WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 639: Episode 16: The Fifth Scenario (1)
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The lightning-struck Outer God warped as it laboriously spewed out Fable Fragments.
The Fable Fragments that had lost the context supporting them splintered into words, then vanished into consonants and vowels.
[The Constellation Last Ark has fulfilled his long-cherished wish.]
[The Constellation Last Ark has been freed from his contract with the Outer God.]
As expected, the Ark had been bound by a contract with a divinity.
[The Constellation Last Ark thanks you.]
[The Constellation Last Ark has passed his fable on to you.]
...He gave me a fable?
I wanted to check what I had received right away, but I didn't have the time.
【Wri wri ter ca ca n't n't】
The Outer God, not yet fully destroyed, dragged its halved upper body across the ground as it wailed.
【Craw ■ ling ■ ■... will be an gry】
I had to finish this either way.
I prepared to activate [Electrification] once more.
【If un able to be come a Recor der】
It turned its chilling eyes toward me. Its entire fable scattered like sand crumbling in the wind.
Just then, the surroundings spun around, and I was forcibly thrown out of Snowfield.
The instant my darkened vision returned, I saw the floor of the old martial arts arena. The sharp smell of blood filled my nose.
I staggered as I looked around.
What happened to everyone else?
As my hearing returned, murmurs rose from all directions. The sharp clash of weapons finally pulled me back into reality.
The battle was still going on.
"Everyone, fall back!"
Thankfully, the Worldview Invasion seemed to have stopped.
There were about a dozen jiangshi left, and under Huiwon's lead, they seemed to be getting dealt with smoothly.
Where did it go?
It had definitely escaped here, but there wasn't a trace of the Outer God anywhere.
Huiwon, watching from afar, widened her eyes and shouted.
"Move!"
I turned at the sudden chill and saw something rushing at me from behind.
It was a Tier-7 nonhuman species, an Iron Jiangshi.
Something about its condition was strange.
[A Tier-7 nonhuman species, Iron Jiangshi, is attempting Blood-Point Explosion.]
Blood-Point Explosion.
The dark crimson aura wrapped around its body swelled as if it were about to burst. I didn't need an explanation to know what kind of technique it was.
It was going to self-destruct.
I tried to step away from it, but then...
[Your physical abilities have greatly decreased due to the penalty of Incitement.]
The backlash from [Incitement], which I had used earlier, had finally caught up with me. My feet wouldn't move as I wanted them to.
Cold sweat beaded down my back.
"Get out of the way!"
Thankfully, Huiwon was faster. At this rate, she would save me before the Iron Jiangshi exploded.
Still, something felt wrong. Like I had left an important sentence out of the page I had just written.
Behind Huiwon, another Iron Jiangshi pushed through the formation of jiangshi and charged forward.
[A Tier-7 nonhuman species, Iron Jiangshi, is attempting Blood-Point Explosion.]
Damn it, there was another one.
And the jiangshi was headed for...
「If un able to be come a Recor der」
The Outer God's final words rippled through my ears.
I shouted on instinct.
"Huiwon-ssi! Stop the one behind you first!"
Realizing something, Huiwon looked where I was staring.
[The activation conditions for Exclusive Skill □□ have been fulfilled.]
[You have entered Snowfield.]
The world quickly faded into monochrome. Thankfully, the Skill activated in time.
[Exclusive Skill □□ has been activated.]
[A branch has occurred in an important event.]
Other than manual activation, Skill [□□] only activated when a character made an unexpected move or a branch occurred in an important event.
This time, it said a branch had occurred in an important event.
That meant an event that would become a turning point in this world's development was about to happen here.
+
# Berserk Butcher
「At that moment, Jeong Huiwon □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□...」
* You can add a total of 300 characters based on your current proficiency.
+
[You can remain in Snowfield for a total of 8 minutes.]
I stared blankly at the title of the scene.
'Berserk Butcher.'
Yu Junghyeok of the 41st round had told me something.
If I wanted to become his Companion, I should recruit the Berserk Butcher as one.
It wasn't difficult.
If I succeeded, I would gain Junghyeok's trust and secure my survival in this round.
I wasn't Kim Dokja, so I didn't need to go out of my way and meddle in unnecessary things.
When I had first entered this world through Possession, I had been someone for whom that would have been enough.
My breath shook. Even though my body had frozen along with time and space, my heart kept pounding without rest.
