WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 746: Episode 30: Twelve Zodiacs (8)

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[Your support rate has decreased.]

[62% of the beastfolk in Area 13 currently support you.]

Honestly, it seemed unlikely that my companions could clear the Scenario on their own.

There were two reasons for that.

First, if I left this Scenario, Bihyeong would likely stop cooperating with us.

Then we wouldn't be able to display the fables we had changed outside the Recycling Center.

Second, even if Bihyeong did cooperate, many fables couldn't be recreated without my Faceless Mask, which allowed me to transform into other animals.

If fable Stage Transformation was impossible, my companions could no longer raise their support rate through Story Repair.

The conclusion was obvious. I had to stay here for my companions.

That was when Killer King spoke.

"Go, Kim Dokja. I can handle this alone."

His voice sounded somehow frustrated. His clenched fist trembled faintly.

"Go on. Go and wait for me."

"Killer King is right."

Gyeong Sein added.

"You can go first. The worst danger has passed, hasn't it? The bears look like they've given up, too. And didn't you see earlier? We have fables now as well!"

"It's not as if we'll never meet again."

Uncle Dansu joined in.

Cha Yerim, standing beside me, nodded as well.

"You can trust us."

Ye Hyunwoo was the only one who said nothing. For some reason, Hyunwoo glanced at me, then lowered their head without a word.

I watched Hyunwoo and slowly closed my eyes.

Trusting my companions was certainly one option. As they were now, they might truly find a way somehow.

Even if they failed, I could become Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's proxy, successfully carry out the next Scenario, then come back to find them.

But what would happen to the fable we had built here?

The fable we had built through 「The Three Little Pigs」, 「Fox and Crane Hotel」, and 「The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs」.

The time we had carefully built up to stand against the Twelve Zodiacs, casting pandas and wolves and gathering in a little Brick House to plan our next fable.

"Dokja-ssi?"

To anyone, following Rice Cake-Eating Tiger would have been the more exciting choice.

I knew the Constellations wanted a story where I had a powerful Patron behind me, competed quickly on a broader stage, and received rewards.

Even so, the reason I hesitated was...

"Rice Cake-Eating Tiger."

To these people, I was called Kim Dokja.

"What I promised was to attend the Twelve Zodiac Ball, not to become your proxy."

Kim Dokja had become a Constellation himself because he hated having a Patron.

For Dokja, who had tried to build fables entirely on his own and solve every problem that way, this wasn't a matter of choice.

"I'm sorry, but I'll refuse your offer. I'll attend the Twelve Zodiac Ball with my companions, on our own."

"Wait, Dokja-ssi!"

"And according to our contract, it seems the time when I attend the Twelve Zodiac Ball is up to me."

I finished speaking firmly, without avoiding Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's gaze.

No matter how different Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's personality was from what I had expected, I believed he would understand after I said that much.

Because...

「Rice Cake-Eating Tiger is definitely a reader.」

It had to be.

If Nail-Eating Rat was a reader, Rice Cake-Eating Tiger had to be one as well.

He had watched over us alongside Nail-Eating Rat all this time. If he wasn't part of the Five Poisons Association but a reader, then surely he would understand what I was saying.

[No, no, no, no, no, no.]

The rat hiding behind my back trembled as it spoke.

[Run, run, run, run.]

Shaking its head violently, the rat tugged at my sleeve. It pointed at the fallen bears with a trembling finger.

Something came to mind too late.

「Who from the Twelve Zodiacs lured the bears here?」

I turned to look up at Rice Cake-Eating Tiger.

A chill slowly rose from my toes.

[Your Exclusive Attribute has been activated to the extreme!]

The fable I hadn't been able to read because I had been overwhelmed by the Constellation's presence.

The Fable Fragment that had spurred the bears' desires and fanned their flames.

[The Fable Fragment Fanning the Flames has stopped telling its story.]

Now, I could clearly see where that Fable Fragment had begun.

"Rice Cake-Eating Tiger. Did you send the bears here?"

I didn't want to believe it.

The Indirect Messages he had sent me appeared in my mind one by one.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger agrees with the intentions of the Incarnation Jeong Huiwon.]

He had understood Huiwon's desire to protect what was precious to her.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger says that you only need to attend the Twelve Zodiac Ball once later.]

He had even sacrificed an enormous amount of Plausibility to give me a Demonic Species Core.

I didn't want to believe that such a Constellation could have done this, that he could have endangered fellow readers.

"Why..."

Even if I didn't want to believe it, I had no choice but to hear the answer.

[The Fable Fragment Fanning the Flames stammers its story.]

His fable spoke in his place.

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger had sent the bears as scouts to observe Lycaon's movements. Then he had sacrificed them mercilessly.

As if spitting out stale rice cake, the tiger opened his mouth.

[Are you sincerely asking me why? Do you really think Plausibility is needed even for something this trivial?]

Could the creature stretching his mouth into a smile truly be a reader who had read the same story as my companions and me?

[Little slice, this is something your tiny mind cannot understand. Don't think. You only need to take hold of the rope I have extended.]

Perhaps I had been mistaken from the beginning.

The old fables surrounding him spoke in his place.

[The fable Old and Ailing Guardian Deity mocks your faith.]

[The fable Wicked Beast laughs at you.]

[The fable One Who Calls Changgwi roars.]

