WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 315: Episode 59: Kim Dokja Company (4)

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...Father?

Unless I'd misheard, that massive shadow had clearly said that to me. When I looked beside me, my companions were all staring at me with disbelief written across their faces.

Flustered, I turned back toward the shadow.

[Babaat?]

The faint light spilling from the entrance to the Interstellar City illuminated the shadow.

[No, not that! Come on, say it again. "Father."]

[Ababaat?]

[No, I said "father." When that bastard gets here...]

The "massive shadow" wasn't a single living creature. More precisely, a creature the size of a soccer ball was perched atop the giant shadow.

"What are you doing?"

At my words, Bihyeong whirled around in surprise.

[Oh. You're here already?]

The massive shadow was Bihyeong, who had enlarged his body to look like a giant.

The stronger a dokkaebi became, the larger it could make its body. The fact that Bihyeong had grown that big meant his position in the Administration Bureau had reached a considerable level.

Wait. If Bihyeong was here, then that soccer-ball-sized creature...

"Biyoo!"

Biyoo, puffed up like cotton candy, flew through the air.

[Baaat!]

Biyoo dove into my arms and rubbed her cheek against mine, making a baat sound. Her little eyes were brimming with tears. She'd been the size of a baseball, but now she was already as big as a soccer ball. It seemed Biyoo had grown quite a bit too.

"You waited a long time, didn't you?"

A tiny hand popped out from her cottony fluff and smacked my cheek over and over.

I'd left her behind in front of Father's Dimensional Gate, so I deserved this much punishment.

I quietly accepted her ticklish little slaps. With tears welling in her eyes, Biyoo burrowed into my arms again. The kids rushed over too and started petting her fluffy fur all over.

[Ahem, ahem.]

When I turned, Bihyeong was waiting for me.

I spoke to him through dokkaebi communication.

―What were you doing here?

―Waiting. You need a dokkaebi to take you to the 47th Scenario area.

―Then why did you make yourself so big?

Ignoring me, Bihyeong turned to my companions.

[Members of Kim Dokja Company. You all know who I am, right? My name is Bihyeong, the branch manager of the Korean Peninsula branch.]

Bihyeong thumped his chest as if showing off his thick muscles.

So all that was just for this little performance?

[It feels like the Korean Peninsula Scenarios began only yesterday, yet you've already reached the 47th Scenario area.]

Bihyeong looked deeply moved.

[Some of you may already know this, but for Scenarios after the 47th, you don't need to proceed in order. After entering the Interstellar City, you'll be able to selectively carry out Scenarios 48 through 65.]

Shin Yuseong raised her hand.

"We can choose our Scenarios?"

[You could call it the Scenario free-choice system. Hahaha!]

Nobody laughed. Bihyeong continued awkwardly.

[Ahem, anyway. It's up to you which of the Scenarios up to 65 you carry out first. You may immediately take on the 65th Scenario, or steadily build your Status by completing the Scenarios in order. After all, you'll need a certain level of Status to enter the Scenario areas after 65.]

Hyeongseong asked, "Then what happens from the 66th Scenario onward?"

[There will be another explanation then. For now, you should worry about whether you'll even make it that far.]

His tone was cold, but the way he looked at my companions wasn't.

[Well, it took four years just to get this far... Who knows how much more time it'll take. Ah, of course, not all of you have experienced the same four years.]

As he said that, Bihyeong grinned at me.

[Then let's enter the Interstellar City. The transfer will take about ten minutes, so please prepare yourselves. An astonishing world awaits you.]

As soon as Bihyeong finished speaking, Biyoo cried out.

[Baaat!]

Brilliant rays of light wrapped around me and my companions. We began floating toward the Interstellar City. Perhaps for safety reasons, we moved slower than I'd expected.

Biyoo, whom I'd finally met again after so long, refused to leave my arms. Watching her, Huiwon spoke up.

"Dokja-ssi. There's something I want to ask."

Huiwon's expression was serious. As if they already knew what she was going to say, the others all turned to look at me too.

"Where on earth did you go during the last three years?"

* * *

During the break before we arrived at the Interstellar City, I told my companions about what had happened in the 1,863rd round. I didn't tell them everything, of course. I only picked out enough details to answer their questions. As expected, they all looked stunned.

"Really? I survived until the 95th Scenario?"

"I can't believe it. That subway kid was alive."

Excited, Jihye and Hyeongseong looked at each other. Junghyeok listened silently, while Gilyeong and Huiwon seemed a little downcast. They hadn't been there in that round, so it couldn't be helped. Suyeong had the most interesting expression of them all.

"I exist in that worldline?"

"Yeah, you were there too. You were a neighborhood boss."

"No, why would I..."

As if something had just occurred to her, Suyeong quickly sent me a message through Midday Tryst.

―You don't mean the Avatar you mentioned before...

When I nodded, Suyeong's face filled with horror.

It was absurd from Suyeong's perspective too. Her split-off Avatar had been discovered in another worldline...

Huiwon, who had been studying my collar, asked, "Dokja-ssi, your coat looks a little different. Did you bring it from the 95th Scenario?"

"That's right."

The coat wasn't the only thing I'd brought from the 1,863rd round.

Suyeong, who had been eyeing me closely, suddenly shoved her hand into the inner pocket of my coat. Come to think of it, Suyeong from the 1,863rd round had done the same thing.

