WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 673: Episode 21: Kim Dokja (9)

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I stared blankly at the audience like an actor who had forgotten his lines.

What had I just heard?

【Kim Dokja. Why aren't you saying anything?】

As if even that amused him, the Kim Dokja Representative smiled.

【Don't tell me you still don't know who you are?】

At his words, the little Kim Dokjas scattered throughout the audience tilted their heads.

[The fable Recorder of Vanishing Things begins its story.]

I turned back to the screen. The stories the readers and I had lived through were displayed on it.

Not every story had been written there.

Like shadows cast on a cave wall, the narrative on the screen was somewhat exaggerated. Some scenes had been edited out entirely, while others had been deliberately heightened.

The target of its anger was clear.

It was a morality tale with obvious heroes and villains, where good was rewarded and evil punished.

"Have all of you been watching this here the whole time...?"

The footage stopped at my question. The Representative walked out through the murmuring little Kim Dokjas. I asked him.

"Why on earth-"

Come to think of it, I still didn't know the Representative's goal.

I didn't know why he had brought the readers here, or why he was opposing Kim Dokja Company.

【Because we need to write a new story.】

A new story.

The Representative was looking at Yu Junghyeok, who lay collapsed on the floor.

【A new story requires a new protagonist.】

Beep!

The footage on the screen changed.

【I remember the day I first saw you.】

The screen showed Geumho Station.

It was the site of the first Scenario I knew so well, Proof of Value.

「With a pop-pop-pop!, Kim Cheollyang's head exploded.」

The people at Geumho Station, including Kim Cheollyang of the Ten Evils and the Life Sect, were dying after falling for [Incitement].

The screen zoomed in on my expression at the exact moment they died, my face filled with an indescribable thrill.

For a moment, I had nothing to say.

This story on the screen had clearly been edited. Even so, that expression was undeniably mine.

【Your appearance wasn't part of my plan, but now I think it may have been for the best.】

The screen kept changing.

The scene where I met Bang Cheolsu's group and changed the course of Geumho Station.

「"Try proving it once."」

The scene where I met Junghyeok of the forty-first round and fell beneath the Han River bridge.

「"It really is Inho Cheon. Then it won't matter if this woman dies."」

The scene where I escaped a sea serpent's stomach with Huiwon, who had awakened as the Demonbane Judge.

「The character Jeong Huiwon's Attribute has blossomed into Demonbane Judge (Hero).」

The scene where I met the Killer King siblings, defeated the Warden of the Dark, and obtained Thought of Almost Everything.

「"Si-jyo!"」

The scene where I met Anna Croft in the Illusion Prison and stole a glimpse of the fortieth round's memories.

「"The moment you press the reset button, this world won't disappear. It will become eternal."」

The scene where I met Seventh Apostle Ye Hyeon-u and Pildu Gong in Chungmuro.

「"So this is what Inho Cheon looks like... He's much more handsome than he was in what I read."」

The Emergency Defense, where I saved Max the Ground Rat.

「If the monsters hadn't died here, would this story really have been interesting?」

The Theater Dungeon Scenario, where I lost the reader Jeong Jaewoo.

「"I don't want to die."」

And finally, the moment I reached the theater rooftop and faced Han Suyeong.

「"Are you really Han Suyeong?"」

For a while, I became so absorbed in those memories that I even forgot my situation. So much had happened in such a short time.

Of course, many memories were missing between those scenes. Memories that had never been written anywhere, but remained whole in my mind.

The footage stopped again, and the Representative spoke.

【As expected, you are the one most suited to bring their story to an end.】

I couldn't tell who he meant by "them."

Did he mean the characters who had died in this round, or...

When I turned my head, the little Kim Dokjas were watching the screen with their mouths open.

What had been recorded wasn't everything.

Still, what they had seen wasn't a lie.

The little Kim Dokjas had eyes that somehow seemed nostalgic.

I took a quiet breath and spoke.

"Honestly, I'm not protagonist material."

It was a ridiculous thing to say.

If someone made a movie with me as the protagonist, it would fail one hundred percent.

"Still, if you've been filming something like this in secret, shouldn't you get my permission first?"

The Representative's eyes widened at my shameless remark.

【Permission?】

Honestly, I had no idea why the Representative was showing me this.

Judging by how he acted, he seemed ready to make a whole movie with me as the protagonist. But what was he planning to do with something like that?

He had always been insane, so maybe he wanted to play at art while lost in his own private world.

Whatever his intentions were, though, this situation wasn't entirely bad for me.

The moment I entered this theater, Junghyeok had been separated from the Absolute Throne.

I didn't know how long I could remain here, but from now on, the longer I stalled, the better.

At least until I found a way to destroy the Absolute Throne, or failing that, a way to awaken the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword I possessed...

【Haha-】

"...?"

【Ahaha- Ahahahaha! Permission! Permission, you say! Even in a situation like this-】

It was laughter that sounded like madness.

