WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 720: Episode 27: Recycling Center (3)
──────
“Now, before you go in, choose one of these.”
The guide rummaged through his clothes and abruptly handed me a catalog. It showed animal masks like the one he wore.
“What is this?”
“It’s the mask you’ll use inside.”
Some were tigers, some rabbits, and others snakes.
It didn’t take me long to realize what the masks represented.
These were the Twelve Zodiacs.
Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. The twelve animal gods every Korean knew by heart.
“You’d best choose carefully. You’ll be taking a placement test soon.”
A placement test.
That meant I would be tested on something related to the Twelve Zodiacs.
There had been no such information in the TWSA I’d read over the past week. The Recycling Center was said to differ slightly between rounds, so perhaps this was another difference.
After thinking it over, I chose a mask.
“Then I’ll take this one.”
I had chosen the white rat mask. The guide waved a hand as if he had expected it.
“I’m afraid someone already took that one.”
Looking closer, I saw that the catalog listed the masks’ remaining stock.
“There are hardly any masks left.”
“Ha ha, well. People usually reserve one before coming in.”
“Reserve one?”
“Sometimes their Patron does it. Other times, an Incarnation does their research and reserves one beforehand...”
For a moment, I wondered if my Patron had reserved a mask for me, but that was impossible.
In the end, I chose the only mask still in stock. It was a white mask with no animal shape carved into it.
“A Faceless Mask. It has no advantages, but it has no disadvantages either. Five hundred coins.”
“You charge coins for this too?”
“We need to make a living too, don’t we?”
You should have properly stocked your inventory before saying that.
The guide cleared his throat. “Ahem, and being a Faceless Mask doesn’t necessarily put you at a disadvantage. It’s nice not to stand out.”
The following slogans flickered beside him.
「Are you tired of the Constellations’ watchful glares? Have the great nebulae’s tyranny left you in despair? Do you think the fables you’ve built are too ordinary?」
「There is no useless story in this world.」
「The dream of becoming a Constellation. Achieve it now at the Recycling Center.」
I stared at the slogans for a moment before saying, “Here are five hundred coins.”
“May luck be with you.”
The moment I put on the Faceless Mask, a light breeze wrapped around my entire body.
[You have used the item Faceless Mask.]
[The effect of Faceless Mask protects your personal information.]
When I entered the open area within the gathering point, the first thing I saw was an athletics track. It was divided into twelve lanes.
Incarnations who had arrived before me were gathered near the track, chatting among themselves. Most of them wore Faceless Masks like mine.
As expected, were most Patrons here poor?
One Incarnation stood out in particular.
The moment I saw the child, who looked no older than ten and wore pitch-black rags, I remembered the guide mentioning a “pitch-black little brat” earlier.
Interestingly, the child wore the white rat mask.
They didn’t look like someone who had met a good Patron. Had they bought the mask themselves?
“Oh? Number twelve! Nice to meet you!”
I turned toward the voice. A man with the number eleven written across his chest waved at me.
“You’re the last contestant in our group, right?”
“I suppose so.”
I answered while looking at the number twelve on my chest.
If this really was a test related to the Twelve Zodiacs, twelve would be the last number.
The man wearing number eleven laughed heartily. From his manner of speaking and gestures, he seemed quite sociable.
I immediately activated Character Profile.
[You cannot use Character Profile in this Area.]
[Skill use is prohibited in this Area.]
Skills were prohibited?
Honestly, that surprised me.
Character Profile wasn’t an ordinary skill, yet even that had been restricted?
Unaware that his identity had nearly been exposed, the man wearing number eleven studied me with curious eyes.
“You chose a Faceless Mask too?”
“I was actually going to choose a different mask.”
“The rat mask?”
After hesitating, I nodded. It seemed number eleven had had the same thought.
Anyone who knew even a little about the fable of the Twelve Zodiacs would think of it.
Yet after watching me for a moment, the man murmured, “Hm. You were lucky.”
Lucky? It wasn’t bad luck?
Just as I was about to ask what he meant, a small screen appeared in the center of the track.
Twelve Incarnations who had entered the race before us appeared on it. Like us, each wore a different mask as they ran down their lanes and reached the finish line one by one.
At last, the eleventh Incarnation crossed the finish line.
“No, no...!”
The final Incarnation, who hadn’t yet crossed the line, collapsed in despair.
“P-please, save me! Please! I don’t want to go back...!”
The center of the track caved in like a sinkhole, and the Incarnation fell toward the earth far below.
The Incarnations watching the fall all had similar expressions. No matter what happened, they wouldn’t end up like that. That was what they seemed to be thinking.
