WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 3: Strange Phenomenon (1)

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Outside the Manor Lord's chamber.

Lady Seok, the First Madam of Yeonmok Sword Manor, stood waiting with perfect posture. At the sound of footsteps ascending the wooden veranda, she looked over.

A bearded middle-aged man came into view. He wore a shabby Taoist robe bearing a yin-yang symbol, with a book chest full of old books and tools strapped to his back.

He was the Taoist occultist Lady Seok had summoned.

This Taoist occultist, called Myo Shin, was said to be quite capable in Mengcheng.

Lady Seok looked him over from head to toe, then clicked her tongue softly with an unconvinced expression.

Lady Seok seemed utterly unconcerned with whether the Taoist occultist was offended.

Despite her attitude, he showed no displeasure and instead catered to her mood.

“May I see the Manor Lord now?”

“Yes.”

“That is fortunate. A strange phenomenon only worsens the longer it persists. Please clear everyone out within roughly thirty jang of the main building where the Manor Lord resides. If anyone gets too close, they may be tainted by the unclean influence afflicting the Manor Lord.”

“I have already done so.”

Why would she leave witnesses nearby when summoning a Taoist occultist was hardly something to celebrate?

She had already cleared the area under a suitable pretext.

“If Madam would also withdraw...”

Swish!

Lady Seok slightly raised her hand.

“You remember what I asked of you, do you not?”

The Taoist occultist smiled broadly.

“Of course.”

“Good. They say Taoist Occultist Myo is remarkably capable, so I will trust you.”

Then she lowered her voice to a whisper.

“If you discover where the Manor Lord's official seal and secret manual are, I will immediately pay you the three hundred silver coins we agreed upon.”

“Thank you very much.”

Taoist Occultist Myo Shin repeatedly bowed his head in gratitude.

Lady Seok let out a soft breath as she watched him.

“Phew.”

In truth, she had never put much faith in occult arts and such.

Only one incident had changed that.

She had summoned this Taoist occultist with only the faintest hope.

‘If only you had supported that child, none of this would have happened.’

To think the Manor Lord intended to make the child of a mere gisaeng the successor rather than the child of the principal wife.

Resentment filled Lady Seok's eyes as she looked toward the Manor Lord's chamber.

* * *

On the way to Yeonmok Sword Manor's main building, where the Manor Lord was staying.

Go Chan walked alongside Mok GyeongUn, guiding him while stealing glances in his direction.

‘What is he thinking?’

It was certainly true that the Manor Lord's life was directly tied to this man's own.

But what could he possibly do by seeing the Manor Lord?

‘Does he intend to try saving the Manor Lord?’

That would be even more absurd.

Go Chan knew Mok GyeongUn had unusual knowledge of medical herbs, but the Manor Lord had already been given up on by the resident physician and every capable physician in the area.

They called it a strange phenomenon because neither its symptoms nor the disease itself could be properly identified.

The moment they used that word, it meant there was no remedy.

‘What exactly is he planning?’

Go Chan could not read this man's thoughts at all.

‘More importantly, is he not worried about himself?’

Something else worried Go Chan more.

If Mok GyeongUn caught someone's attention and exchanged even a few words with them, his identity as a fake could be exposed before Go Chan and Guard Gam had even changed sides.

Then Mok GyeongUn looked somewhere and asked,

“What is that place?”

“That is the training ground where Martial Arts are practiced.”

The place Mok GyeongUn pointed to was the First Training Ground.

Yeonmok Sword Manor had four training grounds in total, including one reserved for the Manor Lord.

The Third Training Ground was for the Manor's ordinary warriors, the Second Training Ground was for the retainers to train in Martial Arts, and the First Training Ground was reserved for the young masters.

“A place for practicing Martial Arts...”

Interest flickered in Mok GyeongUn's eyes.

Go Chan clicked his tongue inwardly at the sight.

In a situation where he could not even tell whether he would live or die, his desire for Martial Arts was no more than a futile delusion.

‘Do you think you can catch up to Senior Martial Brother Gam by learning now?’

He would struggle even to take his first steps, yet he was already considering learning Martial Arts to kill an Advanced master. Honestly, it was laughable.

Then Mok GyeongUn suddenly called him.

“Guard Go Chan.”

“Y-Yes.”

“Whenever I see you, I notice you have such lovely eyes, the way they keep rolling about.”

‘!?’

Go Chan flinched and stopped walking.

He stiffly turned his head, but Mok GyeongUn put an arm around his shoulders and said,

“It seems you are not yet my man.”

