WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 305: Episode 57: Glorious Return (4)

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A hand settled on my head, light as a feather. It felt as though something hardened deep inside me was crumbling away.

Maybe she had recognized me.

When I raised my bowed head, I saw Shin Yuseong's infinitely clear eyes.

"...Mister?"

* * *

A little later, I was flying through the air on a Chimera Dragon. More precisely, it wasn't just me. The other Returnees were in a similar state. Four clung to its legs, two to its wings, three to its tail... and then there was me. A total of ten Returnees were flying aboard a dragon bound for Seoul.

I spoke to encourage the Returnees suffering from motion sickness.

"Just a little farther and we'll be in Seoul. Hang in there, everyone."

"Urgh, it'd be faster if I ran..."

Flying Fox grumbled.

"It's safer to travel through the air. There could be dangers we don't know about."

"Well, if you say so, brother. But is that kid your child?"

Flying Fox's gaze shifted to Yuseong in an unspoken question, so I nodded.

"Yes, well... something like that."

She was my Incarnation, after all, and as dear to me as my own child.

"Huh, you must've had it rough at such a young age. What about your wife?"

Wife? I'd never even been married.

Still, Flying Fox seemed to understand my silence in his own way and looked at me with pity. When I turned my head, the other Returnees wore similar expressions.

"Tsk, tsk. What a shame..."

"Come on, everyone, just hold on a little longer. Once this Scenario ends, we'll be able to see our families too."

"Stay strong, brother!"

Family love really did seem to work best on Returnees. Misunderstanding or not, things were going smoothly. More smoothly than I'd expected.

"What are you all whispering about? Can't you keep it down?"

At Jihye's words, the Returnees all fell silent. Jihye still kept glancing at me as if she couldn't believe it, then spoke to Yuseong.

"If this goes wrong, it'll all be your fault. Got it?"

Yuseong nodded.

For reference, about ten minutes earlier, Yuseong had declared the following to Jihye and Gilyeong.

"I think this squid is Dokja ahjussi."

Jihye, who had been hard at work cutting my hair, opened her mouth wide, while Gilyeong, who had been trying his hardest to cut off my leg, froze stiff. Needless to say, they had the same reaction.

"...This is Dokja ahjussi?"

"My hyung can't be a squid, idiot!"

Yuseong yelled.

"It's true! I'm telling you, it's Dokja ahjussi!"

It had already been about ten minutes since we'd started flying while arguing like that.

"She's having another episode... Gilyeong, how many times has this been?"

"Five or six times, maybe."

A hollow wind swept past and slapped against my face.

Yuseong, crouched beside me, sighed sadly.

"Ahjussi..."

[The Demon King Demon King of Salvation proves his existence.]

[The Indirect Message is distorted by the Scenario penalty.]

[Ugly Squid wriggles its suckers.]

Yuseong nodded and shouted triumphantly.

"See? I told you it's ahjussi!"

I was grateful. Really grateful, but I didn't know why my feelings were so complicated.

Jihye sighed heavily.

"What'll you do if that isn't Dokja ahjussi?"

"That..."

"What if we take all those Calamities to Seoul and something terrible happens, kid?"

"Even if he isn't ahjussi."

Yuseong bit down hard on her lip before continuing.

"Sangah unni said so. There might be Calamities that aren't hostile, Calamities we can communicate with."

"There haven't been any cases like that so far."

"This could be the first."

Fortunately, Yu Sangah seemed to have conveyed my words well to the others.

She had told them that Returnees transformed into Calamities would come during the forty-fifth Scenario, and that some of them would surely not be hostile.

"Sangah unni's interpretation skill is high level. We might be able to communicate this time. If things go wrong, I'll try taming them or something."

It felt like hope was slowly beginning to grow. In any case, as long as we made it to Seoul, that was all that mattered.

Silence settled over the group, and for a while, only the wind cutting through the sky could be heard. I spoke to Yuseong.

"Yuseong."

[Your language is distorted by the Scenario penalty.]

[Ugly Squid draws attention.]

Yuseong looked at me.

"Yes, ahjussi."

"You don't have to try so hard to convince the others that I'm Kim Dokja."

