WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 779: Episode 35: The Demon King's Qualifications (5)
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The voice she had searched for so desperately.
Her fingertips began trembling.
What had happened?
Why was Go Jangwon's voice coming from this guy?
「“D-Do you know how hard it was for me?”」
Hearing that voice, Gu Seona gripped her sword hilt.
There was no doubt. This guy had killed and absorbed Go Jangwon. Otherwise, there was no way she could hear a fable like this.
「“A good father? How am I supposed to do that? I’m not even married, and I don’t have any children...”」
After hesitating, Seona let go of the sword hilt.
Would it be all right to listen just a little longer?
[The fable Recorder of Things That Will Disappear continues its story.]
Seona listened to the story again and again. She wanted to hear even one more sentence. She wanted to know the truth.
What had happened to Go Jangwon?
What had happened to him?
【You have finally succeeded.】
Startled, Seona turned around. A swaying doll stood amid the rainforest, where rain fell in scattered patches.
She recognized him immediately.
“Asmodeus.”
Crackle.
Sparks flew from the Demon King's Incarnation body after his True Name was spoken.
“How did you get here?”
【Have you forgotten? I am also affiliated with the Gourmet Association.】
Without letting down her guard, Seona glared at Asmodeus.
“What do you want?”
Asmodeus smiled mysteriously.
【Kill Kim Dokja.】
“I was going to anyway.”
【However, you must not take his soul.】
“What nonsense is that?”
【You are not a vessel capable of holding his soul. You are not protagonist material. Surely you know that yourself?】
Asmodeus let out an exaggerated sigh.
Seona glared at him for a moment before slowly standing up.
“This guy is mine.”
Looking down at the fallen Dokja, Seona thought, This guy has memories of Go Jangwon.
Until she read all those memories, until she learned what had happened, she could never let anyone take his soul form.
【Ah. I see. You were looking for another ‘reader.’】
Asmodeus covered his mouth and laughed as if he already knew everything.
【But it seems you are mistaken. The soul you seek is not contained within him.】
“How do you know that?”
【If you wish to know the truth, kill him. Then offer his soul to me.】
Seona bit her lip.
「“D-Dokja-ssi!”」
The fable still echoed in her ears in real time.
Seona clenched her fist.
“No. There is still a story I need to hear from this guy. So...”
【Hehe. Kim Dokja Fragments truly are...】
Crackle.
Asmodeus's Incarnation body began to be engulfed in sparks.
【You will regret this. ‘They’ are coming now.】
They?
Before Seona could ask, Asmodeus's Incarnation body faded.
【I could stop them for you, but watching will be much more entertaining for now.】
The moment Asmodeus vanished, the nearby grass rustled.
The people who emerged from the forest were faces she knew.
[Found.]
Incarnations smiled grotesquely at her.
The students of Class B. They were Incarnation body terminals of the Twelve Zodiacs.
Plague-Calling Rat.
Snake Who Cuts Its Tail.
Seona knew the owners of those Incarnation bodies. They had once been Constellations affiliated with Odok-hyeop, but their egos had since been devoured by fables.
After their personalities changed, they had maintained a fairly amicable relationship with her.
Then why?
The moment she saw them, a chill ran up her spine.
Something was different.
[The Constellation Plague-Calling Rat is looking at you.]
[The Constellation Snake Who Cuts Its Tail is looking at you.]
A fist flew at her in an instant and struck her stomach.
She couldn’t breathe.
Cough!
Blood burst from her mouth, and excruciating pain surged through her ruptured organs.
[You seem much weaker than expected.]
The grip around her neck felt strong enough to snap it at any moment.
This can’t be.
The Snake Who Cuts Its Tail and Plague-Calling Rat she knew were Constellations who had already weakened as much as they could.
After repeatedly fighting Inho Cheon beyond their limits, they suffered Plausibility Backlash and lost most of their fables. They had become so broken that they could barely carry out Scenarios properly.
So where had this power come from?
[After going to the trouble of spending so many Coins to purchase even a modifier.]
They purchased modifiers?
[I will have no excuse before the higher-ups.]
Her heart sank.
According to the principles of the Recycling Center, there were two broad categories of Constellations capable of intervening in this battlefield.
One was the Constellations of the Twelve Zodiacs.
The other was the Constellations of the Gourmet Association, which sponsored this Scenario.
However, there was one more way for other Constellations to intervene in this world.
「What if someone purchased the modifier of a fallen Constellation of the Twelve Zodiacs?」
What if they were Constellations from a large nebula?
Sweat ran down her back.
If that was true, then the Recycling Center was no longer safe.
