Surviving a Shounen Manga

7. Mimic acrobat – 30,000p

▶ [Mimic Acrobat] detail page

※ This ability comes with author’s privileges.

“Hmmm…”

I couldn’t just press the buy button without thinking.

The reason why I was hesitating to acquire the unique ability I’d been waiting for so long? It was because a new phrase had suddenly popped up.

Precisely, this:

※ This ability comes with author’s privileges.

The author’s privilege here meant that the author would provide some separate benefit when purchasing this ability.

Sounded good, right? It was a good thing.

However,

‘Why?’

That’s why it was even more suspicious. Because there was no reason for it.

The privileges were briefly introduced like this:

※ Author’s privileges

‘This is just about buying…’

The first benefit was, payback.

Needless to say, it was a good one. 3000 points would be refunded immediately. To be honest, my fingers itched to press the buy button as soon as I saw it.

And the second, the fact that I would definitely appear in the next chapter was also something that I had no reason to refuse. Including being in the main role.

Of course, being forced to act in a certain role was also a kind of risk. It meant that I had to assimilate myself into the character and the settings that the author intended.

Even so, this risk was one well worth taking. Because the return on investment was huge.

In fact, the benefits I would get from this were not much different from purchasing another ‘background with built-in unique ability’. Considering the weight of the main role, it might even be called better. And the minimum cost for such background products was around 60,000p.

All in all, it was a huge benefit.

Yes, on the surface.

The problem was the lack of stability.

I was well aware of what’d happened to the ‘original’ acrobat who was supposed to be the main character of this chapter. In fact, there was nothing significant to speak of. He’d only appeared for a moment, and then disappeared.

It’d been a chapter without much content in the first place. He appeared out of the blue and blocked the protagonist’s way, and immediately got into an argument with Leo and the rest. Then, before he could even imitate their abilities, he was hit by Leo and flew away. That was all.

But, of course, I wasn’t in the same position as the acrobat. Unlike that guy who’d just appeared for the first time, I’d already built up a reputation with many readers. Even if a similar situation did occur, it would be in the future.

Besides, it was impossible for me to leave the role alone and undisturbed. Unless the author was an idiot, he wouldn’t try and force such an improbable development.

“Okay.”

After organizing my thoughts, I immediately pressed the buy button.

Then,

A warning message came out of nowhere.

“What is this now?”

To be honest, I had to pause again. Significant penalties?

I double-checked the text.

I didn’t feel good about this.

‘Must be fulfilled…’

There was an aspect of it that was strangely a bit ambiguous.

Simply not following the conditions was not the whole problem. What if it included even the case of ‘trying to satisfy the conditions but failing’?

The risk here could be greater than expected.

“Hmm, nah.”

I quickly shook my head.

No matter how much I thought about it, there was only one possible conclusion.

I needed this ability. It was enough if I just achieved the specified conditions.

After making up my mind, I proceeded to buy it.

And yet,

Tiling –.

“Apply.”

As a swarm of dazzling lights enveloped me, I finally learned [Mimic Acrobat].

After a moment,

“Ah…”

I groaned involuntarily.

It was definitely different from the time when I’d applied the backgrounds. It felt as if some mysterious power was filling my whole body… A power that only chosen humans with extraordinary qualities could possess. The moment I acquired it, I felt as if I had truly become a part of this world.

Following that,

[You have acquired a unique ability]

[Character’s rank has greatly increased]

[Registered as a major record in the official character data of ‘Squatjaw’]

The hologram also commemorated the acquisition of my unique ability. Who knew if it had any particular meaning. 

But,

“I’m here.”

Even though it was a moment I’d been so looking forward to, I couldn’t enjoy my euphoria for long. Because a mysterious message soon arrived at the hologram window.

“Open it.”

Checking the message, I was astonished.

“Hey, this… what the hell is this, damn it!”

[Required transition conditions for using the Mimic Acrobat ability]

※ If the above conditions are not fulfilled or failed, the character will be deleted.

How much time had passed?

After silently reading the message over and over for a while, only one thought remained in my head.

Got hit. By the author himself.

There was no other way to explain it.

‘…’

It was even worse than I’d thought. To put forth such a malicious condition that was close to impossible to be realized. And the penalty for failure was nothing less than character deletion.

To be honest, I was just plain shocked. Where did these conditions come from? How come the original acrobat didn’t have them at all?

Of course, that acrobat had left before he could’ve shown anything, so there was no way for me to ascertain whether he, too, had been given these conditions.

But I was sure that he and I were different. If he had been in the same situation as me, there was no way he would have started an argument with Leo first. Rather, he would have tried to slowly coax them to play a game or two.

There was no doubt. It was clear that these were newly created conditions aimed solely at me. In particular, the rule of having to face off against their abilities… DId my previous behaviour of earning points using Chinuavi piss the author off too much?

“Hoo…”

But being embarrassed and resentful wouldn’t change the situation. Rather, I had to find a way to bypass the difficulties.

After calming my mind, I repeated the conditions to myself one more time, step by step.

First. Imitating them.

First off, this was the problem.

The conditions for imitating a certain ability were as follows.

The problematic item was the fourth, that you must have a physique that matched your abilities.

It didn’t take much to imitate the ability of Siana, the decipherer, but the other three were different. In particular, both Leo and Kiriko were adversaries, and both their unique abilities required enormous physical ability.

In other words, I didn’t even know if my body would be able to handle Leo’s [Lightning that Destroys Calamities] or Kiriko’s [Six Burning Bullets] right now.

