WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 57: Episode 12 - First-Person Protagonist’s Viewpoint (3)

[The constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband applauds your determination!]

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire commends your courage!]

[The constellation Secretive Plotter is intrigued by your tactics.]

……

[Many constellations are deeply impressed by your performance.]

[You have been gifted 20,000 coins.]

The flood of messages, lacking any filter, poured in all at once, and I frowned.

No one dislikes compliments, but getting dozens of them in one go? That’s more like an assault.

Where the hell did that jerk Bihyeong go without even managing the messages?

Oh… he’s probably been called into the Bureau by now.

Considering the hidden scenario rewards hadn’t come through, and the mid-grade dokkaebi had disappeared without a word, I could roughly guess what was happening. Anyway, the amount of total coins gifted was 20,000 coins... It was clear that “small-scale channels” and “fairly large-scale channels” made money very differently. I quickly rummaged through the Fire Dragon's body and extracted its core.

[Tier-5 Fire Dragon Nucleus]

The core was encased in a gentle, crimson light. The fact it was a minor catastrophe creature explained the superior quality of the core.

Even though it’s a lesser version of a dragon, its body parts still sell well—bones, hide, things like that. I could hand it over to a good blacksmith for crafting or list it on the Auction House.

Just in case, I decided to search the dead Fire Dragon’s corpse more thoroughly. After all, I took down a catastrophe, so there had to be more than just this, right?

Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded on my back with a loud smack.

“Dokja-ssi, what are you, a game character or something?”

Without me realizing, Huiwon had approached from behind. A cough slipped out before I could stop it.

“...If you keep hitting me like that with my HP this low, I might actually die.”

“Oh, like you wouldn’t just come back to life again anyway.”

“That doesn’t mean it happens every time.”

Normally, this would be the moment I’d exchange another snarky comment, just for Huiwon to get back at me, but today, she was uncharacteristically quiet. Come to think of it, she’d looked rather shocked when I died earlier. She might have even cried... Or maybe not. There was no way that Huiwon would cry.

She lowered her voice, probably for the sake of the others, and asked, “...Did you know everything this time too?”

“Not entirely…”

“What if you’d really died?”

“Well, I didn’t, did I?”

Once again, a harsh slap landed on my back. Hyeonseong hurried over, clearly alarmed.

“Dokja-ssi! Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Minseob and Seongguk, who had been hesitating from a distance, finally joined the group. So, these guys had survived too? Lucky bastards.

But then...

Silence suddenly fell over us, and everyone stared at me with a strange light in their eyes. I sighed.

“…Ask your questions, one at a time. What do you want to know?”

And so, an impromptu interrogation began.

“Resurrection is a new perk I acquired. It’s not because my patron is, like, Jesus or anything.”

I sidestepped the tricky details and only shared the essential information with the group. Huiwon muttered, clearly baffled.

“Resurrecting every time you save someone… Isn’t that basically a cheat?”

“Technically, it’s one resurrection per one hundred lives saved, but yes, it’s pretty overpowered.”

I admitted honestly. But even this ‘King of No Killing’ perk had its major drawbacks. While I could deal damage, restrain, or incapacitate, I was barred from taking a life directly. The moment the King of No Killing directly kills a kindred being, the title is immediately revoked.

Of course, I didn’t go into every single detail. Sharing that wouldn’t benefit anyone.

“I guess you’ll have to work hard at saving lives now.”

“I’ll try to, though there will be times when that’s hard…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll kill those scumbags for you.”

Huiwon’s voice was filled with confidence.

In fact, the reason I could choose the ‘King of No Killing’ so freely was because Huiwon was here. My investment in nurturing the ‘Judge of Evil’ attribute had always been with this in mind.

There would certainly be frustrating moments when I had to operate solo, but I didn’t intend to hold on to the ‘King of No Killing’ title for the long haul.

It was something I’d keep only in the mid-game, more broken perks would emerge as things progressed. I couldn’t afford to miss the timing for switching strategies just because I’d gained one overpowered attribute early on.

“It really does feel like a fantasy novel sometimes. The variety of abilities is amazing.”

Hyeonseong commented, glancing over at Seongguk and Minseob, who looked at me with wide eyes. I glared at them, hoping to signal them not to start any nonsense. But, ignoring my hint, Seongguk spoke up.

“How did it feel when you…died?”

“...Horrible, obviously.”

I wondered why he’d suddenly asked such a question, but Seongguk continued, his tone serious.

“To be honest, watching you come back to life was a little terrifying.”

“Terrifying?”

“Yes. Strictly speaking, your entire body disintegrated and then reformed, which, logically, should be impossible. I don’t know exactly how this world operates, but if we can be fully reconstituted... could it mean that our existence could simply be copied? In which case, your ‘resurrection’ might actually be… duplication.”

Casually, in a calm voice, he’d just said something truly disturbing. It was an angle I hadn’t considered before... Now that I thought about it, wasn’t Seongguk’s attribute “Hypnotist”? Did he have a particular interest in these kinds of things? Huiwon scoffed.

“You’ve clearly watched way too many movies.”

“This is a serious issue. If there’s no continuity between Dokja-ssi’s death and resurrection, there’s no guarantee that the Dokja before death and the Dokja after resurrection are the same person.”

And now he’d moved on to philosophical talk. A strange memory flickered through my mind.

This guy… Could he be the one who quit in the prologue after leaving some pretentious hate comment?

“You’re really going to kill me with all your outlandish theories... But no need to worry. Even after death, my consciousness continued. So, technically, it wasn’t a true death.”

