WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 530: Episode 101: Something That Exists Nowhere (5)
──────
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.
Han Suyeong narrowed her eyes when she saw those words.
"That's Kim Dokja's skill name?"
Why was something like this engraved in a gap between worldlines?
The sentences continued.
「I thought this might happen, and I thought this was the only way I could understand Mother's actions.」
「Why I suddenly wrote that inexplicable essay.」
「Why I had to become the son of a murderer.」
The sentences moved steadily toward somewhere. Sentences flowing smoothly from the past into the future. At that moment, Suyeong realized something.
'Regression' meant extending a new worldline from a certain point one had traveled back to along a worldline.
What if they had become caught in this gap while traveling back along the worldline?
If that was the case, then the point where these sentences now existed was...
"Yu Junghyeok! This is..."
When she turned around, Junghyeok was looking somewhere as well.
Bang, bang!
The Snowfield shook.
Someone was pounding on the gap in the worldline where they were trapped.
「"Spit it out! Spit it out!"」
「Kim Dokja was crying.」
Could this be...?
「I began pounding the wall like crazy.」
「Kim Dokja was sick of it. Sick of the fact that everything was becoming a story. The fact that his every action and word was becoming a Scenario, then turning into sentences on the wall.」
「"Shut up!"」
She couldn't see his face. Yet just by reading those sentences, Suyeong knew.
Dokja was beyond these letters. Fighting somewhere in the past of the third round of TWSA.
「Kim Dokja wanted to know. What should he do? How could he break this wall? Could this be the price of reading TWSA? Had reading it caused even my entire reality to become a novel?」
The moment she read that sentence, Suyeong became certain.
"That's when he was in Dark Castle."
"Dark Castle?"
"This is after Dokja fought The One Who Devours Dreams. He told me about it once. He got trapped inside his own skill..."
Just before challenging the final Scenario, Suyeong had talked with Dokja all night. Some of it was about their plans going forward, while some was about what had happened in the past. She thought events they hadn't resolved in the past might become clues for the future.
「Thinking back, something strange happened then. Someone called me... If it hadn't been for that voice, I'd have been done for.」
"Hey! Kim Dokja!"
"Han Suyeong, don't do anything pointless. It's a past that's already been recorded."
A gap had to exist as a gap. Only then could the rest not be gaps.
Still, if there were sentences even here, didn't that mean stories they hadn't read actually existed?
Suyeong reached for the enormous letters once more. Black particles clung to her hand again.
They weren't graphite.
Tiny, fine black particles made of zeroes and ones.
Suyeong gripped the letters harder.
If this was a recorded story, couldn't she change that record?
[A new fable of the Incarnation Han Suyeong has awakened!]
Tztztztzt!
Violent sparks erupted and began attacking her entire body. Suddenly, it felt as though every sentence in the world was glaring at her.
"You idiot... Is now the time to...!"
[The fable Revision Expert begins its story!]
"Hey! Get a hold of yourself!"
When she grasped the sentence, the life contained within it flowed into her.
It was Dokja's life. The life he had lived in order to write this sentence into the Final Wall.
Suyeong shouted at Dokja as he struggled against [The Fourth Wall].
"This is your skill! Don't let your own skill swallow you!"
As though revising an already recorded sentence, she seized the sentence's entire foundation and shook it.
Maybe she was wrong. Dokja might have overcome the crisis on his own, and her voice might never reach him.
Even so, Suyeong left her sentence on the wall. Maybe someone beyond the wall would hear it.
"Han Suyeong, the Regression is starting!"
"Shut up! You say something too!"
In the bright rays of light, Suyeong and Junghyeok began scattering once more. Right before he disappeared, Junghyeok, frowning deeply, left behind a single line.
"Deactivate your skill, Kim Dokja."
* * *
Yu Sangah blinked blankly. Faint sunlight lingered around her. The monitor before her shimmered, displaying the personnel record she had been viewing.
"Ah."
It didn't feel real. When she blinked again, she felt the sensations of a fragile body. An Incarnation's body that had lost the power of skills and Stigmas, freed from the System's blessings. This was what it felt like to be human.
She had returned.
A list of things she had to do came to mind in order. Confirm the point of Regression. Try to contact her Allies through the emergency network. And then...
People were staring at her after she suddenly sprang to her feet. Old names surfaced one by one. Assistant Manager Kim Minwoo, Department Manager Jang Eunyeong, and...
