WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 477: Episode 91: A Single Fable (1)

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「It had taken him a very long time to make that decision.」

I watched Junghyeok make his calm declaration.

This wasn't part of the original plan. Junghyeok was supposed to buy time using the memories of the 999th round.

He had to provoke the Outer Gods just enough to persuade them.

"I don't have a next round."

Even as I watched him throw my entire plan into the trash, strangely, I wasn't angry.

「"I am Yu Junghyeok, once a regressor."」

Only now could I truly understand what Junghyeok had meant when he said that.

Until now, I had believed that Junghyeok had grown so quickly in this round because of the information I gave him and the intervention of other variables. I couldn't say that anymore.

The fables rising from Junghyeok's entire body were proof. They weren't fables born from a desperate resolve, but fables containing the will of his entire life.

「Yu Junghyeok had bet everything on this round.」

Like a train racing forward after pouring all its fuel into its engine, Junghyeok was living with everything he had. This round wasn't material for his next life.

【Captain, you're lying, right? Huh? You're joking right now, aren't you?】

Jihye's expression creaked apart. It wasn't simply the face of someone betrayed by what she believed in. It was the face of someone whose entire world had collapsed.

She was reaching for the last straw she had clung to.

But Junghyeok didn't take her hand.

"Jihye. Have I ever lied to you?"

【Why.】

An explosive current flowed from Jihye's entire body. I could feel the history of the 999th round running wild.

【Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy】

The fables were asking. Why here instead of the 999th round? Why this world instead of the world they had lived in?

As I stepped forward, Junghyeok stopped me.

"Stand back."

His cheek trembled painfully. No matter how hard he tried to hide his emotions, he couldn't erase that familiar habit. I let out a quiet sigh.

―There's nowhere left to retreat to anyway.

―I'm sorry.

―Forget it. This was your choice.

Junghyeok looked like a realist at a glance, but he was actually more of an idealist than anyone. Someone who didn't pursue an ideal would never repeat Regression again and again in the first place. So, to protect the ideal of someone like him, someone had to become a realist.

Watching the waves of enraged Outer Gods surge toward us, I took another step forward.

[It isn't that Junghyeok didn't choose your worldline.]

With all my strength behind my constellation's declaration, the Kings of the Outer Gods who had been trapped in panic turned toward me. Lee Jihye of the 999th round, Lee Hyeongseong of the 999th round, Kim Namwoon of the 999th round, Uriel of the 999th round...

[Have you forgotten? He was never the one who chose. He was always the one being chosen.]

He had repeated Regression over and over, but Junghyeok had never sincerely wanted to regress even once. When he abandoned the third round for the fourth, then the fourth for the fifth, it hadn't truly been his will.

Regression wasn't his choice, but his Fate. It wasn't Junghyeok who made the choice, but the story that wanted Junghyeok to regress.

[We don't need to fight each other. Why must one tragedy compete with another over whose misery is greater?]

I didn't know whether those words would work.

Even so, I wanted to say them.

[We won't exclude you. We don't want to remember you as Calamities. We...]

I looked up at the sky. My vision reeled beneath the deluge of distant gazes unlike any I had ever witnessed, but I didn't avoid them.

Just as Junghyeok was no longer the Junghyeok of the zero round, I was no longer the Kim Dokja of the first Scenario.

[We want to stand against that sky with all of you.]

Beyond the sky, the stars blazed like mad.

[An absolute majority of Constellations do not understand your words!]

[The Great Dokkaebis of the Administration Bureau are shocked by your thoughts!]

Indirect Messages poured down like starlight. Before, I would've been too busy reading those messages, but now I knew. The starlight in that sky was only decoration meant to conceal the darkness beyond it.

[The King of Stories is watching you.]

That was when I heard a faint laugh.

【Hey, do you even know what that means? Are you saying we should destroy the Star Stream?】

It was a mocking voice. Namwoon of the 999th round.

【Do you think we haven't tried that?】

There was a deep gulf of emotion in his voice. He was smiling, but he wasn't truly laughing.

Resignation had seeped into that exaggerated laugh.

【We tried it too. We brought down every Constellation and killed the Dokkaebi King of our worldline. Do you know what happened then?】

Namwoon stomped across the sea until he stood right in front of me. As if he wanted to give me a taste of sweet despair, he whispered.

【The world just disappeared.】

I listened to him in silence.

【We properly cleared the Scenario and fulfilled the conditions... but we lost everything we loved. There was no miracle, no reward.】

The words of Uriel of the 999th round came to mind.

「If the Star Stream disappears, the universe becomes chaos. You must not create such a worldline. That is evil.」

That was what Uriel of the 999th round had said when I spoke of destroying the Star Stream.

Namwoon continued.

【Do you know what we saw at the end of that world?】

[You saw a massive wall. A great wall surrounding all these worlds, one whose beginning and end cannot be measured.]

【How do you know that?】

[Because that is our goal, too. We don't simply want to destroy the Star Stream.]

I repeated in my own voice what Secretive Plotter had told me.

[We will eliminate the culprit behind all these tragedies, the one beyond the Final Wall.]

Namwoon of the 999th round stared at me as though he had received a tremendous shock. His lips moved several times before he shouted.

【No one can cross the Final Wall! It...】

【Namwoon, they may possess the final key capable of going beyond the Final Wall.】

It was Hyeongseong.

Namwoon of the 999th round looked between Hyeongseong and me with a confused expression.

I nodded at Hyeongseong.

[The Kings of the Outer Gods are shaken by your words!]

[98th Scenario is undergoing a drastic change due to your declaration!]

[Many Constellations are enraged by your choice!]

It didn't matter if we couldn't make the stars our allies. It didn't matter if no nebula stood with us.

But if they stood with us...

If the Kings who had lived through the 999th round remained in this worldline and fought alongside us...

【Let's say you have such a key.】

The moment I heard that voice, a chill ran down my spine.

【Then is there any reason I shouldn't take that key from you?】

Namwoon's dagger was suddenly at my throat.

Clang!

A black streak flashed before my eyes and knocked aside his dagger. Under the heavy impact, Junghyeok and Namwoon both stumbled back a few steps.

【Hahaha! Yes! This feeling!】

Blood ran down the back of the Great Abyssal Lord's hand where it had struck the Black Heaven Demon Blade.

【Do you know how long I've waited? Do you know how many years I wandered just to face you once more?】

The Great Abyssal Lord.

A being who had traveled through distant years to bring back the opponent he had admired once more.

[The Great Fable Delusional Design begins its story!]

Uriel, supporting the staggering Jihye of the 999th round, had already taken up a fighting stance.

【He once told me this. If he ever became something other than himself, I should kill him with my own hands.】

With a dazzling explosion, the sun in the air shone once more.

【It seems that time has come.】

Steel filled my vision as it caught the blinding rays pouring down.

―Get out of the way. I can't stop this alone.

Unlike the others, Hyeongseong of the 999th round hadn't been summoned as a Calamity.

That meant he wasn't receiving the Scenario's protection as they were.

"Kim Dokja!"

The Companions arrived almost at the same time.

Suyeong, flying in on Black Flame Dragon, was the first to ask.

"What happened?"

"Just as you can see."

Suyeong bit down hard on her lip.

I said nothing. Instead, I looked at my Companions.

Huiwon. Yuseong. Gilyeong. Jihye. Sangah.

"This is the final hurdle."

They had probably felt it too.

"Please. Don't let anyone die."

Even I couldn't protect my Companions in this fight.

Craaaash!

A fierce tidal wave and sunlight collided with an impact that seemed to overturn heaven and earth. Blades crossed through the white foam filling my vision.

A dark flash split the sea.

Junghyeok was fighting. He was displaying incredible martial prowess as he endured the combined assault of Namwoon and Uriel of the 999th round.

[The Great Fable Pilgrim of the Lonely Apocalypse begins its story!]

[The fable Eternal Hellscape begins its story!]

The strength to face no fewer than two Kings.

That was Junghyeok's true power. Every fable he had accumulated was exploding at once.

[The connection of the Broken Film Theory is incomplete!]

[A crack is forming in the continuity of the fables!]

Still, he couldn't maintain the balance forever.

"Dokja-ssi."

When I turned my head, Huiwon stood there. Dazzling Archangel wings were blooming from her back.

Beast Lord Yuseong. Naval Commander Jihye. Steel Sword Emperor Hyeongseong. Companions who had lived lives unlike those in the original story, and who were therefore moving toward different answers.

We looked at each other and nodded.

"I'll help Junghyeok-ssi, so handle the rest over there!"

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire has opened its Status!]

Huiwon spread her wings and flew toward Junghyeok under Uriel's protection. It was probably Uriel's choice. Now that she knew the King of the Outer Gods was her future self, it made sense.

【I told you. You cannot face me without the protection of a nebula.】

The Flame of Karma rose as if to pierce the sky, then fell toward the sea. But I had no time to worry about Huiwon. A being was pouring immense Status toward us.

Between the bursting waves, Jihye of the 999th round stared this way with empty eyes.

"Everyone, get out of the way!"

Sangah stepped forward and twisted space and time. But even Shakyamuni's ability was useless before that King of the Outer Gods' full power.

Crrrack!

The warped space was forced open.

Jihye of the 999th round's warship rose from beneath the sea. The Sunken Island's Owner. Her Turtle Dragon looked less like a warship and more like an island itself.

"Mister!"

Sensing the danger, Yuseong unleashed Breath from Chimera Dragon. Then every sea monster hidden beneath the waves rushed out.

Gyaoooo!

The monsters roared and charged at the warship's hull. But the island was far too large for them to stop.

Crunch!

The monsters were ground apart. The surrounding sea shook heavily as a tidal wave surged toward us.

"Hyung, fall back! Hurry!"

"Kim Dokja, get back!"

The Companions surrounding me as though to protect me were desperately fighting back.

I knew why they were doing this.

I also knew exactly what they feared.

【We just have to erase them all.】

Jihye of the 999th round shouted beyond the tidal wave.

【We can make everything again. It's nothing. Then the Captain will understand. That this world can be destroyed as many times as we want. That it can be replaced. That the world we lived in was the real one...!】

A tsunami came crashing in alongside cannon fire powerful enough to blow away the entire sea. It was a tidal wave larger than anything I had ever seen. If that hit us directly, the Korean Peninsula would be finished, even if my mother was there.

[The fable Demon King of Salvation begins its story!]

Suyeong shouted with a grim expression.

"Kim Dokja! If you do anything stupid again...!"

"Don't worry."

I patted Suyeong's shoulder and stepped forward.

Scenes from the Scenarios we had faced together flashed through my mind.

[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm begins its story!]

[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth begins its story!]

[The Great Fable Season of Light and Darkness begins its story!]

Every time a Great Fable had been created, I had come close to death.

I believed I had to do that. I believed it was the right way.

[The Great Fable Liberator of the Forgotten watches you.]

The Golden Headband tightened firmly around my head.

The shackles my Companions had placed on me themselves.

I hadn't died when I obtained this Great Fable. I knew well that it represented their feelings.

Craaaash!

The tidal wave approached. It was a force even a Mythical Constellation couldn't stop.

「But Kim Dokja knew a way to confront that tidal wave.」

In the final round of the original story, there had been a similar moment when Junghyeok fought his final war against the Outer Gods.

At that time, one Constellation had stood beside him.

[The Constellation Oldest Liberator watches you.]

One Mythical Constellation alone couldn't withstand the Great Apocalypse.

But what if there were two?

[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation looks at Oldest Liberator.]

I would no longer sacrifice myself. I wouldn't leave my Companions behind, either.

Just as Junghyeok wouldn't give up on this life, I wouldn't give up until the very end.

[The Great Fable Liberator of the Forgotten begins its story!]

Among the Great Fables I possessed, it was the only power that could contend with a King of the Outer Gods. I wasn't the one with the greatest share in this Great Fable.

"Great Sage Equaling Heaven!"

I felt four rings connect in my mind.

[Handsome Monkey King agrees to your request.]

[Horse-avoidance King agrees to your request.]

[Victorious Fighting Buddha agrees to your request.]

The excessive flow of fables was transforming my Incarnation body.

[Great Sage Equaling Heaven agrees to your request.]

My suddenly lengthened hair was covered in platinum light. An immense fable energy surged through the veins of my entire body like a torrent. The satisfying weight of the Ruyi Jingu Bang filled my hand.

[The power of five Sun Wukongs manifests in your Incarnation body!]

The golden fable's Status settled over my coat.

The battlefield of the Heavenly River was returning in the nearby sea. The moment thunder crashed down, I heard a voice.

[Let's go, youngest.]

I nodded.

Footnotes:

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