WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 257: Episode 48 — A Character (1)
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Pain flared across my cheek several times, as if I'd been burned.
"Kim Dokja! Hey! What's going on?!"
My vision flickered as my consciousness slowly rose to the surface.
[Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall is activating strongly!]
"Ugh..."
My voice didn't sound like my own. For a brief moment, it felt as though I'd become an entirely different being before returning to myself. A chilling sensation lingered throughout my body. The shoulder beneath Jang Hayoung's fingertips twitched.
"What happened to you?"
I couldn't clearly remember what had happened.
I remembered asking [The Fourth Wall] to check my Attributes Window, but after that, I'd heard a voice...
Rubbing my temple, I asked, "How long was I out?"
"I don't know. Lightning suddenly struck, so I ran over."
"Lightning?"
"You know, the sparks that happen when you violate Plausibility. They..."
"They struck like lightning?"
Hayoung nodded vigorously.
"I've never seen anything that big before."
Looking closer, I saw that my clothes, including my coat, had been scorched black. The backlash had been powerful enough to ruin a coat with an automatic repair function... Even the office ceiling had been blasted clean through, as if a meteorite had struck it.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. More than fine..."
If anything, I felt lighter. It was impossible. My Incarnation body had been burned this badly, yet my mind was clear. Even the power of my fables felt fuller.
[Your comprehension has increased through the effect of the Exclusive Skill Reading Comprehension.]
The moment I saw that message, I remembered what had happened before.
Right. I'd definitely seen a message like that.
[Your understanding of the character Kim Dokja has increased.]
The message had described me as a character.
That had never happened before. A chill passed through my chest.
I'd seen beings undergo Characterization several times before. Those who came from outside the original work, only to eventually assimilate into it.
They were usually called Dropouts.
I hurriedly called up my Attributes Window.
'Attributes Window.'
But it didn't open.
The reason was obvious.
[The Fourth Wall is glaring at you.]
Cold sweat ran down my back.
「Kim Dok ja watched for 15 sec onds.」
'Sorry. I really am.'
Who would've thought that much time had passed? Honestly, even ten or fifteen seconds was barely enough time to examine a single Attributes Window.
「I wo n't show you any more.」
'Wait. Let me ask just one thing.'
I hurriedly caught hold of [The Fourth Wall] as it tried to disappear.
'What exactly is behind that Wall?'
My memory was hazy, but I'd definitely seen something right before I fainted. Thinking back, I might have briefly spoken with someone. Several shadows had definitely been there.
「...Sle epy.」
With those words, [The Fourth Wall] fell asleep. Its functions were still operating, but its consciousness seemed to have shut down. Damn it.
[You have acquired a new fable!]
[You have acquired the fable One Who Peered into the Abyss.]
[This fable has no grade listed.]
I stared blankly at the messages flickering in the air.
"One Who Peered into the Abyss."
I already knew who would acquire that fable in the original work. That was why I couldn't stop the goosebumps rising along my spine. Unrestrained questions raced through my mind.
Why had I acquired this fable here? What did this fable have to do with me being described as a character? Had I become a character now, or was I still a reader?
I...
Was I still someone who could change the future?
"Kim Dokja?"
Hayoung was looking at me with eyes that plainly revealed her emotions.
How nice it would have been if my situation were as transparent as those eyes. If I could read things about myself the way I could read that look...
At that moment, a spark went off in my head.
「What would happen if I used [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] on myself?」
I'd never considered it before.
There was definitely something hidden within me that even I didn't know about.
I didn't know whether the Writer had left it behind or whether it had naturally seeped into me as the world changed. What I did know was that I needed to find out what it was, even if it took time.
Still, once I decided to use [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint], I hesitated.
...Would using this really tell me what I was?
[Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] was a skill that read another person's thoughts and movements, or possessed that person's viewpoint...
[...Kim Dokja? Are you okay?]
I escaped the swamp of my thoughts only after noticing the dokkaebi floating in front of me.
"Bihyeong?"
I stared at Bihyeong stupidly.
Hadn't this bastard said he was leaving earlier?
Bihyeong stammered.
[Uh... The backlash suddenly hit...]
He'd said he was busy, but it seemed he had actually been watching from nearby. What a sly bastard. How could I trust him?
[O-oh, don't misunderstand. I came back because there was something I forgot to tell you.]
As I calmly spoke to a dokkaebi Hayoung had never seen before, she looked over with wide, startled eyes. I lightly patted her shoulder to show her it was fine, then asked Bihyeong, "What didn't you tell me?"
[As you know, this Demon King Selection event is going to get very big.]
Of course it would. I'd properly ignited the rumors that had been quietly circulating among the Constellations at the Gourmet Association. Some of the Constellations there would surely enter the Demon King Selection as well.
[It's not just getting bigger. A fight even broke out over broadcasting rights. As you expected, I wasn't the only dokkaebi dispatched to the Demon Realm.]
"So?"
[There's a dokkaebi you know on the other side.]
A dokkaebi I knew?
[One with an enormous grudge against both you and me.]
There were about two dokkaebis like that. One was in Murim, leaving only one.
"Dokgak?"
[Yeah.]
Dokgak. The dokkaebi in charge of the Japanese channels had once been thoroughly beaten by Bihyeong and me. We'd been lucky then, but that didn't mean we'd be lucky again.
Among the dokkaebis of TWSA, Dokgak had exceptional talent for channel management. If he'd been chosen as one of the dokkaebis leading the Demon King Selection, things wouldn't go smoothly from here on.
[Anyway, watch yourself. Manage your channel well... Wait. What happened to your dokkaebi?]
"Dokkaebi?"
