WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 714: Episode 26: Star Ladder (10)
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As my vision narrowed, I realized what was about to happen.
「The Demon King of Salvation was trying to sacrifice himself.」
The situation was dire. Washington Dome was surrounded by Historical Constellations, and there were no Constellations willing to help us.
To make matters worse, [Fate] had been pronounced as well.
With no way to avoid death, Dokja made his decision.
This crisis could be overcome only through his death.
‘Stop!’
But I couldn't let that happen.
This was my [Fate]. It was my burden to bear.
‘Stop, I said!’
There was no reason for the Demon King of Salvation to take it in my place.
‘Kim Dokja!’
―You aren't ready to fight them yet.
It felt as though someone was supporting me.
When I turned my head, I saw Christina Page.
Just as I was about to thank her, our eyes met. A faint guilt filled her eyes. Her fingers moved, and a terrible premonition came over me.
My vision went dark.
* * *
Christina Page.
The closest aide to Anna Croft, the leader of Zarathustra.
An FBI forensic hypnosis expert known as the Finger Snapper in TWSA.
Right before Olivia possessed her, she had been playing a tabletop role-playing game with her friends.
‘Kevin, Jim, Amelia.’
Olivia thought about her friends.
Friends who loved subculture.
Kevin, who only read webtoons with “SSS” in their titles.
Jim, who loved martial arts novels.
Amelia, who loved virtual idols.
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint was a Korean web novel Kevin had brought along.
“Guys, if we entered this novel, how would we survive?”
“Oh, Kevin. Here you go again.”
“It’s set in Korea. We’d be at a disadvantage.”
“No, America appears too.”
“Kevin, there isn't any ‘SSS’ in this novel's title, though?”
“There is if you keep reading. Olivia, could you email the author? You said you had a Korean friend. Let's add this novel's setting in the next session.”
What would have happened if she hadn't listened to Kevin then?
If she hadn't emailed the author, would none of this have happened?
‘Oh, God.’
Her survival had been pure luck.
The person she happened to possess was Christina Page.
For someone who regularly enjoyed tabletop role-playing games, playing Christina's role wasn't difficult. It was fortunate that it wasn't.
At least while Olivia played Christina, she could forget who she was.
“Demon King of Salvation.”
She could forget Kevin, Jim, and Amelia, her dead friends.
“Can you really save my friends?”
A message from the Demon King of Salvation, delivered through the Exclusive Skill [Nightmare].
“Yes.”
The Demon King of Salvation had said so.
If she granted his request, he would definitely bring her dead friends back to life.
And that request was...
[The Exclusive Skill Daily Corpse Lv.5 has activated!]
Christina hurriedly supported Inho Cheon as he collapsed forward.
In the distance, Anna Croft staggered in shock.
“Christina! What are you doing?”
“It was the Demon King of Salvation's order.”
“What?”
“He told me to use [Daily Corpse] on his Incarnation body.”
“What the hell does that...”
She didn't know why the Demon King of Salvation had made such a request.
“Does it matter? He can move his Incarnation body even while ignoring my [Daily Corpse].”
For all she knew, he was planning to fight using [Daily Corpse].
What was strange was why he had conveyed his intent directly through [Nightmare] instead of speaking through the Incarnation body.
“Then why isn't Inho Cheon waking up? He got up right away last time.”
“That, I don't really...”
At that moment, a bright ray of light burst from the direction of the Capitol.
It was the area where the Sub Scenario had occurred earlier.
The place where the fake Demon King of Salvation and the Black Beast had appeared.
But the fake Demon King of Salvation had been defeated, and Yu Junghyeok, who had become the Black Beast, had also fainted.
The Scenario had already ended.
Then why were sparks flying around the Capitol?
“Christina. Something is wrong.”
Dark clouds filled the sky above the Capitol.
Pitch-black lightning fell through them.
[The Demon King of Salvation has been resurrected in the Scenario.]
The demon king believed to be dead appeared in Washington Dome.
* * *
Embraced by a warm abyss, the Dark Warden thought.
「I am.」
A question he had asked for a very long time.
「Who am I.」
That question was everything that explained him. An answer he hadn't found despite dedicating his entire life to it.
To find that answer, the Dark Warden had made a contract with a dokkaebi and become part of the Scenario.
Even so,
「I, was not, the Demon King of Salvation.」
He couldn't find the answer he wanted.
More precisely, he couldn't become that answer.
The stars turned away from him, and the Scenario abandoned him.
He was only a nameless character.
Or perhaps a monster that couldn't even become a character. A disposable tool meant to make the protagonist shine.
「Even, that is, fine.」
He already knew this world was a playground for Constellations. Even if he was no more than a sandcastle built and destroyed in that playground, he wanted to have a name.
He wanted to become a proper part of that playground.
He wanted to become the Demon King of Salvation.
―Do you really want to become the Demon King of Salvation?
The Dark Warden blankly looked up at the Demon King of Salvation.
―No matter what the price is?
He wanted a name.
He wanted a proper role, to fulfill that role, and then die.
The Dark Warden nodded with every ounce of his being.
If only he could be given a fable, even one sentence long.
―Then let's try it.
He wanted to be written into that fable.
[The fable Demon King of Salvation begins its story.]
A cold fable wrapped around him.
「I am.」
The Dark Warden soon became one with distant Eternity.
「We are the Demon King of Salvation.」
His tattered body was once again filled with Plausibility, and a Constellation's fable settled within it.
Tststststst!
Amid the violently raging sparks, Dokja, the Demon King of Salvation, opened his eyes.
When he lightly rolled his neck,
Crack.
His body cried out.
A demonic species' body, covered in wounds from being cut to pieces by Junghyeok.
