WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 11: Caught Off Guard (1)

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Caught Off Guard (1)

'A year now since I was hired as a bodyguard warrior, for a hefty sum, by His Excellency the Minister of Justice.'

The work was lighter than he had expected.

No fool reckless enough to target a lord who held the top post at the Ministry of Justice, one of the Six Ministries, had ever shown his face.

Back in his days with an assassin band in the martial world, every single day had been spent on edge.

But the moment he became the Minister of Justice's bodyguard, those days were over.

'Boredom, on and on.'

The whole year had been far too quiet.

Just standing at the lord's side, his wages kept piling up.

Lately the pressure of needing to prove his worth somehow had begun to weigh on him.

He had been thinking his senses were slowly dulling under all this peace when, at last, a situation worth calling work broke out.

"Kyaaak!"

The young master was being put through some kind of agony by someone.

To twist a body up like a fried dough knot, just how much force was being applied?

'Time to earn my keep.'

The bodyguard warrior Do Pyeong decided his chance had finally come.

Right now, with everyone from the Minister of Justice himself down to the household's many retainers gathered in one place, this was the perfect opportunity to shake off his reputation as a so-called salary leech.

"You scoundrel! How dare you go after the young master!"

Pat!

With a sharp shout, the bodyguard warrior Do Pyeong launched himself toward Mumu.

True to his past as an assassin, his movements were quick enough to look like a flash of lightning to ordinary eyes.

"Ooooh!"

At the sight, the retainers around them let out cries of astonishment.

'About the same age as the young master.'

Do Pyeong let the corners of his mouth curl up.

Lucky.

Greenhorns that age were no match for him unless they were among the rising talents who had already made a name for themselves.

Pa-pa-pa-pak!

He could have subdued the boy in a single move, but he deliberately flung himself all over the place instead.

It scattered everyone's attention while also looking impressive to those who knew little about Martial Arts.

'Now then, shall I get on with subduing him?'

A greenhorn's skill could not even track where he was moving.

Whirl!

'......Huh?'

Mumu's eyes were darting this way and that.

And the spot those eyes turned to matched his movements exactly.

For an instant, the bodyguard warrior Do Pyeong felt his skin crawl.

'What? Is this brat actually following my movements?'

Bewilderment seized him.

True to his assassin's background, he prided himself that his movement skill, at least, surpassed that of other Advanced masters.

And yet here this boy was, watching him so precisely.

'Tch.'

A faint unease crept over him.

No matter how much the boy looked like a greenhorn, he might have remarkable eyesight.

If so, he should stop wasting energy flitting around for nothing and subdue the boy at once with his secret technique.

He moved faster still, watching for an opening, when,

"H, hold on there. Stop! That child is no threat."

Mumu's eyes turned toward his foster father, Yu Yeop-kyung, who was shouting in a panic.

Do Pyeong did not let that fleeting instant slip.

'Now!'

Pat!

Do Pyeong threw himself toward Mumu's back and unleashed the secret art of his assassination technique.

'Secret technique, Edict of Dark Death!'

It was a method that, in a flash, subdued an opponent from behind with a grappling hold while snapping the neck at the same time.

But he meant only to grip the neck, not snap it.

He twisted back the right arm clutching the young master's hand and seized the boy's neck at the same time.

But then,

'Ng?'

The arm would not bend.

The part he had grabbed was strangely hard, as if he were straining to snap an old dead tree.

This boy might be more of an external energy master than he had thought.

Still, hardening the neck was no easy feat, so,

Clench!

He gripped it, meaning to make his threat felt, but,

Kgooogoogoo.

'......What is this?'

He had never seen anything like it in his life.

From the muscles at the base of the neck down to those lifting the shoulders, the veins stood up and writhed as if alive.

These tremendous neck muscles were flicking his hand away.

No, his hand could not get a grip on it in the first place.

'No. How could anyone train a neck to this degree?'

Just then Mumu spoke.

"Excuse me, why are you fiddling with someone else's neck like that? It's unpleasant."

'Fiddling?'

He had gripped the neck hard enough to cut off every breath, and the boy called it nothing more than fiddling?

He stood there dumbfounded.

Pak!

"Ng?"

In that moment Mumu seized the wrist of the bodyguard warrior Do Pyeong, who was straining with all his might to grip his neck.

And he poured strength into his clenched hand.

Crrrunch!

Footnotes:

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