WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 560: Episode 2: Rewrite (5)

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The people who watched the Prime Minister die in real time lost their minds and rushed toward the transparent wall they had been pushing earlier.

"We need to get out of here right now! Break this wall!"

"Push it again! Maybe it'll move!"

[All forms of entry and exit are restricted until the Scenario in this area has been completed.]

The panicked people clung to the transparent wall. They looked like a swarm of bugs stuck to a screen door.

After taking a short breath, I shouted loudly.

"Get a grip, everyone. There's still plenty of time left."

[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries looks at you strangely.]

[Few Constellations are surprised by your calmness.]

"It was the members of the National Assembly who died, not us."

The people looked up at me with blank expressions.

[Some Incarnations are beginning to depend on you.]

[Your influence in this Scenario area has exceeded the threshold.]

With everyone's reason paralyzed by fear, this was my chance.

"We can still choose a way to survive."

A way to survive.

The citizens who had collapsed nearby rose to their feet one by one as they looked at me.

"B-but... But they're all dead! The President, the Prime Minister..."

"They were just ordinary people, too. They just happened to hold those titles."

Someone hiccupped.

"Get a hold of yourselves. If you lose your minds here, only one option will remain."

"..."

"Then most of the people here will die. Of course, some will survive. Very few, though."

As I said that, I glanced at the big guy. He growled and glared at me.

That was his mistake. The people nearby began to watch him warily and gathered around me one by one.

"What are you all doing?"

They had realized it. How the weak could survive in an ecosystem ruled by Survival of the Fittest, where laws and rules had collapsed.

I continued speaking.

"No one has to die. The strong and the weak can all survive. Don't be disappointed just because the bugs failed. The bugs were only the 'first method.'"

The people's expressions changed one by one. The most dramatic change came from Deacon Kim Cheolyang, who had kept spouting nonsense about how smoothly things were going.

[The character Kim Cheolyang finds your words persuasive.]

[The character Kim Cheolyang feels strong trust in you.]

"Is there another method? Something other than bugs or people... something else we can kill..."

While the people were in chaos, I thought and thought again.

If bugs were no longer an option, I had to find a new answer.

The first thing I did was open my phone and check the comments on the first episode of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

―If you can become a bug, can't you become bacteria, too? Bacteria are living things.

This was a story I hadn't written.

―Doesn't stomach acid kill bacteria even if you stay still? Then wouldn't you survive without doing anything?

―Come on, that's ridiculous.

A worldline imagined by the readers' collective intelligence, one that existed only as a possibility.

―What's the principle behind hand sanitizer? Can't you kill bacteria with that?

―Wouldn't bacteria stuck to your palms die if you burned them?

―There are bacteria all over the place.

...

―What happens if you commit suicide?

"From now on, I'll explain the 'second method.'"

* * *

rlaehrwk37 : But does that actually work?

* * *

[Current remaining time: 16 minutes.]

"Here's a lighter."

"Clothes are made of fabric, so they'll burn quickly, right?"

"It doesn't matter what object it is, does it? Bacteria should be stuck to all of them."

To carry out the second method, the people quickly brought the things I asked for.

"Will this really work?"

I gave a small nod and began piling the old clothes they had gathered in the center of the station.

Our plan was simple. If bugs wouldn't work, we would kill another living thing. A living thing too small to see, but found everywhere.

Cheolyang asked anxiously, "But will bacteria count? You can't see them."

"You can't see God either."

Cheolyang looked like he was holding back a little anger at my words.

Maybe that joke went too far. I quickly added, "We learn in biology class that bacteria are living things. You can't see them, but living things are still living things."

Cheolyang still didn't look fully convinced, so I explained further.

"Think of them like aliens. There may be living things on planets far away in space, but we can't see them with our eyes."

"Brother. Aliens don't exist. Only cults believe in things like that."

"I'm just using an example."

"I understand. They're living things even if we can't see them."

He nodded, but even I wasn't one hundred percent certain this strategy would work.

Would killing an invisible living thing count as clearing the Scenario?

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint didn't give a clear answer to that question either.

[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries is interested in your strategy.]

[Few Constellations are curious about what you are trying to do.]

Still, there was one answer recognized across all Scenarios.

「It must be a method the Constellations can find interesting and accept.」

I looked at the ceiling and muttered quietly.

"Maybe what we kill isn't all that important. What's more important is how those watching us feel about it."

"What?"

"One of the bacteria we're killing is probably this one."

I opened my phone and showed them a list of bacteria we might kill, along with what they looked like.

Bacteria constantly present in subway stations, yet ones no one had ever actually seen.

Living things that nobody would normally care about because they couldn't be seen with the naked eye.

Now, the people had to kill those microorganisms to survive.

"I looked it up. Bacteria really are living things."

"We'll succeed this time, right?"

Perhaps because a new way forward had appeared, the people's faces brightened a little.

Not everyone felt that way.

"You're all out of your minds."

The big guy grumbled as he glared at me and the others, clearly unhappy with the situation. Still, he cautiously looked around before opening his phone and secretly searching for something.