Not a single limb was intact, but what mattered was that the plan had succeeded.
[The Constellations of the nebula Asgard are astonished!]
It was a plan that had succeeded dramatically.
It couldn't have been achieved unless several strands of Plausibility had meshed together like gears.
The great nebula had invoked [Fate].
He, a fabled-grade Constellation, had received that [Fate] in place of the Incarnation.
Plausibility had run wild because of a calculation error in the twisted [Fate].
Using that excess Plausibility as grounds, he had gained the justification to possess a new body.
Above all, the plan could never have succeeded without the help of the demon who had impersonated the Demon King of Salvation, the Dark Warden.
[The Incarnation body resonates with your fable.]
[Your synchronization rate with the Incarnation body has increased.]
This would probably be his final story.
“There he is! He's over there!”
Incarnations who had sensed his Status began gathering around him.
They were Historical Constellations belonging to the great nebulae, who had been pursuing Hakhyeon until moments ago.
“Wh-what is that...?”
“Why is he in another body instead of his own Incarnation body...?”
“Did he do it to protect his Incarnation body?”
The Constellations looked at one another as if they couldn't believe it.
Someone let out a derisive snort and said,
“They said he was a fragment of a discarded god, but he's unbelievably stupid.”
Stupid.
It was true.
[The Constellations of the nebula Guiok shake their heads at your foolishness.]
[The Constellations of the nebula Tree of Guardianship pity your choice.]
[The Constellations of the nebula Olympus laugh at your judgment.]
The revived demonic species body creaked. It was a resurrection in name only, and the body was already dead. At best, the Incarnation body would last less than ten minutes.
In the distance, the Gatekeeper of Thebes shouted at the top of their lungs.
“I've finally caught you, Demon King of Salvation! Nowhere left to run!”
As though they had already claimed victory, the Gatekeeper of Thebes strode forward and spoke proudly.
“You have no idea how much effort I put into catching you. I persuaded the nebulae one by one...”
With [Fate] declared, avoiding death would be difficult.
The situation might have been a little better if he had possessed fables like the 1,865th-round Kim Dokja Company's "Fate's Adversary" or Cheok Junkyung's "One Who Fights Against Fate."
But he had no such fables.
There were many fables he didn't have right now.
「The youngest will probably find them all for me.」
The youngest was a strange one.
The only Dokja he knew who could write.
At first, he was simply curious.
He wanted to know what story someone who had possessed a scrub villain would write.
The one who clumsily imitated Dokja was cute, and he was a little proud of the one who took care of things Dokja wouldn't.
Sometimes he was so frustrating that he wanted to snap at him.
Still, watching that one's story was enjoyable.
「But, youngest.」
That was probably why he was here now.
「This goddamned world won't read the story you wrote.」
The Gatekeeper of Thebes, who had been talking for a while, frowned.
“...Are you even listening to my story?”
The Demon King of Salvation looked at them for a moment, then smirked.
Among the Gatekeeper of Thebes's fables was "Final Loose Lips."
A fable that increased their Status in exchange for forcing them to confess their desires at the final moment.
“Yeah, keep going.”
While the Gatekeeper of Thebes continued talking, the Demon King of Salvation searched through the demonic species' coat.
There was a pack of cigarettes in the coat.
As he took one out, someone who liked cigarettes came to mind.
Who was it again?
Memories scattered like smoke. The place where those memories disappeared hurt. That pain proved he was Kim Dokja.
The Gatekeeper of Thebes, finally coming to their senses, reddened and shouted.
“Kill him! Recover the fragment!”
The Incarnations rushed in.
The Demon King of Salvation flicked away the cigarette and said,
“Youngest, lend me your weapon.”
A silver gleam flew from somewhere and settled in the Demon King of Salvation's right hand.
[The fable One Loved by All Things begins its story.]
[The item Thought of Almost Everything resonates with your fable.]
With a bright flash, one of the leading Incarnations rushing at him was split in half.
“Kwaaah!”
The Thought, mimicking Broken Faith, activated Blade of Faith.
“How does he still have something like...”
The Constellations retreated in alarm.
It was power enough to kill an Incarnation body of a Historical Constellation with heightened synchronization.
The Gatekeeper of Thebes opened their eyes so wide they seemed about to tear and shouted.
“It was only luck! Keep pushing! He's at his limit too!”
The hesitant Constellations charged again.
The Demon King of Salvation swung his sword without hesitation. He cut off arms, severed legs, and beheaded them.
Each time, the demonic species' body accumulated more wounds.
「This world is a predictable tragedy.」
He pulled the arrow lodged in his shoulder and kicked away the spear that grazed his thigh.
「A world created to inflict pain upon Junghyeok.」
As he knocked aside the blade aiming for his side, pain flared up in his back. A torn demonic species wing rolled across the ground.
「A story stained with great and small failures, with endless despair. This world was the fate imposed upon Junghyeok.」
The moment the torn wing hit the ground, lightning fell from the sky again.
「Therefore, anyone who tries to bear that responsibility with him will surely be cursed.」
The Void Curtain rippled, and another star fell through the white-glowing night sky.
[A great Fate desires your death.]
He was the Demon King of Salvation, incapable of feeling emotions.
Yet at this moment, he too was Kim Dokja. Perhaps it was because he had met the youngest.
“Yeah. Are you fighting too?”
Junghyeok couldn't answer.
Just as text written on a monitor couldn't answer.
Some communication would never occur. Where communication was impossible, there was simply a story.
「The Demon King of Salvation lives to read that story.」
The Demon King of Salvation smiled like a prisoner accepting a deserved punishment.
Footnotes:
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