WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 54: usa~

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Black eyes blinked behind the holes of a mask.

The man who had been stomping a child until they were little more than rags was now rolling across the ground, clutching his bent leg.

A man in a deeply lowered hood stood before him, with a masked woman at his side.

At the sight, Biyeon unconsciously ran a hand over her own mask. In this city, where sins were plentiful and people with nothing to hide were few, those who concealed their faces were not uncommon.

Bamboo hats and hoods were common ways to cover one’s head, while face coverings and masks were common ways to hide one’s face. Some even wore human-skin masks that changed their faces entirely.

There were many reasons to wear a mask, but most people simply did not want to show their faces.

Biyeon was no different. Seven years ago, she had suffered burns across her entire body. They had been severe enough to damage even her voice with fire energy, and her face had suffered the worst of it.

She wore a mask because she did not want to reveal that hideous face. Biyeon’s mask was a pure white, featureless mask.

“What is that?”

But the other woman’s mask was different. It was a fox mask fit for a theatre troupe or a clown. It did an excellent job of hiding her face, but it lacked the distinctive secrecy of someone wearing a mask.

The mask’s form flaunted its presence almost brazenly, leaving Biyeon briefly taken aback.

Soon, a ruckus broke out. The man with the broken leg’s gang came running from deeper within the alley and surrounded the hooded man and the fox-masked companion.

A stream of vulgar curses poured from their mouths.

Biyeon considered it for a moment.

These were thugs who occupied an alley and played at being gangsters in a city that imitated the survival of the strong, so they all exceeded third-tier. Of course, that was none of Biyeon’s concern. There was no reason for her to step in and save the hooded man and the fox-masked woman.

But those filthy curses were starting to irritate her. Was irritation not enough reason for someone as strong as her to move?

Thinking so, Biyeon leaned forward slightly.

Thwack!

The curses stopped with a dull impact.

One of the thugs swaggering forward had been kicked, sent flying into a wall before rolling across the ground.

It was too fast. Even though she was looking down from above rather than watching head-on, she saw only an afterimage. Biyeon’s expression stiffened beneath her mask as she leaned farther out of the window.

A man who had drawn a hand axe darted in from the side. He seemed accustomed to this sort of street fight, and considering that he was around fourth-tier, his movements were impressive.

The hooded man’s attack was faster than the axe.

A sweeping kick folded the man’s body.

That was the end of it. Some of the gang had not yet been beaten, but they no longer dared to attack. They hesitated and backed away.

The hooded man did not seem interested in fighting further. He helped the fallen child to their feet, said something to them, then began walking again as though nothing had happened.

“Ho.”

A voice came from beside her.

Sword Shadow, who had been concealed in the shadows, had somehow appeared at Biyeon’s side. He stroked his chin, his eyes gleaming with interest.

“As expected, the Foul Village has its share of remarkable people.”

“…”

“How much did you see?”

“I did not miss his legs moving, but I could not follow all of his footwork.”

“The clothes he wears are so large that it would be difficult to see from this position. What do you think it would have been like if you had watched him head-on?”

Biyeon stared at the backs of the two figures as they departed and imagined it for a moment.

What if she had fought there instead?

“If I had not consciously watched from the beginning, I might not have seen it properly.”

She answered honestly.

“There is Moonlit Reveller if we expand the range, but masters of kicking arts and leg techniques are rare even within the Demonic Cult.”

Sword Shadow continued, looking in the same direction as Biyeon.

Moonlit Reveller.

Biyeon’s brow furrowed at that title. For a martial artist of the Demonic Cult, that name could only be unpleasant.

“He appears deeply skilled in fist and palm techniques as well.”

Beneath the sleeves that swayed with every step, Biyeon could see muscular forearms and thick, powerful fingers.

Scrape.

Her nail scratched against her mask.

An unexpected display of skill had stirred her competitive spirit. He had not emitted internal energy outward, ending the fight using only external techniques and physical skill, so she could not estimate his exact tier.

Still, he was probably at least fourth-tier.

“Hmm…”

The two had not gone far.

She could stop them and politely request a spar, or simply pick a fight without warning. In her imagination, she might not have seen his movements properly unless she consciously watched for them.

Conversely, that meant she was certain she would see them if she did watch for them.

Would it truly be so?

‘A pity.’

The hand scratching her mask fell.

If not for her master’s orders concerning the Withered Crone, she would have moved to satisfy this urge to compete. Biyeon was not in a position to move freely right now.

‘Perhaps I should look for him once before leaving this rubbish heap.’

If she could kill the Withered Crone without much trouble, then afterwards...

* * *

As they headed toward the slums beyond the street, a low voice came from beneath the fox mask.

“If you got caught, you have no talent, so do not pick pockets anymore.”

“Hngh, you did not seem like this two years ago... How should I put it, Lord Crimson Foot? You seem a little...”

“What about me?”

“Your way of speaking has this unnecessary pretension... Or should I say it carries too much weight? Your expression is needlessly severe as well.”

There was nothing awkward about the facial modification technique Yuri had made himself, but it did have one minor side effect: his expressions became a little stiff.

Facial modification techniques were martial arts that forcibly twisted the bones and muscles of the face to create another face. Yuri did not know how other such techniques worked, but he had imagined meridian massage, Botox, fillers, and other cosmetic procedures.

He manipulated the facial pressure points and stimulated the muscles in specific areas.

Because of that, the stiffness was unavoidable.

“It is not as though I want to wear this expression.”

“The expression is one thing, but your way of speaking seems to be the real problem. Did you not converse much with other people over the last two years?”

“There were not many opportunities.”

He had become a wandering martial artist, after all. He had not settled anywhere, and he had deliberately avoided forming deep relationships.

“I had plenty of fights picked with me and got stabbed in the back a lot.”

“And did speaking in that pretentious way make people pick fewer fights with you and stab you in the back less?”

“Just before coming here, I got stabbed in the back quite spectacularly.”

For half a year, Yuri had dealt with a low-ranking Haomun member. The man had promised to introduce him to the leader of a Haomun unit in Panteleon’s outer district, so Yuri had regularly brought him money and completed ordinary requests without receiving any payment.

That bastard was the reason Yuri had become poor in the first place.

After acting like a dog for him, Yuri had finally reached the day he was meant to receive the letter of introduction, only for the man to suddenly change his story.

He would not give Yuri the letter unless Yuri paid more money.

“I thought he was a nice man.”

“Most Haomun bastards are sons of bitches.”

Haryeong clicked her tongue as she answered.

Yuri glanced at her.

The fox mask stood out far too much. Emotionless eyes showed through its crescent-shaped eyeholes. Yuri had wondered whether she might relax her expression beneath a mask, but that did not seem to be the case.

“Why did you choose that mask of all things?”

He understood that she had chosen it because a simple face covering over her mouth had seemed insufficient, but he still could not understand why she had picked such a conspicuous one from among so many masks.

“Because it has a smiling face.”

The unexpected answer came back.

“As you know, Lord Crimson Foot, I have difficulty smiling.”

“You could just smile.”

“It is not as easy as it sounds.”

He could not see her face, but she did not seem inclined to explain further.

[Your martial art resembles the Dang Family’s Style of Merciless Assassination, but it is different. You seem determined to hide it, but you are full of emotion.]

It was what the Blood Fiend had said in Logos.

‘The Dang Family...’

Yuri knew of them.

The game had also contained the Black Dragon Society, Salmun, and the Dang Family.

There were differences from reality.

The Salmun leader and Dang Family head who appeared in the game had been Dark Emperor Dang Ji-hu. He was level 83. No matter how much resistance a player obtained, his deadly poisons inflicted every imaginable status effect and damage over time. No matter how high a player raised their evasion, his hidden weapons tore huge chunks from their health.

There was no job-change system in Seronis. The stats and skills one invested in, along with the weapon one equipped, became one’s class.

If someone wielded a sword and learned swordsmanship, they were a swordsman. If they wielded a staff and learned magic, they were a mage.

There was a certain inexplicable romance to classes such as thief and assassin. Seronis had no job-change system, but the community was full of people who built their characters around the concept of thieves and assassins.

