Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 104 - Wi So-yeon (3)
Chapter 104 – Wi So-yeon (3)
===================
Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
“My apologies, but I must respectfully decline that proposal.”
She had naturally thought he would accept, so this refusal was unexpected.
Wi So-yeon, third disciple of the Society Leader, raised one eyebrow and asked in a tone that said she could not understand,
“Why?”
“There is no great reason.”
“No reason?”
“Yes. If I had to find a reason, it would be that I dislike conflict by nature.”
“You dislike conflict?”
At these words from Mok Gyeong-un, she let out a snort.
Would someone with such a nature cling all the way to the end and profit from the situation, even if Yeop Wi-seon had struck first?
The Mok Gyeong-un she had judged was absolutely not the type to dislike conflict.
Depending on the situation, he would create conflict readily enough.
So if he was rejecting her for a reason like this…
‘Is he trying to avoid becoming entangled with me, the one with the weakest faction among the successors?’
That was how she judged it.
The alignment within the Heaven and Earth Society was already stark.
The eldest disciple Na Yul-ryang and the second disciple Jang Neung-ak had secured support factions of close to forty percent and thirty percent respectively.
By contrast, she herself had only between ten and twenty percent at best.
Although, in martial ability alone, she had risen quickly through her monstrous talent to a level nearly comparable to Jang Neung-ak, for now she lagged behind in factional strength.
‘To come under my banner is no different from excluding all the others.’
It was not that she could not understand.
But it had not even been that long since she herself had brought her faction to somewhere between ten and twenty percent.
That was why Wi So-yeon still had confidence.
‘…….If only I can gather the neutral forces beneath my banner, there is still more than enough possibility.’
Seen in that light, Mok Gyeong-un was a talent she coveted.
His martial skill and his cunning both pleased her, but his present situation was especially optimal.
Mok Gyeong-un stood before the final gate of Corpse Blood Valley.
In such a situation, if he were to pass the final gate in first place as well, he would gain the right to choose whose disciple he would become among the executives present that day.
And if such a Mok Gyeong-un did not directly become her subordinate under her banner, but instead entered as the disciple of an executive who had not yet come under her camp?
The corners of Wi So-yeon’s mouth twitched.
That was precisely her true aim.
‘It is a chance that does not often come.’
At this, she said,
“Even if you dislike conflict, the moment of choice will surely come someday.”
“……”
“I am investing not in your immediate usefulness but in your future growth. But around my senior brothers there are already more than enough outstanding talents.”
“……”
“Do you really think the choice you make then will be some great opportunity for you?”
At these words from her, interest flashed in Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
He had seen those who held the qualifications for succession in a place called Yeon Mok Sword Manor, but this was on an entirely different level.
Setting gender aside, she certainly possessed more than enough qualities to become the head of an organization.
Even without speaking at great length, she possessed the force to draw others in.
But,
“Would it not become an opportunity if, when that time comes, I am still someone you desperately need, young lady?”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Wi So-yeon let out a long sigh.
Though he was still no more than a trainee of Corpse Blood Valley and held no special position, she had personally asked to take him into service, yet he was refusing.
He was truly a peculiar man.
And yet his final words kept echoing inside her.
‘If, when that time comes, I am still someone you desperately need…’
It sounded as if he were saying that, whether now or later, he himself would be valuable.
Hearing it that way, her eyes narrowed as she looked at Mok Gyeong-un.
Was he someone with that much confidence in himself?
After looking at him for some time, she finally parted her lips and said in a slightly pouting tone,
“It seems you are the first person who has made me withdraw without any result, and I am not even an executive.”
“Hearing you say so makes me feel even more apologetic.”
“Very well. I will look forward to whether it turns out as you yourself have declared.”
“I will strive to live up to your expectations.”
At Wi So-yeon’s words, Mok Gyeong-un answered with a light bow of the head.
“Ah!”
Then she came close to Mok Gyeong-un and whispered something into his ear.
After that, she lightly leapt straight down from the upper floor.
-Whip!
“I will speak to Unit Leader Yang and to the one waiting outside according to our agreement, so think of it as though a new shijin has begun from now.”
With those words, she left the treasure vault as though she had finished what she came to do.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un gave a short laugh and turned his head.
“You bastard!”
There stood Yeop Wi-seon glaring at Mok Gyeong-un with eyes blazing.
From his expression, he looked almost as though he were jealous.
No, he was.
‘To whisper in the ear of a bastard like that?’
He was truly enraged.
Grinding his teeth, Yeop Wi-seon said,
“…….What did the young lady whisper to you just now?”
“If it were the sort of thing I could tell others, she would have said it out loud, would she not?”
“What?”
“More importantly, are you not going to follow her? At this rate, it seems you may lose sight of your mistress.”
At these words from Mok Gyeong-un, Yeop Wi-seon rose to his feet and picked up his saber from the floor.
Then, in a manner that looked as though he might swing it at any moment, he said,
“Insolent bastard. Today I let it pass only because of the young lady, but…”
“Rather than saying something trite like that one day I will regret it, perhaps you should simply leave while I am being generous.”
“You bastard!”
For an instant, Yeop Wi-seon nearly swung his saber in a burst of anger.
But he immediately restrained himself with superhuman patience.
If he caused further trouble here, he would not be able to deal with the consequences. No, the damage to those secret manuals alone was already more than enough for him to handle, so he had no choice but to withdraw quietly.
-Grind!
“You will regret not accepting the young lady’s proposal.”
-Shrrng!
With those words, he sheathed his saber and was about to leave.
Then Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,
“I forgot to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Be sure to repay later the life you owe me.”
“…….What nonsense are you spouting? After bargaining to your heart’s content, you even obtained the young lady’s identity token.”
“I let it pass, did I not?”
“Let it pass? What…”
“You are mistaken again. Lady Wi may have smoothed matters over by paying the price of your life and so on in order to save you, but from the standpoint of keeping her own word, what she said about summarily executing you if you opened your mouth again has not changed.”
‘!?’
At those words, Yeop Wi-seon’s expression froze.
* * *
After Yeop Wi-seon too had left the treasure vault, Blue Spirit’s voice came to Mok Gyeong-un’s ear.
-Why did you not do as I told you?
“Ah, you mean to enter under the banner of that woman called the third disciple, even if only by pretending to bow my head?”
Blue Spirit had told Mok Gyeong-un to become her subordinate.
That way he could settle more quickly inside and come into contact with the higher ranks.
-Yes.
“I am not sure. It just doesn’t seem to be the right time yet.”
-Time? Do you think a chance like this comes easily?
“Is there any guarantee that a chance that came once will not come again next time?”
-If chances came easily, then they would not be called chances.
“You seem very disappointed.”
-It is not merely from disappointment. Even if it would be difficult immediately, if I could take the body of that mortal girl, it would hasten matters all the more, which is why I said it.
She had grown greedy for the body of Wi So-yeon, who looked exactly like her.
It even gave her the feeling that her own body from life had returned to living.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“So it was her body you desired after all. But rather than simply resembling you a lot, she looked remarkably similar. Might she be your descendant, perhaps?”
-…….I have no descendants. I was never married in the end… no, I did not go through with it, so what nonsense are you speaking?
“How would I know whether you were married or had children? You always avoid the subject by saying it is not yet time to speak of it.”
-Hmph!
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, she let out a snort.
She was already in a foul mood because the chance had slipped away when he did not follow her words.
‘She must be disappointed.’
Without showing it, Mok Gyeong-un gave a short inward laugh.
In truth, he had naturally expected Blue Spirit to covet Wi So-yeon’s body.
It was the outer form most like hers while alive, and among all the women they had encountered thus far, it possessed the strongest martial ability.
It would have been stranger had no greed arisen.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un did not act that way.
‘My apologies, but if it is not a certain card, then it is not something to put my hand on.’
The first purpose Mok Gyeong-un sought to achieve was revenge.
