WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 601: Episode 10: Writer (2)
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I looked around the theater.
There were seventeen people waiting on the first basement floor.
Even at a glance, none of them looked ordinary.
[Someone has used Peeking on you!]
[Someone has used ATTRIBUTE DETECTION on you!]
Detection skill messages came flying in as if on cue.
[Peeking] and [ATTRIBUTE DETECTION].
They weren't high-grade Detection skills like Junghyeok's [Sage's Eye], but they were still difficult to acquire this early on.
Readers really were something else.
[Peeking has failed for an unknown reason!]
[ATTRIBUTE DETECTION has failed for an unknown reason!]
Of course, they didn't work on me.
I didn't know why they failed. Come to think of it, I couldn't even see my own Attributes Window. It would also be strange if those people could see it.
Did I have The Fourth Wall after all?
‘The Fourth Wall.’
I called out to it inwardly, but there was no response.
Was it simply because my mental energy was strong enough to block them?
"Ugh."
Either way, I spotted those suffering from the skills' backlash. Two people showed unusual reactions.
One was an old man leaning against a display stand with a long-stemmed pipe in his mouth. The other was a woman carrying a long iron staff across her back.
Those two had probably used the Detection skills just now.
I quickly used [Reader Comment List] to check their information.
[You are checking this reader's profile information.]
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ID: barampoong
Platform: Textpia
Total Comments: 31
Reader Level: 35
Number of Completed Reads: 6
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ID: strawberry1137
Platform: Sirius
Total Comments: 112
Reader Level: 46
Number of Completed Reads: 8
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The old man was 0.06 Killer King.
The woman was 0.08 Killer King.
Somehow, I had started judging every reader by Killer King.
I looked over the other readers one by one.
That man over there was 0.005 Killer King, the one beside him was 0.001 Killer King, and another was 0.0006 Killer King...
Quite a few people hadn't even finished the novel.
No one else had a particularly notable number of completed reads.
Everyone needed to try harder.
"Isn't that Lee Jihye?"
Someone muttered quietly.
Only then did I turn to Jihye, realizing my mistake too late. Others might not have stood out, but Jihye had no choice but to draw attention. She had been described in the novel.
A hooded zip-up jacket, a ponytail, and a long sword at her waist. Her cute face made her even harder to mistake for anyone else.
"Hm?"
Jihye glared toward the voice, and people quickly looked away.
Gyeong Se-in whispered to me.
"Should I try talking to them?"
I shook my head.
Se-in was naturally good with people, so making friends wouldn't be difficult for her, but...
"We should be careful here."
We had been lucky so far. Se-in, Uncle Dansu, and Ye Hyeonu had all been good people.
But Killer King's advice was right. As he had said, there was no guarantee that every reader was a good person.
[Oh, quite a crowd has gathered already.]
The theater doors behind us slid shut, and a dokkaebi's voice echoed through the air.
[Now then, since the last guests have entered... those of you underground, please come up to the first floor.]
The Theater Dungeon was a Hidden Scenario.
Originally, it was a Scenario the dokkaebis didn't interfere with.
"There are more people upstairs. We should be careful."
At Uncle Dansu's words, we exchanged quick glances and headed upstairs.
The first thing I saw upon entering the first-floor lobby was a dokkaebi in a suit.
[Welcome. I am the intermediate dokkaebi Paul.]
Intermediate dokkaebi Paul.
He had appeared in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, too. He was the one who had ruined the Scenario of the Catastrophe of Floods, gotten beaten up by Dokja, and then been exiled.
It felt strange to run into him in the 41st round of all places.
[Hmm... Too many people have come here this time. At this point, can we even call it a Hidden Scenario?]
There were clearly more than forty people gathered in the first-floor lobby.
[Besides, you are all a little late. Those who discovered this theater several hours ago have already climbed quite high.]
A screen appeared on the lobby ceiling.
It showed other Incarnations clearing the upper levels of the Theater Dungeon.
―What? This is nothing.
A young man laughed as he cut down zombies from a movie. His school uniform was torn, his hair dyed white, and black aura wrapped around his sharp knife.
I recognized him.
「Kim Namwoon.」
I wasn't the only one.
Some covered their mouths to hide their surprise, while others stared with wide eyes.