Cat Panties had been one of them.

The person Cat Panties had been intensely conscious of in the community was USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎. The two had several things in common from the start, which was probably why Cat Panties paid even more attention to them.

The nauseating speech style that Cat Panties used, adding nyan to the end of every sentence, had been an imitation of USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎’s usa.

But their self-made art was not an imitation.

There was a term, OC.

It was short for original character, meaning a character personally created by an individual.

USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎’s OC was a beautiful young girl with rabbit ears, while Cat Panties’ OC was a beautiful short-haired girl with cat ears.

[That bastard is jerking off to their OC even here;;]

According to Chuk-sin-doo, who had come from the same community as Cat Panties, Cat Panties had apparently used that OC for a long time.

In other words, Cat Panties had possessed that OC before meeting USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎. They had not copied USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.

Cat Panties treated their affection for their OC as the difference between them and USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.

There was a term, commission.

Simply put, it meant paying an illustrator for a picture one wanted, usually of a character one liked or one’s own OC.

Amateur illustrators were not especially expensive, but commissions became more costly as an illustrator’s skill and status increased.

Amazingly, Cat Panties had poured money in the hundreds into commissions alone. Perhaps even in the thousands.

They had obtained art of their OC from famous professional illustrators and major social-media figures with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Every time they raised a new character in Seronis.

Every time they learned a skill.

Every time they changed their equipment.

Every time they changed their build.

Every time they defeated a boss.

The quality of Cat Panties’ OC increased. More commissioned art accumulated. The character that existed in those images grew as though it were alive.

The cat-eared beautiful girl in underwear held a weapon in the next picture, wore armour in the one after that, used swordsmanship in another, died, and was reborn.

[Cat Panties is the beautiful ninja Hokage-nyan!]

[Nin-nin! Great Fireball Technique-nyan!]

After drifting through various builds, the concept Cat Panties finally settled on was ninja.

There was no point hiding it. Lee Su-hyeok’s UrMumSpammer had been the one who spared no advice on Cat Panties’ build. He had earnestly advised them on the agility and evasion skills a ninja naturally needed.

That was how the initial build of the beautiful ninja Cat Panties took shape. Eventually, after repeatedly grinding the Dang Family for skills, the beautiful ninja Hokage was born.

When Lee Su-hyeok saw the completed character of the beautiful ninja Hokage Cat Panties alongside the illustration of a cat-eared beautiful-girl OC that perfectly reproduced the game’s equipment, he felt strangely moved.

Even if the Dang Family in the game had been ruined dozens of times and more than a hundred Dang Family NPCs had died to complete that character, it had not been Lee Su-hyeok’s concern at the time.

‘Could it be?’

The current Salmun leader and Dang Family head was a man named Poison King Dang Yu-shin, the son of Dark Emperor Dang Ji-hu.

The former family head, Dark Emperor Dang Ji-hu, had suddenly gone into seclusion around twenty years ago.

The annihilation of the Raspion Family.

The attack Orca had suffered.

The timing was similar. If FS had been involved in the annihilation of the Raspion Family... then perhaps a transmigrator had also been involved in Dark Emperor Dang Ji-hu’s seclusion.

Perhaps Cat Panties.

“Crimson Foot’s little brother, what are you thinking about so hard?”

Haryeong spoke while Yuri was turning the matter over in his head.

“I am just thinking through something...”

Then another possibility occurred to him.

Haryeong was from the Dang Family.

Considering the way Guzen, who should be dead by now, had treated Haryeong, she was probably a direct descendant of the Dang Family.

Lee Su-hyeok had been unlucky enough to transmigrate into the body of Yuri, an orphan, but not every transmigrator would have entered an orphan’s body. Someone with absurd luck could have transmigrated into a prestigious family.

There might even be a transmigrator in the Dang Family.

Haryeong.

Yuri did not know her exact age. He thought she was probably in her twenties. She had also been fifth-tier since two years ago.

Could Haryeong be a transmigrator?

“Cat Panties?”

Haryeong’s eyes visibly turned cold behind the eyeholes of her mask.

“I do not understand what you mean at all.”

