The Terminally Ill Prince is the Mad Dog of the Underworld (Novel) - Chapter 1
Chapter 1. The Mad Dog of the Underworld
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Discord
There are things in this world that cannot be changed from the moment of birth. No matter how talented you are or how fiercely you’ve lived, these are things you can never alter.
What use is the competence of a man born to penniless parents in the slums? At best, he’s destined to die meaninglessly as a blade wielder in the underworld, or become a disposable sword for those born into nobility.
That much was bearable. That’s just how the world was made.
But if they deliberately spit on that blade and try to break its edge…
“That won’t do.”
I am a discarded blade.
* * *
“The city air will set you free.”
This was the proverb that made a serf couple flee from their remote rural fief, where they lived under a patch of sky no bigger than a plot.
But instead of freedom, the city air gifted my parents with a terrible plague. By the side of the poor couple who collapsed while working endless days-
A young son lay exhausted from crying, cradled in the arms of their cold corpses.
“Child, do you have no parents?”
“…”
“Plague always strikes the poor first. Will you follow this old man?”
That shabby old man became my light. I desperately clung to his hand like a mewling kitten clinging to a passerby’s pants.
“Ouch! Boy, you’ve got quite a grip.”
In a corner of the slums, in a shack that barely kept out the rain and wind, I received the old man’s warm care.
“Boy, have you been secretly eating something good somewhere?”
“No.”
Though I ate only the worm-eaten bread and watery soup that grandfather shared while starving himself, I somehow grew stronger than others my age.
“Karzan. Come sit here.”
Though grandfather was an ordinary man, he taught me how to write letters by drawing in the dirt with tree branches and shared wisdom about living in the world.
I loved listening to grandfather’s stories. When I fell asleep imagining foods I’d never tasted, places I’d never been, people I’d never met, there were always exciting adventures waiting.
Looking back now, what kind of life did grandfather live? Even at my young age, I thought he must have been someone who lived through all sorts of hardships.
But grandfather never told me what I really wanted to know.
“Karzan. I’m sorry. There won’t be much to eat today.”
“I’m used to being hungry, it’s fine.”
A child raised in poverty grows up fast. Even at my young age, I tried my best to pull my own weight. I knew better than anyone that it would be shameless to act spoiled.
If it weren’t for grandfather who took me in without any obligation or connection, my life would have ended as the cold corpse of some orphan without even ground to be buried in.
“Karzan. Did you fight again?”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need to be sorry, I know you don’t throw the first punch.”
Grandfather would laugh, showing his missing front tooth.
“Boy, I wonder who you take after, being so good at fighting? How many were there this time?”
“Jack, that b*st*rd brought five older boys to gang up on me.”
“Ha! You’re the king of this alley.”
I can barely remember being scolded by grandfather.
But he often made one request of me.
“Karzan, live without shame. Being uneducated and poor is no crime. But living without human dignity is shameful.”
Grandfather was the only person who treated me as a human being.
“You don’t need to live foolishly. But just as I took you in without reason, don’t be stingy about showing small kindnesses to those without support. That might become a great light for someone.”
Those words became a kind of spell for me. In life’s most cowardly moments, I thought of grandfather.
Damn it. I couldn’t become a man who would shame grandfather. Without that light, I would have been just another corpse starved to death on the streets.
However, in the winter of my eleventh year, my childhood – which was the poorest but more peaceful than any other time in my life – came to an abrupt end.
“Karzan. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t even feed you good food once, or give you a nice set of clothes…”
I buried grandfather’s stiff body, which couldn’t survive the unusually cold winter, on some nameless hillside. As I came down after planting the blood-covered shovel as a gravestone…
I wept like the most pathetic man in the world.
Once again an orphan, I took to the streets, doing all sorts of odd jobs to survive.
“Karzan. I got a loaf of bread today. Let’s share it!”
“Big brother Karzan. Our brother got beaten up somewhere but won’t tell us about it.”
I was born with natural leadership qualities. People naturally started following me. Orphans, vagrants, pickpockets, drunkards’ sons, gamblers’ daughters… Every one of them was in a pitiful state.
They were foolish kids who would approach me with silly grins no matter how coldly I treated them.
There were many little ones trailing behind me – from those I’d saved from adult beatings, to pathetic ones who’d get beaten again the very next day after I helped them, to thugs who’d follow my words absolutely despite their nasty temperaments.
“Please stop being annoying and just go away.”
“But when we’re with Karzan, we don’t get beaten up for no reason.”
“Dad said he’d kill me if I come home again.”
“Oh? My mom said she’d pull all my hair out.”
“Lucky you. Your mom’s nicer than my dad.”
They were mostly pathetic and unnecessarily bright-natured kids who’d have troubled dreams if left alone.
So by the time my voice started changing and my Adam’s apple became prominent, I decided to gather these nowhere-to-go fellows under my name and protect them.
That was the moment a back-alley orphan dove into the dark sea of the underworld. In other words, should we call it the beginning of a legend?
It’s funny to say it myself, but back in the day, everyone in the area knew of ‘Mad Dog Karzan’.
The story of how one organization used “Do you know Karzan?” to identify spies remains a legendary tale even now.
But…
“Damn it.”
To think that I, of all people, would end up running to the ends of the earth following the moon’s shadow with three knife wounds in my belly. Life truly is unpredictable.
‘These b*st*rds are persistent.’
As expected of the notorious Black Society’s hunting dogs, their tenacity was unmatched.
Every place I arrived at in the dead of night had ambushers lying in wait, and none hesitated even as they uselessly lost their lives to my blade.
Were they that afraid of their master? Even I was intimidated by the murderous intent of these pursuers who doggedly chased me as if dying while catching me or dying without catching me made no difference.
Slash!
From behind the door of the safe house I’d barely reached, three blades shot out like lightning from waiting ambushers. In one motion, I avoided all their attacks while cutting through the waists of the black-clad men.
Thwack!
Even as they died, they tried to mark me with tracking incense on their bloodied hands.
I easily avoided that too and retreated, only to face flying daggers. I performed a backflip while deflecting five blades, then crushed some unfortunate fellow’s shoulder under my foot.
“Urgh!”
The black-clad man collapsed, swallowing his scream while clutching his broken bone. I used him as a stepping stone to land gracefully on the ground.
Right then.
“Die!”
A strike came flying as if it had been waiting for this moment. It was an executive’s mysterious assassination blade from behind.
While turning twice in mid-air, I stared straight at the blade’s trajectory as it aimed for my vital points, then cut off his wrist in one stroke.
“Arghhhh!”
How pathetic. Screaming because he couldn’t endure the pain.
After cutting the throat of this inferior man who had less endurance than his subordinates, I once again concealed myself in the darkness.
“He’s escaping! After him!”
To think even an expensive safe house would end up like this… Having nowhere to rest in this world is such a sorrowful thing.
I looked up at the stars twinkling in the night sky, remembering that shabby shack and grandfather from my childhood.
‘Disgustingly brilliant. Damn it.’
Despite living such an intense life, how was my current situation – without even one sanctuary left – any better than back then?
This was all because of the ‘Dark King’ and that damned lackey of his, that hairless toad.
‘Gloomy b*st*rd. Nasty b*st*rd. A man with no blood, no tears, no loyalty, and no hair.’
Anyway, I ran and jumped through alleys until my feet sweated, shaking off the pursuers. The ones hiding here must not have been very skilled, as I could easily lose them.
“…Good.”
I’ve caught my breath, at least for now.
“Whew.”
Now where was I in my story?
* * *
There was, of course, a reason how a rootless street orphan could jump into the underworld and become a legend.
I didn’t have any special connections, but instead, I had genius-level talent. It was overwhelming talent that no one could easily match.
To be honest, from the moment I first held a blade, I knew I was a born swordsman. Though I’d never properly learned swordsmanship or mental techniques, renowned blade wielders, retired knights, and even giants with ogre blood couldn’t handle me.
“Huff, huff… You were a born fighter, no, a born swordsman. A lowly nobody absorbed everything from me while sparring, growing like a blood tree feeding on blood…”
“Did you just copy my technique? How?”
“Why? Why can’t I, of all people, kill such a small and weak man!”
Techniques I caught glimpses of became mine instantly, and movements I conceived in my mind were perfectly executed.
My eye strength was like a bird soaring through the sky, and my intuition was so extraordinarily developed that I could dodge even blades behind me. I could see through enemy intentions clearly, and my adaptability was always exquisite.
‘In short, you could call me a phantom thief who steals others’ swordsmanship?’
Originally, Karzan as a warrior was blank paper, without any training or education. But I drew strokes on that pure white space with stolen sword techniques.
‘It was a picture that didn’t exist in this world.’
Therefore, the sword I wielded could be called ‘martial arts born from no martial arts.’ Like a rootless thorny vine growing around a rotten tree until it becomes as massive as a great tree.
One wandering swordsman described my talent this way:
“What a waste, what a waste. If you’d been born into a noble or prestigious family, you’d have the talent to advance their martial arts by several levels. Or you could have been a great master capable of creating unprecedented martial arts.”
In other words, no one in the underworld of that era could stop me.
We quickly took over territories and grew in influence day by day.
However, the underworld is a cold and ruthless place that doesn’t tolerate upstart youngsters who don’t know their place.
“Hey, are you one of that Karzan fellow’s minions?”
One day, thugs sent by a rival organization caused trouble in our territory, and when one of my brothers couldn’t stand it anymore and confronted them, he was severely beaten and taken away.
It was an obvious trap. I knew it was their trap, but I still went in alone.
“It’s Karzan!”
“Boss, this b*st*rd came alone! Hahaha!”
“Just as I heard, you’re crazy. Did you come alone asking to die?”
“Br-brother… I’m sorry.”
When I saw my brother gasping for breath, beaten to a pulp, my reason snapped.
“Ahhh! Monster, he’s a monster!”
“Please spare me. I’m sorry, please!”
After throwing them all into a pool of blood, I returned carrying my brother’s lifeless body.
That bloodbath made me a legend of the era. The curse “Mad Dog” began to be used almost like my title.
‘But the problem was that their backing wasn’t something to be taken lightly.’
Their parent organization was too massive, and we had no proper excuse to back out.
Moreover, they were quite good at politics. They practically handed over all their earnings while wagging their tails like dogs that hadn’t eaten for three days, so considering the money they’d received, the parent organization had no choice but to step in.
‘If we stayed like that, we’d all die like dogs.’
I broke into their leader’s place to negotiate directly.
“Which puppy dares to seek Daikin?”
‘Lord Daikin,’ or ‘Daikin the Dog Butcher.’
He was the absolute ruler of the underworld who was called by these names – some with fear and respect, others with hatred and resentment.
“Me, Karzan.”
“So you’re the mad dog making all the noise lately. Have you come all the way here to confess your crimes and offer your neck?”
The giant, a head taller than others, exuded the scent of blood and killing intent.
“As if that would happen? I just wanted to have a face-to-face talk.”
Instead of answering, Daikin turned around and asked.
“Who’s in charge of security today?”
“M-me, Lord.”
When a man who wasn’t even fully sober stepped forward fearfully, Daikin cut off his head in one stroke.
“…!”
“I overlooked you embezzling organization funds, but to dare neglect your duties and reek of alcohol before me. It’s a crime that must be paid with death.”
Daikin announced the dead man’s crimes while looking down at his headless corpse.
“Moreover, a punk who was just playing territory games with one of my subordinate organizations dares to seek an audience without permission. Because of this young fool who can’t tell heaven from earth, I, Daikin, had to behead an executive.”
Daikin threw me the executive’s head, now a chunk of meat dripping with blood.
“How will you repay this?”
“How brutal. That fellow merely drank comfortably because no madman would dare attack Lord Daikin’s headquarters in this area. What a pitiful end.”
“What?”
“Besides, if I helped you cut off a rotten branch, isn’t that actually beneficial? Come to think of it, I should be receiving thanks.”
“You crazy b*st*rd. How shameless.”
“No need for long words. I came to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
“Hahaha!”
Daikin burst out laughing at my audacity.
“Interesting. Where did such a fellow come from? Well then, let’s hear what you have to say.”
My gamble was successful. Instead of being forgiven, I ended up joining under the Lord who appreciated my qualities and courage.
Even now, I think I was lucky. I had been prepared to lose either my wrist or my neck, depending on how things went.
…And now.
“The encirclement has been breached!”
“Third squad leader is down!”
Emerging from my cave of thoughts, I heard the shouts of pursuers screaming behind me.
“Damn it! How can you not catch one man, what kind of disgrace is this!”
Actually, it was only natural.
Even as a nobody youngster, I’d stormed lairs where dozens waited alone, and in my twenties, when I had both skill and experience, I did the same thing.
If they thought they could handle me with numbers, it was nothing but a midsummer night’s dream.
Is it right for me to say this after taking so many sword wounds to my belly?
But what of it? I hadn’t fallen yet, so I wasn’t defeated.
* * *
The moon had descended a hand’s width.
How long had I been running?
‘Ah… I’m exhausted.’
I was feeling increasingly dizzy. Though I thought I’d stopped the bleeding well enough, I’d lost quite a bit of blood.
My body, unable to eat properly or get even a wink of sleep, had already reached its limit.
“Stop right there!”
“I’ll kill you, Karzan!”
The enraged pursuers abandoned even silence as they shouted.
“Stop if you don’t want to die!”
“We’ll kill you if we catch you!”
Well, they should decide if they want me to stop or run away.
“You idiots. At least coordinate your words.”
I turned back and raised my middle finger. This was considered a severe insult even among the dregs of the underworld, and the response was particularly vicious.
“You dog, when we catch you, we’ll give you the most painful death!”
“You’d better forget about dying peacefully!”
Their intensity was so fierce it sent chills down my spine.
What did I do so wrong? Suddenly feeling indignant, I shouted:
“You b*st*rds, stop chasing me already!”
“Then give that back, you crazy b*st*rd!”
A man with a demon-like face shouted from the front of the pursuit.
I know his name.
‘Ivan.’
This fellow was-
The right hand, confidant, hunting dog, loyal servant, and slave of that toad who put me in this state. In short, you could say he was the right hand of the Dark King’s right hand.
‘What’s that? Ugh, disgusting.’
I asked this vulgar fellow who was like a third arm growing from a right arm:
“Ivan. Is killing me that important?”
Ivan dismissed me as if telling me to stop talking nonsense.
“Stop spouting bullshit. If we just get that item back, you’re nothing.”
“Oh, so you’ll let me live?”
“Well, not exactly.”
“You piece of trash.”
Where in the world is there such an unfair deal? I didn’t feel like letting myself be caught even out of indignation.
‘By the way.’
I felt the small jewel box carefully stored in my breast while kicking off the ground with all my might.
‘So this is such an important item?’
Fine then. With the mindset that I’d rather die running than die captured, I ran toward the endless darkness of night.
“Hehehehehehe.”
It reminds me of my childhood. Laughing like a madman, I prayed to the night sky.
‘Lord, Lord.’
Please let me be a righteous phantom thief today too.