Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 3 - Opportunity (2)
Chapter 3 – Opportunity (2)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The intruder could not hide his confusion.
Even those who had trained internal power would fall into deep sleep if they were caught off guard by sleeping incense.
Much less an ordinary person who had not learned martial arts. With this sleeping incense, even breathing in a little would make such a person suddenly fall asleep.
And yet something unexpected had happened.
Everyone in the government prison had fallen asleep, but this brat was awake with clear eyes.
‘What is this bastard?’
Just in case, the intruder placed a hand on the boy’s abdomen.
Then he sent a thread of qi into him.
If the boy had learned even a little internal power, a rebounding force should have arisen.
However,
‘There is no rebounding force.’
He had not learned internal power at all.
Then, just as he had heard earlier in the day from his contact in the government office, this boy really was an ordinary civilian.
Then why had the sleeping incense not worked on him?
‘… This brat?’
And beyond that, he was not afraid of this situation.
Setting aside that he had endured the sleeping incense, a stranger had broken into the forbidden prison and immobilized him with point-sealing.
Yet the boy was staring at him without the slightest wavering in his gaze.
As if he were observing him.
‘He is different.’
He had heard that he was a condemned prisoner, but he was somehow different from ordinary boys his age.
It was as if he gave off something unsettling.
For a moment, the intruder hesitated.
‘At this rate…’
Then a voice came from behind him.
“Have you still not found him?”
Someone walked into the rear of the forbidden prison.
That one was also masked, but his build was not very large.
No, he was slim and a little short, enough to show that he was not yet a fully grown adult.
The first intruder quietly opened his mouth.
“Young Master. I told you to wait outside and keep watch…”
“Is it him?”
Before he could finish speaking, the masked youth pointed with a finger and asked.
He was pointing at the wild-haired prisoner boy immobilized by sealed acupoints.
The intruder nodded.
“Yes.”
“I cannot see his face clearly. Guard Gam, lift his hair.”
It seemed he wanted to confirm the face.
At those words, the intruder hesitated briefly, then lifted the hair of the prisoner boy whose body was stiffened by point sealing.
At that, a gasp escaped the mouth of the masked youth.
“Ha…”
The masked youth was genuinely astonished.
Seeing that reaction, the wild-haired prisoner boy could not understand why he was reacting that way.
The same was true of the intruder who had immobilized him.
Why were they showing such reactions?
Then the masked youth removed his face covering.
‘!?’
The prisoner’s eyes shook.
The face beneath the mask.
It looked so much like his own face that it was as if he were looking into a bronze mirror.
The resemblance was so astonishing that one might have believed they were twins.
There were small differences, such as the arrangement of the hair and subtle distinctions in the features,
but if they were styled similarly, even someone who had known them for a long time might not be able to tell them apart.
“Do we look alike?”
“… Nearly identical.”
“Truly… astonishing.”
“I was shocked too when I first saw this bastard.”
“That is understandable.”
What were the odds that a complete stranger would have such a similar face?
It would not be an exaggeration to say almost none.
But the prisoner boy and the unmasked youth had faces far too alike.
After marveling at it for a while, the unmasked youth stepped closer and said to the prisoner boy,
“You. You are a condemned prisoner, right?”
“…”
There was no way he could answer while even his mute acupoint had been sealed.
-The youth gave the intruder a look.
At once the intruder struck points on the prisoner’s chest.
Tap tap tap tap.
When he finished, the youth said,
“You can answer now. You are a condemned prisoner, right?”
At the question, the prisoner boy remained still a moment, then answered,
“… Yes.”
At that respectful reply, the corners of the youth’s mouth lifted.
“You understand your position well.”
Even if he was a condemned prisoner, he was still no more than an ordinary civilian.
Before martial artists, he was no different from a cat before a tiger, so it would have been stranger if he did not speak politely.
Crossing his arms, the youth spoke in an arrogant voice.
“I heard your execution is to be carried out the day after tomorrow.”
“That is correct.”
“What would you do if an opportunity arose for you to live a little longer?”
“… I want to live.”
“Heh heh. Yes, of course you do.”
The youth could not hide his satisfaction.
If a condemned prisoner with no choices was told he would be spared, how could he avoid clinging to it?
The youth sneered.
“Such an opportunity does not come easily. For a mere condemned prisoner, you are very fortunate.”
“… Are you giving me that opportunity?”
“Yes. A very great opportunity.”
“What is it?”
“Even if it is only for a mere five days, it is not common for someone like you to be given the chance to live as Mok Gyeong-un, the Third Young Master of the great Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”
‘Yeon Mok Sword Manor?’
It was the first time he had heard the name.
From the way it sounded, it seemed to be some large estate.
Though the boy could not know it, Yeon Mok Sword Manor was an old martial family in northern Anhui.
Even if he had no way to know that, one thing he could understand was clear.
“Do you want a stand-in?”
At the prisoner boy’s question, Mok Gyeong-un’s lips curled upward.
“So you are not stupid. Yes. Why would I need some condemned prisoner like you? What I need is that face of yours.”
There was only one reason to seek out someone with the same face.
It was to make him act as a stand-in.
“… Do I only have to act as your stand-in?”
“It is only for five days. Did you expect some great task? All you have to do is stay shut up in a villa at the estate and pretend to be this young master.”
“I see.”
“You get to enjoy living as the son of a prestigious martial family for five days and preserve your life in exchange. What a fine opportunity, is it not?”
That was certainly true.
It was true, but the boy was not foolish.
A stand-in, by nature, was one who took on danger in place of the real person.
There was surely some hidden danger lying behind this offer.
‘A stand-in…’
But there would never be a better chance than this.
From the start, he had been worrying about how to escape this government prison.
If he did nothing, he would be dragged out and torn apart by carts.
There was no need to deliberate further.
“Please give me the opportunity.”
“Hah.”
Mok Gyeong-un gave a short laugh and gestured.
The masked intruder then took out a small pouch from inside his robe.
The boy asked, puzzled,
“What is that?”
“Eat it.”
“… ?”
Wondering what he meant, the boy saw the intruder take out a black pellet from the pouch.
It gave off a foul smell, and no one would have taken it for medicine.
The intruder brought the pellet to the boy’s mouth.
The boy looked at it and asked,
“… Is it poison?”
At that, Mok Gyeong-un snorted.
“Did you think I would simply trust a condemned prisoner like you?”
“…”
“If you safely finish the work as my stand-in, I will give you the antidote. Heh heh.”
In other words, he meant to destroy from the outset any chance of the boy doing something foolish.
Pressing the poison pellet to the boy’s lips, the intruder said,
“Open your mouth.”
There was no choice.
Looking at Mok Gyeong-un, who was smiling darkly, the boy slowly opened his mouth and accepted the poison pellet.
As the intruder watched him chew it, a strange light entered his eyes.
Normally, if someone knew it was poison, they would make a terrible face and show distress.
But this one calmly chewed and swallowed it.
Not merely swallowing whole, but chewing.
‘This bastard really is different.’
He had the same face as the Young Master, but he was vicious to the core.
That was probably why he had become a condemned prisoner by killing so many people without even learning martial arts.
‘It was a good thing I prepared the poison pellet in advance.’
Now that he had eaten this, if he wanted to live he would not dare do something foolish like running away.
The boy stopped chewing and opened his mouth wide.
“I swallowed it, Young Master.”
It was confirmed that there was nothing hidden in his mouth.
The poison pellet had been too large to pretend to swallow and keep tucked away.
Once that was confirmed, Mok Gyeong-un ordered,
“Release him now.”
“Understood.”
The intruder found the key from the ring he had prepared and opened the wooden restraints binding the boy’s two hands and feet.
‘Hoo.’
Once his hands and feet were freed, the boy felt as though he could breathe again.
Though they were called wooden restraints, the insides were iron, and they pressed on his wrists and were tremendously heavy.
Walking toward the entrance of the forbidden prison, the intruder spoke quietly.
“I will lead the way. You stay right behind me. Young Master, please follow behind him.”
“Understood.”
Even though he had eaten the poison pellet and thus could not escape, it was a precaution just in case.
If he led at the front and the Young Master watched from behind, how could the bastard possibly run?
No matter that he was a condemned prisoner, compared to those who had learned martial arts he was little different from a child.
-“Follow me.”
It was just as they were about to open the prison door and leave.
“You… ugh!”
Crack. Thud.
Startled by the sound behind him, the intruder turned his head.
Then an unbelievable sight unfolded before his eyes.
Mok Gyeong-un had fallen to the floor with his neck completely snapped and twisted, his face frozen in shock.
‘!!!’
It had happened so quickly that the intruder momentarily lost the power of speech.
The boy then said to him as if it were nothing,
“What do we do now? It seems the condemned prisoner who was supposed to act as the stand-in has died.”
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