WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 682: Episode 22: Name (4)

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Once I got the first words out, I suddenly felt nervous.

Had my first greeting been too stiff when Kim Dokja wasn't even my boss?

No. He was still my Patron.

A Constellation.

"Um, hello. Nice to meet you."

Without realizing it, I spoke politely again.

Either way, this was our first time meeting in reality, so it was right to be polite.

But was this really our first time meeting?

Come to think of it, I had met Dokja several times in the Snowfield.

What had that Dokja been like? Had that Dokja greeted me with a hello too?

I recalled Dokja's face as he called out to me with a sorrowful expression in the Snowfield.

―Ah, yeah. Good to meet you and all.

The moment I heard those first words, my image of Dokja changed.

The gaze that had held wistful sadness became strangely lazy, while his gentle expression turned into that of an office worker worn down by work.

―By the way, is it okay if we talk through this? Indirect Messages cost too many coins.

What was this?

"Ah, yes, of course."

Even as I thought that, I answered without thinking.

―Thanks.

Then there was silence again.

I waited.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

What exactly was going on here?

"Excuse me...?"

―Yeah, hold on. I'm in the middle of something...

He seemed cold, or maybe his mind was somewhere else.

One thing was clear. He was different from the Dokja I knew.

"It seems you're doing something important..."

No. Come to think of it, Dokja could be busy.

Dokja was the observer of this world.

To maintain this world, he would have to watch it at all times.

So...

―I'm reading TWSA.

Right, TWSA.

―It's at a really good part.

TWSA...?

―Yu Junghyeok just...

?

―Had a fight with Poseidon...

For a moment, I thought I had read it wrong.

I narrowed my eyes even further and concentrated, reading Dokja's message until my eyes nearly fell out.

―I'm telling you, I was really surprised. Junghyeok has grown so much already. So, in this round...

I read it over and over.

In other words, Dokja's message went roughly like this.

That bastard Junghyeok, you know? In the early rounds, he used to be terrified of the Constellations and run away from them, but he's already grown this much.

...(omitted)...

Maybe he went crazy after getting smacked on the ass too many times by the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint in the last round, or maybe Anna Croft stabbed him in the back again and messed up his head.

...(omitted)...

So now this guy, who only just became a Transcendent, is finally stepping up to fight Poseidon, a Mythical Constellation. What am I supposed to call this? It makes my chest swell.

...(omitted)...

My mind went blank.

Who was I talking to right now?

―Anyway, so Junghyeok ended up in danger...

Junghyeok wasn't the one in danger. I was.

I knew Dokja liked TWSA. Still, even for Dokja, wasn't this too much? There was no way he had lost this much social awareness...

No.

Because he was Dokja, wasn't this exactly right?

I calmed myself and decided to revise my conversation strategy.

My opponent was Dokja.

A guy crazy about TWSA.

In that case...

"TWSA is fun, isn't it?"

―You know TWSA?

"Of course."

―Oh?

It worked.

―So you do know a thing or two. Anyway, when I wrote recommendation posts for it, no one would read them...

All Constellations were crazy about fables.

They were stars who had loved stories for so long that they had eventually become stories themselves.

Maybe TWSA was the story Dokja, a Constellation, was crazy about.

―What's your favorite episode in TWSA?

"The episode where Junghyeok dies."

―Junghyeok dies all the time.

"That's what makes it fun. He always dies, but every time, he resolves to begin his life again."

The truth was, I had never properly read TWSA.

After all, I knew Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, but I didn't know the contents of TWSA.

I had never written it.

That was why my answer just now was the broadest and cheekiest response I could give as someone who knew Junghyeok, not TWSA.

―Hmm, that's a fair point.

"Right?"

―But he isn't always that strong. You wouldn't know, since you haven't read TWSA.

I fell silent for a moment, then asked bluntly.

"Is teasing me that fun?"

I thought I heard a mischievous laugh from somewhere.

It was enough to make me sigh, but he seemed ready to begin a proper conversation at last.

"You do realize this is the first meeting between a Patron and an Incarnation, right?"

―Hmm, well.

"And yet you're talking about TWSA from the very first greeting? We should introduce ourselves and exchange names. That's a normal, social way to communicate."

―Social... It's been a while since I heard someone say that.

There was a strange longing in his bitter tone.

Was he thinking of someone?

Come to think of it, Dokja had only become a social person after the apocalypse began.

―Fine. Then let's start with introductions.

As though stretching, Dokja introduced himself.

