WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 784: Episode 36: The Real Kim Dokja (5)
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His mind went blank, as if he'd been shot.
“Gilyeong.”
It was the voice Lee Gilyeong remembered.
The man who moved in the way Gilyeong had wanted to emulate spoke with a sword in hand.
“Remember.”
Gilyeong couldn't move a single step as he watched the Demon King of Salvation approach.
The Demon King of Salvation slowly drew his sword and pointed it at him. The blade fell like the second hand of a clock. When it finally reached Gilyeong's brow.
“What are you doing!”
Someone shouted as they shoved him away.
It was Ye Hyeonu, whom he had thought unconscious.
The breath caught in his throat came loose, and he rolled across the ground before pushing himself up. Ye Hyeonu was lying on the floor, retching.
Pale-faced, Ye Hyeonu looked up at Gilyeong and spoke desperately.
“Get a hold of yourself!”
With those final words, Ye Hyeonu fainted again. Gilyeong bit his lip as he looked down at him.
Right. He had to get a hold of himself.
Gilyeong looked at the Demon King of Salvation again.
That wasn't Dokja-hyung. Dokja-hyung would never attack me.
Then the Demon King of Salvation smiled.
“Now you remember.”
The resolve he had barely managed to gather wavered before that smile.
Gilyeong's senses told him. That expression, those eyes, that gait. There was no mistake.
That was the Demon King of Salvation he remembered.
「Had Kim Dokja never attacked him?」
That wasn't true.
Gilyeong had already experienced this battle once.
During their tenth Scenario, the 73rd Demon King.
“Why... Why!”
Repeating the same words, Gilyeong gripped the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds. Even so, he couldn't swing it.
“I don't want to. I don't want to fight. Dokja-hyung! Please!”
What if the sky shattered beneath the sword he swung? What would he do if the star hanging in that sky fell?
[Great Demon King Demon King of Salvation is releasing his Status.]
A sword strike came at him before he could prepare himself. Unbreakable Faith was right before his eyes.
Remembering the moment he had faced Yu Junghyeok, Gilyeong instinctively blocked the sword. The heavy impact felt as if it shattered his wrist.
「“You all remember how to deal with a demon king, don't you?”」
He remembered.
He certainly still remembered.
But he didn't want to remember.
「“From now on, you must hunt me.”」
The memory of having to kill the person he liked most.
“How could I remember that!”
Gilyeong cried out desperately.
The Demon King of Salvation smiled without a word.
「“Gilyeong. This time, you can think of it as a game.”」
A game. Dokja had always said that this world was a game. That he should think of it like one.
Gilyeong followed that teaching.
He carried out Scenarios without guilt. He defeated monsters, and sometimes killed people.
He survived.
And in exchange for surviving that way, he learned something.
This world was not a game.
「“I'll come back to life even if I die. I promise.”」
Watching the wavering figure of the Demon King of Salvation, Gilyeong repeatedly shook his head.
“I don't know how to kill you. I've forgotten all that crap!”
To push away the approaching Dokja, Gilyeong struggled with all his might. He released the Mana he had gathered and swung his sword in a clumsy arc.
[The Constellation Ruler of the Abyss roars!]
In the end, Abaddon used its power once more to protect Gilyeong.
Demonic energy burst forth like a storm.
Reacting to that demonic energy, the Demon King of Salvation released his own Status.
[Great Demon King Demon King of Salvation's Status is increasing!]
Crackle.
Sparks of Plausibility struck down. The sky that had lost day and night flickered repeatedly, and the black darkness of space spread through breaks in the heavens.
[The restricted channels of the Recycling Center have temporarily opened!]
The sky of the Recycling Center was collapsing.
[Constellations from external channels are temporarily entering!]
[The Constellations of the nebula Olympus are watching the Recycling Center!]
[The Constellations of the nebula Veda are watching the Recycling Center!]
[The Constellations of the nebula Asgard are watching the Recycling Center!]
[The Constellations of the nebula Hongik are watching the Recycling Center!]
...
The gazes of Constellations seeped through the gaps in the fractured sky. Stars barred from seeing the Recycling Center by its prohibition were peering into the hidden world.
「This was the place where every story was recycled.」
Beneath the gazes of the cascading stars, Gilyeong swung his sword.
“I...”
He cried out as he drew a clumsy arc that couldn't cut a single star.
“What I remember is...!”
The Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds and Unbreakable Faith clashed once more. A grating sound flowed from the touching blades. Fables blossomed in the spaces between the lines left by the swords.
「“Excuse me for a moment.”」
The person who first placed a locust in his hand.
「All of Lee Gilyeong's stories began in that moment.」
From that one insect, Gilyeong gained a life and was given a chance to live.
He was born again.
That was why the boy's birthday was the day all those tragedies began.
Whenever the grating sound rang out, fables spilled down.
「“Hyung, are you perhaps a god?”」
The person who had once been his god.
Now Gilyeong knew as well.
He was not the god of this world.
「“I'm neither a god nor a protagonist. If anything, I've always envied protagonists.”」
Gilyeong now understood the heart of the man who had said that. He had grown old enough to say that he understood, if only a little.
[The Constellation One Who Brought Ten Lambs cannot continue speaking.]
[The Constellation Reclining Dragon sighs.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon falls silent.]
What Gilyeong remembered was Dokja's small back, with his allies behind him.
The back that had shielded his allies from the falling meteor shower.
「“Aren't you going to make a wish, hyung?”」
That day, as he watched the meteor shower fall from the rooftop of the Theater Dungeon, Gilyeong made a wish.
Please let him not die. Please let me see the end of this world with him.
「And the Star Stream granted Gilyeong's wish.」
Because he was not a god, the man died several times. Though he was not a god, he came back to life again and again.
Through those deaths and resurrections, the man became a myth.
People praised him, and stars sang of him.
But Gilyeong knew.
「“I wished to see the epilogue of a novel.”」
He was only an ordinary man who loved stories.
“Hyung! Please!”
The Gilyeong who remembered that man swung his sword. He released Mana to bring that man back.
Whenever the Mana gathered in his sword surged out like a wave, Gilyeong felt as if he were being pushed somewhere, or leaving for somewhere.
He hated that feeling, so he swung his sword harder and more desperately.
「The child who loved insects was now approaching adulthood.」
His talent, once held back, bloomed, and Gilyeong's demonic energy flooded in every direction.
Abaddon's demonic energy rose from his sword. In an instant, Gilyeong drove the Demon King of Salvation back and unleashed the force of the [Sky Splitter Sword Art] like a storm.
Lee Gilyeong-style variant.
Sky Splitter Sword Art Ultimate Technique.
Sky-Splitting Meteor Sword.
Like a tree that had kept growing and spread its branches, Gilyeong's fully bloomed talent trespassed upon the starry heavens.
The Sky-Splitting sword technique swept across the Demon King of Salvation's entire body as if grazing him. Unbreakable Faith fell to the ground, and one of the Demon King's knees buckled beneath the impact.
Steadying his trembling breath, Gilyeong approached him.
“Hyung.”
Looking down at Dokja, who looked up at him, Gilyeong slowly knelt on one knee as well.
Their eyes were level.
The star that had seemed so distant was close now. He could ask. He could bring out that old question.
「Why did you save me then?」
Yet when he met Dokja's eyes, something else came from his mouth.
“I want to make that wish again.”
Meteors were falling from the broken sky. Somewhere, stars were dying. Looking at their tails.
“I don't care if hell begins again. I don't care if it isn't a happy ending. I don't care if I can't see you often. I don't care, so please...”
“...”
“Couldn't you become an ordinary person?”
He pleaded with the man who had truly become a god.
“Even if it's only for one day, just become an ordinary person...”
Remembering the man who loved stories, he pleaded again and again.
A few more stars fell from the sky.
The Demon King of Salvation, who had been looking up at that sky, opened his mouth.
“There are so many stars.”
The moment he heard that voice, Gilyeong realized.
“Just say you understand.”
He had known before the words were spoken that his wish could not come true.
Because it was a story the stars did not want.
Because it was a story that went against the Plausibility of this damned Star Stream.
Looking at the Demon King of Salvation's sad smile, Gilyeong thought.
Perhaps Dokja-hyung had truly wanted to die back then. Perhaps he wanted to draw his final breath within the story he loved.
“I'm sorry I can't remember how to kill you.”
The Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds fell to the ground with a clear ring.
The boy who had grown up watching Dokja knew only Dokja's way.
[You are Old School.]
[You cannot perform the decisive role in this Main Scenario.]
The Demon King of Salvation answered him.
“Gilyeong.”
The Demon King of Salvation stood and gripped Unbreakable Faith.
“Get up.”
“...”
“The Scenario isn't over yet.”
Gilyeong shook his head as he watched Unbreakable Faith slowly point at him.
“No. It's over.”
Perhaps he had come all this way for this very moment.
To be forgiven for his sin of failing to save Dokja from Eternity.
“My Scenario ends here.”
[The Constellation Ruler of the Abyss protects its Incarnation!]
As the Blade of Faith moved, Abaddon's demonic energy flowed out from Gilyeong's heart and formed a barrier.
The Blade of Faith struck the barrier.
Screeech.
The sword tip dug in. When it was finally about to reach his heart, Gilyeong felt as though time had stopped.
The scenery of the world turned monochrome, and he heard someone's voice.
「Lee Gilyeong.」
The tone was unlike the Dokja he knew.
Even so, Gilyeong felt Dokja in that voice.
「Breathe slowly. Breathe in, breathe out. That's it. Slowly.」
As though under a spell, Gilyeong listened to him.
He felt someone lightly embrace him and pull him away from the Blade of Faith.
A breath close at hand. It was a breathing method Gilyeong knew well.
「You remember when to use this breathing method, right?」
Gilyeong nodded.
‘Before reading a story.’
「Then it's time to read a story.」
‘No. My story is already over.’
「You haven't met the ordinary Kim Dokja yet.」
Gilyeong tried to answer.
There was no such Kim Dokja.
This world did not allow such a Kim Dokja.
Then the voice said.
「It simply hasn't been written yet. That's why you couldn't read it.」
In his fading consciousness, Gilyeong raised his head. His heart began beating again.
Who could it be?
Who could say such cruel words, rekindling the hope that had already gone out?
「So wait just a little longer.」
Another Kim Dokja was there.
「Because I will write that sentence now.」
Gilyeong nodded.
* * *
[You have exited Snowfield.]
Cough.
Fables scattered from my breath.
I lightly wiped the fables from my mouth and lowered Gilyeong, whom I held in my arms, onto the floor.
Lying beside Ye Hyeonu, Gilyeong looked like his brother.
Brothers.
When I slowly raised my head, I saw the face of the star I had sought for so long.
[Multiple Constellations are watching you.]
[The Recycling Center Director is watching your choice.]
[The Constellations of the nebula Olympus...]
[The Constellations of the nebula Asgard...]
...
[The amount of Loss you have collected has reached a certain level!]
[Your Incarnation body cannot bear your fables!]
[Your fables are reacting to your emotions!]
[Your Incarnation body is in a critical state due to excessive use of power!]
[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name warns you!]
...
Ignoring the messages that came in real time, I endured the agonizing pain with [Incitement].
The surging grief, rage, and pain were all suppressed beneath a single sentence.
「I am Kim Dokja.」
I greeted the only man in this world who could understand this pain.
“It's been a while, hyung.”
The Demon King of Salvation nodded.
“Little brother.”
Footnotes:
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