WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 47: Fragments of Truth (2)
──────
“What?”
Kang Mu-i, who had been leaning against the study wall like a mere observer, frowned.
Though he was a Jade Medallion bearer, neither Mu Sa nor Mu O had ever told him anything like this.
The reason was simpler than expected.
Unlike Yang Mu-o, who had reached middle age, Kang Mu-i was young. No, he had been a child.
“An other self and a vessel?”
Yang Mu-o turned to stare at Kang Mu-i.
‘...So the truth has finally come out.’
Only seventeen years ago, the once-unshakable Mighty Conqueror Council had been destroyed.
Eighty percent of the Mighty Conqueror Council and the countless force of evil factions that followed it had perished.
Not a single person in the castle that served as the Council's main headquarters had survived.
Yang Mu-o let out a deep sigh.
“Phew. I thought it would be better if you never knew.”
“What nonsense is that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said. I thought it would be better for you to believe you were his children, competing to determine the most perfect heir. Mu Sa thought so too, and so did I.”
Kang Mu-i's expression grew increasingly grave.
Just how much had Yang Mu-o known to hide truths like these?
Until now, Kang Mu-i had believed the Jade Medallions and the title Martial had been given to cultivate an heir with nearly perfect martial talent.
Yet a truth that overturned the foundation of that belief had come to light.
No, he still did not fully understand what Yang Mu-o meant by other selves and vessels.
“What does it mean to be his vessel? No matter how many times I hear it...”
“Yes. It means exactly what you suspect. I could not believe it either until I saw it with my own eyes.”
“...”
Kang Mu-i swallowed dryly.
His mouth felt parched.
Had Yang Mu-o merely called him that person's other self, he would not have felt this unsettled.
This called his very existence into question.
Then Mumu spoke.
“What does it mean to be a vessel? I don't quite understand.”
“...”
Yang Mu-o met Mumu's eyes and could tell Mumu genuinely did not understand.
With a sigh, Yang Mu-o explained.
“It means we were not so much his children as vessels for him to move into.”
“What?”
Mumu frowned.
It sounded as if Yang Mu-o had explained it more clearly, but he understood even less now.
“Vessels for him to move into...?”
“...Do you really not get it?”
Kang Mu-i looked at Mumu as if he were an idiot.
Mumu tilted his head, then raised an eyebrow at Kang Mu-i.
Their eyes met, and Kang Mu-i quietly looked away.
He addressed Yang Mu-o instead.
“So we were not truly his children. We were vessels for him to move into?”
“Move into our bodies?”
Mumu's question made Kang Mu-i click his tongue inwardly.
This fellow could be remarkably sharp at times, yet he knew less than expected.
Kang Mu-i had gone out of his way to spell it out, too.
“Have you ever heard of a ghost possessing someone?”
“You mean when a dead person possesses someone alive? Father said things like that were nothing but stories of ghosts and monsters... Ah! Maybe that isn't entirely true.”
Mumu recalled the ghosts he had seen in the Old Teaching Hall.
Before seeing them himself, he had only half believed such things. But based on his experience, souls seemed to truly exist.
“Ah!”
Mumu narrowed his eyes.
At first, he had not understood what they meant, but now he did.
“...Are you saying we are bodies for his soul to move into?”
“Yes.”
Yang Mu-o answered bitterly.
Learning this truth before the fall of the Mighty Conqueror Council had plunged Yang Mu-o into endless doubt and conflict over personal existence.
But the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's death had neatly resolved all of that.
“To be precise, it would be right to say we were vessels. That person... no, that bastard is gone now.”
“I don't understand.”
“What do you mean you don't understand now?”
“I understand what moving a soul means, but how could he move into our bodies?”
Yang Mu-o gave a short answer.
“Crimson Profound Soul-Shifting Art.”
“Crimson Profound Soul-Shifting Art?”
“It is an art that transfers a person's soul into another person's body.”
“...Is something like that possible?”
“It is.”
Kang Mu-i interjected.
“The Crimson Profound Sacred Cult.”
“You knew of the Crimson Profound Sacred Cult too?”
Kang Mu-i snorted at Yang Mu-o's words.
Yang Mu-o seemed to think they had moved in different circles because Kang Mu-i oversaw the Grand Plan at Changcheon Martial Academy, but Kang Mu-i had not been idle either.
“You think too little of me. Before the Mighty Conqueror Council seized power, wasn't the Crimson Profound Sacred Cult practically the head of the force of evil?”
“Yes. It was.”
The Crimson Profound Sacred Cult.
As Kang Mu-i said, it had once held dominion over the force of evil.
More accurately, it was a group with strong religious leanings.
Its doctrines had come from beyond the Western Regions, and it had flourished with powerful masters and bizarre arts, leading the force of evil.
Yet those strange arts provoked such revulsion that even other members of the force of evil shunned them.
That was why even the force of justice had celebrated when the Mighty Conqueror Council exterminated the cult.
“On the surface, it looked like a struggle for supremacy over the force of evil, but in truth, it was a war to obtain the Crimson Profound Soul-Shifting Art.”
“Ha! I thought the real purpose was to obtain the Reversed Blood Great Art and Blood Demon Art, or whatever they were called.”
Yang Mu-o snorted.
“That was meant to deceive even those within the Council.”
“Those within the Council?”
“Even he, despite his supremacy, had no reason to openly tell his people that he exterminated the Crimson Profound Sacred Cult to steal its secret art for his own immortality.”
“...Damn it.”
“You would do well to cast aside every illusion you had about him.”
Yang Mu-o let out a deep sigh.
Yang Mu-o had not wanted to tell Kang Mu-i any of this.
Mu Il and Mui had also been born for a purpose. Though they were half-siblings, there was no need for them to live with such unpleasant memories.
“Hmm.”
“What? Are you shocked? You finally learned the truth you wanted so badly to know...”
“...It's certainly a fresh perspective.”
“What?”
“The more I learned about my biological father, the less I liked him. But I never imagined all that talk about failed products and such meant this.”
‘What?’
Yang Mu-o furrowed his brow.
Since Mumu was also a Jade Medallion bearer, Yang Mu-o had expected the same reaction as Kang Mu-i after learning the truth.
But Mumu's reaction was far from that.
Rather than confusion, he seemed...
‘Why does he look relieved...?’
Yang Mu-o's judgment was correct.
Mumu had thought about his biological father in his own way until now.
The more he learned about the man he had never met, the more he realized that his father was not a good person.
Now that he learned he had not been born as that man's child, but merely as a body to be taken over, he felt no disappointment or confusion.
Instead, the last of his attachment faded away.
‘His last wishes and all that meant nothing.’
Mumu had believed that since the man had given him life, he should at least do something for him.
But the man did not seem worth it.
That realization loosened the chains around Mumu's heart, if only a little.
In contrast,
-Bang!
After struggling with his confusion, Kang Mu-i's emotions exploded.
“Damn it! Then you, this bastard, and all of us were born as nothing more than tools to become bodies suited to that person... no, that bastard's tastes?”
“...Coldly speaking, yes. That is true.”
“How could you keep something like this from all of us...?”
“What would you have done if you knew?”
“What?”
“That bastard is dead anyway. He intended to use us as mere pawns for his own immortality, but he failed, and the Four Immortal Masters killed him.”
“Are you saying there was no need to know because it was already over?”
“Would you have had me share that pain with you when you were only two years old?”
“...”
Kang Mu-i fell silent for a moment.
He understood why Yang Mu-o had hidden it.
It was a form of sympathy.
If it had come from a stranger, it might have been cheap pity. But Yang Mu-o had been in the same position.
Because of that, Kang Mu-i could no longer resent Yang Mu-o for keeping the secret.
-Grit!
He was simply furious that he had been born for such a purpose.
Kang Mu-i had believed he was someone chosen.
That was why he had thrown himself into the Grand Plan, to fulfill that person's wish and avenge him.
Kang Mu-i looked at Yang Mu-o.
“...”
Seeing Yang Mu-o remain silent, Kang Mu-i bit down hard on his lip.
It was almost impressive that Yang Mu-o had known something capable of leaving a person so empty, yet had hidden it until now without showing a trace.
Then Kang Mu-i suddenly thought of someone.
“Sa Mu-heo... no, did Heo Mu-sa know this too?”
Sa Mu-heo, one of the Six Stars of Heaven.
His true identity was Mu Sa, one of the Jade Medallion bearers.
Kang Mu-i had one reason for asking.
He knew Heo Mu-sa had been around seventeen or eighteen at the time, like Yang Mu-o, rather than a child like Kang Mu-i or Mu Il.
Yang Mu-o answered.
“...He knows.”
Kang Mu-i clicked his tongue.
“Damn it. So Mu Il, me... and this bastard were the only fools.”
Yang Mu-o's expression turned strange at Kang Mu-i's grumbling.
Kang Mu-i looked at him in confusion.
Then Yang Mu-o said something cryptic.
“Not everyone reacts as you do.”
“...What does that mean?”
Yang Mu-o let out another long sigh before speaking.
“Unlike us, Heo Mu-sa regarded his fate as Heaven's mandate.”
“Heaven's mandate?”
“Heo Mu-sa desperately wanted to become that person's new body.”
“What?”
Kang Mu-i could not believe it.
He looked at Mumu and said, “Do you think that makes any sense?”
“You were trying to kill me just the other day, but you're asking for my agreement as though we're close now? Are you being shameless?”
“...”
‘That damned bastard.’
He had naturally asked for Mumu's agreement because they were in the same situation, but now he felt awkward.
Kang Mu-i shook his head and said to Yang Mu-o, “Does it make any sense for him to think like that unless he has been thoroughly brainwashed?”
“Everyone has different beliefs. Heo Mu-sa simply remained faithful to the purpose for which he was born. We cannot call it right or wrong.”
“Don't spout nonsense.”
Kang Mu-i raised his voice in irritation.
How could willingly offering up one's own body be called a belief?
“It may sound like nonsense to you, but the fact that we were born for that purpose does not change simply because we call Heo Mu-sa's thoughts wrong.”
“Fact or not, I can't accept it!”
Yang Mu-o gave a quiet laugh at Kang Mu-i's words.
Perhaps it was fortunate that Kang Mu-i still had the energy to be angry even after learning the truth.
At least anger, rather than doubts over his own existence, might become a stronger reason to live.
Yang Mu-o turned to Mumu.
“Is that all you wanted to know?”
“No. I did not have great expectations of that biological father anyway.”
“You did not?”
“Yes. The fewer expectations you have, the less disappointed you will be.”
Yang Mu-o narrowed his eyes at Mumu's words.
It was unexpected.
‘...He is different.’
This was a completely different reaction from Kang Mu-i and Heo Mu-sa.
Perhaps Mumu truly had no expectations to begin with, just as he said.
It seemed Mumu had lived a life entirely different from theirs.
Kang Mu-i shook his head.
“It must be nice to have such an easy way of thinking. If I had been abandoned in a forest like you, then taken in and raised by someone who knew nothing of the martial world, I might have had an easier time too.”
“Was that a compliment?”
“...”
Kang Mu-i closed his mouth.
Yang Mu-o asked Mumu, “So what do you want to know next? Since the truth is out, I will tell you everything I know.”
“Yes, you should. But something just came to mind.”
“Something came to mind?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Mumu's gaze turned unusually serious as he asked, “Are you certain that the person who regarded us as his next body is truly dead?”
“What?”
Yang Mu-o frowned.
Why was Mumu suddenly asking whether he was dead?
Kang Mu-i cut in.
“Is there anyone who does not know he died after suffering a combined attack from the Four Immortal Masters?”
Mumu tilted his head.
“When I was at the academy, a strange person came to see me.”
“A strange person?”
“Yes. They suddenly attacked me, so I only thought they were strange at the time. But before they died, they suddenly called me ‘My other self.’”
‘!?’
Yang Mu-o and Kang Mu-i's faces hardened at the same time.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
