Ch.263Chapter 10. Tactical Nuclear Strike (2)

The Tale of Bangja (by Night Flower Latte) is about an assertive Seong Chunhyang who meets both Bangja and Lord Byeon.

From Lee Mongryong’s perspective, it’s completely an NTR work.

NTR is a crime.

To quickly clear up any misunderstanding, in this world, NTR is defined as a crime.

NTR.

Netorare.

The act of stealing someone else’s lover.

It’s something that happens occasionally in real life, and a genre that sparks debate over why anyone would need to see such things in creative works.

In this novel’s world, that genre is classified as a crime.

If you ask why NTR is a crime, it hardly needs explanation, but it’s because it can severely impact the mental state of ability users.

“Be happy, little brother.”

“Hyeooong!!”

The protagonist’s respected brother dying.

The protagonist’s love interest being NTR’d by an enemy.

If asked which causes greater mental damage, nine out of ten would choose the latter.

“Isn’t losing family more impactful?”

“Death is… something we’re used to…”

“Ah.”

Family deaths are familiar to some, and since as many people die as are born, death itself isn’t a crime.

If dying were a crime, it would be like saying all the deceased are criminals.

While a person’s death can mentally impact ability users, death comes equally to everyone, so it’s unavoidable.

But NTR is different.

It’s something you shouldn’t have to experience, something you shouldn’t experience, but when you do, it makes you feel dirty, unpleasant, irritated, and filled with the urge to kill the perpetrator.

When I previously came to Ulleungdo, at the harbor, a newlywed bride had her husband stolen by her sister through NTR.

And she became a demon.

She became a demon from the rage of wanting to kill the man.

Regarding this, some argue:

“That’s a real-life case, but creative works are different. Isn’t censoring art problematic?”

“What if someone forces that art onto ability users? What if an ability user becomes a demon of NTR trauma?”

“That would be… terrible.”

To protect ability users’ mental health, many types of cultural content in this world are censored.

There are many things I don’t want to mention, and many that shouldn’t be mentioned.

The most representative of these is NTR.

And among NTR, the most taboo is adding NTR to pure love stories.

“Stop pushing misery porn onto happy people! Why are you so desperate to break up happy couples? Why do these Platinum Suns always insert themselves between couples and ruin relationships?!”

That’s the common perception.

“I want to see men and women being lovey-dovey in content, not couples breaking up and cheating! I don’t want spicy stories!!”

And to those with such thoughts, I created a mess by inserting Bangja, Hyangdan, and Lord Byeon into the love story of Seong Chunhyang and Lee Mongryong.

Why has the story of Chunhyang and Mongryong been passed down to modern times?

Obviously, because it’s a pure love story.

Chunhyang refused to submit to power and maintained her fidelity to the man she loved, while Mongryong, despite passing the civil service exam with flying colors, kept his promise to his beloved from his hometown and married Chunhyang.

Not wavering despite the threat of Lord Byeon,

Not switching partners even when seeing Mongryong disguised as a failed scholar,

Not abandoning Chunhyang even though she might have already been violated by Lord Byeon,

Overcoming all adversities and reaching a happy ending through love and trust in each other—a perfect pure love story!

Adding NTR to such a pure love story through derivative work?

Such a person deserves execution.

If someone in this world were writing strange novels with a pen, I’d be willing to rush over and crack their skull.

However.

As they say, when I do it, it’s romance; when others do it, it’s adultery.

While I despise NTR, I myself reached for it to draw out Hyangdan.

‘Of course, I didn’t read it.’

I just skimmed the first page of comments on The Tale of Bangja created by the slave—I mean, writers—in Hundun’s team, then closed it.

“Are you insane?”

“How could anyone write something like this?”

“What if someone becomes a demon after reading this?”

“This is hot.”

“Is that guy crazy?”

As Teacher Ji-ja-ro-ja-bo-ja said, if five people gather, one is definitely trash—the first page comments were split about 4:1.

“It’s just fiction, what’s the big deal?”

While some held this view, most were cursing the author who turned Chunhyang’s story into NTR adultery.

That’s natural.

I asked for provocative content expecting this common reaction.

Of course, I asked them to adapt it appropriately so people wouldn’t be too shocked, but the very premise that Chunhyang and Mongryong don’t end up together is bound to cause cultural shock.

‘I didn’t bring out the last resort for nothing.’

I didn’t want to create something like this either.

But sometimes you have to do worse things to kill Laplace’s Demon.

“Why such a strong reaction to something happening in fiction, not reality?”

“Reality is worse.”

Like capturing foreign men, enslaving them, shaving their heads, implanting bombs, and forcing them to work until death.

Using those who might produce good ability users as studs, then disposing of them when they’re no longer useful.

Using the born children as soldiers or turning them into mana powder.

Imprisoning women in underground facilities on inescapable islands, turning them into ability user production factories.

‘Finding and killing Hyangdan is the quickest way to prevent such realities from happening.’

I judged that spreading a NTR adaptation of a classic novel as bait wasn’t a big issue if it prevented such realities from occurring.

Yes.

Even if it means committing such an absurd taboo, The Syndicate will use any means necessary for world peace.

And that’s what makes us “villains.”

Even if this situation causes confusion and fear to many—

“Oppa, this is interesting?”

“Hyera…?”

Though I hadn’t read it, Yoon Hye-ra, who had seen the novel, passed me her tablet with sparkling eyes.

“What is this? Why is it interesting? Is it because Lord Byeon is an ability user? Or because this Mongryong character comes across as pathetic…?”

“……”

The Tale of Bangja.

It had been modernized.

I was thinking of a Joseon-era erotic story, but it turned out to be K-modern romance fantasy.

“The world forces Chunhyang to be a virtuous woman, but Chunhyang living according to her heart seems really cool. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a progressive female lead.”

“…Wait. Wasn’t this an NTR novel?”

“Compared to the classic original, of course it’s NTR. But looking at this novel alone, it’s just a romance fantasy about a bold female lead attracting various men.”

“What? Wait, what do you mean?”

“Oppa, didn’t you read this? Didn’t you provide the idea?”

“I provided the idea, but I didn’t say it should be modern…!”

In other words, this NTR work written by The Syndicate’s slave writer only borrowed names from Chunhyang’s story, becoming a sticky romance among modern ability users.

“That can’t be. The community was in an uproar calling it NTR.”

“Well, that’s from the male perspective. The female perspective is different. Oppa, when will the drama come out?”

“Drama?”

“Yes. It would be good as a Hallyu K-drama. Chunhyang and Mongryong are childhood friends, then the supporting character Bangja appears, and the chaebol chairman Lord Byeon tells Chunhyang to be his woman. Even a web drama would be a hit.”

“What kind of makjang drama…wait.”

Come to think of it.

Doesn’t this world lack makjang dramas…?

“……”

In this world, all cultural content is censored.

As a result, makjang dramas that promote social division and crime have disappeared from TV.

“Writer, this person needs to die for the drama to progress, how should we kill them?”

“Can’t they just die naturally?”

“They’re only 50 in the setting.”

“Then say they died from laughing too hard watching a comedy show.”

“Is that okay?”

“What, you want to use a traffic accident? That’s something we could only film before the Great Cataclysm. If we film that now, the Broadcasting Review Committee will come censoring right away, you fool!”

Stories about killing people can’t be used freely, so when people die in media, it’s almost like safety accident reenactments for children—that’s the reality of visual media in this era.

15+ rated content can show some blood, but this is a world where you can’t freely build up stories of the strong oppressing the weak.

Mongryong getting NTR’d by Chunhyang could never be released for all ages.

However.

What if it’s not a desecration of Chunhyang’s story, but a completely new adaptation using Chunhyang’s story as a “motif”?

From the perspective of comparing classic and modern novels, it’s NTR, but if The Syndicate can successfully draw out Hyangdan by publishing this novel?

Whether it’s a comic.

An illustration.

Or a drama.

In the end, we just need to draw out Hyangdan.

“Hyera.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s just target her specifically, no more, no less.”

Laplace’s Demon.

“We’ll make Hyangdan a K-villain. For example…”

Make her seek out a writer with 5,700 characters.

“Like, she’s Chunhyang’s best friend, but tries to seduce the top-scoring Mongryong with her body…?”

“Then what about Chunhyang?”

“She still loves Mongryong, but Hyangdan gaslights him. She tells him Chunhyang is cheating, that she slept with Bangja, that she went to Ulleungdo with the chaebol third-generation Lord Byeon, while defaming Chunhyang. Then she goes on a trip to Jeju Island with Mongryong. And ‘accidentally’ sends photos to Chunhyang.”

“…Shouldn’t you be telling this to Hundun, not me?”

Shortly after.

[…Call.]

Another novel derived from The Tale of Bangja.

The production of a short story, “The Villainess Hyangdan,” began.

“The protagonist, Hyangdan… no, let’s call her Han Dan-yeohui.”

“Why Han Dan-yeohui?”

“Because her father’s surname is Dan and her mother’s is Han.”

“???”

Following the NTR bombing of pure love.

“For the ending, she marries Mongryong, makes herself the beneficiary of his life insurance, and poisons the coffee she serves him.”

Adding a K-drama style kimchi-flavored villainess bombing.

“The poison’s name is Ponp-“