Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
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Anyway, amid that chaotic jumble of speech, one thing was clear: Zhuge Sa was claiming his body hurt and was trying to shoo Mangnyang and me away.
Mangnyang spoke up.
"If you don't want to give a riddle, that's fine too. I read the heavens and saw that you're fated to die within a few years, so I came just in case."
[...]
At that, the Great Bear stirred. It crawled forward on all fours before suddenly standing upright on two legs in front of us. Standing tall, its massive frame exuded an intimidating presence befitting the Great Bear, and then it spoke again.
"Very... accurate... damn... bastard... why... come all this way... to see me croak... heh heh..."
Mangnyang stared straight at the Great Bear. This was rare behavior for him.
"Cut out that weird speech pattern. Did you pick up some strange knowledge from another realm again?"
"Heh... fuck... what're you gonna do... about it... you damn... prick..."
"If Baek Woong here might quench that thirst of yours, I thought I'd bring him along, but it was a waste of time. We'll be going now."
With that, Mangnyang turned to leave. As I started to follow him out of the place, only then did Zhuge Sa finally speak properly through the Great Bear's mouth.
"Come on, can't you take a joke? The divination said an extraordinary person was coming, so I prepared something fun in my own way."
Mangnyang relaxed his intense gaze.
"Uncle. Stop using that poor Great Bear. You know that spell isn't good for animals."
"Got it, you bookworm bastard."
Why was "scholar" an insult? A scholar referred to the scholar-gentry class—elite families wielding immense power regardless of civil or military paths—so it couldn't possibly be derogatory. I couldn't make heads or tails of Zhuge Sa's words or actions, but Mangnyang seemed just as baffled.
Poof!
Moments later, the Great Bear shuffled out on all fours, and in the empty center of the room appeared a disheveled young man who looked to be in his thirties. His features vaguely resembled Mangnyang's, but his eyes brimmed with decadence and dissatisfaction—just as Mangnyang had described.
What was surprising was how little age difference there seemed to be between him and Mangnyang. Zhuge Sa wore a daoist robe emblazoned with the eight trigrams, yet he didn't give off the vibe of a proper priest. He looked more like a worldly man who'd thrown on a robe haphazardly.
Zhuge Sa said,
"Hyun-ah."
"Yes."
"It's true my body's not well, damn it. Imagine my nephew barging in on a sick man to raise hell."
He grumbled, but Mangnyang asked without changing expression,
"You're ill? Is it a disease?"
"Nah. I just spied too much, and now my eyes are raccoon-ringed."
"......"
Even at that mocking jab, Mangnyang didn't get angry. I was floored when I heard it.
Spying!
'Spying? Does this guy peep on people's lives like a thief?'
All that mastery of sorcery, and the best he does with it is sneaky peeping-tom shit? Any goodwill from Mangnyang's generous assessment of him vanished in an instant. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't trust Zhuge Sa.
Zhuge Sa slipped some kind of glass-lens contraption onto the bridge of his nose. It was a bizarre item I'd never seen before. Then he said,
"Anyway, I no longer think my heavenly fate has much time left. Not in the mood for riddles, so get lost."
"You're so damn selfish."
Suddenly, in a way unlike him, Mangnyang snapped,
"You saw a future where you and the Zhuge House settle things once and for all, but you just do whatever you want and check out? Uncle, what the hell do you think your life even is?"
Real emotion laced his voice. He hated the man but couldn't just let him die—that irritating, complicated feeling toward blood kin.
Zhuge Sa plopped down on a nearby couch and replied curtly.
"Dying easy is the best, what bullshit are you on? Forcing my life to drag on would just make it more pathetic, so at least at the end, I get to choose my way out, you moron."
"That's..."
"Ah, shut it! What's better than dying on your own terms? Right?"
With that, Zhuge Sa looked to me for agreement.
"......"
He was an utterly loathsome guy, but for a moment, I couldn't answer that question. My mouth felt sealed shut.
Dying easy is the best!
'He's right, damn it.'
No one in the world understood or empathized with that truth more viscerally than I did. I'd died in every way imaginable, but nothing beat slipping away peacefully in sleep. Only then did I grasp what Mangnyang had meant earlier.
That Zhuge Sa and I might surprisingly get along.
'This Zhuge Sa bastard lives embracing death too.'
A mindset of dying whenever, but doing what he wants first.
For someone who wasn't a reincarnator like me to truly mean it—not just say it—bordered on madness. Ninety-nine percent of normal humans mouth off about life's transience but cling desperately in crucial moments out of instinct. Yet I could feel Zhuge Sa meant it sincerely—a shared wavelength I sensed right then.
Zhuge Sa wore a strange expression. He'd apparently intuited why I'd hesitated.
"Look at that? I figured since Hyun brought you, you'd be some heroic pillar of justice, but he drags in a mud-rat like you?"
Mangnyang replied calmly.
"His name is Baek Woong. I plan to roam the world with him from now on."
"Hah, seriously! I thought anyone you'd take along would be on Liu Bei's level, but what kinda half-assed scrub... Your dad must be crying."
"Don't you dare mention my father. Not you, disowned as you are."
"Ah, sorry, sorry. Just ridiculous."
