WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 352: Episode 66: Beyond Good and Evil (1)

──────

At first, I thought I'd misheard.

But as Demon Kings turned their eyes toward me, Asmodeus clapped for me, and I saw my companions' stunned expressions, it gradually began to sink in.

Kim Dokja Company had won the Grand Prize.

Unease came before joy.

The Grand Prize? Us?

Here, of all places, at the Duet of Good and Evil?

The reason for my unease was soon revealed.

[This year's Grand Prize winner has not yet been judged as good or evil.]

A few Demon Kings and Constellations stirred at once.

[What do you mean it has not been judged as good or evil?]

The dokkaebi answered immediately.

[Past Grand Prize winners have always been chosen through the joint agreement of the Great Dokkaebis and the Constellations of absolute good alignment and Absolute Evil. This is the first time they have been unable to reach a conclusion.]

[They couldn't reach a conclusion? The Great Dokkaebis?]

Every Constellation and Demon King looked flustered.

It was only natural for Constellations belonging to absolute good alignment or Absolute Evil to favor their own side, but even the Great Dokkaebis couldn't agree?

[Nothing like this has happened since the Duet of Good and Evil was created. No, not since the Great war of Angels and Demons ended!]

[How can it be impossible to judge? The scales of good and evil must tip one way or the other!]

Excited Constellations and Demon Kings shouted over one another.

It wasn't that I couldn't understand their point. The winners of most Great Fable Scenarios were decided through agreements or manipulations by the nebulae.

Just as "Gigantomachia" had been sold as a kind of tourist attraction, the outcome of good and evil in other Great Fable Scenarios had already been decided, as though preferred shares were being sold.

Yet our fable, created by bringing down "Gigantomachia," had been born under entirely different circumstances.

It was a fable created when a Great Fable Scenario operated by Olympus collapsed. It had never been planned from the start, so no one could have decided whether it was good or evil in advance.

The dokkaebi laughed as though they found this situation amusing.

[How could a creature like me know what the Great Dokkaebis think? At any rate, this Grand Prize will have its good and evil judged directly here. If anyone has an opinion, please raise your hand and speak.]

Only then did the dokkaebi's intention become clear.

Those damn bastards.

Whether Kim Dokja Company won the award had never mattered to them. What mattered was whether the fable we had built was good or evil, and how that would affect their own status.

[That fable is obviously evil.]

The first to speak was Yejegong, the 50th-ranked Demon King.

Yejegong. His True name was Furcas, master of the 50th Demon Realm.

[Demon King of Salvation is a demon king. He may be a pathetic demon king, but he is still the master of a Demon Realm. Therefore, all his actions must be evil.]

As expected of Yejegong, who couldn't even spell properly, the logic was pathetic.

Someone from the opposing side raised a hand.

[I object to that opinion.]

It was Raphael, the Protector of Youth and Travel.

Raphael clicked his tongue and wagged a finger before continuing.

[Say there was someone who stole something and became an evildoer. Everyone called that person an evildoer, so that person became one. But it turns out they used the money they stole to save people. What if they gave bread to the poor, water to the thirsty, and saved countless lives?]

I nodded at Raphael's argument.

[Would that person still be an evildoer? Just because they were once defined as an evildoer?]

[Well, that is... I mean.]

Yejegong, who wasn't much of a speaker, got caught up in Raphael's reasoning.

Then the Demon King beside me raised a hand to help Yejegong.

[Are we discussing the Paradox of the Good Evildoer here?]

Asmodeus's red eyes burned with excitement.

Come to think of it, Asmodeus owed Raphael a debt.

Raphael nodded.

[If you want to, there's no reason we can't.]

Lying facedown on a cloud bed, Raphael snapped his fingers in the air.

The large screen on the stage began showing scenes of my companions and me carrying out "Gigantomachia."

Raphael continued while watching the screen.

[In the end, an existence is made of fables, and a fable is made from the totality of the events that existence has carried out. Yet no matter how I look at it, it is hard to find evil in the events accumulated in this fable.]

