WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 373: Episode 70: A Story That Can’t Be Told (4)

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As I fully regained consciousness, I activated [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint].

「So, the strategy for clearing Middle Island No. 4 is...」

Having finally acquired [Fable Control], Huiwon was participating in the Middle Island Scenario and slaughtering the other participants.

「I don't know. If they come at me, I'll kill them all.」

「Our General-nim is fabled-grade too! Don't look down on us!」

While Huiwon, having activated [Hour of Judgement], and Jihye, having activated [Demon Slaying], ran rampant, the kids were clearing the Middle Island Scenario in their own ways.

「I've tamed an Invisible Wisp. Let's use this guy to steal just that person's modifier.」

「Can't we just send the bugs?」

It was such a clever strategy that I didn't need to help them at all.

「Urgh, urgh, uuuugh.」

Hyeongseong, who had been dropped alone onto a remote Middle Island, was being beaten by Constellations and Incarnations. Curled up, he looked at his enemies with mournful eyes before roaring like a huge bear.

「What's sadder than being dropped somewhere alone is getting beaten up alone!」

A tremendous burst of light erupted from Hyeongseong's Incarnation body, and the surrounding participants were blasted apart one after another.

I knew that technique. It was one of the Master of Steel's specialties, [Shock Release], a Stigma that released all accumulated damage at once. The original story's characters really were overpowered.

Either way, Hyeongseong certainly seemed to have grown stronger.

[The character Jang Hayoung has activated Sky-Splitting Collapse Fist!]

Jang Hayoung was clearing the Scenario with power that overwhelmed everyone else's. Having quickly absorbed other people's techniques, she seemed to be becoming the true owner of the Wall she possessed.

[The Unidentified Wall is evolving!]

Hayoung's Wall was far more stable than before. Through it, she communicated with other Transcendents, learning and understanding their talents. In some ways, Hayoung's method resembled how I read books.

[The Unidentified Wall has noticed your presence.]

Static suddenly flickered across the screen.

[The Unidentified Wall looks at The Fourth Wall.]

[The Fourth Wall looks at the Unidentified Wall.]

The moment the two Walls faced each other, the screen suddenly blurred.

【The end of the worldline is approaching.】

Amid my crumbling vision, I heard a voice.

【Kim Dokja, they will come looking for you.】

* * *

Bzzzz.

The moment I regained consciousness, I felt my smartphone vibrate.

I absentmindedly turned on the screen, and today's date appeared.

February 15.

There was no weather information because this wasn't Earth. The date was the only thing I could check. Even that date wasn't accurate, since the markers of time and space had broken down as I moved freely between dimensional lines.

Everyone in the Star Stream lived in different times.

Still, February 15.

I thought about it for a moment, then put down my phone. My mind was a mess, and my Incarnation body stung all over. Blinking, I looked down at my upper body. My entire chest was tightly wrapped in bandages.

Where was I?

The scenery around me slowly came into view. Clean white sheets and a room decorated with elegant Eastern-style ornaments.

Someone leaning against the window and looking outside asked, "You're awake?"

"You...!"

Her eyes curved playfully.

"Ah, so this is what it feels like to die and come back."

"Weren't you dead...?"

"Me?"

My thoughts grew tangled as I watched Suyeong grin.

I remembered the last things I saw before losing consciousness. Suyeong dying to Junghyeok's sword, my fight with Junghyeok, being knocked unconscious by Junghyeok's sword, meeting Sangah in the Library and speaking with her...

Suyeong suddenly strode over and pinched my cheek.

"Honestly, Dokja, there are times when you're cute."

Only then did I realize she had been teasing me. Looking closer, I saw a small IV bag attached to Suyeong's arm too.

"Where are we?"

"The Main Island waiting room. Where that person's castle is."

Something came to mind at once.

[The Island's Owner is calling the Incarnation Yu Sangah.]

When the Island's Owner took Sangah away, a message had appeared before me too.

[The Island's Owner has invited you.]

The King of Reincarnators.

In 『Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World』, the third protagonist had invited us into their territory.

"But I shouldn't have cleared the Scenario yet, right? To come here, I need to clear the Middle Island Scenario..."

"You cleared it."

I checked my message log.

[You have cleared the Hidden Scenario Steal a Modifier!]

[You are currently waiting to receive your reward.]

It was true.

"What? I still hadn't collected the syllable 'God'..."

Without a word, Suyeong pointed at the necklace around my neck.

[Demon God of Lust and Wrath].

The completed modifier necklace was shining.

It was impossible. The last character of my necklace should have been empty.

Suyeong said, "Junghyeok said it was an extra character and left it behind."

Junghyeok? Why would he do that?

My thoughts became confused again.

The words he had spoken at the last moment rang vividly in my ears.

"I am Yu Junghyeok, who was a regressor."

Not Yu Junghyeok, the regressor, but Yu Junghyeok, who was a regressor.

What had he meant by saying that?

"Where's Junghyeok?"

"He went to the next Scenario."

I felt both empty and relieved at once. He had gone ahead again for the Scenario.

"Who was that bastard targeting?"

"You've got a lot of questions for someone who just woke up. What a pain."

Suyeong pointed at my chest. Looking closely, I saw that I had two modifier necklaces around my neck.

One was Asmodeus's modifier, [Demon God of Lust and Wrath], and the other was...

