This Novel is not my Novel

"And you saw that, yet..."

"I had a good reason."

Even before I could question him in detail, Reisir quickly cut me off and asked for a chance to explain himself.

It seemed he was aware of how carelessly he had acted.

"Go on, let's hear it."

"I decided that if there was something dangerous in the academy library, a place I'll have to frequent for the next few years, I needed to identify its exact location for safety's sake. That way, I wouldn't accidentally touch something dangerous."

He wasn't wrong.

Not only did he have the goal of investigating materials related to the Demon Realm that had appeared in the Daudabiner territory, but visiting the library was also essential for assignments and exam preparation.

If there was something dangerous in a place he had to frequent, it was necessary to pinpoint its location, if only to avoid it.

However...

"That's not something the person who touched it, knowing full well it was dangerous, should be saying, is it?"

"No, just listen. I couldn't just recklessly report to the academy administration, 'I get a dangerous feeling from these, so please remove all the books here,' could I? That's why I had to confirm why the books here were dangerous."

This reason also made a certain amount of sense.

Since he couldn't talk about his 【Truth-Reading Eye】, he must have had no choice but to act that way if he wanted to file a report.

"If the information window had contained a phrase like [Danger! Do Not Touch.], I never would have opened these books. But it said I didn't have permission to read them, which just makes you wonder what that means, right? Especially since these are books openly displayed in the library for any academy student to read."

It was understandable why he had thought that.

The bookshelf where the Special Character Novels were placed wasn't hidden by any special method, either.

At the time, Reisir wouldn't even have realized that this space was strange.

"So I put my eyepatch back on, pulled a random book from the shelf to examine it, and other than the strange title and the author's name being written in special characters, it seemed ordinary, you know? So I wondered if there was some special measure preventing me from seeing the contents, but the book opened just fine, and I had no problem reading it, see?"

I could sense a nuance of anticlimax, as though his nervousness had been for nothing when nothing happened at all.

"So I was about to close the book and put it back on the shelf when some terms I'd never seen before caught my eye. I wondered if they were some kind of cipher, so I pulled out a few more books and skimmed them. But those unfamiliar terms were being used as common nouns, and they even shared a peculiar worldview, you know? Not all Special Character Novels are like that, but most of them... You've read them too, so you understand what I'm saying, right?"

I understood all too well.

These days, even in novels set in a fantasy world, there were many cases where the protagonist was a modern person who had crossed over through possession or reincarnation.

And there were many novels like that in the hunter genre, which were set in the modern era with fantasy elements sprinkled in.

Terms referring to modern items or concepts that shouldn't exist in this world commonly appeared across several novels.

Since both the authors and readers were modern people, it was natural for there to be no explanation for such terms.

And since all the Special Character Novels were web novels produced in Korea, the country "Republic of Korea" was bound to be mentioned repeatedly.

There's no hidden meaning. They're just ordinary nouns. And he thought they were a cipher?

A bunch of perfectly ordinary words lined up together.

The image of Reisir struggling to decipher them as a cipher was quite amusing.

But even without considering Karvaldr's character, laughing at this moment would look extremely strange.

So I consciously pulled down the corners of my mouth, trying to maintain a serious expression.

"I've never thought of it as a... cipher... but I see why you might have. So, did you succeed in... deciphering it?"

"Well, about that...? It seems I was mistaken. After reading about ten of them, I got the feeling that they weren't a cipher, but rather fixed, unique terms."

A sense of awkwardness was written all over his face as he answered.

He looked embarrassed, fully aware that he had been on a pointless errand.

As I stared steadily at his face, his embarrassment seemed to double. Reisir let out an unnecessary fake cough and continued speaking with a serious expression.

"Ahem, ahem! But I'm certain that the books here are by no means ordinary. I'm sure there's some secret hidden within them, even if I haven't noticed it."

"And your reason for thinking so?"

"You've read them, so you know, right? A lot of these Special Character Novels feature a 'status window.' They also have something called a 'dungeon,' a concept similar to a 'Demon Realm'... What's more, it's not just the status window. Terms like awakened, skill window, and inventory are identical, aren't they?"

"Ah..."

I belatedly realized that I had asked something too obvious and inwardly winced, but fortunately, Reisir didn't seem to think much of it.

I supposed he was too busy laying out his assumptions to think deeply about my question and simply moved on.

"It could be that the experts who established these terms were just avid readers of Special Character Novels and copied them. But it bothers me that the awakened, status windows, skill windows, and inventories in the Special Character Novels aren't just similar, but too similar to the real things."

After all, the Special Character Novels were Korean web novels, and 《NaSE》, the setting of this novel, was also a Korean web novel.

