WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 522: Epilogue 1: The Zeroth World (6)

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It had already been a week since Kim Dokja collapsed.

The Allies took turns caring for the unconscious Dokja. Lee Seolhwa and Aileen treated him in shifts, while many Incarnations with renowned healing skills came to visit.

Yet none of them could determine why Dokja had suddenly become like this.

"His physical composition is becoming unstable, but I can't determine why. It may be related to the weakening of the system..."

A few Incarnations cautiously discussed [Avatar].

"Mister."

Looking at the still-unconscious Dokja, Shin Yuseong murmured as if making a vow to herself.

This person was Kim Dokja. The Kim Dokja she remembered, without a doubt.

Still, no matter how many times she repeated it to herself, one fact remained unchanged.

「No power of a ‘Patron’ could be felt from the being before her.」

That fable that had warmly embraced her was barely perceptible.

[The fable Savior of the Stars stammers through its story.]

The fables connecting her to Dokja were also hesitating, as if the being before her was unfit to become the subject of a story.

Shin Yuseong slowly closed her eyes.

[Your connection to your Patron is currently very faint.]

[Your communication channel with your Patron is currently disconnected.]

The Behind-the-Scenes Contract binding her to Dokja was still valid.

The starlight in the night sky that had always watched over her from the same place.

「Then whose starlight was that?」

Yuseong looked at Dokja's shoulder, which still hadn't healed. It was the arm that had always protected the Allies. With that arm, Dokja had drawn his world. He had ended Scenarios and shattered the Final Wall.

When she slowly turned her head, Dokja's face came into view. The golden circlet placed on him during the Journey to the West Scenario still rested atop his head.

The Golden Headband had lost its power as Great Sage Equaling Heaven's fable weakened.

Yuseong brushed Dokja's tangled hair aside beneath the Golden Headband.

「"Don't worry, Yuseong."」

Dokja had kept his promise.

「The PC café they had promised to visit together.」

「The pizza and cola she had wanted to have by the Han River.」

Dokja had definitely been there, in that scene that felt like an illusion.

Such a fragile scene, offered by one person with their entire life.

She didn't want to deny this conclusion they had barely reached after such an immeasurable passage of time.

Slumped face-down over the bed, Shin Yuseong fell asleep right there, exhausted from crying. Someone opened the quiet hospital room door and entered.

"Hey, it's time to switch..."

Lee Gilyeong fell silent when he saw Yuseong asleep. He shook out the thin blanket beside the chair and covered Yuseong's shoulders with it. Then he sat on the opposite side of the bed.

"Dokja-hyung."

Gilyeong placed Dokja's hand, which had been hanging over the edge of the bed, back beneath the covers. A hand covered in wounds. The same hand that had once placed a grasshopper in the boy's palm.

「Once, Kim Dokja had been a god to the boy.」

After looking down at Dokja for a long time, Gilyeong murmured, "You're still you, right?"

Letting out a deep sigh, Gilyeong slowly rose and opened the hospital room curtains.

Many people were walking through the streets. People Dokja had saved. A scene Dokja had protected. Gilyeong sat by the window for a long time, counting them.

* * *

"Fucking bastard. If you're going to make an Avatar, at least make it properly."

Han Suyeong grumbled as she walked through the industrial complex.

A week had passed since Dokja collapsed. Suyeong had come to a decision.

「She couldn't ask the Allies for help.」

Yu Sangah was right. The Dokja of this place and the Dokja she missed were both Dokja. If this was truly the ending Dokja wanted, and the Allies had accepted it, then that was that.

But at least one person might think differently.

"Hey, kid."

"Why, auntie?"

"Where's your brother right now?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"You little!"

Yu Mia scampered off and disappeared into an alley. The little thing was so fast that by the time Suyeong caught up, she had already vanished without a trace. If Yu Mia was here, Yu Junghyeok had to be nearby.

After walking for some time, Suyeong saw an unfamiliar sign before her.

―Kaizenix District.

Residential blocks had formed around the western part of the industrial complex. The architecture was old-fashioned, with a medieval Fantasy style. Suyeong was secretly impressed by the city's unexpectedly solid infrastructure. She figured there was no harm in doing some sightseeing while looking for that bastard.

"Suyeong?"

Someone unexpected was there.

"Yuri?"

.

.

.

"You live here?"

"It's been a while. I know you're busy, but I'm a little hurt you only came to see me now."

"You sound completely Korean now."

Suyeong was pleased to see Yuri sipping tea before her.

Yuri di Aristel.

In the Kaizenix imperial capital, Suyeong had possessed Yuri and carried out the Scenario. Thinking about it, a lot had happened in Kaizenix.

She had even wasted decades waiting for that damned Dokja...

"But who did you come all this way to find? Did you come to see me?"

"Sorry, that's not it..."

"Tch. Then who?"

Once Suyeong briefly explained the situation, Yuri clapped her hands as though she understood.

"Ah, you mean your fiancé?"

"Fiancé?"

Suyeong frowned as she thought for a moment. Come to think of it, she had almost married him there, too. Yuri asked teasingly, "But which one is real? Personally, I prefer the smaller one..."

"Enough. Do you know where Yu Junghyeok is?"

"Hm? Him?"

"Just answer me."

"If you mean that idiot..."

Idiot?

"He happens to be passing by over there."

A huge shadow swept past the café window. Suyeong sprang up and ran out of the café.

"Hey! Pay the bill!"

"Sorry, I'll get it next time!"

She could see the large figure running ahead. Wearing a black tracksuit, Junghyeok ran through the industrial complex at a steady pace. Nearby industrial citizens murmured.

"He's running again."

"He could use a skill. Why's he doing something so pointless?"

"It's already been three months."

It was the first she had heard of it. Suyeong followed him, watching his back. The industrial citizens were right.

His body moved on pure Strength alone, without using a single skill.

Panting lightly, Suyeong activated a skill and caught up beside him.

"What are you doing?"

Drenched in sweat, Junghyeok glanced at Suyeong before looking away.

"Training for a marathon? Then again, you'll need a job in this new world too..."

Junghyeok didn't respond to her provocation. Suyeong wondered what she should say this time to pry open that blockhead's mouth when passersby murmured.

"Look, there's another idiot."

Those bastards.

Just as Suyeong was about to snap at them, Junghyeok spoke.

"I'm running because I want to."

"Why? Feeling suffocated?"

Junghyeok didn't answer. Instead, an almost imperceptible shadow crossed his face. Suyeong couldn't fully understand the meaning of that expression, but she felt as though she understood a little.

"How much did you say you read of that novel?"

The unexpected question left Suyeong uneasy. She hadn't expected Junghyeok to ask about that.

"Only a little of the beginning."

"What kind of person was the original me in that world? For instance, me in the zeroth round, or the first round..."

"What kind of bullshit is that? Why are you asking?"

"I can't remember the past very well these days."

It was the first she had heard of that.

"You can't remember?"

"It's not that I can't remember at all. It's just very fragmentary."

"You've regressed over a thousand times. I'd be the same."

She said it like a joke, but Suyeong thought she understood why Junghyeok's memories were unclear. Strictly speaking, Junghyeok was the protagonist of the novel TWSA. All his information had been the writer's setting data, and anything the writer hadn't described simply didn't exist.

TWSA was a novel that began with Junghyeok's third round.

Perhaps it was only natural that Junghyeok couldn't fully recall his memories from the zeroth through second rounds.

"Does it matter what you were like then?"

Whether it was a problem with the setting data or something he had truly forgotten, the past was simply the past. Trite as it was, Suyeong wanted to tell him that. What mattered wasn't the past, but what would happen from now on.

But Junghyeok answered.

"It matters to me."

Junghyeok breathed rhythmically. Seeing him push his body without help from any skill, Suyeong suddenly felt as though she understood something.

「Yu Junghyeok was the person most capable of carrying out Scenarios in this world.」

The Supreme King, who had been able to clear Scenarios better than anyone, had paradoxically lost his usefulness once the Scenarios ended.

