Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 11
>Chapter Title: Dangerous Visit (4)
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Everything appeared black.
Escort Go Chan felt no sensation in his body whatsoever.
He also realized that everything around him was empty, with none of his five senses registering anything at all.
‘So I’m dead after all?’
What a shitty life, he thought.
Born an orphan who never even knew his parents, he’d been taken in by an assassin organization and spent half his life as a killer.
He’d finally retired, hoping to live like a normal person, only for everything to go to hell because of one damn fake bastard.
He felt utterly wronged, nothing but lamentation rising in him.
‘Where am I headed?’
He’d wondered about it now and then.
What happens after death?
Then, a familiar voice reached his ears.
“......Water prison binds the sacred ritual, today’s main acupuncture point is sealed, communication with water prison, water prison division, near the secondary and the non-martial assembly, receiving direction.”
‘Haa.......’
Even in death, he had to hear this voice.
It was that fake bastard’s voice.
‘Tormented even after death.’
He’d never expected to go to paradise after a life of killing.
But hearing this voice in the afterlife just depressed him.
Yet the voice continued.
“The third ghost strengthens, lingering eight heads eight tails, yellow divine seizure, this holds the central water.”
The moment those words ended,
Go Chan felt his vanished senses being faintly replaced by something powerful and unknowable, pulling him in.
With that, his blackened vision brightened.
‘!?’
Go Chan blinked.
Before his eyes was Mok Kyung-un, forming some bizarre hand seal.
What? Hadn’t he died?
As he puzzled over it, beside him appeared a bewitching woman with a sullen expression.....
‘Gasp!’
It was Ha Chae-rin.
What the hell was going on?
Why were these two staring at him like this?
As he wondered, Ha Chae-rin spoke.
“Did it work?”
“Yes. Seems like a success. Reverse Six-Eight Human Spirit General Method.”
‘Reverse Six-Eight Human Spirit General Method?’
What were they talking about?
Reverse Six-Eight Human Spirit General Method.
A sorcery that summons and controls ghosts using the Eight Person Talismans.
Go Chan, unaware of this, had no clue what they were saying.
At that moment, Mok Kyung-un lowered his hand seal and said,
“Escort Go Chan. First off, my apologies.”
-What? W-What’s going on?
Go Chan panicked for a moment.
His voice didn’t come out as fleshly sound but in some eerie, otherworldly form.
Then Mok Kyung-un shrugged and said,
“Reviving you was impossible from the start, so I tried turning you into a corpse ghost with the Six Spirits Intensification Technique, but it failed because the death energy inside me is still insufficient.”
-G-Young Master? What the hell are you talking about? And why’s my voice like this? Huh?
Go Chan stared blankly at his own body.
Why did his palm look so faint when he looked at it?
He could see right through it to the other side.
He couldn’t comprehend this phenomenon at all.
“Hey, newbie. Your soul’s rank is low, so it looks faint. Don’t make a fuss.”
Ha Chae-rin said this to him.
-What?
Go Chan frowned at her.
Hadn’t this bitch just pierced his heart to kill Mok Kyung-un? Why was she acting like they were buddies now?
As if reading his thoughts, Mok Kyung-un said,
“Ah. Escort Go Chan. This isn’t the assassin from that Shadow Death Sect you know.”
-What do you mean?
“Cheongryeong took over her body.”
-.........
Go Chan couldn’t make sense of these baffling words.
Why was his body like this, and what was Mok Kyung-un even saying?
To the flustered man, Mok Kyung-un scratched his head and said,
“Escort Go Chan. There’s something I need to tell you.”
-What is it?
“You’re dead.”
-What?
“Escort Go Chan, you died.”
-........What are you talking about? I’m right here......!?
Go Chan’s expression suddenly hardened.
Now that he thought about it, his voice echoed strangely, and seeing through things was odd too.
So he looked around and went toward the bronze mirror,
‘!?’
Go Chan was utterly dumbfounded.
His reflection wasn’t there.
-........Young Master.......Am I really dead?
“Yes.”
-........
Go Chan was speechless.
A mix of frustration and emotion welled up.
He’d harbored a faint hope.
That maybe he hadn’t died.
Looking at him, Mok Kyung-un offered consolation in a flat voice that wasn’t really consolation.
“I pray you rest in peace.”
-........Are you joking right now? You messing with me?
Go Chan’s frustration boiled over into outright anger he couldn’t hold back anymore.
Dead anyway, no point caring about this guy’s feelings, no reason to.
-If you hadn’t killed Gam Sa-hyung, none of this would’ve happened. You fucking bastard!
Curses poured out.
Watching him, Cheongryeong in Ha Chae-rin’s body smirked.
She’d half-expected this outburst.
Without intense rage or obsession, souls usually ascend rather than become vengeful spirits.
But Mok Kyung-un had forcibly bound it, making him like this.
‘Low rank too.’
In terms of grade, Go Chan was the lowest, a red spirit.
Barely above a street-bound earthbound spirit.
-Fucking bastard. You dog fucker. Rat fucker. Horse fucker. Die! Die! Even in death I curse......Wait, I’m dead. Anyway, I curse you. You fake piece of shit! May misfortune strike from generation four to five....
“Whew. Seal it.”
Mok Kyung-un sighed.
At that instant, something bizarre happened.
-Mmph mph mph!
Go Chan couldn’t open his mouth as per Mok Kyung-un’s command.
He wanted to curse, but words wouldn’t come out against his will.
Why was this happening?
To the puzzled soul, Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly and said,
“You’re dead, but thanks to the Reverse Six-Eight Human Spirit General Method, Escort Go Chan, you’ve become my shikigami.”
-.......?
What now?
“Curious what a shikigami is? Simply put, a slave ghost? Yeah, that works.”
“Slave ghost?......Ha! Brat, you wanna die?”
Cheongryeong glared at Mok Kyung-un, raising her voice.
Mok Kyung-un lightly waved it off and corrected himself.
“Let’s say a ghost that has to cooperate with me.”
-.........
“Ah. You can’t speak, right? If I unseal you, gonna keep cursing?”
Go Chan shook his head vigorously.
“Good boy. Then you can talk again.”
-Ah?
His voice returned at Mok Kyung-un’s command.
Go Chan was suddenly confused about how to process this.
He’d vented freely, thinking death meant no more being pushed around by this guy.
But even dead, he had to obey him?
‘..........Fuck.’
The curse rose naturally.
Of course, it didn’t come out.
Realizing one word from this guy could control him made Go Chan fear him.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
He’d witnessed odd sights before.
But he’d never imagined power like this.
Forcing even the dead to submit—what nonsense.
To him, Mok Kyung-un said,
“Anyway, Escort Go Chan, glad we’ll be together from now on.”
-.........
Glad?
You think being used by you even in death feels good?
It went beyond frustration to torment.
“Hmm. Don’t like it?”
-..........
“Guess not. Should I just let you go then?”
Go Chan’s eyes lit up at those words.
He’d thought even dead he’d be exploited, but release?
To the expectant soul, Mok Kyung-un glanced at Cheongryeong and said,
“I don’t know the release spell for shikigami yet, but is there another way to free him?”
“If I did, would I be stuck like this?”
“I see.”
“Or if you want it that bad, I could forcibly exorcise him.”
Go Chan puzzledly asked at that,
-Me......What’s exorcism?
“Forcibly banishing the soul. Newbie.”
-.......Banish? Does that mean I die?
“Probably.”
-I’m already dead though.
“Die again and you’ll dissipate.”
-........You mean vanish completely?
“Yeah. Gone from the world entirely. Don’t know if something else awaits, haven’t experienced it myself.”
Go Chan’s face stiffened at those words.
He’d thought release meant going to the afterlife.