“T-That cannot be true.”

“Watch where you are going, Guard Go Chan. Is someone going to eat you?”

‘...Fucking bastard.’

He was truly uneasy.

Mok GyeongUn's eyes were staring directly at his left eye.

He was even smacking his lips, looking as though he desperately wanted to pluck it out.

Go Chan's shoulders trembled as he began walking again.

Mok GyeongUn grinned at him.

“It is a shame, isn't it?”

‘What, what is?’

Cold sweat seemed to run down Go Chan's back.

The more he learned about this man, the more it felt as though he had provoked something he never should have touched.

Suppressing his unease as best he could, Go Chan continued forward.

‘Ah...’

Then someone in the training ground caught Go Chan's eye.

A strong-looking boy stood there bare-chested.

His bronzed upper-body muscles were well developed, and sweat poured down him as he held a Horse Stance.

‘Mok YuCheon.’

He was the youngest young master, Mok YuCheon.

Despite possessing innate martial talent, he devoted every moment apart from eating and sleeping to honing his Martial Arts. His dedication was extraordinary.

There was a reason the Manor Lord favored him.

‘He practically lives here.’

It would not be an exaggeration to call the First Training Ground Mok YuCheon's personal space.

“Someone is training.”

At Mok GyeongUn's words, Go Chan replied in a whisper.

“That is the youngest young master.”

“The youngest? Is that Mok YuCheon?”

“That is correct.”

“Is that how one learns Martial Arts?”

“He is building strength in his lower body through the Horse Stance. The foundation of all Martial Arts lies in the lower body.”

“I see.”

“Young Master, it would be best not to look at the youngest young master. You could become involved with him for no reason.”

“Just for looking at him?”

Go Chan frowned at him.

Mok GyeongUn had surely read the information sheet Guard Gam gave him.

The real Mok GyeongUn's Martial Arts were at the third-rate level.

But this man was a fake. If he did anything foolish and clashed with Mok YuCheon, his identity might be exposed.

There was also a greater problem.

Go Chan whispered into his ear.

“The youngest young master greatly dislikes the real young master.”

“Ah.”

Mok GyeongUn nodded.

The information sheet written by the real Mok GyeongUn contained this.

[It is unbearable to watch that lowborn brat strut around just because he has great martial talent. It is unlikely to happen, but if we ever meet, refrain from speaking with him.]

He had been wary enough to write that much.

Something must have happened.

“Why does he dislike him?”

Go Chan hesitated briefly, then whispered into his ear.

“...The real young master insulted the youngest young master's mother, calling her a vulgar gisaeng woman, and was beaten half to death.”

That had happened two years ago.

Go Chan still remembered it.

The real Mok GyeongUn had crawled across the floor with his leg bones and ribs shattered, desperately begging to be spared.

After that, the youngest young master Mok YuCheon truly hated Mok GyeongUn.

“He must be kind-hearted.”

“Pardon?”

“He left all four limbs intact, after all.”

“...”

Go Chan frowned.

This man's way of thinking was indeed different.

Even if he was a fake, this was practically his own story.

In any case, they could not linger here.

“Anyway, let us hurry. It would be best not to run into the other young masters now. It could become truly dangerous.”

At Go Chan's warning, Mok GyeongUn merely chuckled.

It was quite an interesting place.

Just seeing brothers squabble like this was entertaining enough.

They passed the training ground and headed for the main building where the Manor Lord was.

As he looked toward the hall leading into the main building, Go Chan frowned.

‘What is this?’

Normally, the Manor's guard warriors stood watch before the hall at the entrance to the main building.

But there was no one there.

Now that he thought about it, the surroundings were far too quiet.

Not a single shadow was in sight.

‘This is troublesome...’

Because the Manor Lord's condition was grave, Lady Seok had forbidden even the young masters from entering the main building.

Go Chan had led Mok GyeongUn here without complaint because he had assumed they would be stopped and forced to turn back anyway.

But now it seemed they might actually see the Manor Lord.

* * *

Inside the Manor Lord's chamber.

More than ten red threads had been strung around the Manor Lord's bed as a boundary. Holed silver coins slid along the threads.

Clink, clink!

The sliding silver coins struck one another.

“Hmm.”

Having removed the Manor Lord's upper garment, Taoist Occultist Myo Shin stared at the exposed chest in astonishment.

Normally, when he was summoned over a strange phenomenon, it had little to do with anything supernatural.

He could usually pass the time claiming to perform suitable occult arts.

