WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 370: Episode 70: A Story That Can’t Be Told (1)

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Anna Croft's expression stiffened as she quietly drew a dagger behind her back.

"Supreme King."

Junghyeok ignored her and strode forward.

"You two get along well. Do you feel some kinship because you both know the future?"

"You know information about the future too, don't you?"

"What I experienced wasn't the future."

Rumble!

"They were all things that had already happened. The past."

Things that had already happened.

Junghyeok had lived the story I read with his own body, dying thousands of times.

The Black Heaven Demon Blade in Junghyeok's hand vibrated violently, as if responding to those years.

Anna glanced at me.

"Go," I said. "He's here to see me."

"I hope you'll tell me your goal yourself next time."

With those parting words, Anna leaped into the portal and vanished.

There was no reason for her to remain here. She had more than repaid her debt simply by helping me this far.

Junghyeok didn't stop Anna from leaving. Normally, he would have relentlessly chased her down and cut off her head, but he didn't.

"Yu Junghyeok."

I called to him. Junghyeok didn't look at me. He only stared quietly at the empty portal entrance.

I called to him again.

"Listen to me. You called me a companion, didn't you?"

Junghyeok turned to me and slowly drew his sword.

"Once."

I couldn't fathom the anger in that cold voice.

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

Once again, I stepped into the curse of omniscience.

[Your understanding of this individual is insufficient!]

Yet Junghyeok's inner self wouldn't allow me in, as if the person before me wasn't the one I had known until now.

"I know what you want to talk about. It's about that book, isn't it?"

"......"

"You looked into my life through that story and turned it into entertainment. Is there anything else I need to know?"

I couldn't make excuses. It was true.

What I had done was no different from what the Constellations had done.

"I..."

I know. I know, but...

Was that all there was to the betrayal he felt?

[Your understanding of this individual is gradually increasing!]

Junghyeok waited for me, like a judge searching for a clue to a false accusation he had never been able to resolve.

But I didn't know what to say or how to say it.

Junghyeok's emotions flowed into me through Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, filling my head with darkness.

The passages I had known were being covered over by passages I didn't know.

The things I needed to say, the things I wanted to say, were buried beneath that pitch-black tide of emotion and disappeared.

Junghyeok's sword moved.

Even then, it didn't feel real. That he would really kill me. That he would kill me after casting aside all the countless years we had built together.

[The Fruit of Good and Evil affects your emotions!]

[The Fourth Wall shakes violently!]

The moment I saw the blade flying toward my face, indignation surged alongside my guilt.

[The Fruit of Good and Evil draws out your dark emotions!]

I had worked quite hard.

After the Scenario began, I had truly done my best to live.

I had done my best, in my own way, to put into practice what I had read.

I had never intended to hurt Junghyeok or my companions.

All I had thought about was the Scenario. How could I reduce the damage? How could I safely reach a proper conclusion?

That was all. It was only that.

Then why had things turned out like this?

Clang!

Bright blue sparks scattered with the sharp crash.

"Why are you just standing there staring blankly, idiot?"

It was Han Suyeong.

* * *

Suyeong hadn't come to Middle Island No. 3 by chance.

While progressing through the Small Island Scenario, she had a dream.

A dream in which a man in a white coat was killed by a man in a black coat.

It was such an old, pointless dream that Suyeong muttered, "That dream again," while dreaming it.

In the end, a dream was only a dream, and dreams didn't happen in reality. Just as a novel couldn't become reality.

"The me of the third round is a little slow. She still can't understand, even after being shown the same scene over and over..."

'What?'

Suyeong jerked toward the voice. A woman in a black coat stood there. She had a build similar to Suyeong's. Her face couldn't be seen, as if someone had deliberately erased it.

The faceless woman continued speaking.

"No matter how I look at it, your round is going to be ruined if things continue this way."

Han Suyeong instinctively stepped back a couple of paces in fear.

But this was her dream. No one could run away inside their own dream.

"You know, I really enjoy breaking someone else's schemes."

The moment the figure in the dream reached out, unknown information flowed into Suyeong's mind.

[The power of Predictive Plagiarism has awakened within you!]

Then Suyeong woke up. Unknown information drifted through her mind. Her consciousness moved on its own and began connecting that information deductively.

A moment later, the following sentence appeared in Suyeong's mind.

"Yu Junghyeok will head for Middle Island No. 3."

She didn't know why that sentence had appeared. Still, Suyeong decided to follow it. She didn't know what the mysterious dream was or who the figure in it had been, but she felt that she had to.

And so Suyeong arrived here.

"Move. I have no business with you."

Junghyeok fixed her with a terrifying glare.

Kim Dokja stared at her with a dazed expression.

Suyeong slowly inhaled.

She didn't know what the dream had wanted to show her. But now, Suyeong realized what her role was.

With her usual cocky grin, Suyeong said, "I knew you'd cause trouble someday. There's no way 'Yu Junghyeok' could have changed so easily."

"If you don't move..."

"What, are you going to kill me? What would you gain by doing that? Would it make up for all the time you were deceived?"

Junghyeok didn't answer. Instead, his blade vanished.

Suyeong smirked and met Junghyeok's sword as it cut through the air.

"Honestly, you and Kim Dokja are exactly alike when it comes to not listening to people."

