WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 25: The Monster in the Cave (3)
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“What was a senior like you doing here?”
Han JiSang’s expression darkened.
Even if they suddenly went mad again, they could no longer harm me, so I was not afraid to ask.
After sighing several times, Han JiSang spoke.
“You need not know. It was merely the result of foolish greed.”
They could not bring themself to reveal the truth.
At least they seemed ashamed of what they had done.
“...More importantly, there is something I wish to ask of you.”
I frowned at those abrupt words.
Had Han JiSang shown me such kindness because they wanted something from me?
Still, I had certainly received help.
“What is your request?”
“If you are the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster’s successor, I presume you walk the orthodox path. You can be trusted to keep your word, surely?”
Hm.
How should I answer that?
Should I say that although I was the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster’s successor, I was now closer to the dark path or the force of evil?
Unable to help it, I remained silent.
Han JiSang spoke in a bitter voice.
“Is that difficult?”
“...No. I am merely worried that I may be unable to fulfill your request.”
“You need not worry. It is not a difficult request.”
That made me more uneasy.
After hesitating briefly, I nodded.
“If it is within my power, I will do it.”
Han JiSang drew in a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
“I do not remember how long I have been here. But surviving in a cave like this without both legs was unbearably painful.”
Come to think of it, the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword had said that the Man with the golden eye had cut off Han JiSang’s legs. It had never said anything about an arm.
Had the remaining arm been lost in another accident?
But Han JiSang revealed the truth themself.
“Unable to endure the hunger, I cut off this arm and ate it.”
Han JiSang gestured toward the stump at the elbow.
My brow furrowed on its own.
I had not expected it had not been an accident, but something Han JiSang had eaten.
- They ate their own body? Eek.
Even the SoDam Sword clicked its tongue in disgust.
That was bad enough, but why sacrifice the arm used more often?
“Why your right arm instead of your left...?”
“I am left-handed.”
Ah... That was why Han JiSang had eaten the right arm.
That made sense.
It must have been the only part of their remaining body that could be sacrificed.
Han JiSang continued in a heavy voice.
“You do not know how agonizing the pain of hunger and loneliness can be.”
Their eyes trembled.
Just thinking of it seemed to make Han JiSang shudder.
“It gnaws away at the mind. Relentlessly.”
Pain could be heard in Han JiSang’s voice.
It felt painfully real.
“Was that why you... lost your mind?”
I could not bring myself to say that Han JiSang had gone mad.
It was a small courtesy.
“I desperately endured to survive somehow, but the more I did, the more my mind broke. At first, it lasted only briefly. Then it became a gak, half an hour, and eventually a day, two days, five days. Now, I cannot even tell whether the mad version of me is real, or whether the me before you is real.”
Han JiSang admitted to losing their mind.
Having already seen it myself, there was no point in denying it.
“I... do not know when I will completely lose my mind.”
Han JiSang was afraid.
Afraid of losing themself completely.
“...Before that happens, I wish to ask something of you.”
“What is your request?”
I decided to hear it first.
Han JiSang had been an enemy of the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster, whom I considered my master, but had also helped me.
Without Han JiSang, I would surely have lost my life.
Han JiSang gestured toward their chest.
“Search inside my clothes.”
Following those words, I searched inside Han JiSang’s clothes and found a piece of leather covered in writing.
‘!?’
The moment I saw it, goosebumps rose all over my body.
No matter how I looked at it, it appeared to be human skin.
Could it be Han JiSang’s own skin?
Without caring in the slightest about my shock, Han JiSang said,
“It contains everything I have. Can you deliver this to my son?”
- ...Haa.
The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword sighed.
It was truly an ironic situation.
Han JiSang was making the exact same request that the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster had once made of me.
“I would not mind if you learn it yourself... And if you wish, you may have this as well. It is a treasure made from the thread of a human-faced spider. It is valuable enough to serve as payment.”
Han JiSang gestured toward the brown guard wrapped around their right elbow.
It was the object that had absorbed the thin, elastic silver thread.
Complex emotions showed in Han JiSang’s trembling eyes.
- Does it not feel like they are testing you?
‘Testing me?’
- As the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster’s successor, perhaps they want to see whether you will make the same choice as them, or a different one.
I thought it from time to time, but the SoDam Sword was remarkably sharp.
Not its blade, but the way it thought was unlike a human’s.
I looked into Han JiSang’s eyes.
They reflected me like a mirror.
Did Han JiSang want to justify their own greed through me?
- Why think so hard about it? Whether it is a test or not, there is no reason to refuse.
I sighed at the SoDam Sword’s words.
Of course, it was right.
If it would help me, there was no need to overthink whether it was a test.
Still, I did not want to justify Han JiSang.
I wanted to protect the honor of the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster, whom I considered my master.
Swish!
I gave a fist-and-palm salute and spoke.
“I have already received much. If you tell me where your son is, I will deliver the items you asked me to give him.”
“Haa...”
Han JiSang sighed at my answer.
Unlike before, this sigh carried a sense of emptiness.
Was Han JiSang disappointed that I had made a different choice?
Han JiSang chuckled.
As I wondered why, Han JiSang said,
“You make me uncomfortable until the very end.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have no child. I only wished to confirm one final thing.”
- Good grief. They lie almost as well as you do.
Did it have to compare me to Han JiSang?
While I was scolding the SoDam Sword, Han JiSang snickered and said to me,
“Now that it has no owner, you may take it all. Whether you learn it or not is up to you. If my legacy ends, that will be my karma.”
After saying that, Han JiSang clamped their mouth shut.
The sound of chewing followed, then blood flowed from Han JiSang’s mouth along with a groan.
“Senior!”
I hurriedly pried open Han JiSang’s mouth.
Han JiSang had bitten off and swallowed their tongue.
‘Damn it!’
Their face, once pale, turned red as though it would burst. Their airway seemed blocked.
I was about to force Han JiSang’s mouth open and take immediate action, but their eyes moved from side to side.
‘!?’
It seemed to mean that Han JiSang did not want me to interfere with their death.
- ...Just leave them, Un Hwi.
The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword spoke to me.
But if I left Han JiSang like this, they would die.
- Let them rest now. They have suffered enough. My former master would have wanted this as well.
‘...’
The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword’s words made me solemn.
It was forgiving Han JiSang in place of the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster.
Tap tap tap tap!
I released the dying Han JiSang’s pressure points, propped them against the cave wall, and bowed.
Regardless of the favors and grudges between us, I wished to convey my gratitude for what I had received.
When I rose, Han JiSang’s head had tilted slightly to one side.
Blood still flowed from the corner of their mouth, but their faintly upturned lips somehow made their face look peaceful.
- They seemed like a monster, but in the end, they died like a person.
The SoDam Sword muttered softly.
* * *
The night passed, and morning came.
All night, I read what was written on the leather Han JiSang had left behind.
It described Han JiSang’s unique Martial Arts in detail, as well as how to use Silver Thread, the treasure made from human-faced spider thread.
‘Shadow-Flashing Flying Dagger Art.’
Han JiSang’s unique Martial Arts, the Shadow-Flashing Flying Dagger Art, used Silver Thread. It was quite distinct from the Martial Arts I already knew, so it seemed it would take considerable time to learn.
But I did not have much time to remain here.
Click!
I fitted Silver Thread around my right wrist.
True to its nature as a treasure, the object that had been around the elbow shrank to fit my wrist.
When I approached the cave entrance, the rushing current churned violently below.
‘Phew.’
I did not know whether it would work, but I had to test it.
I drew the SoDam Sword and firmly tied Silver Thread’s thread around its hilt.
- Do we really have to do this?
‘It says to use a flying dagger or a Short Sword.’
- Mm...
Knowing what I intended, the SoDam Sword was thoroughly frightened.
It seemed afraid that I might lose it.
‘Do not worry.’
The thread was wrapped around my wrist tightly enough that it would never come loose.
