you have everything planned out, don't you? Tell me.]

As soon as it got to work-related matters, this woman changed completely.

"Do you know The Tale of Chunhyang?"

[...I'll look into it. It's a Korean folktale, right?]

"Yes. It's one of the pansori. The plan is to adapt the story in a new way to attract the attention of Laplace's demon."

If the name Hyangdan came from The Tale of Chunhyang, there should be some reaction to a modern reinterpretation of that story.

Whether it's a positive reaction or, like Duoexini, she writes 5700 characters and then tracks down the creator, I just hoped for some reaction from Hyangdan.

If it failed, then at least a new piece of content had been created.

Content filled with risky and severe material, enough to make some viewers cough up blood.

[Alright. At least give me a simple plot.]

"First, let me tell you the title, Director Chaos."

One of the four main executives of the Secret Society.

A woman designated by the Chief to oversee the 'culture' sector within the society.

Chaos.

"The title is 'Bangja Chronicles'."

I requested her to create bait content to lure out Laplace's demon, Hyangdan.

In the darkness.

A red-haired woman lay on the bed, swiping through her smartphone with her thumb, looking for something.

"Is there anything interesting that's new?"

The woman had a candy in her mouth, wearing only a white tank top and dolphin shorts, lounging on the bed.

Her hair was braided like an apple, and there were snack bags placed beside the bed.

"Yawn. Is there anything interesting... Oh."

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the new releases.

"Oh my, did this person create a new work...? I can't resist this."

She took a respectful posture as she examined the new release.

"Ah, as expected. Romance is the best."

She licked her lips and pressed the cover.

"...Tsk. Was this drawn with an ability? The drawing has no soul."

The cover illustration was technically well-drawn, but it had a subtly unpleasant valley effect.

Whether the illustration was drawn using an ability or not was unknown, but the cover didn't sit well with her, making her shake her head.

"The cover is just... Huh?"

Thump.

Her heart suddenly started pounding.

On the cover of the newly released work, a young man in white clothes was displaying his chest and abs.

"Oh my, oh my. What's this...?"

Her eyes were fixated on the chest, but regaining her focus and looking down, she noticed hastily scrawled text.

Bangja Chronicles - The Pillar of Namwon's Virtuous Bombshell -

"...What is this crappy title? Wait, this...!"

She finally noticed.

In the top right corner of the cover, a red '19' mark was shining.

"It's an adult novel!!"

She resumed a respectful posture.

She wiped the snack crumbs off her hands with a wet tissue, grabbed her smartphone with one hand, and placed the other hand on her belly, maintaining a formal stance.

"Bangja was Lee Mong-ryong's servant... What has this writer done with The Tale of Chunhyang? Who is it? ...Night Blossom Latte?"

Click.

She pressed the prologue.

"Ah, damn."

And she cursed out loud.

"Chunhyang had her first experience with Bangja, didn't even hold hands with Lee Mong-ryong, refused the advances of the local magistrate after Lee Mong-ryong left for Hanyang, and Hyangdan seduced the NTR-ed Lee Mong-ryong with her body...?"

Jerk.

"Has the writer gone mad!!"

The woman, 'Hyangdan', turned red in the face.

"How dare they mix NTR and adultery into a pure love story!!"

Even in creative works.

Even in novels.

There were things that could never be tolerated.

----Chapter 263: Tactical Nuke Drop (2)----

The content of "Bangja Chronicles" (by Night Blossom Latte) revolved around an assertive woman named Seong Chunhyang meeting both Bangja and Governor Byeon.

From Lee Mong-ryong's perspective, it's a thoroughly NTR (netorare) work.

NTR was a crime.

To quickly clear up any misunderstandings, in this world, NTRwas is defined as a crime.

NTR.

Netorare.

The act of stealing someone else's lover.

It's something that also happened in reality, and it's a genre that often sparked debate about why we needed to see this kind of thing even in creative works.

