WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 268: Episode 50: The Reader’s Fable (3)
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My vision blacked out for an instant, then returned.
It felt as though my consciousness had suffered a blackout. I blinked blankly, but all I could see was a pitch-black ceiling.
...What happened?
After taking a slow breath, I moved my heavy head and started thinking.
I had been participating in the second round of the Demon King Selection.
At the last moment, I killed the Duke of Berkan, and almost at the same time, I died after being struck by Surya's attack. I definitely heard a flood of system messages afterward, but...
Did we win the second round?
Or... did we lose?
I thought it over carefully, but I couldn't be sure.
It felt like I'd heard a message that said,
[You have stolen the enemy's crest and won the game!]
But it also felt like I'd heard,
[Your crest has been stolen and you have lost the game!]
Maybe I'd heard both. If so, which one came first?
There was no way to know right now.
[You have been killed.]
That was the only message I was certain of.
I had died in the game.
And then I opened my eyes in this place.
"Ugh..."
As I slowly pushed myself up, the space where I'd been lying came into clearer view. Countless oil lamps had been placed in wall niches, faintly lighting the vast darkness. It was an unfamiliar place, somewhere I'd never been before.
There was a sign where I stood that read [000~100], and around it, massive bookshelves stretched on without end. The stale smell of books hung in the air. The whole scene reminded me of a university library.
...A Library? Why am I here?
I pulled out a book from the nearest shelf and opened it to a random page.
「After Lee Seolhwa died, Yu Junghyeok thought over and over again that he ought to die as well. He could never defeat them with only the Attributes and Skills he had. The end of the Scenario was nowhere in sight, and the power of the Constellations was absurdly overwhelming. He couldn't avenge Lee Seolhwa, nor could he avenge Lee Jihye. In the midst of that despair, Yu Junghyeok thought.」
Familiar sentences lined the page in a style I knew well, and I read them as if I were being pulled in.
「'What if I had a Patron too?'」
It wasn't a scene from TWSA. Even so, I knew this scene because it was one I'd replayed in my imagination dozens, hundreds of times.
「[The Constellation ??? wishes to make you its Incarnation.]」
This was the moment Yu Junghyeok first gained his Patron.
Yu Junghyeok of round 0 had trained over and over to the very limit as an Incarnation without a Patron, only to finally kneel before the Scenario.
「A new Attribute, Regressor, blossoms!」
This was the story of the moment Yu Junghyeok first became the regressor.
I reflexively shut the book and checked the title.
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 0, Volume 56]
For some reason, I felt like I knew where this place was. As my eyes adjusted more to the darkness, I could see my surroundings much more clearly.
This was the Library where every record of TWSA had been gathered.
A little appalled, I muttered,
"...This has to be way more than 3,149 chapters."
TWSA was long, sure, but not this long. There were enough books to fill a space this vast. Even if I devoted my whole life to it, I wasn't sure I'd make it through even half these shelves.
Twinge.
That was when the headache started.
Memories that had been crouching deep inside me were trying to break out of their shells and push their way out from within me. This place, which had felt unfamiliar until just now, no longer did. The lamps in those niches and the books on these shelves both seemed familiar.
Goosebumps slowly rose along my arms as a fierce sense of déjà vu flashed through my head.
I had already come to this place once before.
When was it? Just when...?
「Kim Dok ja.」
A voice echoed through the entire Library.
It was a tone I knew well.
"...The Fourth Wall?"
The entire Library gave a faint tremor.
「Your soul for m was in dan ger.」
"In danger?"
「I cal led youuu...」
[The Fourth Wall] had called me here. It wasn't hard to understand what that meant.
"Then is this place inside you?"
「That’s ri ght.」
"How do I get out of here? Where's the exit?"
「.......」
"...Hey?"
I called out a few more times, but [The Fourth Wall] didn't answer.
It was always falling asleep whenever it said it was sleepy, so maybe it'd dozed off again this time too. I had no choice but to find a way myself.
[You cannot use Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint in this location.]