Come to think of it, the area had felt strangely quiet for a while. Above the hole in the ceiling, stars fixed in the sky glittered brightly.
It was strange.
Even if I'd ordered the channel blocked, I should still have heard their complaints... Yet no messages reached my ears.
"Biyoo?"
I called her name aloud, but Biyoo didn't appear. At first, I thought she might be asleep again, but one minute passed, then two, and Biyoo still didn't show herself. A bad feeling washed over me.
"Biyoo!"
Biyoo had disappeared.
* * *
[You have entered #BI-7623 Channel!]
...
[The Constellation Bald Army General is greatly moved by your return.]
[The Constellation Naval Warfare God smiles warmly at you.]
[Many Constellations welcome your return!]
When I entered Bihyeong's channel, modifiers I hadn't seen in a while welcomed me. Yet even as they showered me with cheers, I couldn't feel happy at all.
[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation asks about the whereabouts of the dokkaebi Biyoo.]
A few Constellations answered immediately.
[The Constellation Bald Army General wipes his head, seemingly troubled.]
[The Constellation King Heungmu clears his throat and presses his thumb and forefinger together.]
[Some Constellations say they would be willing to answer if given coins.]
...Come to think of it, the Constellations of the Korean Peninsula didn't have much money. As I searched my pockets for coins, Hayoung spoke.
"Could she have been caught in the backlash?"
Biyoo didn't belong to the Administration Bureau, so she had no Great Fable to protect her when the backlash struck. It was possible that she'd been swept up in it and died. But...
"No. There are no traces."
If that had happened, terrible fragments would have been scattered everywhere, but there was no trace of Biyoo anywhere. It felt as if someone had ripped out the entire being called Biyoo.
Who could it be? Who could Biyoo...
Bihyeong, who had been biting his nails, raised his head. The moment our eyes met, we realized we were thinking the same thing.
Biyoo was the only dokkaebi in the Demon Realm with an unaffiliated channel.
[Goddamn it. It was them.]
"Hunchback."
Passages from the original work raced through my mind.
「The only Scenario area not under dokkaebi jurisdiction. That place is the Demon Realm.」
Just as TWSA said, the Demon Realm had originally been Hunchback territory. Yet a dokkaebi unaffiliated with the Administration Bureau had been found to possess a private channel there.
"That soul is mine."
The Hunchback I'd first met had coveted the Dokkaebi's Egg too.
The value of an unaffiliated channel was impossible to assess in the current Demon Realm.
A Great Fable event was unfolding in the Demon Realm for the first time in a long while. There was no way the Hunchbacks would miss an event taking place in their sphere of influence.
They had stolen the channel with their sights set on the Demon King Selection.
Hunchbacks were naturally highly resistant to Plausibility as well. Even if a backlash had struck nearby while I was unconscious, they could have pushed through it and taken Biyoo.
But damn it... Of all times.
[Leave it to me. I'll find them.]
When I glanced back, Bihyeong's eyes were filled with anger.
[The dokkaebis' honor is at stake. Even if she isn't affiliated with the Administration Bureau, I can't just stand by.]
"Let's go together."
Bihyeong shook his head.
[There isn't much time left until the Demon King Selection. Don't you have things to do before then?]
That was right. There wasn't much time left. If I wasted too much time looking for Biyoo, the selection could fall apart the moment it began.
"...Why are you helping me this much?"
[You belong to my channel now.]
Bihyeong avoided my gaze as he spoke.
[I'm only doing this for my channel. You should focus on figuring out how to win. That way, the Constellations will be happy, and my channel will grow bigger too.]
With those words, Bihyeong's figure vanished from the air. Hayoung asked, "...Can we really trust him?"
Few questions were more foolish than whether you could trust a dokkaebi.
Separate from my trust in Bihyeong, there were few species in the entire Star Stream more inscrutable than dokkaebis.
I let out a short sigh. It wasn't a good time to get Yu Junghyeok involved, and Hayoung wasn't skilled enough to pursue Bihyeong.
The beings who might help me were ultimately somewhere in that night sky, but the problem was that I was currently in Bihyeong's channel. In other words, every message I sent through the channel would be exposed somehow.
Then... there was only one way.
"Jang Hayoung. Call the Wall."
* * *
Swift footsteps raced through the darkness.
[Baaat, baaaat!]
Biyoo, trapped inside a birdcage, let out a mournful cry.
[Baaat! Baaat...!]
An old Hunchback with a bent back ran down the dark path. The hurried footsteps carried a buoyant rhythm. The old Hunchback was in an exceptionally good mood.
[The age of dokkaebis is over.]
The old Hunchback was excited at the thought of boasting about the achievement to the other Hunchbacks. Not long ago, a fellow Hunchback had brought back the fable "Fable That Beats Up Dokkaebis" and bragged about it, making the old Hunchback terribly jealous. Yet what the old Hunchback had brought this time wasn't the fable "Fable That Beats Up Dokkaebis," but a dokkaebi itself.
The old Hunchback lovingly stroked Biyoo's cage.
[My child, you will become the first Hunchback to have a channel.]
The Hunchbacks' long-held wish.
It was to reclaim control of stories that the dokkaebis had taken from them.
[Streamer of ■■. You will free the slaves from the hell of this horrific Scenario...]
The hump on the old Hunchback's left cheek swelled greatly. The excited old Hunchback's hump wriggled and lightly nudged Biyoo's cage. Biyoo looked at the hump with eyes filled with fear, then hurriedly looked around. She desperately searched for someone to save her, but unfortunately, there was no one here who could save Biyoo.
[Hey.]
Strictly speaking, there was no person here.
[Are you going to move that hump or not?]
Footnotes:
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