Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 495

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 495: Episode 94: Beginning of the End (3)

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"Hyung, the reward says 'Final Wall.'"

Lee Gilyeong, who had caught up with us, was the one who asked. But I didn't know enough to give the child a clear answer.

The reward was the Final Wall...

Written that way, it was unclear whether the reward was reaching the Final Wall, or whether we would possess the Final Wall once the Scenario ended.

Could that wall even be something anyone could possess in the first place?

There was no way to know anything right now.

The only certainty was that once we ended this Scenario, we would reach the truth of this world.

【Go.】

Under the protection of the 999th-round Lee Hyeongseong, my companions ran forward. Secretive Plotter and the other Outer Gods blocked the Constellations pursuing us.

The Ark was right before us. If we destroyed it, we would reach the end of all Scenarios.

[Stop them!]

Once again, starlight poured from the night sky. It was astonishing that so many stars had been there. They were Constellations that had been hiding who knew where.

[It's the Outer God King! Get him!]

Constellations charged at me with weapons raised. They had lived as lackeys of great nebulae, acquiring the right to enter the Final Scenario without properly clearing a single Scenario.

Surprisingly, some of them had once been Subscribers to my channel, or were still subscribed. The stars who had occasionally sponsored me and egged me on. Those who wanted intense catharsis and pushed for provocative developments.

They now stood against me.

[Kill him!]

My companions also seemed shocked by the Constellations hostile toward us.

Suyeong finally snapped.

"You guys still haven't unsubscribed?"

For a moment, I remembered what Mandala's Protector had said on the Island of Reincarnators.

「No matter how crude a story is, a being that has listened to and watched it for long enough will come to love that story.」

I hadn't understood what that meant at the time. I had only thought Mandala's Protector saw the tragedy of the Great war of Angels and Demons that way. Looking at it now, though, perhaps it hadn't applied only to the story of the Great war of Angels and Demons.

The monsters of fable Constellations we had faced in peace land began manifesting before us, one after another. I saw Kagutsuchi, the Eight Fragments of Flame, and Sea Dragon Ryujin, the Arbiter of the Tides.

The one who stood against them protected the sky above our companions.

[The Incarnation Lee Jihye has unleashed her Status!]

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God has unleashed their Status!]

It felt as if a vast sea had spread out, and overflowing Status swallowed the stage around us. Our opponents were fabled-grade Constellations, but Jihye would never be pushed back by them now.

Yet instead of firing immediately, Jihye looked at me.

"Mister."

I knew what she was hesitating over.

[Go! If you can't help, then at least blow yourselves up!]

Constellations shoved Incarnations forward. Incarnations from Japan, their eyes hollow and unfocused, staggered toward us.

Just as I was about to draw my sword against them, someone nearby shouted.

"Get ahold of yourselves! Look carefully at who you're fighting right now!"

It was definitely a voice I knew.

"Izumi died the same way. How many more people have to die before you wake up? Have you all forgotten the tragedy that happened in peace land?"

Asuka Ren stood there.

[The Incarnation Asuka Ren has become an Enemy of Stories.]

Surprisingly, she had already chosen this side.

[The Incarnation Asuka Ren's Attribute Comic Artist has activated!]

Asuka's sword moved like a pen.

The moment her Attribute activated, the fables of every Nameless One around me began to move, including mine. Our shattered fables. Scattered sentences were being woven into a single image.

Come to think of it, Han Suyeong wasn't the only one with the Writer Attribute. Though Asuka's Attribute differed from Suyeong's, it was similar in nature.

"Please, stop now. You know who they are, too. You wanted to become like these people."

「That was the beginning.」

Michio Shoji, standing beside her, spoke up.

"I already survived once by being a coward. I turned away from the deaths of others, using the Scenario as an excuse."

Michio Shoji. The man who had risked death to face the serpent with me so he wouldn't become someone's Calamity.

"But at least in the Final Scenario, I want to make the choice I believe is right."

At Shoji's words, the Incarnations attacking us began dropping their weapons one by one. They collapsed with terrified expressions or burst into miserable sobs.

"I-I can't. I can't do this anymore...!"

The kneeling Incarnations clutched their heads and muttered. As the Incarnations refused their orders, the Constellations suddenly exposed to danger cried out urgently.

