Chapter 177: Heavenly Moon Palace-3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 177: Heavenly Moon Palace-3
Sun-woo finally realized the source of the dissonance.
The sense of wrongness stemmed from the gap between his current reality and the past events being replayed before his eyes.
He understood now.
He hadn't returned to the modern world.
And everything he had experienced thus far was not a dream.
CRACK!
It happened then.
The sound of something shattering struck Sun-woo’s ears.
He looked around. Cracks began to spiderweb across his studio apartment.
The small refrigerator, the dining table, the bed, his phone—even his father began to fracture.
SHATTER!
In an instant, the entire scenery collapsed.
The vast plains stretched out before him once again.
"Sigh..."
Sun-woo let out a long breath. He had almost been completely fooled by the illusion.
Shiver.
A chill ran down his spine. He realized anew the terrifying nature of the Thousand-Transforming Illusionary Mist Formation. If he hadn't noticed the discrepancy, he would have been left floundering in that phantom world indefinitely.
Wait, "Thousand-Transforming"?
A specific word flickered through his mind. Didn't the name imply that a thousand changes would occur?
The moment he realized this, his surroundings began to shift once more.
"Shit."
Sun-woo spat out a curse. It seemed the illusions were far from over.
*
The environment changed in a heartbeat.
Sun-woo looked around again. This new setting was also incredibly familiar to him.
He saw luxurious decorations and a plush bed, while the scent of high-end incense drifted past his nose. He recognized the room immediately.
He was in Tang Se-gi’s bedroom.
Sun-woo felt a wave of confusion. Why was he here? Since transforming into the Poison King, he hadn't visited this place even once. It was a location that had begun to fade even from his memories.
What kind of lingering attachment could have summoned this place?
"What are you standing there like an idiot for?"
A sharp voice pierced his ears from behind.
Sun-woo felt another chill. That biting tone was far too familiar.
He turned around slowly. There, standing before him, was a person who shouldn't exist.
"Did you enjoy pretending to be me all this time?"
Standing behind Sun-woo was Tang Se-gi—the man he had personally hacked to pieces and killed. He was staring at Sun-woo with a bright, mocking smile.
Sun-woo’s skin crawled. Why the hell was this guy popping up now?
He drew the Dragon Tail Soft Sword from his waist.
Chring!
He had no intention of being toyed with by illusions any longer.
"What, are you going to kill me again?" Tang Se-gi asked, watching him.
"Why does a dead bastard keep showing up? If you're dead, just stay gone."
Sun-woo raised his sword without hesitation. It was just an illusion. He only needed to cut it down.
Creek!
Just then, the door swung open.
"Gi-a!"
A person appeared. She had sharp yet beautiful eyes, a straight nose, and lips with a reddish hue set into a face with elegant lines. She was a woman of immense beauty.
Sun-woo knew exactly who she was.
"...Ga-ryeo!?"
Indeed. The woman was Un Ga-ryeo, the wife of the Tang Clan Head and Tang Se-gi’s mother.
Un Ga-ryeo rushed to Tang Se-gi and pulled him into a protective embrace.
"Please, do not kill our Gi-a."
She looked at Sun-woo, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded.
"If you must kill him, kill me instead!"
Sun-woo’s hands began to tremble. He knew this was all an illusion. He knew he had to strike them down immediately.
And yet, his hands wouldn't move. He couldn't find the strength.
Thud.
"Please... do not harm my precious child."
The Great Matriarch knelt before Sun-woo. She pressed her hands together, begging for mercy.
"Stop it... Ga-ryeo."
Sun-woo called out to her, but it was useless. she only sobbed harder, her pleas becoming more desperate.
Grit.
Sun-woo ground his teeth. This was just a phantom created by the Thousand-Transforming Illusionary Mist Formation. He couldn't let himself be swayed by such a thing.
He raised his sword again, intending to cut through the illusions and move forward.
"Are you going to kill my mother now, too?"
Tang Se-gi spoke with a playful smirk.
"You're both just illusions!" Sun-woo shouted.
"Right, we are illusions," Tang Se-gi nodded, agreeing easily. "But it's a fact that you killed me, isn't it?"
