WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 666: Episode 21: Kim Dokja (2)

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[You are the first to hunt a Calamity in this Scenario.]

[You have achieved an accomplishment no one has ever achieved.]

[The distribution of Scenario-related rewards is being delayed.]

[The distribution of core rewards will be determined according to contribution.]

[You have acquired 10,000 Coins!]

Killer King, Cha Yerin, Lee Dansu, and the others blankly stared at the messages pouring down from the air.

[You have acquired the reward for defeating the Labyrinth Keeper.]

[You have acquired 8,000 Coins!]

[You have achieved an accomplishment that does not exist!]

[A considerable number of Constellations are impressed by your achievement!]

[Someone has recommended your fable to the Star Stream.]

They had accomplished the feat of defeating both a Grade 5 and a Grade 6 species in only the fourth Scenario.

Their individual contributions differed, but they could only have done it because they were together. Greater rewards than in any Scenario so far lay before them.

Yet none of them were happy.

"How is Inho Cheon?"

"Not good."

Yerin, who had checked Inho's pulse, shook her head.

Killer King looked down at the still-unconscious Inho and recalled the final moments before the poison dragon species had fallen.

"If it hadn't been for this guy, we'd all be dead."

Killer King had never imagined Inho would step forward then. Though he did not seem fully conscious, Inho had rushed straight at the Calamity and torn out its heart.

If not for the woman tending to Inho on the floor, he would have died on the spot.

Inho's face had turned ashen from the poison dragon species' venom.

"Do you have any medicinal ingredients?"

To neutralize Inho's poison, they used every elixir they had. They were not elixirs on the level of a Lesser Restoration Pill, but they were still fairly high-quality medicinal ingredients.

They even used the core of the poison dragon species they had just acquired.

The woman gathered the ingredients, poured them into Inho's mouth, and chanted a strange spell.

A moment later, something like a small golden ring appeared above Inho's head, and his complexion began to improve.

Killer King asked, "Do you know Inho Cheon?"

"Yes."

"I see."

The woman had suddenly appeared, saved Inho, and claimed to know him.

It was enough to arouse suspicion, but Killer King did not press her. There was a more urgent problem at hand.

"The final King's Qualifications will begin soon."

The final King's Qualifications.

The true stage of the Throne Struggle was finally close at hand.

"We need the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword."

The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword could only be obtained by gathering seven Star Gems.

All seven Star Gems were gathered here.

The problem was that, unlike in the main story, whoever gathered all seven Star Gems would be consumed by Berserk Stage and become a monster.

Yerin spoke up, trying to stop him.

"He's still in danger. We don't know what will happen if we make him absorb all seven Star Gems."

"You're right."

Killer King looked down at the fallen Inho for a moment.

Inho had risked his life to save them. Yet they would offer him as a Sacrifice to obtain the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword?

"Yu Junghyeok wouldn't do something so cowardly."

"No one should do something like that, Yu Junghyeok or not."

Dansu barely let out a relieved sigh at the siblings' exchange.

But the real crisis began now.

[The final King's Qualifications have begun.]

Killer King's expression hardened at the message ringing through the air.

"It has begun."

The stage for the final Qualifications had already opened.

Killer King turned to Dansu.

"We'll go without the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword. We just need to stop Yu Junghyeok somehow."

The Absolute Throne had clearly been behind the destruction of the forty-first round in the main story.

It would be best if they could destroy the throne with the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword, but there was no need to despair if they could not.

Even without the sword, they only had to prevent anyone from taking the Absolute Throne.

"We just have to hold out until the Scenario changes. Don't let anyone sit on the throne."

The Star Stream tended to flow toward stories that were more entertaining and more plausible.

As long as they made the Scenario interesting, they would have a chance.

"Oppa. What about Coins?"

"I've gathered enough."

"Take mine too."

To defeat Yu Junghyeok in the final Qualifications, they had to use the method Kim Dokja had used.

And that method required a vast amount of Coins.

Dansu, who had watched the exchange, asked, "Yerin-ssi, aren't you a king?"

"Yes. The king is over here."

Killer King answered as Yerin looked at him.

"I'm the king."

"Ah, I see. Killer King-ssi..."

"The King of No Killing. Are you curious what kind of king I am?"

"Pardon?"

Dansu asked blankly. As he opened and closed his mouth, unsure what to say, Killer King answered on his own.

"I am the King of Solitary Taste."

"Solitary..."

Dansu wondered if he had heard wrong. Thinking back, he remembered seeing an option with that name when choosing a king.

But he had never imagined someone would actually choose a king with a name like that.

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter shakes their head.]

Even Yerin quietly turned her head away.

Killer King paid no attention to their reactions and continued.

"You and I. Add Ye Hyeon-u out there, and there are three kings who can participate in the final stage. It would have been nice if Inho Cheon could join us too..."

Inho, collapsed on the floor, showed no sign of regaining consciousness. The fact that he was still alive was already a miracle.

"For now, we have no choice but to try it ourselves."

[Eligible kings are moving to the final testing ground.]

