WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Returned as a God ◈
Chapter 101: The World Point (2)
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Having a stranger take over my body was bad enough on its own, but the fact that the thing wrecked my body and then bailed left me boiling over.
I swung the Sky Sword around, still fuming.
[You were already a wreck to begin with.]
"You give me a wound and then salt it! Cough, cough... ugh... feels like my ribs are broken... oh man, I'm dying!"
[Quit whining.]
"I've got a lot to ask you. Not sure I'll get the chance, though. Cough, ugh... it hurts! It hurts like hell!"
I didn't even have to push it out on purpose. I could feel the presence inside my body fading on its own.
[Until next time.]
"What? You're planning to steal my body again?"
[Take good care of my world.]
"Just says whatever it wants and... ah, this is actually dangerous..."
My mind went white, and the reel of my consciousness cut out.
The sky's disgustingly clear today.
The morning's warm sunlight soaked into my skin.
A shadow fell over my head, and Lee Eunyheui's face appeared.
She stood over me with her arms crossed, looking down.
"Don't block the sky."
"If your eyes are open, get up!"
I stumbled to my feet at her nagging.
"Isn't this normally when someone does the whole, y'know, lap pillow thing?"
"Excuse me? What kind of unhinged woman would give you a lap pillow?"
"I've had it happen before, you know."
"Then go date her!"
"That's... complicated. I'd probably die at another guy's hands over that, in a completely different sense."
I didn't know about Choa, but I really didn't want to get on Park Siyu's bad side over something like this.
Not that I cared either way.
I stood there blankly, scratching at my messed-up hair.
Even while that thing had been running around in my body, I'd caught fragments of the conversation between the two of them here and there.
The Librarian? That thing was the master of this world?
I picked the Sky Sword up off the ground.
There was another problem.
The final technique the thing had used while wearing my body looked eerily close to something I already knew.
Close, or should I say...
I don't know. I don't know how that story ends.
What it showed was similar to what Luciel had once shown me, but it existed on a completely different level.
If you asked me which one was real, ironically, the one that thing performed with my body felt more real.
I can't do that.
I could at least tell the difference between what I could do and what I couldn't.
Questions I couldn't answer kept piling up, and Lee Eunyheui stared at me intently.
"You're asking like you don't already know? What's with that appearance?"
"What do you mean, what's with the appearance... oh. Wait, how do I look right now?"
"Well, it's not the face I remember, that's for sure."
"That damn bastard!!"
It hadn't just left me badly hurt. It felt like it had burned through every last thing I could use without asking permission first.
"I don't really get it, but that's your real face, right?"
"I guess you could say that."
"It was strange, honestly."
Lee Eunyheui muttered to herself, leaning on one hip.
"Not knowing what happened in the lobby doesn't make sense at all. And Floor 11 needs at least three people to enter, so you just walking in on your own was weird too."
"Ah, ha ha ha."
"At least I get that you're not a challenger from the same server as me."
"Same server?"
I tilted my head, and Lee Eunyheui narrowed her eyes again.
Then she sighed, as if giving up on the suspicion.
"I heard this secondhand too so I can't be sure, but apparently there are a few more servers like this one. I figured you were from a different server, but going by your reaction, that's not it either."
That felt like I'd let something slip, in its own way.
"It's kind of complicated to explain."
"Don't need to hear it."
"Wait, really? You don't want to know?"
"Actually, I'm curious."
She'd already turned her back, but for a brief moment her eyes flickered with curiosity.
"If I say I'm curious, will you tell me?"
"Fine, then. Just tell me one thing."
"If it's something I can answer, I will."
"Secret."
Lee Eunyheui's face scrunched up hard.
"You said you'd answer within the line you could."
"Saying who you actually are isn't exactly outside that line!"
She raised her voice, clearly not buying it.
Sorry, but that really was outside the line.
I had no idea how I'd even ended up meeting Lee Eunyheui in the first place, so there was no way I was handing over information about myself to her.
Her cheeks puffed up like a balloon.
"Sorry, but it's true. I can't reveal my identity to you."
Thankfully, she let it go without pushing further.
I thought the conversation was over, but she hesitated like she had something else to say.
"What? Why are you being weird about it? If you've got something to say, say it."
"That, um... my god... said... thanks!"
Her face flushed red.
I'd have bet everything I owned that she'd just used her god as a cover for a lie she wanted to tell herself.
The more I watched her, the cuter this was getting.
"Pfft, ha ha ha ha!"
"Don't laugh! I didn't say thank you, okay?"
I reached over and ruffled her hair while laughing.
She smacked my hand away, pouting.
"It's so annoying that you got taller!"
"I was always this tall."
"This version's better."
"Just say you're fine with both."
"No can do."
"Why not!"
"It's, uh, a matter of taste, I guess... ahem."
What was that supposed to mean?
One side of my pocket felt heavy.
This is...
Lee Eunyheui and I both turned our heads toward the sound of approaching footsteps at the same time.
A World Point was, quite literally, nothing more than a single fragmented piece of history from that moment in time.
For a point to become a line, countless other points were needed.
This was part of the process of laying down that point.
It was Hiss, the one who'd shared guard duty over Rizu with me.
Lee Eunyheui pulled out her bow, wary.
"It's fine."
I stepped in front of her and pulled something out of my pocket.
The official seal of House Faillia, something that had no business being in my hand under normal circumstances.
Muels who weren't chosen by a noble family in childhood ended up working under nobles, living under their protection.
There was really only one reason anyone would put themselves under a noble like that.
