WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 19: Poison Parasite (1)
──────
Dozens, even hundreds of venomous creatures were placed in a single jar, and its lid was not opened until only one remained alive.
The worst survivor was called a Poison Parasite.
Mok GyeongUn looked down into the abyss-like chasm and asked in confusion,
“A Poison Parasite...?”
-Yes. Can’t you hear these cries?
He could.
All too clearly.
-Aaaaaaah!
-Gyaaaah!
-Save me!
-Please! Please!
The agonized cries of vengeful spirits surged upward.
Mok GyeongUn had never seen so many vengeful spirits wailing at once.
Individually, they were no more than Red Spirits and hardly remarkable. Yet hundreds, no, thousands of them had gathered in one place.
It was a scene from hell.
-Look more closely. With your eyes, you should be able to see it.
At Blue Spirit’s words, Mok GyeongUn stared down.
The wailing vengeful spirits stretched their hands upward as though yearning for freedom.
Chains bound their wrists and ankles.
Clank! Clank!
“Those are...”
-You have learned occult arts, so you should know. You have done it yourself, mortal.
Go Chan flashed through Mok GyeongUn’s mind.
A soul that should have passed naturally into the afterlife had been turned into a vengeful spirit through Mok GyeongUn’s occult arts.
The method was not especially difficult.
All he had to do was keep a departing soul bound to the world of the living somehow and taint it with deathly energy.
“Ha.”
The corner of Mok GyeongUn’s mouth twitched.
What a spectacle.
An enormous number of dead souls had been trapped beneath this narrow cliff and corrupted into vengeful spirits.
This could never have happened by chance.
It had been done deliberately.
It was truly horrifying.
Yet rather than being shocked, Mok GyeongUn found it interesting.
‘This is truly unusual.’
Blue Spirit clicked her tongue as she watched him.
No matter how she looked at him, his way of thinking was far removed from that of ordinary humans.
Still, it did not matter.
Right now, she cared only that Mok GyeongUn, whether he was an evil spirit or something else, resolve her deep resentment.
Blue Spirit said,
-You know that vengeful spirits have ranks, don’t you?
“...Yes.”
-How strong their obsession and resentment were before death, how long they harbored that resentment, things like that affect their rank.
“...”
-Yet that is not the only way their rank is decided.
“Can they become stronger in another way?”
-Yes. Aren’t you seeing it now?
Blue Spirit pointed with her pipe.
It was the darkest place beneath the abyss-like cliff.
That one spot was especially difficult to see.
But when Mok GyeongUn looked closely, he saw something astonishing.
“...They’re being dragged in?”
-Yes.
The wailing vengeful spirits were being forcibly pulled toward that spot, as though being absorbed.
They resisted desperately, but the chains restraining them dragged them in one after another.
Whenever that happened, the black space grew larger.
“Now I understand what you meant.”
Only then did Mok GyeongUn understand what she meant by a Poison Parasite.
-Vengeful spirits gathered in one place may not necessarily clash. But if they are bound together and prevented from escaping...
“They hurt each other. No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say they devour one another.”
-Exactly.
Earthbound spirits were devouring one another and mutating into the worst possible form.
That black point was likely the worst of those mutations.
The darkness alone sent a chill down his spine.
“A Poison Parasite...”
It was fitting.
How terrible would the final vengeful spirit be after all the others had been consumed?
It was certainly at least a Green Spirit or higher.
Mok GyeongUn glanced at Blue Spirit.
‘Perhaps...’
It might have been the process of creating a vengeful spirit equal to her.
The thought suddenly made his mouth water.
Then Blue Spirit spoke.
-This is an opportunity.
“An opportunity?”
-The complete Poison Parasite has not yet been born. I do not know how terrible a thing they are trying to create, but if you absorb even a little of that energy, it will be more effective than killing people one at a time.
That was why Blue Spirit had brought Mok GyeongUn here.
Killing the boys and absorbing deathly aura would naturally make him stronger, but beneath that cliff was a concentration of vengeful spirits meant to create a Poison Parasite.
The energy generated in that process was far denser than ordinary deathly aura.
