WeTried Translations
Translator: Joy
Editor: Joy
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 25: The first pest
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Lee Su-hyeok first met Chuk-sin-doo during the community’s infancy.
A game that could run smoothly even on a low-spec computer, had no subscription fees or cash-purchase elements, and was not well known to the world.
At the time, Lee Su-hyeok was full of hipster tendencies. While searching for a game that met those conditions, he came across Seronis.
Chuk-sin-doo and Cat Panties had taken a different path. They came from a Korean indie game community and started Seronis to take on a crap game that was gradually gaining word-of-mouth notoriety there.
At the time, Lee Su-hyeok had adopted the persona of a solitary game connoisseur. To maintain that image, he never wrote shitposts on the board and only participated in serious discussions about the game.
If someone made a post recommending a certain skill, he would carefully refute it by explaining the skill’s fatal flaws.
If someone made a post showing off the character they were raising, he would point out every mistake in the build.
If someone posted what they called a guide, he would follow it himself before leaving a lengthy review and feedback.
The moments Lee Su-hyeok enjoyed most were when someone asked, “So how good are you, then?”
Whenever that happened, Lee Su-hyeok would post dozens of long essays showing just how seriously and professionally he had delved into the game.
[Seronis Physical Attack Skill Rankings.]
[Seronis Monster Level Rankings.]
[Guide Board’s Most Recommended DPS Index.]
[Why THOR123’s Lightning Magic Tree Is Trash.]
[Why You Should Build Physical Damage Instead of Magic Damage.]
.
.
.
[Didn’t that Korean bastard manipulate his character specifications?]
[He edited his stats with Photoshop, didn’t he?]
Whenever he refuted that kind of slander, he did not even need a translator.
[SHUT UP.]
[FUCK YOU.]
[YOUR MOTHER.]
That was how three Koreans met in Seronis’s foreign community. FUCKINGSEXY and USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎, whose nationalities were unknown, later joined them.
The solitary game connoisseur Lee Su-hyeok felt deeply wronged and disgusted at being grouped with those four vermin, but he had grown reluctantly fond of them, so he still exchanged messages with them.
A few years ago.
An event brought life back to the stagnant community. A veteran named REDCOW became the first to discover a hidden boss.
REDCOW failed to clear the hidden boss first, but in an effort to revive the quietly dying community, REDCOW revealed how to enter the hidden route.
Every veteran still clinging to Seronis entered the hidden route and challenged the hidden boss named God of Chaos.
News of the newly discovered hidden boss spread beyond the community.
Veterans who had left the community before becoming entrenched returned to challenge the hidden boss. Many newcomers joined as well, and when a user named ZEROMAN became the first to clear it, the Hall of Honour was unlocked.
Lee Su-hyeok and the four vermin, who had also been challenging the hidden boss, began seriously aiming for the Hall of Honour.
[How about we line ourselves up from first place to fifth, nya? ㅇㅅㅇ]
Cat Panties, who had come from the Korean indie game community with Chuk-sin-doo, had been a famous netkama in that community.
No one knew whether Cat Panties was a woman or a man. At the time, perhaps inspired by USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎’s persona, Cat Panties was actively copying it and using disgusting emoticons.
[I’ll take first place.]
FUCKINGSEXY, who kept posting three masturbation-diary entries a day along with photographs and illustrations of pretty boys even as the community buzzed with discussion of the hidden boss strategy and the newly unlocked Hall of Honour, eagerly accepted Cat Panties’s proposal.
There was no reason to refuse, so USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎, Lee Su-hyeok, and Chuk-sin-doo agreed to join in. However, none of the five intended to yield first place, so they decided to clear it at the same time and share first place.
But not everything in life could go according to plan.
[Our big bro is coming to Korea, LOLLLLLLLLL]
The first of Lee Su-hyeok and the four vermin to drop out was Chuk-sin-doo.
A friendly match had been arranged between the overseas football team of the world-famous football star Chuk-sin-doo loved and a Korean league all-star team.
[Booking successful, LOLLLLLLLLL]
There was more than one selling point: an event match against an overseas football team and a player of world-star status visiting Korea. Countless people tried to book tickets, and Chuk-sin-doo, who succeeded in getting the most expensive premium-zone ticket, went wild in the community for hours.
[Let’s go see our big bro, LOLLLLLLLLL]
By that point, Chuk-sin-doo’s heart had strayed far from their agreement.
Not long afterward, Chuk-sin-doo declared that he could not play this fucking game anymore and took first place in the Hall of Honour.
It happened before the friendly match.
* * *
“May I come along as well?”
At Yuri’s cautious question, Orca turned her head. She paused to consider it while fastening the buttons of her vest, then readily nodded.
“You seem curious about seeing a Martial Apex Venerable in action. The Moonlit Reveller is an exceptionally insane bastard, but opportunities to witness an expert of that caliber are rare.”