「Lee Hakhyun didn't want to bring the Berserk Butcher to Yu Junghyeok.」
Every writer had a story they didn't want to write. They also had the freedom not to write it.
「Because Lee Hakhyun now knew who the Berserk Butcher was.」
But when the ending of a dazzling episode lay right before your eyes, and you realized the story would finally be complete with just one more sentence...
How many writers could refuse to write that final sentence?
「The protagonist of this scene was Jeong Huiwon.」
Huiwon, who was running toward me, was looking back.
I was in front of her, and her younger brother, Jeong Eunho, was behind her.
That much was fine.
The problem was that there were two Iron Jiangshi.
One was rushing toward me, while the other was charging at Eunho.
Both were preparing self-destruct attacks.
The person Huiwon didn't save would most likely die.
The title of this scene was 'Berserk Butcher.'
Even someone who wasn't a writer could guess what would happen next.
But that content hadn't been written yet, so perhaps it wasn't too late.
I began writing.
Carefully, with dense prose, using the finest expression I could write.
「...And so, Jeong Huiwon miraculously saved both people. (297 characters total)」
Even after I wrote that...
[You have described something absolutely impossible.]
[The chance of successfully reproducing this description is below 0.01%.]
[Your allotted Plausibility is insufficient.]
[Checking reader feedback.]
0.01%.
+
rlaehrwk37 : ...
rlaehrwk78 : Honestly, this feels forced
+
I knew that, too.
It was physically impossible for Huiwon to save both me and her brother right now.
Still, hadn't I forced similar things several times already?
On the bridge where I met Yu Junghyeok, I had saved my Allies by sacrificing both my arms.
I wrote the sentence again and again.
Just like then, I only had to give up a few things. If I wrote it so that Eunho somehow survived while I was severely injured but lived...
[The chance of successfully reproducing this description is below 0.01%.]
[Your allotted Plausibility is insufficient.]
...
[The chance of successfully reproducing this description is below 0.01%.]
[Your allotted Plausibility is insufficient.]
...
Something was strange.
No matter how I wrote it, the chance of reproduction was absurdly low.
Even if I gave up an arm, a leg, or an eye, the result didn't change.
[Checking reader feedback.]
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rlaerhwk99 : Are important characters always saved?
rlaehrwk141 : Then the story gets kind of predictable
+
A storm raged in my head.
I knew it was a story that lacked Plausibility. Still, the readers' reactions shocked me.
+
rlaehrwk41 : Didn't ORV start by blowing people's heads off?
rlaehrwk37 : Newbie, stay quiet
rlaehrwk124 : It's bitter, but that's what makes it fun
+
As the readers' feedback continued, I watched the timer run down.
[2 minutes remain.]
There wasn't time. I couldn't write many more sentences.
In a world where everything I wrote became reality, what sentence should a writer write?
What sentence could a writer write?
What did it mean for a writer to write a good work?
[Your allotted Plausibility is insufficient.]
Allowed Plausibility.
Fortunately, I still had Plausibility points I had accumulated until now.
'Plausibility points' were the power that made 'impossible' things 'possible.'
Like when Huiwon awakened, if I used the Plausibility I had gathered once again...
[Due to a current Skill error, you cannot use Plausibility Investment.]
A Skill error. Ever since fighting Han Suyeong last time, Skill [□□] had been malfunctioning.
[1 minute remains.]
My mind gradually went blank.
At this rate, either Eunho or I would definitely die.
「At that moment, someone came into Lee Hakhyun's view.」
My mouth fell open.
Maybe.
「There was one. Just one way to save both Lee Hakhyun and Jeong Eunho.」
I looked at one person.
It felt as if lightning flashed through my mind. Though I knew I shouldn't write it that way, I couldn't stop my hand. It was as though my hand existed solely to complete that sentence.
And then...
「...It was finally the ending the readers wanted. (297 characters total)」
[The chance of successfully reproducing this description is over 90%.]
[You have described something plausible.]
An astonishingly high chance of reproduction.
Snowfield spoke, and the readers spoke.
+
rlaehrwk37 : So it ends up like this
rlaehrwk99 : (tears)
rlaehrwk41 : Ahh
+
The hand writing the sentence trembled violently.
The readers were right. If Eunho and I were both going to live, this was the only way.
But this was a story that shouldn't be written.
No matter how well-crafted a story was, some stories shouldn't be written.
For me right then, this was one of those stories.
I erased every sentence I had written and began again.
「Lee Hakhyun made a decision.」
Even if the chance of reproduction was 0.01%.