His present goal was to find out whether the one called Ghost Sword was truly the real culprit who had killed his grandfather, and if so, to take revenge.
But if right now he entered under the banner of the Society Leader’s third disciple of the Heaven and Earth Society, then he would become an enemy of the other successors and the factions that followed them.
‘Why make things hard on myself unnecessarily?’
Yi Ji-yeom, the Valley Master of Corpse Blood Valley, had said that the most likely successor was still the eldest disciple, Na Yul-ryang.
Among Na Yul-ryang’s forty percent faction were one of the Eight Stars called one of the greatest masters in the Central Plains, one of the Five Kings, one of the Three Sect Masters, and two of the Four Valley Masters.
Because of this, it was said that the overall balance had tilted heavily.
[If the eldest disciple Na Yul-ryang even secures the support of the other one among the Five Kings who bears the title of Eight Stars and remains neutral, then his position as successor will likely become firm.]
If so, then there was no need to enter under the banner of Wi So-yeon.
Because Mok Gyeong-un wanted a certain card, not a merely possible one, he judged that if he had to enter under someone’s camp, it would be better to aim for Na Yul-ryang, who was the closest to succession.
‘The Annihilation Poison King.’
The only one within the Heaven and Earth Society who had remained in a neutral position, supporting no one, and yet was the only person to have faced Ghost Sword and survived.
Mok Gyeong-un was aiming to become his disciple after passing the final gate.
He would become the disciple of Baek Sa-ha, the Annihilation Poison King, learn the secrets he held, and then attempt contact with Na Yul-ryang, the one closest to the position of Society Leader.
That was the plan Mok Gyeong-un had thought up for now.
Whispering toward the displeased Blue Spirit, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“So, are you not going to help me?”
-…….Accursed mortal.
That bastard only asked for help when he needed it.
He really did not please her at all.
* * *
Thus, having gained one additional shijin, Mok Gyeong-un leisurely continued skimming through the secret manuals on the third floor of the treasure vault.
Though it was called skimming, what he truly did was fall into the state of selflessness and become one in mental visualization with the original martial artists contained in the calligraphy, rapidly absorbing them.
This could only be called an absurd talent that other martial artists did not possess.
The more secret manuals he read, the broader Mok Gyeong-un’s eye and vision regarding martial arts became, and the more experience he accumulated as though he had personally trained in countless martial arts.
Here Blue Spirit discovered one curious thing.
‘This bastard’s body…’
Mok Gyeong-un was immersed in the state of selflessness.
Yet she could see that his muscles were changing little by little in real time.
It was such a minute change that one would never know it unless observing carefully, but Blue Spirit had been able to notice it because of one phenomenon while Mok Gyeong-un was in the state of selflessness.
That was sweat.
‘Sweat?’
It had not happened on the second floor, but as Mok Gyeong-un read the secret manuals on the third floor of the treasure vault, sweat was running down his face.
Even his clothes were becoming soaked.
While she wondered why, she suddenly saw the muscles in his wrist tremble ever so slightly and their density change.
‘Ha…’
It was astonishing.
She herself had once heard something similar.
That a strong will and mind sometimes had a great effect on the body.
There was such an anecdote.
Someone was suddenly splashed with water from a teapot in a surprise attack, and the person suffered a burn.
But the astonishing thing was that the water had not been hot, but cold.
In the end, simply because the person strongly believed it to be hot, the body had suffered a burn.
‘For it to become concrete to this extent. This bastard truly…’
He did not feel human.
Simply by immersing himself in secret manuals and becoming one with them in mental visualization, it was affecting his body and causing changes in his muscles.
Was such a thing even possible?
The time limit would of course put a restriction on the number of manuals, but if this bastard truly made up his mind and spent time reading all the secret manuals in this treasure vault, then what would happen?
‘Now I am curious.’
It was then.
-Flip! Thud!
Mok Gyeong-un finished a manual and closed it.
Then while putting it back on the shelf, he turned his head to the side.
-Next is…
“Wait a moment.”
-Why?
