WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 578: Episode 5: Villain (3)

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After learning that this world was the '41st round' of TWSA, Gyeong Se-in slowly got down on the floor and began holding a plank.

Uncle Dansu stayed silent for a while, as if he still hadn't grasped what was happening.

I didn't interfere and waited for a moment.

I could hear Se-in counting.

"Nine, ten, eleven..."

In the distance, Bang Cheolsu was chatting happily with Dayeong's mother.

"Cheolsu, how can you be so fearless and brave?"

"Haha, I've lived a life that's a little different from most people's."

Just as I wondered whether I should go smack the back of that guy's head...

"Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty... Inho."

"Yes."

Apparently, no answer had come to her no matter how long she held the plank. Se-in collapsed onto the floor and said,

"What are we going to do now?"

I helped Se-in up.

"It'll be fine. We have Uncle Dansu, and we have you. Besides, didn't you read the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Encyclopedia ten times?"

"What good is that? That's ORV. This is TWSA. The 41st round was barely even mentioned in ORV. Even the parts that were mentioned..."

I knew. They were all about what a terrible bastard Junghyeok had been.

Just knowing this world was the 41st round meant some of the methods Dokja had used were no longer available.

"Still, it's not time to give up. We're only at the beginning of the Scenario."

"But it's the 41st round! It's that trash Junghyeok!"

Uncle Dansu had finally realized how serious the situation was. Like someone out of his mind, he kept muttering his daughter's name. Se-in continued.

"You know too, Inho! You know what Junghyeok's personality is like in the 41st round..."

A memory from when I had been writing the manuscript came to mind.

Around the time I was writing the episode "The Catastrophe of Floods," where the 41st-round Shin Yuseong appeared as a Calamity, I received a reader's letter through management.

There was no way Junghyeok could be that awful. Honestly, isn't 41st-round Junghyeok out of character? Fix it right now.

It was roughly that kind of letter.

Back then, I had thought, Who the hell do you think you are, you punk? Looking back, though, that reader was right. I should've just fixed it then.

I took a light breath, patted Uncle Dansu's shoulder, and spoke.

"He might gradually become more of a bastard, but he may not be beyond saving yet. Even in ORV, Junghyeok seemed like a psychopath at first, then changed later. Maybe the Junghyeok here has a chance too."

People couldn't be fixed, but characters could be rewritten.

It was funny that I was defending the guy who had tried to kill me, but it still wasn't time to give up hope.

[A Constellation whose modifier has not been revealed is watching you.]

[The Constellation Sinister Strategist says they don't really understand what you're saying, but the guy in the black coat seems like a bad guy.]

As long as we carried out Scenarios, we would keep running into Junghyeok. We couldn't just avoid him every time.

After all, we would absolutely need his help to clear the Final Chapter.

Especially if this was TWSA, not ORV.

"If possible, I'll deal with Junghyeok myself from now on. You and Uncle Dansu must avoid him at all costs."

"Will you be alright?"

"He did leave behind the Ellain Forest Essence, after all."

"Couldn't that have been because he wanted to use you, Inho?"

"I think so too. That's why it's fortunate. If I have some value to him, he won't kill me right away."

He must have left it behind because he had some expectations for me.

Besides, I hadn't told the other two, but there was still a secret in this 41st round that I didn't know about.

For example, some kind of deal between the previous-round Inho Cheon and Junghyeok.

There was no need to rush. I could learn about it slowly from now on.

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband picks his nose and asks how much longer the filter will be on.]

Please bear with us a little longer, Constellations.

We were discussing something important too.

"Don't lose heart. Let's start with what we can do. Our pace isn't bad, is it? Huiwon awakened, Uncle Dansu knows how to tame bugs, and you have [Average Correction]. Se-in, you went all-in on Constitution, right?"

"Yes, I did, but..."

I knew it.

As expected, Se-in was a muscleman down to her soul.

If Se-in could take on the tank role, our party already had the basic formation of damage dealer, support, and tank.

What was my position, then?

"With Inho Cheon on talking duty, we're no worse than Kim Dokja Company."

Se-in gave a weak laugh at my joke.

Uncle Dansu, who had barely regained his composure, nodded as well.

"Inho is right."

"You recover quickly, sir."

"If I became discouraged over something like this, Jiyoon would be disappointed in me."

Maybe Uncle Dansu was the most unfairly treated person here.

He wasn't even an avid reader of ORV, just someone who had read the novel because of his daughter and then undergone Possession...

I found myself a little curious about what kind of life Uncle Dansu had lived before he ended up here.

"Let's get the Hidden Piece first. We started at Geumho Station, so we're at an advantage over the others."

"Ah! Are we going to get 'that'...?"

"Yes. It's about time we picked it up."

There was a major Hidden Piece that Dokja obtained at Geumho Station.

The constellation artifact, "Unbreakable Faith."

To obtain that weapon, we had to find Geumho Station's Dark Fold and enter the Ground Rats' Treasure Trove.

Uncle Dansu's expression darkened.

"If that's what we're after, I think we should hurry."

"Oh, right. Actually..."

