WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 285: Episode 53: Demon King of Salvation (5)

──────

Crawling Chaos.

One of the Outer Gods closest to this universe's "origin," and an existence supposedly somewhat favorable toward humanity... At least, that was what the myths said. In truth, there wasn't a single mention of it in TWSA.

【Crawling Chaos... Is that what the Final Wall calls me?】

"That's only my guess."

【Documents left behind by the Recorders of Fear? To believe records less than a century old, you're more naive than I thought. Human language cannot reveal even a fragment of the unknown.】

I bit my lip. Not only TWSA, but even the myths believed to be its basis, had very little to say about the Outer Gods. In the seventy-fourth round of TWSA, one of the Recorders of Fear had even left behind these words.

「"Everything we wrote was a lie. Lies were the only thing we could use to explain the fear of the unknown."」

That was why I asked, feeling a little intimidated.

"...Are the myths known on Earth wrong?"

【To you, I am the Secretive Plotter. That is enough.】

It was an ambiguous answer, yet in another sense, it was enough.

I didn't know whether he was Crawling Chaos.

However, one thing was certain. The Secretive Plotter was a divine being powerful enough not to be bound by a modifier.

"I have a request."

【You wish for me to stop that.】

"That's right."

Below the Secretive Plotter, an enormous mass of fog was slowly swallowing the planet. The time of that realm had been slowed by the Secretive Plotter's power, but it hadn't stopped completely.

The Secretive Plotter stared at it for a while before speaking.

【That fog is a calamity born at the beginning of time. It cannot be destroyed completely.】

"I know there's a way."

The Secretive Plotter paid no attention to my words and simply looked down at the universe. Tense, I waited for what he would say next.

A shadow rippled with an unsettling sound.

I hadn't imagined it would feel like this when I heard his Indirect Messages through the channel. I'd thought he was a Constellation who liked to joke around and got along well with others...

Yet all I could feel from the shadow before me was a terrifyingly cold chill.

Ssssss.

I didn't know what sort of trick it was, but the distant 73rd Demon Realm suddenly appeared as though it were nearby. As if I were looking through a telescope with immense magnification, I could see the people in the industrial complex.

"Kim Dokjaaaaaa!"

Jeong Huiwon's voice echoed like an auditory hallucination.

I saw my allies crying out in despair.

【Why do you wish to save them? Even if only you survive, you can still see the ending.】

"The ending would have no meaning without them."

As I said that, I ran dozens of possible questions and answers through my mind.

Sweat pooled in my clenched palm.

I couldn't fail here. No matter what, I had to persuade the Secretive Plotter in this conversation.

【What if they don't want that?】

I slowly closed my half-open mouth.

「Damn it, Kim Dokja! Stop! Please! Come back!」

「I don't want this. I don't want to survive like this.」

「I'll do anything. If you tell me to die, I'll die. If you tell me to stay still, I'll stay still. But please, don't do this. Please!」

The voices of my allies that I had heard through [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint].

Words they hadn't been able to tell me, but that I had heard.

【What if the ending they wanted was to die there with you? Would you still insist on saving them?】

I barely managed to part my lips.

"...I would."

【That isn't salvation. It is a curse.】

I couldn't think of anything to say in my defense.

My fable answered in my place.

[The fable Demon King of Salvation continues its story.]

As he watched the fable flowing from me, the Secretive Plotter continued asking.

【You change the worldline by saving those who should die, wound everyone, and reach the ending you desire... What meaning could that possibly have?】

The shadow's empty eyes glowed eerily.

A frigid chill seeped down my spine.

【No matter what you do or what story you create, you will never truly reach them.】

You couldn't know a Constellation's true nature through Indirect Messages. Just as I, who had learned about the world only through books, couldn't fully understand the characters.

Perhaps coming to meet the Secretive Plotter had been a mistake. But it was already too late to turn back.

After a brief pause, I opened my mouth.

"...I once heard someone say something like this. Even so, doesn't the wall remain?"

It was something Jang Hayoung had once said.

"Even if there's an insurmountable wall between them and me, even if nothing I convey can be heard by the person on the other side... If I keep writing something on that wall, then at least the wall will change."

I hadn't even said goodbye to Hayoung properly.

She was probably in the ward with Junghyeok.

"And perhaps, after a very long time, someone might look at that wall."

The Secretive Plotter was silent for a while.

Every sentence took on a different meaning for each interpreter. To the Secretive Plotter, who had lived for countless years, my words might have sounded completely different. Still, all I could draw on was the wisdom of my twenty-eight years. I could only hope those meager words moved something within him.

【I do not agree with your way, but I am curious.】

At last, the Secretive Plotter spoke.

【Suppose you reach the end of everything in your own way and save the world. What will you do about the other worlds?】

"What?"

...Other worlds?

At that moment, the universe beneath me flipped over like a deck of cards. The cards, split into tens and hundreds of pieces, each shone in their own way with different shapes and colors.

Dimensions farther away than this Star Stream. Worlds that were faint, yet undeniably real.

There was the world of TWSA that I had read.

There was the eighth-round Junghyeok, dying like a sunfish in the Theater Dungeon.

There was the eighteenth-round Junghyeok, who had gotten himself killed for messing with the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint.

