WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 531: Episode 101: Something That Exists Nowhere (6)
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「Once again, one hour before the apocalypse.」
"Fuck, where am I?"
Clutching her spinning head, Han Suyeong quickly surveyed her surroundings. The last thing she remembered was Yu Junghyeok vanishing in a blinding flash of light. Instinctively, she checked her body.
The Regression had succeeded.
Her forearms were noticeably thinner, and her muscles had lost their tone. She couldn't feel the fables she had accumulated, nor the skills and Stigmas she had honed.
That wasn't a major problem. If the Scenario began again, she had already thought of ways to deal with all that.
The problem was...
"Damn it, there's not much time."
Her phone battery was almost dead, so she couldn't check on her Allies. The only fortunate thing was that she had barely managed to download the deployment map posted in the group chat.
"Those bastards prepared well even without me."
A quick glance was enough for her to grasp the entire operation. After all, she was the one who had overseen it.
Then Suyeong's eyes wavered as she read the map.
"That bastard..."
She raised her head and looked around.
It would be close, but there should be enough time.
* * *
「Thirty minutes before the apocalypse.」
A head of black hair suddenly appeared before Lee Jihye as she stared blankly at the clock.
"Crybaby, are you staying for evening study today?"
"No, uh, I mean, yeah."
They had already returned twenty-eight days ago, but she still couldn't get used to that nickname.
Crybaby.
When had she last heard it?
It was from a time when she had another nickname. That time had returned.
"Really? I was just asking. What's gotten into you?"
Eyes that seemed to be smiling.
For the past four years, Jihye hadn't forgotten those eyes for a single day. A smaller frame than hers, pale skin, a uniform jacket missing one button. A name written on a name tag with loose threads.
「When she opened her eyes, bloodshot eyes were staring at her.」
A trembling right hand gripped the pants of her gym uniform.
「"Jihye, it's okay."」
Jihye desperately grabbed that hand.
「"Live."」
"Lee Jihye?"
A friend's hand reached toward her. Jihye recoiled from it as if she were having a seizure.
"Ah, sorry. What did you say?"
"Are you sick?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Want to skip together around seven?"
"Absolutely not!"
She shot to her feet, raising her voice without realizing it. Her classmates turned to look at her. Jihye sat back down.
"We'll be seniors soon. We need to study."
"Crybaby, are you really okay?"
「Twenty minutes before the apocalypse.」
The bell signaling the first period of evening study rang. Jihye took something from inside her clothes. It was a small box wrapped in crumpled paper.
"Bori, this."
"What is it?"
Her friend spotted the box and held out a hand. Instead of handing over the box, Jihye gave her a stern warning.
"Don't open it now. Open it when it's 6:50."
"You didn't put something like a bug in there, did you? You know I have a weak heart."
Jihye froze for a moment at those words.
"Don't worry. I'll never let you die."
With those final words, Jihye abruptly rose from her seat. She took out the long sword she had hidden behind the classroom lockers. Her startled friend looked toward her.
"Where are you going?"
"To take a dump."
Jihye walked out of the classroom. The teacher on duty was approaching just then.
"Lee Jihye. What are you doing? Get inside! Evening study has started! And what's that on your back..."
"Teacher, are you on duty tonight?"
A thin build, gaunt eyes, and thick-rimmed glasses. He was the ethics teacher. At least in Jihye's memories, he had been a good person.
"Teacher, make sure you open cabinet No. 2 in the staff room later!"
The teacher reached for Jihye's shoulder as she calmly passed him.
"What? Where are you... Urgh, how is a kid this strong? Hey! Lee Jihye!"
Jihye began to run. She raced down the stairs, entered the staff room, and stole the key to the broadcasting room. Her heart felt ready to burst as she ran straight back up to the third floor.
「The first Scenario in the Typhoon High area began a few minutes earlier than in other areas.」
That was why Jihye had been deployed here beforehand.
When she unlocked the door, gasping for breath, the familiar broadcasting room came into view. Typhoon High's broadcasting room had fairly good equipment. More importantly, it had the authority to transmit through the local network in an emergency.
