WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 605: Episode 10: Writer (6)
──────
* * *
Feeling his heart rapidly grow colder, Jeong Jaewoo trembled in fear.
「I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared.」
He was going to die. He was going to die now.
【Oh, how pitiful. It's all right. Rest assured.】
Someone was speaking while gripping the back of his neck.
【You will not die.】
It was a chilling, dark voice.
Jaewoo realized whose voice it was.
It was Representative Kim Dokja.
【There is a story you must see.】
A story. The moment he heard those words, Jaewoo's heart suddenly began to race.
His dying body was coming back to life.
Was this how Dokja had felt when he was resurrected through the power of The King of No Killing?
Even the thought, until just moments ago, that he shouldn't have read the novel vanished completely.
I was right to read this story after all.
Then he felt his head, hands, torso, and legs regenerate.
Jaewoo forced his eyes open.
He was sitting in front of a movie screen.
Huh?
For some reason, his mind felt hazy.
One by one, the things that had happened until moments ago passed through his mind.
Going to the Theater Dungeon.
Meeting the readers.
Meeting Inho Cheon and Jeong Huiwon.
Fighting someone who claimed to be the Writer.
And then.
Ah.
「"Jaewoo-ssi."」
A man's face appeared on the screen. And Jaewoo saw his own body, lying still with its eyes closed.
I'm dead.
Oddly, he didn't feel sad or distressed because the story was still continuing before his eyes.
「"Jaewoo-ssi."」
Watching Inho tremble as he held his hand, Jaewoo thought that he really did love stories. He wanted to watch this story a little longer.
【Of course. You can do that forever.】
Representative Dokja patted him on the shoulder and disappeared.
Jaewoo blankly watched the screen.
Inho was grieving on it. The moment he saw Inho like that, Jaewoo sensed the distant providence of stories.
Stories he had read, stories he hadn't been able to read, stories he wanted to read.
As he drifted through the universe of stories, he slowly lost himself.
Who was I again?
Still, as he watched Inho sitting there with a devastated expression, he wanted to tell him something. That he was all right. That though he'd been dragged into a somewhat strange place, he was still here.
That he was reading this story.
Then a small keypad appeared before him.
He stared at it for a while before typing a message.
rlaehrwk41 : What is thiss?
The little Kim Dokja beside him turned to look at him.
rlaehrwk37 : Newbie?
A name tag reading "rlaehrwk37" hung from the little Dokja's chest.
rlaehrwk37 : I worked hard to save you, and you went and died.
He unconsciously looked down at his own chest.
"rlaehrwk41."
rlaehrwk41 stared at his name tag for a long time before asking.
rlaehrwk41 : Who are yoo?
rlaehrwk37 : Who do you think? We're all in the same boat. Newbie, you know SUL3, right?
rlaehrwk41 : What's SUL3, thoo?
rlaehrwk37's expression turned serious.
rlaehrwk37 : Shut up and lurk for three days.
* * *
Rain fell.
Beneath the dense broadleaf forest, where I could shelter from the rain, I buried Jaewoo's body.
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos watches you.]
Jaewoo had worn an unknowable smile when he died.
Why? He had said he regretted reading this novel, so why had he died smiling like that?
Was that the final [Minor Luck] bestowed upon him?
[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire comforts you.]
[The Constellation Lily Blooming in Aquarius sponsors you with 100 coins.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon asks why you're burying him when he will disappear anyway.]
Black Flame Dragon was right.
Once the movie reached its ending, this world would disappear. Jaewoo's body would vanish too.
I knew that.
Still, it was the same anywhere else. Earth, the solar system, and the galaxy would all disappear someday.
Yet we bury the dead in the ground. I don't know why.
All I could talk about were things concerning novels. Some sentences only gain meaning when they are buried between other sentences and can no longer be seen.
Perhaps death was like that, too.
Huiwon didn't wake easily.
Carrying Huiwon on my back, I followed the text copy author's footprints. At some point, they abruptly stopped.
The jar he had dropped, the Dragon Vessel, lay on the broken trail.
I picked up the Dragon Vessel and tied it to my waist.
If he had dropped even his main item, then he was probably dead or dying somewhere by now.
I stopped pursuing the text copy author.
[Reach the movie's ending.]
Getting rid of him was important, but escaping this movie came first. We could only return to the original world after seeing its end.
We had lost Jaewoo, and Huiwon was unconscious.
If I encountered the hidden frontrunner alone, our team would be finished.
「I couldn't lose anyone else.」
After covering Huiwon with my coat, I continued through the rain. Rain and sweat mixed together, leaving me sticky, while the ground had turned to mud and weighed down every step.
Groooar!
Whenever I heard the roar of a massive beast species, I leaned against the base of a tree and caught my breath.
