Chapter 4

Translator: penny

Chapter: 4

Chapter Title: The Shrine's Secret Manual

A rundown shrine whose owner no one even knew.

I slowly stepped inside.

As soon as I entered the shrine, my eyes fell on a large scroll hanging on the wall right in front of me.

A crudely painted portrait of a beauty, larger than I was tall.

'This is the manual for the Blissful Creation Art.'

That clumsily drawn portrait of a beauty, like something a five- or six-year-old child had scribbled, was exactly what I had come for.

It might look like nothing more than a shoddy painting now, but under a 'certain condition,' it would reveal itself as a martial arts manual.

Facing my target, I started to hesitate.

'Should I just burn it?'

The reason I had come here was to prevent anyone else from getting their hands on my unique demonic art, the Blissful Creation Art.

In other words, destroying this scroll would solve everything.

Yet there was a reason for my lingering doubt.

'I kind of want ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to look at it one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more time...'

It had been over twenty years since I obtained this manual and burned it myself.

Even though I had everything memorized, what if there was something I had forgotten?

But revealing the manual meant triggering that 'certain condition' I mentioned earlier, which was awfully awkward.

It wasn't hidden away for so long without reason, never revealing itself to anyone.

'What kind of lunatic was past me, anyway?'

I briefly recalled my past life before regression, my days as the Flowery Playboy.

Back then, I had been utterly lost in brothels until I was twenty-five.

Eventually, my father, fed up, cut off my allowance.

But someone who had spent five years drowning in wine, women, and song day and night wasn't about to quit cold turkey.

I wandered around the brothels without a single coin to my name.

I was famous there, so they let me run tabs.

Everyone knew I was a scion of the Mok Family Clan, and my face was as good as a pass.

But even that only lasted a day or two.

The courtesans, unable to bear it any longer, demanded I pay up, but I didn't have a penny to my name.

Still, I couldn't stay away from the brothels, and my tab snowballed.

To the point where the courtesans came knocking at the Mok Family Clan themselves.

My father, who valued face above all, paid them not just the tab but extra as an apology.

"You bastard! Mok Jimyeong! Did I teach you to eat without paying? I cut off your allowance, so you should've quietly trained at home!"

Naturally, my father's wrath came down on me.

But at the time, I felt wronged.

"Father, I'm innocent. I never slept with Aeng-i. Why give her compensation too...?"

They had given compensation even to a courtesan I had never touched.

An amount far larger than a single night's fee, at that.

'I was definitely out of my mind back then.'

Even while getting scolded, I protested that I hadn't been with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her.

The result? I got kicked out of the house.

It was only for a month.

If I reflected during that time, they'd take me back, but I had nowhere to go.

Jeong Mutae, who had led me into the brothels, had grown up and drifted apart from me, and word of my disgrace had spread through the brothels, so no more tabs for me.

After wandering for a while, the only shelter I found was this shrine.

'I actually thought sleeping here was a good idea.'

Webs everywhere, dust piled thick on the floor.

Countless bugs crawling around.

Even so, I had no other choice back then.

Nowhere else to go.

Someone like Flowery Playboy me, used to the clan's annexes or plush brothel beds, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't about to sleep easy in a dump like this.

I tossed and turned for ages, unable to drift off.

Looking back, what's amazing is that even then, I wasn't reflecting at all.

Instead, I was thinking about Aeng-i, who had taken the compensation.

"She wouldn't give me credit but took the payout too..."

Then I shot up and started masturbating.

Gazing at that crude beauty portrait in front of me, imagining Aeng-i's body.

When I finished, semen from my filth splattered onto the portrait.

And the crude painting faded away... revealing martial arts incantations on the scroll.

That's right.

That was how you obtained the Blissful Creation Art manual.

'Sigh... Do I really have to check the manual?'

I could just burn the scroll as it was.

But I might regret it for the rest of my life.

After agonizing over it, I began to undo my pants.

I am Lecherous Demon Mok Jimyeong.

