WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 378: Episode 72: Three Ways (1)
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I took the book and stared at it blankly before asking the butler,
"When did Her Majesty give you this book?"
"She first gave me the manuscript forty years ago. For about ten years afterward, she continued giving me manuscripts. All I did was bind them into a book."
"Did you read it?"
"I swear I didn't read a single line. As I said, I only handled the bookbinding."
I opened the book. A neatly organized table of contents appeared.
+
......
Episode 13: Princes of the Counterattack
Episode 14: The First Prince's Rebellion
Episode 15: Three Ways
......
+
I frantically flipped through the pages.
It was a thick volume, but with my Attribute's effect, reading it wasn't difficult.
Still, someone was dissatisfied with my speed-reading.
"You're reading too quickly."
"You're just slow, hyung."
"What's it about?"
I didn't answer.
As I turned the pages, an odd sense of exhaustion washed over me. The fatigue and desperation of the years soaked into every page. I didn't know whether even that had been Han Suyeong's intention.
All I knew was that Suyeong had foreseen the day I would read her book.
I paused on the page I was reading and opened the very end of the volume.
There was an <Author's Note> there.
「There are always people who open the author's note first whenever they read a book.」
The words greeted me as if they'd been waiting for me. Despite the circumstances, a smile rose to my lips.
「By the time you're reading this book, I will probably......」
With a heavy heart, I read the next sentence.
「Still be eating well and living well. Haha, did that scare you?」
This bastard.
「Anyway, if my prediction is right, then the one reading this is Kim Dokja. Prince Kim Dokja, huh. It's a shame I can't see you like that.」
Suyeong's distinctive mockery seeped through every line she had written.
「Wondering how I knew it was you? Well...... I can't say I'm certain. Even my predictive writing has its limits. There are certain possibilities and cliché conditions for when you arrive in this world, and I simply guessed the most likely one. Ah, of course, I could be wrong.」
The sentences were written as if she were joking.
Yet what they said was no joke.
「Honestly, I hope I'm wrong. Waiting decades for someone...... Do you think that's possible, you crazy bastard?」
Suyeong's <Author's Note> hadn't been written all at once. She must have gathered these records bit by bit from the moment she entered this world through Possession. Once she could write, she must have continued adding to them.
Suyeong's record continued.
「As you probably expected, I was born into this woman's body. At first, I thought I'd reincarnated. I thought I was going to lose my mind from frustration for the first year or so. If I hadn't used the [Avatar] in my head to organize my memories, I would've gone insane long ago. Things got a little better once I turned four and could write. Fuck, am I still clinging to a pen even at a time like this just because I'm a writer?」
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, all I could do was silently turn the pages.
「At first, I thought you'd come within three years at the latest. Last time, you came back after three years, didn't you? But after three years passed, then four, then five...... (Don't mistake this writing style for time passing quickly.) I started to think differently. Then, at some point, I came to accept it.」
Turning the pages gradually became harder.
「I see. Kim Dokja won't be coming anytime soon.」
Suyeong's handwriting trembled faintly.
「This fucking bastard told me to wait, yet he isn't coming.」
What could I possibly say?
「But it isn't Kim Dokja's fault.」
No, even if I said something, would it reach Suyeong, who had written this?
「Sorry, you probably don't want to read this either. But it's hard not to whine here.」
Suyeong's sentences continued.
「I didn't realize it while writing novels, but when you live here, there are so many inconvenient details you never even think about. The bathing facilities are inconvenient, fist-sized bugs crawl around the bedroom, and the food...... Let's not even talk about it.」
Six years in.
「Do you know my way of speaking is getting weird these days? I sound like some medieval noblewoman.」
Seven years in.
「Sir Kim Dokja. When exactly do you plan to arrive?」
Eight years in.
「Ugh.」
Nine years in.
「It feels like a joke. How can a human life pass by this quickly?」
From then on, the records became scattered.
They weren't in chronological order, and there were records here and there that she seemed to have added later.
「Fuck.」
「Kim Dokja, you bastard.」
「What the hell do you expect me to do, you shitty dokkaebi bastards?」
......
「The time I've lived here is starting to equal the time I spent living on Earth.」
「So call me noona next time we meet, got it?」
Suyeong's handwriting was gradually changing.
It felt as if it were becoming something other than Han Suyeong.
「The reason I'm writing this is because I can guess what my future will be like. And perhaps the future of this world as well.」
A few decades would be a short time to Constellations.
But not to a human.
Suyeong had to endure an entire lifetime here.
「I've started to think this Scenario might not appear in TWSA. It makes sense. We've changed too many stories.」
We.
Even after enduring all those long years alone, do you still include me when you say "we"?
「If I let go too, it's obvious you, pathetic as you are, and Yu Junghyeok will just keep fumbling around and ruin the Scenario...... So,」
For a moment, I felt as if Suyeong were standing before me. It felt like I could hear her speaking to me in that confident, capable voice she always had.
