WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 105: Episode 21 — Something That Cannot Be Changed (3)
Controlling the body of a catastrophe? This wasn’t my intention from the beginning. My original plan was something entirely different. However, the moment I entered Shin Yuseong’s inner world, I decided to completely revise my approach.
[The exclusive skill Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Level 3 has been activated.]
[First Person Supporting Character’s Viewpoint has been activated.]
More precisely, I had no choice but to revise it.
「…I can’t accept this.」
「Then what am I? What about the time I’ve lived?」
「How can my life be compensated for?」
Amid Yuseong’s storming thoughts, I saw the world through her eyes.
I breathed through her nose, killed people with her hands, and spoke her thoughts with her voice. I was Yuseong.
[The Fourth Wall shakes violently.]
And then, I encountered Jihye. The moment I saw her, I knew she would die here. So for the first time, I tried something I had never done before.
[You have interfered with the actions of a character through First Person Supporting Character’s Viewpoint.]
[The Fourth Wall trembles ominously.]
A surge of electricity shot through my mind, followed by intense pain. Yet, at the critical moment when Yuseong was about to deliver a decisive blow, I managed to loosen her grip on her right hand. It was such a subtle adjustment that Yuseong didn’t notice, but I succeeded.
Jihye didn’t die.
[Your understanding of the character Shin Yuseong has increased.]
The same thing happened with Hyeonseong.
Although my mind was gradually torn to shreds, I began to think that perhaps I could do something with this. Slowly, I poured more of my mental energy into it and expanded my control over Yuseong’s body.
Finally, at the moment when Yuseong’s right hand gripped Gilyeong’s nape—
“W-Who are you?”
I succeeded in controlling her right hand according to my will.
[Your understanding of the character Shin Yuseong has reached a very high level.]
The experience of moving someone else’s arm entirely according to my will was astonishing.
“…Ahjussi?”
The young Yuseong asked.
“Get out of my body!”
The right arm that was under my control began convulsing. Twisting into a grotesque shape, it turned pitch black, and its bulging veins threatened to burst. The young Shin Yuseong clung to the blackened arm.
“Ahjussi, is that you? Ahjussi!”
The young Yuseong grabbed the arm I inhabited. In that moment, powerful sparks erupted from the arm. They resembled the sparks of a plausibility storm. The startled onlookers rushed over but were flung away by the raging sparks.
‘Catastrophe Shin Yuseong’ and the ‘young Shin Yuseong’ looked at each other simultaneously.
A wave of memories surged forward.
「“Ahjussi.”」
「“Captain.”」
But it couldn’t be. According to the ‘Broken Film Theory,’ even if their existences connected, history could not.
「“It’s okay… you can kill me. It’s fine.”」
「“I wanted to survive, too.”」
The ‘Broken Film Theory’ applied only to ‘characters.’
And I came from outside the novel.
If my existence… served as the bridge connecting their memories…
If two broken films that should never have been linked were momentarily connected…
As I closed my eyes, I could feel both Shin Yuseongs holding onto my hand.
The 3rd regression and the 41st regression.
Two different timelines faced each other.
「“Do I… have the right to live?”」
「“But what value does a life like this hold?”」
“No! This… this memory…”
The panicked catastrophe Yuseong stuttered her words, biting her pale lips.
A powerful force surged from within her. With the sound of something tearing, the young Yuseong was flung from the right arm. Driven by a singular resolve to eject me, Shin Yuseong strained her body to the limit.
Fwoosh, fwoosh!
Blood poured from her orifices, and her combat strength rapidly declined. The excessive use of mana disrupted the balance between her soul and body.
「Shin Yuseong! Stop!」
“Aaaaaah!”
Gripping her head, Yuseong desperately tried to force me out. Sharing her senses, I also felt an overwhelming nausea and pain. Her hair turned white.
I hesitated.
If I held on a little longer, catastrophe Yuseong would…
…Damn it!