In this novel's world, this genre was classified as a crime.

Why was NTR a crime? It seemed unnecessary to explain, but it's because it could significantly negatively impact the mental state of ability users.

-Be happy, brother.

-Hyuuung!!

The protagonist's respected older brother dies.

The protagonist's crush was NTR'd by the enemy.

If asked which caused more mental damage, nine out of ten would say the latter.

-Isn't the death of a family member more impactful?

-People dying... I'm used to it.

-Oh.

The death of a family member was familiar to some, and as many people were born into the world, many also died, so death was not a crime.

If dying itself were a crime, then all deceased would be considered criminals.

While the death of a person could mentally impact an ability user, death was something that was equally given to everyone, so it couldn't be helped.

But NTR was different.

It's something that shouldn't happen, didn't need to happen, but when it did, it felt incredibly filthy, unpleasant, and infuriating, making you want to kill the one responsible.

When I was previously in Ulleungdo, a bride who had just had her wedding at the port was NTR'd by her sister.

And she became a demon.

She became a demon out of rage to kill the man.

Regarding this, some people said:

-That's a real-life case, but creative works are different. Isn't it problematic to censor the realm of art?

-What if someone forces such art on ability users? And what if an ability user becomes a demon because of an NTR storyline?

-It would be... horrific.

To protect the mental state of ability users, many different types of cultural content had been censored in this world.

There were many things I didn't want to name, and many things that shouldn't be mentioned.

The most representative of these was NTR.

And among NTR, the most taboo was inserting NTR into pure love stories.

-Stop pushing unhappy porn on people who live happily! Why are you so desperate to break up happy couples? Why do these gold sun-like things always ruin sweet couples' relationships?

That's the general perception.

-Even in content, I want to see couples being affectionate, not being broken up and cheated on! I don't want spicy stories!!

And to those who thought that way, I inserted Bangja and Hyangdan, and Governor Byeon into the love story of Seong Chunhyang and Lee Mong-ryong, creating all sorts of chaotic situations.

Why had the story of Seong Chunhyang and Lee Mong-ryong been talked about until today?

Of course, it's because it's a pure love story.

Seong Chunhyang didn't succumb to power and kept her fidelity and integrity towards her beloved man, and Lee Mong-ryong, despite his success in the past exams, kept his promise to marry Seong Chunhyang.

Even under the threat of Governor Byeon, they didn't waver,

Even when seeing Lee Mong-ryong disguised as a failed scholar, she didn't switch,

Even if Seong Chunhyang had already been harmed by Governor Byeon, he didn't abandon her,

They overcame all adversities and had a happy ending based on their love and trust in each other, a perfect pure love story!

Inserting NTR into such a pure love story?

That person deserved to be executed immediately.

If someone in this world wrote a strange story with the Chief, I had the intention to rush over and break their skull.

However.

As the saying goes, when I do it, it's romance, but when others do it, it's an affair.

While I myself detested NTR, I reached out to NTR to bring out Hyangdan.

'Of course, I didn't read it.'

I merely glanced at the first page of comments on Bangja Chronicles's reactions created by the slaves, I mean writers, in the Chaos team and then closed it.

-Are you insane?

-How could you write something like this?

-What if someone reads this and becomes a demon?

-It turns me on.

-Is that guy crazy?

As Master Gongsun Qiu Sang says, when five people gather, one must be trash, and the reactions in the first page comments were about 4:1 divided.

-It's just a creative work, what's the big deal?

Some people saw it that way, but most were criticizing the author for turning Tale of Chunhyang into an NTR affair story.

Naturally.

I asked for this provocative content to be written targeting such common reactions.

Of course, I told them to adapt it so people wouldn't get too much of a shock, but the fact that Seong Chunhyang and Lee Mong-ryong don't end up together is enough to give viewers a culture shock.

'It's not for nothing that I pulled out the last resort.'

I didn't want to create something like this myself.

But sometimes you had to do worse things to kill Laplace's demon.

