WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 194: Episode 36: Horizon of the story (4)

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A Legendary-grade fable with no special function. Still, it was a fable perfectly suited to drawing the Hunchback's attention simply by existing.

"This fable is...?"

"What do you think? You like it?"

The Hunchback examined the fable's details with eyes full of disbelief. Its trembling pupils seemed to say such a fable couldn't possibly exist. When its long fingers touched the window, the fable's contents began to play.

Thud! Thud! Thuuud!

Intermediate dokkaebi Paul was being viciously beaten by my fists. Whenever the dokkaebi's bursting face turned ghastly, shock flashed across the Hunchback's expression.

The fable "One Who Scorned a Storyteller."

Even if I gave up this fable, I still had five fables of Legendary-grade or higher left, so my Status wouldn't be in danger. And naturally, it was a fable the Hunchback couldn't help liking. Those bastards loved it when someone cursed dokkaebis, so there was no way they wouldn't like a fable about beating them senseless.

"Heh, heheh... Kahahahahahat!"

Its light laughter soon became a roar. I waited until it had enjoyed itself enough.

"Good. I'll take it. What a delightful fable."

"Then do we have a deal?"

"But it's slightly lacking as payment. The fable you offered has rarity value, but almost no functional value."

...I knew it would say that. I quickly added, "Then I'll include the fable 'Silla-Tang Allied Forces,' too."

"Still not enough. If you want to continue this transaction, we must change its terms."

"Change them? How?"

"As I said before, you requested two things. Firstly, returning to the Scenario. Secondly, obtaining a new Incarnation body."

I thought for a moment before asking, "Are you saying this fable can only pay for one of them?"

"Correct. More precisely, I can only help you obtain an Incarnation body."

Obtaining an Incarnation body. Of course, that was important too. But...

"Why can't you return me to the Scenario? You could normally do it for this much."

"You speak as if you know something."

"I've heard a few things."

Strictly speaking, I should've said I'd read them. The Hunchback stared into my eyes and said, "Hmm... Under normal circumstances, I might've let it slide for this price. But things are rather special right now."

"Special?"

"Because of what you've done, the Administration Bureau and every nebula in the Korean Peninsula region are on edge."

I had a rough idea of what it meant. The Hunchback continued.

"Returning an Exile to a Scenario requires more work than you think. It's one of the things that consumes the most Plausibility in the entire Star Stream. And as you know, Plausibility is closely tied to attention."

"So when there are many eyes watching, a great deal of Plausibility has to be paid."

"That's right. I don't know why, but the Administration Bureau branch manager has stepped in and blocked all the existing channels. At present, nearly every route that could return you directly to the Earth Scenario is closed. It would still be impossible even if we received a greater price."

I couldn't return directly to Earth... Things weren't going as smoothly as I'd expected. The Hunchback looked at me and asked, "Will you settle for an Incarnation body? With a Legendary-grade fable, I could provide a fairly decent one. I happen to have several Incarnation bodies recovered from Murim dimensions."

An Incarnation body from Murim. It was a tempting offer, but I shook my head. No matter how good it was, it would be useless if I couldn't return to the Scenario. I could buy time while the new body's durability lasted, but if I couldn't return to a Scenario, my existence would continue collapsing.

That bastard knew it too, which was why it was making this offer. Once the new Incarnation body broke down because of the Exile Penalty, it would probably use another transaction to take my remaining fables.

I decided to push harder.

"I have to return to the Scenario. No matter what. That comes before getting an Incarnation body."

"Hmm... That's troublesome."

"It doesn't have to be Earth. Can't I participate in another Scenario?"

Cheok Junkyung had left the Korean Peninsula's Scenarios that way. There was no reason I couldn't do the same. Yet the Hunchback shook its head.

"There are a few places I have in mind, but they require even more work. A transfer to a Scenario as an escape requires great Plausibility."

"...Can't you really do something?"

