WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 450: Episode 85: The Final Wall (2)

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Bihyeong was beside himself with excitement. Any dokkaebi who had witnessed the Scenario unfolding on the screen before them would have felt the same.

"Whenever that happens, I'll fight back with everything I have, too."

The Scenario-ending message rang out alongside Kim Dokja's voice. Indirect Messages from the Constellations exploded, and the entire Star Stream trembled.

A new master had been chosen for the Great Fable "Journey to the West."

‘He did it. That bastard Kim Dokja did it.’

A Streamer had to remain fair. Still, every referee had a team they rooted for in their heart, and Bihyeong was no different. Like a parent watching a child all grown up, he swept his gaze over the faces on the screen, his expression full of emotion.

[Congratulations, Director Bihyeong.]

The subordinate dokkaebis around him offered their congratulations. They, too, knew Bihyeong had watched Kim Dokja Company for a long time.

[I knew they would pull it off.]

[M-me too. Me too...!]

There were even dokkaebis who had cheered for Kim Dokja Company alongside him. In fact, a few looked just as excited as Bihyeong.

It was truly rare for dokkaebis, who chased nothing but sensational material, to become so sincere about something.

[Those kids are mine. Don't get any ideas.]

[Hahaha! Of course...]

That was when urgent news arrived.

[Director, Great Dokkaebi Baram...]

[It's a promotion!]

A promotion?

[Director Bihyeong, congratulations!]

[Looks like the Administration Bureau is finally going to do its job for once!]

Amid the flood of messages, Bihyeong couldn't gather his wits.

He was already a high-grade dokkaebi and the director of the Seoul branch. He had reached the highest position he could attain through effort alone. Yet a promotion from here meant...

[Director?]

It was surely good news. Then why did he have such a bad feeling about it?

[The Great Dokkaebi is waiting for you.]

Guided by low-grade dokkaebis, Bihyeong took a portal.

As the hazy mist cleared, he saw Great Dokkaebi Baram waiting in a gray corridor.

[You've come, Bihyeong.]

[Baram-nim.]

Baram patted Bihyeong's shoulder as though praising him for his hard work.

[Congratulations. Your promotion has been decided.]

[Excuse me?]

[Do something about that stupid expression. Can't believe it? They've decided to appoint you as the final Great Dokkaebi.]

Great Dokkaebi. The ultimate honor every Streamer longed for.

The dream he had vaguely imagined had become real, leaving Bihyeong dumbfounded.

[Great Dokkaebi? Me?]

[That's right. It's an unprecedented promotion, one without equal in the history of the Star Stream.]

Baram chuckled and began walking ahead. Without knowing where they were going, Bihyeong followed him.

There were countless things he wanted to ask. Where was this place, and...

[Since you'll soon become a Great Dokkaebi, shouldn't you meet that person now?]

As if he understood Bihyeong's thoughts, Baram smiled.

[By that person, do you mean...?]

Even as he asked, Bihyeong had an idea of who it would be.

The air around them twisted, and faint sparks simmered in the air. Looking closer, every spark was shaped like a printed character. Something was ahead of them. A being he had never seen before.

[We're here.]

They rounded a bend in the corridor and passed through the misty passage, revealing a vast hall.

No, could it even be called a hall?

It was a massive place whose size couldn't be measured.

A broad wall stretched out before him. Even the wall's beginning and end were impossible to see. Printed characters seethed across its surface, and it was cracked, with large and small areas of damage scattered throughout.

At that moment, Bihyeong realized he had seen that wall somewhere before.

[The Revelation Board?]

There was no doubt. Though its appearance was different, the wall from which Constellations received Revelation had a similar form.

But why was the Revelation Board here? And that size...

[Everyone is here.]

The moment he heard that voice, Bihyeong collapsed onto the floor without realizing it. He had faced countless Constellations before, but this time, he couldn't hide his tension.

He couldn't fathom the Status contained in that voice.

When he looked around, every Great Dokkaebi, including Baram, was prostrating themselves toward the front.

Someone stood before the Revelation Board.

Bihyeong slowly raised his head, hiding his trembling. Only then did he realize.

‘Is that so... I see.’

That being was the sole absolute ruler who governed the Administration Bureau and controlled the Star Stream.

The King of Stories.

The King, who had been stroking the broken wall with a long white hand, slowly opened his mouth.

[I will select A Single Fable that will decide the next world.]

* * *

"I have the final fragment of the Final Wall?"

"That's right."

At [41]'s voice, I frowned.

I could roughly guess what this meant. The Final Wall. Throughout this round, I had gathered information about it. It was a subject that remained unexplained even to the end of the original TWSA. I was certain that wall was the clue that would decide this round's ending.