“That too, but I am worried about Sir Bakerd.”
“Ah, that makes sense. The Fist Wolf came to Rutlan partly because of his duel with the Moonlit Reveller.”
At that answer, Orca looked at Yuri as though she found him admirable.
“I heard you received instruction almost every day for a month. Do you think of the Fist Wolf as a master?”
“A little.”
“It is only natural that you would worry. The sixth tier and seventh tier are on entirely different levels.”
Orca closed the space she had opened and strode forward. Creak.
The phonograph on the desk moved on its own, its brass horn turning toward Orca.
[Tower Master?]
Lacey’s voice flowed from the horn.
[Did you call? It seems your conversation is over. Shall I come up now?]
“No, there is no need to come up. I am taking Yuri out now.”
[What...?]
“Tell Elena that the Moonlit Reveller has arrived at Rutlan’s eastern gate, and that Yuri and I are going to see the Moonlit Reveller. Nothing to worry about will happen, but if she is still concerned, tell her to come to the eastern gate.”
[The Moonlit Reveller...? That insane transmigrator came here? But why are you taking Yuri-nim?]
“To watch.”
Orca answered and snapped her fingers. Crackle! Static burst out, and the phonograph stopped.
“Is the difference of one tier really that great?”
At Yuri’s belated question, Orca, who had been walking toward the window, shook with laughter.
“The higher the tier, the more distinct the difference becomes. It is the same for martial artists and mages. Especially from the sixth tier onward, the gap between higher tiers grows enormous.”
Creeeak.
The large window opened on its own. The wind blowing in from the top floor stirred the curtains.
Orca tied back her loosely hanging black hair with a band and looked back at Yuri.
“No matter how well the Fist Wolf fights, he can never defeat the seventh-tier Moonlit Reveller. The one fortunate thing for the Fist Wolf is that, while the Moonlit Reveller is insane, he is not obsessed with killing. Even if the Fist Wolf loses the duel, he will not die.”
During the month Yuri had received instruction from Bakerd, he had heard about duels several times.
Bakerd had made a name for himself by traveling around to take on duels long before reaching the sixth tier, and he had suffered no small number of defeats.
But this would be his first duel with a seventh-tier Martial Apex Venerable.
Just as Orca was certain, Bakerd was also certain of his own defeat.
‘What matters is what one gains from defeat.’
Bakerd had said that expressionlessly only a few days ago.
As Yuri recalled Bakerd’s face from then, he unknowingly clenched one fist.
“Come closer.”
Standing with one foot on the wide-open window frame, Orca crooked a finger at Yuri.
“Consider yourself lucky.”
“Surely not.”
“It is exactly what you think. From now on, you will experience Thunder God’s Mirage, the unique magic of Heavenly Thunder Orca, the Tower Master of the Dersia Mage Tower. To think that I would let someone who is neither a prospective disciple nor a mage experience Thunder God’s Mirage.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just walk?”
“Consider it an honor and come closer.”
Yuri had asked whether he could come along, but he had not expected to travel like this.
He swallowed and moved close to Orca.
He recalled the sight from a month ago, when Elena and Orca had become lightning and descended into the mansion garden. At the time, Orca had Elena tucked under her arm like a piece of luggage.
‘Do I have to do that too?’
He did not.
Instead, Orca wrapped an arm around Yuri’s shoulders.
“Here we go.”
With her quiet words, immense mana moved.
Yuri immediately focused his mind and felt the mana’s movement. He wanted to understand even a fragment of Orca’s Thunder God’s Mirage.
‘Ah.’
It was impossible.
No matter how high a transmigrator’s mana comprehension was, understanding this was impossible. An enormous amount of information that could not be expressed as a spell formula made Yuri’s mind go blank.
‘This mana does not belong entirely to nature.’
Mages used the mana existing in the world to cast magic.
But an archmage’s unique magic was different. After honing magic for many years and accumulating mana within their very soul, they used the mana of their soul, which could be called the life and history of a mage.
‘Is this Soul Power?’
A power that stood against the intent of high-tier martial artists.
The unique mana an archmage accumulated over a lifetime.
Orca’s Soul Power resonated with other mana and manifested Thunder God’s Mirage.
‘Even if I figure out and understand the spell formula for Thunder God’s Mirage, to manifest it as magic... I would first need a way to replace the Soul Power required for activation.’
Unique magic could not be cast simply because one knew its spell formula.
Just as a martial artist needed to interpret the martial verses and train the forms into their body to learn a new martial art, a mage also needed long consideration to make another’s unique magic their own.
This experience gave Yuri a clear realization.
This was not such a shallow field of study that a transmigrator could understand it immediately.
Bzzzt!
His body was no longer a body.
