WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 584: Episode 6: Sacred Relic (1)

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* * *

Back when I didn't know much about web novels, Ji Eunyu recommended a web novel writing academy, and I attended it for a while.

The instructor was a writer who had dominated a generation of genre fiction.

He had a small, gentle voice and spoke very slowly. Since I grew sleepy in every class, I barely remembered the lessons themselves.

The only thing I remembered was the instructor's constant talk about fortuitous encounters.

"Always include fortuitous encounters. The more, the better. Give them all to the protagonist."

The instructor who always said that vanished from the industry one day.

People spread countless rumors. Some said he had moved to the countryside, while others claimed he was secretly writing under another pen name.

For some reason, I often imagined that he had entered a novel he had written himself.

In other words.

"I-it's real! Inho-ssi! This is real!"

Just like me now.

"It seems so."

Who could have known I would personally reclaim the fortuitous encounter I had set up back then?

Gyeong Se-in shook and turned the box over several times, crying out in delight.

"How did you know? There wasn't anything like this in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint!"

To be honest, I was just as confused.

This box was an item from the "preliminary manuscript" of Chapter 23 of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

「An item described in the draft relegated to the second option.」

The setting existed, so I checked just in case. The item really was there.

This was where the question began.

If this was a unique setting of TWSA, then Kim Dokja in the main story should have used this box, too.

But Dokja hadn't used it, which meant this "box" hadn't appeared in the text of TWSA, either.

Then when had this setting begun to exist?

From the moment I thought of it? From the moment Han Suyeong gave me the manuscript?

The more I thought about it, the more complicated it became.

Was this really the forty-first round of TWSA that I knew?

I didn't know.

For now, I'd obtained an item, so I decided to focus on that.

I answered Se-in.

"It just occurred to me. This box was originally a cash item made and later discarded by a dokkaebi, right?"

"Uh... right?"

"But would a dokkaebi really have discarded only one of those items... in the same place?"

"Wow. Seriously. Wow."

After hearing my explanation, Se-in and Uncle Dansu each gripped a Ground Rat Sword and began stabbing at the ground all over the place.

Of course, they wouldn't find any more boxes.

There were only two in total.

[Some Constellations have realized the existence of the item and are shocked.]

[Some Constellations protest, asking when such a cash item was released.]

[Few Constellations have begun pointing out Plausibility issues.]

A few Constellations began protesting, but Bihyeong was nowhere to be seen, as if he'd slipped away.

I'd worried he might close the channel and run away like in the main story, but fortunately, he hadn't.

I needed to check the Constellations' reactions.

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband takes interest in your luck.]

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger asks if that box is really that box.]

[The Constellation Nail-Eating Rat widens their eyes in disbelief.]

Countless Readers, including me, were currently possessing beings in this world.

From what I'd learned while fighting the Misreading Association, Readers were possessing not only Incarnations but Constellations as well.

[The Constellation Primeval Ox strokes their chin with a forehoof.]

I carefully observed the Constellations' Indirect Messages.

If there were Readers among them, they were likely to reveal clues without realizing it.

[The Constellation Pig Living in a Brick House stacks bricks.]

[A Constellation that has not yet revealed their modifier tells you to try getting inside the box.]

I watched each message that followed, trying to judge the Constellations' identities.

Those who seemed like ordinary Constellations.

Those who seemed like Constellations possessed by Readers.

Those I couldn't tell whether they were Readers or Constellations.

Those possessed by Readers but devoted to maintaining their Constellation concept.

Those possessed by Readers but unable to understand their Constellation concept.

Those who were simply strange, and so on.

Of course, it was all just my guesswork.

What could I possibly learn from a single Indirect Message?

They were all Readers who had avidly read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. Acting like a plausible Constellation probably wasn't difficult for them.

By the way, where had the Sinister Strategist gone?

I was most curious about that one's reaction.

"It looks like those were all the boxes. We can't find any more."

It seemed Se-in and Uncle Dansu were still digging through the ground.

"Ugh... Still, finding even one was better than nothing. It's such a shame we don't have Broken Faith. If we had that, we could make Unbreakable Faith right away!"

If things went exactly as Se-in said, I couldn't ask for anything more, but we couldn't obtain Broken Faith right now anyway.

So I made a decision.

"I've been thinking. Since things turned out this way, how about we put something else inside?"

"Something else?"

I took out an item I'd just found near the box.

+

Name: Unshaped Thought

Grade: D

Description: A magical weapon of the past that lost its form. It could have become anything, but in the end, it became nothing.

+

At a glance, it looked like spoiled slime.

"If you don't mind, I was thinking of putting this item inside."

"This item didn't appear in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, did it?"

That was right.

It probably didn't have a use in TWSA, either.

Dokja likely hadn't been interested in it, either.

