WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 454: Episode 86: The Square Circle (1)

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Throughout the trip along the Dimensional Path, Han Suyeong and Yu Sangah barely spoke. That gave me time to look out the window and sort through my thoughts.

The things I needed to do, and the things I wanted to do.

Uriel, who had been muttering to herself with a serious expression the entire time, was asleep beside me, snoring. The sealed Secretive Plotter had fainted, half leaning against her. It felt strange to see the two oldest beings on my channel sleeping so defenselessly.

Suyeong, watching me through the Inside Mirror, said, "What are you laughing at? Get ready to explain everything properly when we get back."

Explain. It was obvious what I had to explain.

"You only get one chance."

Sangah's smile scared me.

"We're here."

Not long after, the Ferrari came to a stop.

It was Seoul.

* * *

A little later, I was sitting before my companions.

Familiar faces. Faces I had missed were gathered there.

Kim Dokja Company, including Lee Gilyeong, Shin Yuseong, Jeong Huiwon, and Lee Jihye, who had gone through the Scenarios with me. Lee Seolhwa and Pildu Gong, who had protected Seoul while I was gone.

At the far end of the reception room, farther away from the others, I could also see my mother and the Wanderers.

After looking over my companions one by one, I bowed ninety degrees and spoke.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry for everything I've done."

"Hmm... Well, all right."

What? They weren't angry at me?

I didn't know why, but that seemed like a good thing. I had more than one thing to explain.

"From now on, I'd like to explain a few things..."

"First, tell us whose kid that is."

Pildu snapped at me.

Following his gaze, I saw Secretive Plotter floating beside me, enclosed in a transparent sphere.

[The target's fable is currently unstable.]

He still hadn't regained consciousness. The excessive use of Plausibility seemed to have caused a problem. In other words, it was impossible for him to explain himself.

When I didn't answer, Pildu's eyes filled with anger.

"We protected Seoul because you said you were going out to break the Scenario, and you come back after making a kid?"

His voice carried the resentment of a man born to live as a goose father.

"I think you're misunderstanding something."

"Which one is it?"

Pildu glanced fearfully toward Sangah.

"Don't tell me?"

Pildu met Sangah's smiling eyes, then shook his head.

"Right, no way. Then is it that one?"

"Do you want to die?"

Suyeong growled, making Pildu hesitate.

I didn't miss that opening.

"No, isn't it a stretch to assume someone gave birth to him in the first place? Does he look like a baby to you?"

"The kid Han Myeongoh gave birth to grew up in no time, too."

Myeongoh's face turned pale at those words.

"I'd rather you didn't bring that up."

"What bothers me more is that little brat's face looks exactly like that bastard's."

As Pildu said that, he looked toward the edge of the reception room. Junghyeok sat there with his legs crossed, wrapped head to toe in bandages, his eyes wide open.

He glared at me with his usual terrifying stare.

I let out a deep sigh.

"Of course he looks exactly like that bastard. He is that bastard."

Silence filled the reception room. Pildu stared at me as if I had just said something insane. This was going to take a while.

"There are several Yu Junghyeoks in this world. I think I should start there."

* * *

I began explaining everything that had happened from the end of the Great war of Angels and Demons.

How I had summoned the Outer God, The Nameless Mist, who had destroyed the Demon Realm to stop the Apocalypse Dragon. Pildu said, "Are you insane?"

How I had encountered Secretive Plotter in the middle of it and been kidnapped by him. Seolhwa said, "Oh my."

How Secretive Plotter had turned out to be Junghyeok, who had lived through the 1,863rd round. Jang Hayoung said, "What does that even mean?"

How I had made a contract with him concerning an Outer God. Yuseong said, "I thought that might be the case, Mister."

How I had secretly joined the Great Fable "Journey to the West" without telling my companions. Jihye said, "You're really not cut out to be an actor, Mister."

How Junghyeok of the 1,863rd round had fought Junghyeok of the 999th round. Huiwon said, "Just how many versions of Junghyeok-ssi are there?"

How Junghyeok of this worldline, whom we thought was in his third round, had actually lived through the 1,864th round. Myeongoh said, "Are you making things up because you can't explain it?"

How we had barely cleared "Journey to the West" with everyone's help, only for me to be kidnapped by Secretive Plotter again. Sangah silently sighed.

And finally, how I had met the Uriel of the 999th round, who had become an Outer God.

Once I had said all that, I wondered what the hell I had just been talking about. When I raised my head, my companions stood there with similar expressions.

Myeongoh was the first to react.

"Ahem, so that's what happened. I understand everything now."

He understood? That couldn't be true.

Everyone looked at Myeongoh. He added, "You really enjoy dying or getting kidnapped, don't you?"

"Wait, I'm not the only one who doesn't understand, right? What are you even talking about? There are three masters, and what does the 1,864th round even mean...?"

As expected of Jihye. It was only natural that she didn't understand. Not because it was Jihye, but because that was the normal reaction.

The fact that the 1,863rd round had split into two was complicated enough.

Junghyeok, who had lived through the 1,863rd round of TWSA, became Secretive Plotter.

Junghyeok, who lived through the altered 1,863rd round because of me, regressed and became the Junghyeok we knew.

