WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 181: Episode 34: Something That Can’t Be Eaten (1)

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Yu Junghyeok's expression slowly changed as he held me by the collar. In the past, I would've plummeted downward next. But now, everything was the opposite.

Whoooosh!

Instead of falling, I soared into the sky. Junghyeok watched me grow farther away. He looked as if he were certain I wouldn't die. I couldn't hear his voice, but I knew what he was saying.

「I'll trust you, Kim Dokja.」

The moment I tried to answer, a flying tentacle blocked my view. The attack barely missed me, and I landed on the true body of the One Who Devours Dreams. I gripped its true body tightly with both hands and began climbing toward its wound.

Tzzzt!

Its presence alone threatened my life the instant I touched it. If I were still an Incarnation, I might've already fainted or been on the verge of death. And if this thing had completed its Descent...

It was frightening to even imagine what might've happened.

Before long, I saw the cleanly sliced surface of the wound. I forced it open with all my strength, then threw myself inside.

[...I'm sorry. I can't go with you any farther.]

Strength drained from my entire body, and Cheok Junkyung's fable slowly scattered away. I had expected this, so I wasn't flustered.

Ssssh.

The wounded area that had connected to the outside soon closed completely. I floated quietly in empty space, like someone adrift in the cosmos.

The inside of the One Who Devours Dreams was pitch-black darkness. There was no blood or flesh here. It made sense, since a divinity wasn't a living creature.

Thump... Thump...

Something like a drumbeat echoed from somewhere. Whispers. The feeling of someone watching me. There was no air, yet I had no trouble breathing. The moment I entered this place, even the way I existed must have changed.

Then, after a while, every sound disappeared.

The screams of Incarnations and the messages of Constellations. In their place, I saw incomprehensible strings of text and images. I realized what they were.

This was the stomach of the One Who Devours Dreams, the place where all the stories it had consumed had gathered.

「■■■■■■■...」

「#%&^#$^」

Among them were fables I could recognize.

They were likely fables belonging to what was presumed to be the Mother of the Founder.

「It's all my fault. This foolish history has gone on for too long...」

「We must protect this land from the nebulae. But no one remains in Hongik now. Where have all the Creator Gods gone?」

「Hwanung... I miss Hwanung.」

Then a fable with a small light approached me and cried out.

「What are you? Why are you here? Hurry, run aw...!」

Fizzle.

The light faded.

I appreciated the warning, but I had nowhere left to run. Every Outer God had the foundation of its existence in the outer universe. Half of this Outer God's true body was connected to the Dark Castle 2nd Floor, but its insides led directly to the outer universe. This place inside its stomach was no different from the outer universe to me.

In a world of complete emptiness, the only thing I could feel was the desire to devour.

The One Who Devours Dreams wanted me.

The letters drifting like mist gathered all at once and began to take shape. In the empty space, an eye and a mouth as large as a house appeared. I couldn't be certain they were truly an eye and a mouth, but as a human, I had no choice but to see them that way.

It seemed to be speaking to me, but I couldn't hear its voice properly. Soon, the letters trembled, then began to transform into words I could understand.

【The scent of an interesting story...】

The moment its two eyes looked at me, I caught my breath without realizing it. This was the presence of an Outer God feared even by fabled-grade Constellations.

【A being from an inferior Scenario... How... can you hear my words...?】

[The Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall has become extremely active!]

[The Fourth Wall] had become more active than it had been in any situation so far. It felt as if a wall were growing over the surface of my skin. That was how dangerous this enemy was.

An Outer God that wasn't even one of the Great Old Ones was this formidable. I couldn't imagine what would happen if beings like the Fear of Sanat, the Fear Descended from the Heights, or the Master of R'lyeh appeared.

I took a deep breath, then slowly opened my mouth.

"One Who Devours Dreams. Great Outer God."

【Oh...】

As if surprised by my words, the One Who Devours Dreams' mouth of letters wriggled. I probably wasn't even an insect in its eyes. I was only an interesting toy it could erase whenever it wanted.

Tzzzt, tzzzzt.

Powerful sparks flew around me, and the surrounding letters began circling nearby. Something seemed to be trying to invade me. Yet the moment it reached me, it bounced away as if having a seizure.

The One Who Devours Dreams spoke as if groaning.

【What... are you? Are you a being under special protection?】

It seemed to have tried to invade my mind. [The Fourth Wall] had probably repelled it.

Without this skill, my existence would've been ruined long ago.

I calmed myself and looked up at the One Who Devours Dreams.

As I had said before, Yu Junghyeok of the 136th round had also been consumed by this thing.

But Junghyeok hadn't died then. That meant Junghyeok of the 136th round himself was my trump card. I opened my mouth slowly enough not to arouse its wariness.

"I came to speak with you."

【A story! I like stories.】

The divinity reacted immediately. Its terrible greed made every hair on my body stand on end.

"Among the fables you've consumed, there should be someone named Lee Sukyeong. Please return her."

The enormous face tilted in confusion.

【That... isn't a story.】

"I'll give you a story in exchange."

【What story will you give me?】

Without a word, I pointed at myself. What that meant was obvious. I had put my existence on the line as the stake in this gamble. Its huge eyelids slowly blinked.

【Little Constellation...】

"Yes."

【You wish to make a deal with me now?】

Just as I was about to answer, shapes appeared in the empty space.

Together, they formed an image made from the fables the One Who Devours Dreams had consumed.

【Bears do not converse with fish.】

The image that appeared was a massive bear resembling the Mother of the Founder. The bear looked around with vacant eyes, then caught a fish swimming through the empty universe.

