WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 17: Flag (1)
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For some reason, the boy from Scarlet Slaughter Valley felt an odd unease that told him he should not work with Mok GyeongUn.
Because of that, he abandoned the idea of cooperating with Mok GyeongUn and whispered to the boy from Matching Vista Sect beside him.
“You're from Matching Vista Sect, right?”
“I am.”
“I'll get straight to the point. Let's not waste our strength. Let's clear this gate together.”
“........”
The boy from Matching Vista Sect furrowed his brow as though considering the proposal.
It was certainly not a bad offer.
Banding together with more capable people would make it easier to pass the gate.
‘Hmm.’
Earlier, the boy from Matching Vista Sect had seen the boy from Scarlet Slaughter Valley hide in the water, ambush another boy, and steal his iron bead.
It was a fairly clever strategy.
In that regard, he might prove useful in this gate, where they needed to form a more strategic alliance than during the struggle for iron beads.
However,
‘Do I really need to reveal even a little of my sect's secret arts to someone I might face in the next gate?’
If they stayed together for three two-hour periods, they would reveal quite a lot.
The more one revealed a sect's Martial Arts secret arts, the greater the disadvantage.
The boy from Matching Vista Sect decided it would be more advantageous not to cooperate with the boy from Scarlet Slaughter Valley and the girl from Flower Hat House, who were most likely to endure until the end alongside him in Corpse-Blood Valley.
“I refuse.”
“.......You'll regret it.”
“We'll see who regrets it.”
The boy from Matching Vista Sect snorted at the combative reply.
Then he made one last, indirect offer to the short-haired girl from Flower Hat House.
“Hey. Flower Hat House. What do you...”
“Get lost.”
“.........”
She rejected him before he could even ask.
The boy from Matching Vista Sect shut his mouth, his face full of irritation.
Perhaps cooperating with those people had been impossible from the start.
* * *
“Whew... Whew...”
The boys stared tensely at the mountain beyond the valley stream.
The moment the signal was given, three two-hour periods even more physically demanding than the struggle for iron beads would begin.
Their eyes and ears focused in that instant.
“Begin!”
The moment the Evil Spirit Mask shouted, the boys all ran toward the valley stream.
As before, whoever hurried in this gate would gain the advantage.
Splash! Splash!
The valley water was stained red with blood from the corpses.
The scent of blood rising from it foretold another trial.
A warrior watching them spoke to the Evil Spirit Mask.
“They will soon realize that the previous gate was comparatively easy.”
“........”
No gate was easy.
But this gate was not merely about finding suitable teammates and defending a flag.
‘They would do well to find a flag quickly.’
Anyone perceptive would soon realize the significance of the flags.
* * *
Four hundred sixty-eight boys entered the mountain after the signal was given.
Once the warriors in red sashes were out of sight, the boys took one of three actions.
The first group ran for the mountain without stopping.
‘Flags... I need to find a flag!’
They believed finding a flag came first.
Because the number of flags was limited, they considered it more important than finding teammates.
Of course, that was not a wrong choice.
There was no point in finding teammates if they could not secure a flag.
Nearly half of them, around two hundred boys, belonged to this group.
That included the boy from Matching Vista Sect and the girl from Flower Hat House, both considered strong candidates to survive until the end.
The second group acted differently.
“Hey. Join hands with me.”
“......You mean work together?”
“Yeah. There's no point claiming a flag first like those fools. It'd be better to form a group in advance, then seize a flag.”
“Ah?”
“That would make defending the flag easier too.”
The boys who stopped formed groups with people they got along with or thought would be useful.
With little time to spare, they did so quickly.
Still, none of them attacked one another while forming groups.
They tacitly avoided fighting here because they knew their exhaustion would grow much worse once they entered deep into the mountain with their groups.
‘Right. This is how it should be.’
The boy from Scarlet Slaughter Valley grinned to himself.
He had successfully gathered the boys who had entered between fifth and fifteenth, with himself at their head.