When I looked beside me, number eleven also seemed slightly frightened.
I carefully asked him, “If they were lucky, wouldn’t they survive?”
This world was TWSA.
There were plenty of skills and items that allowed someone to fly. I even had Sylphid’s Leap Boots.
If falling was the only penalty for failure, there was every chance they were still alive.
Number eleven seemed to think differently.
“Are you serious?”
“What?”
“Falling here has symbolic meaning.”
Suddenly, I recalled a description of the Recycling Center from TWSA.
「The graveyard of all possibilities in the world.」
A place where Incarnations with only one possibility left, and nowhere else to turn, gathered.
“Every Incarnation who enters here does so acknowledging that they’re the Scenario’s trash.”
It was the last place chosen by those who hadn’t been selected by a great nebula or an influential Patron.
“If you fall here too, there’s nowhere left to return to. Even if you go outside, you’ll only suffer a miserable death.”
“They still have their Patron.”
“Your Patron must be quite kind.”
I realized it again.
That was right. The Constellations of the Star Stream were that sort of beings.
I smiled bitterly. “No, my Patron is awful too.”
“Really? Then you absolutely can’t fall either.”
“Yes. I’m going to become a Constellation.”
A Constellation. That was why I had come to the Recycling Center.
「If you fully graduate from the Recycling Center, you can become a Constellation.」
Even though I knew Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint and the information in TWSA, the forty-first round still held many secrets.
To retrieve the Demon King of Salvation, who had been offered to the Scenario, and to keep the forty-first round from ending in destruction, I needed to attain a Status at least equal to the stars in the sky.
“Ha ha, a Constellation? That’s a big dream. I’m not hoping for that much. I’d be happy just to earn the recognition of the small and medium nebulae. It would be even better if I caught the Center Director’s eye by luck...”
“Who is the Center Director?”
“I don’t know either. They’ve never revealed their identity. I only know they lead the Alliance of Small and Medium Nebulae.”
The leader of the Alliance of Small and Medium Nebulae?
I tried recalling TWSA, but I had never read anything about that.
Was this another trait unique to the forty-first round?
[A new Sub Scenario has arrived!]
A Scenario message rang in my ears at just the right moment.
It was finally our turn.
+
<Sub Scenario: Twelve Zodiac Race>
Category: Sub
Difficulty: C
Clear Conditions: Avoid placing last in the Twelve Zodiac Race.
Time Limit: 10 minutes
Compensation: Permission to enter the Recycling Center. Rewards vary by placement.
Failure: Expulsion from the Recycling Center.
+
I immediately checked the list of placement rewards.
The second-place prize caught my attention most.
+
Second Place. Fable Fragment, 「Right Arm of a Swordmaster Betrayed by His Companion」.
+
I blankly read the prize’s name.
There was no mistake.
This Fragment had definitely belonged to the Demon King of Salvation.
Why was it here now?
「The Demon King of Salvation became part of the Scenario.」
Could that have been what it meant?
I didn’t know.
In any case, now that I knew this Fragment existed, I couldn’t pretend otherwise.
As I examined the list, there was another item that bothered me as much as the Fable Fragment.
+
First Place. Item, 「Battle Boots of the Noble One」.
+
The moment I saw the combat boots gleaming with a pitch-black sheen, my mouth fell open.
No, why were those here?
That was impossible.
Because the owner of that item had already...
“Anyway, we only need to avoid coming last this time. Then we’ll earn the right to enter the Center.”
Unaware of my thoughts, number eleven rubbed his nose and held out his hand.
“Come to think of it, we haven’t properly introduced ourselves. My name is Wang Weirong.”
I took his hand without showing anything and thought,
「Flying Fox Wang Weirong.」
I had thought something was strange from the start.
To think the Flying Fox, one of the hundred strongest people in TWSA and Yu Junghyeok’s strategist, was this man.
His way of speaking hadn’t changed to that of a martial artist, so it seemed he hadn’t visited the Second Martial World yet.
Well, this was still an early Scenario.
“I’m Kim Dokja.”
“Good, Kim Dokja. Shall we join forces?”
“You mean form an Alliance?”
“Only for this race.”
The goal of this race was to cross the finish line without coming last.
In other words, the Flying Fox’s proposal was obvious.
“Only one person has to be eliminated from this race.”
At the same time, the Flying Fox’s gaze turned somewhere.
I followed his gaze, then stopped.
The pitch-black child wearing the white rat mask stood there.
“Honestly, I don’t like that idea.”
“Why? Because they’re a child?”
When I didn’t answer, the Flying Fox shook his head.
