Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: An Unforgettable Gift
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The next morning.
The dawn air was sharp as a blade. Before the sun had even risen, a tense atmosphere like thin ice hung over the Eunuch Bureau's training ground, shrouded in bluish darkness.
Breath puffed out white into the frigid air. The new recruits stood in line, trembling like aspen leaves—whether from the cold or from the figure standing on the platform, no one could say.
Their eyes were fixed on the Eunuch Bureau's Discipline Officer, Ma Eunuch, who stood arrogantly with his hands clasped behind his back. His rat-like eyes and lips glistening with greed screamed rotten personality from a mile away.
"Look alive! Look alive! You move like slugs begging to be friends."
Ma Eunuch tapped his baton against his palm as he scanned the line of recruits. With every step he took, their shoulders hunched tighter.
His gaze locked onto one spot.
In the very back row stood a man staring blankly into space. Dokgo Cheonwi.
"Hey, newbie."
Ma Eunuch slithered forward like a snake eyeing prey.
"What's with those eyes? Think this is the outside world? If you wanna eat Imperial Palace scraps, fix your posture first."
Tap. Tap.
Ma Eunuch prodded Dokgo Cheonwi's chest with the tip of his baton. It didn't hurt so much as feel disgustingly invasive.
Dokgo Cheonwi swallowed a deep sigh inside.
'This vermin... I could fold your spine like origami with one finger...'
He had once reigned as the master of Dark Heaven in his past life—no, his previous incarnation. If he wanted, wiping out the entire Eunuch Bureau in a puddle of blood would be child's play. But now wasn't the time. For his grand infiltration—or rather, his retirement—he needed flawless acting.
The moment the baton touched him, Dokgo Cheonwi reeled back like he'd been electrocuted, exaggerating wildly.
"Eek! S-Sorry! I-I'll fix it right away, Senior!"
He staggered as if his legs had given out, putting on a convincing show. The other eunuchs glanced over and clicked their tongues. They wondered how such a sloppy guy had even gotten into the palace.
Ma Eunuch seemed pleased with the groveling, snorting and curling his lips in a sleazy grin.
"Pathetic. Tsk. What's your name, anyway?"
"D-Dokgo Cheonwi, sir! Senior!"
"Dokgo Cheonwi, huh... Fine. Stay out of my sight from now on. Or that pretty face of yours turns to mush."
Ma Eunuch cackled as he moved on to his next target. Dokgo Cheonwi kept his head bowed, narrowing his eyes.
'Mush, huh... Interesting word. We'll see who ends up as mush.'
A chill killing intent flickered beneath his lowered head, but Ma Eunuch never noticed the blade dancing at his back.
Afternoon cleaning time.
Dokgo Cheonwi swept the corridor with a broom—in name only; it was more like shuffling dust around. Then, at the end of the hall, someone beckoned with a crooked finger.
Ma Eunuch.
"Hey, Dokgo Cheonwi. Come here a sec."
Dokgo Cheonwi clicked his tongue inwardly. Here we go again. He plastered on a flustered expression and hurried over.
"D-Did you call me, Senior?"
Ma Eunuch glanced around, confirmed no one was watching, then grabbed Dokgo Cheonwi's shoulder hard. He started kneading it like dough. The slimy touch slithered like a snake.
"You're pretty solid under there, huh? Hiding premium muscle under those rags?"
Ma Eunuch's eyes gleamed with lewd intent. It was the open secret among eunuchs—the "newbie taming" that devolved into filthy harassment. No bribes meant night duty or bizarre errands from the worst of the worst.
"Come to my room tonight. My shoulders are killing me. Newbie's gotta give me a 'massage,' right?"
He emphasized massage with relish. Refuse, and tomorrow would be hell—an unspoken threat.
Dokgo Cheonwi briefly imagined snapping Ma Eunuch's neck, then slapped on a salesman smile. His lips twitched upward.
"Oh, what an honor, Senior. Back home, my hands were legendary..."
"Oh ho? Is that so?"
"You bet. One touch from me, and you'll go straight to... Hong Kong—er, paradise."
Almost slipped a past-life term. Dokgo Cheonwi pivoted quickly, bowing and scraping. Ma Eunuch bared yellow teeth in satisfaction, chuckling.
"Good, good. I'll be waiting. Don't come empty-handed, yeah?"
Blatant bribe demand. Dokgo Cheonwi nodded vigorously.
"Of course. I'll bring a 'gift' you'll never forget."
Pitch-black darkness blanketed the Imperial Palace.
The newbie eunuchs' barracks reeked of snores and sour sweat from exhausted labor.
In the midst of the racket, Dokgo Cheonwi's eyes fluttered open smoothly.
He threw off the blanket with precise efficiency. Gone was the clumsy, groveling gaze from daylight. His moonlit eyes gleamed with arrogance and ruthlessness.
'Senior's waiting. Wouldn't be polite to be late.'
Dokgo Cheonwi stepped lightly.
Treading Snow Without Trace.
The pinnacle lightness skill that left no footprints even in snow. His body ghosted out the window like a specter. The creaky hinges didn't so much as squeak.
Cleaving night air atop the roofs, he moved like a black hawk. No footsteps, not even a whisper of wind.
He arrived at Ma Eunuch's private quarters in seconds, peering through the door crack.
A single candle flickered dimly inside. Ma Eunuch sat on his bed, counting coin bundles—extorted from newbies, no doubt.
"Heh heh heh... This batch is prime. These coins ring so pure."
Biting them to test, he grinned like a fool. Nausea welled up in Dokgo Cheonwi, who twisted his lips.
'Loving the coin-counting, eh? Soon, your only spending will be on hospital bills.'
Swish.
The door slid open silently.
Ma Eunuch sensed nothing, lost in his tally. Not even as Dokgo Cheonwi crept up behind like a shadow.
"Ninety-nine, one hun—huh?"
He felt a chill and started to turn.
Tap-tap-tap!
Dokgo Cheonwi's fingers struck his neck and back acupoints at invisible speed.
"Hng...!"
Ma Eunuch's eyes bulged. He tried to scream, but paralyzed vocal cords leaked only a hiss. His body froze like stone, fingers useless. Terror-stricken eyes rolled wildly toward Dokgo Cheonwi.
No trace of the bumbling newbie from before.
A demon. Or the reaper himself.
Dokgo Cheonwi smiled sweetly and perched on the bed.
"Senior, here for your massage. Sorry to keep you waiting."
Ma Eunuch's eyes shook violently. His pleading gaze begged for mercy, but Dokgo Cheonwi feigned ignorance and flexed his fingers.
A black misty aura coiled at his index fingertip. Dark Heaven internal energy. Sinister and insidious, it flicked like a serpent's tongue.
"This is a secret art from my homeland... 'Castration Experience 2.0'."
His finger plunged into Ma Eunuch's lower dantian—precisely near the long-gone remnants.
Squelch.
Flesh parted without a drop of blood. Black energy seeped in instead.
"Guh... grrrraaahhh!!!"
Ma Eunuch's mouth gaped as if tearing. A silent scream filled the room.
It wasn't mere pain. Phantom Pain. The severed stump burned like fire, hacked by blades—vivid agony slamming his brain. No part to scratch or grasp. Eternal torment.
But Dokgo Cheonwi's gift didn't end there.
"Oh, and a bonus."
He pressed Ma Eunuch's lower abdomen firmly. A faint snap of severed nerves tingled his fingertip.
"Tweaked your sphincter control. No clenching now, even if you try."
Before comprehension dawned, a warm, wet flood spread beneath Ma Eunuch. Sphincter slack, filth gushed uncontrollably.
The room reeked vilely.
Dokgo Cheonwi pinched his nose in mock disgust and shook his head.
"From now on, live pissing yourself. Feels good, right? Diapers ain't cheap."
Ma Eunuch foamed at the mouth amid pain, shame, and horror, eyes rolling back. Dokgo Cheonwi dusted his hands like touching filth and stood.
"Well, I'll be going. Sweet dreams, Senior."
He bowed politely and melted into the darkness as silently as he'd come. All that remained was Ma Eunuch, soaked in his own mess, screaming without sound.
The next morning.
"Gaaah! Ma Eunuch!"
The Eunuch Bureau erupted. Past morning roll call with no sign of Ma Eunuch, a eunuch checked his room and screamed in horror.
Eunuchs and physicians rushed in. The scene was too gruesome to behold. The bed drowned in yellow filth, Ma Eunuch foaming and twitching in the center.
"Wh-what's that smell?"
"Ma Eunuch! Snap out of it!"
The physician pinched his nose and checked the pulse. His puzzled frown deepened to grave concern.
"This is... a stroke. Acute one."
"Stroke? He was fine yesterday!"
"Strokes strike without warning. Lower body paralyzed, total loss of bladder and bowel control. Tsk tsk... Bedridden for life, shitting himself."
The eunuchs gasped at the diagnosis. Those habitually bullied fought to mask glee—eyes flickering between schadenfreude and feigned pity.
In the chaotic corner, Dokgo Cheonwi calmly swept with his broom.
"Aigoo, Senior... Should've built some virtue. Tsk tsk."
He muttered, tongue clicking.
Then, as Ma Eunuch was loaded onto a stretcher, his unfocused eyes locked onto Dokgo Cheonwi by chance.
Instantly, they bulged in terror. Last night's horror—the devilish smile wreathed in black energy—flashed vividly in his mind.
"Uh... uhh... urk!"
Ma Eunuch pointed a trembling finger, but his arm flailed uselessly. Crushing dread gripped his heart.
"Gasp!"
He rolled back his eyes and fainted dead away.
"Whoa! Ma Eunuch passed out again! To the infirmary, quick!"
They scrambled off with him. As the commotion died, the Eunuch Bureau settled—actually, more vibrant without the tyrant boss.
Dokgo Cheonwi set down his broom and gazed at the clear blue sky. A refreshing breeze blew.
"Alright, trash cleaned up..."
He cracked his neck lightly. Obstacles gone, time for the real goal. The true reason for infiltrating the Imperial Palace. Something to spice up his boring retirement.
"Time to see the 'real beauty'?"
His steps turned toward the Cold Palace—the gloomiest spot in the palace, home to its most beautiful woman.