[G-get up! Hurry!]

Incarnations understood the pain of other Incarnations better than anyone.

They were different from the Constellations who had carried out Scenarios for so long that they had become commonplace villains.

"Jihye."

Before I could say anything, the Turtle Ship's cannons fired.

Kwoooom!

The Constellations were swept away with the sound of cannon fire. The few who somehow endured the bombardment clashed with our companions.

[Aaaahhh!]

A faint light flowed from the front of the Ark. We couldn't allow the Mythical-grade Constellations sleeping within the Ark to awaken.

Fortunately, our advance wasn't slow. Junghyeok's [Sky Splitter Sword Art] and Suyeong's [Black Flame] supported me from both sides, steadily leading our companions onward.

There was only one concern: Plausibility.

Tzzzz...

Plausibility created from the Constellations' coins.

When I looked up, Biyoo was controlling the channel with a pained expression.

She had only recently become a dokkaebi. Exchanging this many coins for Plausibility was probably too much for her. Fables dripped continuously from Biyoo's mouth.

"We're almost there!"

The incident occurred the moment I heard Suyeong's voice.

[The Administration Bureau is exercising control over channel BY-9158!]

My chest went cold.

Individual channels originally belonged to dokkaebis. But the system of "channels" drew its power from the Administration Bureau's Great Fable.

[The Administration Bureau is controlling coin sponsorships for channel BY-9158!]

My body suddenly began to slow. The same was true for my companions. The wind that had pushed us from behind like a tailwind was turning into a headwind.

In the distance, ten Great Dokkaebis held their clasped hands toward the sky.

"Those damned bastards...!"

Suyeong seemed to realize what was happening, too.

[Bwaaaaaat!]

Biyoo let out a pained cry as if electrocuted and fell.

Sangah, who had run ahead of me, caught the falling Biyoo in her arms.

[The Constellation Father of the Rich Night protests the Administration Bureau's cowardly actions.]

[The Constellation Queen of the Darkest Spring is enraged by the Administration Bureau's conduct.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire ■-like dokkaebi bas■...]

...

Our channel was collapsing.

Great Dokkaebi Garang spoke.

[We cannot permit your fable. We cannot offer such a fable to the Oldest Dream.]

I couldn't understand it. Having become part of this Scenario, simply exercising the Administration Bureau's Great Fable would bring them enormous backlash.

[Horong, Noksu. I will remember your sacrifice.]

Two Great Dokkaebis were vanishing in midair.

Fable Fragments were falling from Garang's body as well.

Goosebumps rose all over my body. I could tell how momentous a decision those damned Great Dokkaebis had made.

[The Plausibility of the Star Stream is undergoing another upheaval!]

The number of Nameless Ones flooding the area was rapidly decreasing.

The faces of those who had regained their original forms under the protection of Plausibility were changing back into those of monsters.

【The hounds are coming.】

At Secretive Plotter's voice, the kings of the 999th round gathered in the center.

Those who had consumed greater Plausibility suffered greater losses when their sponsorships were cut off.

Hounds Chasing the Abyss appeared through the surging backlash and tore at the kings' arms and legs.

【It hurts, you sons of bitches!】

The 999th-round Kim Namwoon screamed.

Junghyeok, who had cut down the charging Constellations beside him, shouted.

"Kim Dokja!"

I looked up. The conditions in the sky were unnatural. It wasn't simply the sort of change caused by a Mythical-grade Constellation controlling the weather. Something terrible, something I had never experienced before, was about to happen.

[Onsae, Huhche. You have worked hard until now.]

Two more Great Dokkaebis were vanishing.

「The Great Dokkaebis intended to end their stories here.」

Every hair on my arms stood on end. I had never felt such fear while carrying out Scenarios.

[Oldest Dream!]

The sky was opening. Looking closer, it wasn't the sky but a wall.

The Final Wall that enclosed this entire universe.

Something was crossing through the gap in the wall, split apart like torn pages.

「At that moment, Kim Dokja sensed the destruction of this world.」

I couldn't describe what it was with any language I possessed.

What was that?

It looked like a crude doodle drawn by a child with a pencil. It resembled a giant sword, a spear, and a missile all at once. One thing was certain. That unknown something was falling toward us.

Tzzzzzz!

For a brief moment, I thought I saw something like someone's hand through the gap releasing that shapeless mass.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire cries out in shock!]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon urgently calls out to you!]

Only one thing was certain. If that hit us, we would all die.

「Kim Dokja unleashed all his Status.」

Every Great Fable I possessed began telling its story at once.

I looked back at my companions.

"Everyone...!"

The next moment, my vision turned white as a massive explosion of Plausibility erupted before me.

* * *

Tzzzt!

Bihyeong blankly watched as the Great Dokkaebis melted into the Scenario one by one.

The Streamers had become part of the Final Scenario.

Small and large low-grade dokkaebis gathered around Bihyeong.

[Bihyeong-nim! What in the world is this...?]

The Administration Bureau, which had remained neutral until now, was overturning the entire shape of the Scenario through its own will.

The price was that the Administration Bureau's landscape was changing as well. The storehouses where fables were kept collapsed all at once, and infamous Constellations imprisoned under the Administration Bureau's watch were set free.

At the center of that chaos, Bihyeong was looking at one Constellation.

「The bastard who never thought for even a moment that he was the protagonist.」

He had been like that since they first met. A bastard whose physical stats didn't even add up to ten, who hadn't been intimidated by a dokkaebi like Bihyeong and had stood up to him. A bastard who always smirked as if he had everything under control, and who was prone to dropping dead without a care.

「The bastard who knew the next fable better than Bihyeong, a Streamer, did.」

Thanks to his fables, Bihyeong had quickly grown his channel and always received good evaluations during grade reviews.

「That fable was now approaching its finale.」

Rumble!

Having become a Great Dokkaebi, Bihyeong could tell what was tearing through the sky and falling.

That thing had come from beyond the wall. A distant fragment of delusion that had flown in from beyond the first and final wall dividing this world.

He could see the Ark preparing to take flight. The remaining Great Dokkaebis likely intended to escape aboard it.

And this stage would be finished by that fragment's fall.

「At that moment, the dokkaebi Bihyeong made his decision.」

The Great Dokkaebis gathered to perform their ritual spotted Bihyeong and shouted.

Baram was the first to seize him.

[Bihyeong! What are you thinking?]

Without answering, Bihyeong looked down at the ground. The people he had watched all this time were there. Incarnations he had always met through an avatar. Now they stood in the same place as him.

Bihyeong looked down at his hand. His palm, once so small, was now as large as that of an adult man.

[I have watched that fable for a very long time.]

Their first meeting hadn't been pleasant. One side had been responsible for selling the tragedy known as Scenarios, while the other had been forced to risk their lives carrying out those Scenarios.

That was why Bihyeong had to move now.

Something he had to do because this hand had opened the stage of tragedy. This was what he had to do to remain a Streamer to the end.

[Baram, you said every dokkaebi has a moment when they must choose A Single Fable.]

[Wait, Bihyeong! This time, you are wrong. Not that fable! That fable is...!]

Bihyeong smiled as he pulled Baram's hand from his arm. There was someone who always smirked even in the face of death. Bihyeong had never understood it, but now he thought he knew how that bastard felt. It seemed he had felt exactly this way.

[It seems I have come to love that story.]

Bihyeong unleashed his Status at the Administration Bureau's Great Dokkaebis.

Crack!

Garang's horn shattered. Representing the Great Dokkaebis, Garang had been wielding the Administration Bureau's power to intervene. The Plausibility controlled by the Administration Bureau scattered at once, causing a disturbance throughout the area.

The backlash returned to Bihyeong in full. Vomiting blackened fables, he turned around.

[Bihyeong! How dare you...!]

He stood directly in the path of the fragment of delusion falling toward the ground.

The fables he had recorded until now were crying.

Constellations watching the Streamer were lending Plausibility to his actions.

As backlash tore his body apart, Bihyeong thought.

The protagonist of the fable he had read would probably not welcome his actions.

Because the protagonist always wanted to save everyone.

Even so, there was a law that couldn't be defied.

「There is no story in which no one is sacrificed.」

To protect the story, to protect Plausibility, to become A Single Fable that would reach the 「Final Wall」. This was something that had to happen.

「The dokkaebi Bihyeong chose his own period.」