Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 303

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 303: Episode 57: Glorious Return (2)

──────

She hadn't dreamed in a long time.

Smoke spread thickly through her hazy vision. It was clearly Korea, yet the structures around her were unfamiliar. Fable Weapons she had never seen before, a black sky like a world on the verge of destruction...

Han Suyeong in the dream muttered.

"What is this?"

But no voice came out.

Clang!

Two men were fighting before her, one in a black coat and the other in white. She had seen this scene before, but something was different.

The two men had identical faces.

...Yu Junghyeok?

With a wet, squelching sound, the two Junghyeoks vanished before her eyes.

What was this? What the hell was she seeing?

Not far away, she saw Kim Dokja on his knees, like someone who had lost everything.

The moment Suyeong reached out and approached him, someone called to her from right beside her.

"That's far enough."

When she turned around, there was a Han Suyeong with the exact same face as her own.

A chill crept up her spine. As though she had been doused with cold water, Suyeong jolted awake from the dream.

"...!"

With a faint groan, she sprang up from the sofa.

"Another shitty dream."

She had been having the same dream repeatedly for the past few days. Junghyeok and Junghyeok fighting while another Suyeong and Dokja watched them. At first, she wondered if it was a prophetic dream. Yet no matter how she tried to interpret it, she couldn't make sense of it.

News was playing on a television in the distance.

"A new Incarnation Alliance has been launched, causing a seismic shift in the situation on the Korean Peninsula."

Suyeong sat there blankly, rolling a cold ice cube around in her mouth as she listened to the news.

...Huh? Ice?

"What is this? Did that old lady put it in my mouth?"

"Why would I do something like that?"

Lee Sukyeong, who had set out water and was praying over it, answered without turning around. Suyeong frowned and crunched down on the ice cube.

Then it must have been Yu Sangah.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Two hours."

"Where's Yu Sangah?"

"She went to the break room for coffee."

"A break room? Do you think this is an office?"

She said that, but they were actually living in an office in an abandoned company building. Grumbling, Suyeong got up and headed for the break room.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

A small paper cup sat on the table in the break room. Yu Sangah's pale fingers searched through the air. Information projected through a hologram flowed directly into her retinas.

Suyeong cried out in alarm.

"Are you crazy? Are you using your Stigma again?"

"..."

"At this rate, you're really going to die young. Don't you know what happens when you keep overusing a Stigma that powerful..."

The Stigma Yu Sangah used was Olympus's Hermes System. It was Olympus's big-data network, gathering information from throughout the Star Stream to calculate the future.

"I can't help it. We have to avoid the worst-case scenario."

"I know a fair bit about future information too, you know?"

"That isn't enough. There are too many variables."

The Stigma Hermes System drastically shortened its user's lifespan. Suyeong knew that well, but she couldn't stop Sangah because Sangah's contribution had been immense in helping their group reach the 45th Scenario. Without Sangah's future projections, they would have faced major crises in the 35th or 40th Scenario.

Suyeong stared silently at her cooling coffee.

It had already been three years since Dokja disappeared. It had also been a long time since their hope that he would return had started to fade.

Sangah, who had been looking at the steam rising from the coffee with her, spoke.

"Sitting here after so long makes me think about when I used to work at the company. I used to come to the break room and hide like this whenever I had the chance."

"I've never worked at a company, so I wouldn't know."

"You definitely aren't suited for office life."

Sangah smiled, and Suyeong pouted.

"Come to think of it, you said you worked at the same company as Dokja, right?"

"Yes."

"Were you two close?"

At the casually asked question, Sangah looked into Han Suyeong's eyes. With a faint smile, she answered.

"Back then, we were comrades-in-arms too."

"Calamity alert! Calamity alert!"

Suyeong ran to the office at the blaring alarm. Sukyeong, who had been waiting there, was checking the affected area on the television.

"Again? Where is it this time?"

"Busan."

"Busan? That's too far. The people over there can handle it themselves."

Suyeong replied bluntly as she watched the breaking news footage. Tentacled monsters on the screen were engaged in fierce combat with Incarnations.

Sukyeong sighed and asked, "Suyeong, are you still keeping in touch with the others?"

"Why would I contact people who don't want me around? More importantly, old lady, isn't something appearing in that bowl?"

At those words, Sukyeong looked down at her constellation artifact.

Suyeong asked, "What did you divine this time?"

Sukyeong didn't answer.

Sensing something strange, Suyeong looked up. Sukyeong stood frozen like stone, her eyes vacant.

Only then did Suyeong realize something.

Dokja had been gone for three years. From the beginning, there had only been one thing Sukyeong could possibly divine.

After staring into the bowl for a long time, Suyeong said, "I'll go to Busan for a while. And where is Junghyeok right now?"

* * *

I checked the Scenario window floating in the air.

Category: Main

Difficulty: ???

Clear Conditions: You have finally returned to your hometown after a long journey. Announce your existence to the people of your hometown, and leave a Mark showing that you have returned in the major Shelter Zones. The people of your hometown will welcome you.

Time Limit: None

Compensation: 200,000 coins, release from Calamity Transformation

Failure: Death

* While this Scenario is in progress, Incarnations will recognize Returnees as monsters.

* While this Scenario is in progress, Incarnations will be unable to understand the Returnees' language.

These Clear Conditions were fucking awful. Were they trying to rub it in?

[Your target Shelter Zone is Seoul Yeouido.]

[There are currently no Shelter Zones nearby where you can leave a Mark.]

I took a quiet breath.

Yeah, maybe this was better. If I had to complete the 45th Scenario anyway, perhaps it was a good thing that I had become a Returnee.

This Scenario was practice for a certain place that would open in the future.

"You bastards! Why are you attacking us?!"