As my consciousness was ejected from Yuseong’s body, all my senses disappeared.
[Skill conflict error has been resolved.]
[The delayed effect of the King of No Killing has been reactivated.]
[Your physical body has been resurrected from death.]
…Perhaps this wasn’t the right choice.
But there was something I wanted to try.
[A certain constellation who enjoys changing genders feels regret.]
Something I would regret if I didn’t do it.
[Physical regeneration begins.]
[The exclusive skill Fourth Wall offsets the mental shock from death.]
[A reward for using Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Level 3 is being prepared.]
This was my second resurrection since dying to the Fire Dragon species. As I struggled against the sensations of my body regenerating from the peripheral nerves to the finest details, air filled the lungs reconstructed at the particle level, and the optic nerves coalesced to reveal my surroundings. My abstract thoughts seamlessly merged into my reconstructed cerebral cortex.
[The perk of the King of No Killing has been completed.]
[100 Karma Points have been consumed.]
[All impurities have been expelled from your body, enhancing its performance.]
[Your Vitality and Mana have increased by 2 levels each.]
[You have exceeded the comprehensive stat limits for this scenario.]
Haa…
Thankfully, as this was my second resurrection, I managed to avoid embarrassing myself.
Looking around, I saw my clothes and items scattered on the ground. Thankfully, no one had taken them yet. As I hastily dressed, an ominous voice came from behind me.
“…Kim Dokja?”
Oh, right. This guy was right next to me.
Turning around awkwardly, I met Yu Junghyeok’s suspicious gaze. His shoulders, bound by the ‘Sulfuric Mummy,’ trembled violently.
“How… did you…?”
With a sigh, I replied. Explaining ‘The King of No Killing’ here was out of the question.
“Don’t even think about killing me again. If I die this time, it’s for real.”
“Kim Dokja, you bastard…!”
“I’ll explain later. For now, let’s move. We don’t have time.”
Swinging the ‘Blade of Faith,’ I cut through the Sulfuric Mummy’s bindings, freeing Yu Junghyeok. As the Sulfuric Mummy let out a shriek and glared at me, I activated [Bookmark] to trigger [Way of the Wind].
Whoosh!
Carrying the injured Junghyeok on my shoulder, I sprinted across the frozen Han River. In the distance, incarnations battled against monsters. A black aura rose ominously from Yongsan District. No doubt about it. Catastrophe Yuseong was there.
“Ahjussi?”
“Dokja!”
My allies spotted me and ran over. I placed Junghyeok on the ground.
“Rest for a bit.”
Then, I walked toward catastrophe Yuseong.
“Dokja-ssi, it’s dangerous!”
“It’s fine.”
Ignoring Hyeonseong’s protests, I pressed forward.
“Yuseong.”
The once-unstoppable catastrophe now sat slumped, her hair white and blood pooling beneath her from her orifices. Her overpowering aura still made the incarnations hesitate, but I was certain. If everyone worked together, we could defeat her in her current state.
“Who… are you…?”
Trembling, catastrophe Yuseong looked at me with frightened eyes.
“You ruined everything… because of you… things that never happened in my round…”
The soul that endured a thousand years quivered in fear.
“Things that never… happened.”
Junghyeok’s transformation had started it, and her stubbornness had shattered the moment she connected with young Yuseong. Her hatred for Junghyeok, her thousand-year accumulation of anger, and her resolute emotions crumbled under the wave of memories.
Perhaps there was hope for this world to change.
Catastrophe Yuseong had glimpsed that hope. Even the smallest light could overwhelm despair. I knelt beside Yuseong, meeting her blazing eyes.
“You’ve done well.”
I pondered over the words she most wanted to hear. Such things weren’t written in the TWSA.
If I were Shin Yuseong…
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
Her pupils wavered.
“…You’ve been waiting for me? Who are you?”
“Someone who desires the same world as you.”
At my words, Yuseong’s gaze turned blank.
