WeTried Translations
Translator: Joy
Editor: Joy
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 56: Past grievances
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Perhaps having properly dealt with his Inner Demon was why that fucking bastard, The Pointing Flame, could remain sane even without Yuri adding usa to the ends of his sentences.
If anything, Yuri was the one struggling to keep his composure.
‘USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ is a woman?’
[I’m the Rabbit Princess from Rabbit Star, usa.]
USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎’s original character was a beautiful silver-haired girl with rabbit ears and a small crown. She wore a gaudy dress so extravagant that no princess in the real world would have worn it.
Cat Panties had bought original-character illustrations from several artists, so every piece had a different art style. USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎’s illustrations, however, did not.
USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ drew their own original character.
If FUCKINGSEXY, or FS, had serialized a filthy masturbation diary every day, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ had periodically posted their art practice, if not daily.
At first, the drawings looked as though an elementary school student had made them. But as time passed and the posts accumulated, they steadily improved. Just before USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ reached first place in the Hall of Honour, their work had become comparable to Cat Panties’ commissioned art.
[The Rabbit Princess is working overtime again today, usa.]
[The Rabbit Princess was so sad that she ate carrot cake, usa.]
[I want to go back to Rabbit Star, usa. Earth is too harsh an environment for the Rabbit Princess, usa.]
[I don’t want to work, usa. Why do I have to work on Earth, usa? Rabbits can live on Rabbit Star without working, usa.]
[The Rabbit Princess is having such a hard time that she’s going to drink alcohol too, usa.]
[The company called, usa. The Rabbit Princess has to go back to the office, usa. I don’t want to go, usa.]
[I’ve already been working overtime for ten days straight, usa.]
[I can taste the coffee coming back up, usa. Rabbits aren’t supposed to drink coffee, but I can’t endure without it, usa.]
While Cat Panties had put effort into their concept by spending well into the hundreds on commissioned original-character art, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ had put effort into theirs by identifying themself with their original character.
Lee Su-hyeok had never once considered that USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ might genuinely be a woman. Playing a female character in a game and making a female original character did not automatically make someone a woman.
“USAUSAMI’s a woman...!”
Yuri muttered, still unable to recover from his shock. Haryeong had lowered her mask again before The Pointing Flame regained his senses. She muttered as though she could not understand Yuri’s reaction.
“Is that not allowed?”
It was not that it was forbidden.
Yuri first got his shock under control and composed his expression. Once he forced himself back to his senses, he could think again about what The Pointing Flame had said.
“USAUSAMI is dead?”
That statement was just as shocking as learning USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ was a woman.
This world was thoroughly fucked up and far from kind to transmigrators. Yuri had considered the possibility that someone he knew from the community had already come here and died.
But Chuk-sin-doo, who practically advertised that he was a transmigrator, was alive. Not merely alive, either. He stood among the strongest people in this world.
Perhaps because of that, Yuri had subconsciously assumed that FS, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎, and Cat Panties were all alive and well.
But apparently she was dead.
Yuri had thought he and USAUSAMI were fairly close.
[The Rabbit Princess has to go to work, but you don’t have to, usa?]
[Yeah.]
[Are you a NEET, usa?]
[What’s a NEET?]
[You don’t go to work, usa?]
[Yeah.]
[wwwwwwwwwwwwwwww]
[ur mum]
They had often asked after each other.
“Revenge?”
Yuri narrowed his eyes and glared at The Pointing Flame. Since he had been going on about revenge, there was no doubt that he was connected to USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎’s death.
“You’re from the community?”
“...!”
“What was your ID?”
“I... I didn’t post much...”
“Tell me your ID first. The ID you recorded in the Hall of Honour.”
“Houseman951...”
“How long has it been since you transmigrated? What year and month did you transmigrate on Earth?”
As Yuri dug into his personal details, The Pointing Flame’s eyes wavered anxiously. But in his current situation, he could not defy Yuri’s questions.
“I transmigrated in March 2021 on Earth... I’ve lived in this world for thirteen years...”
It had been over thirty years since transmigrators first appeared, and ZEROMAN had been the first to clear the hidden boss before recording the result in the Hall of Honour in late 2018. By that measure, one year on Earth was roughly seven or eight years in this world.
