Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 16 - Bargaining (2)
Chapter 16 – Bargaining (2)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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-Bang!
The First Madam, Madam Seok, who had returned to her residence, Hyehwa Hall, kicked a chair violently.
The chair split in two under the kick infused with inner power.
With her face flushed red, she ground her teeth.
“How dare he!”
While in the medicine hall, she had restrained her anger as much as possible.
But with matters having turned out this way, it was difficult to hold her rage in.
“Madam, please calm yourself.”
Ho-aeng, her guard warrior, carefully tried to dissuade Madam Seok.
At this, she replied in a voice mixed with irritation.
“Calm down? Do I look like I can calm down right now? I finally went and brought in an occult practitioner said to be capable, and instead some unrelated brat got hold of the seal……ah!”
“Madam!”
Madam Seok clutched the back of her neck.
As her blood pressure rose, she closed both eyes, apparently dizzy.
In truth, among the Mok children, while she had checked the crafty second one and the youngest one whom the Manor Lord treasured, she had never once considered the third, Mok Gyeong-un, worthy of notice.
He had no talent in martial arts, and to say his maternal family was all but ruined would hardly be an exaggeration.
That was why she had not paid attention to him at all.
But who could have known that the one she had not even regarded would turn into such a hidden threat?
-Crunch!
Madam Seok ground her teeth.
She had never expected that bastard would bargain like this using the Manor Lord’s seal.
She had thought that, if she simply frightened him a little, he would spill it on his own.
‘……..Was he always like this?’
The Mok Gyeong-un she knew had possessed no such crafty side.
Rather, he had been closer to cowardly and timid.
There had been many such episodes.
‘Had he been hiding his true self?’
Then again, until his mother died, people had long said that though he was not exceptionally gifted, he was at least rather bright.
‘Since then, he may have done it to protect himself.’
If that were so, he might in fact be someone she should be even more wary of.
By his own mouth he had drawn a line and said he had no interest in becoming the Manor Lord, yet the more a person knew how to hide himself and endure, the more frightening he was.
‘And that power…….’
That strange power bothered her.
The maidservant So-hwa had suddenly floated up, veins bulging, and nearly stopped breathing.
As she had watched, the dead occult practitioner Myo-shin had come to her mind.
So-hwa’s appearance was very similar to his.
If that was so,
“…….It is certain that the bastard killed occult practitioner Myo-shin too.”
“You mean Mok Gyeong-un?”
“Yes.”
Certainly, only then did all the pieces fit together.
She had brought him in because he was said to be quite capable, yet there was no chance such an occult practitioner would instead be possessed by a strange phenomenon and go berserk.
It had to be the doing of that bastard Mok Gyeong-un.
At Madam Seok’s certainty, guard warrior Ho-aeng jumped up in agitation.
“How could he dare kill a man summoned by Madam? Leave it to this subordinate. Before he can even use his evil arts, I will make sure he disappears without a mouse or bird noticing…..”
“Stop.”
“But……”
“If, by doing that, the Manor Lord’s seal truly falls into the hands of the second, Mok Eun-pyeong, or the youngest, Mok Yu-cheon, then my son will be the one who has to bear the consequences.”
“Even so, if you let yourself be dragged around by him……”
“Who said I would let myself be dragged around?”
“Pardon?”
Madam Seok took something from a white porcelain vessel in a display cabinet standing in one side of the room.
It was a small jade bead.
An unusual pattern was carved into the bead, and she handed it to Ho-aeng.
“This is?”
“Take this to the Ghost Shadow Pavilion in Meng City. And tell the pavilion master that occult practitioner Myo-shin has been murdered.”
“Ah!”
Guard Ho-aeng, who understood her meaning, nodded.
Ghost Shadow Pavilion.
That was the group of occult practitioners to which the dead Myo-shin had belonged.
* * *
-Smack!
Bodyguard Gochan’s head snapped to the side from the slap.
Guard Gam looked at him as though disappointed and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. Was it really so hard to keep watch over one mere brat?”
“N-no, it was not.”
“I told you that even subduing him was permitted, and yet you took that bastard to the main building and came back? Are you out of your mind to be able to do such a thing?”
At Guard Gam’s scolding, Gochan could not say anything.
In truth, in his heart he wanted to reveal everything that had happened while Guard Gam had been away.
No, that had originally been his intention.
