WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 740: Episode 30: Twelve Zodiacs (2)
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* * *
We immediately began the fable reenactment. The first thing we did was divide into teams.
"I'll handle the stage."
Cha Yerim took charge of the stage.
"I gained a new ability."
Wearing a snail mask, she had recently become able to handle the fable embedded in the mask. Yerim thrust one hand into the ground and muttered under her breath. A moment later, a Snail House grew from the floor.
[The fable Snail House begins its story.]
It wasn't an ordinary Snail House. It was a huge space, large enough for two or three grown men to stay in without any trouble.
What was more interesting was that the inside of the house wasn't actually a Snail House.
A bathroom if she wanted a bathroom. A living room if she wanted a living room. A kitchen if she wanted a kitchen.
The fable Snail House allowed her to recreate any interior she wanted. Yerim averted her eyes, as if embarrassed.
"I'm still not used to the fable, so it only lasts one day. It also takes about thirty minutes to make."
A house where the interior could be arranged however she liked. With that, sleeping rough anywhere wouldn't be a problem.
Gyeong Sein said admiringly, "If you'd gained that ability a little sooner, we could've cleared The Three Little Pigs with this."
"Wouldn't it have been difficult since it doesn't look like a Brick House from the outside?"
"Grr, I can't lose either. Dokja-ssi, I'll get the stage props. We need a gourd bottle and some plates, right?"
Before I could answer, Gyeong Sein activated [Way of the Wind] and flew into the sky.
Yerim said, "She's really become a flying squirrel."
Perhaps because she had combined with the flying squirrel mask's fable, Gyeong Sein could use [Way of the Wind] faster than anyone in the group.
Uncle Dansu, who had been watching nearby, added, "Then I'll..."
"You can stay put, Uncle."
His face fell, so I quickly added, "There are quite a few fables where turtles appear. You'll get a chance to shine soon enough."
"Then I'll practice [Way of the Wind]. Since I'm a turtle, I should at least be persistent..."
"Sounds good. If you gain a new insight, let me know too."
By then, Yerim had finished setting up the stage.
"The stage is ready."
The heart of this fable reenactment, Fox and Crane, was that the fox and crane invited each other to their homes and served soup.
"Oh, it's exactly like my old kitchen."
The crane innkeeper let out an exclamation as they looked around the kitchen Yerim had made. Perhaps lost in a brief memory, the innkeeper slowly looked over the two kitchens.
"This one too... Yes. That fox's kitchen was exactly like this."
[The activation conditions for Stage Transformation have been fulfilled.]
I nodded.
"If you're ready, let's begin right away."
[Stage Transformation has activated!]
[The fable Fox and Crane begins its story!]
[Your mask resonates with the fable.]
With the system message, my body temporarily changed to resemble a fox's. It seemed to be an effect of the Stage Transformation.
After taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth.
"Today, it's my treat."
「The mischievous fox said to the crane.」
The fable's voice rang out.
The crane innkeeper stared at that sentence with eyes full of longing, then readily nodded.
"Good. Let's go to your house."
「The crane answered with a smile.」
We entered the fox's kitchen together. As everyone knew, what would happen next had already been decided.
The fox deliberately served the crane soup in a flat plate. The long-beaked crane couldn't eat the soup from the plate, while the mischievous fox licked the soup clean as if mocking the crane.
It was a simple, mean-spirited story.
"Here, have some."
The crane smiled at the plate I placed before them.
"The soup looks delicious."
"It's a very delicious soup."
"I remember when you first served me this soup."
"That was a long time ago."
The crane stared at the soup for a while before asking, "Do you still think people will like this soup?"
That wasn't originally part of the dialogue.
I hadn't expected the crane innkeeper to improvise something like that, so I thought for a moment before answering.
"Not every soup can be loved equally."
"That's true. I know."
The crane innkeeper's eyes were somehow sad.
I watched the crane, then spoke again.
"But."
「The mischievous fox looked down at the soup for a moment before adding.」
"Someone will miss this soup. That must have meaning too."
The crane remained silent for a while after hearing those words.
How much time passed like that?
A tear fell from the crane's eye onto the plate.
"Just as I thought, I can't eat your soup this time either."
While no one spoke, only the fable continued its story.
「The fox ate the delicious soup, while the crane looked down at the plate of soup they couldn't eat.」
It was a perfect reenactment of the first half.
If not for the next sentence.
「And outside the kitchen window, a panda was chewing bamboo.」
* * *
[Your support rate has fallen.]
[9% of the beastfolk belonging to Area 13 currently support you.]
The first person to speak after the first half of the Stage Transformation ended was Yerim.
"Is the panda a MacGuffin?"
In another corner, Ye Hyunwoo kept bowing to the group.
"I'm sorry... I suddenly wanted to eat bamboo."