-It's not real NTR in real life, so why such a big reaction over something in a novel?

-Reality is worse.

In reality, foreign men were captured, enslaved, had their heads shaved, and bombs planted in their heads, making them work until they die.

Those who seemed likely to produce good ability users were used as breeding studs and disposed of when no longer useful.

Newborn children were used as soldiers or turned into mana powder.

Women were imprisoned in underground facilities on inescapable islands to become factories for producing ability users.

'To prevent such realities, finding and killing Hyangdan is the fastest way to prevent creating more demons.'

I judged that spreading an NTR adaptation of a classic novel as bait wasn't a big problem to prevent such realities from happening.

Right.

Even if I committed such absurd taboos, the Secret Society would do anything for world peace.

And that's what a 'Villain' was.

Even if this situation caused confusion and fear for many people—

"Oppa, this is interesting."

"Hyera...?"

I hadn't read the content, but Yoon Hye-ra, who had seen the novel, handed me her tablet with sparkling eyes.

"What is it? Why is it interesting? Is it because Byeon Hak-do is an ability user? Or is it because this Lee Mong-ryong guy comes across as really pathetic...?"

"......."

Bangja Chronicles.

It had been adapted to a modern setting.

I had thought of the "Joseon Erotic Love Story," but it turned out to be a K-modern romance fantasy.

"The world forces Chunhyang to become a virtuous woman, but she lives as her heart desires. I think it's really cool. It's been a long time since I've seen such a proactive female protagonist."

"...Wait a minute. Wasn't this an NTR novel?"

"Compared to the classic original, it is NTR. But if you look at just this novel, it's a romance fantasy about a bold heroine who flirts with several men."

"What? Wait, what do you mean?"

"Oppa, didn't you look at the content? Didn't you provide the idea?"

"I did provide the idea, but I didn't say it should be modern...!"

In other words, although it took its name from Tale of Chunhyang, this NTR piece written by the Secret Society's slave writer had turned into a steamy romance story set among modern ability users.

"No way. The community was in an uproar calling it an NTR piece."

"That's the male perspective. The female perspective is different. Oppa. When is this going to be a drama?"

"A drama?"

"Yes. If it becomes a K-drama, it would be great, right? Seong Chunhyang and Lee Mong-ryong were childhood friends, then a supporting character like Bangja appears, and the chaebol chairman Governor Byeon insists that Seong Chunhyang should be his woman. If it were made into a web drama, it would be a hit."

"What kind of absurd drama... wait a minute."

Come to think of it.

Wasn't there no such thing as an absurd drama in this world?

"......."

In this world, all cultural content was censored.

And because of that, absurd dramas that incited social division and glorified crime have disappeared from TV.

-Author, this person needs to die for the drama's plot to progress, how should we kill them?

-Can't we just say they died of natural causes?

-But their age is set at 50.

-Then just say they died from laughing too hard while watching a comedy show.

-Is that okay?

-Ah, then what, are you going to say they died in a car accident? That kind of thing could only be filmed before the Great Cataclysm. If you film something like that now, the broadcasting standards committee will come to censor it immediately!

Stories about people dying could not be used carelessly. When people died on screen, it was almost like re-enactments of safety accidents aimed at children. This was the reality of visual media in this era.

For those aged 15 and above, there could be some blood, but this world didn't allow the build-up of strong oppressing the weak to progress the story freely.

Lee Mong-ryong being NTR'd from Seong Chunhyang was something that could never be presented as an all-ages work.

However.

If it was not a desecration of Tale of Chunhyang but a completely new adaptation that took Tale of Chunhyang as a motif?

In comparison to the classic novel and modern novel, it was NTR, but if it succeeded in attracting the attention of a woman named Hyangdan by publishing this novel through the Secret Society?

Be it a comic.

Be it a drawing.

Be it a drama.

Ultimately, it only mattered if we can draw out Hyangdan.

