I Became A Playwright In Medieval Fantasy

“Pahaha!”

“Puhahaha!”

“Kya hahaha!”

……You crazy bastards-!!

It’s been about 3 days since I unleashed my Charlie Chaplin-style skit through Geloroushina.

The laughter echoing from everywhere is driving me insane.

Was this how a prisoner feels trapped next to the Joker or Harley Quinn in Arkham Asylum?

It’s like they were hit by some Joker venom, constantly giggling to the point that my head is about to burst.

But the real problem isn’t my classmates at school.

“Uhahaha! My stomach hurts! I’m dying! This is too funny!”

“Just die from laughing, will you!”

It’s Maurice, rolling around in bed all day after the theater show, chuckling away.

Even when I stomp him in frustration, he shows no sign of stopping.

With my roommate acting like this, I almost feel like I’m hearing voices now.

Voices of someone laughing so hard they’re about to choke and die……!

“Heeek, heeurk, ughhhh……!”

……Oh wait, that’s not a voice.

“Breathe, you idiot! If the young master of the Lavalle family dies from laughing, that’ll be a disgrace for the family!”

I know that too. Charlie Chaplin is literally the god of comedy.

Especially my favorite work, The Gold Rush, never gets boring no matter how many times I watch it.

Just imagining Big Jim causing chaos trying to eat Charlie Chaplin is enough to crack me up.

But come on, there’s such a thing as moderation, right?

The worst part is that there’s one more person heavily affected besides Maurice.

“Hey, Rosalyn-senpai?”

“I-I’m sorry, Balthazar! Sniff Hoo, focus…… I need to focus…!*”

“……Shall we end today’s discussion here? The other team members are also skipping out to go to Geloroushina.”

Senpai, desperately trying to hold back laughter, even makes a sound that’s practically crying.

It’s so pitiful that I decided to wrap up today’s meeting.

It was a group project for a liberal arts class where I was supposed to be the team leader.

I really can’t do anything if even my best hope and partner, Senpai Rosalyn, is like this.

She seemed to finally reach her limit as she bowed her head in apology to me, the junior, and fled.

“I’m sorry, Balthazar! My section is all organized! I-I’ll definitely sort it all out and send it by tomorrow!”

“Y-Yeah, do that. Hurry back inside.”

I’ve had plenty of experiences where group projects implode because of free riders in my previous life.

But experiencing a group project falling apart because everyone can’t stop laughing is a first for me.

I can’t even scold the team members because I’m the one who caused all this laughter.

Thanks to that, I had to sit alone at a table, sipping on some freshly brewed coffee.

Powerless to the laughing sounds of students playing like background music.

‘……Should I cancel the follow-up contract after all?’

City Lights, which tells a warm romance between a blind girl and a wandering protagonist.

Even if it ends bittersweetly, it’s undeniably a masterpiece like The Circus, etc.

I promised to submit them one by one, but now imagining the impact they’ll have sends chills down my spine.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that if things go wrong, the capital might shut down completely due to laughter.

‘This won’t do.’

I have to find a way to solve this situation, no matter what.

They say if you tie a knot, you have to untie it too.

The one who unleashed this laughter hell upon the Empire is none other than Balthazar Arture.

So, the one who must retrieve that hell must also be me.

‘Should I throw in an incredibly sad story? One that makes tears flow uncontrollably?’

There have certainly been quite a few figures in life who suffered immensely.

Vincent van Gogh, who lived with mental illness all his life, Frida Kahlo, the icon of misfortune, or Ivan the Terrible, who was half-crazy from childhood abuse.

However, that would be like chasing a wolf only to invite a tiger, so I quickly gave up.

‘What if a bomb of tears goes off instead of a bomb of laughter? Could I handle that?’

Any emotion in excess is bound to be harmful.

Suppressing laughter with other emotions isn’t a fundamental solution.

So, I needed to calm this disaster down with some creative and innovative idea.

‘Since I can’t break the contract to write a Charlie Chaplin series for Geloroushina anyway.’

Thinking this, I was spinning my brain hard to find a solution when suddenly……!

“……!”

An idea popped into my head.

The protagonist of this play and the original author, inspired by the anecdotes of Charlie Chaplin.

“……A Phantom Writer impersonation contest?”

“More accurately, it’s about mimicking characters from the works of the Phantom Writer. The most precise imitation will win a prize.”

Renoir and Isabella gathered to listen to the ‘big event’ I proposed.

Looking at the two of them, I seriously discussed hosting a contest for the fans.

“Ooh? Mimicking characters from the works? That’s quite an interesting idea.”

“I agree. There’s no harm in hosting something like this while Phantom’s works are popular.”

“But who decides the winner? Should the actors be the judges?”

“The rankings can be determined by voting after the contest. Not only the participants will be allowed; fans just coming to watch will be welcomed too.”

“Oh? You’re letting the audience of the play become the judges?”

“Sounds good, our Phantom Writer. You’d succeed as a planner too!”

Fortunately, both theater company managers were positively considering my proposal.

Thanks to that, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

‘The original idea is to suppress a big topic with an even larger one.’

The laughter bomb that had blown up earlier.

If I couldn’t smother it, I had to cover it up with an event that would excite all Phantom fans.