"You deserved to die!" Sun-woo retorted harshly.
The man was a monster. He had raped countless women and murdered more people than one could count.
"Sure, I deserved to die. But my mother didn't, did she?"
"W-what!?" Sun-woo stammered.
"You shouldn't have shared a bed with her—especially not while disguised as her son. If she found out she shared her heart with the murderer who killed her child, what choice do you think she'd make? Would she still love you? Or would she take her own life?"
Tang Se-gi continued, his smile widening as if he found the situation hilarious.
"You whispered lies of love to her while wearing her son's face. What would she think if she knew the truth?"
"I had no choice! It was the only way to save her!" Sun-woo argued back.
"No, you should have let her die then. You shouldn't have committed the deception of impersonating her son."
Tang Se-gi’s eyes turned cold.
"You are killing her twice. Once when you shared her bed as her son, and a second time by being the murderer who stole her son's life."
"S-stop it!"
"How are you any different from me or Lee Jae-won? Don't you feel any dissonance, living happily with the mother after killing her son?"
"It's different!" Sun-woo screamed.
"How is it different? Killing without regard for a family's peace for your own selfish desires, deceiving them with lies... it's all the same. So tell me, what exactly is the difference?"
".........."
"It's exactly the same. Stop acting like a hypocrite, Jang Sun-woo. You're just the same kind of human as the rest of us."
Those sharp words pierced the guilt Sun-woo had buried deep within his heart. The shame he had tried so hard to hide began to rear its head.
Nothing Tang Se-gi said was wrong. In the end, he had killed the person the Great Matriarch loved and then committed the atrocity of sharing her bed while disguised as her son.
He felt like he couldn't breathe. His head began to spin.
The claim that he was no different from Lee Jae-won—the man he despised most—became a thorn that dug deep into his soul.
Sun-woo lowered his head. It was true. No matter how many excuses he made to justify it, he had deceived her. He had killed her son, stolen his identity, and whispered false love.
A sudden doubt took hold. How am I any different from Lee Jae-won? Am I not just the same kind of trash?
Thud.
Sun-woo fell to his knees. His legs had lost all strength. The guilt he had forcibly suppressed seemed to have made his powerful body weaker than a bundle of straw.
All energy drained from him.
"Just die, Sun-woo. It's easier if you're dead. There's no way to escape the guilt binding you other than death. Die and apologize to everyone. Say, 'I'm sorry for being born.'"
Tang Se-gi leaned in, whispering sweetly into Sun-woo’s ear. The words were so tempting, so alluring, that Sun-woo began to shake.
If I die, will that be an apology? If I die now, can I avoid becoming a man like Lee Jae-won?
Negative emotions amplified. He felt himself spiraling toward a terminal choice.
Sun-woo looked at the Dragon Tail Soft Sword in his hand. He stared at the blade. It was incredibly sharp. Sharp enough to kill him instantly if he aimed it right.
The negativity surged again. Sun-woo poured internal energy into the sword.
Snap!
The Dragon Tail Soft Sword straightened, becoming rigid. Sun-woo slowly brought the blade to his throat. He just wanted to escape all the pain.
It was then.
WHACK!
Something slammed into Sun-woo’s jaw.
"Urgh!"
Sun-woo cried out at the sharp pain in his jaw.
THWACK!
"Guh!"
This time, it hit his chest. Sun-woo looked up to see what was attacking him.
And then...
SLAP!
He saw it. The Dragon Tail Soft Sword was flying toward his face.
SLAP!
SLAP!
The flat of the blade began to relentlessly smack Sun-woo’s cheeks.
"Ow! Stop!"
Sun-woo screamed involuntarily. The sword was hitting him with a surprising amount of internal energy. He hurriedly withdrew his own energy from the weapon.
As soon as he did, the Dragon Tail Soft Sword, which had been flailing about and hitting him, turned back into a limp, flexible blade.
"You son of a bitch!"
Sun-woo cursed. Being dragged into this formation was bad enough, but being slapped by his own sword made his blood boil.
"Hey! You do that one more time and I'm throwing you into a furnace!"
Sun-woo barked at the sword, but without his energy, it just hung there limply. He shook his head. The thing really had a mind of its own.
Just then, Tang Se-gi spoke up again.
"What a shame, the flow was interrupted. Well, you should finish what you started, shouldn't you?"
Sun-woo felt a sense of oddity. The overwhelming negative emotions from before weren't creeping back up. The guilt hadn't vanished, but his reason was no longer paralyzed to the point of suicide.
"Heh."
Sun-woo let out a hollow laugh. He realized he had been completely played by the formation. It had amplified the guilt hidden deep within him to paralyze his judgment.
He looked down at the Dragon Tail Soft Sword. If it hadn't slapped the sense back into him, he would have taken his own life.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and slit your throat!" Tang Se-gi shouted.
"Why the hell should I?" Sun-woo asked, looking at him.
"Do you think you have any value left as a living being? You're no different from me or Lee Jae-won! Do you really think a person like you needs to keep living?"
Slice.
Thud.
"Huh?"
In the middle of his heated speech, Tang Se-gi’s right arm fell off.
"AAAAAARGH!! What are you doing?! I told you to slit your own throat!"
"You asked how I'm different from Lee Jae-won?" Sun-woo said, watching the screaming man. "It's the courage not to run away."
"What!?"
"I will live the rest of my life carrying this guilt. Death is nothing more than a means of escape. I won't justify my wrongs, and I won't ignore them. I'll simply shoulder them."
Sun-woo stared at Tang Se-gi with eyes full of resolve.
"Don't try to justify it! You'll eventually find comfort and become a monster just like Lee Jae-won!"
Slash.
Thud.
Tang Se-gi’s head went flying.
"Don't decide that for me. I'm the one who decides who I am."
Sun-woo looked down at the corpse.
"Gi-aaaaaaa!"
The Great Matriarch, who had been kneeling, crawled over to embrace Tang Se-gi’s head and wailed.
"You demon! You monster! Gi-a! You killed my Gi-a!"
She began to pour out every curse imaginable. Sun-woo realized that if she ever truly found out he had killed her son, this is exactly how she would react.
He slowly raised his sword.
"Yes, kill me too! Kill Gi-a and kill me! I don't want to live in a world without him!"
Every word she spoke felt like a knife to his heart.
"Ga-ryeo, I'll carry this for the rest of my life."
Swish.
Slice.
Sun-woo swung his sword without hesitation. Before long, the Great Matriarch fell, slumped over Tang Se-gi.
Sun-woo looked at her with a heavy heart. He knew it was an illusion. He knew it was a lie. But the fact that he had cut her down left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Sigh..."
He let out a deep breath. This formation was truly a piece of work, messing with a person's heart like this.
CRACKLE!
The sound of something fracturing echoed again. Sun-woo looked around. Tang Se-gi’s room was splitting apart. The illusion was breaking.
Flash.
A moment later, he was back in the vast plains.
"Shit."
Sun-woo was genuinely annoyed. He felt like he was being toyed with.
This will never end if I keep going like this.
He fell into deep thought. He didn't know the mechanics, but the formation showed illusions that deceived not just sight, but touch, hearing, taste, and smell as well.
He had only faced two illusions so far, yet he already felt drained. The thought of doing this 998 more times made his head ache.
I can't let that happen.
He pondered a way out. If more illusions like that hit him, he wouldn't be able to handle it. He had almost killed himself during the second one. It was too dangerous to continue like this.
Sun-woo rubbed his chin.
Aha.
A flash of inspiration struck him. He looked down at the Dragon Tail Soft Sword in his hand, then at the Black Dragon Robe he was wearing.
These Mystical Artifacts weren't human, so they wouldn't be affected by illusions, right? Moreover, since they could move with their own physical force, they could serve as guides.
Sun-woo slowly closed his eyes. He began to circulate the Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art.
Yin-Yang Harmony Qi began to shimmer around his body. He started to pour that energy into the Dragon Tail Soft Sword and the Black Dragon Robe.
The sword began to writhe, and the robe started to flutter. Sun-woo projected his will to them.
Lead me out of here.
Strength surged through the sword and the robe as they began to pull Sun-woo forward. He relaxed his body and began to walk, letting them lead the way.
Sun-woo’s pace grew faster and faster.