The Novel’s Villain

< 14. Elves Are Pretty (4) >

The chickens were a great help to Elonti. They roamed the entire forest and ate any bugs they could find. Not only that but small monsters that harmed the forest or even Orcs that came to scout were preyed on. The scary thing was that the more they ate, the more they ranked up as if they accumulated experience. Each individual had their limits, but it was still phenomenal growth.

The food shortage was solved right away with a surplus of eggs. Chickens that didn’t evolve were used separately for food. Many of them had evolved, but there were still some that remained unchanged. It was the moment when the elves’ staple food changed from vegetables to meat. Jin-woo thought they would be reluctant to kill because they were elves, but they handled it very well.

‘Well, they fight well with pigs like orcs…’

However, it was said that they planned to hold a memorial service periodically. It was said that the souls of animals became spirits when the forest was thick, so maybe the chickens would too? Chicken spirits…

It was childish and weird just thinking about it.

‘I don’t think that’s the case in this crazy world. There are so many gaps in the settings that I don’t know what’s going to come out next.’

He didn’t know because there were settings hidden everywhere that even Jin-woo couldn’t expect. He turned his head to look at Ella and Yoo-na.

“I like the fluffy feathers.”

“It’s better than I thought. I think it’s a good idea to bring it into the JW gate.”

“You mean the Emperor’s estate? I know that it is the most splendid of all dimensions and the center of his dimension.”

“Is that so?”

Yoo-na quickly adjusted and rode the Elonti chicken well. Looking at the guards, they were even using the magic of the wind to take long leaps. The way it fell with its beak first and smashed the rock was a terrifying sight.

‘The orcs…’

He felt sorry for them, but they might soon become extinct. The chickens were already looking at the orcs as prey. All but Elonti were their enemies. Unintentionally, the power issue had also been resolved. Usually, in movies, elves rode deer-like animals. Jin-woo couldn’t help but laugh when he thought of an army of elves riding chickens instead of deer.

For now, the most urgent fire was extinguished. No, it was frozen because it couldn’t be extinguished. After a few days of watching, the chickens evolved as they It was like taking a power, agility, and or endurance stat buff when it came to humans. They were physically developing since there was mana.

It was unexpected. Maybe the Gate was poisoned to prevent this from happening? It felt like some reality correction was added to the clumsy setting. Anyway, the insect’s influence had decreased, so the soil began to recover, and the sprouts were growing a little bit.

‘Golden Trees could be planted now.’

The Golden Trees were slow, but they could produce fruit. The elves had to pour out their mana periodically, but it was easier than catching bugs. The chickens that ate the Golden Apple had their feathers change to be colorful and plentiful, so it was worth the effort.

Anyway, now Jin-woo had to focus on awakening the will of the World Tree.

“My Lord Emperor.”

Dellu approached Jin-woo.

“The preparations are complete.”

Ella and the elves wanted to express their gratitude to Jin-woo, but they were aware that material things could not impress the Emperor of Gold. He was a legend said to stack dimensional gold coins into the mountains. Besides that, many elves witnessed the atrocities of him just throwing dimensional gold coins onto the field. Although Jin-woo didn’t know, it was said that there were many forces desperately moving to catch his eyes in the Demon Realm.

Ella wrote a song for the Emperor of Gold to express her gratitude. Singing was a must to summon spirits and grow for the forest, so all the elves were good at it. It was said that the singing wouldn’t stop when the forest was splendid. To thank Jin-woo, the elves set today as a Golden Day and held a festival. All the elves of Elonti participated, but the feeling was rustic and quaint due to the small population.

‘It’s simple, but…this is indeed a festival.’

He liked it. To be honest, the festivals on Earth were too overflowing. Jin-woo didn’t expect to see so many chicken and egg dishes in the elven forest, but there were quite a few scented plants in the forest, so the elf artisans were studying them seriously. There were many different ways of cooking, such as setting the temperature using the spirit of fire or steaming with the spirit of water.

‘I think they will get along with the researchers.’

It was cute to see the young elves sitting side by side chewing boiled eggs. When they met Jin-woo’s eyes, there was a moment of conflict; then, they held out an egg. They were very kind-hearted children.

Ella and the elves sang naturally. The original beautiful spirits appeared, not the malnourished ones.

“Spirit magic…”

Even though it was applied strangely, Jin-woo was also learning spirit magic.

