## Chapter 1694 – Chronicles of the Black-Haired Foreigner – The Life of a Transcender

It was quite a classic story.

A novel that perfectly reflected Shuka’s taste.

“Hmm.”

To summarize, it was about a secluded territory inhabited by a suspicious lord and gloomy residents, with a very unique culture.

Once a month.

Regardless of age or gender, one person had to be sent as a servant to the lord. Of course, the person chosen as a servant never returned. Not the old, not the young, not even the children.

The dismal villagers believed the lord was a monster, but instead of running away, they resigned themselves to this vicious oppression.

Learned helplessness.

Or the belief that they couldn’t survive anywhere else.

Something like that.

“The lord gives rewards, you see.”

Shuka added her own wicked imagination to it.

“So every household is competing to offer up a child, deliberately born for the occasion, as a servant. The servant selection isn’t a dreaded ritual, but rather seen as a good opportunity.”
“Shuka, isn’t that a bit too evil?”
“That’s the kind of novel it is. It’s an expression of how weak humans can become incredibly cruel if there’s a profit to be made. You could call it a kind of madness.”

It was truly absurd. But at the same time, it definitely had that Gothic horror feel.

Doesn’t our Shuka just love this stuff?

“What do you think?”
“If your dad had seen a village like that back in the day, he would have chopped up not only the residents but also the lord into pieces.”
“Hehehe, are you talking about your paladin days? Or your adventurer days?”
“Both.”
“Anyway, Dad.”

Shuka, thrilled that I was reading it seriously, massaged my shoulders and chattered away.

She was like a really cute canary, so adorable. Risha used to call me a canary too, so is this what they call a cycle?

It’s a complete contrast to the novel she’s writing, which is quite charming.

“Not just that kind of impression. Tell me your real thoughts.”

Well, I should tell her what I felt.

“It’s got a gloomy and wicked vibe oozing all over it. It really feels like a Gothic horror novel. These kinds of isolated villages always have something inhuman about them.”
“Right?!”

Shuka, completely thrilled that I gave her a proper review, hugged me from behind.

“You’re the best, Dad! You said you raided a pagan village back in the day, right? I got some inspiration from there too.”
“What was it? Some brothers? Manticore? Mist Village? There were several.”
“It’s the Manticore story.”
“Hehehe, those were the days.”
“Read on for now. That’s just the prologue.”
“Alright, alright.”

She’s just thinking about what other impressions I’ll give her and is full of anticipation. She’s got a novelist’s temperament. For my daughter, I conducted a very serious reading.

“The Outsider.”

The story began with an outsider entering this secluded village. The visitor from afar offered gifts from another region and requested the custom of hospitality in exchange for telling stories.

But for some reason, the residents were all vying to have him stay at their homes.

Contrary to the gloomy impression of the village and its residents, the guest was overjoyed by their overly enthusiastic attitude…

“They’re actually trying to offer him as a servant, right? They’re trying to offer this guest as a servant to get the reward money.”
“Too obvious?”
“It’s all in the prologue. Shuka, I think it would be better to take out some information from the prologue. It’s hard to get immersed in the horror when all the information is there from the start. You already know what’s going to happen.”

It seems like this outsider is the main character, but I’m actually empathizing with the residents.

“It’s a secluded and gloomy village, but you know everything from just the prologue, so it feels like you’ve become one of the residents.”

When I gave her a proper review.

“Hmm… It seems like you’re right when I hear you say it.”

Shuka, who came in front of me, spun around and stroked her chin.

“So you’re saying you can empathize with the residents?”
“Pretty much.”
“Exactly! You know it well, Dad! You’re the best! I’m glad I showed it to you!”
“Hehehe, well. Your dad has a knack for this kind of thing.”

Anyway.

So, he’s treated and whatnot, then gets betrayed and sold off to the lord’s castle. From now on, he has to be a servant.

The descriptions inside the castle were just blatantly detailed. True to Shuka’s love for this dark Gothic sensibility, she meticulously described the interior decor and ornaments, as well as the black magic and occult atmosphere.

She described it from a first-person perspective in a very terrifying way, but, well, as I was reading it.

“Is this guy a block of wood?”

The descriptions are detailed, but there’s no emotion or feeling conveyed. This unfortunate guest who entered the lord’s castle was feeling fear, but it didn’t resonate.

No. The emotions are so restrained that you can’t even tell if he’s feeling fear.

“Shuka, this is supposed to be horror, right?”
“Why?”
“The kid seems too brave.”
“Brave? I wrote plenty about him being scared?”
“But you can’t feel it. This guy doesn’t know fear.”
“…Is that so.”

Shuka, sensing something, came and sat on my lap.

“Why? Do you feel something?”
“Dad.”

Shuka, leaning towards me.

“Actually.”