「Paradox of the Good Evildoer」.

That paradox implied that every being's good and evil were defined by the stories they had accumulated.

Raphael pointed at the split screens and spoke.

The first screen showed me visiting the underworld and freeing the giants.

[Demon King of Salvation freed the oppressed underdogs of a Scenario.]

The second screen showed my companions, alongside the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint, resisting the tourist attraction that "Gigantomachia" had become.

[The members of Kim Dokja Company rebelled against the unreasonable Scenario structure of Gigantomachia.]

The final screen showed my companions and me burning the holy flame as we confronted Poseidon, a Mythical-grade Constellation.

[They fought an overwhelming opponent to overturn the ruling system of a great nebula. Look. Where in any of these events can you find evil?]

At Raphael's detailed explanation of each scene, many Constellations nodded.

The Demon Kings, on the other hand, looked displeased.

Everyone except Asmodeus, that was.

[Interesting. With the Angels sheltering him so thoroughly, perhaps Demon King of Salvation truly is a good demon king.]

[Are you admitting it?]

[No. Your argument has a flaw. Let us assume, as you said, that an existence is a fable and a fable is the totality of its events.]

Asmodeus smiled faintly and glanced at me.

[As you know, a fable never exists alone. One fable is always related to other fables and affects them. Holy Flame That Devoured Myth is no exception.]

At the same time, a different scene began playing on the screen before us. It was from the first Scenario long ago.

The screen zoomed in on the locust eggs bursting in my hand.

[Demon King of Salvation let people die in the subway, even though he could have saved everyone.]

A few Angels looked at me suspiciously.

Asmodeus continued.

[This was not the only time.]

The next scene to appear was the eighth Scenario, where everyone could live if Seoul's strongest Incarnation was sacrificed.

The screen showed me possessing Eight Lives through my Attribute's effect.

Asmodeus spoke.

[Demon King of Salvation had extra lives, and he knew he was the Strongest Sacrificial Lamb. If he had wanted to, he could have ended the Scenario before a greater sacrifice was made.]

The Constellations' murmuring grew louder. The story continued.

[He saves those he wishes to save and stands by while the lives he does not wish to save die. Demon King of Salvation is that kind of being. He is a demon king who practices the discrimination you all hate. Discrimination, the most horrific sin in this Star Stream.]

As though declaring victory, Asmodeus asked one final question.

[Let me ask you, Eden. Do you still believe that Demon King of Salvation is a good demon king?]

The hall fell silent.

Some Angels watched me with suspicion, while many Demon Kings wore broad smiles.

Then one Constellation leaped to her feet.

[■■, everyone has contradictions like that.]

It was Uriel.

[What matters is how someone changes as they go through those events. And Demon King of Salvation was moving in a righteous direction!]

[Angels have become extremely generous when judging goodness these days. There have been rumors that you recently developed personal affection for a demon king. Are they true?]

[What?]

[Hmm, I suppose they are true. I had my suspicions when I saw you last time, but...]

Uriel shot to her feet.

[You ■-like ■■, right now...!]

Crackle!

Violent sparks began flying between the two tables. Archangels and Demon Kings hurled curses at each other, and opinions soon erupted from all sides.

I was no longer the only target.

Some criticized Huiwon for killing people. Others attacked Hyeongseong's cowardice in the first Scenario, while some kept harping on Jihye for killing her friend.

Our lives. The history we had built was being cut apart.

[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth bares its teeth.]

My companions' faces gradually paled.

They were people who had already endured wounds too painful to bear. They had somehow made it this far, accepting that their lives would be voyeuristically observed and made into the Constellations' playthings.

[Wait! We don't need to go this far!]

Uriel, who had belatedly realized something, shouted, but the Constellations and Demon Kings were already busy digging through Kim Dokja Company's wounds.

Eventually, they even began picking apart Yuseong and Gilyeong's pasts.