Hearing the teacher shouting for her downstairs, Jihye took out the backup power source she had prepared. Then she calmly began setting up the broadcasting equipment.
As she connected the cables, memories came together in her mind.
She had been part of the broadcasting club here, and at lunchtime, she played music she liked. That had been her life.
「At least until the apocalypse came.」
Seeing her friends alive, Jihye realized it once more.
She had been the only one to survive that classroom.
"Jihye."
Startled, she turned to find someone unexpected standing there.
"Suyeong-unnie?"
As though she had been waiting, Han Suyeong rose from the darkness. She quietly studied Jihye's face before speaking.
"You look terrible."
"I'm fine."
Jihye was silent for a moment before she spoke.
"The Scenario will start, right? Otherwise, I might get suspended."
"It will. But you don't have to start here. Go somewhere else right now. I'll handle this place."
"This is where I need to begin."
Jihye smiled.
"This is where the Scarred Sword Demon was born."
Jihye slowly drew in a breath. All the equipment was ready now.
「Ten minutes before the apocalypse.」
Then it began.
Rumbblee!
It felt as though the very nature of the world was changing. Somewhere, there came a sound like drums tearing apart. Then, following that...
[Oh dear, I opened the channel earlier than scheduled. Ah, ah, can you hear me?]
Jihye looked back at Suyeong. The instant she saw Suyeong's face, she knew. Ridiculously enough, they had spent their lives waiting for this moment.
[There is no need to panic, everyone. First, let me tell you that this isn't a movie shoot. It isn't a terrorist attack, and you aren't dreaming. Right now, you are...]
It was the voice of the dokkaebi she had hated most.
Screams rang out from classrooms everywhere.
[Main Scenario #1: Proof of Value has begun.]
It was the signal that they could begin their operation.
Jihye picked up the microphone.
― I will now begin an emergency broadcast.
Her own voice echoed through the speakers.
― Listen carefully, everyone. Those in classrooms, open the cleaning supply closets. Those in the staff room, open cabinet No. 2! Hurry!
Jihye knew it. The other Allies were probably wearing the same expression she was right now. They would all be watching this scene through the panel screen displayed by the dokkaebi.
― You don't need to kill one another. At least this time, you don't have to.
Jihye thought of her Allies. She remembered the promises they had made before coming to this world.
「"At least I'll choose for myself what I kill."」
Shin Yuseong would not begin by killing a dog.
「"I'll save my aunt."」
Lee Gilyeong would save the person he hated.
「"I'd rather die than go back to the military."」
Lee Hyeongseong would leave the military.
「"I really want to save that grandmother."」
Yu Sangah would save the person she hadn't been able to save.
「"Plausibility only allows us one chance. We can't use Group Regression twice."」
Yu Junghyeok would no longer regress.
And.
「"This round, I won't become the Scarred Sword Demon."」
As the murmurs throughout the school gradually subsided, Jihye spoke.
― You each found one, right?
Just as Kim Dokja had once thrown grasshoppers at people.
― Throw it onto the floor as hard as you can!
With those words, Jihye burst the ampoule in her hand.
[You have massacred a total of 133 living beings.]
[Massacre details: 133 frog eggs]
[Because you killed living beings without resistance, the coins acquired have been reduced by half.]
[You have acquired a total of 6,650 coins.]
.
.
.
[Main Scenario #1: Proof of Value has ended.]
「Once again, they would create a story that existed nowhere.」
The dokkaebi in charge appeared before Jihye after belatedly realizing what had happened.
[What... Hey, you! What the hell are you? How could you do this...!]
The next instant, a Plausibility Backlash swept through the entire Scenario. She heard an enormous number of coins being drained away somewhere.
Jihye realized what was happening.
[Constellation-nims! This is a misunderstanding! It wasn't the Director! This is my fault... The Administration Bureau's inventory... Aaaah!]
With the sound of the channel being dismantled, the low-grade dokkaebi disappeared screaming.