Se-in carefully examined Unshaped Thought before speaking.

"Well, we wouldn't have found this box without you, Inho-ssi... Do as you please."

Uncle Dansu nodded as well.

"I think so, too."

"Heh, we're really starting to become like Kim Dokja Company, aren't we?"

"Haha, I suppose we are."

The two of them yielded so readily that I actually felt sorry.

"Then I'll use it gratefully."

Without hesitating any longer, I put Unshaped Thought into the Random item Box.

[A Constellation that has not yet revealed their modifier says it is a dangerous choice.]

I knew it was a dangerous choice.

Still, there was always a chance of failure no matter what we put inside.

"Now we need to find the ignition material..."

"A demonic species core, right?"

"Yes."

To use the box like in the main story, we had to put in the target item and a demonic species core at the same time.

Unfortunately, we'd failed to hunt the Tier-7 demonic species, the Warden of the Dark.

Using the auction house was our best option for now, but I didn't know if some insane person had risked a demon king's curse to hunt a demonic species this early.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger asks if you need a demonic species core.]

We looked up at the empty air in surprise.

What surprised us even more was what Rice Cake-Eating Tiger said next.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says they can give you a demonic species core.]

Se-in, who was looking at the air with me, asked excitedly.

"Rice Cake-Eating Tiger, that's from the folktale, right? The Sun and the Moon..."

I nodded.

When it came to Korea's Rice Cake-Eating Tiger, that was the only story that came to mind.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says they are that very tiger.]

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband picks his nose and asks if you are a famous Constellation.]

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger timidly replies that they are a little famous on the Korean Peninsula.]

A Constellation sponsoring an item this early?

Dokja hadn't received such sponsorship at this point, either.

If a Constellation was willing to sponsor an item this early, there had to be a reason they needed to do so.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says they have a request in exchange for the demonic species core.]

Just as I thought.

"Thank you for the offer, but..."

Deals like this usually came with an impossible request.

That was one of Dokja's sayings.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says you only need to attend the Twelve Zodiac Ball once later.]

The Twelve Zodiac Ball?

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says it is just a social gathering for the Twelve Zodiacs.]

That was an unexpected proposal.

The Twelve Zodiac Ball.

It was probably the Twelve Zodiacs' version of the Constellation Banquet or the Gourmet Association.

Se-in and Uncle Dansu, who had been listening to the messages, whispered to each other.

"Wow, the Twelve Zodiacs..."

"Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. That's it, right?"

"That's... right, but..."

"When I was young, there was an animated film where the Twelve Zodiacs were the protagonists..."

In the main story of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, the Constellations of the Twelve Zodiacs nebula had been Dokja's enemies.

Things seemed a little different this time.

Was it because I was a villain?

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says you do not need to feel burdened.]

I made my decision.

"Attending the Twelve Zodiac Ball. Is that really all?"

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says that will be enough.]

"Then that works."

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger is greatly delighted.]

[You have been sponsored a Tier-7 demonic species core.]

It was an incredibly cool sponsorship.

A pitch-black bead soon appeared in the air.

A Tier-7 demonic species core.

Judging by its color, it was even a high-grade one.

Tzzzt.

The faint sparks surrounding it showed that Rice Cake-Eating Tiger had borne quite a bit of Plausibility.

What was that Constellation really after, going to such lengths for me when I wasn't even their Incarnation?

[The Constellation Primeval Ox shares the Plausibility burden of Rice Cake-Eating Tiger.]

[The Constellation Pig Living in a Brick House shares the Plausibility burden of Rice Cake-Eating Tiger.]

[The Constellation Dog Who Threw Himself into the Flames shares the Plausibility burden of Rice Cake-Eating Tiger.]

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband claps, saying they really are animal brothers.]

Thanks to the animal friends, we'd gathered all the materials.

Se-in looked at the glowing core and said excitedly.

"H-hurry and put it in, Inho-ssi!"

"Should all three of us close the box together?"

"Sounds good."

We closed the box.

Se-in recited an incantation.

"God! Buddha! Demon King of Salvation-nim! Please!"

A moment later, a brilliant light burst from the box.

* * *

Several dozen steps away from the central core of the Dark Root.

A woman in a white coat stood in the heart of the deep Dark Fold, where black Aether surged.

"Wow..."

She frowned as she looked at the Random item Box glowing in the distance.

"Even the box was taken? From me? Does that make sense?"

[The Constellation Sinister Strategist says you should have moved sooner.]

"Who is that bastard?"

[The Constellation Sinister Strategist says that person seems to be a Reader from another worldline.]

"A Reader?"

[The Constellation Sinister Strategist says that is right.]

The woman tilted her head at those words, then bared her fangs in a white grin.

"Not just one of them."

In her hand was Broken Faith, which no Reader in this world had managed to obtain.

Footnotes:

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