WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 681: Episode 22: Name (3)

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It felt strange to look at the conversation request message floating before me.

I had definitely entered the world of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

I had gone through Scenarios and met the other members of Kim Dokja Company.

[Requester: Demon King of Salvation]

Even so, the moment I saw that message, everything felt unreal.

I didn't know why.

Maybe I had never truly believed that the real Kim Dokja existed in this world.

Was that why I was so strangely shaken by the fact that Dokja truly existed?

If I was shaken, what exactly was I shaken by?

With those complicated feelings swirling inside me, I hesitantly reached for the message.

Then.

[The sender has not paid the coins required for Midday Tryst.]

I read the message over and over because I couldn't understand what it meant. At first, I thought, No way. A little later, I thought, Damn it. Finally, I let out a hollow laugh.

Little by little, reality began to return.

There was no doubt about it.

[This Midday Tryst requires the recipient to pay the fee.]

This bastard was definitely Dokja.

My instincts told me so.

With a light sigh, I pressed the confirmation button. Then,

[You have paid the recipient fee.]

[Midday Tryst has been connected.]

Nothing changed, though.

Since he had requested the conversation first, I thought Dokja would at least greet me. Yet he remained silent.

What was this?

"Inho-ssi?"

The others were staring at me, sensing something was off.

I had suddenly jumped to my feet and started fiddling with my smartphone like a lunatic, so it was understandable.

After hesitating for a moment, I tried saying it.

"Actually, I just got a message from Dokja."

The four of them stared at me at once. Their eyes held different thoughts.

The eyes that wondered if I had gone crazy (Ye Hyeon-u). The eyes that worried I had suffered a blow to the head (Gyeong Sein). The eyes that wondered whether this was some joke young people told these days (Lee Dansu). The eyes that asked whether I wasn't Kim Dokja myself (Killer King)...

Forty-five days ago, they would have been intrigued by my words and questioned me.

Was it real? Had I really contacted Dokja? Did that mean they could all live now?

But they didn't.

It was proof that they had completely adapted to this world.

「There is no 'Demon King of Salvation' here to save us.」

To survive in this world, the readers had chosen to forget the name of the greatest hope they knew.

Then they had risen on their own.

That fact made me strangely sad, so I had no choice but to turn the hope I had brought up into a joke.

"I'm joking. Um, what was it you wanted to know?"

Ye Hyeon-u's expression softened slightly, and Ye Hyeon-u began speaking again.

To summarize, the four of them had a simple question.

「How did the fourth Scenario end that day?」

After organizing my thoughts for a moment, I began with Han Suyeong's appearance.

"So it really was Han Suyeong."

I told them how I had been kidnapped by the Kim Dokja Representative along with the unconscious Yu Junghyeok.

"That was Asmodeus?"

"Damn it, I thought his annoying way of talking was strange."

"I already knew."

Then I told them how I became certain that the Kim Dokja Representative was Asmodeus, and how I escaped from his zone using the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword.

How I was thrown into the area outside the Scenario's jurisdiction.

How I fought against the Outer God known as the Founder of the Absolute Throne with Suyeong.

"An Outer God?"

"Was it really the Outer God that created the Absolute Throne?"

"If Dokja says so, then it is so."

Finally, I told them how I used fables to defeat it.

Aside from a few events I still wasn't sure I could speak about, I briefly told my companions what had happened that day.

"Y-you killed an Outer God? Then did you gain a fable too?"

"Probably."

As I spoke, I opened the old message log.

There were quite a few logs I hadn't checked during the past forty-five days. Some of them concerned fables.

[A temporary error has occurred in the Star Stream fable system.]

[The name of the new fable has not yet been decided.]

[Administration Bureau is closely reviewing your fable achievement.]

I still couldn't confirm the name or grade of the fable I had newly obtained.

Was it because I had been unconscious?

Or was it because I had achieved something that absurd?

Come to think of it, I had defeated an Outer God with a name, and during an early Scenario at that.

It was an abnormal feat for the fourth Scenario, so it made sense that both the Administration Bureau and the Star Stream would be flustered.

For all I knew, defeating an Outer God would earn at least a quasi-Mythical-grade fable.

The moment I received that fable, it would disrupt the ecosystem of the early Scenarios. Maybe the Administration Bureau had noticed that and was deliberately putting on the brakes.

Either way, they would have no choice but to give it to me eventually.

"You have achieved something remarkable, Dokja. Now you'll become even more like Dokja."

