Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 187

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ChaoticRain

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 187: Episode 35: 73rd Demon King (4)

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"Hey! What the hell are you talking about?!"

I shouted and ran toward Junghyeok. A pitch-black aura began surging from Junghyeok's body as he held the jewel.

[The being selected by the jewel is evolving into a demon king!]

The one chosen by the jewel becomes the 73rd Demon King.

"Can you promise you won't give up on that goal, no matter what happens?"

Junghyeok's meaningful question from a few days ago crossed my mind. My goal. Reaching the end of all these Scenarios.

...No way. That couldn't be it.

"Yu Junghyeok, you bastard!"

Swoooosh!

That was when I heard steel wires slicing through the air.

Dozens of wires shot out from behind us toward Junghyeok. One of them snatched the jewel from his hand.

[The Demon King succession has been canceled.]

Junghyeok's face darkened with shock.

"Dokja!"

When I turned around, Sangah was extending dozens of threads from her hand. While everyone else stood frozen, she alone had kept her head and acted quickly. The Demon King Core, wrapped in [Thread Binding], flew toward us along the threads.

"Don't interfere!"

Junghyeok released an immense killing intent. Just as a powerful wave of Mana was about to engulf Sangah, I activated [Way of the Wind] through [Bookmark] and diverted it.

Kwarararara!

Even while using [Way of the Wind] at maximum level, it wasn't easy to redirect the attack. This was Junghyeok's strength as a Transcendent. I gritted my teeth and shouted.

"Sangah! Hold on to that! Don't use it, no matter what!"

"Okay!"

The others were in disarray, unable to understand what was happening. Suyeong split into dozens of avatars and yelled.

"I knew this would happen! Kim Dokja, I told you! Yu Junghyeok only thinks about himself to the very end!"

She still hadn't grasped the situation and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Kim Dokja! You have to stop him! That bastard's obviously planning to become a Demon King, kill everyone, and clear the Scenario alone...!"

The avatars blocking Junghyeok's path exploded at once, and Suyeong's main body was slammed into the wall of the hall. The others hurriedly stepped in front of me as well.

"Master! What's gotten into you? Aah!"

"Junghyeok!"

Jihye and Huiwon were both sent flying, unable to withstand Junghyeok's attack. He was serious now, determined to eliminate anyone who interfered with his purpose.

I pushed the others aside and stepped forward.

"Don't fight him!"

Junghyeok's blazing eyes fixed on me.

"Move aside, Kim Dokja. I will become the Demon King."

"What the hell are you talking about? Why are you suddenly doing this?"

"You know too, don't you? There is only one way to clear this Scenario."

I glanced at the Scenario window floating in the air.

Category: Main

Difficulty: SS+

Clear Conditions: You may choose one of two methods. Claim the jewel and become the 73rd Demon King yourself, or kill the newly born 73rd Demon King. This Scenario can only be cleared by choosing one of these methods. No other method of progress exists.

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Compensation: 200,000 coins, ???

Failure: Death and simultaneous expulsion from the Scenario

This Scenario resembled the sacrifice-type Scenarios we had faced before.

One person died for everyone else. Or one person lived while everyone else died.

I bit down hard on my lip.

"So you're saying you'll sacrifice yourself?"

"Hunt me and proceed to the next Scenario."

"Why the hell would you suddenly do that?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

It was an answer with no trace of doubt, as if only what he believed could possibly be right. Junghyeok continued in that familiar tone.

"I'm used to pain. I'm used to death as well. You already know that, don't you?"

He spoke as though he were certain I knew him well.

But Junghyeok was wrong. I didn't know Yu Junghyeok. The Yu Junghyeok I knew would never do something like this.

Still, there seemed to be room to talk, so I decided to calm this sunfish bastard down.

"I understand what you're saying, but you don't need to step up and sacrifice yourself. It's not like regressors have multiple lives. I'm the one with Resurrection. So I'm more suited to become the Demon King than you are."

"Resurrection. It's a good ability. But do you think it'll work in this Scenario as well? If you saw the penalty for failure, you can't be certain Resurrection will save you again."

I was briefly speechless. Junghyeok was right. This Scenario didn't simply end in death.

This bastard... Had he calculated even that?

"Move aside, Kim Dokja."

Unbreakable Faith rang harshly as his Splitting the Sky Sword pointed at me. In that dizzying standoff, I desperately racked my brain. How could I persuade him?

No matter how hard I thought, nothing came to mind. At this rate, Junghyeok would become the Demon King and walk that goddamn regression route.

[Exclusive Skill, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Level 2 has activated!]

I began absorbing his thoughts like a sponge.

「The penalty for failure in this Scenario is expulsion from the Scenario.」

「No being can survive after being expelled from a Scenario. Kim Dokja's resurrection ability becomes meaningless if that happens.」

「This is probably the death indicated by his [Fate].」

「If Kim Dokja becomes the Demon King, he will certainly die here.」

As that torrent of thoughts poured into me, a sharp sensation ran through my heart.