[Your language is distorted by the Scenario penalty.]

[Ugly Squid twists its ten legs together.]

"What? Why..."

I didn't answer. I wasn't confident I could give her a proper answer.

[Ugly Squid makes a gloomy expression.]

I silently looked at Jihye.

「No, that can't be true.」

Jihye's thoughts echoed clearly in my head.

From the moment I met the others, I had kept [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] activated.

「Dokja ahjussi...」

A heart that existed as fragments of torn words. Their time remained without ever becoming complete sentences. Maybe it was because they couldn't properly face it. And the reason they couldn't face the time they had lived through was because my existence had remained as an unhealable wound for them.

The helplessness of watching a companion die before their eyes.

The despair of being unable to do anything while someone sacrificed themselves.

The small keychain attached to Jihye's sheath swayed. I knew what that keychain was. Jihye had been the Scarred Sword Demon for a long time already. As if trying to hide those feelings, she forced a smile.

"Hey, take another good look. Is it really Dokja ahjussi this time?"

"..."

Yuseong couldn't answer. Maybe she was feeling my emotions along with me. That was the relationship between a Constellation and an Incarnation. A relationship where they understood more than words could ever say.

Jihye smiled mischievously.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You're not confident after all, are you?"

"It's not that..."

"I knew Yuseong would do this again!"

Gilyeong grinned and joined in.

"Noona, she did it before! She saw some frog and said it had to be Dokja ahjussi coming back..."

"I'll kill you..."

"Don't you remember? We almost died from poison because of you back then."

Jihye nodded.

"That did happen."

"She's got a whole collection at home too. <Frog Kim Dokja>, <Tentacled Calamity Kim Dokja>, <Elephant beast species That Was Almost Dokja Ahjussi>..."

"I said I'll kill you..."

"But can I have <Frog Kim Dokja>?"

"You little..."

Rumbleee!

The Chimera Dragon suddenly stopped in midair with a violent flap of its wings.

Jihye screamed.

"Aah! What the hell was that?"

A fleet of airships blocked our path. There weren't just one or two of them. Coin airships that could only be purchased in Scenarios in the forties or later. The decks of the airships bore large letters that read, "GG."

I had a feeling I knew what that was.

"Busan Alliance, why have you come this far?"

An overbearing voice without even a trace of goodwill came from one of the airships. Memories of the original story came flooding back.

Gilyeong grumbled.

"I was wondering why they hadn't shown up."

According to the original story's progression, the Korean Peninsula split into several regional alliances after the twenty-fifth Scenario. The Busan Alliance, Daegu Alliance, Seoul Alliance...

Most alliances formed around Incarnations with powerful Patrons. If my memory was right, Gyeonggi had one of those too.

"Calamity species cannot be allowed into Gyeonggi. Leave the Calamity species behind and go at once."

The Gyeonggi Alliance.

It was called the Gyeonggi Alliance, but most of its members weren't actually from Gyeonggi Province.

Raiders who moved solely for their collective interests. In some rounds of TWSA, the Gyeonggi Alliance was one of Yu Junghyeok's major headaches.

That was because one of the Ten Evils led it.

"If you don't leave within five seconds, we'll open fire."

Jihye stood up, gripping her long sword with a troubled expression.

"Ah, if they're going to act like that, I guess we can't avoid another fight."

In the original progression, the current group couldn't face the Gyeonggi Alliance with their strength alone.

But the third round was very different from the original story. Jihye hadn't survived by sheer luck.

"I'm Lee Jihye, leader of the Busan Alliance."

Blue flames surged from the long sword Jihye drew. Seeing the distinct wave of Mana, I was sincerely impressed.

Jihye, you really worked hard.

It was an Aether Blade. Jihye had reached a level where she could manifest with her own power a technique only a handful of martial arts masters could use.

"Naval Commander! This isn't the sea! At least in the sky, our Gyeonggi Alliance...!"

"We'll have to find out."

Jihye grinned and drew her blade back, taking a leaping stance.

Then explosions erupted from the airships on the opposite side. The airships were sliced in half one after another with sharp tearing sounds. Jihye turned to Gilyeong in disbelief.

