WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ChaoticRain

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 195: Episode 36: Horizon of the story (5)

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The soft touch of a blanket against her skin.

Jeong Huiwon could hardly believe it had been so long since she had enjoyed such a luxury. Everything was peaceful. She didn't have to spend sleepless nights afraid of beast attacks, nor did she need to stay wary of other people trying to steal her items.

Still, Huiwon knew this peace wouldn't last.

"Jeong Huiwon! Please open the door!"

"Could you give us an interview?"

For the past week, reporters had been camped in front of the entrance to her building. The moment she pulled back the curtain, camera flashes poured in. Huiwon gave a bitter smile at the merciless stares of the cameras.

"...I guess constellations aren't the only peeping toms."

[The constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon snickers.]

[The constellation Secretive Plotter agrees with your observation.]

Feeling the gazes fixed on her, Huiwon fell into a new train of thought. Even before the Scenarios began, similar things had always existed in different forms.

The voyeurism of others and the struggle for survival were much the same. Maybe the Scenarios had existed long before the Scenarios began. Nobody had simply known to call them Scenarios.

Beyond the window lay the ruined city and the sealed-off Seoul Dome. A week had passed since she escaped Seoul Dome, but Huiwon still couldn't believe she had truly left it.

"Huiwon! You're awake?"

"Ah, yeah."

Huiwon gave a weak smile to Lee Jihye, who burst through the door.

A week had passed since they escaped Seoul Dome. A lot had happened in that time. With help from the provisional government, Huiwon and the others had been given places to stay in Gyeonggi Province. They had also been called into government offices to answer several questionnaires. Most of the questions were predictable.

What happened inside Seoul Dome?

Were the rumors circulating online true?

How many people like you were there, and what beliefs did they hold?

What exactly were constellations and Scenarios...?

At first, Huiwon answered their questions sincerely. As time passed, everything became tiresome.

What was the point of any of it?

The South Korean government had already collapsed. The provisional government, made up of a few surviving members of the National Assembly and city councilors, understood nothing about the situation. They firmly believed that a state would still matter against the coming Scenarios. Huiwon only had one thing to say to people clinging to old beliefs in a new age.

"Everyone, change your shoes and loosen your ties first. You're not dressed to run away."

Huiwon looked at Jihye. In the end, the only people they could rely on were their companions.

"Where's Sangah?"

"She's shut herself in a room with the kids."

The problem was that even the others were still reeling. Jihye continued in a dark voice.

"...Losing Dokja really hit everyone hard."

There were people whose importance you questioned while they were around, only for their absence to become glaring once they were gone. To the group, Dokja was that person. Each of them had their own reason to survive, but Dokja had always decided how they would survive.

"Like the soldier said, it would be nice if we had a manual. Seriously."

"Is Hyeongseong still gone?"

"The military called him in on the first day, and we still haven't heard anything."

Since Lee Hyeongseong had originally been a soldier, it was only natural that the military would summon him first. Jihye grumbled.

"He's such a fool... I wouldn't have gone. What does the military even matter in a world like this?"

Huiwon strongly agreed with Jihye, but she didn't want to blame Hyeongseong. Everyone handled loss differently. Just as the children had shut themselves in their room, Hyeongseong returned to the military. That was all.

[The next Scenario will begin in three days.]

Huiwon swallowed her anxiety as she looked at the message floating in the air.

In three days, hell would begin again. The more complicated issue was that the next Scenario would likely be completely different from everything they had experienced so far.

[You can now answer calls from your Patron and undertake the Individual Trials they grant.]

[Individual Trials are treated as Hidden Scenarios. If they overlap with a specific Main Scenario, they may replace that Main Scenario.]

[Scenario replacement is only possible before the 25th Main Scenario begins.]

The Individual Trials unlocked after they cleared the tenth Scenario were still difficult for Huiwon to understand. Jihye spoke as if to reassure her.

"Master said nothing major would happen for a while, so don't worry too much, Huiwon."

