WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 618: Episode 13: King (2)
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Could you be Kim Dokja?
I turned Ye Hyeonu's question over in my mind.
Well, someone as clever as Ye Hyeonu probably wouldn't have had trouble noticing.
He had likely thought something like this.
「Another Incarnation may have been pretending to be Kim Dokja. In other words, the same way as the ‘Kim Dokja Representative.’」
Ye Hyeonu had identified me as the culprit.
"I'm not sure what you mean."
I shrugged. I had [Incitement] ready just in case, but surprisingly, Ye Hyeonu didn't use [lie detection].
"Is that so?"
He merely nodded calmly.
I was wondering about this uncharacteristic carelessness when I heard a creaking sound from inside the restroom.
"See? I told you it wasn't him."
An old man with a pipe in his mouth appeared, speaking in a familiar voice. Almost at the same time, the neighboring stall door opened, and a woman holding a steel cudgel poked her head out.
"That's strange. My intuition clearly said it was that person."
"Seems like that intuition is wrong every time."
"What are you talking about? I'm the one who figured out that Secretive Plotter was Yu Junghyeok from another worldline."
"You initially said he was Kim Dokja from the future. Do you think I forgot how you quietly changed your answer?"
The two people talking were Readers who had cleared the Theater Dungeon with me.
The old man with the pipe and the woman with the steel cudgel.
If I remembered correctly, the old man had completed Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint six times, while the woman had completed it eight times.
Ye Hyeonu smiled awkwardly.
"I'm sorry. The two of them said they wanted to meet you separately, Mr. Inho."
As if he'd been waiting, the old man with the pipe held out his hand first.
"Good to meet you. I'm Kim Gyeongsik. Do you remember this old man sending you a message before?"
"I remember. But you speak differently from how you did then."
This old man had sent me a Telepathy message in the Theater Dungeon lobby.
I was sure he'd used polite speech back then.
At my words, Gyeongsik scratched the back of his head.
"Ah, I'm an old man here, so I speak like one."
He didn't seem entirely normal.
The woman with the steel cudgel pushed Gyeongsik aside and introduced herself.
"I'm Gu Seona. Of course, it isn't my real name, just the one I use here."
It was a simple introduction. Somehow, she reminded me of Huiwon.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Inho Cheon."
"Inho Cheon...? Wow, you got this strong with that trash build?"
Trash build?
Seona let out a small sigh.
"It's too bad. We should've recruited you at the Theater Dungeon. You're the only one among us who made it to the rooftop, right?"
"I did, but I wasn't the one who killed the boss."
"Who killed it, then? You? The Kim Dokja you said you saw? Or..."
"Well, I passed out pretty quickly, so I didn't see it clearly."
"Really? You're not lying?"
Perhaps sensing that she was about to become persistent, Ye Hyeonu stepped in at just the right moment.
"Ms. Seona. Don't make Mr. Inho too uncomfortable. He isn't someone who would lie."
"Please understand, Mr. Inho. This friend of mine is terribly mischievous."
Seona frowned.
"I didn't ask anything that serious. Can't fellow members of the Apostles Association share information?"
The Apostles Association.
It seemed those two were also members of the Seven Apostles Association, like Ye Hyeonu.
Besides, I'd suddenly become a member of the Apostles Association, too. I'd given Ye Hyeonu the Apostles Association's password at the start, so I couldn't deny it now.
Ye Hyeonu sighed softly.
"Sharing information is good, but that isn't why I brought you all here in advance."
We could have exchanged greetings after going down to the Chungmuro platform.
Holding this gathering in advance had to mean he had another purpose.
And that other purpose was probably...
"Is it because of the next Scenario?"
"Yes. That's right."
I knew it.
Ye Hyeonu looked at Gyeongsik, Seona, and me in turn.
"You all know what the fourth Scenario is about, right?"
"Isn't it Capture the Flag?"
Unless some drastic change had occurred in the Main Scenario, the next Scenario was already set.
‘Capture the Flag.’
A war to seize one another's stations and flags, with every Seoul subway station serving as a Shelter Zone.
The beginning of a full-scale group competition that would lead into the Absolute Throne War.
Ye Hyeonu spoke again.
"The people gathered here are the strongest Readers in the Chungmuro area."
I looked Gyeongsik and Seona over once more.
Both of them were concealing their aura, but even at a glance, their overall abilities seemed higher than Uncle Dansu's or Gyeong Se-in's.
