WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 644: Episode 18: A reader's fight (1)
──────
In Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, there were a few people who had suddenly become “characters.”
Lee Seongguk and Jeong Minseop, who had been prophets, were examples.
They had been readers of TWSA from “outside the novel,” along with Kim Dokja, but they became characters as time passed.
The two became characters right after the Scenario's progression overtook that of the novel they knew.
In other words, they became characters the moment they passed the point where they had stopped reading.
Then what about Yi Hyunwoo?
Unlike Seongguk or Minseop, he was a reader who had completed Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint a full fifty times.
Yet Characterization had still occurred.
Just what was the mechanism behind Characterization?
For now, I checked Hyunwoo's Character Profile.
+
<Character Profile>
Name:
Age: 17
Patron: None (Currently, seven Constellations are showing interest).
Exclusive Attributes: Leader of the Silver Screen (Hero), Shooting Expert (Rare), Forerunner (Rare), ■■■ ■■ (???)
Exclusive Skills: [Weapon Mastery Lv.4], [Mental Barrier Lv.5], [Lie Detection Lv.3], [Leadership Lv.3], [Mana Sharing Lv.5], [Lie Detection Lv.4]...
Stigma: None
Overall Attributes: [Constitution Lv.35], [Strength Lv.30], [Agility Lv.28], [Mana Lv.40]
Overall Evaluation: An Incarnation who has displayed astonishing growth from the beginning, and many Constellations are currently watching him. A few Constellations find the strange sense of incongruity they feel from him unpleasant.
+
Other than the three question marks beside his name and part of his Attributes being filtered, the Profile window was exactly the same as those of characters.
The question marks beside his name were probably Hyunwoo's real name, while the filtered Attributes were likely related to being a reader.
Even from his overall Attributes and Skill levels, I could tell how diligently Hyunwoo had grown until now.
Why had Hyunwoo become a character at this exact point?
Come to think of it, even in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, the exact mechanism of Characterization was never revealed.
Lee Gilyeong and Yu Sangah had also come from “outside the novel,” but information for their Character Profiles had begun being collected much later than it had for Seongguk or Minseop.
I took a light breath and called Hyunwoo's name, doing my best not to let anything show.
“Hyunwoo-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“You remember the contents of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, right?”
Hyunwoo stared at me, then lowered his voice and asked,
“You mean Revelation?”
“Ah, yes.”
Come to think of it, that was what the Apostles called Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.
“Of course I remember it. I've read it so many times. You know that.”
“You remember what our goal is, right?”
“Our goal? To see the end of this world.”
“And?”
“And...”
Why had I asked that?
I didn't know, either. I just wanted to confirm that even though he had become a character, he was still the Hyunwoo I remembered, that he still knew this world was a novel, and that he was a reader who wanted to return to his original world.
But then...
“Being happy?”
I blanked out for a moment.
「Whatever it is, this time, tell a story where you're happy.」
Kim Dokja's words came to mind. Hyunwoo smiled awkwardly.
“Why are you suddenly asking something like... Hm? Inho-ssi, are you okay?”
“...”
“Inho-ssi?”
“Ah, yes.”
Hyunwoo reached out and grabbed my shoulder.
“You seem a little off. You're breaking out in a cold sweat, too. Let's go talk inside the tent for a bit.”
Hyunwoo led me into the tent, where I sat in one of the chairs.
“Have this.”
My breathing calmed a little after I drank the warm leaf tea Hyunwoo offered me.
Still, leaf tea in times like these?
“How did you get something like this?”
“I acted cute for the Constellations.”
The grin on Hyunwoo's face somehow resembled the Kim Dokja I remembered. Could it be that Hyunwoo liked tea because he was also a fragment of Kim Dokja?
Then what had happened to Kim Dokja's other fragments?
I decided to get straight to the point.
“I'd like to hear a brief account of the current situation.”
I had come to Gwanghwamun because of Hyunwoo's message.
“We failed to secure the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword.”
Considering the finale of the fourth Scenario, securing the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword now was essential.
Just what had happened that they failed to obtain it?
“I think I should first tell you what happened in Chungmuro after you left.”
When I nodded, Hyunwoo briefly told me about the events of the past few days.
“Right after you left, we began expanding our forces.”
It was the obvious next step.
The Capture the Flag had already begun, so there was no reason to waste more time.
They cleared minor Sub Scenarios, took flags from other stations, and fought the Incarnations of hostile forces.
Hyunwoo's expression darkened for a moment, but he forced a smile.
“Seona and Uncle Gyeongsik helped us a lot during that.”
Gu Seona and Kim Gyeongsik.
I remembered their names, too.
Readers who had completed Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint eight and six times, respectively.
They had both been among the strongest fighters in the Theater Dungeon, so they had probably grown even stronger by now.
I understood again why the other groups were wary of the Chungmuro group.
With those two, Pildu Gong, and Hyunwoo working together, Chungmuro practically had the strongest combat force at this point.
“What about Killer King and his younger sister?”
“They left the station soon after you did.”
Like Yu Junghyeok, Killer King seemed to travel only with his younger sister.
