WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 571: Episode 3: Protagonist(?) (8)
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Once we acquired the Ground Rat Swords, our progress picked up.
We encountered several small groups of Ground Rats along the way, but thanks to Huiwon's efforts, we defeated them without difficulty.
Before long, each of us had a Ground Rat Sword.
How long had we been walking like that?
At last, Oksu Station came into view.
"Wow. Seriously, wow."
We had only been moving for twenty minutes, yet Se-in and Uncle Dansu were drenched in sweat.
Oksu Station was an aboveground station.
As I looked at the faint sunlight, a thought suddenly came to me.
「I don't want to die.」
I didn't know why I felt that way.
What I did know was that someday, I would write that sentence.
"I'll take a look around first. Please wait here."
Huiwon strode ahead and climbed onto the platform with light steps. Watching Huiwon go, Se-in asked,
"But is it really okay for us to stay here? Oksu Station is aboveground."
According to the plot of TWSA, the surface would be covered in deadly poisonous fog from the second Main Scenario onward.
"It's fine. There don't seem to be any Poison Rhinos nearby."
Deadly poisonous fog was the fart of a Tier-7 Monster called a Poison Rhino.
In other words, as long as there were no Poison Rhinos nearby, there was no danger of exposure to deadly poisonous fog.
Se-in nodded in admiration.
"You remembered even that? Can I ask how many times you've read it?"
"I've read it quite a lot."
It couldn't be helped. I had to read it at least five or six times just to finish the first draft. If I counted edited drafts and revised versions, I had probably read every episode dozens of times at minimum. There were even sections I had read over a hundred times.
"Are you someone famous? You're not part of the Seven Apostles, are you?"
"What's that?"
"A club made up of the biggest TWSA veterans..."
For a moment, I couldn't tell whether this was a novel or reality. After all, there was a similar group in TWSA.
"They say the world is wide and hidden masters are everywhere... Maybe my luck isn't so bad, considering I met you, Inho-ssi."
"Could you tell me more about that?"
"Which part? The Seven Apostles?"
"Yes."
"It's nothing special. Fans just got together and gave themselves a name as a joke, but..."
Se-in began talking excitedly about the Seven Apostles.
It was shocking enough that a failed novel had a club like that, but I was even more surprised to learn it had existed for four years.
Since this world was TWSA, readers with a high Number of Completed Reads were likely to have survived.
If I could bring them onto our side, they would surely be a great help.
"I was there at the time too..."
Around the time Se-in began describing the four-day, three-night lore battle between the Seven Apostles and the Readers' Association, Huiwon returned from searching Oksu Station.
"There aren't any survivors. I think everyone who survived went aboveground."
"Thank you for checking."
"What should we do? Your family..."
Even now, Huiwon was worrying about other people. Watching her, I wondered if she really needed to become the Judge of Evil.
Did Huiwon need to go through that pain again under the pretext of awakening?
There were plenty of ways to grow stronger. The main story's plot wasn't the only answer.
"They should be nearby. They might even be coming from that direction."
I looked toward the other side of the tracks, where they led to Dongho Bridge.
At last, I could meet the protagonists of TWSA.
I could meet Kim Dokja, Yu Junghyeok, Lee Hyeongseong, Yu Sangah, and Lee Gilyeong.
After exchanging looks with Se-in and Uncle Dansu, I walked along the tracks.
In the distance, I could see the railway leading to Dongho Bridge. The bridge had already been broken halfway through, perhaps because the Sea Dragon had caused a rampage there before disappearing.
We stopped and waited, staring in that direction.
The strong fishy smell of the Han River filled the air.
It was about time for people to come running over.
Lee Hyeongseong, Yu Sangah, Lee Gilyeong, and Han Myeongoh should have appeared after crossing the Even-Number Bridge at Dongho Bridge, created by Deus Ex Machina.
"That's strange. I can't see anyone..."
The moment Se-in said that,
「Time stopped.」
The surroundings rapidly faded into grayscale, and I panicked.
If time had stopped now, there was only one possible reason.
The skill [□□] had activated.
But why?
There wasn't anyone nearby who seemed likely to suddenly do something unexpected.
[Someone wants to take an unexpected action.]
What?
Letters swirled around me, and soon the scenery of the Snowfield appeared.
[The activation conditions for the Exclusive Skill □□ have been partially met.]
[The Exclusive Skill □□ has been activated.]
What was this? Someone?
[Your understanding of the relevant character is absurdly low.]
[Your Status is insufficient to intervene in the relevant character's actions.]
Someone I couldn't interfere with, on top of that? Where?
[Would you like to check reader feedback?]
I hadn't written anything, yet the message appeared on its own.
I decided to check the feedback first.
+
rlaehrwk37: Everyone dies here all of a sudden?
+
It felt as though my heart had dropped into my stomach.
Everyone dies?
Here? All of a sudden?
[You are leaving the Snowfield...]
I instinctively sensed danger. It was a writer's intuition.
I didn't know what would happen, but if the Snowfield ended here, my Allies and I would be wiped out. I had a feeling that would happen.
"Wait, stop!"
At my shout, the fading scenery of the Snowfield returned.
[You want to take an unexpected action.]
This skill activated when someone wanted to take an unexpected action.