[The fable Man-Eating Monster watches you.]

[The eyes of the fable Owner of the Rotten Rope gleam.]

......

Among those fables, so old that I couldn't even tell how old they were, Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's soul was nowhere to be seen.

His soul, faintly visible through the gaps between the densely layered fables, was merely as tiny as a small slice.

[It is time to leave now.]

"Dokja-ssi!"

The voices of my companions calling for me suddenly grew distant.

Something that looked like Rice Cake-Eating Tiger stretched out a hand toward me.

The moment an irresistible force pulled my body in accordance with the contract, something shook off its power.

A warm, gentle wind.

There was no need to ask who it was.

"Lycaon."

【Please step back, Protector.】

I wanted to say something.

You mustn't get involved.

That is our contract.

And in this Star Stream, a contract was a form of Plausibility more sacred than anything else.

【It is alright.】

All of Area 13 began to shake.

[<Star Stream> has detected the sudden action of the Lost Guide.]

[The Administration Bureau is controlling the unexpected situation.]

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger was smiling.

[You fell for it, foolish otherworldly monster.]

The moment Lycaon's Status overflowed, a message flew through the air.

[<Star Stream> has adjusted the Scale of Plausibility.]

In proportion to Lycaon's power, Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's strength was growing as well.

Tstststst...

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger was only a Historical Constellation, but Lycaon had revealed his Status here without any contract or Scenario.

On top of that, Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's Status was far stronger than I had expected.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger roars!]

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger launched an attack at Lycaon's unsteadily wavering Incarnation body.

[Get lost, otherworldly monster...!]

A huge rope was clamped between the tiger's jaws like a whip. As though spinning a sangmo, the tiger forcefully whipped his head around like a top, and the rope came flying in with a massive shockwave.

【Protector.】

Lycaon threw his entire body forward and blocked the attack, as though protecting the only path he had been granted.

【I have not been given much ground to stand on. This world's protagonist isn't me. So I'll be brief.】

I knew instinctively that Lycaon was trying to tell me something he wasn't supposed to say.

But why?

【The being you seek is in the deep sea of ■■■.】

"Lycaon, wait! What does that..."

【Seek out the other Recorders. Collect the disappearances of worlds, and...】

Lycaon's body was vanishing.

His wind was fading away.

I reached out to Lycaon.

【Become the Kim Dokja you wish to be.】

Lycaon's voice scattered into the wind.

His dependable shoulders and splendid mane were disappearing.

In his final moment, a faint smile flickered across Lycaon's face.

【Thank you for telling me stories all this time. So I will tell you my final story as well.】

Lycaon's Incarnation body disintegrated.

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger smiled beyond the blue smoke that rose up.

I blankly looked down at the place where Lycaon had vanished.

Something glittered there.

「SVRP. PW 041.

Report on an Exceptional Individual.

The Way of the Wind has already been recorded in Individual ■■■.」

It was the record left behind by Lycaon, the Recorder of Fear.

「A direction for the complete restoration process of the individual has been presented. The important thing is rereading.」

Rereading.

Before, I wouldn't have understood what that meant.

I would have answered that I had already read that sentence, that I had read it over and over again.

That I had written that sentence.

That I knew it better than anyone.

But at that moment, I realized.

「A gale in the left hand」

Rereading something didn't mean reading once more what I already knew.

「A storm in the right hand」

It was like transcending.

Just as Yu Junghyeok became a Transcendent through new realizations each time,

「Where straight lines and curves collide」

I too had to understand the sentence in a new way each time.

「The Way of the Wind will open.」

But how?

"Lycaon."

I smile bitterly and speak to Lycaon, who can no longer hear me.

"I still don't understand what that means."

All I could understand was the time Lycaon and Dokja had spent together.

Late at night, when even the Dokkaebi King must have been asleep, Lycaon would sometimes wake up and teach me the Way of the Wind. When there seemed to be no answer at all, we would share old stories together.

【Protector, but in Dark Castle at that time...】

【Protector, during the Great war of Angels and Demons...】

【Protector, when the Archangel closed the door on the Ark...】

They were stories of the previous Kim Dokja.

Lycaon mostly asked about Dokja's feelings, so most of them were questions I couldn't answer.

I answered while imagining that I had become Dokja.

I imagined answers that only Dokja could give.

Strangely, as I continued answering like that,

【I see. So that was how you were.】

Somehow, it felt as though Dokja truly existed inside me.

【Thank you, Protector.】

I remembered the last question Lycaon had asked while looking at the moon floating over Area 13's ceiling.

【But Protector. Did you... perhaps want to return home as well?】

The wolf's finger pointed at the great moon.

Looking into Lycaon's eyes, lit by moonlight, I thought about him for the first time.

Lycaon before the Scenarios began.

The wolves of Chronos racing over the grasslands.

The wolf prince howling toward the wind at their head.

Only then did I understand rereading.

What mattered wasn't what sentence was written there.

To read something was to read the years layered over that sentence, to measure the time between the lines built up through writing, reading, and imagining that sentence.

To understand the time of a wolf that ran through a ruined world, and to answer those years.

"Yeah, I wanted to go back too."

The sentence didn't change.

I was the one who changed as I read it.

[You have understood the Way of the Wind.]

The path opened.

Footnotes:

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