WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 224: Episode 42 — Asmodeus (2)

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In this round, that bastard does not exist...

The moment I read that sentence, an electric current ran from head to toe.

No way. It couldn't be. Of course it couldn't.

There were plenty of people Junghyeok might call “that bastard.” He'd met quite a few in previous rounds, so there was no way it was me... Yet as I read the thoughts that surfaced from time to time, my mind became tangled.

「Junghyeok thought.」

「‘He told me not to think things would get better just because I repeated rounds.’」

「‘This life is only this life.’」

「‘I might be able to do it. Even so, I won't give up.’」

Damn it, no matter how I looked at it, those sounded exactly like something I'd said.

I quickly scrolled down and skimmed the other scenes too.

The things supposedly left behind by “that bastard” appeared intermittently, with gaps between them. The name Kim Dokja was never written even once, but they were definitely words I seemed to have said to him at some point.

Of course, I didn't remember everything I'd said either, so I couldn't be a hundred percent certain. Besides, I'd also been influenced by TWSA, so there was a chance some character from TWSA that I didn't remember well had said something similar to Junghyeok. But no matter how else I thought about it, no one came to mind.

If anyone other than me had spouted lines like that, Junghyeok would've taken their head off long ago.

“...This is seriously driving me crazy.”

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is curious about your muttering.]

I needed to sort out my thoughts somehow. There was still time.

Unexpectedly, [The Fourth Wall] helped me.

「Kim Dokja thought. In short, the current state of affairs was this.」

Right. Go ahead.

「Firstly, the First Revision of TWSA arrived.」

「Secondly, the revision begins from Junghyeok's fourth round.」

「Thirdly, a figure presumed to be Kim Dokja appeared in the recollections of Junghyeok in the fourth round.」

It was a clear, orderly summary.

And there was only one thing those three points suggested.

「Junghyeok's third round failed.」

No matter how much I thought about it, that was the only conclusion I could reach.

If Junghyeok and I had reached the ending of this world, there was no way the current Junghyeok would've moved on to the fourth round.

In other words, the most reasonable inference was this.

The third round I intervened in had failed, and the rounds after that failure had been newly recorded in the revised TWSA.

It was hard to believe something like that could happen, but this was already a world where far too many impossible things had happened.

After letting out a short sigh, I examined the TWSA file again.

One question had been answered, but a whole pile of others still remained. Through [The Fourth Wall], I sorted through the questions that came to mind one by one.

「Why is it that ‘I’ don't exist in Junghyeok's fourth round?」

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't find an answer to that.

Maybe it was because I wasn't a character. Maybe it was because of something else. Either way, if I believed this revision, then from the fourth round onward, “I” didn't exist. Why? I didn't know. And that wasn't the only thing I didn't know.

「If the First Revision describes the future, then depending on what I do from now on, could a Second Revision appear as well?」

There was a possibility this First Revision was a fixed future, but I didn't think that was very likely. If it really were a fixed future, there was no way the author would've bothered sending this to me. I didn't know the exact reason, but through this revision, the author had given me a chance.

A warning, in other words. If things kept going like this, the third round would fail, and Junghyeok in the fourth round would be left alone to keep regressing once again.

Of course, maybe it was just the author's viciously bad taste... but there would be no answer even if I thought about that case, so I decided not to consider it.

“First I have to read all of this...”

Pressing at my throbbing temple, I kept reading TWSA.

Some parts had changed, and some parts hadn't. In any case, as I reread the story, countless thoughts crossed my mind.

At times I thought, ‘That bastard. Even after everything I did for him, he's still like this.’

At others, ‘Oh? Look at this. He did change a little after all?’

Then there were thoughts like these:

‘Right, this part was really fun. I liked this part.’

‘Ah, damn, there really is a lot of exposition...’

‘...No, still, the writing feels a bit cleaner? Did the author improve?’

As I sank into those thoughts and kept turning the pages, I found that before I knew it, I'd returned to my true nature as a reader and become absorbed in TWSA again. He was still pulling the same sunfish crap as ever, but the interesting thing was that his smaller mistakes had definitely become less frequent.

The most remarkable part was that, in the fourth round, he started by catching an ichthyosaur at Oksu Station, just like I had.

