WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 156: Episode 30 — Dark Castle (4)

──────

After listening to my story, Han Suyeong muttered as though she couldn't believe it.

"...You're really a constellation now?"

I had been an Incarnation only days ago, and now I had suddenly appeared as a constellation. Of course it would feel strange. Up to the part Suyeong had read, there probably hadn't been a story about an Incarnation becoming a constellation.

"Yeah. I'm a constellation."

"Really? For real?"

"I'm telling you, I am."

Suyeong blinked as though she still couldn't believe it.

"...Was that something you could do so easily?"

I wanted to tell her it hadn't been easy at all, but Suyeong wasn't in any state to listen.

"So now you're going to watch us from outside the Scenario and sponsor us or something?"

"It's not like that. I still have to participate in Scenarios."

"Then what changed? I can't tell at all just by looking at you."

Honestly, I couldn't feel the difference all that strongly either. I could borrow fables, trade with other constellations and nebulae, and the constellations' attitudes toward me had changed...

[Some constellations are jealous of your rapid growth.]

[Some constellations oppose you gaining a modifier.]

[A few constellations are showing hostility toward you.]

Constellation or not, jealousy was the ugliest thing. Why were they being so harsh on a newly sprouted seedling? But you know what? I could do that now too.

[You glare at the other constellations.]

[Some constellations stare at you in surprise!]

[A few constellations spit out the cola they were drinking in shock!]

...

[You have spent 200 coins to use an Indirect Message.]

So Indirect Messages cost coins. It was fun, but I should use them in moderation. When I looked beside me, Suyeong's mouth was hanging open.

"Was that message just now from you? That thing about a constellation without a modifier?"

That was what it had looked like to Suyeong.

"Yeah."

"Is that why you haven't made a Behind-the-Scenes Contract until now?"

"Yeah."

"...Then I'm already too late, right?"

"You could say that."

Suyeong frowned and looked up at the air.

[The constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon hesitantly gauges the situation.]

Suyeong let out a deep sigh and looked at me.

"Then why don't you have a modifier?"

"Well..."

Why didn't I have a modifier? I didn't know the exact answer either.

[The Star Stream is searching for a modifier for the constellation you will reside in.]

Maybe it was because I hadn't accumulated many fables yet. Becoming a constellation without a modifier was like gaining citizenship without having a home to live in.

"So you're basically a homeless god."

"My fifth fable is still in progress. At the latest, I'll probably have a modifier by the time this fable ends."

[The fifth fable, Lonely Messiah, is currently in progress.]

The fifth fable had a major impact on a constellation's status. Depending on how this fable ended, the place of the constellation I would reside in would be decided as well. Suyeong jeered.

"Oh... Kim Dokja, you're suddenly looking kind of cool. Feels like you could beat Yu Junghyeok into the ground now."

Junghyeok. I clenched and opened my fist. Then a message I had never seen before appeared.

[Beware the Plausibility Backlash.]

[The Star Stream is currently evaluating your status.]

A tingling sensation ran through my fingertips. This was the problem with becoming a constellation. Still, it would be fine as long as that evaluation was underway. The Star Stream wouldn't know what level of restriction suited me yet.

"I might be able to beat him now."

"...Really?"

Only now, though. The protagonist wasn't the protagonist for nothing. Junghyeok had the kind of growth potential I could only match by taking the risk of becoming a constellation.

"More importantly, give back what I entrusted to you."

"Tch, fine."

[The Incarnation Han Suyeong has fulfilled the contract.]

I received all the coins and items I had entrusted to Suyeong. She sighed.

"What a shame. I felt rich for a while."

"I gave you 20,000 coins as payment."

"I had over 600,000 coins. Do you think getting a measly 20,000 would make me happy?"

"Then give it back."

Suyeong snorted and turned away. I checked the items and coins I had received from her.

[Coins possessed: 684,353C]

I really had gathered a lot.

I had earned and saved them desperately, so it wasn't strange that I had this much. Now that I was a constellation, I no longer hesitated to spend coins. From now on, the coins I had would show their true power.

Then it was about time... Ah, wait. I had forgotten something important.

"Han Suyeong, when are you going to let him go? That's sexual harassment."

"Huh? Oh, right. I forgot."

Together with the smiling Suyeong, I walked toward Lee Hyeongseong, who was still sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. Suyeong's clones were still dancing around him with all their clothes off.

[The character Lee Hyeongseong is trembling in fear.]

...

「The Steel Sword Emperor is weak against women.」

That sentence might have been written in TWSA, but this seemed a little excessive. Besides, those were...

"...They aren't even real."

At a glance, Suyeong's clones looked like naked female bodies, but on closer inspection, they lacked certain important parts, and their bodies themselves hadn't been properly formed.

In other words, Hyeongseong had panicked at the sight of clones that were no different from mannequins. Suyeong caught what I meant and smiled mischievously.

"Hmm... What do you mean by that? Are you saying you're disappointed because you couldn't see them?"

"Doesn't seem like I'd be missing much."

"You're talking big for someone who hasn't seen them."

"Do I need to see them to know?"

I approached Hyeongseong first and patted his back.

"Hyeongseong, are you okay?"

"D-Dokja."