I spoke while deliberately waving the fable window through the air. Intermediate dokkaebi Paul, whose body was bursting into a bloody pulp beneath my fists, swayed along with it.

"This is a much rarer fable than you think. What Incarnation in the world could have a fable about beating up a dokkaebi?"

"Ahem..."

"Imagine carrying this in your hump and showing it off to your friends."

The Hunchback agonized for a long time. It agonized, then agonized some more.

[Your existence is in danger.]

[Obtain a new Incarnation body or return to the Scenario.]

[Your existence will soon collapse.]

At last, the Hunchback opened its mouth.

"There is exactly one place you could go."

"Where?"

For an instant, a chilling gleam flashed at the corner of the Hunchback's mouth.

"The Demon Realm."

It said it as if it were naming something terrifying. Perhaps it saw my expression, because the Hunchback grinned.

"You needn't be so afraid. The Demon Realm is a place where people live too. Besides, you still have enough demonic energy in your body, so you won't stand out much if you go there now."

"There are many Demon Realms. Where will you send me?"

"The 73rd Demon Realm. It has no ruling demon king. It's also been a gathering place for Scenario dropouts for a long time."

The 73rd Demon Realm. If my memory was right, it was one of the Scenario regions whose routes overlapped with the Earth Scenario. I nodded.

"Well... It isn't bad."

"Instead, if we send you there, we cannot provide you with an Incarnation body."

"But you'll return me to the Scenario, right?"

Entering a Scenario region didn't mean I could immediately return to the Scenario. I was someone who had already failed to clear a Scenario. In other words, I would still need their help to enter one.

Yet the Hunchback shook its head.

"That is impossible too. We will only move you to the 73rd Demon Realm."

"What bullshit is that?"

"Instead, we will give you a little information. It will require considerable luck and effort, but depending on how you use that information, you may be able to obtain an Incarnation body and return to the Scenario."

"This sounds like a losing deal."

"But that is all we can offer."

I pretended to consider it for a moment, then slowly nodded. I didn't have any other choice right now.

"Fine. I'll accept the deal."

Once I'd decided, there was no reason to waste more time. I immediately drew the fable from my heart and held it out to the Hunchback.

[You have paid the fable One Who Scorned a Storyteller.]

The Hunchback nodded.

"We have received the payment."

It placed the fable it had received from me on its tongue and swallowed it. Its hump glowed blue and trembled. Smiling with satisfaction, the Hunchback slowly inhaled.

Shuuuuuu!

The Hunchback swallowed the air as if it intended to suck in everything around it. Looking closer, it wasn't only swallowing air. The space-time around us itself was being drawn into its breath. Its belly, swollen dozens of times larger, suddenly shrank and released a tremendous roar.

Space poured from the Hunchback's mouth. The space that spilled out like a mosaic formed a long, oval passage. Beyond it, I could see a landscape from another world.

"Get in quickly. Unlike a portal, it has a very short duration."

I jumped into the passage without hesitation.

[Your main body is being transported to a new space-time.]

The moment I leaped in, it felt as if the universe around me were writhing. I flew across the Star Stream's night sky, passing beside meteor showers. Various Scenario regions flashed past me like fragments of stories.

[<Star Stream> surveys your existence.]

For a moment, an unknown gaze fell upon me.

[<Star Stream> acquiesces to your existence.]

Then the gaze disappeared. A slight current ran through my body, but that was all. The Hunchback's side had probably paid the necessary Plausibility.

When the brief journey through space ended, I felt the powerful gravity of a story pull me in.

[You have arrived in a region adjacent to a Scenario!]

With a groan, I rolled across the dirt-covered ground. Perhaps the impact had affected my body, because the surface of my body that touched the ground began to crack.

[Your existence is collapsing.]

[Your fable is being damaged.]

[You need a new Incarnation body!]

Damn it. I hurriedly braced myself against the ground and stood, but hell had already begun.

"Keugh..."

Letters began flowing from the cracks across my body. The most dangerous place was near my heart.

[Your birth fable is leaking out.]