As it watched the bear, the One Who Devours Dreams continued.

【Just as humans do not negotiate with insects...】

A half-fledged Constellation from an isolated universe whose Status hadn't even been properly recognized couldn't make a deal with a cosmic divinity. It made sense.

Still, I shook my head.

"If an insect speaks like a human, thinks like a human, and acts like a human, then it can no longer be called an insect."

Two enormous eyes made of letters glared at me.

【You are not qualified to trade with me. I can take what you have whenever I wish.】

"Then why haven't you taken it? Why are you talking to an insect?"

【...】

With a vibration that made my ears ring, the bear consuming the fish turned toward me. Its threatening paw grew as if it would strike me down at any moment. I looked at the bear and said, "A bear only knows how to eat fish. It doesn't know how to make it delicious."

The bear's paw hesitated.

"It wounds the scales with its rough paws, skewers the fish's innards with its filthy claws, then greedily sates its hunger."

【...】

"Just as I'm not an insect, you aren't a bear. Isn't that right?"

The letters in the space churned wildly, and the One Who Devours Dreams' face twisted grotesquely. It was a sight that would've terrified anyone, but I had read the original work.

It was smiling.

This thing was finding the situation unbearably amusing.

"Every fable's Status is damaged if it's taken by force. If you crush me and take me now, you won't obtain a complete story. You'll never know the taste of a story that could have been eaten in its finest state."

Thump... Thump...

The sound like a drumbeat echoed again, like the pulse of a giant beast. The intervals were shorter than before, and the sound rang out at a faster rhythm.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

As expected, because I had read the original work, I knew what that drumbeat was.

【I... want to eat you.】

This sound was the hunger of the One Who Devours Dreams itself.

I swallowed and raised both hands.

"If you keep your promise, I'll give myself to you as much as you want."

Ssssh.

Letters rose like smoke and soon formed a shape. A moment later, it took on the appearance of my mother.

【Is this what you want?】

I nodded.

【This story has quite an interesting side to it as well. It smells more delicious than the shell of the Constellation I consumed with it, so I had saved it. I desperately want to eat you, but I don't want to give this up either.】

"Are you going to act like a beast that can't even control its hunger?"

【Is there a human who would be offended by an insect's insult?】

...Damn bastard. Maybe because its Status was low among the Outer Gods, it didn't know anything about fine dining. The mouth made of letters smiled cruelly.

【This conversation is over. I will eat every one of you.】

Rooooar!

The images of fish the bear had caught leaped into the air at once, clacking their sharp teeth like piranhas as they flew toward me.

There was nowhere to run. I couldn't even move my legs, and even if I ran, I would still be inside its stomach.

"...Fine. If you want to eat me, then eat as much as you damn well want."

Instead, I spread my arms wide and faced it.

"But make sure you eat every last bit."

Crunch!

Hundreds of fish rushed at me and began tearing apart my entire body. They tore at my arms, my legs, my waist, and my face. Horrific pain came over me, but no blood flowed.

Instead, letters poured out.

The fables and history I had built up began to leak out as its teeth tore into me.

【Ooooooh...! Wh-what is this?】

As if it had tasted a heavenly delicacy, the divinity screamed in ecstasy. It felt as if my consciousness would fade and my thoughts were becoming tangled, but I endured.

I had to endure until it consumed the part I had in mind.

【Oh... Oh?】

Then, in the next moment, something burst out of me like a waterfall.

It had touched something.

Rumbleee!

[The Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall responds to the vibrations knocking against the wall.]

The moment I had been waiting for finally came.

Whooosh!

Letters poured out like a cornucopia, forming a torrent that flooded into its stomach. It was an unbelievable amount of fables.

【You, what are you...?!】

The flustered One Who Devours Dreams shouted at me. But I didn't have the strength to answer. It was difficult enough just to keep my wits amid the fables pouring out of me.

I looked at the sentences passing before my eyes.

「As Yu Junghyeok looked at the approaching mouth of the One Who Devours Dreams, he said.」

That was a passage from TWSA.

「"Fine. If you want to eat me, then eat as much as you want."」

Junghyeok's 136th round. Junghyeok, who had been consumed by the One Who Devours Dreams, had been in the same situation as me.

【Wh-what is this? What is this...?】

In my place, Junghyeok from TWSA answered.

「"You will come to understand. You will experience the emotions I felt while living through 136 repeated lives. You will learn, without omission, the loneliness, sorrow, rage, and hatred for this goddamned world that I felt through that terrible time."」

【Grrroooaaargh...!】

「"You think humans are worse than insects. Then feel it from now on."」

【Wait, stop...!】

「"Feel the pain that insect went through. Feel clearly, as an insect, the history that no insect could ever endure. And if you still have the confidence to keep eating me after that, then eat as much as you want and take as much as you want!"」

The stories poured out at an exponential rate, filling the One Who Devours Dreams' stomach as if they would burst it apart. In TWSA and before my eyes, the One Who Devours Dreams ate stories and writhed in pain in return.

Somewhere inside its stomach, cracks began to form. As if mocking the flustered One Who Devours Dreams, TWSA said,

「The One Who Devours Dreams, born in the universe and alive for eighteen thousand years, realized for the first time then.」

【Grrroooooooh!】

It was the scene where Junghyeok in the story defeated a divinity for the first time. I had read it over and over, so often that I had nearly memorized it.

In place of TWSA, I recited the next sentence.

"「There are stories in this world that must never be eaten.」"

Footnotes:

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