“I was mistaken.”

There was no way.

He had merely tested the possibility. Yuri was glad that Haryeong wore a mask. If he had seen her reaction on her bare face, his heart might have collapsed.

Even so, his face burned with embarrassment.

“What sort of mistake makes the words ‘Cat Panties’ come out of your mouth?”

“We are here.”

Yuri immediately blurted it out and quickened his pace.

Among the similarly shabby wooden shacks, there was one house that looked somewhat better than the rest.

A mage lived there.

Yuri did not know what the mage was called outside this area, but around here, people called him The Pointing Flame. He had entered the Fourth District around three years ago and earned the alias after burning to death those who tried to prey on the newcomer simply by pointing at them with his finger.

Of the names Yuri had heard from Mak-cheol and a mage, this person matched the most conditions.

Yuri did not know his exact age, but he appeared to be around his thirties. He was probably a fifth-tier mage.

But Yuri could not know whether the man was a transmigrator.

“What are you going to do?”

Haryeong whispered.

“A surprise attack, perhaps? If the opponent is a mage, that would be better. Giving a mage time becomes troublesome.”

“I did not come here to fight.”

“What nonsense.”

“I will try talking to him first, so stay here, older sister.”

The word older sister still did not come naturally to Yuri, but it was better than calling her big sis.

Yuri focused on his eyes and stared at the shack.

As expected, various spells had been installed around it. However, unlike Elena’s mansion, no broad spells had been set up because the surrounding area was not private property.

The door and windows.

Could he neutralise them? It seemed worth trying, but Yuri did not bother. He intended to talk first.

Yuri slowly approached the shack. He did not bother concealing his presence. Approaching while concealing it might put the other party on guard.

“Stop.”

The closed door opened slightly.

The Pointing Flame was a man with long hair and a short beard. He did not look clean, and the smell of alcohol wafted from him as though he had been drinking until just before.

His unkempt appearance made his age difficult to judge, but he looked well past his thirties.

“Do not come any closer.”

The Pointing Flame raised a finger as he spoke.

He was drunk, but he was still a fifth-tier mage. He had immediately sensed the presence Yuri was openly displaying and reacted.

“I have never seen that face before. Do you have business with me?”

“The Pointing Flame?”

Yuri asked carefully, paying attention to his pronunciation.

“Yes, I am The Pointing Flame.”

The Pointing Flame did not lower his guard and glared at Yuri. Mana was gathering at the fingertips of the hand he had not yet aimed at Yuri.

“I came because I want to talk.”

“I have no desire to talk with someone I do not know.”

“We can get to know each other by talking.”

“Kid, stop talking nonsense and get lost. If you have business with me, say it from over there.”

The Pointing Flame’s brow twisted. The flow at his fingertips grew more violent.

Yuri took a light breath.

He had prepared himself on the way here, but there was no helping the hesitation when he was actually about to do it.

[Usa.]

“...?”

[I came from the Rabbit Star to find youusa.]

Moonlit Reveller was practically a transmigrator detector simply by existing.

But Moonlit Reveller was too famous. Even if Yuri imitated Moonlit Reveller and said, “Hoo-woo,” it would mean nothing.

But Yuri knew another detector.

USAUSAMI₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎.

One of the community’s two greatest idiots, locked in rivalry with Chuk-sin-doo.

The ridiculous speech style and concept that symbolised them could pierce through regardless of a transmigrator’s nationality.

[Answerusa. Do you not recognise meusa?]

Even if the other party was not a transmigrator, Yuri lost nothing.

He had changed his face and name, and he was using martial arts different from when he was Thunder Cloud.

If not, he could fight for the experience and seek out another candidate. If he kept stirring things up like that, someone would eventually come to him even if he did not seek them out.

A stranger running wild would naturally draw attention.

[If you do not answer, I will return to the Rabbit Star...]

“Kwaaah!”

The Pointing Flame suddenly screamed and pointed at Yuri.

At that moment, Yuri saw terror spread across The Pointing Flame’s face.

KABOOM!

A crimson line streaked through the air, and flames exploded before Yuri.

Footnotes:

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