Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 775

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 775: Episode 35: The Demon King's Qualifications (1)

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A chill brushed the back of my neck.

[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name frowns.]

It began with "Heir to an Eternal Name."

[The fable Recorder of Things That Disappeared expresses sorrow.]

[The fable One Who Rewrites Fate gazes at Fate.]

The fables I possessed were reacting to that "being." They were warning me.

[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name expresses hatred.]

They were telling me to eliminate the being before me.

[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name says that name is meant for only one person.]

That being would become a threat to me if I left it alone.

However, I shook my head.

「If you can't control your fables, you will live as they tell you to.」

More than anything, I knew who that "Kim Dokja" was.

"Ms. Gu Seona."

The moment I called her name, violent thunder crashed across the sky.

Had someone far away used an excessive amount of Plausibility again?

Pitch-black darkness was flowing from the cracked sky, which looked ready to shatter at any moment.

[The Scenario's Plausibility constraints are weakening.]

Either way, it worked in my favor.

[This world turns its gaze toward an area of Plausibility conflict.]

As this world's restrictions weakened, the limits on speech loosened. I would be able to speak freely with Seona now.

"Ms. Gu Seona. Let's stop this."

Seona. I went over everything I knew about her once more. Maybe there was still some clue inside me that could persuade her.

Her ID was strawberry1137.

Her Reader Level was 46.

Her Number of Completed Reads was 8.

Judging by her ID, she probably liked strawberries. 1137 might have been some sort of anniversary.

For example, March 7, 2011.

I shook my head. This wasn't enough. I needed more information about her.

[You use Reader Comment List on this character.]

* You can use Coins to view comments written by this reader.

* You can currently view 3 comments for free.

It was a skill I rarely used because looking through someone else's comments felt unpleasant. However, I had no other choice now.

When I activated the skill, the comments she had left appeared before my eyes one after another.

No, does this even make sense? No matter what, how can you split a reader in half? The author really messed up this time.

―(Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Chapter 516)

She came back, right? She really came back, right? She did, didn't she? She smiled so brightly! Suyeong smiled brightly like an idiot!

―(Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Chapter 551)

I recently recommended this novel to the guy I like... He says it's fun... Happiness...

―(Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Chapter 551)

It somehow didn't feel real.

I remembered Seona from Chungmuro. Her expression had been fierce with hostility, and her eyes had been strong. She hadn't trusted people easily.

The Seona in those online comments was different from the Seona I knew. Her comments were lively, her joy and sorrow were vivid, and there wasn't a trace of darkness in them.

I read her last comment again and again. Then, a conversation suddenly came to mind.

More precisely, it wasn't my memory. It was the memory of Kim Gyeongsik, the Smoke Human I had absorbed.

In that memory, two people sat on the Chungmuro platform, quietly talking.

The memory was damaged, so I couldn't hear most of their conversation clearly. Still, a few words from Seona were unmistakable.

「"There's someone I need to find."」

The expression on her face as she said that was clear, too.

「"If I ended up possessing someone in this world, then that person must surely be here as well."」

Perhaps that was why I couldn't turn away from her.

Her life wasn't here. So it was my duty to return her completely to her own world. That was what I had always thought.

"Ms. Gu Seona. What exactly have you done?"

When our eyes met, Seona looked even more like "Kim Dokja" than before.

With a faint smile, she tilted her head slightly.

Her gaze fell at her feet. There were the limp bodies of dead Incarnations.

I had never spoken to them directly, but they were all familiar faces.

Students from Class A.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger retches in pain!]

They had been terminal Incarnations of the Twelve Zodiacs.

[The Constellation Pig Who Lives in a Brick House destroys its brick house in pain!]

[The Constellation Nail-Eating Rat suffers a convulsion while biting its nails!]

The Constellations' screams echoed in my ears.

[The Constellation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger has entered a berserk state.]

[The Constellation Pig Who Lives in a Brick House has entered a berserk state.]

[The Constellation Nail-Eating Rat has entered a berserk state.]

Seona, who had become even more like Kim Dokja.

The Incarnations lying limp as if dead.

The Constellations suffering in agony.

"I just put them at ease."

Seona spoke.

"You know it too. There is barely any self left in them as readers now. So I only cut that part out."

"Then the readers..."

She smiled brightly and pointed her thumb at herself. A powerful, ominous aura radiated from her entire body.

[The fable Master of the Twelve Zodiacs roars!]

She had absorbed the Kim Dokja Fragments held by the Constellations of the Twelve Zodiacs.

"Why are you looking at me like that? They were the ones who tormented us. You had a hard time because of them too."

That was true. I had suffered because of them as well.

I had almost died when I met Rice Cake-Eating Tiger in the Twelve Zodiacs Scenario.

However, they hadn't been hostile to me from the beginning.

The same went for Rice Cake-Eating Tiger, Pig Who Lives in a Brick House, and Nail-Eating Rat.

At Geumho Station, Chungmuro Station, and even during patron selection.

They had been the first stars to support me. Perhaps that was why I had always hesitated to truly confront them.

Even if barely any reader soul remained within them now, even if only a 1 percent fragment of their souls remained, that was enough. For that 1 percent, I could throw myself into danger again and again to save them.

But then.

"I only did what you did. We're the same."

