WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 567: Episode 3: Protagonist(?) (4)
──────
There is an immutable law of the genre known to those familiar with it.
「When a character with half-closed eyes opens them, they become stronger.」
I strained both eyes. Slowly, my eyelids lifted.
「I am Yu Junghyeok.」
[Incitement is taking effect.]
How many seconds passed like that? Strange thoughts gradually began to arise.
Could it be... that I really was Junghyeok?
[The effect of Incitement has been maximized.]
I suddenly began to doubt everything I wanted to do. I didn't know why, but I wanted to find Kim Dokja and kill him, too.
「No, I shouldn't become Junghyeok to that extent.」
[The effect of Incitement has been adjusted.]
I became (lightly) Yu Junghyeok.
"You thought something as trivial as [bluff] would work on me?"
Cheolsu's eyes widened at my low voice.
This was what it felt like to be Junghyeok.
Cheolsu's [bluff] didn't even tickle me now.
[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries feels a bizarre fear of you.]
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer looks at you as if displeased.]
[A Constellation who has not revealed their modifier looks at you with strange eyes.]
When [bluff] failed, Cheolsu visibly panicked and tightly clenched his brass-knuckled fist.
[The character Bang Cheolsu has used Intimidation.]
[Intimidation does not work on you for an unknown reason.]
Cold sweat had already formed on his forehead as he muttered.
"You're tougher than you look."
Even without something like [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint], I could see right through him.
「If I get scared here, I'm finished.」
Should I just take him out here?
Honestly, it would be easier if I killed all these bastards.
A quick look around told me there didn't seem to be anyone else here who had undergone Possession.
Still, for some reason, I didn't want to do it that way.
Nobody liked killing people.
So I tried saying this.
"Lee Cheoldu said he hoped you wouldn't waste your life in vain."
"How do you know Cheoldu hyung...?"
"I heard a lot about you from Cheoldu."
Uncle Dansu looked at me in surprise.
Cheolsu looked confused.
"You are..."
"I accompanied him to Geumho Station. He said he'd introduce you all to me."
"I-I didn't hear Cheoldu hyung say anything like that."
"When did Lee Cheoldu ever report every little thing to you?"
"Cheoldu hyung... where is he?"
Cheolsu suddenly became polite. That was proof he was wavering.
Instead of answering, I theatrically looked to my left. Lee Cheoldu's headless body lay there.
"I'm sorry."
Cheolsu staggered toward Cheoldu's corpse.
"It was a fitting end for him. He died fighting."
"Against who...?"
"I avenged him."
The corpses from the Life Church lay at the end of my gaze.
[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries watches your story with interest.]
[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries likes the sudden noir.]
Cheolsu stared blankly in that direction, then bit down hard on his lip.
"How can I believe that? Maybe you and Cheoldu hyung...!"
"Whether you believe it or not is up to you."
Cheolsu got to his feet, glaring at me with reddened eyes.
Still, he didn't look like someone who truly wanted to fight.
[The character Bang Cheolsu is looking at you.]
[The character Bang Cheolsu wants to take an unexpected action.]
[The activation condition for the Exclusive Skill □□ has been met.]
I see.
I think I understand this Skill's activation conditions a little better now.
[The Exclusive Skill □□ has been activated.]
The scenery around me turned monochrome, and people began to freeze.
Floating letters. The time to write had come again.
[The character Bang Cheolsu is preparing for his Attribute to blossom.]
[You can interfere with the character Bang Cheolsu's Attribute blossoming.]
[This person's potential is low, so his Attribute cannot blossom with a single revision.]
Was Cheolsu different from Kim Cheolyang?
Well, Kim Cheolyang, the Life Church Leader, had originally been fit to become one of the Ten Evils. He also possessed the Attribute of Crouching Figure.
Cheolsu, on the other hand, was just an ordinary small fry.
Yet the system's words only made me more curious.
Maybe it was the Writer's stubbornness.
In the Star Stream, just how far could an ordinary extra villain change?
[You have entered the Snowfield.]
[Describe Bang Cheolsu's next action.]
+
# Bang Cheolsu's Change of Heart
「Ironhead Gang Assault Captain Bang Cheolsu□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□」
* Based on your current proficiency, you can add a total of 160 characters.
+
160 characters.
I could write ten more characters than last time.
[You can remain in the Snowfield for a total of 3 minutes.]
I had learned several things from my previous experience.
First, this Skill couldn't recreate changes on an absurd scale.
