WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 455: Episode 86: The Square Circle (2)

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I tried to figure out what had happened.

First, I was tied up tightly.

Second, I had been dumped on a mountain I didn't recognize.

No matter how I thought about it, the answer was kidnapping. But who would dare infiltrate Kim Dokja Company and kidnap me?

Then it had to be...

"...is..."

"...Dokja... did someone untie him?"

"...Huh?"

Faint voices drifted toward me.

After struggling to untie the rope around me, I staggered toward the sound. About thirty seconds after pushing through the thick forest, I found a broad campsite and my companions.

"Ah, he made it here on his own."

Han Suyeong waved at me with a grin.

"What are you looking at? Never seen a workers' strike before?"

"No, but right now..."

"The air's sooo nice. Dokja-ssi, come lie down here too."

Jeong Huiwon was sprawled spread-eagle beside Suyeong, staring up at the sky. Whenever Huiwon moved her arms as though flapping her wings, the fresh grass bent down and sprang back up again. Suyeong murmured in a solemn voice.

"The grass lies down. It lies down faster than the wind."

"Oh."

"Jeong Huiwon lies down too. She lies down faster than the wind, and rises before the wind does."

"You're good at this."

Watching Suyeong suddenly hold a poetry recital while Huiwon played along, I asked in bewilderment, "What are you even doing right now...?"

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

"So you've been talking about a workers' revolution this whole time..."

"Ah, let's just rest. Do you really have to have everything spelled out for you?"

I frowned at Suyeong's rebuke.

We had come here to rest?

"What are you talking about? Do you know what point we're at?"

"What point are we at?"

I had nothing to say when she asked that. What point were we at?

[The nebula Kim Dokja Company has obtained the qualification for the Final Scenario.]

[Time remaining before entering the Scenario: 28 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes, 7 seconds.]

I answered calmly so I wouldn't get swept up in Suyeong's pace.

"We don't have time for this. The Final Scenario is right around the corner."

"That's why we need to rest now. When else will we get to rest like this?"

Suyeong spoke while repeatedly letting out deep sighs.

"Look around you for once. Don't spend your whole life with your nose buried in a smartphone. Did you come all the way out here just to work?"

Only then did I take in the mountain around us.

It was a lush, green forest. I didn't know which mountain it was, whether Jirisan, Seoraksan, or Hallasan, but it was beautiful. The sunlight wasn't harsh, and the wind was cool. In short, it was perfect weather for camping.

I hesitated before saying, "I'm not saying we shouldn't rest... Resting is good, but we should take care of what needs doing first. Right now, we..."

"Wow, Dokja-ssi, you really think like an old man. Are all CEOs like this?"

Huiwon tapped my shin.

"When you're resting, you just rest, Representative."

My thoughts were tangled. When I didn't answer, Suyeong, who had been glaring at me, spoke in an indifferent tone.

"Fine, you're right too. Since we can't all rest, one person should do the Scenario. You work."

"What?"

"Go do the Scenario you love so much."

When Suyeong said that, I looked into the air and saw that a Scenario window really was floating there.

[The Sub Scenario The Worker's Holiday has begun!]

It was a Scenario I had never seen or heard of.

I opened the Scenario window.

+

Category: Sub

Difficulty: ???

Clear Conditions: You are the Representative of the nebula Kim Dokja Company. Due to your long exploitation and harsh treatment, the employees of Kim Dokja Company are extremely exhausted. Their dissatisfaction with you, the nebula's Representative, has built up, and they are currently taking industrial action. As the nebula's Representative, listen to their grievances and appease them. Considering your poor communication skills, you must resolve the grievances of five people.

Time Limit: 12 hours

Reward: The trust of Kim Dokja Company employees.

Failure: Death(?)

+

Death? What kind of Scenario was this...?

When I looked up, Biyoo cried out.

Baat!

Suyeong grumbled at me.

"That bastard never understands unless a Scenario tells him."

