WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 237: Episode 44: Trickster (3)
──────
From the next day onward, Yu Junghyeok devoted himself to training with the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint.
Ever since she heard that someone would help her find her kin, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint had worn a grave expression. Junghyeok understood what that felt like, so instead of offering his master empty comfort, he sat cross-legged and focused on meditation.
‘I originally meant to let you meet the Primordial Giant myself...’
Since it had turned out like this anyway, leaving it to Kim Dokja might not be such a bad idea. To encounter the Primordial Giant according to the original plan, he would have had to get past at least the fortieth Scenario.
‘Who would've thought that guy was that close with the underworld?’
The more he looked at him, the more Dokja seemed to have an oddly inscrutable side. How, exactly, did he keep beguiling those stiff-necked Constellations so easily...?
[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is grinning broadly.]
That grinning archangel alone was proof enough.
In the second round, the Demonic Judge of Fire hadn't been that kind of Constellation.
A stern, exalted archangel burning with a sense of justice. Junghyeok couldn't understand why a being like that had fallen apart like this in the current round.
“...Do you really intend to enter the tournament?”
Junghyeok silently nodded at the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's question.
“You could die. The Martial Arts Tournament Scenario is by no means easy.”
“I am much stronger now than I was at this same point in the last round.”
“That still doesn't put you at the level to face the Top Ten Masters.”
Junghyeok knew the Top Ten Masters of the martial world well.
The Ice Flower Divine Maiden and the Phantom Flying Guest, who sold martial arts through merchants, were among them, and there had also been one such Top Ten Master in the Namgung Clan, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's original family.
When the Martial Arts Tournament opened, one of them might join the fray.
Besides, with the prize for this Martial Arts Tournament being what it was, he couldn't ignore the possibility that the Incarnations of famous Constellations might participate as well.
[A few Constellations are looking forward to the main tournament of the Martial Arts Tournament.]
[Some Constellations are bored with the Martial Arts Tournament.]
At least there was one fortunate thing: the stronger the Constellation, the more tired they tended to be of a Scenario like this. Since it was a Scenario repeated every year in the martial world, Constellations who had already voyeuristically watched the Martial Arts Tournament plenty of times likely wouldn't pay much attention to it.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint quietly checked Junghyeok's pulse before speaking.
“You must open the second stage of the Transcendence Form.”
“I've opened it before, so it shouldn't be difficult.”
“This is different from breaking through the first stage.”
“I'll manage somehow. In the last round, I even broke through the third stage.”
“...The third stage?”
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's pupils trembled faintly.
The third stage of the Transcendence Form was never something that could be crossed through talent alone. To break through the third stage, one absolutely needed an enormous amount of time. And there was no way Junghyeok from the last round could have gone through that much time...
Understanding his master's doubts, Junghyeok answered, “I used the Dark Dimension's Time Stratum.”
The Dark Dimension's Time Stratum.
A place commonly called the graveyard of martial artists.
The martial artists who went looking for that place fell broadly into two kinds.
Those who smashed into the wall of talent within that vast prison of time and lost their minds, or those who, after training that gnawed away at them, crossed the wall and became Transcendents.
Junghyeok had belonged to the latter.
“...I can't even begin to imagine how grueling that training must have been. How many years were you in there?”
“Probably around a hundred years.”
“The third stage in a hundred years... So that's why you've become this arrogant.”
A hundred years. For an ordinary human, that was a long span of time, but not necessarily for Transcendents.
In this world, there were many beings who spent two hundred, three hundred years building up martial arts and still failed to reach Transcendence. A wall that couldn't be crossed no matter how many miraculous medicines they crammed into themselves or how much they altered their bodies. That was the thick wall of Transcendence.
And yet Junghyeok had crossed that wall three times in a hundred years.
“If necessary, I intend to enter the Time Stratum again this round.”
“That's madness! If you use the Time Stratum, foul energy clings to your soul. Haven't you seen the demonic martial artists who entered it wrongly and went mad? You know as well as anyone that a madman and a Transcendent are separated by only a single sheet of paper!”
“Even with the Time Stratum, I couldn't surpass you from the last round.”
“Hmph, of course not! If you want to catch up to me, you're still a hundred years too early!”
The huffing Sky-Splitting Sword Saint said, “In any case... Since you've broken through the third stage once, at least you'll be more worth teaching than a complete ignoramus.”
But despite his master's praise, Junghyeok's expression didn't brighten much. Sensing that something was off, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint asked him about it, and in the end, Junghyeok confessed everything.
A moment later, after hearing the whole story, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint asked in disbelief, “You attained a great awakening while you were exhausted?”
“I don't remember exactly.”
In the end, that meant he didn't know how he had crossed into the third stage. The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint spoke as if dumbfounded.
“Don't tell me you're confident you can break through the third stage again by trusting your own unconscious. That sort of thing is what frauds like the Ice Flower Divine Maiden do.”
“That is why I need you. Please teach me martial arts again.”
“What?”
“The previous method won't work. It takes too long that way.”
At her shameless disciple's words, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint pressed a hand to her temple.
“I don't know whether I'll be any help. You've crossed the wall of Transcendence yourself, so you should already know this, but Transcendence is never achieved through only one method. In the end, every Transcendent simply transcends in their own way.”