For example, it was impossible to recreate a character suddenly awakening memories of a past life as a Murim master and becoming my loyal subordinate.
In other words, the chances of successful recreation were higher when I described actions that suited the character's desires.
[Current accumulated Plausibility: 10]
[You can invest additional Plausibility to increase the chance of successful recreation.]
I had accumulated a total of 10 Plausibility.
I didn't know exactly what I had done to earn it, but this amount probably couldn't bring about any major changes.
Still, I'd use it for now.
I carefully packed a sentence of around 160 characters with all my effort.
[You have described plausible content.]
[The chance of successfully recreating this description is 88%.]
[You have sufficient Plausibility.]
[Would you like to check reader feedback?]
Come to think of it, this function existed too.
'Check it.'
It was the function where that guy called kimdokja37 or something gave an answer.
Could he really be Kim Dokja?
Then what was the number 37?
[Checking reader feedback.]
+
rlaehrwk37: I can hear Bang Cheolsu's redemption machine spinning.
rlaehrwk61: Well, he hasn't become a serious bad guy yet.
+
Another Kim Dokja had appeared already.
Either way, judging from their reactions, this development didn't seem likely to cause any serious problems.
[You have succeeded at scene recreation.]
[Exiting the Snowfield.]
The floating letters disappeared, and the story began again.
I drew in a sharp breath and spat out the words.
"It's a tiresome life... Don't you think?"
「Cheolsu listened to those words blankly.」
"..."
「Bang Cheolsu, the Ironhead Gang's Assault Captain. He had long despaired of this world. His world had been ruined long before the Scenario began.」
Even extras had stories of their own, no matter how lacking in individuality and ordinary those stories might be.
"How long are you going to live as nothing more than the Ironhead Gang's Assault Captain?"
"What? What do you know...?"
"The world has changed now. It isn't the world you've always resented. Even a guy like you has been given a chance to put his past behind him."
"..."
"Choose. Will you follow me, or keep living like a pathetic, crushed wreck?"
Cheolsu's eyes faintly wavered.
1,863 regressions.
While Junghyeok's story repeated in TWSA, Cheolsu had always been the Ironhead Gang's Assault Captain.
He lived as an Assault Captain and died as an Assault Captain.
He had never been given the space between the lines to think about the value of life or its dignity.
He wasn't meant to reform. He was meant to be scorned by people, a trophy that made the protagonist shine.
That was why the sentence I had written,
「Can I still choose?」
was one possibility given to that manufactured evildoer.
「Can that man give me a reason?」
Cheolsu made up his mind and stood.
"Prove it, then."
Cheolsu clenched his fist and rushed at me. It was a desperate charge, as though he were throwing his whole life away.
But there was no conviction behind the punch he threw.
He had made his choice.
Thwack!
I lightly punched the guy rushing at me in the face.
Cheolsu let out an exaggerated scream and collapsed face-first where he stood.
I hadn't hit him that hard, but he was a clever guy.
"H-hyung!"
As the flustered Ironhead Gang members angrily raised their pipes at me, Cheolsu wiped away his nosebleed and raised his left hand.
"Stop."
As if everything had been resolved with that one punch, he stared at me for a long time before opening his mouth.
"Cheoldu hyung is dead, so I'm the Ironhead Gang's temporary leader. I decide who we follow. Does anyone object?"
"N-no objections."
「Why was that? For the first time, Cheolsu felt as though he was not an 'extra,' but a 'supporting character.'」
Until now, he had been nothing more than an extra living through a few lines of text. If the Writer told him to die, he died. If the Writer told him to come back to life, he came back to life.
But today, he had imagined his own future through his own imagination.
[The character Bang Cheolsu feels a faint sense of trust toward you.]
[The character Bang Cheolsu's Attribute shows signs of a slight evolution.]
Cheolsu held out his hand to me and asked, "What's your name?"
I helped him up and replied, "Inho Cheon."
* * *
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband finds your handling of the situation interesting.]
[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries is moved by the passionate noir you displayed.]
[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries is sullen because their Incarnation was not badly hurt.]
I stared at the back of Cheolsu's head as he walked ahead, then gave him a smack.
"W-why did you do that?"
"There was a bug."
[The Constellation Monarch of the Small Fries has sponsored you with 100 coins.]
Cheolsu gave me an uncomfortable look, then walked two more steps ahead and started guiding me.
"There should be people gathered over there."
[There are currently 11 people at Geumho Station supporting you.]
