WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 487: Episode 93: Omniscient Author's Viewpoint (1)
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“I’m a writer.”
Not long after she began writing, Han Suyeong used to introduce herself that way.
She did the same at a blind date her friend had desperately begged her to attend.
“Oh, so you’re a writer!”
He’d obviously heard that before coming here. What was with the exaggerated reaction?
The man’s eyes darted around before he smiled and asked, “Then did you make your debut through something like a literary contest?”
“No.”
“Excuse me? Then...?”
“I write web novels.”
“Web novels?”
This was always where the trouble began.
She saw his eyes sweep over her rumpled hoodie.
“Ah, so... that kind? Internet novels? The ones with lots of emoticons?”
After thinking for a moment, Suyeong replied, “Yeees. That’s exactly it, you see.”
“There are so many interesting jobs these days. YouTubers, internet writers...”
The man smiled as he took a long drink of the Americano in front of him. The watch on his wrist was from a rather expensive brand.
This situation felt familiar.
“Feels like everyone wants to make money easily these days, right?”
“Is there anyone who wants to make money the hard way?”
“I make around a hundred million won a year myself, but it’s not easy. So when I see people like that, I can’t help but sigh. Trying to take other people’s money so easily...”
Judging by the way he spoke, he’d already forgotten this was supposed to be a blind date. His slightly irritated eyes shifted to the car key on the table. It belonged to a fairly expensive imported car for someone his age.
Suyeong let his words go in one ear and out the other as she checked her phone. It was full of notifications for new comments.
- Author, isn’t this way too frustrating?
- Hmm... We’re starting the next chapter with something cathartic, right? Otherwise I’m dropping it.
“People who never studied hard when they were young get lucky once, and...”
All of a sudden, she understood why people read web novels. She also understood why that bastard friend had introduced this guy to her. That friend had said she would understand once she met him, and now it was painfully clear why she had been sent here.
Normally, she would’ve been too annoyed to bother, but...
“So... are you listening?”
“Oh, yes. Your annual salary was...?”
Only then did the man’s eyes light up. His shoulders broadened, as though he’d expected her to ask again.
“One hundred million won after taxes.”
“Ah, then we’re about the same.”
“Excuse me?”
The man snorted.
“You’re saying you make a hundred million won a year as a writer?”
Suyeong shrugged and pulled out her car key. It was a newly released Porsche, a model that cost exactly three times as much as his car. She hardly even drove it because it was such a hassle.
His gaze followed the key as it swung from her finger. Then an awkward smile appeared on his face.
“Haha, but... writers have irregular incomes, so the idea of an ‘annual salary’ doesn’t really apply, does it?”
The man’s chattering lips spewed predictable lines. They were perfect for an antagonist who appeared briefly in the next chapter. Then the protagonist could say this.
“I never said it was my annual salary.”
“Excuse me? Ah, then is that how much you’ve made in your lifetime?”
“That’s just my income through the middle of this month, and there are still two weeks left...”
Only then did the man seem to realize something. His face began turning pale. In the end, things had gone exactly as her friend wanted. It would’ve been satisfying in a novel, but doing it in real life didn’t feel that good.
The man hurriedly sent messages somewhere. He was probably asking the friend who had arranged the blind date all sorts of questions.
“Um. Could you tell me the title of what you wrote...?”
Just as Suyeong thought she didn’t want to tell him, another notification appeared on her phone.
- Hello, Author. I am a reader who enjoys web novels. By chance, I came across your work...
What was this long message? She pressed the notification without thinking. The tone was polite and old-fashioned, with even a trace of innocence.
- The work you wrote is far too similar to a novel I truly enjoy, called TWSA.
Who is this bastard?
「That was Han Suyeong and Kim Dokja’s first meeting.」
Kim Dokja.
「As she watched the scene unfolding before her, Han Suyeong reflected on that memory.」
She had lost some of her memories while creating Avatars, so she couldn’t clearly remember what happened then. What she did know was that she had definitely read the novel called TWSA.
Because of that guy with the nickname Kim Dokja.
- Author! Today’s chapter was so fun, too.
Someone like Suyeong could tell after reading only a few chapters whether a work would become popular. Yet in her eyes, TWSA could never become popular.
- This is such an interesting start.
The beginning was boring as hell.
- Author, does that mean Yu Junghyeok remembers everything? Then in the seventy-second round...
It was far too explanatory.
- Damn, what a shame! Junghyeok will come to his senses in the next chapter, right? Today’s chapter was great, too.
The protagonist was just a generic male lead with a handsome face and no equal. On top of that...
- Author! Congratulations on reaching 2,000 chapters! Since you’ve come this far, I hope you serialize another thousand chapters...
It was far too long.
‘He thinks this is fun? Is he out of his mind?’
Out of irritation, she had even followed his comments and downvoted them.
