WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 662: Episode 20: Reader (4)
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Cha Seongu had possessed a good memory since childhood.
Just how good was it? Good enough that he remembered every detail of the moment his parents abandoned him and his younger sister in front of an orphanage when he was four. The snowy street, his mother's expression, his sister wailing, and the dawn cold that seeped into him by the second.
They were memories he wanted to forget, if he could. Since he couldn't erase them, he decided to pile up more memories until they no longer meant anything.
"Seongu really loves books. Are you going to become a writer when you grow up?"
He remembered the orphanage teacher saying that as she stroked his head.
"I'm just going to become someone who reads lots of books."
He even remembered the expression the teacher made immediately after hearing those words.
He read, and read, and read some more.
Sometimes, he read aloud to someone else.
"What book do you have?"
His younger sister didn't remember being abandoned.
Maybe she had been too young. Or perhaps it was because she had been blind from an early age.
Either way, Seongu was a little jealous of his sister for not remembering it. That might have been why he deliberately chose books that looked boring to read to her.
"A literary magazine."
"Read it to me."
Looking back, he had read that novel because of his sister.
As usual, he had been reading her a book by an author she liked when she suddenly said she wanted to read the author's new work. So he searched for it on an orphanage teacher's computer.
『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』.
It was a strange title.
It was the first web novel he had ever read. It was also long, so he thought it worked out well. The more text he read, the farther away his childhood memories would become.
That was why he began reading it.
"Oppa."
Yet, when he came to his senses, he had read that novel dozens of times.
"Why do you like that novel so much?"
When his sister asked, Seongu answered like this.
"Because I don't understand the ending no matter how many times I read it."
"What don't you understand?"
"It can't be true that every reader who read it is a fragment of Kim Dokja."
"Huh?"
"The readers who read it can't all be fragments of Dokja. It doesn't make sense in terms of Plausibility or chronology."
"It's just a novel."
Every novel was fiction.
In other words, it was a writer's lie.
It would have been easy if he had accepted it that way.
Even so, Seongu couldn't think that way. So he logically denied the ending, doubted it, and examined it. He read the sentences he had already read, then read them again.
As a result, he realized something. Could the reason he wanted to deny this novel's ending so badly be that he wanted to believe it was the truth?
If there really was a past he couldn't remember.
If somewhere in this universe, the Star Stream existed, along with Yu Junghyeok and Han Suyeong.
If the story he had forgotten, the life he had loved, and another origin that formed the source of who he was existed somewhere he didn't know, rather than the parents who had abandoned him.
'I...'
If there was a reason for all his misfortune.
'I am Yu Junghyeok.'
Slowly opening his eyes, Cha Seongu, Killer King, coolly assessed the situation.
The world that had existed only in print, the fiction that had existed as a writer's lie, was vividly unfolding before his eyes.
「The Lesser Dragon roared into the air.」
The world he had dreamed of was now reality.
「The Extermination Phase was beginning.」
He was confident that he understood this world better than even the writer who had written it.
"Find a platform."
The Calamity Episode, a section he had already read over a hundred times.
"The beast species changed, but the Scenario hasn't. There should be a Hidden Piece that can activate a shield when the Extermination Phase begins."
The poison-using Lesser Dragon was a Calamity well within his expectations.
"Over there."
Literary Girl 64, Cha Yerin, found a platform.
When the group stepped onto it together, a series of messages appeared before them.
[Hidden Piece has activated.]
[Numbered platforms have been activated.]
[If the appropriate number of people enter the platform, you can activate Absolute Shield for 10 seconds.]
[Absolute Shield will not activate if fewer or more people than the displayed number stand on the platform.]
The platform they found was marked with a 5.
Killer King looked over his group.
'Me, Yerin, Lee Dansu, Shin Yuseong, and that guy.'
Including the unconscious Inho Cheon, there were five people in total.
The platform soon turned green.
[You can activate Absolute Shield.]
In the distance, Incarnations who hadn't found a platform were scrambling about. Some of them stepped on the flower buds blooming from the ground.
"What is this-"
Before the Incarnation could finish speaking, the flower buds on the ground blossomed.
Killer King immediately activated the shield.
[You have activated Absolute Shield!]
[The Grade-5 poison dragon species Lesser Dragon Poisoner has used Death's Red Spider Lily.]
A field of red spider lilies bloomed all at once. Green spores rapidly spread and covered the labyrinth.
Flower buds rose from the skin of the Incarnations touched by the spores, and their bodies rapidly shriveled.
"Urk."
The Incarnations, transformed into mummies, died one after another.
Spores from the red spider lilies that grew using them as fertilizer consumed the area.
The only safe place was where Absolute Shield had activated.
[Absolute Shield has been deactivated.]
[Death's Red Spider Lily has disappeared.]