But now he hesitated.
‘……Why do I feel so uneasy?’
By martial skill alone, if Senior Brother Gam set his mind to it, he would be able to deal with that bastard at any time.
And yet, after experiencing the fake Mok Gyeong-un, Gochan had grown afraid of him.
His poisonous blood was one thing, and that bizarre evil technique another, but what bothered him more than anything else was that the fellow did not feel like a human being.
It seemed that if one needlessly made an enemy of him, the end would not be good.
‘Damn it.’
He had no idea what kind of state he was in.
It had been good news when they found someone fit to act as Mok Gyeong-un’s stand-in, but now matters had become such that he had no choice but to do exactly as that stand-in bastard told him.
[I trust you’ll keep your mouth shut.]
‘………’
Those words felt particularly unsettling.
The bastard had been outside, so there was no way he could have heard, yet somehow Gochan felt strangely conscious of him.
It was as if someone were watching.
Why in the world did it feel like this?
While he was seized by that strange feeling, Guard Gam, who had been clicking his tongue, spoke.
“If you let that bastard poke his nose around here and there one more time, I will not let it pass.”
“…….With his thigh pierced through, he will have trouble even walking for a while.”
“Whether it is his thigh or anything else, just don’t let the bastard show himself.”
“Understood.”
“In any case, it is certain the First Madam did not discover him, yes?”
“Yes. That is certain. I was right beside him. It is just that the First Madam was displeased because he went to the main hall.”
‘More accurately, because the bastard seized the First Madam’s card and bargained with her.’
Gochan’s mouth went dry.
Even the line marking whose side he was on had become blurred.
To think that, from the very senior brother to whom he ought to report the truth, he now had to conceal half of it.
“Tsk, tsk.”
Guard Gam shook his head from side to side.
As expected, that bastard was not suited to the role of a stand-in.
He had realized as much the moment he killed the real Mok Gyeong-un on the spot, but as time passed, he would become even harder to control.
‘I will have to move quickly.’
Even after being warned, he remained this wayward, so things might go wrong later.
A quick decision was needed on whose side to switch to.
“Do not take your eyes off him for even an instant. Watch him.”
“Will you not warn him personally?”
“There are too many eyes watching.”
Inside the medicine hall there were apothecaries and attendants.
They were nothing more than servants, but because he and Gochan were also only guards by status, they could not go about ordering such people around, nor, even if he was fake, could they openly rebuke him in front of others.
And besides,
‘He is too crafty. Nothing good will come of speaking at length with that fellow.’
It was better, rather, to make it so he did not know how matters were turning.
That way, when the time came to switch sides and deal with him, it would be easier.
* * *
Quite apart from this conversation outside, Mok Gyeong-un was sitting with his back comfortably supported, flipping through a book and reading.
It was the Foundation of the Yin-Yang School from the Overview of the Hundred Schools.
As he flipped through the book, at a certain passage a strange light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
‘When the dead become resentful spirits and turn into strange phenomena, depending on various conditions the rank of the strange phenomenon differs.’
In the Foundation of the Yin-Yang School, strange phenomena were described in more detail than expected.
If one went by this, the Demon Monk could be said to be a kind of wandering spirit or ghost formed when a resentful soul became a strange phenomenon.
‘A low-ranked and weak resentful spirit becomes an earthbound spirit, and can influence the living only so far as to stimulate their senses. Hmm.’
According to the Foundation of the Yin-Yang School, the ranks of resentful spirits were divided into seven stages.
Putting aside the many conditions and dividing those ranks simply,
the first was the Red Spirit…..an earthbound spirit capable only of causing goosebumps or a slight chill in living beings.
The second was the Vermilion Spirit…..capable of possessing others and influencing them enough to make their body feel heavy or ache as if with a fever.
The third was the Yellow Spirit…..from here onward it was described as dangerous enough that exorcism was required.
It said that, in terms of rank, once a spirit reached the level of a Yellow Spirit, it became killer aura and could do more than merely weaken the possessed target, bringing them all the way to death.
‘……By rank, the Demon Monk is a Yellow Spirit.’
Even among Yellow Spirits themselves, they were divided into three stages according to danger.
The low stage was a level at which it could reveal its form and directly instill fear in humans.
The middle stage was a level at which it could directly affect or inflict pain on living beings.
