"I'm a writer."
“我是个作家。”
Not too long after her novel got published, Han Su-Yeong began introducing herself like that.
小说出版后不久，韩素妍就开始这样自我介绍了。
It was the same story during the blind dates she begrudgingly attended after her friend pleaded her to go.
在朋友恳求她去相亲的时候，她也不情愿地去参加了同样的约会。
"Ah! You're a writer!"
“啊!你是个作家!”
Her date must've heard about it before showing up here, so what was up with this fuss? The man quickly rolled his eyes around a little before asking her with a smile.
她的约会对象在来这里之前肯定听说过这件事，所以这是怎么回事？男人迅速地转了转眼珠，然后微笑着问她。
"Did you start your career through something like the annual literary contest in spring?"
“你的职业生涯是从一年一度的春季文学竞赛开始的吗?”
"No."
“没有。”
"Pardon? In that case….?"
“什么?那样的话......?”
"I write webnovels."
“我写网络小说。”
"Webnovels?"
“网络小说?”
The problem always came after this bit.
问题总是在这一点之后出现。
She spotted the man's eyes sneakily scanning her worn, cheap-looking T-shirt.
她发现那个男人的眼睛偷偷地扫视着她穿着的廉价t恤。
"Aha, so, like… It's that, isn't it? Internet novels? Those with a lot of emojis in them….?"
“啊哈，那么，就像......就是这样，不是吗?网络小说?那些有很多表情符号的......?”
"Ah, yes~. Exactly like that."
“啊，是的~就是这样。”
"You know, there are lots of strange jobs to be found these days. Youtubers, internet authors…."
“你知道，现在有很多奇怪的工作可以找。油管主，网络作家......”
The man grinned and sipped the Americano resting right before himself. The watch attached to his wrist came from a pretty high-end brand.
这个男人咧嘴一笑，一边啜饮着摆在他面前的美式咖啡。他手腕上的手表来自一个相当高端的品牌。
….Hadn't she experienced a similar situation to this one plenty of times before?
她以前不是经历过很多次类似的情况吗？
"It's like everyone is trying to make easy money nowadays. Don't you think so?" said the man.
“好像现在每个人都想轻松赚钱。你不这么认为吗?”男人说。
"Is there anyone who'd want to make money the hard way deliberately?"
“有没有人会故意用艰难的方式赚钱?”
"I make about ₩100,000,000 a year, but it's just not easy. So, like, whenever I see those types of people, I can only sigh, you know? Trying to pilfer other people's money the easy way…."
“我年收入约为10亿美元，但这并不容易。所以，就像，每当我看到这些类型的人，我只能叹气，你知道吗？试图用简单的方法偷别人的钱......”
He must've already forgotten that this was a blind date judging from the tone of his voice. With just a hint of anger in his eyes, his gaze shifted over to the car keys resting on the table. Looked like they belonged to a foreign brand, perhaps a bit too expensive considering his age.
从他的语气判断，他一定已经忘记了这是一次相亲。他的眼睛里带着一丝愤怒，目光移向桌子上的汽车钥匙。看起来像是外国品牌的，考虑到他的年龄，可能有点太贵了。
While letting the man's words go straight out of one ear, Han Su-Yeong switched on her smartphone. Alerts for new comments were clogging her inbox.
韩素英一边听着这个男人的话，一边打开了智能手机。对新评论的提醒塞满了她的收件箱。
- Dear author-nim, isn't this too sweet-potato-like?
亲爱的作者尼姆，这是不是太像甜土豆了？
"People who never studied hard once when they were young, just stumbled into some random luck…." said the man.
“那些年轻时从不努力学习的人，只是偶然碰上了一些运气......”那个男人说。
Suddenly, it felt as if she could figure out why people read webnovels.
突然间，她觉得自己似乎可以理解人们为什么要阅读网络小说。
And she could also figure out why her friend introduced this sort of jerk-off to her, too. Apparently, she'd find out once she got here, and now, she could clearly see what that friend of hers was thinking about when setting her up with this 'meeting'.
她也可以弄明白为什么她的朋友把这种混蛋介绍给她。显然，她一到这里就会发现，而现在，她可以清楚地看到她的朋友在安排这次会面时在想什么。
Now normally, she'd let this slide because it was just too bothersome, but…
通常情况下，她会对此置之不理，因为这实在太麻烦了，但是.....。
"So, like…. Were you listening?"
“那么，就像......你在听吗?”
"Ah, yes, of course. Your annual salary was…?"
“啊，是的，当然。你的年薪是......?”
Only then did the man's eyes sparkle. His shoulders perked up as if he just knew she'd ask him about that subject again.
