WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 20: True Intentions (3)
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The enormous monster wolf stood frozen in the posture of pouncing on Mo Ha-rang of Flower Hat House.
Everyone’s eyes widened at the bizarre sight.
Then a voice came from the bushes.
“Ah, what a relief. Everything I need is gathered here.”
‘!?’
Everyone turned toward the voice.
‘That guy?’
The person emerging from the bushes was none other than Mok GyeongUn.
His ruthless methods during the struggle for the iron beads had left such a strong impression that everyone recognized him at once.
‘...So he was alive after all.’
Mok YuCheon let out a sigh of relief without realizing it as he looked at Mok GyeongUn.
He disliked the bastard, but he had not truly wished for him to die in a place like this.
Still, his timing could not have been worse.
‘Idiot! What happened to his group members? Why is he wandering around alone?’
Eight people had to remain by a flag until dawn.
Yet here he was, strolling about alone while that monster wolf tore through the area. His luck was truly terrible.
But this was not the time to worry about him.
Tap tap tap tap!
Mok YuCheon ran toward Mo Ha-rang.
He did not know why the monster wolf had stopped moving, but this was his chance to save her.
Then Yeom Ga of Scarlet Slaughter Valley shouted.
“Hey! You crazy monster wolf! What are you doing?”
Yeom Ga did not care whether Mok GyeongUn had appeared or not.
He had no idea why the monster wolf, which had followed their strategy so well until now, had suddenly frozen in that position. He only wanted it to hurry up and kill them.
That was why he shouted.
Squeeeal!
However, contrary to his wishes, the monster wolf could not move even as it roared.
Its bristling fur was pressed down as though something had bound it.
‘What the hell is it doing?’
As Yeom Ga fumed,
Scrape!
Mok YuCheon slid forward and shoved Mo Ha-rang away from directly beneath the monster wolf’s snout.
He caught her shoulder as she toppled forward.
“Get a hold of yourself.”
Mok YuCheon urged Mo Ha-rang, who wore a dazed expression.
She said,
“Can you see it?”
“See what?”
She was indicating the monster wolf.
Of course he could see it.
He did not know why, but it could not move.
Then something incomprehensible came from her lips.
“It’s bound in chains.”
‘!?’
Mok YuCheon furrowed his brow.
What was she talking about?
There were no chains anywhere. Why was she saying something so random?
‘Ah!’
Mok YuCheon bit down hard as he looked at her soaked back.
Her bleeding must have been too severe. She had become delirious and was seeing things.
“Mo Ha-rang! Get a hold of yourself. You’ve held on this long. If you collapse here, you’ll die.”
“I’m... still... conscious.”
“Then walk.”
Mok YuCheon supported her by the shoulder and urged her onward.
Mo Ha-rang looked toward Mok GyeongUn with an utterly bewildered expression.
Was she really hallucinating from blood loss?
Yet something felt strange.
What was that half-white-haired girl with such a hazy form that she barely seemed human?
Then Mo Ha-rang saw the half-white-haired girl move her lips.
‘!?’
Her eyes trembled.
As someone from Flower Hat House, once called one of the Four Great Assassins, she had learned the Lip-Reading Technique.
It was a technique that allowed one to read another person’s words from the movements of their lips, face, and tongue.
She could see what the girl was saying.
‘That... human can see me, I think.’
A chill ran down Mo Ha-rang’s spine.
Then she saw Mok GyeongUn looking at her with interest and muttering,
‘Oh, is that so?’
Mo Ha-rang grew confused.
Was this really a hallucination caused by blood loss?
Then why was Mok GyeongUn conversing with that hazy being?
At that moment,
Squeeeal!
An overwhelming roar spread like ripples. Mo Ha-rang, Mok YuCheon, no, every boy there clutched their ears in pain.
“Urgh!”
“W-what was that?”
The roar was practically a Lion’s Roar infused with internal energy.
Along with it, the ground beneath the monster wolf’s paws heaved for nearly five jang before caving in.
Crack!
The frozen monster wolf moved.
‘Yes! That’s it!’
Yeom Ga of Scarlet Slaughter Valley inwardly cheered as he covered his ears.
His group was within the flag’s protected area, so they had nothing to worry about. The others did not have that advantage.
They should all die here.
“Damn it!”
Mok YuCheon cursed as he supported Mo Ha-rang.
He had thought this was their chance, but apparently not.
Just then,
Clatter!
Dozens of chains rose from the ground roughly five jang away from the monster wolf, rather than directly beneath it, binding the monster wolf, no, Galjeo, one of the spirits and goblins, once more.
Squeeeal!
Perhaps the restraint was too powerful this time.
Thud!
The tangled chains pulled tight and slammed Galjeo’s head into the ground.
“Huh?”
Mok YuCheon could not make sense of it, and Mo Ha-rang said,
“Can you... really... not see them?”
“What are you talking about? We should use this chance to...”
Before he could finish,
Mok GyeongUn had already approached Galjeo, whose jaw, no, entire body was pressed against the ground and held immobile.
Then he said,
“I should repay you for targeting what’s mine.”
He gripped Galjeo’s upper teeth with both hands, pressed down on the lower part of its mouth with his foot, and then,
Riiip!
He lifted its upper palate.
Galjeo writhed and tried to twist its head in agony, but the chains restrained it too firmly for it to move.
As a result,
Crack!
Squeeeal!
Its mouth was torn apart.
Galjeo screamed as bloody tears streamed from its eyes, but when the entire upper part of its head was ripped away, the cries stopped as if they had never existed.
‘!!!!!!!!’
Mok YuCheon, who had been closest, was left speechless. So was everyone else.
Who could have imagined that the monster wolf which had devoured so many boys would end up like that in an instant?
‘W-what is this bastard?’
Mok YuCheon was the most shocked of all.
Was this truly the cowardly bastard he had known?
Mok GyeongUn tossed aside Galjeo’s torn upper jaw and skull.
Thud!
The skull itself must have been quite heavy.
Silence blanketed the area as Mok GyeongUn stood drenched in Galjeo’s blood.
What the hell was he?
Why had the monster wolf been unable to move the moment he appeared, only to die like that?
And with their internal energy restricted, how could he possess the strength to rip open its mouth?
Everyone was overwhelmed with confusion.
However, someone quickly recovered.
‘Damn it.’
It was Yeom Ga of Scarlet Slaughter Valley.
He too was shocked by this unbelievable outcome.
But how it had happened was not important.
Dawn was near.
They had to retreat immediately if they wanted to protect their flag.
Yeom Ga whispered to his group members.
“We need to withdraw.”
His group members understood and cautiously tried to lift the flag’s metal base.
At that moment,
“Bind them all.”
The instant Mok GyeongUn muttered quietly,
Rattle!
Chains rose from the ground and bound everyone there.
Clank!
“W-what is this?”
“Something’s binding my body!”
The boys could not hide their confusion.
They could not see it, but everyone could feel something like ropes, no, cold chains binding them.
They could not understand what was happening.
“Grrr!”
Yeom Ga of Scarlet Slaughter Valley struggled with all his strength to break free.
But his internal energy was restricted, and no matter how much he had trained his external energy, he could not possibly be stronger than Galjeo, a monstrous beast.
Naturally, his efforts only exhausted him.
Thud!
He forced himself too hard, pitched forward, and fell to both knees.
His face flushed with humiliation.
‘What the hell did this bastard do?’
Then Mok GyeongUn walked toward the flag before the rock wall.
The eyes of the boys who had fled after trying to protect it trembled.
Was he after their flag?
Mok GyeongUn inspected the pole, then muttered,
“Ah, this one again.”
Without hesitation, he snapped the flagpole.
Crack!
“Nooooo!”
“Y-you bastard!”
The boys cried out in despair.
They had abandoned the flag to flee from the monster wolf, but without it, they would fail this gate.
They had never expected Mok GyeongUn to destroy it so casually.
Grit!
“You bastard!”
Unable to contain his anger, Mok YuCheon called out to Mok GyeongUn.
He wanted to rush over and punch him in the face.
But something invisible bound his body so tightly that he could not move an inch.
“This will be troublesome if it is not this one either.”
Clicking his tongue, Mok GyeongUn approached Yeom Ga.
Yeom Ga shouted, veins bulging in his neck.
“Are you planning to break this one too?”
Mok GyeongUn chuckled and shook his head.
Then he examined the flagpole and frowned.
[Could it be the same one again?]
No one nearby could hear Blue Spirit’s voice, but Mok GyeongUn could.
As she had said, the verse formula was the same again.
Mok GyeongUn smacked his lips in frustration.
‘What a coincidence.’
He had found three flags, yet all of them carried the same verse formula he had already memorized.
Dawn was now imminent.
Even if he hurried, there was too little time left to claim another flag.
[What will you do? Order Soha to search for the surrounding flags, even now.]
Mok GyeongUn was about to nod, but then another idea occurred to him.
Come to think of it, he only needed to confirm this first.
Mok GyeongUn was about to ask Yeom Ga and his group members, who were bound by Soha’s chains.
“By any chance...”
Before he could finish,
“I’ll tell you the remaining verse formula... Let’s make a deal.”
Mok GyeongUn turned toward the person who had shouted.
It was Mo Ha-rang of Flower Hat House.
