WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 542: Epilogue 4: Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (7)

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The end of the 1,865th round was more perfect than that of any other worldline.

A month had passed since the Final Scenario ended. The damage caused by the Scenarios had been quickly repaired, and with the regressors' help, every country swiftly regained order.

Schools reopened, and office workers returned to work. The streets were plastered with slogans wishing peace upon the new world.

On one of those unfamiliar streets, Jihye watched the schoolyard beyond the fence.

"So that's the friend."

Jihye nodded at Huiwon's words.

Her friend was running across the schoolyard. Na Bori. The friend Jihye had killed with her own hands. In this worldline, Bori was alive. She was breathing and moving her legs as she ran.

"Jihye, you don't have to go back."

Jihye's eyes followed Bori's retreating figure. The friend she had missed so dearly. The friend who always appeared in her nightmares.

She had thought the nightmares would disappear if she saved Bori. But memories weren't erased so easily. Instead, the nightmares returned in even more vivid forms. Jihye lived through the same Scenario again and again, killing Bori in her dreams.

Each time, Jihye realized it anew.

The one she had saved wasn't the Bori who had died. She was only another Bori from another worldline.

"Jihye."

After gazing at the schoolyard for a long time, Jihye spoke.

"I promised Biyoo."

"......"

"I promised Biyoo that I would cross the worldlines again and return there without fail. Because that's what I promised."

Huiwon quietly studied Jihye's profile before gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be lonely when you go back. The things here won't be there."

Jihye smiled. With the hand that had wiped her tears, she pointed at her head.

"It won't be lonely. They're in here."

Her voice trembled as she said it.

Was it really all right to say that? If they could truly speak that way, why had they come all this way?

"Let's go. Your unni will treat you to something good today."

* * *

"Brother."

Whenever Yu Mia called him brother, it meant she wanted to ask something of him. Through countless regressions, Junghyeok had learned that.

Mia stared at him for a while before speaking.

"You did your best, Brother. No one could have done better than you."

Junghyeok's eyelids lowered heavily. Standing on a chair, Mia placed her hand on the top of his head.

"Let's return home now."

* * *

―The story they lived was a tragic Scenario.

―The world was covered in the smoke of destruction, and they lost what was precious to them.

Han Suyeong frowned at the lyrics drifting in from somewhere.

"Is this a funeral dirge?"

[It's a popular song these days. It's a story praising all of you.]

Cackling, Bihyeong opened the Ark's door.

The Ark, charged with fable energy, awaited them.

One by one, the regressors who had decided to return home boarded the Ark. Yet not everyone did.

Some chose to stay.

Pildu Gong stood there, hesitating without saying a word. Behind him were several children. Suyeong knew why Pildu had regressed.

"You stay. Someone has to protect this place too."

Pildu didn't answer.

"Anyone else staying?"

Suyeong calmly raised her voice.

"Think carefully. Once you leave, you'll never see your parents, lovers, friends... or anyone else again. Are you all okay with that? Think it through..."

Shin Yuseong tightly grasped Suyeong's hand.

"This isn't our worldline. Uncle Dokja would think the same."

Most of Kim Dokja Company's Incarnations and Constellations chose to return.

At their center was the young Dokja, lying in the Sleeper Car.

[Oh, Persephone, are you really going to leave?]

Suyeong gave a bitter smile as she watched Hades become so clingy that he was actually performing a courtship dance. Had Hades always been that kind of person?

Persephone smiled awkwardly at him.

[I'm sorry, Hades. But I'm not the Persephone you knew.]

[You are Persephone. The Queen of the Darkest Spring and the queen of the underworld.]

Persephone shook her head slightly.

[If that's the case, then I'll follow you.]

[Your worldline is here. You're the king of the underworld. Please, have some dignity.]

[My world is you, Persephone!]

Bihyeong shook his head. Then he asked Suyeong,

[It's a pointless question, but... are you really leaving? If you stay here, you can live comfortably for the rest of your life.]

"That's not why we came to this worldline."

Suyeong looked down at the young Dokja lying in the Sleeper Car.

For the past few months, Suyeong and her Companions had searched the entire Star Stream for a way to save Dokja. But there was no such method anywhere. The best they could do was preserve his life in this state, neither truly dead nor alive.

"Bihyeong, give us some Administration Bureau fables as a farewell gift."

[Administration Bureau fables?]

"The system in our worldline is broken. Just give us a little, in case we need it."

Bihyeong pouted in displeasure, then passed on part of a fable to Suyeong.

Just then, a man came running toward them, kicking up a cloud of dust. It was Lee Hyeongseong, burly and sporting a bushy beard.

"Please depart quickly!"

Looking closer, Suyeong saw military vehicles chasing Hyeongseong.