[30 seconds remain.]
[You have described something absolutely impossible.]
[The chance of successfully reproducing this description is below 0.01%.]
Just this once, I would write an impossible story.
[20 seconds remain.]
[You have described something absolutely impossible.]
[The chance of successfully reproducing this description is below 0.01%.]
Without giving up, again and again.
Again, time after time.
[10 seconds remain.]
[You have described something absolutely impossible.]
[The chance of successfully reproducing this description is below 0.01%.]
.
.
.
Why could I only write stories like this?
[You have exited Snowfield.]
The world's colors were returning.
Within that bewildering scene, I thought that perhaps I wasn't qualified to be a writer.
I didn't write the sentence that would complete the work. I wrote what I wanted to write.
The chance of success was tiny, and the chance of reproduction was close to zero.
Then I prayed.
If someone was reading this story, please add Plausibility to it.
[You have failed to reproduce the scene.]
It was a message I had never heard before.
A hollow feeling flooded my chest.
The sentences I wrote weren't reproduced. They couldn't become reality.
But then...
「Can a failed sentence become a story?」
The instant I heard the next sentence, goosebumps rose all over my body.
Because I knew that sentence.
「Lee Hakhyun shouted.」
It was a sentence I had written, then erased.
"No! Go back! Hurry!"
「In that fleeting instant, Jeong Huiwon made a choice.」
But perhaps it was a story I had truly wanted to write.
"Inho-ssi!"
「'Save Inho Cheon.'」
Huiwon held me as she kicked the charging Iron Jiangshi.
The moment its body flew into the air, Huiwon threw her sword, imbued with the power of [Demon Slaying] and [Hour of Judgement], straight at the Iron Jiangshi's torso.
The Iron Jiangshi was split in two on the spot without even resisting.
The problem was the other side.
"Jeong Eunho!"
I saw the other Iron Jiangshi charging at Eunho, who had collapsed on the ground.
The Outer God's ominous fable could be felt from its entire body.
At the final moment, the Iron Jiangshi looked at me and smiled.
「Why do they go this far?」
I actually knew the answer.
「They want to be recorded in this story, even if only this way.」
It felt as though the entire world were flowing in slow motion.
The Iron Jiangshi ran with smoke pouring from its head. People screamed. Sergeant Kim shouted. Huiwon hurriedly turned around. The Iron Jiangshi reached for Eunho again.
To stop that scene from happening, I changed the order of my sentences, changed the words, and wrote new sentences again and again.
Then I thought.
How many times had this incident happened in TWSA?
How many times had Eunho died here, and how many times had Huiwon lost her brother here?
And...
「How many times had Jeong Huiwon become the Berserk Butcher?」
When I shifted my gaze, I met the eyes of someone standing near Eunho.
In that eternity-like span of time, only the two of us looked at each other, thinking the same thing.
I didn't know him well.
I knew nothing about how old he was, where he lived, what he liked, or what he hated.
All I knew was that he had read this story.
I reached out to him.
I wanted to shout. I tried to tell him to stop.
An explosion rang out, and the people around the arena were thrown into the air before crashing to the ground.
Amid ragged breathing, time returned to its normal speed.
「This story is still 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』.」
Huiwon and I ran toward Eunho at the same time.
「Therefore, it was written for only one reader.」
Through the pale dust, I saw Eunho's skull mask lying on the ground.
「And at the same time, it was completed through the sacrifice of only one reader.」
A man tightly embraced Eunho.
He was drenched in blood.
All the flesh on his back had been torn away, and his organs, burned so thoroughly that bone showed, had already ceased to function.
They were wounds he couldn't survive.
Huiwon collapsed to the ground.
I staggered over and shook him.
This couldn't be happening.
There was no reason you, of all people, should end up this way.
He won't die. He has [Strong Bones] and [Solid Bones], doesn't he?
The man slowly raised his head with difficulty and looked at Huiwon.
Only then did I remember the comments he had left.
He was someone about to enlist. Someone who had decided to confess to the person he liked.
I remembered the things I had seen of him, too.
He was someone afraid of death.
Someone who betrayed his fellow soldiers and threw himself into the Beggar's Sect. Someone who had suddenly abandoned the child who had unexpectedly become his responsibility and run away.
He wasn't Huiwon's father.
He was only an audience member who had read this story and been dragged here.
Even so, on the stage of this tragedy, he spoke the single line he had practiced all this time.
"Well done, Huiwon."
Footnotes:
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