WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Damned Transmigration

Chapter 48

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Change

Drip… drip…

The sound was impossibly loud in the sudden silence.

Tea, dark as amber, beaded on Chuk-sin-doo's chin before falling in a slow, steady rhythm, spotting the leg of his pristine white trousers like rain.

For a man like Chuk-sin-doo, a master whose control over his physical form was absolute, such a display was unheard of. Surprise, shock, even mortal peril, none had ever provoked more than a flicker of an eyelid.

His jaw hung slack, his mind too stunned to command his muscles to close.

“What a mess,” Orca observed, her tone laced with dry amusement as she clicked her tongue.

Her voice was the catalyst. Chuk-sin-doo jolted back to himself, and with a faint hiss, the dark stains on his trousers instantly evaporated into steam.

“Uh… uh, uh…”

A stream of incoherent noises escaped him as he slapped a hand over his mouth, his wide, trembling eyes fixed on Orca as if she had just declared the sky was green.

‘A transmigrator?’

That boy he’d met, the Fist Wolf’s fledgling disciple… he was a transmigrator?

“Impossible,” he breathed.

He simply couldn’t believe it.

Chuk-sin-doo had encountered his fair share of transmigrators. Even those who prided themselves on their composure couldn't hide everything from him.

Half of them froze the instant they laid eyes on him. When he performed a flourish with his Madorido, their jaws would tighten. And when they witnessed his signature victory celebration, a choked laugh was all but guaranteed.

Chuk-sin-doo had never been ashamed of his name, his appearance, his martial arts, or his celebration. He embraced them because he genuinely loved them, a reverent homage to the brother he worshipped, a man who did not exist in this world.

But it was also a trap, a meticulously crafted filter to identify his own kind.

The natives of this world and the transmigrators from his own reacted to him in ways that were worlds apart. It couldn't be helped. The revered brother who inspired his entire persona was a global icon; only a handful of people from their original world wouldn't recognise him on sight.

Even Lacey Yuzha, sitting right here in this room, had once burst into laughter at the sight of him.

“That… that boy, Yuri, is a transmigrator? How is that possible?”

Chuk-sin-doo’s mind raced, refusing to accept the premise.

“Was he blind before he arrived here? Is that it?”

He’d blurted it out in disbelief, but the more he considered it, the more plausible it seemed. It was the only way to explain Yuri’s complete lack of reaction.

“No, wait, maybe he was from the absolute backwoods. Some remote village with no television, no internet, no phones… Did he come from the Amazon…?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lacey interjected with a click of her tongue.

“If he came from a place like that, how would he have played the game to get here in the first place?”

She had a point.

Chuk-sin-doo paced for a moment before jolting to a stop.

“Could it be… a Guto?”

“Pardon?”

“No, that can’t be it. A Guto would have reacted even more strongly to my appearance…”

Though they were both transmigrators, Lacey couldn’t decipher Chuk-sin-doo’s every reference. Their home countries were different, after all.

“Guto…? Did the tea go down the wrong pipe?”

As flustered as he was, it seemed unlikely that one of the Revered of the Martial Pinnacle would simply choke. Lacey and Orca exchanged dubious glances, but Chuk-sin-doo, lost in a storm of thought, offered no reply.

He continued his frantic pacing, then suddenly exploded into the air.

“Hoo!”

He executed a half-spin, landed with perfect balance, and spread his arms wide like a soaring eagle.

“Pfft…”

Lacey, who had been watching his deliberation with a straight face, couldn't stifle a snort.

A crisp snap echoed through the room as Chuk-sin-doo brought his thumb and index finger together.

“Now that is the correct reaction.”

“I wasn’t laughing because I found it amusing,” Lacey retorted, her expression instantly turning serious.

“I’ve told you before, haven’t I? It’s not ‘Hoo’. It’s ‘Sium’.”

She pointed demonstratively at her own lips.

“To be precise, it starts as ‘Siii~’, but as you draw out the vowel and add force, a ‘um’ sound naturally follows at the end. Siii~um. Sium.”

“Hoo.”

“Siii~um.”

“Ho~o.”

Chuk-sin-doo scoffed, wagging a finger at her.

“Hey, Thor. Do you really believe I say ‘Hoo’ out of ignorance?”

“I am not Thor.”

“I say ‘Hoo’ because, in Korea, unless you’re a die-hard foreign football fanatic, ‘Hoo’ is the more familiar sound.”

He threw his arms wide again, shouting once more, “Hoo!”

“…”

Lacey stared, baffled by his sudden outburst. A moment later, understanding dawned in her eyes.

“Ah,” she said, her expression shifting to one of mild surprise.

“I see… Chuk-sin-doo, you’re searching for a transmigrator from your homeland, aren’t you?”

“Exactly.” He grinned, plopping back down into his seat.

“A foreigner wouldn’t react to ‘Hoo’. They’d react to my appearance, certainly. But a Korean? A Korean is bound to react to both.”

He had intentionally deviated from the authentic celebration of his revered brother just to cast a wider net.

“But Yuri… that boy didn’t react to my ‘Hoo’ at all…”

Chuk-sin-doo’s eyes narrowed.

“The only explanation remains that he was either blind or from the deepest wilderness before he came here.”

“Someone like that couldn’t have played the game,” Lacey countered.

“The simpler explanation is that his self-control is so impeccable that he managed to betray nothing when he saw you.”

“Is such a thing even possible? Being a transmigrator and showing zero reaction to me… The man would have to be a psychopath.”

Chuk-sin-doo said it with a dead-straight face, and a chill traced its way down Lacey’s spine.

The Moonlit Reveller was clearly not sane, but she knew his persona was more than just innocent madness. Today, his name and power placed him among the Revered of the Martial Pinnacle, but he hadn't started out that strong.

In the early days, that persona must have been a weakling’s shield.

Countless transmigrators would have seen his antics, dismissed him as a madman whose mind had shattered, and let down their guard.

And Chuk-sin-doo had survived.

Lacey was keenly aware that his Madorido had crushed the skulls of more than just demonic masters. The sheer cunning of it, maintaining an appearance that practically invited other transmigrators to approach him, made her skin crawl.

“It isn’t confirmed that Yuri is a transmigrator,” Orca interjected.

“It is merely speculation.”

“What? You don’t know for sure?”

“I asked. He did not answer. The circumstances suggest a high probability, but I have no definitive proof.”

“What circumstances?”

“Two years ago, in Logos, Elena, her bodyguard, and Yuri were attacked by Woo Jin-yeol the Blood Fiend.”

At the mention of that name, Chuk-sin-doo’s eyebrow twitched.

His history with the Demonic Cult was long and bloody. It was his unwavering opposition to them that had earned him, a confirmed transmigrator, a place of honour within the Righteous Heavenly Alliance.

“The Blood Fiend… I know of him, though we’ve never met. Isn’t he the old dog who vanished into seclusion after the Demon-Eyed Saber Master defeated him ten years ago?”

He was a relic, a loser from a bygone era who had begged for his life and fled, fearing the cult’s wrath more than death.

“Your disciple encountered him? How did she possibly survive?”

It was a valid question. No matter how washed-up he was, the Blood Fiend was not to be trifled with. In this world, the old masters who belonged in retirement homes were often far deadlier than the vibrant youths.

“He was in poor condition,” Orca replied with a shrug.

“His dantian was damaged a decade ago, wasn't it? His internal energy never fully recovered, and it seems he pushed himself too far and suffered a severe Qi deviation. His Circle had fallen, and he could no longer even maintain his rejuvenated form.”

“Hmm.”

Chuk-sin-doo tilted his head.

“Even so, it doesn’t add up. Internal injuries, Qi deviation, a fallen Circle… that man was still one of the Seven Evils. Your disciple would have been 4th Circle, and her bodyguard?”

“Likely 5th Circle. And at the time, Yuri had been practicing martial arts for less than six months.”

“Hahaha! And that trio met the Blood Fiend and survived? That’s absurd.”

“They did more than survive. The three of them worked together and killed him.”

“Well, I’ll be damned! That truly is impossible. In that case,” Chuk-sin-doo’s face lit up with certainty, “he must be a transmigrator.”

Even a heavily penalised Blood Fiend would not fall to a 4th-Circle mage and a 5th-Circle assassin.

A surprise attack was one thing, but from the sound of it, this had been a direct confrontation. For them to win, there had to have been an illogical, game-breaking variable in play.

“When I saw him two years ago, I never would have guessed. He had a definite knack for martial arts, but his mana affinity was mediocre at best.”

“I thought the same. I even checked the internal energy in his body myself.”

And not just once. Orca had checked it when Namgung Jin trespassed in the mansion, and again right before she’d used Thunder God’s Mirage to meet Chuk-sin-doo.

“The internal energy I sensed was, as you say, nothing special. Not good, not bad. Average. That was the extent of his talent.”

Which meant he had utterly fooled them both.

“Is that possible?”

“It is impossible.”

“Did he learn some unique art?”

“Perhaps. I have a general idea of the techniques he learned, but there may be others I am unaware of.”

“Which arts did he learn? Tell me, if it’s no great secret.”

“Always looking for a free lunch.”

Orca chuckled but answered anyway.

“For his heart technique, the Art of the Untainted Heart. For his fist technique, the Fist of the Rending Cloud. And from me, he received the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash.”

Chuk-sin-doo’s brow furrowed in thought.

“Nothing special there,” he finally concluded.

But inwardly, he was reeling.

‘The Fist of the Rending Cloud…?’

His mind flashed back, not to the martial arts manuals of this world, but to the glowing text of a forum from another life. The Fist of the Rending Cloud…

[UrMumSpammer, you bastard, you grinding Fist of the Rending Cloud again? lol]

[I dunno, it seems so fucking shitty, why are you so obsessed with it?? The evasion only procs by pure luck, doesn't it?]

[Stop trying to get by on luck and just switch your build. That fucking Fist of the Crap Cloud is seriously garbage]

[Your hyung here found a real hidden gem of a skill recently. Call me hyung and I’ll share the build with you]

[UrMum.]

There was no doubt.

“Hmm… the Art of the Untainted Heart sounds worthless from the name alone, and the Fist of the Rending Cloud has no function for concealing internal energy.”

[Hey, did you get the Veil of Deception?]

[Wow, why won’t the Veil of Deception drop for me??? Shit, I think it’s bugged]

The pieces didn't just fall into place; they slammed together with the force of a thunderclap.

The Veil of Deception, the garbage-tier fist technique, the belligerent, unmistakable handle: Yuri was UrMumSpammer.

Chuk-sin-doo felt a giddy thrill rush through him.

‘You’re finally here…!’

He forced his expression to remain neutral as he looked at Orca.

“The Art of the Violet Lightning Flash… sounds like a Lightning Qi art. Correct?”

“It is. I had no use for it, so I gave it to him.”

“Looking at those techniques, I still see no way he could have hidden his true power. You said he left two years ago? Why?”

“He seemed to be planning his departure anyway, but they parted ways immediately after the incident in Logos. I did not ask for the details.”

Chuk-sin-doo didn’t need them. He could guess the reason easily enough.

His identity as a transmigrator must have been revealed, and the fallout had fractured his relationship with Orca’s disciple.

‘I suppose it’s fortunate neither of them ended up dead.’

He folded his arms, his gaze sharpening on Orca.

“If the boy truly is a transmigrator, then he deceived and used your disciple. Does that not concern you in the slightest?”

An unreadable smile touched Orca’s lips.

“Had Elena died or been crippled, I would have held him accountable. As it happens, meeting Yuri was a profound turning point for her. She reached the 5th Circle in just two years.”

“You have a truly nasty personality.”

“As her teacher, I can only rejoice in her progress. In fact, I feel a measure of gratitude towards Yuri. Whether he is a transmigrator or not no longer interests me. What about you, Moonlit Reveller?”

“He piques my interest,” Chuk-sin-doo admitted with a shrug.

“Orca Dersia, if he were not your disciple’s acquaintance, I would hunt him down and interrogate him this very instant. A pity I cannot.”

“If you are so curious, why not seek him out yourself?”

The entire conversation was a test. Orca was probing him.

He didn’t know if Lacey was truly Thor, but she clearly knew the name ‘Chuk-sin-doo’. That meant she knew about the online community, and the users he had been close with.

Thanks to his persona, he’d connected with many transmigrators, some of them unsavoury. But he hadn't met everyone, and he had yet to find the ones he truly yearned to meet.

He’d found FUCKINGSEXY, but Cat Panties, USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎, and UrMumSpammer were still missing.

He knew the first two had made it to this world. They could be dead… but he refused to consider it. They had to be alive.

But UrMumSpammer? As far as he knew, that bastard had never crossed over. Until now.

If Yuri was a transmigrator, and if he had learned the Fist of the Rending Cloud…

‘UrMum, it’s you.’

The certainty settled deep in his bones, but he couldn’t reveal it.

UrMumSpammer had been infamous among the transmigrators of the last decade. He didn't know where Orca stood, but if Lacey was Thor, the very Thor123 who had been UrMumSpammer’s favourite punching bag, she would hardly be friendly.

“He is a man who hid his identity from me. If he is one of us, he clearly does not wish to be found. Besides, I am a busy man. I must depart from Rutlan soon.”

UrMumSpammer must have had his reasons for staying hidden two years ago. Chuk-sin-doo had a great deal planned for their reunion, but for now, he would wait.

“If fate wills it, we may meet someday. I see no need to go looking for him.”

That was the lie he would tell Orca, then he would begin his search in secret.

‘I am also curious to see how he grows without my help’, he thought.

He’d wanted to teach the boy the Art of the Full Moon Killing Kick and the proper ‘Hoo’, but he was prepared to respect the path he had chosen.

So many questions still burned in his mind, but…

“Rice tastes best after it’s been left to steam.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lacey asked.

“A Korean’s dining table,” Chuk-sin-doo muttered, leaning his head back against the chair and closing his eyes.

“All this talk has given me a craving for spicy stir-fried pork and fermented soybean paste stew…”

More than twenty years had passed since he’d fallen into this world, and Chuk-sin-doo found, with a hollow pang of sorrow, that he could no longer truly remember the taste of the food from the life he’d left behind.

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