WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 550: Epilogue 5: Eternity and Epilogue (5)

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A year and two months had passed since Yu Junghyeok left.

The manuscript's progress had begun to slow around the time work on Part 3 was nearing completion. The pages kept piling up, but there were too many gaps.

The more parts they added, the more stories Han Suyeong didn't know.

"This might help a little."

If Aileen hadn't extracted memories from the fable fragments of the sleeping Kim Dokja, work on the manuscript would have progressed far more slowly.

[The Fable Fragment Dark Castle Adventure has been successfully extracted.]

[The Fable Fragment Memories of the 1,863rd Round has been successfully extracted.]

[The Fable Fragment Gourmet Association Story has been successfully extracted.]

They were stories too small to become fables. As Suyeong read the fragments, she filled in the missing parts of Dokja's inner world.

Even so, much of it remained blank. Suyeong deliberately chose not to fill in those parts.

[Your Incarnation has logged into the Cloud System.]

Yu Sangah asked, "Looks like Junghyeok-ssi is doing well."

"He's probably out there beating up web novel authors for no reason."

"I wonder what the other writers are like. They can't all be like you, Suyeong-ssi, can they?"

"Well, that's... Why are you here pestering me again?"

"Come to think of it, they might not even be people. They could be highly advanced AIs..."

Suyeong reluctantly nodded. The universe was vast, and there were many writers. Junghyeok was probably tracking them down one by one and beating them up.

Still, judging by how steadily the revised version was being downloaded, he seemed to be doing his job properly.

But then...

[Your Incarnation is revising the manuscript you wrote.]

"What?"

* * *

[Captain, what are you doing now?]

"Correcting the mistakes."

Junghyeok had opened a file in the [Cloud System] and was editing the live update file. Normally, it should have been impossible for him, an Incarnation, to alter a file updated in the [Cloud System].

But...

[The effect of your Attribute has activated.]

[You can now revise the manuscript in the Cloud System.]

[Revising content that has already been written requires a substantial amount of Plausibility!]

At some point, it had become possible. He couldn't remember exactly when it had started, but the Writer Attribute within him had begun to exert its power. Perhaps it had blossomed after receiving the fables of the Outer Gods.

[Won't Han Suyeong get mad?]

"That bastard doesn't know every story. Some parts are an absolute mess."

Junghyeok calmly typed on the holographic keyboard. Biyoo watched him with admiration.

[Oh... Captain, you're better at spelling than I thought. I figured you couldn't even tell "there" from "their" since all you ever do is swing a sword...]

That was when Junghyeok's cursor suddenly began moving on its own.

[The Constellation Designer of the False Ending has revised the latest file again.]

A strange message had appeared where Junghyeok's cursor had just been.

「Hey, you just edited my manuscript, didn't you? Do you seriously want to die?」

So this was another way to communicate.

Junghyeok calmly wrote the next sentence.

「Because you failed to keep watch over the manuscript properly.」

「What the hell are you talking about?」

「There are mistakes in the manuscript. I marked my comments in the file, so check them.」

After writing that, Junghyeok looked over his corrections once more.

「Lee Gilyeong, dressed in a black coat, surveyed the world with eyes sparkling like stars and said, "Black one. You're weak." Do you really think this makes any sense?」

「With a noble aura streaming out like the rapids of the Yangtze River, Lee Jihye swung her sword. "Sky-Splitting Sword Sect (波天劍門) True Body Secret Technique Ultimate Technique (眞身奧義絶技) Sky-Splitting Extinction Emperor Sword (波天滅皇劍)!" The Sky-Splitting Sword Sect has no such technique. And the Chinese characters are wrong, too.」

Suyeong was silent for a moment.

「What? I've never written sentences like that. This hasn't already been published, has it?」

「There is still time before the update. Correct it quickly.」

He roughly understood what had happened.

「Those little... They messed with my laptop...」

Gilyeong and Jihye had obviously altered the scheduled update file behind Suyeong's back.

As she watched the sentences rapidly being corrected before her eyes, Biyoo said,

[You two have gotten really close.]

"We're only communicating for the mission."

Seeing how the revised version kept being updated, Suyeong also seemed to be trying to restore Dokja's story in the most complete form possible.

The more the novel was filled with adaptations and imagination, the further it would drift from the reality they had lived through. Since their goal was to bring Dokja back, this story had to be the reality they had lived.

[Since it's a story, perfect reproduction is impossible. Every story becomes distorted through the narrator's point of view.]

"I know. It would have been the same even if Dokja himself had written it."

Junghyeok thought about that for a moment.

If no story could ever fully restore Dokja, then what exactly had the existence known as Dokja been?

Junghyeok shook his head.

No one had known before, and no one knew now. There was nobody in the world who knew exactly who they were.

