Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 237



Only Noblemtl

237.

On the way to Kittens Comic Book Store, the streets were extremely deserted.

Halloween was actually like that. Since it wasn’t a holiday, everyone just socialized with their neighbors, and it was rare for people to come out to downtown.

That’s why, when I approached Kitten’s Comic Book Store, I noticed that the area around it was brightly lit, even more so than usual.

The star ‘Dupe’ Chaser in the passenger seat, who realized that they were getting close to their destination, opened his mouth.

“Everyone, are you ready?”

“Yeah, yeah!”

“I’m looking forward to it!”

Alexa and Jiwoo are shaking excitedly in the backseat of the car······ No, Sodapop and Shifu.

As I parked my car in the unusually busy parking lot behind the comic book store, I felt a slight elation building up in me, along with the other three.

‘It’s a Halloween party.’

I did enjoy it during my college days in my previous life, but things were a lot different now.

At that time, it was just a Halloween party in name only, but in reality, it was just a drinking party where we prepared funny costumes and made up excuses. Everyone was so drunk that we couldn’t even properly proceed with the planned event, and when I came to my senses, I woke up in my dorm room with a hangover. And the Detective Ram costume I was wearing that day was completely tattered and lying on the bed.

Well, it’s made of cheap material, so maybe it tore when I took it off while drunk.

But now, that will never happen.

‘Because everyone here right now is serious about cosplay.’

After getting out of the car, the four of us briefly looked at each other.

“Ready, Fury?”

“Of course, Pop.”

Wow. This is so childish, but so much fun.

Shifu stands next to Star Chaser, stroking his beard. And Sodapop is next to me.

We banded together and walked across the parking lot to the front entrance of the comic book store.

The first thing that caught my eye was the crowd of costumed people occupying the sidewalk in front of the store.

Some of them stepped back with wide eyes when they saw us dressed up as characters from ‘Kung-fury’.

They must feel that way too.

The amazing sewing skills of Doofy Kingston······!

“······I feel embarrassed.”

I felt my cheeks turning red for no reason.

At the nerds’ Halloween party, how well you made your costumes was, in other words, power. The four of us, who were racially perfectly(?) matched and whose costumes themselves were of overwhelmingly high quality, were bound to become the center of attention in an instant.

We confidently pushed our way through the crowd of people staring at us and entered the comic book store.

And of course, the man welcomed us.

He was another Kung-Fury.

“Oh, you’re crazy!”

A man known socially as ‘Bill’ looked at us and shouted in astonishment.

The men in various costumes next to him also turned to look this way, and in an instant, they came closer, half impressed by the perfect combination of Kung-Fury, Sodapop, Star Chaser, and Shipura.

“Wow, this is really cool!”

“How did you make that costume?!”

“Let’s take a picture together later!”

Kung-Fury, Kung-Fury, Kung-Fury again.

There was no way to differentiate them by their character names, so I combined each social name with Kung-Fury in my head.

Fred-Fury, Michael-Fury, Kitten-Fury?

Oh, I never imagined that the boss would wear a costume.

······But, don’t people usually talk amongst themselves about what kind of costumes to wear during events like this?

“Why is it all Kung-Fury?”

“Because it was the hottest comic of the year! Check it out!”

When I looked around again after hearing Bill-Fury’s excited voice, I realized that there were a lot of people dressed as characters from ‘Kung-fury’.

It wasn’t just Kung Fury. There were plenty of Star Chasers, Sodapops, and Zeros too.

After a moment of being dumbfounded by the sight, Kitten opened his mouth.

“Kung-Fury was a top-selling item at our Kittens Comic Book Store.”

“Hey~ I was wondering which one to do between Zero and Kung-Fury!”

“But still, after reading the novel to the end, I was more drawn to Kung-Fury!!”

“And honestly, it’s easy to make too?”

“······That’s, that’s really surprising.”

Maybe because I was so happy, I ended up answering rather bluntly.

I looked at the people enjoying the party.

Here and there, I saw nerd guys from comic book stores holding various party events, each holding their own small boards. Most of them were games like Yachi, but they looked like they were having a lot of fun. And most of all, many of the people at the party were dressed up as characters from my novels.

I felt a deep sense of emotion.