“It has been bothering me for a while now, but I am certain the sound is coming from over there.”
-Over there?
The place Mok Gyeong-un was looking toward.
It was near the far corner of the third floor of the treasure vault, where another small cavern had formed.
It looked as though there were more shelves filled with secret manuals inside,
‘A red line?’
and before it a red line had been drawn.
[Ah. And there is a place marked by a red line, but there… if possible, do not enter.]
[Pardon?]
[Long ago, there… no, you do not need to know that. In any case, if you cross the red line, you will see something frightening enough to make your flesh crawl. So do not ignore my warning.]
The warning of Keeper Yang Mu-won came to mind.
That must have been the place he meant.
‘Something frightening…’
-Hmm. That red line does not seem ordinary.
Mok Gyeong-un agreed with Blue Spirit’s words.
If one mixed white rice and salt ground into red ink, it could serve as a kind of barrier.
If done so, separation could be established with the line as the center.
“I am curious.”
-So your curiosity has arisen.
“It is because I hear a sound from inside.”
-A sound?
Inside the wooden puppet, she could not hear sounds from a distance.
So she asked,
-What sort of sound do you hear?
“We will know if we go.”
Mok Gyeong-un glanced subtly down toward the entrance of the lower cavern.
There was no one there.
In truth, after Yeop Wi-seon came inside the treasure vault and split around thirty secret manuals in half, he had gone outside with an expression that was nearly half-crazed upon seeing them.
Since there were no watching eyes, it seemed all right to look around for a moment.
-Slide!
Mok Gyeong-un crossed the red line and entered that small cavern.
-Kurururururu!
-Ah! Can you hear this sound?
Blue Spirit spoke as though she understood now.
Once inside, the noise of a single bookshelf shaking was strong enough even for her to hear.
At the very top of that shelf there were no secret manuals, only a wooden box rolled and bound together,
-Ssssmear!
and from that place a strange aura was flowing out.
Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes saw this exactly.
“…….So it was from here.”
-Demonic aura?
It was not the aura of the dead.
The ominous aura coming from that box was demonic aura, the sort one could feel only from yokai and other strange beings.
Mok Gyeong-un stepped closer to it.
-Ssssmear!
‘How strange.’
An ordinary person would not feel it, but why had such a thing been placed here?
Did the Heaven and Earth Society not even have occult practitioners within it?
At that moment, a voice came to Mok Gyeong-un’s ears.
-Jeong-ah. Jeong-ah.
‘!?’
The instant he heard that voice, Mok Gyeong-un’s expression hardened.
It was none other than,
“Grandfather?”
the voice of his dead grandfather.
What in the world was happening?
Why was his grandfather’s voice coming from that box?
-Jeong-ah… Jeong-ah… this old grandfather is so stifled. Help me.
“Grandfather?”
-Jeong-ah… I am so very stifled.
From the manner of speech calling his name, it was a voice that absolutely could not be denied as his grandfather’s.
At that moment, a sharp rebuke poured into his ear.
-Enough!
Mok Gyeong-un frowned at once.
-Get a grip. You have been going on about Grandfather this and Grandfather that, so it seems you are hearing things.
“You cannot hear it, Blue Spirit?”
-Not in the slightest.
“Ahhh. Then I suppose it truly is a hallucination.”
-Surely you were not swayed by no more than a mere hallucination?
“As if.”
Mok Gyeong-un was perfectly rational.
He had merely become doubtful because he did not understand how, without even being touched, that thing knew his grandfather’s voice and even called his true name.
-Do not be swayed by such a mere halluc…
It was right then.
-A damned petty ghost dares interfere with me!
This time, it was clearly audible.
Blue Spirit, too, seemed to hear it and muttered in a tone of disbelief.
-A damned petty ghost? This thing dares…
She was just about to grow angry when the voice from the wooden box continued.
-Human. Open the wooden box. If you do, then I, who rule corpse cadavers, will grant whatever wish you desire.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un gave a short laugh and muttered,
“This is a little too obvious a sales pitch.”