"Oh, Sangah-ssi. Is this because you're in HR? You stood up to greet me, didn't you?"
A man swaggered over as though he had come to pick a fight. It was Executive Director Kang Yeonghyeon.
Behind him, bowing and scraping as he followed, was Department Manager Han Myeongoh from the finance team.
Myeongoh cautiously watched their reactions, then gave her a broad smile. He wasn't the Han Myeongoh she had known for the past four years. The Myeongoh she knew hadn't crossed over into this round.
"Come on, it was just a joke. Anyway, Yu Sangah-ssi, this weekend..."
Sangah started running without a word. She passed Executive Director Kang and ran into the corridor. Suddenly, her sense of reality began to fade.
Had their Regression really succeeded?
The sights of a world she once knew well passed by. She used to come to this place on time and leave when it was time to go home. Those were the rules of this world, and faithfully following them was all Sangah could do.
"Hey! Yu Sangah-ssi!"
The same employee ID badges. There had been a time when she had worked hard just to wear one around her neck, as though it might prove her worth.
When she arrived at the QA department, gasping for breath, several employees recognized her.
"Huh? Yu Sangah-ssi?"
The phone in her pocket rang nonstop. Messages questioning her sudden behavior. Shouts ringing out behind her.
Sangah walked toward the partition, one step at a time.
「There was someone she remembered there.」
A man wearing headphones looked up at her.
The portable battery that was always charging in the corner of the partition.
Dokja, whom she remembered, was there.
Dokja before the Scenario began.
Without realizing it, Sangah grabbed both of Dokja's cheeks.
"Huh...?"
Dokja's eyes widened. The people around them murmured in surprise at her sudden action. Yet she wasn't listening to them.
「"Yu Sangah. Why are you being so cold? Just as this Kim Dokja is Kim Dokja, the Kim Dokja left behind there is Kim Dokja too. You..."」
Han Suyeong's words came back to her.
Why had she reacted so coldly then?
"Dokja-ssi."
Now she knew.
Seeing the vacant expression on Kim Dokja's face, she couldn't possibly fail to know that this Kim Dokja was still Kim Dokja.
「"Suyeong, I have precious memories too."」
She wasn't a Writer like Suyeong, nor a protagonist like Junghyeok.
She was Yu Sangah. Dokja's coworker and friend.
Tears filled her eyes for no reason, but Sangah smiled brightly.
「She had returned to protect this Kim Dokja.」
Dokja's lips moved soundlessly. As if he recognized her, light slowly returned to his clouded eyes. The moment Sangah saw faint sparks jumping within them, she opened her mouth.
"Let's go find the story you've forgotten."
* * *
Sangah led Dokja straight out of the company. Just in case, as she ran through the office corridors, she didn't forget to shout at the people around her.
"Quit your jobs while you still can, and catch yourselves a grasshopper!"
When they got off at Gwanghwamun Station, Jeong Huiwon was the first to greet them. She waved beneath the intact statues of King Sejong and Admiral Yi Sun-sin.
"Sangah-ssi!"
They gave each other a tight embrace in joyful reunion.
It seemed Huiwon was the only one who had arrived so far.
"What's wrong with Dokja-ssi?"
"His memories don't seem to be intact. He's confused about reality."
Sangah could only guess that it was because of his Avatar state.
"Where are Junghyeok-ssi and Suyeong-ssi?"
"I still can't reach them. Even if Junghyeok-ssi is one thing, Suyeong-ssi would be the first one to start calling people..."
Several hours had already passed since the Regression succeeded. If even someone who would have borrowed a phone to contact them hadn't reached out, they had to consider the possibility that something was wrong.
"What about the others?"
"Gilyeong is out in the provinces, and Yuseong and Jihye said they think they'll be a little late. As for Hyeongseong-ssi..."
"Huff, huff! Huiwon-ssi! Sangah-ssi!"
A huge bear came running toward them from afar, waving both hands. The bear was wearing a military uniform.
"Huh? Didn't you say you couldn't get out because you were on base?"
"I deserted."
"Can you do that?"
"The world's about to end. What does that matter?"
"It's not exactly about to end. There's still some time."
As Huiwon said that, she showed him the schedule displayed on her smartphone.
「D-28 until the Scenario begins」
Hyeongseong's expression turned serious.
"Wasn't the goal to Regress to one day before the Scenario began?"
