WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 785: Episode 37: Graduation Ceremony (1)
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「The ending of 『The Infinite Prison Warden』 is unknown. Because it was never written.」
* * *
Another flash of lightning struck before Killer King as he roamed the forest.
Thud.
A high-ranking demon collapsed.
“Whoa! You got another one!”
“Amazing.”
As Gyeong Sein and Lee Dansu cheered, Chae Yerin shook her head.
Killer King shrugged and swaggered at their reactions.
“It was nothing.”
He had defeated a high-ranking demon without receiving so much as a scratch. More astonishingly,
“Guys like that only take a word or two.”
Killer King had truly defeated them with just a few words.
The method Killer King used to defeat the high-ranking demons was simple.
“Judging by your appearance, your original modifier must be nothing special either.”
[W-what nonsense! What could someone like you possibly know about me?]
Zztztztzt!
“If you’re so confident, reveal your True Name.”
[I come from the great Olympus... Gekekekek! Wh-why... Gekekekek!]
Zztztztzt!
The name of this world setting was 『The Infinite Prison Warden』. Everyone here had their own role, and could therefore speak only within their assigned category.
Put simply, speech that did not fit the world's setting was not permitted here.
What happened if someone kept speaking while disregarding the world setting?
[Gekekekek!]
That happened.
“Wow. My God.”
At first, they thought it was luck.
But once the number of high-ranking demons who collapsed like that reached one, two, three, four... and eventually exceeded ten, reverence filled Gyeong Sein's eyes.
“So Killer... no, Mr. Kang Ilhun was the strongest here.”
Killer King snorted as he watched Gyeong Sein's unabashed admiration.
“They're just weak.”
Killer King's assigned attribute in this world setting was Delusionist. A Delusionist was the only being in this world who could say anything they wanted. It did not matter whether he directly mentioned the Star Stream or the Constellations' True Names.
Everything he said was a delusion, after all.
How many demons had he grilled with Plausibility that way?
“Run!”
For the first time, a high-ranking demon appeared that did not become a Plausibility roast from Killer King's provocation. It was not because the demon was particularly strong.
[The suppressive force of the world setting is weakening!]
The binding force of this world's Plausibility had weakened.
The reason was unknown.
Was it because he had exploited the nature of this world setting?
The next moment, light flashed in the distance, and the sky opened. Killer King and Chae Yerin were running, while Gyeong Sein and Lee Dansu screamed in exaggerated terror, but all fell silent and looked up.
Stars were falling from the space beyond the sky.
The high-ranking demons pursuing them collapsed to the ground, and the roar of enormous Plausibility Backlash sweeping in could be heard from somewhere.
It was a sight that made the Delusionist and those who were not Delusionists think of the same name.
“Kim Dokja.”
Without even knowing whom that name now referred to, they murmured it.
* * *
rlaehrwk37: It’s finally starting.
* * *
In high school, I once wrote a graduation speech as the student representative. I had happened to win that year's writing contest, and that was how I had been selected. I still vividly remembered the Korean teacher's assessment after reading it for the first time.
“It’s well written, but... how should I put this? You should write like yourself. Don't you think?”
“Like myself? What's that supposed to mean?”
“You said you wanted to become a writer.”
Was it the recklessness of being nineteen, or had my teacher provoked me?
When I first heard that question, I had been contrary from beginning to end.
What did it mean to be like myself?
How could that person possibly know what was like me in the first place?
The question I had back then naturally faded with time. I did not forget it because I found the answer. I forgot it naturally because I was too busy, or because I told myself I was too old to ask such questions.
Now, more than a decade later, I felt as though I finally understood the answer I had searched for so long.
So that was what it meant to be like me.
A pale-faced Demon King with an appearance similar to mine stood there.
He was a being born from the same root as me. A star who loved stories more than anyone in this world. My Patron and my elder brother. The person who taught me who Kim Dokja was.
I spoke to him.
“Hyung. Let's stop now.”
Even as I said it, I already knew the reply that would come. Before I heard it, I answered first.
“If saying that could really make us stop...”
“This story would never have begun in the first place.”
As he deliberately argued back, I instinctively knew he was still my Patron.
We smiled at each other.
“You look awful.”
“Mm. You’ve gotten quite handsome, though.”
“You're actually satisfied with your own face, aren't you?”
“I look decent in the bathroom mirror.”
I thought about my Patron, the Demon King of Salvation. Not the Demon King of Salvation from 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』, who did nothing but sacrifice himself over and over, but the Demon King of Salvation I knew.
For example, the awkward greeting we exchanged when I first met him.
「Hello.」
I still remembered that tone, which did not sound like Dokja at all. He was subtly different from the Dokja of 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』 I remembered.
I learned many things from him.
「Do you know TWSA?」
Through his constellation artifact, I read the long and boring TWSA.
「Phew, I slept well.」
I learned the shamelessness of buying a pillow with someone else's coins and resting on it.
「Now then, shall we go take a look at the back of 41st round Junghyeok's head?」
I learned how to strike the back of innocent Yu Junghyeok's head.