I unconsciously took a step back as Seona calmly spread both arms.

"So let's become one now, Kim Dokja."

Until now, I had believed there was at least a minimum line she wouldn't cross. I wanted to believe she wouldn't harm fellow readers, at least.

However, she crossed that line as though it were a joke.

"You're certainly saying something Nirvana would say."

It was only one step.

In that single step, Seona came right before me, her white hand reaching for my throat.

I reflexively swung Unbreakable Faith and struck her hand away. Though her hand and my sword had collided, a sharp metallic sound rang out.

Her entire hand shone white like a fingernail.

I recognized the fable.

The fable of Nail-Eating Rat, "Cornered Nail."

It was a fable that strengthened part of the body until it was nearly as hard as a constellation artifact.

Gritting my teeth, I swung my sword. Her nails and my blade collided over and over, and the mana meeting between them canceled itself out in a deafening roar. Judging by the recoil, our mana and physical abilities were about equal.

Seona smiled.

"I'll kill the Great Demon. You can leave this place now."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I didn't start this. You did."

"You haven't even heard my side! You haven't asked what happened between Mr. Gyeongsik and me, or what it was you saw!"

Seona's fiercely clashing nails hesitated for the first time.

"Gyeongsik."

I nodded.

At last, I had a chance to explain.

What you saw that day was a misunderstanding. It was true that I absorbed Mr. Kim Gyeongsik's soul, but I never killed him.

That was what I intended to tell her.

"I'd forgotten. Did you think I was doing all this over one old man like that?"

It wasn't because of Gyeongsik?

Then why did Seona bear such intense hostility toward me?

Once again, a sharp cracking sound rang out, and we both staggered back three or four steps.

Seona stared steadily at me with clear eyes. Then she frowned as if disgusted.

"You really don't know?"

"What do you mean?"

"You made everything into this mess, then conveniently forgot it all yourself?"

Seona gave a strange laugh and raised her hand into the air. Soon, I heard a finger snap.

My chest turned cold.

The specialty of Christina Page, whose soul she had absorbed, had activated.

[The character Gu Seona has activated Daily Corpse Lv. 10!]

Daily Corpse was a skill that forced the soul out of the body the moment it activated.

However, I had a countermeasure.

「I am Kim Dokja, who can't be hypnotized.」

Yet the moment I activated Incitement, I realized something was wrong.

I wasn't the target of her Daily Corpse.

"I'll make you remember."

[The character Gu Seona has activated hypnosis Incitement Lv. 10!]

At the same time, Incarnations came walking out from all over the brush.

They were all familiar faces.

Lee Hyeongseong, Lee Jihye, Kim Namwoon, and even Shin Yuseong.

Perhaps because of Daily Corpse's influence, the four of them had empty eyes.

At Seona's gesture, Hyeongseong moved.

[The character Lee Hyeongseong has activated Great Mountain Crush Lv. 9!]

Hyeongseong's massive fist struck the ground. The earth overturned as though there had been an earthquake, and a ringing filled my ears.

While my senses were disoriented, Jihye and Namwoon charged through the cloud of dust.

Clang!

Holding Unbreakable Faith and Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword in each hand, I parried both of their attacks. My palms tingled from the heavy impacts.

Then Yuseong appeared. The swarm of Tier-8 sea creatures, Small Nagaks, controlled by the girl began their ensemble.

[Nagak Ensemble begins!]

However, the Nagaks' ensemble shot in an entirely different direction instead of at me, creating a discordant sound.

Seona frowned.

"Yuseong, do it properly."

As I watched Yuseong's shoulders tremble, a strange dissonance rose inside my heart.

[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name smiles brightly.]

I wanted to conserve even a little strength for the final battle. However, I had to admit it now.

Seona was strong. If she could freely control characters this powerful, she might have been above even high-ranking demons.

That was how many Kim Dokja Fragments she had gathered.

[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name begins its story as if it has been waiting.]

It was power I would have used carefully before. However, with this world's attention turned elsewhere, it should be fine.

[Due to the effect of the fable Heir to an Eternal Name, one of the fables of Demon King of Salvation has awakened.]

[The fable Insect Genocide is temporarily available.]

The fable, "Insect Genocide."

It was the fable Demon King of Salvation had obtained after defeating Demon Count Tentacio in Dark Castle.

「A fable that demonstrates overwhelming power when its opponent is "weaker" than its holder.」

Of course, Hyeongseong was too strong for this fable to apply to him. Namwoon and Jihye, and perhaps even Yuseong, were Incarnations who could overwhelm me with their current abilities.

However, there was one thing they could never surpass me in.

「The Status of a fable.」

I inhaled sharply, then unleashed all the Status I had been holding back at once.

[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation (Proxy) reveals its Status!]

The wave of suddenly unleashed Status made the others, including Hyeongseong, hesitate.

I didn't miss that opening and activated my skill.

[Exclusive Skill Incitement Lv. 10 has activated!]

In truth, I didn't want to use this skill on people I knew. However, I had no other choice now.

I placed a hand on Hyeongseong's shoulder as he charged at me.

[Exclusive Skill Incitement resonates with Insect Genocide.]

A thought suddenly came to me.

Perhaps the Oldest Dream wasn't the only one dreaming.