In a single Extermination Phase, every Incarnation except them died.
Stems of dead plants and the corpses of Incarnations lay scattered across the clearing after the spores vanished.
They had been lucky this time, but the numbered platforms couldn't keep conveniently matching their number forever.
The subtle smile of the mid-level dokkaebi floating in the air proved it.
If another platform marked with a 5 didn't appear next time, someone in the group would certainly be killed or injured.
[The platform locations will be regenerated in 1 minute.]
In other words, they had to settle this before the next Extermination Phase began.
"Patron."
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos watches their own Incarnation.]
"Is support with a constellation artifact still impossible?"
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos replies that your Status is still insufficient.]
"Then I want the support of a blessing."
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos demands compensation.]
"I'll give half the share of the first King Fable I obtain to Eden."
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos has accepted the Incarnation's request.]
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos has bestowed Valkyrie's Blessing.]
Valkyrie's Blessing.
[Valkyrie's Blessing has been temporarily activated.]
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos adds that this blessing can only be used in this Scenario.]
Killer King felt faint warmth settle over his entire body.
It was unmistakably a fire-aligned buff.
He immediately took out a bead glowing with a brilliant blue light from his pocket.
"I'll trade this Blue Ice Pill for Red Fire Pills. You can use the auction house or the Dokkaebi Compendium. Do it as quickly as possible. I'll cover the fee."
The poison dragon species, which had been catching its breath in the center of the clearing, turned toward them.
[The Constellation Commander of the Red Cosmos has accepted the Incarnation's request.]
[You have acquired 5 Red Fire Pills!]
The poison dragon species' violently spinning tail came rushing toward them.
Killer King ran with the group and threw the Red Fire Pills at his sister.
"Yerin!"
The key to this plan was his younger sister, Cha Yerin.
Yerin immediately swallowed the Red Fire Pills. At the same time, faint flames rose over her entire body.
Her brows furrowed slightly.
She had swallowed five Red Fire Pills. Her stomach must have been boiling like hellfire.
Yerin said, "Forty seconds."
That meant she could endure the heat with [Fire Resistance] for forty seconds.
Killer King looked at Dansu.
"Now."
Dansu, running on the right, nodded and placed a hand against the labyrinth wall.
At once, black dots began converging on the wall from somewhere.
Cockroaches.
A swarm of cockroaches rose like dust and clung to the poison dragon species' head.
Grrroooar!
As if annoyed, the poison dragon species scattered a radial Breath through the air.
The insects blocking its vision melted away helplessly.
The poison dragon species snorted triumphantly, then roared once more.
White light swept before its eyes.
Sharp claws tore open one of the poison dragon species' eyes.
It was Yerin's [White Pure Star Energy], imbued with the flames of the Red Fire Pills.
It was an effective blow, but not enough to bring down a Minor Calamity.
In the main story, Dokja had activated the attribute effect of Unbreakable Faith and the Stigma [Song of the Sword] to defeat the Calamity.
But Yerin had neither Unbreakable Faith nor [Song of the Sword].
'This was the [Valkyrie's Blessing] I received to make up for it.'
When Killer King stretched out a hand toward his sister, the blessing flowing from his body transferred to Yerin.
It was the effect of the Exclusive Skill [Heart-to-Heart], which allowed buffs to be shared between them.
[White Pure Star Energy], [Valkyrie's Blessing], and even the power of the Red Fire Pills.
Even so, they still lacked attack power.
Even if he were Dokja, this combination alone wouldn't have been enough to hunt the Calamity.
But the Incarnation standing there wasn't Dokja.
"Go, Yerin."
His sister, Cha Yerin, was different from Dokja.
Unlike Dokja, who had no talent for skills, Yerin overflowed with talent.
Her proficiency with learned skills rose quickly, and her overall abilities surpassed Dokja's.
[The Incarnation Yi Seyeon has activated Fighting Action Mode!]
A controller appeared before Killer King's eyes.
He remembered the orphanage. He remembered fighting with the other children over a controller just to play one game.
Killer King had won that fight, and he had held this controller longer than anyone.
"Dark Spinning Breaker."
[You have successfully activated an advanced command!]
Yerin's claws, burning dark red, rapidly slashed across the poison dragon species' entire body.
Krrrack!
The poison dragon species' thick carapace couldn't withstand Yerin's attacks, strengthened by Fighting Action Mode.
[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire admires the Incarnations' ingenuity!]
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband nods at Incarnation Yi Seyeon's fighting spirit.]
[Some Constellations have sponsored 500 coins to Incarnation Yi Seyeon!]
Exclamations erupted from the Constellations all around.
Gripping the heated controller, Killer King watched his sister's actions.
Just a little more. Just a little more...
And then.
[Fighting Action Mode has been deactivated.]
[Overall fighting evaluation: Combo score: 91 points! Are you perhaps an aspiring pro gamer?]
