WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 798: Episode 38: Fortuitous Encounter (4)

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Dim lighting. The dry, warm scent of print. When I opened my eyes, I realized I was in the Library.

I had passed out.

Alarm shot through me. This was no time to pass out. My Incarnation body had little durability left, and the week I had promised Jaehwan was almost up.

Yet no matter how many times I slapped my cheeks, I couldn't regain consciousness.

[Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall is active.]

A quiet system message rang in my ears.

It seemed I was inside The Fourth Wall.

As I slowly rose, the Library came into view through my blurred vision.

Quiet breathing.

When I looked around, Little Kim Dokjas had each settled into a small chair or sofa and were sleeping soundly.

I checked their faces one by one. Looking more closely, I saw faces of people I knew among them.

Iron Club Woman Gu Seona.

Kim Gyeongsik, the old man with a pipe.

The two slept deeply with their heads together, faint smiles on their faces as if they were having pleasant dreams.

I watched them for a moment, forcing down the emotion rising in my throat. Then, so I wouldn't wake them, I moved slowly and looked around.

A small table stood at the centre of the Little Kim Dokjas. On it lay scattered newspapers and a single book.

A thick hardcover with a black cover.

『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』.

The instant I saw the title, I reflexively opened the book. The letters trapped inside the cover flowed onto the pages.

「"He's dead. Inho-ssi... Dokja-ssi is dead."」

The voices of people I knew appeared before my eyes in real time.

Letters being written before me, as if Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint had activated.

Gyeong Sein was speaking within the text.

「"He's dead."」

It had been a long time since I had heard a voice so full of despair.

「"He's dead."」

It was clear whose death she was speaking of.

Then a resolute voice followed, as if comforting her despair.

「"Get a grip, Gyeong Sein. Nothing has been confirmed yet."」

Killer King, Chae Seongwoo's voice.

「"In Revelation, Dokja, who was the Demon King of Salvation, came back to life. Being banished from a Scenario doesn't mean immediate death. He'll find a way somehow. Because he's Dokja."」

「"How would you know? Everything is different from the main story."」

Crackle.

The surroundings shook with sparks.

My vision blurred as though fog had rolled in. As I staggered and grabbed the table, I heard someone's voice.

「(Little brother.)」

I immediately knew who it belonged to.

「(You can rest a little longer.)」

I turned with a bitter smile.

"If I rest, people will be in danger."

Though I couldn't see his face clearly, perhaps because of my exhaustion, I knew the figure there was my Patron constellation, my eldest brother.

A relieved sigh escaped me without my realizing it. My plan had succeeded.

He was alive inside The Fourth Wall.

「(Don't worry. Your people are strong. You know that better than anyone after spending so much time with them.)」

My people.

「(Just as I believed in Kim Dokja Company, you should believe in them too.)」

Once again, I realized how difficult it was to trust someone.

I lowered my head, biting my lip hard.

"I'm afraid I've ruined everything. I'm afraid more people will die because of me. Because of the sentences I wrote so carelessly..."

「(A story doesn't collapse just because you got a few lines wrong. If anything, those sentences might start a new development.)」

"Can Dokja really say that?"

「(Do you think TWSA is some perfect story?)」

"The protagonist of that TWSA is about to die because of me."

「(Sunfish are tougher than they look.)」

We looked at each other.

Then we both let out a quiet laugh. I fought back the blurring of my vision.

"I never thought we'd be able to have a conversation like this again."

I wanted to say that I was glad to see him again, that I was grateful he was alive. But some things came through even without words. It was a feeling only he and I could understand because we were both Dokja.

We fell silent for a while, immersed in that feeling.

"Why did that bastard Junghyeok follow me here?"

「(Do you think Yu Junghyeok came because he was worried about you? He has an ulterior motive.)」

"That's probably right."

「(Yes. So get a grip. You know how stubborn and selfish that bastard is.)」

"Damn Yu Junghyeok."

The questions I truly wanted to ask and the things I wanted to confess all scattered among trivial jokes. Still, it was enough just to exchange those pointless jokes.

After a brief silence, Demon King of Salvation spoke.

「(By now, I should have become part of you.)」

"Don't say ominous things like that."

Demon King of Salvation watched me quietly, then nodded.

「(Right. Honestly, I want to watch your story a little longer too.)」

Did my Patron know how much strength those words gave me? How much courage I could draw simply from knowing he was watching me?

"Of course you should watch. You're Dokja."

「(The stars are watching you too.)」

"I know."

「(Odin and Zeus won't give up easily. They know the value of Kim Dokja Fragments. Especially you now...)」

"Do I have that much value too?"

Honestly, I found the nebulae's obsession somewhat strange.

I had seen Constellations and monsters that acquired Kim Dokja Fragments gain Status beyond their inherent abilities more than once. I understood why Kim Dokja Fragments were fables of value to the stars.