「I…」
Sangah, who had quietly approached, placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Dokja-ssi.”
I nodded and rose. My allies looked at me expectantly. Facing each one, I opened my mouth.
“Everyone.”
I loved the ‘Catastrophe of Floods’ episode. I cherished every character and held them dear.
But because of that, I wished this episode didn’t exist.
“I will not kill the catastrophe.”
I had a thought.
In the original third round, the ‘Catastrophe of Floods’ vanished when the young Yuseong, who was linked to her existence, died. But perhaps this episode could have a different ending I didn’t know about.
An ending that had never been attempted before.
“I won’t entertain objections. Just this once, I hope you’ll accept my unreasonable request.”
“Ahjussi, what nonsense is this?”
The fifth main scenario had no ‘time limit.’
If the ‘Catastrophe of Floods’ renounced her role as a ‘Catastrophe,’ and if we didn’t hunt her…
Couldn’t this scenario simply ‘continue,’ without anyone dying?
Some people’s expressions showed understanding, while others looked confused.
Sangah nodded first, while Hyeonseong was the first to speak.
“You must have a reason. I’ll follow your decision.”
“If you’re fine with it, I’m fine too. But I’ll punch her for what she did to Titanos, okay?”
“Damn it, do whatever you want. When have you not done what you wanted? But is this really okay?”
Listening to my allies, I looked at the young Yuseong.
“I…”
Tears welled in the girl’s eyes.
She must have seen it. The time her future self had endured.
Asking her opinion was cruel in itself. After patting her head, I turned to Catastrophe Shin Yuseong one last time.
She opened her mouth, her face twisted like a wounded beast.
“You’re letting me live…? Don’t make me laugh. Who do you think you are?”
All she had left was her bare pride after losing everything.
“The 41st round I lived in is gone. No one I remember exists in any worldline, in any corner of the universe. What do you know? How could you possibly understand those years, that time? Forgetting all of that, how could I…”
Yuseong stopped. Junghyeok was looking at her.
…
At that moment, Yuseong realized the true meaning of her words.
To lose a world and loved ones.
To continue living in that world despite it all.
There was one person in the world who could understand her grief.
“Every regressor lives hating things that haven’t happened yet.”
Regressor Yu Junghyeok spoke.
“You kill someone because they’d become a villain. You kill someone else because they’d kill his allies. And you save someone because they’d become a comrade.”
In that moment, I could read Junghyeok’s emotions. And because I could read them, he felt unfamiliar. I had never seen him so honest.
“I know it hasn’t happened yet. I know they don’t remember me. I know they haven’t done anything wrong. But I believe it anyway. I believe they’ll live that way. Because for me, all of it will definitely happen, and if I deny that, I can’t live.”
Anger surged in Yuseong’s eyes again.
“Yeah! Because you lived like that, I, my friends…!”
“So you live like that too, Shin Yuseong.”
“…What?”
“If you want, I’ll be your hatred.”
Junghyeok’s words were so sorrowful that I couldn’t say anything.
“In this round, live to kill me.”
For a long time, Yuseong stared at Junghyeok with her mouth slightly open.
He was someone more accustomed to enduring the world’s hatred than anyone else. A being cursed to remember pasts others had forgotten, condemned to eternal solitude.
A regressor.
And in a cruel twist, Yuseong understood the person she had hated for a thousand years. Calling out to Junghyeok as he walked away, she shouted.
“Captain… wait. Captain!”
I could feel the ripples spreading in her heart.
「…Can I really? For that reason…」
「To keep going. To not give up on this world…」
Some anger never fades, and some sorrow cannot be erased.
But as long as one is alive, the day of salvation will eventually come.
Turning to Yuseong, I spoke.
"Yuseung, this is now your new round."
I couldn't change anything when I was a reader. It was because I was a reader
that I could change it now.
I thought I could change it.
At least, until the voice of the mid-grade dokkaebi was heard.
Footnotes:
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