And now, there were people by my side who made me feel stronger emotions than anyone else. They were my precious friends, Doopi, Alexa, and Jiwoo.

“This is really cool.”

“Yeah. They’re all wearing Kung-Fury gear.”

“By my calculations, Nin-Zero would never be able to defeat Kung-Fury here.”

I nodded and answered the three people who came closer.

“Yeah, really.”

I couldn’t tell if this was a Halloween party or a Kung Fury party.

***

Time passed and it was 7pm.

Finally, the real party event began.

[Today’s first game······.]

Comic book kung-fu master Bill Fury stepped forward and took the mic to host the game.

[Quiz Game!!]

[Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggghhhh-!!]

The four of us stood in the back, drinks in hand, watching the action as cheers erupted from the crowd inside and outside the comic book store.

A game where you have to guess which character it is by listening to hints presented in various forms.

For example, it was like this.

[Which character has the most costumes in this comic book store today?!]

[Kung-Fury!!]

Everyone laughed and answered the practice problems in unison.

Wow, this makes me shrug my shoulders.

[Well, it’s like this! Then let’s proceed!!]

Then Fred Fury lifted a picture high above his head.

A drawing showing the silhouette of a character.

Alexa tilted her head.

“What do you want me to do with that······.”

The sound of glasses going up could be heard from everywhere, and soon someone raised a hand.

[Yes! There’s a guy dressed up as Hulk Hogan!]

“Peter saves Aunt May in Amazing Spider-Man issue #67.”

“······huh?”

Alexa’s eyes widened.

And Bill Fury answered.

[That’s correct!!]

Cheers and cries of indignation rained down.

“······No, at that level, isn’t it inevitable that Spider-Man would sue her for stalking?”

“Hoo.”

“Oh.”

But unlike her who was flustered, Doopi and I each pushed up our glasses.

Hulk Hogan just tapped into our inner nerd.

And the next problem follows.

Fred Fury played the cassette player for a moment.

Bam-!

And then I turned it off!

[Now, this theme music!]

“What, what did you hear? Jiwoo, did you hear it?”

“Uh, Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries?”

Swish-.

“The 1966 Batman television series, between four and five seconds.”

[Uooooooooooooooooohhhh!!]

This body appears.

“Damn, why didn’t I notice that!”

“I’m not qualified to be a Batman fan!!”

“······No, is that all?”

Alexa looked puzzled as she watched the nerd guys vent their anger and shed tears.

And some of the nerd guys who looked back with bloodshot eyes at those words, seemed to be about to say something, but they froze in an instant when they saw her in a soda pop costume.

“It’s soda pop······!”

“Oh, what a beauty······!”

“······what?”

But she quickly flinched when she emitted a tiny bit of Black Mamba energy.

······Even without Mr. Flare’s shotgun, the pure nerd guys at the comic book store couldn’t even look at Alexa’s Black Mamba Force.

On the other hand, the one who was rather popular was our party’s mascot, Jiwoo, who was dressed up as a Shifu character.

The nerd guys who had been looking away quickly smiled warmly.

Anyway, the quiz competition continues like that.

[How many characters died in the Defist Dungeon until the end!]

Everyone started counting numbers.

But the first person to raise his hand was the legendary cowboy, Doofy Kingston!

“187 people.”

[I got the answer!]

“Frrrrrrrrrrrr······.”

Scalp Kingston is so strong!

[Please recreate the final conversation between the main characters Tony and Alice in ‘About T: Final’, the final work of ‘About T’!]

“······?”

“uh······.”

No one could easily come forward, not even me, the writer.

But while everyone else was speechless, there was someone who courageously raised his hand.

It was none other than Alexa ‘Actress’ Flair.

[There, Sodapop!]

“Thank you. I’m glad I met you!”

[Ding!!]

“Ugh, what a shame! If only I had done just a little more!!”

No, that’s not a conversation······.

In the final installment of the ‘About T’ series, ‘About T: Final’, Tony and Alice meet again after their own hardships, realize that their value comes from their lack, and have a very important conversation as they decide to love each other even for that.

······But even I, the person who wrote it, couldn’t remember it properly because it had been so long since I wrote it, and I only remember it occasionally. And if I got involved in this issue, the situation would be funny.

[Is anyone missing?!]

Inside the bustling comic book store, no one was able to easily step forward, only shaking their glasses.

But then suddenly someone opened his mouth through the commotion.

“I was glad to meet you.”

Someone who is striding inside from outside the store is······.

“Kate Moore?!”

Kate, dressed as Alice in college, pushed up her glasses.

The audience’s attention was focused on Alice-Kate, who delivered her lines very quickly, with a voice clearer than that of the actors in ‘About T: TV series’.

“Me too. Our meeting was really special. We made it special. Tony Allis. You became such a precious part of my family. And it hurts when I lose you. But now I can say it straight. I love even the things I lack. I have to be able to love not only the sad memories of being with you. Someone once said that love is a slow separation. And that it’s about accepting that sadness slowly. That’s right. Tony Allis. I want to keep feeling the pain with you. I wish you were the only one in this world who could hurt me. Me too. Hurt me more, Tony. So that you can feel that I’m alive.”

“······.”

“······.”

“Should I also talk about the sentences that follow?”

······Maybe the author of the ‘About T’ series is not me but him?

[Yes, correct.]

In the midst of the silence, Bill, who was astonished as he compared each line of Kate Moore’s speech with the novel he was holding, belatedly declared the correct answer.

I felt goosebumps all over my body.

Oh, Kate Moore is so scary aaaaaaaaaa······!

***

So the first event ended safely.

And during the break before the next event, as people gathered in small groups to enjoy drinks and snacks and chatter, I approached Kate Moore, who was standing alone in the corner with Alexa.

“Hello~! Kate!”

“Hello, Sodapop.”

She greeted me with a blunt expression and took a sip of coffee.

“It’s been a while. I see Kung-Fury often.”

“How is college life?”

“Not bad. How about you working as an actor?”

“I’m working hard! It’s really nice to see you~!”

“Yeah. When I suddenly received a party invitation from Doopi, I wondered what it was.”

“Yeah yeah! The clothes really suit you!!”

“······okay?”

Alice taking a quick spin.

Sodapop’s eyes lit up.

“Really! So pretty!”

“Thank you. How is it, Kung-Fury? Does it look good to you?”

“Well, it suits you well.”

I answered with a snicker.

Kate Moore, who had been my best friend, appeared and swept the room, reciting perfectly the lines from ‘About T: Final’ that I had written but which even I could barely remember.

I continued the conversation, thinking that it was a really interesting situation.

“I didn’t know you would come even though Doofi invited you.”

“Oh my, are you saying things like I shouldn’t come to a place like this?”

“No, that’s not it. I just like the look of it.”

“Well, whose novel is it? If it weren’t for ‘About T,’ I wouldn’t have fallen so low.”

“That’s the highest compliment a writer can receive.”

My novel changed someone.

It brought a different flow to someone’s world.

I really enjoyed this place where I could feel it so clearly.

“Let’s take a picture.”

“suddenly?”

“Yeah. It’ll be really fun to watch it in about 20 years. Scalp! Jiwoo!”

I gestured towards Doofi and Jiwoo, who were discussing the comics on the stand from afar.

“Let’s take a picture together!”

The photographer asked Bill-Fury, and Shin-Fury, Doofy Chaser, Alecpop, Zippo, and Elite gathered together to take the picture.

Click!

A photo taken to record a moment that will never return.

So, leaving one page after another, I wanted to make the most of this wonderful Halloween party today.

‘Fantastic.’

Suddenly, I felt strange.

I took many pictures in my previous life to leave behind memories like this. And the ‘past’ events that I wanted to leave behind back then are being overwritten with new memories as life repeats itself.

I thought that my current situation was like receiving psychotherapy.

But this memory that remains with me was absolutely not fake.

After a few more events, it was finally time to vote for the best costume of the day.

I voted for the Star Chaser of the Scalp, who had worked hard to build his body and dedicated himself to the clothes we would wear.

And personally, I wish Alexa didn’t get so much attention.

“Brother, come here!”

“God, did you vote well?”

“Haha, of course you voted for this body.”

A slightly different day. Yet the same routine.

As everyone greeted me with bright smiles, I reflected on today’s events and came up with a small idea that would lead me to the next step.

“······haha.”

It was a clue to the next new work.