I had read all of TWSA, so I could understand it, but it was only natural that my companions found it incomprehensible.

Huiwon, clutching her head, asked, "What are you even saying? So is Junghyeok-ssi in his third round now, or his 1,864th round?"

Junghyeok, who was sitting on a gurney, answered curtly.

"I don't know either."

"What?"

"Because I don't remember."

I activated [Character Profile] and checked Junghyeok's information.

+

Character: Yu Junghyeok

Exclusive Attribute: the regressor <3rd round> (Mythical)...

+

To my surprise, Junghyeok's Attribute was listed as "third round" again.

"I only remember when I temporarily borrow Kim Dokja's fable. It's like looking at someone else's history."

I never imagined that was what it was.

Junghyeok continued, "This is what I think. Originally, this worldline really was the third round, and I am also Junghyeok of the third round. At some point in this worldline, however, the memories of me who lived through the 1,864th round were overwritten onto me."

Seolhwa, who had been listening quietly, added, "Does that make any sense? The third round affected the 1,863rd round, and at the same time, the 1,863rd round affected the third round... It doesn't make sense logically."

"It doesn't make sense logically."

Suyeong finally stepped in.

"This can only exist in the form of a sentence. It's only possible because this world was originally a novel."

Suyeong looked at Secretive Plotter, enclosed in the transparent sphere.

"It's the same as a square circle, or a triangle whose interior angles add up to 720 degrees."

Seolhwa tilted her head and asked, "But those can't exist, can they?"

"It's more accurate to say we can't imagine them. But they can exist as sentences. What's happening now is the same. It's a time paradox to us, but it can happen as a sentence in a novel. We just have to accept that it does. It's not a matter of understanding, but acceptance. Think of it simply. We're inside a ruined novel right now. The original was a total mess, so this is what we ended up with."

I wanted to argue even now, but it was true, so I had nothing to say.

"If I were the writer, I'd only twist the worldlines once or twice. Readers don't like stories this complicated. Even the Constellations probably don't understand what's going on right now."

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon says his Incarnation is smart.]

"A world where Plausibility has broken down destroys itself. I know many stories that ended that way. A world even its writer abandoned."

Only Suyeong, as a writer, could say something like that. Perhaps Suyeong, too, had once abandoned a world that way. Maybe she still regretted it to this day.

Thinking that made me feel strange.

The world created by tls123, the author of TWSA, had become reality.

"Then, Reader-nim, what kind of ending do you want to see? What ending would make the protagonist happy?"

Maybe the writer had really left us the story they couldn't finish.

Huiwon scratched her cheek and asked, "So what's your conclusion, Suyeong?"

"We have to fight the bastards who made us live in this kind of world. Whether they're writers, Outer Gods, or dokkaebis."

"So it's the same as always."

"To hell with the original. We have to see our own ending. We can't keep wallowing in this damn Scenario cesspit forever."

She was right. It was all true.

It didn't matter whether it was the King of the Outer Gods or the Administration Bureau.

[All the Constellations of the nebula Kim Dokja Company shine brightly.]

No matter who our enemy was, we only had one choice left.

Fight, win, and reach our answer.

"Dokja-ssi?"

At some point, my companions had begun looking at me.

Their expectant gazes told me they wanted me to say something.

They were waiting for me to tell them what we had to do from now on and what we had to prepare. Of course, I had given it thought.

Yet the first words wouldn't come easily.

Maybe it was because I felt the tension of approaching the end.

We had struggled so much to get here. I was afraid that one wrong judgment from me could ruin everything. The burden of walking a path that didn't exist in TWSA.

My lips moved several times before I finally managed to speak.

"So..."

"That's enough."

Sangah stopped me.

"Let's rest a little today and talk again tomorrow. We all just came back from the Scenario."

* * *

That night, I spent the whole time making plans.

Several times, I was tempted to read the Final Version of TWSA, but I never did. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling.

A feeling that, the moment I read it, I would never escape the shackles of that story.

...

I fell into a deep sleep without even knowing when I had drifted off. My last memories were hazy. Maybe I had fallen asleep while reading, or maybe I had drunk the warm tea Gilyeong brought me at some point. Either way, it was a sweet sleep, one I hadn't had in a long time.

I might have had a happy dream for a moment. A dream like a conversation I had once shared with Sangah. A world where every Scenario had ended.

My companions were talking about ordinary things. It was peaceful. So peaceful that it didn't feel like peace. The moment I saw Yuseong and Gilyeong smiling brightly, I inexplicably realized the truth.

「This is a dream.」

When I bit down hard on my lip, the scenery of the dream shook as if an earthquake had struck. In my hazy consciousness, I slowly opened my eyes and tried to get up.

What was this?

My body wouldn't move.

The faint trembling I had felt in the dream was still continuing.

When I finally opened my eyes, the scene around me emerged from the dim darkness. Soft leather surrounded my back and the back of my head.

"Hey, Kim Dokja's waking up."

"Put him back to sleep."

It felt as though someone had struck me on the back of the head, and my consciousness began to fade again.

A playful voice rang out through my fading awareness.

"It's a workers' revolution, you bastard."

And when I opened my eyes again.

I was deep in the remote mountains.

Footnotes:

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