Sharing similar concepts and identical terminology was incredibly natural.

But I couldn't explain this and had no choice but to remain silent, and that was when these words flowed from Reisir's mouth.

"Maybe, just maybe... the authors who wrote these Special Character Novels are beings who witnessed the essence of this world, its future, or its hidden side?"

He wasn't merely believing in a conspiracy theory. He was creating one from scratch.

For a moment, I almost burst into a hollow laugh at how absurd it was.

But I immediately had to adopt a serious expression.

It wasn't that the authors of the Special Character Novels had witnessed something from this world, but...

The Special Character Novels—in other words, Korean web novels—being the essence of this world... that's actually true, isn't it...?

I would appreciate it if you forgot the narration I left in Episode 10, where I said it was ambiguous whether web novels could be considered knowledge.

Back then, I was mistaken. Therefore, I will make a correction.

In the world I had lived in, web novels were nothing more than creative works, but in this world, which had been created based on web novels, they were more than qualified to be treated as important literature containing knowledge.

And at that, literature dealing with the very foundation of this world.

From that perspective, web novel authors were no ordinary beings either.

In a way, they had created worlds like this one.

The conspiracy theory Reisir presented wasn't a ridiculous leap in logic, but rather closer to seeing only part of the truth and downplaying it.

"Have you ever told this story to anyone besides me?"

"No, never. I'd sound like a hardcore otaku who can't distinguish between a novel's plot and reality and spouts conspiracy theories, wouldn't I?"

"......"

If he thought that, why did he tell me?

Surely he didn't think I was a fellow otaku, did he?

I felt extremely displeased, and the strong thought that I didn't want to be lumped into the same category as him surfaced.

So I hugged Yor and took a step back.

"Why all of a sudden..."

"Didn't you say you recommended the novels here to Helga?"

Lest I explain why I had stepped back and hear Reisir say that he considered me one of his kind, I cut him off and hurriedly brought up a question related to the main topic.

"Yeah. It seemed like the lack of 'permission to read' wasn't about the contents of these Special Character Novels, but about the novels themselves, you know? There was no problem reading the contents, and there was a reason... like maybe someone else could notice something I had missed..."

"And?"

"But also, they're just genuinely fun to read as 'novels,' so I thought it would be nice to have someone to read them with and exchange opinions."

I had been reading web novels for a long time, but I had never once had such a thought.

Still, I suddenly felt as though I knew what that feeling was.

In one word, he's saying he wants to read the comments left by other people, isn't he?

Once I reached this conclusion, I finally understood how Reisir felt.

Because I liked reading comments, too.

Whether they were on my own novel or someone else's.

It was fun to see interpretations put forth by others. I would be happy when I found foreshadowing I had missed, and I would feel a sense of gladness for no reason when I found someone who felt the same way I did.

I supposed I had always been exchanging opinions with numerous people while reading the same work.

It was impossible for the thought that I needed someone to read and discuss novels with to ever cross my mind.

On the other hand, since Reisir couldn't read "comments," one of the fun elements of web novels, he had desperately come to want someone to read with him.

However.

"Like you, I also tried to figure something out through these Special Character Novels, but in the end, I just got hooked on the fun of the novels themselves."

As Reisir said this, trying to build common ground with me, I once again felt that I truly didn't want to be lumped into the same category as him.

He had gone on and on with this grand talk about the essence of the world and whatnot, only for the conclusion to be, "I read them diligently because they were fun."

He was the original protagonist, for crying out loud. Was it all right for him to say such absurd things?

Anyway, the reason Reisir started reading the Special Character Novels was because of his 【Truth-Reading Eye】, huh?

The character setting of reading truth had, in effect, made Reisir face the "fourth wall."

Though it seemed Reisir, the person concerned, hadn't noticed at all that it was the "fourth wall."

To notice that, he would have to realize the truth that he himself was a web novel protagonist, so it was natural that he didn't know for now.

"You didn't... develop a repulsion toward the Special Character Novels after hearing my story, did you...?"

"Not at all. As you said, reading the books here isn't particularly dangerous. If they were problematic books, they wouldn't have been placed in a place like this. So there should be no problem with continuing to read them."

It was just that it had become a headache.

I brought Reisir here to have him check my status window with his 【Truth-Reading Eye】...

What if, when he used that skill on me, just like when he had checked the information on the Special Character Novels, a bright red window popped up with the phrase [You do not have permission to read this.]?

A needless anxiety welled up within me, and I felt the impulse to cancel my plan, but...

It would be better for that window to appear now than when the original author was observing.

Thinking that, I managed to steady my wavering resolve.