"Hyera."

"Yes."

"Let's not do anything more or less, just focus on this."

Laplace's demon.

"We'll make Hyangdan a K-villain. Hmm... for example."

She would hold 5,700 characters and approach the writer.

"Even though she is Seong Chunhyang's close friend, she seduces Lee Mong-ryong, who passed the state exam, with her body...?"

"Then what about Seong Chunhyang?"

"She still loves Lee Mong-ryong, but Hyangdan gaslighted him. She claims that Seong Chunhyang cheated, slept with Bang Ja, hooked up with chaebol third generation Governor Byeon, and went to Ulleungdo. She defames Seong Chunhyang, then goes on a trip to Jeju Island with Lee Mong-ryong and sends photos to Seong Chunhyang as if by mistake."

"...Shouldn't you be telling this to Chaos instead of me?"

A moment later.

[...Call.]

Another novel derived from Bangja Chronicles.

The short story "The Villainess Hyangdan" began production.

"The protagonist, Hyangdan... no, let's call her Han Dan-yeo."

"Why Han Dan-yeo?"

"Her father's last name is Han, and her mother's last name is Dan."

"???"

Following the pure love NTR bombshell.

"The ending is she marries Lee Mong-ryong and makes herself the beneficiary of his life insurance, then poisons his coffee."

Another bombshell of a K-drama-style kimchi-flavored villainess.

"The name of the poison is Pong*—"

----Chapter 264: Tactical Nuke Drop (3)----

NTR. Adultery.

Pong Pong. Murder.

When I sent the plot of my world's extreme drama, inspired by the Tales of Chunhyang, it came back as a very neat extreme love triangle drama.

-I have written the work as instructed, Manager. Now, webtoons, dramas, and even movies with relatively short production times will be released one by one.

-It must have been difficult to produce. Good job, writer.

Rather than delivering the message through chaos, it was more convenient for me to communicate directly with the writer who wrote the problematic text.

-Hehe. How could I just lounge around and write when you're paying me to write this kind of material? I get to write what I want and you pay me well...

-What did you say? Write what you want...?

-Oh, no! That's not what I meant...! Creating an evil woman character like this would be immediately censored otherwise. Hehehe.

Collecting only those things that can easily turn people into demons in this world, I created a fictional being called Handan Yeohee and ruined the image of Hyangdan.

-Whatever, just completely destroy Hyangdan's image.

-Just in case, my debut work was a pure love story!

-Yet you ended up making a harem in the side story, right?

-...Because there were readers who wanted a harem!

-Wouldn't true readers want it to stay as pure love?

-Arrgh...!!

What if people didn't realize that Handan Yeohee was Hyangdan because of the name?

-It must have been hard to change the names.

-Oh, I just used the names directly. As per your instructions, I adapted the Tale of Chunhyang so that everyone could recognize it, and kept the names of the two main characters. I only twisted Hyangdan's name slightly to ruin her properly.

Of course, the protagonists in the work retained the names Seong Chunhyang and Lee Mongryong.

-But why is Bangja's name Bang Ji-hwan here?

-He's a minor character that women would like the most in the work...

-No, I mean why Ji-hwan?

-Chaos actively recommended the name. Did you want it to be Bang Ja-hwan or Bang Ja-yong? How about this, Bang Ja-...

-Never mind.

For some reason, Bangja's name became Bang Ji-hwan, and he turned into a minor character who comforted Seong Chunhyang. Another supporting character named Byeon Hakdo appeared as a chaebol third generation, supporting Seong Chunhyang economically.

-Good job. 'Netoratte'.

-Excuse me, I have another pen name...

-The world calls you that, so why not go with it as your pen name?

-I'm a pure love enthusiast!

The internet was in chaos.

Suspiciously wealthy NTR supporters were showering praise on the writer of Tales of Bangja, Neo Chunhyang Story, and K-Villain Handan Yeohee's Saga.

