Myst, Might, Mayhem - Chapter 6

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Episode 2: Yeonmok Sword Manor (2)

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‘What the hell is this bastard...?’

Being unable to breathe was bad enough, but a chill ran down Go Chan’s spine.

Mok GyeongUn’s gaze, paired with that grin stretched wide enough to split his face, was horrifying in a way that defied reason.

Only now did Go Chan understand why his senior martial brother, Guard Gam, had said that.

[He is not someone who can be easily controlled.]

Go Chan had thought it was merely a warning.

But after experiencing it firsthand, Mok GyeongUn was clearly unlike an ordinary person.

He had never learned Martial Arts, yet possessed this monstrous strength. Worse still, the dreadful pressure in his eyes was crushing Go Chan’s mind to pulp.

Clench!

“Ghk...”

The grip around his throat tightened further.

Go Chan endured with internal energy, but he could not hold out any longer.

His eyes were growing hot. It felt as though he would soon lose consciousness.

At that moment,

Slack!

The hand around his throat loosened.

“Cough! Cough!”

Air rushed back into his lungs, making him cough as though he had swallowed something wrong.

Even then, Go Chan was confused.

‘Why?’

Mok GyeongUn, who had looked delighted enough for his smile to reach his ears, let it fade.

Then he said regretfully,

“I nearly killed you.”

“Cough... what?”

“If I kill you like this, all the trouble I went through to become Mok GyeongUn will have been for nothing, won't it?”

Go Chan’s eyes shook at those words.

It felt as though Mok GyeongUn was playing with him.

What was this bastard?

Anger rose within Go Chan. His lips trembled as he spoke.

“...Do you think you can handle the consequences of this?”

“The consequences?”

“Without the antidote, you'll die. And it'll be an agonizing death.”

Go Chan brought up the poison Mok GyeongUn had consumed.

He thought this fake had stopped midway because he knew that as well.

But it was already too late.

Go Chan had seen this fellow’s unsettling side.

Just as his senior martial brother had said, this was someone who could never be controlled.

He did not know what would happen in five days, but if Go Chan and Guard Gam changed patrons, it would be better to kill Mok GyeongUn somehow.

‘If we leave him alone, he will surely betray us.’

Still, Mok GyeongUn currently held the upper hand, so Go Chan had to make him understand his position.

Go Chan spoke in a low voice.

“If Guard Gam finds out, he won't let you off.”

“Probably not.”

“...But I'll consider this an impulsive act.”

“What does that mean?”

“I'll assume you did this because you were frustrated from being confined. Go back to your room now.”

“Go back to my room?”

“Yes. If you walk back in peacefully, I'll pretend nothing happened.”

Mok GyeongUn smiled faintly.

“If that was what I intended, I wouldn't have bothered coming out.”

Go Chan frowned.

Did this bastard truly not understand the situation?

He had even swallowed a poison pellet that held his life hostage. Why was he acting so freely?

“If senior martial brother, no, if Guard Gam finds out...”

“Yes, yes. He won't let it slide.”

“But you're standing your ground here...”

“If Guard Go Chan keeps quiet, nothing will happen. What's the problem?”

“What?”

Go Chan was dumbfounded by Mok GyeongUn’s shameless reply.

His senior martial brother had been right. This fellow truly could not be controlled.

Suppressing his anger with effort, Go Chan said,

“I told you that if you don't take a neutralizing agent or antidote by the end of the Chou hour, your life will be over. Have you not come to your senses...”

Before he could finish,

“Croton seed, wild angelica, adonis, pinellia...”

‘!?’

Go Chan’s expression froze at the medical herbs, no, poisonous herbs, flowing from Mok GyeongUn’s lips.

They were all ingredients in the poison pellet.

“Pokeweed, russula mushroom, fennel herb. Is that all?”

‘...Impossible.’

Go Chan was stunned.

Mok GyeongUn should have gotten at least one wrong, yet every ingredient was correct.

He had identified every toxic ingredient in the poison pellet.

But Go Chan was not shocked merely because he had guessed the ingredients.

A poison pellet was made by mixing, boiling, and drying such ingredients before forming them into a pill. One could not identify it simply by tasting it.

“Y-you, what are you?”

Could even Jo Ak-gyeong, the Myriad Poisons Emperor, or Mun No, the Medicine Immortal, do this?

‘Did they not say he was merely an ordinary condemned criminal?’

Go Chan found himself wondering about this bastard’s true identity.

As Go Chan stood there in astonishment, Mok GyeongUn said,

“Since I was young, I have eaten every sort of medical herb and poisonous herb. I've tried them boiled and dried.”

“What? You ate poisonous herbs?”

“They said a herb gatherer must know their effects.”

‘...Though that was not the only reason.’

He knew other reasons, but they did not matter now.

In any case, Mok GyeongUn could distinguish herbs with almost excessive sensitivity.

No, if he had tasted something himself or even caught a faint scent of it, he remembered it.

Even his grandfather had been astonished by that ability.

“A herb gatherer?”

“Did you not know? I originally made my living gathering herbs.”

“That is absurd! How can a mere herb gatherer identify the ingredients in a poison pellet simply by tasting it?”

It was impossible.

“Seeing how flustered you are, I suppose I was right.”

Mok GyeongUn approached the flustered Go Chan.

As the distance suddenly closed, Go Chan unconsciously stepped back.

Go Chan spoke urgently.

“E-even if you know that, what can you do? Creating an antidote is far more difficult than making a poison pellet.”

He gathered internal energy at his Yongquan point, ready to use a movement skill if necessary.

This fellow was too unsettling.

Go Chan had to prepare because he had no idea what Mok GyeongUn might do.

‘Even if he is stronger than an ordinary person, he has not learned Martial Arts. If I use the Body-Lightening Technique, he will never catch me.’

He only had to avoid confronting him head-on.

At that very moment,

Creak!

The instant Mok GyeongUn stepped forward, the wooden floorboards buckled.

It was terrifying leg strength.

‘Damn it!’

Mok GyeongUn rushed in before him as swiftly as a tiger charging its prey.

Go Chan flung himself backward, but it was useless.

Mok GyeongUn was too fast for him to open any distance.

Whoosh!

Mok GyeongUn’s hand shot forward.

Go Chan naturally assumed he would aim for his throat or head, so he crossed his arms to defend himself.

But that was not the target.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

“Urgh!”

Mok GyeongUn’s fingers struck the pressure points in his chest.

Go Chan’s eyes widened.

He had been certain this fellow knew no Martial Arts whatsoever.

There was no trace of internal energy cultivation either. Yet the pressure points Mok GyeongUn had struck were paralysis points that stiffened the body and the Mute Point that prevented speech.

‘Was it all a lie?’

The acupoint strikes had been precise.

Once those pressure points were sealed, Go Chan should have been unable to move or speak.

Yet though his chest throbbed and his body felt stiff, he could still move.

“What is this...?”

As Go Chan struggled to understand, Mok GyeongUn tilted his head and muttered,

“Was that not how it was done?”

“What?”

“I tried copying what Guard Gam did, but it doesn't work after all. I thought doing this would stop someone from moving and speaking.”

‘!?’

Mok GyeongUn spoke as though it were nothing.

Go Chan was beyond dumbfounded.

If that was true, Mok GyeongUn had simply reenacted what had been done to him.

‘He copied it just from watching?’

Had Go Chan known nothing, he would have thought Mok GyeongUn had learned it.

He might even have believed Mok GyeongUn had practiced it dozens of times.

The acupoint strikes had been almost perfectly accurate.

‘What is this bastard...?’

If Mok GyeongUn had possessed internal energy, the pressure points would have been sealed.

But he had crudely jabbed them with pure strength, so Go Chan had only stiffened for a moment.

For a brief moment, Go Chan was too shocked to react.

Then,

Clench!

“Ghk!”

While his guard was down, Mok GyeongUn seized his throat.

Since he was standing, Go Chan tried to kick him in the testicles.

Crack!

His neck twisted slightly.

With only a little more force, it would snap.

With his life at risk, Go Chan could not move even a fraction.

“...S-stop. Don't you want the antidote...”

“Ah, that. It's still a secret from Guard Gam, but... I don't need it.”

“What?”

What was he talking about?

He did not need the antidote?

Mok GyeongUn smiled at Go Chan’s confusion.

“Since I ate so many poisonous herbs as a child, I developed a resistance.”

“R-resistance?”

“My stomach burns when I eat them, but a crude mixture like the one Guard Gam gave me doesn't even register.”

‘A crude mixture?’

Go Chan was speechless.

The poison pellet still used by the Society was crude?

Its toxicity was so potent that even an Advanced master of internal Martial Arts who fell victim to it could not easily purge it after resting and circulating ki for fifteen days.

‘What the hell is this bastard?’

Had anyone else said it, Go Chan would have dismissed it as nonsense.

But for some reason, it was difficult to deny Mok GyeongUn’s words.

Then Mok GyeongUn did something strange.

Crunch!

He suddenly bit his own index finger.

Go Chan did not know why he did that, until Mok GyeongUn brought the bleeding finger to his mouth.

“W-what are you trying to do? Mmph!”

He could not refuse.

Mok GyeongUn’s finger forced its way into his mouth.

Drops of blood wet his tongue and ran down his throat.

Go Chan did not want to swallow, but Mok GyeongUn’s grip on his neck gave him no choice.

Not long after he swallowed the blood,

“Ghk!”

His chest turned hot.

A burning pain suddenly consumed his body.

Even after Mok GyeongUn released his throat, the pain was so severe that it felt as if his organs were twisting apart.

“Ghhhhh!”

‘P-poison?’

No matter how he thought about it, it was poison.

Nothing else could cause such pain.

Go Chan urgently tried to circulate his ki, but Mok GyeongUn kicked him just as he tried to sit in meditation.

“Urk!”

He rolled across the floor.

As he writhed in agony, Mok GyeongUn bent his knees and said,

“My grandfather warned me never to do several things. This is one of them. I developed resistance because I ate many poisonous herbs, but he also said my blood had become poisonous.”

“What?”

“A dog I was raising happened to lick my blood once. It went into convulsions. It vomited blood, and it was a complete mess.”

“You... you...”

The twisting pain left him unable to speak properly.

Mok GyeongUn only giggled as he looked at him.

Grab!

Mok GyeongUn lifted Go Chan’s chin.

Then, as though soothing him, he said,

“It’s all right. My grandfather did something or other, and it got better.”

“Ghhhhh!”

Go Chan clutched at Mok GyeongUn’s knee.

Unable to speak, he looked up at him pleadingly.