WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 135: The Past, The Season When Roses Wither & Intermission

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#The Past (8), The Season When Roses Wither (1)

Gaeul stood on a platform where the seasons changed. A biting wind blew. The people waiting for the train alongside Gaeul pulled their worn collars closed. There was a wide distance between them and Gaeul. Their nationalities made sure of that. Birth was effectively a status. Low-status laborers could not cross the line. The line drawn to protect Koreans. It was only a single red line, but it was absolute. Crossing it without the right qualifications was a crime equivalent to conspiracy to commit theft.

Blatant discrimination. Yet no one protested. Not the people who had become superior, and not even the people who had been made inferior. Every day, the media reported on crimes committed by some of them. Murder, arson, theft, fraud, rape... The victims came from every class. So the discriminated became a group united by hating some of their own. I’m different. I’m different, but I get treated the same as all of you.

Beyond the line, people stood packed so tightly there was no room to move, scowling at one another. They did not even look this way. Just looking drew suspicion. The police were watching them. Their status was low as well. For paradise after death, they had to improve their records. So to officers who struggled with Korean, laborers who did not know Korean were nothing more than potential criminals. No, they had to be potential criminals. Self-love always came before love for one’s compatriots. Empathy was the ability to kill oneself.

‘I feel sick...’

Gaeul shuddered with disgust. The artificial grape scent of the Energy Pack eaten for breakfast rose to the back of the throat. The throat felt raw. The inside of the nose stung.

Just then, the wind blew again. It was sharp as a knife. The chill sank all the way beneath the skin. Yet that made it feel refreshing instead, and Gaeul almost welcomed it.

With a gesture that was a little embarrassing to let others see, Gaeul opened their arms to the wind. The season that shared the same name as their distant younger sibling rushed into that embrace. The body felt cold, and the heart felt warm. Gaeul was recalling the body heat in memory. Gyeoul had never liked winter. Whenever it was cold, he never knew how to come out from under the blanket. Gaeul had liked being able to hold him then without making it awkward.

It must be terribly cold even now.

Not his body, but his heart.

A static-laced electronic chime rang out.

[The inner circle line train heading for Hyeseong Third Station is now arriving. Passengers, please board safely. The inner circle line train heading for...]

The train entered the station. The car Gaeul would board was quiet. Koreans rarely worked in reality. To the foreigners who now made up half the resident population, the natives of this land were often insubstantial holograms. This was the dawn of Virtual Reality, and physical reality was already treated as a dangerous place.

Though it did mean getting extra hazard pay outside.

Beyond the line, it was noisy. People trying to get off and people trying to get on were shoving at one another. A station employee shouted. The curse that came out was in Burmese.

Gaeul saw its meaning as subtitles. It was a linked function between the lenses in the eyes and the portable terminal. A guide line extended from the person shouting, showing that this person was speaking. Shouts Gaeul was not paying attention to faded out on their own.

When several people yelled at once, though, the subtitles often got tangled because of the terminal’s performance. Since Gaeul also managed laborers, they wished they had a slightly better terminal. Better devices offered improved filtering and voice conversion. But that was only wishful thinking. The device being used now had also been issued by the company.

‘I have to save money. I should only spend it where it really matters.’

Gaeul shook their head and boarded the car. Most of the seats were empty. Keeping a distance from the few other passengers, Gaeul sat quietly and called up Trinity. A colorful interface appeared in their vision. The world’s greatest artificial intelligence engine handled many fields beyond Afterlife Insurance. Even personal terminals.

『Afterlife Insurance Authority Mid-Region Central Hub Visitation Request』

Gaeul opened the visitation request form. Gyeoul, I have to go see my lost season. Until now, getting permission had been difficult. Poor people had low credit, after all. The security of Afterlife Insurance facilities took priority over longing between family members. They called it the core of national competitiveness.

Now that Gaeul had a stable job, things should be much better.

A job. Yes, Gaeul had found a job. Hyeseong Group was known for fairer labor contracts than any other company. Personal feelings had to be set aside. Gyeoul had already received a terminal diagnosis. That child was extending his remaining time through his own efforts. Solely for Gaeul’s sake.

The view blurred. The form warped. Gaeul wiped away tears.

“I want to stop now.”

A single sentence from Gyeoul, worn down and exhausted. Of course, those were not words he had actually said. Gyeoul was not the kind of person who could drive a nail into the heart of someone he cherished. But Gaeul had heard it clearly. The expression, the voice, and the consideration trying not to show anything were a voice that could be heard without words.

Gyeoul could fool anyone else, but not Gaeul. So Gaeul had answered like this.

“If you’re gone, then I’m gone too.”

