WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 648: Episode 18: A reader's fight (1)
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Everything in the Star Stream was ultimately explained through fables.
[Incitement] was a skill that imitated the shell of those "fables."
A "story" born from someone's way of speaking, actions, and expressions.
It imitated the surface of that story to deceive Incarnations, and even the Star Stream itself.
Yet the skill ultimately couldn't imitate the essence of a fable.
[This Skill is linked to your memories.]
However, awakened [Incitement] made that impossibility possible to some extent.
The skill I was using now was proof of that.
[The Exclusive Skill taming Lv. 9 has been activated!]
「Following the path of aura extending toward Queen Mirvad, Shin Yuseong slowly approached the Queen's body.」
To read the fable someone had lived through, internalize it, then use [Incitement] to make myself into that "character."
Tzzzzt.
It was like [Stage Transformation] unfolding with my body as its backdrop.
The sentences Yuseong had lived through flowed through my mind in real time, and I was living through that scene once more.
「The Queen looked at Yuseong, and Yuseong looked at the Queen.」
The difference was that the ones reenacting that story now weren't Shin Yuseong and Queen Mirvad, but me and the Ancient Nagak.
Pshhh!
Blood poured from my nose.
It was the sensation of [taming] Yuseong had experienced every time. The shock of connecting with a being other than myself swept through my mind.
Kwoooooo!
The Ancient Nagak wildly swung its pincers in resistance. I dodged its attacks without letting go of the connection between us.
[The Exclusive Skill Advanced Inter-Species Communication Lv. 3 has been activated!]
「Stopstopstopstopstopstopstop」
It felt as though one mind had split into two bodies.
At that moment, I was the Ancient Nagak, and the Ancient Nagak was me.
My desire to tame the Ancient Nagak mixed with the Ancient Nagak's desire and its fear of me.
Like when I had once heard the language of Ground Rats, the Ancient Nagak's echoes surged into my mind.
「Aaaaaaaaaaaaa」
Words closer to screams.
「Dokkaebiscarydokkaebiscarydokkaebiscary」
Only then did I see the expression that had been impossible to read.
Until now, I had thought it was threatening me.
「Don't come」
But it was afraid of me. More precisely, it wasn't afraid of me.
「No no no no no」
It was afraid of this Scenario.
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband wonders what Nagak meat tastes like.]
A Tier-6 beast species was dangerous to Incarnations in the early stages. But from the Constellations' perspective, Incarnations and Tier-6 beast species were both nothing but insects.
[The Constellation Bald Army General says he could easily handle around a hundred Nagaks in his day.]
[The Constellation Naval Warfare God asks whether the Hall of the Nagak even existed back then.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon sneers at the conversation among young stars.]
Constellations were Constellations in the end.
They were here to watch stories.
The Ancient Nagak and I both had to spend our lives for them if we wanted to survive.
「Don'tcomedon'tcomedon'tcomedon'tcome」
We were alike.
[The Exclusive Skill taming Lv. 9 has been activated!]
Blood burst from my nose again. The monster's fear made my head feel as though it would split apart, and my breathing grew harsher.
Yuseong had continued using [taming] in this forced hell of empathy every time.
To tame beings unlike herself, she listened to them, understood them, and eventually became them.
「Beast Lord, Shin Yuseong.」
Only monsters could understand monsters.
Though she was still a child, Yuseong understood inhuman beings better than anyone.
Perhaps it was only natural that she had recognized Kim Dokja, who had become a Calamity, before anyone else.
"Don't worry."
Imitating Yuseong, I spoke to the Ancient Nagak.
"I won't hurt you."
Even if I used [Incitement] to make myself Yuseong, who had tamed Queen Mirvad, I didn't expect my current self to tame the Ancient Nagak.
[The character Shin Yuseong has succeeded in taming a Nagak!]
[The character Shin Yuseong has succeeded in taming a Nagak!]
All I wanted was to buy a little more time so Yuseong could tame one hundred Nagaks.
So we could escape this dungeon together.
[taming has failed.]
[Advanced Inter-Species Communication is being maintained.]
It didn't submit to me easily, and I didn't tame it.
We simply confronted each other.
Neither friends nor enemies.
[The Tier-6 sea monster Ancient Nagak is glaring at you.]
This standoff was the only way for us to endure this moment without hurting one another.
How many minutes had we spent staring at each other?
[The Tier-6 sea monster Ancient Nagak does not show hostility toward you.]
For the first time, our tense relationship changed.
[The Tier-6 sea monster Ancient Nagak is curious about you.]
Had it felt reassured by my attitude?
Its limp pincers touched the ground as though they had lost the will to fight. I could feel the air stored within its body escaping.
I only had to hold on a little longer.
[You have little Mana remaining.]
I only had to endure a little longer, but I was on the brink of running out of Mana. A Mana recovery potion might have helped, but I couldn't move my body at all.
「What could Mister Dokja be doing right now?」
All I could do was do my best to read Yuseong's sentences so this [Incitement] would last a little longer.
「I wonder if he's thinking about us.」
Information about Yuseong surfaced in my mind one after another.
Her height, weight, favorite things, things she wanted to eat, foods she hated. Her hobbies and talents. Her favorite comics. Her favorite novels. The person she liked. The thoughts she had while watching that person...
The longer [Incitement] continued, the more the rapidly rising torrent of information threatened to overwhelm my sense of self.
Tzzzzt.
At last, my Mana ran out. [taming] and [Advanced Inter-Species Communication] deactivated at the same time.
[Incitement], on the other hand, remained active.
「Mister. Mister. Mister. Mister.」
It became harder and harder to bear the sentences flooding in.