There was the forty-first-round Junghyeok, who had made a cold-hearted choice by sacrificing his companions.

And there was the one-hundred-eighty-first-round Junghyeok, standing back up after overcoming despair.

...

The stories of Yu Junghyeok that had once saved me were displayed before my eyes.

And I knew the endings of every one of those rounds.

【What will happen to all the worlds you failed to save?】

It was a question I had never considered.

No, perhaps it was a question I had tried not to consider.

To avoid creating that story, I had changed Yu Junghyeok's third round.

Then all the events of TWSA that should have happened, everything in that world which had protected me during my childhood...

Would they now become things that never existed?

The Secretive Plotter, who had been watching me, spoke as if he found it amusing.

【I will grant your request.】

At some point, the screen beneath me had changed to the 73rd Demon Realm.

I didn't know what whim had driven him, but the Secretive Plotter had decided to accept our deal.

【There is one condition.】

I had expected that.

Every Otherworld Covenant came with difficult conditions.

"As long as I don't have to become subordinate to you or die, anything is fine."

The Secretive Plotter's mouth opened into a white grin.

As if the conditions I had named were laughable.

【Depending on the circumstances, you may have to risk your life. It all depends on you.】

"Fine. But before you tell me the condition, save my Allies first."

【As I said before, I cannot eliminate that fog.】

"Then...?"

【You only need to save the mortals in that industrial complex, correct?】

I hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

I thought I understood the method the Secretive Plotter intended to use.

"Can you move them somewhere safe?"

【Where do you wish for them to be moved?】

"Earth. Seoul, if possible."

【That is a region closed off by the Scenario. You ask for much.】

Sssst.

One of his long fingers was severed. The shadow's little finger floated up, then split into tens of thousands of points and flew through space. In an instant, those points crossed the galaxy and entered the 73rd Demon Realm.

I could see the people of the industrial complex through the screen below. People being transported somewhere along with a new Scenario.

The industrial complex's population was close to one hundred thousand.

The Secretive Plotter had just sent a personal Scenario to every one of those Incarnations.

Tststststst!

Though it consumed an enormous amount of Plausibility, the Secretive Plotter paid the cost with the sacrifice of a single finger.

My Allies, having received the Scenario, disappeared from the Demon Realm.

The Indescribable Distance, freed from the restraints of time, belatedly began devouring the planet, but the Demon Realm had already been emptied.

I saw the fog let out a resentful cry after losing its prey.

【Now it is my turn.】

"Go ahead."

【You must kill someone.】

"May I ask who I have to kill?"

My heart grew heavy. Perhaps it was someone bound by special restrictions. Or perhaps it was a being tied up in Plausibility that even the Secretive Plotter couldn't touch.

【You will know if you accept the covenant.】

"...What if I refuse?"

At that, the Secretive Plotter looked toward my Allies, who had been moved to Earth.

【I still have nine fingers left.】

"I accept."

At any rate, I had avoided the worst outcome.

My Allies had safely returned to Earth, and everything was going according to plan.

[You have acquired a new Sub Scenario.]

[An error has occurred in the Scenario system of Star Stream.]

[The information for the relevant Scenario is being reconstructed.]

[You have acquired the possibility of a new fable!]

[A fable that Star Stream cannot understand is sprouting within you.]

Now I was the only one left. As long as I did well, everything would end smoothly.

When the Secretive Plotter raised his right hand, the darkness of the universe twisted and a small portal began to open.

【There was someone who made a covenant like yours.】

...A covenant like mine?

I searched through my memories of the original work, but I couldn't think of anyone who might have made an Otherworld Covenant at this point.

"What happened to that person?"

【I have great expectations for you. If you complete the Scenario safely, you will be able to return without incident.】

Soon, the portal grew large enough for me to enter.

【Another divine being will transport you. Be careful not to defy it.】

At the same time, I was sucked into the portal. My surroundings warped, and the whole world spread out like a postmodern oil painting whose intent I couldn't read. Nausea rose several times amid the vivid colors. When I lifted my head again, a strange sight unfolded before me.

Rumble...

Before me were enormous bubbles filling endless space, and a circular door at their center. The moment the door opened a huge eye and looked at me, [The Fourth Wall] activated as if it were having a seizure.

[The Fourth Wall emits a warning!]

There was only one thing in TWSA that existed as such a massive gateway.

【Are you the be ing the Plot ter se nt?】

I nodded. The door looked down at me like a living creature with a will of its own.

【A frag ment of the Fi nal Wa ll... A nd...】

Its voice was muffled, as though it came from underwater.

【...A jour ney to a con cluded e vent...】

"...Where am I going?"

【Every thing has al ready been writ ten, and is be ing writ ten at the same ti me.】

...As expected, I didn't think a normal conversation would be possible.

Outer Gods were usually like that. The Secretive Plotter was simply a rare exception.

【Past, pre sent, and fu ture are no dif ferent, so only a mean ingless sto ry will re main.】

With a roar, the enormous door opened.

A dimensional gate that linked the past, present, and future. Once I stepped inside, there would be no turning back.

But there was something I had to take care of before entering.

After hesitating for a moment, I reached into my clothes. Something warm and small, like a ball of cotton, came out in my hand.

[Baat!]

Biyoo cried out at me, tears welling in her eyes.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried