WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 45: Kidnapping (2)
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"Run with every last ounce of strength? Ha!"
Yeong-jeon snorted at Kang Mu-i's warning as if it were absurd.
Kang Mu-i clearly thought far too little of him.
Moak Estate, one of the factions within the House of the Eight Villains, wielded the Lightning Club Spear, a peculiar weapon with a chain attached to a club and a lightning-shaped spearhead at the end. Its extended reach maximized its killing power.
Yeong-jeon was also a master of the Lightning Club Spear. Within Moak Estate, he was confident that no one but the Estate Master could stand against him.
'He's spent all his time holed up safely in the academy with nothing but young rising talents around him, waiting for the right moment. He doesn't know a thing about the world, yet he still dares to provoke me.'
Yeong-jeon was thirty-two years old.
Because of their circumstances, most descendants of the House of the Eight Villains who entered the academy were young. No matter how each of them had endured training as harsh as hell, they were still inexperienced and unpolished.
Those sent into the Imperial Palace were different.
They had roamed the martial world, gathering experience until they became more proficient and battle-hardened before entering it.
'Besides, we've fought on the battlefield that is the Imperial Palace.'
Political infighting was rife with covert schemes.
Within that political infighting were countless unseen struggles, whether anyone realized it or not. Yeong-jeon, too, had endured such political infighting and covert schemes within the Imperial Palace.
Their experience and skill were fundamentally on another level.
"Pfft."
"Are you laughing?"
Kang Mu-i furrowed his brow.
Yeong-jeon shook his head. "How could I not laugh? Young master, you're the one who knows nothing."
"I know nothing?"
"Since you've only been surrounded by brats, even the academy's masters must seem terribly frightening to you."
One of Kang Mu-i's eyebrows rose.
This bastard was taking his warning far too lightly.
"I understand why you feel that way, of course, but once you reach the Imperial Palace, you'll see an entirely different world."
"A different world?"
"Yes. That person is on a completely different level from when you knew them, young master."
A thrill ran through Yeong-jeon at the thought, making his cheeks tremble.
There was a reason that person had been given the title of One among the future Masters.
That person was a monster who had properly inherited the blood of the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter.
"Tsk, tsk."
Kang Mu-i clicked his tongue.
Yeong-jeon had far too much faith in the master he served.
Kang Mu-i had been the same.
After gaining the ability to fully draw upon the power of the Three Spirit Beasts, one of the Six Great Artifacts, Kang Mu-i had been certain that he could now contend even with Mu Il.
But the world was not so easy.
'That... isn't human.'
A strength so absolute that it could make river waters surging like a tidal wave flow backward with a single punch.
It was an existence beyond all common sense.
"Hey."
"Once you meet that person yourself..."
"No matter what you imagine, that bastard is beyond it."
"Beyond that? You're the one who knows nothing. That person has already approached the realm of the Four Immortal Masters. Before long, they'll surpass the previous generation..."
"That monster has already surpassed the previous generation."
"What?"
Yeong-jeon frowned.
What was Kang Mu-i talking about?
"What do you mean, he's surpassed the previous generation? Who are you talking about..."
"Mumu."
"Mumu?"
Yeong-jeon tilted his head, then seemed to remember.
"Peerless Herculean Strength?"
"Peerless Herculean Strength?"
"Are you referring to that rumored academy cadet?"
"Rumored?"
"Yes. An absurd rumor has been spreading lately. They say two of the Four Immortal Masters were defeated by a new cadet at Changcheon Martial Academy."
Yeong-jeon clicked his tongue as though he found it ridiculous.
When he heard it, he had been dumbfounded. Could a mere seventeen-year-old brat really have defeated two of the Four Immortal Masters, who stood at the peak of the current martial world?
"Ah, young master, you've been at the academy all this time, so you must know what really happened. What is this story about Peerless Herculean Strength?"
Kang Mu-i gave a faint laugh.
Seeing that reaction, Yeong-jeon assumed it was nothing but a false rumor after all.
Then...
"That rumor you heard is true."
"I knew it would be... What?"
"It sounds absurd to anyone who hears it. But the rumor hasn't been exaggerated in the slightest. If anything, it's been understated."
Yeong-jeon frowned.
The rumor was true?
"You bastards know nothing."
"...What don't we know?"
"That bastard is the owner of the Jade Medallion, the one neither Mu Il nor I knew about."
'!?'
Yeong-jeon abruptly reined his horse to a stop.
The other masked figures riding alongside him also stopped their horses at once.
"Young master, why are..."
-Swish!
Yeong-jeon raised a hand, signaling them to be quiet. Then he turned to Kang Mu-i and asked with a serious look in his eyes.
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me."
"...Did you say he's the owner of the Jade Medallion?"
