WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 300: Episode 56: Reader and writer (4)

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Yu Junghyeok had died.

[The Fourth Wall shakes violently.]

It didn't feel real.

[The Fourth Wall shakes so severely that it is in danger!]

[The Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall has activated powerfully!]

I could barely breathe, as if I were having a bout of claustrophobia.

Why had Junghyeok suddenly gained the Writer Attribute? Why had he chosen death and regression himself? I felt as though I understood, yet it was hard to accept.

The Junghyeok from the original story I knew no longer existed.

Only a handful of fables proved his absence.

...Was this how it felt?

「This is a novel. A story within a novel.」

I slowly inhaled, then exhaled.

「And Yu Junghyeok has stepped outside the role of a character.」

My ears rang, and my heart pounded madly. I inhaled and exhaled once more.

[The Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall has activated even more powerfully!]

My senses gradually returned, along with the murmurs of my allies.

"...What happened?"

"You all heard that, right? The Scenario was cleared!"

After slapping my cheeks twice, I raised my head and felt the Status of the Apocalypse Dragon overflowing from the Sealing Orb.

[The nebula Olympus prepares the battlefield for the Apocalypse Dragon.]

[The nebula Veda prepares for the calamity.]

[The nebula Tamra...]

If my prediction was right, there was still time. I called out to the allies scattered around us.

"Everyone, please gather. I have something to say."

The allies watched me warily, but gathered nearby one by one. Someone was supporting the collapsed Han Suyeong, while Kim Namwoon and Jihye openly showed hostility toward me.

"The Apocalypse Dragon will be released soon. Regarding that..."

"Shut up! What the hell was that just now? Did you plot something with Junghyeok and attack Master?"

Jihye shouted, aiming her sword at my throat. Hyeongseong followed up.

"Dokja-ssi, what on earth was that...?"

"Captain! What should we do with this bastard? Want me to beat the shit out of him?"

Namwoon even raised his right hand, where [Black Flame] had activated. Then Suyeong lifted her head and spoke.

"...Everyone, listen to him."

"Huh?"

"I said, listen to him."

Suyeong's eyes were unfocused. Still, those empty pupils weren't proof that she had given up on everything.

Suyeong resembled me.

No matter how she looked on the outside, she was probably already trying to accept the situation in her head. Maybe she was even thinking about what to do next.

I looked over the allies. Lee Hyeongseong, Kim Namwoon, Lee Seolhwa, Lee Jihye, Shin Yuseong... The people who had survived the 1,863rd round.

I could have told them the truth about Suyeong. That Suyeong had used them. That she had intended to end their stories here to create a new world.

Yet I couldn't say it.

It was because they sincerely followed Suyeong.

"Everyone, take good care of the Captain. Don't act rashly. Let's hear Dokja-ssi out first."

The allies, somewhat calmed by Hyeongseong's intervention, looked at me.

I began to explain.

"The release of the Apocalypse Dragon doesn't end when the seal is broken. I don't know if you're aware, but the end of this Scenario is..."

I looked up at the sky as I spoke. The other allies looked up with me.

A massive body crammed inside the Sealing Orb. Fragments of the Sealing Orb breaking apart bit by bit. As time passed, the density of Status covering the sky grew thicker.

Relying on [The Fourth Wall], I kept spouting hollow words.

"Everyone should return to headquarters and prepare for the next Scenario. You probably have around three days left."

* * *

I could have left the 1,863rd round immediately. I didn't because the people of this round were characters I had loved as well.

"The Release of the Apocalypse Dragon" had bought a little time by using the Grass-Cutting Sword as the final key. The Grass-Cutting Sword's Status was somewhat lacking as a dragon-slaying key, which slightly delayed the Apocalypse Dragon's release.

I had to make good use of this time.

Since Suyeong had chosen this route, the destruction of the nebulae was inevitable. What mattered was that Earth escaped that destruction.

The next day, I gave Hyeongseong a great deal of information in headquarters' situation room.

They were all future plans I had prepared in advance. From avoiding the Apocalypse Dragon's calamity to the new fables and items they needed to obtain, and even a list of powerful beings they had to join hands with. Hyeongseong listened while taking notes on everything I said, then suddenly looked up and asked.

"How do you know all this, Dokja-ssi?"

"For the same reason Suyeong knows."

I'd only said it to avoid an unnecessary explanation, but Hyeongseong's expression grew troubled. After hesitating for a long time, he said something unexpected.

"Are you also a Plagiarist Author, Dokja-ssi?"

"A Plagiarist Author?"

"Oh, you're not? I'm sorry."

I collected myself and asked, "Did Han Suyeong tell you about her Attribute?"

"Ah, well..."

Hyeongseong scratched his head awkwardly.

I couldn't believe it. Suyeong, so proud and selfish, had revealed her identity to the characters of the original story? Why?

Before I could think further, someone opened the situation room door and entered.

"Everyone, get out."

Suyeong spoke with her cap pulled low over her face.

"Yes, understood."

Hyeongseong obediently lowered his head, gathered his things, and left the situation room.

Only Suyeong and I remained in the empty room.

Since I had cleared the Otherworld Covenant, Suyeong must have done the same. If that was the case, she had no reason to show hostility toward me.

"Looks like you've gotten yourself together."

"Shut up."

Suyeong crossed her arms and dropped into a chair.

"What are you so unhappy about?"

"Unhappy? Is that supposed to be a question? Because of you, everyone here is about to die."

I looked at the allies waiting for us outside the situation room. Beyond the transparent wall, they were huddled together with grave expressions as they spoke. Suyeong's despairing expression right after Junghyeok died had probably been because of them.

"It's better to move on to the next Scenario than sleep forever."

Outside the window, Hyeongseong briefly met my eyes and gave me a faint smile.

Hyeongseong knew Suyeong was a Plagiarist Author. Perhaps he had even known Suyeong would abandon them. He resembled a bear and had no tact, but he was a thoughtful man. If it was Hyeongseong, he might have expected things to turn out this way. Even so, he had chosen to follow Suyeong.

I continued.

"The Apocalypse Dragon's release doesn't mean everything is over. You know that too."

Suyeong lowered her head without answering. The Apocalypse Dragon's aura was gradually being released into the sky. Once it was released, disaster would come to the Star Stream. That didn't mean every future Scenario would be ruined.

After all, Junghyeok of the 1,863rd round had seen the end of the Scenarios even after releasing that Apocalypse Dragon.

"Explain things properly to the allies. Everything you did wrong, everything you hid. Even if it isn't a perfect development, there's still a way to make it work somehow."

"..."

"There are still plenty of places we can borrow strength from. Anna Croft's Zarathustra, the Seekers of the End, the King of the Transcendents, and the one living on the Star of Reincarnators."

"I said shut up."

Suyeong lifted her head and glared at me. Under the cap pulled low over her face, the pride left in her eyes burned fiercely.

Something was strange, though.

Suyeong's eyes were badly swollen.

When I silently looked at her face, Suyeong growled and pulled her cap lower.

I didn't like Suyeong of the 1,863rd round. Even so, I could understand her. The world she had wanted to create was, perhaps, a little like the world I had dreamed of.

Suyeong gritted out the words.

"...I never thought Junghyeok would become a Writer."

"Why did he suddenly gain that Attribute?"

"He must have wanted to write a new story. Desperately. That's the unlock condition for the Writer Attribute."

It was something I seemed to understand, yet didn't understand at all.

In a world where he struggled to survive, not one he could complete by placing a period at its end... Yu Junghyeok had stepped outside this story to write his own story.

Neither Suyeong nor I said anything, but I knew what the other was thinking.

When I looked up, Suyeong had taken off her cap and was lighting a cigarette.

"How about one question each? Don't use the System. It's too much trouble."

Suyeong blew out smoke and asked with a blank expression, "Lies included?"

"Fine."

"You go first."

I nodded.

"Who do you think the author of TWSA is?"

Suyeong inhaled and exhaled smoke once more before answering.

"A very large baby."

"A baby?"

"In a world without Scenarios, a baby with only the desire to see the next story left... A baby with an incredibly terrifying imagination."

Something came to mind at that moment.

A world without Scenarios. There was only one such world in this Star Stream.

"Could it be...?"

"You'd better not say it out loud."

Suyeong pointed at the sky.

"It might be listening."

I closed my mouth. If that existence truly was the author, it wasn't impossible. But...

With my thoughts in turmoil, I said to Suyeong, "Your turn. Ask."

"I'm thinking, so wait."

"We don't have much time, so ask quickly. I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?"

"I completed the Otherworld Covenant, so I have to return to my original worldline too."

Suyeong frowned slightly.

"Now that your business is done, you're going to run off? That's impressive. After ruining my world."

"I gave Hyeongseong everything I knew. If they proceed as planned, they can make it to the end without any other help."

I looked at the people outside the situation room and thought.

This world had always been their world.

"When are you leaving?"

"Leaving?"

"You completed the Otherworld Covenant too."

I wasn't the only one who had completed the Otherworld Covenant. Since Junghyeok had died, Suyeong must have completed her own mission as well. She would now receive Secretive Plotter's help and leave to complete her own world.

Suyeong, who had been looking at the floor, spoke.

"I'm not leaving."

Footnotes:

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