WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 297: Episode 56: Reader and writer (1)

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The advance began at noon that day.

The army included roughly two hundred elite Incarnations. With countless Constellations watching, Lee Hyeongseong raised a horn at the head of the army.

Bwooooo.

[The item War Horn of the Battlefield has activated!]

[Allied morale has greatly increased!]

[Allied combat power has slightly increased!]

As expected of Suyeong. It looked like she had even prepared consumable items like that in advance. When Hyeongseong blew the horn once more, the Incarnations cheered. They all seemed excited.

Shin Yuseong, who had been glancing at me from beside me, spoke politely.

"Um... thank you for saving me last time."

"Ah, no. It was nothing."

Yuseong smiled softly at my answer. Whoever raised her, she was nothing like that rude Namwoon. When I looked to the side, Suyeong was wearing an unreadable smile.

...It wasn't as if someone had raised Yuseong to be this way. Yuseong had always been a good kid.

"Are you participating in this Scenario too, Kim Dokja-ssi?"

"No. I don't meet the requirements."

"Oh, I see... That must be disappointing. I heard we can obtain a Great Fable if we clear this Scenario."

It would be disappointing, in a way. If I could obtain "Liberator of the Apocalypse Dragon" here as the Succession of my second Great Fable, it would be an incredible achievement.

Still, that wasn't what I wanted. The Great Fable I wanted to obtain as Succession was in the third round.

Up ahead, I saw Lee Seolhwa wiping the sweat from Hyeongseong's brow. Hyeongseong gave a weak smile.

"I'm nervous. I wonder if I'll be able to do well."

"You'll be fine. You've done well until now."

I could also hear Namwoon and Jihye's voices from behind us.

"Hey, Jihye. What are you gonna do when this Scenario's over?"

"What else? Clear another Scenario."

"How long are you gonna do nothing but clear Scenarios? You should have some fun once in a while. Come on, when this Scenario's over, you and I..."

Namwoon was wearing the coat I had lent him, watching Jihye's reaction. He was wearing gloves on both hands, just as I'd told him. His hair was still white, and his forearms were still wrapped in bandages, but...

Rumble.

Thunder crashed down from the sky.

In the distance, I could see the nebula armies participating in this Scenario rushing toward us. There were nebulae I had already encountered and nebulae I hadn't.

Suyeong's Allies were strong enough, but they lacked the numbers to face all of them.

Standing on Hyeongseong's shoulders, Suyeong spoke.

"Our objective is a single one. To release the Apocalypse Dragon inside that Sealing Orb above us."

Her white coat fluttered as Suyeong continued indifferently.

"You all know this already, but releasing the Apocalypse Dragon will destroy the Korean Peninsula. Still, those of us who fulfill the Clear Conditions can move on to the next stage. So no one on this land will die."

The Incarnations, who had been standing stiffly, shouted again at Suyeong's declaration. Some of them were chanting her name.

It was a familiar sight.

These were all things Yu Junghyeok had once done.

The 95th Scenario, "Return of the Apocalypse Dragon."

This was the Scenario to awaken the Apocalypse Dragon that had been sealed during Eden's destruction. It could be cleared by gathering the five famous swords scattered across Earth and inserting them into the keyhole of that Sealing Orb.

Junghyeok had cleared this Scenario and obtained the conclusion of a Great Fable.

"Let's go to the next Scenario."

At Suyeong's words, the Incarnation army moved toward the Sealing Orb.

Then I saw people rushing toward us from the other side.

[Take their swords! The keys must be ours!]

[There! It's Han Suyeong!]

They were Constellations and Incarnations who had been hiding throughout the Korean Peninsula, people who wanted to gain fables by contributing to the Apocalypse Dragon's release.

"Stop them!"

The Allies beside me scattered and drew their weapons. Hyeongseong, Yuseong, and Jihye charged forward, scattering their charged Mana.

"Hahahahaha! Come on! Abyssal Dragon!"

Namwoon was rampaging through the battlefield as well. His Blackening had advanced to its utmost limit.

The Kim Namwoon of this world was different from the Kim Namwoon I knew. Still, as he tore apart every living thing that approached him, he was unmistakably the Delusional Demon I knew. I didn't know all the terrible things he had done on his way here.