Everything that made up his body became lightning energy. Only his soul remained, mingling with that lightning energy.
It was like becoming lightning with a will of its own.
In truth, Yuri had merged with Orca and become a single bolt of lightning.
A violet bolt of lightning crossed the sky.
The scenery of the Dersia Mage Tower and Rutlan’s streets receded in an instant.
[Isn’t it a strange sensation?]
It was not sound.
Orca’s will seeped into Yuri.
[It is far slower than actual lightning. That cannot be helped. Even if the body is changed into lightning energy, the soul has difficulty keeping pace with lightning’s speed.]
Lightning traveled at roughly one hundred thousand kilometers per second.
It was an absurd figure. It made sense that a human soul and mind would have difficulty keeping up with such speed.
[If one is careless, the soul may shatter completely or separate from the body. You either die, or end up in a state where death would be preferable.]
Orca chuckled.
Right now, Orca was slowing down considerably to keep Yuri from ending up like that.
Which meant that if Orca used Thunder God’s Mirage alone, she would be far faster than this.
It was difficult to believe that even Orca had nearly died after falling into someone’s trap fifteen years ago.
[We have arrived.]
Bzzzt!
The lightning scattered.
As Yuri’s soul settled into his reassembling body, dizzying vertigo struck him. Only after barely keeping himself from collapsing as his legs gave out did he understand why Orca had carried Elena like a piece of luggage then.
“How was it? Fun, wasn’t it?”
Orca’s amused question reached him, but Yuri’s stomach churned as though he were motion sick, so he could not answer immediately.
Soon, his wildly swaying vision recovered.
They were already atop the city wall.
Yuri steadied his breathing and raised his gaze.
Chuk-sin-doo stood in the sky beyond the railing.
He was still bouncing Madorido against his foot with a thud, thud, but unlike when Yuri had seen him at the Mage Tower, Chuk-sin-doo was not approaching.
“Still making a noisy entrance, I see.”
Chuk-sin-doo spoke.
Despite being a Martial Apex Venerable who had learned martial arts, he did not wear Chinese-style clothing like Namgung Jin.
A pure white T-shirt, a black jacket, short hair spiked upward...
Regardless of his clothes or features, it was painfully obvious who Chuk-sin-doo had chosen as his role model.
‘He made that kind of entrance himself, and he’s calling someone else noisy?’
Orca’s descent as a streak of lightning had been noisy too, but not as noisy as Chuk-sin-doo.
Chuk-sin-doo continued bouncing Madorido with a thud, thud as he stared at Orca.
“Why are you stopped here?”
“Not enough of a response.”
“What?”
“I can enter whenever I want. But it would be disappointing if I just went in like that.”
Madorido stopped in midair.
Chuk-sin-doo caught his beloved weapon with one hand, tucked it under his arm, and grinned broadly.
“Look. The moment I came here, even someone as distinguished as you hurried over. But it is still not enough. I need a little more of a response.”
So that insane bastard was standing here because he wanted more attention.
“Surely you do not expect Alfreon Ascard to come here in person?”
“The head of the great Ascard Family would not come out here in person.”
Maintaining his glittering smile, Chuk-sin-doo stared at Orca.
“Mentioning that name means you must have heard in advance why I came to Rutlan.”
“I never imagined you would become a worker for the Ascard Family.”
“If I am paid an elixir, I can gladly do a little menial work. Still, calling me a worker is hurtful. Let us call it business.”
Chuk-sin-doo laughed heartily and turned his gaze.
“By the way, who is that?”
His dark eyes turned toward Yuri.
‘This is not torture or anything...’
Yuri had first heard about Chuk-sin-doo, then seen Chuk-sin-doo in Orca’s room, and now stood directly before Chuk-sin-doo.
Through all of it, the thing tormenting Yuri most was his laughter.
He desperately held back his laughter and kept his expression under control.
He could not laugh upon hearing the name Chuk-sin-doo.
Bursting out laughing in response to that name was practically proof that he was a transmigrator.
Hangul?
Yuri himself was naturally using a language he had never learned. Did it matter in this world that a name came from a foreign language?
Besides, that insane bastard had been famous as a villain since the days of the foreign community.
The name Chuk-sin-doo that he used in the community was written in three Hangul syllables, but the community users at least knew what those three syllables meant.
Chuk-sin-doo always used pictures of football players as reaction images and gave live commentary for every match.
And look at him now.
Any transmigrator would recognize that blatant appearance and have no choice but to burst out laughing.
How many transmigrators had laughed at that appearance and name so far, and what had happened to them?
Perhaps the iron ball named Madorido had not only smashed the heads of evil martial artists, but also the heads of countless transmigrators.
Yuri did not want his head smashed open by that ridiculous iron ball.
Footnotes:
- Netkama: An online user who presents themself as a woman, often deceptively.
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