WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 580: Episode 5: Villain (5)
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7942? What was that supposed to mean?
“7942.”
The man said it again.
It seemed to be a codeword the readers had agreed on. I needed to give the right answer.
“Friends!”
Uncle Dansu suddenly shouted, with the speed of someone answering a quiz show question. He muttered to me in a half-whisper.
“Young people these days might not know this, but it means ‘friends.’ I think it’s a way of saying nice to meet you.”
Yet no matter how I looked at it, that wasn’t the way he looked at a friend.
The spike in the man’s hand slowly turned toward Uncle Dansu. His expression hardened, and the standoff was becoming suffocating when...
“9158!”
Gyeong Se-in suddenly cried out.
The spike stopped in midair.
“You’re from the Seven Apostles, right?”
For some reason, Se-in looked flushed with excitement as she said it. The man lowered his spike and asked,
“Who are you people?”
* * *
After using Reader Comment List several times, I had gradually figured out how readers created their IDs.
For example, Uncle Dansu’s ID, wldbsdldkQk80, could be interpreted as follows when converted between Korean and English using a two-set keyboard.
wldbsdldkQk80
=Jiyoon’sDad80
Gyeong Se-in’s ID, alsdn0905, could be converted in a similar way.
alsdn0905
=Minwoo0905 (probably her real name).
Both were the type to have their personal information leaked with ease.
The two people we had just met were different, though.
First, there was the man.
killer_king
=Killer_King
Killer King. Other than being two cool-sounding words put together, it was hard to learn anything from that ID.
The woman lighting the Mana Brazier was a little different.
ansgkrthsu64.
=LiteraryGirl64.
I didn’t know her name, but she was clearly someone who liked books.
LiteraryGirl64 prepared the Ground Rat meat they had just caught, placed it over the Mana Brazier, and began grilling it over low heat.
“Sit down for now.”
Killer King confidently ordered us to sit, then took a seat himself.
Perhaps feeling a little awkward after ordering us around, he added,
“You don’t mind if I speak casually, right? This isn’t ‘reality’ anyway.”
“This is reality too.”
“No. This is a ‘new world’ governed by ‘new rules.’”
Was that really how someone who had read ORV 99.8 times thought? If so, I had no choice but to respect it.
Se-in and Uncle Dansu didn’t seem to disagree, either.
Everyone was an adult.
“All three of you are readers?”
“Yes, as you can see.”
“How do you know the Seven Apostles’ codeword?”
The Seven Apostles. It was the name of the community Se-in had told me about before.
Se-in answered.
“I was a member of the community too. I barely participated, though.”
“Nickname.”
“JudgeHuiwon.”
Killer King thought for a moment before asking,
“Are you the guy who uploaded photos of his abs to the forum every time?”
“Ah! You remember me.”
“It’d be stranger if I didn’t. You did the same thing every day for two years.”
“Haha, I did, didn’t I?”
“It must be a shame that you lost the abs you had to brag about.”
Se-in looked down at her tiny body and gave a weak smile.
“Still, there’s fun in starting over. When you assign Stat points here, your body improves on its own.”
“It’s a convenient world.”
“I’d like to hear your introduction now.”
“I’m Killer King.”
Se-in’s mouth fell open.
“Killer King? You’re really Killer King, sir?”
When Killer King nodded, Se-in’s body trembled.
I whispered to her.
“Is he someone important?”
“Of course. There’s no one in this scene who doesn’t know that nickname.”
Killer King apparently had quite the reputation in their world.
“Killer King is the Second Apostle of the Seven Apostles.”
Since they were called the Seven Apostles, there had to be seven leaders.
That meant Killer King was the second among them...
Wait. Did that mean there was someone who had read even more than him?
As if she had read my mind, Se-in whispered,
“I heard the First Apostle has read ORV over a hundred times.”
Killer King, who had overheard us, cut in.
“Not ORV. It’s Revelation. It seems you’ve already forgotten the Seven Apostles’ rules.”
“Ah, right. I’m sorry.”
“And I was just about to succeed at reading it nearly one hundred times...”
“Stop with the pathetic talk and eat.”
At the soft voice, everyone turned that way. LiteraryGirl64, who had been silent the entire time, had spoken for the first time.
Perhaps because everyone had suddenly focused on her, LiteraryGirl64 lowered her flushed face and looked down at the brazier.
Se-in asked Killer King,
“Is she an Apostle too?”
Killer King picked up a Ground Rat skewer and said,
“She’s just my little sister.”
“Ah, your sister read Revelation too.”
“She didn’t.”
“What? Even so, she underwent Possession into ORV?”
LiteraryGirl64 glared at Killer King.
He gave a light cough before answering.
“I told her about Revelation a few times.”
“A few times?”
“...I did tell her pretty often.”
Only then did I think I understood the meaning of the (12.8 times) displayed in her information window.
She shook her head as if she were sick of it, then handed each of us a Ground Rat skewer.
I happily reached out to take one, but LiteraryGirl64 stared at me. When I looked back at her, she gave a small bow and mumbled something.