"Come to think of it, that guy's still wanted."

Suyeong smiled bitterly and gave the signal. Junghyeok spoke.

"We're leaving."

At last, the Final Ark rose into the air.

―The heroes of Kim Dokja Company are departing!

People watched them go. Broadcast helicopters swarmed in to cover their departure.

The reporters zoomed in on the Allies' faces and shouted.

―Why are you crying? You saved this worldline!

The view of the ground slowly receded. Someone muttered,

"What did we come all this way for?"

Like a terrible nightmare, the world was drifting away. It was becoming a memory, an irreversible past. Suyeong murmured,

"What for...?"

As the Ark accelerated, the scenery around them changed. A galaxy of rapidly passing worldlines stretched before them. Somewhere in one of those distant worldlines, the reincarnated Kim Dokja might be living.

As she considered that, Suyeong felt a powerful urge. What if they changed course, even if it was reckless? What if they went searching for Dokja's reincarnation, born somewhere among those distant stars? Then, if only they could...

「But was that really what Dokja wanted?」

The Ark's window reflected Junghyeok and Sangah standing beside her. They were looking at the same sight with the same expressions as Suyeong. The moment she saw their faces, she knew they were thinking the same thing.

That was why this plan could never be carried out.

That was when the Ark began to shake.

[Entering a new worldline!]

"Already? This thing's fast as hell..."

The Ark began a steep descent, as if entering the atmosphere.

For a moment, it felt as though gravity had disappeared. Then, with a deafening crash, the hull struck something. The interior went dark for an instant before the lights returned.

[You have arrived at your destination.]

Holding her throbbing head, Suyeong looked over her Companions.

"Damn it, this isn't just old. It's a complete piece of junk. Is everyone okay?"

"I'm fine! What about everyone else...?"

Thankfully, no one was injured. Suyeong operated the hull and opened the entrance. Stairs descended beneath the slowly opening door.

The moment she cautiously walked down the stairs and stepped onto the ground, someone shouted.

"Who are you people!"

What was going on? Armed soldiers were aiming their guns at them. Startled, Hyeongseong hid behind Suyeong.

"Suyeong-ssi, what on earth is going on? Don't tell me they're after me here too..."

"That's impossible. This is our home."

Suyeong stepped in front of Hyeongseong.

"That's a pretty rough welcome. Don't you know who I am?"

As Suyeong swaggered forward, every gun barrel turned toward her.

"I'm warning you, if you pull those triggers, every last one of you..."

Then someone entered Suyeong's view. A middle-aged face that felt both familiar and unfamiliar. Golden hair flowing past her shoulders. Crimson eyes swirling with red light. The owner of those eyes asked her,

"Han Suyeong?"

Suyeong stared blankly at her. That voice. So much time had passed, but there was no way she could forget it. The middle-aged woman raised a hand and ordered the soldiers to cease fire.

"Han Suyeong... is that really you?"

The instant Suyeong heard her voice, she felt something rise in her throat.

Suyeong slowly stepped onto the ground and faced Anna Croft. She didn't know what to ask first, so she asked whatever came to mind.

"How many years have passed since we left?"

"Twenty years."

Suyeong swallowed those years with trembling lips. She felt dizzy. Who would believe that such terrible Scenarios had once taken place here?

Seoul was no longer the place she remembered. It was a city as complete as the 1,865th round they had thought perfect. Dark green leaves lined the streets, while children kicked a ball around in a distant field.

Twenty years.

So that was it. Anna had lived in this world without them.

During that time, she had changed this world so much.

"Han Suyeong?"

Startled, Anna Croft supported Suyeong as she staggered. It was the embrace of someone she disliked. Even so, clinging to Anna's shoulder, Suyeong burst into tears.

At last, they had reunited with the 1,864th round, the world where they had first completed the Scenarios.

Some had returned, and some had not.

Some things remained as a past that could never be changed.

The industrial complex stretched out in the distance.

A faded statue of Kim Dokja stood there. Beside Dokja, posed awkwardly in the statue, was a giant squid sculpture.

「In Commemoration of Kim Dokja's Return」

Looking at that grotesque squid, Suyeong kept sobbing and laughing. She didn't want to accept it, because she thought something might change if she refused to. But Suyeong could no longer deny it.

Their operation had failed.

And this was the conclusion of the world they had found.

* * *

Two years had passed since the Allies returned.

Two years was longer than expected, and many things happened during that time.

Lee Hyeongseong and Jeong Huiwon leaving the industrial complex. Shin Yuseong and Lee Gilyeong entering high school. Lee Jihye receiving an F on her first midterm exam, and so on.

To sum up all those countless events in one sentence:

Kim Dokja Company had disbanded.

Footnotes:

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