And the second issue.

Even if the ability were embodied, you have to fight a battle with the native user of that ability. And you even have to win. This was one really absurd condition.

In the first place, the ability being imitated cannot exceed the ability of the original target. And yet, you have to compete with your imitation and win. That too, for all four.

Not just that, just because you have the same ability doesn’t mean you can express the same power as the original. Because not only your skill levels differ, but the hidden characteristics inherent in each character also differ.

For example, Kiriko had a hidden characteristic called ‘accuracy’ that was no less than another unique ability. It pretty much doubled the effectiveness of his [Six Burning Bullets].

In other words, no matter how talented you are, unless you too have such a hidden characteristic, there is no way you can win a gunfight against him.

“Does this make sense?”

The rage that had barely subsided felt like it was rising up again.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I didn’t have the time to waste on emotional exhaustion.

“Hoo…”

Fortunately, I had some time to prepare, even if only a little.

The free time given to me was about 2 chapters.

Of course, they were both short of content, so I couldn’t actually relax. I had about a week, maybe?

Still, I might be able to prepare something.

First of all, there were three issues I had to iron out in order to fulfil these conditions.

‘Let’s think about it, think, think.’

I started thinking as if it was my dying struggle.

About two hours after that –

I left my seat and got up.

I used my head so hard, groaning and moaning, but couldn’t find an answer.

There was only one conclusion I could draw right now.

I could never do this alone.

Even if I had to play the game by myself in the end, I had no chance if I tried to prepare for it all on my own. I needed a team.

Fortunately, I had quite a few talented guys by my side.

“Let’s get to know each other a bit, the three of you.”

“Thanks to senior, I was able to forge a valuable relationship.”

“Me too. I’m sincerely thankful.”

Haka and Chinuavi had gotten closer than I’d expected.

Surprisingly, they were fellow alumni who’d studied under the same goblin master.

Of course, their student days did not overlap, and in the case of Haka, he was not even an official pupil. Nevertheless, the two of them seemed to have forged a strong bond.

In fact, I had indeed wondered if there was some kind of connection between the two. Chinuavi being in this city indicated the author’s intention to have them meet.

Well, I hadn’t expected the connection to be so direct.

And there was one more link between the two.

The leader of the Black Shadow.

It was he who’d led them both here, to Destomb.

Of course, unlike Haka, Chinuavi had no direct connection with that man. It was just a setting that he came from Eastland out of curiosity, as there were rumours about the many secrets that man had.

I nodded my head as I listened to both of them.

In fact, it was this ‘Black Shadow Leader’ who was portrayed as a rather absurd character in the original work.

He is Yan’s father, who reveals his silhouette only once in Yan’s flashback scene, which unfolds near the end of his confrontation with Leo.

So, actually, when I first read the original, I thought he would be the final boss of this arc. There was no reason to show him otherwise.

However, he ended up not appearing in the work at all. Right till the end.

In other words, he was the second ‘unrecovered rice cake’ after Haka.

Judging from the conversation around me, it seemed that he might have originally been planned to appear together with these two. Except all of that got messed up for some unknown reason.

If I could take care of that somehow, I might be able to draw a pretty good picture, but I couldn’t afford to do that right now.

“So you’ve finished talking?”

“Hey, there’s still a long way to go.”  

“Yeah, goblins can chatter for three to four days.”

“You’re not a goblin, though, Haka.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“Yeah, anyway. The two of us will chat a bit more.”

I turned my head to the one who was sitting bored and alone, excluded from the conversation.

“These guys are weird.”

“I know. You’ve had it hard by yourself.”

“Squatjaw, are you done with your work?”

Cocoa looked at me with bright eyes.

“Not yet. It’s just the beginning.”

“… Really?”

I gave the gloomy kid a quick smile.

“Cocoa, can you go somewhere with me?”

“Yeah, me? Just me?”

“Yeah.”

“A date?”

“That’s not something a little kid should ask.”

“Heh, men are all the same. Where, though?”

“Amusement park.”

“It’s a date after all. Let’s go. Hurry!”

She ran up to me and clung to my side.

“I’m not going there to play around. I have work to do.”

“Whatever, who cares.”

And thus I left the place with Cocoa, leaving Chinuavi and Haka behind.

About an hour after that.

Not too far from Destomb.

Evercity Amusement Park.

I asked Cocoa, who was smiling faintly.

“How much can you fit in that bag?”

“What, you mean its capacity?”

“Yeah.”

“A lot.”

“So how much is that, exactly?”

“Just, a lot.”

It didn’t seem like she had ever measured it properly.

“Then you… can you put that in too?”

What I was referring to was the merry-go-round.

“Of course.”

“Not just a single horse.”

“I know. You mean the whole thing, right?”

Cocoa nodded as if it was natural.

I tried to rein in my own bewilderment for a moment. Her bag was small enough that even a horseshoe might not fit in, let alone a whole merry-go-round.

“Yeah… I can put that in.”

I immediately pointed to the next target.

The roller-coaster.

“Then what about that one?”

“Ummm… yes?”

Surprisingly, Cocoa nodded again.

“… Okay.”

Now this was it.

Even though this was a manga world, it was difficult for me to imagine what I was talking about. Even so, the reason I was able to ask her this was because there had been a guy in the original who actually managed something similar. At that time, he had ‘transplanted’ an entire island onto land.  

I spoke slowly, staring at Cocoa.

“Could it be that you might be able to, just possibly, stuff the whole amusement park in there?”

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.