For now, I had secured all ten Ironhead Gang members.
I grinned at the thought that things weren't going badly, and Uncle Dansu, walking beside me, flinched as he asked, "Friend... you're not really Inho Cheon, are you?"
"I'm Inho Cheon right now."
Uncle Dansu gave a small sigh at my joke.
Looking at the Ironhead Gang members walking ahead, he asked in a low voice, "Will this be all right? You know what kind of people they are."
"Earlier, you asked if I was going to let everyone die."
"But those bastards..."
I understood how Uncle Dansu felt.
I knew exactly what kind of people the Ironhead Gang were. They were going to commit heinous crimes in the future.
The reason I spared them was simple.
「If I'm going to write them the same way, there'd be no reason to rewrite them.」
"I'm only using them. If we take them in quickly, we can reduce unnecessary unrest at Geumho Station. If they're going to become enemies anyway, it's easier to keep them under us and manage them than to fight them."
"You've thought that far ahead already..."
Uncle Dansu nodded as if he understood, and a Reader's comment suddenly came to mind.
- So did that guy get beaten to death at Geumho Station every time Junghyeok regressed?
I looked at the back of Cheolsu's head, which somehow seemed dejected, then shook my head.
Forget it. This wasn't the time for complicated thoughts.
If the main characters, including Dokja, survived the first Scenario, they would definitely come to Geumho Station.
Dokja would have been eaten by the Ichthyosaur by now, so Junghyeok's group would likely arrive here first.
To make a good impression on them somehow, I needed to turn these Ironhead Gang bastards into Geumho Station's vigilante force.
Cheolsu stopped walking.
"We're here."
The survivors of the first Scenario had gathered in the station hall before the landing.
I took a deep breath and examined their faces one by one.
This was where my rehabilitation project truly began.
Although Inho Cheon had been a scumbag agitator in ORV's main story, I had to become a decent human being here.
Good. I'd decided.
First, take over Geumho Station.
Then become Junghyeok's subordinate.
And when Junghyeok started pulling one of his self-destructive stunts, become Dokja's subordinate.
"Unni, you understand, right? You absolutely have to watch out for that trash."
Hearing a voice from somewhere, I reflexively turned around.
Then I found an extremely familiar face.
Right.
This person was at Geumho Station.
But I never imagined the first member of Kim Dokja Company I would encounter would be her.
She was Demon King of Salvation Kim Dokja's first blade and the guardian of Kim Dokja Company.
One of the strongest characters in ORV, protected by Archangel Uriel.
The Judge of Destruction, Jeong Huiwon.
Perhaps sensing my gaze, Huiwon turned toward me from afar.
I bowed first in greeting.
"Hello."
"Ah, yes... hello."
Huiwon returned my greeting with a faint smile.
She had just completed the first Scenario, yet she could still smile like that. She truly was as tough as steel.
"Which Area did you come from?"
"Ah, we're from Area 3-4."
"Did something... similar happen there too?"
"Yes."
Huiwon glanced at the bloodstains on the front of my clothes and looked slightly wary.
Uncle Dansu walked over at the perfect time.
"This friend and I didn't kill people. We killed other living creatures."
"Oh, really? Actually, I also..."
Huiwon trailed off there, glancing around before choosing not to say more.
But I realized something was wrong.
Huiwon hadn't killed a person?
That couldn't be true.
In the main story, Huiwon had clearly cleared the Scenario normally.
How could...?
"Um, what's your name? I'm Jeong Huiwon."
"I'm Inho Cheon."
For some reason, Huiwon's expression froze the moment she heard my name.
As she stared at me with cold eyes, something suddenly came to mind.
In the main story of ORV, Inho Cheon was killed at Geumho Station when Huiwon pierced through the crown of his head.
A chill ran down my spine.
Huiwon even took a few steps back, as if she sensed the aura of a villain from me.
"He showed up just like you said."
Looking closely, someone was standing beside her.
"Where?"
"That person. But is it really him?"
"Wow, just look at him. Isn't it obvious at a glance?"
"Um, I don't know."
She was a girl about a handspan shorter than Huiwon.
Who was she? Had there been someone like that in the main story?
The girl narrowed her eyes and glared in my direction before speaking.
"Unni. You absolutely can't trust that guy. What did I say about him earlier? Say it."
Huiwon nodded and replied, "A bad guy. Someone who deserves to be torn apart and killed. Someone who deserves to be burned to death by hellfire inferno."
...Where had I heard that before?
Footnotes:
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