「My only reader. This story is the story of a woman who survived in a ruined Scenario.」
Goosebumps slowly rose from the nape of my neck.
The years Suyeong had lived through. A sentence born from her rage, resentment, and waiting.
「I don't know whether you're the right person for these 'Three Ways,' but at least one thing is certain.」
That sentence was painfully similar to another sentence I knew.
「You who have read this story will definitely survive.」
Suyeong's afterword ended there.
For a long time, I couldn't take my eyes off the period.
"Ricardo."
When I turned around, Junghyeok was looking at me.
"Did that woman also possess the power to foresee the future?"
"......Probably."
Originally, [Predictive Plagiarism] had been Suyeong's power in the 1,863rd round. Yet Suyeong of this round, who had written this book, had obtained that power as well.
The result was this book.
A new guidepost given to me after I lost TWSA.
[The world is paying attention to your conversation.]
[The genre of this Scenario has shifted slightly toward Fusion Fantasy.]
I turned back to the first page of the book.
It was time to carefully read the information we needed.
Then I noticed a sentence I'd skimmed over earlier.
「P.S. This novel is a fan work based on TWSA and does not pursue any commercial purpose.」
A laugh escaped me.
「Chapter 1. The Birth of an SSS-grade Reincarnator」
I read and reread the sentences Suyeong had carefully written.
As if drunkenly wandering into another world, I greedily savored the sentences. It was the only courtesy I, a reader, could offer the author of this story.
It was fun, damn it.
In some parts, even more than TWSA.
Who knew how much time had passed when I raised my head.
* * *
Suyeong had said there were three ways to clear this Scenario.
「The three methods of clearing it each embody a different genre.」
Fantasy, Romance, and Fusion Fantasy.
「The 'Dynastic Revolution' route is the main development of the 'Fantasy' genre. If you choose this route......」
Every route had its pros and cons. When you gained something, you lost something else in return.
There were also things you would lose no matter which route you chose.
For example, the first thing we would lose was...
"P-please spare me! Your Highness! Please spare me!"
Lee Hyeongseong's human rights.
"Roll to the left."
"Urgh, ngh!"
"Roll to the right."
"Your Highness......!"
"When did I order you to talk back?"
Junghyeok was making Hyeongseong do punishment drills like a military instructor.
And I was watching.
"W-why are you making me do this? Fourth Prince, please stop him!"
"Do you perhaps remember anything?"
"Ugh, ngh...... My back hurts so much. I'm an old soldier."
To follow the routes Suyeong had foreseen with [Predictive Plagiarism], we needed to restore Hyeongseong's memories.
And some memories were better remembered by the body than the mind.
「It will probably be cruel for Lee Hyeongseong.」
Still, there was no other way right now.
Even Suyeong's book didn't record the life Billston had lived from Hyeongseong's perspective.
Since we didn't know what kind of life Hyeongseong had lived before the world consumed him, there were only limited ways we could wake him up.
After some time passed...
"I feel strange."
Hyeongseong, whose face was pressed against the floor, suddenly began talking nonsense.
"I feel more and more comfortable."
[The character Billston Framer is deeply confused.]
[The sense of self of the character Lee Hyeongseong is stirring.]
Junghyeok and I turned to look at each other at the same time.
Normally, this much stimulation wouldn't have been enough to awaken Hyeongseong's sense of self.
But things were a little different now.
Junghyeok was here, and so was I.
[There are beings nearby who share the same fable as you.]
[The bond between your fables has grown stronger!]
Three members of Kim Dokja Company had gathered here.
There was an old saying.
Three People Make a Tiger.
Three people can make even a tiger.
We couldn't make a tiger, but perhaps we could accomplish something else.
[The fables of your nebula have begun to resist the world.]
For example, we could call forth memories that didn't exist in this world.
[The sense of self of the character Lee Hyeongseong is slowly awakening.]
Faint rays of light flowed from Hyeongseong's body.
[The Great Fable Kaizenix Archipelago glares at you!]
Suyeong had said that, in the end, this Scenario was a world under the control of that Great Fable.
If we could escape the fable's control, then perhaps recovering one's sense of self was possible too.
"U-uh, ah......"
Hyeongseong slowly blinked and moved his lips as if babbling.
"D-Dokja-ssi?"
[The world is penalizing a statement that does not conform to Plausibility!]
Tzzzt!
"Uwaaaaah!"
Hyeongseong convulsed as sparks ran through him.
When I turned my head, Junghyeok rose to his feet, having finished preparing for battle. All the preparations we needed were complete.
Junghyeok drew the Black Heaven Demon Blade and asked,
「Which route will we take?」
「The way we always do.」
Suyeong was the author of this Scenario.
But even if the author was excellent, the work wouldn't always succeed.
「Let's begin clearing the Scenario, Yu Junghyeok.」
Ultimately, the ones who complete a story are not the author, but the "characters."
[A new Great Fable is budding in your nebula.]
Footnotes:
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