-Even though writing about adultery and NTR was my job this time, I believe pure love is the truth.

-Yet all your works so far have been harems?

-.....

-Where is the pure love in your work? They're all harem love, adultery love, even rape love. All of them are things that can easily turn people into demons. Is this the pure love I knew...?

-If I get to write a new work...! Then I will truly write pure love...!

-Well, fine. I'll look forward to that next time. For now, send 'that item'. Send it through Chaos.

-Ah, yes! Please take care of it...!

With the novel already out in the world, and the story completed and rapidly reproduced as OSMU, all that remained was to watch the burning issues and wait for the fish to cross the line.

Why did the world go crazy? Of course, it's a creation, but the stories were familiar in modern times, so everyone started over-immersing.

Even as it started spreading as web dramas, the situation began to escalate rapidly.

"Oppa. Did you see the 12-minute web drama?"

"Yeah. As expected from Chaos. Pressuring the kids below to create a video right away."

In the video, E-rank ability user Seong Chunhyang and B-rank ability user Lee Mongryong, who were childhood friends, had a mutual attraction since they were young.

But the story we prepared was an extreme drama.

In the final ending, Seong Chunhyang decided to start anew, fixing her makeup and cutting her hair, with Bang Ji-hwan and Byeon Hakdo supporting her side by side in a friendly competition, while Lee Mongryong, in a very erotic outfit, indulges his instincts with Handan Yeohee in a hotel.

And the netizens' reactions were exactly what I wanted.

-The husband is Bang Ji-hwan. Disagree and you're wrong.

-No, the husband is Byeon Hakdo~ Reality is that tall, handsome, rich people win~

-Seriously, those mentioning weird husbands over the real one, all 'Mongryong' yourselves...^^

-Your wife is Handan Yeohee lol.

Putting aside the reactions to each character.

There was a split in the world, but it didn't create a demon just yet.

What's important was making a real demon angry.

-In the end, Hyangdan is just someone to tear apart, right?

Modern reinterpretations of Hyangdan began to gather malice.

-Ugh, how can a woman like that exist? I'm scared of meeting such women, I can't marry lol.

-You're not getting married anyway lol.

-Next up is someone marrying Hyangdan.

-Next up is a future Lee Mongryong.

Men felt a visceral disgust towards Handan Yeohee, who intentionally approached men to ruin them and collect death insurance.

-Sisters? I'm so scared watching Handan Yeoheeㅠㅠ I'm afraid there might be such women aroundㅠㅠ

-Honestly, they're everywhere if you look closely. Honestly, everyone lives like Handan Yeohee, right? ㅎㅎ....

-So these kinds of women make ability users into demons...got it...Handan Yeohee is here?

Disgusting.

-What are they saying, meeting other men behind their backsㅡㅡ

-Just because you do doesn't mean every woman does~

Women intensely expressed their disgust at the idea that others might consider them similar to Hyangdan.

Eventually, Hyangdan became the universal villainess.

There was a minor problem arising from this.

"Oppa, according to a local newspaper in Namwon, someone has written 'adulteress' next to the Hyangdan mascot character all over Namwon city."

"We unintentionally caused trouble."

Why did people curse at the villains in dramas in real life?

There were stories of actors who played villains in dramas being cursed out in traditional markets by overly immersed grandmothers.

Or an actor who played a sex offender in a social criticism film performed so well that even his family couldn't approach him for about a week.

It's okay when it was just a novel, but when it became a play, movie, or drama with real actors, people tended to immerse themselves even more.

"Aren't the actors suffering because of this? Hmm."

"If they get paid 1 billion won per episode, they must consider all that. It's part of the job."

"But there won't be a demon coming to kill you at night because you ruined a character that's the motif of your nickname."

"I'm trying to kill that demon."

All of this was to catch Hyangdan.

Gugu.

A plane flew by in the sky.

Over Ulleungdo, heading towards Gimhae, something black began to glisten and slowly descended to our pension.