"Crazy. What the hell did you bring back? Isn't this a Plausibility violation?"

After checking the items, Suyeong's mouth fell open.

"Hey. Can't you give me just a few of these?"

"Depends on how you behave."

There were plenty of useful items among the things Suyeong from the 1,863rd round had packed for me. Most of them were no longer needed in that round, but they could still prove quite useful here.

One of them, though, was unexpected.

"What's this smartphone?"

It wasn't the smartphone I'd used. When I turned it on, a photo appeared on the home screen with a strange phrase.

―Namwoon ♡ Jihye

Jihye was frowning as deeply as possible while Namwoon grinned foolishly beside her.

Only then did I realize who the smartphone belonged to. Come to think of it, Namwoon had stolen and worn this coat once.

Jihye asked me with the same expression as the one in the photo, "What's this picture? And who the hell is this bastard?"

"Uh, this belonged to someone from that worldline. I must've brought it by mistake."

"Me and him are dating in that worldline?"

"No, he has a one-sided crush on you."

"Phew. Of course."

Jihye snatched the smartphone from my hand and opened the gallery.

"Wow, there are a lot of fun pictures here."

Pictures? This time, even I was surprised, and I looked at the smartphone with the others.

"Look, it's me and Seolhwa unni... Huh? Han Donghoon is here too? Come to think of it, is he still with the Ulsan Alliance?"

"Hyeongseong-ssi is in it too. Though it looks like he's been cut off above the neck."

I didn't know when the group photo had been taken, but the companions from the 1,863rd round were smiling brightly in it. Seolhwa, Namwoon, Jihye, Donghoon, Hyeongseong, and a man standing expressionlessly in the center of them all.

Jihye said, "So this is my master from that worldline. Was his face injured? I think he looks cooler than he does here."

In the photo where everyone was smiling, Yu Junghyeok of the 1,863rd round was looking at me.

Before I knew it, Junghyeok was glancing this way too.

[The Fourth Wall trembles faintly.]

No one here knew what kind of life Yu Junghyeok of that worldline had lived.

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter is looking at you.]

No, there was one who knew.

I lifted my head and looked toward the place among the distant stars of the Star Stream where Secretive Plotter was likely to be.

Even now, I didn't know why Secretive Plotter had demanded that Otherworld Covenant. I still didn't know why he had reacted that way to my choice. I had a few guesses, but they were all still only hypotheses.

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is looking at you.]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon is looking at you.]

The Interstellar City, Nexus of the Constellations, was a transfer station leading to the worlds of other Constellations.

I felt the physical distance between us and the Constellations gradually closing.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire welcomes you.]

Perhaps her confinement had finally ended, because Uriel sent me an Indirect Message too.

Our bodies entered the city through the radiant light.

[You have entered the Interstellar City Nexus of the Constellations!]

[A new Main Scenario is pending.]

We landed in a plaza within the enormous city.

A few Incarnation bodies glanced our way, but none paid us much attention. The scale of this city was on an entirely different level from the settlements where we'd lived until now, so it was only natural.

I spoke to my companions.

"You all know why we came here, right?"

From now on, the enemies we'd face were old foxes who had lived for thousands of years.

Huiwon nodded. "We came to have it out with Olympus, right?"

"Do you have a plan in mind? Perhaps you're planning to wage an all-out war..."

I answered Hyeongseong's question.

"I don't plan to wage an all-out war. They're one of the largest nebulae in the entire Star Stream."

Realistically, the odds that Kim Dokja Company could fight Olympus head-on and win were close to zero.

"For now, I plan to visit Olympus. We need to hold those bastards who made Sangah-ssi like that accountable. There has to be a way to save her."

Sangah was currently trapped in a state of flow of consciousness. If three months passed like this, nearly all the fables would leave Sangah's body, and her empty soul would disappear into the void. We had to find a way to save Sangah before then.

Olympus probably possessed one such method.

Junghyeok spoke up. "There's no need for everyone to go. Seolhwa and I will split off here."

"Where are you going?"

"I have no obligation to report to you."

The place Junghyeok intended to go was obvious.

Nexus of the Constellations was an Interstellar City where every nebula gathered. We couldn't be the only Incarnations who had come here.

I warned him, "Be careful. You know as well as I do that woman isn't someone to take lightly."

"I'll take care of my own business."

Leaving those words behind, Junghyeok abruptly turned and began walking away. Seolhwa gave me a slight smile and a light bow before following Junghyeok.

Seolhwa in this round was kinder than any other round's Medicine Sage.

No one could completely rein in Junghyeok once he was unleashed, but with her at his side, she could at least reduce the number of unnecessary conflicts.

After Junghyeok disappeared beyond an alley, I led my companions toward a portal installed in the center of the plaza.

The Interstellar City, Nexus of the Constellations, had a portal leading to almost every world. It could take us not only to previous Scenario areas, but also to settlements belonging to other nebulae. I intended to use that portal to formally request a visit to Olympus.

I told the portal our destination.

"Olympus Mountains."

Olympus was a massive nebula built from countless legends and tales of adventure. The Olympus Mountains were home to its Twelve Seats. At last, it was time to see the bastards' territory.

Faint scenes from mythology appeared within the swirling portal.

Tsssss!

Then, the next moment, an unexpected message came back.

[Olympus is currently refusing entry to all visitors.]

Footnotes:

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