Surviving a Shounen Manga

Episode 16
Transition
From then on, the chapter progressed without deviating much from the original.

Leo headed to the golden table while being cheered on by the onlookers who had suddenly turned into a cheering squad, for his final battle with the Queen.

And,

– Yes! Finally, the long, long-drawn-out fight is over. Actually, the word “long” was referring to the entire Race of Death, because as you can see, the final battle ended very briskly. A whopping 3-0. Not a single win. The victor, as always… is our Queen!

Lost.

Even in an event Leo was confident in, without any unfair rules, competing with pure skill, he didn’t even stand a chance.

Well, it was a natural result. No human in this world can defeat the Queen of Goldam City in gambling. Because her unique ability, [Probability Adjuster Who Hates Fairness], will never allow her to lose.

[Probability Adjuster Who Hates Fairness]

When the possessor of this ability enters a game, the mediator also participates in secret.
The mediator, a mysterious being, randomly adjusts the odds in favour of their friend.
The probability adjustment range is 1~99%, and the price required is the ability user’s friendship.
Truly an astonishing ability. Really attractive.

Her ability really broadened the horizons of unique abilities in the manga, beyond the vague preconceptions about ‘combat abilities’ thus far.

Moreover, the readers at the time were just as enthusiastic about this ability as the onlookers here and now, and it even took third place in the ‘Most Wanted Unique Ability Survey’.

– Quiet, quiet! Can you all just be quiet for a moment?

The host silenced the cheering crowd.

Now, only the final settlement of the ‘Race of Death’ was left.

– Then the Queen will announce her request in person!

Ahead of the final match, the two had discussed the final compensation for the ‘Death Race’, apart from the money earned in the game. It was the unconditional acceptance of ‘any demands except for death’ by the loser. It was proposed by the Queen to add to the fun of the game.

When I looked around, everyone seemed nervous, waiting for the Queen’s words.

They seemed to be imagining what the Queen would ask of the boy.

To become a slave for the rest of his life and serve her?

Go to the VIP he had argued with and beg for forgiveness like a dog?

Seeing them made me want to laugh for some reason.

Of course, the Queen’s demands are far beyond the imagination of all of them. Because it is truly something that upsets the whole of Goldam City.

However, it is unclear whether that is the direction they would prefer.

Soon, the Queen stepped onto the podium reserved for the victor.

Her body shining like gold, and her countenance fitting her high position.

After confirming that everyone’s attention was focused on her, the Queen announced her request, quietly and concisely.

“Leo, will you take me with you to your adventure?”

The casino instantly descended into pandemonium.

Queen Siana joining Leo’s party. This is not something to be summarized so simply. Rather, it is better to think of it as the start of the first giant story arc of Adventure King.

As will be revealed in the next chapter, Siana is a member of the Mafia Coalition. And not just some simple collaborator, she’s one of the leaders of the Coalition, and is the head of the mafia organization in this city.

Of course, she hadn’t volunteered for the position. Rather, most of the mafiosi who are her nominal subordinates are here to watch her.

To put it simply, the mafiosi are employees of the casino, and the Queen is the owner. But the mafiosi don’t listen to the Queen. Nevertheless, the Queen must still fulfil her duties as the boss.

Her strange relationship with the mafia began three years ago, when she ousted the casino’s ‘ex-owner’ and became the new Queen.

El Viego.

The former owner of Goldam Casino and one of the main executives of the Mafia Coalition, lost the casino to Siana. The one who first organized the ‘Death Race’, he was kicked out of the casino as a result.

In fact, Siana was the first challenger to advance to the final stage of the ‘Death Race’ before Leo. Not only that, she even achieved an unprecedented victory.

At the time, she bought the casino with the barrels of money she’d earned in the race. For a simple reason. Because it was cumbersome to handle all the cash.

The problem was the disposition of the then owner, El Viego, and the casino mafia under his command. Siana simply kicked out El Viego and left the mafiosi alone, which was a mistake. They were not truly loyal to her, and they became El Viego’s limbs, disrupting the casino operations and monitoring her every move.

Recognizing her mistake, Siana tried to clean up the mess and leave the casino, but even this was not easy. Because El Viego did not want to let go of her, who had become a symbol of the city even beyond the casino.

He threatened her using his subordinates. If she leaves the casino, all the members of the Mafia Coalition will chase her down.

To the Queen, the casino had become a dazzling prison of gold.

This Mafia Coalition also includes the Virgin City mafia, and the ‘Red Scorpion’ whose name I briefly borrowed before meeting Kiriko.

And their underworld counterpart is the ‘Black Shadow’.

To summarize, Leo and his party will become involved in earnest with the mafia and the Black Shadow, from the next chapter.

Marking the end of these halcyon days, and the beginning of suffering.

He’s just walking around like that without care, not even knowing what’s coming. At the very least, ask the Queen why she decided to follow you…

I just looked at Leo from afar, who was standing next to the Queen.