―Hey, soldier. Hurry up and keep up. I'm getting up there before the captain. If I get delayed because of you...
Namwoon of the 41st round was still Namwoon.
A few readers smiled faintly. Others went stiff.
I understood both reactions.
That Namwoon was definitely the Namwoon we knew. Which meant he would be endlessly dangerous.
―Mr. Namwoon. This stage won't be resolved just by killing zombies...
I could tell from the voice alone.
Lee Hyeongseong. It was definitely Hyeongseong.
The readers' expressions changed one after another. They could finally meet other members of Kim Dokja Company.
That was when Namwoon's scream rang out.
―Aaaaagh! What is that?!
The screen shook ominously.
A sharp scraping sound followed.
At the edge of the screen, a white coat fluttered lightly.
Then the broadcast cut off.
[Oh dear, that's all for the preview.]
Paul smiled as if he found it amusing. A small commotion broke out in the lobby.
"That was... him, right?"
"He really is here. As long as we get upstairs somehow..."
"It's a little different from the original story, though."
I could tell what they had misunderstood.
In Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, a white coat was far too symbolic an item.
"Inho. That was Dokja, right?"
Se-in whispered. Expectation trembled in her eyes.
「Dokja might be somewhere in this world.」
I understood. Was there anyone among these readers who wasn't hoping for that?
I steadied myself.
"This is the 41st round."
"Y-yeah, but we don't know for sure. Something could have happened that we don't know about, and Dokja could be here..."
"That's possible."
I answered while rolling the Lemon Candy in my pocket between my fingers.
"But even if Dokja came here like us, it isn't time for him to obtain the coat yet. You know that."
"Ah. Right. The Infinite Dimensional Subspace Coat..."
Se-in's expression fell.
"Then who was that person?"
"We'll find out when we go up."
Jihye, who had been looking up at the screen beside us, urged me on.
"Uncle. Let's go already. I don't want to lose to that bastard."
I wondered who she meant by that bastard.
"Namwoon?"
"What? How do you know his name?"
"He looks like him."
"What the..."
I looked at the intermediate dokkaebi Paul.
He had deliberately shown us footage from the upper floors at this moment. He was even emphasizing how late we were to put us under psychological pressure.
Normally, that would have been an unnecessary performance.
Which meant...
[As you have seen, no matter what you do, you cannot catch up with the Incarnations on the upper floors.]
There was probably a new Scenario I didn't know about.
[So, I have specially prepared an event for those of you who arrived late.]
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband wonders what that is.]
[One Constellation that has yet to reveal its modifier is curious.]
[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger worries about the Incarnations.]
Seeing how things were unfolding, I could guess what he was planning.
That damned intermediate dokkaebi had teamed up with the master of this Theater Dungeon to start playing games.
[For the details, please read the Scenario description yourselves.]
[A new Sub Scenario has arrived!]
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<Sub Scenario: Departure Cinema Tour>
Category: Sub
Difficulty: B
Clear Conditions: The stairs of Cinema Journey have opened in the Theater Dungeon.
You can use Cinema Journey to quickly catch up to those who started ahead of you.
Roll Die, clear stages, and complete the Theater Dungeon before the frontrunners.
Time Limit: ―
Compensation: ???
Failure: ―
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You may form a team of up to three people and begin Cinema Journey.*
From the first floor to the eighth floor, every stair* you can step on contains either a [Standard Stage], [Bonus Stage], or [Trap Stage].
Each stage has a certain chance of containing a mission related to a particular movie. Completing that mission will grant you a Die.*
You can climb a number of stairs equal to the number rolled on the Die.*
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I roughly understood the Scenario.
This was a movie version of a board game.
We would become game pieces in teams of three, roll the Die, and climb as many stairs as the number we rolled. If we landed on a stage, we would complete its mission.
If this Scenario was meant to catch up to the Incarnations on the upper floors, the stages would be much shorter than actual movies.
"This is like B■ue Marble, right? Oh, it gets filtered."
Se-in and Uncle Dansu seemed to understand the game too.
So did the other readers.
Well, there probably wasn't anyone in Korea who didn't know that game.
[Then I will give you ten minutes to form teams.]
The Incarnations all looked at one another.