"What happened to Yu Junghyeok?"

"He kept muttering, 'Kim Dokja, Kim Dokja,' then disappeared somewhere. It's not like master at all... Though he was always saying he'd kill him, so maybe it's natural."

Dokja's death had changed even the cold Yu Junghyeok. He had shut himself in his room and repeatedly trained like a wreck, then disappeared three days ago after saying he would return soon.

"What about Han Suyeong?"

"She left this morning to talk with government agents. She said it was time to harvest the seeds she'd sown, too..."

"The government? There isn't much to expect from those people..."

Then something came to Huiwon's mind.

"If something happens to me, make sure you move with Han Suyeong."

She didn't know why Dokja had told them to move with Han Suyeong. Still, if Dokja said it, there had to be a good reason. When Huiwon got up, Jihye asked in surprise.

"Are you going out?"

"We can't sit around here forever. We need to prepare too."

"Then I'll come with you."

Once they made up their minds, neither of them was the type to hesitate. Huiwon and Jihye quickly gathered their gear and headed outside. The instant they opened the front door, the sound of shutters filled the air.

"Jeong Huiwon! I'm a reporter from Goryeo Daily! Please give us a comment!"

They weren't the only survivors. Nearly a thousand survivors had returned alive from Seoul Dome, and some of them had contacted news outlets to leave behind records of their horrific months of survival.

Enough testimony had already piled up, yet reporters continued to seek them out. The reason was obvious. Even among the thousand survivors, Huiwon and her group were well-known figures who had stood at the center of the Scenarios.

"Jeong Huiwon! What exactly happened there?"

"We heard your swordsmanship training helped you. Is that true?"

"We heard you were once a national team candidate..."

Huiwon quietly looked at the reporters thrusting microphones toward her. The government had warned her not to tell the media what happened, and she wasn't the type to speak easily in the first place.

Yet... why was that?

Today, Huiwon felt like saying something.

"Are you that curious about what happened there?"

Jihye tugged at her sleeve, urging her to leave, but Huiwon stopped her and looked at a banner fluttering outside.

[Hero of Yangcheon District! Congratulations on the safe return of Jeong Huiwon, Judge of Evil!]

...A hero? Me?

Yangcheon District had vanished long ago. Still, people were hanging banners like that. Huiwon found it too pathetic to bear.

"I'm not the kind of hero you think I am. I wasn't a national team candidate, and I wasn't that good at swordsmanship either."

Huiwon spoke into the microphone as if she were glaring at the whole world.

"Before the world ended, I was just a bartender at a cheap bar."

The reporters stirred at her words. None of them looked able to believe it. Some looked at her with contempt, while others looked her over with jealousy.

Oddly enough, Huiwon felt freer beneath those gazes.

She was no longer the Jeong Huiwon she used to be.

Amid the waves of those petty stares, Huiwon finally understood that.

The reporters asked her.

How could a mere bartender have survived to the very end?

How had an ordinary woman survived, then become the Judge of Evil?

[The constellation Bald Army General looks at you with sad eyes.]

[The constellation One-Eyed Maitreya thinks of someone at your words.]

The constellations' Indirect Messages echoed from all around. Without fully understanding her own feelings, Huiwon opened her mouth.

"Do you know someone named Kim Dokja?"

[The constellation Naval Warfare God nods.]

[The constellation One-stroke Scholar remembers that name.]

[The constellation The Last Hero of Hwangsanbeol remembers him.]

The reporters' voices followed the constellations'.

"Kim Dokja?"

"Who is that?"

"I think I've heard that name in a survivor's testimony before."

Huiwon found it amusing. You wouldn't know. Of course, you wouldn't.

Huiwon drew a light breath and continued.

"The survivors didn't survive through their own strength alone."

She had only said that much, yet suddenly she felt like crying.

The reporters who knew nothing kept asking questions.

"What do you mean by that?"

"There isn't anyone named Kim Dokja on the list of survivors."

