WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 769: Episode 33: The Ball (8)

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In TWSA, the Recycling Center Director changed with each round.

At times, the head of a small or mid-sized nebula like Tamra took charge of the Recycling Center. At other times, the mad Black Flame Dragon turned it into a playground. There had even been a time when Reinheit, the Owner of Paradise among the Ten Evils, awakened as a Demon King and used it as a second Paradise.

However, the Recycling Center Director of this 41st round was none of them.

He had none of the spirit of a small or mid-sized nebula's leader, the playfulness of Black Flame Dragon, or the madness of Reinheit.

All I sensed from him was a neat, tranquil air. It was exactly how I had imagined the principal of Phileia Hunter Academy.

"You're the Recycling Center Director..."

Tzzzt.

Sparks of Plausibility pressed down on my entire body. Not crying out Eekekek! was the last shred of my dignity.

[Ah, I told you that such statements are forbidden here.]

"Isn't it all right in the Principal's Office?"

[It's only all right for me.]

That certainly seemed to be the case. I couldn't feel this world's gaze around the principal.

"Then use your authority as principal to make it all right for me too."

[That would be difficult. You speak far too well. For now, just remain faithful to your role.]

"I speak well?"

[You only hear what you want to hear. Is there anyone who doesn't know about your devious tongue?]

For a moment, I wondered whether that joke referred to the me of this world or the Star Stream's Dokja.

[What brings you here today?]

"Well, you see..."

[The graduation exam is approaching. Did you come because of that?]

How considerate of him to bring up my business first. Still, I had no intention of obediently playing out my role.

"I just came to ask for some advice."

[Advice?]

"If you're a kind principal, you'll listen to a student's worries, won't you?"

The principal narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. He seemed to be trying to figure out what I was plotting.

[Fine. Go ahead.]

"I've been worrying about my future lately."

[Weren't you applying for the Swordsmanship Club?]

So that was my original setting.

But I had no intention of following it.

"These days, I'm more interested in Record than swords."

[Records?]

"Yes. Actually, I've been..."

As I spoke, I looked somewhere into the empty air. I wondered whether this statement would offend this world.

"I've been writing a novel lately."

[The world setting's Exclusive Attribute, Reader (S), has activated.]

[Through Reader (S), your actions have gained Plausibility.]

Just as expected.

With the name Kim Dokja, there was no way I wouldn't have this Attribute.

[This world is confused by your statement.]

The principal looked somewhat surprised, as though he hadn't expected me to use this world in such a way.

[A novel, hmm. I suppose we'll have to revise your student record.]

"Sure, you can do that later. More importantly, the novel I'm writing is quite interesting."

[Do you really have to tell me? I'm the principal.]

"Is there some rule saying principals can't hear about novels?"

[Wouldn't it be better to speak to a teacher who specializes in the subject?]

"You must have forgotten the setting already. Our school doesn't have a language arts teacher."

[There may be no language arts teacher, but there are teachers who enjoy novels. Teacher Yang, for example...]

"Teacher Yang said no one has read as many novels as you, Principal. From old stories to recent trends, she said you're an expert in every genre."

[This world feels intense confusion over your statement.]

[This world cannot interpret your statement.]

Light sparks began to fly through the air.

The principal glared at me for a moment before hesitantly answering.

[I do enjoy reading. So?]

"The plot of the novel I was writing has gotten stuck, so I thought I'd ask for your advice."

[Didn't you say this was about your future...?]

"It's about my future as a novelist."

[...What is this novel about?]

"It's a novel called The Infinite Prison Warden."

[That sounds like a title with a high probability of being boring.]

"To briefly explain it, it's about a protagonist who attends Phileia Hunter Academy and fights demons."

[Oh, that's a familiar school name.]

"Anyway, the protagonist of the novel is Kim Dokja."

[Isn't that your name?]

"It's just the protagonist's name. It has nothing to do with me. What kind of mad writer would name a protagonist after himself?"

[So what do you mean when you say the plot got stuck?]

"The characters suddenly started moving regardless of what I intended."

[Ho, that is quite a writerly concern.]

"It isn't a metaphor. It's really happening. Teacher Yang, in particular, is completely different from the Teacher Yang I created."

[This world feels intense confusion over your statement!]

The Plausibility Backlash became denser than before. It felt as if it were pressing down on the whole Principal's Office, and the principal's expression had stiffened as well.

"I'd almost say it looks like someone else possessed her..."

[This world cannot interpret your statement!]

[This world's Plausibility has begun to rampage!]