"You want to become a noble, don't you?"
Hiss walked forward, sword in hand.
What mattered to him wasn't Rizu, the employer he'd served, and it wasn't Duke Cadiel either.
If the dead Ifeseph had served the name of House Faillia, then what Hiss had his eyes on was the noble name "Faillia" itself.
This world was never built on blood ties to begin with, after all.
"You didn't seem like someone with any interest in nobility. When did you steal the seal?"
"Didn't steal it. Just got it from some busybody who couldn't mind their own business."
"Take it."
I tossed the official seal of House Faillia to Hiss.
He sheathed his sword, checked the seal for authenticity, and stared at me like he couldn't quite believe it.
"The seal's yours now. You can forge a will or two, can't you?"
"You've got a rough road ahead if you want to hold together a ruined house like this. Still, you're a noble now, so try to look good doing it."
Power was always harder to keep than to gain.
Anyone, not just Hiss, would have wanted the seal of House Faillia badly enough.
Whether he'd manage to rebuild the fallen duchy and carry on the Faillia name, or meet death at the hands of some other rival down the line, nobody could say.
Hiss pocketed the seal and turned away without a word.
[Due to the Librarian's intervention, Floor 11 has been cleared.]
The thing was practically shoving me out the door, telling me to hurry up and leave.
"I'm heading out first."
"W-wait a second!"
Startled, Lee Eunyheui grabbed my hand.
"That thanks earlier, that wasn't my god talking. That was me."
"Will I... get to see you again?"
"Probably."
Somehow, I felt like I'd cross paths with Lee Eunyheui again someday.
"Oh, right."
"You still haven't disappeared yet?"
"Let me finish talking! When you get back to the lobby, take good care of Yu Jihan for me."
"Who tells someone to take care of themselves like that... wait, who exactly are you?!"
Unfortunately, the rest of Lee Eunyheui's words never reached me.
Not that I'd have told her even if I'd heard them.
A massive explosion swept every monster off the field at once.
The view from below the ramparts was nothing short of spectacular.
A roar of cheers went up, and the army's morale surged in an instant.
A neatly dressed man approached from behind her.
"I say this every time, but the Leader's Meteor Shower is really something else. If that hit you, I don't think there'd be a bone left to collect."
"Don't exaggerate."
"Not exaggerating. I mean it."
Lee Eunyheui gazed down over the wall in silence.
Floor 11 to Floor 27.
It had taken three years to climb this far.
"It was even more impressive back then. This... this is nothing but a pale imitation."
No.
Bastard.
How could a person do something like that?
Lee Eunyheui regretted, even now, that she should have grabbed him by the collar that day and forced the truth out of him no matter what.
The moment she'd stepped back into the lobby, his features had blurred in her memory, as if she'd been put under some kind of spell.
All that stayed with her was a single name: Yu Jihan.
Take good care of Yu Jihan for me when you get back to the lobby.
When she'd first heard those words, she'd half suspected something.
Once she realized the words hadn't been meant for her at all, but for someone else entirely, something inside her had burned with frustration.
Worse still, that Yu Jihan wasn't even a challenger in the lobby.
Not until a few months ago, anyway.
Back when the Central Guild's standing in the lobby had been climbing without end, a rumor spread that a lone challenger who'd cleared all the way to Floor 4 by himself had killed one of the Central Guild's own.
The lunatic, the one people called a psychopath, was named Yu Jihan.
That's not the Yu Jihan I know.
A challenger who'd only just arrived had no way of knowing anything about the story of Floor 11.
There was also a chance it was just someone else with the same name.
Even so, Lee Eunyheui couldn't shake the memory of that bright, easy expression, the way he'd asked her to take care of Yu Jihan that day.
Her time on Floor 11 felt like nothing more than a mirage now.
Ever since being forced up from that floor against her will, Lee Eunyheui had stopped hesitating to use her power.
She'd decided to accept her strength, to acknowledge it fully.
No matter how many dozens or hundreds of Meteor Showers she fired, she could never recreate what she'd seen that day on Floor 11, the beautiful cascade of countless arrows pouring down from the sky.
The man standing behind her muttered, sounding troubled.
"I don't know if it's okay for me to be riding the Leader's coattails like this."
"When did I ever say I'd carry you?"
"Get down there."
"Wait... Leader?!"
"Go grab the divine artifact already!"
Lee Eunyheui grabbed the man by the collar and hurled him down over the wall into the battlefield below.
"I'll back you up."
She loosed an arrow, and a young man's scream rang out from below.
"This is friendly fire! How is this backup in any way!!"
He grumbled, drew his sword, and dashed forward.
Once the settlement finished, Lee Eunyheui returned to the lobby with her companion.
"Ugh, hff... you're brutal, Leader."
Two men who'd been waiting for their return approached.
One of them leaned in and whispered something to her.
"They're in Zone C-19. Should we call them over?"
"No need. I'll go myself."
She spoke to the man who'd come out of the dungeon with her.
"I'll be back soon, so handle things while I'm gone."
"Yes sir!"
"Don't talk nonsense."
"Take care out there!!"
Lee Eunyheui's figure vanished in an instant.
She reappeared in a different zone and approached a small shack made of wooden planks.
Men loitering nearby caught sight of her and gave a small bow of the head.
She opened the door and stepped inside.
Sensing her presence, Jihan turned around.
"Hey, Choco-shroom. You the leader of the Liberation Army?"
"Who's a Choco-shroom!"
That day, the time of yet another world began moving once more.
Footnotes:
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