WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 663: Episode 20: Reader (5)

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No Gyeonghwan took one step forward at a time. Unable to see ahead, all he could see was utter darkness.

As he stepped deeper into the darkness, Gyeonghwan murmured, "What does it look like now?"

He hadn't asked expecting an answer.

His life had always been lonely.

After losing his wife and growing distant from his daughter, no one had willingly stepped into his world.

And yet.

―It's a flower field, sir.

Someone was there. Though he knew he couldn't see, Gyeonghwan hurriedly looked around.

The voice was so distant he couldn't even tell who it belonged to.

A faint laugh escaped him. A hallucination. Had he finally gone mad with death before him?

"A flower field."

Gyeonghwan quietly repeated the words and imagined the scenery around him.

Then, flowers bloomed one by one in the darkness. Before long, red spider lilies blossomed all around him.

They were flowers that would kill him.

"It's beautiful."

Gyeonghwan thought of his wife, who had died after being struck by a meteorite.

He would die thinking of his wife, who had died in a flower field.

If life were a novel, perhaps this was where his final sentence would be written.

A novel.

Gyeonghwan thought of the novel his daughter had loved.

It would be nice if this were a story too. It would be nice if his daughter read this story someday and smiled. It would be nice if he could look at her and tell her.

Look, Dad showed up in the novel you like too.

Gyeonghwan smiled bitterly.

Jiyoon was probably dead.

Like his wife, she had probably died in this unbelievable story.

He thought of his daughter's final moments.

How much pain had she been in? How lonely had she been?

Gyeonghwan gathered his strength and stepped forward once more. Soon, he would be able to meet his wife and daughter.

For that to happen, he had to bring the story of Lee Dansu, not the human No Gyeonghwan, to an end.

“I am Lee Dansu.”

It was the name he had received in this new world. What kind of life had this body's original owner lived?

He didn't know.

All he knew was that this body had reached its limit, and his consciousness kept fading. It must have been because he had lost too much blood.

[The power of the Star Gem strengthens your body.]

Without the one Star Gem he had left, it wouldn't have been strange for him to have collapsed long ago.

The poison dragon species' breathing drew closer. The scent of flowers lingering at the tip of his nose made him dizzy. As his consciousness grew hazy, Dansu thought of one man's name for the last time.

'I'm sorry, Inho-ssi.'

Then, at that moment.

―Sir.

The hallucination became clearer.

―It seems you can hear me now.

It was the voice that had called this place a flower field. Dansu knew who it belonged to.

"Inho-ssi?"

I answered.

―Yes, it's me.

Uncle Dansu's lips trembled. His arms swept through the air, as if trying to find me.

"Are you awake? You can't stay here. If you don't return to the platform―"

―I'm safe. What's important right now is you, Uncle.

"I'm finished now."

It was the voice of someone who had already let go of life.

Uncle Dansu's eyes were blind, and parts of his body had become necrotic. Chunks of muscle had fallen from his limbs.

But that probably wasn't why he wanted to give up on life.

"I don't want to live anymore."

Wanting Uncle Dansu to keep living was probably just my selfish desire because I liked him.

―Uncle.

I knew it too. Even if he survived here, his unhappiness wouldn't disappear.

He would have to endure life.

He would have to live in a world without his wife and daughter.

What meaning would that have for him? Could I create that meaning for him? Did I have the right to do something like that?

「I want to write a novel.」

Even so, the moment I saw Uncle's pure white soul, I couldn't suppress the impulse.

I wanted to show the next story to the reader sitting in an unnamed theater, who, like me, would be hoping that Uncle survived.

I began writing.

「What kind of person was Dad?」

Uncle Dansu flinched and looked up into the air.

「Mom died after being hit by a meteorite, and Dad got cancer.」

Uncle's lips fluttered again and again.

「Are we a cursed family?」

Even Uncle, who couldn't see anything, would be able to hear that sentence.

"That just now..."

Uncle stammered in disbelief before asking, "Was that Jiyoon?"

―Yes.

"Jiyoon, is she alive?"

I hesitated to answer.

If I answered honestly, the truth would break Uncle's last hope.

But if I lied, would it be a lie that could be forgiven?

I slowly blinked.

Then, instead of truth or lies, I thought about one person's feelings.

「"Please save my dad, Kim Dokja."」

The feelings of a daughter who wanted her father to survive. I thought of a sentence that could speak for those feelings.

―Yes.

This world was the Star Stream.

A world created by writers, readers, and protagonists together.

A world where the dead could return to life, time could be turned back, and people could be born as someone else.

At least in this world,

―Yes, she's alive.

This wasn't a lie.

―For that to happen, you have to survive first.

Spores were spreading rapidly through the air. It would take less than thirty seconds for them to cover the entire Area.

"B-but how―"

Uncle's voice grew frantic.

I took a calm breath, then possessed Uncle's body as if diving into the sea.

[Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Level 3 has been strongly activated!]

Uncle's eyes shone brightly. Eyes made of light appeared where his eyes had disappeared.

"I-I can see!"

They were my eyes.

―Run!

Uncle and I ran from the spores. We carefully avoided stepping on the flower buds covering the ground and kept running.

―The coat!

Uncle picked up the coat on the floor. It was my white coat, which I had dropped while avoiding the poison dragon species' attack earlier.

―There's a brown bottle in the inner pocket!

Uncle immediately found the item I mentioned.

