WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 383: Episode 73: The Hottest Place in Hell (2)

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He suddenly appeared and told me to kneel.

Han Suyeong, standing beside me, looked dumbfounded, while Yu Junghyeok's hand had already gone to his sword hilt. Cheok Junkyung rubbed his forehead, as though he'd expected something like this to happen.

-I apologize, descendant. I tried to stop him, but it didn't work.

Well, that old man probably wouldn't enjoy a situation like this either.

Cheok Junkyung owed Hongik a debt, so he probably couldn't refuse to arrange this meeting...

-I'll leave it to you.

I nodded and looked at the immortal.

[The Constellation that rules the winds of the peninsula reveals his modifier!]

[The Constellation Wind God of the Heavenly Emperor is looking at you!]

Wind God of the Heavenly Emperor.

He was the Constellation who had founded Hongik alongside the Heavenly King.

The wind god we knew as Fengbaek was his True name.

Rumbblee!

The Status of a Constellation who had revealed his modifier. A terrifying gale swept through the area, like a giant phoenix flapping its wings. Then every sound around us vanished.

The Reincarnators outside were shouting something in our direction, but I couldn't hear them. Fengbaek had cut off all sound around me.

It was probably a gesture to show he didn't want anyone to know about the conversation we were about to have.

[Descendant of the peninsula, I have long heard of your courage. Your fame resounds far and wide, raising the peninsula's standing as well. I am greatly pleased by this.]

I signaled to Junghyeok, who was gathering his momentum.

Hold on. Let's hear him out first.

[Recently, though, I heard that you have been forming improper alliances with Constellations from other nations.]

I wasn't sure I should keep listening.

[Archangels and Demon Kings are not Constellations originating from the peninsula or East Asia. In other words, they are foreign powers.]

Suyeong gave me a look.

-Hey, are we just going to let that slide?

-I'll cut him down.

-What, is there crosstalk? Why can I hear Yu Junghyeok's voice?

-I merged our tryst rooms.

At my words, messages from Suyeong and Junghyeok exploded in my head.

-Hey, are you kidding? Now I have to listen to that arrogant way he talks in my head too?

-That's what I should say.

I sighed as I watched the two of them snarl at each other.

-Both of you, stop. That isn't important right now.

Even while we fought in the group chat, Fengbaek's boring sermon continued.

[...In short, the descendant's pro-foreign behavior has brought grave shame upon the peninsula's honor, and I consider it a serious sin. But if the descendant deeply regrets and reflects upon this matter...]

There were even Constellations who agreed with him.

[The Constellation Founder of Isolationism partially agrees with the words of Wind God of the Heavenly Emperor.]

Of course, not everyone felt that way. There was a surprisingly diverse range of Constellations on this small peninsula.

[The Constellation Bald Army General wipes his head.]

[The Constellation Joseon's Greatest Sorcerer clicks his tongue.]

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband yawns.]

[Some Constellations of the Korean Peninsula find the remarks of Wind God of the Heavenly Emperor old-fashioned.]

[Who dares hide behind anonymous modifiers and flap their gums!]

As Fengbaek's constellation's declaration thundered out, the weather began to change. A few Constellations, overwhelmed by that terrifying force, fell silent.

After all, he was practically an ancestral deity of the peninsula.

The peninsula's Constellations, who had all benefited from Hongik to varying degrees, couldn't openly challenge his authority.

Not even Cheok Junkyung.

[Why are you still standing?]

Fengbaek's gaze settled on me.

The atmosphere was completely different now.

[Didn't I tell you to kneel?]

A massive pressure weighed down on me. It wasn't just me, either. It pressed down on all of Kim Dokja Company.

[The fable of the nebula Hongik gazes at Kim Dokja Company!]

It felt as if an old, towering tree had bent down to look at us.

A towering tree coveting the nourishment of newly sprouted seedlings.

I met that gaze without a word before answering.

"I don't want to."

[Yes, you don't... What did you say?]

"I said I don't want to."

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband likes your attitude.]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon urges you to start by giving him one punch.]

"I came here to participate in the Great War of Angels and Demons, not to kneel before you."

[How arrogant. I held your courage in high regard and intended to forgive the sins you committed, yet...]

"And what would happen after you forgave me?"

Fengbaek's eyebrow twitched at my words.

"You planned to use Hongik's authority to absorb and merge Kim Dokja Company into Hongik, didn't you?"

Perhaps because I'd hit the mark, even that lofty Constellation's expression showed emotion.

[It is only natural for you to come under Hongik.]

"Why?"

[Had Hongik not wielded its power in the beginning, your nebula would never have been born.]

Like a parent betrayed by his child, Fengbaek shouted at me.

[Hongik is the founder of the peninsula! We gave birth to you, decided the ideals you would follow, and established your rules. Everything you now see, feel, and think was decided by us. You exist because of Hongik's fables, and through those fables, you are able to survive...]

"Four years ago, by Earth's reckoning, the Scenarios began on the Korean Peninsula."

I cut Fengbaek off.

"What did Hongik do when the peninsula was in danger?"