[You cannot use Bookmark in this location.]
All the Skills I could use were blocked. No matter how long I walked, I couldn't see the end of the Library. East, west, south, north, above, below, there wasn't anything that looked even remotely like an exit.
Once I became certain escape was impossible, an almost narcotic sense of comfort washed over me instead.
"...This is heaven."
No matter where I looked, east, west, south, or north, there was only TWSA.
A world filled with nothing but TWSA. If I'd come here before the Scenario began, I might have been happy.
There was a story here that would never end, no matter how much I read.
Since I was in soul form, I wouldn't even get hungry.
And since there was no way out like this anyway, maybe I should just read some more books.
You never know. There might be a clue somewhere in them.
I pulled books off the shelves, stacked them beside me, and started reading them one by one. Even seeing it again after all this time, TWSA was still TWSA.
"...Why does it have so much explanation?"
Maybe because everything around me was so quiet, I read even faster than usual. But I wasn't skimming. Like a gourmet who had starved for ages just to carve up a single piece of meat, I carved up each sentence, savored it, and swallowed it.
"That bastard was cute back then."
"...Damn it, I should've crushed his spirit more at the beginning."
Some of the stories were things I already knew, and some were things I hadn't properly known.
"I forgot about this information..."
"What, something like this happened too?"
Maybe it was because I felt relieved that no one else was here, but I naturally started talking to myself. Real muttering, the kind you do when you aren't conscious of anyone listening.
How many more books did I read like that?
Along with the quiet satisfaction, something like warmth began to seep into a corner of my heart.
What if I just gave up on everything and stayed here? If I could stay here forever without ever waking up, that might not be so bad. I wouldn't have to die because of the Scenario here, and I wouldn't need to mind the Constellations' watchful eyes.
After swiftly reading through one section of books, I started skipping bookshelves or opening books from the middle.
「Yu Junghyeok sometimes thought.」
「'What would've happened if I hadn't met that guy on that bridge back then? Or if I'd killed him there... what would the rest of my life have become?'」
At the oddly familiar passage, I reflexively checked the title of the book.
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Third Round, Volume 12]
...So it was the third round after all.
I opened a few more books.
Some of them had insults about me written in them.
「'That damned Kim Dokja.'」
And some of them had...
「"Kim Dokja, get a hold of yourself! Kim Dokja!"」
...words I was a little grateful for.
And some books had nothing written in them at all.
「■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■」
Sentences I couldn't read, as if they'd been filtered out. Some books even had whole parts of episodes left blank.
As though those stories hadn't been recorded yet.
All the books were neatly organized according to the order of the rounds. It looked as though someone had deliberately arranged them that way so they'd be easy to find when needed.
But who...?
That was when I heard movement from the shelf across from me.
Rustle.
I reflexively shut the book and looked over. It was only for an instant, but something like a human shadow flickered there.
"...Who's there?"
I heard a loud clatter, and the footsteps started growing distant. I immediately ran after the sound. I nearly tripped over the books strewn across the floor a few times, but I stubbornly chased after the shadow.
The signs on the shelves changed rapidly.
From [000~100] to [100~200].
Then again, to [200~300].
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 373, Volume 24]
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 473, Volume 31]
Countless shelves flashed past.
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 573, Volume 27]
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 681, Volume 12]
...
My breathing gradually grew labored, yet I still couldn't see the end of the shelves. Even though I was in soul form, my breath was coming hard.
Still, I kept running. It was a rare chance. If I let that thing get away here, I felt like I'd never catch it again.
How much farther did I run like that?
The sound of movement came a little closer.
"Wait!"
The moment I shouted, the floor ahead suddenly sank. With a cry, my body pitched forward, unable to overcome its own momentum. If I hadn't reflexively grabbed the shelf beside me, I might have fallen straight in.
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 1,863, Volume 22]
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 1,863, Volume 23]
[Record of Yu Junghyeok, Round 1,863, Volume 26]
...