The Representative wasn't the only one laughing. A few of the little Kim Dokjas were smiling quietly as well.

【I'm sorry. It's a reaction I hate and miss so much.】

"What?"

【Fine. I'll ask for permission, and I'll pay the price as well. How about this?】

[You have acquired 300,000 coins!]

Coins suddenly poured down from the air. I stared blankly upward at the sudden golden wave.

Something felt like it was going wrong.

【But first, I need to make sure I hired a proper actor.】

The moment I hesitated, his chilly voice pierced my heart.

【Kim Dokja.】

Just a name of three syllables.

Why did the name I had called, read, and written countless times sound so painful?

[The Attribute One Who Peered into the Abyss has activated.]

A wave of dizziness hit me.

It felt as though someone had grabbed my ankle and yanked me downward, pulling my whole body in.

I remembered when he had incited me as Kim Dokja not long ago.

I had experienced something similar then as well.

My soul had been sucked into a deep sea as profound as an abyss, and there, I heard the readers' stories.

But the readers' stories weren't all I heard there.

「"The person who'll read my novel... isn't you."」

It was the pained voice of someone familiar. Along with blood droplets leaping across the screen, Dokja from my memories spoke.

「"Han Suyeong. I'm sorry, but I really can't remember. I haven't read TWSA lately either..."」

I thought.

「Maybe I'm not really Kim Dokja.」

Kim Dokja Company spoke.

「"Dokja-ssi, can you get up for a moment? If you keep lying down, you'll hurt your back."」

「"Why don't you do some calisthenics with me?"」

「"Mister, will you really be okay like this? I'll bring you a Fable Pack."」

Memories from the 1,865th round with them.

「"Wow, that's the method Dokja-ssi used?"」

「"Mister taught me this recipe."」

「"Did hyung always do all of this alone?"」

At the end of the Scenario, Dokja was speaking.

「"Another me might not want this. That story... ended there..."」

I thought again.

「If I could be born again, I hope I wouldn't be Kim Dokja, at least.」

A distant meteor flew amid a shower of light. The world expanded and shrank in an instant.

A pale blue planet.

The meteor fell.

「I want a story of my own, too.」

A child born where the meteor landed burst into tears. For a long time, I watched myself crying in my parents' arms.

【Are you still going to deny who you are?】

"..."

【Doesn't it make you angry? Why did you have to suffer so much? Why were you condemned as a fake and robbed of your place?】

His voice sounded like narration drifting between distant stars.

【Don't you think you should take revenge on them?】

A few little Kim Dokjas blinked, and sparks flew through the air.

【Now it's your turn.】

Tzzzzt!

The Representative's eyes blazed.

【Prove that you were the real one. Defeat Kim Dokja Company and free this worldline from their long, boring story. Create the Paradise you dreamed of.】

Junghyeok, who lay on the floor, twitched faintly. It looked as though he was slowly regaining consciousness.

【Stop Yu Junghyeok. I'll lend you the Plausibility you lack.】

I came here to stop Junghyeok. To prevent him from taking the Absolute Throne, and by doing so, prevent this world's destruction.

【This is your last chance to change the foundation of the universe that oppresses you.】

The foundation of the universe.

The moment I heard those words, I gradually came to my senses. Suyeong's words entered my mind.

「"I came to bring this whole story to its conclusion. To stop this damned tragedy that never ends no matter how many times I try to bring it to a close."」

I had been angry when I heard Suyeong's words.

I wanted to ask why they were trying to stop me when they had also twisted the worldline of TWSA.

The people of this worldline deserved happiness too.

Even the extras in this world deserved to live their own lives.

Even if this world's end had already been decided, I wanted to say that it wasn't a world someone could destroy whenever they pleased.

Yet,

「Why had Suyeong tried to destroy this world?」

A world that had undeniably existed but had never been recorded.

Everything that happened in this world filled the empty links between TWSA and 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』.

But what would happen if the conclusion of this worldline changed?

【Now, destroy Kim Dokja Company's universe.】

I looked down at the theater floor. Countless little Kim Dokjas' footprints were tangled together across it.

【Destroy the foundation of the <Star Stream> that ruled your tiresome Fate. Destroy the ending of the world that only the real Kim Dokja knew.】

Something deep in my chest turned cold.

Maybe I was wrong.

Even if this world's conclusion changed, Kim Dokja Company's world might remain safe.

It might only result in the birth of a new branch in a parallel universe.

But what if it didn't?

What if, as the price for changing this conclusion, every story in 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』 was destroyed?

「And what if that was why Suyeong tried to stop me?」

When I slowly raised my head, the Representative stood before me.

A sword that emitted dazzling light rested atop his outstretched hand.

【Take it.】

A sword that could change this world's conclusion.

It wasn't the unawakened Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword I possessed, but the fully awakened constellation artifact, the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword.

It gleamed atop a constellation engraved with abundant fables, an item that could cut down the Absolute Throne at any moment.

【It's time to write a new 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』 with your own hands.】

Footnotes:

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