"Why didn't Kim Dokja return with the others?"

"Where is he now?"

Where was he? Huiwon didn't know that either.

Still, if there was one thing she wished for...

"That person..."

Huiwon looked at Seoul Dome as she spoke.

"He'll come back. Definitely."

* * *

「At that moment, Kim Dokja opened his eyes in the Demon Realm.」

"Huuuuuuugh!"

I opened my eyes with a scream that sounded almost like a dragon's roar.

Thump. Thump.

The sound of my beating heart felt unfamiliar. Golden aura flickered around it, spewing out violent Mana. Despite being damaged, it was still a hatchling's Dragon Heart, a material containing enough Mana to make me pass out merely from transplanting it.

If I could use it properly, I wouldn't have to worry about lacking Mana in battle for a while.

[The Attribute Lamarck's Giraffe is absorbing the power of a broken fable.]

Absorbing broken fables was a dangerous idea in itself. Without Lamarck's Giraffe, I couldn't have even attempted it.

「Because Lamarck's theory of use and disuse was not recognized as a mainstream theory of evolution, Lamarck's Giraffe had a weaker absorption effect than other evolution-type Attributes. However, it had the fewest side effects and the advantage of not absorbing a fable's weaknesses.」

Just as [The Fourth Wall] said, if I had obtained another evolution-type Attribute, Darwin's Demon, my heart would have burst the moment I consumed the Gold Dragon's fable fragment.

Its absorption rate might be low, but safety was guaranteed.

I didn't have many lives left anymore.

[You have acquired the fable fragment Broken Heart of a Young Gold Dragon.]

The fable fragment's original name was 「The Heart of a Young Gold Dragon Torn Apart and Killed by an Outer God」. However, the part saying 「Torn Apart and Killed by an Outer God」 hadn't been absorbed.

That was Lamarck's Giraffe's advantage.

Its fable absorption rate was low, but it didn't absorb weaknesses either.

[Your new Incarnation body is being formed.]

[The collapse of your existence has been delayed by the formation of a new Incarnation body.]

[This effect is temporary. You are advised to return to a Scenario promptly.]

As the newly beating heart sent surging Mana throughout my body, I could breathe a little easier. At least my birth fable was no longer spilling out like before.

Still, the reconstruction of my body was only beginning.

Next, I began consuming the right arm of a sword master who had been betrayed by a companion.

It was less like chewing a fable than catching glimpses of the broken story as it shattered in my mouth.

[You are absorbing the fable fragment Right Arm of the Poor Sword Master.]

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I started to feel as if I could wield a sword a little better.

[The satiation of the Attribute Lamarck's Giraffe has reached its limit.]

[Lower your satiation to absorb a new fable fragment.]

Only after consuming both fable fragments did I sit atop the trash heap, feeling a little better.

"...It's a little cold."

It hurt less than before, but the chill still stabbed into my skin.

Even though my Incarnation body's durability had increased, the Exile Penalty remained. The emptiness and loneliness caused by losing a story. I felt as if I understood the fundamental reason people always wanted to see, hear, and read something.

That was when a faint warmth began to spread through my body.

[Someone is talking about you.]

...Talking about me?

[Your fable is being created on the planet Earth.]

Only then did I understand what was happening.

Someone on Earth was telling my story. Who was it? It wasn't Yu Junghyeok, at least. Lee Hyeongseong? Jeong Huiwon? Or Shin Yuseong?

...I didn't know.

Still, it was a strange feeling.

Someone was telling my story somewhere I didn't know.

Someone still remembered me...

[A new Kim Dogeza Legend has been created on the planet peace land.]

...I wished they'd call my name properly over there.

I looked up at the night sky where no stars could be seen.

This was the horizon of the story.

Just as I couldn't see the stars, the stars couldn't see me.

So those arrogant stars wouldn't know.

In a place they couldn't see, a story that would bring their ruin had only just begun.

Footnotes:

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