But were we truly valuable enough for them to stake the survival of their nebulae and sacrifice Plausibility?

「(That's because you still haven't properly drawn out the power of the Kim Dokja Fragments. The nebulae possess various fable amplification devices.)」

Fable amplification devices.

「(If a Kim Dokja Fragment enters a giant nebula, it might become possible to rewrite the history of the universe.)」

Rewrite the history of the universe.

The thought alone sent a chill down my spine.

What if a single nebula gathered every Kim Dokja Fragment and completely rewrote the universes of TWSA and 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』?

"We absolutely can't get caught."

Thinking about it that way, I understood why Demon King of Salvation had taken the extreme measure of Scenario Offering.

If the stars had taken the fragments of Demon King of Salvation, something truly terrible would have happened.

「(And the stars aren't the only problem. If you don't repair your Incarnation body right away, you'll really die.)」

"What if we go to the Demon Realm?"

The main story's Dokja visited the 73rd Demon Realm right after dying as Demon King of Salvation.

There, he met Aileen Makerfield, a clockmaker of the Demon Realm with the Fable Expert Attribute.

"I can activate the Lamarck's Giraffe Attribute, too. If I activate it and receive Story Repair from Aileen, couldn't I survive? If I stay there, I might be able to receive the Revolutionary Scenario as well."

Repairing my fables wouldn't be enough. In the end, I had to enter the Main Scenario again. Otherwise, my Incarnation body would keep breaking down.

Fortunately, the 73rd Demon Realm had the Revolutionary Scenario. If I re-entered the Main Scenario through it, my survival would be assured.

「(That won't work.)」

"What? Why not?"

「(The Scenario in the 73rd Demon Realm has already ended.)」

"The Scenario ended?"

How could that be? According to the original progression, the Scenario in the 73rd Demon Realm should have been in full swing.

Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.

「What if there was a reader who had possessed someone in the Demon Realm?」

Someone might have already finished the Scenario in the 73rd Demon Realm in my place.

It was a development I had never considered, but judging by Demon King of Salvation's expression, it seemed that was exactly what had happened.

Perhaps because it was information that consumed Plausibility, Demon King of Salvation seemed reluctant to say anything more about it.

「(Anyway, there won't be much to gain from going to the Demon Realm this time.)」

"I'll have to give up on the Revolutionary Scenario too."

Would I be unable to participate in the Demon King Selection, the Scenario that naturally followed, too? I had hoped I might obtain the Great Fable, "Spring of the Demon Realm," but things had become difficult.

「(It can't be helped. We'll have to find another Great Fable scenario.)」

"All the other Great Fable scenarios are enormous."

Unlike the Demon King Selection, which took place in the early to middle stages of the Scenario, none of the other Great Fable scenarios were easy.

Olympus's Gigantomachia, Eden's Great War of Angels and Demons, and Emperor's Journey to the West...

Those regions weren't even accessible to me yet, and every one of them was run by a giant nebula.

「(Didn't you read TWSA? There are Great Fable scenarios that aren't operated by giant nebulae.)」

"I did read it. I just didn't memorize it word for word like someone."

「(Pathetic.)」

"I'm a Dokja who specializes in writing rather than reading."

「(Isn't reading well the foundation of writing well?)」

Judging by his argumentative tone, my eldest brother had apparently already finished researching the next Scenario area.

「(I've excerpted the parts we need, so check them later. You still have my smartphone, right?)」

"Of course."

「(If you don't get a grip, you'll drop dead. If we clash with the giant nebulae like this, we're guaranteed to lose.)」

The word "we" resonated more strongly than guaranteed defeat.

I wasn't alone.

「(And the two of us aren't enough anymore. It's time to borrow the strength of the other Dokjas.)」

"You mean the other brothers?"

My heart began to race as I watched Demon King of Salvation nod.

Demon King of Salvation before me was the eldest of the Dokja brothers.

Which meant it was time to meet another Dokja.

「(I've found the coordinates of the second brother.)」

"Coordinates? Can't we just contact him and meet up?"

I was so excited that I forgot my Incarnation body was on the verge of vanishing.

Just as Demon King of Salvation was a fabled-grade Constellation, the second Dokja surely had to be a Constellation with a modifier.

No, perhaps he was an even higher-grade Constellation than Demon King of Salvation.

"You should have told me that first!"

A Constellation could use Indirect Messages, after all.

It might be faster for him to find us than for us to go looking for him.

He might even be able to help us in our crisis.

If that happened, we wouldn't need the help of a psychopathic naked man from another worldline.

"Let's contact him right now!"

However, Demon King of Salvation's expression darkened strangely as he watched me.

「(But I suddenly can't get in touch with the second one.)」

Footnotes:

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