[You are describing your own actions.]
[5 points of Plausibility have been consumed.]
And I could do it too.
[The activation conditions for the Exclusive Skill □□ have been met again.]
[The Exclusive Skill □□ has been reactivated.]
[You have entered the Snowfield.]
[Describe Inho Cheon's next action.]
Then a window appeared before me.
+
# Inho Cheon's Resourcefulness
「At that moment, Inho Cheon□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□...」
* Based on your current proficiency, you can add up to 160 characters.
+
[You can remain in the Snowfield for a total of 3 minutes.]
I quickly wrote something along the lines of, "Inho Cheon swiftly dealt with the crisis and saved his Allies."
[You have described something vague.]
[The success rate for scene recreation is 10%.]
[Would you like to check reader feedback?]
+
rlaehrwk37: As if someone like Inho Cheon could...
rlaehrwk81: Looks like he doesn't even know what's happening
+
No, what was happening?
I decided to calmly assess my surroundings first. The place where I stood, the background, and the people...
Then I noticed something.
「Cracks were spreading across the upper part of the tunnel.」
[You have discovered a background clue.]
[Additional Plausibility will be secured when writing.]
Only then did I have some idea of what was about to happen.
I quickly typed in a sentence.
「At that moment, Inho Cheon noticed the collapsing ceiling. He reflexively pulled Jeong Huiwon, who had been walking ahead, toward himself and shouted at the remaining two people.
"Everyone, get against the wall!"
A moment later, the tunnel ceiling collapsed. Inho Cheon checked whether his Companions were alive amid the thick dust.
Fortunately, no one was hurt.」
[You have described a scene lacking Plausibility.]
[The success rate for scene recreation is 43%.]
The probability had risen quite a bit this time.
[Would you like to attempt recreation?]
[If recreation fails, your Allies will be wiped out.]
A 43% chance was far too uncertain.
I thought it over.
This description alone lacked Plausibility...
Keeping the basic framework intact, I revised part of the sentence.
「Inho Cheon accepted that the ligaments in his right arm would tear and pushed his Allies back with his maximum Strength.」
[You have described a scene lacking Plausibility.]
[The success rate for scene recreation is 67%.]
The success rate rose.
This method wasn't wrong.
I revised it once more.
「Inho Cheon accepted that the ligaments in both his arms would tear and pushed his Allies back with his maximum Strength.」
[You have described something fairly plausible.]
[The success rate for scene recreation is 98%.]
[Checking reader feedback.]
+
rlaehrwk37: Ruthless
rlaehrwk81: He survived, but he's still screwed
+
Was this the only way?
Kim Dokja 81's words bothered me, but there was no other option now.
[Scene recreation has succeeded.]
[You are leaving the Snowfield.]
At the same time as the message appeared, both my arms swelled enormously. I could feel my level 10 Strength expanding beyond its limits.
I grabbed Se-in and Uncle Dansu around their waists and threw them backward with all my strength, then held Huiwon and rolled away.
Kwoooooong!
A terrifying explosion rang out, and horrible pain shot through both my arms.
The ceiling collapsed amid pale dust. Heavy fragments grazed my cheek and arms.
After coughing several times, I barely regained my senses. A faint groan came from within my arms.
Huiwon was safe.
Uncle Dansu and Se-in had been thrown quite far away, but they didn't seem seriously injured either.
「I survived.」
My whole body trembled.
My left arm wouldn't move, perhaps because its ligaments had torn, and though my right arm moved slightly, it was nearly paralyzed.
Even so, the situation wasn't over yet.
Intermittent tremors from the ground told me that something responsible for this collapse was approaching.
Rumble.
A large, dark shadow appeared above the broken tunnel a moment later.
It was a monster I knew well.
A Tier-7 Monster, the Poison Rhino.
A terrible premonition came over me.
Was that why I had received that feedback?
Even if we survived here, we were fated to be killed by that monster.
The moment the Poison Rhino's purple eyes looked at me, its enormous foreleg rose into the air.
It was going to crush me.
I tried to move somehow, but my body wouldn't budge.
"Huiwon-ssi! Wake up! Hurry!"
A pitch-black shadow covered my vision.
This time, it was truly over.
And then.
「A pale trajectory sliced through the air.」
Huiwon's Swordsmanship was remarkable, but this trajectory was incomparably more beautiful and dazzling.
The severed foreleg of the Poison Rhino fell beside me in an unreal spray of blood.
Covered in the beast's blood, I watched it all unfold.
Then a second trajectory bloomed.
「That couldn't be possible.」
The Poison Rhino's horn, ears, and legs were severed one after another.
That terrifying Tier-7 Monster screamed in pain as it collapsed.
「At this point in time, there couldn't possibly be an Incarnation capable of facing that monster.」
The moment I saw the pitch-black back of someone holding a long spear, chills slowly rose across my body.
「No, there was one person.」
A man in a black coat stood atop the corpse of the Poison Rhino, which had fallen with a thunderous crash.
Just meeting his eyes sent a shiver down my spine.
No one needed to tell me.
He was the one who bore every tragedy in this world on his back.
The protagonist of Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World, which Kim Dokja had read for over a decade.
"Why are you here, you bastard?"
Yu Junghyeok.
Footnotes:
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