Books came crashing down over my head. It hurt like getting punched by Junghyeok. By the time I barely managed to shove my way out from the pile, the shadow I'd been chasing was already gone.
"Ah..."
Instead, a pitch-black precipice loomed before my eyes.
A precipice whose bottom I couldn't see.
As if entranced, I stared down into it.
This was the end of the Library.
The end of every story.
As I gazed quietly into it, an urge rose in me to throw myself in.
It felt like I might be able to learn something I'd been wondering about for a very long time.
If I went there, if only I could step inside that place...
Just as my body gradually tilted toward the precipice, someone grabbed my shoulder hard and said,
「(If you fall, you'll die. That's truly beyond the Wall.)」
* * *
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
"Get a hold of yourself."
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
"Yu Junghyeok-ssi, stop hitting him! Dokja-ssi's face is all swollen!"
"Why isn't he waking up?"
"He's still breathing. I think his soul took some kind of shock..."
At Yu Sangah's words, Yu Junghyeok frowned and rose to his feet. On the ground, Kim Dokja lay limp, his cheeks swollen taut. Beside him, Lee Hyeongseong, a man built like a bear, was crouched down with a crazed expression, rubbing Dokja's whole body.
"Dokja-ssi... Please wake up. Please..."
The moment the second round ended, the Mythical Battlefield was abruptly dismantled.
The participants and helpers of the Yu Junghyeok-Kim Dokja Industrial Complex had all been dumped in front of the industrial complex wasteland.
Yu Sangah looked at the few figures standing in the same camp.
Two dogs, one pretty young man, and Han Myeongoh...
"You somehow made it out alive, Manager Han."
"Y-Yu Sangah-ssi..."
Myeongoh broke into a cold sweat and took a step back.
Sangah immediately turned to Jang Hayoung beside her.
"Is this person... on our side?"
"Ah, I..."
Meeting Sangah's clear eyes, Hayoung stammered awkwardly. She looked flustered, as if she wasn't sure how she should introduce herself. Then Shin Yuseong caught her eye.
"Ah, are you maybe from that video...?"
"...You know me?"
Recalling the 73rd Demon King Scenario thanks to Yuseong, Hayoung seemed to realize only then who these people were.
"I'm really a fan! Wow, I never thought I'd get to meet Earth's Incarnations like this..."
Hayoung's face brightened as she grabbed Sangah's hand and shook it enthusiastically. Sangah gave an awkward smile, then raised her head to read the message floating in the sky.
[The winning team of the second round is currently being determined.]
If the winner was still being determined, that meant the result wasn't clear enough for everyone to accept without question. Sangah murmured,
"Did we win, or did we lose?"
Hayoung answered,
"I think Kim Dokja killed him first, so doesn't that mean we won?"
"But our crest was taken right after that..."
Junghyeok shook his head.
"Kim Dokja was faster."
The certainty in his voice brightened both Hayoung's and Sangah's expressions. If Junghyeok said that, then there was a good chance it was true.
That was when a cloud of black dust rose from the other side of the wasteland.
Rumbblee!
A powerful Status came rolling in like a wave.
There was no need to ask what the approaching beings were. Junghyeok's expression hardened as he looked up at the sky.
[The winning team of the second round is currently being determined.]
That was still the only message floating there.
To be exact, the message had remained unchanged for thirty minutes.
"Everyone, get ready."
"What?"
"Something's wrong."
When it came to Main Scenarios, those Administration Bureau bastards handled things quickly. There was no way they'd drag their feet for a full thirty minutes over something as simple as deciding the winner.
Which meant this situation was intentional.
Someone didn't want the Scenario to end like this.
Tzzzzzt!
The 73rd Demon Realm was currently filled with the enormous Plausibility needed to manifest the Mythical Battlefield. Junghyeok drew the Black Heaven Demon Blade and said,
"This time, it isn't a game."
Thunder-Eating Bird's roar covered the sky. Constellations unaffected by the game's penalty were flying across the heavens toward them.
Footnotes:
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