I stepped forward the moment Gilyeong's trauma and Patron were mentioned.

"That's enough."

Everyone turned toward me.

One wrong word here would be dangerous. Kim Dokja Company was like a sailboat caught between two massive currents, a small boat that could sink at any time if it caught the wrong current.

Still, even a small boat could choose where it would sail.

And I was that boat's captain.

"Isn't this enough? You must have realized by now that no conclusion can be reached anyway."

I hadn't intervened until now because I was waiting for the Constellations and Demon Kings to fall into their own contradictions.

"Do you think you can decide here what even the Great Dokkaebis could not judge?"

Kim Dokja Company was neither good nor evil. From the beginning, I had no intention whatsoever of being toyed with by other people's ideas of good and evil.

[He is right.]

Unexpectedly, the one who said that was Marbas, the Lion of the Black Mane and the fifth-ranked Demon King. He looked at me and continued.

[Nothing will come of us arguing here. Let us end this needless dispute.]

[Marbas! But...]

[We only need to ask the person in question.]

It felt as though my spine creaked.

[Let him decide for himself whether this fable is good or evil. Was that not why this gathering was arranged?]

With those words, every Demon King and Constellation focused on me. Cold sweat ran down my back as a chill swept over me.

Then system messages appeared.

[You have a share in the Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth.]

[Please determine whether this fable is good or evil.]

If I chose good or evil here, I would be choosing one of the concepts of good and evil they asserted. I couldn't allow that.

Kim Dokja Company's path was not the only issue. If we chose good or evil here, a terrible future could await us in the coming Scenarios.

After thinking for a long time, I finally made my decision.

Even if I earned the Constellations' and Demon Kings' condemnation, it couldn't be helped.

"The Great Fable 'Holy Flame That Devoured Myth' is..."

"It is good."

I stared blankly at the protagonist who had spoken.

The man in the black coat, who had remained silent until now.

Yu Junghyeok was speaking.

"This fable is good."

I was so shocked that I could only open and close my mouth.

Had Junghyeok lost his mind? Or had he fallen into some kind of trap?

Metatron, seated beside Junghyeok, gave me a faint smile.

Goosebumps slowly rose along my arms.

Could it be that the reason Metatron had brought Junghyeok here was...

[Those who hold a share in the Great Fable may claim the right to determine whether it is good or evil.]

At the next message, the Constellations and Demon Kings' mouths fell slightly open.

[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok holds a 22.8% share in the Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth.]

[Due to the Incarnation Yu Junghyeok's declaration, this fable has tilted toward good.]

I wasn't the only one who could define this fable as good or evil.

That was because everyone in Kim Dokja Company had a share in this fable.

[Will you approve this fable as good?]

Junghyeok was watching me with an unreadable expression, as though asking what I would do now.

"You crazy bastard! What the hell are you thinking?"

I spoke to him through Midday Tryst, but Junghyeok didn't answer.

I glared at him, then activated my Skill.

[You have activated the Exclusive Skill Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint!]

[This individual is currently in an emotional state you cannot understand.]

What?

[If no other narrator raises an objection, this fable will be confirmed as good.]

[30 seconds remain until confirmation.]

I had no idea what was happening. As the numbers counted down, I could hear Demon Kings roaring.

I looked at my companions' shocked faces.

Huiwon, Hyeongseong, Yuseong, Gilyeong...

The people I absolutely wanted to take with me to the very end of this world.

I clenched my fist until it felt ready to shatter.

Our fable could not be defined as the good or evil the Constellations spoke of. If that happened, I would never reach this world's proper conclusion.

Junghyeok had declared it good, so there was only one way to overturn the judgment.

[The Demon King Demon King of Salvation is revealing his Status.]

Black wings burst through my shoulder blades, and small horns grew from my head.

With fierce sparks flaring, the murmuring died all at once.

I slowly drew in a breath, glared at Junghyeok, and spoke.

[This fable is evil.]

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried