WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 226: Episode 42: Asmodeus (4)

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"What was this man even thinking...!"

Aileen muttered as she looked down at Kim Dokja, who had ripped out the catheter and was lying there. Fable Fragments seeped through the gaps in his torn bandages.

She remembered Dokja's words: This is the only way right now. I really don't want to use it.

Aileen hurriedly brought over a container and gathered the fragments, then checked the pulse in his other arm. Dokja's face was turning pale in an instant, completely drained of color.

"Bring more Fable Packs! Hurry!"

At Aileen's shout, Han Myeongoh, who had been watching nearby, stumbled out of the treatment room. Looking at Dokja's dying face, Aileen remembered his final words.

"Keep me dead for about an hour."

"Ah, but don't actually let me die. Just keep me barely hanging on, like I'm almost dead."

"If I die this time, I really need to go see that bastard Kim Namwoon."

"So I'm trusting you. Got it?"

Beeeeep...

The fable stability reading on the monitor was plummeting. Aileen looked at Dokja, who lay asleep with an unreadable expression, then let out a deep sigh and inserted a new IV into his arm.

* * *

Fortunately, Stage 3 of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint had connected safely.

That meant Aileen had done her job properly.

...Still, this had become really difficult.

Rumble...

Asmodeus's burning aura flared before me. Despite the confident words I'd shouted, I was terrified.

After all, my opponent was Asmodeus.

I regretted starting with such an impressive line, but regretting it now wouldn't help. At last, Asmodeus opened his mouth.

[Demon King of Salvation?]

Wearing Junghyeok's face, I calmly nodded. I could feel Junghyeok's soul struggling somewhere at the edge of my consciousness, but I forcibly put him back to sleep. This wasn't the time for Junghyeok to surface.

[I am the Demon King of Salvation.]

Sizzle!

Making a constellation's declaration consumed an excessive amount of Plausibility, but I did my best to look unfazed. I needed to use a constellation's declaration, even deliberately, so I wouldn't be overwhelmed by his presence. Keeping my tone blunt to sound strong was an added bonus.

Asmodeus looked at me in surprise and asked again.

[...Is that person truly your Incarnation?]

[That's right.]

If the unconscious Junghyeok learned about this, he wouldn't recover from the shock for a while. Still, I hadn't done this with any thought for the future. For now, there was no better improvised answer. At least, that was what I thought.

[I've never heard that you had an Incarnation like that.]

[Your information must be late. This one is my Incarnation.]

He had definitely said he had come to speak with me.

I couldn't know whether that was true, but it was still Junghyeok's only chance to survive. If he had really come only to talk, he wouldn't needlessly harm my Incarnation.

[Hmm...]

Perhaps because of how he took my words, Asmodeus's aura gradually grew fiercer.

I desperately recalled everything I knew about Asmodeus.

「A deranged aesthete.」

「A member of the Gourmet Association.」

「Has some connections with Olympus's underworld.」

「Possesses twisted sexual desires.」

Some of that might have been useful, but nothing immediately useful came to mind.

Either way, resolving this standoff as peacefully as possible was my best option right now.

I secretly sharpened my senses and searched the area for anything useful. The only thing I noticed was a small stuffed doll lying by my feet. I picked it up.

...What was this?

Then the doll looked at me.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire gets a nosebleed from sheer emotion.]

...Wait. Could this doll be...

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire rubs her cheek against you.]

The soft doll rubbed against Junghyeok's cheek, and because I had descended into Junghyeok's body, I felt it clearly too. I panicked.

Why was Uriel here?

Asmodeus opened his mouth.

[You aren't greatly intimidated by my status, so I suppose the rumors were true. I heard you rose to fabled-grade during the Scenarios in the teens... I never thought it was true.]

[Who knows? I might be even more than the rumors say.]

I quickly pulled Uriel's doll close and hid it in my clothes. Things were already strange enough. It would be a problem if Uriel came forward and did something unnecessary. Asmodeus smacked his lips.

[Hehe, the rumor that you have a sharp tongue seems true too. You're exactly my type. Still... how were you alive? I heard you died because of the Constellations' tricks.]

[I got lucky.]

[I like people with lots of secrets too.]

[I hate people who insist on digging up secrets.]

[That person must be your newly acquired Incarnation. I heard your type was children.]

[What nonsense are you talking about?]

[I'm just saying it was a shame all my preparations were for nothing.]

Asmodeus gave me a captivating smile, then looked down at his Incarnation body.

The Incarnation body had the appearance of a pretty child. If what Myeongoh said was true, that body was his daughter. Fortunately, she didn't resemble Myeongoh at all.

[It seems there's some misunderstanding... Quite a few strange rumors must be spreading.]

It seemed that taking Shin Yuseong as my Incarnation had caused some absurd gossip. Asmodeus smiled sweetly at Junghyeok's face.

[Well, if you have an Incarnation body that beautiful, I can understand changing your tastes.]

At this point, it was clear a normal conversation was impossible. I brushed it aside and continued.

"More importantly, let's stop communicating through constellation's declarations. The Incarnations nearby won't survive it."

[Why?]

"This is my industrial complex now. I'd like you to stop carelessly harming my industrial citizens."

Officially, Gilobat had been killed by "Kim Dokja," so this place had become my industrial complex.

[You have become the new master of the industrial complex.]

A message like that had actually appeared too.

Of course, I only needed a reasonable excuse because it was becoming difficult to keep making declarations. Asmodeus gave a small laugh.

"Hmm, you're right. I was rude."

Asmodeus was always half out of his mind, but he observed manners when he had a goal. At least until that goal had been fulfilled.

"So, why did you come looking for me?"

"You seem like you already know. Don't you?"

"...I'm not a prophet. How would I know?"

"I know you possess power similar to the Prophet of Asgard."

He must have meant Anna Croft. I had no idea how badly stories about me had become distorted.

Rumors aside, it seemed it was time to lay my cards on the table.

"You came because of the Demon King Selection, didn't you?"

Asmodeus smiled as if I had given the correct answer.

It wasn't difficult to deduce. Right after the industrial complex fell, the following messages had been sounding in my ears.

[You are currently a Demon King Candidate of the 73rd Demon Realm.]

[A new Scenario is currently pending.]

"Are you aiming for the new Demon King throne too?"

"Hmm? I'm already the thirty-second Demon King. There's no point in reclaiming the throne of a low-grade Demon Realm."

"Then what is it?"

"I want to help you become the new Demon King."

As expected. I had anticipated it. Myeongoh had said something similar.

"The Demon King... told me to create the king of the 73rd Demon Realm with my own hands."

After thinking for a moment, I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, but I don't need help. I don't even want to participate in the Selection right now."

"But you don't have the right to refuse. Now that you've become a duke, you have to take part in the Selection."

"I can overcome it on my own."

"Perhaps you've been lucky so far. But will you keep being lucky?"

"..."

"Do you think the dukes of Meledon and Berkan feel the same way you do?"

I already knew nebulae had attached themselves to those sides. Nebulae that had made their hostility toward me obvious. Asmodeus smiled slyly.

"You need my help. Refuse, and you'll die."

I didn't know who would kill me, but it seemed certain that I would die. Those damn bastards. I had dodged and weaved my way here, and they were going to trip me up again?

[Few Constellations are watching your choice.]

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is watching your choice.]

[A constellation who likes gender-swapping is watching your choice.]

Because I had asked Biyoo for Channel Expansion while crossing over here, the Constellations were watching my choice as well. A demon king was a being most Constellations avoided. The choice I made here would decide my story from now on.

I steadied my breathing and asked, "Is your goal a Great Fable?"

At my blunt question, ripples briefly passed through Asmodeus's eyes.

"I'm surprised you already know that much."

"This place is crawling with people who'd rob you blind."

I smiled bitterly.

A Great Fable. The fables I had built up until now belonged to the category of ordinary fables, but the Star Stream held a new realm called Great Fables. Things like Olympus's "Gigantomachia" and Asgard's "Ragnarok."

By accumulating even a small share of a Great Fable, Constellations could gain enormous power and Plausibility. With a large share, they could even form a faction. This was why Constellations rushed in with their eyes blazing whenever a Great Apocalypse Scenario arrived.

And the Demon Realm's Demon King Selection was one such Great Fable.

It wasn't on the level of Gigantomachia, but it was still a fable too immense to compare with ordinary fables. Asmodeus nodded.

"That's right. I need a share of a Great Fable."

Asmodeus was already a Demon King and belonged to a higher Scenario, so he couldn't participate in this Selection. But he could help me and receive a portion of the fable's shares in return.

Normally, I would have rejected the offer around now.

The Great Fable I could accumulate through the Demon King Selection would become a key source of strength when I faced the nebulae in the future. If I gave fable shares to some irrelevant bastard here, there was a good chance I would end up with nothing.

Still, something Junghyeok had muttered in the twelfth round of the revised text bothered me.

「'Back then, we shouldn't have made an enemy of the Demon King Asmodeus.'」

I wanted to grab Junghyeok by the collar and ask what that meant, but the unconscious bastard was still a rookie who had only reached the third round, let alone the twelfth. There was no way he could know.

In the end, I had to choose.

Would I take a Demon King's hand, or not?

I slowly opened my mouth.

Footnotes:

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