The high stage was a level at which it could kill the person it possessed.
-Srrrk!
At that moment, someone appeared like smoke, passing through the wall by the entrance of the medicine hall.
It was the Demon Monk.
Unbeknownst to him before, the Demon Monk seemed to be a strange phenomenon of a rather high rank.
‘So that is what it means to affect the living.’
Now he understood why the Demon Monk had been unable to touch the corpse of the dead occult practitioner Myo-shin.
It was because he was already dead.
A dead body ultimately had no life, and thus could not be affected.
‘I see.’
Still, there were things he had learned that were not written in the Foundation of the Yin-Yang School.
He had used the Demon Monk to target Madam Seok.
Yet Madam Seok had reacted the moment the Demon Monk so much as brushed her and had been pushed back.
‘They said that woman was a first-rate expert.’
By contrast, Madam Seok’s maidservant had not even sensed anything and had been helplessly overpowered until the Demon Monk directly threatened her life.
What was the difference between them?
Was it because the maidservant had not learned martial arts?
‘Could it be that strange phenomena do not work on those who have cultivated martial arts?’
The Foundation of the Yin-Yang School did not describe that point.
-Creeeak!
At that moment, Bodyguard Gochan opened the medicine hall’s door and came in.
At this, Mok Gyeong-un slightly raised the corner of his mouth and murmured,
“A fine test subject.”
“Pardon?”
Gochan, wondering what he meant, asked back.
“Ah, I was not speaking to you, Bodyguard Gochan. Shall we lightly raise your arm?”
“Young Master, what do you mean by that?”
It was right at that moment.
-Flinch!
For an instant, Gochan felt a chilling sensation run through his whole body.
It was some strange thing beyond the realm of the five senses that could be called bodily sensation.
-Pak!
“Huh?”
Gochan’s arm suddenly tried to rise upward.
‘Eugh!’
Startled, Gochan sent his power through his body and resisted it.
Yet though he endured while trembling, his arm could not hold out long and was forcibly lifted upward.
‘What in the world is this……’
Gochan was utterly bewildered because he could not understand what was happening.
But why this had happened, he soon learned at once.
“Y-Young Master?”
At that, Mok Gyeong-un lightly waved his hand.
Then he was able to lower the wrist that had been raised by force as though someone were gripping it.
Though his wrist had lowered, Gochan, perhaps badly startled, said to Mok Gyeong-un,
“What in the world did you just do?”
“I simply needed to confirm something.”
“Confirm?”
“Yes.”
“And why with me……”
“You were just right for it. Was it that Bodyguard Gochan is a second-rate warrior?”
“That is correct, but just what are you trying to confirm……”
“You do not need to know.”
“………”
Yes, of course that bastard was never going to explain nicely.
With a face that could not hide his unease, Gochan stood before the bed.
‘Damned bastard.’
He was starting to regret a little that he had not simply told Senior Brother Gam exactly what had happened, just as it was.
Whether or not Gochan felt that way, Mok Gyeong-un nodded to himself as though he had learned something.
‘It works on someone like Bodyguard Gochan.’
Gochan too had perceived it the very instant the Demon Monk gripped his wrist.
Perhaps because he had cultivated inner power, his senses were indeed far keener than those of ordinary people.
Still, though he had resisted a little, he had not been able to overcome the Demon Monk’s strength.
‘So the Demon Monk’s power works reliably on ordinary people and on warriors up to about the second-rate level.’
That was the standard by which it worked stably.
It had not yet been verified with certainty, but perhaps a Yellow Spirit’s power did not work particularly well on first-rate masters.
If that were so, it would be a little disappointing.
‘Well, even so, that does not mean it is unusable.’
The strange phenomenon that was the Demon Monk was highly useful in many ways.
As he had just done in making him overhear the conversation between Gochan and Guard Gam, if it was at close range, he could also use him for surveillance, and he was well suited for scouting sealed-off places in advance.
How useful that was.
Suddenly, as Mok Gyeong-un read down through the next passages in the Foundation of the Yin-Yang School, a thought occurred to him.
‘It would not be bad to obtain an even stronger strange phenomenon.’
The fourth, the Green Spirit…..extremely dangerous. Exorcism absolutely required.
A resentful spirit that had existed for decades. It could affect the surrounding objects and throw living beings into confusion to the point of making them hear phantom sounds.
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