‘Oh….’

A smile was naturally brought to his lips. As Ella danced gracefully, the spirits moved along with her. The trees and grass in the forest shook as if cheering her on. There were no musical instruments, but it was accompanied by the sound of nature coming from the forest, so it wasn’t awkward at all. Rather, it looked grand and holy enough to remind him of an orchestra.

Ella began to sing.

‘It’s good.’

It was such a beautiful voice he could see why it was Rank A. Just listening to it made his worries disappear and his heart warm like he was being comforted by the forest. Jin-woo just quietly appreciated it. He found out for the first time that singing could move his heart. This song dealt with the spirits and awakened the will of the World Tree to move the entire forest.

Queen of the Forest, Ella de Elonti. It was clear why she was the Queen. It was fortunate that she didn’t perish like in the original story.

‘By the way, did they say it was interest, love, and support? To sum it up, it’s like a fan’s heart.’

Fan’s heart. It was a pretty appropriate word for Jin-woo to think of. The elves were all fans of the Queen, but the numbers were small. It was said that once, all the animals of the forest loved the Queen.

Jin-woo was lost in thought for a moment. The fandom wasn’t limited to elves. That meant…

‘After all, it is connected to Earth through a dimensional Gate…’

Elonti was connected with China. If you enter the depths of China’s Gate, you could find your way to Elonti. Moreover, it was also connected to the Sanctuary of Gold and the dimensional flow, so it could be said that it was also connected to Korea, like the artifacts in China and Japan were inter-dimensionally linked.

When the will of the World Tree could be awakened, the population of elves was said to be about 70,000, while the earth’s population had exceeded 7 billion. The scale itself was completely different from Elonti.

‘This…might be okay.’

Yoo-na, who was looking around the works of artisans, approached. She recommended a plan to sell them through the Cultural Center, so Yoo-na had taken some as samples. She went to Jin-woo’s side and listened to Ella’s song together with him.

As the song came to the second half, it felt as holy as watching a mass in some grand cathedral. It was completely different from Ella’s normally innocent appearance.

“Ella is the queen.”

“What if Ella showed up on Earth?”

Yoo-na looked at Jin-woo when he said that. She understood his intent at once. Even though it was ridiculous for Jin-woo to say it himself, a giant chicken from Earth was also running around Elonti. Come to think of it, Ella didn’t have to go directly to Earth.

This was because there were many platforms, such as MeTube. It was well worth a try.

“It is probably the most important thing whether Earthlings are included or not.”

Yoo-na thought deeply about Jin-woo’s words, then she nodded. There was nothing to lose by trying it out. If it didn’t work, they could just fold it away.

“Umm…”

“Exactly…”

Jin-woo and Yoo-na looked at Ella at the same time. It was an absurd idea, but they nodded as one. Ella, finishing the song, tilted her head in confusion.

‘Is this going to work?’

Ella had all the requirements. No, she was far beyond that.

Things continued right on. Although it was only temporary at the Cultural Center, an agency was also created. The agency’s name was Elonti Entertainment. Although temporary, Yoo-na was appointed as the president, and Ella became their main singer and songwriter. Dellu, like Ella, created a new identity and was placed as her manager.

The problem was that the Future Strategy Office worked so well that the rumors were growing big. There was an uproar about the appearance of a giant agency that would destroy the industry’s ecosystem. The top three Korean agencies had no choice but to be extremely nervous.

To be honest, Jin-woo could have taken out all the star celebrities with just a little bit of money as even the most famous agency had a market capitalization of only one trillion won. However, Jin-woo had no intention of doing so. Now it was just a ghost company with nothing but money to burn.

“Let’s try it out first.”

He bought high-quality equipment. Yoo-na handled the machines quite well, so he entrusted them to her. They weren’t experts, so they were just trying it out to see if there would be a reaction. Jin-woo enhanced all the cameras and equipment, even applying the Attribute Stones so that the performance improved to the point where he wondered if it would be okay.

Because of the enhancement by the Emperor of Gold, it would make a natural and beautiful image due to his correction effect. It was a piece of equipment anyone would covet.

“It’s a little awkward.”

Ella looked embarrassed by all of the unfamiliar equipment. Still, she was willing to do anything she could to awaken the will of the World Tree and repay Jin-woo for his favor. Ella’s will become firm. He asked her to sing, as usual, so that she would pour all her energy into it.

