WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 6: Evil-Infused (1)

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The Demonic Monk bowed with all due respect, filled with fear and reverence.

Mok GyeongUn looked at the book inside the wooden box with puzzlement when the vengeful spirit and aberration showed such an unexpected reaction.

A strange book made from human skin.

Why was the Demonic Monk reacting like this upon seeing the book surrounded by prayer beads?

Mok GyeongUn unconsciously reached for the book inside the box.

The moment his fingertips touched it...

Thump!

‘!?’

Mok GyeongUn's eyes narrowed.

‘...A pulse?’

For a brief instant, he felt a pulse.

It was as clear as the beating of a heart.

Yet paradoxically, this pulse was not a sign of life.

It felt closer to death.

Thump! Thump!

The pulse seemed to be growing stronger.

‘...’

Mok GyeongUn stared at the book for a while before closing the wooden box.

An intense urge had arisen within him.

He wanted to remove the prayer beads and see what lay inside, but that would be difficult right now.

The Demonic Monk had appeared because someone had infiltrated the Medicine house.

‘An intruder.’

Mok GyeongUn licked his upper lip with regret.

Then he raised his gaze.

* * *

Tap! Tap!

A black-masked figure moved across the roof tiles.

The masked warrior noticed Guard Go Chan standing watch near the hall on the only path leading to the Medicine house and concealed their presence even further.

‘Hmm.’

Interest flickered in the masked warrior's eyes.

Mok GyeongUn had two guards.

Since one of them could no longer truly be considered Mok GyeongUn's person, he effectively had only one guard left.

‘Then why isn't the guard at his side?’

A guard would normally remain right beside their master.

Yet Go Chan was standing watch away from the Medicine house.

‘It can only be one of two things.’

First, perhaps the master was sensitive and did not allow a guard to remain nearby.

But that did not seem likely.

It made no sense for a guard to stay far away from a master whose thigh had been pierced.

That left the second possibility.

‘Is the guard keeping watch?’

Perhaps Go Chan had received an order to watch the surroundings for anyone approaching.

Otherwise, there was no reason to stand so far away.

The masked warrior rubbed their chin.

‘Standing watch instead of sleeping in the early hours, near the end of the Hour of the Rat...’

This was becoming more interesting than expected.

Their name was Jo Il-sang.

They were one of Second Young Master Mok EunPyeong's three guards.

[We should check, just in case. We need to see whether it's a Self-Inflicted Injury Stratagem or not.]

Jo Il-sang had received one order from Mok EunPyeong.

They were to confirm whether Mok GyeongUn had truly lost his Martial Arts.

If he had not lost them, Guard Gam's request to take him in had been a lie. If he truly could not use Martial Arts, then the request had been sincere.

[Should I only confirm it?]

[That would be no fun. If he really has lost his Martial Arts, frighten him a little. Tell him not to get ahead of himself.]

[Hehe. Understood.]

That was why Jo Il-sang had come.

Jo Il-sang's martial prowess stood somewhere between that of a second-rate warrior and an Advanced master.

They were a step above Go Chan, which was why they had taken action.

Whoosh! Tap!

Avoiding Go Chan's gaze, Jo Il-sang moved in another direction and leaped over the wall.

After crossing it, Jo Il-sang climbed onto the roof of the Medicine house and crawled through a gap between the tiles.

‘What could an injured man be doing that requires him to post a lookout?’

Was the injury false?

Or was the information that he had lost his Martial Arts false?

Either way, there had to be something.

‘Let's see what he's hiding.’

Jo Il-sang slipped through the roof tiles and infiltrated the Medicine house.

They even stilled their breathing as they hung silently from the ceiling and looked below. One eyebrow rose.

‘What?’

The sight was not what they had expected.

Disappointment filled Jo Il-sang's eyes as they watched Mok GyeongUn, propped up in bed and reading a book by the light of a single lamp.

‘He's only reading a book?’

Jo Il-sang suspiciously surveyed the room.

Yet there was no one else inside the Medicine house besides Mok GyeongUn.

‘Strange.’

Jo Il-sang had not entered through the door, and Go Chan, Mok GyeongUn's sole guard, was outside keeping watch. It was inconceivable that Go Chan could have noticed Jo Il-sang's arrival.

Jo Il-sang wondered whether someone had warned Mok GyeongUn, but that did not seem to be the case either.

‘Could there be some secret in that book?’

That possibility could not be ruled out.

Jo Il-sang needed to confirm whether Mok GyeongUn possessed Martial Arts anyway, so they would have to make contact.

Jo Il-sang carefully moved across the ceiling toward Mok GyeongUn's bed, suppressing every trace of their presence.

Then...

Thud!

They jumped down.

At the same time, Jo Il-sang snatched the book Mok GyeongUn had been reading with lightning speed.

Whoosh!

Jo Il-sang naturally expected Mok GyeongUn to be startled or counterattack after having his book stolen.

Contrary to expectations, Mok GyeongUn neither retaliated nor appeared surprised.

Instead, he looked at Jo Il-sang as though nothing had happened.

“Who...?”

Swish!

As Mok GyeongUn tried to speak, Jo Il-sang aimed a Short Sword at his throat and whispered,

“If you don't want to die, stay quiet.”

“...”

Mok GyeongUn closed his mouth.

Things should have been going well, but Jo Il-sang did not feel that way.

‘This brat...’

Someone wearing a mask had suddenly appeared, stolen his book, aimed a Short Sword at his throat, and threatened him.

Anyone would normally be flustered.

At the very least, Mok GyeongUn should have looked frightened or tense.

Yet he was staring at Jo Il-sang with an expressionless face, showing no emotional change, as if this were an everyday occurrence.

‘Judging by his reaction...’

He looked like someone who had known Jo Il-sang was coming.

But that was impossible.

To remain this calm, he would need martial prowess great enough to protect his own life.

‘!?’

Jo Il-sang's eyes narrowed.

Now that they thought about it, regardless of whether one possessed Martial Arts, a person would move somehow through reflex when startled.

Yet Mok GyeongUn had not moved at all.

‘Could the claim that he lost his Martial Arts be false?’

Jo Il-sang glanced at the book they had taken.

Then their eyes shook wildly upon seeing its title.

‘!!!!!!!’

It was...

[Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula]

There was no one in Yeonmok Sword Manor who would not know the name of this sword style.

It was the sword style that symbolized Yeonmok Sword Manor.

That was because it was a supreme Martial Art containing profound principles that only the Manor Lord of Yeonmok Sword Manor could learn.

‘Ha...’

Jo Il-sang's next action had not even been planned.

Using a grappling hold, Jo Il-sang seized Mok GyeongUn's shoulder, pressed down, and pulled him closer.

At the same time, they struck the acupoint at the back of Mok GyeongUn's head with the hand holding the Short Sword.

Thud!

Mok GyeongUn's head immediately dropped.

Jo Il-sang's heart pounded as they released a rough breath.

“Haa...”

Startled by the secret manual of the Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula, they had struck the acupoint at the back of his head and knocked him unconscious.

‘Was that why he had someone keeping watch?’

Jo Il-sang brought a hand to the acupoint of the unconscious Mok GyeongUn.

They had nearly forgotten that they also needed to verify whether Mok GyeongUn had lost his Martial Arts.

Slide!

Jo Il-sang placed a hand on the acupoint and sent life energy into his body.

‘Ah!’

There was no need for a lengthy examination.

If someone possessed even a little internal energy, the moment another person's life energy entered their body, Reflective Force would arise or they would show some form of rejection.

Yet Mok GyeongUn showed none of that.

Press. Press.

Jo Il-sang pressed on Mok GyeongUn's abdomen near his dantian.

‘Nothing.’

He truly had no dantian.

The corners of Jo Il-sang's mouth rose.

After confirming whether Mok GyeongUn possessed Martial Arts, Second Young Master Mok EunPyeong's instruction to frighten him had already vanished from their mind.

Jo Il-sang opened the Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula and turned its pages.

“Ghk!”

Jo Il-sang's lips trembled after flipping through a few pages.

They nearly laughed without realizing it.

They had wondered whether it might be a fake, but it was undoubtedly the genuine sword techniques of the Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula.

Even from the beginning, the sword forms were extraordinary.

‘Calm down.’

They had never imagined this would be in Mok GyeongUn's hands.

The Manor Lord was so critically ill that they might not survive another day. Meanwhile, the Manor Lord's seal and the martial arts book of the Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula, the Manor Lord's exclusive Martial Art, had gone missing. The retainers were deeply concerned about the succession.

Yet now the Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula was in their hands.

‘It's done.’

Obtaining the martial arts book of the Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula was a stroke of great fortune.

If Mok EunPyeong, their master, learned the Yeonmok Sword-Forming Formula, then even if the Manor Lord died, their master would become the next Manor Lord.

‘We have the advantage.’

No matter how much the Manor Lord had cherished Mok YuCheon, the youngest son, and no matter that the eldest son, Mok YeongHo, existed, the retainers would have no choice but to support their master. Yeonmok Sword Manor was a martial family, after all.

It was at that moment, as Jo Il-sang rejoiced...

They flinched.

A chill so strong that goosebumps rose across their entire body suddenly swept over them.

At the same time, something pressed down on their shoulder.

‘What is this?’

Startled, Jo Il-sang hurriedly tried to raise their internal energy.

At that very moment...

Thud!

“Gasp!”

Someone struck their dantian with a fist.

It was Mok GyeongUn, whom Jo Il-sang had believed to be unconscious.

‘W-what strength is this?’

Was this truly the strength of someone without internal energy?

It was at least on the level of a second-rate warrior.

Tremble!

Jo Il-sang had not managed to raise their internal energy before being struck in the dantian while off guard. Their body stiffened for a brief moment.

But that brief opening worked terribly against them.

“Urk!”

Throb! Throb!

Veins bulged.

A bizarre sensation dug through their shoulder, where something was pressing down.

The sensation filled Jo Il-sang with unbearable pain and torment.

Jo Il-sang gritted their teeth and tried to force away the strange sensation with life energy.

However...

Thud!

Mok GyeongUn did not miss that moment. At the same time as he swung a fist into Jo Il-sang's jaw, he repeatedly struck their abdomen.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Under normal circumstances, such an attack would never have worked on Jo Il-sang, who stood just before the level of Advanced.

But there had been the slightest lapse brought on by obtaining the martial arts book.

And while that chilling sensation pressed on their shoulder, even Jo Il-sang could not endure the relentless blows aimed only at their dantian.

“Grrr! Y-you bastard...”

“You're tough. In that case...”

Smack!

Mok GyeongUn grabbed the back of Jo Il-sang's head with both hands, pulled them down, and drove his knee into their face.

Crunch!

“Ghk!”

The sharp crack of Jo Il-sang's nose bone and teeth breaking rang out.

Even so, Mok GyeongUn continued punching Jo Il-sang in the face as they staggered backward.

Thud! Thud!

Blood soaked his fists, but Mok GyeongUn did not stop.

‘M-monster...’

Jo Il-sang rapidly lost consciousness.

* * *

How much time had passed?

Jo Il-sang struggled to open their eyes after regaining consciousness.

The moment they woke, their head felt as though it would split apart.

‘What... happened?’

Having just awakened, they could not properly remember what had happened.

Then it came back to them.

Mok GyeongUn had been expressionlessly beating their face like a madman.

‘Damn it...’

They had been thoroughly careless.

No, could it even be called carelessness?

The first blow had come from lowering their guard after confirming that Mok GyeongUn had no dantian, but that was not true afterward.

‘What was that sensation?’

They could not forget that spine-chilling sensation.

It had stiffened their body. They had tried to withstand it with internal energy, but Mok GyeongUn had repeatedly struck their dantian and vital acupoints until they lost consciousness.

It would not have been strange if they had died.

‘...What was it?’

Jo Il-sang was baffled.

They had clearly confirmed that Mok GyeongUn possessed no internal energy.

Yet those blows had carried strength almost equal to their own.

‘Damn it.’

“Haa... Haa...”

But that was not what mattered right now.

Jo Il-sang painfully opened eyes that were nearly sealed shut with dried blood and looked around.

‘!?’

Their brow furrowed.

This was not the Medicine house.

Come to think of it, they had felt strangely cold and damp for some time. This place looked like a cave.

Drip! Drip!

‘Huh?’

Jo Il-sang noticed drops of sweat or blood from their body rising into the air.

What kind of phenomenon was this?

Then they realized.

‘Don't tell me... am I hanging upside down?’

Now they understood why their face felt as though it would burst.

They had thought it hurt because they had been hit so many times, but blood had rushed to their head from hanging upside down.

“Haa... Haa...”

Jo Il-sang's breathing grew rough.

They did not know where this was, but something felt terribly wrong.

They needed to get out quickly.

“Hoo.”

Jo Il-sang focused their breathing and tried to draw out the energy in their dantian.

But...

‘W-what?’

They could not put strength into any part of their body.

They tried to focus, but every part of their body except their face felt as though it had lost all sensation.

“W-what's wrong with me?”

Their panicked voice burst out.

Rustle!

Then they heard someone approaching.

“I see you're awake.”

Jo Il-sang looked toward the voice and saw Mok GyeongUn walking across the ceiling.

Of course, it only looked that way because Jo Il-sang's vision was upside down.

Panicked by the numbness throughout their body, Jo Il-sang shouted,

“Y-you, what did you do to me?”

At the question, the corners of Mok GyeongUn's mouth rose as though they would tear toward his ears.

“Who knows? What did I do?”

A chill ran down Jo Il-sang's spine.

His eyes held pure, vicious malice that did not match his smile.

For the first time in their life, Jo Il-sang felt terror.

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