WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 5: Haggling (2)

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Bang!

When First Madam Seok returned to her residence, Hyehwa Hall, she viciously kicked a chair.

Her kick, laden with internal energy, split the chair in two.

Her face red with fury, she panted heavily.

“How dare he!”

Even at the Medicine house, she had done her best to suppress her anger.

But now, she could no longer hold it in.

“Madam, please compose yourself.”

Ho Aeng, her bodyguard warrior, carefully tried to calm First Madam Seok.

First Madam Seok replied irritably,

“Compose myself? Do I look as though I can? I went to the trouble of finding a capable Taoist occultist, only for that wretch to have the seal... Ah!”

“Madam!”

First Madam Seok clutched the back of her neck.

Perhaps her rising blood pressure had made her dizzy, for she closed her eyes.

Among the Mok Family's children, she had guarded against the cunning second son and the youngest, whom the Manor Lord favored dearly. But the third son, Mok GyeongUn, had never even entered her thoughts.

He had no talent for Martial Arts, and it would not have been an exaggeration to say his maternal family had nearly fallen apart.

That was why she had paid him no attention at all.

Who could have imagined that someone she had never even considered would become such a hidden threat?

Grit!

First Madam Seok ground her teeth.

She had never expected him to bargain using the Manor Lord's seal.

She had thought he would hand it over on his own after a little intimidation.

‘...Had he always been like this?’

The Mok GyeongUn she knew had never shown such cunning.

If anything, he had been cowardly and timid.

There had been many incidents proving as much.

‘Had he been hiding his true nature?’

Before his mother died, people had often said he was quite bright, if not blessed with martial talent.

‘Perhaps he did it to protect himself after that.’

If so, he might be an even greater threat than she thought.

He had personally drawn a line, saying he had no interest in becoming Manor Lord. But those who knew how to hide themselves and possessed great patience were all the more frightening.

‘And that power...’

That strange power continued to trouble her.

The maid So Hwa suddenly rose into the air, her veins bulging as she nearly stopped breathing.

It reminded First Madam Seok of the dead Taoist occultist, Myo Shin.

So Hwa's appearance had been very similar.

Which meant...

“...Mok GyeongUn must have killed the Taoist occultist Myo Shin as well.”

“That Mok GyeongUn?”

“Yes.”

It certainly made sense.

She had brought Myo Shin here because of the tales of their skill. There was no way such a Taoist occultist would have been possessed by an uncanny entity and gone berserk.

It had to be Mok GyeongUn's doing.

At First Madam Seok's certainty, Ho Aeng flared up.

“How dare he kill someone you summoned? Leave it to me. Before he can even use sorcery, I will make him disappear without a trace...”

“Enough.”

“But...”

“If the Manor Lord's seal truly ends up in the hands of the second son, Mok EunPyeong, or the youngest, Mok YuCheon, my son will bear the consequences.”

“Even so, if we let that brat lead us around...”

“Who said I would let him lead me around?”

“What?”

First Madam Seok took something from a white porcelain jar in a display cabinet.

It was a small jade bead.

An unusual pattern had been carved into it. She handed it to Ho Aeng.

“This is...?”

“Take it to Ghost Shadow Pavilion in Mengcheng. Tell its Pavilion Lord that the Taoist occultist Myo Shin has been killed.”

“Ah!”

Understanding her intention, Ho Aeng nodded.

Ghost Shadow Pavilion.

It was the organization of Taoist occultists to which the late Myo Shin had belonged.

* * *

Smack!

Guard Go Chan's head snapped to the side from the slap.

Guard Gam clicked his tongue and looked at him in disappointment.

“Tut, tut. Is it really so difficult to watch one little brat?”

“N-no.”

“I said you could restrain him if necessary, yet you took that bastard to the Main Hall? Are you even in your right mind?”

Go Chan could not say anything in response to Guard Gam's rebuke.

Truthfully, he wanted to reveal everything that had happened while Guard Gam was away.

No, that had been his original intention.

But now, he hesitated.

‘...Why am I so uneasy?’

If it came down to Martial Arts alone, his senior martial brother could deal with that brat whenever he wished.

Yet after encountering the false Mok GyeongUn, Go Chan had begun to fear him.

The poison in his blood and that strange sorcery troubled Go Chan, but what unsettled him even more was that the brat did not seem human.

If he made an enemy of that bastard for no reason, the outcome did not seem likely to be good.

‘Damn it.’

What had his life come to?

He had been pleased when they found someone suitable to play Mok GyeongUn's double. Now, he had no choice but to do whatever that double bastard told him.

[I trust you'll keep your mouth shut.]

‘...’

Those words made him deeply uneasy.

Since Go Chan was outside the Medicine house, the brat presumably could not hear their conversation. Yet Go Chan still felt strangely self-conscious.

It was as though someone were watching him.

Why did he feel this way?

As Go Chan was consumed by that strange feeling, Guard Gam, who had been clicking his tongue, said,

“If you let that bastard poke around here and there one more time, I will not let it pass.”

“...His thigh was pierced, so he will have trouble walking for some time anyway.”

“Whether it is his thigh or anything else, do not let him draw attention.”

“Yes, Senior Martial Brother.”

“More importantly, you are certain First Madam did not discover anything?”

“Yes. I am certain. I was right beside him. However, First Madam was displeased because he went to the Main Hall.”

‘More precisely, because he seized First Madam's weakness and bargained with her.’

Go Chan's mouth went dry.

Even the boundary of whose side he belonged to had become unclear.

He had to hide half the truth from his senior martial brother, the very person he should have told everything.

“Tut, tut.”

Guard Gam shook his head.

That bastard really was not suited to be a double.

He had recognized the danger when that brat killed the real Mok GyeongUn, but the longer time passed, the harder that brat would become to control.

‘I need to hurry.’

If the brat acted as he pleased despite being warned, matters might go awry later.

A swift decision was needed on whose side he should switch to.

“Do not take your eyes off him for even a moment.”

“Will you not warn him yourself?”

“There are too many eyes watching.”

There were pharmacists and servants inside the Medicine house.

They were merely household servants, but Guard Gam and Go Chan were guards themselves. They could not order the servants around as they pleased, nor could they rebuke the false Mok GyeongUn before others.

And besides...

‘That brat is cunning. Nothing good will come from speaking with him at length.’

It was better to keep him unaware of how matters were progressing.

That would make it easier to switch sides and deal with him later.

* * *

While this conversation was taking place outside, Mok GyeongUn sat comfortably with his back against the bed, flipping through a book.

It was the Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School from the Compendium of the Hundred Schools.

As he turned the pages, one passage caught his attention.

‘If a dead person's vengeful spirit becomes an uncanny entity, its rank varies according to many conditions.’

The Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School described uncanny entities in greater detail than he expected.

From this, the Demonic Monk could be called a kind of wraith or ghost, an uncanny entity born of a vengeful spirit.

‘A low-ranked, weak vengeful spirit becomes an earthbound spirit and can only affect the living enough to stir their sixth sense. Hmm.’

According to the book, vengeful spirits were divided into seven ranks.

Simply listing them regardless of the various conditions, the first was the Red Spirit, an earthbound spirit that could only give living beings goosebumps or a light chill.

The second was the Vermilion Spirit, which could possess others and make their bodies feel heavy or cause aches severe enough to make them ill.

The third was the Yellow Spirit. From that point on, the book described them as dangerous enough to require exorcism.

A Yellow Spirit could become a curse and, rather than merely weakening the person it possessed, could even cause their death.

‘...By rank, is the Demonic Monk a Yellow Spirit?’

Yellow Spirits themselves were divided into three levels according to their danger.

A low-rank one could reveal itself and directly instill fear in humans.

A mid-rank one could directly affect living beings or inflict pain upon them.

A high-rank one could kill the person it possessed.

Whoosh!