-It is already overflowing. If you perform the Adhesion movement here, you should be able to absorb plenty of energy.
“That seems right.”
-Then do it.
Mok GyeongUn shook his head.
-What? Are you frightened?
“No.”
-Then why won’t you do it?
“I’m not saying I won’t. Rather, I desire that more.”
‘!?’
Mok GyeongUn was pointing at the black spot.
Blue Spirit furrowed her brow.
Then she said disdainfully,
-Are you desperate to die?
“What?”
-That place is a raging torrent where vengeful spirits devour one another and mutate. You intend to enter it while you are still alive?
“Is that impossible?”
-Hey, mortal.
“Yes.”
-There are still hundreds of vengeful spirits that have not been consumed. Once you enter that vortex, you may be devoured instead. Abandon that pointless competitive urge.
It was a sincere warning.
They were still vengeful spirits, even if they were restrained.
If they surged forward like a wave all at once, there was no telling what would happen.
-You will die while relying on the flimsy occult arts you have barely learned. Be satisfied with the overflowing energy here, as I told you.
Mok GyeongUn smiled at her words.
Then he approached the cliff.
-Hey!
Blue Spirit scolded the approaching Mok GyeongUn.
Mok GyeongUn looked at the black point and said,
“Even if the risk is great, if I can absorb that concentrated energy, won’t I become far stronger than I am now?”
-...You mad mortal. You may die before becoming stronger. If it were easy, do you think I would stop you from going?
The trapped vengeful spirits had become sensitive from devouring one another and being devoured.
That alone was dangerous, yet he intended to risk it?
This brat had lost far too much fear.
He had been like this from their first meeting. Whenever necessary, he risked his life too easily.
-You and I are practically one. I have no wish to commit a reckless double suicide.
“Surely you don’t think I want Blue Spirit to die.”
-Then step back.
“Didn’t you say it yourself?”
-What?
“With my current strength, I cannot accomplish anything within the Heaven and Earth Society.”
-...
“Even if the danger is great, wouldn’t it be better to seize any opportunity I find? The whole business of sleep on brushwood and taste gall, of waiting idly, does not suit my nature.”
Whoosh!
The moment he finished speaking, Mok GyeongUn leaped toward a less steep section of the cliff.
-You!
Blue Spirit waved her hand, trying to pull Mok GyeongUn back up.
However, the energy of the vengeful spirits rising from the cliff blocked her.
Instead, one stray vengeful spirit was pulled upward.
-Aaaaaaah!
Crackle!
It struck the barrier above the cliff and dispersed.
Blue Spirit burst into anger.
-Damn mortal!
He had gone down there despite her warning.
If they were not bound by the bond of a spirit familiar, she would have wanted to leave him to die.
But she could not do that.
-You are troublesome.
Whoosh!
Blue Spirit flew down after Mok GyeongUn.
The spell power of the talismans enveloped the area, making even aberrations hesitate to pass through. Yet she forcibly tore through it.
Crackle!
* * *
-A physical body!
-A corporeal soul!
-It is alive!
As Mok GyeongUn descended along the gentler cliff face, chaos erupted.
The voices of vengeful spirits rang in his ears.
‘This is on an entirely different level.’
The upper cliff was covered in talismans that suppressed the energy.
But once he descended, it was overwhelming.
It felt as though he had entered a raging current.
The vengeful spirits noticed his presence and rushed toward him, all of them coveting Mok GyeongUn’s physical body.
Sliding down the cliff, Mok GyeongUn brought his hands together and formed hand seals.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
“Approach! Soldiers! Fight! Those! All! Array! Ranks! Be! Before!”
They were the hand seals of the Nine Syllable Revival Method.
After performing all nine hand seals in succession, the sorcery changed according to the final seal.
If he performed the Palm-Joining Seal with both palms pressed together,
Booom!
Countless threads connected around Mok GyeongUn and formed a sphere.
It was a barrier that repelled aberrations.
To properly perform the Nine Syllable Revival Method’s hand seals, he required a medium to support the talismans or incantations.
Fortunately, Mok GyeongUn wore a ring on his left index finger.
