WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel ◈
Chapter 3: Pavlov's Dog
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The pinned notice had said not to trust other Gallers too easily.
But was there really some lunatic who would take a newbie claiming to have transmigrated into the Mad Demon at face value?
More importantly, my understanding of the situation was still only a guess.
My heart pounded without pause.
The moment I decided to write a post, the gallery window floated in the air before me. To my surprise, when I formed the words in my head, they appeared in the window exactly as I thought them.
Title: I’m a newbie, and I think I transmigrated into Mad Demon Yuk Jin-gwang.
What’s supposed to be so good about transmigrating into a “character” anyway?
Can someone explain in more detail?
Had I drawn that much attention?
Comments immediately began pouring in.
└LOL, I haven't laughed this hard all year.
└Idiot lol.
└If you're going to make up a story, at least put some effort into it lol.
└It isn't even believable lol.
└You actually expect people to fall for this? LOL.
Hm. More or less what I expected.
Even transmigrating into someone of high standing, like a martial sect disciple, an official from a general's residence, or a member of the imperial family, had lottery-level odds.
But a character from Mad Heaven Records, and the Mad Demon at that? He ranked near the top even among the Nine Exalted and Seven Seats, said to be the strongest beings in the setting.
He was called a villain, but in practice, he occupied a protagonist-level position.
└No, just assume it's true and tell me. If you transmigrated into the Mad Demon, what should you check first?
└Yeah, sure. It's hot out. Go sleep.
└No, damn it, it's hypothetical. Isn't being the Mad Demon good? He's at the level of the Nine Exalted and Seven Seats.
└Stop riding the Mad Demon's dick. If you've got nothing to do, take a nap. Is this supposed to be funny?
└Just answer the damn question, you assholes!
Had these bastards been fooled that often?
Well, it wasn't as though I expected them to believe me outright. It would have been enough if someone took the bait from the name Mad Demon and started talking about the setting.
After waiting a little longer, though, some Gallers gave unexpectedly useful responses.
└Wouldn't it still be a problem even if it were true? Didn't his dad wreck his dantian, leaving him impotent when it came to internal energy?
└The Six Mad Demon Forms are practical swordsmanship distilled from the Mad Demon's forty years of brutal fighting. They have nothing to do with internal energy.
└Doesn't he borrow the Silent Aeon Demon Soul's spiritual energy instead? How would a newbie even do that? lol
└Even if you transmigrate into a character, your brain gets wiped clean, so you'd have to learn martial arts all over again.
Come to think of it, they were right.
Even if I had taken over the Mad Demon's body, I clearly wasn't the original Mad Demon.
The Six Mad Demon Forms?
There was no way something like that would be in my head.
└Yeah, and someone on the Mad Demon's level would have terrifying debts and grudges on a whole other scale. From a newbie's perspective, it's the worst possible situation. Show even one pathetic side, and you're headed straight to the bottom.
└Thinking about it gives me chills. You're the Northern Emperor's enemy the instant you transmigrate.
└And wouldn't the Mad Demon be under pursuit from Swordwood around now?
└A martial arts life without a dantian sounds fucking horrible. Character or not, I'd just kill myself.
└Is the rumor that you go back to the modern world when you die confirmed?
└You believe that? Nobody knows.
“D-dantian.”
Only then did I remember the hideous wound around my navel.
The Mad Blood Sword Clan was known as the strongest of the Five Great Demonic Clans supporting the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
As the clan's young heir, Yuk Jin-gwang had been promised a smooth and prosperous life. But he hadn't been satisfied with that.
In the end, Yuk Jin-gwang stole and learned the sword art of the previous Sword Demon.
It was the gravest crime forbidden by the Cult's laws.
“Ha...”
Yuk Sogun, the Mad Demon's father and master, was the head of the Mad Blood Sword Clan.
Without hesitation, he destroyed his son's dantian and expelled him from the clan.
That was the opening of Mad Demon Yuk Jin-gwang's story.
“Ugh.”
Being unable to cultivate internal energy in a martial arts world was like never being able to put gasoline in a car.
What use were state-of-the-art conveniences or a six-cylinder engine if you couldn't fuel the thing?
“No wonder it was so easy...”
My knees went weak.
Descriptions of Yuk Jin-gwang scattered throughout Mad Heaven Records came back to me one by one.
The Six Mad Demon Forms, wreathed in the Silent Aeon Demon Soul's spiritual energy, were undeniably the strongest.
But whenever he couldn't endure that spiritual energy with sheer mental strength, the Mad Demon became helpless at once.
His greatest weakness was that he couldn't use the basic skills of a martial artist, like lightness arts, footwork, or voice transmission.
That was why the Mad Demon always traveled with a small force.
The Ten Armies of the Mad Demon were with him year-round. That was what made the Mad Demon so terrifying.
“...”
Then why was I alone right now?
And what kind of terrifying organization was this Swordwood that was supposedly pursuing me?
I had only read up to chapter two hundred!
“...My life, seriously.”
The more I thought about it, the more absurdly unfair it was.
The Mad Demon must have amassed countless debts and grudges in blood.
But the greatest problem among them was the peerless masters representing the orthodox faction.
Just as the Seven Seats ruled over the unorthodox factions and the Divine Cult, the Nine Exalted remained in the orthodox faction.
Northern Emperor, Southern Hero, Sorrowful Sage, Sword Hero, Fist Saint, Divine Spear, Fragrant Immortal, One Flower, and Iron Buddha.
Every one of them had a magnificent epithet.
This was a brutal setting where the strongest were tangled in a web of mutual counters, impossible to rank against one another.
I was the devil those terrifying monsters would hate with all their hearts.
It felt as if every ICBM in the world were pointed at me.
I was scared. Terrified.