―I'm the Demon King of Salvation.

A simple, definite introduction.

Demon King of Salvation.

That was the modifier of the Dokja I had summoned.

"I'm..."

―Right now, you're Inho Cheon. Your real name is Yi Hakhyeon. You're a Possessor from another worldline.

"You know a lot."

I said it uneasily.

Well, he had probably been watching me all this time. It would have been stranger if he didn't know.

"Then you must know the current situation, too."

―The current situation?

"You've been watching, haven't you? No, we even met in a dream and talked last time. Did you forget?"

―A dream? This is the first time I've talked to you.

I froze.

As expected, the Dokja speaking to me wasn't the Dokja I had met in the Snowfield.

Then who was that Dokja?

And who was the Dokja I was speaking to now?

"Then the Dokja who talked to me in the Snowfield was..."

―...What did he look like?

"He looked like Dokja."

―There must have been something about his atmosphere.

"He had a wistful feeling, I guess."

―Wistful... Could he be the second? Or...

The second?

―Anyway, that wasn't me. This is the first time I've met you, and honestly, I'm not that interested in you.

Wow. How cold.

―Your story isn't that interesting, either.

It wasn't interesting.

I had never expected to hear those words from Dokja, so I was a little flustered.

―You're too heavy and dark. Your actions and judgment. It feels like you're missing something protagonist-like.

"That's because I'm..."

I wanted to protest.

It was only natural because I wasn't the protagonist.

But did I have the right to say that now?

Even without the complete memories of my previous life, I was here because of who I had been in that life.

I had come all this way because I wanted a story that belonged only to me, because I wanted to know who I was.

Did someone like me still have the right to say such things?

―If you keep dragging the fables attached to you around like shackles, they'll crush you someday, youngest.

I stared blankly at the message, then suddenly lifted my head.

"What did you just say?"

―I said the fables will crush you to death.

"Not that. What you said at the end."

Youngest.

He had definitely called me that.

―Ah.

In the bored tone of someone counting the volumes of TWSA, the Demon King of Salvation said,

―That's because you're the last Kim Dokja.

* * *

Ever since learning that I was part of Dokja, I had held one thought.

「Could there be several Kim Dokjas in this world?」

Come to think of it, it wasn't impossible.

I myself was the reincarnation of 49% Dokja.

If so, it was entirely possible that other Dokjas existed in similar forms.

And one of those Dokjas was probably shaking me down right now.

―Hey, give me 500 coins.

"Why?"

―If you add 500 more coins, I can switch to voice chat too. It's inconvenient to keep messaging, so hurry up.

[500 coins have been used.]

[The convenience feature of Midday Tryst has been added.]

After having my coins extorted so readily, I began to wonder if I had misunderstood Dokja all along.

Was Dokja originally a bad guy?

"So you're the first, then?"

―Yeah.

Dokja's unmistakable voice rang in my head. Right. It was definitely the voice of the Dokja I had imagined.

―You summoned me.

"I summoned Dokja."

I missed the Dokja from the Snowfield.

Where had that kind, delicate Dokja gone? Why had some punk wearing Dokja's skin appeared instead?

―No. You summoned the Demon King of Salvation.

That was true, but what was the difference?

―You don't know what that means?

A memory came to me then.

When fighting the Outer God, the Founder of the Absolute Throne, I had summoned Dokja for a Behind-the-Scenes Contract.

More precisely, I had summoned Dokja's modifier.

As far as I knew, Dokja had four names in total.

And only one had answered me: the Demon King of Salvation before my eyes.

"Wait. Then when you say you're the first..."

―That's right. The order in which the modifiers were created.

Dokja's first modifier was Demon King of Salvation.

He was the being who had "King of a Kingless World" as his birth fable and was reborn as a Constellation by obtaining the fable "Demon King of Salvation" on the final floor of Dark Castle.

As the fables that made him up began to come into view, I slowly began to guess his identity.

"Then is Dokja divided according to his modifiers?"

―Well, excluding the tiny fragments, you could say the large chunks were split up that way. I'm the first among them.

The way he emphasized first made it seem like he took considerable pride in it.

Still, it was disappointing news for me.

"Then you aren't Kim Dokja."

If this Dokja was the Demon King of Salvation, there was a high chance he only possessed memories related to the fable "Demon King of Salvation."

Just as he had introduced himself, he wasn't Dokja. He was the Demon King of Salvation.

―No? I'm Dokja, though?

