Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 216

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ChaoticRain

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 216: Episode 40: Hatching (5)

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A new Constellation? Already? It was earlier than I expected. I thought Subscribers would only appear after things had progressed a little further.

[A Constellation whose modifier has not been revealed is looking at the Incarnations.]

It didn't seem to be a Constellation I'd met before. That was a little disappointing. I'd hoped it might be Secretive Plotter or Abyssal Black Flame Dragon.

"D-did you hear that message just now?"

"What message?"

"I received an Indirect Message!"

The new Constellation must have plenty of coins, since it was sending Indirect Messages from the start. Biyoo, beside me, cried, "Baat!" Coins were probably pouring into her right now. It must have seemed strange to her too. She'd just learned how dokkaebis earned coins.

「Kim Dokja thought. I hope this one is decent.」

The dispositions of a channel's early Subscribers determined its character.

Everything from whether the channel focused on finding Incarnations or seeking entertainment to how stimulating and difficult its Sub Scenarios became was ultimately shaped by the Subscribers' desires. That was what worried me most.

Shin Yuseong of the 41st round had already suffered countless wounds because of the dokkaebis' tricks. To continue the Scenarios, Biyoo would have to keep confronting the Constellations' desires.

"Baat?"

I quietly placed a hand on Biyoo's head.

[The Constellation whose modifier has not been revealed reveals its modifier.]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss is displeased with the Incarnations here.]

I frowned at the message that followed.

...This wasn't a good start.

I remembered reading about Nouveau Riche Snake Boss in TWSA.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss finds the Scenario's progress boring.]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss is dissatisfied with the dokkaebi's inexperienced hosting.]

Nouveau Riche Snake Boss. A Constellation whose hobby was entering channels subscribed to by Constellations weaker and poorer than himself, then ruining the Scenario.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss wants excitement.]

I'd read in TWSA that several channels had gone completely under after losing Subscribers because of Nouveau Riche Snake Boss. The Constellation had only been mentioned in passing, so I never expected to encounter him here in person.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss does not want the collection slaves to survive!]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss says that everyone who cooperated with the enemy should die!]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss declares that he will sponsor coins to any industrial citizen who kills a collection slave.]

The industrial citizens began looking around at one another.

Some looked as though they had no idea what the message meant, while others hesitated. A few seemed to panic as unpleasant memories resurfaced. Yet some cautiously watched the others before secretly drawing weapons from their waists. Jang Hayoung shouted.

"Wait! What are you doing over there?"

The attempt to stop them came too late. Once someone made the first move, the industrial citizens moved faster. One, two, three. More and more weapons appeared.

"Are you serious? This isn't right!"

Mark grabbed an industrial citizen who was approaching a deranged slave.

"Not every collection slave has lost their reason. Some are still in their right minds!"

"Most of them sold their souls to the duke!"

"Not all of them did! You know that too!"

"They're as good as dead anyway! Let go of me!"

Blinded by coins, the industrial citizen shoved Mark away and drew a sword.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss is excited by the escalating conflict.]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss declares that he will sponsor 3,000 coins to the Incarnation who kills the most collection slaves.]

Three thousand coins.

Inside an industrial complex, it was enough to live in luxury for a while.

"L-let's just kill them. We need to survive too..."

"That's right! Chairman, let's kill them all and go back!"

The balance of voices tipped sharply. More industrial citizens drew their weapons. As greed spread, Mark shouted again.

"They were industrial citizens just like us once! If we act like this, how are we any different from the nobles?"

"Move, tavern owner! If you don't move right now..."

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss enjoys the industrial citizens' conflict.]

Mark was shoved aside in the scuffle and fell on his backside. Then another message followed.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss declares that he will sponsor 300 coins per person to any Incarnation who kills a fellow industrial citizen.]

The industrial citizens froze.

Then, after looking at each other, they hurriedly backed away and put distance between themselves.

"Ugh..."

"W-wait!"

I could tell what they were thinking.

「That's right. This was what Scenarios were like.」

Once, the industrial citizens here had also carried out the First Scenario. They remembered pointing weapons at one another and killing living beings to survive.

"Ugh, ugh..."

The industrial citizens stared uneasily at one another with weapons in hand. With only a few words from a Constellation, the bond between those who had united under the banner of revolution was slowly fading.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss is pleased by the Incarnations' reactions.]

In the past, I might have been just like these industrial citizens. I would've rejoiced and despaired over a coin or two, played along with the stories the Constellations wanted, and consoled myself that it couldn't be helped, even while feeling disgusted with myself.

「Kim Dokja thought.」

It couldn't be helped.