At last, Fighting Action Mode deactivated, and Yerin's movements slowed.
The poison dragon species' enormous body then collapsed to the ground.
A thrill ran up Killer King's spine.
He did it. His plan had worked.
But then.
Grrrrr.
The next moment, the poison dragon species sprang back up and began devouring the dead plants around it.
Killer King felt that something had gone wrong.
'Why?'
The Lesser Dragon Poisoner should have died from that attack.
Everything had gone according to his calculations.
Grrroooar!
After devouring the red spider lilies, the poison dragon species recovered a small amount of vitality from the brink of death.
Killer King instinctively began running toward his sister.
"Yerin!"
Yerin, having squeezed out all the Mana in her body, moved once again.
She wasn't as fast as when Fighting Action Mode was active, but her claws steadily dealt damage to the poison dragon species.
The poison dragon species ignored the small wounds and roared into the air.
[The Grade-5 poison dragon species Lesser Dragon Poisoner is preparing Death's Red Spider Lily.]
Red flower buds began appearing across the ground.
"Yerin! Come back!"
Yerin didn't stop attacking.
Determined to defeat the poison dragon species by landing the final blow, she staggered as she continued attacking.
Killer King grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.
Yerin struggled in his arms.
"Let go."
Blood poured from Yerin's mouth.
The flames from the Red Fire Pills had burned her insides.
Yerin could no longer fight.
Though Killer King knew that, he said, "We can kill it in the next phase. Hold on a little longer. We still have a chance."
Yerin vomited something, then went limp in his arms.
Four undigested Red Fire Pills fell to the ground, burning with flames.
Picking them up, Killer King thought.
His sister couldn't fight, but the poison dragon species had reached its limit too.
It only needed one final blow.
He could do it alone.
He still had [Valkyrie's Blessing], and he still had Red Fire Pills.
He only had to endure this once.
[A numbered platform has appeared.]
Luckily, a platform appeared nearby.
Killer King immediately checked the number on it.
Then he froze in place.
4.
There were no other platforms anywhere.
Killer King looked at the faces of the remaining people.
The fallen Inho Cheon, Shin Yuseong tending to him, and...
"Oppa."
His staggering sister shook her head, as if she knew what he was thinking.
Killer King laid Yerin down on the platform, then slowly rose to his feet.
"Oppa, please."
"It's okay."
Killer King turned toward the poison dragon species.
More flower buds were appearing across the ground.
The Extermination Phase would begin soon.
The floor hazard hadn't activated yet.
What had gone wrong? Was his plan careless? Or had there been a sentence he hadn't read?
The platform's number was 4.
There were five people left.
'I...'
If he were Dokja, he would have moved forward without hesitation.
But Killer King couldn't easily take a step.
Why?
He knew without needing to ask.
「Because he wasn't Dokja.」
A field of red spider lilies filled the ground.
"Oppa."
He wanted to become Yu Junghyeok.
He wanted to become Kim Dokja, who thought that way.
The moment he took a step with that thought in mind.
[The numbered platform has been activated.]
The platform turned green.
[You can activate Absolute Shield.]
He couldn't understand what had happened.
He was still inside the platform, yet it had activated.
That meant...
「Someone other than him had become Kim Dokja.」
When he raised his head, he saw the blind man's face.
Perhaps he was the person farthest from Dokja here.
A man who constantly searched for his daughter, a man who had only read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint once.
"Don't feel guilty."
Killer King understood what he was thinking.
Dansu had already lost his sight, and his Incarnation body was nearly destroyed. Even if he used Ellain Forest Essence, his body wouldn't recover.
"I have nothing left to lose now."
Killer King couldn't stop Dansu as he staggered away.
Dansu's choice was right.
Everyone except him was absolutely necessary to see the conclusion of this damned world.
It was right for him to go, because he had nothing left to lose.
「But Dokja might have said this.」
At that moment, a thought crossed Killer King's mind.
A brilliant light shone from his eyes.
[Eye of Sin].
Jophiel's Stigma, which measured the sin of all Incarnations.
Killer King's mouth fell open as he examined Dansu's soul.
He had never seen a soul like that before.
As if Dansu's soul were wearing a white coat, it was pure white.
「There is one way for Dansu to come back to life.」
But Killer King couldn't immediately think of what that method was.
Of course he couldn't.
It was a sentence that hadn't been written yet.
And someone was writing that unwritten sentence.
[Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Level 3 is activating.]
That someone was me.
「The Scenario isn't over yet.」
I watched Uncle Dansu walk toward the poison dragon species and thought.
There was a way for no one to die.
But if I used that method...
[The Grade-5 poison dragon species Lesser Dragon Poisoner has used Death's Red Spider Lily.]
Uncle Dansu had to die once.
Footnotes:
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