“Wait, does that mean you experienced something like a soul state?”

“I’m not sure if I’d call it a soul…”

The more I talked, the more uneasy I felt. TWSA was, after all, a world crafted by the author. And that world had now become reality.

The world where souls hadn’t been proven was now a world where souls were real.

In this world, what exactly did I amount to? Me and my soul... Had they always existed, or were they also parts of the author’s narrative?

I shook my head. Now wasn’t the time to get bogged down in such thoughts.

“Anyway, are we done with these pointless questions?”

“Oh, there’s one more thing, if I may ask?”

“What is it?”

“Why are you suddenly speaking nicely to me and Minseob?”

“The whole Yu Junghyeok roleplay is over.”

As if suddenly realizing something, Seongguk made a startled face.

“Oh! And now that I look closer, even your appearance...”

I didn’t need to hear the end of his sentence to know what he meant. Of course, just because the act was over didn’t mean I’d change my entire demeanor. I held my hand out to him.

“Give me your smartphone.”

“Huh?”

“I said, hand over your phone.”

Reluctantly, Seongguk handed me his phone. It was a high-end model—better than the one I’d been using.

“Mind if I keep this?”

“...Didn’t you say you’d dropped the Junghyeok act?”

“This is my default mode.”

Seongguk’s face crumpled as if on the verge of tears.

“Everyone, take a short break. I need to look up something. We’ll head out in 10 minutes. Feel free to keep gathering items in the meantime.”

As the group continued collecting scattered items, I tried connecting to the internet on Seongguk’s smartphone. I kept a calm expression, but truthfully, I was a little anxious.

[The reward calculation for the hidden scenario has been delayed.]

[The Bureau is currently conducting a Plausibility Review.]

It was this message that bothered me. Plausibility Review. The hidden scenario reward coins hadn’t come in yet, probably because of it.

I wanted to confirm some things in my TWSA file, but unfortunately, my phone had been burned to ashes. Truly, a rare slip-up on my part.

If the email from the author had somehow been erased…

Then, a message appeared on the smartphone’s screen.

[New device detected. Synchronization is available.]

[Would you like to proceed with synchronization?]

…What is this? The moment I tapped “Confirm,” a download started, and a new file appeared on the home screen.

—Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse.txt

So, this is how it’s going to be. I should have known; it wasn’t like this file, which even dokkaebis and constellations couldn’t read, would just disappear so easily.

I glanced at Seongguk and Minseob, who were busy collecting items while chattering away. I couldn’t help but wonder... Could these dropouts read it too?

For now, it was best to be cautious.

I opened the file and began reading Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse.

[Your reading speed has increased due to the effect of your exclusive attribute.]

The part I found was the description of the plausibility review from Junghyeok’s sixth regression round.

「The Director of the Seoul branch of the Bureau, dokkaebi, Baram, frowned as he read the scenario data before him. The file on top of the pile bore the name, ‘Regressor Yu Junghyeok’.

“Regressor… Dammit. These days, even the constellations and dokkaebis are too sharp for their own good…”

Baram clicked his tongue as he surveyed the dokkaebis around the table at the assessment meeting. There were no high-grade or senior dokkaebis present.

That was to be expected. After all, this ‘Plausibility Review’ had only been triggered at a local level. The principle was that local issues should be handled locally. Baram addressed the nervous dokkaebis around him.

“So, who filed this complaint?”

“Aooni did.”

“That punk needs to mind his own zone. Why’s he meddling in the plausibility compliance of others’ zones? Hasn’t he got any manners?”

“Seems like there’s been fierce competition among the low-grade dokkaebis lately…”

Baram scowled. Judging by the report, there were certainly grounds to question Junghyeok’s plausibility compliance. Starting with high-level proficiency skills and overflowing with vital filtered information, this guy even had a skill that blocked access to specific system data—something called the [Sage’s Eye], which forced them to involve the upper Bureau for data assessment.

Baram sighed, closing the report.

“Forget it. The higher-ups gave this guy a pass. Just leave him be.”

“Are you sure? Won’t there be backlash…?”

“There’s bound to be some. But he must have a patron capable of handling that level of fallout.”

“Can a single constellation really withstand it? Unless there’s a coalition of constellations to share the plausibility load…”

Baram chuckled.

“A rookie like you planning to investigate which constellation is backing him?”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant.”

“With the fifth scenario coming up, keep your focus there. The plausibility compliance will gradually even out as the scenarios progress. Besides…”

The atmosphere suddenly chilled, and the mid-grade dokkaebis fell silent.

“Are you guys even doing your jobs these days?”

“Ugh…!”

“Why are the revenue numbers from the U.S. and India looking like that? Are you so busy ignoring non-assigned zones that you’re skipping ad promotions too? The U.S. has a Prophet, and India has a constellation coalition. The place is crawling with cash cows, yet why are your sales figures so miserable? Get it together!”

“Uh…well…”

“Forget the plausibility. Focus on selling those coin bundles!”」

I let out a small laugh. Watching the dokkaebis’ antics reminded me of my old job at Mino Soft. The planning team there was something else.

In any case, I was now in a similar situation to Yu Junghyeok from Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse. I’d expected this kind of scenario might come my way eventually… This is why standing out is never a good idea. Will this plausibility Assessment end up costing me?

Just then, a voice echoed from the air.

—I’ve been called to the Bureau countless times because of you…

It was Bihyeong. I quickly opened a line of communication.

‘How did it go?’

Footnotes:

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