Junghyeok was probably on the move with Yu Mia by now, too.
“After that, a war broke out with the nearby stations, and the Singijeon you gave us was incredibly useful.”
The A-grade replica, Singijeon.
It seemed the reward I had obtained from the Theater Dungeon had proved quite useful.
“Everything went smoothly until we encountered the Alliance at Gwanghwamun Station.”
“The Alliance?”
“Yes. An Alliance force led by the Tyrant King was waiting for us.”
“Even the Tyrant King should have had trouble dealing with Elder Pildu and you as you are now.”
Pildu Gong and Hyunwoo might each be manageable on their own, but together, they were a duo whose synergy more than doubled.
If Pildu's [Armed Zone] and Hyunwoo's [Mana Sharing] combined, there should have been no one to fear in the early Scenarios except Junghyeok.
“Ha... To be honest, I thought so too, and let my guard down.”
To get straight to the conclusion, Hyunwoo and Pildu hadn't even been able to properly fight the Tyrant King's side.
“Dividing our forces was a mistake. Part of our main force was ambushed inside the National Palace Museum.”
“So that's why the National Palace Museum is...”
Before entering the tent, I had seen the National Palace Museum, completely collapsed.
The building had crumpled as if it had been bombed.
“Yes, that's right. An explosion went off inside, and the whole building collapsed. Because of that, it's impossible to enter right now.”
“Couldn't you use the turrets to blast away parts of the building and get inside?”
“Then the Companions inside might get hurt.”
The sincerity in Hyunwoo's expression as he said that honestly moved me.
I was truly glad that people like them were readers.
The problem was that there were bad people targeting them.
“Setting a trap in the National Palace Museum means the enemy knows about the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword, too.”
“Yes. It seems someone knows the information in Revelation.”
Someone who knew the information in Revelation.
Was it another reader, or the Readers' Association?
Come to think of it, prophets had stood beside the Tyrant King in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, too. The situation was unfolding in a strangely similar way.
“Who went inside from our side?”
“Seona, and Uncle Gyeongsik...”
“Uncle Gyeongsik went in too?”
Gyeongsik had the [Smoke Human] Skill. [Smoke Human] was a Skill that used smoke from a pipe to turn his body gaseous.
Yet even Gyeongsik had lost contact?
“Yes. He said that if anything happened, he would escape even if he had to do so alone and let us know what was going on, but...”
“What about the others?”
“There are a few other group members, but none of them have high Attributes. And...”
Hyunwoo hesitated slightly before adding the last part.
“Uncle Dansu went in, too.”
“Uncle Dansu is here?”
Uncle Dansu had definitely gone to Myeongdong Station with Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon.
“I saw him leave with Lee Jihye too, but he came here alone last night.”
At that moment, even though I hadn't heard anything else, I felt like I understood what had happened.
If he had abandoned even the mission entrusted to him and returned, there could only be one reason.
“He said Jiyoon is inside that museum.”
* * *
After making some simple preparations, I stood at the entrance of the collapsed National Palace Museum.
“Are you sure you'll be okay going in alone?”
“I have to go alone anyway.”
The old me would have naturally entered with guards.
But I couldn't bring anyone with me now. To enter that ruined building, I had to use a special item I possessed.
“Transform into the Myriad Transformations Stealth Suit.”
When I gave the command through [Incitement], Thought changed into a translucent garment that covered my whole body.
One of the Myriad Transformations Stealth Suit's functions was changing appearance. This item could transform its user into whatever appearance they wanted.
[The effect of Myriad Transformations Stealth Suit has activated!]
Creeeak.
My body shrank in an instant, becoming the size of a handspan as though I had used Miniaturization.
[You have reached the transformation limit of Myriad Transformations Stealth Suit.]
[You can no longer become any smaller.]
[A Constellation who has yet to reveal its modifier is interested in the way you use your item.]
Hyunwoo's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at me.
“I'll have a lot I want to ask when you get back.”
“I'm not sure I'll give you the chance to ask.”
“That would be something.”
We smiled faintly at each other.
“Then I'll be going.”
For now, my goal was to descend through the rubble and infiltrate the National Palace Museum dungeon.
Just as I was about to enter between the collapsed stones, Hyunwoo called out to me again.
“Inho-ssi.”
When I glanced back, Hyunwoo was looking at me with a complicated expression.
“Inho-ssi... You're not a ‘reader,’ are you?”
Hyunwoo had probably guessed who I was to some extent by now.
So this time, I didn't lie, regardless of what he meant by ‘reader.’
“Yes. I'm not.”
“You have to come back. Even if you don't give me a chance to ask questions, you have to.”
I nodded, then entered the ruined building at once. As I quickly passed through the gaps in the piles of stone, a collapsed marble lobby soon appeared.
I examined the faces of the people sprawled among the rubble. I occasionally saw familiar faces, but neither Uncle Dansu nor any readers were among them.
[A new Hidden Scenario has arrived!]
At last, the lobby leading into the dungeon appeared.
It seemed the people I was looking for were deeper inside.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