直到那时，那个男人的眼睛才闪闪发光。他耸了耸肩，好像他知道她会再问他那个问题似的。
"It's ₩100,000,000 after tax."
“税后是10亿美元。”
"Hmm. It's similar to mine."
“嗯，和我的差不多。”
"Pardon?" The man smirked. "You're a writer, but your annual salary is ₩100,000,000?"
“什么?”那人冷笑着说，“你是个作家，但是你的年薪是100,000,000?”
Han Su-Yeong shrugged her shoulders and pulled out her own car keys. It was the newest model from Porsche. More specifically, it was exactly three times more expensive than the man's own ride. Although, since she couldn't be bothered to, she rarely drove around in it.
韩素英耸了耸肩，拿出了自己的车钥匙。这是保时捷的最新款式。更具体地说，这辆车比他自己的车贵了整整三倍。虽然，因为她不能被打扰，她很少开着它到处转。
The man's eyes shook in sync with the shaking keys. And an awkward smile floated up on his face next.
男人的眼睛随着钥匙的颤抖而颤抖，接着他的脸上浮现出一个尴尬的微笑。
"Haha, but, uh…. a writer's income is inconsistent so it can't really be called 'annual salary', am I right? I mean, your wage can't be fixed, right?"
“哈哈，但是，呃.....。一个作家的收入是不一致的，所以它不能真正被称为“年薪”，我说的对吗？我的意思是，你的工资是固定不了的，对吧?”
The man's lips ceaselessly bobbed up and down to yap on about the cliched stuff. It was just about adequate enough to be used as some line muttered out by a throwaway villain during the next chapter or some such. In that case, the protagonist would reply like this.
那个男人的嘴唇不停地上下摆动，不停地唠叨那些陈词滥调。在下一章或者类似的章节里，一个被抛弃的恶棍喃喃自语地说出一句话，这句话已经足够用了。在这种情况下，主角会这样回答。
"But, I never said it's the annual salary?"
“但是，我从来没有说过这是年薪?”
"Pardon? Ah, in that case, is it what you amassed so far?"
“什么?啊，这样的话，这就是你现在收集到的东西吗?”
"No, I made ₩100,000,000 for the first half of this month, and hmm…. since there are two more weeks left in this month…."
“不，我这个月上半月赚了10亿，而且.....。因为这个月还有两个星期...”
"…..Excuse me?"
“你说什么?”
Only then the man seemed to have realised something, because his expression had changed quite drastically.
直到那时，这个男人似乎才意识到一些事情，因为他的表情已经发生了巨大的变化。
In the end, this whole thing had unfolded in the way her friend wanted to. If this was a novel, it'd have been a cider moment, but in reality, she didn't feel all that good about it.
最后，整个事情按照她朋友想要的方式展开了。如果这是一部小说，那就是一个苹果酒的时刻，但实际上，她并不觉得这是一件好事。
The man was now hurriedly sending messages to someone. He was probably asking her friend that set this blind date up all sorts of questions.
这个人正在匆忙地给某人发信息。他可能正在向安排这次相亲的朋友询问各种各样的问题。
"Excuse me, can you tell me the name of the novel you wrote….?"
“对不起，你能告诉我你写的小说的名字吗?”
Just as she began thinking that she didn't want this guy to know the title, Han Su-Yeong's smartphone issued an alarm tone.
就在她开始考虑不想让这个家伙知道这个名字的时候，韩秀英的智能手机发出了警报声。
- Hello there, author-nim. I'm just a reader who enjoys reading webnovels. I coincidentally ran across your novel and got to read it….
-你好啊，作家-尼姆。我只是一个喜欢阅读网络小说的读者。我碰巧看到了你的小说并且读到了它..。
She wondered what sort of a long-winded message this was. She then tapped on the message without thinking too much about it. The tone of it was polite but old-fashioned, and on top of that, she felt just a tiny hint of naivete, too.
她不知道这是什么样的长篇大论。然后她轻轻地敲了敲邮件，没有想太多。它的语气是礼貌的，但是过时了，除此之外，她还觉得有点天真。
- The novel you have written is far too similar to a novel that I really treasure, the 'Three Ways of Surviving a Destroyed World'.
你写的小说和我真正珍爱的小说太相似了，《在毁灭的世界中生存的三种方法》。
…..What the hell was up with this bastard
这个混蛋到底是怎么回事？
⸢And that was Han Su-Yeong's first encounter with Kim Dok-Ja.⸥
这是韩素妍第一次见到金道子
Kim Dok-Ja.
