Chapter 759: Eternal Suffering
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 759: Eternal Suffering
Sun-woo gazed ahead with a slow, steady stare.
The wretched sight of Lee Jae-won began to fill his vision.
Those eyes, which once glittered with malice, were now mangled and crushed.
The left arm that had been with him his whole life was gone, leaving only an empty sleeve.
Both legs, which had once supported him firmly upon the earth, had been severed, leaving nothing behind.
And his phallus, which he must have used for his hideous deeds throughout his life, was crushed beyond recognition.
It was a sight that could only be described as a total wreck.
How gruesome, Sun-woo thought.
It was a truly horrific sight.
Yet, he felt no pity. If anything, this seemed like a merciful sentence compared to the atrocities the man had committed over the past twenty years. His crimes had forced countless people to live in agonizing pain.
Step, step.
Sun-woo began to walk forward slowly.
He eventually came to a halt right in front of Lee Jae-won’s nose.
“…Jang… Jang Sun-woo!”
Lee Jae-won spoke, his voice sounding utterly dismal.
“You recognized me easily enough,” Sun-woo replied in a calm tone.
Though the man’s eyes were gone, he seemed to have identified Sun-woo through his sensory perception.
“Are you… are you here to kill me?!”
Lee Jae-won’s face brightened as he spoke. His voice was thick with hope.
“……Yes.”
Sun-woo answered dryly.
“Thank you! Thank you! Finally! I can finally die!”
Upon hearing Sun-woo’s confirmation, Lee Jae-won began to cheer. The thought of escaping this wretched, miserable pain made him feel genuinely elated.
…Should I not kill him?
Seeing Lee Jae-won rejoice at the prospect of death, Sun-woo fell into deep thought, his expression turning grave. He wondered if killing him was truly the right thing to do.
The man was a sinner—a criminal who had committed atrocities that could not be easily washed away. Was it right to grant such a sinner the peaceful rest of death so easily?
He hesitated.
And more than anything…
“Hurry and kill me! Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!”
Hearing the man beg for death triggered a perverse urge in Sun-woo to do the exact opposite. He didn’t want to give the bastard what he wanted.
…But I can’t just leave him like this.
He couldn't simply walk away. If he left Lee Jae-won alive while he still possessed the World’s Blessing, there was no telling what kind of trouble might arise in the future.
Therefore, he had to die. Right here, right now.
Sun-woo clenched his fist.
Wooooooong.
He began to concentrate his internal energy into his fist. He intended to burst the man’s heart in a single blow.
“Hehehehe… Hehehehe!”
Sensing Sun-woo’s gathering energy, Lee Jae-won began to giggle.
Finally, he could die. It was finally happening. He would be liberated from this eternal agony. How could he not laugh?
“Hehehehehehe!”
Lee Jae-won’s vulgar laughter grew more intense.
What a disgusting laugh.
Watching him, Sun-woo felt a surge of irritation. It felt as though the bastard was getting exactly what he wanted.
Swoosh!
It was then.
The sharp sound of something piercing the wind echoed in his ears. Sun-woo spun around instantly.
He saw it—a single sword, wreathed in an ominous energy, flying straight toward them.
Sun-woo immediately moved to manifest the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth. He intended to twist the flow and deflect the sword’s trajectory.
However, he was suddenly struck by a sense of bewilderment.
I can’t feel the flow.
There was no flow of ki coming from the flying sword at all.
It’s a sword imbued with will.
He realized it instantly. The sword carried a will—a desperate, agonizingly persistent will.
Dangerous.
Sun-woo immediately threw himself to the side to dodge the blade.
Swoooooosh!
The sword grazed past where Sun-woo had been standing a moment ago.
Crunch!
It plunged straight into the heart of the prone Lee Jae-won. It was a strike of terrifying precision.
“Ke-hu-uk!”
The sound of Lee Jae-won’s final breath escaping his lungs rang out. Sun-woo immediately turned his head to identify the person who had thrown the sword.
There, he saw Yoon Je-gyeom, covered in blood, still holding his throwing posture.
“Haah… haah… I’m sorry… I simply… couldn’t let Lee Jae-won’s life… end by your hand.”
Yoon Je-gyeom apologized through ragged breaths for stealing the kill.
“……So you took his life yourself instead of letting me do it?”
“I had no choice… Hehe… Hehehehe…”
Yoon Je-gyeom spoke with a bright smile. His face was filled with a sense of profound relief.
“…………”
Sun-woo stared at him with a stoic gaze.
“Do you feel at peace now?” he asked slowly.
“I do… I’m so relieved it feels like bliss,” Yoon Je-gyeom replied, a full smile spreading across his face. He looked truly happy.
“……Then that is enough.”
Sun-woo spoke in a calm tone.
“Are you not going to punish me?”
“How can I punish a man who is already dying?”
Sun-woo looked at Yoon Je-gyeom as he spoke. The man’s complexion was as pale as a corpse, and his lips were parched. Deep wrinkles began to carve themselves into his face, and liver spots bloomed here and there.
His once-upright back began to hunch forward, and his firm muscles withered away like a deflating balloon. He was aging at an accelerated rate.
Sun-woo realized the truth. Yoon Je-gyeom had poured every ounce of his strength into that final throw—not just his will, but every last drop of his remaining Primordial Qi.
That was why he was aging so rapidly. Nature was taking its toll all at once.
“Please, enter your eternal rest in peace.”
Sun-woo spoke as he watched the elderly man wither.
“…………”
Yoon Je-gyeom couldn't find the words to respond. There was too much he wanted to say.
An apology for hiding Lee Jae-won.
An apology for hurting So-yang.
An apology for raising his sword against Sun-woo.
Gratitude for exposing Lee Jae-won’s hideous nature to the world.
Gratitude for venting his rage and reducing Lee Jae-won to the same state as his victims.
And gratitude for the kindness of letting him go peacefully at the end.
There was so much he was sorry for, and so much he was thankful for. But he couldn't say it all. The time allowed to him was running out.
“I’m sorry… and… thank you.”
Drip.
A single tear rolled down Yoon Je-gyeom’s cheek. Then, his head slowly slumped forward as if all his strength had vanished.
He had found his rest.
“…………”
Sun-woo looked at the deceased Yoon Je-gyeom with a calm gaze. Then, he slowly pressed his palms together in prayer, hoping the man would find a better place in the next life.
*
After finishing his prayer, Sun-woo walked over to where Lee Jae-won lay. He intended to confirm the death beyond any doubt.
Lee Jae-won, with a sword buried in his heart, had his tongue lolling out and his head tilted to the side. He looked dead.
Sun-woo reached out and grabbed the man’s wrist to check his pulse.
He soon confirmed it. Lee Jae-won was definitely dead. He felt nothing—no breath, no pulse, nothing at all.
“What a hollow end.”
Sun-woo looked down at the corpse.
Twenty years ago, Lee Jae-won had saved the Murim from the Demonic Cult. Since then, he had wielded absolute power and committed every imaginable atrocity. When they first met, he had felt like an insurmountable mountain.
And yet, here he was, dead before Sun-woo’s eyes with his tongue hanging out. It was impossible not to feel a sense of futility.
“Live a better life in the next one.”
Sun-woo spoke to the dead man. He reached out and grabbed the hilt of the sword embedded in the chest, intending to retrieve the body.
“Huh?”
Sun-woo paused, puzzled. The sword stuck in Lee Jae-won’s heart wouldn't budge. No matter how much strength he applied, even when he augmented his muscles with internal energy, it didn't move an inch.
“What the—?!”
Sun-woo’s expression turned troubled. He couldn't understand why the sword was stuck. He possessed enough physical strength to lift a massive boulder with ease. How could he not pull out a single sword? It made no sense.
Rumble, rumble!
Suddenly, the ground began to vibrate. It was a violent tremor.
What now?!
Sun-woo looked alarmed. The sudden earthquake caught him off guard. Why an earthquake out of nowhere?
Crack, crack!
The ground beneath his feet began to fracture. Fissures were opening up everywhere.
“Dammit!”
Sun-woo cursed. He strained even harder to pull the sword out. He felt that if he delayed any longer, he wouldn't be able to recover Lee Jae-won’s body.
But no matter how hard he tried, Yoon Je-gyeom’s sword remained motionless, as if the weight of Mount Tai itself was pressing down on it.
Crrraaaaack!
The fissures in the ground widened rapidly. The earth began to split apart at an incredible speed, and the ground started to sink.
This is bad.
Sun-woo realized he was in danger. He let go of the sword hilt and immediately blasted internal energy through his Yongcheon Points.
He then stepped into the air, lifting himself up. He was performing the Sky-Walking Technique, the pinnacle of movement skills.
Sun-woo soared higher and higher until he was clear of the earthquake’s reach.
After reaching a safe altitude, he looked down. He saw the entire mountain collapsing in on itself.
“……Ha.”
Sun-woo let out a hollow laugh. He was stunned by the fact that the mountain he had been standing on just moments ago had completely crumbled away.
“This is driving me crazy.”
He scratched his head vigorously. He had failed to recover Lee Jae-won’s body after all.
This… makes me uneasy.
Anxiety gnawed at him. In movies, whenever people let their guard down thinking the killer is dead, the villain always resurrects and returns. He worried Lee Jae-won might do the same.
That can’t happen.
Suspending himself in the air, Sun-woo expanded his sensory perception as far as it would go, trying to locate the body. But no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't detect Lee Jae-won. It seemed the body had sunk so deep it was beyond his range.
Sun-woo’s brow furrowed deeply.
*
It’s cold.
The first thing he felt when his senses returned was the cold. An extreme chill seeped into his entire body, the kind of cold that felt like it would cause instant frostbite.
It’s hot!
The next thing he felt was heat. A searing heat that felt like it would char his skin black began to cook his body.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
The heat soon turned into the agonizing sensation of his entire body being set ablaze.
Slice, slice, slice, slice…
Next came the sensation of being cut. The pain of having his skin peeled away by tiny blades, layer by layer, spread across his body.
“Gwaaaaaaaakh!”
A scream tore from his throat. The pain was so horrific he couldn't help but shriek.
Crush!
Then came the sensation of being mangled. Someone was relentlessly crushing and re-crushing his already destroyed phallus.
“AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!”
This pain was incomparable to anything before. The sense of loss and shame from losing his symbol of manhood, combined with the excruciating physical agony of it being pulverized, filled him with ultimate terror.
Why!! Why am I still alive?!!!
The man in agony, Lee Jae-won, screamed in his mind. He couldn't understand why he was still conscious. Hadn't his heart been pierced by the sword Yoon Je-gyeom threw? Why wasn't he at peace? Why was he still suffering?
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!”
Lee Jae-won screamed and screamed without knowing why, feeling every single type of pain that existed in the world.
“Kill meeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!”
His desperate, hopeless cry echoed into the void.