"Is that Titano? Why is it butting in?"

"Titano's been dead for ages."

The Chimera Dragon hadn't moved yet, so it wasn't Yuseong's doing either.

Less than a minute later, every airship of the Gyeonggi Alliance had been blown up. Amid the clouds of black smoke, someone leaped into the air and flew toward us.

Jihye raised her blade warily. But her vigilance soon faded. It was a familiar face.

Yuseong, pale as a sheet, shouted at Jihye.

"Jihye unni! Did you already tell Huiwon unni?"

"Well, I sent a group text earlier. I didn't think she'd get here this fast."

Jihye smiled brightly and apologized.

"It's nice to get everyone together after so long! If that isn't Dokja ahjussi, we can just have a squid party. Huiwon unni!"

Seeing the familiar face approaching, part of my heart ached.

"If this was how it was going to turn out, what was the point of all the preparations we made for days? What were all those skills you gave me for?"

"I told you about them so you could deal with the Sasquatches in the twenty-eighth Scenario."

The moment I saw Jeong Huiwon, I knew.

She had followed everything I'd told her.

And she had grown far stronger than I had imagined.

"Don't give me that bullshit! I won't let you go! Don't go alone again! Please!"

Jeong Huiwon, dressed in a tactical uniform, landed on the Chimera Dragon's back amid thick smoke. The Sword of Judgement, giving off a dark light, rang out viciously. Huiwon swept her sharp gaze over the squids and asked,

"Which one is Kim Dokja?"

The startled Returnees all held their breath. Realizing something wasn't right, Yuseong quickly stepped forward.

"Ah, we don't know which one is ahjussi yet. I just got a feeling that one of them was ahjussi..."

Huiwon smiled faintly.

"I see. So you're going to see Sangah-ssi?"

"Yes. If we go ask Sangah unni for her opinion..."

"There's no need. I can tell whether he's Kim Dokja or not."

"What?"

[The character Jeong Huiwon is preparing to activate Hour of Judgement.]

"We'll know if I slice it into sashimi. If that squid really is Dokja-ssi, he'll come back to life."

Mana that was almost madness gathered around Huiwon's blade.

"Otherwise, he'll die by my hand."

Ghostfire rose fiercely. Only then did Yuseong realize something had gone wrong and shout,

"Ahjussi! Run!"

The Chimera Dragon roared, and I jumped off its back with the Returnees. Mana collided with a thunderous roar in the sky, and I activated [Way of the Wind], pulling the falling Returnees toward me one by one.

Seoul was right in front of us anyway. If I could somehow reach Yeouido, I could prove who I was without fighting.

The ten Returnees, including me, clasped hands and formed a single formation in midair. We had agreed on it beforehand.

"Flying Fox!"

"Leave it to me!"

Flying Fox, who had the fastest footwork in the martial world, repeatedly stepped through the air and began creating a path of speed. One of Flying Fox's signature Ultimate Techniques, [Treading Snow Without a Trace], activated and added momentum to the [Way of the Wind] I had created. We spun like a pinwheel, accelerating faster and faster.

The moment we pierced through the skies over Gyeonggi and entered Seoul, a system message rang out.

[You have almost reached the target Shelter Zone.]

Yeouido lay in the distance. There stood the enormous monument where we had to leave our Mark.

Then, at that exact moment, it felt as though spacetime creaked. An intense premonition that we mustn't go there sounded an alarm in my head. Turning sharply and changing the group's course was almost instinctive.

Craaaash!

A Sword Aura with terrifying destructive power missed us by a hair's breadth. It shot upward as if it would shatter the ceiling of the heavens, then cracked the sky itself before disappearing. It was a dreadful strike. If it had hit us, not even our bones would have remained.

As far as I knew, there was only one Incarnation on the Korean Peninsula capable of using that technique right now.

When I looked down, I met a cold gaze looking up at me. As if a stopped second hand had begun to move again, I heard time slowly begin to flow.

The Black Heaven Demon Blade, embedded in the ground.

An Incarnation stronger than any being I knew, with an unshakable will, was waiting for me there.

"Yu Junghyeok."

The Supreme King of this world stood there.

Footnotes:

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