WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Damned Transmigration

Chapter 56

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Past grievances

Perhaps his Heart Demon had been properly managed after all. The man known as The Pointing Flame was holding onto his sanity, even without Yuri adding ‘usa’ to the end of his thoughts.

Now, it was Yuri who felt his own composure fraying.

'USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎ was a woman?'

A cold shock jolted through him.

He could picture her avatar now: a silver-haired girl with rabbit ears, a tiny crown perched on her head, dressed in a gown more ostentatious than anything a real princess would wear.

He’d always assumed it was a persona, a character. Cat Panties commissioned art for his avatar, a different style for every artist, but USAUSAMI drew her own.

Her online presence was a stream of pathetic-cute complaints, a chronicle of her slow artistic improvement and miseries of office life. He could almost see the posts scrolling through his mind’s eye.

[The Rabbit Princess is working overtime again today, usa.]

[The Rabbit Princess was so sad she ate carrot cake, usa.]

[I want to go back to the Rabbit Star, usa. Earth is too harsh for a rabbit princess, usa.]

[I’ve been working overtime for ten days straight now, usa.]

[I can taste the coffee coming up, usa. Rabbits aren’t supposed to drink coffee, but I can’t survive without it, usa.]

Whereas Cat Panties had thrown money at his concept, USAUSAMI had thrown her entire personality into it. Still, Yuri had never once considered the player behind the screen was a woman. Assuming someone’s gender based on their avatar was a rookie mistake.

“USAUSAMI was a woman,” Yuri muttered, the words feeling alien on his tongue.

Haryeong, who had slipped her mask back on the moment The Pointing Flame regained his senses, tilted her head.

“Is that a problem?”

It wasn’t, not really.

He wrestled the shock back into its cage and forced himself to focus. There was a more important detail in the man’s delirious rambling.

“You said she’s dead?”

That was as jarring as the first revelation.

This world was a meat grinder, and he’d accepted that any of the old community members could have been chewed up and spat out long before he arrived. But FootballGOD, a man who all but wore a sign declaring himself a transmigrator, was one of the most powerful people on the continent.

Subconsciously, Yuri had assumed the others (FS, Cat Panties, USAUSAMI) were getting by just fine.

But she was dead.

He’d thought they were close, some way.

He remembered their exchanges.

[The Rabbit Princess has to go to work, but you don’t, usa?]

[Nah.]

[Are you a NEET, usa?]

[What’s a NEET?]

[You don’t have a job, usa?]

[Yeah.]

[wwwwwwwwwwwwwwww]

[ur mum]

Close enough.

“Revenge?” Yuri’s eyes narrowed, his gaze locking onto The Pointing Flame.

The man had babbled about revenge. That meant he was involved.

“You. Are you from the community?”

The man flinched.

“...!”

“What’s your ID?”

“I… I didn’t post much…”

“Just the ID. The one you logged in the Hall of Honour.”

“Houseman951…”

“How long have you been here? What year was it on Earth when you were transmigrated?”

The Pointing Flame’s eyes darted around, slick with panic as Yuri stripped away his anonymity piece by piece. He was in no position to refuse.

“On Earth… March, 2021. I’ve lived in this world for thirteen years.”

Yuri did the math.

Transmigration had started over thirty years ago. ZEROMAN hit the Hall of Honour in late 2018. One year on Earth seemed to equate to seven or eight here. 2021 was around the time the number one rank had stabilised, when the veteran players were cycling through the top spot before vanishing one by one.

He remembered. Houseman951. Some generic fire mage who did nothing but whine about not getting a number one record.

The only reason Yuri recalled the name at all was because he’d spent a few days theorycrafting a build for the guy, only for him to disappear without so much as a thank you.

'That little shit.'

Then again, he couldn’t have said thanks even if he’d wanted to. Who could have predicted that hitting number one would dump them into another world? Still, the ghost of that old annoyance flared up, and Yuri felt a powerful urge to smack the man.

'I should have kicked him harder.'

He swallowed the anger.

“What happened with USAUSAMI?”

“If… If I tell you, will you… kill me?”

“I won’t kill you,” Yuri said, his voice dangerously smooth as he let his killing intent wash over the man.

“Now talk.”

The Pointing Flame took a shaky breath, his Heart Demon thankfully staying dormant, and began his story.

“I was…”

Some transmigrators hit the jackpot. The Pointing Flame, it seemed, had drawn the short straw, possessing the body of someone from a poor family.

“Just the key points,” Yuri cut in, having no patience for a sob story.

Thanks to his transmigrator’s talent, the man became a 3rd-Circle mage within seven years. He could have easily secured an apprenticeship at a mage tower and risen higher, but fear of being discovered kept him on the fringes.

“The key points.”