"You're the Demon King of Salvation."

―I'm Dokja, the Demon King of Salvation. If I don't have every fable related to Dokja, does that mean I'm not Dokja?

"That's not what I mean."

―I am Dokja. If I'm not Dokja, then who the hell is?

I envied that confidence.

Perhaps what made Dokja Dokja wasn't his memories, but that attitude.

―Anyway, I didn't expect you to summon me. I don't know whether to call it good luck or bad luck.

"What do you mean?"

―This isn't the first time I've gotten involved with you over a Behind-the-Scenes Contract.

Another memory came to me.

When the forty-first round had just begun and the first Scenario, Proof of Value, had ended.

I had found an unusual modifier in Dokja's Patron list.

"Don't tell me that was you?"

The three question marks that had been the only entry in the Patron list.

It seemed they really had been Dokja.

―More precisely, it was the other Dokjas and me.

The other Dokjas?

―We hadn't been separated back then.

Dokja continued with a small grumble.

―Anyway, something went wrong then. During the process of contacting you, we ended up splitting apart. I was one of the ones who broke off then.

In other words, at the start of this round, Dokja had been one person, not several.

"Why did that happen? Who split you..."

―I don't know. I don't have the detailed memories from back then. Anyway, we were torn apart, and now I exist as the Demon King of Salvation.

Dokja continued after giving a casual yawn, as if it were nothing important.

―Anyway, youngest. You had a reason for summoning me, didn't you?

The reason I had summoned Dokja.

"Yes. I do."

But when I tried to speak, the words wouldn't come easily.

What should I ask first?

Should I ask for advice on what I had to do from now on to reach the end of the Scenarios?

Should I ask why the forty-first round had begun, or whether Dokja knew Han Suyeong's whereabouts?

No. Maybe what I truly wanted to ask was...

―It looks like you've got all of Dokja's frustrating traits.

Hearing that from Dokja of all people made my confidence drain away.

Perhaps he didn't like the look on my face, because he let out a light sigh.

―Sigh. Fine. Let's start from the beginning. What are your specs? Your overall ability scores? Your Attributes? There aren't any eavesdroppers nearby, so speak freely.

"Well..."

Answers slipped out in response to the sudden flood of questions.

What my overall ability scores were, what Attributes I had...

"I don't know all my Attributes. I can't see my Attributes Window either. Ah, I recently acquired an Attribute called [Circulatory Stagnation], but..."

―What Skills can you use?

"I don't have that many. [White Pure Star Energy], [Incitement]..."

Dokja silently listened to my story. Perhaps overwhelmed by his calmness, I found myself continuing in a composed voice.

"And..."

As I continued speaking, my thoughts gradually became organized.

The time I had lived as Inho Cheon since crossing into this world seemed to unfold clearly before my eyes.

―What about Items?

"My main Item is this bracelet. It's an Item called Thought of Almost Everything, and using its Mimicry function, it can transform into any weapon I want..."

―What about fables?

"I have two."

―What are they?

I recited the two fables I possessed.

One was "Recorder of Vanishing Things," which I had obtained after defeating an Outer God at Seoul Station.

The other was "Persistent Martial Arts Master," which I had received from Cheon Gae, the Dragon-Head Ark Master of the Beggar's Sect.

"I'll get another one soon. I took care of an Outer God with quite a high Status. At the very least, I'll receive a quasi-Mythical-grade fable."

Thinking about it now, my specs weren't bad.

Three fables by the seventh Scenario.

I had been unconscious for forty-five days, but this was still a decent achievement.

Maybe I had been seeing my situation too pessimistically.

Dokja's voice didn't sound too bad, either.

―Hmm, so that's where you're at in the seventh Scenario.

I could picture Dokja's characteristic grin.

I felt like an aspiring writer having a practice piece critiqued for the first time.

How would my Patron, who loved stories more than anyone, judge the time I had lived through?

―Do you have The King of No Killing?

"No."

In this round, The King of No Killing was Uncle Dansu's Attribute.

―What about Eight Lives?

"I haven't even been near peace land."

Eight Lives was an Attribute that could only be acquired by defeating Yamata no Orochi in peace land.

―Did you make a resurrection contract with Eden?

"How could I possibly make a major contract like that this early on?"

―Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to.

"Then why did you ask?"

In truth, there was no need to ask why.

―Because it looks like you're about to die.

That was the Demon King of Salvation's first assessment of me, Yi Hakhyeon.

Footnotes:

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