[...]

"When the peninsula's Scenarios began, when the Absolute Throne appeared, when Outer Gods and Calamities descended, and when the peninsula's Incarnations and Constellations gathered their strength..."

Memories surfaced with every word I spoke.

The Scenarios overcome by people who had gathered when they had no one to rely on.

The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword driven into the blind throne, and the peninsula's Constellations who had lent their Plausibility to that sword.

[The fable King of a Kingless World glares at Wind God of the Heavenly Emperor.]

[The fable King of a Kingless World begins its story!]

The fable stirred regardless of my will.

「The King of a Kingless World」 was a fable born with the collapse of the Absolute Throne.

I told fables, and fables spoke of themselves through me.

"Where exactly were you and Hongik, and what were you doing then?"

[You bastard!]

Fengbaek looked at me as though he were about to vomit blood.

"Of course, I know that you and Hongik worked to benefit the peninsula in its early days. I acknowledge the value of your fables. But that doesn't mean everyone on the peninsula has to be loyal to you."

Looking at Fengbaek's trembling mustache, I finished speaking.

"Everyone has their own way of carrying out the Scenarios. Just because you are the Constellation with the highest Status on the peninsula doesn't mean you can interfere in Kim Dokja Company's affairs."

Cheok Junkyung actually looked pleased by my brazen tone.

This was probably the first time he'd seen Fengbaek treated like this.

[How dare you, how dare...]

In place of the speechless Fengbaek, the force of a fable rose behind him.

[The Great Fable of the nebula Hongik gazes at you!]

[The nebula Hongik extends its roots towards Kim Dokja Company!]

One by one, Hongik's Great Fables rose into the sky like branches, soon forming the shape of a giant tree.

And I recognized what it was.

「A tree connecting heaven and earth, the sum of every fable Hongik puts into practice, and the one fable that supports all those fables.」

「The Fable Tree Shindansu.」

All of Hongik's fables had begun with that tree.

Shindansu scattered sacred energy as it extended branches of fables toward us.

A sermon wasn't enough, so now he was going to use force. It was bitter.

But what was truly bitter was...

"It seems Hongik's highest divinities really have disappeared."

[What do you mean by that?]

Unlike the Shindansu I knew, this one was much shabbier and closer to a small body. The ends of every root reaching toward us were grotesquely damaged. Great Fables that couldn't maintain their forms because they hadn't absorbed nourishment for so long. Even most of the branches growing upward had dried out.

That was all Hongik had now.

"I'm saying this because I feel sorry for you."

The Fengbaek from the original story I knew wasn't such a stubborn old man.

He wasn't kind, but he had been a much more dignified and righteous Constellation.

Something must have happened to Hongik, and the nebula's power had rapidly diminished.

Fengbaek's pathetic state was surely connected to that.

[Do you dare insult me?]

Fengbaek let out a scream and spewed the power of wind. The energy of a storm began gathering around us. The Reincarnators from the Kaizenix Archipelago twisted in pain beneath the enormous Status pressing down on the entire area.

Suyeong urged me again.

-Kim Dokja.

I nodded.

Hongik's state was pitiful, but that was their problem.

When I stepped forward, Junghyeok drew his sword beside me, and Suyeong unwrapped the bandage around her left arm. Then...

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

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

The Great Fables we had held back began to speak at the same time.

Even...

[The Great Fable Kaizenix Archipelago begins to tell its story, as though displeased.]

Even a Great Fable that wasn't ours joined in.

Crack!

The roots of the towering tree flying toward us shattered against the waves raised by Kim Dokja Company's fables.

[The body of the Great Fable Shindansu is in pain!]

The roots that had stretched toward us as if to swallow us whole faltered and scattered, as though frightened of a story they couldn't devour. The intact roots retreated belatedly, while the dry, skeletal branches screamed.

[The body of the Great Fable Shindansu refuses the command of Wind God of the Heavenly Emperor.]

[What...?]

Shindansu's form withdrew and vanished in an instant.

Fengbaek staggered backward in shock, apparently never expecting our Great Fables to possess such Status. I could feel Constellations scattered throughout the neutral zone looking in our direction in surprise at the disturbance.

Baaat!

Biyoo appeared above my head as though she'd been waiting. At the same time, I heard Biyoo's channel swing wide open.

[Multiple Constellations have entered the channel!]

I could clearly picture Bihyeong enjoying himself. Biyoo's channel was connected to Bihyeong's broadcast channel. It was obvious why Bihyeong had engineered this situation.

Still, I needed an occasion like this at least once.

[The Constellation Bald Army General pays attention to your voice.]

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God awaits your story.]

[The Demon King Ruler of Hell's East watches you.]

[The Constellation Scribe of heaven awaits you.]

[Constellations of good, evil, and neutral alignments are watching you.]

Countless Indirect Messages appeared.

I looked at Fengbaek and opened my mouth.

This wasn't a warning for Hongik.

"I won't say that everything we do is just. But we will decide for ourselves which path we choose to take."

I declared to the Constellations of the world.

"No one can stop that choice."

Footnotes:

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