* * *

I looked around anxiously.

My companions looked happy. Han Suyeong and Jeong Huiwon, who had been reciting parody poems one after another, were asleep on a hill. Lee Gilyeong and Shin Yuseong had their noses pressed together as they growled at each other.

"Hey, Shin Yuseong. Let's make a bet. Whoever brings back the bigger catch for dinner wins."

"What do I get if I win?"

"The loser grants the winner a wish. How about it?"

"Deal."

Yu Sangah called after the children racing into the forest, "Be careful."

There was a small stream beside the campsite. Pildu Gong had brought a fishing chair and was lowering his float into the water with a yawn. Han Myeongoh sat beside him, muttering to himself.

"When I was younger, I caught black porgy this big..."

The clear sound of the stream and mountain birds filled the air. It felt as though the mountain's thick greenery was blurring together.

It still felt like I was dreaming.

A bittersweet tenderness, as uncomfortable as wearing clothes that didn't fit, slowly spread up from my toes. Was it really okay for us to do this? Was it alright to have a moment like this already?

I looked for Yu Junghyeok.

This really wasn't right. He would agree with me. He was probably glaring at the companions from somewhere, about to launch into a stern lecture beginning with, "You lot..."

I found Junghyeok quickly.

I raised my hand to call him, but something was strange.

Sizzle.

Junghyeok was cooking. Standing before a huge grill, he moved his hands with dazzling speed as he cooked meat. Vegetables leaped off the frying pan, and the [Sky Splitter Sword Art] that could split the heavens was cutting up the meat and vegetables.

I forgot to call him as I stared at the sight, mesmerized.

What in the world was going on?

The next moment, Junghyeok looked at me. His usual terrifying gaze was telling me something. I didn't even need to use [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] to know.

「Even if you keep staring, you won't get any.」

That was clearly what his eyes meant.

Yu Mia and Lee Jihye stood beside him, their eyes full of curiosity.

"Now."

When Mia opened her mouth, Junghyeok moved his chopsticks with an indifferent expression. Like a mother bird, he picked up pieces of meat and placed them in her mouth.

Mia beamed.

"As expected, it's delicious."

Jihye, who had been standing beside them blankly, opened her mouth too. Junghyeok glanced at her, then put another piece of meat into Mia's mouth.

After that happened four or five times, Jihye clenched her teeth.

"Master, you're really too much."

Unable to bear it any longer, Jihye moved her chopsticks herself. Junghyeok's frying pan followed the mysterious trajectory of [phoenix walk], avoiding her hand.

Jihye, who had been close to tears, finally got angry.

"So you want to settle this right now?"

I couldn't tell whether I had truly entered the world of TWSA, or 『There's No Way the Cold-Hearted Handsome Regressor Yu Junghyeok Could Be Like This』.

Junghyeok kept feeding Mia while evading Jihye's chopsticks, his face as expressionless as ever. Still, there were things I could read from that expressionless face.

Only then did I realize it. Junghyeok was sincerely taking part in this.

「Why had Yu Junghyeok allowed this at a time like this?」

I wasn't the only CEO of Kim Dokja Company. In many ways, Junghyeok was far more stubborn than I was, and he even had extensive experience running a group like this.

Yet he had willingly joined this camping trip.

「You real ly don't know, Kim Dok ja.」

Along with the voice of [The Fourth Wall], sentences spread before my eyes.

「Author-nim, how about we go to the beach this round?」

It was a comment I had once left.

I remembered TWSA so well, yet I had completely forgotten the comments I left behind. Thinking about it, there was an event Junghyeok had hardly ever skipped despite repeating so many regressions.

「"Today is a day of rest."」

It was rest.

Something that had existed in the original TWSA, but not in this world.

Whenever he overcame an important hurdle, he took his companions to tourist areas on other planets. Of course, he claimed he was gathering components necessary for the Scenario, but he never forced the others to do the same.