Yuri searched his memories. By 2021, the number one position in the Hall of Honour had begun changing less often. It was also when the veteran players started reaching first place one after another and disappearing.
He remembered. Houseman951. The one who raised a generic fire mage and constantly whined about not having a first-place record.
The only reason Yuri remembered that generic bastard was because Houseman951 had whined so much about wanting first place that Yuri spent several days refining a build for them. Then Houseman951 disappeared immediately without even saying thank you.
‘That fucking bastard.’
Come to think of it, Houseman951 was not the only one who had disappeared without thanking Yuri. In truth, they could not have thanked him even if they had wanted to. Who could have imagined that reaching first place would result in transmigration to another world?
Still, the hollow anger Yuri had felt at the time was real. He wanted to smack that bastard over the head.
‘I should’ve kicked him harder earlier.’
Yuri suppressed his boiling anger and forcibly regained his calm.
“What happened between you and USAUSAMI?”
“If... If I answer, will you kill...”
“I won’t kill you. I won’t, so tell me first.”
He asked while openly radiating killing intent. Yuri worried that the Inner Demon might flare up again, but fortunately, it did not. The Pointing Flame steadied his breathing several times before opening his mouth.
“I...”
Playing the game and being transmigrated was already terrible luck. Even who someone transmigrated into was determined by chance.
The Pointing Flame had been unlucky. He had transmigrated into someone from a poor family...
“Just get to the point.”
Yuri had no interest in The Pointing Flame’s past, which was obviously about to drag on at length.
In any case, thanks to his transmigrator talent, The Pointing Flame became a mage despite his circumstances and reached the third tier in seven years.
His talent was sufficient. If he had gone to any mage tower, he likely would have been accepted as a disciple, learned better magic systematically, and reached a higher tier.
But fearing that he might be exposed as a transmigrator, The Pointing Flame never went to a mage tower.
“Get to the point.”
The Pointing Flame met USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ five years ago at the Gangyu Rift on the eastern continent.
Logos, a low-level Rift, was merely a place to grind while a build was still weak in the early levels. But some Rifts were efficient farming locations in the game.
Gangyu was one of them. Yokai appeared there in great numbers, and there was a small chance of finding yokai cores inside them. They were naturally nothing compared to Elixirs that could be consumed even after reaching maximum level, and a person could only consume five of them, but items that increased stats were valuable in any game.
The problem was that a third-tier mage could not operate in Gangyu alone. The Pointing Flame had steadily worked through the Adventurer’s Guild without joining a mage tower, so he was able to head to Gangyu with a party of senior adventurers he knew as its lowest-ranking member and auxiliary mage.
Unlike the game, where one could sit in front of a computer and grind for hours to obtain a core, grinding in reality was not easy. But cores could rarely be found inside yokai here as well, so The Pointing Flame entered Gangyu hoping he might get lucky.
Ten days later, every party member except The Pointing Flame was dead.
It was not because of yokai. They were attacked while discussing how to dispose of a core they had luckily found.
[That belongs to this Myou-hee!]
A woman suddenly intruded and subdued the four party members.
[This merciful Myou-hee shall hear the final words of you foolish commoners. Commoners, do you have any final words to leave behind?]
Every party member who spoke their final words died. Only The Pointing Flame remained.
He had never imagined he would die like this.
[Pizza... Pizza, and... a cheeseburger... I want a Coke...]
Pizza and cheeseburgers seemed possible to make somehow in this world, but Coke was impossible.
[You... are you a transmigrator?]
That was how The Pointing Flame met USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.
USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ was not alone.
There were two more transmigrators in Gangyu who served USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ as their princess. Their circumstances were not much different from The Pointing Flame’s. They had come to Gangyu to farm yokai cores as they repeatedly had in the game, only to be attacked by USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎, Myou-hee, while actively farming the area.
Then their final words exposed them as transmigrators, and they became Myou-hee’s subjects, or rather, her slaves.
“That woman is a devil. She’s insane...”
The Pointing Flame muttered, trembling.
“We were literally slaves. Every day, we risked our lives herding yokai for her, built her shelter, prepared her food, robbed other adventurers, and went down to town to buy necessities...”
