WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 418: Episode 79: Secretive Plotter (3)

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At Suyeong's urging, Junghyeok began to explain.

His story was rambling and repetitive. After about ten minutes, Suyeong, who had listened in silence, finally spoke.

"Stop. You don't seem to be in your right mind, so I'll sort this out. Just tell me whether I'm right or wrong."

Normally, Junghyeok would have objected to such a forceful summary, but he only nodded with a dark expression.

Suyeong began.

"You went to save Kim Dokja. But someone snatched him away before you could. That person was the Secretive Plotter we know."

Junghyeok nodded.

"And he had your exact face and was wearing a white coat."

"That's right."

"Could he have been a fake? That guy isn't exactly trustworthy. Maybe Secretive Plotter disguised himself as you."

"He couldn't have been a fake."

"Why?"

"He used the fable my 1,863rd-round self had."

"That chuunibyou fable with 'eternal' in the name?"

Suyeong nodded as if to say, "Just as I thought." Her pupils dilated slightly, and her fable began to move.

[The fable Predictive Plagiarism begins its story!]

Huiwon, who had been left out of the conversation, asked in a confused voice, "What are you even talking about? Secretive Plotter has Junghyeok-ssi's face?"

Suyeong looked at Huiwon for a moment, then sighed.

"To put it simply, there are two Yu Junghyeoks in this worldline right now."

"How is that possible?"

"It's not impossible. If Yu Junghyeok from another worldline crossed over into this one."

"That's possible?"

"Kim Dokja went to another worldline in a similar way. The problem is, that kind of transfer would be impossible at any ordinary level."

Even the highest-ranking Constellations of Eden or Papyrus couldn't cross worldlines by their own power. Yet Secretive Plotter was a monster capable of bearing all that Plausibility alone.

Huiwon murmured with her mouth hanging open, "What worldline could he possibly be from...?"

"There's really only one likely worldline. The one Kim Dokja visited, the 1,863rd round."

The 1,863rd round.

Yu Junghyeok's final worldline in TWSA.

Junghyeok asked Suyeong, "Do you know what happened in that worldline?"

"More or less."

"At the end of that world, my 1,863rd-round self split into two and fought. One died, and the other regressed."

"I know. I saw it in dreams a few times too."

"In dreams?"

Suyeong waved a hand, looking sick of it all.

"We don't have time to go into that. Anyway, you think Secretive Plotter is you from the 1,863rd round, right?"

Junghyeok opened his mouth, dissatisfaction written across his face.

"I'm not certain. There are a few things that bother me."

"Like what?"

"Secretive Plotter was stronger than the 1,863rd-round version of me I read about in the records."

"And?"

"And..."

Junghyeok bit his lip for a long time before speaking.

"I felt that he was lying about something. For example, that white coat."

"The white coat?"

"My Stigma, 'Regression,' doesn't send the items I own back with me. There'd be no reason for him to be wearing a white coat like that."

"Maybe he likes white."

"I hate white."

"His tastes could've changed."

"This isn't something that can be answered so easily. It's..."

"Is it just intuition?"

Junghyeok nodded.

"It felt like he was mocking me."

"Mocking you?"

"I thought he wore that coat on purpose."

As Junghyeok rubbed his temple, Secretive Plotter's words flashed through his mind.

【...Third round. You remember nothing-】

A deep silence fell.

Suyeong stroked her chin, lost in thought, while Huiwon smacked her lips with an expression that said she had no idea what was going on.

Then Suyeong spoke.

"Fine. Let's sum it up. Logically, Secretive Plotter is Yu Junghyeok from the 1,863rd round. But according to your intuition, he isn't. Is that right?"

"..."

"Then let's start by assuming this. Yu Junghyeok from the 1,863rd round isn't Secretive Plotter. In other words, Secretive Plotter is lying."

Junghyeok's gaze wavered.

"It's only a feeling. Are you really going to trust that?"

"Because it's your intuition. You know yourself better than anyone."

Junghyeok looked suspiciously at Suyeong's faint smile.

"Tell me the answer, Han Suyeong."

"Hm? What could you mean?"

"You have an idea who Secretive Plotter is. Don't you?"

This time, Suyeong narrowed her eyes.

"Since when did you become so perceptive?"

"It makes no sense for you to trust my intuition."

For a brief moment, their gazes met.

In that exchange, they realized what scene the other was recalling.

They had discussed Secretive Plotter's identity before. At the time, Junghyeok said that Secretive Plotter was Kim Dokja from the future, and Suyeong...

"How long are you two going to keep talking among yourselves? So who the hell is Secretive Plotter?"

At Huiwon's urging, Suyeong slowly opened her mouth.

"What I'm about to say is only a hypothesis."

"Who cares if it's a hypothesis? Hurry up and say it. This is driving me crazy!"

"There's something I've wondered about for a very long time."

"What have you wondered about?"

"What if TWSA had never become reality?"

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"I mean, what if there was a pure world of TWSA somewhere in this universe, untouched by me or Kim Dokja?"

Suyeong continued.

"What if there was a foolish Yu Junghyeok who lost his companions and lived through endless regressions in a world without Han Suyeong Corporation or Kim Dokja Company?"

"Wait, you..."

"What if that Yu Junghyeok reached the conclusion of everything after countless losses? What if a Yu Junghyeok who finally saw the end of this Star Stream through his own efforts existed somewhere in this universe?"

After a brief pause, Suyeong looked at Junghyeok.

Her figure was reflected in his deeply wavering eyes.