「Junghyeok thought. ‘That bastard must've obtained the Hidden Scenario here too.’」

And in the Theater Dungeon of the eighth and eleventh rounds, he hadn't died.

「‘...That bastard helped me here. Well, I would've managed to survive on my own somehow.’」

When I read that part, I was so moved I almost teared up. If there'd been anyone to brag to, I would've boasted about it.

‘Everyone, look. That goddamn sunfish bastard has grown this much!’

Of course, I was the only reader of TWSA, so there was no one I could brag to in the first place. The scroll I'd been racing through for so long finally stopped because of a sudden question that occurred to me.

...This bastard seems to be doing better than I expected.

Then what happens next? Junghyeok in the next round... did he reach the proper “ending” of this world?

“What? You look perfectly fine. Aileen said you were half-dead.”

“Kim... Junghyeok. Are you feeling all right?”

The ones who entered after pushing the door open were Jang Hayoung and Han Myeongoh. Come to think of it, I'd completely forgotten I'd told Aileen to call those two.

“Huh? Isn't that a smartphone?”

Hayoung's face lit up when they saw the device in my hand, and they rushed over. I lightly switched the hand holding the phone and answered.

“No. Back off.”

“Can it send texts? What about calls? Internet?”

“As if.”

At my cold answer, Hayoung visibly drooped.

“...Then why'd you call me?”

“Have you kept contacting the Constellations I told you about?”

“Ah, those guys?”

Hayoung shrugged and said,

“They don't seem very interested.”

“Really?”

The Scenarios coming from here on out would be hard to overcome with my strength alone.

The enemies I'd faced so far had either been Catastrophes descending through Scenarios or individual Constellations, but the ones who'd get in my way from now on were on a bigger scale than that. Bastards like Veda, for instance, who had screwed me over with that damned Fate.

So if I wanted to stand against them, I needed to keep an eye on the movements of Constellations or Transcendents who thought along lines similar to mine.

“They all seemed busy with their own business. Most of them don't even reply.”

As expected, it was still too early.

Originally, Hayoung wouldn't become the King of the Transcendents until much later than this. So even if those Constellations had sided with Hayoung in the original work, they might think differently at this point in time.

Besides, even the “original work” had already changed.

I let out a sigh and said,

“Forget it. You can go.”

“...What? You're the one who called me.”

Hayoung grumbled and left, and only Myeongoh and I remained in the treatment room. Myeongoh hesitated awkwardly, watching my expression, then spoke first.

“You've always had something odd about you. I'd known that ever since our company days...”

“Never mind that. You know why I called you, right?”

“Ahem.”

Sharp-witted as ever, Myeongoh seemed to know exactly why I'd called him.

“Actually, there still hasn't been any contact.”

“The Subordinate connection should've recovered by now.”

“It has. But there's been no response from the Demon King.”

Not long ago, I'd severed the connection between Myeongoh and Demon King Asmodeus with the power of the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword. But that had only been temporary. I thought it was about time Asmodeus tried contacting him again. Yet there still hadn't been anything.

“Do you have any idea why?”

“Maybe the Demon King no longer trusts me. Or...”

At that moment, Myeongoh's expression changed.

Crackle, crackle.

“Th-the Subordinate connection is back!”

I swallowed and groped for the hilt of my sword.

Demon King Asmodeus.

A Demon King whose power ranked among the very strongest of the seventy-two Demon Kings. He would now speak to me through Myeongoh's eyes and mouth.

But Myeongoh's expression was a little strange.

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

“Something seems wrong.”

“What happened?”

“H-he came in person!”

“What?”

“The Demon King came himself!”

The Demon King had come in person. The meaning of that was simple.

Demon King Asmodeus had personally brought his Incarnation body into this Scenario area.

I searched through the channel's messages via Biyoo and asked,

“Did he come somewhere nearby?”

“H-he seems to have already found you...”

He'd already found me?

But no matter how much I sharpened my senses, I couldn't feel the presence of a Demon King.

If a Demon King had really come near here, not only would every Constellation in the channel have gone into an uproar, but the overwhelming aura released by a Demon King's Incarnation body should have made the nearby Incarnations bleed from all seven orifices and die. But...

