WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 815: Episode 40: The Reign of Fear (7)
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I couldn't tell whether the sound in my ears was my heartbeat, tinnitus, or the shark head's panting.
Bzzzt.
The call connected. I was certain someone on the other end could hear my voice.
I screamed.
"Please save me!"
It was a little embarrassing once I said it. Until a few weeks ago, I had fought Historical-grade Constellations head-on, though not purely with my own abilities, competed with a fabled-grade Constellation, though technically the Demon King of Salvation had done that, and been pursued by Olympus and Asgard. That last one was true.
But I was screaming for help because of a single shark head?
"Please save me!"
What did it matter? I was about to die if things went wrong.
"Hello? Kim Dokja? Can you hear me? You called me!"
Bzzzt.
Static came through the phone again.
Was the connection still unstable?
My heart pounded.
"Second Kim Dokja! Second hyung! No..."
The First Kim Dokja, the Demon King of Salvation, had said every Dokja had their own modifier. That meant the Second must have a modifier suited to him, too.
And I already had an idea what it might be.
"Of Light and Darkness..."
"I'm devastated."
What?
"It's heavy."
No, what was this all of a sudden?
"I'm sad."
I had taken a lot of calls in my life, but this was the first time someone had started a conversation like that.
I recalled First's explanation of him. Hadn't he said Second understood sadness better than anyone?
"The one about to die here is me..."
"That's why I'm depressed."
"Then save me! Hurry! Aaaah, I'm getting torn apart!"
"Mmm."
Maybe I had developed some inner energy after dealing with First. Judging by the way he answered, I had a rough idea what kind of person Second was.
It seemed every member of this damned Dokja family had a thoroughly twisted personality. It made sense, considering they all came from the same soul.
"I'm asking you to save me! Hurry!"
As I spoke, I realized it. Second would not save me.
Because he was also Dokja.
He was surely talking about sadness and depression while happily watching my current predicament...
"All right."
"Excuse me?"
"Turn right after ten steps. Then place your hand on the tunnel wall."
I wanted to ask whether that wouldn't get my head bitten off by the shark head, but I had no other choice.
Exactly ten steps. My shoes slipped against the tunnel floor, and I placed my hand on the wall.
Then...
Hummm.
A faint green light began spreading across the tunnel wall.
"This is..."
I knew what this was.
[The Nameless Fear has activated!]
[Disaster-grade Fear, refuge of the brave, has activated.]
The refuge of the brave.
There was no doubt.
This was Chungmuro's hidden area, the concealed Green Zone.
Why was it here?
Crunch!
As that question arose, the Outer God's head lunging at me crumpled in midair.
【Eee, eeeeee, eeeeeee】
It dripped black blood and glared at me. Even that terrifying Outer God seemed unable to destroy this safe zone.
[Disaster-grade Fear, refuge of the brave, is protecting you.]
[For 20 minutes, no being within this tunnel can harm you.]
A safe zone declared for twenty minutes.
It was incredible. There had been no Fear like this anywhere in TWSA, not even in the expedition records.
Yet Second knew about this place.
"Kim Dokja?"
"..."
"Thank you."
Regardless of that strange introduction, Second had saved me.
Maybe he was a good person.
"Um, actually, I heard a lot about you from First. I mean, the Demon King of Salvation."
"Sad stories."
"They weren't sad stories."
"Stories about looking for me."
As expected, Second already knew why I had come here.
Since things had come to this, I decided to be honest.
"Yes. I need your power."
"..."
"I know your situation is very difficult."
Think. How could I persuade Second?
I considered what I knew about him for a while. Then I realized there was nothing to consider. I barely knew anything about him.
"This is all First's fault, isn't it? Right?"
So I decided to sell out the Dokja I knew well.
"First surely did something strange that forced you to hide here. It's obvious."
I did not know exactly why Second had hidden here.
I only guessed that the incident that occurred when the 49% and 51% Kim Dokjas fought over the disposition of the 41st-round worldline was the cause.
"But Second, please hear me out. If you keep hiding here, more people will suffer."