"What do you think he would think when he saw the current third round?"

* * *

Secretive Plotter.

A Constellation who didn't appear in the original TWSA.

Yet he possessed power greater than any Constellation I had ever met.

"Secretive Plotter. Are you someone who knows the epilogue of that novel?"

That was why I had asked that question.

If I could get an answer, I was confident I could identify Secretive Plotter.

At last, Secretive Plotter opened his mouth.

【I will not answer that question.】

"What? Wait a second."

―The Constellation Secretive Plotter has used the right of refusal for the third question.

Damn it. I had forgotten that the Sacred Three Questions allowed each side to use their right of refusal once.

Secretive Plotter looked down at me with unreadable eyes. For a moment, faint sparks of Plausibility flickered around his coat.

【I'm a little tired. Leave now.】

"Wait! The three questions aren't over y-"

Before I could finish, it felt as if the zone folded in on itself. The next moment, I had been thrown out of the hall.

A sense of emptiness washed over me as I stared at the tightly shut door.

―The Sacred Three Questions have temporarily ended.

―You have the right to ask one more question.

Normally, the Sacred Three Questions weren't a ritual that could be put on hold at either side's discretion. Yet Secretive Plotter had done it. I couldn't even imagine how overwhelming his Status had to be for something so absurd to be possible.

I pounded on the hall door and shouted, "Open up! This isn't what you promised! I need to get back to my companions!"

Powerful Status rippled from the door and hurled my Incarnation body back.

I staggered to my feet and prepared to release my Status.

Little Junghyeok [999], who was beside me, stopped me.

"You shouldn't do that."

Feeling the ominous energy beyond the door, I hastily withdrew my Status.

Little Junghyeok was right. My Incarnation body was seriously injured, while the other side was a powerful being whose limits I couldn't even begin to guess.

"There'll be another chance, Kim Dokja."

"When?"

The little Junghyeoks looked at me as if I were pathetic.

"Follow us. We're returning to the lodgings."

The thought of returning to that circular room filled me with despair, but there was no other option.

I could feel the presence of Outer Gods watching us from all around the corridor.

Fortunately, I was currently here as Secretive Plotter's guest. If I attempted to escape and became an intruder, it was obvious how things would go.

Ooooooh...

Not moving carelessly was the best choice.

Besides, it wasn't as if I had gained nothing.

[The Fourth Wall is vibrating faintly.]

「(There are many faces I haven't seen in a while. Are those Shantak's kin?)」

I was startled by the voice in my head.

It came through a message from [The Fourth Wall].

Judging by the way it spoke...

'The One Who Devours Dreams?'

「(That's right.)」

Come to think of it, one of the Outer Gods was inside me too. I had completely forgotten. Maybe I could ask the One Who Devours Dreams for help with this situation.

「(They all seem fond of you.)」

'Fond of me? Those things?'

I looked at the Outer Gods in the distance, their vicious tentacles raised toward me. When our eyes met, a horribly shaped flower bloomed at the tip of one enormous tentacle.

「(They're curious about you. That's rare for Outer Gods.)」

I shook my head as I watched the bud sway toward me as if it were courting me.

'It'd be hard to become friends with them.'

「(Hard? Why?)」

'You should know if you've read this and that in the Library.'

As I passed the Outer Gods emanating gloomy auras, I thought of the final episode of TWSA.

「The Star Stream's Final War is connected to those Outer Gods.」

The original Yu Junghyeok lost everything he had left in that war. All the Incarnations who had helped him died in battle, killed by those monsters of chaos that brought ruin to the world.

Then The One Who Devours Dreams said something unexpected.

「(Do you know why the Outer Gods became Calamities?)」

'That's...'

As I thought about it, I was suddenly struck by an odd realization.

It was strange. Even in TWSA, which was so full of explanations, there was no detailed account of the Outer Gods' origins.

A sudden premonition came over me.

Secretive Plotter's identity and the origins of the Outer Gods.

Could there be some connection between them?

Just as I was about to ask about it, someone else spoke first.

"I heard you like novels."

It was little Junghyeok [999]. I nodded.

"I do. Why?"

"If you want, I can tell you a short story."

"A story?"

Little Junghyeok [666], [777], and [888] looked at [999] in surprise. Apparently, this wasn't part of the plan.

Regardless of my answer, little Junghyeok [999] began his story.

"There was once a wolf who had fought a lonely battle for a very long time. He had a goal he pursued and a question he wanted answered. He fought for the answer to that question."

"Is this a fable?"

"The wolf continued to fight. For hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years."

I wanted to say wolves didn't live that long, but the story continued.

"At last, the wolf reached the end of his battles and became the Wolf King. He found an answer in his own way. He lost his entire pack in exchange, but the king accepted that answer because it was the best answer this world could offer him. Embracing that answer, the king traveled the world."

It was a strangely abstract story.

"Then one day, the king learned that another pack existed."

And yet, it felt endlessly familiar.

"There was a wolf like him in that pack. That wolf had the same great cause and lived for the same purpose."

I listened to the story as if entranced.

"But something was different. The wolf from that pack had lost nothing."

He was trying to tell me what Secretive Plotter hadn't answered.

"Hunting prey, protecting the pack. That wolf achieved the goals the king had longed for with only the slightest pain. Without losing anything. Seeing that, the king suddenly thought..."

A chill slowly ran down my spine.

"If that story is completed, what meaning could the life I've lived possibly have?"

Junghyeok was asking me.

"Kim Dokja. Have you ever thought about a life like that?"

Footnotes:

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