Live, even if it’s only for my sake. Again, those were not words Gaeul had actually spoken. But it was a feeling conveyed through everything except language. Whenever it came to mind, Gaeul felt crushed by self-loathing. I was far too selfish.

“It’s okay.”

The Gyeoul in memory smiled calmly.

A conversation where neither of them could show their true feelings. It had been good to see him, but everything else had been pain.

Gaeul closed the unfinished request form.

What do I do? I can’t find the courage to go see him.

Just thinking about going through that time again already made their hands tremble. Yes, even the fact that they had so rarely met until now had more to do with Gaeul’s own weakness than with the procedure. Horrible fear and ugly self-hatred. To Gaeul, Gyeoul smiling as if nothing was wrong in a hopeless situation was pain so great it was almost frightening.

Gaeul’s upper body slumped. They covered their face with both hands and sobbed silently.

“You evil, evil bastards...”

At first, it was resentment toward their parents. People who had sold what should never have been sold. Then it became resentment toward the old monster who had taken a young body, then resentment toward Gaeul themself for being unable to do anything right away, and finally resentment toward this entire world.

That child must hate the world too. No doubt.

But...

‘What if he resents me too?’

Love and hate could coexist as much as they wanted. If Gyeoul showed even the slightest hint of hatred, Gaeul would not be able to bear it.

There was one more thing too hard to endure.

The possibility of giving Gyeoul a new wound.

Gaeul could not breathe.

#Intermission, polyamory

Dear customers, it has been a while.

Yes! I still haven’t been fired. Now, now, don’t be disappointed. I’m the one who’s disappointed.

Quite a bit of time has passed since 『Plucking Stars from the Sky』. After I introduced it that way, a great many of you carried away stars by the armful. Thanks to that, I received praise and criticism at the same time. Praise for raising sales, criticism because customer complaints exploded. I really don’t get along with the customer satisfaction center staff.

Honestly, I knew it would turn out that way.

Those of you who bought several celebrity virtual personalities at once. Be honest. You didn’t read the precautions before use, did you? Well, you barely read the far more important revised Afterlife Insurance terms, so why would you care about the precautions for some DLC?

Now then, I’ll read aloud the precautions you skipped in an irresistibly seductive heartthrob voice. This is a simple listening test. Listen carefully to the explanation and answer the question.

『◎Precautions When Using the Product - feat. system administrator』

Most character virtual personality packages, including the celebrity-related products you purchased, come with essential psychological control options built in. Meeting conditions and initial Affection settings are standard.

There is also an option that prevents them from developing romantic feelings toward other virtual personalities. Many of you love using that one. Set it that way, and romantic feelings will build only toward the player, so with 100% probability, you will obtain love someday.

It would piss you off if you paid a fortune and they started fooling around with some other bastard, wouldn’t it? You’d wonder if this was what you spent cash for and feel some self-loathing too. Ah, of course, some of you enjoy that kind of self-loathing. We respect diverse tastes. If that taste makes money, that is.

But you see, virtual personalities are imitations of human personalities. Basically, they have all the emotions a person would plausibly feel. If they can love, they can also feel jealousy. Those two emotions are not clearly separate!

Of course, I know that with your empathy, it is hard for you to see AI as people. I also know there is no way you have ever had a proper romance. But that is that and this is this.

Oh, so can’t we include jealousy suppression in the default psychological control options?

You need to think about what default means. It means exactly that. Default. The minimum conditions needed to use that product stably. Are the provided psychological control options enough for normal use of the product, or are they not? That is the standard that separates default from anything beyond it.

In other words, the star wars you experienced were a problem beyond the range we are responsible for by default. It was not an error, and it was not fraud.

That ends the explanation. Now I will give you the choices. Choose the most appropriate response to virtual personality jealousy.

⓵ Fuck↗You↘

⓶ My name is Nuisance. I have now realized my customer identity. Yes. I was a nuisance customer. Time to go complain to the customer satisfaction center.

⓷ Shut up and take my money!

⓸ It can’t be helped. Now that it has come to this, I’m going to the Blue House!

How is it? Is the question too easy?

Uh... I’m sorry, but number 4 is not the correct answer. Though I suppose that would be very like our customers.

Clap, clap, clap. Correct. Number 3 is the answer!

The ultimate solution to every romantic scandal you will experience in Virtual Reality! Introducing the brand-new DLC, the Polyamory Package!

The moment this package is applied to your world! Oh my, the jealousy is gone? All your lovers will become docile, as if by magic. No matter how possessive a character is, once they fall in love with you, they will become a changed person.

Of course, we have also prepared options for those who enjoy a little light jealousy. It is a selfish feature that maintains jealousy at a user-specified intensity.