「"Master, come over here and play with us too!"」

「"Hey, Lee Jihye. Heh heh. Look at my abs. Even the Black Flame Dragon praised them..."」

「"Are we eating Junghyeok's cooking today?"」

Even Junghyeok was like that. What about me?

「We need to prepare for the next Scenario.」

I had always moved as though I were being chased. There was never any time to relax. That tendency only grew stronger as the Scenarios went on. There was always a goal right in front of me. I acted as though the entire Scenario would collapse if I didn't solve it right away.

But when I thought about it carefully, the Scenario wouldn't have fallen apart even if I hadn't done it immediately.

"Hey, Lee Gilyeong! We said no Skills here!"

"When did I agree to that? You should always do your best!"

I heard the children's voices as they returned from the hunt with their prey.

Then Han Suyeong's voice rang loudly through the valley.

"Alright, the treasure hunt starts now! The prize is a constellation artifact of the Black Flame Dragon!"

"What, really? That Black Flame Dragon's?"

"I hid it in the stream, so whoever finds it first gets it. Ah, you know using Skills is banned, right? There are smaller prizes too..."

"The constellation artifact is mine!"

Manager Han Myeongoh threw down his fishing rod and leaped into the stream. A moment later, Huiwon grabbed him by the hair and sent him flying through the air. Jihye and the children, who had returned from hunting, had already jumped into the stream as well.

"Wait, Jihye-noona! That's [Ghost Fleet], isn't it? Do you think we won't notice if you summon a smaller version?"

"Lee Gilyeong! Are you seriously taming water beetles? That's unfair!"

"You're both disqualified!"

I didn't know how long it had been since I had seen my companions laugh together. Maybe it was the first time.

They could laugh even if the Scenario hadn't ended. They could chatter happily and talk like that.

「And as he watched them, Kim Dokja felt strangely lonely.」

Had I spent all this time without understanding TWSA? No, had I failed to understand my companions at all?

Had I been so drunk on my obsession with seeing the ending that I missed every sentence I needed to read to reach it?

[You have currently resolved 0 complaints.]

The Scenario that had seemed insignificant suddenly felt as difficult as a Great Fable. I fidgeted beneath a parasol when someone tapped my shoulder.

"Is the Scenario going well?"

Yu Sangah stood there, smiling softly.

When I gave her a weak smile, Sangah continued.

"Dokja-ssi, you're not exactly good at communicating. You were like that when we worked at the company too."

"Was I?"

"You hardly spoke to other people at all."

That brutal truth left me with nothing to say.

Thinking about it, it was only natural. I had lived my whole life without a single friend since childhood. I didn't know how to get along with people, and whenever there was a company dinner, I only thought about how to escape. I thought it would be better to binge-read TWSA instead.

「Kim Dok ja has a fri end n ow.」

And there was one irritating inanimate object that claimed to be my friend.

Sangah sat beneath the parasol and looked leisurely over the companions. Perhaps to fit the camping mood, she wore a casual dress and a wide-brimmed straw hat today instead of her monastic robes.

Yu Sangah could adapt to any atmosphere. Someone like her was wasted in Kim Dokja Company, which was run by such a pathetic leader.

"Sangah-ssi, do you regret getting on the subway that day?"

I didn't know why I asked her that.

The scene of the first Scenario was still vivid in my mind.

「If Yu Sangah's bicycle hadn't been stolen that day.」

If she had started somewhere else, she wouldn't have needed to become an Incarnation of Olympus. She wouldn't have had to die. She wouldn't have had to suffer through reincarnation...

"No."

It was the first time I had seen Sangah look so resolute.

"So don't regret it either, Dokja-ssi."

"Pardon? Regret what...?"

"Just... all of it."

I didn't know what to say. I felt as though even saying thank you, saying I was grateful, would burden her. TWSA had never taught me what to say in a situation like this.

As though she understood how I felt, Sangah smiled and pointed at someone.

"You should try talking to that person first."

Footnotes:

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