「PM 7:00」
And that was the beginning.
Seoul's night stretched beyond the broadcasting room window.
A crack was opening in the distant sky.
「The subway on Line 3.」
"Everyone, stay calm! Grab one of these and throw it! Hurry!"
「Gwanghwamun.」
"Don't panic. Smash the bottles you received on the ground! You can live!"
「A hospital.」
"Who hasn't received an ampoule yet?"
Abnormalities were occurring simultaneously throughout Seoul. The planned Scenario was changing.
[Unbelievable achievements have occurred simultaneously throughout the Scenario region!]
[A large quantity of coins is being removed from the Administration Bureau!]
Amid the exploding coins, the Star Stream trembled.
[The Star Stream is startled by the sudden change to the Scenario!]
[The dokkaebis of the Administration Bureau are appalled by the excessive removal of coins...!]
[The numerous Constellations watching the Korean Peninsula's Scenario...!]
A shower of coins burst through the air like fireworks. It was the sight of a world being destroyed. When Jihye looked beside her, Suyeong was watching the same sky.
As though she were searching for someone who might be watching them from somewhere in that night sky.
"Let's go save Ahjussi."
Their operation had only just begun.
* * *
I woke up again, breathing heavily.
「I didn't know how much time had passed.」
Slowly, I put strength into my body. My arms, legs, and shoulders all felt clearly different from before.
「Kim Dok ja has got ten smal ler.」
I smiled bitterly as I looked down at my smaller hands. The joints of my fingers were at least one centimeter shorter than when I had last seen them.
I asked in a slightly tired voice, "Which round was I up to?"
「7 8 6 rou nd.」
I hadn't known that reading something with all my strength could be this exhausting.
As Yu Junghyeok and his companions lived through one round, I lived through one as well.
The second round, the third round, the fourth round, then the fifth round...
「Tha t was the Old est Dream's des ti ny.」
I read and reread the fables created by those countless choices, then watched and rewatched the worldlines that branched from them.
「Kim Dokja read the world as though walking along a distant shore.」
The waves of fables came crashing in, then receded, and every time they did, I lost something bit by bit. Whenever something suddenly came to mind and I looked back, there were footprints. The incoming waves quickly erased them, and after staring at those traces, I walked forward again.
Whenever I felt I was forgetting something amid those overflowing fables, I thought of the round I had lived through. I thought of the happiness of the people who would live there.
Then...
"Huh?"
My fingertips trembled.
Suddenly, I couldn't remember which round I had lived through.
Without realizing it, I turned around. Yet all I could see were Yu Junghyeok's past rounds.
「In the end, all that remained was the desire to see the 'next story.'」
I looked down at my much smaller hands.
What was waiting for me at the end of this long journey?
「Kim Dokja remembered the Oldest Dream he had seen in the Final Scenario.」
Would I ultimately become the Oldest Dream I had seen?
Would I lose all my memories and become a vast unconsciousness that dreamed of an eternal universe?
「I didn't want that to happen.」
I had to remember. I had to recall it.
When I came to my senses, I was holding my smartphone out of habit. A small world that had always protected me whenever I felt anxious and restless.
My face was reflected in its black screen, its battery drained long ago.
I simply manipulated my fables and turned on the smartphone. The familiar home screen appeared. There was the novel that had started all these stories.
― Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World (Final Version).TXT
Until now, I had deliberately avoided reading the Final Version.
I was afraid that reading it would decide something. I hated the thought that the days I would spend living with my companions would be determined by a story someone else had written first.
「But perhaps it was all right now.」
Kim Dokja Company's story had ended, and my ■■ had been decided.
「If I read this, perhaps I can remember what I forgot.」
I still didn't know who tls123 was.
That was why I was curious. What had the writer written in the Final Version?
What ending had the writer created?
Where and how had this story originally been meant to end?
Taking a slow, deep breath, I brought my shortened finger toward the file. Just as I had on the day I first read TWSA.
「And so, Kim Dokja's final reading began.」
Footnotes:
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