His unfocused eyes showed that he was nowhere near his right mind. Hyeongseong looked at me as though he had seen a ghost and muttered,

"Why is Dokja...? Did I die too?"

It looked like he had been properly traumatized. Watching Suyeong smirk annoyed me. It was a ridiculous situation, but it must have dealt a serious blow to the Steel Sword Emperor himself. If things went wrong this round, Hyeongseong might go down the eunuch route...

For now, there was nothing to do but leave him alone and let him recover with time.

Then another voice interrupted from beside us.

"Um..."

"...?"

"May I be on my way now?"

Only then did I notice the last member of the Pinkies: a slender figure, a pretty face, fine eyebrows, and cheeks touched with a subtle blush.

Who would believe that woman's true identity was a man in his forties?

"What's your name?"

When I asked, a pretty voice answered.

"M-My name is Seo Ina."

"Not that. Your real name."

Seo Ina hesitated before finally giving her real name.

"...Kim Youngpal."

Youngpal of the Pinkies. I had found the right person. Suyeong clicked her tongue.

"Why did you spare that old man? The Pinkies are bad bastards."

"Not yet. They're going to become bad people. And if you read properly, you'd know the Pinkies were originally a group of three."

"But there were four of them... Huh?"

"That old man died before they started operating in earnest."

"...Is that why I couldn't remember his crime?"

"Youngpal is fundamentally a pure person. That's why he died first among the Pinkies."

Youngpal interrupted.

"Um, what are you talking about...?"

"Old man, shut up."

Suyeong frowned and continued.

"So that old man is pure?"

I couldn't believe it either, but what could I do when that was how TWSA was set up?

[A constellation who likes gender-swapping nods.]

[A constellation who likes gender-swapping claims that there are no bad people among those who like gender-swapping.]

Youngpal really had survived until now without killing anyone, even during the first Scenario.

I had been able to come up with the idea of killing insects because Youngpal had once survived the first Scenario after accidentally stepping on a passing ant. Of course, Youngpal didn't know why he had survived.

Anyway, he was someone who had survived through sheer luck. That was Youngpal of the Pinkies. No, now that all his companions were dead, I should call him a Pinkie.

"Damn... If you say so, I guess that's how it is. Anyway, you spared him because he's useful?"

"Yeah."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"What else? Clear the Scenario again."

"You know what this Scenario is, right?"

Of course I did. I knew it very well.

"It's the final Scenario before the liberation of Seoul Dome: the ninth Scenario, Dark Castle."

Enemies that hadn't appeared until now would show up in this Scenario. I looked over Hyeongseong, who was still trembling in fear, Lee Jihye, who was fast asleep, and Shin Yuseong, who was tending to the injured Lee Gilyeong. The other allies were probably alive somewhere too.

With Jeong Huiwon there of all people, they probably hadn't gone down so easily on the Dark Castle 1st Floor.

"You know it too, but the first floor is a joke. The real hell starts from the second floor."

The view of Seoul stretched beyond the citadel window. Crowds wandered around after turning into fiends. Despite how hard we had fought to protect it by becoming the Strongest Sacrificial Lamb, half of Seoul was already becoming the minions of demonic species.

Resentful screams rang out now and then. Despair had already covered Seoul, but even so, there still wasn't enough of a story.

Stories were always lacking.

Dokkaebis still craved greater despair, and constellations still longed for more stimulating stories. That was the law of this world. That was the world TWSA had created. Suyeong, who had been looking out the window with me, said,

"Isn't this such stale imagination? The regressor, a Returnee, a Reincarnator. And now, as if that wasn't enough, demons?"

"You're one to talk when you plagiarized too."

"Hey, how many times do I have to tell you it wasn't me...?"

We traded the usual petty jokes, then a question suddenly came to me.

"Han Suyeong."

"What?"

"If you were the author of TWSA."

"I wouldn't write that kind of trash."

"I'm just speaking hypothetically."

Suyeong grumbled, then pursed her lips.

"...If I were the author?"

"If you were the author of TWSA, why do you think you would have created this world?"

"How would I know that?"

"I thought you might know since you're a writer too."

"How would a first-rate writer like me know what a third-rate writer is thinking?"

Right. I was an idiot for asking. But Suyeong continued.

"Actually, I want to ask you that."

"...Ask me what?"

For a moment, my eyes met Suyeong's deep gaze. Even with [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint], I couldn't read what was inside Suyeong. But now, I felt like I understood a little.

Maybe people who had read the same story came to resemble one another, even in their thoughts.

「You know how this world ends, don't you?」

That was surely what Suyeong was asking. But as always, I didn't answer. Knowing that no answer would come, Suyeong looked away from me and gazed outside again. Then she asked something else.

"...What does this thing called a Scenario even exist for?"

Black darkness covered the sky above ruined Seoul. Was it because I had become a constellation? The sky no longer looked the same as before. Countless constellations embroidered the firmament. The Star Stream, embracing those constellations, was clearly there.

Stars that were so close, yet could never be reached.

Even though so many stars were shining...

That distant abyss could not be erased in the slightest.

Only then did I feel like I might understand this world a little.

What beings called constellations had always endured. Why they were so obsessed with stories. To shake off that distant feeling, I opened my mouth.

"Perhaps Scenarios are..."

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried