WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 520: Epilogue 1: The Zeroth World (4)

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For the past three months, Suyeong had lived each day with a strange premonition.

It began simply enough.

"Junghyeok. Did you know?"

"What is it?"

"That guy can eat tomatoes just fine now."

At first, she thought it was only a small change. The Scenarios were over now, so perhaps he was changing little by little. That was all she thought.

"Hey, Dokja. Why have you been so out of it lately?"

"Huh? Uh..."

"But are the Scenarios really over? Why hasn't the system disappeared? You can still use skills, can't you?"

"Hmm... It probably takes time for it to disappear."

The Scenarios had ended, but the world hadn't neatly returned to how it had been before. As if there were still a story left unfinished. The fact that people could still use skills and Stigmas was proof enough.

"Strictly speaking, we can't say everything is over until we find the original author who wrote that novel."

Suyeong agreed with Junghyeok. This world might have existed because the Oldest Dream had read TWSA.

But before that, there had been the original author who wrote that novel. This story could only end once they found that being.

"Who the hell is tls123? We've made a few guesses so far, but every one of them was wrong. Even the Oldest Dream, our strongest candidate, doesn't seem to be the author... Dokja, what do you think?"

Dokja had the greatest chance of solving that question.

The reader who had read all 3,149 chapters of TWSA.

Yet Dokja answered like this.

"Uh... I don't know. At this point, I'm not sure it matters that much..."

Anyone else could have said that. But he was Kim Dokja.

The only reader who had finished TWSA. Kim Dokja, the greatest reader Suyeong knew.

"Tell me. Who are you?"

That was why Suyeong thought:

「What if the Dokja in front of me is a fake?」

"Suyeong-ssi! What on earth are you-"

As Hyeongseong came running over and shouted, Yuseong grabbed Suyeong's wrist.

"What are you doing right now?"

"Noona."

Gilyeong was the same. The boy had stepped in front of her to block her way and was looking up at Suyeong with tense eyes. The atmosphere among the allies changed sharply at the sight of the dagger's blade.

"Unni. What are you trying to do? Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

Jihye had already put down the kitchen knife and was standing beside her with the Twin Dragon Swords in hand. Seolhwa looked startled, while Huiwon narrowed her eyes. In contrast, Sangah calmly watched the situation unfold.

After thinking for a moment, Suyeong let out a light sigh and released Dokja's collar. Dokja slumped down weakly and looked up at her like a criminal.

"This guy isn't Dokja. There's no way Dokja, of all people, wouldn't remember that."

"Remember what?"

"TWSA."

At those words, the allies all turned to look at Dokja.

Dokja, who had always talked about TWSA.

Like an instructor explaining a difficult problem, Suyeong put a hand to her head and neatly laid out everything that had happened. Then she added one last thing.

"What I just said wasn't from TWSA. It was from a novel I wrote. There isn't some scene in TWSA where the allies have a cozy meal by the Han River."

"How do you know that, unni? Did you read that novel too?"

"Only the beginning. But I'm certain there was no such scene in the third round."

Huiwon shot back.

"Couldn't that just be a mistake? Remembering every detail of a novel that long in the first place is-"

"It's possible if it's Dokja. Have you all forgotten how you've made it through the Scenarios so far? Do you really think Dokja wouldn't remember?"

Suyeong growled as she turned back to Dokja.

"Hey. Tell me how many times Junghyeok died to Asmodeus."

At Suyeong's question, Dokja only stared blankly up at her. Suyeong frowned, about to lose her temper again, when Dokja's lips parted.

"Suyeong."

His voice was flat. For a moment, a flicker of hope crossed Suyeong's eyes.

Then he said, "I'm sorry, but I really don't remember very well. I haven't read TWSA lately, either..."

"See? This bastard isn't Kim Dokja-!"

"Mister."

Yuseong blocked Suyeong as she stepped forward with the dagger in hand. Clasping Dokja's hand with both of hers as though shaping pottery, Yuseong asked,

"Do you remember what I said I wanted to eat when I came to the Han River?"

A short distance away, Junghyeok's hands stopped as he silently cooked. The meal wasn't finished yet.

Dokja answered at once.

"Pizza and cola."

"Hyung! What about me?"

"Gilyeong said he wanted to eat chicken by the sea. Sorry, we'll definitely go to the sea next time."

Gilyeong and Yuseong, their eyes brimming with tears, glared at Suyeong.

Suyeong frowned.

"Wait. The questions are too easy. Just because he knows that much-"

This time, Huiwon stepped forward.

"Dokja-ssi. What's the name of my sword?"

"The Sword of Judgement. Do you know how much trouble we went through gathering materials for it?"

"Dokja-ssi, do you remember the first item you gave me?"

"The Rusty Iron Shield."

The allies bombarded him with questions as if they were competing. Even Pildu Gong joined in.

"Hey, do you remember the fine you imposed on me in the Chungmuro Scenario?"

"You never paid it."

"You little bastard. If you don't pay it right now-"

"Mister, you told me this before. You said that, honestly, out of all the Kim Dokja Company members, Jihye was the prettiest."

"I never said that."

"Dammit," Jihye muttered.

"It really is Dokja-ajusshi, though?"

A strange sense of relief began to bloom on the allies' faces.

Dokja, who had been watching everything, spoke.

"I don't know why everyone's suddenly acting like this, but I really am Kim Dokja. And Suyeong, why are you-"

"Hey, do you remember how many rounds TWSA had in total?"

"Suyeong."

Unable to watch any longer, Huiwon stepped in.

"I don't know why you're doing this, but we finally came out here, so leave it there."

"That's right, Suyeong-ssi. There must be some misunderstanding..."

"A misunderstanding?"

Suyeong's hand holding the dagger trembled faintly.

"Hey, Junghyeok! Don't you have anything to say?"

At that, Junghyeok, who had silently been slicing vegetables, looked at Suyeong with indifferent eyes. He looked at Dokja once, then at the allies. Then he turned his gaze back to the cutting board.

Suyeong watched all of it, and her shoulders began to shake.

"That's really..."

She lowered her head and saw a beer can rolling across the ground. Suyeong picked it up and opened it. Then she drained it in one go. Wiping her lips roughly, Suyeong said,

"So I'm the only weird one here, is that it?"

One can didn't seem to be enough, because Suyeong opened another.

"Fine, I know you've all had a hard time clearing the Scenarios. You're exhausted from thinking, and I know you want to rest now. Do you think I don't feel the same way? I want to rest too."

Pssshh.

Beer foam burst into the air.

"But do you guys really think that Dokja is the real one?"

"Han Suyeong."

"Shut up. Don't say my name."

Suyeong's cheeks were faintly flushed. In her head, the fable "Predictive Plagiarism" creaked into motion.

「Maybe the allies are right. Maybe she is wrong, and that Dokja is real.」

Could she really say Dokja wasn't Dokja just because he couldn't remember a few scenes from TWSA? Suyeong knew it too. She was being hasty and illogical.

Even so, Suyeong couldn't stop her feelings. Without quite understanding why she was reacting so fiercely, she muttered,

"The Dokja I remember..."

A boring novel filled with settings. A human capable of patiently reading a novel with three thousand chapters.

「"When all these Scenarios are over, I might want to write novels again. When that happens, read my novel."

"Okay. I'll read it."

"It might have more than three thousand chapters."

"Sounds exactly like my kind of thing."

"It might be boring."

"How could something you write be boring?"」

Someone who loved stories more than anyone else in the world.

Even if Dokja forgot everything else, there was no way he would forget TWSA.

Was it the alcohol? It felt as though heat was gradually spreading through her head.

「If this 'Dokja' is a fake, what would that mean?」

A prank by tls123, the original author? Or...

"Suyeong-ssi. Stop this now..."

Looking at the allies' faces, hypotheses began to form in her mind.

If what the Dokkaebi King said was true, then this world was ultimately the delusion of the Oldest Dream. This world continued because the Oldest Dream dreamed it. And now, the Oldest Dream was gone, together with the Secretive Plotter and the characters of the 999th round.

「Then why is this world still continuing?」

It was a truly dreadful premonition. One that must never come true.

And perhaps, one that had already come true.

The beer can in her hand rolled across the ground. Its half-full contents spilled out. Looking at the identical cans scattered across the ground, then at the can with barely anything left in it, Suyeong spoke as though possessed.

"What if that Dokja is an Avatar?"

"Suyeong-ssi! Why would you suddenly say something like-"

"Do you think I'm acting like this for no reason?"

At that serious voice, a few of the allies' expressions changed. Those who turned to look at her mostly wore similar expressions.

Han Suyeong.

The only Incarnation among them with both "Predictive Plagiarism" and Avatar. Whenever Dokja was absent, she had served as the nebula's practical brain.

And Suyeong's judgment had almost never been wrong.

Hyeongseong slowly turned his head toward Dokja. Huiwon came next. Then Jihye. One by one, their gazes gathered on Dokja.

「What if Suyeong is really right?」

A faint crack spread through their hearts. A gap created by the smallest doubt. It was enough of a gap for Suyeong.

"If that's an Avatar, there's a very easy way to confirm it."

When Huiwon sensed something ominous, Suyeong was already gone.

"Suyeong!"

Jihye drew her sword like lightning and rushed forward, but Suyeong was already a few steps in front of Dokja. Terrifying waves of energy swept through the area as Yuseong unleashed Dragon Howling. Gilyeong's insects coiled around Suyeong's ankles like shackles, and Hyeongseong rushed over to shield Dokja with his body. But Suyeong didn't stop.

"The one who's going to read my novel-"

Thread shot from Sangah's hand and caught Suyeong around the waist. Huiwon moved too late, barely managing to seize Suyeong from behind. Yet even as all of it happened simultaneously, Suyeong's dagger was already gone from her hand.

"It isn't you."

Slice.

The sound of something splitting apart rang out.

Footnotes:

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