[□□ of □□]

There were gaping holes where my modifier should have been.

"Don't tell me."

"Yeah."

At least he left the "of." Bastard.

"Now let me ask a question. Is Sangah still inside you?"

"The King of Reincarnators took her."

"Didn't she leave any last words?"

I unsteadily rose and walked toward the window. Standing beside Suyeong, I looked down at the city.

Reincarnators walked through the Chinese-style city. Beings from other worlds were there, people who had chosen new lives in this place with different names and faces.

"She said we'd meet in the next life."

It was this life for me, but it would be Sangah's next life when she saw me. Through the King of Reincarnators' authority, she would receive a new body and a new life. She would be born into this world again and live her life.

Suyeong and I silently looked down at the streets, as if Sangah might be somewhere among them.

Suyeong suddenly murmured, "It's snowing."

Snowflakes were gradually falling.

Originally, this world was a land where snow never fell. Yet snow was falling from the sky.

Snow poured down like starlight. At the top of the distant sky where it drifted, Constellations were watching my story. No Indirect Messages arrived, but I could feel them watching me. The Plausibility they had gathered little by little fluttered down from the sky.

When I turned my head, Suyeong was looking at me. Holding my modifier necklace, she smiled.

"You're not 'Salvation' or a 'Demon King' anymore. Don't you need a new modifier?"

As I listened to Suyeong, I remembered the time when I had been the Demon King of Salvation.

It hadn't been long. Even so, they had been the brightest days of my life.

Through my wavering vision, Suyeong giggled.

"Want me to make you a new one while we're at it? Hmm... What would be good? How about 'Man Who Faints at the Drop of a Hat'? Or 'Miraculous Mouth'... Huh? Hey, are you crying?"

My face was reflected in her startled eyes.

I wanted to ask whether, as someone who wrote stories, she might know.

Had I done well until now?

Had I made any wrong choices?

When I reached the end of all these stories, would I see the ending I wanted?

"Hey, why are you crying? Okay, okay. Stop."

Thinking something to herself, Suyeong began rummaging through her pockets. Then she popped something sweet and sour into my mouth.

"Why cry on such a nice day? It's even snowing for once... I'll make you a better modifier later."

Suyeong avoided my gaze as she spoke and looked into the distance.

Today was February 15.

That was what my smartphone said. The time here and the time on Earth didn't match. So that date had to be nothing more than an error, a date assigned by chance with no meaning at all.

Still, if a miracle happened and that date was true...

Today was my birthday.

Suyeong rubbed her eyes and said, "I miss everyone."

I answered with all my strength.

"...Me too."

And as if those words were a signal,

[The revised version has been updated.]

A gift someone had sent arrived.

Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World (Final Version).txt

* * *

Amid the falling snow, Yu Junghyeok looked at the Castle of Reincarnators.

Dokja had probably woken up by now.

And Sangah had likely met the Island's Owner and begun the reincarnation process.

‘That woman.’

Junghyeok frowned.

Junghyeok couldn't forget slamming his own head against that mysterious Wall several days earlier.

Inside the Wall, which he had been forced to peer into amid horrific Plausibility sparks, Junghyeok had witnessed fragments of stories he hadn't known.

Some were stories he had expected.

Some were stories he didn't know.

There were even stories that had been completely unexpected.

It had only been an instant, but Junghyeok had obtained the information he sought from that Wall and reached an answer of his own.

Now, Junghyeok realized it was time to act on that answer.

"Secretive Plotter."

When he raised his head, the sinister Constellation's gaze fell on him.

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter is looking at you.]

Secretive Plotter.

A Constellation who had appeared for the first time in this round.

And an unidentified being whose information and traces couldn't be found anywhere in any world up to the 1,863rd round.

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter is looking at you.]

"I've been played by your schemes long enough. I have the right to ask at least one question."

Secretive Plotter didn't answer for a moment.

Then, part of the sky turned pitch-black, and black light fell toward Junghyeok.

Tzztztztzt!

With sparks of Plausibility, the surrounding space and time began to distort.

This was a zone controlled by the Island's Owner. Not even a Constellation of the highest Status could exercise this much Plausibility here.

Yet Secretive Plotter was capable of it.

A pitch-black shadow rose from the darkness.

【What are you curious about, puppet of the Oldest Dream?】

"Why did you give me that book?"

Secretive Plotter's shadow swayed as if mocking him.

Junghyeok continued, "Did you want me to despair? Did you want me to read that book and kill Dokja?"

【Perhaps. Perhaps not.】

"Why did you plot something like that?"

【Would you understand even if you heard it?】

The arrogance carried the certainty that someone like him couldn't understand even if he heard it.

Junghyeok asked again, "Why did you send Dokja to the 1,863rd round? Why did you make him kill the 'me' there?"

【Let's say I thought a Scenario like that would be entertaining.】

The shadow swayed as though it had let out a dry laugh.

Without faltering, Junghyeok said, "All your schemes are meant to destroy Dokja."

【Why do you think that? Do I have any reason to do so?】

"Maybe you do. Perhaps you have a compelling reason."

A Constellation who harbored unknowable anger toward Dokja and, like Dokja, didn't exist in this world's original story.

Junghyeok had pursued this Constellation for a long time.

And just now, Junghyeok had reached the answer to that pursuit.

"Secretive Plotter. Are you Kim Dokja from the future?"

Footnotes:

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