WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 50: Southern Saber Imperial Uncle (3)
──────
Grand Guardian Towering Giant Seo Yong-chu had said,
[By this subordinate's estimate, she is likely in Datong, Shanxi Province, her hometown.]
Yet even Seo Yong-chu did not know her exact location.
So Mumu decided to search for his mother, Hae Ha-rang, himself, using the narrowed location as a starting point. As he moved around Datong and listened closely, he heard a voice.
[If Imperial Uncle had not thrown that child off the cliff and had let him live, he would surely have appeared someday, vowing revenge for his father. Then, in the end, you would have had to act to stop that revenge. He was destined to die one way or another. Please cast aside your guilt. Imperial Uncle, you did the right thing...]
The instant he heard it, Mumu instinctively knew they were speaking of him.
In a flash, he flew toward the source of the voice.
-Grab!
Mumu seized the head of the man called Chief Steward Bae Sang-won and asked,
“You said I was destined to die one way or another?”
‘!?’
At Mumu's sudden appearance and words, Southern Blade Imperial Uncle Hong Hwa-yun frowned. The grip on the staff had somehow changed into one used for wielding a blade.
What was this supposed to mean?
The voice clearly belonged to a boy who had not yet reached manhood. Yet the words he had just spoken could not simply be ignored.
“Who are you...?”
Hong Hwa-yun did not get to finish.
“L-let go!”
Unable to endure the pain in his head, Bae Sang-won struggled desperately to make Mumu release him. At last, he swung his blade at Mumu's arm.
-Clang!
“What?”
The blade struck Mumu's arm muscles and snapped apart.
It was a famous blade crafted by a renowned artisan, and Bae Sang-won had even poured the tenth level of Force of ki into it. Yet it could not even cut Mumu's arm and broke with ease. He could not hide his shock.
“What in the world...?”
“Don't do anything useless. What you said a moment ago upset me enough that I might put some strength into my hand at any moment.”
-Swish!
That was when it happened.
-Whooooooom!
Mumu's gaze turned toward the area behind Chief Steward Bae, whose head he still held.
Hong Hwa-yun stood there, holding the staff like a blade and aiming it at him.
Though Hong Hwa-yun had only taken a starting stance, an immensely sharp ki weapon filled the surroundings and pressed down on everything.
-Crack! Crack!
The alley walls were splitting apart in orderly lines beneath the ki weapon.
‘As expected!’
Bae Sang-won felt a surge of pride at Hong Hwa-yun's ki weapon.
About seventeen years ago, when Southern Blade Imperial Uncle Hong Hwa-yun, one of the Four Immortal Masters, had returned after losing both eyes, Bae Sang-won and the other retainers had been unable to hide their concern.
No matter how sensitive one's Ki sense became after crossing that boundary, a martial artist who lost both eyes had effectively lost at least half their martial prowess.
After that, Hong Hwa-yun had never been seen wielding a blade or training, except when teaching the young lady.
‘I'd thought he had grown weaker.’
Seeing this terrifyingly powerful ki weapon, all those worries now seemed foolish.
Any martial artist would inevitably weaken if they put down their sword or blade and neglected training. When Hong Hwa-yun had let go of the blade out of guilt, it was because he had abandoned his lingering attachment to Martial Arts.
Yet fate had played a strange trick.
“Benefactor. Empty-handed we come, empty-handed we go. Since we arrive empty-handed and leave empty-handed, do not cling to anything.”
Those were words Abbot Gakyeon, the former abbot of Shaolin, had spoken to the young Hong Hwa-yun.
At twenty-eight, Hong Hwa-yun had only vaguely understood their meaning. But once he had abandoned his obsession with Martial Arts and his sight, something astonishing happened.
‘How...?’
At some point, every sense except sight had begun developing to an extreme degree.
It was not something Hong Hwa-yun had forced to happen.
With heightened smell, touch, and hearing, Hong Hwa-yun could almost perfectly picture forms in his mind. On top of that, the fierce Yang ki he had accumulated in his youth stabilized and grew stronger, like strong liquor gaining a deeper, richer flavor over time.
‘How ironic.’
He had tried to abandon Martial Arts, yet his martial prowess had only deepened.
In the seventeen years since then, the other members of the Four Immortal Masters had continued to temper their Martial Arts and grow stronger. Yet Hong Hwa-yun, who had truly grasped Martial Arts, had reached a realm the other members of the Four Immortal Masters could not reach.
Still, Hong Hwa-yun had considered it all meaningless.
After all, his life was already forfeit.
‘Oh?’
A strange light appeared in Mumu's eyes.