In that sense, the name of this DLC is a little inappropriate. Dictionary-definition polyamory is the belief that there is no limit to one person’s ability to love another. It says we should not trap limitless emotion inside the fixed frame of monogamy.

My goodness. How can anyone view human beings so positively?

We already know, don’t we? Love is an emotion with very clear limits.

Of course, there are plenty of examples of unconditional and infinite love. Unbelievably beautiful love stories are told all around us.

But they are moving stories because they are rare.

Just how many people can love to that degree?

One in a thousand? One in ten thousand?

Hmm, well. Let’s generously assume one in ten thousand.

If it is a mental state possible for only 0.01% of all humanity, isn’t that a mental illness?

So, dear customers, throw away political correctness and be honest about your desires. For most people, polyamory is just an ordinary sex fantasy! Virtual Reality sets humanity free! Inside Virtual Reality, we can become our honest selves!

Are you ready to purchase a new happiness now?

Turn every virtual personality in love with you into a mental patient!

Hahaha.

This has been an announcement from Paradise Group’s Virtual Reality Division.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

#Conversation

Tunguska: These days, when I see hate comments, my mind breaks. It didn’t used to be like this.

Friend: Tsk tsk tsk.

Tunguska: It feels unfair if I’m the only one who breaks, so I’m going to break the readers’ minds too.

Friend: How full of childlike innocence.

#Q&A

Q. Bahoe-nim: @No genitals... Are they that ancient race you only hear about, where descendants appear if you sleep while holding hands...

A. Who knows. My understanding is that for modern humanity, if you write a marriage contract and play fifteen matches of Heroes of the Storm, the side with more losses gets pregnant.

Q. AntiChrist-nim: @After buying Noblesse and receiving manuscript fee coupons, I wandered through countless works wondering where to spend them, but I could not find any work better than Little Prince, so I am throwing them all here. -> It’s a manuscript fee coupon, WRYYYYYYYYYYYY

A. Pardon? What are you... There’s The Wind and Star Cluster. Honestly, I want to pretend not to know and agree, but my conscience and childlike innocence won’t let me.

Q. Lee Moon-sae-nim: @Cash fills childlike innocence better than voting, so I’m giving you lots of manuscript fee coupons lol

A. Thank you. I’ll buy myself a meal with the coupons you gave me.

Q. Critica-nim: @The time limit on my tickets keeps shrinking and my childlike innocence keeps shrinking too, so what should I do now?

A. Run for the U.S. presidency four years from now, take over the White House, lock me up in Guantanamo Bay, and whip me every day while making me produce the next chapter.

Q. Quieight-nim: When does your childlike innocence recharge, author-nim? When your heart gets a deep scratch? When you become certain you can grill meat for lunch tomorrow? When a moment’s satisfaction is filled and you can look at yourself objectively?

A. When I finish writing, upload it, anxiously wait for the first comment, and that comment is positive, so I think I can finally sleep in peace.

Q. CommonKestrel-nim: These days I’m reading on Naver Books too, but do chapters not upload on weekends?

A. The publishing company staff need to rest on weekends too. Honestly, every job should guarantee a five-day workweek... When I see other publishers where uploads aren’t delayed even on weekends, I feel a little sad.

Q. BlueCrystal-nim: @When will the physical book come out??? I really want to own the physical book.

A. Even I, the author, still don’t know. I heard it’s in progress... Actually, I don’t have much desire for physical books... Honestly, the reason I signed a contract that included physical books was because readers wanted it, as fan service... Hehe... I’ll ask one more time and answer again.

Q. Haengcheon-nim: @I enjoyed reading and will be going now. I’m curious why there was no answer to my comment. Was it 1. Content spoilers. 2. Important future development. 3. Too long, so you got tired reading it. 4. Nothing much to say. 5. Is this a question or what? 6. Other... Which reason was it? ^^

A. It was probably because my mind was hazy after staying up all night.

But if the answer is number 2, I can’t tell you it’s number 2! That alone would be a spoiler! Haha.

I’ll answer a comment from Chapter 133.

I think the experience from past rounds actually comes through in Gyeoul’s general behavior and responses. Honestly, Gyeoul doesn’t seem like a child, does he? Not when he’s negotiating with an old hand like Li Qinzhen, for example.

In ordinary regression stories, I think it is somewhat convenient when lines like “I regressed, so I know this for sure!” keep appearing over and over.

Situational Computation in Afterlife Insurance-standard Virtual Reality differs each time.

All the more in a situation where changes to the worldview have been deliberately accelerated. The Management Rationalization Committee arc deals with this.

Footnotes:

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