Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 764

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 764: Episode 33: The Ball (3)

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The hall churned with excitement for a while after the twentieth Scenario's prize was revealed.

But did these bastards even know who the Demon King of Salvation was?

[I heard the story. He's the one who fought Ares after his demigod Descent, right?]

[Does that mean we can consume his fable whole?]

[If we can devour a Constellation on Ares's level, a Historical-grade Constellation becoming fabled-grade in one go would be possible.]

[But wasn't there also someone called the Demon King of Salvation here?]

I discreetly hid behind a pillar beside a table. The atmosphere was taking a strange turn.

I already knew that information about the "Kim Dokja Fragment" had spread outside. However, it seemed that information was now beginning to spread within the Recycling Center as well.

―You already know this, but.

Bihyeong's dokkaebi communication came from the air.

―You know that's an incredible prize, right?

The word prize bothered me, but I forced myself to nod.

‘I know. He's my Patron.’

The Dokja sleeping inside the tank really looked like the Dokja I remembered.

Of course, I knew that the Dokja before me was not the Dokja I remembered. He was merely a form created from his fable.

Even so, watching him made a part of my chest ache.

―He's not simply your Patron. Haven't you heard of the fragments of the Oldest Dream?

It was information I naturally knew, but I deliberately didn't answer. I wanted to hear what Bihyeong would say.

―The Oldest Dream. It is the star identified as the first cause of all worlds.

The first cause of all worlds.

Had low- and mid-grade dokkaebis known information like that?

I couldn't remember clearly.

Perhaps it was a characteristic unique to the 41st round.

―Recently, there have been stories of fragments of that star being discovered throughout the Star Stream.

‘My Patron is one of them, too.’

―A very large one. For now, only the great nebulae and high-status Constellations know about it. This is the first time the Recycling Center has revealed it.

Honestly, I couldn't understand it even after hearing all that.

Even if this was the twentieth Scenario, they were really putting the Demon King of Salvation up as a Scenario prize?

The Administration Bureau might do something like that. But did it make any sense for the Gourmet Association to join in?

They were the ones who would want to taste such an enticing fable first.

―Anyway, be careful in this Scenario. Even if you are the Incarnation of the Oldest Dream, this won't be easy.

‘The Incarnation of the Oldest Dream?’

―A few Constellations call you that.

Then that was a seriously mistaken title. I was the Incarnation of the Demon King of Salvation, not the Incarnation of the Oldest Dream.

The Incarnation of the Oldest Dream was the one walking toward us with those intense eyes.

"Yu Junghyeok."

Yu Junghyeok of the 41st round was there. The side effects of Fable Engraving seemed to have eased considerably. His height, which had previously been that of a boy, had returned to that of a young man.

Behind Junghyeok stood the Allies who had disappeared into the Incarnation waiting room.

I lightly raised a hand toward them.

"Did everyone see the new Scenario?"

"Yes. What about you, Dokja? How did the Constellations react?"

"They were all shocked."

"Hah, so Constellations aren't all that impressive."

Gyeong Sein, who came running over, was the first to chatter away. Uncle Dansu and Chae Yerin were behind them.

"Ji Eunyoo was taken away by the Monkey King."

As expected of the Monkey King. It seemed Ji Eunyoo had safely escaped the hunting dogs.

"Oppa went off somewhere by himself for a bit."

He had probably gone to prepare for the next Scenario. Killer King might look incompetent on the outside, but he was thorough when it came to Scenarios.

However, it seemed the Allies had something else they wanted to say.

I carefully studied their expressions before asking,

"Was anyone else in the waiting room?"

"There were a lot of people. We saw Anna Croft and Asuka Ren, too."

Anna Croft and Asuka Ren.

So they had also been active in the Recycling Center. I didn't know which side they had chosen, but things would not be easy if we became enemies.

"But both of them withdrew."

I doubted my ears.

"They quit the Scenario?"

"Yes. When the difficulty increased this time, we were able to leave the Scenario. They escaped right away."

I could understand Asuka Ren, but even Anna Croft? A Prophet would not have fled after checking the prize details.

"And Anna asked me to give you this."

Chae Yerin spoke and handed me a crumpled piece of paper.

―I'll yield this one to you.

A bitter smile came to me as I read the neat handwriting.

I see.

If she was a Prophet, she must have already realized how things were unfolding here.

Uncle Dansu, who had been reading the room as he listened to our conversation, spoke then.

"Friend, may I ask you one thing?"

"Yes. Go ahead."

"That face..."

Right. I had wondered when he would ask.

