Ch.232Web Novel Showdown (3)

At that moment, somewhere in the galaxy.

Pink Beard lay groaning on his bed.

“Urghhhh…!”

His forehead and the back of his neck were covered with cooling packs.

No matter what kind of alien he was, as long as he was a creature with blood flowing through him, he couldn’t overcome high blood pressure caused by sudden stress.

“Damn it all!!!!”

Unable to contain his anger, Pink Beard let out a roar.

“…How is the invasion of Earth progressing?”

Pink Beard urged his secretary to report quickly.

“Well… we’re working hard to open dimensional rifts and send mercenaries, but… the results have been disappointing. The number of people becoming shut-ins is approaching zero.”

The subordinate spoke with a trembling voice.

“What did you say?”

Pink Beard immediately glared at his subordinate.

“To be precise… all the dispatched mercenaries have been eliminated. The Slime clan has unilaterally declared they will no longer help us. Earth’s inhabitants are stronger than expected, and our forces are being slaughtered as soon as they open rifts and land in Emoshita. Morale has already hit rock bottom.”

The subordinate had no choice but to deliver the grim news.

“Hnnnggghhh!!!”

The moment he heard the report, one of Pink Beard’s blood vessels burst.

Pink Beard had immense pride and had never experienced failure in any invasion operation until now.

And now he was struggling so much with Earth. It was enough to trigger acute hypertension.

“I see… so that’s how it is.”

Pink Beard muttered, trying somehow to suppress his rage.

“What about the Planet Pasca situation? Can we salvage any military supplies or provisions from there?”

Pink Beard pressed about the Planet Pasca matter.

“Well… the planet itself has been pulverized. All military supplies and provisions on the planet have been reduced to ashes.”

The subordinate reported the facts calmly.

An entire planet where Pink Beard had been mass-producing troops was destroyed overnight. This threw a wrench in Pink Beard’s cosmic invasion plans.

The defeat was particularly painful because Pink Beard had never imagined that a planet could be physically destroyed in such a manner.

“Damn it all… has a true hero appeared on Earth…?!”

Pink Beard couldn’t help but recall one man’s name.

Sashisuseso Aiueo.

The being Pink Beard suspected to be the hero.

“Lord Pink Beard. We’ve already conquered half the galaxy. Earth is just a small planet on the outskirts. Perhaps you should consider abandoning the invasion…”

The subordinate offered sincere advice from the heart.

“You… have never hesitated to give me harsh truths. And you’ve served me for decades.”

Pink Beard looked at his subordinate with warm eyes.

“Lord Pink Beard…”

The subordinate felt overwhelmed that his sincerity was being acknowledged.

“I appreciate your honest counsel.”

Pink Beard said with a slight smile.

“But goddamn it, you’ve always lacked tact!!!!”

Suddenly, Pink Beard pointed his finger at the subordinate.

FWOOOOOOSH!!!!!

A beam shot out from Pink Beard’s finger.

FWSHAAAAAK-!

The beam cleanly pierced through the subordinate’s forehead.

The subordinate’s head exploded neatly. He clearly hadn’t expected Pink Beard to attack so suddenly.

“Those Earth bastards… giving me such humiliation…!!”

Pink Beard immediately rose from his bed.

“By any means necessary, I will devour Earth!!!!!”

Pink Beard shouted.

Afterward, Pink Beard contacted a certain place.

“Summon the Galactic Assassins Union.”

Pink Beard immediately called for his most trusted subordinates.

SHWIIIIING-!

After making contact, a dimensional gate formed in Pink Beard’s room.

“You called for me, Lord Pink Beard.”

An alien dressed in a black bodysuit immediately knelt down.

It was ‘Victory Man,’ known as the galaxy’s strongest assassin. He was now Pink Beard’s favored personal hitman.

“Weren’t there… six of you? Why are you alone?”

Pink Beard narrowed his eyes.

“Well… excluding me, the other five died in unfortunate accidents.”

Victory Man delivered the shocking statement.

“W-who killed them… was it those damn Earthlings again?”

Another of Pink Beard’s blood vessels burst.

“No… we were all having a company dinner… and they ate some bad sashimi… four of them died of acute food poisoning.”

Victory Man explained.

“You managed to stay fine, I see.”

Pink Beard said, somehow suppressing his anger.

“I don’t eat sashimi well… so I just had fried food. That’s why I survived.”

Victory Man said.

“And the last one?”

Pink Beard asked, taking a deep breath.

“Well… he was drunk driving and got sucked into a black hole.”

Victory Man said.

And that’s how five of the galaxy’s strongest assassins were retired.

“Fine. You’ll do. Go to Earth immediately. And… eliminate Arigiri Shota, an associate of Sashisuseso Aiueo.”

Pink Beard ordered.

According to reports, Arigiri Shota was Sashisuseso Aiueo’s actual combat operative. Eliminating him would deal a significant blow to the hero’s side.

“Failure will not be tolerated.”

Pink Beard stated firmly.

“Of course. You know my psycho-robo abilities well, Lord Pink Beard. I have never failed an assassination.”

Victory Man smiled.

“Good. I’m counting on you.”

“As you command.”

Victory Man immediately disappeared through dimensional travel.

Left alone in the room, Pink Beard muttered to himself.