“Wait, don't tell me...?”

Now that I thought about it, I'd been acting here under the name Yu Junghyeok.

So other Demon Kings, unable to enter the channel and unable to accurately grasp the local situation, were very likely estimating my location from the fame I'd gained in the Star Stream.

And according to the Star Stream, my current location was...

“Goddamn it.”

“W-why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Manager Han, which way is the Gilobat Industrial Complex from here?”

Junghyeok was in danger.

* * *

“Kim Dokja!”

“Long live Kim Dokja!”

“Independence for the industrial complex!”

Listening to the cheers erupting all over the Gilobat Industrial Complex, Yu Junghyeok stood there wearing a complicated expression.

‘I'd never intended for it to go this far.’

Junghyeok frowned as he looked at the duke of Gilobat, who had died by his hand.

Crackle, crackle.

Having excessively unleashed the power he'd built up as a Transcendent, Junghyeok's body was blackened in places by sparks. It wasn't power that should've been released at this point.

‘It was too early to open Transcendent Form, First Stage.’

But there had been no way to deal with a duke of the Demon Realm without releasing that power. It was strength he'd deliberately kept hidden even from the Constellations, yet one bastard had ended up seeing it after all. Junghyeok looked at the Uriel doll sitting on his shoulder and thought,

‘...And the one who saw it doesn't seem to think anything of it.’

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is pleased by your achievement.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is moved by your camaraderie.]

“Dukes give a lot of coins. That's why I killed him.”

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire grins.]

Without responding to that message, Junghyeok turned to look at the panel screens streaming from the duke's office. Low-quality Scenario footage, apparently recorded by Hunchbacks, was playing on them.

- It's Yu Junghyeok!

- I'm Yu Junghyeok!

It was an absurd sight. Hundreds of people were all shouting that they were Yu Junghyeok. The most ridiculous of all was the pale-faced bastard at the center, shouting the loudest.

- Yu Junghyeok! Yu Junghyeok! Waaah!

Junghyeok watched the spectacle with a furrowed brow, then turned his head away.

[A faint blush spreads across the cheeks of the Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire urges you to hurry up and go meet Kim Dokja.]

Junghyeok, however, shook his head.

“...It's enough that I confirmed he's alive. Cancel the personal Scenario already and send me back to my original world.”

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is startled!]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire says the personal Scenario hasn't ended yet.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire says the point of the personal Scenario is to meet Kim Dokja and deepen the bond between true comrades...]

“You think I'd really take a personal Scenario like that seriously?”

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is deeply shocked.]

The Uriel doll, trembling all over, wore the kind of expression it probably wouldn't make even if Eden were destroyed. After watching that for a moment, Junghyeok let out a light breath and asked,

“More importantly, are you all right?”

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire lifts her head with a sullen expression.]

“I've become a duke of the Demon Realm now. And you're a Great Archangel. I'm asking whether there'll be any problem with us going around together.”

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is greatly flustered.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire says she hadn't thought that far ahead.]

“...”

Junghyeok spat out every curse imaginable inwardly as he wondered what he was supposed to do with this hopeless Great Archangel from now on.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire warns you!]

Along with the sound of sparks, darkness began to gather all around them. Sensing the terrifying force within that deep blue darkness, Junghyeok instinctively drew the Splitting the Sky Sword. But this wasn't an opponent he could defeat just by holding a single sword.

A pitch-black abyss converging like a single essence.

The deepest darkness of this Demon Realm was manifesting before his eyes.

Junghyeok knew this darkness well.

“Run. I can't protect your symbolic form.”

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire says she can't do that.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire...]

Junghyeok's shoulders were trembling faintly.

The Uriel doll, which had never seen such a sight before, grabbed Junghyeok's shoulder in alarm. But the trembling refused to subside. As if he couldn't bear to acknowledge that fear, Junghyeok ground out the words.

“...I once died to that bastard.”

The next moment, with a crushing pressure that seemed capable of blowing apart every living creature nearby, the true body of darkness revealed itself.

[So this is where you were, Demon King of Salvation.]

Footnotes:

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