Poison Rhino Horn Powder.

A consumable item that neutralized poison.

―Spores ahead! Avoid them to the right! Pick up that book beside them too!

A small booklet lay on the floor where I pointed. It was an item dropped by the dead kings' subordinates earlier.

[You have acquired the item Donguibogam: Miscellaneous Diseases Volume, Part 2.]

It seemed the groups gathered here had cleared the five-person dungeon, the Field of Donguibogam.

[You have acquired the item Donguibogam: Acupuncture and Moxibustion Volume.]

There were nine volumes of the Donguibogam scattered across the floor.

[The effect of the item Donguibogam: Incomplete Edition is activating.]

The Donguibogam was an item that activated poison resistance when eight or more volumes were gathered.

[Your body has temporarily blossomed with its own poison resistance ability.]

I could feel Uncle breathing more easily. Still, this was only buying time.

Even if the Poison Rhino Horn Powder and the Donguibogam created a synergy, he wouldn't last even thirty seconds in these spores.

"Ugh."

Uncle's body began turning brown where the spores touched it.

Grrrrr...

The poison dragon species, sensing something was wrong, looked our way.

It had used its annihilation attack, yet Uncle hadn't died. That triggered an additional phase.

The poison dragon species let out a rough cry and unleashed its Breath.

"I-Inho-ssi."

Uncle's face went pale as he watched the Breath fall like acid rain.

I reassured him.

―It's okay. You can live. Run, hurry!

"Can I keep living?"

―You have to meet Jiyoon again!

Uncle panted without answering. That brief silence told me everything.

"Even if I survive, I'll only keep being a burden to you, Inho-ssi."

Uncle already knew everything.

―Uncle.

Killer King, who possessed the [Eye of Sin], had said it.

Uncle Dansu had a 'pure white soul,' as if he were wearing a white coat.

I could read the path Uncle's soul had walked.

The history of one person, of the human No Gyeonghwan who had possessed Lee Dansu.

「"Could you teach me how to kill bugs too?"」

A man who completed Proof of Value by killing bugs in the subway.

「"Do we really have to kill them?"」

A man who alone held onto his convictions in a Scenario where everyone killed one another.

「"I won't kill you. I won't kill you."」

A man who didn't kill anyone, even after eating a Star Gem and becoming a monster.

―None of us could live the way you did, Uncle.

In this world, one person's life became a fable.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire looks at the Incarnation Lee Dansu.]

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband watches the Incarnation Lee Dansu.]

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God cheers for the history of the Incarnation Lee Dansu.]

But for that fable to be recognized, it needed a qualification.

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter nods.]

A qualification that would prove Uncle's history was worthy of being recorded.

That qualification was rolling across the floor over there.

―Run! Pick them up! Hurry!

At my shout, Uncle picked up the brown flag lying on the floor.

A faint light swirled around Uncle Dansu's entire body.

[The Incarnation Lee Dansu has claimed the brown flag.]

[King's Path has begun!]

Acidic fluid poured down from the air over Uncle's head. It was an attack that neither the Donguibogam nor the Poison Rhino Horn Powder could neutralize.

[A barrier has been activated through the effect of the brown flag.]

The barrier spread through the air and blocked the acidic Breath.

We quickly looked around.

There were eight flags on the ground in total. They had all been dropped by dead kings.

To complete King's Path in this worldline, we had to achieve the black flag.

―Pick them all up!

Each time Uncle picked up another flag, the color of the flag he held began to change.

Dark brown, pale purple, purple, deep purple, and then...

Thud.

Uncle tripped over a stone and rolled across the floor. The buds of red spider lilies were crushed, bursting as spores billowed up and clung to Uncle's entire body.

"Ah."

Flowers grew over Uncle's skin. The fully bloomed red spider lilies gave off a thick fragrance. Uncle Dansu's Mana was rapidly drained away.

[The Incarnation Lee Dansu has achieved the black flag.]

The sound of his breathing slowly faded.

I could feel Uncle's fear.

He must have known now.

What would happen from this point on.

And what my plan had been.

[The core condition of King's Path has been unlocked.]

"Thank you."

Uncle smiled, wrapped in red petals.

「This was a path only Uncle Dansu could take in this world.」

For this method to succeed, Uncle had to die once.

Death.

I didn't know what it was. Uncle probably didn't either.

Whether it was something one could experience, or what happened after experiencing it.

―Uncle. Don't worry.

No one except Kim Dokja knew that.

―I'll be with you.

Soon, we would know too.

"Friend."

At Uncle's final word, my vision slowly darkened.

Pitch-black emptiness descended. Darkness without a single word written in it.

Again and again, I called for Uncle. But Uncle Dansu didn't answer.

Was I alive now, or was I dead?

If I was neither.

■

Was I simply looking at a massive wall?

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

I felt along the endless wall, searching like a madman for letters I could read.

Then, in the next moment.

□

With a sudden pull, the darkness drew me in. Everything brightened. I was back inside the labyrinth.

[A new King has been born.]

[You have made a decisive contribution to the birth of the new King.]

[The Star Stream is reevaluating your first fable.]

[A new disappearance has been recorded in the Final Wall.]

A brilliant light poured out through the red petals drifting in the air.

Within it, Uncle Dansu's body was being reconstructed.

「At last, the moment had come: The King of No Killing was being born anew.」

Footnotes:

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