He met USAUSAMI five years ago in the Gangyu Rift.

In the game, low-level Rifts like Logos were just early-game grinding spots. Gangyu was different. It was an efficient farm.

Yokai spawned in droves, with a low chance of dropping an internal core. They weren't as good as high-level elixirs, but any item that permanently boosted stats was priceless.

A lone 3rd-Circle mage wouldn't last five minutes in Gangyu. But The Pointing Flame had been taking jobs at the Adventurer’s Guild and managed to join a party of senior adventurers as support.

He went in hoping for a lucky drop. Ten days later, his entire party was dead, ambushed right after finding a core.

[That belongs to this Myou-hee!]

A woman appeared out of nowhere and subdued all four of them in an instant.

[This magnanimous Myou-hee shall hear your final words. Speak, plebeian.]

She killed each party member after they’d said their piece. Finally, it was The Pointing Flame’s turn. He thought it was over.

[Pizza… and a cheeseburger… and I want a Coke…]

[You… a transmigrator?]

That was how he met Myou-hee. USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.

She wasn’t alone. Two other transmigrators served her as subjects, or rather, slaves. They’d all ended up in Gangyu for the same reason: to farm cores, just like in the game.

They’d all been caught by Myou-hee, and their last words had given them away.

“That woman is a devil. Insane,” The Pointing Flame whispered, trembling.

“We were her slaves. We risked our lives herding yokai for her, built her shelter, cooked her food, robbed other adventurers… anything she wanted.”

Myou-hee was strong, easily able to survive in Gangyu alone. She’d already consumed four cores.

The three slaves clung to a desperate hope. A player could only consume five yokai cores. Surely, after she got her last one, she would help her loyal subjects get theirs.

[Why should this Myou-hee go to such trouble?] she had sneered when they finally worked up the courage to ask.

[You plebeians should have been dead long ago! It is only by my boundless mercy that you still draw breath!]

Their fragile alliance shattered not long after.

The Rift went berserk and a Great Yokai appeared, far stronger than anything they had ever encountered. Myou-hee and her slaves were right in its path.

[A Great Yokai! Plebeians, cover this Myou-hee!]

It was a furious battle. In the final, desperate moment, Myou-hee’s hand tore through the Great Yokai’s chest and ripped out its core.

For the plebeians, it was an opening they couldn't ignore. Rebellion was inevitable.

[How dare you!]

Clutching the core, she tried to flee, but she was exhausted and wounded. Myou-hee, bleeding heavily, fell from a cliff, the core still clutched in her hand.

“…Sounds like she’s not dead,” Yuri said flatly when the story was done.

'Critically wounded and fell from a cliff. No confirmed body. And she had a stat-boosting item on her? It’s a setup for a comeback.'

“Th-that’s impossible! The fall was high enough to kill anyone! She was critically injured!”

“The body?”

“The cliff was too high…”

“River at the bottom?”

“No… just ground.”

In that case, maybe she was dead after all.

“What about the other two transmigrators?”

“…They died.”

“Why?”

The man said nothing.

“You killed them,” Yuri stated, a cold smirk touching his lips.

“Because they knew you were a transmigrator.”

“I-it wasn’t me! I didn’t try to kill first.”

After the rebellion, the three of them tried to escape Gangyu. With two 4th-Circle mages and him as support, it was possible. Then, on their way out, they killed a yokai. Another internal core dropped.

Who would get it?

Yuri knew the answer. In this world, strength came before conversation. The two 4th-Circle mages attacked each other, each assuming the other would strike first. They ignored The Pointing Flame, dismissing the 3rd-Circle mage as irrelevant.

One died. The other was left grievously wounded.

The Pointing Flame finished him off.

“I had to kill him! If I didn’t, he would have killed me!”

“Did you enjoy the core?”

The man fell silent.

“Well,” Yuri said, shrugging.

“I suppose it happens. Unavoidable.”

Was Myou-hee, or rather USAUSAMI, really dead? He hoped she was alive.

The Pointing Flame called her a devil, but that was his problem. Yuri hadn’t been the one forced to act as a plebeian.

“But…”

The Pointing Flame looked up, a sliver of defiance in his eyes.

“Who… who are you?”

“Me?”

He couldn’t very well say he was UrMumSpammer. He’d have to borrow a name.

“Cat Panties.”

“What… did you say?”

Of the four of them from the community, FootballGOD was the first to be transmigrated. FS was second. USAUSAMI was third.

Cat Panties was supposed to be fourth. His plan to line up at the number one spot together had been ruined the moment FootballGOD vanished.

However, Cat Panties had held off on taking the top rank for a long, long time. He was obsessed with getting a record that was unconditionally, untouchably better than anyone else’s.

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried