Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 43 - Manor Lord (1)

Chapter 43 – Manor Lord (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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A man in a dark blue daoist robe with a book chest strapped to his back was loitering not far from the manor of Yeon Mok Sword Manor with a talisman in his hand.

-Flap flap!

As he did so, before long, a shadow with great flapping wings appeared centered around where he stood.

Soon it gradually shrank, as though descending.

“Gudiao. Did you find him?”

At those words, the shrunken eagle shadow shook its head from side to side.

At that, the man wore an expression of incomprehension, then formed a blade-finger seal and pointed toward somewhere in empty air.

Then he closed his eyes and concentrated on something.

Soon the man opened his eyes and frowned.

‘What is this?’

Receiving what Gudiao had seen, he found it difficult to understand this situation.

The entire manor looked as though it were surrounded by a pale fog.

Such a phenomenon did not occur easily.

It was created by the powerful thought-force of a high-rank resentful soul, and could be called a kind of Domain of Ghost Intent.

‘……..This is no ordinary matter.’

In occult arts, a Domain of Ghost Intent was close to a barrier.

Only a resentful soul at least on the level of a Green Spirit or above could form such a Domain of Ghost Intent.

That was the reason the man considered this serious.

‘What am I supposed to do with this?’

He had tried to observe the bastard from outside, but that had become difficult.

Even New Moon, a master of esoteric arts with occult skill nearly on par with his own, had been done in, so he could not recklessly approach through spells.

And because Ghost Shadow Pavilion had incurred the First Madam’s wrath, there was little hope of finding a way inside either.

“Hmm.”

He had been pondering like that.

Then his eye caught a drunken young man walking along with his arms slung around women who looked to be courtesans on both sides.

When the staggering young man vomited on the ground and collapsed, the courtesans tried to wake him.

“Oh my!”

“Young Master Mok? Young Master Mok? You should go home and rest. You said you’d show us around.”

“Mnngh……”

The courtesans shook him several times to wake him, then glanced around.

Then, when the young man called Young Master Mok still could not come to his senses, they quietly began rummaging through his robe.

At the sight, the corner of the man’s mouth slowly rose.

* * *

The foundational text of the Yin-Yang School states that a Red Spirit, the lowest rank of resentful soul, is a kind of earthbound spirit and can influence living beings only to the extent of making their skin crawl or giving them a slight chill.

Gochan became a resentful soul through the single-minded resolve not to die, grievance, and the death aura Mok Gyeong-un poured into him.

And he was the lowest rank of all, a Red Spirit.

Since he had only just become a resentful soul, there was not a single thing he knew.

Thus, even possessing someone was something he neither properly understood nor knew exactly how to do.

It was only because of Blue Spirit’s advice that he was able to take hold of Ha Chae-rin’s body.

As he suppressed the ego, fragments of memory seeped in.

A room drenched in blood.

A heart filled with grievance.

[Grandpa? Don’t tell me you’re dead? Grandpa, you’re Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek, one of the Four Great Assassins of the Central Plains. Get up. You can’t die. Get up!]

[The sect leader’s position is vacant, and you’re telling me to accomplish Hundred Days, Hundred Kills? What kind of fucked-up nonsense is that?]

[Then do it! Just do it!]

[Grandpa…….I’ll definitely inherit your position and avenge you. No matter who it is.]

Through absorbing Ha Chae-rin’s memories, he came to know something.

Namely, that an incident had occurred in which the sect leader was suddenly murdered, and because of that the Flying Assassin Sect had fallen into considerable internal confusion.

Ha Chae-rin was carrying out Hundred Days, Hundred Kills in order to become the sect leader of that Flying Assassin Sect.

‘Was that how it was?’

It was something rather astonishing.

The dead sect leader, who had been granted the title of one of the Four Great Assassins, was an expert who had reached the transcendent peak realm and, befitting one at the summit of the assassin world, had a near-perfect commission success rate.

Yet such an outstanding assassin had suddenly been murdered.

From Ha Chae-rin’s memories, both she and the people inside the sect seemed to think it might have been the work of one of the other Four Great Assassins.

If that were the case, then it might pose considerable difficulties for the Flying Assassin Sect in taking revenge.

Of course, that was their problem.

Gochan dearly wanted to resolve his own problem.

“Young Master…….”

“Yes?”

“Please, remove me from this body.”

-Shiver!

Even as he spoke, goosebumps rose on his arms and he shuddered.

Because of his own voice.

Anyone might imagine being the opposite sex once or twice, but when it actually happened, Gochan found it unbearable.

“If I remove you, then I would have to deal with that woman immediately.”

“……..”

She was an assassin who had come after Mok Gyeong-un’s life.

He could not leave her alive.

“I heard that woman is the granddaughter of the Flying Assassin Sect leader. Was she supposed to be the next sect leader?”

