Chapter 76 – What should have existed will be made to exist.

After a long day by the shore, Evandel started to nod off, tired from playing all day.

Since that was the case, Lee packed everything up and loaded it in the car they took on the way there, cleared out their campsite, and started on the way back home with everyone.

Evandel was sleeping in the back with her plushies with Rachel nearby to watch her.

Meanwhile, Nayun sat in the passenger's seat.

Lee, of course, was driving. Although...

Nayun glanced at Lee and said, "I just realized. Do you even have a license to drive, Lee?"

"Of course I do." Lee started the engine of his car (purchased courtesy of Boss) and drove back onto the highway. "It's an American one, but I definitely have a license."

Nayun blinked. "Does it work like that?"

"Probably not. But I'm with the princess. Do you REALLY think anyone's going to stop me?"

Nayun paused. "...That's a good point."

Rachel adjusted the plushies around Evandel for better cushioning. Then she said, "Don't worry, Nayun. All that Lee has to do is flash his ring."

Lee groaned and said, "I forgot I was wearing that."

Rachel chuckled. "Well, all the more reason to wear it then. A man who has no interest in the crown is often the most fit to wear it~"

"...Why do you make it sound like you're going to offload all the royal duties onto me so that you can spend your days spoiling our daughter, Rachel?"

Rachel giggled. "Now, what would make you think that?"

Nayun laughed. "Oh, you sly vixen. Marrying Lee for his daughter AND for him to fix your country for you... How devious."

Rachel let out a teasing smile and said, "Lee said he wanted a tax refund with interest~ Well, he can keep the throne warm for our baby girl then~"

Lee rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks, Wifey."

"You are welcome, Hubby~"

Nayun chuckled. "You two are like 100% a drama couple at this point. It's definitely the epilogue where they're loveydovey."

"You say that, but I bet Hajin and Yeonha are worse off. Also, a million won that Yeonha's pregnant."

Nayun gasped. "No way. Yeonha wouldn't be THAT reckless..." She paused. "...Actually, I take it back. She's the type of girl to double down, so... No bet."

"Shucks."

Rachel hummed and said, "Hopefully this means Hajin starts working on himself more." She looked genuinely worried and said, "It has been fun teasing them about the drama like developments... but this world isn't kind to couples who have too much difference in ability. Status can be made up, but if the disparity in ability is too large..."

Lee drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, keeping his eyes on the countryside road and the sun sinking below the horizon. As he did, he said, "That would normally be a concern... but I have a feeling it won't be too big of a problem for Hajin. He's the sort to be a late bloomer, you know? If he plays his cards right, he can bootstrap himself up to be pretty ridiculous. In fact, the only reason he's not near the top with us is because he's kind of dim and also not very resolved."

Nayun snorted. "You're just always taking potshots at Hajin, huh?"

"Nah. I just know that he can be better."

That was something that had always bugged Lee when he was reading The Novel's Extra.

Maybe it was because the real author was kind of dumb or shortsighted, but there were MANY instances that things were outright forgotten, ignored, or just illogical.

Hajin had the ridiculous power of using SP to write in abilities on his own character essentially.

Lee got the reason why Hajin doubled down on using guns, even if he could never empathize with it.

But that was a lazy excuse.

There were definitely Gifts, Arts, and more that could artificially inflate morale or remove fear during combat.

If Hajin was terrified of combat and had the ability to create Gifts and Arts, the average person who got isekai'd like that would have made a passive to remove that fear.

But in The Novel's Extra, he never did.

Sure, the author might have just wanted to write Hajin as a person who feared conflict and was homesick. But he also went out of his way to prevent Hajin from meeting anyone or anything that would have given him a reason to change.

'Maybe it's because I've read so many web novels that it bothers me...'

Lee just couldn't understand it.

Even before he was in this world, Lee... or rather, 'Li' always thought that the author was deliberately using Hajin as a self-insert because his own personality was that frail. The author's sense of self was so fragile that he couldn't even conceive of someone similar reaching out. Or maybe he never encountered anyone reaching out.

But Hajin was in fucking Cube. The international creme de la creme academy for those meant to become the powerhouses of the world. Even assuming the worst-case scenario of people being absolute dickheads, there were bound to be people who were absolute saints too.