[Ah, the one we were looking for is over there.]
[You mean that pale bastard?]
If she opened her fables again and used “Master of the Twelve Zodiacs,” could she defeat them?
She wasn’t sure.
Seona had little Mana left. She had pushed her fables to their limit in the previous battle.
[Then what about this one?]
[Just kill her.]
Plague-Calling Rat drew out long claws and swung them at Seona.
An attack she could neither dodge nor block.
The moment she tightly shut her eyes, something heavy crashed into them.
[Huh?]
The Constellation staggered from the powerful body slam and dropped Seona.
When she looked up, a man with a dependable build stood in front of her.
“Run.”
It was Lee Hyeongseong, who had been unconscious until moments ago.
“Quickly.”
Looking closer, it wasn’t only Hyeongseong.
Kim Namwoon, standing beside him, curled his lips.
“Wow, this is finally getting interesting.”
Lee Jihye was beside him as well, holding a longsword.
“You, take that mister and get out of here. If he dies, Master will get mad.”
It was strange.
The [Daily Corpse] and [hypnosis Incitement] she had placed on the characters had been completely destroyed.
They had no reason to protect her now.
And yet.
“Please.”
Shin Yuseong held out her small hand and helped Seona up.
“Please save him.”
* * *
It was a terrible dream.
A dream in which Kim Dokja and Kim Dokja pointed swords at each other. A dream where I couldn’t understand why it had happened, or why it had to happen.
I drifted aimlessly at the center of that dream.
The sharp scrape of swords colliding. The sound of something tearing apart.
Feeling the vivid pain contained in those sounds, I groaned.
Why did they have to fight?
Why did a universe like this have to exist?
「Youngest.」
Why did we have to be born as Kim Dokja?
My back was damp.
When I opened my eyes and steadied my breathing, I saw the dim ceiling of a cave.
As I raised my stiff body, I saw someone building a fire at the cave entrance.
“Gu Seona-ssi.”
She looked exactly like me, though her features were more delicate. She smiled weakly.
“What happened?”
“Well, as you can see.”
Seona was a mess.
She had gained many new wounds. Her side had been torn open, and a chunk of flesh had been ripped from her thigh.
Most troubling of all were her dark-red veins.
“What happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
Seona fell silent for a moment, as if organizing her thoughts, then began.
“I think Constellations from a large nebula bought the modifiers of the Twelve Zodiacs and entered this place.”
“Surely not...”
“This place isn’t safe anymore either.”
“Did you save me?”
“...”
“Why? Wasn’t your goal to absorb me?”
Instead of answering, Seona lowered her head with a bitter smile. It seemed she didn’t want to answer.
“And what were those memories you showed me?”
“What memories?”
“The ones with Dokja in them...”
“Ah, those.”
Seona picked up a branch lying on the cave floor and tossed it into the fire.
“I don’t know much either. They aren’t my memories. I received them from someone else too.”
Seona groaned, her brow deeply furrowed.
I rushed over and checked her pulse. Tainted energy flowed through her story veins.
Veins ruined by the “plague.”
The fables flowing through her story veins had been damaged so severely that recovery was impossible.
“Seona.”
As if she knew her own condition well, Seona spoke.
“It’s no use. Even a Greater Restoration Pill can’t heal wounds like this.”
“We don’t know that yet. We have Ellain Forest Essence too...”
“I know. I’ve read the story eight times too. I’m telling you, it won’t work. There’s no way.”
Seona shook off my hand as if exhausted and leaned against the cave wall.
Watching her grow colder in real time, I didn’t know what to say.
Seona spoke as though my expression was ridiculous.
“Why are you so worried? I was trying to kill you just a little while ago.”
“That was because of a misunderstanding...”
“A misunderstanding...”
The Demon Forest seemed to have entered a lull.
The sounds of weapons from all around had grown faint, and no one was screaming anymore.
Perhaps that meant there were barely any students left.
“Do you know someone named Go Jangwon?”
After thinking for a moment, I shook my head.
“A reader who possessed someone?”
“Yeah.”
I thought about the reader named Go Jangwon.
But no memories came to mind.
“I read some of your memories. You know, he was dressed like some kind of soldier.”
Dressed like a soldier.
“Do you mean Sergeant Major Jeong Munho?”
“Jeong Munho?”
“He was someone who possessed Jeong Huiwon’s father.”
Seona’s eyes widened.
“I see. So that guy was Jeong Huiwon’s dad. That’s why he was so...”
For some reason, Seona repeatedly muttered “Jeong Huiwon” and “dad” as she coughed.