It looked like a supply crate dropping from the sky, and when it landed, it gently touched the ground as if it floated down slowly.

By the power of magic.

It was an express delivery sent by Chaos through the society's private plane.

"It's here."

"That's..."

"Yeah. This is the bait to lure out Laplace's demon."

I opened the box and took out the contents.

It was simply a Taegeuk Watch.

Not just any Taegeuk Watch, but a specific one.

"If I were Laplace's demon, I would go to kill the writer who made Hyangdan like this."

"...Do you think this bait will work?"

"Yes. I'm confident."

There's a writer who put me in this world after searching for an ego-searching 5,700-character review on a reader community, so wouldn't the characters in his world be the same?

"Tracking an online post is no big deal. Hye-ra, how's the magic power?"

"It's enough. Even for fighting."

"No, I'll handle the fighting. Please take care of the barrier, considering the location."

I put the Taegeuk Watch on my wrist and prepared fully for battle.

"We should wait for Hyangdan at the most fitting place for her crimes."

Beep, beep.

The Taegeuk Watch on my wrist flashed a light.

With a GPS signal emitting, the location-tracking feature was on.

At that time, on the second floor of an office near Incheon Port.

"Huh. This writer's name is Netoratte?"

"Yes, yes. That's what everyone calls them..."

In a room filled with thick smoke, a black-haired woman swiftly flipped through the paper documents.

Next to her, men in Hawaiian shirts exchanged glances, their eyes focusing on a plaid-shirted man in glasses sitting in front of a computer.

"Hey, hurry up. The guest is waiting."

"Ah, yes...! I'll find it soon! If I track the IP address where the post was uploaded... oh?"

The man with glasses opened his mouth in surprise.

"Um, I found it, but...."

"Where is it?"

"Well, it's..."

The man hesitated, swallowing nervously before speaking.

"It's here...."

"Hmm, let me see. ...What's wrong with this place?"

"Well, that's... uh, it's hard to explain, um...."

"What's the problem?"

The woman, Hyangdan, tilted her head.

"Isn't it just an island near Mokpo?"

"......."

"Let's see, the name is... Angel Island? So, the writer who wrote Tales of Hyangdan or whatever lives on this Angel Island, right? Is that correct?"

"...Yes, according to the hacking data."

"Then."

Crrunch.

The woman smiled as she crushed the metal baseball bat she was holding in her hand.

"Let's go see his face. Hehehe."

- - -Chapter 265: Tactical Nuke Drop (4)- - -

If there's one good thing about becoming a special ability user, it's the experiences I couldn't have before.

Now, I could freely go to places I previously deemed ambiguous to visit.

"You've come in here."

A place further west from Mokpo.

North of Jindo, where I once fought the Skull Demon alongside Baek Seol-hee.

I entered Angel's Island alone, wandering an unnamed island at the very edge of the map.

There were few people.

Maybe around 300 people on this island?

And even those 300 people were not residents of this unnamed island.

Rumble.

People in work clothes were diligently shoveling over the salt pans.

Their skin was darkened by the sun, but they silently and diligently worked, scooping out the salt from the pans.

"Whack, whack...."

Despite the hard labor, they couldn't help but feel nauseous, wiping the sweat off their foreheads with their sleeves while groaning.

A quick glance at a worker's face showed a typical Australian blonde foreigner.

"Hey, no whack! Keep going!"

And a man who looked like a supervisor shouted at the blonde foreigner.

Wearing a blue armband, he had a hat with 'Haegneul Solar Salt' written on it, supervising the workers.

'It's truly amazing.'

The place I knew was full of ghost stories about modern-day slavery, but here, a large corporation had directly come in and was managing the salt pans as if it's really Angel's Island.

"I wasn't swearing! It was just the sound of the shovel going in, whack!!"

"Foreigners make an F sound so clearly! Koreans would say 'puck', not 'whack'! Are you going to keep whacking while earning 10 million won a month, Carlos?!"

