WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 489: Episode 93: Omniscient Author's Viewpoint (3)
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Jeong Huiwon came running.
Like moonlight gliding along a blade, she slipped between the Nameless Ones.
The answer she had found was there.
[The ■■ of Incarnation Jeong Huiwon is salvation.]
Everyone had their own ■■. At last, the time had come for Kim Dokja Company's allies to choose their own endings.
"Huiwon!"
The Sword of Judgement traced a brilliant arc. Watching her sword strikes, the allies followed after Huiwon.
Lee Gilyeong, who had been about to leap into the sky with Yu Sangah, stopped because of the girl left behind.
"Shin Yuseong."
Yuseong stood there crying. She remained where she was, her gaze fixed somewhere ahead. It was obvious where she was looking.
[The fable Savior of the Star continues its story.]
A fable only Yuseong possessed.
A Constellation and an Incarnation connected by shining starlight.
The light pouring from that fable was so beautiful and dazzling that Gilyeong unknowingly reached out toward Yuseong.
「Lee Gilyeong envied Yuseong.」
What did it mean for one person to understand another?
He was still too young even to understand the word "understanding." Sometimes that made him feel deprived, but part of him was glad that his age could be an excuse.
「You might not know yet. That's okay.」
「It's not something you have to do. I'm sorry for relying on you, Gilyeong...」
「Hey, kid. Don't get carried away. Get back.」
He felt relieved. Part of him even thought it was a blessing.
It was a blessing that this was the kind of world where I could meet these people. I was glad there were people I could lean on, people I could act spoiled around, people who taught me that I was a child.
「But Yuseong was there.」
A child who didn't act spoiled. A girl who always watched the star was there.
Gilyeong looked at the same star. It was a star he liked, too. He knew well how sorrowful its light was, and what color it turned when it tried to hide its feelings or lie.
「But he didn't know it as well as Yuseong did.」
"How long are you going to stand there spacing out? Let's go."
Yuseong turned blankly toward him. Meeting her gaze, Gilyeong grabbed her hand.
The two children began to run. Sweat seeped from their tightly clasped little hands.
‘I can't understand Dokja-hyung as well as Yuseong does.’
Yuseong was the Incarnation of the Constellation Demon King of Salvation. No one could come between them or interfere with their relationship.
"You think you're the only one worried about him? You think you're the only one who's sad?"
Gilyeong shouted without looking back at Yuseong, whom he was pulling along.
He had always hated looking younger than Yuseong. But today, more than ever, he wanted to act spoiled.
"I hate the Han River. I like the ocean more. And I like chicken more than pizza."
He, too, had been saved by that star.
"PC bangs! Phone games! And...!"
Far away, he could see the star he liked. It no longer looked like a star.
"And..."
That star had drawn the jealousy and envy of the Constellations ruling the sky.
【■■■■■■■■■■■.......】
It looked like a terrifying archdemon from one of the webtoons he used to enjoy.
The moment the head whose tentacles writhed turned toward them, Gilyeong's legs froze.
An otherworldly king that had grown taller than a high-rise building.
The Enemy of Stories.
A villain who would destroy this world.
「Would that demon look like Kim Dokja to Yuseong?」
"Me too..."
Gilyeong muttered as he fought through his trembling. He was afraid that it might not be the Dokja he knew.
[Don't be fooled!]
[That person will destroy this world!]
[That person only cares about themself. Your survival means nothing to them.]
What if the Kim Dokja he had been watching was wrong?
「"Hyung, are you a god?"
"...What?"
"Or are you the 'protagonist'?"」
What if the dokkaebis were right?
「"I'm neither a god nor a protagonist. If anything, I've always envied protagonists."」
Gilyeong barely stopped trembling and gathered the courage to look up. The distant eyes of the Outer God met the boy's gaze.
Dokja's heart couldn't be seen. There was nothing about that Outer God that felt like Dokja. All that remained was faith.
"Relationships aren't something you can form in only one way, Gilyeong."
Once, he had gone to Sangah for advice about Yuseong. Sangah had closed the book she was reading and said this.
"Just as everyone understands the same sentence differently. So..."
Gilyeong didn't read many books, so the comparison didn't really resonate with him.
Still.
"I think I understand what you mean."
Gilyeong also had a skill that allowed him to communicate with others.
"Even praying mantises and cockroaches all feel different when I communicate with them."
[Inter-Species Communication] was that kind of skill. A skill that allowed him to communicate with beings whose origins were completely different from his own. Yet the boy had no skill that let him understand people.
What kind of person was Dokja? He didn't know. Still, there was one thing that always came to mind first whenever he thought of Dokja.
People whose heads or bodies had exploded.
「"Excuse me for a moment."」
Dokja's face as he placed a grasshopper in his hand.
[The fable King of Insects begins its story!]
The scenery around him shook, and a fable was awakening inside the boy.
[The Constellation Ruler of the Bottomless Pit chuckles sinisterly.]
A swarm of locusts flew in from somewhere, swirling as it began to cover the world.
「That day, Lee Gilyeong wished the train would overturn just like that. Like the grasshopper that had died in his hand.」
The Outer Gods screamed at the terrifying display of Status.
The Constellations of the Star Stream began pouring out messages.
[Constellations of the Absolute Evil affiliation warn Ruler of the Bottomless Pit!]
[Some demon kings are horrified by the power of Incarnation Lee Gilyeong!]
The fable flowing fiercely continued its story without caring about the Constellations' gazes. It was a story he had never told even the adults. Only Yuseong, who possessed the same [Inter-Species Communication], vaguely knew it.
「"Why have children when you don't even have money...?"」
The overpowering smell of lignite. His father and mother lying there like dead cockroaches. The memory of prodding their cold skin.
When the funeral without a memorial portrait ended, his relatives' eyes were fixed on him.
「"I knew that bitch Youngmi would end up like this. I told her that worthless bastard was no good..."」
「"So who's going to take him? The eldest brother's family..."」
「"Not our house. We already have three kids."」
Gilyeong still didn't have the words to talk about a life of rejection that had begun when he was very young. He didn't have the ability to explain or express how deep that wound was. The wound festered without ever being revealed or healed.
「"Look for a facility. There are places that take care of kids like him."」
Led by his aunt, Gilyeong boarded a train for Seoul. Facing the ant nest-like subway map of Seoul, he grew dizzy. He couldn't understand the world's complexity.
Passing through so many tunnels, he had no idea where he was going.
The grasshoppers in the insect net cried like lost children.
「"Hey. Throw that away, now. It won't live long anyway. Gross!"」
What would have happened to him if the Scenario hadn't begun that day?
"Dokja-hyung!"
If he hadn't met these people.
"Dokja-hyung! I'm here!"
Gilyeong screamed until his throat tore. It didn't matter if his voice couldn't reach him. It didn't matter if he wasn't Dokja's Incarnation.
「"Gilyeong. If you can't talk about it, you don't have to say anything. But remember one thing."」
He just wanted to say it.
「"When you want to talk, I'll be right beside you."」
Dokja-hyung wasn't a villain. He was just an ordinary person, someone who had saved him among all the other ordinary people.
[Kill him! Just push a little harder!]
[They're failures from another worldline! Ignore them and push forward! It ends if we kill him now!]
The ranks of Outer Gods fighting at the front were being pushed back. Just as one defensive flank was breached, a group of Incarnations led by Mythical Constellations advanced toward Dokja.
He had to stop them.
Tstststst!
[This action is prohibited by the Plausibility of the Administration Bureau.]
[The target you are protecting is the Enemy of Stories.]
He had to convince them that Dokja-hyung wasn't that kind of person.
But how?
Rumble...
Even with the enemies closing in, Dokja could only stand there like a wall.
At times, he seemed to be saying something, but the words couldn't be understood. Gilyeong wanted to understand those words. He hated helplessly leaning against the wall.
He wanted to stand on Dokja's side.
It was fine if a world like this was destroyed. If Dokja was the Enemy of Stories, then he would become the Enemy of Stories, too.
But Dokja was too difficult for him to understand.
Gilyeong hated being a child. If only he were an adult. If only he were Suyeong, Junghyeok, or Huiwon...
If only he were Yuseong.
He felt something in his tightly clenched hand. Yuseong was there.
"Idiot. Get a hold of yourself."
The swarms of locusts flying around them settled down.
Yuseong spoke.
"I don't understand Dokja-ajusshi either."
[The Exclusive Skill Ultimate Inter-Species Communication has activated!]
"I'm just trying to understand him."
The skills of the two children who had controlled the Chimera Dragon together activated at the same time.
A state in which they could understand each other better than anyone else.
Gilyeong couldn't read Dokja. But he felt that he might understand Yuseong a little.
The world shook from the fable the two read together. It felt as though Dokja's face could be seen, just faintly. It felt as though he could see the Dokja he knew.
[The fable Savior of the Star speaks with the fable King of Insects!]
"Kids."
Han Suyeong stood protectively beside them.
Hyeongseong, Huiwon, and then Sangah joined her, standing guard at the children's side.
「There were adults who looked upon the children's world together.」
Lee Jihye's warship cast a shadow from the sky. Beside its cannons stood Pildu Gong and Lee Seolhwa. Jihye drew her sword as if she were ready to fire at any moment.
Great Dokkaebi Onsae asked.
[Are you saying you will protect him now? Even knowing what he has become? He is no longer the Kim Dokja you knew. Now that every truth has been revealed to the whole world...!]
"Don't make me laugh. What truth? All you showed us was edited footage. You've always made Scenarios like that."
Suyeong spoke as if warning the approaching Constellations.
"Enemy of Stories or whatever, that bastard is our companion. So don't touch him. Got it?"
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon roars!]
[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire reveals their Status!]
[The Constellation Oldest Liberator charges up lightning!]
"If you touch him, I'll kill every last one of you."
As the Constellations protecting Kim Dokja Company moved, the flow of the battlefield stalled for a moment and sparks flew.
[Some Constellations are agreeing with Incarnation Han Suyeong's words...]
Great Dokkaebi Harong, sensing the fluctuation in Plausibility, cut off the message.
[How absurd. You want to protect him? You who cannot even understand his words?]
[The Star Stream warns the Great Dokkaebi against interfering in the Scenario!]
As if frustrated that the Scenario wasn't unfolding as desired, the Great Dokkaebi endured the backlash and asked.
[Can't you see what he looks like now?]
The Incarnations who had approached Dokja flinched and retreated. It was the same for Incarnations who held goodwill toward Dokja and those who held hostility toward him.
An Outer God reaching the distant heavens. The moment they met eyes that held the abyss, everyone trembled and collapsed.
[You do not know what he feels, what he desires, or even what he thinks. Because you are no more than humans. Beings who cannot understand even a single existence, even if you devote your entire lives to it.]
Every ally of Kim Dokja Company looked up at Dokja.
The Great Dokkaebi's words were true. They couldn't understand Dokja.
[The target you are protecting is the Enemy of Stories.]
As if awakening characters who had forgotten their roles, the Great Dokkaebi shouted.
[You have no choice! Kill him. Otherwise, this Scenario will not end!]
[The King of Stories watches the course of the Final Scenario.]
The world's oldest Streamer looked down upon the stage. Suyeong and the other allies raised their heads. Suyeong gazed at the Final Wall stretching into the distance, where the King of Stories who had overseen all these Scenarios existed.
「That wall was where their stories would remain.」
"The Scenario won't end? Nice. Isn't that every reader's wish?"
[Incarnation Han Suyeong has approached her ■■.]
Suyeong looked up at Dokja. As she kept glaring at the enormous cephalopod head, it seemed to resemble Dokja a little.
"That bastard Kim Dokja has to be in the story I'm writing."
Like a writer tearing up a manuscript she didn't like, Suyeong roughly unwrapped her bandages. Her fable, dyed by [Black Flame], spread through the air like black ink dissolving. As if she could keep writing forever.
[The Star Stream is surprised by Incarnation Han Suyeong's decision!]
[Many Constellations are horrified by Incarnation Han Suyeong's ■■...]
[The target you are protecting is the Enemy of Stories...]
[This action is prohibited by the Plausibility of the Administration Bureau...]
Tstststst...
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon is proud of his Incarnation.]
Suyeong grinned.
"Let's never end the Scenario."
[The ■■ of Incarnation Han Suyeong is Unending Story.]
Footnotes:
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