The Returnees attacked by the Incarnations shouted in anger. Not every Incarnation who had survived until now was strong. Some still had no Patron, while others had joined the Scenarios late. Because of that, not all of the Incarnations' attacks were threatening to the Returnees.

"I seriously can't take this anymore. Hey, everyone, let's just wipe this place out..."

"You can't."

At my intervention, the Returnees' faces hardened.

"Why? They attacked us first!"

"They have a reason."

"What reason? Look at their faces. They look like they want to catch us and kill us right now."

It probably looked that way.

I was at a loss for how to explain this situation.

[The Dokkaebis are displeased by your existence.]

Originally, the 45th Scenario was meant to lead to an all-out war between Returnees and the existing Incarnations. My group number was 163, which meant the 162 groups summoned before us were likely causing trouble all over Earth right now.

First Returnee War.

In the original story, the Korean Peninsula of the third round was reduced to ruins by this war. That was only if things followed the original story, of course.

"What? It looks like the Calamities are talking among themselves."

"Kill them all now! The Black Flame Demon Emperor said it's easier to kill them while they're off guard!"

"No, didn't you hear the Moonlight Sage Emperor? There could be Calamities we can communicate with, so we should watch them and be careful..."

...Those modifiers sounded familiar.

Anyway, if the Incarnations could afford to say something so carefree, it meant the Incarnations of the Korean Peninsula were still holding strong.

The Returnee waiting for my answer grabbed me by the collar and growled.

"I'll kill you first if you get in our way. Move."

"What if I don't want to?"

The moment the Returnee unleashed their Status toward me, I grabbed their wrist as well.

[The Demon King Demon King of Salvation reveals his Status.]

With the sound of bones breaking, the Returnee whose wrist I held turned pale.

"Y-you, what are you...?!"

The fear-stricken Returnee's legs trembled.

[A temporary channel has opened.]

[The Constellations of the Korean Peninsula are focusing on you!]

[The Constellation Bald Army General has entered the channel!]

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God feels an odd sense of familiarity from you.]

I saw some welcome modifiers, but this wasn't the time for greetings.

I spoke to the Returnees.

[Shut up and put all your weapons away. Gather beside me, all of you. Anyone who's slow will lose their head, so move.]

I deliberately spoke more harshly than usual.

Feeling the gap in our Status through my constellation's declaration, the Returnees hurriedly gathered around me. But the Returnees weren't the only ones thrown into confusion.

"Crazy! What is that monster?"

"Report it, hurry! Report it to the Alliance!"

The Incarnations who felt my Status fled in panic. I figured that was for the best.

Flying Fox asked, "B-brother, are you our group's leader?"

When I nodded, the Returnees gasped.

"My god, there was a Constellation among us..."

There were ten Returnees gathered nearby, including me. Three were from Murim, five came from generic medieval fantasy worlds, and two were from other regions.

I looked over each of them before beginning to speak.

"I don't care where you came from or why you returned here."

The anxious Returnees looked at me.

"One thing is certain. If this Scenario fails, all of us will die."

A few Returnees who had belatedly opened their Scenario windows groaned.

"You won't be able to meet the family or acquaintances you love, or set foot on the homeland you miss. Until the day we die, Earthlings will remember us only as Calamities."

The Returnee who had picked a fight with me and those who had been deeply shocked seemed to come to their senses one by one. A few looked at themselves reflected in the shattered windows of a building.

"Could it be that we were attacked because..."

"It isn't only because of our appearance. There were Returnees summoned before us."

Some Returnees came back because they missed their hometown, while others returned to destroy it. They threatened Earth's safety, and perhaps they were still doing so right now. I made sure to emphasize my next words.

"We can't fight. That will only lead to destruction."

"What if we tell them we have no intention of fighting?"

"Whether they'd believe us is doubtful, but conveying that intention is difficult in itself. Until the Scenario ends, our language won't be properly understood by them."

The Returnees' expressions darkened.

"Do you have another plan?"

"Avoid combat as much as possible and make leaving a Mark at your target Shelter Zone your top priority. Then the Scenario will be cleared, and you'll escape being Calamities."

Fortunately, this group seemed willing to listen. With Flying Fox here too, if we were lucky, we could complete the Scenario without any major conflict.

But as was always the case with Scenarios, things wouldn't go so easily.

"It's the Alliance! The Busan Alliance is here!"

With the people's cries, figures approached through the crowd of fleeing Incarnations. My ears went numb, and something like a distant ship's horn sounded. The wind from Haeundae carried a faint scent of salt.

[The Fourth Wall trembles faintly.]

Twelve ships appeared beyond Haeundae's sandy beach. Two people leaped down from the lead ship.

"The Naval Commander is here!"

"It's the Insect King!"

Once again, I realized how much time had passed. Some things had changed, while others hadn't.

The girl with her cap pulled low still wore her familiar hooded zip-up, but she no longer wore a school uniform skirt. The boy holding an insect net still had those characteristically sharp eyes, but his features had become clearer and he had grown much taller. At least he was no longer short enough to cling to my thigh.

"Brat, are you doing it, or should I?"

"Let's decide with a coin toss."

I missed them. I wanted to tell them how badly I had missed them.

The coin floating over the pure white sand glittered, and even though I knew I should run now, I couldn't move my feet.

[The Demon King Demon King of Salvation looks at his Allies.]

Maybe I had been holding onto hope.

Maybe I wanted to believe that if it was them, of all people, they would recognize me.

[The Indirect Message is distorted due to a Scenario penalty.]

Then, an Indirect Message appeared in the air.

[Ugly Squid provokes the Incarnation Lee Jihye.]

Jihye looked at me and said, "I'll kill that squid, brat."

Footnotes: