Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 25 - Form of Attachment (4)
Chapter 25 – Form of Attachment (4)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“You finally switched over to the Second Young Master…… and this fake brat didn’t play along and killed the Second Young Master’s bodyguard. What should we do about this?”
‘!?’
The instant he heard Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Guard Gam’s expression hardened.
The death of Jo Il-sang, bodyguard warrior to the Second Mok Eun-pyeong.
He had regarded that as the least likely possibility.
The martial prowess of a warrior on the verge of first-rate was not something that could be dealt with simply by being physically strong.
‘Impossible.’
Guard Gam stared at Mok Gyeong-un with shaken eyes.
It was impossible, yet he also could not help but believe it.
The very fact that Mok Gyeong-un knew both that he had switched allegiances and that he had spoken to the Second Young Master Mok Eun-pyeong as though Mok Gyeong-un had lost his martial arts was proof of it.
“You…… really……”
“Yes. I killed him.”
“By what means could you kill someone close to first-ra…..”
“I hung him upside down, cut his throat, and killed him.”
“What?”
“He pleaded pitifully to be spared. Whether master or whatever, I suppose he didn’t want to die.”
With those words, Mok Gyeong-un smiled softly.
The moment his eyes met that smile, a chill ran down Guard Gam’s spine.
Mok Gyeong-un’s grim eyes felt as if they were constricting around him.
‘This bastard really is…….’
A murderer.
Once again, he was reminded that this fake bastard was a death-row criminal who had killed many people.
He too had once killed many people as an assassin, but he had quit because killing others was unpleasant and had come to disgust him.
But this bastard was in a realm different from ordinary people.
He delighted in keeping death close at hand.
‘Damn it.’
For a moment, Guard Gam’s thoughts became complicated.
The time the Second Mok Eun-pyeong had given him was two shijin.
Within that time he had been ordered to find his bodyguard Jo Il-sang and bring him back, but the man was already dead.
In the end, his bold assurance in staking even his arm had been made meaningless.
It was the worst possible situation.
[If you fail to find him, you would do well to prepare to forfeit not only your arm but that paltry life of yours as well.]
Mok Eun-pyeong’s warning filled with murderous aura rang in his mind.
‘After all the trouble I took to change allegiances.’
Not even a full day had passed before it was severed.
To think such an absurd situation would occur.
Guard Gam’s mouth went dry.
Then suddenly,
‘…….Did this bastard kill him on purpose?’
Thinking about it, that had to be it.
Because this brat was a fake, he had to be cautious in everything he did.
No matter how unpredictable he was, a sly bastard like this could not possibly have been unaware of his own situation.
Yet for him to kill the Second Young Master’s bodyguard meant,
‘Because I abandoned this bastard and switched allegiances, he killed that bodyguard of Mok Eun-pyeong’s. Ha……’
It was absurd beyond words.
How could he be this cunning?
By killing Mok Eun-pyeong’s bodyguard, he had pushed Guard Gam into a position where he could neither advance nor retreat.
Now he could no longer switch to any of the other young masters.
Who would trust him?
-Clench!
Once he realized the intention of this cunning bastard, strength entered his fist.
To think a murderous bastard who had not even learned martial arts had cornered him like this.
‘Because of this bastard, everything I prepared all this time……’
had all come to nothing.
He was furious.
“You show quite a variety of emotions. Judging by how red your face has gotten, I suppose you’re angry.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s taunting voice, Guard Gam glared at him.
He suddenly wanted to kill this bastard on the spot.
No, should he kill him?
Now that the Second Mok Eun-pyeong would be after his life anyway, remaining in Yeon Mok Sword Manor had in truth become meaningless……
‘Ah!’
At that moment, Guard Gam’s eyes dropped to his own chest.
On his chest were the cover and two pages of the Wood-Transforming Heart Cultivation Method.
The instant he saw those two pages of contents, Guard Gam realized it.
That this was the genuine article.
‘Gochan kept his mouth shut to the very end, but the fact that he was carrying this means……’
it meant that this bastard Mok Gyeong-un had obtained the secret manual.
Just how had he obtained the secret manual?
That question arose, but it was not the important thing.
-Pak!
Guard Gam pressed his dagger against Mok Gyeong-un’s ribs and whispered,
“The rest of the secret manual….. you have it, don’t you?”
“The secret manual?”
-Pak pak!
Patting his own chest, Guard Gam said,
“This. This right here.”
“Ah, that?”
“Yes.”
“Of course I have it.”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s answer, color returned to Guard Gam’s face for an instant.
As expected, even when the sky collapsed, there was still a hole to escape through.
‘Good! Good!’
The Manor Lord’s life was hanging by a thread day by day.
With no successor chosen, the vassals’ opinions were divided.
In this situation, if one possessed a secret manual that only the Manor Lord could practice, or if there was a blood relative who had learned that martial art, then one could be said to be closest to becoming the successor.
‘It can replace the price of a life.’
The Second Mok Eun-pyeong would also have no choice but to covet this secret manual.
If he had this, then he could offset the value of the dead bodyguard Jo Il-sang’s life with it.
-Pak!
Guard Gam pressed the dagger even closer and said,
“I will not waste words. If you do not want to die, hand over the secret manual.”
“It seems you need that secret manual very badly.”
“I have no time to trade words with you.”
“Are you in quite a desperate position?”
“You really are desperate to die.”
“Not at all. I’m only saying that it seems the one in a desperate position isn’t me, so are you sure it’s all right to threaten me like this?”
At those words, Guard Gam sneered and said,
“Do not think of me as the same as Gochan or Jo Il-sang. Killing you here so that you cannot even let out a breath would be no task at all for me.”
Even though he had retired, his original profession had been that of an assassin.
As for ways of killing, he knew dozens, no, hundreds of them.
And he was a first-rate expert.
The gap between being close to first-rate and truly being first-rate was unmistakable.
He could kill the likes of Jo Il-sang with one hand.
“Do not provoke me any further.”
“How frightening…..”
-Thunk!
Before he could finish speaking, the tip of the dagger lightly dug into the flesh between Mok Gyeong-un’s ribs.
“I will ask no further questions. If you do not speak about the secret manual, I will bury the dagger completely. If the dagger drives in through this gap, death will be instant.”
“…….If I die here, you’ll be the one to lose more.”
With those words, Mok Gyeong-un indicated the workers in the medicine hall with a glance.
He meant whether Guard Gam could truly kill him while those men were watching.
At this, Guard Gam let out a faint breath.
“Hoo.”
Then,
-Pat!
he released Mok Gyeong-un and launched himself toward the workers in the medicine hall.
His movements were so fast that in an instant Guard Gam reached them and, with hand motions like a flash of lightning, stabbed their vital points with the dagger.
-Pupupupuk!
The medicine-hall workers died instantly, their vital points pierced.
Even though daggers had been driven into them, almost no blood came out, and there were no screams.
True to his background as an assassin, it was clean work.
‘Three medicine-hall workers or so can be dealt with by the Second Young Master.’
He was certain that, if not by himself, the Second Young Master would be able to silence the matter.
That was why Guard Gam dared to take this gamble.
“Even now, are you still certain that I cannot kill you?”
Guard Gam said this as he walked toward Mok Gyeong-un.
He had thought that even this brat would feel some degree of tension now.
However,
-Snort!
‘He’s laughing?’
Mok Gyeong-un was smiling.
The three medicine-hall workers had died in an instant.
And yet he smiled?
“It seems you truly fail to grasp reality. Then only when you feel pain directly in your body will you open your mouth.”
-Pat!
Guard Gam closed the distance in an instant using a body-lightening technique.
Then he used a grappling technique on Mok Gyeong-un.
-Papapapapak!
Guard Gam seized his arm, twisted it behind him, then gripped one of Mok Gyeong-un’s right fingers and placed the dagger against it as he said,
“You seem to be rather strong against pain.”
Guard Gam recalled the first time he had seen Mok Gyeong-un.
Even when he had been trapped behind wooden bars and pelted with stones by onlookers, he had not let out a single groan.
Seeing that, he had thought him to be a stubborn monster.
“But let me tell you something. Even if you are that stubborn, that does not mean you feel no pain. And I know the way to maximize that pain.”
-Pak!
The dagger dug into the finger.
Guard Gam smiled cruelly and said,
“I will shave the flesh from your fingers a strip at a time as though peeling fruit. It will be a pain unlike anything you have felt in your life.”
“Is that so?”
“Let us see how long you can keep up that composure.”
Guard Gam was about to slide the blade of the dagger upward.
At that moment Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.
“I have something to tell you before you begin.”
At those words, the corner of Guard Gam’s mouth slowly rose.
So that was how it was after all.
No matter how much of a murderer he was, he was still only seventeen years old.
In a situation like this, no matter how much composure he acted out, he had no choice but to fall into fear of the pain to come.
“Speak.”
“I was wondering how I might make use of it, so thank you.”
“What?”
What nonsense was this?
Use what?
‘!?’
At that moment, Guard Gam felt something strange.
The palm gripping Mok Gyeong-un’s finger felt as though something had adhered to it.
He wondered if it was because he had gripped too tightly and loosened his force slightly,
-Pak!
but the palm stuck fast to the finger.
‘What in the wor…….’
Sensing that something was wrong, Guard Gam tried to peel his palm away by drawing up his internal power through his hand.
However,
-Swaaaaaa!
At that moment, he felt the internal power that had been concentrated in his palm flowing out.
“Huk!”
Faced with that sudden phenomenon, Guard Gam could not help but be flustered.
His hand was stuck fast, and his internal power was being rapidly drained away, while even the flow of his qi circulation was being obstructed, making it hard to pull his palm away.
Already a considerable amount of internal power had been sucked away.
His left hand and left arm, which were gripping the finger, were almost losing strength.