The purple aura pouring from Hong Hwa-yun was far more intense and covered a much wider range than anything he had seen before. It did not merely envelop the entire village. It extended far beyond it. Hong Hwa-yun was far stronger than the other Four Immortal Masters Mumu had encountered.
Then Hong Hwa-yun pointed the tip of the staff at Mumu and said,
“Put down Chief Steward Bae at once.”
Before Mumu could answer, Bae Sang-won spoke first, as though trying to persuade him.
“Young brother. I admit your Martial Arts are impressive for your age. But stop now, while you still can. You're making the greatest mistake of your life.”
“The greatest mistake of my life?”
“If you knew who stands before you, you would never dare do this. If you wish to preserve your life, stop at once.”
“Preserve my life...”
-Grab!
As Mumu's hand tightened, Bae Sang-won screamed.
-Creak! Crrrack!
Even the sound of his skull cracking rang out.
“Arghhh!”
“If I keep doing this, I won't be able to preserve my life?”
‘Chief Steward Bae!’
-Boom!
Hearing Bae Sang-won's screams and judging him to be in danger, Hong Hwa-yun thrust his staff in a straight line toward the spot between Mumu's brows.
Yet Mumu stopped it with his outstretched palm.
-Crunch!
The staff shattered apart as though crushed by successive waves.
Though unable to see, Hong Hwa-yun knew from the sound that Mumu had stopped the attack with ease. He realized this boy with the young voice was no ordinary person.
-Crunch!
Mumu's fingers had already dug into Bae Sang-won's skull.
Bae Sang-won's eyes rolled back, and foam spilled from his mouth.
“Guh, gurgle...”
“Stop!”
Hong Hwa-yun shouted, unable to let him die.
Mumu did not even change his expression as he replied,
“Why should I?”
“How can you try to kill someone you have no grudge against, someone you have never even met?”
“It seems this person thinks I should die no matter what.”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn't he say I should have died after falling from that cliff, or died one way or another?”
‘!?’
Hong Hwa-yun was struck speechless by Mumu's words.
The boy had said something like that earlier, but what was he talking about? He spoke as though he were the infant who had fallen from that cliff.
That thousand-fathom precipice was so deep that even martial artists with exceptional movement skill could lose their lives if they fell improperly, let alone a baby.
‘...Impossible.’
It could not be.
Hong Hwa-yun was overcome by a powerful shock. He had continued living under the weight of guilt, though recently that feeling had eased somewhat as he lived for Hae Ha-rang and Mu-a.
“Young... young brother. What... is your name?”
“Mumu. I'm Mumu.”
‘!!!!!!!!’
The moment Hong Hwa-yun heard the name, he staggered.
The memory of that moment came rushing back as though it had happened only moments ago.
* * *
A thousand-fathom precipice not far behind the fortress of the Mighty Conqueror Council.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
Hong Hwa-yun looked at the baby wrapped in swaddling cloth.
A Jade Medallion hung around the infant's neck, engraved with the name Mumu.
‘A baby...’
Hong Hwa-yun could not bring himself to cut down the infant with his treasured blade.
Hong Hwa-yun, too, had recently had a daughter like this baby. That was why his treasured blade, which had been merciless toward the deviant paths, could not touch a baby.
Yet having decided to act for the greater cause, he could not let the infant live.
‘I am sorry, little one.’
Resent being one of the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's blood relatives.
In the end, Hong Hwa-yun carried the swaddled baby to the edge of the cliff.
It was so high that the bottom could not be seen. The height was unimaginable, enough to smash even skilled masters to pieces if they fell without any defense.
‘The chance of survival is nonexistent... but if you do survive, that will be your heavenly fortune, and my misfortune.’
-Whoosh!
Closing his eyes, Hong Hwa-yun threw the baby off the cliff.
The baby fell into the endless abyss, becoming a tiny speck in an instant.
* * *
‘The chance of survival is nonexistent... but if you do survive, that will be your heavenly fortune, and my misfortune.’
The words Hong Hwa-yun had thought while throwing the baby echoed fiercely through his mind.
It had been a thought born from guilt.
If, by some impossible chance, the child had survived through heavenly fortune, Hong Hwa-yun had hoped the child would never forgive him.
But that truly would have required heavenly fortune.
Since it could never happen, Hong Hwa-yun had been consumed by guilt after throwing the child away and had hoped to die at Hae Ha-rang's hands in atonement.
Yet the baby he had thrown off the cliff with his own hands was alive?
“That can't be. How could this...?”
-Crunch!
“Ghk!”
At that moment, Bae Sang-won's dying voice rang in his ears.
Hong Hwa-yun snapped out of his shock.
“Let him go!”
“If he politely apologizes for what he said earlier, I'll consider it.”