Junghyeok looked at Suyeong's manuscript. Those who had forgotten who they were would simply read her manuscript. They would read this sentence now, then the next one after that.

Suyeong and Junghyeok wished for only one thing from those readers. That the happy ending they didn't know might finally come true in someone's imagination.

That the world they had never once seen existed safely somewhere in this universe.

[The Constellation Designer of the False Ending has revised the latest file.]

「I made a few extra versions just in case, so keep these as backups too. One is the serialized version, one is the ebook volume version, and the last is the print version.」

「What is the difference?」

「They're the same overall, but the details differ a little.」

Junghyeok immediately understood.

「Since it's a novel stitched together from memories, everyone remembers things a little differently. We don't know exactly what Dokja remembers either, so I made a few more versions to test it out. There are some experiments I want to try, too.」

「Experiments?」

「There's something like that. Read them too, and let me know if anything seems strange. By the way, Junghyeok, how many years have you been wandering...」

[An error has occurred due to improper use of the Cloud System!]

[Your Stigma has been temporarily deactivated due to a Plausibility Backlash.]

It seemed using the manuscript like this had been too much.

Junghyeok slowly raised his head and looked at his reflection in the window. Subtle streaks of gray had appeared throughout his hair.

[Captain, it hasn't even been a hundred years yet.]

"I know."

[Time really drags, doesn't it?]

Junghyeok flinched at Biyoo's seemingly offhand remark.

Biyoo, a ball of fluff whose expression he couldn't read, watched the scenery of the Dark Stratum flow past. It struck him anew that Biyoo's previous life had been Yuseong.

「"Captain, do you know? How hard it was for me. How many difficult years I endured just to grant your request."」

She had wandered as a lost child of the worldlines for thousands of years to send information to a past round.

Junghyeok opened and closed his lips several times. Then he finally spoke.

"It must have been very hard."

[That's right. It was terribly hard. I resented you a lot too, Captain.]

The Catastrophe of Floods, Shin Yuseong.

The Dokkaebi King Biyoo had once gone by that name.

[Still, these days I'm glad I reincarnated. You kept the promise you made back then.]

"A promise?"

[Back when I was still Yuseong, you promised me something. You said that once all the Scenarios were over, we'd all go on a trip together.]

Listening to Biyoo's voice, Junghyeok retraced the fable of the 41st round. Perhaps because of the memories Secretive Plotter had given him, vague memories of that day began to surface.

Yuseong talking about all the things she wanted to do once the Scenarios were over.

The Yu Junghyeok of the 41st round couldn't keep that promise.

「"Shin Yuseong, you're the last one."」

The Allies died one by one, and in the final moment, Junghyeok sent Yuseong beyond the worldline.

Where had the memories and time of that day gone?

He didn't know. Perhaps they had become Nameless Ones.

"I..."

[I'll tell you in advance, don't apologize. The one who would apologize and the one who would receive that apology no longer exist in this world.]

She was right. Perhaps neither the speaker nor the listener was the right person. Junghyeok had lost the life he lived in the 41st round, and Biyoo had forgotten most of those memories when she reincarnated. Still, an old story connected them. For a moment, the two thought of that story.

[Shall we get started on our work?]

"Let's."

What they could do now was complete this long journey.

And find a suitable medium to deliver their story.

"This time, that writer couple will do."

It would probably be a journey that continued for a very long time.

Junghyeok found that it didn't feel like such a bad thing.

* * *

As the serialization grew longer, more episodes emerged that couldn't be filled in with only Dokja's fable fragments or interviews with the Allies. Gilyeong complained.

"Can't we just gloss over it like last time?"

"When did I ever gloss over anything? Seolhwa, bring in what you prepared!"

At Suyeong's words, Seolhwa wheeled a device connected to several suction cups into the hospital room. Yu Sangah asked,

"Isn't that a fable fragment extractor?"

Seolhwa nodded.

"We'll be extracting everyone's fable fragments now."

"Our fables?"

"There may be things you don't remember properly, or things buried in your subconscious. As you all know, most fables are accumulated in the subconscious."

"Ah, this feels embarrassing somehow... What if some weird fable comes out?"

As if that was exactly what she hoped would happen, Suyeong spoke in a wicked voice.

"Hey, Gilyeong. Jihye. You two go first."

At those words, Gilyeong and Jihye hesitantly backed away.

"Why us? We already confessed everything we know. Right, noona?"

"Of course!"

Ignoring them, Suyeong grabbed the two and made them sit in chairs, then put rubber suction cups over their heads. Gilyeong struggled.

"Ah, this feels weird! It feels like I've got plungers on my head!"

Tzzzzzz!

"Eekekek!"

[The complete fable of Lee Gilyeong has been extracted!]

[The fable Demon King's Zealot sings.]

「"Oh, back then Dokja-hyung said..."」

"I knew it. The fable's called Zealot, after all."

