Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 599

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 599: Episode 9: Words That Cannot Be Written (5)

──────

* * *

Everything was pure white. A blank space without so much as a dot, like an unmarked sheet of manuscript paper. My thoughts blinked like a cursor.

「"How did you end up becoming a writer, Inho?"」

When we were trapped in the Fish Dragon, Jeong Huiwon had asked me that question.

Oddly enough, I couldn't immediately remember the answer.

How had I become a writer?

The memory felt distant and hazy.

「You're here?」

When I forced my eyes open, I saw snow drifting from the sky.

I immediately knew where I was.

A Snowfield blanketed in white.

As I slowly sat up, I saw the face of a protagonist I knew well.

「Kim Dokja.」

Dokja nodded. Just as he had the last time we met, he was still standing alone in the Snowfield.

He gave me a light wave, then crouched down and stared at the ground. He was looking so intently that I had no choice but to approach and ask.

「Is there something there?」

Dokja tilted his head and grinned. He pointed down.

There was a pitch-black footprint there.

It hadn't been there before.

A footprint that had clearly appeared recently.

I looked down at my feet, then back at the footprint.

Then I slowly crouched beside Dokja.

「I wanted to be strong like you.」

I didn't know why I said that. The words had simply slipped out.

「Like you...」

「You probably know this already.」

Dokja spoke.

「I'm not really that strong.」

As he said that, Dokja slowly turned around. An endless procession of footprints stretched out behind him.

As if counting those footprints, Dokja said,

「I just kept walking.」

Keep walking.

Dokja continued.

「Things will get very difficult from here on.」

「...」

「You'll be lonely.」

Hearing that made me feel truly lonely. I said,

「This story won't have a happy ending, will it?」

Dokja didn't answer for a while.

We looked at the footprints. The footprints that had vanished. The footprints being made now. Even the footprints that would be left in the future.

Dokja asked,

「Will you be okay?」

I slowly nodded.

「If you keep reading it.」

Dokja was looking at me. Somehow embarrassed, I avoided his gaze.

Dokja said,

「Well, I really shouldn't be doing this, but.」

He hesitated for a moment before searching through his coat's inner pocket. Then he placed something on my palm.

「Take it. And...」

* * *

I jerked awake with a gasp.

I was at Chungmuro Station.

"Inho!"

Holding my throbbing forehead, I sat up and saw Gyeong Se-in's face.

"Everyone..."

"They're safe. Everyone's safe."

Se-in gripped my hand tightly.

"Inho."

That was when Mr. Dansu approached me. He dropped to his knees and stared at me.

He looked as if he wanted to scold me, yet he also looked worried.

Even so, he didn't ask me anything. He just silently embraced me.

Se-in, standing beside us, suddenly burst into tears and hugged us both.

Held in their arms before I could react, I looked around Chungmuro Station.

I saw the faces of the people who had survived.

Citizens, including Pildu Gong and Ye Hyeonu, were piling sandbags near the stairwell. A large waterproof tarp covered the stairwell entrance to stop the poison gas from rising.

Injured people were tending to their wounds by the benches. Incarnations who had apparently consumed [Ellain Forest Essence] were asleep.

Jeong Huiwon lay on the floor, while Lee Jihye sat on a bench and glared at the tarp.

[3 hours and 39 minutes remain until Emergency Defense ends.]

[The Administration Bureau is currently considering an early end to Emergency Defense.]

Soft cheers rose from among the people stacking sandbags.

An early end to the Scenario.

It was a decision worth considering from the Administration Bureau's perspective.

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon grumbles about how long he has to watch such an obvious story.]

[Some Constellations ask if the outcome hasn't already been decided.]

The Constellations were gradually growing tired of the Scenario, and it was clear that dragging things out any longer wouldn't change the result.

Even now, the monsters that had breathed in the poisonous fog beneath that tarp would be dying.

I looked at the thin barrier separating the lives and deaths of humans and monsters.

"Ah, Inho."

Ye Hyeonu noticed me and waved. I reflexively greeted him back.

"You."

A large shadow fell over me. Looking up, I saw a bald head gleaming beneath the fluorescent lights.

Pildu frowned as he examined my arms and legs one by one. Ground Rat bite marks covered my body.

"What were you thinking, risking your life like that?"

"I didn't think I'd die."

Apparently dissatisfied with my answer, Pildu glared at me for a long time.

"Everyone lived because of you."

I swallowed without realizing it.

Coming from Pildu Gong, no less. One of Chungmuro Station's Ten Evils, a man whose pride was among the fiercest in TWSA.

That man had just thanked me.

Yet Pildu's expression was somewhat strange.

"What's that?"

I suddenly looked beside me and saw a baby Ground Rat with its nose buried against my side, breathing softly.

A few people noticed the Ground Rat and recoiled in horror.

It was only natural. They had been fighting the Ground Rats for their lives until just moments ago, and now there was a baby monster right in front of them.

Perhaps frightened by their stares, the baby Ground Rat burrowed into my arms.

Pildu asked,

"Why did you bring that thing?"

With my hand on the frightened Ground Rat's head, I thought.

I could have said I felt sorry for it. I could have said I felt guilty.

I could have given some plausible speech about how nobody here had wanted to fight, and how the monsters must have felt the same way.

"Do you like dogs?"

Pildu didn't answer for a moment.

As if watching our reactions, the baby poked its head out and stared at Pildu.

Pildu watched it quietly before asking,

"Are you going to raise it?"

I had never considered that.

Could I raise this little thing?

Pildu slowly bent down and crouched.

"Max."

Pildu spoke in a stern voice. After a short pause, he said it again.

"Max."

The Ground Rat let out a small whine and hesitantly crawled out. After a moment of uncertainty, it approached Pildu, sniffed him, and wagged its tail.

