WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 603: Episode 10: Writer (4)

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A person who uploaded illegal files was pretending to be a writer.

What kind of world was this?

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger encourages you regardless.]

That bastard had probably avoided [lie detection] because he had personally typed out Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

Could that really be called "writing"?

As I once again found [lie detection]'s judgment absurd, I suddenly felt amused.

「Then what about me?」

Touching the Lemon Candy in my pocket, I thought about the real writer who had written this story.

「To what extent could I say that I had "written" this story?」

[Cinema Journey will begin shortly.]

When I turned around, Jeong Huiwon, who had finished preparing, asked, "Is it just the two of us going?"

"Yes."

I briefly looked over the other teams. Most had reached the three-person limit.

Telepathy filled with lingering regret echoed by my ear until the very end.

―You're really not coming with us?

―What a shame. I'll look forward to next time.

They were the woman with the iron rod and the old man with the pipe.

Both teams were powerful, but joining them could cause problems with the Scenarios ahead.

More importantly...

"Let's make sure we meet again alive."

I wouldn't be able to look after Gyeong Se-in and Uncle Dansu.

"You take care too, Uncle."

The two had formed a three-person team with Jihye.

"If you can't keep up, I'm leaving you behind."

"I-I'll do my best to keep up!"

Jihye grumbled on the outside, but she was soft-hearted underneath.

Just as she had during the Emergency Defense, Jihye wouldn't turn a blind eye if the two were in danger.

Of course, Gyeong Se-in and Uncle Dansu weren't weak anymore, either.

Uncle Dansu was probably the only person here who possessed a Constellation's constellation artifact.

[Hmm, it looks like everyone is ready.]

With a crackling sound, the dokkaebi Paul appeared again.

[Though I can see that some of you still haven't found a team...]

Paul swept his gaze across the lobby before adding,

[Those without a team will be matched at random, so there is no need to worry too much.]

Random matching?

[Entry has begun.]

[You have been appointed your team's Representative.]

[The Incarnation Jeong Huiwon has joined your team.]

[The Incarnation Jeong Jaewoo has joined your team.]

This was awkward. I had deliberately not accepted any team members, yet I was being forcibly matched like this.

"Um, hello."

A man with a vaguely familiar face approached, awkwardly bowing his head.

He was probably Jeong Jaewoo.

"I-I think we're on the same team... Please take care of me."

Looking closer, he was the reader who had been shouting, "Has anyone read ORV?" earlier.

Seeing him lonely as he repeated the same question over and over had made me feel sorry for him. He looked just like Dokja, going around recommending TWSA.

Of course, I couldn't trust someone based on looks alone.

[You have activated Reader Comment List!]

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ID: rala99

Platform: Sirius

Total Comments: 103

Reader Level: 19

Number of Completed Reads: 1.62 times

* You can use coins to view comments written by this reader.

* You can currently view 3 comments for free.

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His profile wasn't particularly unusual.

I immediately checked his comments.

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I'm here for free cookies~

―(Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Chapter 1)

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I heard there's some event going on. Is this as far as the free stuff goes??

―(Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Chapter 50)

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I used up all the cookies I got~~ But I'll keep reading~~

―(Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Chapter 102)

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For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

"You're Jaewoo-ssi, right? Please take care of me."

"Likewise."

Huiwon, who had been watching beside me, also offered a brief greeting.

Recognizing Huiwon, Jaewoo bowed with an overwhelmed expression.

"M-Me too! It's an honor!"

Maybe this was for the best.

Rather than ending up on a team with someone who might be dangerous, perhaps someone this innocent was better.

Then a small die appeared before me.

[Roll the die.]

I picked up the die.

Readers who had thrown theirs first cursed around me.

"Ah, damn it."

"A one right from the start?"

A dark color swirled around the die that had landed on one. It seemed the die's color changed depending on the number it landed on.

I stared at my die.

If the Scenario had progressed as far as Dark Castle, I could have obtained the Legendary-grade fable "God of Dice" and received help from it...

"I'll throw it first."

After exchanging brief looks with my companions, I threw the die.

Then...

"Huh?"

The die shone gold.

[The die has landed on 6.]

Huiwon's eyes widened.

"You're lucky, aren't you?"

[You climb 6 steps.]

[Double Chance! You may roll the die once more.]

I threw the die again.

[The die has landed on 5.]

[You climb 5 steps.]

[You have reached the second floor!]

Were ten steps equal to one floor?

I hadn't expected to reach the second floor in one go.

What's more, my luck didn't end there.

[You have entered the Bonus Stage!]

[Each member has received a bonus of 1,000 coins!]

[You have received an additional dice chance!]

The die appeared again. I rolled it for the third time.

[The die has landed on 5.]

[You climb 5 steps.]

[You have entered the Standard Stage!]

[This stage has no objective.]

[An additional dice chance will be granted in 3 minutes.]

Did this even make sense?

It was luck beyond comprehension. Right after starting, I had been given the chance to roll the die four times in a row.

Huiwon asked in amazement, "Were you suddenly possessed by something? Are you normally this good at games?"

