WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 577: Episode 5: Villain (2)

──────

The men tensed and backed away, thinking he was drawing a weapon.

But what Yu Junghyeok took out was something unexpected.

「"The chances are slim, but."」

He placed two small beads atop the crumpled snack box.

「"Give these to Inho Cheon if he comes back."」

Then he began walking through the tunnel. Darkness soon swallowed the hem of Junghyeok's black coat, and his shadow vanished with it.

A strange shiver ran through me.

All at once, I wanted to ask the little Kim Dokja beside me if he felt the same way I did.

When I turned, the little Dokja was looking at me. His eyes widened as if he couldn't believe it, and his lips formed the words.

You shouldn't be here.

At that moment, I felt someone lightly tug at the back of my neck. The screen before me went dark, and my consciousness faded with it.

Even as I lost consciousness, I clearly remembered what I saw in that final moment.

The little boy's name tag hanging from his chest. It clearly read:

Kim Dokja37.

* * *

"He's awake!"

My vision gradually returned amid the bright flash of a phone.

The hard platform floor. People huddled around me, looking down at me.

I blinked with a quiet groan.

"Inho-ssi!"

Gyeong Se-in gripped my shoulders tightly, tears welling in her eyes. Beside her stood Uncle Dansu, nodding in relief, and Bang Cheolsu, whose eyes were bruised black and blue.

Groaning, I pushed myself up.

"Huiwon-ssi..."

Huiwon was there with her eyes peacefully closed.

Se-in spoke through tears.

"Huiwon unni carried you here on her back. We were going to send out a rescue party, but..."

The letters I hadn't been able to read remained all over her body. Countless cuts on her arms, scraped knees, and dirt covering her entire body.

Huiwon had carried my collapsed body all the way here.

"Don't worry. We gave both of you first aid. Even the serious wounds have almost healed."

Come to think of it, my body felt light as well. It was strange. I'd been at death's door.

As if she noticed my confusion, Se-in said, "We gave both of you Ellain Forest Essence."

"Ah."

"Junghyeok... left it behind."

I recalled the scene from the dream just now. Junghyeok on the screen, leaving something on the ground.

So it hadn't been a dream after all.

Still, it was ridiculous. He was the one who had put Huiwon and me in this state, yet he was also giving us medicine.

「"Don't forget what you have to do. Don't make me regret putting trash like you to use."」

Maybe he had decided I was still useful.

[A Constellation whose modifier has not yet been revealed nods.]

Uncle Dansu briefly explained what had happened after I vanished. Most of it was what I had seen through the theater screen.

"Friend, what exactly happened to you? Did you really fight Junghyeok?"

After letting out a small sigh, I began telling Se-in and Uncle Dansu what had happened.

How I sensed danger and shoved the two of them away. How a Poison Rhino smashed through the tunnel and charged in. How Junghyeok chopped that Poison Rhino to pieces all by himself.

"Isn't Junghyeok ridiculously overpowered?"

Then Junghyeok and Huiwon fought again.

"Wow, I didn't think Junghyeok was that kind of person, but that's cowardly. Honestly, fighting at that moment was way too unfair to Huiwon-nim."

I tried to save Huiwon and got swallowed by a Sea Dragon.

"That sounds like a story I've heard before."

I made a contract with Bihyeong inside the Sea Dragon.

"Friend, you're not Kim Dokja, are you?"

I made a plan with Huiwon to escape the Sea Dragon.

"I should've been there!"

And Huiwon awakened during our escape.

"How could something like that..."

"What did Huiwon unni awaken as?"

By the time I finished explaining, I felt exhausted, like Junghyeok after repeating the same round.

"Anyway, that's what happened."

"You've really been through a lot. You really have."

"You must've received a huge reward, Inho-ssi..."

Only when Se-in asked with shining eyes did I remember the rewards.

[You currently have 3 unconfirmed rewards.]

[You can claim the reward for the Hidden Scenario Serpent Slayer.]

[You can claim the reward for the Hidden Scenario Commander Slayer.]

[You can claim the sponsorship rewards from the Constellations.]

There really were a lot of unclaimed rewards. But something was more urgent than checking them.

"By the way, did either of you come into contact with Junghyeok?"

"Huh? No. We only saw him from far away."

It seemed quick-witted Se-in had avoided encountering Junghyeok through [Sixth Sense]. Uncle Dansu, who had been beside her, seemed to have benefited from it too.

Feeling somewhat relieved, I added, "You did well. Don't ever come into contact with Junghyeok again."

Se-in tilted her head at my words, then nodded as if she understood.

"I think I know what you mean. Honestly, I thought I could talk him around if I played my cards right, but seeing him in person, he's completely insane. And Kim Dokja, who charged at someone like that without thinking, is even crazier."

She saw it clearly.

At least those two wouldn't do anything reckless now. Yet Uncle Dansu's expression was strange.

"Is he really that bad?"

"What?"