金道子。
⸢Han Su-Yeong watched the spectacle unfold before her eyes and ruminated on the memories of that time.⸥
韩素妍眼睁睁地看着这一幕在她眼前展开，沉思着当时的回忆
She lost a portion of her memories while creating avatars and she couldn't clearly remember what happened back then. What was certain, though, was that she had indeed read the novel called the 'Ways of Survival'.
她在创建阿凡达的过程中失去了一部分记忆，她不能清楚地记得当时发生了什么。但可以肯定的是，她确实读过《生存之道》这本小说。
All because of a fool with a username Kim 'Dok-Ja', no less.
这一切都是因为一个用户名叫Kim‘Dok-Ja’的傻瓜。
- Author-nim! It was also a very enjoyable read today as well.
-作者-nim!今天的阅读也非常愉快。
Someone on the level of Han Su-Yeong could tell whether the novel would do well or not after reading only a couple of chapters. However, in her eyes, this 'Ways of Survival' would never make it even if the sky collapsed on itself.
像韩素英这样水平的人，只要看几章就知道这部小说会不会卖得好。然而，在她看来，即使天塌下来，这种“生存之道”也无法实现。
- This, it's a really interesting beginning.
这真是个有趣的开始。
From the beginning, it was definitely dogshit.
从一开始，这绝对是狗屎。
- Author-nim, does this mean Yu Jung-Hyeok remembers all those things? Then, back in the 72th regression turn…
-nim作者，这是否意味着YuJung-Hyeok记得所有这些事情?那么，回到第72回归转..。
It was far too obsessed with lengthy expositions, and… - Keuh, how unfortunate! I hope Jung-Hyeok-ee will get his act together in the next regression. Today was another honey jam of a work, too.
它太沉迷于冗长的博览会了，而且...-科厄，多么不幸啊！我希望郑若熙在下一次回归中能够重新振作起来。今天又是一个甜蜜的工作。
As for its protagonist, it was just a pretty boy devoid of personality that seemingly wasted all of his available skill points on his outer appearance. Not only that….
至于主人公，那只是一个缺乏个性的漂亮男孩，似乎把所有可用的技能点都浪费在了他的外表上。不仅如此..。
- Author-nim! Congratulations on reaching the 2000th chapter! Since you've come this far, how about another 1000 chapters….
-作者尼姆!恭喜你读到第2000章!既然你已经读到这么多，再读1000章怎么样.....。
Its chapter count was excessive, as well.
它的章数也太多了。
'….This is entertaining? Seriously? Is he a nutcase?"
这很有趣吗?真的吗?他是个疯子吗?”
She got royally irritated and began following after this fool's comments. She even clicked on 'downvote' too. Like a bewitched person, Han Su-Yeong read only Kim Dok-Ja's comments and not the novel itself.
听了这个傻瓜的话，她非常生气，开始跟着他的话走。她甚至还点击了“拒绝投票”。韩素妍就像一个被施了魔法的人，只读金道子的评论，而不读小说本身。
- Will Ji-Hye finally awaken next chapter?
智慧最终会醒来吗？
- Author-nim! I've discovered a typo on page 7! With my lacking opinion, I think the spelling here should be… Ah, I looked into it and it's actually my mistake. My apologies. I've learned something new today.
-作者-尼姆！我在第七页上发现了一个打印错误！由于我缺乏意见，我认为这里的拼写应该是......啊，我查了一下，这实际上是我的错误。对不起。我今天学到了一些新东西。
- Please, just smack that fool Jung-Hyeok-ee in the back of his head….
-拜托，打那个傻瓜正熙的后脑勺..。
This guy, he never once missed writing a comment on all those thousands of chapters. And every single one contained understanding and love for the world created by this author.
这个家伙，他从来没有错过写一篇关于这几千个章节的评论。每一个都包含着对作者创造的世界的理解和爱。
⸢Han Su-Yeong was envious of that.⸥
韩素妍很羡慕这一点
She believed that there was simply no way anyone would be reading a novel as bad as this, that it had to be the author himself busy blowing his own trumpet. She thought that the author had created two separate IDs and wrote the novel with one while with the other one, wrote all those comments and uploaded recommendations, too.
她认为没有人会读这么糟糕的小说，只能是作者自己在忙着吹嘘。她认为作者创建了两个独立的id，用一个id写了小说，用另一个id写了小说，写了所有的评论，还上传了推荐信。
- Isn't recommending one's own work prohibited?
