WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ChaoticRain

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 141: Episode 27 — Something That Cannot Be Read (3)

A newly sprouted steel epidermis. As if being reborn into a different species, Hyeonseong's body was being remade anew.

Steel Transformation.

Although only the first stage, Armor, had been activated, even that alone was no ordinary authority. Once Hyeonseong fully mastered the first stage, he would be harder than Pildu's armed fortress and wouldn't be cut even by Junghyeok's Sky Shaking Supreme Sword.

"I… I survived...?"

The problem was that the first stage hadn't fully activated yet.

—That's the real stigma Hyeonseong-ssi needs to master.

Having quickly grasped the situation, Hyeonseong swiftly took his stance and retreated.

[Steel Transformation is not yet complete.]

[This stigma can only be used by those who have completed a fable.]

Every patron constellation provides stigmas to their incarnations. Some stigmas are granted as gifts, while others require difficult conditions to be used. Steel Transformation, possessed by the Master of Steel, was one of those difficult stigmas.

[The First Proof of Steel begins.]

Because this stigma required indirectly experiencing the history that the constellation had gone through.

+

<Proof of Steel>

1. "True steel is born through tens of thousands of temperings."

+

Unlike scenarios, the sentence was thrown out bluntly without any kindness.

Hyeonseong asked, sounding confused.

"What does this mean?"

—The basics of tempering are heat treatment followed by cooling.

"Don't tell me..."

—That's exactly right. Get a grip.

In a way, it might have been fortunate that Huiwon became Hyeonseong's opponent.

Hyeonseong's face turned pale.

[The constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is interested in this otherworldly fable.]

[The constellation Defense Master is curious whether he's truly harder than himself.]

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire clasps both hands together with an anxious expression.]

Along with the constellations' messages, blazing hellfire surged in like waves. Huiwon's Hellfire Inferno level may have risen in the meantime, as the tsunami of flames had become deeper and more ferocious.

The white flames melted and adhered to the asphalt, mixing with impurities. The masses mixed in the extreme heat became threatening weapons as they were swept up in the waves.

Swish swish swish swoosh!

The silver armor began to scorch and melt, and flying fragments of flame pierced through the armor like bullets, searing Hyeonseong's insides. As fast as the armor melted, new steel grew to fill those spots, but that didn't mean there was no damage.

"Guh...!"

Blood flowed from Hyeonseong's lips. If Steel Transformation had been complete, he wouldn't have been fazed by Hellfire Inferno, but not yet. Hellfire Inferno was one of the top-tier stigmas even among flame attributes. Honestly, the fact that it wasn't collapsing was already astonishing.

Hyeonseong retreated step by step, screaming.

Watching that scene was painful for me too, but it wasn't time yet.

Hyeonseong's steel was heating up, becoming red-hot.

Just a bit more, just a little longer...

[The temperature has exceeded the standard threshold!]

Good.

[Tempering has begun.]

The foundation of steel is tempering. Enduring extreme heat above the standard threshold until you achieve a perfect steel body. That was the core of this fable.

—Hold on! You can do this!

Fortunately, the only consolation was that Hyeonseong wasn't an evildoer.

Hellfire Inferno was a stigma with both flame and divinity attributes.

If he had been marked as an evildoer and exposed directly to Hellfire Inferno's heat, Hyeonseong would have already become a handful of ashes. While Hyeonseong struggled desperately, I quickly examined Huiwon's information.

[The character Jeong Huiwon is currently afflicted with Thought Infection.]

[The character Jeong Huiwon has lost her reason.]

[The character Jeong Huiwon's trauma has been completely exposed.]

...That bastard completely shredded her psyche to tatters.

"I can't forgive..."

Nirvana's Thought Infection anchors a person's time in the present by bringing the dark parts of their psyche to the surface.

"They must die."

Robbed of their future and faced with a reality like a cliff's edge, humans generally lose hope. This is even more true when reality is horrific. In that process, some collapse in despair, while others become like beasts, unleashing indiscriminate desires.