If it came down to whether I was lucky or not, I was generally unlucky.

I'd never won one of those common comment events or cash events, not even once.

"Well... I think..."

There were no stories that happened by chance in the Star Stream.

In other words, if strange luck had suddenly come to me one after another, there had to be a plausible reason for it.

For example...

"Jaewoo-ssi."

"Yes?"

"Do you happen to have a Passive skill or something?"

"Ah."

Jaewoo glanced around before awkwardly scratching his cheek.

"Um... Can I say it?"

"You don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable."

Was he more cautious than I expected?

Seeing him put Dokja's maxim into practice so well, perhaps he had read ORV quite seriously...

"N-No, I'll tell you. It's not a skill, but... I have an Attribute called [Minor Luck]."

The moment I heard the Attribute's name, I was startled.

[Minor Luck].

As the name implied, it was an Attribute that maximized small strokes of luck.

I had even once debated whether to give [Minor Luck] to Dokja.

There had been a time when I considered having Dokja grow by evolving the Attribute from [Minor Luck] to [Decent Luck], then [Tremendous Luck]...

「"Writer-nim, there are too many protagonists these days who solve things through luck..."」

...but Ji Eunyoo's one comment had made me discard the idea.

Yet there was a reader who possessed that Attribute.

"I don't know why, but I've always been kind of lucky in small ways..."

Jaewoo smiled brightly and began rambling about things I hadn't even asked.

"When I go to buy bread, there'll always be one of the kind I want left, and whenever I come across a question I don't know the answer to, I always get it right if I guess... Nothing incredible, but little bits of luck keep following me..."

With an embarrassed expression, Jaewoo continued.

"So I've survived several times here through luck too. I spotted the bugs right away in the subway..."

He had fled aboveground to escape the riot at Cheonggu Station, where a pair of siblings he met had shared Ellain Monkey's Lungs with him. They were probably Killer King and his sister.

"When I asked if we could travel together, they said no."

With the lungs in his mouth, he had gone underground at Yaksu Station and encountered nonhuman species. Luckily, someone had helped him escape. It seemed he had encountered the Misreading Association.

"I really almost died then."

As he fled aboveground again, he had run into a Poison Rhino. Someone had killed the rhino and left. Was it Yu Junghyeok?

"The sword was so fast I couldn't see it at all."

He continued, saying that after scrambling away like that, he had come to his senses and found himself at Chungmuro Theater.

"There are a lot of readers here, so I feel safe at least."

I stared blankly at Jaewoo.

People like this really existed.

He was genuinely lucky.

"Ha, but is it okay for me to say all this?"

Belatedly covering his mouth, Jaewoo glanced at Huiwon.

Fortunately, instead of listening to Jaewoo's story, Huiwon was scouting the empty second-floor lobby.

Seemingly a little relieved, Jaewoo asked again, "That's the Jeong Huiwon I know, right?"

"That's right."

Gasp!

He shouted so loudly that Huiwon, who had been some distance away, turned toward us.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Jaewoo couldn't calm down and panted before asking once more.

"Have you met any of the other Kim Dokja Company members too? I saw Lee Jihye earlier. Have you seen Kim Dokja or Yu Junghyeok too..."

"Um, Huiwon-ssi might get confused, so maybe we shouldn't talk about this now..."

"Ah, sorry."

Jaewoo lowered his head with a dejected expression.

I wondered if I'd pressured him too much and felt bad for no reason.

[A new die has been created!]

To change the subject, I handed him the die.

"Would you like to throw it this time, Jaewoo-ssi?"

"I-Is that okay?"

"Yes."

Jaewoo's face brightened as he nodded.

"I-I'll throw it!"

Jaewoo shouted energetically and rolled the die.

Then...

[The die has landed on 5.]

[You climb 5 steps.]

I had hoped for a six, but five wasn't bad either.

That made the total of the die results twenty-one.

Would we reach the third floor in one go?

Meeting Jaewoo here might have been lucky.

[You have fallen into a Trap Stage!]

[You descend 3 steps.]

Huh?

[You have entered the Standard Stage.]

Had [Minor Luck] not worked this time?

"Get ready."

[You can clear this stage only by seeing the film's ending.]

[This stage is very difficult. A ladder will be provided upon clearing the stage.]

[This stage is shared with a frontrunner.]

The instant I blinked, a lush green landscape unfolded before us.

I thought I knew where we were.

When I looked around, Huiwon and Jaewoo seemed to have roughly grasped the situation as well.

The cries of huge beast species rang out from all around us.

It seemed to be that film Dokja's party had cleared in ORV.

Jaewoo muttered, "Oh my god. Th-this is that movie, right? The one with the Tyranno..."

"It seems so."

If it really was that movie, the difficulty would be high, but we could obtain some quite useful items.

For example, the Enhancement Ampoule hidden in the Central Research Institute.

There was just one problem.

「This stage is shared with a frontrunner.」

The system message had clearly said that.

That meant there was a frontrunner who had entered this stage before us.

Who could it be?

Could it be Yu Junghyeok?

Footnotes:

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