"Even the principal keeps bringing up something called Plausibility, which doesn't even exist in the novel..."

Just as the backlash that had flared up in an instant was about to swallow the entire office, an intense Status erupted from the principal's entire body.

The Plausibility around us faded with a feeble sound. This world's gaze, which had been watching me, was retreating.

The Principal's Office he had constructed had withstood this world's Plausibility.

[The Principal's Office Area has temporarily escaped this world's control.]

The principal, whose face had grown somewhat pale, let out a deep sigh.

[I truly cannot handle you.]

"Can I tell you what I'm really worried about now?"

[Do as you please. Isn't that why you caused all this?]

As I watched the principal shake his head, I recalled a description I had written long ago.

「A middle-aged man with graying hair waved brightly. A pink Hawaiian shirt printed with pineapples, and ripped jeans.」

I remembered his appearance only from that description, but the moment I saw him, I was certain.

"Are you the Mass Production Maker?"

The Mass Production Maker smiled brightly. It was that exact expression which had existed only in my mind.

[Perhaps I am. Perhaps I am not.]

"So you are, and you aren't."

I nodded and continued.

"You are the Mass Production Maker from the 1,864th-round worldline, as well as the Recycling Center Director of the 41st-round worldline."

The Mass Production Maker didn't answer, perhaps because he was a little surprised.

"Did other Constellations, like you, possess people in this world? How many crossed over?"

[...]

"What is your purpose? Why are you suddenly interfering with this worldline?"

As I asked, I recalled the other beings from different worldlines whom I had encountered so far.

Asmodeus, who owned the Theater housing the Little Kim Dokjas.

The Shin Yuseong of Kim Dokja Company, who had possessed Shin Yuseong.

The Inho Cheon of the 40th round, who had been strangely powerful.

Yu Sangah and Lee Gilyeong, who had appeared as Constellations.

Even Uriel, who had become Teacher Yang.

"What are you plotting in this 41st round? What if this twists the Plausibility of this worldline..."

[Plausibility has already been twisted. Not only in this worldline, but throughout the entire universe.]

He slowly drew back the curtains by the window, revealing the Demon Forest at a glance.

[At the exact moment you were born.]

The tone invited every kind of ominous thought.

I reflexively asked, "What does that mean?"

With only a few words exchanged, the field of sparks was expanding again.

The Mass Production Maker blinked leisurely as he spoke.

[You must have many questions. However, I only intend to answer three.]

As I watched the sparks creeping back across the room, I chose and discarded questions again and again in my mind.

Then I opened my mouth.

"Why did you become the Recycling Center Director?"

[You may only ask three questions. Is that really what you want to ask?]

Of course, there were many other things I wanted to ask.

Why had the Constellations gathered in this 41st round?

Did he know of the being called Representative Kim Dokja?

What was Asmodeus's purpose?

How could I see this world's conclusion?

Where was the Demon King of Salvation?

However, some questions would be resolved with time. Some I had to discover for myself. And for others, I couldn't be sure whether I would receive an answer.

"If I choose something easier for you to answer, you'll consume less Plausibility. Answer me. Why did you become the Recycling Center Director?"

That was why I chose this as my first question.

[You truly haven't changed.]

The Mass Production Maker gave a quiet laugh.

Perhaps my thinking was correct, because the sparks of Plausibility swallowing the room advanced slightly more slowly.

[You know that I enjoy old fables.]

I nodded.

[Among them, there is one fable I especially love. It is the fable of a man.]

It was a story I knew well, too.

A story that began in the subway and ended in the subway. The story of a star who sacrificed himself to protect the world of those he loved.

The story of a man who loved stories so much that he became Eternity within one.

[It is a story called "Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint."]

I silently drew in a breath. I hadn't expected that title to come from the Mass Production Maker's mouth.

I bit down on my lip before asking again.

"Is bringing Uriel here related to that story as well?"

Come to think of it, that had been my second question.

The Mass Production Maker shrugged.

[I merely suggested it. She came of her own will.]

"Uriel is not a tool for the Scenario."

[No one should become a tool for the Scenario. What a beautiful and fleeting sentiment.]

"..."

[You surely know already, but we are only actors playing our assigned roles in the vast Star Stream. Only stories flow. Eden's Great Good understood her role better than anyone. That is why she came all this way to protect you.]

I couldn't say anything.

[You can choose as she did. The first choice is to do nothing.]

I didn't have to do anything.

Uriel had said the same thing.

