Chapter 1: The Gate and the Gazette
Translator: Pai_
The busiest road of all roads was always the one at the Royal Capital's gates.
There was never a moment's rest for the passersby, and so many footsteps had walked the stone path that the sunlight seemed baked right into it, scorched on like burnt rice stuck to the bottom of a pot.
"Decently busy today......."
Beneath the shade, Lower-class Gatekeeper Su-ho sat in a reasonably cool resting spot, reading a newspaper.
He'd been reincarnated into this other world without much ceremony, and all things considered, he'd settled in pretty well. He felt rather proud of himself for that.
'It's not exactly a prestigious house, but still, it's a vassal family serving a noble household.'
'So what if I'm an illegitimate child born of a concubine? Just not getting thrown out is reason enough to shout long live His Majesty the King.'
Su-ho's family had been in the gatekeeping business for generations.
At first, adjusting hadn't been easy.
Setting aside the fact that his status meant learning Aura or magic was a pipe dream he couldn't even fantasize about, the medieval-style kingdom itself was the real problem.
In some ways it was absurdly modern, yet in most of the ways that actually mattered for daily life, it was endlessly backwards.
The one hobby that bridged his past life and present was subscribing to newspapers.
Even in his previous life, he'd been famous as a newspaper otaku. Note: a newspaper otaku, not a news otaku. There's a distinction.
Even in an era overrun with internet video news, Su-ho had stubbornly gone around evangelizing the charm of "print newspapers".
And in this kingdom, print newspapers were still going strong. When you said "newspaper", it naturally meant print and nothing else. Not noise pollution churned out by soulless AI... real newspapers.
Even if there were 999 reasons to hate this world, it was thanks to these newspapers that Su-ho was perfectly content to just, well, live his life.
'Ahh, look at this. The cheap, rough paper they used because they wanted to cut costs. The printing technology's so undeveloped that the ink just bleeds everywhere.'
'It smells, you know? It smells like people. And what's this censored article? This empty censored column right here is the very soul of journalistic spirit, I tell you.'
'Three typos today...... Hmm. This reporter keeps making the exact same mistakes every time.'
He was so absorbed and excited that anyone watching would have thought he was out of his mind. And it was right in the middle of Su-ho devouring the morning paper with reckless abandon that it happened.
【Congratulations!】
【In commemoration of your 19th Survival Anniversary.】
【A newspaper will be delivered to you every morning from now on.】
A flyer.
A somewhat childishly designed red-and-yellow slip of paper had been carefully tucked into one of his newspapers.
"Hm?"
Su-ho was puzzled.
He was the man who subscribed to all 12 morning and evening papers published in the Royal Capital, all 66 monthly publications circulated from the frontier regions, and even the quarterly journals on top of that, pouring more than half his gatekeeper earnings into them.
"There was a newspaper like this too?"
He'd never seen the paper hanging before his eyes. Pushing the strange flyer aside, Su-ho tilted his head and unfolded the newspaper in question.
【Prophecy Newspaper - Family Newsletter】
【Kingdom Calendar Year 996, October 15th】
【Yesterday's Weather: Clear】
Su-ho's head tilted at an even steeper angle, showing off the flexibility of his neck joints. The 15th would be tomorrow. Today was October 14th.
Making a typo was one thing, but making it on the date of all places.
This was a limited-first-edition-level blunder that even a Newspaper Otaku of Su-ho's caliber would rarely encounter. It was like showing up to a blind date and realizing you'd forgotten to brush your teeth.
And then the headlines.
『Bear-Light Stone Value Crashes by 90%!』
『Mun Geum-ssi of the South Gate Gatekeeper Clan, Falls in Waterway Accident! Suicide Suspected!』
Su-ho's jaw dropped.
'W-wait, Father did what? Suicide?'
Mun Geum was the name of the father who had bestowed upon him the lovely trait of "illegitimate child". There was no other person named Mun Geum among the gatekeepers assigned to the South Gate, so there was no room for confusion.
Su-ho scrambled to read the rest of the article.
「A 'greatest treasure' in mining history becomes 'the worst mistake' overnight?」
「It has been revealed that the Magic Stone popularly known as 'Bear-Light Stone', which recently caused a sensation after being newly excavated from Bear Count's Territory, is defective.」
「The discovery was certified by a Bedrock Artisan, making the probability of a faulty analysis infinitely low...」
「Some experts say, 'Considering the mana leakage defect, Bear Count's Territory's new magic ore is comparable to any ordinary Magic Stone'. The end of the frenzy!」
「Mun Geum-ssi's body has yet to be found, and the case remains shrouded in mystery.」
"......."