"...Tsk."

The grumpy white worker, Carlos, started shoveling again.

And watching them, I felt chills down my spine.

Everyone working in the salt pans was wearing work clothes with the 'Haegneul' emblem on their backs, and the work allowance was 10 million won a month.

'It truly is Angel's Island.'

No one suddenly disappeared without a trace.

CCTV cameras managed by Haegneul were everywhere, and small boats with the Haegneul emblem patrolled the sea, watching over the salt pans.

Aside from being a sea salt farm, it was no different from other farms on land.

Ding, dong, dang, dong.

The bell rang.

It was precisely 3 PM, and the workers all stretched and began light exercises.

"30 minutes break!! If you need to go to the bathroom, don't do it in strange places; use the boat! If anyone dumps in the sea again, they will be deported to their home country!"

The supervisor gave a stern warning and disappeared.

I watched the scene from the rooftop of a building inside the island, sitting in the shade.

'What a crazy world.'

On the rooftop of the factory, my reflection showed in the stainless steel vent extending outward.

The figure of the Goblin in a suit hidden in the shadows.

It meant the steel plates were polished enough for me to reflect in the factory's vent.

Despite the severe corrosion from the sea, it's so well-managed, indicating how much Haegneul cared about this island.

Indeed, the Angel's Island was the Angel's Island.

Not just a joke, with corporate capital coming in and most of the residents changing, many things on this island had changed.

Was it because of national pride?

Was it because of the perception of being the world's greatest country?

Or was it because everyone agreed that the old image should no longer exist in the eyes of the world?

-Seoul Republic? Hell? Gotham? What nonsense. There's no such strange places in the great Republic of Korea.

-Those places no longer exist~ The entire country changed after the great upheaval~

-Regional discrimination? How can you say such harsh words! We are one nation, and the people of the Republic of Korea! There's no way we would tear each other down just because we're from different regions. Hahaha!

In this world, the darkness that was abundant before the great upheaval was no longer visible, at least 'externally.'

-If you don't say it doesn't exist, people in black robes might visit your home tonight. Be careful.

-Keep in mind, maybe it was like that before, but not now. As people of this leading nation, don't tarnish the national brand with such stories.

-Do you want to die as a traitor or live as a patriot?

If you look closely, the target had just changed. Just as Haegneul came directly to Angel's Island and overturned everything with corporate salt farm management, all the rumors now circulating secretly were 'things that no longer exist in this world.'

Right.

From someone's perspective, if viewed from an alien's point of view, 'bad history.'

Such things no longer happened in Korea but in real-time in foreign countries, which was absurd in this world. But at least the Republic of Korea shone brightly with national pride.

Therefore.

I chose this place.

The Succubus's Island.

God's sanctuary.

Whether Laplace's demon named her alias Hyangdan after being deeply impressed by the Tales of Chunhyang or not, most of her actions in Thailand were imitations of what was done in the world before the great upheaval.

She cultivated coriander and mana powder instead of salt.

She just added abilities to the way people were treated like slaves.

Even if she said it wasn't related to the place before the upheaval, it's a reasonable assumption that she drew inspiration from the bad image associated with this place.

Good things to Korea.

Bad things to foreign countries.

"If it didn't exist, just leave it as it is. Why go abroad to recreate it as if it were Korea?"

Beep beep beep.

The Taeguk Watch started ringing.

It seemed about time, and the phone started ringing.

"Yes, I'm answering the call."

[Is this Mr. Park Bunchung?]

"...Who is this?"

Of course, I was not Park Bunchung.

No matter how many people in the world lived with unique names that seemed like they needed to be changed immediately, I was not Park Bunchung.

Rather, it would be surprising if they called me Do Chang-nam.

[Are you the one who wrote the story about Hyangdan? I'm Kim Soo-jung, a web novel PD working at 'Mercury Media'.]

"......Ah, yes. That's right."