「I kept my Constellation modifier, but I couldn't afford the cost of keeping my Demon King modifier too.」
I learned the resolve to boldly sell even his own modifier when necessary.
And that was not all.
He even stole the share meant for his own Incarnation because he had no coins...
“That was fun, wasn't it?”
He smiled brightly. He knew what I was thinking, what stories I was remembering.
“Yes, it was.”
There were so many things I wanted to ask him. As time passed, some questions lost their meaning, while others were naturally resolved.
And some questions remained between the lines.
As though drawing out those questions, we drew our weapons at one another.
“That sword.”
I looked at the sword in the Demon King of Salvation's hand.
It looked, to anyone, like Unbreakable Faith.
“That’s mine.”
However, I recognized that it was not Unbreakable Faith.
“It’s mine now.”
The Demon King of Salvation casually swung the sword through the air.
[The constellation artifact Thought of Almost Everything is humming.]
The constellation artifact I had lost when I entered the Recycling Center.
The Thought, which could turn into anything if it met the conditions, wailed in the Demon King of Salvation's hand.
“You should have kept better watch over it.”
“If you find lost property, you should return it to its owner.”
“Owner?”
The sword in my hand was the real Unbreakable Faith.
The sword Han Suyeong, who had visited this worldline, once used.
It was a strange feeling.
This sword was the weapon of the real Kim Dokja. Yet I was the one holding Unbreakable Faith now.
[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name smiles.]
My stomach kept churning.
It was not easy to face him while he smiled. For the first time, I did not want to see the next page.
“You really caused a spectacular mess.”
“I learned from my Patron.”
We looked up at the sky together. It was the only sight we could share while pointing swords at each other.
“There are a lot of stars tonight.”
“There always were.”
The dazzling galaxy of the Star Stream.
The falling stars and the stars that did not fall were watching us.
「Therefore, we must fight.」
Did I activate [Way of the Wind] first, or did he? I did not know.
When I came to my senses, we were standing atop [Way of the Wind].
“You did well putting Gilyeong to sleep.”
“It's only basic courtesy. I don't want to fight you after you've become a Mythical Constellation.”
Standing at the center of the raging wind, he did not emit the overwhelming Status he had shown while facing Lee Gilyeong of Kim Dokja Company.
[The Status of Great Demon King Demon King of Salvation has decreased.]
The backlash was weaker than before.
Naturally. His opponent was not Gilyeong now, but me.
The needle of the Star Stream's scales, which had been unnaturally tilted, had returned to a level suited to my own capabilities.
“Let's see how much the youngest has improved.”
His Status had fallen to a level close to mine. Even so, he was still a Constellation protected by the Scenario. He was a star stronger than any boss I had fought so far.
Shhk!
We thrust our swords at each other. Blows that could easily kill one another crossed.
We both knew neither of us wanted to hurt the other. Even so, this fight had to continue.
[The Constellations of the nebula Olympus are watching your battle.]
[The Constellations of the nebula Asgard are watching your battle.]
[The Constellations of the nebula Veda are watching your battle.]
[White Pure Star Energy] imbued in our sword strikes tore through the air with a sharp metallic shriek, though nothing had been cut.
[The Constellation One Who Brought Ten Lambs is watching your battle.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon is watching your battle.]
[The Constellation Reclining Dragon is watching your battle.]
[Multiple Constellations are watching your battle!]
Yet my uncut chest ached.
“If you don't control a fable, you'll live as the fable wants you to. Have you forgotten?”
The Demon King of Salvation smiled.
“Sometimes, it isn't so bad to be carried along by a story.”
I looked down at Gilyeong, collapsed on the ground.
“That certainly sounds like something a Constellation would say.”
“Because I am one.”
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon looks displeased.]
[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire hides her sad eyes.]
[Some Constellations reveal hostility towards Great Demon King Demon King of Salvation.]
Hearing the voices that resented him, I bit my lip.
He was the final boss of this Scenario. A Calamity designed to guard this forest and kill the Academy students.
The crude stitch marks scattered over his body were proof of that.
“You used the demon body from Washington Dome.”
The body of a marquis-grade demon.
It was the very demon that had once impersonated the Demon King of Salvation.
“Because this guy was also the Demon King of Salvation.”
That blasted Demon King of Salvation.
I gave a bitter smile and asked,
“Isn't it time to stop being the Demon King of Salvation?”
“I can't. Without that name, I'm nothing.”
“How long will you remain the Demon King of Salvation?”
“Until only one person remains.”
The Demon King of Salvation knew how this story had to end.
And so did I.
“I don't want to write a story like that.”
“From now on, the story you must write is an impossible story.”
“The kind of story you like, Hyung?”
My Patron smiled as though satisfied with my reply. Unable to meet his eyes, I lowered my head.
The Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds on the ground was shining white.
“Yes.”
There was only one way to resolve this Scenario.
「From now on, I must kill my Patron.」
Footnotes:
rlaehrwk is “Kim Dokja” typed on an English keyboard while using the Korean keyboard layout.
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