"Why the hell are you eating bamboo there all of a sudden?"
At Gyeong Sein's shout, Ye Hyunwoo lowered their head shamefully.
"These days, I keep wanting to chew bamboo in places where people can see me..."
Uncle Dansu looked at me worriedly.
"Can we redo the first half?"
"This isn't a movie."
There was no such thing as a reshoot in a fable. Once Stage Transformation had activated, it was recorded exactly as it happened.
In other words, every fable was like a one-take movie.
"Why a panda? Why was there a panda there?"
The owner of the original fable had lost it too.
I pretended not to hear the original author's desperate cry and answered, "We don't have time, so let's start the second half."
The Stage Transformation resumed immediately.
This stage was the crane's house.
「Having fallen victim to the fox's trick, the crane decided to take revenge.」
The crane innkeeper confidently placed a gourd bottle on the table.
"Have some. Today, it's my treat."
"I'll enjoy it."
As expected of the original author of a fable who had reenacted it countless times, the crane skillfully plunged their beak into the bottle and began sucking up the soup.
Naturally, I couldn't eat the soup. The mouth of the gourd bottle was too narrow for me.
「The crane smiled and asked.」
"Why aren't you eating? Are you afraid I poisoned it?"
I smiled bitterly.
"The soup in that bottle looks so delicious that I can't eat it."
"Just as I thought, isn't it?"
We smiled at each other.
This was the ending of Fox and Crane that everyone knew.
The fox received the consequences of the mischief they had played and decided to treat others well from then on.
I didn't know whether fables like this still worked these days, but it was surely the kind of story Constellations who liked good-hearted tales would enjoy.
If not for the next sentence.
「But the fox had foreseen this situation and called a friend.」
I abruptly raised my head. The crane innkeeper was looking at me too.
"A friend?"
I don't remember calling anyone, though?
Before I could answer, the crane's kitchen door flew open.
「There was the fox's friend, the wolf.」
The wolf said, "Ever since I was little, I could never understand it."
「The wolf walked straight toward the fox and crane.」
"Why can't you eat this?"
「Muttering as if they couldn't understand, the wolf snatched the gourd bottle from the fox's hands.」
"Can't you just drink it like this?"
「The wolf put the bottle to their mouth and greedily gulped down the soup.」
I blankly stared at the wolf. The shocked crane innkeeper did the same.
「A moment later, having finished all the soup in the bottle, the wolf spoke.」
"Delicious."
「As everyone remained silent, a panda was chewing bamboo outside the kitchen window.」
* * *
"Cut! Cuuuut!"
[Your support rate has fallen.]
[8% of the beastfolk belonging to Area 13 currently support you.]
"Cuuuuut!"
The crane innkeeper's feathers scattered everywhere. If the nearby beastfolk hadn't stopped them, it looked like there would have been trouble right then.
"You bastard! You bastards ruined my fable!"
[The stage has been contaminated!]
[The fable's structure is warping!]
"Please calm down for a moment."
"Do I look like I'm in any state to calm down?"
To reassure the crane innkeeper, who looked like they were about to faint, I said, "Don't worry. It was all intentional."
"Intentional? Did you just say intentional?"
"Didn't you come to us to change the fable? So we changed it in a way that's popular these days."
It was a lie.
"I swear on my name."
This fable was ruined.
The fable Fox and Crane would probably now become Fox, Crane, and Wolf - Sometimes Panda.
The fable's name had become bizarre, and its lesson and message had fallen apart.
But this was what I thought.
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon likes the wolf's idea.]
A ruined story wasn't necessarily unpopular.
[The Constellation Reclining Dragon says they have found a new lesson.]
Some stories even sold well because they were ruined.
[The Constellation One Who Brought Ten Lambs says the panda is too cute.]
"The evaluators seem to like it too."
At my words, the crane innkeeper looked confused.
"Those people are...?"
"They've been summoned as fable evaluators."
I hadn't begun this bold plan without any safeguards.
If I was going to supply fables, there needed to be standards for the fables I supplied.
There were three Constellations Bihyeong had gathered for me.
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon says to bring a more thrilling story next time.]
The catharsis faction, Abyssal Black Flame Dragon.
This guy, who only liked fables centered around instant gratification, was perfect for representing Constellations with no patience.
Of course, not everyone liked only cathartic stories like Black Flame Dragon did.
There were certainly Constellations in the Star Stream who enjoyed refined and cultured fables.
For example,
[The Constellation Reclining Dragon finds profound insight in the altered fable.]
The cultured faction, Reclining Dragon.
This intelligent Constellation was perfect for representing stars with intellectual vanity.
However, perhaps because they were obsessed with finding meaning in fables one way or another, Constellations of this kind sometimes insisted that even complete nonsense was good.
That was why I had recruited the third Constellation.
[The Constellation One Who Brought Ten Lambs likes the friendship between the fox and crane.]