‘Where did this brat learn such an evil trick?’
This was not an orthodox martial art.
Absorbing another person’s internal power?
Already a tenth of his internal power had been sucked away. If this continued, there might really be trouble.
“Let go!”
Guard Gam tried to strike down at Mok Gyeong-un’s neck with the fist holding the reversed dagger.
It was to knock him unconscious.
But Mok Gyeong-un twisted his neck, so it hit his shoulder instead.
“Pfft!”
Still, a first-rate expert was a first-rate expert.
The blow from the fist filled with internal power made Mok Gyeong-un cough up blood.
Even so, Mok Gyeong-un did not release his finger.
“Grrr! You bastard!”
-Thud thud!
Enraged, Guard Gam pounded Mok Gyeong-un’s neck and back repeatedly.
Though he was in pain from the fists loaded with internal power, Mok Gyeong-un still did not let go until the end.
‘This stubborn bastard!’
At that, Guard Gam eventually drove the dagger between Mok Gyeong-un’s ribs.
-Thunk!
“Hup!”
As the dagger sank halfway in through his ribs, his breath cut off, and the Form of Attachment was broken.
The moment the adhesive force vanished, Guard Gam kicked Mok Gyeong-un in the back and opened up the distance.
-Pak!
-Tatatatatak!
After retreating about seven steps, Guard Gam looked down at his own palm with a deathly pale face.
No internal power could be felt in the left hand, which was trembling violently.
He could circulate it and restore its flow again, but he had never felt such an unpleasant sensation before.
Guard Gam glared at Mok Gyeong-un, who was staggering, and said,
“What was that? What evil technique have you learned?”
“Hoo…. hoo….”
Gripping the dagger embedded between his ribs, Mok Gyeong-un staggered, then barely straightened himself.
“You are definitely…… first-rate.”
“Speak. What was that just now?”
“It looks like this alone won’t be enough to deal with you.”
-Gnash!
Guard Gam ground his teeth.
Did this insolent bastard think that, just because that evil trick of his had worked for a moment, he could do something to him?
If so, then that was a grave miscalculation.
Guard Gam circulated his qi, pulled out the dagger, and took a ready stance.
There would be no more carelessness.
‘Let us see whether you can still pull off that nonsense after all four of your limbs are cut apart.’
-Pat!
Guard Gam launched himself toward Mok Gyeong-un, who had barely regained his stance.
As long as he was careful not to let their palms touch, he could handle him easily.
-Pak! Thunk!
One of the daggers thrown by Guard Gam lodged in Mok Gyeong-un’s thigh.
At that, Mok Gyeong-un staggered.
Not missing that opening, Guard Gam drew yet another dagger hidden at his wrist and was about to throw it at Mok Gyeong-un’s shoulder.
It was at that moment.
“Demon Monk.”
-A chill!
No sooner had those words ended than Guard Gam suddenly felt something from behind trying to seize his wrist, along with a sensation that made his entire body break out in goosebumps.
Startled, Guard Gam lowered his arm to avoid that bizarre sensation and sprang sideways.
Then he looked toward that spot.
‘!?’
Guard Gam frowned.
He had definitely felt that creepy, uncanny sensation from behind, yet nothing could be seen.
‘What did this bastard do?’
If nothing was visible, then what was this strange sensation?
Guard Gam, flustered, moved his eyes and looked at Mok Gyeong-un.
“What did you just do?”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb. Something definitely tried to grab my wrist from behind.”
“Your senses are certainly sharp.”
“…….So you really did something.”
“Not me, though. This friend did it.”
“This friend?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Could it be that he truly had an accomplice?
Mok Gyeong-un spoke casually to Guard Gam, whose eyes were moving all around him with heightened sensitivity.
“Since you’re curious, I’ll show you. Demon Monk.”
It was the moment those words ended.
-Seureureureureu!
‘!!!!!!!!!’
For an instant, Guard Gam doubted his own eyes.
Right before his nose, a gigantic monk wearing a blood-soaked kasaya and a necklace of skull beads appeared like a heat haze, staring down at him while emitting a sinister ghostly light from his eyes.
‘W, what in the world is this…..’
If his eyes were not deceiving him, then this was no living human no matter how he looked at it.
Almost like a ghost…….
It was at the very moment he was reeling in shock.
-Thunk!
At that instant, something passed through the monk and lodged in the center of his chest.
It was a dagger.
“Now it’s done.”
-Seureureureureu!
At those words, the monk’s body blurred and vanished, and behind where he had been, Mok Gyeong-un could be seen in the posture of someone who had just thrown something.
“Thi……this……”
Guard Gam looked down at his chest, where the dagger had been driven in.
He had been protecting his body with internal power, yet because the dagger carried internal power within it, it had driven in deep.
With a dumbfounded expression, Guard Gam muttered,
“How?”
To him, Mok Gyeong-un smiled softly and said,
“The dagger and the internal power are both yours.”
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