Gilyeong went quiet, pretending to be limp. Suyeong narrowed her eyes and glared at him before turning her gaze to Jihye. Jihye's fable had just been extracted as well.

[A Fable Fragment of Lee Jihye has been extracted!]

[The Fable Fragment Born Distorter begins its story!]

"Well, well. You should be the one writing novels."

Jihye avoided Suyeong's gaze and whistled as she looked to the side.

"If you mess with my manuscript again, you're dead. Seriously."

"Yes..."

"Anyway, the next person..."

Suyeong shook her head and turned around with a fresh suction cup in hand. At that moment, Jeong Huiwon, wearing a playful expression, placed a suction cup on Suyeong's head.

"What's this? Take it off! Hurry!"

[A Fable Fragment of Han Suyeong has been extracted!]

[The Fable Fragment Memory of Lemon-Flavored Candy begins its story.]

「"But I was eating that."

"So?"

"Seriously, you're no fun."」

Huiwon said teasingly, "Oh? Look at this. Why did our writer leave such a precious scene out of the main story? Looks like the manuscript needs revising."

"..."

"Sangah-ssi, let's do ours too. We need to extract them quickly so our writer can get back to work."

As Suyeong ground her teeth, the other Allies began putting on suction cups and extracting fable fragments one after another.

[A Fable Fragment of Yu Sangah has been extracted!]

[The Fable Fragment Diligence, Sincerity, Perseverance has been extracted.]

"What is that? A family motto?"

"Everyone should take after Sangah-ssi."

[An additional Fable Fragment of Yu Sangah has been extracted.]

[The Fable Fragment Memory of a Sharp First Handhold has been extracted!]

Huiwon's eyes gleamed as she checked the fable. It was a fable she knew too.

Someone else didn't know it, though. Suyeong asked,

"What? You held hands with Dokja?"

"Hm, I'd completely forgotten. That did happen."

"Why did you hold hands?"

"Are you curious?"

"I need to write it in the novel, so answer me already!"

Beside her, Huiwon laughed with a suction cup on her head.

"Hey, Suyeong. Close companions can hold hands. What's the big..."

[A Fable Fragment of Jeong Huiwon has been extracted!]

[The Fable Fragment One Who Saw the Demon King of Salvation's Black Flame Dragon has been extracted.]

Suyeong narrowed her eyes.

"Do close companions show each other things like that too?"

"Hahaha... There must be some sort of error."

[A Fable Fragment of Lee Hyeongseong has been extracted!]

[The Fable Fragment One Who Saw the Demon King of Salvation's Black Flame Dragon has been extracted!]

A startled Huiwon asked, "Why do you have that fable, Hyeongseong-ssi?"

"Huiwon-ssi, have you forgotten? You saw it with me before."

"What is it? What is it? Why did the two of you see something like that?"

At Jang Hayoung's urging, Huiwon began rambling in an embarrassed tone.

As everyone's attention focused on that pressing matter, Suyeong quietly slipped away and approached the fable extractor. Looking troubled for some reason, she gazed at the Allies and the extractor with conflicted eyes, then carefully reached toward the extractor's power button. Huiwon spotted her and shouted,

"Suyeong, what are you doing? Don't get the wrong idea again later, listen carefully to what I'm saying..."

[The analysis of Han Suyeong's additional Fable Fragment has been completed.]

[The Fable Fragment Accidentally Detonating the Demon King of Salvation's Black Flame Dragon...]

Almost at the same time, Suyeong turned off the device.

* * *

「"So, Jeon Woochi's attack flew toward my... down there?"」

Writing the additional material for Part 1 belatedly, Suyeong muttered under her breath.

"Damn it, all kinds of things happened."

She had nearly let the Allies discover a strange fable of hers.

In any case, thanks to extracting the Allies' fable fragments, Suyeong was able to smoothly write the rest of the manuscript.

She omitted what she didn't know and wrote the novel based on information she could be sure of. At this point, she couldn't tell whether it should be called a novel or an essay.

"Whew..."

As the work moved toward its latter half, shadows of pain appeared on the Allies' faces as well. The memories of their happy moments eventually led to the ending they faced.

An ending where all their efforts came to nothing, and Dokja couldn't return to their side.

Gilyeong asked, "What's the point of writing a tragedy like this?"

"There is a point."

They might not have changed anything, but they never gave up. That alone could bring someone comfort, even if that someone was themselves.

About eight more months passed, and Suyeong finally reached the manuscript's epilogue after Parts 4 and 5. Filled with an indescribable sense of liberation and elation, Suyeong began writing the final manuscript.

[The aging level of this worldline's system has reached its limit.]

Then something nobody expected happened.

[All systems in this worldline are entering the extinction phase.]

"What?"

[The operation of the Stigma Cloud System has stopped.]

Footnotes:

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