Myou-hee was strong enough to survive in Gangyu alone. Apparently, she had already consumed four cores.
The three of them had secretly held out hope. In the game, one could consume only five yokai cores. Once Myou-hee consumed one more, she would no longer be able to consume them. Then perhaps she would obtain cores for the slaves who had served her all this time.
[Why should this Myou-hee go to such trouble?]
[Foolish commoners, you should have died long ago! You are only alive because of this Myou-hee’s mercy, as boundless as the sea! This Myou-hee mercifully took you in, yet you do not know your place and dare demand that this Myou-hee make an effort for you?]
When they gathered the courage to ask, Myou-hee responded only with anger.
The incident occurred afterward.
The Rift went berserk. A Great Yokai appeared, incomparable to the yokai that normally appeared in Gangyu, and Myou-hee and her slaves happened to be nearby.
[A Great Yokai! Foolish commoners, protect this Myou-hee!]
Myou-hee was strong, but the Great Yokai was strong as well.
It was a fierce battle in which it would not have been surprising for either side to fall. Even slight outside interference could have decided the outcome.
The moment Myou-hee’s hand cut through the Great Yokai’s chest and abdomen, tearing out its core...
The rebellion of the foolish commoners became inevitable.
[How dare you, how dare you!]
Clutching the core, Myou-hee fled in a hurry, but she was already exhausted and could not shake off the foolish commoners pursuing her. In the end, critically injured Myou-hee fell off a cliff with the core...
“...I don’t think she’s dead.”
When The Pointing Flame finished his story, Yuri muttered that.
She had suffered a critical injury and fallen off a cliff. But they had not even confirmed the body. More importantly, she had fallen while holding the core. In films and martial arts novels, did people not always survive situations like that?
“Th-that can’t be. It was high enough that she had no choice but to die...! And Myou-hee was critically injured!”
“The body?”
“The cliff was too high...”
“Was there a river below?”
“No. There was no river... There was only ground below the cliff.”
Then perhaps she really was dead.
“What happened to the other transmigrators besides you?”
“...They died.”
“Why?”
“...”
“You killed them?”
Yuri asked with a snort.
“Because they found out you were a transmigrator?”
“I... I wasn’t the one who tried to kill first.”
This was what happened. After successfully rebelling and ceasing to be foolish commoners, the three transmigrators initially cooperated to escape Gangyu.
Like Logos, Gangyu was crawling with yokai. A third-tier mage was barely useful even as reserve strength in Gangyu, but fortunately, the remaining two were fourth-tier mages. Neither could escape alone, but if they worked together, escape itself was possible.
Then, during their escape, they found a core inside a yokai they had killed.
Who would have it?
Yuri knew well that strength came before negotiation and dialogue in this world.
Before a peaceful negotiating table could even be set, the two fourth-tier mages attacked each other. First strike wins. They had independently reached the same conclusion and attacked before any negotiation could begin.
They ignored The Pointing Flame, likely judging that a third-tier mage was no great threat.
One died, and the other was seriously injured.
Then The Pointing Flame killed the survivor.
“I had to kill them... Otherwise, I would have died...!”
“Did you enjoy the core?”
“...”
“Well, it happens. It was an unavoidable situation.”
Was Myou-hee, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎, really dead? Honestly, Yuri wanted to believe she was alive. No body had been confirmed. She had fallen from a cliff.
The Pointing Flame called USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ a devil, but that was not Yuri’s immediate concern. The Pointing Flame and the two dead transmigrators were the ones she had worked to the bone as foolish commoners, not Yuri.
“But...”
The Pointing Flame, who had been hunching his shoulders, glanced nervously at Yuri as he spoke.
“Who... who are you?”
“Me?”
What should he say? Yuri had no intention of giving the ID UrMumSpammer, so he would have to borrow someone else’s.
“Cat Panties.”
“What... did you say?”
Of the four people who had hung around together in the community, Chuk-sin-doo was the first to transmigrate.
FS was second.
USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ was third.
And Cat Panties was fourth. Cat Panties’ suggestion that they line up together at first place had already become impossible to keep once Chuk-sin-doo went first.
But Cat Panties had held off on reaching first place for a long time.
It was because Cat Panties was obsessed with setting a record higher than USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎’s.
Footnotes:
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