WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 484: Episode 92: The Final Scenario (3)

──────

The crowd fell silent at Yu Junghyeok's staggering declaration.

A few Alliance members who hadn't been swayed by his speech exchanged looks, but the crowd's excitement had already gone beyond their control.

"Supreme King..."

Someone murmured, and the reporters began writing headlines of their own.

「Supreme King Yu Junghyeok Declares a Fight to the Bitter End!」

「Yu Junghyeok, Co-Representative of Kim Dokja Company: "I Won't Give Up on the Scenario Until the End."」

The Incarnations who had heard rumors that he was the regressor looked even more excited.

Someone let out a loud shout, and the Factory was instantly engulfed in cheers.

"Supreme King Yu Junghyeok!"

"Yu Junghyeok! Yu Junghyeok!"

Everyone chanted Junghyeok's name.

Even those who had sneered at Kim Dokja Company moments earlier were now swept up in the mood, looking at Junghyeok. This wouldn't make everything all right, but it had at least laid the foundation. From now on, the world after the Scenarios would rally around Yu Junghyeok.

Even if I'd said the exact same thing, I doubt I would've received that much applause.

Suyeong let go of my collar, turned toward Junghyeok, and said, "He should act like that more often."

I agreed. But that was just who he was.

Once the chanting began, it didn't stop. The cheers that had started with Yu Junghyeok's name moved on to Huiwon, then Hyeongseong, then Jihye.

As everyone except the Demon King of Salvation had their names called, my allies turned toward me with uncomfortable expressions.

I waved as though I was fine.

They deserved that kind of applause.

Soon, the chanting reached Han Suyeong.

"Black Flame Demon Emperor Han Suyeong!"

The crowd in the audience searched for Suyeong behind the stage. I said, "It's your turn. Go on."

Suyeong shook her head.

"I hate that stuff."

"You like attention, don't you?"

"That's as a writer, not as Han Suyeong."

Suyeong tapped her heel against the floor, frowning with her gaze fixed downward.

When Suyeong still didn't appear, the chanting naturally moved on to Shin Yuseong.

The allies waving in the press conference hall beyond the curtain looked like actors on a dazzling stage.

[The Constellations of the Korean Peninsula are proud of Kim Dokja Company!]

Watching them, I absentmindedly spoke up.

"Han Suyeong."

"What?"

"If this world were a novel, what volume do you think we'd be at by now?"

Suyeong seemed to think for a moment before answering.

"Who knows? That would depend on who's writing it."

I supposed that was true.

Someone might write an entire volume about a single day, while someone else might write a single line about a hundred years.

Suyeong continued, "If it were me, I think we'd have made it past at least volume twenty by now."

"...That's long."

"It is. A lot has happened."

It had been long. It had certainly been a long time. At twenty volumes, it would rival a proper epic even by length.

Dusk was slowly settling over the sky above the conference hall. For some reason, the sun seemed to be setting especially fast today.

As if she understood how I felt, Suyeong said, "Still, some people can read twenty volumes overnight."

A chill ran through my heart.

I wanted to ask. Had I read this entire story at the right pace?

Could I say that I'd properly read the stories of the people precious to me, without missing any of them?

"Dokja."

"What?"

"You might not be the protagonist of this world, or even a cool character."

"..."

"But you read earnestly. I know that."

I couldn't say anything.

"The people you read are over there now."

Suyeong was looking at the people in the conference hall.

I looked at them, too.

My cherished companions were close enough to reach if I crossed the stage curtain. They were alive and moving beyond that curtain.

Yu Junghyeok glaring at the crowd, Huiwon smiling softly, Jihye bouncing around, Yuseong waving at me...

Someone had written their story.

I had read it.

Every story had begun there.

I waved back at Yuseong and spoke.

"We'll leave for the Final Scenario area tomorrow morning."

* * *

After the press conference ended, the allies gathered in the reception room.

Huiwon watched the replay on the panel as she patted her shoulders.

"Ugh, I really don't look good on camera."

Kim Dokja Company's press conference had stirred up not only the Korean Peninsula but the entire Star Stream.

"I have no intention of saving you."

Huiwon clicked her tongue as she watched Dokja declare that with a bright expression on the screen.

"He always goes out of his way to make people hate him."

"Still, he looks pretty decent after someone touched him up."

Seolhwa, who had handled Dokja's makeup, nodded with satisfaction.

Jihye added, "Now that I think about it, doesn't Mister Dokja look a little sharper these days? He used to have this blurry, doughy feeling, like sujebi dough."

"Ah, I thought so too."

A few people nodded in agreement.

Dokja had changed a great deal since they first met him. It wasn't just a matter of his appearance.

As if recalling the past, Huiwon murmured, "Honestly, at first he seemed like a petty guy who was only good at talking."

How different were the Kim Dokja of the first Scenario and the Kim Dokja of the Final Scenario?

Listening to the allies' voices, Huiwon stared at Dokja's face on the screen. His eyes sparkled like stars whenever he delivered a prepared speech, and the corners of his mouth shifted strangely whenever he grinned.

All of it told her that he truly existed there.

As she studied his expression anew, Huiwon thought about Dokja's fables.

Maybe the fables they had made together had changed him a little.

That would be nice. Just as he had changed them, it would be nice if their stories had changed him, too.

"By the way, where is Dokja-ssi?"

"He's probably preparing for the Final Scenario."

"Mister isn't planning something weird by himself again, is he?"

At Jihye's words, a shadow briefly fell across the allies' faces.

Yu Sangah, holding a child in each arm, smiled softly and lifted the mood.

"He promised he wouldn't. Let's trust him this time."

Dokja on the screen was passionately talking about something and getting cursed at. After watching for a long time, Huiwon reached out and touched the panel screen. Its lukewarm surface met her fingertips.

"Can we really trust him...?"

It was an extremely quiet voice, but no one failed to hear it. Even so, no one looked at her strangely.

Yuseong murmured, "Mister's skin looks nice."

Despite seeming close enough, Dokja's face still seemed far away.

* * *

I spent the entire night thinking about the Final Scenario.

I skimmed only the necessary parts of TWSA and shared Midday Tryst with Suyeong. It was to predict what would happen to us next through [Predictive Plagiarism]. Whenever that didn't seem like enough, I exchanged opinions with Secretive Plotter through Junghyeok.

Still, Secretive Plotter seemed reluctant to speak about the ending.

【The path you seek to walk is one no one has ever walked to the end. Referring to other worldlines may become poison to you now.】

I understood what he meant, so I didn't ask anything more.

"What about Anna Croft?"

"She withdrew from the Korean Peninsula with members of Zarathustra yesterday."

It would've been nice if I could get help from [future vision], but unfortunately, it seemed I'd missed my chance this time.

Swish!

The blade of the Black Heaven Demon Blade cut through the air.

Junghyeok was training a dozen paces away. His posture looked the same every time, but he swung his sword as though every movement held great meaning. It was something I could never do. Maybe that was why he had been able to repeat so many lives.

"Damn it, what kind of development is this..."

Suyeong was wracking her brains beside me, trying to figure out how the Final Scenario would unfold in her own way. Yet even she didn't seem to be finding an answer easily.

No matter what [Predictive Plagiarism] could do, it wasn't truly omniscient. If it had been, Han Suyeong of the 1,863rd round wouldn't have suffered so much.

I watched Suyeong for a moment, then turned on my smartphone. Files filled the screen, from the original version of TWSA to the Final Version I had received last.

Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World (Final Version).txt

I stared at the Final Version file for a long time, then turned off my smartphone again.

I didn't want to break the resolve I had kept until now.

「Kim Dok ja」

I looked up. [The Fourth Wall] was calling me.

'What is it?'

「Ti red?」

I let out a small laugh at the unexpected question.

I'd forgotten about this Wall. Maybe the one who had been with me the longest in this world was this Wall.

'I'm not tired. I have you.'

I had made it this far because of [The Fourth Wall].

If it hadn't eased my mental shock during the first Scenario, if it hadn't lessened my physical pain through countless crises, I would've become a wandering soul of the Scenarios long ago.

Tzzzt, tzzzt.

Sparks jumped through the air as if a small child were bouncing in place.

For a brief moment, something like the proud expression of a child appeared above the sparks.

「Ahem, do you wan t to see your Att rib utes Win dow?」

Did this Wall think I always wanted to look at my Attributes Window?

'No. Not now.'

It might help if I looked at it. But there was something more important now.

'More than that, there's something I'm curious about.'

「Wha t is it?」

It was a question I should've asked a long time ago.

Yet I had never received a proper answer, so I'd been building hypothesis after hypothesis on my own.

'What exactly is the Final Wall?'

[The Fourth Wall] fell silent for a moment. I thought it might change the subject or try to filter its words again. Then, after some time had passed...

「A wall wh ere all stor ies are writ ten.」

Was it because the Final Scenario was right before us?

It was still hard to understand, but [The Fourth Wall] no longer seemed to intend to hide information from me. I asked again.

'Let me change the question. What are you, exactly? Why do fragments of the Wall even exist?'

「Pro tect ing pre cious the mes, that is the Wall's dut y.」

Several things came to mind.

The Wall of Impossible Communication that protected Jang Hayoung.

Come to think of it, it wasn't just Hayoung. Important people in TWSA had always possessed such Walls.

Shakyamuni had the Wall of Reincarnation, while Agares and Metatron had the Wall that Divides Good and Evil.

「Be cause the re is more than one the me.」

「One fable is a col lec tion of count less stor ies.」

[The Fourth Wall] was a fragment of the Final Wall. And a fragment meant a piece that could be put back together.

My mind suddenly brightened.

If that was really true, if the Wall existed to protect fables...

Tzzzzzt...

The scenery of [The Fourth Wall] rippled through the air before me. A Library made of countless bookshelves flickered into view. When I reached toward the air, the letters in the books scattered. In their place appeared an ancient, weathered wall, the First Wall, reminiscent of a prehistoric cave.

I reached out to that wall.

The wall that had protected me from cold, pain, and trauma.

Since ancient times, walls had been made to protect something.

「You have to pre pare the fi nal fable, Kim Dok ja.」

At some point, humans began writing something on those walls.

Then it became a fable.

「You are the last.」

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried