Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 2
>Chapter Title: Timber Sword Manor (2)
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‘This bastard exactly...’
It wasn’t just that his breath was cut off—his spine was crawling with chills.
The look in Mok Kyung-un’s eyes, grinning so widely his mouth nearly split his face, was chillingly bizarre.
Now he understood why his senior, Gam Escort, had said those words.
[He’s not someone you can easily control.]
He’d thought it was just talk.
But experiencing it firsthand, this guy was clearly different from ordinary people.
He hadn’t even trained in martial arts, yet this immense strength, and the ferocious pressure in his gaze—it was mashing Go Chan’s mind to pulp.
-Crunch!
“Guhhh.”
The grip around his throat tightened even more.
He held out with his internal energy, but he couldn’t last any longer.
His eyeballs burned hot; consciousness would fade soon.
That was the moment.
-Swish!
The hand gripping his throat loosened.
“Cough! Cough!”
His blocked airway cleared, and coughs came out like he’d choked.
Even amid that, he felt puzzled.
‘Why?’
Mok Kyung-un, who had been grinning ear to ear in delight, withdrew his smile.
Then, regretfully, he said,
“I nearly killed you.”
“Cough! Cough!... What?”
“If I killed you like this, becoming Mok Kyung-un would all be for nothing, right?”
At Mok Kyung-un’s words, Go Chan’s eyes wavered.
It felt like this guy was just toying with him.
What the hell was this bastard?
Rage surging, Go Chan’s lips trembled as he opened his mouth.
“......Do you think you can handle the consequences of pulling this stunt?”
“The consequences?”
“Without the antidote, you’ll die. Painfully.”
Go Chan brought up the poison pill Mok Kyung-un had swallowed.
He assumed this fake had stopped midway because he knew that too.
But it was already too late.
He’d seen this guy’s unsettling side for himself.
As his senior said, this wasn’t someone he could control.
He didn’t know what would happen in five days, but if the guy switched sides, it was better to kill him somehow.
‘If I leave him be, he’ll definitely stab me in the back.’
But for now, this guy held the knife, so he needed to make him realize his own precarious position.
Go Chan said in a low voice,
“If Gam Escort finds out, he won’t let you off.”
“Probably not.”
“........But I’ll let this slide as an impulsive act.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll chalk it up to cabin fever from being locked up, so get back to your room now.”
“Back to the room?”
“Yeah. If you crawl back in nicely on your own two feet, we’ll pretend the last bit didn’t happen.”
At that, Mok Kyung-un smiled faintly and said,
“If that was the plan, I wouldn’t have bothered coming out.”
Go Chan scowled.
Was this bastard really that clueless about the situation?
Why was he acting so freely when his life was on the line with the poison pill?
“If Gam Escort finds out...”
“Yeah, yeah. He won’t let it go.”
“But if you keep standing your ground here...”
“If Go Chan Escort just keeps quiet, nothing will happen. Right?”
“What?”
Go Chan was dumbfounded by Mok Kyung-un’s brazen words.
Just like his senior said, this guy was truly uncontrollable.
Suppressing his anger, Go Chan said,
“I told you, if you don’t take the neutralizer or antidote within the time limit, your life is over, but you still won’t come to your senses...”
Before he could finish,
“Padoo, Individual Ghost Flower, Pinellia...”
‘!?’
Go Chan’s expression hardened instantly at the herbs—no, poisonous plants—coming from Mok Kyung-un’s mouth.
They were all ingredients in the poison pill.
“Seat Mushroom, Witch Mushroom, Fennel Grass. Is that about it?”
‘......Impossible.’
Go Chan was floored.
It wouldn’t be strange if he got one wrong, but he was spot on.
He’d named every single ingredient carrying the poison in the pill.
The reason for his shock wasn’t just that he’d guessed the ingredients.
The poison pill was made by mixing, boiling, and drying these ingredients into a pill—it wasn’t something you could identify just by tasting it.
“Wh-what the hell are you?”
Could even the Poison Emperor Jo Ak-kyung or the Medicine Immortal Mun No do this?
‘Wasn’t he supposed to be a normal death row inmate?’
He was starting to wonder what this guy’s real identity was.
As he marveled, Mok Kyung-un said,
“I’ve been eating herbs and poisonous plants nonstop since I was little. Boiled, dried—you name it.”
“What? Eating poisonous plants?”
“Herbalists need to know their effects inside out.”
‘.......Not just for that reason, but whatever.’
He knew there were other reasons too, but they didn’t matter now.
Anyway, Mok Kyung-un could distinguish herbs with eerie sensitivity.
Any he’d tasted himself or even caught a whiff of, he remembered.
Even his grandfather had been amazed by it.
“Herbalist?”
“Didn’t you know? I used to make a living digging herbs.”
“Nonsense! How could a mere herbalist identify poison pill ingredients just by taste?”
It was utterly impossible.
“Seeing you panic, I must’ve got it right.”
Mok Kyung-un approached the flustered Go Chan.
As the distance closed suddenly, Go Chan unwittingly stepped back.
Desperately, Go Chan said,
“Even if you figured that out, what can you do? Making the antidote is even harder than the poison pill itself.”
He gathered internal energy in his Yongcheon acupoint, ready to use lightness skill if needed.
This guy was nothing but trouble.
He had to prepare for whatever stunt he might pull.
‘He’s stronger than a normal person, but no martial arts training. If I use lightness skill, he can’t catch me.’
As long as he didn’t clash head-on.
That was the moment.
-Crack!
The floorboard caved in as Mok Kyung-un stepped forward.
Insane leg strength.
‘Damn!’
Like a tiger charging, Mok Kyung-un closed in instantly.
He leaped back, but it was useless.
Mok Kyung-un was too fast to create distance.
-Pat!
Mok Kyung-un’s hand shot forward.
Assuming it targeted his throat or head, Go Chan crossed his arms to block.
But no.
-Papapapapak!
“Urk!”
Mok Kyung-un’s fingers struck pressure points on his chest.
Go Chan’s eyes widened.
He knew for sure this guy didn’t know any martial arts.
No traces of internal energy training either, so he’d believed that—yet the points hit were ma acupoints that stiffen the body and mute acupoints that seal speech.
‘No way he was lying?’
Perfectly accurate strikes.
With acupoints sealed, he shouldn’t move or speak.
Yet his chest throbbed, his body creaked, but he could still move.
“What the...”
Bewildered, Mok Kyung-un tilted his head and muttered,
“Wasn’t it like this?”
“What?”
“I tried copying what Gam Escort did, but it didn’t work. It felt like it stopped movement and speech when he did it.”
‘!?’
Mok Kyung-un said it so casually.
Go Chan went beyond absurdity to exasperation.
If true, he’d replicated exactly what was done to him.
‘Copied it just from seeing?’
If he knew nothing, you’d think he’d learned it.
Maybe even practiced dozens of times.
The acupoint strikes were nearly perfect.
‘This bastard?’
If he had internal energy, the points would be sealed.
Since he’d just brute-forced it with strength, it only caused brief stiffness.
Stunned and speechless for a moment.
-Thwack!
“Gahk!”
While off-guard, Mok Kyung-un grabbed his throat again.
Standing, he tried to kick his groin,
-Crack!
His neck twisted slightly.
A bit more force, and it’d snap.
Life hanging by a thread, Go Chan froze in place.
“.......St-stop. I don’t want to give you the antidote...”
“Oh, that? It’s still a secret from Gam Escort, but... I don’t actually need it.”
“What?”
What the hell was he saying?
Didn’t need the antidote?
Bewildered, Mok Kyung-un smiled and said,
“I’ve eaten so many poisonous plants since childhood, I’ve built up immunity.”
“Im-Immunity?”
“Yeah, it stings the gut going down, but that amateur mix Gam Escort gave me? Doesn’t even register.”
“Amateur mix?”
Go Chan was exasperated.
Calling the poison pill, still used by the Assembly, amateur?
It was potent enough that even a first-rate internal expert would need half a month of meditation and rest to detox if affected.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
He’d dismiss it as nonsense from anyone else.
But somehow, he couldn’t deny this guy’s words.
Then Mok Kyung-un did something bizarre.
-Chomp!
He suddenly bit his own index finger.
Puzzled why, blood dripped as he brought the finger to his own mouth—no, to Go Chan’s.
“Wh-what are you—mmph!”
He couldn’t resist.
Mok Kyung-un’s finger plunged into his mouth.
Blood drops wetted his tongue and slid down his throat.
Anxious, he tried not to swallow, but with his throat gripped, he had no choice.
Moments after swallowing the blood,
“Gack!”
His chest burned.
Scorching pain suddenly invaded his body.
Even after Mok Kyung-un released his hand, the agony was so intense his organs twisted.
“Gruuuuhhhh!”
‘P-Poison?’
It had to be poison.
Nothing else caused this pain.
Go Chan desperately tried to circulate energy, but Mok Kyung-un kicked his body as he tried to sit in meditation pose.
“Kuuk!”
He rolled across the floor.
In agony, Mok Kyung-un knelt and said,
“Grandfather told me not to do a few things. This was one. I’ve got immunity from eating poisonous plants, but he said my blood carries poison too.”
“What?”
“The dog I raised licked my blood once and went into seizures. Vomiting blood, total mess.”
“You.....you......”
Twisted in pain, he couldn’t speak.
Ignoring him, Mok Kyung-un giggled down at him.
-Swish!
In torment, Mok Kyung-un grabbed his chin and lifted it.
Then, chidingly, he said,
“It’s okay. Grandfather figured out how to fix it.”
“Gruuuuhhhh!”
Go Chan clutched his knee.
Unable to speak, he pleaded with his eyes.
Mok Kyung-un beamed and said,
“I believe you’ll help me a lot from now on.”
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