不是禁止推荐自己的工作吗？
⸢Just like how Yu Jung-Hyeok was an imagined character to Kim Dok-Ja, Kim Dok-Ja was exactly like that to Han Su-Yeong.⸥
就像余正赫对于金道子来说是一个虚构的人物一样，金道子对于韩素妍来说也是如此。
She thought that such a person wouldn't be real, but…
她以为这样的人不是真的，但是..。
That very person within the texts was standing right before Han Su-Yeong's eyes.
文本里的那个人就站在韩素英的眼前。
"Dok-Ja-ssi!!"
“ Dok-Ja-ssi! ! ”
A loud ringing in the ear rang out, accompanied by explosions going off in all directions.
一阵响亮的耳鸣，伴随着四面八方的爆炸声。
Han Su-Yeong could see Kim Dok-Ja in the centre of the battlefield swirling like a thunderstorm, busy breaking past the intense outpourings from the stars. Incarnations were screaming out while the stars were roaring loudly. And in the meantime, Dokkaebis in the sky were laughing.
韩素英可以看到金德子站在战场漩涡的中心，就像一场雷雨，忙碌地穿过星空中强烈的喷涌。化身们在尖叫，而星星们在大声地咆哮。与此同时，天空中的多卡比斯在大笑。
[[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!]]
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ ! ]
Kim Dok-Ja was shouting out. However, Han Su-Yeong couldn't tell whether he was screaming, proclaiming, or even crying in sorrow. Now that he had been transformed into an Outer God, even his voice had been completely excluded from the scenarios. Didn't matter what he said, the contents were deemed unimportant now.
金道子在大声喊叫。但是韩素英却不知道自己是在尖叫，还是在宣告，甚至是在悲伤地哭泣。现在他已经变成了一个外神，甚至他的声音也完全被排除在这个场景之外了。不管他说什么，现在内容已经不重要了。
Gyah-aaaaah!
啊-啊！
However, there were more Outer Gods following him now. Vestiges cast away by the innumerable world-lines were now gathering near Kim Dok-Ja's side. And then, there were Myth-grade Constellations waiting for him above the skies of the scenario.
然而，现在有更多的外界诸神跟随着他。被数不清的世界线遗弃的痕迹现在聚集在金道子身边。然后，在这个场景的上空，有神话级别的星座在等着他。
[So, it has finally begun.]
(因此，它终于开始了。)
The king of <Olympus> and the ruler of the 12 gods, the 'Lightning Throne', Zeus was there.
奥林匹斯山的国王和12神的统治者，“闪电宝座”，宙斯在那里。
[This world-line's 'Final Scenario' has begun!]
(这个世界线的“最后情景”已经开始了!)
[Every existence has acquired the scenario entry qualification for the Final Scenario!] [Please kill the 'Enemy of the Story', Kim Dok-Ja.]
[每个存在都获得了最终场景的场景入口限定!][请杀死“故事的敌人”，金道佳]
The scenario messages popped up soon afterwards. Everyone present understood the current situation. Zeus was the first to open his mouth.
这个场景消息很快就出现了。在场的每个人都了解当前的形势。宙斯是第一个张开嘴的人。
[Sweep them away.]
[把他们扫走]
Along with heaven-collapsing noises, arcs of lightning belonging to Zeus rained down. With a 'pow!' noise of something exploding, blood splat onto Han Su-Yeong's cheek. The Nameless Ones were dying as black blood spurted out from them.
伴随着天崩地裂的噪音，宙斯的闪电像雨点一样倾泻而下。砰的一声什么东西爆炸的声音，血溅到韩素英的脸颊上。无名的人们正在死去，黑色的血液从他们身上喷涌而出。
[Sparemesparemesparemesparemespareme…..]
[精力过剩，精力过剩...]
Even the frightening 'Outer Gods' came across as mere water balloons in front of the combined Status emitted by the Myth-grade Constellations. The 'Outer Gods' vomited out discarded Fables as they exploded en masse.
甚至令人恐惧的“外界诸神”在神话级星座所发射的联合状态面前也只是一个水球。“外神”们一起爆炸，吐出了被丢弃的寓言。
Blindingly brilliant shower of lightning rained down. And in the centre of the devastated landscape, Kim Dok-Ja was enduring against Zeus's electrical attacks.
一阵令人眼花缭乱的闪电倾盆而下。在这片被毁坏的土地的中心，金道子正在忍受宙斯的电击。
Why did he make that kind of a choice?
他为什么要做这样的选择？
[Tear his wings off! Surround him from all sides!]
撕下他的翅膀，从四面八方包围他
Along with the roars from the Constellations, a massive army rushed in. Incarnations and Constellations that had broken past the hellish scenarios to get this far, were flooding in, all of them united as one under the single goal of eliminating 'Kim Dok-Ja'.