At that moment, someone emerged like smoke through the wall near the entrance of the Medicine house.

It was the Demonic Monk.

It seemed the Demonic Monk was a higher-ranked uncanny entity than Mok GyeongUn had realized.

‘So that was what it meant to affect living beings.’

He now understood why the Demonic Monk could not touch the corpse of the Taoist occultist Myo Shin.

It was because the body was already dead.

A dead body had no life left in it, so it could not be affected.

‘I see.’

However, there were things he had learned that the Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School did not describe.

He had ordered the Demonic Monk to target First Madam Seok.

Yet the moment the Demonic Monk lightly touched her, First Madam Seok immediately reacted and was repelled.

‘Did they say that woman was an Advanced master?’

In contrast, even when the Demonic Monk directly threatened her life, First Madam Seok's maid had noticed nothing and been completely helpless.

What was the difference between them?

Was it because the maid had not learned Martial Arts?

‘Perhaps uncanny entities cannot affect those who have learned Martial Arts?’

The Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School said nothing on that point.

Creak!

At that moment, Guard Go Chan opened the door to the Medicine house and entered.

Mok GyeongUn slightly raised the corner of his mouth and muttered,

“A fine test subject.”

“What?”

Go Chan questioned him, wondering what he meant.

“Ah. I was not speaking to you, Guard Go Chan. Shall we try lifting an arm?”

“Young Master, what are you...?”

Flinch!

At that very moment, Go Chan felt a chill pass through his entire body.

It was something strange that went beyond the realm of the five senses.

Jerk!

“Ugh?”

Go Chan's arm suddenly tried to rise.

‘Urgh!’

Startled, Go Chan sent out his Force of ki and resisted.

But his trembling arm could not hold out for long and was forcibly raised.

‘What in the world...?’

Go Chan was utterly bewildered because he could not understand what was happening.

However, he soon realized why.

“Y-Young Master?”

Mok GyeongUn lightly waved his hand.

Then, as though someone had released their grip on his wrist, Go Chan was able to lower the arm that had been forced upward.

Though his arm had lowered, Go Chan was clearly still shocked as he asked Mok GyeongUn,

“What did you do just now?”

“I merely needed to confirm something.”

“Confirm something?”

“Yes.”

“Why use me for that...?”

“You were just right. Did you say you were a second-rate warrior, Guard Go Chan?”

“That is correct, but what exactly were you trying to confirm...?”

“You do not need to know.”

“...”

Of course, that bastard would not tell him so easily.

Go Chan stood before the bed with an uneasy expression.

‘Damn bastard.’

For a moment, he regretted not telling Guard Gam exactly what had happened.

Mok GyeongUn paid him no mind and nodded to himself as if he had learned something.

‘It works on someone at Guard Go Chan's level.’

Go Chan had immediately sensed the moment the Demonic Monk gripped his wrist.

Perhaps because he had cultivated internal energy, his senses were clearly sharper than those of ordinary people.

He had resisted for a moment, but he could not overcome the Demonic Monk's power.

‘The Demonic Monk's power works smoothly on ordinary people and even second-rate warriors.’

That seemed to be the threshold at which it worked reliably.

It had not yet been fully verified, but perhaps a Yellow Spirit's power would not work very well on an Advanced martial artist.

If that was true, it would be a little disappointing.

‘Still, that does not mean it is not useful.’

The Demonic Monk, as an uncanny entity, had many uses.

As when Mok GyeongUn had just made it eavesdrop on Go Chan and Guard Gam's conversation, he could use it for surveillance at close range. It was also useful to send ahead as a scout in blocked-off places.

How useful it was.

As Mok GyeongUn read the passages below in the Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School, another thought came to him.

‘It would not be bad to obtain a stronger uncanny entity.’

The fourth was the Green Spirit. Extremely dangerous. Exorcism was mandatory.

A vengeful spirit that had existed for several decades. It could affect nearby objects and confuse living beings enough to make them hear auditory hallucinations.

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