Side Story – The Sparrow Went on Strike

Dalkongkong’s dedicated sparrow, Chirpchirp, one day visited the God of Romance Fantasy.

“Chirp chirp. Chirp chirp chirp chirp!” (“God of Romance Fantasy. I can’t do this anymore!”)

“Huh? What are you saying all of a sudden?”

“Chirp chirp, chirp chirp! Chirp chirp chirp chirp beep beep beep!” (“Whenever I appear in a novel, I get hate comments. Readers don’t want to see me. Huuuu!”)

The God of Romance Fantasy gently patted the little sparrow who was shedding tears out of sorrow.

Chirpchirp was in charge of Dalkongkong, an author who mainly wrote all-ages romance fantasy novels.

Due to serialization and bookstore regulations, all-ages novels couldn’t describe affection scenes beyond kissing, holding hands, or hugging in detail.

So usually, authors ended with the sentence ‘The next morning, the sparrow chirped…’ However…

Chirpchirp, the sparrow with the most appearances in the romance fantasy world, was deeply hurt by the malicious comments in the serialization comment section.

Unfortunately, Dalkongkong, Chirpchirp’s author, was a full-time writer.

With a career spanning ten years and a fast writing pace, she continuously penned dozens of works.

Though Chirpchirp could endure once or twice, receiving insults every time he worked was too much, even for a kind-hearted sparrow.

“Chirp chirp! Chirp chirp chirp!” (“Strike! I’m going on strike!”)

“St-strike? Chirpchirp, without you, Dalkongkong can’t even serialize five episodes?”

“Chirp! Chirp chirp chirp chirp! Beeeeeep!” (“I don’t care! After ten years as a writer, it’s time to write 19+! I don’t need food or a nest!”)

Chirpchirp lay down on the God of Romance Fantasy’s palm with his wings spread. His fluffy white belly was adorable, but Chirpchirp was firm.

No matter how much he was coaxed, the angry sparrow’s decision not to work didn’t change.

The sparrow, a necessary supporting character and guardian of the rating in all-ages romance fantasy, declared a strike!

***

At that moment, Dalkongkong was furiously typing away, writing her manuscript.

“Originally, Muriel and Elexion spent a passionate night, but since it’s all-ages. Summon the sparrow! End this episode with chirp chirp, huh?”

Though she typed the sentence, it mysteriously disappeared as if there was a program error.

“What, what’s this? Why isn’t it writing?”

A flustered Dalkongkong typed the same sentence again. It disappeared once more.

Even when she opened a new window or copied and pasted sentences from elsewhere, it was the same.

The funny thing was, everything except the sparrow chirp chirp sentence was input normally.

As Dalkongkong was pulling her hair over this strange occurrence, a call came from the publisher.

“This is Dalkongkong.”

—Have you checked your work email today?

“No, not yet. Is there something urgent I need to handle?”

—I’m reading the review manuscript you sent, and a notice email came from the publisher. It should have gone to your email too. Your dedicated sparrow has gone on strike.

“Wha-what? The sparrow went on strike?”

—Yes. Chirpchirp, who’s been with you for ten years, said he’s too hurt by the hate comments to work. He said he won’t appear in this work.

“No, how am I supposed to adjust the rating in an all-ages romance fantasy without a sparrow! No way!”

Dalkongkong’s scream echoed through her studio.

“What, what should I do? The cover request has already been sent, right?”

—Yes. After the notice, I contacted the illustrator. They said they couldn’t draw a sparrow in the background.

“It’s really on strike. I heard from authors who’ve worked longer than me that this can happen. Oh no!”

—Did you hear how they resolved it?

“They were a traditional fantasy writer. Usually, the male lead rides a horse, right? The horse got mad and went on strike after falling off a cliff during battle. They had to switch to modern fantasy.”

—In modern fantasy, they use cars or motorcycles. So, they changed the genre.

“Yes.”

—Since you’ve already written a lot, changing the genre might be difficult.

Dalkongkong rolled her eyes and finally let out a long sigh.

“Editor, I’ll write this work as 19+.”

—Are you sure?

“Even for 15+ depictions, it’s hard without a sparrow. To go without a single chirp, I’ll have to describe everything omitted in 19+.”

—For us, it’s best since we don’t need to change the publication schedule.

“I’ll ask my friend, the fiery spicy writer, for help!”

Among Dalkongkong’s many writer friends, the fiery spicy writer was a master who had reached the ranks of 19+ experts.

The editor agreed readily, feeling that a 19+ revision would somehow work out. Dalkongkong immediately called the fiery spicy writer.

“Hey, Spicy. Save me. My dedicated sparrow went on strike. I have to revise the entire manuscript to 19+!”

Thus, the romance fantasy novel 「I’ll Be Happy Every Day!」 underwent a major revision from all-ages to 19+.

***

“Chief Angel. There’s a change in one of the dimensions under management.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the dimension of the romance fantasy ‘I’ll Be Happy Every Day!’ We sent the female lead there recently.”

“Oh, she just turned five.”

“The creator revised it to 19+ and published it. The review section is exploding. The male lead is, whew!”

Seeing the subordinate angel give a thumbs-up, the chief angel quickly pulled out a smartphone and purchased the entire series.

“The character integrity is intact, and the coherence is all there. No problem.”

“The female lead hasn’t seen the official publication, so she might be shocked later.”

“She’s a veteran fan of romance fantasy, so she’ll adapt well. Let’s add it to the options so she can know once she accumulates more than the minimum points.”

“Yes!”

“We should also update the dimension’s name.”

The chief angel tapped the keyboard.

Romance Fantasy Novel 「I’ll Be Happy Every Day! [19+ Complete Edition]」

<The End>

Note: 

In Korean romance fantasy (로판) novels, especially all-ages ones, there’s a long-running, tongue-in-cheek trope: when an author needs to imply a romantic or intimate scene without actually writing it (due to age restrictions), they often use a line like:

“The next morning, the sound of a sparrow chirping could be heard.”

In Korean:

“다음 날 아침, 참새가 짹짹 우는 소리가 들렸다.”

This line has become a widely recognized euphemism for “something romantic or spicy happened, but we’re not allowed to describe it.”

So in this story, the sparrow character “Chorongjjaek” is a meta-fictional joke

He’s the literal embodiment of this cliché line—he shows up whenever there’s a fade-to-black moment.

The twist is that he’s become overworked and resentful because:

He has to appear in every one of these implied scenes.

Readers now hate seeing him because they know it means the author’s skipping the good stuff.

So, in classic labor movement parody, he goes on strike demanding better working conditions—or rather, spicier content that doesn’t need euphemistic chirping.

It’s a self-aware satire of the constraints authors face in publishing, the tropes they rely on, and reader expectations.

The story plays on all this by making the sparrow a full character with grievances and agency—turning a running gag into a plot-driving force.