In the middle of all that, Suyeong was taking swords from inside her coat one by one.

Kiiiiiing...

Constellation artifacts rose into the air, radiating brilliant light. They were all keys to clear this Scenario.

There were four swords in total.

One more was needed to complete the key.

"Kim Dokja. Hand over the Arondight you have."

"...You knew?"

I grinned and reached into the folds of my clothes.

The Dragon-Slaying Sword Arondight. It was the final key to this Scenario.

"And send Junghyeok to the Sealing Orb."

At Suyeong's next words, I stopped searching inside my clothes and glared at her. Suyeong was smiling.

"We agreed to kill him, didn't we? Did you forget?"

Her gaze seemed to ask whether I wasn't just like her.

At that moment, I realized something.

"Killing Junghyeok was the condition of your Otherworld Covenant too."

A strange glint passed through Suyeong's eyes.

"That's right."

"Is that why you were so obsessed with Junghyeok?"

"Just hand over the sword already."

I felt Arondight's cold surface inside my clothes.

Actually, I knew exactly what Suyeong was planning.

"The holy sword Ascalon. Thunder Sword Gram. Dragon-Slaying Sword Ridil. Dragon-Piercing Sword Nailing. And Dragon-Slaying Sword Arondight."

As I listed the names of the swords, Suyeong's expression changed subtly and stiffened.

"Here's a question. Choose the one sword I just named that has different properties from the others."

"What are you trying to do right now?"

"You're deceiving everyone."

"Don't talk nonsense."

"'Let's go to the next Scenario'?"

I continued.

"Don't play dumb. You never intended to clear this Scenario."

Suyeong's pupils trembled faintly. A smile close to madness appeared in her eyes, which had looked bored all along.

The four famous swords shone white around her.

"You don't intend to release the Apocalypse Dragon. It's the opposite. You intend to seal Earth together with the Apocalypse Dragon."

"Why do you think that?"

I pointed to the sword in Suyeong's right hand.

"The Dragon-Piercing Sword Nailing you have. It's the only sword among yours with different properties."

The swords originally used as keys for the 95th Scenario all had fables related to slaying dragons. But the Dragon-Piercing Sword Nailing in Suyeong's hand did not.

"That sword failed to slay a dragon. If you use that sword as a key, the seal won't be released. It'll do the opposite."

An unsuitable key doesn't release a seal but strengthens it. Once the Sealing Orb recognized that the time for release had not yet come, it would create an even larger, stronger barrier. Before long, it would cover all of Earth in a seal.

"Time here will stop, and Earth will be sealed together with the Apocalypse Dragon. It will remain fixed in the 95th Scenario forever."

I couldn't read Suyeong's expression as she lowered her head. I continued.

"And that's how you intend to kill Junghyeok."

I looked back at Junghyeok. Junghyeok was looking at me with empty eyes. As long as he had a Patron, he wouldn't die. Even if he died, he would just regress again and again.

But what if there was such a thing as eternal sleep in this world?

An eternal sleep without dreams, one that no one could awaken him from. If such a thing existed, how was it any different from death?

"You decided to seal Junghyeok in this round forever."

Trapped within the Sealing Orb, Junghyeok would fall into a sleep that no one could wake him from. He would not regress, nor would he suffer any longer. He would simply sleep forever, and no new worldline would be created because of him.

That was what Suyeong meant by Junghyeok's "death."

The death of a regressor who transcended time.

When I turned my head, Suyeong was smiling faintly.

"Not bad. How did you know? I never showed you my next plan properly."

"I knew because you didn't show it to me."

I had seen inside Suyeong's mind. I had seen the world she dreamed of and read the information she had shown me. Almost all of it had been a perfect story.

But that world was missing one crucial thing.

"Your story didn't have ■■."

■■, the end of all Scenarios.

But not everyone reaches ■■.

Some fables end without ever getting close to ■■.

Thunder sounded in the western sky.

Rain began falling beneath dark clouds. I could hear my Allies shouting in the distance and the Constellations' declarations as they fought desperately. Hyeongseong, Seolhwa, Jihye. They were all desperate.

To survive.

To survive again and move on to the next Scenario.

It was Suyeong who had brought them this far.