Suyeong was obsessively reading not the novel, but only the comments Dokja had written.
- Will Jihye finally awaken in the next chapter?
- Author! I found a typo on page seven! In my humble opinion, the spelling here is... Ah, I looked it up, and I was wrong. I’m sorry. I learned something new today.
- Please smack that bastard Junghyeok on the back of the head...
Not a single chapter out of thousands lacked his comments. Every one of them was filled with understanding and affection for the world the author had created.
「Han Suyeong was envious.」
She believed there was no way such a reader existed for a novel like this. Naturally, she assumed it was the author’s own act. She thought the author had made two accounts to write the novel, leave comments, and even post recommendations for themself.
- As far as I know, self-recommendations are prohibited.
「Just as Yu Junghyeok was a fictional character to Kim Dokja, Kim Dokja was one to Han Suyeong.」
She had thought someone like that couldn’t exist.
Yet the person from those texts stood before Suyeong now.
“Dokja-ssi!”
Riiiiing!
Tinnitus rang in her ears. Explosions erupted everywhere.
Suyeong watched Dokja carve through the storming current of stars at the center of the battlefield.
Incarnations screamed, and stars roared. Dokkaebis in the air were laughing.
【■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!】
Dokja was shouting. Suyeong couldn’t tell whether it was a scream, a declaration, or a cry of anguish. Dokja, now transformed into an Outer God, had a voice that was completely excluded from the Scenario. Whatever he said, the contents no longer mattered.
Kyaaaaaaaah!
Still, Outer Gods followed him. Remnants abandoned across countless worldlines gathered at Dokja’s side. Mythical Constellations waited for him in the skies of the Final Scenario.
[It finally begins.]
The king of Olympus and ruler of the Twelve Seats, Zeus, the Seat of Lightning, was there.
[The Final Scenario of the worldline has begun!]
[All entities in the Final Scenario have gained the right to participate in the Scenario!]
[Kill Kim Dokja, the Enemy of Stories.]
Scenario messages appeared one after another. Zeus opened his mouth.
[Sweep them away.]
With a sound that shattered the heavens, Zeus’s lightning poured down.
Pop!
Something burst, and blood splattered across Suyeong’s cheek. The Nameless Ones were dying as they sprayed black blood.
【SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSa…】
Even the terrifying Outer Gods were no different from water balloons before the Status unleashed by Mythical Constellations all at once. The Outer Gods burst apart mercilessly, vomiting out abandoned fables in great heaves.
Brilliant lightning flashed. At the center of the ruins, Dokja endured Zeus’s lightning.
Why had Dokja made that choice?
[Tear off his wings! Seal off the area!]
With the Constellations’ roars, an immense army of stars charged in. Constellations and Incarnations that had made it through hellish Scenarios pushed forward as one, driven by the single-minded resolve to eliminate Dokja.
The one who saved Dokja was Great Sage Equaling Heaven, who had become one with him.
[The Constellation Oldest Liberator reveals their Status!]
Lightning flowed proudly across the sky. Great Sage Equaling Heaven’s lightning, which had driven back Zeus’s, tore through the heavens like a drumskin. The Constellations’ momentum faltered for a moment before voices of encouragement rang out.
[It’s Great Sage Equaling Heaven!]
[Don’t retreat! If we kill that bastard, the Scenario will end too!]
[This is the Final Scenario of this worldline!]
They expected to finally be freed from everything.
Among them were Constellations and Incarnations whose faces Suyeong had seen in passing.
“You don’t need to feel guilty! He chose this himself!”
Olympus, Veda, Papyrus, Tree of Guardianship, Twelve Zodiacs, Emperor...
Constellations and Incarnations from nebulae whose names she had heard at least once were there.
Everyone there knew who Dokja was.
「Every one of them raised their swords to kill Kim Dokja.」
A white coat showed through the torn black coat. Dokja, cast in a role that didn’t suit him, stood there.
Dokja, clad in rags, with torn black and white wings spread behind him and demon king horns upon his head.
Dokja, swinging his sword at his enemies from the front of the Outer Gods.
For an instant, Suyeong’s vision blurred white. Then Dokja’s figure began to disappear.
The alien eyes characteristic of a cephalopod. An outer shell that felt sinister.
Where Dokja had stood was a massive Outer God King, as though it had been made by mixing together the traits of every monstrous creature in the world.
「Enemy of Stories」
As a writer, Suyeong knew instinctively. If this world were a novel, Dokja was now the final boss. And this story could only end when that Kim Dokja died.
“Han Suyeong!”
Someone dragged Suyeong away. A torrent of lightning passed just in front of her.
“Get back! Hurry!”
It was Yu Sangah. Only Sangah was keeping a clear head in this chaotic pandemonium.
How could she?
“Everyone, snap out of it! Dokja-ssi is...!”
Dokja would die.
“We made a promise with Dokja-ssi! Have you all forgotten?”
Dokja was a liar.
“There’s no way Dokja-ssi would really do the same thing again...”
Sangah was someone who believed in people’s goodwill. That was why she could remain steady even in this situation.
Yet even at Sangah’s cries, the Allies’ expressions remained vacant. The Allies were lost in their own thoughts, their eyes unfocused.
The question tormenting them was the same.
「Why on earth had Dokja made that choice?」
He had promised. He had sworn he would never sacrifice himself like that again.
「Why?」
“The story isn’t over yet.”
Sangah was wrong. The story’s direction had already been decided. Dokja had become the Enemy of Stories, and this damned Scenario would only end when Dokja died. The writer who had written this entire tragedy had already decided that.
The writer?
【■■■■■■■■■!】
Dokja’s voice rang out desperately. That voice returned as a memory from long ago.
- Han Suyeong, you’re a writer, right?
Suyeong’s mind was racing.
- What are you trying to pick a fight over this time?
- There’s something I want to ask.
- What is it?
- Is an author really omnipotent within the story they write?
- What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?
- No, I was just curious. Do you control everything while you write? This character moves this way, that character acts that way...
- Of course...
With complete confidence, Suyeong declared.
- I can’t control them.
- Why not? You’re the author.
- Do you think an author is an actual god?
- Everything in a story is created by the author. The situations, the characters...
“You really don’t know anything,” Suyeong muttered.
- The moment characters are created, they start moving however they want. The author only presents the stage. It’s the characters who choose how to react to an event and what to do.
- Not as a metaphor, but for real?
- For real.
- You must find writing really easy.
- Want to die?
Dokja had doubled over after taking a blow to the stomach.
What had Dokja been thinking then?
- Interesting. If authors aren’t the gods of stories either... then who can decide something like a Scenario?
A chill slowly crept up from her toes. Perhaps Dokja, standing over there, was the answer to that question.
Dokja had found the only way to change the ending in this world of stubborn Scenarios.
[The Great Dokkaebis are flustered by the surge of Plausibility!]
[The Star Stream watches the course of unstable Plausibility!]
Scenarios weren’t perfect.
[The Final Scenario is undergoing a drastic change!]
The writer was clearly the one who created the story. Yet it was the characters who lived in that story.
And the ones who decided their Fate were...
[Constellations of the Korean Peninsula cheer for the Demon King of Salvation!]
[Constellations of Eden cheer for the Demon King of Salvation!]
[Constellations of the underworld support the Demon King of Salvation!]
[Constellations from an unknown planet cheer for the Demon King of Salvation!]
[Countless Constellations sponsor Coins!]
[An overwhelming majority of Constellations watch the Demon King of Salvation’s final battle!]
Those who watched the story.
[Many Constellations do not want the Demon King of Salvation to die!]
The only beings who could change the Scenario.
Dokja hadn’t become the Enemy of Stories in order to die here. He hadn’t chosen sacrifice to betray his Allies.
「TWSA was Yu Junghyeok’s story. Then whose story was this world now?」
Watching the Plausibility of the shaking world, Suyeong muttered bitterly, “That’s right. No reader wants the protagonist to die.”
Dokja and Kim Dokja Company’s influence in this world had become enormous. Dokja becoming the target of the Final Scenario was proof of that.
Constellations had watched Dokja’s fables whether they wanted to or not. They empathized with him or envied him. Whether Dokja wanted it or not, every star in this world was now watching his story.
Dokja probably knew that. Perhaps he had been thinking about it for a very long time.
「This was the final gamble Dokja, who had become a character, had made.」
From far away, Suyeong felt as though Dokja had turned to look at her.
As though he knew she would understand this. As though they could begin a new story from here, one they didn’t yet know.
「He had sacrificed himself in order not to sacrifice himself.」
It might be impossible. It might be an ending they could never reach. But it was the only way Dokja had found to ensure no one would be sacrificed. So there was only one thing Suyeong could do now.
‘He can’t do this alone.’
Suyeong turned around. She had to tell the Allies what Dokja wanted now.
Yet there was something Suyeong, excited by her understanding alone, didn’t know.
[The fable Predictive Plagiarism predicts a character’s psychology.]
Not everyone here was a writer. Not everyone could see this situation so objectively.
Before Suyeong could even open her mouth, someone among the Allies leaped forward.
Fierce killing intent filled the sword strike.
The moment Suyeong saw where the blade was aimed, she recoiled in shock.
“Wait! Stop! That guy is...!”
Suyeong knew whose sword it was.
「At this moment, the person who had come to resent Dokja deeply.」
Dokja’s most steadfast sword, who had watched over him for so long.
That sword moved to end this Scenario.
Footnotes:
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