Despite her pale face, she was somehow still managing to breathe as she gathered every last bit of strength.
Mok GyeongUn looked at her with interest.
“It seems you have figured it out.”
“You checked... it twice.”
When Mok GyeongUn broke the flag Flower Hat House had been protecting, she had thought he merely wanted to force them out of the gate.
But when she saw him frown as he examined Yeom Ga’s flag, she realized it.
Mok GyeongUn was searching for a different type of flag.
‘Verse formula?’
Yeom Ga belatedly understood after hearing her.
He hastily shouted at Mok GyeongUn.
“M-make a deal with me!”
“A deal?”
“Yes. I know other verse formulas too, and we have an intact flag and group members here. It seems you do not have any group members. If you join us, you can pass as well.”
Yeom Ga thought this was perfect.
At first, he had been enraged because that bastard had ruined his strategy.
But Mok GyeongUn had ultimately taken the monster wolf’s role.
He had broken their flag, so if they simply accepted him, the Flower Hat House group would naturally fail.
Then one of the boys said nervously,
“W-wait. We are all fine. If we accept him, then...”
“Shut up.”
Yeom Ga snapped at the boy.
Then he said to Mok GyeongUn,
“I’ll deal with one person myself. Will you make the deal or not? You need group members, a flag, and verse formulas anyway.”
Mok GyeongUn could not refuse.
Their offer was clearly more reasonable.
But then Mok GyeongUn reached for a boy’s waist.
Tap!
It was the broken flagpole.
“The verse formula is here.”
‘!?’
Yeom Ga could not hide his shock.
Carrying around the flagpole containing a different verse formula had come back to haunt him.
They had not destroyed it because several people had not memorized it yet. Who could have expected this to happen?
Yeom Ga hastily said,
“T-that belongs to us too. If you take it, you should make a deal with us, right?”
“What?”
“What?”
“This is mine.”
Mok GyeongUn casually said this as he waved the flagpole he had taken.
Veins bulged on Yeom Ga’s forehead.
“You!”
“And this flag is mine too.”
Mok GyeongUn lifted the flag with one hand.
The boys’ eyes widened.
With their internal energy restricted, it took two of them working together just to lift it. Yet he raised it so easily.
Mok GyeongUn smiled in satisfaction and moved away from them with the flag.
“W-wait!”
“I told you, it is mine.”
Yeom Ga was furious at Mok GyeongUn’s mockery, but barely swallowed it down before saying,
“Y-you still need group members!”
“Ah, that is true.”
Mok GyeongUn nodded as if he agreed.
Then Mok YuCheon, who was supporting Mo Ha-rang, shouted,
“Do not trust that cowardly, scheming bastard, Mok GyeongUn! They are the kind of people who will stab you in the back. If you need group members, accept us instead!”
He shouted in Mo Ha-rang’s place because her condition had worsened.
In truth, his pride made him reluctant to ask Mok GyeongUn, but he had no other choice.
Everything would end once dawn broke.
If they wanted to survive, they had to discard their pride.
Then Yeom Ga shouted as well.
“What bullshit are you spewing? Everything that bastard took was what we protected. What did you people do to ask him to accept you?”
“You used a monster rather than your own strength to do something so cowardly. How can you even open your mouth? Mok GyeongUn! Ignore what he says and...”
“Hey, was it Mok GyeongUn? Help us this time, and I will repay this favor without fail. There are still gates ahead, so there is nothing bad about having someone from Scarlet Slaughter Valley owe you a debt...”
“Do not listen! Even if we are half...”
“You shut up!”
Before long, everyone was shouting at Mok GyeongUn, who held the flag, begging him to accept them into his group.
Their voices mixed together so thoroughly that it became difficult to tell who was speaking.
Then,
Clap clap!
Mok GyeongUn clapped his hands.
Everyone turned toward him.
He held their lives in his hands, so they had no choice but to focus on him.
When they looked at him, Mok GyeongUn opened his mouth.
“This is quite difficult. Everyone wants to join me, and I would like to accept all of you into my group, but the rules do not allow it.”
Gulp.
The boys swallowed dryly.
It sounded as though he had decided whom to accept.
Mok YuCheon stared intently at Mok GyeongUn.
No matter how much they hated each other, brothers were still brothers.
Surely Mok GyeongUn would accept him as a group member in the end. He could not help hoping so.
Then,
“It would be unfair to choose whom to protect and whom to prioritize in a situation like this... So let us do this instead.”
Mok GyeongUn glanced to the side and gave a small nod.
Then,
“Huh?”
“My body?”
The bound boys could move again.
Mok GyeongUn smiled at them.
“Kill each other.”
What?
“I will accept exactly seven survivors among you as my group members.”
Everyone’s expressions froze at once.
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