The paper had other minor articles too, but none of them registered in Su-ho's eyes.
He sat there in a daze, wondering who could have gone to the trouble of forging something like this with such dedication, when a single thought flashed through his mind.
'If this is about Bear-Light Stone, then it's not just Father... our entire clan invested their shares in it.'
And Su-ho, too, was a member of the Gatekeeper Clan.
He'd been kept at arm's length in many ways because of the "illegitimate child" label, but the very fact that he was still here performing proper gatekeeper duties showed that he couldn't escape the clan's collective decisions on major affairs.
In other words.
'......I sank my entire fortune into it too, didn't I?'
Thud.
The newspaper slipped from his hands and rolled to the ground.
* * *
Su-ho had always performed his gatekeeper duties strictly by the manual. This wasn't because Su-ho was unusual; it was simply a species trait of gatekeepers.
So he immediately began the verification process.
"Hey. Little sister."
"Oh, come on. Don't call me little sister. You're the illegitimate one here."
"Do you happen to see what's written on this newspaper?"
"What? Can't you see all those carriages lined up? I'm already swamped to death, and now you suddenly come over with..."
His younger sister, who unlike him carried the blood of the legitimate wife, glanced irritably at the newspaper.
What Su-ho had brought over was, of course, the Prophecy Newspaper with its article dated for "tomorrow".
"......It's even an article about what fashion will be trending next season. Huh, how unlike you. You walk around dressed like a beggar every day, and now you've finally decided to dress like a human being?"
"Fashion? You're saying this is a fashion article?"
Su-ho double- and triple-checked.
It must be admitted, of course, that some time was lost explaining that newspaper collecting was already a refined cultural pursuit, a hobby permitted only to the truly civilized.
"Ugh, I'm serious! And I only read the Bedrock Newspaper for its upright journalism, so don't show me that kind of rag."
In the end, his sister snapped too.
"If you have that much time on your hands, why don't you go search those carriages over there? Unless you want to work overtime tonight!"
"Call me oppa, nicely. Then I'll do it."
"Are you insane?! Get the hell out of here, you lunatic!"
He got-the-hell-out-of-there'd.
Searching cargo carriages was the most tedious task, so everyone avoided it, but this time Su-ho had an ulterior motive.
While inspecting dozens of carriages, Su-ho took the opportunity to show the Prophecy Newspaper to the carriage drivers as well.
The drivers seemed puzzled about why he'd ask such a thing, but having long grown accustomed to the Royal Capital gatekeepers' antics, they answered quickly.
And every answer was the same.
'......So it's true.'
'It really does look like today's morning fashion article from the Phantom News Daily to them.'
It was enough to make the devil scratch his head.
And that wasn't all. During the carriage inspections, he'd overheard some unsettling rumors too.
"Hey, so, you know, over near the Royal Capital by Four Seasons Flower Marquis Territory, apparently there was some kind of explosion. That road's a total mess now."
"An explosion? Those rebel bastards causing trouble again?"
"Nah. One of the cargo carriages just blew up on its own, they say. Something about carriages coming up from Bear Count's Territory."
"......."
Working as a gatekeeper meant all sorts of rumors found their way to his ears.
If newspapers were a medium that carried news in the abstract form of printed words, then the Royal Capital's gates were the physical crossroads where real-life peddlers hauled rumors from every corner of the land.
That was one reason Su-ho was surprisingly satisfied with his job. The gate and the gazette, both struck a chord in him.
Call it the beauty of patience. Su-ho had the powerful instincts of a spider, content to sit still and gulp down whatever information rolled his way.
'If it's a cargo carriage from Bear Count's Territory......'
'Could it have been carrying Bear-Light Stone?'
On any normal day, he would have brushed it off as just another baseless rumor.
Right now, that idle chatter prickled at him like a fish bone stuck in his throat.
'......Seriously, what is this? Some kind of Illusion Magic?'
Su-ho knew his own place well.
'But there's no way someone would go to all this trouble just to fool me!'
Even if all of this were some form of Illusion Magic, it was a hypothesis far too baffling for a mere Lower-class Gatekeeper to wrap his head around.
Put differently, there was absolutely no reason to pull such an elaborate prank on "a mere Lower-class Gatekeeper".
'Above all.'