I did not know if Second would be persuaded by my words.
Still, he was Kim Dokja, someone who empathized deeply with sadness.
So I thought this might work.
"If you've been watching, you know there are readers who were forced into Possession in this world."
I thought of Uncle Dansu, Gyeong Sein, Chae Seongwoo, and Chae Yerin.
"Many readers have gone through terrible things for the single reason that they liked this story. Will you leave them like this? Is that one of the endings you ultimately want for this world?"
I knew this was a somewhat cowardly way to speak. Those readers had not been possessed because of Second.
"Please lend me your power. Help me save them."
Even so, I had to use them as hostages. I had to persuade Second somehow.
"So that I can write the ending I want, the ending you like..."
"I..."
Second's voice through the phone was truly sad. It was the voice of someone who had been crushed beneath a sorrow I could not even measure for a very long time.
"I live in a very large house."
"Excuse me?"
"That's why I can't help you."
Before I could ask what he meant, Second continued.
"Go back. Before the Recorders see you."
The Recorders. I realized he meant the Recorders of Fear.
Just as I was about to ask about them, Second added,
"Don't try to change this world."
That was the end of the call.
Beep.
The call disconnected.
I stared blankly at the screen, then pressed the call button again.
Beep. Beep.
The call would not connect. It felt as though the line to Second had been fundamentally blocked.
With my thoughts in turmoil, I went over his words again.
"I live in a very large house. That's why I can't help you."
What could that possibly mean? Was it a metaphor, or perhaps...
[15 minutes remain for refuge of the brave.]
A thought flashed through my mind, but I shook my head.
No. That could not be it.
There was no way "a very large house" meant that.
I pressed the call button again and again, but the line still would not connect.
[14 minutes remain for refuge of the brave.]
Fourteen minutes remained.
The shark head crouched about a meter away, glaring at me. It seemed to understand how this Green Zone worked.
It was probably planning to attack me the instant this safe zone disappeared.
I bit my lip and looked at the smartphone again. Unless Teacher Jaehwan suddenly appeared again, this smartphone was my only way out of this situation.
Come to think of it, why was Second's number saved on this phone?
I hurriedly checked the call history and contact list. At the top of the list, I found the person I had just called.
Second Kim Dokja.
No matter how many times I looked, it was saved as Second Kim Dokja.
There was a note beneath the contact.
+
Always sad.
+
It was obvious who had left that note.
Only then did I remember that this smartphone was the Demon King of Salvation's constellation artifact. That meant the person who had saved this contact as Second Kim Dokja was First, the Demon King of Salvation himself.
And there was more than one contact.
Third Kim Dokja.
For a moment, I doubted my eyes.
Wait, was it this easy for Dokjas to contact each other?
The note beneath Third's contact read as follows.
+
Always Laziness.
+
Laziness?
After hesitating briefly, I pressed the call button.
Lazy or sad, what did personality matter? Right now, I needed a Kim Dokja who would help me.
The Demon King of Salvation had told me to find Second first, but thinking about it, did I really need to insist on starting with Second...
Bzzzzzt!
The current in my ear startled me so badly that I nearly dropped the phone. The call did not go through. Did that mean Plausibility would not allow it? Or was Third simply too lazy to answer?
Either way, it was clear that Third could not be reached, either.
Then all that remained was...
Me.
It was the last name saved in the contacts.
I considered the meaning of that word for a moment, then pressed the call button.
The smartphone I had now belonged to the Demon King of Salvation himself. Then if I called "Me," who would answer?
After a brief ringing tone, someone answered.
"I heard you cursing me loud and clear, youngest."
It was an infuriating voice, but a welcome one.
* * *
"Wait, it was this easy to contact you?"
"That's because you're in the Fear Realm. This is recognized as a kind of Fear, too. Do you think getting past [The Fourth Wall] is that easy?"
Maybe I was glad to speak to him again after so long.
In a short time, I told First about everything that had happened so far, including what had just occurred.
First, the former Demon King of Salvation, listened quietly before answering.
