#masteroftragedy

[orvretranslationproject]

Hi! Could you translate the creation myth from chapter 506?

「In the beginning, the universe was “One”.」 This sentence was already in front of me when I came back to it. I couldn’t tell whether it was a sentence or a memory that only looked like one. 「In that world, “One” was omniscient and omnipotent. For the “One” was the universe, and the universe was “One”. Within it, “One” was perfect—perfectly alone.」 What followed was a blinding explosion. 「Thus, “One” became “Two”.」 It was the first explosion that people would later call the Big Bang. 「And so, “One” was no longer omniscient nor omnipotent.」 I clutched the ground, reeling with unbearable dizziness. This was the inside of the door; the deepest part of the Final Wall. The wall didn’t try to pull me in anymore. Perhaps because I already had been pulled. Han Sooyoung was lying beside me on the floor. I lifted her onto my back and stood up before raising my head. Anna Croft was standing right there. […It seems you’ve witnessed the First Fable.] The Wenny King, possessing her, was smiling at me. [I had the same look on my face as you when I first saw it.] I didn’t answer. There was no time to go around in circles now. Where’s my party gone? The Wenny King seemed to sense my strained nerves and continued speaking, [Aren’t you curious? Why did something called Fable come to exist in this world?] "…I didn’t come all this way to hear this." [One can’t move forward without hearing this story. It was the same for me.] I could hear Han Sooyoung’s breathing from where she rested on my back. Those breaths were quick to turn into Fable and unfold before me. The world around me warped, and the next thing I saw was a corridor adorned with showcases. 「When the universe became “Two”, “One” grew lonely.」 「Things that were unnecessary back when it was “One” emerged.」 Beings reminiscent of figurines fought atop of it. The history of the scenarios that started on Earth and countless other planets were playing there. 「”Good and Evil” was created to distinguish the two.」 Agares and Metatron waged war on each other. The demon, as well as the angel both fought in the Great War of Saints and Demons, but they never bent their beliefs, even after spitting out bloody Fables. 「”Communication” was invented to soothe the loneliness of the two.」 Citizens of the [Industrial Complex] and demons scrimmaged over its inner walls reaching up to their chests. Jang Hayoung was among them, trying to stop the fight. 「”Samsara” was created from the desire to return to the time they were one.」 Sakyamuni was caressing the incarnation body submerged in a water tank within his chambers. It belonged to a now dead Sanzang who he had once loved. 「But, “Two” could never return to being “One”.」 All the Fables I had read were displayed there. The battles were repeating themselves there with their conclusions already set. I could feel Han Sooyoung’s faint trembling as she slowly regained consciousness. 「”Two” now needed something to connect their divided selves; an existence that would serve as their proxy for Good and Evil, Communication, Samsara, and live through all these Fables.」 I stopped in my tracks. 「A Fictional Character.」

This is a rough TL since it's so far ahead. Our translators have informed us that the actual sections about the creation myth are to be read as-is, but the lines in between may be changed/tweaked in the future.

[orvretranslationproject]

Thank you for your work. I was really confused about Lee Seolhwa's skill that was MTL'ed as "Love Affair Demon" and you made it clear.

I'm curious, why are Kim Dokja's thoughts italicized? Is there a distinction in Korean? Him describing action or his internal monologue are all his thoughts. Is there a difference?

We remember being confused by the skill name when we first read ORV too. We're glad that our word choice and footnote explanation make sense.

To answer your question, there are moments in the novel where the text is explicit about it being a character's direct thoughts (the old translation uses ' ' to denote this). But there are also times for Kim Dokja in particular (though it has happened with other characters in the future POVs) where the internal narration has a distinctly different flow to it that feels more like they are directly from his head. This is most prominent later in the series when Kim Dokja talks internally to himself, but it can be seen earlier too.

To be honest, our team was hesitant to assume direct thoughts for these moments, especially when we were first starting out with P1 V1. We couldn't tell precisely which were direct thoughts and which were narration because there are no visual cues outside of the rare ' '. There is still some level of guesswork involved.

But when we looked at the official English, we noticed that a lot of the lines we were questioning if they were direct thoughts were actually direct thoughts (at least, this is how the official English did it too). This gave us the confidence to go forward and add the thoughts where they feel narratively applicable based on the change in the way Kim Dokja thinks or narrates. It's a little hard to explain, but we have been working with the text long enough that we're fairly certain when to apply his more direct thoughts. When you are reading, you can probably notice this difference yourself if you read his direct thoughts in the more past tense voice of the rest of his narration. We may over-assume sometimes, but no more than the official English does, and certainly not in ways that would affect how the text reads. If it doesn't feel right, we don't make it direct thoughts.