Chapter 15: Bargaining (2)

Note: The text here uses Mongseong's Gwiyeonggak, which translates something along the lines of pavilion of ghosts or something… idk. Anyways, the comic uses Phoenix Pavilion so I will be using that.

Note 2: Nobody is giving power stones. Guys, I need power stones to get this story into the rankings, so more people can read it. Motivation to edit more of this garbage mtl… I need motivation guys.

Note 3: A proper tl team is translating this story, but they have hidden it behind a password. To get the password we need t join their discord, but that is closed… so I can't actually get access to it, which is the whole reason I am putting it here. I'm not going to say their names because they might come under some legal problems… maybe… I'm not sure how stud works actually… just here editing a mtl to make it readable…

Note 4: This is the chapter for today. If I am able to, I will put up an extra chapter, but no promises as I have to go out tonight…

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*Bang*

The Great Lady Mrs. Seok, returned to Hyehwadang, her residence, and kicked the chair with force. The chair was split in half by a powerful kick.

She huffed with a red face, "How dare he!"

When she was at the pharmacy, she tried to calm down her anger as much as possible. However, when things happened like this, it was difficult to hold back her anger.

"Ma'am, calm down," Hoang, the bodyguard, carefully tried to dissuade Mrs. Seok.

Then she spoke in an irritated voice, "Calm? Do I look calm now? I looked for a skilled shaman and brought him to him, but the wrong guy turned out to be a skilled shaman… Ah!"

"Lady!"

Mrs. Seok grabbed the back of her neck. As her blood pressure rose, she felt dizzy and closed her eyes.

In fact, among the children of the family, although she kept the second child in check, who was extremely clever, and the youngest child, whom the lord regarded dearly, she did not pay any attention to the third child, Mok Gyeongwoon.

It was no exaggeration to say that he had no talent for martial arts and that his maternal family was almost ruined. So, she did not care at all. But who would have known that a guy she didn't even care about would become such a hidden tiger?

Mrs. Seok gritted her teeth. She didn't expect him to bargain like this with her. She thought that if he was even slightly scared, he would spit it out on his own.

'…It was like this originally.'

The Mok Gyeongwoon she knew did not have this kind of cunning. Rather, he seemed cowardly and cowardly. There were many strange points.

'Have you been hiding your true self?'

Well, until his mother died, she had always heard that he was quite brilliant.

'Maybe he did it to protect himself after that.'

If that was the case, it was be something she needed to be more wary of. He himself said that he was not interested in the position of chieftain, but the more patient he was and the more he knew how to hide himself, the more fearful she was.

'And that power…'

She was fascinated by that strange power. The maid, Sohwa, suddenly came to mind, her veins were popping out, and she was about to suffocate. Watching that, she thought of the dead Shaman Myoshin. It was very similar in the way he had died.

That meant, "…He must have killed Shaman Myoshin!"

"Are you talking about that guy Mok Gyeongwoon?"

"Yes."

Everything made sense then! She brought him here because he was rumoured to be quite powerful, so there was no way that such a person would end up being manipulated by a curse and go on a rampage. It was definitely Mok Gyeongwoon's doing.

At Mrs. Seok's assurance, the guard Hoang jumped up and down, "How dare he kill the person you called? Please leave it to your subordinates. Even before the curse is used, nobody will know."

"Don't…"

"What…?"

"If the second oldest; Mok Eunpyeong, or the youngest; Mok Yucheon, were to become lord thanks to his help, my son would have to deal with them."

"But if you get dragged around by that guy…"

"Who said you would be dragged around?"

"Yes?"

Mrs. Seok took something out of the white porcelain cabinet on one side of the room. It was a small bead made of jade. The bead had a unique pattern engraved on it, and she handed it over to Guard Hoang.

"This is?"

"Take this with you to Phoenix Pavilion. And inform each state of the fact that Shaman Myoshin was murdered."

"Oh!"

Guard Hoang, who understood her intention, nodded. Phoenix Pavilion; it was the group of shamans to which the deceased Myoshin belonged.

…

*Match*

With the slap, Guard Go Chan's head turned to the side. Guard Kam looked at him, clicking his tongue in disappointment.

"Tsk, tsk, was it really that difficult to keep an eye on just one baby?"

"N- No."

"Not only did you allow him to subdue you, but you took that guy to the main palace? Are you out of your mind?"

Go Chan could not say anything in response to Guard Kam's scolding. In fact, he wanted to reveal everything that had happened while he was away. No, that was the original plan. But now he was hesitating.

'…Why am I so anxious?'

With his martial arts skills alone, he could take care of Mok Gyeongwoon at any time if he wanted to. However, after experiencing the mysterious events around him, Go Chan became afraid. The fact that his blood was toxic and the strange curse bothered Go Chan, but what bothered me more was that he didn't feel like a human. If he pretended to side with him, with the intention of betraying him, it likely wouldn't end well.

'Damn it. I don't know what to do!'

It was great when they said they had found someone worthy of acting as Mok Gyeongwoon's body double, but now they were in a situation where they had to do whatever the body double told them to do.

"I believe your you will keep your mouth shut~"

'…'

Those words were quite scary. Since he was outside the pharmacy, Mok Gyeongwoon probably couldn't hear, but strangely, Go Chan seemed to notice something. It was a strange feeling, as if someone was watching you.

'Why is this?'

While he was caught up in the strange feeling, Guard Kam clicked his tongue and said, "If you let him snoop around one more time, I will take charge of this matter personally. Anyway, his thigh will be pierced, so it will be difficult for him to walk for a while."

"Don't let him notice your thoughts."

"All right."

"Anyway, you're sure you didn't get caught by the great lady, right?"

"Yes. I'm sure. I was right next to him. However, visiting the pharmacy made the great lady uncomfortable."

'To be exact, he bargained with the great lady…'

Go Chan's mouth went dry. The boundaries of whose side he was on had blurred. Half of the truth had to be hidden from the person who he was supposed to tell the truth to.

"Tsk… Tsk…" Guard Kam shook his head, 'As expected, he doesn't fit the role. I recognized him as the real Mok Gyeongwoon when he killed him, but as time passes, he will become increasingly difficult to control. We better hurry.'

Even with the warning, things could have gone wrong later if things continued unchecked like this. Guard Kam needed to make a quick decision about who to switch to.

"Never take your eyes off him, even when sleeping, keep one eyes open to see what he is up to."

"Aren't you going to warn him directly?"

"There are many eyes watching."

There were pharmacists and servants in the pharmacy.

Although they were just pharmacists, they were also guards, so they could not interfere with them. Even if this Mok Gyeongwoon was fake, they could not carelessly criticize him in front of so many watching eyes.

'He's clever. Nothing good will come of having a long conversation with that guy.'

It would have been better not to know how the situation was going. That way, it would be easier to change the person they were following later.

…

Regardless of the conversation going on outside, Mok Gyeongwoon was sitting peacefully, leaning back, flipping through a book and reading it.

It was the Book of Yin Yang Family (陰陽家本書).

As he was flipping through the book, a certain passage caught Mok Gyeongwoon's eyes.

'If a dead person becomes a evil spirit or becomes a curse, the status of the curse changes depending on various conditions.'

In the Book of Yin-Yang, there was more detail about monsters than expected. Looking at this, it could be said that a demon monk is a type of evil spirit or curse that has taken the appearance of an evil spirit.

'A low-ranking, weak evil spirit takes the form of an earthly spirit and can only influence the living to the extent of stimulating the sixth sense. Hmm…'

According to the Yin Yang Family book, the status of an evil spirit is divided into seven stages. Regardless of the various conditions, if we simply divide the status:

[The first one is the Red Spirit…..it is the spirit of the earth and can exert influence on living beings to the extent of causing goosebumps or mild chills.]

[The second is the Orange Spirit… it can influence others to the extent of making their body heavy or painful to the point of body aches]

[The third is the Yellow Spirit (Imperial)… from here on, it was described as being quite dangerous to the point where it should be exorcised. Such spirits can not only weaken their targets, but also directly and indirectly cause their deaths!]

'…To put it in perspective, the demonic monk is a Yellow Spirit.'

Yellow Spirit itself is divided into three stages depending on the level of risk.

[The level at which a lower-class person can reveal himself and cause direct fear in humans]

[Intermediate level is the level that can directly affect or inflict pain on living beings]

[The upper level is the level at which you can kill the target]

*Sleep*

At that time, something appeared! Like smoke penetrating the wall near the entrance to the pharmacy. It was Demon Monk.

'I didn't know, but it seems like Demon Monk was a higher-ranking curse than I thought. So that's what it means to influence a living being. I understand why Demon Monk could not touch the dead body of Shaman Myoshin. Because it was already dead. A dead body ultimately has no life, so it cannot have any influenced. Right.'

However, there were some facts that he learned that were not described in the Book of Yin Yang Family. He had Demon Monk target Lady Seok, the great lady. However, the Great Lady immediately reacted to the slight touch of the Demon Monk and was pushed away.

'Did you say she was a top-notch expert? On the other hand, the great lady's maid did not notice at all and was helpless even when the demonic monk directly threatened her life. What is their difference? Is it because the maid didn't learn martial arts? Is it possible that curses may not work for those who have learned martial arts? There was no such description of that in the Book of Yin Yang Family.'

*Quick*

At that time, the door to the medicine hall was opened and Go Chan, the guard, came in. At this, Mok Gyeongwoon slightly raised the corner of his mouth and muttered.

"It's a good test subject."

"Yes?" Go Chan asked back because he wanted to know something.

"Nice. I was not talking to you Go Chan. Shall we raise your arms a bit?"

"Young Master, what is that?"

It was that moment.

*Startle*

For a moment, Go Chan felt his whole body shiver. It was something strange that went beyond the realm of the five senses, which can be considered physical sensations.

*Park*

"Huh?"

Go Chan's arm suddenly tried to lift upward. Surprised, Go Chan sent his strength to withstand it. However, Go Chan's arm, which had been holding on tremblingly, did not last long and was forcibly lifted upward.

'What the hell is this…'

Go Chan was extremely embarrassed because he could not understand the English text. But her immediately knew why this happened.

"Young Master?"

At this, Mok Gyeongwoon gently waved his hand. Then, he was able to lower my wrist, which had been forcibly lifted, as if someone had grabbed his wrist. Even though his wrist was lowered, Go Chan had been very surprised and said to Mok Gyeongwoon.

"What on earth did you just do?"

"I just need to check."

"To check?"

"Yes."

"Why did you do that to me…"

"It was just right. Did you say that Go Chan Guard was a second-rate warrior?"

"Yes, but. What on earth were you checking?"

"You don't have to know."

"…"

'Yeah, there's no way you could tell me nicely,' Go Chan stood in front of the bed with a look of discomfort on his face, 'Damn you son of a bitch.'

He slightly regretted his earlier decision. It would have been better to tell the truth about what happened to the executioner, Guard Kam.

Anyway, Mok Gyeongwoon nodded to himself as if he had learned something, 'It works for Go Chan.'

Go Chan also recognized it immediately the moment the Demon Monk grabbed his wrist. Perhaps because he learned inner energy, his senses were definitely more sensitive than those of ordinary people. Although he held on for a little while, he could not overcome the power of the curse.

'The power of the Demon Monk can be easily used by ordinary people and second-class warriors.'

That was the standard that worked reliably. Although it has not been confirmed for sure yet, the power of an Yellow level evil spirit may not be very effective for a top-notch expert. If that were the case, it would be a bit disappointing.

'Well, that doesn't mean it's not useful. The strange Demon Monk was very useful in many ways.'

Just as he had eavesdropped on the conversation between Go Chan and Guard Kam, he could have monitored it from a distance, and it would be easy to send reconnaissance in advance to a blocked areas.

How useful was this? A thought occurred to Mok Gyeongwoon as he read the following passages from the Book of Yin Yang Family.

'It wouldn't be a bad idea to get a stronger monster. The fourth… a green spirit…. Is very dangerous. A commandment is definitely needed. A vengeful spirit that has existed for over several decades. It can affect objects around it and confuse living beings enough to cause auditory hallucinations.'