That was then –

Leo, raising his head as if he’d suddenly remembered something, looked around for a moment.

“Oh! There you are!”

Why are you shouting like that and coming towards me?

Then –

“Thank you.”

He smiled at me.

“Huh? Uh…”

I was perplexed for a moment. I never thought he would do something like this. Not like the manga at all.

Leo didn’t leave right away, and even asked me a question.

“Why did you help me?”

“…”

Nothing came to mind.

You have to win because I have to live? To preserve the flow of the narrative?

I thought about it for a while, but couldn’t find a proper answer.

So,

“Secret. I can’t tell you right now.”

‘Secret’, the favourite technique of the slit-eyed character, ‘Haka’. Pretending there’s some big secret, cutting off your sentence midway, etc.

It will probably work. Because this guy isn’t the type of person to tenaciously dig into things. If he were, Haka couldn’t have stayed an ‘unrecovered rice cake’ for so long.

And so,

“Hmm, okay? Thanks anyway. I will never forget your help.”

Leo coolly left.

‘Is this fine too?’

I scratched my head.

I couldn’t deny that I was a little disappointed by the blunt response.

Did I just let him go like this? Should I have bragged a bit more colourfully?

“… Ah, who cares.”

In any case, it seemed that I should be satisfied with the fact that my character had clearly been engraved in Leo’s mind.

After a while,

“Thank you all for supporting me for so long. As of today, I will resign as the Queen of this casino, and return to being the ordinary Siana. Then, goodbye, everyone.”

Siana bowed in front of everyone, and said her final farewells.

It was the last scene of Chapter 7 that I remembered.

Soon after,

Tiling –

I got the message indicating the end of the chapter.

[Chapter 7 – ‘The Queen of Goldam City’ has ended]

[The character evaluation of Squatjaw has been updated]

[The name has been changed to ‘The Enigmatic Squatjaw’]

[‘Secretive’ has been added to the characteristics]

[Received support from many readers]

[Awareness has increased by 1,459]

[Attracts the author’s attention]

[Author’s favourability has increased by 100]

[Reappearance probability has increased to 40%]

[State]

Name: The Enigmatic Squatjaw
Characteristics: A little strong, Bluffing, Chatterbox, Secretive.
Awareness: 1,500
Author’s favourability: 101
Reappearance probability: 40%
“… Wow.”

It was the best reward ever. It was definitely worthwhile to have played an active part in the main plotline. If things went like this, buying [Mimic Acrobat] within the target time period wouldn’t be a problem at all.

‘I was really quite lucky this time…’

At that moment, the hologram suddenly flashed blue.

It was my first time seeing that.

Following,

Tiling –

A message arrived.

Not a message about my final character evaluation, at that.

[‘The Enigmatic Squatjaw’ is now listed as an official character in Adventure King]

[Character has been given a rank]

[Character can now learn unique abilities matching its rank]

[Backstory gift pack from the author has arrived]

‘What?’

It was unfamiliar, but clearly something positive. It was also different from all previous rewards.

In addition to being listed as an official character, I was given a rank, plus a gift from the author.

“Yeah, thank you.”

What I was most curious about was the author’s gift. Maybe some kind of incentive?

‘Backstory? Where can I check this?’

It was time to rummage through the hologram window.

Tiling –.

The last message I had been waiting for had arrived.

[The final evaluation of the character has been calculated by the author]

[The Enigmatic Squatjaw is the subject of a preliminary appearance in the next chapter]

[Character points paid 4,377p for the rise in awareness]

[Character points paid 10,000p for the rise in author’s favourability]

[Character points paid 400p for the rise in reappearance probability]

…

Unable to suppress my excitement, I went straight to the character shop and checked my current points.

Currently held points: 16,896p
“Heh heh…”

For some reason, it felt like my mouth was salivating.

It seemed like it was finally time to enjoy the shopping mall, that I had been putting off for a while.

“Hu…”

Looking at the character shop screen, I involuntarily let out a deep sigh.

It wasn’t that I didn’t see any product I liked. The problem was something completely different.

The top of the product page was also just a place to stare at for a bit. In fact, I wasn’t in the mood for browsing the products.

Besides,

“What are you doing?”

“Wait a bit.”

“What are you doing?”

“Be quiet. Go over there and play by yourself.”

“Then give me some money. Money.”

“Ha…”

The little kid by my side was being a bother.

Eventually, after I threw her about a million gold from my stash, Cocoa giggled and ran towards the slot machine with excitement.

Originally, I would have refused her sternly, but right now I had no choice. Because my brain was far too jumbled to even care about that little kid.

I concentrated on the message in front of me again.

[List of backstories received as a gift]

Choose only one.Former member of the assassination organization ‘Black Shadow’.
Former No. 2 of the ‘Red Scorpion’, who fell from power.
Lord of the ‘Seven Rings’.
※ The validity period is until Chapter 9 begins.

“Hu…”

The emotion I felt when I saw the three options was something close to awkwardness.

To use an analogy, it feels like a very burdensome professor suddenly offered to sponsor you for graduate school. Even if you have already made a career plan for employment after getting your undergraduate degree.

If you are already in the 4th year graduating class, you can refuse with some kind of rough excuse, ‘Professor, I’m sorry, but I already have a plan.’ It’s fine since you’re leaving the university soon anyway.

The problem is, I’m not a senior, I’m just a freshman.

It’s kind of hard to refuse, but I can’t readily accept it either.

Of course, the backgrounds the writer sent me to choose from could not be called bad. In light of my current self, they were definite upgrades.

First of all, the first option, former member of the Black Shadow.

This was the one I saw in the character shop last time, a whopping 1500-point background story. The purchase benefits were great, and there was plenty of room to play an active part in the next chapter.

The second option, the former No. 2 of the Red Scorpion.

This too was similar to the first option in many ways. It’s just that the activity scope leaned towards the mafia, not the ‘Black Shadow’ side.

And the third option, the Lord of the ‘Seven Rings’.

This was so good that it couldn’t even be compared to the first two. As soon as I saw it, I thought that this was the one the author wanted me to choose.

The Seven Rings are items that symbolize the seven executives of the Mafia Coalition. In other words, the Lord of the ‘Seven Rings’ refers to the final boss of the Mafia Coalition.

To be honest, I couldn’t help but be confused.

Here, the author was trying to entrust me with the role of the ‘middle boss’ in this huge arc, either from the ‘Mafia’ or from the ‘Black Shadow’ side.

“Obviously… it’s not bad.”

There was only one middle boss, and he was a core character for one or two whole chapters. He also played the role of a stepping stone towards a great story arc.

In a nutshell, a character whose significance was incomparable to mine thus far.

However, there were a few problems here.

First, as long as you are a villain, you are bound by fate to be defeated by the protagonist.

This means that you can’t be sure what’ll happen after the arc is over. If there’s no reappearance probability, you will simply be deleted.

Second, because the status is suddenly forced like this, there are bound to be many restrictions.

Naturally, there will be more characters that I will become involved with, and I will not be able to be act freely to my heart’s content. In addition, there will inevitably be restraints by the preceding plot as well.

This is an obstacle that can never be ignored.

And third. It’s a pretty good background, so it comes with its own unique ability.

[Seven Rings to Redeem].

A mind-control ability, to make the wearer of the ring obey the ring’s true owner.

Once any other unique ability is awakened, the [Mimic Acrobat], my first target, will no longer be available. That has to be avoided.

“It’s frustrating.”

Also, looking at the backstories in the gift pack as a whole, you could feel the author’s intention.

The author was trying to merge my character into the plot he had devised. In particular, he was clearly trying to fit it into the upcoming chapter.

It was understandable. An unexpected character suddenly popped out and made a grand bluff, which, of course, was helpful for the chapter’s development, but from the author’s point of view, it wasn’t some good thing.

However, it was not possible for me to simply accept that.

Because falling under the author’s thumb is equivalent to admitting that it will be difficult to carve out a path for survival on your own.

‘It’s not easy.’

Now that I see it, attracting the author’s interest willy-nilly isn’t very good wither.

Hmmm.

In the end, I had no choice but to postpone the decision.

There’s still time, so let’s think about it a bit more.

Then,

“Squatjaw!”

From afar, I saw the little kid running back.

Surprisingly, she was smiling.

It can’t be?

“You… you made money…?”

“No.”

“Yeah, sounds right. Why the smile?”

“Actually, I was very annoyed. I couldn’t keep going.”

“I bet.”

“So I stole it.”

“… What.”

“The slot machine. Want to see?”

Then she went rummaging through her leather bag.

“…”

It wasn’t funny. Stealing a game console because the you can’t win? That too, something that big?

And if you have to steal, steal money or something.

She was truly one unpredictable kid. No wonder her character never got used in the end.

Then, as I was shaking my head, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

“Uh, wait.”

“Huh?”

“No, not you.”

There was a way. A way to be freed from the plot that the author had crafted, without rejecting the background that the author had presented.

Thinking about it, it was very simple.

It’s enough to become such an ‘unpredictable’ character that the author doesn’t know if you can even properly perform your assigned role. Rather, not performing it properly is more probable.

In other words, become a character wrapped in so many riddles that they cannot be fully solved just with the backstory presented by the author.

And it wasn’t that difficult.

At that moment, my eyes naturally turned to the character shop.

Time to splash some colour on the background.

Editor’s Notes:

I know I said it’ll be fun seeing the Queen’s ability. Hmmm. Maybe I lied? But still fun, right?

It kinda feels the author is taking a potshot at the most unpredictable ninja, doesn’t it. See you all in the next chapter!