WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 541: Epilogue 4: Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (6)

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They immediately moved Kim Dokja to their headquarters in Gwanghwamun.

They summoned Aileen and sought help from medical Constellations such as Divine Doctor Guam.

「The plan was perfect. It was a plan that couldn't fail.」

They called in every Fable Expert scattered across the world.

「It was a plan that must not fail.」

For over a week, dozens of renowned physicians treated Dokja. They tried somehow to mend his remaining fables and restore his soul form.

"We have no way of treating him at present."

A Russian Fable Expert spoke in place of Lee Seolhwa, who had collapsed after working through the night.

"I can't say he's dead. But... I can't say he's alive, either. This child will never wake up again."

That couldn't be true. They had come this far. There was no way this story could end like that.

Yu Sangah was the one who held their crumbling Allies together.

"The problem is Dokja-ssi's soul, right?"

Then they only had to restore his soul.

The Allies sought help from the Constellation who knew the most about souls.

[This child's soul hasn't come to the underworld. It hasn't gone to the afterlife of any worldview.]

Persephone, Queen of the underworld, stroked Dokja's forehead with a sad expression.

[This is the child's choice.]

"Choice? Don't make me laugh. You saw it too. You saw the fables Dokja-ssi carried in that subway! He said he wanted to be with us, that he wanted us to save him..."

[A person's soul holds countless fables. The words we saw were only some of them.]

"Don't... don't say it so easily!"

Huiwon shouted. Otherwise, she had no way to endure it.

A choice? This was Dokja's choice?

「The Allies didn't give up.」

Mending fables and retrieving a soul were both impossible.

Then there was only one way left.

[I was waiting for you.]

Shakyamuni, master of the Island of Reincarnators, welcomed them with a benevolent smile, as if he had known they would come.

[Unfortunately, he is not someone this body can reincarnate.]

"Part of his soul is still left. We can give him the fables we have. If we use the power of reincarnation, just as I did then..."

[My arhat. I understand your grief. But he cannot be reincarnated.]

Shakyamuni looked at Sangah with regret, then let out a soft sigh.

As Shakyamuni looked at Kim Dokja sleeping peacefully, countless red threads appeared before his eyes. There were too many to count.

Sangah could see them too.

Threads of Fate.

As she looked at those threads stretching across the night sky and finally piercing even the Star Stream, Sangah understood why Dokja couldn't be reincarnated.

"I see."

She didn't want to accept it. Still, it was true.

"This person's soul... has already been reincarnated in another worldline."

Shakyamuni nodded.

[More precisely, I should say "souls."]

* * *

Han Suyeong relayed the story she had heard to everyone.

"Dokja's soul has scattered across the entire universe."

She relayed every word of the conversation she had had with [The Fourth Wall] in that darkened room. Some collapsed to the floor, while others cried out.

Jihye shouted, "Let's go find him again. If we go to [The Fourth Wall], there might be a way. We might be able to retrieve Dokja-ajussi's soul."

"What about the Kim Dokja who was reincarnated in another world? He's probably living his own life there."

"That's..."

Jihye huffed angrily, then gulped down the water on the table before continuing.

"There has to be a way. You said [The Fourth Wall] knows everything."

"We have no way to meet him again. We used all the fragments when we opened the Wall."

Another four days passed in an instant. The Allies became exhausted. Some skipped meals, while others didn't sleep. How much longer did things continue like that? Huiwon went to see Junghyeok.

"Junghyeok-ssi."

Junghyeok, who had been polishing the Black Heaven Demon Blade out of habit, raised his head. He frowned for a moment as though the sunlight was too bright, then turned his gaze back to the sword.

No matter how much he polished it, the stain on the blade wouldn't come off. It was the stain left after cutting Dokja's printed characters.

Junghyeok stared silently at it before speaking.

"Four days. You made your decision quickly enough."

"There isn't another way."

Junghyeok looked at Huiwon with expressionless eyes. Her eyes still burned despite all the tragedies she had endured. Once, he too had had eyes like that.