「There is no such thing as something that can't be helped.」

Boom!

The ground behind me caved in beneath my step. Using that momentum, I leaped into the gap between the industrial citizens and seized the collar of the one who had shoved Mark.

"Cough, gahk!"

"Three hundred coins for this one body..."

"Ghk... R-Revolutionary-nim?"

"Coins are nice. But don't you think that's too little?"

The industrial citizen whose collar I held resisted, but instead of letting go, I tightened my grip on his collar and choked him with it. When his face turned blue and he dropped his weapon, the industrial citizens around us let out small screams.

Just before the half-crazed industrial citizen suffocated, I roughly dropped him onto the ground. I could feel terrified eyes watching me.

"Three hundred coins per person... If you kill everyone here, that makes around ten thousand coins, right?"

"Ugh..."

"And the Constellation said he'd give you another 3,000 coins for killing the collection slaves. That makes 13,000 coins... Well, I suppose that might be hard to ignore."

Thirteen thousand coins.

For most industrial citizens here, it was probably an enormous sum they'd never even touched.

"But what are you going to do with 13,000 coins? You can buy a few mediocre skills and some mediocre equipment, then they'll be gone."

Unease spread through the industrial citizens' eyes.

They had never used the Dokkaebi Compendium, so they wouldn't know how little 13,000 coins meant to those lofty Constellations. They wouldn't know how pitifully little that money could accomplish in this world.

I looked down at the industrial citizen on the ground.

"So what were you going to do after that?"

"Y-yes?"

"What were you going to do with the 13,000 coins you earned by killing everyone?"

An emotion slowly spread across the industrial citizen's face. Panic, fear, and...

"I... I..."

As though falling into an abyss, the industrial citizen said,

"Nothing..."

I quietly watched him mumble with a dazed expression.

Actually, I knew too.

They hadn't committed this act with any clear purpose in mind.

Perhaps even the industrial citizens themselves couldn't understand what they had been trying to gather coins for.

The obsession that they had to play along with the Constellations, collect more coins than other Incarnations, and survive.

That was how Scenarios turned Incarnations into slaves of stories.

In the heavy silence where no one spoke, the industrial citizen, who had finally realized what he had been about to do, began to sob.

"R-Revolutionary-nim. I..."

I turned away from his gaze and stood up. Then I said indifferently,

"Now that the channel is open, Constellations will keep entering."

The industrial citizens looking at me had eyes trembling with different emotions.

"Don't sell your story for a coin or two. If you really want to sell it, make sure you get a proper price."

I didn't know how much of my words reached the industrial citizens. I wasn't particularly good with words. Still, that was all I could tell them.

With grim faces and bitten lips, the industrial citizens began putting away their weapons one by one, as though they had made up their minds. None of them spoke, but that sight was an answer to me.

Not everyone agreed with what I said.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss is glaring at you.]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss expresses intense anger toward you.]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss has requested a Bounty Scenario!]

A Bounty Scenario. Right, there was something like that too.

That damned Scenario that activated only at a Constellation's request.

"...Revolutionary-nim?"

The startled industrial citizens looked at me with fearful faces.

If a Bounty Scenario activated at this point, it was obvious who the target would be. Then Biyoo, who had been sitting on my head, floated gently into the air.

[Baat.]

Another dokkaebi would have gladly accepted the Bounty Scenario, but Biyoo would never do such a thing. As if she intended to refuse the request, Biyoo puffed up her tiny body.

[...Baat?]

Then faint sparks began to run across Biyoo's small body.

[B-baat. Baaaat...!]

In that instant, I realized what was happening.

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss has requested a Bounty Scenario!]

Biyoo was fighting her instincts.

「Contrary to common belief, dokkaebis do not deliberately stage stimulating scenes.」

They are driven by an instinct to answer the demands of the Constellations subscribed to a channel.

「The more gifted a Streamer is, the more strongly that instinct activates. It is the instinct to create Scenarios desired by more beings. Every dokkaebi lives by that instinct.」

Since Biyoo was still a baby dokkaebi, overcoming that instinct must have been even harder. I reached out and gently pulled Biyoo toward me.

"It's okay."

Tzzzzzt!

"This channel doesn't have just one Subscriber."

[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation does not agree with the activation of the Bounty Scenario.]

The sparks raging through the air scattered instantly at my fingertips.

[The Bounty Scenario request has been denied.]

[The Constellation Nouveau Riche Snake Boss is astonished.]

I raised my head toward the air.

"Snake head. The story you want isn't here."

Against the dark blue night sky, a faint constellation shone. Staring at it, I spoke in an indifferent voice.

"I'm busy, so get lost."

Footnotes:

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