Chapter 97: Novel Readers
Naia smiled and chatted with them for a few more minutes before saying her goodbyes.
It was time to head back home. As for the siblings, she’d let them stay and work in the space until she revealed the truth of the apocalypse to the family, which should happen soon after she went back home.
After all, the ’real’ Spartan training needed to begin. She’d resume the last leg of her shopping spree after she settled everyone. Anyway, she had Kael to assist in preparation now, significantly lightening up the pressure on her.
She wondered when he’d tell her where to find him. She had asked him once, and he just told her he’d come to her.
Did he just not want her to find him? Psh.
[BigSisNaia: Keep up the good work. I’m coming home. I expect good progress on your exercises.] she said, and then closed the program.
Next up: Looking for someone to promote the webnovel.
...
Meanwhile, somewhere in a coastal city.
Jane looked at the offer, a bit puzzled. "A webnovel?" she asked, looking at the work and realizing it wasn’t even contracted to a big platform.
"Perhaps it’s a passion project of some rich kid?" She couldn’t help but wonder. Her fees weren’t cheap.
Jane was a semi-famous influence in the literary world. Her concept was to find books, read them, review them, and so on. The fanbase wasn’t massive, but it was not small either. She could be said to be the biggest literary influencer in the country.
More importantly, they were loyal because she retained her integrity even in the face of the ’big’ mainstream authors.
She was known for her honest and detailed reviews. At the same time, she was never mean and gave proper reasoning, so she hadn’t made many enemies through the years despite her line of work.
She never went viral, but her earnings were enough to supplement the household a bit.
She was a housewife, her husband was a professor, but he didn’t really earn much in the academe. What he earned was just enough for the basics like rent, utilities, and basic food. The rest, if they wanted to improve their lifestyle a bit, had to be from other things.
Jane’s main source of income was her traffic. She rarely took in advertisement jobs because she had to read the whole thing a few times and pretty much write a report on it. From then, she’d format it in a way that would be interesting to the audience.
Further, she had to stipulate in the contract that she would only be saying honest reviews. Even if they paid her, it did not guarantee she would only say good things. Of course, she would highlight the books’ positives for the most part, but if there was something to critique, she wouldn’t shy away from it.
Over the past couple of years that she had been doing this, she had done 4 books, one of which was part of a book series. She had never done webnovels before, primarily because these works were particularly well-done (in the technical sense) in general.
Webnovels were known as the junk food of the literary world, and many traditional writers tended to look down on them.
It was just that the offer was quite high.
And then there was the very peculiar note.
You can criticize it harshly, provided that it is your honest opinion.
She wasn’t quite sure what this person expected. She had never handled something like this before.
"Honey? What’s wrong?"
Her husband, Hubert, asked when he noticed her oddness. She blankly showed him the offer.
"Why don’t you read it first, then?" he said, also very curious. "Try it out. Maybe something unexpected would greet you."
...
In another City, a group of roommates was lounging about their room and doing their own thing, mostly scrolling through their phones. At some point, one of them, a pretty girl with coffee-colored skin, sat up, a bit confused.
"What the..."
"What is it?"
"I swear I’ve been seeing this everywhere," she said, sounding a little miffed. Feeling her roommates’ stares, she went to explain her conundrum.
"I don’t even read apocalypse novels. I’m into CEO and slice of life! What algorithm is this?"
The other girls went over to check and a flicker of surprise passed over their spaces. "I think I saw it a few times, too!" Another girl, a blonde, said. "And I read mafia and werewolf stories." These stories were pretty much directly opposite to apocalypse stories.
The shorthaired roommate peeked and saw the odd. "I see it too," she said. "It must be that the author invested a lot in the marketing."
"But do stories like these even make money?"
"I don’t think it does, especially with a female lead," another said. They were all avid webnovel readers (most people in their generation were), so they knew a few things.
Silence passed over the room, and they all looked at the advertisement with different expressions.
In the end, their shoulders slumped, as if succumbing to something.
"Well, they spent so much money...a pity if they couldn’t recoup costs."
"Hmn...well, I’m bored with the story I’m reading, anyway."
They had no idea that this decision would directly save their lives—several times, at that.
...
Acero Town
"Why are you crying, boy?" A middle-aged man in front of the barbecue grill asked the lad. He was crying while turning the sticks around.
Wasn’t he afraid the meat would get too salty from his tears? Fortunately, there was no snot (yet).
The middle-aged man was having second thoughts about buying the meat, but since the lad was crying, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Everyone knew this kid. He was just covering for his sick mother. How could they bear to hurt such a filial child? If he got discouraged, they’d have sinned!
"Is your mother alright?"
"Hmn? Oh, yes, she should be coming back in two days."
"Then...why are you crying so pitifully?"
The question reminded the lad of the sad scene. "Sniffle. My favorite side character just died."
"Huh?"
It was only then that they realized there was a narration in the background. It wasn’t loud, and the market was noisy enough, so they didn’t notice immediately.
The narrating voice was reading a story.
To be precise, a webnovel.
/The man appeared behind the gangster, stabbing him right at the heart. His blood splattered all over, dyeing the dusty ground with an intense color./
"..."
