WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 430: Episode 81: A Dumpling’s Reminiscence (3)

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Junghyeok slowly spoke, his blade aimed at Sun Wukong.

―What did you think I would do when you’re giving off so much demonic energy?

[Telepathy] was meant to convey a message to a specific person.

Yet Sun Wukong gave no answer.

Instead, the martial arts dumpling perched on Sun Wukong's shoulder reacted.

―The Black Heaven Demon Blade is a fine sword.

The depth of years in that voice caused a faint sword aura to gather around Junghyeok's blade.

The martial arts dumpling opened its eyes, quietly studying the Black Heaven Demon Blade imbued with the power of transcendence, then spoke.

―But can you cut me with such a broken sword?

There really was a faint crack running through the center of the Black Heaven Demon Blade.

Junghyeok had patched it with repair tools sold in the Dokkaebi Compendium, but it was no more than a temporary measure. Once broken, the Black Heaven Demon Blade could no longer display even half of its original power.

Junghyeok said,

―I could find out right now.

―That is why you lost to Secretive Plotter.

At the mention of Secretive Plotter, Junghyeok's thick eyebrows twitched sharply.

The martial arts dumpling's shape gradually blurred in the darkness, and Yu Junghyeok [999] regained his original appearance in miniature.

Junghyeok's eyes wavered faintly.

―Are you one of that bastard's dependents? What are you here for?

―You, as you are now, can never defeat Secretive Plotter.

―If you came here to tell me that kind of nonsense...

―It will be the same no matter how many hundreds of times you try. It is just like your pathetic regression. You know that, do you not?

The tip of the Black Heaven Demon Blade trembled faintly.

It was true. He had not been able to defeat that enemy even after inheriting Han Suyeong and Jeong Huiwon's powers. Meeting him again would not suddenly make him a match.

As if he understood Junghyeok's feelings, [999] said,

―Junghyeok of the third round, how much do you know about Secretive Plotter?

* * *

An ancient slumber.

It was a dream from the days when he was still called Yu Junghyeok.

From the 0th round to the 1,863rd round.

The tale of the days when, as the Oldest Dream's puppet, he threw away his life countless times and fought again and again.

[You foolish puppet. You... cannot... save... anything.]

In the 1,863rd round he finally reached, Junghyeok lost all his companions.

Naval Warfare God Lee Jihye.

Beast Lord Shin Yuseong.

Steel Sword Emperor Lee Hyeongseong.

Medicine Sage Lee Seolhwa.

Delusional Demon Kim Namwoon.

King of the Hidden Shadows, Han Donghoon.

Sky-Splitting Sword Saint Namgung Minyeong.

...His younger sister, Yu Mia.

There were as many enemies as there were companions.

Pildu Gong of the Ten Evils, Anna Croft, Rannvir Khan, Peihu...

"I told you. I won't take your side. But..."

Some enemies opposed him to the very end.

"Perhaps this round will be your last."

Others realized he would succeed and blessed him.

Then the Final War began.

[O Steel-Blooded Monarch.]

The Prisoner of the Golden Headband, Great Sage Equaling Heaven, had fought as his sworn friend.

[I help you because the Star Stream is an even greater evil.]

Demonic Judge of Fire Uriel became his ally at the very end.

[I am only avenging my Incarnation.]

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon stood by his side to avenge Kim Namwoon.

【Fool ish Con stellations...】

Piercing through the surging waves of Outer Gods, he advanced. He cut down the attacking mass of tentacles and faced the immense Status emitted by the Outer Gods.

The stars in the sky fell without pause.

The lights of great nebulae were vanishing.

Olympus, Veda, Asgard...

With the sound of an era ending, the Star Stream's sky was covered in falling meteors.

The Constellations of the Korean Peninsula were dying as well. Goryeo's Top Swordsman and Naval Warfare God fought until the end, but even they could not escape death.

The same went for Junghyeok's comrades.

[What a laughable life.]

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was the first to lose his head.