"Is this the conclusion ten thousand versions of you came up with?"

And now Suyeong was trying to end their story.

"Yes. This is the ending I came up with for this world."

"If you were going to end it this way anyway, why did you bother saving all your companions? Why did you insist on such a perfect development?"

Suyeong didn't answer.

"You betrayed them."

If Suyeong's plan succeeded, everyone in this round would never reach their ending. They would sleep within the eternity of this 95th Scenario.

Suyeong looked at the four swords floating around her with expressionless eyes.

"The end of a world doesn't have to be ■■. If I do this, Earth will be safe. Junghyeok and the other Constellations won't know how to undo the strengthened Seal of the Apocalypse Dragon."

"That's deception."

"Some forms of salvation are called that."

"Then the companions who trusted you until now..."

"It isn't a world I made anyway."

"Do you mean that?"

Suyeong didn't answer.

Miserable as it was, I understood how Suyeong felt.

The reason I wanted to return to my original world was because this world wasn't mine.

"Is that what you'll receive for your Otherworld Covenant? In exchange for killing Yu Junghyeok, you gain the power to create your own world?"

A powerful current began flowing from Suyeong's body. She had no intention of dragging this out any longer.

"Hand over the sword, Kim Dokja. It's the path for everyone. Junghyeok wanted this too."

The Plagiarist Author who wanted to surpass the original work probably knew it. To surpass the original work, she had to escape it. And as long as she was a Plagiarist Author, that was impossible.

I smiled.

"I have no intention of killing Junghyeok."

"What nonsense is that? Don't tell me you're giving up the Otherworld Covenant?"

"Of course not."

The moment I finished speaking, Suyeong's form disappeared.

"Junghyeok, stop her!"

At my shout, Junghyeok stepped forward and blocked Suyeong's flying swords.

I tucked Arondight back inside my clothes and drew another sword at the same time.

The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword.

An item that could sever the link between a Constellation and an Incarnation.

I looked at Junghyeok and concentrated power into the sword.

Tstststst...

[The constellation artifact Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword has unleashed its power!]

Suyeong's eyes widened when she saw the power gathering in the sword.

"You can't be..."

Death held many meanings in this Star Stream.

It had been the same when I was struck by [Fate].

"It's useless, Kim Dokja! That method..."

Back then, I had died as the Incarnation Kim Dokja but survived as the Constellation Kim Dokja.

Then what about Yu Junghyeok?

"Gabriel, Jophiel! Please help me!"

[The Constellation Lily Blooming in Aquarius is looking at you.]

[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos is looking at you.]

Suyeong shouted something.

But I didn't listen.

My senses were focused solely on the single black Thread rising above Junghyeok's head.

It was Junghyeok's link, which I could see using the power of the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword.

No one in TWSA had ever tried this method before. But if it worked, if I could cut that link even briefly, I might be able to save Junghyeok.

"Junghyeok, get a grip on yourself!"

Junghyeok now possessed enough fables to become a Constellation.

If he gained a new fable through this Scenario while his connection to his Patron was temporarily severed... he might be reborn as the Constellation Yu Junghyeok.

That meant he would die as an Incarnation.

With this method, Junghyeok might not regress even if he died.

Without sealing Junghyeok, I might be able to return to the third round.

Whoooooosh.

The Demon King's Status and the Archangel's Status I had unleashed flowed into the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword at the same time.

My opponent was Junghyeok's unidentified Constellation. To sever that link, I would need at least this much power.

I swung my sword at the link.

Claaang!

Again.

Claaang!

And once more.

I swung it again and again.

The enormous shockwaves bursting from the link were enough to sweep away the nearby Constellations and Incarnations. Even Suyeong couldn't approach easily because of the backlash.

How long had I kept striking it like that?

At last, I heard a crack.

The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword in my hand broke in half.

I stared at Junghyeok's link, which didn't have so much as a scratch on it.

[The Constellation Lily Blooming in Aquarius feels an unknowable fear.]

[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos is astonished.]

For an instant, I felt a distant universe looking at me.

A will of such immense scale that I couldn't even guess at its origin, one far too great for me to comprehend.

[The Patron of the Incarnation Yu Junghyeok is looking at you.]

Footnotes:

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