“I… seem to have terrible luck with subordinates.”

Pink Beard had a moment of realization and existential crisis.

———

Back to Shota’s perspective.

The novel I had read before continued its meteoric rise.

It was incredibly otaku-ish but overwhelmingly entertaining.

It was about a protagonist who only watches VTuber streams and ends up in a college dormitory, where all the female students in the neighboring room turn out to be VTubers. He accidentally becomes their manager and helps them become successful. Eventually, love blossoms in this harem pure love story.

Predictable but incredibly fun. Seriously.

It had essentially secured the first place in the contest rankings.

But… I had my own achievement.

“Rank 9!!! 9th place!!!! NINTH!!!!”

I let out a wild cry.

That’s right. I had made it into the top ten. That alone was an accomplishment.

“Shota… that’s amazing. Out of all those works, you made it into the top 10.”

Eri smiled and patted my head.

“Well… not bad. Though you’ve still got a long way to go to catch up to me.”

Mika praised me in her brusque manner.

“Well… it’s all thanks to everyone.”

I said with a smile.

No one would believe it, but this was my autobiographical story. The reason this novel resonated with readers was simple: my experiences were dramatic and entertaining.

That precious daily life was created by my girlfriends.

“Can’t you push harder and get first place?”

Umi asked while eating ice cream.

“I-I’ll try.”

I replied.

But… truthfully, I had lost some of my fighting spirit. The first-place work was too strong. “I’m Being Obsessed Over by Three Well-Raised VTubers” was just too powerful!!!

“Still… with writing skills like this, you’re practically a professional author… it’s surprising this is your first work.”

Mika said.

“That’s true.”

I just assumed it might be an established author using a new pen name.

“Oh, by the way, Mika. We were supposed to have a date today. What do you want to do?”

The priority was my date with Mika.

Ding-!

Just then, Mika’s phone vibrated.

“A message?”

I asked, my face buried in Mika’s cleavage.

“Yeah. It’s from Shotaro-san.”

Mika said.

I lifted my head to check the message.

“Apparently the platform is holding some kind of event.”

Mika said.

I heard it was an event for established and rookie authors to socialize.

But today… we were supposed to have a date.

“I’m not going.”

Mika immediately sent a rejection message. Really… I was her first priority. Being someone’s top priority wasn’t a bad feeling at all.

Riiiiing-!!!

Then the phone rang. It was Shotaro-san.

“Mika…!!! You’re our platform’s star author!!!! Please!! Come!! Huh? Please!!”

Shotaro-san sounded desperate.

“I’m supposed to have a date with Shota today. I don’t have time.”

Mika said coolly.

“Ah!! I see!! Then… why not bring Shota too? It’s at a really nice hotel!!! The buffet is free!!! I’ll get you a suite on the top floor!! Huh? There’s even a pool on the roof!! It’s romantic and nice!”

Shotaro-san was desperate.

It would damage the platform’s reputation if their star author didn’t show up.

“Hmm… an outdoor pool. That might be nice?”

Mika seemed tempted by the offer.

“Shota. Do you want to go?”

Mika asked.

Shotaro-san seemed so desperate… I wanted to help.

“Sure. Let’s go together.”

I readily agreed.

“Then we’ll come.”

Mika made her decision immediately.

“Great!! Plus!! The person who’s creating a buzz in the current contest will be there too!!”

Shotaro shouted.

“The author of the current #1 contest entry, ‘Virgin Mage-sama,’ is coming!!!”

At Shotaro’s words, Mika and I exchanged glances.

Yes, that was the author everyone was talking about. I was curious what kind of person they were.

“Well? Doesn’t that pique your interest?”

To Shotaro-san’s question, Mika answered:

“I am curious.”

Mika admitted honestly.

With another reason to go, Mika and I hurried to get ready.

“We’ll be going then!”

I said goodbye to my girlfriends.

“Okay. Eat lots of delicious food.”

Eri smiled and waved.

“Bring back some macarons if they have any.”

Umi said.

“Hey… you shouldn’t take food from a buffet…”

I said to Umi.

But… if Umi wanted it, I was confident I could smuggle them out like Mun Ik-jeom hiding cotton seeds.

“Emoshita Buffet Macaron Thief Shota!! Launching!!”

I raised my hand high and roared.

“Hehehe. It would be hilarious if you got caught.”

Taiga said with a grin.

“Right, right. Running away from security guards going ‘Eeeek!’ Hehehe.”

Tina also found it amusing.

“Of course! A pirate’s companion should be good at plundering!!”

Kirtan encouraged my thievery.

Anyway, Mika and I headed to the hotel on the outskirts of Emoshita. Shotaro-san’s car was already waiting in front of our house. Thanks to that, the journey was very comfortable.

——–

Being quite a large platform, they seemed to have rented an entire banquet hall. It looked quite impressive.

“But… who is Virgin Mage-sama?”

Mika seemed curious about only that.

“Ah… that person over there. Let me introduce you.”

Shotaro led Mika and me toward a man.

But… the man’s appearance looked familiar.

“T-Teacher…?”

I muttered in shock.

“A-Arigiri…!”

Teacher looked at me with surprised eyes.

No way… it was Teacher? Holy shit. This was a Sixth Sense level plot twist.