And the final fragment these guys spoke of was...

[The Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall has activated powerfully!]

「Kim Dok ja」

Don't worry. I won't ever hand you over to him.

I slowly blinked and focused my mind.

Secretive Plotter was looking at me. Though he had lost much of his Status, the being before me was still the strongest Constellation I knew, as well as an Outer God.

Remembering the day I had first come to N'Gai's Forest, I opened my mouth.

"You said something before: when the Sacred Three Questions ended, I had to find out why I came here."

【That's right.】

"You want to see this world's end. Isn't that right? You can say whatever you want, but you're placing your hopes in this worldline too."

Secretive Plotter's eyebrow twitched faintly. No matter how much he denied being Yu Junghyeok, he couldn't abandon Junghyeok's habits.

"You need the skill I possess, [The Fourth Wall], for that. That's why you've kept me alive until now. Am I right?"

Secretive Plotter didn't answer.

If he was going to be like that, I had an idea too.

Tssssss.

"I didn't hear the final answer in the Three Questions back then."

[The Sacred Three Questions has resumed!]

[You have one question remaining.]

Back then, I had asked Secretive Plotter.

Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World.

"Secretive Plotter. Do you know the epilogue of that novel?"

"Secretive Plotter. What exactly was the ending you saw?"

The TWSA I read ended at chapter 3,149. Yet although I had never seen what came afterward, Secretive Plotter had lived beyond that point. He had survived that unrecorded time and reached an ending of his own.

What had he seen there?

What had he seen that led him to become an Outer God and appear in this worldline?

It was [41] who stepped forward in response to my question. Looking slightly angry, he shouted at me.

"That question..."

【41.】

At Secretive Plotter's intervention, the other little Junghyeoks all fell silent.

Junghyeok in the form of a boy. Secretive Plotter was looking at me.

I suddenly felt strange. Junghyeok's childhood was never properly depicted anywhere in TWSA. It was only occasionally described through flashbacks.

But just because it wasn't depicted didn't mean it never existed.

It was like chapter 3,150 of TWSA. Somewhere beyond my knowledge, Junghyeok had been born and survived. Then he had become the protagonist of TWSA.

【How far did the book you read describe my journey?】

The protagonist, wearing a face I didn't recognize, was asking me.

After hesitating for a moment, I answered.

"Up until the moment you went to the Dokkaebi King."

I remembered the final scene of TWSA.

The journey to kill the Dokkaebi King. As Junghyeok pushed through the Final Mist, his story entered its final phase. There was no explanation of what happened afterward, or what he saw after that.

That was why I had been so flustered when I read the serialized chapters back then. I was afraid it might be an open ending.

【What did I look like at the final moment?】

The unexpected question caught me off guard.

I never thought he would ask something like that.

"Why do you...?"

【Did I look like I had succeeded? Did it seem like I could achieve my goal at the end?】

The moment I heard that, an inexplicable tightness filled my chest.

I couldn't understand why Secretive Plotter was asking me something like that.

No matter how I answered, those events had already happened to Secretive Plotter. My impression of them didn't matter at all. Not even a little.

Did it really not matter?

"You..."

I barely moved my lips.

I wasn't ready to answer this question. Even so, I had to answer.

「At that moment, she realized the world had completely left her hands.」

I remembered peace land. The expression on comic artist Asuka Ren's face as she let her world go. The responsibility of someone who had created a world.

Unlike her, I wasn't the author who had created TWSA. But I...

「This story was able to come into the world thanks entirely to you, Reader-nim.」

I was the person who had watched that story to the end.

"You succeeded. Because you did your best."

That answer was the duty of the person who had watched that story to the end.

I carefully and sincerely recalled every sentence I remembered.

"It was the same in every round. You always made the best choice you could. I don't know what ending you reached, but it wasn't wrong."

All of Junghyeok's rounds flashed through my mind.

The things he gained, and the things he lost.

"Your companions would think so too."

I even recalled the sight of him from behind as he reached the Final Chapter alone.

"But..."

Did I have the right to say this? I didn't know.

"You didn't look very happy at the end."

Even now, the scene I had read was vivid in my mind.

「Yu Junghyeok, who had finally lost everything, looked toward the mist. The hollow answer he had sought lay beyond that mist.」

Secretive Plotter faced me with the exact same expression described in that scene.

【I see.】

"Why did you suddenly ask that?"

【I was curious. You are the only being who saw it from beginning to end.】

I couldn't say anything.

【I was curious about the meaning of my life, given to it by someone other than myself. That is all.】

Footnotes:

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