Those who already had teams seemed ready to participate as they were, while others hurriedly searched the area.
―You have two people beside you. Jeong Huiwon and Lee Jihye, right?
I looked around at the voice in my ear.
[Telepathy].
I hadn't expected someone to have bought this skill already.
―Don't look around.
The tone was overbearing.
I only scanned the area from the corner of my eye.
[Telepathy] was a skill that sealed sound in Mana and transmitted it. Its user couldn't help moving their lips.
―I don't know how you recruited S-grade characters so quickly, but join our group. There are three of us. One has contracted with a fabled-grade Constellation, and another has obtained an S-grade item.
A fabled-grade Constellation and an S-grade item.
It wasn't a bad offer.
If not for what came next.
―I'll take you, Lee Jihye, and Jeong Huiwon. We could split into two teams and go up together.
Before long, I found the user of [Telepathy]. It was the woman carrying an iron staff who had used [ATTRIBUTE DETECTION] on me.
―Think it over carefully and answer quickly. Keep in mind that this is reality, not a novel.
Her nickname was strawberry1137.
Eight completed reads.
Did reading Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint eight times give someone that kind of confidence?
Then another [Telepathy] reached me.
―Would you consider joining our side?
This [Telepathy] came from the old man with the pipe. It was obvious at a glance. He was the only one moving his lips as if he were doing ventriloquism.
His nickname was barampoong.
Six completed reads.
―There are two of us. We may have fewer people, but as you can see, we have [Telepathy], and we also have an S-grade skill. It looks like there are five of you... How about joining forces with us?
That wasn't a bad offer either.
Still, there was already a secret battle of nerves going on beneath the surface. These people were thorough.
Not every reader was like that, though.
"Um..."
The man who carefully raised his hand wore shabby sweats and held a chipped sword. He looked like someone who had no business making it this far.
He looked around, then asked the innocent question I desperately hoped he wouldn't.
"H-has anyone here read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint?"
Weary sighs escaped from all around the lobby.
Judging by their expressions, that guy was probably going to have trouble finding a team.
That was when a group emerged from the display stands deeper in the lobby.
"Why is everyone acting coy? There can't be anyone here who hasn't read that novel."
The group consisted of five men and women.
They were people whose [Reader Comment List] I hadn't checked yet.
The man who seemed to be their leader continued speaking.
"This isn't the time to be watching each other so carefully."
Several people inhaled sharply upon seeing what he wore.
A white coat and a long sword.
He definitely wasn't Dokja.
"We didn't come here to fight among ourselves. Isn't our goal to work together and clear this dungeon? You all received Scenarios at the Banquet."
He had a heavy voice and a talent for taking control of the room. He was a good speaker.
"Do you all plan to stay like this and get picked off one by one? Have you forgotten what kind of world this is?"
As the atmosphere turned tense, the woman with the iron staff, who had silently listened until then, asked, "Who are you to step forward?"
"Me?"
The man smiled just like Dokja would.
"You could say I'm the person closest to Dokja in this world."
The woman with the iron staff snorted.
"You?"
"That's right."
"You're that confident?"
True to someone who had completed Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint eight times, the woman boldly drew her iron staff.
The man laughed.
"I'm not simply talking about skill."
He drew the sword at his waist.
I felt Se-in draw in a breath beside me. Everyone else had probably done the same.
A broken sword, snapped in half.
No reader with a sharp eye could fail to recognize that item.
"Broken Faith...!"
The lobby stirred.
The woman with the iron staff narrowed her eyes.
"You think you can pretend to be Dokja just because you have one broken sword..."
Wooooong.
Blue radiance surged from the man's sword.
Aether Blade.
Someone cried out in shock.
"W-White Pure Star Energy?"
"That's White Pure Star Energy!"
Even the woman with the iron staff went stiff this time.
The man smiled faintly at her, then slowly looked around at everyone.
"I understand why you are all so afraid. But you don't need to worry."
"W-who are you? You're not really Dokja."
"Of course, I'm not Dokja."
The man smiled with an oddly sad expression.
"But Dokja probably doesn't know this world better than I do."
With a single performance, the man had overwhelmed everyone in the lobby. Then he revealed his identity.
"I am the person who wrote 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』."
Footnotes:
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