Se-in suddenly jumped to her feet.

"Some people already left for that place."

No, then you people should've said that first.

* * *

After quickly getting ready, we entered the tunnel leading to Yaksu Station.

I considered waiting for Huiwon to wake up, but hearing that others had left before us made me anxious.

"Don't worry about Huiwon. Just go."

As Dayeong's mother spoke as though telling us to leave her in charge, Bang Cheolsu thumped his chest and added,

"I'll guard Geumho Station!"

Dayeong's mother nodded at Cheolsu as if she found him dependable.

I watched the two people, between whom a strange chemistry had begun to form.

Something had definitely changed, but I wasn't sure whether it was changing in a good direction.

"Let's go."

The moment we stepped into the tunnel, the others' voices quickly faded away, and deep darkness swept over us again.

As before, Se-in was the first to voice her worries.

"It wouldn't be good to wake Huiwon-nim and come back, would it?"

"You said you gave her the Ellain Forest Essence. She won't wake up even if we try."

"But we don't even have a damage dealer right now... Isn't it dangerous?"

"We don't have much time. If they passed through here twenty minutes ago, they may have already entered the Dark Fold."

Honestly, I hadn't expected anyone to leave before us. Even Dokja in ORV's main story had yet to carry out the Sea Dragon Hidden Scenario at this point.

"How many people left before us?"

"Two. One man and one woman. They suddenly came down from the upper floor..."

"Were they readers?"

I had actually asked that to test Se-in.

She answered immediately.

"I'm not certain, but I think so. No characters would pass through here at this point. They rode by so fast on a motorcycle that I didn't get a good look at them, though..."

A motorcycle? This early on?

"But Inho, you know a boss monster appears once we enter the Dark Fold, right?"

"Yes, I know."

For reference, the Dark Fold had an early-game boss monster called the Warden of the Dark. Fortunately, ORV contained a way to deal with it.

Se-in looked at me with hopeful eyes and asked,

"Did you buy [White Pure Star Energy] or 'Broken Faith'?"

I shook my head.

[White Pure Star Energy] was sold out, and according to what I had just learned through Bihyeong, there were no sellers for "Broken Faith" either. There was only a long waiting list.

"Why is everyone looking for that crappy item? Was there some patch I don't know about?"

Se-in's expression darkened.

"Then can't we defeat the Warden of the Dark? Even in the original, Dokja barely defeated it with the [White Pure Star Energy] and 'Broken Faith' combo."

"I'll think of a specific method as we go."

"Without 'Broken Faith,' we can't make 'Unbreakable Faith'..."

"We should at least get the 'Random item Box' first."

Inside the Ground Rats' Treasure Trove guarded by the Warden of the Dark, there was a Random item Box that performed an Item Upgrade, limited to the first visit.

Dokja had also used the box to upgrade "Broken Faith" into "Unbreakable Faith."

Se-in nodded.

"That's true. We can get 'Broken Faith' later. Do you remember all the boss's patterns?"

"Yes."

The problem was having the physical ability to carry out those patterns.

I opened the reward messages I had put off checking.

[You have 3 unclaimed rewards.]

I pressed the receive button one by one.

[You have received the reward for the Hidden Scenario Serpent Slayer.]

[This Scenario has been cleared early due to another sea monster's intervention.]

[You have received part of this Scenario's rewards.]

[You have acquired 2,000 coins.]

Was it because the Sea Commander had stolen the final blow? Unfortunately, I received only half the reward.

The next reward was surprising enough to make me forget that disappointment.

[The Incarnation Jeong Huiwon, whom you awakened, has hunted the Sea Commander.]

[The Incarnation Jeong Huiwon has successfully plundered the reward for the Hidden Scenario Commander Slayer, which someone else was undertaking.]

[Part of the plundered reward has been assigned to you.]

[You have acquired 4,000 coins.]

[You have additionally acquired 2,000 coins as a reward for the first plunder.]

Plundered rewards?

Wait a second.

Did that mean there had been an Incarnation hunting the Sea Commander?

My thoughts became complicated.

According to ORV's main story, Dokja was the one who hunted the Sea Commander and obtained the reward.

There was probably no Dokja in this round, so it was probably an ordinary reader who had read ORV.

What had happened to that reader?

[The Constellation Sinister Strategist snickers.]

I felt sorry for that reader, but 6,000 coins from a single plunder was an incredible gain.

Even that wasn't the end of the rewards.

[You have received the Constellations' sponsorship rewards.]

[You have received a total of 6,800 sponsored coins.]

Perhaps Huiwon's awakening scene had been quite popular in the Star Stream. For this early in the story, the sponsorship was considerable.

They were coins that great constellations such as the Prisoner of the Golden Headband and the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon, along with the animal friends, had sponsored little by little.

[You have acquired a total of 14,800 coins.]

[Current coins: 17,100C]

I was rich now.

If Dokja had been here, he would've saved this money like a miser again.

But I was different.

* * *

rlaehrwk37: Is there anyone stupid enough to get their reward stolen?

...

...

rlaehrwk37: No one?

rlaehrwk49: Then what was that?

Footnotes:

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