It was given to him by the Taoist occultist Jo Ui-gong.
It contained an incantation that allowed him to use every movement of the Nine Syllable Revival Method.
‘So this is a barrier. It is useful.’
A barrier was the act of binding a certain space for a particular purpose.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
-I cannot get close.
-What is this?
-I am blocked.
The vengeful spirits no stronger than earthbound spirits were thrown back.
The hand seals of the Nine Syllable Revival Method could easily deal with Red Spirits.
Still holding the Palm-Joining Seal, Mok GyeongUn continued sliding down. At a certain point, he felt the gentle slope become steep.
‘I should probably grab hold of something.’
He seemed to need to cling to the cliff while descending.
But when he looked below, he saw pooled water.
It had not been visible from above, but it seemed deep enough to jump into.
Whoosh!
Mok GyeongUn pushed off with both feet.
He leaped toward the water.
Splash!
‘Just as expected.’
The water was not particularly deep.
It was perhaps twice his height.
As he tried to swim upward,
-Uuuugh!
-Uoooh!
The cries of vengeful spirits echoed in his ears.
They came from the bottom of the water.
Then he noticed something white around him.
‘Hands?’
They were hands.
Pale white hands without a trace of blood, swollen as though soaked in water.
They were horrifying to behold.
Those hands wriggled upward and tried to seize Mok GyeongUn’s ankles.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
However, he had not released the Palm-Joining Seal, so the barrier of the Nine Syllable Revival Method blocked them.
‘It was good that I kept it.’
Yet something was different.
The Red Spirits at the level of earthbound spirits had been easily repelled by the barrier.
But though the hands were thrown back, they did not give up.
Then,
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
The hands adhered to the barrier like an octopus’s suckers.
‘!?’
They were enduring the barrier.
Mok GyeongUn suddenly remembered something from the Fundamental Text of the Yin-Yang School.
[The danger posed by aberrations in water is greater than that of ordinary aberrations.]
‘Was this why it said that?’
These were not Red Spirits, but Vermilion Spirits.
Deciding that the situation was dangerous, Mok GyeongUn kicked while maintaining the Palm-Joining Seal.
He needed to reach the surface somehow.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Yet countless hands soon surged up from the bottom.
They grasped the spherical barrier around Mok GyeongUn and tried to drag him down.
Booom!
‘This is... troublesome.’
At this rate, he would not be able to reach the surface.
He could hold his breath longer than ordinary people, but it would become dangerous if this continued.
Crackkk!
Then cracks formed in the barrier covered by countless hands.
It seemed ready to shatter at any moment.
Mok GyeongUn frowned.
‘In that case.’
Clap!
Mok GyeongUn changed the Palm-Joining Seal into the Diamond Finger, raising only his middle finger.
At that moment,
Booom!
The spherical barrier burst outward, and a powerful force pushed all the hands away at once.
Mok GyeongUn did not miss the opportunity. Kicking hard, he rose out of the water.
As he swam toward the shore, he felt the hands that had been thrown back rise again to seize him.
Whooosh!
At that very moment,
Hummm!
Some force lifted Mok GyeongUn’s body into the air.
Then he was flung toward dry land.
Thud!
Mok GyeongUn rolled twice across the ground and rose.
Someone drifted gently down beside him.
It was Blue Spirit.
-Damn mortal. You truly refuse to listen to me.
Mok GyeongUn smiled at the irritated Blue Spirit.
“Whew. You came just in time.”
-What? Just in time?
“I knew Blue Spirit would help me.”
-Grr!
Blue Spirit nearly struck his head with her pipe, but stopped herself.
This arrogant mortal was desperate to make use of her.
Being entangled with him truly seemed to be her karma.
Then,
Creep...
Pale white hands rose from the water and approached Mok GyeongUn.
Blue Spirit turned toward them and glared with blood-red eyes.
Then she spoke in a low voice.
-He is mine. Begone, children.
The moment she finished speaking, the countless hands reaching for Mok GyeongUn trembled as though having a seizure.
Then they withdrew into the water.
End of Episode 19: Poison Parasite (1)
© Han Jung Wolya
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
