3. The Sin of Translating Too Well
Ah.
At first, Yudahee’s mind, abruptly dragged into another dimension, was filled with nothing but question marks.
Why me…?
If Yudahee had any fault in herself, it was nothing more than excelling at translation.
The sin of being too good at translation…
*****
“Damn it… What’s with these crazy commissions coming in!!!”
[Tatsuro, if you lick this ahjumma here, you’ll definitely feel better soon…♥]
[Huh…? No… I don’t like that… ahjumma there… something about it is creepy… and it smells totally… it smells like our school chicken coop…]
Gyaaah!
“Hoo…”
Seriously, damn.
It had been five years since our Yudahee stepped into the world of illegal translation. It was a daily life of earning much more than part-time work, even though it was not as professional as a full-time job.
[…I accept translations in English, Japanese, and Chinese, but exclude hate materials such as gore, snuff, scat, etc.]
– Please contact [email protected] for inquiries.
ㄴThis person is really fast and good at translations. For most things, they just read it out fluently as soon as they receive the file on the spot. It’s not just a rough translation with a good grasp of subcultures; it’s a true localization, no, even a transcendent translation.
ㄴFor example, I didn’t know feeling this good was possible! I’ve lost half of my life!
ㄴDid this guy do this? Seriously, amazing ㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴCame from the Puri-Puri channel. Sent a message for the author’s request.
ㄴPuri Puri… losing my mind…
ㄴBy any chance, do you also accept commissions for Dragon x Cars*x genre?
ㄴ?
I received a simple married woman adult comic, and damn! When the mature woman appeared, Yun Dahee’s s*xual desire skyrocketed up to her breasts, but she endured it with extreme patience.
“This is just a simple translation, and there are no personal emotions involved. This is just a simple translation, and there are no personal emotions involv… Guweeek.”
[Hey, it’s piling up.]
[Suppressing it is not good for your body~]
[Don’t be shy and show the *chinfo to the mature woman.] *Genitalia.
…Should I seriously say that I can’t do this? Yun Dahee hesitated.
But more importantly, why does this go on until the fourth part, and how many more times do I have to do this kind of thing in the future…?
Since seeing Halkax, Yun Dahee turned her gaze away from the monitor for a moment.
Phew…
Earning money is so difficult. Study, everyone, study.
Should I approach work with the attitude of a sage who has mastered all the knowledge in the world, even beating up my daughter and coming to- such trivial thoughts crossed Yun Dahee’s mind…
Ding!
“Oh, a job came in.”
■ [Long time no see! Can you translate this?]
“You’re a regular.”
It was a regular who often entrusted translations from before.
Strangely, this eccentric person tended to assign not adult content like before but things resembling papers.
Well, there’s no complaint since the pay is excellent compared to other jobs… but I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t just leave it to professional translators rather than me.
“…But seriously, what is this?”
-(Attachment). ̴̨̩͚̠̦̹͎͔̭̫̙̺̭μην͉̣̺̽͆͊̓͆̾̌̄͌̍̓̔ διἀ͘͜͠, ̷̢̡̨̣͓͎̼̝̹̼͇̮̙̻͖̠͌̅̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜ ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌βάζεις̈̑̋̓̓̚ ̶͈̞̺̜̟͓̬̟̼̼̯̩̪̽̽ ̷͔͎̼̭̹͈̰̹͈̬̜̹̦̹̩̈̽̆͑̕̕͜͝͝ ̸̴PDF
■[If you have nothing else to do, can this be done by the end of this week?]
I thought the page was loading incorrectly. I repeatedly refreshed it, but nothing changed.
I wondered if the image file itself was corrupted, but when I clicked on it, the download worked just fine.
From Noble mtl dot com
What kind of abyss… was waiting for me to gulp and click on the file?
“If it’s a gory, disgusting image, I’ll have to block it without hesitation,” Yoo Da-hee muttered to herself as she opened the file in a small window and then…
“Oh… what’s this?”
All sorts of cryptic English… no, Latin? I wondered what to call it, and when I googled it, it turned out to be Greek.
It wasn’t an illegal scan of a pirated comic book… I see.
It was more like a digital scan of an ancient book, just barely readable.
But it’s impossible to handle Greek, even though I can handle English, Japanese, and Chinese— that’s what I was about to message when a reply came flying in.
■[I’m sorry. I sent the wrong file.]
-(Attachment). ̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜ ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌̈ ̴̨̩͚̠̦̹͎͔̭̫̙̺̭͉̣̺̽͆͊̓͆̾̌̄͌̍̓̔̓͘͜͠, 读 ̷̢̡̨̣͓͎̼̝̹̼͇̮̙̻͖̠͌̅̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜ ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌̈̑̋̓̓̚ ̶͈̞̺̜̟͓̬̟̼̼̯̩̪̽̽ 不 ̷͔͎̼̭̹͈̰̹͈̬̜̹̦̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜ ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌̈ ̸̴PDF
-(Attachment). ̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜ ̴̨̩͚̠̦̹͎͔̭̫̙̺̭͉̣̺̽͆͊̓͆̾̌̄͌̍̓̔̓͘͜͠, ̷̢̡̨̣͓͎̼̝̹̼͇̮̙̻͖̠͌̅̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜いさ ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌ ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌̈ ̴̨̩͚̠̦̹͎͔̭̫̙̺̭͉̣̺̽͆͊̓͆̾̌̄͌̍̓̔̓͘͜͠, ̷̢̡̨̣͓͎̼̝̹̼͇̮̙̻͖̠͌̅̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜だく ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌̈̑̋̓̓̚ ̶͈̞̺̜̟͓̬̟̼̼̯̩̪̽̽ ̷͔͎̼̭̹͈̰̹͈̬̜̹̦̐̽̊̐͌͗͑͜͜ ̴̛̹͇͕̬̫̳̹͕͙͑̒̌̈ ̸̴PDF
It seemed like something eerie was increasing.
When I reopened it, this time it was a completely different, clearly written document… but something was off.
One side was in Chinese, the other in Japanese.
Roughly reading the first few lines, it seemed like they were talking about the same thing.
-Those who lie forever still are not dead, and even in the strange eternity, death will die.
Gosh—
At that moment, an indescribable chill ran down Yudahee’s arm.
“Ah, it’s cold…”
□ [I feel like I’ve already translated this before… Should I just translate it into Korean?]
■ [Oops! Is that okay?]
□ [Yes?]
■ [No, it’s nothing, hehehe.]
Yudahee didn’t understand what was okay.
■ [Actually, the original has already been translated into Chinese and Japanese, but it doesn’t seem accurate. So, I’ve been looking for someone to cross-verify the translation while doing it into Korean.]
Cross-verify for both Chinese and Japanese while translating into Korean?
Cross-translation is not my specialty, and it’s just a useless waste of time and effort.
Moreover, considering I know nothing about the original Greek?
While English and Greek may be somewhat similar, entering the realm of translation is like the genetic difference between humans and bananas.
“Sigh…”
Why would the original translation be republished amid the proliferation of numerous cross-translated books?
No matter how hard a translator works on cross-translation, once the nuances of the original are filtered through different characters, there’s a significant risk of the meaning being distorted.
■ [I know it will take a lot of time and effort, but there’s no other place to make such a request.]
■ [If you translate this instead…]
“….Huh?”
■ [I’ll offer a success bonus 30 times the usual.]
Ding-!
An alert for a deposit appeared on the account that had been previously used.
*20XX.11.24 14:53 [1/100 Advance Payment] Deposit 24,000,000 KRW
Yudahee momentarily thought it might be a joke and checked through the app…
“Is this for real, you crazy person?”
I mean, I haven’t done anything, just ran the translator quickly and ate something, so why would someone deposit such a huge amount?
Gulp, saliva went down involuntarily.
The content spans over a thousand pages in the PDF.
Even if they charged 40,000 won per page, it would still be 40 million won. Considering the nature of the intermediary, having to handle both Chinese and Japanese simultaneously, even if they charged double that, it wouldn’t be strange at all.
And if you multiply that by 30…
“2.4 billion…?”
It’s a hundred times the advance payment, for real.
It’s an amount that would be no problem even if I blew it all on having a blast right now.
Judging by the fact that they deposited the advance payment without hesitation, the other party was dead serious, 100%.
□ [Thank you, Mr. Go Gang. Is there anything else I can assist you with?]
Quick judgment is the way to survive in this world.
Yudahee immediately prostrated herself in front of the unexpected client.
■ [Please have it done by the end of this week ^^]
Sigh…!
She canceled all the translation schedules she had set up before.
Sorry to the other waiting clients, but this person was a jackpot that couldn’t be missed. Yudahee had to seize the opportunity that would never come twice in her lifetime.
□[Let’s start right away.]
Yudahee replied and prepared to go outside.
I wonder if the convenience store in front still has the Red Horn 1+1 promotion?
It may not be extraordinary, but it was time to spread my wings.
*****
Gyaaah, grrrah.
This feeling, as if Red Horn is flowing through my veins instead of blood, is definitely not an illusion.
There were many difficulties, but… I did it.
A fierce translation scene accompanied by Sake L’s labor song playlist.
I was worried about potential problems, so I set aside some confusing sentences and tried to hand them over to a well-known native speaker translation review team… But for some reason, none of them got back to me.
Despite offering a good amount of money due to the tight deadline, it seemed like a scam, but… due to unavoidable circumstances, the work couldn’t proceed. That was the only notice officially posted on the website.
Regardless, this translation was completed at the expense of my health.
Yudahee’s completion post for the translation… The person who wrote this is undoubtedly a huge horror and science fiction fiction fan, or else they wouldn’t have written such eerie pieces.
But Yudahee had never, unequivocally, read this kind of story even once.
Come to think of it, there was such a ghost story.
It was about a famous author who, after a sudden death, discovered unpublished works while organizing posthumous belongings. The person who found the works secretly published them under their own name, without anyone knowing.
Just a ghost story, you know.
But they were going to be paid so much to keep it under wraps.
Yudahee finished writing the last sentence, ready to put an end to this tiresome translation work.
At the end of this translation,
[“Dead Cthulhu waits dreaming in R’lyeh.”]
And the moment he hit the enter key –
“….Huh?”
Yudahee realized.
Why was it dark outside the window, and why were so many stars twinkling.
…But that was an illusion.
“Oh, no no-!”
Not stars, not stars, not stars, not stars, not stars, not stars.
They were pupils, pupils.
All the stars in the night sky were pupils of something indescribable.
Countless extraterrestrial glances, seemingly very interested in Yudahee, poured down.
For a moment, the sound of a human scream, then the small one-room that had returned was empty once again.
There was no record of Yudahee, the human, ever being there.
That’s how Yudahee disappeared.