"Third rarely answers the phone. That bastard keeps leaving it on airplane mode. It's been a long time since we last spoke on the phone, too."
From the sound of it, every Dokja had their own constellation artifact smartphone.
"Anyway, Second said that? A very large house?"
"Yes. Does that give you any ideas?"
"Hmm. Then things may be more serious than I thought."
"Why?"
"First, let's deal with your situation."
[5 minutes remain for refuge of the brave.]
Only five minutes remained before the safe zone expired. A monstrous shark seeking my fable was right in front of me, and I had no way to fight it.
"You really have no other way?"
"Actually, I do."
[Fable Demon King of Salvation nods.]
Dokja didn't say things like, "There is no way." That was simply the kind of person he was. Someone who always knew a way no one else did, and if there was no way, someone who would find one no matter what.
And I was the youngest of those Dokjas.
"I have about three methods."
First muttered as if he were dumbfounded.
"You're copying even that now."
"Method one. I use [Incitement] to become Shin Yuseong."
First thought for a moment before asking,
"Yuseong from your worldline is still weak. And even if you use [Incitement], you can't take that character's skills, can you?"
"It's different for characters I understand well. I can take some of their skills or attributes with [Incitement]. It only lasts briefly, and its duration is worse than [Bookmark], but it is possible."
"You can do that with [Incitement]?"
I could. In fact, I had once become the Shin Yuseong who tamed Queen Mirvad in Nagak's Den that way.
I was much stronger now, so I could become a stronger Yuseong. Beast Lord might be impossible, but Beast Master Yuseong should be enough.
"Though there is a side effect. For a while, I end up living as though I really am that person."
"That's terrifying. What would you do as Yuseong?"
"Tame the Outer God."
"Would that work?"
Apparently not. To be honest, I knew it would not.
But a Dokja always proposed an impossible first method. It was the law of Dokja.
"Skip straight to the third method."
"The second method is using [Thought] with the Myriad Transformations Stealth Suit to shrink myself."
"What would you do after shrinking?"
"Go inside that thing's stomach."
"Ah, so your second method is deliberately getting eaten?"
"That's where it gets important. What do you think will happen if the Outer God eats me?"
"Wait. Don't tell me..."
"Do you remember what happened to the One Who Devours Dreams?"
Of course, my Incarnation body would take severe damage while being swallowed, but that was why I would deliberately shrink myself.
Once I got inside its stomach, another skill would handle the rest, not me.
[The Fourth Wall].
"By perfect coincidence, I have [The Fourth Wall], and that Outer God wants to eat Dokja, just like the One Who Devours Dreams did. Everything is perfect."
"You really only think of methods like mine."
"Because I am the Demon King of Salvation now."
In truth, the second method was the best one I had considered.
But First seemed to disagree.
"That won't work."
"Why not?"
"Then that shark bastard will enter [The Fourth Wall], too."
For reference, First was currently inside [The Fourth Wall] I had created.
"You can live together peacefully."
"No. Do you know how cramped it is in here? Now, tell me the third method."
"The third method requires your help."
"Mine? Do you want me to descend or something?"
"Can you?"
"No."
"I wasn't expecting it."
Even if he could, I would not ask him to. I had finally managed to hear his voice. If I did something like that, Plausibility loss might keep us from ever meeting again.
What I wanted to ask was something else.
"Then what?"
"Please help me look for information."
"Information? What information?"
"I need information about that shark head. Aren't you inside [The Fourth Wall] right now?"
The essence of [The Fourth Wall] was a Library.
It contained the countless records and histories of TWSA that Dokja had read.
"Well, yes. Though it's a little different from [The Fourth Wall] I knew."
But that was only true of the main story. [The Fourth Wall] I had restored for the Little Kim Dokjas was much smaller and more incomplete.
"But as you know, there aren't that many records here. This isn't a complete [The Fourth Wall]."
"I know. But the information I need will be there."
As long as [The Fourth Wall] held Dokja's history, and as long as I was also one of those Dokjas, the Record I sought would certainly be there.
"What I need is the TWSA Discarded Settings Collection."
Footnotes:
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