No matter how hard I tried to think of something else, nothing improved.
Maybe I had underestimated the sentences a person built up over a lifetime.
My sense of self gradually blurred until only Yuseong's voice, assimilated through [Incitement], remained in my head.
The Ancient Nagak, freed from our connection, was approaching me.
「You know.」
Was this Yuseong's inner self?
「I really miss you.」
Or was it a story that had never been written?
「But.」
What had happened to Yuseong?
Had [taming] ended?
Could we escape?
We.
「I really hate you.」
Shin Yuseong.
「I hate you so, so much.」
Me.
[The Tier-6 sea monster Ancient Nagak is preparing Area Ensemble!]
I thought I had to stop it, but no voice came out.
My body wouldn't obey me.
I couldn't think straight.
My body was collapsing because it couldn't overcome [Incitement].
Someone came close to me, and then I heard a voice.
"Mister, I did it. I tamed them all."
I turned toward the voice and asked, "Who..."
A child with a pale smile stood there.
"Me? Shin Yuseong!"
"Shin Yuseong is... me?"
The child tilted her head.
[The side effects of excessive Incitement have occurred!]
"...Mister?"
The child stared at me for a long while, then smiled faintly.
[The Tier-6 sea monster Ancient Nagak has started Area Ensemble.]
"Ah, you were trying to tame that one."
The child made a humming sound, interlaced her fingers with mine, and reached her other hand toward the Ancient Nagak.
"But that's not how you do it."
A faint Thread of light extended from her fingertips and connected to the Ancient Nagak.
I blankly watched the scene. I had no idea what was happening.
[The character Shin Yuseong has tamed the Ancient Nagak!]
[There are no sea monsters remaining in the Hall of the Nagak.]
[The dungeon will be forcibly terminated shortly.]
[All personnel will be expelled to the lobby shortly.]
How?
So easily.
I still couldn't think straight.
Just moments ago, she had struggled to tame even one Nagak.
My mouth moved on its own.
"Shin... Yuseong..."
The child happily nodded.
"Yes! That's me."
"I am... Shin Yuseong."
"You are?"
Yuseong tilted her head again, then gave a small smile.
She cupped my cheeks in both hands and began slapping them from either side.
"No! I'm Shin Yuseong! Snap out of it!"
[The influence of Incitement is gradually weakening.]
I stared blankly down at her and asked, "Then... who... am I?"
Who was I again?
I was definitely something, too.
Why couldn't I remember?
I was...
"You're asking who you are?"
The child gripped my cheeks tightly with both hands. Her eyes shone gold.
She slowly brought her lips to my ear and whispered in an ominous voice.
"You're Kim Dokja."
[Incitement has been deactivated.]
I lost consciousness just like that.
* * *
"You still pass out all the time, Mister."
Shin Yuseong laid the collapsed Inho Cheon neatly on the floor, then lightly brushed back his disheveled hair.
"But why Inho Cheon of all people?"
Yuseong examined Inho's face from every angle and pouted.
"Is it because Mister went into him? He does seem a little more handsome."
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer is glaring at you.]
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer asks when exactly you possessed someone.]
Yuseong picked her ear with her pinky, blew on it, and said, "I hear an insect crying somewhere."
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer is enraged!]
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer says this is unfair!]
Yuseong snickered and mouthed the words.
―Then you should become a character, too.
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer says they cannot come because they have no character to possess.]
"Mm. It's noisy. Don't the dokkaebis here manage their channels?"
When the child glanced up, faint sparks drifted across the dungeon ceiling.
[The Constellation Naval Warfare God complains that the broadcast has been cut off for a while.]
[The Constellation Bald Army General says he thought only his broadcast was malfunctioning.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon threatens to request a refund from the Administration Bureau if this keeps happening.]
[The Administration Bureau is inspecting the channels in this area.]
As Indirect Messages erupted everywhere, Yuseong silently watched the collapsed Inho.
His face looked exhausted and worn out.
As though he was having a bad dream, he soon began talking in his sleep.
"Please save me, Junghyeok-nim."
Yuseong opened her mouth slightly, then snickered.
"Is Mister Junghyeok here a little violent, too?"
[The Constellation Secretive Plotter says that the black one is violent everywhere.]
Yuseong looked down at Inho as he continued talking in his sleep and gave a bitter smile.
"It seems a lot happened again."
Many things would happen to him from now on.
Events more memorable than the fables they had lived through and built together might fill his life.
Yuseong hated herself for thinking such things.
"Mister."
There were many things she wanted to ask.
But she also knew she couldn't hear the answers.
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer says that this Mister isn't the Dokja hyung we know.]
Yuseong nodded.
"I know that too. I do, but..."
Biting her lip, Yuseong thought of the star that had always protected her sky, and imagined the dream he had dreamed.
"This person is Mister, too."
The two children watched the collapsed Inho for a long time.
Then something sparkling flowed from the tamed Ancient Nagak toward Inho's body.
[A new disappearance has been recorded.]
Something very faint and insignificant, yet softly shining.
Yuseong realized what it was.
It was undoubtedly a fable.
Her eyes widened as she looked down at Inho.
"The reason Mister came to this world was..."
[A disappearance has been recorded in the Final Wall.]
Yuseong's expression froze.
Something was watching them.
The solemn yet distant wall that recorded everything in this world was looking down at them.
[The Constellation Sinister Schemer growls.]
As though protecting her, Gilyeong stepped forward. Then a distant gaze plunged down at them.
The world spoke to them.
「Th is is n ot a pa ge al lot ted to y ou.」
The dungeon collapsed, and everything faded into the light.
Footnotes:
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