「Therefore, the one who must be sacrificed here is me.」

He really intended to sacrifice himself here. The arrogant, proud Yu Junghyeok. Not for himself, but for someone else.

An unfamiliar emotion suddenly surged inside me.

"Then what about you? What happens to your goddamn goal if you die here?"

"My goal will be achieved even if I die."

"What?"

Junghyeok was looking at the Allies behind me.

"It might be you, not me, who can save the world."

Hyeongseong, Jihye, Yuseong, Seolhwa...

Deep regret filled his eyes as he looked at each of them.

I thought I understood what he was thinking.

「So many Allies have never made it this far before. And perhaps they never will again.」

Not in Junghyeok's past rounds, nor in the lives he had learned about up to the 41st round.

There had never been a case like this round. That fact was shaking him.

I grew desperate. How was I supposed to persuade this sunfish bastard?

"Move aside. There isn't much time left."

The power of [Gigantification] activated, and his aura rapidly swelled.

Perhaps he had grown again during those three days. The force he radiated alone was enough to freeze the others in place. Rather than enlarging his body, Junghyeok had increased the density of his Strength, taking only the giant's power as he approached the jewel.

In the end, I activated Blade of Faith.

"Stop it! I said stop!"

Blue-white energy clashed with Junghyeok's [sky splitter]. Of course, I was the one who suffered the loss. To deal with him as he was now, I needed to use at least [Electrification].

...I couldn't let him regress.

Just as I was about to open [Bookmark], Junghyeok spoke again.

"Are you worried about the world after I regress?"

"What?"

"You're afraid this world will disappear the moment I vanish. Isn't that right?"

I was so shocked that I couldn't speak. How did he know that? It was enough to make me wonder whether he possessed [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] instead of me.

Then his next words made me forget even that thought.

"You don't need to worry about that. I've already asked my Patron."

...What?

"Even if I regress, this world won't disappear. My death won't reset this world."

Junghyeok easily subdued Sangah and reached for the jewel. As if it wanted him, deep demonic energy rose from the jewel and wrapped around his fingertips.

"Survive, Kim Dokja."

Junghyeok looked at me with an unfamiliar expression.

"Now you have to save this world."

* * *

Thunder crashed across the sky of the Dark Castle 2nd Floor. Ominous, savage thunder that seemed to foretell the castle's collapse.

Sukyeong, who had been organizing the people with the Wanderers, stood motionless and stared up at the sky.

Her son was probably beyond that sky.

"Heh heh, you look awfully worried."

The one who said it was Boksun.

After giving her Dark Castle ranking to Huiwon, she had chosen to remain here. Sukyeong looked at Boksun for a moment before answering.

"Perhaps it's because I'm not used to being a mother."

"Who's ever used to being a mother? It takes a lifetime, and even then, you never get it right. Me too..."

"Yes, yes. You're about to tell us again about raising six children all by yourself."

"Heh heh, you have no manners. Your son takes after you exactly."

Boksun laughed heartily. Among the Wanderers, there wasn't anyone who didn't know the story of the six children Boksun had raised on her own. She patted Sukyeong's shoulder gently.

"That child will definitely come back alive. Don't worry too much."

"I hope so, but Fate didn't say that."

"Isn't Fate meant to be overcome? Back when it was hard enough just to put food on the table, I..."

In the end, Boksun began rambling about how she had raised six children through all kinds of hardship. Sukyeong gave a bitter smile as she watched.

If Fate could be overcome so easily, no one would suffer this much.

「If he does not proceed to the next Scenario, Incarnation Kim Dokja can survive.」

By sacrificing twenty years of her life, Sukyeong had read that line of [Fate].

If he didn't proceed to the next Scenario, Kim Dokja could survive. In other words, if he did proceed to the next Scenario, Kim Dokja would certainly die.

'...Dokja.'

Even with every sign pointing to her son's death, Sukyeong couldn't let go of hope.

She couldn't.

Fssst.

At the sound of sand falling, Sukyeong looked down at her fingertips. Her body, still incompletely fused because recovery was slow, continued to crumble and reform.

It was all an aftereffect of entering and leaving [The Fourth Wall]. Sukyeong clearly remembered the moment she had been devoured by [The Fourth Wall]. It had been a horrifying experience, as though her very existence were being broken apart into morphemes.

She had probably died once then. Drawn into the Wall like a shattered story, she had experienced something no human ever had.

All she could do was recoil in horror at the fact that such a Wall existed inside her son, and tremble at the fact that someone lived within it.

'...What was that thing?'

There, Sukyeong had faced the being inside the Wall.

Because her existence had been shattered and restored once, she couldn't remember clearly. What it had been, what structure the inside of the Wall had possessed...

She remembered nothing.

Yet there was one thing she did remember. An answer to a question.

「How can my son survive? How can he escape that goddamn [Fate]?」

Even as her existence faded, Sukyeong had asked that. The being inside the Wall smiled as though it found her amusing and answered.

「There is only one way to escape [Fate].」

It wore a bizarre smile, as though this entire situation amused it.

「Kim Dokja already knows that way.」

Footnotes:

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