As if she was about to confess something.

“You know.”

She said.

“I’ve never been weak, so I don’t know.”
“What?”

What was this absurdly arrogant statement?

“I don’t know human weakness and fear. Because I’ve never been weak. I can’t keep up with the emotions of ordinary humans.”
“Hehehe, what is it? Is that why you ended up with such a wooden protagonist?”
“Yeah. I feel like I can’t vividly convey fear… I don’t know why. You really nailed that part because you’re Dad.”
“If you read it seriously, you can see it all.”
“Hehehe.”

Shuka laughed as if she was in a good mood.

“Even when I watch horror movies written from a purely human perspective. If it were me, I could destroy everything there. But humans can’t do that, right?”
“That’s right. But in those cases, you have to think of yourself as a weak human and empathize.”
“That’s true. But even when I imagine myself as that human, I’m not really scared. I can deal with it somehow. If I don’t do stupid things and fight for my life, I can manage somehow, right?”

I think not pointing that out is the right attitude for watching horror.

“I don’t get scared just because the furniture moves a little on its own. If someone’s chasing me, I can just grab a kitchen knife. A ghost possessing a doll is messing up my house? I can just bring my friends over and have a party all night, right?”

For that reason, Shuka didn’t really know human weakness.

“You need a little more training, Shuka.”
“That’s right.”

Shuka nodded.

“I need to train. Training to understand human weakness… Hehehe, now that I think about it, it’s funny.”
“What’s funny?”
“Having to train to learn ‘weakness.’ There’s no irony like this.”

She’s just overflowing with chuunibyou and pretense.

“Ah, that’s truly the height of irony.”
“Puhuhuhuhuhuhut!”
“Hahahahahahaha!”

She burst out laughing. I laughed loudly with Shuka. Shuka, you have talent. The talent of ‘arrogance.’

“Shuka, you have the talent of ‘arrogance.'”
“Like Dad?”
“Your dad isn’t arrogant.”
“Because you actually have the ability?”
“Yeah. This dad is a transcendent being beyond arrogance.”
“That’s true too. Ah! Showing it to Dad was the right answer after all. Now that I’ve been clearly pointed it out, other ideas are springing up.”

ㅡHop.

Shuka, who hopped down from my lap, turned to me and.

ㅡSwish.

Holding up both ends of her Gothic dress, she pulled one foot back and bowed, very elegantly.

“Thank you, Dad.”
“Shuka! What’s with that pose…!”
“A cool greeting.”
“Come here! You cool kid!”
“Ack.”

I couldn’t resist and immediately hugged Shuka! She’s so cute!

“Anyway, Dad. Read it to the end. And you have to tell me your impressions again.”
“Alright. I’ve read it once, so I have to see it all the way through.”

The rest of the story goes like this.

The servant was actually a vampire slave. The lord was a vampire. Even the lord’s family members are vampires. Fear and mass panic. And descriptions of the people who died.

It’s decent, but the same chronic problems keep showing up. Anyway, the vampire daughter, feeling sorry for the protagonist who’s in more panic than she imagined, talks to him to calm him down.

With that, the protagonist, regaining his senses, sweet-talks the daughter and escapes the mansion, avoiding the traps and familiars. In the end, he finishes by offering the vampire daughter who followed him to the church to get the reward money.

“The second half is just an adventure.”
“I referenced The Call of Cthulhu in the second half.”
“Ah, the steamboat kill?”
“Doesn’t it feel a bit like Indiana Jones? That part.”
“Hehehe, it does.”

The part where the Great Old One gets hit by the steamboat and sinks. Honestly, the atmosphere was good until the middle, but from there it suddenly switched to a cheerful adventure.

You could say it ended with a feeling like an exciting commotion with cheerful friends. A sudden burst of acceleration is exactly this.

“Wouldn’t it be better for horror stories to have a bad ending?”
“But then there’s no hope. There has to be a little hope for it to be horror.”
“Ah. If there’s no hope at all, it just becomes something similar to a slasher movie?”
“You’re the best, Dad! Shuka loves that sharp side of you!”
“Hehehe!”

It’s such a lovely reaction. To be able to spend time so fully while reading a book written by my own daughter.

“Well, Dad also really likes Shuka’s writerly side. If anything else comes out, let’s look at it together again.”
“Yeah. I will.”

Shuka nodded very 만족스럽게.

“Then, Dad.”
“Why.”
“Will you have a match with Shuka?”
“A match?”
“A match between black magic and Dad’s white magic. Ah. Dad has to adjust appropriately and create a picture of losing.”
“What? You’re asking me to fix the match? Your dad never loses, even as a joke… Because that’s who the Heavenly Demon Kim Kat is.”
“I’ll give you ten kisses on the face.”
“Okay!”

Good!!!