"We can do it. We've already done it twice. So...!"

Junghyeok had thought the same.

It was a plan like a perfectly crafted illusion. He had believed that this time, they could do it, that he could see the ending he wanted.

「Even if this world's ending is a tragedy... don't think that you failed.」

Had that guy, Kim Dokja, felt the same way back then?

Junghyeok said, "Yes, we did it."

"Please, just try one more time! This time, we can definitely do it right! Dokja-ssi, we have to..."

"Don't think going back to the past will make things better than they were in this round."

The moment the words slipped out, Junghyeok briefly held his breath.

"Why would you say that? This round was clearly better. We can do better!"

"It's impossible."

"Why? Without even trying..."

Junghyeok didn't answer.

Huiwon's expression turned fierce. Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword as though she would cut him down where he stood if he refused to cooperate. Yet Junghyeok didn't so much as flinch at her threat.

Then something came to Huiwon's mind as she looked at him.

"You... don't tell me..."

Junghyeok didn't answer.

Unable to believe it, Huiwon pressed him.

"Really? You really..."

Junghyeok looked at the Attributes Window floating before him and answered.

"I'm no longer a regressor."

The [Regressor] category no longer existed in his Attributes. His Stigma had disappeared as well. Neither [Regression] nor [Group Regression] remained. He no longer had any Stigma that could turn back time.

A breeze blew from somewhere.

As it washed over him, Junghyeok looked up at the clear sky of the Star Stream. He couldn't feel the gaze that had always watched him. No matter how much he sharpened his senses, he couldn't find it.

「He was no longer the protagonist of the story.」

With the disappearance of his one and only reader, his story had ended.

And so had his final Regression.

* * *

"We can cross worldlines."

Someone said that.

"It doesn't have to be Regression. We can cross worldlines and go to another Scenario region. Then we can gather the Final Wall again and meet [The Fourth Wall]."

It was a crazy plan. What was even crazier was that calm Yu Sangah had proposed it.

Suyeong said, "That guy might not help us."

"We still have to try. It's better than not trying at all."

They had already done it once. It wasn't something they couldn't do twice.

Still, Suyeong couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the right way.

What would happen if they failed again? Would they try to cross worldlines once more?

They would cross worldlines, and cross them again. Then, someday, they might become no different from the Outer Gods of the 999th round. Their lives might be ruined beyond repair.

The miserable part was that even knowing that, they couldn't refuse the temptation.

"How are we supposed to cross worldlines? We can't use Regression anymore. And we don't have Secretive Plotter here to help us."

"Did you forget? This worldline is different from the 1,864th round."

At that moment, something flashed through Suyeong's mind.

「There was one more way.」

Rumbblee!

That was when a massive shadow descended over Gwanghwamun.

A flying vessel enormous enough to blanket the entire surrounding street district and then some.

[Hehe, it's been a while, everyone.]

Bihyeong was aboard the vessel.

The Administration Bureau had completely collapsed, and Bihyeong had become the Dokkaebi King of this world. He seemed rather fond of this ruined world.

[Right, this is what you need, isn't it?]

It held something exclusive to the Final Scenario.

「Final Ark」.

Suyeong slowly approached the Ark.

If they used that, they could surely cross worldlines. The dokkaebis and Constellations of the Final Scenario had also tried to board it and flee to another worldline.

Sangah said, "But if we use that... won't we end up becoming just like the dokkaebis?"

"You should've said that when we started Group Regression."

Suyeong walked toward the Ark. Bihyeong warned her.

[I'll tell you in advance, this Ark is far more worn-out than it looks, so you can only use it once.]

"I don't care."

Being able to travel to another worldline meant they could use this Ark for something similar to Junghyeok's Regression.

What if they could travel to a worldline at a specific point in the past? If they could, they might be able to move between worldlines far more effectively than Junghyeok's Regression.

Suyeong quickly shouted, "Bihyeong. The worldline we want to go to is...!"

Before she could finish, a message appeared.