Ella did her best to sing. She felt like she was doing her best, and thanks to that, they were able to make some good videos. Yoo-na had an absurd expression on her face all the while.

“With this kind of equipment, there would be no need for a sound engineer. What the hell…”

Yoo-na went silent as she looked at Jin-woo. The composition itself felt amateurish, but that only served it better. This was because it wasn’t artificial and had a Vlog-like naturalness.

“If we upload it like this, she’ll be a singer with an elf concept.”

“That sounds good, too.”

“It’s for testing purposes, so I don’t think there will be any particular problems.”

There were a lot of factors that were appealing to uploading like this. No one would ever have thought that elves existed, so that wouldn’t be a problem. It was enough to justify that the forest was moving or the water was swarming because she was a competent person with magic. Even on Earth, singers among the competent people were rare, but they did exist.

The account was also honestly created as Elf Queen Ella.

“I’ll edit it and upload it.”

“For now, let’s just see if it affects Ella.”

“Understood.”

Jin-woo and Yoo-na had become accustomed to the elves.

Anyway, Ella could use the Dimensional Store, so she could exchange it for dimension gold like Jin-woo if she earned income from Earth. Ella’s eyes opened wide when Jin-woo told her the truth. If things worked out well, Elonti would have attained an autonomous power.

“I will practice hard in the future! Please give me lots of guidance!”

Ella’s will flared up.

Something was about to shake the world again.

* * *

Liu Wei ran desperately, his appearance beyond recognition. He managed to reach the assassins of the Snake Shield Guild Alliance in hiding and tried to stow away to reach Japan. Tears covered his eyes when he thought of the hardships he had experienced so far. Yet now he saw a small ship in front of him.

It was the moment his face was dyed with hope.

Bang! Whoosh!

An explosion sounded from the ship, and it was shattered into pieces beyond recognition. Liu Wei was also caught up in the explosion and thrown backward.

He could tell as soon as he staggered to his feet that it wasn’t a typical explosion. Although small in size, that firepower was powerful enough to burn through a competent person in seconds.

“Aah…”

Liu Wei looked behind him. A man appeared in the dark under the moonlight, his face one that Liu Wei knew.

“T-the Fire God, Lee Min-woo…”

The Fire God, Lee Min-woo Although he resembled Lee Jin-woo, he didn’t feel human. Lee Min-woo was exceedingly famous among the competent people, and there weren’t just one or two people who died at his hands during the blood purge in the Frontline Group. There were no corpses left.

Because they were all turned to ash.

“U-uaaaaaargh!”

Liu Wei tried his best to escape, but…

Scratch!

“Gasp!”

The pillar in front of him was cut off down by a sword. Choi Hee-yeon was blocking him before he knew it. Lee Min-woo behind and Choi Hee-yeon in front.

“So, it’s the head of the Choi Family. What is going on here?”

“I’m here to catch this criminal.”

“I’m sorry, but I came first…”

“I’m sorry, but can you give it to me?”

“Sorry.”

Lee Min-woo politely declined. The atmosphere turned to ice. Choi Hee-yeon looked at the boat. The shape was unrecognizable, and those inside were already dead.

“There is no need to kill them all…”

“They are just criminals. Even in the Association, they are vicious criminals who are wanted dead or alive.”

Choi Hee-yeon’s eyes widened. That wrecked ship was a trap.

“You drove him here on purpose.”

“It’s more certain to deal with him this way. I need the information he has, so I’ll take him.”

Liu Wei trembled between them. If he were caught by Choi Hee-yeon, he would likely go to the JW Gate where the General Manager was. However, it was clear that Lee Min-woo would steal information from him before burning him to death. His fate had been decided.

Choi Hee-yeon wanted to take Liu Wei alive, and Lee Min-woo wanted to get rid of him immediately after obtaining official evidence through the Investigation Bureau. The scariest thing about Lee Min-woo was that he planned thoroughly and never left any regrets. A chilly atmosphere ensued, but it wasn’t Choi Hee-yeon, Lee Min-woo, or Liu Wei who broke the silence.

“Should we glare at each other like that?”

It was the Sword Master who appeared between the two.

“I think you can just get the information and then hand him over to Choi Family’s Sword School. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

When the Sword Master appeared, the cold atmosphere blew away in an instant. With his appearance, even Lee Min-woo had no choice but to step back. He was a legendary figure among competent people, and these days, he had a great influence on the general public’s hearts.