Some lose their reason and become consumed by rage. When this process repeats, they ultimately become members of the Salvation Sect themselves. Those who become Salvation Sect members this way become devoted martyrs worshiping what Nirvana calls the Great Present.

"Things like humans, things like me, all must die."

I could guess what her trauma was. Considering what happened in the first scenario and at Geumho Station, it was remarkable she had held on this long.

Huiwon's initial attribute, Crouching Figure, is created based on a strong psychological shock. Looking back at the moment I first saved her, it wasn't strange at all that she harbored intense hostility toward others. She had survived this far by being disappointed in people again and again.

"This... could this be Huiwon-ssi's heart?"

Hyeonseong, who had been enduring the blazing flames, asked.

—Can you hear it?

"Well, a little..."

I hadn't considered that Hyeonseong could also hear the messages from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

Was it because I was immersed in first-person mode? Just as I understood Hyeonseong, was Hyeonseong also feeling my emotions?

Hyeonseong fumbled with his words, his face seemingly forgetting even the heat.

"Is this also one of Dokja-ssi's abilities?"

—That’s right. It's a skill I possess.

There was no benefit in lying here, so I confessed honestly.

—I'm sorry for hiding it until now.

But Hyeonseong didn't seem particularly upset.

"It's a bit embarrassing. Could you also see my heart...?"

Before he could continue, a second wave struck. The even more intense flames melted nearby incarnations in an instant and surged forward as lava. The powerful heat began to cook and vaporize the entire ground itself. Buildings were sinking into the earth. I had to make a decision now.

—We'll have to go with subduing her.

"Won't Huiwon-ssi get hurt?"

We were at a disadvantage, yet he was worrying about the other side first. That was so like Hyeonseong.

But Hyeonseong's words weren't wrong either.

—She'll get hurt, emotionally.

The surest solution was to kill Nirvana or resolve Huiwon's trauma. The former was impossible right now, and the latter was at least worth considering... If Huiwon had been a character with weight in the original work, I wouldn't have agonized like this.

But Huiwon was a character I had newly discovered, and I didn't know her well.

So all I could do now was treat the symptoms, not the cause.

"Dokja-ssi."

—Let's try.

We nodded our head as one body simultaneously. Because we had gradually retreated, the distance from Huiwon was considerable. To try anything, we first had to get right in front of her.

Crrrack crrrack crack!

Steel epidermis that instantly grew covered Hyeonseong's face. Explosive muscles rippled across his entire body. The steel form covering his frame made him look like a silver knight. The silver form began running straight through the flames.

In response, the wall of fire also blazed fiercely. As if to say don't come any closer. As if to say you're not permitted here.

"Uaaaargh!"

Perhaps thinking of this as some kind of training, Hyeonseong struggled through the flames with desperate cries. One step, then two steps again. Steel fragments melted like solder and dripped to the ground. His eyeballs were cooking from the heat, making his vision blurry.

"Huiwon-ssi! We'll save you!"

One more step like that.

"We will... I will...!"

Again, one more step.

"Huiwon-ssi...!"

Watching Hyeonseong fumble without eloquence, grasping for words haphazardly, I thought about something. Because of the heart of another that had thoughtlessly reached me, I had forgotten for a while. Originally, approaching a person's heart was this difficult and painful.

Hyeonseong and I were clearly seeing the world with the same eyes from within the same body, but we weren't looking at the same scene.

Hyeonseong's bursting heart was proof of that.

It was a strange feeling. People who originally couldn't be connected were forming relationships with each other. Because of me, the story was changing.

"Ugh... gaaaah!"

With ten steps remaining, Hyeonseong's knees collapsed.

[The character Lee Hyeonseong's mental strength has reached its limit.]

Looking at the wavering vision, I was realizing anew. Even if the story changed, this was ultimately still Ways of Survival.

[The constellation Master of Steel looks at his incarnation with pitiful eyes.]

Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse, where every character had to struggle in despair.

—Hyeonseong-ssi.

But precisely because I had been reading that TWSA all along, I sometimes wondered. Had the author of TWSA never once regretted the ending they created?

—For now, leave it to me.

[The exclusive skill Fourth Wall wavers.]

[First-Person Supporting Character Viewpoint is in full effect.]

In the gap where Hyeonseong's consciousness loosened, my consciousness entered. As control of the body transferred, sensations throughout the entire body intensified.

Had Hyeonseong been enduring this pain? It was heat that could drive one mad.

My skin was burning in real-time. The spots where bone joints and nerve nodes melted hurt as if limbs were being cut off and reattached repeatedly.

I shouted toward Huiwon with Hyeonseong's voice.

"Jeong Huiwon-ssi! If things continue like this, we'll all die!"

Huiwon didn't react. She just kept spewing hellish heat.

"Hyeonseong-ssi will die! Will you kill Hyeonseong-ssi like this?"

I moved Hyeonseong's legs forward little by little with all my dying strength.

Now three steps, two steps, and... Damn it, it's too hot.

Just as my knees buckled from the pain, a voice reached me.

'Dokja-ssi. I'll do it.'

It was Hyeonseong's voice.

'I must do it.'

[The Will of Steel responds to you!]

I nodded my head.

In the end, I was a reader. I mustn't forget that duty.

As my consciousness withdrew, Hyeonseong regained his own body. Hyeonseong's brilliantly shining body was regaining its complete steel form.

"Huiwon-ssi."

The blazing Hellfire Inferno was turning her pale face deathly blue.

This fire would ultimately consume her. Tears that dried up as soon as they flowed. Toward such a Huiwon, Hyeonseong took an unexpected action.

"Excuse me for a moment."

Hyeonseong took that last step forward and pulled Huiwon close.

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is flustered by the unexpected camaraderie.]

Huiwon's small body fell into Hyeonseong's broad embrace. His embrace was so wide that he could hold her without their fingertips touching.

Instead of avoiding it, Huiwon raised even stronger flames. As if those flames alone were all the emotions she could express. With a crrrrack sound, a steel wall began forming centered on Hyeonseong's embrace.

A wall to separate one person from the world.

To extinguish flames, one must cut the ignition point off from oxygen.

Knowing this, Hyeonseong was sacrificing himself to become a wall for her. As if he would take on her rage in place of the world, forever. All I could do was watch over the two of them.

I could only hope that Hyeonseong's cold metal would reach Huiwon's heart where words couldn't. And so, time passed like that.

[The fable First Proof of Steel has been completed.]

Finally, Huiwon's flames subsided.

What woke Hyeonseong's consciousness was a familiar woman's voice.

"I can't breathe..."

Looking down at a start, he saw Huiwon's face. Looking around, an unimaginable scene unfolded. Steel that had grown from his arms was covering Huiwon's body while blocking the surroundings.

"Wh-wha! I-I'm sorry! I'll release you right now!"

Whether it was because the melted steel had hardened or because his strength was completely drained, the steel wall didn't break easily.

What on earth happened? While Hyeonseong was flustered, Huiwon's forehead touched Hyeonseong's chest area.

"...Thank you."

At that sad touch against the steel, Hyeonseong shook his head.

"Not at all."

It was a very small gesture, but that was enough.

Clearly, the heart had been conveyed.

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire dislikes this camaraderie.]

"By the way, Hyeonseong-ssi, was there someone else here?"

"Huh? Well..."

Watching the rambling Hyeonseong, Huiwon grumbled.

"Never mind. It's not important anyway. More importantly, hurry up and break this. We don't have time!"

"...What? What's happening?"

Huiwon bit her lip, looked at Hyeonseong once, then shouted loudly toward the sky.

"Kim Dokja-ssi, you're listening right now, aren't you? Yu Sangah-ssi is in danger!"

Footnotes:

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