"Wow... What kind of fable would they give for an achievement like that?"

After Killer King and Gyeong Sein expressed their amazement, Uncle Dansu nodded as if he finally understood.

"Then that's why the power of the Absolute Throne isn't activating."

"That seems likely."

I considered telling them that there had been readers in the theater audience, including Jiyoon, Uncle Dansu's daughter. In the end, I decided to put it off.

The last question came from Ye Hyeon-u.

"What happened to Suyeong?"

"I don't know either. She disappeared afterward."

I didn't want to say that Suyeong had died.

I had certainly seen her vanish, but there was still a good chance she had been an Avatar.

If it was the Suyeong I knew, she would have prepared an escape route somewhere.

"Hmm... I understand everything you've told us for now."

After hearing all my answers, Ye Hyeon-u signaled to Killer King. Saying that Ye Hyeon-u would go speak with Killer King for a moment, Ye Hyeon-u left the hospital room.

What had happened while I was out that made them look so serious?

There were plenty of things I wanted to ask as well.

What was that phenomenon that had been occurring for forty-five days?

Was the seventh Scenario the same seventh Scenario I knew?

What was Junghyeok doing right now?

What had happened to the Shin Yuseong who had been with me?

「"If you say the word, Mister, I'll kill them all."」

That Yuseong definitely wasn't the Yuseong of this forty-first-round worldline.

Like me and the other readers, she had come from another worldline we knew and possessed a body in this one.

And that worldline was likely the 1,864th round, where Dokja had been alive.

If I could meet Yuseong again, I might be able to learn where Suyeong was.

"Ugh."

Maybe it was because I suddenly moved, but pain belatedly surged through every joint in my body.

Sein and Uncle Dansu hurriedly supported me. With a bitter smile, I asked them to excuse me.

"I'd like to look around outside first."

* * *

After Yu Junghyeok obtained the Absolute Throne, Seoul had been completely pacified.

Of course, there were still people who didn't agree with Junghyeok. At the very least, though, the groups that had been scattered and fighting one another had become one under the rule of the Supreme King.

"Where was the raid area this time?"

"Yeongdeungpo."

"I heard you got quite a few items?"

Listening to the passing Incarnations, it seemed that the theme of the seventh Scenario was raids.

Each area had target monsters, and Incarnations designated as raiders formed groups with companions to hunt them.

The original seventh Scenario had also been monster hunting, so there hadn't been much change to its contents.

I wondered whether there was a monster assigned as my target as well, but...

[There is currently no Main Scenario assigned to you.]

[A Main Scenario is being reassigned to you.]

Maybe because I had been unconscious for so long, I hadn't been assigned a Scenario.

"So, that meteorite..."

"Really? You found it there?"

A meteorite?

I had heard that the fifth Scenario was over. Why were they still talking about meteorites?

I had no idea what was going on.

I should ask the others later.

"I'll go first this time, Uncle."

"Come on, then!"

Sein and Uncle Dansu were sparring in the plaza ahead. I wondered why they had suddenly started sparring, but...

[The Incarnation Gyeong Sein uses Iron Fist Lv. 8!]

The moment I saw it, my jaw dropped.

Sein leaped into the air and unleashed a heavy barrage of blows. The ravaged ground kicked up a thick cloud of dust.

Sein wasn't the only one who had grown stronger.

[The Incarnation Lee Dansu activates Insect Form Lv. 6!]

Uncle Dansu's legs became covered in chitin like a grasshopper's, and he dodged every one of Sein's iron fists with agile movements.

"Wow, you're used to it now, aren't you? That's the evolution factor you got this time, right?"

"I got it from that Tier 6 species last time."

The difference forty-five days made was enormous.

Forty-five days ago, I had clearly been among the leading Incarnations. Yet watching the two fight, I felt that I had no chance of winning if I fought them empty-handed.

How much had they trained?

No, who had worked those two that hard?

"Impressive, isn't it?"

I turned in surprise and found an unexpected person standing there.

"Those two have really suffered under Junghyeok-ssi."

It was a soft, calm voice I recognized. The woman's white hair fluttered in the wind.

"Since the day you were hospitalized, they haven't missed a single day of training."

I quickly stood up and bowed to Lee Seolhwa.

She must have already known who I was. Smiling gently, she held out her hand.

I smiled lightly and took it.

"You're Inho Cheon-ssi, right? I've heard about you from everyone."

"Yes, that's right."

"They said that without you, they would have died long ago."

As she spoke, Seolhwa slowly looked around Gwanghwamun.

Looking closer, I saw a few familiar faces.

Dayeong of the Heartless Mother and Daughter, whom I had been with at Geumho Station, and Dayeong's mother.

Sergeant Kim Heonyeol and Jeong Eunho, Huiwon's younger sibling, whom I had fought alongside in the Beggar's Sect.

There was also Kim Nakmun, the Insightful One, whom I had met on the way to Gwanghwamun.

"I hope someone says something like that about me one day."

It seemed that the Seolhwa of this round hadn't been infected by a parasite and become the Poison Beauty.

Seolhwa's voice, as she openly shared her feelings, was clear and distinct.

"I heard you took care of me. It's late, but thank you. Without Seolhwa-ssi, I probably would have died."

"You know my name?"

"Of course."

"Jihye and I made a bet over whether Inho-ssi knew my name."

In the distance, I saw the forty-first-round Jihye waving toward us.

I waved back and said, "How could I not know it? You're my benefactor. I've also heard plenty about you."

"Heard about me? I haven't been active in public."

The moment I said it, I realized my mistake.

Since Seolhwa hadn't become the Poison Beauty in the forty-first round, maybe her name still wasn't known.

After thinking for a moment, I tried saying this.

"I'm a fan of the Donguibogam."

"You know my Patron?"

"How could I not know the greatest physician of Peaches of Immortality?"

[The Constellation Divine Doctor Guam has been deeply moved by you and sponsors you with 100 coins.]

Once again, I felt that this truly was Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

Seolhwa looked at the message floating in the air and gave a bitter smile.

"I think I understand why people like you, Inho-ssi."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"May I ask who your Patron is, Inho-ssi?"

"My Patron is..."

I hadn't planned to reveal my Patron here, but I suddenly wanted to test something.

Like the Yuseong I had met, perhaps the Seolhwa standing before me was also a special Seolhwa.

"It's the Demon King of Salvation."

Seolhwa's expression changed strangely.

I couldn't help feeling a little tense.

This was a Seolhwa who, at such an early point in the forty-first round, had chosen the path of the Medicine Sage instead of the Poison Beauty.

If she reacted to the modifier...

"The Demon King of Salvation? Hmm, I've never heard of that Constellation..."

Her expression made it seem like she wasn't lying.

"The modifier... It feels a little similar to the Constellation Namwoon contracted with..."

She even seemed to think I had contracted with a strange Constellation.

It felt a little unfair.

I admitted that the modifier was trying a bit too hard to sound cool.

Still, he was the protagonist... a Constellation... a Mythical-grade Constellation...

"Demon King of Salvation... Demon King of Salvation... Hmm... I feel like I might remember something..."

Huh?

"Salvation... salvation... Salvation Sect. Oh, come to think of it, among the medicinal ingredients the Salvation Sect obtained this time..."

Muttering those random words to herself, Seolhwa walked right past me toward the hospital.

I hadn't noticed while writing the novel, but seeing her in person, she had a subtly eccentric side.

She was a little like a mad doctor.

After walking a fair distance away, Seolhwa suddenly turned around and spoke to me.

"Oh, you're still a patient, so you know you shouldn't move around too much, right?"

"Ah, yes."

"You may look completely healed, but you're badly hurt inside. If you don't treat it properly, you'll get seriously sick later."

The kind mad doctor left those words behind and sauntered away.

I looked back at the people training.

People were training and sweating all around the area.

Seolhwa was right.

Even those who looked perfectly fine on the outside were probably festering within.

They must have lost beloved family members and precious friends over and over again.

「"All misfortune is ordinary. It only looks special because it has been captured in a story."」

Once I thought of it that way, the people swinging swords and spears looked different.

These were probably scenes that couldn't be captured in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

Just like the people before me, the characters of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint must have desperately worn down their own sorrow where no one could see.

What had Dokja been like?

Perhaps Dokja, the one I had read and written, also had many moments I didn't know about.

Bzzz.

That was when the smartphone in my pocket vibrated.

Had the time finally come?

After lightly clearing my throat, I opened my mouth.

"Can you hear me?"

At last, the moment I had waited for arrived.

[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation has connected to Midday Tryst.]

As I read that message, I recalled the two years I had spent writing and reading it over and over.

Was the person floating in that sky the Dokja I knew?

I didn't know. Still,

―Hello.

That was the first meeting between the Demon King of Salvation and me.

"Hello."

It was our first greeting.

Footnotes:

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