Seona asked, "There are probably Incarnations stronger than us, though. I'm not confident I could beat Pildu Gong one-on-one yet. I'd have to fight Lee Jihye or Jeong Huiwon to know."
"As you know, information is also a part of combat strength in this world."
"So you're looking at the long term?"
"That's right."
Even if the Readers were weaker than the Characters for now, they would inevitably grow stronger by devouring fortuitous opportunities.
Besides, they had survived through the third Scenario and proven their ability to stay alive.
They were the four Readers with the greatest abilities among them.
"You want to choose a Representative from among us?"
Ye Hyeonu nodded at Seona's words.
"Yes. More precisely..."
There was a reason he'd deliberately brought up this topic in a place where none of the Characters were present.
"We're going to choose a King."
Ye Hyeonu intended to elect a leader for the Readers.
* * *
To get straight to the point, we couldn't reach an amicable agreement. There were several reasons, but Seona's answer was the most decisive.
"You know that becoming a Representative means you'll be able to force the other members to do things, right?"
"I do."
"Even if we're in the same Apostles Association, it feels a little uncomfortable to leave the Representative role to someone else. Honestly, we don't know each other that well, do we? We aren't enemies, but we aren't close enough to trust each other with our lives, either."
I felt like the other Readers would give answers similar to Seona's if I asked them.
To sum it up, it was this.
I want to be the Representative.
"Let's compete fairly instead. As long as we don't harm each other, whoever becomes the station's Representative by whatever means, we'll acknowledge that person."
Unexpectedly, Ye Hyeonu readily accepted those words, and we descended to the platform in heavy silence.
There was already this much tension between us. The fourth Scenario probably wouldn't be easy.
As we approached the platform, Ye Hyeonu, who was walking beside me, spoke quietly.
"Mr. Inho."
"Yes?"
"You said earlier that you weren't Kim Dokja, right?"
I wondered what he meant, but Ye Hyeonu wore an unreadable smile.
"I hope you continue not to be Kim Dokja."
My heart went cold.
As expected, Ye Hyeonu was almost certain that I was the ‘Kim Dokja’ who had appeared on the rooftop.
I smiled shamelessly.
"Of course. I'm absolutely not Kim Dokja."
Ye Hyeonu silently watched me before speaking.
"Hearing you say that makes you sound exactly like the real Kim Dokja."
"Come on, I'm Inho Cheon. I look far too much like a villain to be a protagonist."
"That's true. You need to stay that way. Otherwise... I think I might find myself in a bit of trouble, too."
Trouble?
I was about to ask what that meant when I made eye contact with Literary Girl64, who was carrying Ground Rat meat a few steps away.
"Ah."
She looked at me with her usual cool gaze.
"You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
Literary Girl64.
A Reader who had read my novel, a short story by writer Lee Hakhyun.
As I looked at the soot staining her cheeks from the hard battle, I thought I understood why Han Suyeong had searched for Dokja so desperately.
If Literary Girl64 were in danger, I, too, would save her by any means necessary because she was proof that I had once survived as Lee Hakhyun.
"Thanks to you. How is Killer King?"
"He's starting to talk in his sleep, so I think he'll wake up soon. More importantly... you seem a little different."
"Excuse me?"
Literary Girl64 stared at my face for a long time, then shook her head and passed me.
"Was I mistaken?"
What had changed?
Had I become a little more handsome?
I looked at my reflection in the subway screen door.
At that moment, my head throbbed, and a strange memory surfaced.
「Sometimes when I take a selfie in the restroom, I don't think I'm that ugly.」
...What was that?
That wasn't a sentence I'd thought.
I stood blankly in front of the screen door and touched my face. It was definitely the same narrow-eyed Inho Cheon as always.
But... didn't I really look a little more handsome? Was it just my imagination?
"I heard a new Scenario is coming out soon?"
I heard the passing Incarnations talking.
"What kind of Scenario is it?"
"They say we're choosing a station Representative."
Rumors about the Scenario seemed to have spread.
[20 minutes remain until the Main Scenario begins.]
As soon as we returned to Chungmuro Station, Ye Hyeonu gathered everyone in the center of the platform.
Only around a hundred people had survived at Chungmuro Station.
I used [Reader Comment List] on every one of them to count the surviving Readers.
Twelve Readers remained.