I quietly leaned over and peeked at his search terms.

―bacteria life

―bug life

―living organism

―athlete's foot

―Propecia side effects

I was watching the search list with interest when the reader uncle beside me whispered, "Will this method work? We won't be able to confirm which bacteria we killed."

"We have to try everything we can. Just because you can't find the bodies of people killed by missiles doesn't mean you can say they weren't murdered."

If we had an electron microscope, we might have been able to confirm the bacteria's deaths directly, but that wasn't realistic.

For now, we had no choice but to try whatever we could.

If we couldn't see the bacteria, then at least we needed to act with a clear intent to kill them.

That way, the Constellations would understand what we were trying to do.

"Will bacteria really die if we burn them? What if they don't?"

"That guy says they will. Why do you think people boil water before drinking it? It disinfects it."

"Is that so?"

"Brothers. Didn't you look it up earlier? You need to understand exactly how they die before you kill them."

"Ah, Deacon. We're old, we wouldn't understand it even if we looked."

Cheolyang explained to the people as if he were frustrated.

"Bacteria die because heat denatures their proteins. Isn't that right, Brother?"

I silently nodded at Cheolyang, who was watching my reaction.

A little later, a small campfire rose in the center of Geumho Station.

* * *

―rlaehrwk99 : By that logic, shouldn't they survive if they stay still because bacteria die in their stomachs?

―rlaehrwk24 : The stomach is an involuntary muscle, so it would be hard to say they had intent to kill.

―rlaehrwk99 : Can't they flex hard and control their stomachs to kill them?

―rlaehrwk24 : An involuntary muscle is...

―rlaehrwk37 : Yu Junghyeok could probably control his stomach by flexing hard.

* * *

The people threw bug corpses and random belongings they had on them into the fire.

Cheolyang threw in his phone case, while the reader uncle tore up receipts from his wallet and tossed them in.

Others threw in their shoes or plucked out their own hair and added it to the flames.

After watching everyone else, the big guy cautiously took off his socks and put them into the fire.

"My socks, damn it..."

After the big guy's words, no one spoke.

Ten seconds. Twenty seconds...

The people silently watched the campfire burn.

Sitting together before the fire with such solemn expressions made it feel as though we were attending a religious retreat.

Like believers praying to an invisible god, the people thought about invisible bacteria.

I did, too.

Invisible bacteria burned within the sacred flames.

They were burning.

I believed they were burning.

Still, imagining the deaths of bacteria I knew nothing about was as difficult as imagining the faces of readers whose names I didn't know.

What had happened to the readers?

Like the reader uncle, who sat with his hands clasped and muttered something, the other readers must be alive somewhere in this world.

Judge Huiwon, who had sat beside me at the theater, the girl who had wondered whether Kim Dokja was alive or dead, the reader who knew the secret of 1,863, and the reader who counted the number of ■s...

With my eyes closed, I imagined them safely completing the first Scenario.

"Has anyone gotten a message or something?"

At someone's words, people looked at one another. Their eyes were anxious, like believers waiting for a message from God.

"Uh, something's in front of my eyes..."

At that moment, God's message appeared before everyone.

[An error has occurred in system message display and reward distribution due to excessive Scenario alteration.]

[Whether the Scenario has been cleared will be automatically assessed after the time limit has fully elapsed.]

Someone muttered in surprise, "What the hell does that mean..."

There was no need to ask. The message was simple.

No matter what we did from now on, we wouldn't know whether we had cleared the Scenario until it ended.

I groaned inwardly.

I hadn't expected the Administration Bureau to go this far.

Sparks crackled through the air at that moment.

[What the hell are you all thinking?]

Bihyeong appeared with a tired expression.

[This season is seriously strange. What is wrong with all of you? First you don't kill bugs, and now bacteria... You caused an error in the Scenario system because of yourselves. The message display is blocked, so I can't preview the results!]

Judging by Bihyeong's huffing, this didn't seem to be the Administration Bureau's intention.

The people were equally worked up.

"What kind of law is this? Then we can't tell whether we've passed this properly or not."

"Hey! We solved the Scenario, right?"

"Are bacteria living things, too? Please answer us!"

Bihyeong frowned at the people pressing him.

[Well...]

The moment Bihyeong opened his mouth, sparks flew through the air once again.

[Constellations of the Absolute Evil alignment warn the dokkaebi Bihyeong.]

[Constellations of the absolute good alignment warn the dokkaebi Bihyeong.]

[Constellations watching the Scenario do not want the dokkaebi to interfere with the Scenario.]

I had a bad feeling about this.

[Hmm... if the Constellations say so.]

Bihyeong looked over the Incarnations with cold eyes.

[Finding the answer is also part of the Scenario, so I can't tell you the answer. But as a special service, I'll tell you what will happen if you fail the Scenario.]

The moment I heard those words, I checked the timer.

[Current remaining time: 10 minutes.]

At last, it was time for that thing to appear.

Footnotes:

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