For a moment, I wondered if it was real, but I could sense the sinister tone in the voice coming through the phone.

"By the way, how did you get my number?"

[Well... I hacked it.]

"......."

The true nature was revealed.

I immediately hung up, but soon something like a breeze began to blow where I was standing.

Sarak.

A woman wearing a hanbok landed on the rooftop.

With her neatly tied black hair, she looked more like Seong Chunhyang than Hyangdan, and except for her black hair and black eyes, she looked like a foreigner in a hanbok.

"...Who are you?"

"I'm Kim Soo-jung."

"Are you... a special ability user?"

"Yes. I am a special ability user. And also...."

She smirked.

"I'm a demon who came to kill you."

"......!"

"You're the one who wrote the story about Hyangdan, right?"

Creak.

The woman, who called herself Kim Soo-jung, a demon, cracked her neck from side to side and slowly approached me.

"Oh my, it's unforgivable. Mixing NTR into pure love. And on top of that, making a woman like a praying mantis who devours men."

"...Are you here to kill me just because of a novel?"

"Just a novel? Ha, don't you care about the mental state of someone who might go crazy because of your novel?"

I understood.

I was a reader, too.

"Because of your novel, a story about love between a man and a woman and a woman's chastity turned into a pornographic 19+ affair story!!"

"And that's why I deserve to die?"

"Of course!"

"...Well, demons really have nothing better to do. And it's just absurd."

I immediately took off the mask I was wearing.

"......Huh?"

"Do the demons of Pandemonium have no thoughts? No intelligence at all?"

".......Who?"

"Oh."

I revealed my face.

Well, it didn't matter.

The barrier was already set, and all that remained for this woman was 'execution.'

[Does this help you understand?]

"......!"

As soon as I released the hidden magic and put on the mask, Kim Soo-jung jumped up and tried to escape into the sky.

Bang!

But it was useless.

"An invisible flame barrier...?"

[I got help from Gunggi. Don't worry. Gunggi won't participate in this battle.]

Now that this island has become a 'battlefield,' Kim Soo-jung—Laplace's demon—could not leave until Gunggi's magic was exhausted.

In other words, I must defeat that woman before Gunggi's magic was fully depleted.

"Hehe, interesting. You've consumed so much magic, and you think you can win against me?"

[If I wasn't going to summon you, I wouldn't have created such a novel.]

"......Huh?"

Laplace's demon laughed with her mouth wide open.

"So, you created that NTR intrusion novel just to lure me out...?"

[It was very effective. By the way, if you try to escape, Hyangdan won't end as Seong Chunhyang taking over Yi Mong-ryong. I'll make sure it 'transforms' properly.]

It's a specialized term only those in the know understand.

It's a word that didn't circulate in this world.

"What, what are you going to do...!"

That's why Laplace's demon was afraid.

For her, the demon who knew everything, the fact that there was something she didn't know was a terror itself.

[If you want to know, run away.]

"...Hehe, okay. Then, if I kill you here, I can learn about that transformation or whatever it is, right? What, will you transform like a rider?"

[I'll tell you before you die. But, why are you so confident?]

As expected.

Just like Duoexini, she's foolish.

[The association fights the enemy by any means necessary. My magic is not fully restored to face you alone.]

"I don't know what you're trying to say, but no matter how much you build it up, it's just a bluff."

[Do you think it's a bluff? That's unfortunate.]

I lightly tapped the Taeguk Watch with my finger.

[Unfortunately, it's not a bluff.]

Soon, a message flew far beyond Gunggi's barrier, and I leisurely stretched my hand toward Laplace's demon.

[Let me introduce.]

"......Huh?"

Snap.

From a golden circular magic circle, a blonde-haired, gold-eyed woman emerged, tearing open the space.

[My special EX-grade partner.]

The sure way to kill Laplace's demon, even with my incomplete magic.

[The Archangel of Justice who I brought to defeat you.]

Tactical Yumir drop.