Tststst.

The summoning began.

Sparks flew from Killer King and Dansu's bodies.

"Yerin. Take care of Inho Cheon."

"Don't worry."

Killer King looked back at the woman one last time. She still had a hand on Inho's forehead as she chanted. That spell was likely suppressing his Berserk Stage.

Killer King spoke to her.

"7942."

The woman slowly opened her eyes and replied, "9158."

"You remember it well."

"Of course. I made the code."

Killer King nodded.

"First Apostle. Are you going to join the war?"

The First Apostle shook her head.

Killer King looked at her in surprise, then turned away.

"When Inho Cheon wakes up, tell him this. I'll protect this world."

* * *

In my hazy consciousness, I had a dream.

「"Writer, but..."」

The moment I heard the voice, I realized.

I see.

This was Ji Eunyu's dream.

「"Yes."」

In the dream, I answered.

I was afraid of what Eunyu would say, and at the same time, I was looking forward to it.

「"Kim Dokja came back in the final scene, didn't he?"」

The final scene.

I immediately understood what Eunyu meant.

The scene where the hospital room door opened and Han Suyeong and Yu Junghyeok entered. The moment when the readers who had become the Oldest Dream wished for Kim Dokja's resurrection.

Eunyu was talking about the final scene of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

I looked around cautiously, as if someone might overhear us, before speaking.

「"What do you mean, came back? We don't know that. It's an open ending."」

Eunyu frowned.

「"Do you really think that?"」

「"It has a higher level of completion if it remains an open ending..."」

「"Forget completion. You must have your own thoughts about it, Writer."」

I thought for a moment before giving a vague answer.

「"To leave a deep impression on readers, it should be like a spinning top that seems as though it might stop, or might not..."」

「"Do you want to get hit in the head with a spinning top?"」

I tucked my head in like a turtle as I watched Eunyu's fist spin like a top.

「"I don't know either. Han Suyeong wrote it. Ask Han Suyeong."」

Eunyu let out a light sigh as she looked at me.

「"Fine. Let me ask it this way. What if you were a reader? What do you think you would've thought after seeing the final scene? Did Kim Dokja return?"」

If I were a reader.

There was no need to ask it that way.

Every sentence in the final installment pointed to the one sentence that was not written.

A puzzle with only one missing piece.

The only sentence that did not exist stood out more than any other sentence that did.

「"I think he probably came back."」

「"You should've just said that from the beginning."」

「"Don't go around telling people I said that."」

「"Why would I do that? More importantly, what form did Kim Dokja return in?"」

「"What do you mean, what form?"」

「"That's how the ending goes. There are countless Kim Dokjas scattered across the universe, and Kim Dokja came back to life because those readers' wishes came true, right?"」

Hearing someone else say it somehow made it sound like the ending of a children's fairy tale.

「"I suppose so?"」

「"Then every reader would have had their own image of Kim Dokja. What would happen if all those readers thought, 'Kim Dokja has returned,' at the same time?"」

「"Uh..."」

I hadn't thought of that.

For a moment, I grew afraid and asked, 「"Should I rewrite it?"」

I blinked, praying it would not come to that, and the scenery around me changed.

A familiar ceiling hemmed in by stone walls.

Dim firelight.

Along with the sensation of the cold floor, all my memories slowly returned.

I had entered the labyrinth to find the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword. There, I met Killer King's group and Uncle Dansu, absorbed the Star Gems, went berserk, a Calamity was summoned, the Labyrinth Keeper died, I nearly died myself, and then...

"Eunyu-ssi."

I hurriedly looked around.

Where had Eunyu gone?

[You currently possess a total of six Star Gems.]

[The power of the Star Gems is eroding your body.]

[Rampage Stage 6 is consuming you.]

[An unknown power is suppressing your berserk state.]

[An unknown power is interfering with the erosion of the Star Gems.]

I slowly pushed myself up. A throbbing pain ran through my head, as if someone were tightening it.

There was no sign of anyone nearby.

What had happened?

The Calamity and the Labyrinth Keeper had clearly fallen.

Where had the others gone?

What had happened to the Scenario?

I...

[The owner of the Absolute Throne has been chosen.]

At the system message that suddenly rang out, I blankly blinked.

I thought I had heard wrong.

The owner of the Absolute Throne had been decided?

Information rapidly arranged itself in my mind.

The owner of the Absolute Throne had been decided.

That meant the Throne Struggle had already begun and ended.

「The fourth Scenario had ended.」

I looked at the small Star Gem rolling on the floor.

I had six Star Gems. And one was rolling over there.

「The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword does not exist in this round.」

My fingertips trembled.

Something that should never have happened had happened.

I felt the dungeon shaking.

My stomach churned. Instinctively, I knew it.

Something ominous was about to be born into this world.

[The final owner of the Absolute Throne is...]

A light brightened in the distance, followed by the sound of someone running toward me.

[It is the Incarnation Yu Junghyeok.]

The destruction of the forty-first round had been decided.

Footnotes:

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