Zhuge Sa muttered in disbelief, then squinted at me.
"You've got insane internal energy and solid martial arts, but you can't fool my eyes, damn it. You smashed and expanded that dirt-vessel body of yours like crazy, huh? You're no mortal, but no hero either. What do you think?"
"......"
This prick is obnoxious. I wanted to kill him right there.
But setting aside that rage, my accumulated experience clearly told me one thing.
'He's incredible.'
Zhuge Sa had judged me with pinpoint accuracy—something no ordinary human could do! Even Lee Gwang's hawk eyes hadn't grasped the essence of who I truly was, making the shock even greater.
Zhuge Sa was undeniably a genius and a master, an eccentric in their league. Reacting emotionally now would lead to irreparable loss.
That loss could be huge—maybe even spell death this lifetime, or something I'd regret for decades or centuries after.
So I tamped down my irritation and answered coolly.
"No idea how you know, but I'm definitely just a normal human. Even so, I have things I must do, so I'm just living the present to the best of my ability."
"Living the present to the best of your ability—nice and plausible. No real counter to such a diplomatic line. Never seen anyone who says that actually turn out well, though."
"What bullshit is that?"
"Tsk tsk."
Grinning teasingly, Zhuge Sa crossed his arms and continued.
"Fine, whatever. You're no treasure, but I'll admit you're an amusing trinket. So try solving my riddle."
I replied irritably.
"I'm not exactly brimming with wisdom."
"Kuhahaha... yeah, no stakes means no fun."
Zhuge Sa burst into mad laughter. From my experience, only someone with a screw loose laughs like that.
Yeah.
This guy's insane. Somewhere in his brain, the gray matter's scorched and churning in chaos.
"Let's make a bet, then."
"If you solve the riddle I give, I'll grant whatever one thing you want."
"And if I fail?"
When I countered, Zhuge Sa pondered.
"Hmm... usually I'd say die. But you seem so warped about death, that wouldn't be much punishment. First time for this. Let me think of something..."
"......"
I suddenly got why Mangnyang hated Zhuge Sa. Given his personality, he'd probably rewarded riddle-solvers with gold as valley lord, but executed the failures outright. No different from a demonic butcher whimsically killing people—that's why Mangnyang recoiled at calling him uncle.
After a moment's thought, Zhuge Sa snapped his fingers.
"Got it! If you fail, I'll put a curse on you."
"What kind?"
"Kuhuhu, can't say, but you can look forward to it."
Zhuge Sa let out a sinister chuckle. Then he said,
"Now decide. Will you try or not?"
I glanced at Mangnyang. He shook his head. Taking his cue, I answered without hesitation.
"No."
Why the hell would I agree to a curse? No sane person would choose yes.
Zhuge Sa jeered.
"Knew you'd chicken out. Scared?"
"Think what you want."
Even to Mangnyang, solving Zhuge Sa's riddle seemed extremely risky. No reason for me to play hero, so I backed out. Zhuge Sa chuckled darkly, then lay down on the couch.
"Then scram. I'm a patient—I need rest."
"Didn't ask, don't care."
Some pointless pride flared in me, and I shot back curtly. Zhuge Sa cracked up like it was the funniest thing.
"Kuhahahaha!! What a coincidence."
"......?"
Utterly incomprehensible to the end.
What the hell did he see and hear to end up this messed up?
Mangnyang and I left the valley. I shot a dirty look back at Zhangling Valley.
'Even if we could recruit that guy, I'd pass.'
He seemed highly capable, but something about him rubbed me wrong. Unless absolutely desperate, I wouldn't come begging to enlist him myself. As I ground my teeth inwardly, Mangnyang said bitterly,
"For reference, the riddle he gave me last time was: [What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?]"
"Does such a creature exist?"
"It's a human."
"Huh?"
"With a cane."
"Ah...!!"
I was baffled for a second before getting it. It perfectly symbolized a human life from infancy to old age. Mangnyang sighed.
"That was a riddle from when he was in a good mood. I solved it, but he basically tossed it to me to figure out. Right now, though, he seems down, so it'd be some insane puzzle no sane person could crack."
"Don't you have to solve three?"
"That's just nonsense rumor to weed out randos. Just one, but it's brutally hard."
"......"
Isn't that the kind where he can arbitrarily decide the answer?
Seeing the dissatisfaction building in me, Mangnyang said,
"He's probably accumulated so much madness and depression he'll suicide within a few years. Recruiting him seems impossible, so let's give up..."
"Got it."
But I felt like I was missing something.
'What is it? Feels like he's hiding something...?'
Reincarnator's intuition!
That nagging sense we hadn't dug everything out!
Logically, Mangnyang was 100% right, but something told me Zhuge Sa wasn't the type to die from mere madness or depression. It was a gut feeling only someone like me—his fellow kind, in a way—could have.
'Aw, whatever. Next time.'
For now, I shelved the Zhuge Sa issue. Too many mountains of tasks to obsess over him.
============================ Author's Note ============================
Haven't been feeling great lately and had other things demanding my attention, so updates became irregular like every other day. But I don't plan to keep it that way—I'll strive for daily updates going forward! Keep looking forward to the fun chapters~