WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 527: Episode 101: Something That Exists Nowhere (2)

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Han Suyeong explained the plan in precise terms.

Firstly, to save Kim Dokja, they had to cross the "Final Wall."

Secondly, crossing the "Final Wall" required a total of five "fragments."

Thirdly, the only fragment remaining in this worldline was [The Fourth Wall], possessed by Dokja's avatar.

Fourthly, to obtain the remaining four fragments, they would travel to another worldline through Group Regression.

The Allies exchanged slightly dazed looks after hearing the plan.

Jihye was the first to speak.

"Is that possible?"

"It should be, since this guy said it was."

Meeting Suyeong's gaze, Junghyeok nodded.

"It is. The Stigma evolution hasn't finished yet, so it'll take some time. We'll need time to prepare anyway."

"Wait a second. What's the exact principle behind the Regression you're talking about, Master?"

"If I use Regression, all of you and I will return to the past, to the point when the Scenarios began."

"What about the world we're in now?"

"A new worldline will be created separately from this one. In terms of rounds... it'll probably be the 1,865th worldline."

The 1,865th worldline.

It was such an absurd number that the Allies could only blink.

"So we're going to start everything over there."

As if she had expected this, Huiwon spoke with a determined expression. Not everyone thought the same way, though.

"As far as I know, this Regression of yours is rather unique."

Sangah was the one who said it.

"I know because I read about Regression in Dokja-ssi's Library. Until now, Junghyeok-ssi's Regressions had centered on the worldview of TWSA. But this round was a little different."

The other Allies seemed to vaguely understand what she meant.

This worldline differed from Junghyeok's previous rounds.

It was a worldline born from Junghyeok's desire to see the end.

Part of [The Fourth Wall] had collapsed, merging reality and fiction. As proof, this round contained people who weren't Characters from TWSA.

"Can we really all go back together? Are you sure?"

If Junghyeok's Regression activated based on TWSA, a few of the Allies, including Sangah and Gilyeong, wouldn't be able to go with him.

Junghyeok slowly blinked before replying.

"Regression activates based on the worldline where I activate Regression."

"Then that means we can bring this Dokja-ssi with us too."

Sangah pointed to Dokja, lying in the hospital bed behind them.

Dokja here was dying because the system's power was fading. But if they could take him through [Group Regression], he would be able to recover through the Star Stream's system again.

Junghyeok gave a small nod.

"Probably."

"Then it's decided, right? Raise your hand if you disagree."

Suyeong's tone made it clear she didn't think anyone would object, but Yuseong cautiously raised her hand.

"Ah, what's wrong with you now?"

"I'm not sure this is the right thing to do. Dokja ahjussi wanted Junghyeok ahjussi not to regress."

"That bastard doesn't really consider what we want either. We're even."

"If Junghyeok ahjussi regresses, the Scenarios will begin again in that world. A lot of people will die. People will be thrown into tragedy again. The Constellations will treat humans as toys. And most of them... won't even clear the first Scenario."

Yuseong was right.

She was perhaps the Incarnation who understood Dokja's thoughts better than anyone else among them.

Dokja wouldn't want to create that kind of misery again.

Suyeong thought differently.

"So, you think that misery won't happen if we don't regress?"

"What?"

Suyeong let out a soft sigh and looked up into the air.

"Hey. How long are you going to just watch?"

Pop.

A puffball appeared in the air.

[Baat?]

Suyeong clicked her tongue at Biyoo, whose innocent eyes darted around.

"There she goes again."

Junghyeok spoke up.

"Biyoo."

Biyoo cleared her throat before speaking.

[Whether you regress or not, other worldlines will keep being destroyed.]

Yuseong's mouth fell open at Biyoo's fluent Korean. She knew Biyoo could speak, but this was the first time they had had a conversation like this since seeing her on the subway.

"How do you know that?"

[Because I'm the Dokkaebi King now.]

Ahem.

Biyoo thumped her chest with her tiny arms.