If I didn't quickly find an Incarnation body and seal the wound, my entire fable would collapse and I would die here.

I hurriedly looked around. That Hunchback said it would send me somewhere I could obtain an Incarnation body, so there had to be something nearby that could form one.

Yet the moment I surveyed my surroundings, my expression stiffened.

"This is...?"

Enormous mountains of trash were piled all around me. As if it had been waiting, the Hunchback's voice rang out.

- By now, you should have arrived at the Scenario Horizon, which borders the 73rd Demon Realm.

Scenario Horizon. I knew that place name too. It was where Scenario waste gathered after being forcibly discarded by the Cleaners, excluded from Scenarios like I had been. Looking at the Fable Fragments creaking and rolling around, I shouted, "Wait. This is a dump!"

- You should be able to find a somewhat usable Incarnation body there. Naturally, that is only if you find components suitable for your use. How you obtain them is none of our concern.

"Goddamn it..."

The Hunchbacks had never intended to make a fair deal with me. If I died, they only needed to come back here and collect my fables.

- May the Horizon's blessing be with you.

I sat down in a daze. Letters fell in clumps from around my heart. At this rate, I would disappear in less than five minutes.

「A moment later, Kim Dokja's expression began to change.」

I slowly looked around. It was certain. I couldn't feel the Hunchback's gaze anywhere.

「His panic-filled eyes grew calm, and the mouth he had foolishly left hanging open slowly closed. Then Kim Dokja straightened his clothes and muttered.」

"This is hard."

「Kim Dok ja is bad at act ing.」

"...You noticed?"

I slowly cocked my head and rose awkwardly to my feet. It had been a bothersome performance, but I had no choice if I wanted to avoid the Hunchback's suspicions.

「Kim Dokja could never let the Hunchback discover that coming here had been his goal from the beginning. If he wanted to get what he wanted while hiding as much of the information he knew as possible, he had to put on at least this much of a performance.」

Listening to [The Fourth Wall] chatter, I calmly examined the ruins around me.

"...I think I came to the right place."

Just as [The Fourth Wall] said, I'd intended to come here from the start. That was why I'd acted out my death before the Constellations. Resting a hand on a mountain of trash, I began searching the area.

"Keugh, it hurts..."

Still, it wasn't easy to stay sane with the pain in my heart, as if it were being stabbed by an awl.

[Your birth fable is collapsing.]

My expression may have been an act, but the pain wasn't fake. Clinging desperately to my fading consciousness, I recalled TWSA.

「Yu Junghyeok's 111th round. The place Yu Junghyeok reached after being expelled from a Scenario to build his own forces.」

「The 73rd Demon Realm, the Scenario Horizon.」

「In that dump, Yu Junghyeok obtained his new body.」

Still, no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't see a fable that could serve as material for a new Incarnation body. The Scenario Horizon was where broken stories gathered. There was no way to find a useful Incarnation body in a place like this.

That would be true under normal circumstances.

"I'll activate my Attribute effect."

[The effect of the Attribute Lamarck's Giraffe has been activated!]

Lamarck's Giraffe, an evolution-type Attribute I'd bought for 300,000 coins. It was the Attribute inside the item box Bihyeong had left behind.

[The special benefit Evolution Factor Search has begun!]

[Searching for Fable Fragments you can absorb!]

I slowly closed and opened my eyes. Then I began noticing things I hadn't seen before throughout the dump.

[Fable Fragments have been detected!]

Fable Fragments gleamed with white light. At least for me, this place was no longer a dump.

「The right arm of a Sword Master betrayed by a Companion.」

「The frontal lobe of a Grand Wizard, gruesomely torn out and devoured.」

「The heart of a young Gold Dragon torn apart and killed by an Outer God.」

According to TWSA's setting, Lamarck's Giraffe's special benefit reconstructed the body by absorbing broken fables.

"...I'll start with this."

I slowly reached for the fragment of a heart glowing an appetizing red.

Footnotes:

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