This movie would end once we escaped the Island.
I would probably have to go to the Central Research Building at the Island's center again.
[The Cinema Master dislikes ordinary endings.]
Sparks occasionally struck down from the gloomy sky.
[The Cinema Master has accepted the proposal of the Constellation Snake That Cuts Off Its Tail.]
[The Constellation Snake That Cuts Off Its Tail releases their fable.]
[The composition of this stage has partially changed.]
[Black Moon has risen over the stage.]
[Some beast species have evolved under the protection of the Constellation Snake That Cuts Off Its Tail!]
Groooar!
[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger advises you to hurry.]
A chill ran down my spine, and I quickened my pace. The Central Research Building was too far away, while they were getting closer.
The grass rustled in every direction, as if predators were pursuing their prey.
In the end, I set Huiwon down and gripped the Damaged Samyeong's Bamboo Staff.
Grrrrr...
A pack of red-eyed raptors emerged from the grass.
[A Tier-8 ground dragon species, Raptor, reveals killing intent toward you.]
One, two, three, four... eight in total.
Each was a Tier-8 species, but together, they were beasts that could hunt even a Tier-7 species.
[You have activated the Exclusive Skill, Incitement Lv.6!]
"I'm a raptor. I'm not your enemy."
I said it just in case, but it didn't work.
[The Constellation Snake That Cuts Off Its Tail grins.]
The power of a vassal, stronger than [Incitement], was controlling them.
「I am Yu Junghyeok.」
[You have activated the Exclusive Skill, Incitement Lv.6!]
As I struck the head of a charging raptor with the bamboo staff, I thought,
「Since □□ hasn't activated, I'm not in danger of dying.」
But what about Huiwon?
I guarded Huiwon, whom I had propped against the tree trunk, pointing the bamboo staff around us.
Should I spend coins on my abilities?
Or should I buy a new skill?
[Coins held: 25,400C]
No good solution came to mind.
Even if I hunted every raptor, it would still be a problem.
The raptors I faced now were among the weaker creatures on this stage.
Crunch!
A raptor caught me off guard and bit my arm.
I smashed its head with the end of the bamboo staff. Shaking away the dripping blood, I activated [Incitement] once more.
"I am a Tyrannosaurus Rex."
[You have activated the Exclusive Skill, Incitement Lv.6!]
Drawing in a breath, I let out the loudest roar I could manage.
Roooaaar!
The raptors targeting me froze in place.
I stepped forward and roared again.
Graaaar!
As the first raptor fled, the second immediately turned its back as well. Three, four, five... in an instant, every raptor except the two I had brought down ran away.
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband sponsors you with 100 coins for your ingenuity.]
I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
My throat throbbed from the excessive roaring.
Rumble.
That was when the ground nearby began to shake.
I had a bad feeling.
「Had the raptors really run away because of me?」
The broadleaf trees to my left snapped apart, revealing the foreleg of a massive ground dragon species.
Groooar!
[A Tier-7 ground dragon species, Tyrannosaurus Rex, has appeared!]
It was the beast Jihye, Huiwon, and Dokja had joined forces to defeat in the main story.
But Dokja and Jihye weren't here, and Huiwon was unconscious.
Crack!
Its gigantic tail flew toward us, breaking every nearby tree.
I wrapped myself around Huiwon and rolled across the ground.
Goddammit.
Blood continued to flow from the arm bitten by the raptor.
This wasn't an opponent I could beat in a one-on-one fight.
Incitement was the only main skill I had. What could I use to frighten that thing with [Incitement]?
「How far could my present self sway this world with [Incitement]?」
I summoned every bit of my imagination and thought of the strongest "dragon" I knew.
A monster incomparable to a mere Tier-7 ground dragon species.
Perhaps it realized what I was about to do. I could already feel the signs of a Plausibility storm throughout my body.
[The Constellation Snake That Cuts Off Its Tail glares.]
"I am."
[Exclusive Skill, Incitement Lv.6, has activated!]
Slowly, I opened my mouth.
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon realizes your intent and is startled.]]
To save Huiwon.
To meet Yu Junghyeok once more at the end of this theater.
"Of the Apocalypse."
[Exclusive Skill, Incitement Lv.6, has activated to its limit!]
Pain surged through my entire body, as if every cell was being squeezed dry.
I only had to say the final word.
Just the final word.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex's foreleg moved toward me.
Tzzzzzt!
My tongue stiffened, as if someone had covered my mouth. The final word wouldn't come out.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
「If I died, would I become a little Kim Dokja too?」
A flash of light spread through the faint darkness behind my eyelids.
Thud.
Then I heard something roll across the ground.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a vivid white-blue Aether Blade and the Tyrannosaurus lying on the ground without its foreleg.