Lee Min-woo had no reason to turn him into an enemy. After all, they were on the same side.

“All right. I’ll do that.”

“Thank you.”

As Lee Min-woo nodded, Choi Hee-yeon also accepted it. The tension immediately dissolved.

“Chief Choi, I have been very rude.”

“No. I am so sorry.”

“Please take good care of my brother. I think it will be very reassuring if Chief Choi stays by Jin-woo’s side.”

“Yes? I understand! L-leave it to me.”

It seemed like a strange deal was going on without Jin-woo. Lee Min-woo’s men appeared to arrest Liu Wei and put him in the trunk of their car. Liu Wei wept all the while, but Lee Min-woo remained amicable.

“You need to control your murderous spirit. If you keep holding the sword, it will rust. Put the sword in there and try to find peace in your heart.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

“What kind of advice, haha? I’m sorry that I thought you were naive for nothing.”

“No. It has been very helpful.”

On SNS, the Sword Master was famous for penetrating the hearts of the public and giving excellent advice. No one dared to criticize him. There was even a famous case where someone wrote severely malicious comments, yet Sword Master came to them to give advice and soothe their hearts.

The malicious commenter entered the public training at Choi Family’s Sword School. There was an evaluation that Korea’s military power had risen even more because the Sword Master went around like that.

“Then, excuse me first.”

Lee Min-woo bid them farewell and got into the car. As he headed to the Investigation Bureau, he remembered what the Sword Master had said and taken out his cell phone.

He searched for Sword Master’s SNS account.

“…”

The photo of him taken side by side with the hottest Sweetie Girls these days was impressive. Lee Min-woo looked at Sword Master’s SNS and found a link to a video in the latest article.

‘Amazing. The fantastic harmony of nature and song is phenomenal.’

With those words, he clicked the link out of curiosity. The melody rang out. The sound of nature was in harmony with the voice, to the point it felt like an orchestra. The woman dressed as an elf was so beautiful to watch.

Even Lee Min-woo found himself mesmerized for a while. Her voice seemed to comfort him, and her gestures touched his heart. After listening to it over and over again, Lee Min-woo played it loudly through the speaker in the car.

‘…It’s good.’

His heart became calm. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time. No, had he ever felt so comfortable in his life? When he suddenly saw who uploaded the video, it read Elonti Entertainment. Lee Min-woo blinked and smiled. Elonti Entertainment was an agency founded recently by his younger brother.

‘It looks like he’s trying to do something else.’

Even his own heart had been captured, and the success was almost instantaneous.

‘He will become a different king than Chairman Lee Hee-jin.’

The public was already enjoying the new trends in culture spread by G&P, and rejection against them was close to zero. G&P’s food had become a trend, and the recently released Infinity Phone was almost out of stock. People had to wait several months due to a huge shortage of supplies. There was no substitute product to fight against them.

Other smartphone manufacturers were working hard to get batteries that had Infinity Technology in them. The abuse of technology was beginning.

Of course, Lee Min-woo had already purchased one, as had the Sword Master.

“Elf Queen Ella….”

Lee Min-woo suddenly thought that it would be nice to meet her someday. After hesitating for a while, he clicked the ‘Subscribe’ and ‘Like’ buttons. He also commented, ‘Thank you for a good song.’ Liu Wei, who was in the trunk, began to shed tears at the faint sound of the music.

“Sob…”

It was the warmest voice he had heard in a long time. He finally understood the Ambassador’s teaching, but it was already too late.

Jin-woo, having returned to the Sanctuary of Gold, told Arina what had happened. She was quite interested.

“I used to sing to relieve the pain.”

“Ah…”

“I was able to forget my hunger for a while.”

Arina’s expression looked distressed. It was as if she was suffering from PTSD. Come to think of it, Arina had the technique of [D] The Darkest Song. It was a technique that was naturally created by hunger, not one that was learned.

“Do you want me to sing it for you?”

Jin-woo grew curious and nodded, then Arina sang with a creepy expression. It was a mournful song full of despair. The melody was also very sad, like singing death.

Shudder…

Jin-woo suddenly became cold and hungry. He felt miserable, as if he had been abandoned alone on a snowy street. How should he explain this genre?

The demon’s song or death ballad seemed appropriate.