No, it would be more accurate to say they had entered his command on their own.
If those who had passed up to eleventh all joined together, they would have eight teammates. However, some had chosen to search for flags first and kept running, which was how this group had formed.
‘Good.’
It could be called the most formidable group.
They had all placed highly in the struggle for iron beads, so they possessed both skill and strategy.
Once they found a flag, they would only need to focus on preserving as much strength as possible.
“Let's go!”
The boy from Scarlet Slaughter Valley, who had formed a group first, headed for the mountain.
The other boys also quickly formed groups and moved out.
Mok YuCheon was among them.
‘........Not that bastard.’
Mok YuCheon shook his head as he looked at Mok GyeongUn in the distance.
Though they were half-brothers, he had considered asking Mok GyeongUn to join forces with him.
But he could not bring himself to do it.
After being helplessly subjected to acupoint sealing on the way here, any affection he had felt was gone.
‘Whether he dies or not is none of my... No.’
His own survival came first.
Fortunately, some boys nearby invited Mok YuCheon to join them, and he was able to become part of their group.
They were not from the orthodox path, which made him uneasy, but he had no choice if he wanted to survive.
He had to grasp at even a straw.
‘I will survive.’
No matter what.
After convincing himself, Mok YuCheon departed with his teammates.
Meanwhile,
“What are you trying to do, mortal?”
Blue Spirit asked from inside Mok GyeongUn's clothes.
Mok GyeongUn quietly answered in a whisper.
“I thought I would find some teammates.”
“......Why do something so pointless? Just find a flag, and people will come to you on their own.”
Mok GyeongUn shrugged.
Of course, she was right.
It was still early, and no one knew where the flags were. If he merely claimed one first, he would not need to find teammates in advance. They would come to him themselves.
“Are you trying to conserve your strength?”
Finding teammates in advance meant reducing risks and conserving stamina by combining their strength.
It could be seen as preparing for the next gate ahead of time.
However,
“That is not it.”
“What?”
If that was not the reason, why was he trying to find teammates now?
Blue Spirit could not help but find it strange.
She knew he was not the type to cooperate with others in the first place.
Then Mok GyeongUn encountered an unexpected problem.
“This is troublesome.”
“Heh.”
Blue Spirit let out a mocking laugh.
As Mok GyeongUn approached the boys to find teammates, they moved away as though wary of him.
Some had seen Mok GyeongUn's cruel methods despite him passing first.
Perhaps because of that, they were reluctant to form a group with him.
They spoke quietly, but he could hear them.
“It might be better to get rid of him now.”
“Did you see him rip out that boy's Adam's apple to retrieve the swallowed iron bead?”
“He's completely insane.”
That was why they avoided Mok GyeongUn.
Many found the thought of working with someone like him burdensome. They thought it would be better to isolate him and make him fail on his own.
For that reason, whenever he approached, they only hurried away.
“You have truly made yourself unpopular, mortal.”
“So it seems.”
“You have only wasted time for nothing.”
“Hmm.”
As Blue Spirit said, it might be difficult to find teammates this way.
He had wanted an easier beginning. Should he change his approach?
Just as he was thinking that, a short-haired boy hesitantly approached Mok GyeongUn.
“.......Do you need a teammate?”
“Yes. Why?”
“There are seven of us. Would you join us?”
The surrounding boys murmured at the proposal.
Who would want to bring that bastard in?
Anyone with a little sense would want to exclude someone so troublesome to compete against later.
Then,
Swish.
A girl waved toward Mok GyeongUn.
She was remarkably beautiful, and five boys stood around her like bodyguard warriors.
It was a group centered around one girl.
One boy whispered softly.
“So Hwa, are you sure? That bastard is dangerous.”
“Yeah. The others seem unwilling to accept him because they think it would be better to exclude him now.”
Another boy agreed.
So Hwa smiled faintly.
“Trust me.”
“I do, but...”