Biyoo was the only dokkaebi unaffiliated with the Administration Bureau, and the dokkaebi who had wholly inherited the Dokkaebi King's Star Stream.

What little of the Star Stream's power still remained was sustained by Biyoo. At the same time, the Star Stream was disappearing because Biyoo was the only dokkaebi left.

[You don't know this, but worldlines are born every moment.]

"Every moment?"

[That's right. Every time an existence in a world makes a choice, new worldlines are continuously born. Even when you toss a coin, Yuseong, new worldlines are born and destroyed.]

Biyoo explained that worldlines were like branches splitting apart at every choice.

[Regression is only a more special way of choosing a worldline. It means going back to a past point where time branched off, then extending a new branch from there.]

It was a staggering story.

"Then just how many worlds have there been...?"

As if she had read the bleak despair on their faces, Biyoo spoke.

[Only Father would know that.]

Father. There was only one being in all worldlines whom Biyoo could call Father.

The Constellation who created Kim Dokja Company. The being who had become this universe's Oldest Dream.

[You can only change one among those countless worldlines.]

* * *

From the next day onward, the Allies began the plan.

Project <Squid Capture>.

Suyeong had named it.

"What's the standard for a life-form recognized by the Star Stream again?"

Now that they had decided to regress once more, their plan had to be more thorough than ever.

The Allies often debated how to clear the Scenarios thoroughly, and the first Scenario was the point where their opinions clashed most often.

"What about bacteria? Bacteria are living things too. Couldn't we get, like, 100,000 Coins by pouring hydrochloric acid on our hands?"

"If that counted, people who stayed still would have survived too. Our bodies kill bacteria in real time."

"Some people say they survived without killing anything."

"We can't leave it to luck. We have to kill something."

"I survived by killing a grasshopper. I heard Dokja hyung even got Coins for crushing grasshopper eggs."

After listening carefully, Suyeong began taking notes.

"Either way, eggs count as living things by the Star Stream's standards."

"Why don't bacteria count?"

"It might be based on a kill that can be recognized. Should we ask Biyoo?"

When Anna's team, including Selena Kim and Iris, joined them, the strategy meetings became even fiercer.

"This route is the best one here."

"No, this way is better. According to my [Predictive Plagiarism]..."

Dokja wouldn't be in the next round they regressed to. That didn't mean they knew nothing.

Junghyeok had the memories of the 1,863rd round received from Secretive Plotter.

Suyeong had [Predictive Plagiarism].

Sangah had the records she had read in the Library of [The Fourth Wall].

「And across all worldlines, they alone were beings who had crossed [The Final Wall].」

After the first discussion, Suyeong took a breather. It had only been a week. According to Junghyeok, they would be able to use Group Regression a month from now.

The Allies argued over how to clear the Scenarios as well.

"「The Strongest Sacrificial Lamb」. Here, we absolutely have to..."

"Did you forget Dokja-ssi died back then? If we do this..."

They were Allies who hated the Scenarios more than anyone.

Even so, they looked strangely excited as they continued their discussions.

Why was that? Why could they, who had finally regained reality after the Scenarios ended, speak so happily about a plan to return to the Scenarios?

「Reality isn't a word that refers to a place.」

Maybe it was because none of them could forget someone.

They couldn't forget the time they had overcome that terrible tragedy together with someone.

"I remember the Theater Dungeon well. This is where Dokja-ssi..."

Each Ally had joined the group in a different place.

The times they remembered, and the versions of Dokja they remembered, were different too.

Still, just as Junghyeok's countless rounds had gathered together and ultimately become one person, Dokja was the same.

"The Absolute Throne. According to what Dokja hyung said then..."

The parts of Dokja that everyone loved came together and became one Dokja.

"I miss him."

And the pieces of Dokja gathered that way made them love even the remaining parts of Dokja they didn't know.

Suyeong slowly turned her head and saw Junghyeok sitting cross-legged. Golden rings flowed across his body as he continued training for his Stigma evolution. Suyeong watched him for a while before asking,

"Hey, I've been wondering something."

"I need to concentrate, so don't disturb me."