What would Junghyeok become now in a world where the Scenarios had ended?

Suyeong parted her lips several times.

"You must have been Yu Junghyeok then, too. Yu Junghyeok who would become the regressor."

All Suyeong could do was return the words Junghyeok had once spoken himself. She quickly continued, trying to change the subject.

"More importantly, I came because I have something to say. As you know, the Dokja of this worldline..."

"He's an Avatar. I know."

So he knew. Suyeong was about to fire back immediately, but she closed her mouth again.

It hadn't been difficult to get this far.

But once she arrived, the words wouldn't come easily.

Would it be right to tell this Junghyeok that they should go save the Dokja who remembered TWSA?

Unable to know the answer, Suyeong could only swallow the words lingering on the tip of her tongue. Then Junghyeok spoke first.

"If we're going to save him, we need to return to the subway beyond the Final Wall. The problem is that we can't reach that place again through ordinary means of crossing worldlines."

Suyeong, who had briefly faltered, answered at once.

"If we open the Final Wall again, we can get there. We need to gather the fragments that will open the door. It seems like we already have one fragment."

「Han Suyeong said.」

The intermittent messages of [The Fourth Wall]. Suyeong could vaguely hear them now, too. Sentences that intruded irregularly, as if explaining this world.

They were probably sentences being recorded in [The Fourth Wall] possessed by the Dokja of this worldline.

"The problem is the other fragments."

The Wall that Decides Reincarnation Yu Sangah possessed.

The Wall that Divides Good and Evil possessed by Jeong Huiwon and Lee Gilyeong.

And the Wall of Impossible Communication possessed by Jang Hayoung.

Those walls had vanished along with the opening of the Final Wall. There had to be a way to recover them, but Suyeong couldn't find the answer now.

"Han Suyeong."

"What?"

"We've gone around three times now."

Three times?

Only after hearing that did Suyeong realize the same scenery as before was unfolding before her. The view she had seen when she first entered this area. They had been running in a huge circle.

"What did you see? I saw birds atop the tower."

Junghyeok continued.

"Those are birds that always fly here at this time."

"..."

"That café is always crowded at this time."

"You..."

"Have you seen the clock on the Kaizenix Spire? Each of the second, minute, and hour hands bears a different person's embossed face. Your face is there too."

Following Junghyeok's words, Suyeong turned her head. The world Junghyeok had copied from life was there. He had probably watched this scenery while repeating the same circle over and over.

"Why are you looking at that crap? Have you finally lost your mind?"

Pitying the vast circle Junghyeok had been tracing alone, Suyeong could only say that. Junghyeok replied.

"If we run one more lap."

Junghyeok had stopped at some point and was asking her.

"If we run one more lap, do you think we'll be able to see it better?"

Suyeong stopped in place.

[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok's Stigma emits a faint light.]

She knew. She had known what all this meant for a while now. But she wanted to pretend she didn't.

Because she didn't think that method was a solution.

"You..."

A way to save Dokja.

A way to gather the three vanished fragments again.

A method only Junghyeok could use.

「It was to return to the world where those walls existed. Then walk through the hellscape of that Scenario once again.」

"You're going to do that again by yourself?"

Neither she nor Dokja wanted that. Besides, no matter how incredible Junghyeok was, alone...

"I can't do it alone."

Suyeong blinked at Junghyeok's calm declaration.

"That's why I asked. What did you see?"

A transcendent Status rose from Junghyeok's twitching muscles. His Transcendence Form, which surpassed the power of Constellations, was evolving.

[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok's Stigma is evolving.]

Suyeong looked back at the road she had passed. The clocks on the spire were moving. Her own foolish face was carved into the diligently moving second hand.

What if she could run through that time once more? Would she be able to run better?

Maybe she could.

If she prepared more thoroughly than anyone else.

And... if the Companions who had lived through this world with her could join them.

When she turned around, the regressor who had already run that road countless times was looking at her.

"I need your help, Han Suyeong."

[The Stigma Regression has gained the potential for Group Regression!]

Footnotes:

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