Surviving a Shounen Manga

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Probably not just because I got 1st place in the qualification exam.
Readers didn’t even get to see how I got my place, after all.

Simple.
The readers were up in arms.

Even though I came first in the popularity poll, not a single moment of the process of my taking first place in the exam was shown.
Moreover, the author was now even trying to send me away to Eastland.

To be honest, I was curious about the reactions, so I couldn’t help but check the readers’ comments.

[Chapter 17 Appearance at the Awards Ceremony – Reader Comments]

Fighting Somansal – Bring back Squatjaw!

Matiz – Author’s going a bit too far.

adfd – Isn’t it because he’s taken a bite out of the protagonist’s narrative weight?

Ari-ari – You can see the author’s level from how he’s putting the most popular character out to pasture.

Jang Moonchungnaga – Author fiat hahaha

LWJ – Author, apologize.
What happened to narrative plausibility?

These were comments that warmed my heart.

Somehow, it felt like second-hand satisfaction.

‘Ah, this is great! More, more!’

But,

jh7free – Isn’t this going to be dual viewpoint from now on? Divide the main point of view, and show Leo and Hiro alternately.

No answer.
– Agreed.
This is how a rival should be treated.

akdtm1 – If you get to see one moving in the east and one in the west, it’d be awesome.

Some readers completely misunderstood the author’s intentions.

Sharing the leading point of view with me? No way.

Our author, who’d leave no stones unturned trying to cut somebody off if they cross the line just once?

But, of course, I couldn’t expect the public opinion to completely turn against him.
Perhaps an opportunity would come in the future.

‘… Oh no.
I’m deluding myself again.’

I shook my head to shake off my futile hopes.

It was time to focus on what I had to do right now, rather than fall into such wishful thoughts.

I opened the ‘Troops’ page in the store.

Shop Category / [Character Settings] – [Troops]

※ You can check the details by touching

1.
Normal – 200p

2.
Sturdy Meathead – 500p

3.
Normal with a Weapon – 800p

4.
Experienced in Martial Arts – 1,200p

5.
Lesser Combatant – 1,500p

⁝

‘Let’s see…’

 [Intermediate Combat Agent] detail page.

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Characteristics 10x the strength of ordinary people.
Varied combat techniques.
Proficiency in handling 17 weapon types.
Able to conduct group operations. Rental period 6 hours – 1800p 12 hours – 3,000p 24 hours – 5,000p Special Discount for group purchase. 10 or more – 10% 100 or more – 20% 1,000 or more – 30%

‘Anyway, it’s exorbitantly expensive.’

The higher the price, the more difficult it was to judge.
Would it be better to buy them individually, in bulk lots to get a discount, or should I directly buy groups with a combination synergy?

15.
Nameless D-Class Adventurer Team – 100,000p

16.
New Mobile Team of Adventurers’ Association – 120,000p

17.
International Council Battle Group C-1 – 150,000p

⁝

The reason I wanted to increase the number of troops by spending so much money was simple.
Because the number of enemies I’d have to face from here on would be enormous.

The [Scribe’s Shackles] of Corps Commander Firmino could increase his number of subordinates indefinitely.
Of course, he wouldn’t have as much power and time as when he’d appeared in the original story, but nonetheless, there had to be at least a thousand enemies.
Even in the Mount Knock arc, he’d said that he had five thousand troops.

“A thousand people…”

Of course, that didn’t mean I had to take them all out.
After all, this mind control ability meant the battle was one to capture the boss, so it was enough to just make a beeline for him and save time.

As far as I knew, this guy wasn’t even strengthening his subordinate’s abilities.
Roughly speaking, I thought it appropriate to assume that we’d face about a thousand enemies ranging from ‘low-level combatants’ to ‘experienced in martial arts’.

Once we attracted them towards us, how many troops would our side need to hold out, even for a short time?

‘For intermediate agents, we should need at least two or three hundred people, right?’

With two hundred people, 6 hours was 360,000p.

How much did my heart hurt, thinking of that?

I repeated to myself as if incanting a magic spell.

“It’s not that bad.
It’s not that bad…”

Then, after taking a deep breath, I called forth a hundred intermediate agents at once.

After a while,

– Shhh.
Shhh.
Shhh.

One by one, people were created in the middle of the vacant lot.

“Oooh…”

This time too, it was an amazing sight.
Like Terminators swarming through a warp gate.

Of course, they were all wearing clothes.

Oddly enough, as soon as the agents appeared, they looked around and started shaking hands.
As if the new extras were congratulating each other.

That was then –

“You seem to be calling the soldiers from your dreams, like you did at the amusement park, right?”

“Huh?”

Someone’s voice came floating from afar.

It was Chinuavi.

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The guy watched the summoning scene with interest, but didn’t ask about the underlying method or ability.
In fact, he didn’t seem that excited.

It wasn’t just because he was a goblin, probably.

In fact, most people in this world would’ve felt the same.
That it wasn’t that surprising.

In the first place, the basic worldview included the words ‘everything imaginable’, so there were many cases where people didn’t react much seeing various abilities.

Every time I managed to do something new, I myself was usually the most surprised.

“It looks like you’re calling quite a few this time.
And… fairly strong soldiers at that?”

“This time, there’re quite a few enemies.
So I need more.”

“How many enemies are you facing? You’ve already got a hundred here, looks like.
Isn’t that enough?”

“A thousand.”

“I see.
Then this should be enough.”

“… Hoo.”

I just looked at him, a bit puzzled.
Weren’t such remarks too arrogant for somebody who’d failed the Brawler Goblin Test multiple times?

“If the commander is good enough, the number of soldiers doesn’t matter much.”

“… True enough, but I’m not going to join the battle.
Like I said before, I have to infiltrate the place by myself.
So I have to ask for your help.
I need a couple more commanders…”

“Who said you won’t join?”

At that moment,

Pyorong–.

Another Squatjaw appeared in front of me.

Wearing a bright red cloak that who knew came from where.
He looked like a real general, with an air of command.

“Isn’t Captain Sqautjaw right here?”

Thump-thump-thump–.

Thump-thump-thump–.

“… What?”

Awakened by the noise, the man habitually glanced at the periscope pointing up at the ground.
Because that was the duty of the man in charge of the city’s borders.

But the man soon grew speechless at the sight reflected through lens of the periscope.

“What, what is that…”

Something like a giant earthworm was crashing into the city entrance.
Not one, but three.

Fortunately, unlike his frozen mouth, his hands did not forget their mission.

Ding-ding–.

Ding-ding–.

The sound of the invasion alarm resounded through the underground city.

“Emergency, emergency!”

“It’s an attack!”

“What is it?”

“What is it!? What are you guys doing!?”

The man was well aware that he had a duty to convey what he had seen, but he was finding it strangely difficult to articulate.

“H-, huge earthworms… and a big, big…”

“Earthworms? What else other than earthworms!?”

There were countless modifiers to describe ‘that man’, but strangely, what the guard finally came up with was a phrase he wouldn’t usually use.

But after a moment, he felt convinced that it was a fairly accurate designation.

“A guy with a big jutting chin! A real squat-jaw!”

Wearing a red cloak, riding atop a giant earthworm, leading an army of about a hundred men, he’d come to raid the city of Neo Archive.