But this sounded like killing his soul.
Fear struck him instantly.
Even as a soul now, he felt terror, but total erasure terrified him beyond measure.
That’s why?
-Y-Young Master!
Go Chan knelt before Mok Kyung-un.
He bowed his head and begged.
-I....I misspoke. Freshly dead, out of my mind, I was rude to you, my lord.
“Hmm? Didn’t you hate sticking with me?”
-No! I want to stay with you no matter what. Hate it? Absurd. Even though I died like this, another chance to serve— I’ll do so loyally to the death.
Quick change of attitude.
Even dead, Go Chan feared further change.
Cheongryeong clicked her tongue at the sight.
-Tsk!
Then Cheongryeong frowned.
Mok Kyung-un, noticing, asked,
“As expected?”
She muttered irritably,
“Can’t even hold this one. Thought she’d last a bit, useless wench.”
Go Chan puzzledly stared.
Her expression and tone were nothing like Ha Chae-rin’s.
What was this?
-Tuk! Tuk!
Suddenly, black veins bulged grotesquely around Ha Chae-rin’s neck as she raged.
Cheongryeong in her body sighed deeply,
-Slither...
And soon slipped out.
-Thud!
Ha Chae-rin’s body collapsed like a corpse.
Go Chan froze like ice.
He’d wondered what, but Cheongryeong emerging from Ha Chae-rin was pure shock.
‘W-What is that?’
Vengeful spirits could clearly sense each other’s ranks.
Like humans’ senses, spirits had their equivalents.
That sense warned Go Chan.
This was a monster beyond imagination.
-Roarrrrrr!
Illusions of blood flooding everywhere, walls crumbling, earth splitting.
No way this was just any vengeful spirit.
Then Cheongryeong raised one eyebrow at Go Chan.
-Eyes down.
Go Chan trembled and lowered his head slightly.
Cheongryeong snorted.
-Freshly dead brat with a corpse still warm, staring at this seat’s face?
-.......S-Sorry.
Go Chan felt frustrated again.
He’d thought death made everyone equal, but no.
Even in death, hierarchies of power existed, and he was still the weak one.
As this went on, Mok Kyung-un said,
“Too bad. Thought it was a good fit.”
-No great expectations.
“Really?”
He clearly remembered her loving it.
Where else to find a young woman’s body at peak realm?
He’d thought it could handle Cheongryeong, but it cracked like the servants’ after mere two hours.
“No helping it. Shame, but this body just......”
-What’s to pity? Use it.
“Huh?”
-Too low rank for vengeful spirit use anyway. Give it to this guy.
Mok Kyung-un eyed Go Chan with interest.
Go Chan tilted his head anxiously, wondering why him.
-Me all of a sudden?
Cheongryeong abruptly approached.
-Swish!
Terrified by the pressure, Go Chan instinctively recoiled, but Cheongryeong grabbed his neck and shoved him somewhere.
-W-Why....
“Shut up and get in. Even giving newbies chances like this.”
-Pak!
It was Ha Chae-rin’s body, sprawled dead on the floor.
-Eh wha?
-Slither!
Go Chan’s soul was forcibly pulled into Ha Chae-rin’s body against his will by Cheongryeong.
The body on the floor twitched and thrashed wildly.
Arms crossed, Mok Kyung-un looked down impassively.
“Hmm. This okay?”
-Dunno. This seat cleared her ego first, so even low rank should take over quick.
“I see. But.......”
Was this really fine?
As he wondered, Ha Chae-rin, who’d been convulsing alone in agony, abruptly sat up, opening her mouth in bewilderment.
“W-Why all of a sudden.......Gasp! What?”
She couldn’t hide her shock at her own voice.
Panicking, she looked down at her chest and freaked out even more.
“W-What the hell?”
No matter how she looked, it was a woman’s body.
Mok Kyung-un shrugged at her, as if no choice.
“Yes. You’ll work in that body from now on.”
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