“You’re innocent, Kim Dokja. No one knows whether that Incarnation is really a child or not.”
Of course that was true.
Even if they were a child, it was the same. Like the Beggars’ Sect’s children, there were children in this apocalypse who deceived or killed adults.
Still, that wasn’t why I disliked the idea.
“I just don’t like predictable stories.”
“Predictable stories?”
The Flying Fox blinked several times, then slowly nodded.
“You’re an unusual person, Kim Dokja.”
[Each contestant, please enter your lane.]
[The Twelve Zodiac Race will begin shortly.]
Upon hearing the system messages, the Incarnations entered their lanes one by one.
The Flying Fox, standing beside me, lightly stretched and spoke.
“But remember this. That child will die anyway. They chose the white rat mask.”
I couldn’t ask what that meant.
The countdown had already started in front of me.
[The use of items, Stigmas, and skills is restricted in this race.]
[The Twelve Zodiac Race has begun!]
Bang!
The Incarnations all burst forward at once. Their running forms varied, but every face was serious.
This race was a competition based on pure physical ability. They couldn’t borrow the power of skills, items, or their Patrons.
There was one power that still applied in this race.
The landscape around us rippled, and though faint, an aura of Stage Transformation emerged.
[The fable embedded in the stage begins its story!]
Then the pitch-black child started running past the other Incarnations.
[The fable Winning Rat begins its story!]
As expected, the pitch-black child knew about the fable of the Twelve Zodiac Race.
「The Twelve Zodiac Race is a fable where the white rat wins.」
The problem was that the child wasn’t the only one who knew this fable.
Whooosh!
A sharp shuriken flew toward the child’s back. The child barely stepped aside to avoid the first shuriken, but couldn’t evade the kick from another Incarnation who rapidly approached.
With a small groan, the child tripped over a stone and fell.
“Stupid bastard. You dared to choose the rat?”
Five or six Incarnations rushed in and began stomping on the child.
The child was beaten without even letting out a scream.
Arms, legs, shoulders.
The child had curled up to lessen the blows, but it was clear they wouldn’t be able to run again. The Incarnations needed one person to be eliminated.
And they had just chosen that child.
“I told you.”
The Flying Fox gave the child a helpless glance, then looked back at me.
“It was a predetermined game from the beginning.”
After saying that, the Flying Fox ran forward.
The end of the track was far away, and the leading Incarnation was already far ahead. If I delayed any longer, I wouldn’t be able to catch them either.
[The Recycling Center responds to your choice.]
The child flailed and grabbed at the dirt. They seemed to be trying to stand, but their legs didn’t seem to have any strength left. Perhaps a ligament had torn.
I approached the child.
“Get on my back.”
The pitch-black child looked up at me. Beyond the white rat mask, I could see their wide eyes trembling in incomprehension, as if they couldn’t understand my choice.
“Hurry. Are you going to be eliminated like this?”
After hesitating, the child grabbed my shoulders.
I lifted the child onto my back, stood up, and began running.
The child, breathing raggedly against my back, spoke.
“What are you doing?”
“What?”
“If you save me, you’ll be eliminated too.”
The child’s voice was blunt. Their way of speaking reminded me so much of someone that I let out a small laugh.
“Is that your way of saying thank you?”
“Don’t mistake this for some clumsy sympathy...”
“I’m not pitying you.”
[Your synchronization rate with your Patron has increased.]
“I saved you because I want to win. My goal isn’t just to avoid coming last.”
“What...”
My physical abilities were currently superior to those of any Incarnation at the same level.
After all, my overall stats had reached the Scenario’s limit.
Even so, the distance between us was so great that I couldn’t possibly catch them through that alone.
Yet I ran steadily with the child on my back.
How long had I run like that?
The distance that had seemed impossible to close began shrinking little by little.
The child spoke in a shocked voice.
“How...”
The child wasn’t the only one.
One by one, the Incarnations who realized I was chasing them turned to look at me with wide eyes.
I grinned at them and spoke.
“Don’t you know how the rat won?”
“You bastard, don’t tell me...”
The fact that the rat won the Twelve Zodiac Race was already widely known. That was why Incarnations wearing rat masks faced the greatest interference in this race.
Yet because they were fixated on the fact that the rat won, the Incarnations had forgotten one important detail.
[The fable Twelve Zodiacs responds to your choice!]
[The Constellation One Who Made the Rat Win watches your choice with interest.]
[The force of a charging ox fills your entire body!]
[Simplified Stage Transformation has begun!]
The reason I saved the child was simple.
Kim Dokja would certainly have made this choice.
「The animal that carries the rat will always place second in this race.」
That was all.
Footnotes:
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