The moment that the story became a real 'world,' the only reason why Hajin never changed was that the author conspired for it to be that way-

'No, no. I can't just keep dwelling on this.'

Lee had hundreds of complaints. But it didn't matter at the end of the day.

Because Lee was here.

Lee wasn't just reading the story now, he was living in a world where the story had become reality.

So he could actively make Hajin better.

Before, he would have just ignored Hajin and let him sort it out.

But Lee's priorities had shifted now.

'I don't know if the Co-author is causing it, or if it's a ripple from what I've done. But the world's clearly setting Eva up to be a sort of main character.'

That concerned Lee.

While he would absolutely do the best he could and set up contingencies... which was why he was working with the Chameleon Troupe and everything...

Lee was still operating within the limitations of this world.

While <Maverick> might let him break out of the limitations and pull in things that didn't belong if Lee was ever in a pinch, that was opening Pandora's Box.

But Hajin wasn't like that.

Since he was the Author, he had the Authority to change things without the world breaking around him. And if he wanted, Hajin could take center stage in the world and force the plot to follow him.

'...If there is a plot.'

Lee wasn't sure about that either.

As far as he could tell from what he read of The Novel's Extra, it was just a lot of random plot points without an overarching bad guy...

"Earth to Lee? Hello?" Nayun waved her hand and frowned. "You sure you're good to drive?"

Lee blinked and chuckled. "Sorry. Lost in thought for a bit there. I was just thinking about the future."

Nayun paused and she said, "The future... right. There's a lot to do, huh? Like helping Oppa."

Rachel tilted her head and said, "About that... Nayun. What exactly happened to your older brother?"

"Oh. Right." Nayun rubbed her arm. "I forgot that it's not really public..." She paused and said, "Actually... Lee. Did you want to meet him? If you don't have any plans, it might be good for us all to take a look, right?"

Lee hummed. "...I don't think there's any pressing matters at hand. Rachel?"

Rachel shook her head. "There is nothing that I have on my schedule. In the first place, the presumption had been that I would stay at Cube until the end of the semester regardless, so returning home was just for personal reasons."

Lee nodded. "In that case... It's late now, but since it's Saturday tomorrow, why don't we go visit your Oppa, Nayun?"

Nayun let out a warm smile and said, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. No guarantees on healing your older brother."

Nayun laughed. "If you could, I'd be concerned. I don't think I'd be able to adjust to having Oppa around so soon. I still need to make mental preparations..."

"True, true." Lee chuckled. "But that sounds like a plan. Tomorrow morning, we'll portal to Seoul and go from there- Wait."

A thought came to mind.

Something that Lee almost forgot about in the midst of everything else.

"...Hey, Nayun."

"Yeah?"

"Has Suho ever met your Oppa?"

Nayun blinked. "...No? We were never really close enough to-" She paused. Then her eyes widened. "...Wait. Do you think Suho can wake Oppa up?"

"Mm... It's probably not a good Plan A. But I'm pretty sure Suho can cut concepts. Especially after our little match where I accidentally made his Gift evolve." Lee chuckled. "Since this might be a life or death situation, let's get all our ducks in a row first before we go visit your Oppa, okay?"

Evandel stirred in her sleep and murmured, "Duckies... yay..."

Hearing that, the car filled with soft laughter.

But internally, Lee was thinking.

'I don't remember the details. But Nayun's brother should have the Devil's Seed inside him. There's no details about it in this world and it's supposedly impossible to stop since it converts the host into the body of the Devil itself. But...'

It was sloppy writing.

'Devil' was equated with 'Demon' in this world since Hajin wasn't a very well-read person.

'If it's the Devil himself that's in Nayun's brother, then it's absolutely a non-issue since Eva has the Holy Grail. But if it's just a normal demon- No. If it's one of Solomon's 72 demons...'

Ever since Lee had arrived in this world and started researching everything to get up to speed, he'd been cross-referencing what he knew to see what didn't exist in this world.

And one of those things, probably due to ignorance on the parts of both Hajin and the author of The Novel's Extra, was the Key of Solomon.

Or in other words...

'...Then I suppose being a fan of Shin Megami Tensei is going to come in useful.'

...Magic circles that could bind, control, and dominate Demons.