The sentimental faction, One Who Brought Ten Lambs.
I had recruited this Constellation on Bihyeong's recommendation, but I still hadn't discovered their identity.
There were lambs in their modifier, but they didn't seem to belong to the Twelve Zodiacs.
Still, judging by their criteria for evaluating fables, they were somewhat sentimental and seemed capable of compensating for the other two Constellations' shortcomings.
"If we can satisfy all three of them, we'll be able to capture eight-tenths of the Star Stream."
"Really?"
I nodded and looked at the sky.
‘Bihyeong, are you ready?’
Bihyeong responded as if he had been waiting.
- Are you really confident?
‘You said the Constellations outside are waiting for news about me, didn't you?’
- That's true, but.
‘Then even if we put out a fable like "Shit Pretending to Be Soybean Paste," they'll gobble it up. Which channel will you distribute the fables through?’
- I decided to go through the Gourmet Association. They said it would be fine if the Center Director distributed them through that channel.
I see. The Gourmet Association.
‘That's good. There are many Constellations there with a taste for bizarre cuisine.’
- Were you acquainted with the Gourmet Association's Constellations too?
‘I just heard some things somewhere.’
[A fable you participated in has been submitted through the Administration Bureau.]
[The fable's name has been changed due to aberrant Stage Transformation.]
[The fable Fox, Crane, and Wolf - Sometimes Panda is being transmitted.]
The bizarre fable we had made pierced through the Center's ceiling and disappeared, leaving a long tail behind it.
Watching that fable's tail sway away into the distance, I felt strangely nostalgic.
This was how it had felt when I started my first serialization too.
For the first time in a while, I turned on my smartphone and checked Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint on the platform.
The side story was still being serialized there in real time.
I tapped the latest chapter and checked the comments.
[One Daily Free Pass has been deducted.]
[One comment from this chapter will be randomly revealed, regardless of order.]
+
- Pu■o?
+
I stared at the comment for a long time, then tilted my head.
What was Pu■o?
* * *
Oro Castle of the Dark Dimension.
In this territory of Unfathomable Strictness, one of the 72 Demon Kings, there was an unofficial gathering held at regular intervals.
It was a gathering of stars that loved stories more than anyone in the Star Stream, so much that they had gone slightly mad from it.
The Gourmet Association.
True to the Star Stream's hipsters, their daily routine was criticizing one another's fable preferences across generations.
Yet today, a new gust of gourmet fashion was blowing through the Gourmet Association.
"Have you tried that?"
"Oh, of course."
Normally, they would have been slicing apart swordmaster fables. Today, they were licking at a bizarre fable instead.
The Demon King Worthless Darkness said admiringly, "My goodness, isn't this a fable? A first-generation fable."
"The foundation is first-generation, but it's been arranged suitably."
The One who Overcame the Trials a Little Too Late chimed in with interest.
"Judging by the title, it has a bit of a Takamagahara feel to it. Shuten-doji, do you know anything?"
"Keng! It wasn't made by our side. Still, I thought fables about animal bastards would be boring."
As the Drunken Young Master spoke in a bored voice, Predator of the Hasty Swamp added, "The part where the fox speaks is quite tasty."
"What's with the panda?"
"That seems to be the point. It's unusual."
Lord of Forgotten Longing and Master of the White Castle added their opinions.
"Interesting."
Even the Constellations who normally argued back and forth agreed.
A rare peace had come to the Gourmet Association.
In that brief peace, the Constellations were each lost in thought for the first time in a while.
That was when a thug kicked open the main gates of Oro Castle.
"What the hell are you all eating?"
A young monkey with beautiful fur that glowed gold.
Some of the Constellations who spotted the monkey went pale and muttered, "Damn it, the monkey brat is here."
As the Constellations quietly began to leave, only one Constellation greeted him.
It was the One who Overcame the Trials a Little Too Late.
"Oh, Handsome Monkey King. You've come."
The King of Stone Monkeys lightly nodded and asked, "Persistent Constellation isn't here today?"
"That gentleman hasn't been attending much lately. More importantly, try this."
"What is it?"
"It's a fable that's popular these days. It's an animal fable. Haven't you heard of it?"
The King of Stone Monkeys looked down at the fable offered by the One who Overcame the Trials a Little Too Late and frowned.
"It looks unappetizing. It's a fable about animals that couldn't even join the Twelve Zodiacs."
"Try it before you speak. It was difficult to obtain."
The monkey king tilted his head, then reluctantly picked up a piece of the fable.
A moment later, fur bristled along his arms.
"This... where did this fable come from?"
"The Recycling Center."
"Who made it?"
The Handsome Monkey King's hand reached for the fable faster and faster. The One who Overcame the Trials a Little Too Late smiled and answered.
"Someone named Kim Dokja."
Footnotes:
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