[Gabriel... I am sorry.]

Then Demonic Judge of Fire's wings broke.

By then, however, many of the Outer Gods had also been annihilated.

Great Sage Equaling Heaven delivered the final blow.

[That must be where all stories end.]

With his enormous Ruyi Staff, Great Sage Equaling Heaven transformed into tens of thousands of duplicates and sacrificed all his fables to clear a path.

As he scattered into golden fables, Great Sage Equaling Heaven said,

[Complete your story, Supreme King Junghyeok.]

Even now, Junghyeok could not forget the moment he ran down that path.

The moment his life, which had raced without rest since the 0th round, reached completion.

Slice.

An Outer God's head fell unceremoniously.

【Re gret alone will keep you ali ve.】

That curse completed Junghyeok's conclusion.

[You have acquired a new Great Fable!]

[The Great Fable Pilgrim of the Lonely Apocalypse has completed its true meaning!]

[Your final Great Fable has completed its conclusion!]

[The final condition of Hidden Scenario - A Single Fable has been fulfilled!]

Only Junghyeok remained on the battlefield, where every being had perished.

A conclusion reached with every death as fertilizer.

After that long battle, there was only one thing Junghyeok wanted.

‘To see the end of this damned regression.’

He had come this far for that alone.

Yet a wall stood in his way, preventing him from going beyond.

「There are three ways to survive in a ruined world. I have forgotten a few by now. But one thing is certain. You, who are reading this now, will survive.」

A sentence whose meaning he could not understand was written on the wall.

There, Junghyeok met the Dokkaebi King.

[Unfortunate puppet. You have arrived too early. I am sorry, but what lies beyond this point does not yet exist.]

Junghyeok could not understand what that meant. He even threatened the Dokkaebi King to find out, but the Dokkaebi King never revealed the meaning of those words, even at the moment of death.

[You cannot complete this universe.]

A vast wall that none of Junghyeok's powers could overcome.

Junghyeok instinctively knew.

‘The answer I’ve sought lies beyond this.’

But even his Sky Splitter Sword Art, which had shattered the sky and broken stars, could not destroy that wall. It was as though the wall had no attribute of “breaking.”

Junghyeok despaired.

He had lost everything and come this far, yet he could not go beyond this wall?

[Your conclusion guides you to a new existence.]

He needed to grow stronger. He needed more fables.

He needed the power to break through this wall and move beyond it.

[You have become an Outer God.]

That was how Junghyeok became an Outer God.

He came to drift through the countless worldlines he had lived in, and eventually, he was no longer Junghyeok.

The Outer Gods revered him as he wandered through the universe of stories, and dokkaebis from other worldlines feared him. The Hunchbacks liked him. One of the Recorders of Fear gave him a name.

―Great Plot that dreams of a journey beyond the wall... O Secretive Plotter.

The 0th round, the 1st round, the 2nd round... the 1,863rd round.

As he wandered through countless worldlines, he reflected on the stories he had lived.

He acquired many fables, but the Plausibility spent traveling between worldlines eventually brought his power back to its starting point.

In return, he learned countless things he could never have known through the regressions he had experienced so far.

The culprit behind all these regressions, his Patron.

The Oldest Dream.

Secretive Plotter wandered through worldline after worldline in search of that being.

Once, he found something like a trace of Oldest Dream in Eden. Another time, he found records of that being in Veda.

But he could not find the being's true form anywhere.

That was why Secretive Plotter became certain. The Final Wall he had seen in the Final Scenario. Beyond that wall, there had to be an answer to everything.

Yet no matter how many worldlines he searched, he could not find a way past the wall.

Hope gradually withered away. Even his will, which 1,863 rounds of regression had not broken, was slowly dulling. Countless times, he dreamed of simply sleeping forever. If only he truly could.

If only he could find the peace he had sought for so long.

That was when he discovered a single brilliantly shining planet.

It was a planet Secretive Plotter knew as well.

Planetary System 8612, Earth. The tragic place where all these Scenarios began.

But something was strange.

An unfamiliar sensation surrounding the worldline stabbed into his mind.

‘Was there a round like this?’

There, Secretive Plotter saw a being he had never encountered before.

.

.

.

Secretive Plotter slowly opened his eyes.

N'Gai Forest lay blanketed in chilly darkness.

Secretive Plotter's pitch-black breath drifted through the frigid air.

Little Yu Junghyeok [41], who stood beside him, said,

"You had a nightmare. Even you, who have already seen the conclusion, cannot escape dreams?"

【Because I, too, am still nothing more than a puppet.】

Crackle, crackle.

Was it the aftereffect of excessive Plausibility consumption? Faint sparks ran across Secretive Plotter's entire body.

[41] looked down at them for a moment, then said,

"It seems changing the story of the 1,863rd round had quite an effect after all."

【What is it?】

"Contact with [999] has been lost."

Secretive Plotter's gaze deepened at those words. A profound light, as though he were reading something, flickered in his eyes before he spoke.

【[999] is not dead.】

"Then if contact has still been lost..."

Secretive Plotter did not answer.

[41] spoke with faint anger in his voice.

"Sending him was a mistake. Send me instead. [999] is too weak."

【He is not weak.】

As if recalling the events of the 999th round, faint remnants of fables passed through Secretive Plotter's eyes.

【Even if it was luck, [999] was the only one besides me who came close to the edge of a conclusion. Because of his experience, I was able to see a conclusion as well.】

[41] frowned and replied,

"But he is also a Yu Junghyeok who gave up his own conclusion. Think carefully. He may ruin this task."

【It does not matter because he is Junghyeok too.】

Secretive Plotter's profound gaze turned toward the sky above N'Gai Forest. It gave no hint of what he was thinking.

【He also has the right to pursue the ending he wants.】

[41] quietly looked into Secretive Plotter's eyes, then slowly lowered his head.

Secretive Plotter. The version of Junghyeok who had lived the longest in this entire universe.

No one in the Star Stream could understand his sorrow.

"If that is what you desire."

Even if they were both versions of Junghyeok.

* * *

[The Scenario maintenance will end in five minutes.]

[The channel will be reopened shortly.]

As the messages echoed through the air, the two Junghyeoks faced each other. [999] was the first to smile bitterly.

―It seems you know nothing. Then again, I suppose that is only natural.

"You know nothing." Those words provoked Junghyeok.

Every bastard said the same thing.

‘Junghyeok who knows nothing.’

What exactly did he not know?

The edge of the Black Heaven Demon Blade inched toward Sun Wukong as Junghyeok swallowed his anger.

―Tell me what you are plotting. Why are you here? Is that Sun Wukong on your side too?

[999] looked toward Sun Wukong.

―He is not an Outer God. We are merely using each other.

―Then it will not matter if I kill both of you.

[999] quietly stepped in front of Sun Wukong, as if shielding him.

―If you wish to give up this round, then that would be fine.

―What nonsense are you talking about?

―Complete the Journey to the West Remake with him. Then I will tell you how to defeat Secretive Plotter.

―How can I trust that...

At almost the same time, blue sparks burst from [999]'s body.

[Existence Oath].

Junghyeok's eyes wavered.

―You are the one who said I would not win, even if I regressed hundreds of times.

―I meant you cannot win by regressing hundreds of times.

[999] lightly jumped onto the spine of the Black Heaven Demon Blade.

Junghyeok flinched and stepped back. [999] took another step closer.

―You must think your life so far has been hell because you have always had to bear everything alone.

An ominous fable spread through the area in an instant.

Junghyeok flinched as he looked at it.

It was the eternal nightmare one person had lived through.

[The fable Eternal Hellscape begins its story.]

As if responding to that fable, the Black Heaven Demon Blade, filled with madness, trembled.

Junghyeok [999], who had undergone 999 rounds of regression, spoke.

―How many such hells do you think exist in this universe?

Footnotes:

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