At those words, Hong Hwa-yun hurriedly dropped to his knees.
-Thud!
There was not a moment of hesitation.
Hong Hwa-yun even lowered his head to the ground and said,
“He is innocent. If you truly are that child, let him go and take your revenge on me. You have every right to kill me.”
“...”
If this boy truly was Mumu, then Mumu had every right to kill Hong Hwa-yun.
Perhaps this was fate.
Then Bae Sang-won, who was on the verge of death, managed to speak with difficulty.
“Ghh... N-no. Imperial Uncle... how much more must you sacrifice... ngh... If this bastard is... a seed of evil... you must not... submit... Don't worry about me... Kill this bastard at once... ghk!”
“A seed of evil... You're certainly consistent.”
-Crunch!
In the end, Bae Sang-won's head burst like a watermelon.
“C-Chief Steward Bae!”
Hong Hwa-yun had even knelt in an attempt to save him. He could not hide his stunned despair.
“W-why...?”
“Why, you ask? Then may I ask something too?”
“What?”
“Why did you throw me off that cliff when I was nothing more than a baby?”
“...”
Hong Hwa-yun could not answer Mumu's question.
What he had done at the fortress of the Mighty Conqueror Council about seventeen years ago in the name of the greater cause was a sin even he could not forgive.
Silenced by guilt, Hong Hwa-yun focused on the presence before him.
Apart from the level of internal energy that was nearing the Expert level, Mumu exuded an immense pressure.
‘...Did he gain this kind of power in only about seventeen years?’
It was power that felt ominous.
If Mumu could kill even Bae Sang-won, who was an inept Master, so easily, his true strength might far exceed Hong Hwa-yun's expectations.
As that thought crossed his mind, Hong Hwa-yun became concerned about Mumu's immense strength even more than his own guilt.
The fact that this child had appeared before him likely meant he had come for revenge.
Hong Hwa-yun had sustained his life all this time for atonement, but would Mumu truly be satisfied and end his revenge if he simply offered up his life?
‘I...’
Though it lasted only an instant, countless thoughts filled Hong Hwa-yun's mind.
Then Mumu said,
“It looks like you can't answer. Then I'll ask something else. I heard you took my mother away. Why did you take her?”
Mumu had found that quite strange after hearing it from the Grand Guardian.
The Grand Guardian had said Hong Hwa-yun had tried to save his mother, Hae Ha-rang, at least, to atone for the sins committed that day.
Hong Hwa-yun raised his bowed head and answered Mumu's question.
“...It was to repay the sin I committed against your mother in the name of the greater cause.”
“Repay a sin?”
“We did it to eliminate future trouble, but what we did that day was utterly unforgivable. Especially throwing you, a baby, from that cliff...”
“So you saved my mother to atone to her. Did you lose your eyes for atonement too?”
“...”
Hong Hwa-yun remained silent.
Realizing that was an affirmation, Mumu nodded.
Seeing the loss of both eyes and hearing the sincerity in Hong Hwa-yun's voice, Mumu could tell he had truly lived with a sincere desire to atone.
-Step. Step.
Mumu walked toward him.
Then he said,
“Thank you for saving my mother.”
‘!?’
Hong Hwa-yun's mouth opened slightly at Mumu's words.
Since he was the one who had thrown him from the cliff, he would not have found it strange if Mumu resented him.
He had never expected to hear thanks.
Hong Hwa-yun's voice trembled.
“I... I...”
The guilt of throwing Hae Ha-rang's baby from a cliff had tormented him for his entire life.
Yet that child had returned alive and was thanking him for saving his mother. The feeling could not be described in words.
Only moments ago, Hong Hwa-yun had been agonizing over Mumu's strength.
‘How foolish.’
He had considered whether he should set aside his desire for atonement, if only briefly, and stop Mumu, who had inherited the blood of the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, before he could bring a bloody storm upon the martial world in revenge.
But after hearing those words, he could not possibly do so.
Hong Hwa-yun was overcome with emotion. His face flushed, and he spoke in a trembling voice.
“...How can you... thank such a wretched person... who committed such a sin? Truly... I don't know what I should say to you...”
“Yes. You'll probably end up begging me to kill you.”
“What?”
-Flick!
“Ghk!”
At that instant, a tremendous impact pierced Hong Hwa-yun's forehead. With an agonized cry, he was flung backward.
-Kaboom!
Hong Hwa-yun flew so far that it was impossible to tell where he would land, smashing through houses and trees along the way.
Mumu lowered his hand after flicking his finger and rolled his neck.
-Crack! Crack!
“Atonement and all that, isn't it just self-satisfaction because you did something so terrible that you want to be forgiven? Then you should pay the price.”
Footnotes:
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