“T-that may be true, but……”

“If she came because of retired Guard Gam as well, then if the granddaughter dies, won’t that become even more troublesome?”

“……..That……is true.”

Gochan’s voice sank.

He could not deny Mok Gyeong-un’s words.

Though the disciples of the Flying Assassin Sect suffered because of her temperament, their loyalty and respect toward the dead Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek were still very great.

So if his granddaughter Ha Chae-rin were to die, the entire Flying Assassin Sect would come after Mok Gyeong-un with every means and method they had.

In truth, that was what he wanted inwardly.

‘I wish he’d die.’

But if Mok Gyeong-un died, then he too would be extinguished.

Blue Spirit had told him that was the fate of a shikigami linked by fate.

‘Damn it.’

It was miserable.

He really was no different from a slave.

Because he shared life and death with Mok Gyeong-un, he was in a position where he could not even allow him to die.

Gochan could not help but feel conflicted.

-Hoo.

To him, Blue Spirit, who had been puffing and blowing smoke from her pipe, snorted and said,

-Why do you look so deathly, newcomer? Since you’re dead anyway, you should be grateful just to have possessed a living body.

Was this something to be grateful for?

No, then why not put him in a man’s body?

But because he feared Blue Spirit, what came out of his mouth differed from what he truly thought.

“…….That may be so, but.”

-You were weak when you were alive anyway.

“……..”

-Whether you retired from assassination or not, if you’re still only second-rate at that age, you had almost no hope to begin with.

“……..”

It could be called killing with a single inch of steel.

Every word Blue Spirit said tormented Gochan like a sharp dagger.

It was just when he had been left speechless in another sense.

-Pak!

At that moment, Gochan instinctively jerked his head back.

“Y-Young Master?”

The sole of Mok Gyeong-un’s shoe was right in front of his nose.

Had he been even a little slower, he would have been kicked in the jaw on the spot.

To him, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“You certainly are faster. Even faster than Guard Gochan before he died.”

“Pardon?”

At those words, Gochan frowned.

Now that he thought about it, that movement had not been his own original movement.

He had merely followed where the body led.

Ha Chae-rin’s body, which had reached the peak realm, possessed qi-sense far sharper than Gochan’s, who had been no more than second-rate.

‘Ah!’

At this, Blue Spirit let out a small laugh and said,

-Why are you so newly startled? Since you’ve possessed a strong body, it’s only natural.

“I-is that so?”

-Even so, it would be better for you to adapt. Since your own level is low, it will take more time before you can properly make use of that body.

Even resentful souls had ranks.

Blue Spirit, who had risen to the realm of a demon-spirit, could draw out strength beyond the body’s original power when she possessed someone.

But Gochan, who was no more than a lowest-rank Red Spirit, could not go that far.

Even so, since it was still the body of a peak-realm expert, one could say he had become incomparably stronger than in his original body.

‘Peak realm……..’

Gochan felt strangely moved.

When he had trained in martial arts while alive, his goal had only been to reach first-rate.

But contrary to that earnest wish, his martial talent had been lacking, so in the end he had never crossed that threshold.

Yet now he had obtained a body that had reached the peak realm.

Once he became aware of that, his feelings changed considerably.

-Now it looks a bit more to your liking.

At those words from Blue Spirit, Gochan came to his senses and waved his hands.

Though he had indeed been dazzled by the realm of the peak, the fact that it was still a woman’s body continued to trouble him.

-It seems that because you’re a newcomer, your way of thinking is still like that of the living.

Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.

Once one truly accepted that one was dead and was now a soul, the body was no more than a shell.

Of course, there was still a difference between a shell one liked and one one did not.

But she could not understand why he showed such revulsion simply because it was a woman.

-Tsk, tsk. If you’ve gained a young and beautiful body, you should be satisfied.

“I-I’m a man. Being young may be nice, but a woman’s body is truly……”

-And if I catch you anywhere unseen staring into a mirror by yourself with a satisfied grin, I’ll kill you.

“Why would I ever do something like that?”

He had no such taste.

If he had to possess anything, he merely wanted it to be a man’s body.

To him, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“For now, please adapt to that body. If an opportunity arises later, I’ll move you.”

He wanted to ask to be changed at once, but recognizing what the situation was, Gochan could not say anything more.

So he merely nodded in dejection.

It seemed he would have no choice but to live in Ha Chae-rin’s body for a while.

Still, would this bastard truly move him into another body so obediently?

He felt strangely uneasy.

Just then,

-Bang bang bang!

The sound of someone running down the corridor was heard.

Then someone knocked on the door.

-Knock knock!

“Who is it?”

-Young Master! This is Bokhyeon of the inner hall.

“Come in.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the door opened and a man dressed in inner-hall garb entered the room.

After bowing his head slightly in simple greeting, the man called Bokhyeon spoke in a voice filled with something like elation.

“Young Master. Rejoice.”

“Pardon?”

What did he mean, rejoice, so suddenly?

As he stood there puzzled, the inner-hall warrior Bokhyeon said,

“The Manor Lord has awakened!”

‘!?’

At those words, a strange light entered the eyes of Mok Gyeong-un and Gochan, who was possessing Ha Chae-rin’s body.

At that time, the Manor Lord had not merely been possessed, but had been dying from the killing force of the demon monk.

Though it had withdrawn from his body, it had still been greatly weakened, yet it seemed he had somehow survived.

‘Hm.’

This was outside his expectations.

He had just been considering whether to leave this place once he had at least grown somewhat familiar with the basic art before the Manor Lord died.

If he stayed any longer for no reason, he would only become entangled unpleasantly with the First Madam or the second young master.

Yet now the Manor Lord had awakened.

Then had he completely recovered?

“Young Master?”

At the call of the inner-hall warrior Bokhyeon, Mok Gyeong-un altered his expression, placed a hand on his chest, and said as if relieved,

“Ahhh. That is truly a great relief. To hear that Father has awakened.”

At the sight of him acting, Gochan clicked his tongue inwardly.

Of course, inner-hall warrior Bokhyeon, who did not know Mok Gyeong-un’s true nature, did not suspect a thing.

“It is a blessing upon Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”

“I see. Thank you for coming to convey it like this.”

“Ah! That is not all.”

“Pardon?”

“The Manor Lord is asking for you, Young Master.”

“For me?”

“Yes. He said you are to be brought at once.”

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head slightly.

The Manor Lord had asked for him the moment he awoke?

What was this?

-Isn’t it because of that hidden place beneath the medicine hall?

‘Ahhh…….’

At Blue Spirit’s words, Mok Gyeong-un inwardly thought that might be the case.

It was said that he had only just awakened, but it was possible he had checked the place where the manual had been hidden.

If so, then naturally he himself would be the object of suspicion.

-What are you going to do?

At that question, Mok Gyeong-un lightly shrugged.

At present, he had no choice but to go because an inner-hall warrior had personally come to fetch him.

Judging from the joyous reaction of the inner-hall warrior alone, it was not yet certain whether the reason for summoning him was the matter Blue Spirit had anticipated.

“Understood. I will go to the main hall shortly.”

“No. He said you are to be brought immediately.”

“Immediately?”

‘Then perhaps not?’

The more it was put like that, the harder it became to be sure.

Whatever it was, it seemed this meeting with the Manor Lord could not be delayed.

“Understood. Then let us go.”

At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Gochan, inhabiting Ha Chae-rin’s body, prepared out of habit to follow along.

At that, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head and said,

“Go……Guard Chae-rin doesn’t have something to organize in the storeroom?”

‘…….Guard Chae-rin?’

The names got mixed.

Apparently finding it cringeworthy, Gochan twisted his face.

Then he suddenly recalled what had happened in the storeroom.

‘!!!!!’

It was the place where he had lost his life.

Had they not dealt with his corpse yet?

“I’ll be back, so while I’m gone, please take care of it.”

“……..Understood.”

When Gochan answered, Mok Gyeong-un left the room following the inner-hall warrior Bokhyeon.

Blue Spirit naturally followed Mok Gyeong-un.

After they had gone, Gochan felt somewhat conflicted.

Things had now come to the point where he had to deal with his own corpse.

‘Damn it.’

Gochan shook his head.

Then he rose from his seat to go to the storeroom.

‘Mmm.’

For a moment, Gochan blushed and looked down at his chest.

The weight and sensation, things he had never experienced when he was a man, made him feel strange.

It even gave him goosebumps for no reason.

He looked into the mirror, but he could not adapt.

It was still exactly Ha Chae-rin’s appearance, a fascinating face dressed in flowing garments, and she was certainly beautiful.

Perhaps because she had developed well,

‘It’s more bothersome than I expected.’

His chest felt a bit heavy.

After glancing once around to make sure no one was there, Gochan was seized by curiosity and without realizing it slowly brought both hands toward his chest.

-Srrr!

At that moment, Blue Spirit’s face suddenly appeared, passing through the paper door.

“………”

In an instant, Gochan froze into a block of ice.

-Tsk, tsk.

Blue Spirit clicked her tongue as though he were pathetic, then drew her face back.

-Srrr!

Gochan hurriedly opened the door and rushed outside, but she had already long vanished.

He felt like digging a grave and climbing into it immediately.

* * *

‘Hmm.’

A strange light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes as he headed for the main hall.

That was because he was not the only one going there.

At the branching path, Mok Yu-cheon, whose complexion had taken on a somewhat dark red tinge compared with four days earlier, was also walking under the guidance of another inner-hall warrior.

‘So it isn’t because of the medicine hall matter?’

If that could be called fortunate.

Just as he was thinking that, Mok Yu-cheon spotted Mok Gyeong-un and quickened his steps as though he had something to say.

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