“That bastard hadn’t even completed his military service, but he was a soldier here. Can you tell me more?”
I told her about Sergeant Major Munho I knew.
Seona listened without even breathing. I wondered if Dokja had worn that same expression when reading TWSA.
“That guy joined the Beggars’ Sect? Ha, what a coward.”
Sergeant Major Munho had become a lackey of the Beggars’ Sect.
“What? Did he get beaten up everywhere he went here too?”
He had eventually joined our side, but in the first martial arts match, he had been beaten like a dog by a master from the Beggars’ Sect.
“How was he at the end?”
Sergeant Major Munho had thrown himself forward to save his son, Jeong Eunho.
A man who willingly sacrificed himself to preserve a character’s history.
「“Good job, Huiwon.”」
Only now did I learn his name.
“Yeah. I see.”
His name was Go Jangwon.
“At the end, a black hand took that guy’s soul?”
I nodded.
She looked like she knew who that “black hand” was.
She coughed up blood again, and fables began flowing from her entire body along with black blood.
“They’re here.”
“Seona-ssi.”
I knew as well. I had felt ominous movements outside the cave for some time.
There were two of them. Both carried an aura greater than that of a High Demon.
Perhaps they were the Constellations from the large nebula Seona had mentioned.
I hurriedly carried Seona on my back and started running.
How long could I run?
Should I use [Way of the Wind]?
If I called Yu Junghyeok or Huiwon, would they arrive in time?
“You know what you have to do, right?”
Seona spoke.
“If you do nothing again, my soul will be taken too, just like Jangwon’s was.”
“I told you, I have no intention of absorbing you...”
“Have you ever thought about it? Whether we are Kim Dokja or not may not matter much. The primordial universe probably began from a single point, after all.”
“What are you suddenly talking about...”
“We’re just returning to that point. There’s nothing frightening or scary about it.”
An arrow flew from somewhere and grazed my calf.
I fell to the ground.
[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name smacks its lips.]
Seona reached out and grabbed my hand.
Her memories began to flow into me as she slowly died.
「“Yeongin, what are you reading?”」
「“A novel.”」
「“Is it interesting?”」
The two looked at each other and smiled.
「“What is it about?”」
「“A story where the protagonist keeps dying.”」
If everything had been born from a single point, could Go Jangwon and Gu Seona meet again at this story’s final period?
Footsteps approached.
The stars hunting us were drawing near.
“I only have one request.”
The power of the soul flowing into me filled my whole body.
“Kill the bastard who stole Go Jangwon’s soul.”
The weight on my back slowly grew lighter.
When I looked back, her body had already scattered away.
Only a holy sword, Ravebringer, remained where she had been.
[You have acquired a very large Kim Dokja Fragment!]
[Your remaining lifespan has greatly increased!]
[A massive amount of Loss has been recorded!]
Holding Ravebringer, I rose to my feet.
I saw two Constellations charging through the brush.
[We finally found him.]
Plague-Calling Rat and Snake Who Cuts Its Tail.
More precisely, the ones wearing those skins.
Judging by the fables I felt from them, they seemed to have come from Olympus or Asgard.
They had Incarnations tucked beneath their arms. Lee Hyeongseong, Kim Namwoon, Lee Jihye, and even Shin Yuseong.
[Today’s gains will be considerable.]
That alone told me how powerful those stars were.
Historical Constellations skilled at fighting people.
Cleaners suitable for dispatch from a large nebula to the Recycling Center.
[The Constellations of the Gourmet Association lament your end.]
[The Constellations of the Twelve Zodiacs savor your end.]
They were enemies I would have found difficult to face before.
But now.
[Your Status temporarily exceeds the Scenario restriction limit!]
[The Administration Bureau is greatly flustered by the Status you possess!]
[The Exclusive Skill Incitement has awakened!]
The fables inside me were speaking.
[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name laughs wildly.]
At last, the time had come for me to inherit that power.
A small horn erupted from my head alongside the demonic energy pouring from my body.
[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation (Proxy) reveals his true Status.]
Sensing that the situation had turned serious, the two Constellations threw aside the characters and charged at me.
One fought with fists. The other wielded a sword.
Even as their weapons approached my face, I wasn’t looking at them.
I was looking beyond the distant sky.
Two stars hiding between faraway galaxies while wearing the shells of the Twelve Zodiacs.
[The Constellation Immortal’s Brother senses your gaze!]
[The Constellation Forgotten Monster Hunter is horrified by your gaze!]
The two stars caught in my gaze shone violently.
I gave them an order.
[Explode.]
From beyond the distant universe, I heard the sound of stars exploding.
Footnotes:
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