Pildu's pupils trembled faintly. A trace of longing appeared and vanished from his deeply lined face.

I asked,

"Have you raised a dog before?"

Instead of answering, Pildu stared at the tarp-covered stairwell.

"Dogs are best when it comes to guarding territory."

* * *

Pildu took the Ground Rat away and abruptly declared to the others,

"We're raising this one."

Max, the Ground Rat held in Pildu's hands, gave a huge yawn.

"You saw how these things fight earlier. It's a remarkably resilient and strong monster. We'll train it and use it as a guard dog. Anyone with a complaint, step forward now."

One man, who had been glaring at the baby the entire time, timidly raised his hand.

"What if training doesn't work and it attacks us?"

"I'll take responsibility and put it down."

Pildu answered firmly, and a few people nodded. Some approached hesitantly and examined Max closely.

"It's kind of cute as a baby."

"Huh, is that what it'll turn into when it grows up?"

Chungmuro Station grew noisy with chatter. Mr. Dansu, who had been watching the scene with me, spoke.

"When Jiyoon would shut themselves in their room to read web novels."

"Yes?"

"I would watch old movies in the living room."

Mr. Dansu rarely talked about himself, but he had brought up the subject on his own.

"What kind of movies do you watch?"

"King Kong, Godzilla, King Kong vs. Godzilla..."

"Ah."

"In monster movies, there are always people who pity the monsters' young and want to raise them."

"..."

"Sometimes Jiyoon would pass by and always say the same thing. They'd say this was why humans were hopeless. How could people who had nearly been eaten just moments earlier try to raise a monster?"

In the distance, Pildu was teaching Max to give him its "paw." Max stared up at Pildu before licking his hand.

"I think it would have been nice if Jiyoon could have seen this."

Pildu frowned while the people of Chungmuro Station snickered.

They were laughing like actors after a curtain call, as though everything beneath that tarp had been a lie.

Someone had been injured. Someone had died. Yet people laughed.

They all knew they couldn't perform the next scene otherwise.

"Friend."

"Yes."

"I don't want to watch movies where a friend dies."

I couldn't answer. I only watched the people laughing and talking.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire has sponsored you.]

[You have received 500 coins as sponsorship.]

* * *

In return for risking my life, I was subjected to Se-in's mental assault for a while.

"Inho, you're exactly like Kim Dokja."

"What?"

"No, really. Who suddenly charges into a pack of Ground Rats in that situation? Inho, aren't you actually Kim Dokja? You don't have The King of No Killing or anything, do you?"

That made my feelings rather complicated.

Of course, I liked Dokja, but this was a little...

―Hey.

Tiny sparks flickered in the air, followed by Bihyeong's voice.

―Did you wake up?

It seemed Bihyeong had been waiting for me to regain consciousness, too.

'Yes. I'm awake.'

Bihyeong cleared his throat a few times before continuing in a solemn voice.

―You really surprised me this time. I didn't think you'd obtain the seed of a fable.

At the same time as Bihyeong's words, all the accumulated logs appeared at once.

[You have achieved an unprecedented accomplishment.]

[You have obtained the seed of your first fable in the third Scenario.]

[Some Constellations cannot believe their eyes because of your achievement.]

[Some Constellations are interested in your record.]

[Few nebulae have noticed your existence.]

[You have received 10,000 coins as sponsorship.]

It was a record significant enough to draw the attention of nebulae.

Considering that this was only the third Scenario, it was an incredible achievement.

―Don't get cocky because of that. Ah, do you even know what a fable is?

'I have a general idea. You get stronger by collecting them.'

―Well, it's fine if that's all you know for now... Anyway, don't get full of yourself. You haven't even obtained a fable yet. Your first fable has only just begun to bud. Got it?

'Yes.'

It sounded like he was trying to calm an author excited by an unexpected hit, so I couldn't help but smile bitterly.

In truth, I had no reason to get full of myself, just as Bihyeong said.

My first fable was still no more than a seed, and there was no guarantee it would blossom. Even if it did, there was a strong chance it would be an unremarkable fable.

―I like you even less because you're so obedient on the surface. Damn it.

Listening to Bihyeong ramble on, I remembered the early parts of TWSA.

The novice dokkaebi Bihyeong, shocked and horrified by Dokja's actions.

―Anyway, you'll receive additional rewards once the Scenario is complete. No Incarnation has ever cleared Emergency Defense the way you did.

What ending would Bihyeong meet in this worldline?

Would he become this worldline's Dokkaebi King?

―Ha, this cohort really is unusual. There are already three people whose fables are budding.

I paused and asked,

'There are others besides me?'

Who could it be? Yu Junghyeok?

―Yeah. They're pretty famous right now. One in black and one in white...

The one in black was definitely Yu Junghyeok.

Who was the one in white?

'Can you tell me who it is?'

―Of course I can't give you information like that. But from what I saw, they seemed a little crazy. They keep buying Lemon Candy from the Dokkaebi Compendium. They cost 200 coins each.

'Lemon Candy?'

―Anyway, I'm leaving now. There are a lot of noisy places besides this one, so I'm busy. Damn it, a hidden dungeon had to open at a time like this...

With those final words, Bihyeong disappeared.

I asked Se-in, who was still going on about Dokja,

"Se-in, has Yu Junghyeok not returned yet?"

"See? Looking for Yu Junghyeok is exactly the same. Inho, you really..."

"Se-in."

"That guy hasn't shown his face at all. Why?"

If my guess was right, there was only one place Junghyeok, who hadn't participated in Emergency Defense, could have gone.

「Theater Dungeon.」

I had a bad feeling.

Of course, Junghyeok in this worldline was strong. He wouldn't die in a mere Theater Dungeon.