Swish, and the mask was sliced in a thin line.

A few strands of hair fluttered in the air and fell to the floor in the wake of Ye Hyeonwoo’s fist wind.

I looked down at those strands of hair and spoke.

“If it’s reasonable that the person who has nothing left to lose becomes ‘Kim Dokja,’ then it looks like you won’t be able to become Kim Dokja either, Hyeonwoo.”

“I know.”

To say the conclusion first, Ye Hyeonwoo’s attack wasn’t aimed at me.

The fist wind that brushed past me collided with something in the air opposite us.

Rattle rattle, something fell to the ground. Throwing weapons reminiscent of a large animal’s claws were scattered all over.

When [Wind’s Path] activated at Ye Hyeonwoo’s fingertips, the face of the assassin hiding in the alley was revealed.

“Kh—”

The assassin had the face of a bear. A so-called bear beastfolk.

It was an animal I had never seen once in this place until now.

Perhaps sensing the crisis, the bear immediately growled and hurled its body out of the alley.

But Ye Hyeonwoo was faster.

Riding [Wind’s Path], Ye Hyeonwoo was already standing behind the bear beastfolk.

Crunch-crunch-crunch.

Both of the bear’s knees bent backward with a chilling sound.

When the bear howled in pain, Ye Hyeonwoo grabbed the back of its neck and questioned it.

“What are you, you.”

A completely different tone from usual. Grrrrrk, bloody foam flowed out of the bear beastfolk’s mouth, filled with fear.

“Who sent you? Talk. If you don’t speak by the time I count to three, you die.”

A sinister way of speaking he had never shown in front of me. It made me realize again what kind of person he was.

He was the Seventh Apostle of the Apostles’ Council and the de facto representative of Chungmuro.

“One.”

On the way here, Ye Hyeonwoo must have been entangled countless times in plots and schemes I didn’t know about.

The bear beastfolk panted as if in a seizure and said,

“You lot. Will never. Succeed.”

The beastfolk’s body went limp and sagged onto the floor. Judging by the looks of it, it neither had enough tale nor magic power left.

It was to the point that it was strange they had attempted a surprise attack in this state.

Ye Hyeonwoo frowned.

“Shall we wake him again and torture him a bit in the Kim Dokja way?”

That was when the system message rang in my ear.

[Your approval rating is dropping.]

[Currently, 68% of the beastfolk belonging to District 13 support you.]

It was strange.

Ever since I had begun full-scale tale repairs, my approval rating hadn’t dropped even once.

And yet my approval rating dropped at this timing of all times?

[Your approval rating is dropping.]

[Currently, 67% of the beastfolk belonging to District 13 support you.]

Ye Hyeonwoo also seemed to get a bad feeling and turned to me.

“Something doesn’t feel right. We should probably check on the others……”

I could see a group of shadows approaching through the late-night alleys.

Lanterns rose one by one out of the darkness.

They didn’t look like people who had come asking me to fix their tales. Because the faces of the beastfolk swaying above the lanterns like ghosts were unfamiliar.

Not just their faces but their builds as well. Their physiques were at least twice as large as the beastfolk of the nearby districts.

[So it was true that the wolves in the south were annihilated.]

A mantra that made my spine go cold.

A brown bear one meter taller than the other beastfolk—wearing a skull mask that covered half its face—stood there.

[Constellation "Bear Who Lets You Live If You Play Dead" opens its eyes wide.]

Judging from the pressure I felt and the atmosphere it exuded, there was no doubt.

That guy was a great figure-grade constellation.

[The tales that make up that incarnation body are in a heavily worn state.]

To be precise, it was an animal-type constellation that had lost most of its tales and fallen greatly in class—one that couldn’t enter <Twelve Zodiac> and remained in District 13.

It seemed to be a case similar to the “Wolf Who Likes Red Hoods” we fought previously.

In the darkness, the brown bear’s enormous claws gleamed with a cold light.

[Kill them all. From today on, the south of District 13 is the territory of ‘bears.’]

After the bear beastfolk shouted the words in unison, they began pillaging, crushing all the surrounding houses with their massive forepaws.

“W-what is this! Gyaaaaaah!”

Claws flew in without asking or answering anything. Beastfolk were ripped apart along with their houses and screamed.

[Your approval rating is dropping.]

[Currently, 66% of the beastfolk belonging to District 13 support you.]

Now I understood why my approval rating kept decreasing. Those bears were indiscriminately massacring the beastfolk of District 13 who supported us.

Judging from the numbers, their forces clearly exceeded three hundred.

Ye Hyeonwoo opened his mouth.

“That guy’s the same kind of case as that ‘wolf’ back then, right?”

“Yes. We should be careful. This time we don’t have any appropriate tale to use.”

Back then, the scenario of “Three Little Pigs” was in effect, so we could use Stageification.

This time, things were different.

But Ye Hyeonwoo’s eyes were calm.

“To be like Kim Dokja here, should I fight at the front, or should I hide behind and encourage the party?”

I thought for a moment and answered.

“Either way seems like Kim Dokja.”

If it were Kim Dokja, he would have fought at the front and at the same time encouraged the party from behind and awakened them.

I didn’t know how Ye Hyeonwoo interpreted my words, but he nodded.

“Then I’ll do as I please here.”

Pitch-black magic power flowed out from all over Ye Hyeonwoo’s body. Since it was the first time I saw him earnestly invoke a tale, I was a little surprised.

[Tale, "Martial Arts Panda," growls.]

Originally, Ye Hyeonwoo was a supporter-type incarnation who mainly used the skills [Magic Power Charge] and [Magic Power Sharing].

A skill position with the combination with Gong Pildu, who used [Magic Power Turret] from the early game, in mind.

But here, Ye Hyeonwoo had obtained power enough to change his own position.

“Kwaaaah!”

Every time Ye Hyeonwoo’s fists and legs moved, crack, something broke. It was the very same fist strike that had grazed my mask earlier.

The bears who spotted Ye Hyeonwoo cried out.

“A bear?”

“Stop! We’re the same kind!”

“I’m not a bear.”

With a bamboo stalk clenched between his teeth, Ye Hyeonwoo spoke without a hint of a smile.

“I’m a panda.”

Most of the beastfolk in District 13 were incarnations whose tales were damaged.

But even they had once made a name for themselves before entering the Recycling Center. Yet those beastfolk couldn’t withstand Ye Hyeonwoo’s fist strikes and were knocked away one after another.

Now, even with his supporter-type skills sealed, Ye Hyeonwoo had obtained combat power on par with top-class incarnations.

“Good grief, is this guy really that guy?”

“That ‘panda’ is here!”

“Kill that damned tale thief!”

A tale thief?

As the enraged bears all rushed toward Ye Hyeonwoo, his hands and feet also began to move busily.

Just then, our comrades, sensing the commotion, burst out from inside the brick house.

“What are those bears?”

“Hey, those bastards—Hyeonwoo!”

Uncle Dansoo and Gyeong Sein. Maybe they had been asleep; even Cha Yerin rubbed her eyes and stuck her face out the window.

Right afterward, the crane owner burst out, shouting. Quickly scanning the surroundings, the crane owner soon seemed to catch on to how the situation was developing.

“Brown Bear! What on earth are you doing! Why are you doing this—”

The brown bear paid no attention to the crane’s words and continued trampling the houses in the south.

Gyeong Sein frowned and asked,

“What on earth are those bears?”

“They’re the bears who rule the north of District 13. When the wolf was here, they never crossed over……”

The crane owner shook his beak and answered.

“I don’t know either. Why they’re suddenly doing this…… I heard that recently even the beastfolk in the north were favorably disposed toward you.”

[Your approval rating is dropping.]

[Currently, 65% of the beastfolk belonging to District 13 support you.]

In the end, the crane owner also made a decision.

“All beastfolk of the south, take up your weapons! Protect your homes from those northerners!”

“Injured people, hide inside the brick house!”

The situation wasn’t good. At this rate, it would end with the south and north slaughtering each other.

[Your approval rating is dropping.]

[Currently, 64% of the beastfolk belonging to District 13 support you.]

I had to stop the fight.

If I couldn’t stop it, I at least had to protect the beastfolk of the southern region.

“If you can’t win while fighting, at least play dead! Then your chances of surviving go up!”

The descriptive phrase of the brown bear leading the bears was “Bear Who Lets You Live If You Play Dead.”

Judging from the tale it possessed, if they were lucky, there was a chance that “playing dead” would work.

But that was just a stopgap.

[Your approval rating is dropping.]

[Currently, 63% of the beastfolk belonging to District 13 support you.]

Somehow, I had to stop the fight.

Think. Every event in <Star Stream> has a reason. There had to be a reason the bears chose this moment to come down to the south.

Just then, a shout from a corner caught my ear.

“Kill the panda!”

“Why is it that thing that appears in every tale!”

“What’s so fun about something that just chews bamboo all the time!”

“I can roll around too!”

No way.

“Got you! Kraaagh!”

One bear who took a fist to the nose bridge from Ye Hyeonwoo fell straight back.

The number of bear beastfolk that Ye Hyeonwoo had already knocked down was well over ten, yet the bears still clung desperately only to Ye Hyeonwoo.

The reason was obvious.

「These bears want to become ‘pandas.’」

I filled my voice with magic power and shouted,

“Everyone, stop this!”

One by one, the bears surrounding Ye Hyeonwoo turned toward me.

“I’ll help make your tales become famous again.”

The eyes of the bear beastfolk who heard my words shook. It was working.

“There’s no need to fight like this. If you’re jealous of the panda, you too can—”

[Shut—up!]

With the brown bear’s true words, the bears flinched. Looking at one another, the bears once again bared their teeth at us.

[Kill him! Don’t spare even those who play ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) dead!]

I couldn’t understand it. After I’d said this much, they still insisted on charging?

I activated 「Persistent Martial Arts Master」 and sliced down two bears that rushed at me.

As I watched the bears’ claws that had been scratching at me crumble powerlessly, I realized how dire the state of their tales was.

On the surface, the bear beastfolk had looked terrifying, but each and every one of them was in need of immediate tale replenishment.

The harsh life of District 13 had accumulated until the balance of their incarnation bodies was completely broken.

Those were the ones who were disregarding their own lives and rushing in.

[The tale that has lost its name is shattering.]

Tales so old it was unclear whether Stageification was even possible.

Stories whose names had disappeared and been forgotten even by <Star Stream>.

A conversation with Lycaon from a few days ago flashed through my mind.

【I understand what you want to do, Hoju. But not everyone will be able to receive salvation from you.】

Back then, I hadn’t understood what that meant.

【Can you force a dream even on those who have forever lost their own tales, Hoju.】

There are beings in this world who have lost “their own tale” forever.

“Kill the panda! If we kill that thing, we’ll get a tale!”

“It’s mine. That’s mine!”

“Aim for that guy! That guy has more tales than the panda!”

“There’s even a wolf over there!”

In a world where their own stories had disappeared, what they could do was already decided.

“Aim for the brick house! Most of the newly-born tales are possessed by the beastfolk there!”

Take away other people’s dreams.