"You heard it perfectly well, so why are you asking again?"
Yeong-jeon raised his voice in anger.
"Do you think I stopped my horse just so I could play word games with you, young master?"
"I'm not joking either."
"Not joking? You said there was another owner of the Jade Medallion. Do you even understand what that means..."
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
Kang Mu-i raised his head and looked at Yeong-jeon.
Yeong-jeon's expression stiffened as their eyes met.
It did not seem like false information.
If it were true, it was information that could shake the House of the Eight Villains from within.
"...If Mumu truly is one of the future Masters, how did you come to know this, young master?"
"How did I find out? Why do you think I ended up like this?"
"Don't tell me..."
"That bastard did this to me."
"He captured you? But if he's another owner of the Jade Medallion, how could he possibly..."
"That bastard didn't know his identity until now."
"He didn't know?"
"That's right."
Kang Mu-i's words threw Yeong-jeon into confusion.
Why would the owner of the Jade Medallion not know his own identity until now?
"Why..."
"I don't know the details either. All I know is that he, like us, was secretly spirited away seventeen years ago."
"Then why has he captured you like this? If he learned that he inherited that person's blood, then at least he should know that you're half-brothers..."
Before Yeong-jeon could finish, Kang Mu-i snorted.
"That's why he's dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
"Yes. He's completely different from us. I can't tell what he's thinking at all."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Even after learning his identity, he feels no desire for revenge. Maybe it's because of the environment he grew up in, but his way of thinking is completely different from ours."
"Then has he been tainted by the thinking of the force of justice?"
"I don't know."
Kang Mu-i didn't know either.
Calling Mumu's way of thinking that of the force of justice felt somehow wrong.
He was neither of the force of justice nor the force of evil.
At times his nature seemed utterly pure, yet at others it seemed utterly dark.
"Either way, it sounds as though the owner of the Jade Medallion walks a different path from ours."
"Perhaps, depending on how you see it."
'...For someone as arrogant as him to react this way, I need to tell that person this information as soon as possible.'
Yeong-jeon let out a deep breath, then raised his hand.
"Move out."
"After hearing all that, you're still making a bad move."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you know who that Inspector Censor bastard you laid hands on is?"
At the question, Yeong-jeon looked at Inspector Censor Yu Jin-sung, unconscious behind another masked figure's saddle.
Now he thought he understood why O Mu-yang, the Left Assistant Censor, had given such an order.
"Do you think I don't know?"
"If you knew, would you do something like this?"
"Young master, you're the foolish one. If he's that dangerous, shouldn't we keep a hostage who might prove useful to restrain him..."
"Ha..."
Kang Mu-i let out a long sigh.
Then he raised his voice irritably.
"You idiots. Then you should have kidnapped him without that bastard finding out. Do you really not understand that doing this within his range is like holding a ritual and begging him to kill you?"
Yeong-jeon found Kang Mu-i's warning absurd.
Kang Mu-i seemed far too frightened.
"...I know you fear that bastard, but don't overdo it. He's at the academy right now anyway..."
"You think he's at the academy?"
"What?"
"That bastard came with us, you fools."
"What do you mean, he came with us..."
"Don't you understand what I'm saying? Leave us behind and run. Then tell that bastard master of yours that if they want to live, they should get on their..."
-BOOOOM!
Before Kang Mu-i could finish, an enormous boom shook their eardrums and the ground beneath them.
'!?'
Everyone turned toward where the boom had come from.
-Whoooosh!
A black silhouette appeared within the rising dust.
Kang Mu-i shook his head and muttered.
"Too late."
"Too late? What do you..."
-Crack!
Before Yeong-jeon could finish his question, the head of one masked figure to his right suddenly shattered.
The masked figures could not hide their shock at the sudden attack.
'What in the...'
-Crack! Crack!
At that moment, the heads of two more masked figures flew off.
"W-what is this?"
"All of a sudden?"
It had happened so quickly that they could not even think of dodging.
The only one who sensed what had caused it was Yeong-jeon, the heir of the Moak Estate. His face pale, he stared at the thick dust.
Three vortices of dust had burst out around the black silhouette.
-Gulp!
Yeong-jeon swallowed dryly.
-Ruuuumble!
An unimaginable pressure poured from within the dust.
It was so overwhelming that goosebumps rose all over his body.
As the dust settled, a grim middle-aged man emerged. The muscles covering the figure's body had turned black, and thick veins bulged across them.
'That face?'
Could it be that this wasn't Peerless Herculean Strength?
"That's him."
As if reading Yeong-jeon's thoughts, Kang Mu-i spoke quietly.
"But he's definitely seventeen..."
"One of the Skin Masks. You're on your own now. Your chances of surviving are nonexistent, but whether you beg or run, struggle however you can."
'!?'
Footnotes:
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