"Huh?"
Beyond the dazzling [White Pure Star Energy], I saw the faces of a familiar brother and sister.
Killer King, the man who had read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint 99.8 times, was there.
"You bastard, why are you here?"
* * *
rlaehrwk41 : They're the people who saved meee.
* * *
The text copy author, Yeom Ilwoo, ran while spitting curses.
Goddammit! Goddammit!
The battle from earlier was still vivid in his mind. There was the lunatic who claimed to have read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint a hundred times, and the madwoman who could take down even a Tier-7 inhuman species.
"Bleeegh!"
The concealed weapon thrown by the madwoman had torn his arm, causing him to drop the Dragon Vessel. Then that newbie bastard chasing him had stabbed a knife into his thigh, making it hard for him to move.
He had put a hole in that newbie's heart, but because of that, he, too, was soon in danger of dying.
[The Constellation King of Gambling bestows the protection of luck upon you.]
His Patron had saved him.
Through astonishing luck, Ilwoo crossed the broadleaf forest, avoided the dinosaurs, and became the first to enter the Central Research Building.
He had even found the Hidden Tunnel that led directly to the upper floors.
[You are the first to enter the Central Research Building!]
[Would you like to enter the Hidden Tunnel?]
[Upon entering the tunnel, you will randomly skip a staircase.]
[Upon entering, you have a 50% chance of reaching the third aboveground floor, a 40% chance of reaching the fourth aboveground floor, and a 10% chance of reaching the fifth aboveground floor.]
Ilwoo entered the tunnel without hesitation.
[The Stigma King of Dice has activated!]
[You have entered the fifth aboveground floor!]
The fifth aboveground floor.
The place where the Room of Rewards was located.
Unable to hide his excitement, Ilwoo stepped onto the fifth aboveground floor.
He had lost two team members and even dropped the Dragon Vessel on the way here, but luck was still on his side.
Ilwoo spotted a woman who had arrived on the fifth floor before him.
"Excuse me. Are you alone?"
She had short hair and wore a white coat.
The instant he saw her face, Ilwoo's expression brightened.
[The Constellation King of Gambling says you must not approach her.]
Ilwoo ignored it.
Whoever she was, she was an Incarnation, and likely a Reader. If she was a Reader, he was confident he could deceive her with his gift of gab.
There couldn't possibly be two lunatics who had read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint a hundred times.
Most of all, the woman was beautiful.
"Let's form a team. I'm the Writer of this novel! You heard it earlier, didn't you? I am Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint's―"
The moment Ilwoo grinned and reached out to the woman, a cold sound cut through the air.
[The Constellation King of Gambling widens their eyes in horror.]
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer glares at the King of Gambling.]
[The Constellation King of Gambling has hurriedly left the channel.]
The woman stared blankly at Ilwoo's head rolling across the floor, then smiled.
"You're a Writer, yet you can't use Avatar?"
After lightly shaking the blood from her sword, she wiped its blade clean and turned around.
"Hey, you two."
"..."
"Namwoon. Hyeongseong. Aren't you awake yet?"
Namwoon, who had collapsed behind her, unsteadily rose to his feet. With a grotesque grin, he said,
"You... really are strong. Hehehe. But compared to our leader, khehk!"
Namwoon was struck on the back of the head and instantly fainted.
"I knew you were awake. I told you not to wake up."
The woman dragged the quietly unconscious Namwoon and Hyeongseong, who had suddenly begun snoring, toward the stairs leading upstairs.
"Hey. What floor is Yu Junghyeok on now?"
When she asked, Hyeongseong's snoring abruptly stopped.
Then the woman said,
"Not you, Hyeongseong."
Hyeongseong started snoring again, and an answer came from the air.
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer says he is now on the final floor.]
The woman let out a light sigh, and another message came from the air.
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer says everyone is worried.]
"Worried about what?"
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer says everyone says Suyeong-noona is―]
"Shut up."
Han Suyeong answered that way, then stared for a moment at the torn movie posters.
They were likely movies Yu Junghyeok had torn through as he climbed.
「Originally, she had never come to this theater.」
When Dokja cleared the Theater Dungeon in the third round, she had been somewhere else.
Still, she knew what Dokja had said here.
「"I wished to see the epilogue of a certain novel."」
Did Dokja, who had said that then, know this story would become so long?
"Are you still curious about this world's end?"
Leaving the torn posters behind, Suyeong looked up at the ceiling.
Dokja was probably still reading this story somewhere.
As if speaking to him, Suyeong muttered,
"Then keep watching from there. I'll do my job."
To put a period at the end of the story and send the reader back to reality.
That was a writer's role.
Footnotes:
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