The number had dropped considerably since the Theater Dungeon lobby.
There was no need to ask what had happened to the Readers who weren't here.
"Mr. Inho."
Gyeong Se-in and Uncle Dansu seemed to have noticed it, too. They stood there with sorrowful expressions.
"Don't worry. It'll be okay."
What would be okay?
Would it be okay to die here, become little Kim Dokjas, and be dragged into the theater of the Kim Dokja Representative?
"No matter what happens, I'll protect both of you."
Without even knowing what I was saying, I firmly gripped their shoulders and thought that, no matter what happened, I absolutely had to protect at least these people.
"We will now begin the emergency meeting."
Ye Hyeonu immediately got to the point. The content itself was simple.
Everyone had worked hard to clear the Scenarios so far. From now on, they would begin full-scale group survival.
To do that, they first needed to decide on this area's Representative.
Ye Hyeonu continued speaking with dazzling eloquence, then paused to catch his breath. He looked around and suddenly changed his tone.
"But before we begin in earnest, there is something I must confess to all of you."
I realized whom he was looking at.
He was looking at the Readers.
[The Incarnation Ye Hyeonu has activated Lie Detection.]
"I am an Apostle."
At the unexpected declaration, a few Readers gasped.
Most Incarnations, who had no idea what an Apostle was, only looked confused.
"An Apostle?"
"It means I know this world's future."
[Lie Detection has confirmed that statement to be true.]
The sudden statement threw the platform into chaos.
"W-what do you mean?"
"You know the future?"
Ye Hyeonu answered, "Those of you who have been with me since the beginning of the Scenarios will know. You know how I have cleared the Scenarios."
Some Incarnations nodded. They were members of the landlord coalition who had endured the Chungmuro Station Scenarios alongside Ye Hyeonu.
"Hyeonu really was unusual. He even brought back bugs as soon as the Scenario began."
"That's right. Without Hyeonu in the second Scenario, we all would've died. Isn't that right, Elder Pildu?"
Pildu, who was petting Max in the center of the platform, spoke up.
"Hyeonu did a great deal. That child certainly has information about the future."
Once even Pildu answered that way, people began whispering among themselves.
How could that boy know the future? What exactly was an Apostle?
It was precisely the confusion Ye Hyeonu had intended.
Ye Hyeonu addressed the flustered people in an untroubled voice.
"The reason I know the future is simple. I have read Revelation."
"Revelation?"
"Revelation is a book containing this world's story."
[Lie Detection has confirmed that statement to be true.]
As if dismissing the people's confusion, Ye Hyeonu slowly walked toward the center of the platform.
"I debated for a long time whether I should reveal this information. But I think it's time to tell you."
I saw through Ye Hyeonu's plan.
This world was the forty-first round of TWSA.
This was a completely different world from the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint we knew.
The world had become twisted because of the Readers, and some Scenarios had become even harder than those of the third round as the price of that distortion.
That was why Ye Hyeonu had decided.
"I can no longer stand by and watch innocent people die."
He had decided to recreate the method used by the prophets, the villains of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.
"I will share all the information I know from Revelation and save all of you. I will protect you, no matter what happens."
[Lie Detection has confirmed that statement to be true.]
He was revealing the existence of the Apostles to the world and revealing the true nature of Revelation.
[The Constellation Bald Army General is shocked by the existence of Revelation.]
[The Constellation Two-Faced Expert doubts that such a record truly exists.]
[The Constellation Nail-Eating Rat groans.]
[The Constellation King Heungmu wears an interested expression.]
[The Constellation The Last Hero of Hwangsanbeol looks as though what was bound to come has come.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon informs the Star Stream of this fact.]
...
[The Administration Bureau has begun discussing a Plausibility Compatibility Assessment.]
With this, the Constellations who had lost interest and wandered away would once again take an interest in this peninsula's story.
This world would move a little closer to the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint we knew.
"Let me introduce myself again. My name is Ye Hyeonu. I am someone who has read Revelation fifty times and remembers almost everything in Revelation."
And in this new world of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, the role Ye Hyeonu wanted was obvious.
[The Representative Election will begin in one minute.]
Ye Hyeonu was looking in my direction from afar.
「"I hope you continue not to be Kim Dokja."」
Only now did I understand why he'd said that.
"I want to become Chungmuro Station's Representative."
Right now, he was trying to become this world's Kim Dokja.
Footnotes:
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