“Even so, I can still receive help. There is a reason the saying goes that all streams return to one source.”
“In the end, it means you still have to find one path among ten thousand branches. There is no identical enlightenment in this world. Just as there are no identical stories.”
“Even so, if there are ten thousand branches, I might at least stumble onto one of them, mightn't I? I already found one in the last round.”
As he said that, Junghyeok thought he sounded strangely like Dokja. He hadn't originally been the sort to speak this way. Maybe he had been influenced by walking around with that man for too long.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint sighed at the disciple who refused to yield even a single word.
“...Were you always this talkative? It won't be easy. You learned this in the last round too, but [Sky Splitter Sword Art] was never a martial art meant for a male body.”
Junghyeok knew that too. That was why learning the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's martial arts in the last round had been so difficult. But this round was different.
“If it's a problem of gender, I can resolve it to some extent.”
“What do you mean?”
[A constellation who likes gender-swapping snorts.]
Junghyeok frowned faintly at the sudden Indirect Message.
Every time this moment came, complicated emotions rose in him alongside immense fury, but now that it had come to this, he had no choice but to make use of everything he could.
“The time has come.”
And a short while later, the astonished Sky-Splitting Sword Saint stood there with her mouth hanging open. Junghyeok drew his sword and wiped it clean with a blank expression.
“Don't ever tell that guy outside.”
* * *
[Industrial citizens who doubt your achievements are appearing in the Kim Dokja Industrial Complex.]
[A fable about Kim Dokja the Swindler is spreading through the Kim Dokja Industrial Complex.]
The messages echoing through the air woke me from my nap.
Judging by the shape of the messages, some unpleasant rumors seemed to be going around the industrial complex while I was away. Considering the Dictator of the industrial complex had changed and I still hadn't shown my face, it was only natural in a way.
Still, "Kim Dokja the Swindler"...
Why did it feel like bastards who had never even seen my face knew me better than I did?
“Kim Dokja. What are you doing?”
At the kick nudging me, I groaned and pushed myself up. Yu Junghyeok stood there bare from the waist up, drenched in sweat. He had probably just come back from the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's brutal training.
“...I was just thinking for a bit.”
“You're slacking off.”
“This is exactly when I should be slacking off. I'm a patient.”
It sounded like an excuse, but it was true.
I still hadn't completely recovered from the injuries caused by the Exile Penalty. It didn't help that I'd pointlessly provoked the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint and slowed my recovery even more.
Still, Lamarck's Giraffe was steadily gaining proficiency, and I was consistently consuming Fable Fragments, so my recovery probably wouldn't be too slow. Looking at the two people diligently training martial arts in the front courtyard, I asked,
“How are those two doing?”
Over there, Jang Hayoung, equally drenched in sweat, was sparring with a half-dead-looking Han Myeongoh. The Sky-Splitting Divine Dog, acting as their overseer, barked as it corrected their forms.
“That girl has quite a bit of talent. Using that strange Attribute, she's learning martial arts incredibly quickly.”
“Not a girl. He's a guy.”
“Sometimes I wonder what you're even looking at.”
What was this idiot talking about? He was definitely a guy. That's how it was in the original work too.
Just as I was about to snap back, Junghyeok continued speaking.
“More importantly, what happened with the Constellations?”
“...I'm still thinking about it.”
It had already been a week since I received Persephone's message.
[The Constellation Queen of the Darkest Spring has invited you to The Gourmet Association.]
[In one week, the festival of The Gourmet Association will be held at Oro Castle in the Dark Dimension.]
[Please decide by tonight whether you will depart.]
An invitation to The Gourmet Association.
I had expected something like this might happen someday, but the timing was much earlier than I'd thought.
The Gourmet Association.
Just as the name suggested, it was a gathering of picky Constellations who loved gourmet food.
At a glance, it looked similar to the Constellation Banquet, but in reality it was completely different.
If the Constellation Banquet was official, The Gourmet Association was unofficial, and the intensity of the events inside that gathering was on an entirely different level as well.
[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is worried about you.]
More than anything, Uriel wouldn't be there.
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is curious about your decision.]
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven probably wouldn't be there either, nor would Secretive Plotter. As for the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon... had he been there? I couldn't quite remember.
In any case, the atmosphere there wouldn't be as friendly to me as the Constellation Banquet had been. And in the Star Stream, there was nothing more dangerous than going somewhere filled with Constellations who weren't friendly toward me.
Maybe he had read my expression, because Junghyeok asked,
“Are you scared?”
“As if.”
If I were going to refuse to join The Gourmet Association over something like that, I would've never made it this far in the first place. I silently watched Hayoung and Myeongoh spar. Myeongoh screamed rhythmically as Hayoung struck him over the head again and again. Watching them with me, Junghyeok muttered,
“So that's why.”
“...Yeah.”
According to Persephone's message, the festival of The Gourmet Association was exactly one week away.
And by an unfortunate coincidence, that date overlapped exactly with the Martial Arts Tournament.
In other words, on the day the Martial Arts Tournament Scenario began, I wouldn't be in the First Martial World.
If something happened, even by chance...
“Go, Kim Dokja.”
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