It would not unravel so easily.
Standing before the cave, I held up the SoDam Sword and aimed at the cliff.
Then I threw it.
Whoosh!
- Aaaah!
Propelled quickly by Force of ki, the SoDam Sword embedded itself in the cliff wall.
I did not know how long Silver Thread was, but it stretched that far.
If I used innate life energy here...
Whirrrrr!
Thud!
As Silver Thread retracted, my body was pulled toward the cliff.
“Haha!”
A laugh escaped me as it worked successfully.
Silver Thread could be used in many ways. I could use its retracting force to move myself like this, or pull in anything caught in the thread.
‘This is good.’
Tap!
I grabbed the cliff where the SoDam Sword was embedded.
If the late Flying Dagger Killing King Han JiSang had possessed both legs and arms, they could have escaped the cliff whenever they wished.
- We do not know that.
‘Why not?’
- Even while mad, they trembled merely from hearing voices outside. How can you know whether they would have left even with a whole body?
Hm.
That also made sense.
Despite suffering hunger and loneliness, Han JiSang had not left the cave.
I did not know whether it was because of the Man with the golden eye or some other reason, but Han JiSang had certainly feared the outside world.
- In any case, we can easily climb upward.
‘That is true, but there is no need to do that.’
- Hm?
There was a better path this way.
- ...Do not tell me?
I grinned and pulled out the SoDam Sword, then threw it toward the cliff on the opposite side of the valley.
- You little...
Its cry of protest echoed through my mind.
It never complained when I threw it at people, so why was it so afraid now?
Whoosh!
I secured Silver Thread’s thread and launched myself forward.
The moment I swung ahead like a pendulum, I made the thread retract, then threw the SoDam Sword to the other side again.
Thud!
This was truly excellent.
Moving this way made it feel as though I were flying.
I had not yet grown accustomed to it, but if I traveled toward the valley’s lower reaches by swinging from the thread, I could quickly master how to use it and leave the valley.
The only one suffering was the SoDam Sword.
- Just you wait!
* * *
At the lower reaches of the long valley, a handsome youth wearing a yellow head covering stood surrounded by a group, a bundle slung over their back and a sword sheath strapped horizontally across their back.
Judging by the weapons in their hands and the ready stances they had taken, they were martial artists.
A bearded man who appeared to be the group’s leader shouted at the youth.
“What? You are entering the mountains to join the Blood Cult? I have never seen such a mad bastard. You must be one of the force of evil as well.”
The youth pursed their lips at those words.
“No. What business is it of yours whether someone joins the Blood Cult or not? And I have not made enemies of you people, so can you oppress one person like this?”
The bearded man was dumbfounded by the youth’s words. The youth’s voice sounded as though it had not yet passed through puberty.
“Why would it not be our business? Do you not know that the Blood Cult and anyone connected to it are public enemies of the martial world?”
“Who decided that?”
“The martial artists’ alliance.”
“Is the martial artists’ alliance not just a gathering of force of justice members? Is that the emperor’s decree or something? Here I thought it was important.”
“What, it is not as if you are some newcomer to the martial world. And here you are playing word games with me...”
“I am a newcomer, but not one you can look down upon.”
Crunch!
Enraged after speaking with the youth, the bearded man shouted,
“You will only come to your senses after you suffer. Capture them at once!”
“You should have started with that.”
The youth grinned and grabbed the hilt of the sword in the sheath strapped across their back.
Despite being surrounded by ten people, they looked brimming with confidence.
Then, one swordsman among the group pointed somewhere and shouted,
“Young Master! Look over there!”
“What?”
Everyone, beginning with the bearded man, looked in that direction.
The youth in the yellow head covering did the same.
‘!!!’
All their eyes widened.
It was the cliff overlooking the valley that led into the mountain range, and a figure could be seen flying through the open air between the cliffs.
“They are flying!”
“N-No way, is that Soaring Through the Void?”
“Walking on Air?”
Legendary, peerless movement skills spilled from their mouths.
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