"You said some of your memories from the zeroth round came back before."

One of the spinning rings twisted. Junghyeok opened his eyes halfway amid faint sparks. Suyeong grinned as she asked,

"What memories came back?"

Junghyeok hesitated for a long time before answering.

"Kim Dokja was there."

"What? Really?"

"That's why I'm certain Dokja is alive as the Oldest Dream."

"What was that bastard doing there?"

"I don't remember clearly, but..."

Junghyeok frowned, looking down at his Black Heaven Demon Blade as he said in a heated voice,

"I'm certain he hit me in the back of the head."

* * *

I opened my eyes to the rattling vibration of the train.

「You can sleep more, Kim Dok ja」

"I've slept more than enough."

I stretched my stiff body, feeling energy slowly return to every part of me.

The power I had used while watching the zeroth round had recovered to some extent. Even my right arm, which I had sacrificed to make Junghyeok regress, had nearly grown back.

For some reason, though, my body felt lighter than before. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that I had shrunk overall.

「Yu Junghyeok began his second life.」

A panel showed Junghyeok living through his first round.

I remembered Junghyeok leaving the zeroth round.

Despite reaching what I considered the most ideal ending, he had chosen Regression.

To learn why he had been born into this world.

To find the origin of his existence in this world.

"The Fourth Wall."

「Yes」

"If every existence is born through someone's reading... is there someone somewhere reading me too?"

[The Fourth Wall] didn't answer. Perhaps this, too, was a story [The Fourth Wall] did not know.

I imagined another reader watching over me somewhere. Yet I couldn't picture them very well. Like the first Oldest Dream, perhaps a god might look endlessly powerless. Maybe they even looked familiar to me.

Could Kim Dokja Company's Companions be the ones reading me?

Could I exist here because they imagined me?

「Do yo u wan t to see them?」

I turned my head toward the panel showing Junghyeok's first round.

"A little later. There are still many worldlines I need to see first."

That was when the subway began to slow down.

[Passing through the outer region of the Dream.]

Some panels shut off, revealing the scenery of space beyond the window.

Before I could ask, [The Fourth Wall] spoke.

「The out er edge of the uni verse, a bor der zone with oth er di men sions」

A faint cluster of light appeared amid the universe's pitch-black night.

It was clearly different from the Star Stream's universe.

That universe was shaped like a bent tree.

"What is that place? There was another universe?"

「The Sta r St ream is al so on ly one of the gre at un iverse's world views」

[Currently passing through the outskirts of the Phantasmagoric Tree.]

[Currently passing through the Dark Dimension's Time Stratum.]

Phantasmagoric Tree. That seemed to be the name of that tree.

Was it my imagination? It felt like I had heard that name somewhere before.

"Can we go there too?"

「It is dan ger ous, so it's bet ter not to go」

"Is there an Oldest Dream there too?"

「The re is, but it has a dif fer ent na me」

Countless roots stretched downward, and its trunk was made of a cluster of countless souls. Above it were branches that blended into the darkness of the night sky. The roots and branches curved through distant space until they met, and at their center was something like a huge eye.

A single pupil, illuminating the universe with blazing fire.

The moment my gaze met that eye, a chill ran through me.

[A problem has occurred in the system!]

The subway abruptly slowed with a clattering noise. The lights throughout the train suddenly flickered.

Screeeech!

It was much like the moment the first Scenario had begun.

A ringing spread through my ears, followed by a strange, mechanical sound.

Something was approaching the train window.

「Kim Dok ja, dan ger」

Then I saw a ray of light.

「An ab sol ute be ing from an oth er di men sion」

At the end of that ray was a sword.

A ray of light flew through the Dark Stratum as though it would split the entire universe apart. I clearly saw what technique it was.

It was a thrust.

Kwoooong!

I was thrown onto the floor.

I instinctively drew up my fables and raised my head, only to see a sword that had pierced through the train doors.

An ink-black sword.

A naked man holding that sword stood tall, glaring at me.

"Are you Big Brother?"

Footnotes:

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