I wasn’t certain, but it sounded like she was thanking me.
She was probably grateful that I had told her the attack pattern earlier.
“It was nothing.”
The younger sister smiled without a word and handed me the skewer.
I was touched. This one was completely normal.
The one who hadn’t read ORV was more normal. It made me feel miserable.
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband smacks his lips.]
[The Constellation Sinister Strategist gulps.]
I was already hungry, and there was golden-brown meat right in front of me. There was no way I could resist.
Se-in asked,
“Can we eat?”
“Eat.”
“Thank you for the food.”
Before anyone could stop us, we started tearing into the meat.
When something was truly delicious, silence naturally followed. No one said what they were thinking, but everyone had the same thought.
「This is really delicious.」
Meat that had existed only as text had become real. The seasoning the younger sister had prepared was perfect, too.
“Ha, this is really good.”
“You’re an amazing cook.”
Only after tearing through a leg each did Se-in and Uncle Dansu exclaim at the same time.
LiteraryGirl64 smiled without a word.
Killer King nodded as well, seemingly not displeased by the taste.
“Killer King, sir. I’m actually a huge fan. I remember when you fought a comment war with the Odd Reading Association lot for three days and four nights.”
“You remember useless things.”
“You have no idea how lucky I feel to meet you here. I nearly died so many times. But to meet Killer King, who read Revelation ninety-nine times...”
“Nearly one hundred.”
“To meet Killer King, who has read it nearly one hundred times...”
“Why are you happy to meet me?”
“What? Well...”
“I could be a bad guy.”
Se-in blinked blankly.
“What are you saying? No one who read Revelation to the end is a bad person.”
I was speechless for a moment.
What was even more unexpected was Killer King’s response.
“Reading it doesn’t make everyone a good person.”
Killer King’s profile as he seriously said that was steeped in a strange sadness. If his name hadn’t been Killer King, he might have seemed a little cool.
Se-in was silent, apparently moved by his words, while Uncle Dansu looked drowsy from being full.
No one else spoke up, so I had no choice but to point it out.
“But your way of speaking strangely reminds me of someone.”
“It doesn’t.”
“You must like Yu Junghyeok.”
A snort escaped LiteraryGirl64’s lips beside him.
Killer King looked at me and asked,
“You’ve barely eaten.”
“I tend to eat slowly.”
“What’s your nickname?”
“Ah, he’s not from the Apostles. He says he never uses online communities.”
Killer King’s eyes narrowed at Se-in’s words.
“How many times have you read Revelation?”
“I don’t remember exactly, but I’ve probably read it more than ten times.”
[Someone is activating Lie Detection.]
Wow, he already had [lie detection]?
[The other party has confirmed that your words are true.]
Reading it a hundred times still meant I had read it more than ten times.
“Not bad. With ten readings, you could be at least an intermediate Apostle.”
I was surprised as I watched Killer King’s sincere amazement.
I hadn’t known Apostles had ranks too.
“You flatter me.”
“How did you know the final pattern of the Warden of the Dark? It wasn’t even in Revelation.”
“I just remembered it.”
[The other party has confirmed that your words are true.]
Killer King looked at me strangely.
“Do you have a precognition-type skill?”
“Hmm, I do have an ability to uncover hidden information.”
I had notes that only I knew about, so that wasn’t a lie either.
[The other party has confirmed that your words are true.]
Killer King nodded.
“Interesting.”
A brief silence followed.
I spat the skewer I had bitten once onto the ground and slowly stood up.
“I’m not that interesting.”
At the same time, Uncle Dansu and Se-in collapsed to the side.
With a spike clenched in my right hand, I glared at the two people before me.
Killer King was gripping a spike like I was, prepared to fight. LiteraryGirl64 stood beside him with her head bowed.
“They aren’t dead. They’re only asleep,” Killer King said.
If it was a sleeping drug obtainable early on, it was probably Yanaspleta’s Stem.
I didn’t know how they had gotten it, but they had prepared well.
“Why did you do this?”
“There are two reasons.”
Killer King looked at the Warden of the Dark lying far away.
“First. You tried to ambush us.”
“We didn’t.”
“Second. You smell of blood.”
“I hunted a lot of Ground Rats.”
“The smell of human blood.”
I hesitated for the first time.
“No matter how much you know the contents of Revelation, at heart you’re still ordinary humans. Few people who suddenly undergo Possession into a novel can kill their own kind without hesitation.”
“That’s true, but you still have to fight to protect yourself.”
“Normal readers have patterns. If they were lucky enough to find and kill a bug, they wouldn’t have killed anyone yet. If they hardened their hearts and killed a person, they would have killed one. But...”
Looking closer, one of Killer King’s eyes was glowing an ominous dark crimson.
I knew what that skill was.
“You have killed at least ten humans.”
It was an Archangel’s Stigma that could read an opponent’s sin.
[Eye of Sin].
“Do you still have anything to say, murderer?”
It seemed Killer King’s Patron was the Archangel Jophiel.
Footnotes:
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