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon roars!]

The power of [Black Flame] that dwelled throughout her body collided with Junghyeok's blade. Junghyeok's sword strike, backed by the power of the second generation, was heavy.

Suyeong bit her lip until it bled and unleashed her power.

Junghyeok was strong. But it wasn't as if she had been sitting around doing nothing either.

[The fable Disciple of a Legendary Sword Master shines!]

It was a fable she had barely managed to obtain through every possible means before coming here.

The Sword Master's power swirled through her entire body and surged up.

Crackle!

Maybe not elsewhere, but here...

"When someone talks..."

Sword Aura-infused [Black Flame] rushed toward Junghyeok through the deep blue sparks.

"Listen! For! Once!"

Bursts of Sword Aura poured forth in time with her clipped syllables.

Junghyeok's eyes wavered at the unexpected resistance.

Suyeong didn't miss that opening and shouted, "Kim Dokja only read a novel! A long, boring-as-hell novel!"

Watching Junghyeok gradually get pushed back, Suyeong thought she could do this.

This wasn't a difficult conflict. It was a misunderstanding born from the words people used. So she believed it could be resolved with words.

"Talk to each other! Open up and talk! Like everyone else!"

The persistent flames of [Black Flame] were spreading onto Junghyeok's sword.

Junghyeok coldly shook off the flames.

"You don't know."

"I do know."

Suyeong growled at the tone that so coldly excluded her.

"What are you so upset about? That Kim Dokja approached you knowing information about you? You're the same. You've been getting information ahead of everyone else and deceiving people, just like him."

Perhaps those words became the spark. Anger flared in Junghyeok's eyes too.

Their swords collided in the air again.

"Of course I know you were sincere. I know you did it to save those people and reach a better world. Then what do you think Kim Dokja was doing?"

"......"

"What kind of person throws away their own life because a character is going to die?"

Seeing Junghyeok's sword hesitate, Suyeong continued pouring out words.

"Have you forgotten what Kim Dokja has done all this time? Are you going to deny everything you've built in the third round just because he read that boring novel?"

Junghyeok's Status was shrinking.

It was almost over. Suyeong could feel it. One more word, and she could stop this unnecessary fight.

"Calm down and think about it."

But at the last moment, Suyeong took one wrong step.

"You're not that kind of character."

"...Character?"

Junghyeok's expression changed.

It wasn't a question.

Suyeong realized her mistake too late, but she couldn't take back words that had already left her mouth.

"You're the same."

A tremendous wave of Mana began spreading between their crossed swords.

Suyeong's sword gave a pained cry. The energy of [Black Flame] was being overwhelmed.

[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth roars!]

The Great Fable Junghyeok had built was running wild.

"I saw what you did in the 1,863rd round."

"1,863rd round? What are you..."

Something suddenly came to Suyeong's mind.

"The worldline of the 1,863rd round of TWSA. ...Ah, you were there too. I don't know which one is the original body, though."

Kim Dokja had definitely said something like that before.

'No way?'

The pieces of information fell into place in her mind.

Suyeong existed in the 1,863rd round too. And there, she was living another round as well.

Then the being she had seen in her dream was...

The moment Suyeong reached her answer, a brief opening appeared.

Junghyeok's sword didn't miss it.

* * *

Why couldn't I move?

Why hadn't I fought alongside Suyeong?

Why couldn't I raise my voice with her as she spoke for me?

"You can't tell your own story very well, can you?"

I lifted Suyeong into my arms as she lay fallen, looking up at me.

Blood poured from her waist in heavy gushes. It was so vivid and red that it didn't feel real.

Suyeong spoke as she bled.

"Kim Dokja. I know the conclusion you want."

She wore her usual teasing smile. Suyeong's hand brushed my cheek as if wiping away the blood on it, and she muttered, "You poor bastard..."

I hurriedly took out medicine and tried to stop Suyeong's bleeding.

Her internal injuries were extremely severe. The wounds were devastating. The second-generation Sword Aura had completely destroyed her from within.

I could save her. If I had just a little more time.

If I could find a proper healer and treat her.

But could I?

Suyeong's hand, which had rested against my cheek, fell limply. I called her name. Again and again.

But Suyeong didn't get up. Instead, I heard Junghyeok's voice.

"Get up, Kim Dokja."

There wasn't the slightest guilt or hesitation in his voice.

At that moment, something inside me snapped.

I slowly stood up.

[Yu Junghyeok.]

Fables boiled inside my head.

"There are fables so large that it's difficult just to read them properly. If you don't keep your balance, you'll be swept away by them at any time."

Yoo Hoseong had said that.

I knew it well too. The larger my fables became, the greater the burden I had to carry. That was why I gathered companions. I built history with them and made fables with them. I had come this far to reach a conclusion different from the Yu Junghyeok of the original story.

And this was the result.

Should I keep reading a story like this?

[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm begins its story.]

I had imagined an ending that everyone reached together.

I believed a story like that was surely possible.

[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth begins its story.]

But if that was impossible.

If all the time I had built until now had been completely meaningless.

[You have activated Demon King Transformation.]

The conclusion I dreamed of no longer had any meaning.

[I will kill you, Yu Junghyeok.]

Footnotes:

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