"This is better. We have more time to prepare, so we might be able to save more people."
Buzzzz.
One by one, people began entering the chat room they had agreed to join in advance.
Huiwon ran the messages through a translator.
- Peihu of China: I've arrived in China. The air isn't good.
- Rannvir Khan of India: I've arrived safely. There's a smell that evokes Nostalgia.
- This is Asuka Ren of Japan. Familiar ceiling. There are no problems (`･ω･´ ).
The hundred strongest people in the worldline who had succeeded in Regressing were gathering.
The allies looked at one another and nodded at the same time.
"Let's begin the operation."
* * *
「D-21」
- A warrant has been issued for Lieutenant Lee, who illegally seized numerous firearms from a military base...
- As a sudden apocalypse theory spreads online, some experts have...
「D-14」
- The apocalypse theory, once expected to end as a passing incident, has already been raging for two weeks.
- Apocalypse theorist Selena Kim mentioned supplies to prepare for the upheaval that will arrive in two weeks...
- Even several prominent figures in the business world have supported the apocalypse theory, drawing public criticism...
「D-7」
- Microorganism ampoules being researched by a leading pharmaceutical company have been stolen in large quantities...
- A craze for collecting frog eggs has recently spread among teenagers...
「D-1」
- With one day remaining until the Day of Destruction announced by apocalypse theorist Selena Kim...
「D-DAY」
Seolhwa looked down at the small ampoule in her hand.
- I've put live insects or insect eggs inside the ampoules.
- I also distributed emergency ampoule placement maps online so as many people as possible could view them.
- Now we just have to wish for good luck.
「Four hours until the apocalypse」
- New Delhi, India. Preparations complete.
- Beijing, China. Preparations complete.
- Washington, United States. Preparations complete.
「One hour until the apocalypse」
- Seoul, South Korea. Preparations complete.
「Ten minutes until the apocalypse」
- Team Shin Yuseong and Lee Gilyeong. We've completed deployment in the Line 3 area.
Apgujeong Station, Line 3.
Listening to the approaching sound of the subway, Yuseong suddenly spoke.
"This'll work, right?"
"Of course. How many frog eggs do you have?"
"One hundred and two. You?"
"Five hundred and twenty-four."
Yuseong frowned and glared at Gilyeong's plastic bottle.
"Hey, if you keep that many for yourself, then everyone else..."
"Everyone has an ampoule. If we're going to become stronger than that dark bastard this time, we need to start out rich! If I just have this...!"
At that very moment, someone snatched the plastic bottle from Gilyeong's hand. Startled, he turned around to find a familiar man standing there.
"You dark bastard!"
"Uncle Junghyeok? When did you get here?"
"Just now. There was a problem with my Stigma, so I was late."
Junghyeok wiped his forehead as he caught his breath, then tucked the plastic bottle inside his jacket.
"Where's Dokja?"
"Seolhwa is with him because he isn't doing well. Maybe because it's before the Scenario, he gets better for a little while and then falls unconscious again."
"Are the preparations complete?"
"Everything's done."
Instead of answering further, Yuseong handed Junghyeok a spare smartphone. Gilyeong, still grumbling, took another plastic bottle from his clothes.
"Hmph, I knew you'd take it, so I made an extra one in advance."
「PM 6:55」
The subway was approaching in the distance. The three boarded it side by side. A Line 3 train that smelled just as it always did. It was a peaceful scene where no one was thinking about the apocalypse. Watching the darkness of the tunnel pass by, Gilyeong muttered.
"But will the Scenario really begin?"
Gilyeong glanced at Junghyeok, looking slightly unsure. Over the past twenty-eight days, Gilyeong had prepared for the apocalypse more diligently than anyone else. Ironically, that was why he had begun worrying that the apocalypse might not happen after all. Junghyeok spoke to him.
"It will begin. It has happened 1,864 times already."
They were the words of someone who had waited alone for the apocalypse for a long time. After saying them, Junghyeok silently looked down at his watch.
Three minutes. Two minutes. One minute. Then...
「PM 7:00」
Skreeeech!
The subway train began screeching to an abrupt stop. Passengers screamed as darkness suddenly fell over the train.
In that scene of chaos, only three people stood with calm expressions.
Junghyeok's voice rang out, as though it lit up the pitch-black darkness.
"Operation <Squid Capture>, begin."
Footnotes:
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