“Those other idiots think excluding him in advance is the answer, but it isn't. Having him with us would benefit us too.”
So Hwa had considered it and decided accepting Mok GyeongUn would benefit them.
Setting aside his cruel methods, he was strong enough to rip out someone's Adam's apple with one hand even with his dantian sealed.
If they had him with them, other groups would not dare attack rashly.
Furthermore,
“We can use him and kill him before daybreak. No matter how strong he is, do you think he can handle seven people alone?”
She had even planned to remove him after using him.
Naturally, one person would be missing at the end.
To deal with that, one person had agreed beforehand to follow them from a distance.
Once that bastard died, they would fill the vacant place.
‘Idiots. Useful pieces are meant to be used and discarded. We can make him fight for us, preserve our strength, and kill two birds with one stone.’
She sneered at both her own teammates and the others.
A brain was meant to be used.
* * *
Within a quarter hour, most of them had formed groups and entered the mountain.
The same was true of the group centered around So Hwa, the lone girl among them.
They needed to hurry, because everything now depended on finding and claiming a flag quickly.
Otherwise, they would have to steal a flag another group had claimed.
As they moved, So Hwa quietly approached Mok GyeongUn.
“You were quite impressive earlier.”
“Was I?”
“My name is So Hwa. What is yours?”
“Mok GyeongUn.”
“Mok GyeongUn?”
So Hwa tilted her head.
It was a name she had never heard before.
His cruel methods aside, he seemed quite skilled, so she had asked his name to learn where he was from. But his name alone told her nothing.
‘Among martial families, there should be only one with the Mok surname on the side of the force of justice.’
Yeonmok Sword Manor, the prominent martial family of Anhui.
But there was no way someone from that Mok Family of the force of justice would be here.
Then she had no choice but to ask directly.
“Where are you from?”
“Is that important?”
‘Does he not intend to tell me? Well.’
Though they were cooperating now, they would have to compete again later.
The best course was to conceal as much about oneself as possible.
‘This boy... He's quite handsome.’
Calling Mok GyeongUn merely handsome did not do him justice. He was strikingly beautiful.
He looked even better up close.
Perhaps because of that, her interest shifted slightly from her original plan.
‘Should I seduce him?’
Men were simple. They were unexpectedly weak when tempted by a woman.
If she only pretended to be interested, they would fall for her on their own.
If she could make this boy hers, perhaps she would not need to eliminate him. She might be able to use him even longer.
Swish.
So Hwa loosened her clothes slightly to reveal the curve of her breasts, then pressed close to Mok GyeongUn.
Boys at this age had the strongest sexual desires.
Showing him her ample cleavage and letting her body touch his would certainly have an effect.
Pressing herself against him, So Hwa whispered.
“You know, I like boys like you.”
Mok GyeongUn glanced at her.
Then he smiled faintly.
“So do I.”
‘Heh. As expected.’
It did not matter how handsome he was.
Once she set out to seduce a man, any man would fall for her like this.
Tap!
Then Mok GyeongUn placed an arm over her shoulder.
‘Heh. Look at that.’
She had tempted him, and now he was openly acting confident.
At this rate, she could win him over sooner than expected.
If she sweet-talked him properly and used him as a shield, then survived until the end, she could suitably...
“I've been choosing for a while now.”
What?
What was that supposed to mean?
Clench!
Mok GyeongUn's wrist, which had been around her shoulder, encircled her neck.
Then,
Crack!
In an instant, he twisted her neck.
It happened so suddenly that she could neither scream nor do anything else. She died on the spot.
‘!!!!!’
Everyone failed to hide their shock.
They had merely watched, believing she would win Mok GyeongUn over.
Who could have expected this to happen?
One boy shouted.
“Y-you crazy bastard! What are you doing?”
The corner of Mok GyeongUn's mouth twitched as he answered.
“Should I call it a pleasant mealtime?”
Everyone before him was appetizing prey that would replenish his deathly aura.
The mountain was vast, so should he not begin comfortably?
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