WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 10: Episode 2 - Protagonist (4)

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Just then, Yu Sangah shouted.

"Dokja-ssi! Behind you!"

I instinctively ducked, and a bloodstained fist tore through the air above me. It was a familiar fist wrapped in a murky black aura.

As I fell, I reflexively lashed out with a kick and felt something catch and go flying. I didn't need to turn around to know what it was.

Tier-9 inhuman species, demon human.

A mutated human infected by black ether.

Even though demon humans were only Tier 9, they were monsters classified as high-risk species. Demon humans made from ordinary humans weren't much different from zombies, but when the host was exceptional like this, they were especially dangerous.

I looked at the name tag on the high school boy whose head had exploded.

"...Kim Namwoon."

The guy whose head had burst open a little over ten minutes ago had now become a demon human and was coming for me.

Kim Namwoon's ruptured vocal cords writhed in a grotesque shape.

"Gwoeok."

[The exclusive skill Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint has been activated!]

[This figure does not possess consciousness. The activation of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint has been canceled.]

Damn it, so it really wouldn't work.

Slash!

Kim Namwoon's long black nails raked across my thigh. Pain like a burn spread through my entire leg. Skin that hadn't taken much damage even from a knife had been torn open by nails alone. Humans who became demon humans grew several times stronger than they had been in life.

"Yu Sangah-ssi, right now-"

I was saying that when a bad feeling ran through me. I didn't need to turn around to know what was happening behind me.

"Let go of me! Let go! Dokja-ssi! Dokja-ssi!"

Han Myeongoh, who had clearly been limping just moments ago, was now carrying the struggling Yu Sangah over his shoulder and racing across the bridge at astonishing speed.

[The constellation Secretive Plotter is impressed by what an idiot you are.]

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is moved by your spirit of sacrifice.]

[You have received 100 coins.]

...I see.

So he left me behind.

But there was something strange about the way he was running. Even though he was running on one leg, his footwork was as fast as an Olympic athlete's. Naturally, there was no way that was Han Myeongoh's own Exclusive Skill. It had to be a Stigma from his patron constellation.

[one-legged swift foot]

I knew which constellation granted that Stigma. I used Character Profile on Han Myeongoh's retreating figure.

[This figure's information cannot be viewed with Character Profile.]

Once again, Character Profile didn't work properly.

If my memory was right, the Stigma [one-legged swift foot] belonged to the constellation Limping Trickster. And the constellation Limping Trickster. didn't grant a Mental Barrier Stigma. Nor was there any way Han Myeongoh had originally possessed a skill like that.

Which meant my skill hadn't failed because of Han Myeongoh's ability.

...I was an idiot.

I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at the message window floating before me.

[This figure is not registered in Character Profile.]

I had overcomplicated something that could be understood literally. Character Profile was, true to its name, a skill that read the information of characters. And Yu Sangah and Han Myeongoh were figures who had never appeared in the original TWSA.

Figures who would have died if I hadn't saved them. So of course I couldn't check their information with Character Profile.

Grrk! Grrk! Grrk!

On one side were Kim Namwoon and the demon humans shambling toward me while babbling incomprehensible sounds. On the other side, Han Myeongoh had already crossed more than half the bridge. Lee Hyeongseong and Lee Gilyeong had already entered the safe zone on the other side of the bridge, so I couldn't ask them for help either. I was completely trapped between two impossible choices.

I thought fast. Subdue one demon human and cross the bridge? It was worth trying, but the odds were too low. Despite the name, demon humans were classified as inhuman species, and inhuman meant exactly that: not human.

"Gaaaah!"

Several demon humans that had been charging at me lost their balance and fell below the railing.

Craaash!

The fallen demon humans were instantly devoured by the sea dragons below. Rushing at them like piranhas, the sea dragons crushed them into dozens of chunks of flesh in the blink of an eye.

Fear came creeping in. If the number of people on the bridge became odd for even a moment, I'd wind up just like them. Crossing alone was impossible. Then what?

"...Slow down."

I muttered as if trying to rein myself in. I needed that calm right now. I still had a few usable options left, and what mattered was dealing with what was in front of me first. I controlled my breathing and hooked the legs of the rushing demon humans.

"Gwoeok?"

Fortunately, they had no eyes, so it wasn't difficult to use their momentum against them and make them fall below the railing.

Skreee! Craaash!

I steadily reduced their numbers as I kept dropping them. Overhead, the dokkaebi's stopwatch kept blinking. There were now 15 minutes left until the end of the Scenario.

"Huff..."

A set of nails flew in from my blind spot and tore open the top of my shoulder. No matter how calm my mind was, no matter how much information I knew, there was only so much I could do with an untrained body.

"Gwoeoooek!"

Kim Namwoon's attack, stripped down to pure savagery, was getting faster and faster.

Left shoulder.

Right thigh.

Crown of my head.

I had to break the flow. Barely dodging the incoming claws, I stomped on his leg.

"Gyaaak?"

But having lost the sense of pain, he didn't take any real damage at all. I stumbled backward and stepped on the exposed steel frame of the broken bridge. Below the pillars, I could hear the sea dragons thrashing as they waited for prey.

[Some constellations are enjoying your adversity.]

[Some constellations have sponsored you with 200 coins.]

Coins were steadily piling up. I now had 5,000 coins. For the beginning, that was a considerable amount.

[Wow, you're holding up pretty well. Now then! Are there any constellations who would like to bestow a blessing on this pitiful friend?]

The voice of the merchant-like dokkaebi.

I wanted to tear him apart.

[Oh dear, is there really no one?]

Of course there wasn't. Considering what happened during <patron selection>, it would have been stranger if there were a constellation sponsoring me.

[That's what I said. You should've done better while you had the chance. How pitiful.]

Kim Namwoon's next attack caught me in the side. Of course, I had already torn open his left flank and shoulder with my knife as well. Because of that, his intestines were dangling from his stomach like a jump rope.

To kill a demon human, you had to completely rupture its heart.

But the skin around a demon human's heart was the toughest part of its body. There was no way the sharpness of a MacGyver knife alone could get through it.

Damn it, if I just had a single combat skill, this wouldn't be so hard.

[The exclusive skill Bookmark has been activated.]

...Bookmark?

[Character Bookmark has been activated.]

[You have 3 available Bookmark slots.]

[Loading list of characters available for Bookmarking.]

+

1. Delusional Demon Kim Namwoon (Understanding: 25)

2. Steel Sword Emperor Lee Hyeongseong (Understanding: 35)

3. Empty slot

+

Bookmark. I had read all 3,000 chapters of TWSA, but I had never once seen a skill by that name. Even so, I instinctively understood how to use it.

"Activate Bookmark 1."

With a rustling sensation, pages began to turn inside my head. They were scenes from TWSA left behind by the character Kim Namwoon.

"Hahahahahat! I'm overflowing with power!"

"Die! Die! Die! Die!"

"A new world needs new laws."

Kim Namwoon's memories rushed into me, and the nerves in every muscle throughout my body began to tighten. Another person's power, one I didn't know, was surging inside me.

[Bookmark 1 has been activated.]

[Due to the low level of the skill Bookmark, the activation time is limited.]

[Active duration: 1 minute.]

One minute. That was enough.

[Due to your low understanding of the character, only some of the character's skills have been activated.]

[Blackening Lv.1 has been activated.]

Kim Namwoon came charging at me, drawing in rough breaths, black aura threatening to burst from his entire body. I poured all the strength I could into my heels and ran straight at him.

At the very least, if we had the same skill, I would never lose.

At that moment, I really was Kim Namwoon. The mad killer who had rampaged through the world of TWSA alongside the protagonist. The Delusional Demon of the battlefield, someone no one could easily claim victory over once Blackening had fully activated.

"Gyaaaaaaaak!"

The MacGyver knife pushed forward through a sickening sensation. Muscles and flesh split apart with wet cracks. From his left shoulder all the way down to the area around his heart. Along with the sound of a human body being cleaved apart, demon human Kim Namwoon staggered.

If he had still had eyes, he would have been looking at me.

"D...ie. Di...e."

A young man who had despaired of the world and dreamed for a long time of breaking away from it. And yet, if TWSA had never begun, he might have taken the college entrance exam like everyone else, gone to university, and enjoyed campus life like an ordinary student.

"...don't want to... die..."

I silently saw Kim Namwoon off as he fell below the railing. He was someone I had definitely hated, and yet in that moment, I felt an oddly complicated sorrow.

[Your understanding of the character Kim Namwoon has increased.]

[Bookmark 1 has been deactivated.]

An overwhelming sense of weakness, followed by a wave of exhaustion.

This was hard. Really hard.

"Gwoeoooek!"

There were now 10 minutes left. A large number of demon humans were still hesitantly pressing in. Even with Constitution at level 10, dealing with that many was impossible. But I had never intended to handle them alone in the first place.

...A little late. He should be here about now.

Crash! Craaash!

Right on cue came the sound of something being smashed apart. I knew it. If it was him, I had figured he'd pull something this reckless to sweep up the achievement and sponsorship money in one go.

Craaash! Crk-crunch!

Even though it was clearly the sound of human bodies colliding, it sounded like a giant iron mace pulping flesh.

To be honest, once I had collected this many coins, I had thought that even if he was the protagonist, I might be able to put up a fight. But now I could see just how huge that misunderstanding had been.

From the place where the train had stopped, in a perfectly straight line, demon humans were bursting apart as if a tank were charging through them. Could this really be called a scene created by a human?

"Gaaak?"

Even the faceless demon humans seemed to realize something was wrong and began turning their backs one by one. But it was already too late.

Craaash!

In an instant, the man crushed every demon human that had been threatening me and arrived in front of me. Overwhelming force that slaughtered demon humans with nothing but two bare fists, without any weapon at all.

Even though I had prepared myself mentally, cold sweat ran down my back. Fight someone like this? Absolutely impossible. Even if my overall stats more than doubled from where they were now, I still couldn't beat him.

"What are you?"

The man's cold gaze turned to me. To overcome that fear, I reflexively activated Character Profile.

[The exclusive skill Character Profile has been activated!]

[There is too much information related to this figure. Character Profile is being converted to Character Summary Profile.]

+

Name: Yu Junghyeok

Exclusive attributes: Regressor <3rd round> (Mythic), Pro-gamer (Rare)

Exclusive skills: [Sage's Eye Lv.8], [Close Combat Lv.8], [Weapons Proficiency Lv.8], [Mental Barrier Lv.5], [Crowd Control Lv.5], [Deduction Lv.5], [Lie Detection Lv.4].......

+

An endless list of Exclusive Skills. Then, from the end of that list, a rough male hand appeared and grabbed me by the throat.

"How are you still alive?"

The "first" method of surviving in a ruined world. The one who stood before me was living proof of that method.

The regressor, Yu Junghyeok.

The grand tragedy of this world begins with this man.

Footnotes:

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