Fans cosplaying characters from the works of the Phantom.

With a plan to give the best cosplayer a chance to meet Phantom one-on-one.

‘There’s a similar episode with Charlie Chaplin, right?’

Somewhere between 1915 and 1920.

Charlie Chaplin happened to discover a “Charlie Chaplin Impersonation Contest” taking place in the suburbs.

Feeling playful, he decided to join the contest while disguising himself.

After all, who could impersonate Charlie Chaplin better than Charlie Chaplin himself?

And amusingly enough, Charlie Chaplin did not come in first in that contest.

Incredibly, an unknown fan mimicked his character better than he did.

‘Of course, I don’t know the truth of this anecdote either.’

I don’t even know exactly what year that contest was held.

The specific location of the event remains unknown.

Even the final ranking of Charlie Chaplin differs from source to source.

Some say he came in third, while others say he ended up twentieth.

Yet, does it really matter if the truth of it all is important now?

What matters is that I can adapt this to turn the crisis into an opportunity!

‘Because I’ll be mixing in with the other participants!’

One-on-one fan meeting? Why would I do something so bothersome?

If an excited fan tries to rip off my mask, that would be a disaster.

Promoting the fan meeting is merely a bait.

My real intention is to win as Balthazar Arture and prevent that meeting from happening.

Though Charlie Chaplin failed, I’m confident over here.

I’m a reincarnation from a world where Yi Sun-sin and Julius Caesar coexisted, alongside Charlie Chaplin.

Isn’t my accumulated experience from this life more of an edge than ordinary world dwellers?

“An impersonation contest?”

“They just need to perfectly mimic a character from Phantom’s works?”

The news about the contest spread quickly, just like the new Phantom release.

When the academy students heard this, their eyes practically flipped.

They finally got a golden opportunity to cosplay the characters of the playwright they respect.

Winning could even mean a one-on-one fan meeting with Phantom as a reward!

Since his flashy debut in Admiral Lee, Phantom has been hiding in the shadows.

He even ignores requests for meetings from noble people, the epitome of mystery.

Thanks to that, the school, dominated by laughter for a while, would now be ruled by a new desire for cosplay.

“I’m going to choose Admiral Lee! Don’t be a copycat, it’s mine!”

“Are you kidding me? I’m totally doing Admiral Lee!”

“Hehe, can I finally become Julius Caesar myself?”

“I’m confident in imitating Chaplin! The victory is mine, you clueless losers!”

Excited academy students selecting their cosplay materials.

As Phantom intended, preparing for the contest allowed the capital to escape laughter hell for now.

And the one most excited about this news was undoubtedly Rosalyn Wenford.

“T-This is…… a one-on-one meeting with Phantom!”

Wenford’s noble daughter stuttered, shaking as she mumbled to herself.

Seeing her in such a state, Crown Princess Diana sighed.

“First, breathe deeply, Rosalyn. You’re spilling your drink.”

“One-on-one…… one-on-one…… with Phantom……!”

……She’s gone too far now.

Watching her, Diana couldn’t help but chuckle, seeing her best friend at the peak of her fandom.

Of course, Diana knew well how much Rosalyn longed to meet Phantom.

How much she wanted to convey her burning heart to Phantom.

Under normal circumstances, Diana would gladly cheer Rosalyn on.

She might even have supported her from behind to help her win.

But this time, it was hard for Diana to willingly let go of victory.

“Let’s compete together, Rosalyn.”

“Huh?!”

“You and I. We’ll have a friendly competition to see who understands the Phantom’s worldview better and who can express his characters best.”

The annoying genius literary master blatantly disregarding the hidden fan letters.

Diana pouted her lips, still imagining the now-abstract appearance of Phantom.

‘Even if a winner emerges, they probably won’t show their face.’

The person who has desperately concealed their identity all this time wouldn’t suddenly reveal it now.

Surely, they’d disguise themselves for the fan meeting.

Using a mask or hood to cover their appearance.

‘But that’s enough.’

Although Diana had been trying to piece together Phantom’s true identity, she still lacked decisive info.

To truly discern who they are, I needed to observe them up close.

And this contest would serve as an excellent stepping stone for that.

“Are you upset, Rosalyn? Did I barged in without giving away a chance?”

Wondering if she was feeling bad, I asked.

But Rosalyn’s reaction was entirely different from what I expected.

“No? It’s actually the opposite.”

Nodding her head from side to side, Rosalyn smiled.

It was a smile ablaze with pure competitiveness and determination, different from her usual sweet and gentle demeanor.

“I feel truly happy. It means my best friend, Diana, loves Phantom’s plays just as much. No one knows how much happiness it is to have the same taste as someone good like you, Your Highness.”

“Oh really?”

“So I won’t go easy on you either. Prepare yourself, Diana. I will definitely win!”

“Hehe, got it. Do your best, Rosalyn.”

Diana gracefully accepted the challenge from the noble daughter, resting her chin elegantly.

As expected of a princess, she displayed a noble demeanor befitting someone who might one day become an empress.

In fact, Diana had a character she had her eyes on with the news of the contest.

The main character of Julius Caesar, the sweet lover of Caesar.

She was none other than Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, who possessed grace, charm, and wisdom, just like the princess herself.

---