Su-ho pulled out the flyer again during his break and unfolded it.
【Congratulations!】
【In commemoration of your 19th Survival Anniversary.】
【A newspaper will be delivered to you every morning from now on.】
19 years of survival.
That phrasing kept nagging at him.
'It's true that it's been 19 years since I was reincarnated into this world. But......'
'Nobody knows that except my mother.'
In the past, his mother, who had come from the lower class, had exhausted every scheme she could muster to get him enrolled in the Gatekeeper Clan.
The result was a qualified success. The family's treatment of him was never good, but his name had at least been inscribed in the family register.
However, there had been a few snags during this grand operation to get him on the register. As a result, everyone around him treated the current Su-ho as 22 years old, three years older than he actually was.
'Since Mother passed away, it's a secret only I know now.'
'And yet this flyer knew I'm 19......'
For the record.
The sister Su-ho had just demanded call him "oppa" was 20 years old. Objectively speaking, she was one year older than him.
Su-ho was an ethical subjectivist.
'Let's cut my losses.'
His subjectivist gut was sensing danger signals.
'Ideally I'd want to get the family to sell too....... Hmm, not possible.'
Su-ho's standing in the clan was rock bottom of rock bottom.
He had absolutely zero confidence in his ability to persuade the family with an argument along the lines of, "So, the newspaper said Father's going to jump to his death tomorrow, and Bear-Light Stone's going to become a lucky pebble."
'What can I do? A man who's gotta live has gotta live.'
As soon as his shift ended, Su-ho secretly sold his Bear-Light Stone shares. It was a fire sale, but there were so many eager buyers that he made double what he'd originally put in.
Despite pulling off an event that doubled his entire net worth, Su-ho's heart was anything but at ease.
People were predicting that Bear-Light Stone's current price would climb at least three times higher from here. It had been hitting new highs practically every day, after all.
The next morning, at dawn.
On his way to work. He rose from his storage room, a makeshift structure stuck to the fortress wall like a snail's shell, climbed down the rope ladder, and found people already buzzing about at this early hour.
Among them was his father's face.
"Hyungnim! What are we going to do, hyungnim! The ancestral rites are coming up soon too!"
"......."
"Say something, anything! We invested because we trusted your word, hyungnim!"
Even as the relatives screamed at him, his father showed no reaction at all.
He simply stared up at the gate with a look on his face as vacant as a zombie's.
"......."
Normally, Su-ho would have started the morning with some light spear drills, but today of all days, he went to pick up the newspapers first.
Beside the guard post. The newspaper delivery man, who had already risen earlier than anyone, had dumped the day's allotment there and left.
Feeling his heart pound for some reason, Su-ho grabbed whichever paper sat on top.
His fingertips were trembling.
「Bear-Light Stone Value Plummets! Investors Plunged into Despair!」
「It has been revealed that the Magic Stone popularly known as 'Bear-Light Stone', which recently caused a sensation after being newly excavated from Bear Count's Territory, is defective.」
This paper. That paper. The Bedrock Newspaper. The Phantom News Daily.
Every single newspaper was screaming about the crash of Bear-Light Stone.
There were more typos than usual, and the section layouts weren't as clean.
It was proof that the editorial departments had rushed the breaking news to print without time for careful review.
"Ah......."
Su-ho's head spun.
One day. In just one night, his entire fortune had nearly been wiped out!
Thud-thump, thud-thump, his heart hammered against his chest like a battering ram against a castle wall. Unable to withstand the shock, the newspapers slipped from both his hands.
Among the scattered, disheveled papers.
He caught a glimpse of the same red-and-yellow flyer he'd seen yesterday.
【Congratulations!】
【You have utilized the Prophecy Newspaper for the first time.】
As if drawn by some invisible force, Su-ho rifled through the other print newspapers and pulled out the one with the flyer attached.
【10 Subscription Points have been awarded.】
【As a new subscriber service, the 'Advertisement Section' has been unlocked for free.】
【You can use Subscription Points to access various services from this publication.】
【Current Subscription Points: 10】
Points? What the, no, that wasn't what mattered.
Su-ho peeled back the flyer and read the newspaper beneath it.
There it was.
【Prophecy Newspaper - Family Newsletter】
【Kingdom Calendar Year 996, October 16th】
【Yesterday's Weather: Clear, then Rain】
Just as he'd expected, the same strange paper he'd seen the day before.
Not today's newspaper, but "tomorrow's newspaper", was right there in his hands.