I looked at my face reflected in the glass on the table.

No matter how I looked at it, it was exactly Dokja's face.

It must have looked strange to the Allies, who were used to Inho Cheon's face.

After hesitating, Uncle Dansu asked with a grave expression,

"Why have you suddenly become so handsome?"

I stared blankly at Uncle Dansu. Then Gyeong Sein interrupted.

"Ah, Uncle! That's not the question!"

"Huh? Then..."

"Don't you know whose face that is?"

"Whose face is it?"

"It's Kim Dokja's, Kim Dokja!"

"Ah."

Come to think of it, Uncle Dansu had only read Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint once.

And Jiyoon, Uncle Dansu's daughter, liked Yu Junghyeok the most. It wasn't strange that he didn't know Kim Dokja's face.

"Then that makes it even stranger. If that really is Dokja's face..."

"Uncle."

Gyeong Sein grabbed Uncle Dansu's wrist, as though telling him not to say any more.

The unease I had felt from the Allies since earlier had not been my imagination.

Their strangely anxious expressions whenever they looked at me.

I calmly looked at the Allies before asking,

"What happened in the waiting room?"

In the end, Gyeong Sein was the first to speak after hesitating.

"Actually, we met Ye Hyeonwoo in the waiting room."

"Ah."

"And Gu Seona, too. You remember Seona, right? The woman from Chungmuro who used an iron bar..."

"I remember."

Seona, the woman with the iron bar.

The last time I had seen her was at Gwanghwamun Station.

At the time, I had just blossomed "Heir to an Eternal Name" and absorbed the soul of Kim Gyeongsik, who had become a Kim Dokja Fragment.

Seona, who had witnessed that scene by chance, had been greatly shocked and left Gwanghwamun immediately.

I had been worried because I hadn't seen her since then. It seemed that she, too, was a participant in this Scenario.

"Seona said something strange."

Gyeong Sein repeatedly took deep breaths, then looked me straight in the eyes.

"She told us not to trust you, Dokja."

I thought I knew why Seona had said that.

She had clearly seen me absorb Gyeongsik.

I didn't know whether Seona had told the Allies the details, but if they stopped trusting me because of that...

"You don't need to look so serious."

When I turned, Uncle Dansu was speaking with resolute eyes.

"If we don't trust you, Dokja, who would we trust?"

"I feel the same way. We were only debating whether to tell you because Seona's strange words bothered us. We thought you might be upset."

Once again, I felt sorry toward the Allies.

If they learned I was growing stronger by absorbing Kim Dokja Fragments, if they learned I had absorbed Gyeongsik's soul... would they still treat me the same way then?

"Still, when I saw your face, Dokja, I thought we had to tell you."

"My face?"

"Yes. Because those two also..."

The moment I heard what came next, my heart seemed to sink.

"They only looked a little like you... but Seona and Ye Hyeonwoo also had faces similar to yours now."

* * *

Seona and Ye Hyeonwoo.

I wanted to meet them and talk if possible, but it seemed neither of them intended to come into the hall.

[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name giggles.]

The two had changed to look like me.

It was not as though I had no idea why. In the end, the more Kim Dokja Fragments we gathered, the more similar we became to Kim Dokja.

The fact that their features had changed probably meant they, too, had gathered numerous Kim Dokja Fragments.

[Scenario entry is beginning.]

[Those who agree to enter, please proceed through the door in the center of the hall.]

Before I knew it, it was time to enter the Scenario.

I turned to the Allies and said,

"Just in case, I should ask..."

Chae Yerin answered as though she already knew my question.

"You're going to tell us not to participate, right?"

"That is what I intend to do."

The twentieth Main Scenario.

This Scenario had a difficulty equal to that of the 73rd Demon Realm. Monsters comparable to demonic nobles would appear, while the boss-level enemies would be demonic dukes or monsters equivalent to Constellations.

And that was not all.

We would have to fight against the other stars of the Twelve Zodiacs. A confrontation with at least Historical-grade Constellations was inevitable.

"We've fought Constellations before."

"The allowable range of Plausibility is different from the eighth Scenario."

Most of the stars we had faced had wasted their own Status. They had even manifested awkwardly while bound by the Plausibility restrictions of lower Scenarios.

However, the twentieth Scenario was different.

Then Chae Yerin asked,

"What do you think Dokja would have done?"

What would Dokja have done?

None of us failed to know the answer.

Gyeong Sein smiled.

"Did you forget? We're Kim Dokja, too."

Uncle Dansu nodded.

"We're Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, too."