Then, at that moment.
“You didn't get far after all.”
I whirled around in shock and froze.
Dozens of martial artists in pure white uniforms had surrounded me.
Forest (林).
The character embroidered at the center of their robes.
It had to be the Swordwood the Gallers had mentioned.
“As you may have expected, all of your Ten Armies of the Mad Demon have entered the Supreme Unity Maze Formation. It will take them at least three days of desperate work to find the Gate of Life. How do you feel now, Mad Demon?”
I was startled.
The middle-aged woman before me had unquestionably called me the Mad Demon.
I could no longer doubt that I truly was the Mad Demon.
Forcing down my nerves, I calmly stared at the woman.
“...”
Her gaze was exceedingly cold.
To remain so calm even before someone as powerful as the Mad Demon... wasn't that proof of confidence that she could handle whatever happened?
“No, I... Ha.”
I hastily swallowed my words.
The Mad Demon of all people had almost spoken in the manner of a modern person.
Show even one pathetic side, and you're headed straight to the bottom.
A Galler's words immediately flashed through my mind.
I didn't have the Six Mad Demon Forms, supposedly the strongest sword art.
I had almost fucked up.
I subtly pulled the Silent Aeon Demon Soul, wrapped in thick cloth, closer to my chest.
The only thing I could trust now was that cold blade.
“If you have something to say, say it freely. I will hear you out.”
Honestly, I didn't want to say anything at all.
Reading martial-arts-style dialogue in a novel and actually saying it were completely different matters.
All I could do was raise my eyes viciously and pretend there was something to me.
“But Swordwood's Heavenly Net has already enclosed all of Shadowless Valley. I don't understand what you gain by stalling for time.”
If they could boldly speak of a Heavenly Net before the Mad Demon himself, Swordwood was certainly an impressive sect.
The problem was that I knew absolutely nothing about them.
Why hadn't I read past chapter two hundred?
“My Lord of Swordwood, why do you hesitate? The greatest villain under heaven stands before us. Give the order to execute him without question.”
Son of a bitch?
I turned sharply to the side. Some hooked-nosed bastard was grinding his teeth.
“I don't want to lose anyone. Ah, I mean Swordwood's disciples, not that vile Mad Demon.”
“Please do not concern yourself. We have already prepared ourselves to die.”
“Quiet. Step back.”
“...As you command.”
The men of Swordwood sheathed their swords and retreated far behind her.
It would have been nice to know why those people were grinding their teeth so fiercely.
Still, it seemed I had no choice but to gamble a little.
“What do you want?”
That was the most Mad Demon-like line I could manage.
“...What did you just say?”
What was with that reaction?
“I asked what you want.”
The middle-aged woman stood blankly for a moment. Then she looked toward the sky and burst into vicious laughter.
“Aha. Ahahahahahaha!”
Then she lowered her head again and glared at me as if she wanted to kill me.
The instant I saw her bloodshot red eyes, a chill ran through my chest.
“Is that truly all you have to say? You, who annihilated one of Swordwood's Sword Divisions just because they disturbed your meditation?”
He killed a whole group of people over meditation?
This crazy bastard really was completely insane.
Right. Mad.
He was already an evil Demonic Cult bastard. If a terrifying word like mad was attached to his epithet, there was no way he could be normal.
It was easy enough to predict.
This was only a tiny fraction of the mess that bastard Mad Demon had left behind.
“...”
In the end, Swordwood wanted my head.
The only thing that could console disciples who had died in resentment was the death of the culprit.
That was how this martial arts world differed from the modern one.
But that didn't mean I could meekly die.
I desperately racked my brains.
I had to make the most of the destructive force of the Mad Demon's reputation, as well as his status as a Venerable of the Divine Cult.
“If you kill me here, you'll have to go to war with the Demonic Cult.”
At that moment, the expression of the middle-aged woman called the Swordwood Lord changed to bewilderment.
A woman who had maintained such an icy gaze was suddenly showing obvious panic?
Had I made some kind of mistake?
“Is something wrong with your head?”
What?
But no matter how hard I thought about it, I hadn't made any particular mistake.
I had worked so hard to create a cold, intimidating atmosphere, the bearing of a peerless master!
I twisted my lips like the Mad Demon, baring my white teeth as crazily as I could.
“I don't know what you mean. As you can see, this one is perfectly sound. Answer my question. Are you prepared to go to war with our Demonic Cult?”
“Again!”
The middle-aged woman recoiled in horror.
“Y-you! Have you renounced the Cult at this late stage?”
“Renounced it?”
“Otherwise, how can you call the Hundred Thousand Mountains the Demonic Cult?”
Ghk?
I had forgotten for a moment.
The Demonic Cult was a group whose doctrine revered the Heavenly Demon as a living demon god.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Therefore, its followers never called it the Demonic Cult.
Naturally, orthodox martial artists did not recognize it as a religion, so they refused to call it a Divine Cult.
Like an idiot, I had just called the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult the Demonic Cult, exactly as the orthodox bastards did.
“Ah, no... That...”
Damn it.
There was no fixing this.
Such a basic mistake!
Then, at that moment.
“Could you... possibly be...?”
The middle-aged woman's voice had softened somewhat.
Her utterly confused eyes now held an entirely different light.
Then her voice quietly slipped into my ear.
“Not my problem.”
Flinch!
“What matters is an unbreakable heart.”
Flinch!
“Are you a T-fucking-C?”
Flinch!
The Swordwood Lord carefully watched my reactions.
Then she began to laugh as if the whole thing were ridiculous.
“Holy shit, it was real. You're a Galler, aren't you?”
Footnotes:
The Swordwood Lord uses contemporary Korean internet catchphrases as a recognition test for a fellow Galler, including “What matters is an unbreakable heart.”
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