But not this time.

Bulge! Bulge!

Blackened veins protruded grotesquely around the center of the Manor Lord's chest.

At a glance, it looked like poisoning.

But strangely, that area continued to move.

‘It is heading toward the heart.’

The black veins and the pale flesh around them were creeping toward the heart.

Yet it seemed something was blocking them, as they had not reached it yet.

Taoist Occultist Myo Shin grinned.

‘A martial artist is still a martial artist. The Manor Lord's righteous spirit is so strong that the unclean influence cannot pierce the heart. With a malign force this powerful, the Manor Lord should have already been consumed.’

The Manor Lord had held out well.

However, even that had clearly reached a critical point.

Judging from the Manor Lord's condition, the unclean influence had been present for a long time and had caused severe weakness.

‘It is fifty-fifty.’

Even if the unclean influence were purified at this stage, the Manor Lord's chances of survival were fifty-fifty.

Few things were as difficult as driving out both unclean influence and malign force at once.

But he did not need to do that now.

‘I only need to do what I was hired for.’

His commission was not to save the Manor Lord from the strange phenomenon.

He only needed the Manor Lord to reveal where the official seal and martial arts book were before death.

Taoist Occultist Myo Shin took out a talisman from his book chest.

He poured red ink into a prepared inkstone.

Drip! Drip!

After dipping his brush in the red ink, Myo Shin began writing upon the talisman.

As he drew the strokes, they formed the shape of a ghost.

Myo Shin began chanting softly.

“Edict of the Heavenly Emperor. Bear the Celestial Astral Force. Vicious ghosts of the five directions, why do you not fade and perish? With a Flying Immortal's single breath, ten thousand ghosts submit and hide. Great Astral Saint, receive them into the ghost's heart and seize their energy.”

Brrr!

It was strange.

The end of the talisman began to tremble on its own.

Taoist Occultist Myo Shin attached the shaking talisman to the strange phenomenon constantly advancing toward the Manor Lord's heart.

Tap!

At that very moment,

Bulge! Bulge! Bulge!

The black veins began to subside around the place where the talisman had been attached.

Then Taoist Occultist Myo Shin formed a hand seal.

Clack!

[Presence]

He brought together the index fingers of both hands and interlaced the rest.

The Presence Seal was the Immovable Foundation Seal.

[Soldier]

He supported his index fingers, then unfolded and brought together the interlaced middle fingers.

At the same time, he began reciting the Protective Slaying Incantation.

“Summon the Dark Altar's Dark Tiger Grand General. Manifest your divine might and assume a golden form. In golden armor and chains, attend my body. Great Thunder God, Radiant Tiger, who slays evil, wield copper and iron chains. Seize all evil ghosts and behead the demons. Rescue those suffering below and report to the Celestial Court. Let water and fire open the way, and advance seven steps...”

As he recited the Protective Slaying Incantation, the Manor Lord's body convulsed.

A faint vapor began to rise from the place where the talisman was attached.

[All]

He interlaced every finger.

It was the Outer Binding Seal.

Then the Manor Lord's Adam's apple began bulging.

The Manor Lord's face reddened, as though the airway had become blocked.

Taoist Occultist Myo Shin's expression hardened.

‘The malign force is too strong.’

Myo Shin rose from his seat and formed a sword-finger seal with his right hand, raising it to the Manor Lord's Adam's apple.

Then he continued the Protective Slaying Incantation.

“Respectfully invite the Dark Altar's Radiant Tiger Marshal to descend here. Slay demons and all evils without mercy. Divine troops, swiftly as the law commands...”

Before the Protective Slaying Incantation could even end,

Creeeak!

The Manor Lord's closed chamber door slowly opened.

As a result, the three red threads tied to the door came loose, and silver coins rained onto the floor.

Clatterrr!

‘Damn it!’

At that moment,

Bang!

“Urgh!”

A powerful Reflective Force hurled Taoist Occultist Myo Shin backward.

The force was so strong that there was no telling how far he would fly, but someone caught him by the back.

Smack!

Startled, Myo Shin turned his head.

The one holding him was a strikingly handsome young man with refined features.

It was Mok GyeongUn.

Myo Shin was momentarily speechless at his exceptional appearance, then prepared to snap at him for interrupting.

“I said no one was to be allowed in. How could you...!?”

Flinch!

However, Taoist Occultist Myo Shin could not finish his outburst.

He had seen Mok GyeongUn's eyes, completely still as though they belonged to a dead man.

‘How can a living person possess eyes like those?’

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