The man who took every beauty under heaven.

Yet here, in this nameless shrine.

I began to masturbate alone.

Masturbating after decades was harder than I thought.

The self-loathing was intense, especially.

'To think I'd be jerking off at my age...'

Still, I somehow managed to ejaculate successfully.

I don't know the mechanism behind it.

And it didn't matter.

The martial art that had turned me into the Lecherous Demon was now revealed to the world.

I already had it all memorized, but I read it slowly anyway.

This martial art was divided into three stages.

First Stage: Knowing Qi.

Second Stage: Knowing Lust.

Third Stage: Knowing Pleasure.

When I first obtained it, I already had internal energy.

Thanks to that, entering the First Stage with this new art wasn't hard.

But Lust and Pleasure.

Even I, after years as the Flowery Playboy, hadn't mastered those two.

I know the reason now, but back then, I just thought my proficiency was lacking.

Especially since this was an unusual mind technique cultivated through sexual intercourse.

I loved the art I had found and was eager to put it to use right away.

But reality was harsh: I was broke and homeless.

So, I did something insane again the next day.

I went looking for Aeng-i, who had taken the compensation.

"You got it from my clan, so pay me back."

A mere courtesan like Aeng-i had no choice but to yield to my nonsense.

She had gotten a huge sum, and the backing of the Mok Family Clan must have scared her.

And so, we had sex.

That's when I first tried the Blissful Creation Art First Stage on Aeng-i,

'No warnings were written after all.'

Aeng-i, with whom I had intercourse...

Lost her life.

The Blissful Creation Art increases internal energy through sexual bliss.

But there was a crucial detail not written in the manual.

It 'absorbed' the partner's internal energy and converted it into your own.

'Even that wouldn't be a problem once you reach the Second or Third Stage...'

But back then, I was only at the First Stage, and Aeng-i had no internal energy as a courtesan.

In the end, stripped even of her innate vital energy, Aeng-i died, and I became a villain who murdered a courtesan.

I never wanted Aeng-i to die.

But that's how it turned out.

A scion of an orthodox clan had killed an innocent person.

A commoner who had never even learned a martial art.

It was an outrage against heaven and earth that no one could tolerate, and my father was ready to shatter my dantian and hand me over to the authorities himself.

My eldest brother, Mok Jicheon, was the one who stopped him.

In the end, truly exiled from the clan, I went through many things and became the Lecherous Demon.

No matter how many times I read the manual, there were no warnings.

Just the methods to ascend each stage, with no effects listed.

'As expected...'

I don't know who created this art or left this scroll.

But I wanted to ask why they hid such a vital fact.

Just this short explanation.

If only this had been written, I wouldn't have become the Lecherous Demon...

'Whatever. It's the path I chose myself.'

It wasn't a road anyone forced me down.

My own decision.

But sometimes, just sometimes, I resented this manual.

Why not write that one short line?

What if it was there and I just missed it?

But today, it's clear.

I hadn't missed it.

And the manual hadn't forced me.

It was all my doing alone.

So, it was right that I bore the karma.

But...

'It all got erased, didn't it?'

The karma I piled up as the Lecherous Demon vanished with my regression.

My father who exiled me, my brother who pitied me, my youngest sibling who tried to kill me.

Even the countless women I raped.

All of it never happened.

I'm no longer the Lecherous Demon or even the Flowery Playboy.

Just the third son of the Mok Family Clan.

'Talk about sweet.'

The Blissful Creation Art has long surpassed the Third Stage into great completion.

So nothing like what happened with Aeng-i will occur.

Then, the past karma belongs to my past life.

'I won't live like that this time.'

In my past life, I abused the Blissful Creation Art recklessly and earned the title of Lecherous Demon.

But no matter how powerful the art, I couldn't take on the world alone.

So this time, I'll build my own force.

One that will stand by me even if the whole world turns against me.

'Made entirely of beauties, of course.'

That was Mok Jimyeong's new resolve.