I gave a small sigh.

"You know survival is the top priority, right?"

The Allies nodded.

Yu Junghyeok, who had been listening without interest, passed us and walked ahead first. Killer King appeared from somewhere and followed beside him.

"Let's go."

[You have entered a new Scenario area!]

Bright rays of light wrapped around my entire body, and the scenery began to change.

I had spoken calmly, but I was deeply worried about this Scenario.

Not even in TWSA had the Recycling Center's Scenarios unfolded like this. Furthermore, this Scenario's stage was a place that even I did not properly know.

"...Thus, the primordial Demon King originated from the conflict between good and evil..."

A voice reached my ears in fragments. It was calm and intelligent, with a powerful tone that seemed familiar.

"...And thus, the cause of the Great war of Angels and Demons..."

When I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was orderly writing on a blackboard.

「History of the Demon Realm.」

I stared at the blackboard for a long time, wondering if I was seeing things.

However, nothing changed.

I could see the backs of students' heads as they sat closely together in chairs opposite the blackboard, listening to a lesson.

There was no doubt. This was a school.

No, why was I in a school?

When I unconsciously turned my head, my reflection appeared in the window. A name tag was attached to the chest of my neat beige school uniform.

[Kim Dokja].

Goosebumps slowly rose on my skin.

"Ahem. Is there something outside the window?"

The teacher was looking at me. When I slowly stood up, I saw his face more clearly.

Only then did I understand why I had found his voice familiar.

"Would you care to explain the definition of a Demon King that I just covered?"

There was no doubt.

He was the Reclining Dragon who had come to the Recycling Center as an evaluator.

The Crouching Dragon, Zhuge Liang.

"Student Kim Dokja."

I took a small breath and began speaking.

"Demon Kings are fallen Constellations who abandon their own constellations, contaminate Scenario areas, and establish their own territories."

I rambled on without even knowing what I was saying.

How long had I continued like that?

[You have satisfied this character's inherent setting.]

[The world setting has granted you 500 coins.]

I had satisfied an inherent setting? What did that mean?

Teacher Zhuge Liang nodded as though impressed.

"Not bad. Well, even if this is the inferior class, you are not all of the same grade. That is all for today's lesson. Prepare well for your graduation examinations..."

A chiming melody rang out, and the children who had been slumped over their desks all rose at once.

Amid them, several children approached me. They were all faces I had never seen before.

"How can you remember all that? I didn't understand a single thing, even after listening."

"H-he's one of those secretly overpowered guys."

"Idiot. It isn't strength he's hiding, it's knowledge."

I quietly looked at them before cautiously opening my mouth.

"Who are you..."

Tzzzzt!

[You have made a statement unsuited to this character!]

The faintly jumping sparks nearly made me scream.

[Warning. You do not have an amnesia setting.]

Only after the messages rang out one after another did I begin to understand the situation.

[A new Scenario has arrived.]

Category: Main

Difficulty: ???

Clear Conditions: By contract with the Recycling Center, you have joined an old fable. Find this world's Clear Conditions and resolve the Scenario.

Time Limit: 15 days

Reward: Fragment of the Oldest Dream, ???

Failure: ―

As I read the Scenario details, I remembered Euphrosyne's words.

「A reenactment of an old fable.」

It seemed this stage was a system imitating the Island of Reincarnators, the Kaizenix Archipelago.

The problem was that its genre was somewhat different from back then.

―Kim Dokja of Class 3-Z. Kim Dokja of Class 3-Z, report to the faculty office at once...

I abruptly rose from my seat and headed into the hallway. As I walked, I carefully observed the scenery around me.

For now, this stage did not seem to have an especially unusual world setting. Since terms like Constellation, Demon King, and Scenario were still used, it appeared to share its world setting with the Star Stream.

My name was proof enough.

Since my name was still Dokja, this world setting seemed closer to an adaptation-type world setting than Possession.

In other words, I was called Dokja as I was outside, but my setting had changed to suit this world.

Judging from the students' reactions, I seemed to be a brainy type of character.

[Search for this Scenario's Clear Conditions.]

Like the Gourmet Association's "Bracelet Expedition," this Scenario was probably not set at the beginning of its world setting.

In other words, like during Kaizenix, it was likely set just before an important event.

―Third-year graduation examinations.

I silently looked at the promotional flyer posted on the bulletin board.

"Ah, it's Senior Kim Dokja."

The students passing me bowed their heads in greeting. Senior. I couldn't even remember the last time I had heard that word.

Several people were waiting for me in front of the faculty office.