[You can remain at this school and defer your graduation. You can spend the school days you left unfulfilled with your companions. Join clubs, serve on the student council, study for exams, and eat school meals together.]

"That can't be an ending."

[Can you truly say that with certainty?]

"Not everything that looks like a road can become one."

The Road That Isn't a Road.

It was advice the Mass Production Maker had once given Dokja.

「Choose your path wisely. Sometimes what looked like a path may not have been one.」

Perhaps recalling that memory, the Mass Production Maker smiled faintly.

[Is that so? The me of the past said such things.]

As he had back then, he took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. An indescribable longing lingered in the pale smoke.

[The me of today thinks that a road which isn't a road isn't so bad, either.]

Why had he changed his mind?

I remembered the Mass Production Maker's ■■. He had certainly reached his own conclusion then.

[Because I came to think that not every story needs an ending.]

If I felt as though his eyes were worried for me at that moment, was that merely my imagination?

[At least if you remain at this school, you will be safe. The same goes for your companions. If you can deceive yourself.]

"..."

[Have you forgotten? The protagonist of "The Infinite Prison Warden" made a similar choice.]

I recalled Ma Hyeonseong, who repeated the world forever to protect a single save file.

[Whether you clear this Scenario or remain in it, destruction will find you in the end. This world's end has already been decided. The only difference is how quickly it comes. You can make this place your ■■ and meet a leisurely, peaceful destruction.]

"Like Reinheit of Paradise."

[Yes, like Reinheit of Paradise.]

"You said that was the first option."

[That is correct.]

"From now on, start with the third option. I'll choose that one no matter what."

The Mass Production Maker smiled silently and looked outside.

The sunset sinking beyond the forest reflected in his eyes, which were as distant as the night sky.

His sunset-stained voice was strangely lonely.

[Do you know why the stars loved Dokja's story?]

"I don't."

[Because, damn it, the choices Dokja made gave them something to look forward to.]

In the sunset-lit window, both my face and Dokja's face were reflected.

We had kept making choices with this face.

"I didn't make those choices to give the stars something to look forward to."

[Perhaps not. In any case, with that shameless attitude, Dokja showed them the conclusion he pursued.]

"..."

[At that moment, even though every star saw a different sight, they all belonged to a single fable. It was truly remarkable.]

I recalled Dokja's soul, scattered after being split into tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of fragments.

I was one of them, too.

[But after Dokja disappeared, something became twisted. Now, there is no longer a single dream in this universe.]

The Mass Production Maker slowly turned his head to look at me. An unknowable longing rippled in his deeply sunken eyes.

For a moment, I thought I understood a little why he was here. I thought I understood why he had brought Uriel here, why he had brought all of us, myself and the readers, here to take refuge.

[This time, do not end that dream as you please.]

The Mass Production Maker.

He was the star who loved the oldest fable in this worldline.

The Constellation who had used all of his coins to recreate the ■■ of his dreams within Dokja's fable.

[As your brother did.]

He wanted the one and only Kim Dokja to be resurrected once more.

Tzzzt.

The backlash pressing down on the Principal's Office was growing stronger. There was no more time.

It was time for my final question.

"Where is the Demon King of Salvation?"

He glanced out the window once more.

[His body has been offered to the Scenario. You will never meet him in the way you want.]

"Then..."

Tzzzt.

The backlash swallowed the entire Principal's Office.

[This world is gazing at the Principal's Office.]

As the world's rules returned to their proper places, I became a role of Phileia Hunter Academy once more.

The being who had been the Mass Production Maker until moments ago looked at me.

"You've accumulated all the required points."

He was this school's principal.

And I was his student.

"Will you take the graduation exam?"

Beyond the window, the Plausibility Backlash was rippling around the Demon Forest.

Students who had realized something was wrong in the forest were beginning to leave the dormitories one by one.

My companions were among them.

Some had resolute eyes. Others gripped their weapons with nervous expressions.

From high above, they truly looked like actors in a single play.

"You already know my answer, don't you?"

The principal nodded.

[Your brother is waiting for you.]

An explosion sounded in the distance along with the principal's words.

[You have acquired all points required for the graduation exam.]

[The principal has approved your graduation exam.]

[The graduation exam has begun.]

The forest was wailing.

The ground shook as an enormous number of demons crossed the forest's boundary and charged toward us.

[The presence of a Great Demon is stirring in the Demon Forest.]

Groans and screams sounded from all around.

Along with the clamor of weapons, a message rang through the air.

[The Great Demon, 73rd Demon King, has descended!]

My brother was calling for me.

Footnotes:

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