"It just occurred to me. He did hurt you, Inho-ssi, but... from Junghyeok's perspective, Inho Cheon must have been an evildoer all along."

Uncle Dansu's words made sense.

It was our first time seeing Junghyeok in person, but Junghyeok had probably met Inho Cheon in a previous round. From his perspective, it might have been natural to see me as an enemy.

"Jiyoon always said Junghyeok was actually a good man. She said she was definitely going to marry him."

Uncle Dansu said it as if he were defending his future son-in-law.

"He even left behind that Ellain thing, and he's still the protagonist. We don't have to see him as entirely bad..."

Logically, Uncle Dansu wasn't wrong.

That was only if this world was the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint we knew.

"You remember why we went to Oksu Station, right?"

Uncle Dansu nodded.

"We couldn't meet Yu Sangah, Lee Gilyeong, Lee Hyeongseong, or Han Myeongoh."

"Ah, come to think of it..."

"Don't you understand what that means?"

Uncle Dansu still looked like he didn't understand. Se-in's expression, though, was slowly hardening.

I decided to explain it simply.

"This isn't the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint we knew."

"Then this is..."

"To be more precise, this just isn't Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. The Kim Dokja Company we remember won't be formed here."

Only then did Uncle Dansu realize the gravity of the situation, his mouth falling open. Se-in's eyes widened in shock as well.

"No way..."

I nodded.

"I think we've entered Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World."

Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World.

TWSA for short.

The novel within Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, the 3,149-chapter novel the protagonist Kim Dokja had read. We had entered that doomed novel.

Se-in stammered, "H-how do you know that, Inho-ssi?"

"I saw Junghyeok's Attributes Window."

"You have something like [Character Profile]?"

"Yes. I happened to get it."

Se-in stared blankly at me, then at Uncle Dansu, then at Bang Cheolsu, who was chatting with Dayeong's mother in the distance. Her face suddenly turned pale.

"Wait. Then... Junghyeok here isn't in his third round?"

"That's right. He isn't."

In other words, the Junghyeok of this world wasn't the Junghyeok we knew from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

Then Se-in seemed to think of something, and her expression abruptly changed.

"Wait, isn't this actually better? If he's gone through more rounds, Junghyeok must have grown faster too, right? Junghyeok from the 1,863rd round was so strong that he became an Outer God."

Uncle Dansu chimed in as if he remembered something too.

"The man who reached the end of the world... the one who became a god himself... I remember it too. It was posted in front of Jiyoon's desk. The Sinister Strategist, too..."

"Secretive Plotter. Anyway, Inho-ssi, isn't it too early to decide this is the worst-case scenario?"

Certainly, Junghyeok from TWSA could be stronger than Junghyeok from the main story.

After all, following 1,863 regressions, Junghyeok became strong enough to reach the Final Wall alone.

Even if this wasn't the 1,863rd round, Junghyeok's combat ability grew exponentially as the rounds progressed.

But.

"That's only if he's from a later round."

If this had been a later round, or even the final round, things might have been better.

The main story even had a scene where Dokja made Junghyeok of the 1,863rd round his slave.

I couldn't make Junghyeok eat dirt like Dokja did, but I could have at least tried something similar.

This round, though, had no such possibility at all.

I could say that because I had faced him myself.

"This round gives us no advantage whatsoever. Junghyeok in this round is the worst Junghyeok."

"The worst Junghyeok? What round could he possibly be from...?"

Across all of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, there was one Junghyeok who made everyone shudder.

The Yu Junghyeok whom no one should ever team up with, no matter what, after entering TWSA through Possession.

I recalled Shin Yuseong's words when she arrived as the Calamity of the third round.

「"You wanted Junghyeok to acknowledge you your whole life, but you died at sea, the place you loved so much. Killed by the Constellations that hated your Patron... Do you know what Junghyeok said after losing you?"」

"Sea battles will be a little difficult from now on."

Se-in's eyes widened when she heard my words.

I continued.

「"You saved countless lives and protected Junghyeok until the very end, only to be struck by the Breath of the Iron-Blooded Dragon and scattered into a handful of ash. Do you know what Junghyeok said then?"」

"I lost a valuable shield."

Those lines were among Junghyeok's most infamous moments in all of TWSA.

Se-in, finally realizing what I meant, spoke with trembling lips.

"It isn't, right, Inho-ssi? Please. Please tell me it isn't."

In this worldline alone, Junghyeok might never be considered a better person than Inho Cheon.

A man who sacrificed every Companion solely to bring an end to this Star Stream, even turning them into Calamities.

「What Junghyeok did was more horrifying than murder. Thousands of years. Enough time for a single personality to completely collapse and the self to wear away. Shin Yuseong endured that time and finally became a Calamity.」

I slowly blinked and recalled the round of Junghyeok I had seen.

"Junghyeok of this world is in his 41st round."

Junghyeok of this world is the world's worst villain, one who slaughtered all his Companions.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried