Dark Mage - Volume 1 - Chapter 24

Even if one is from a different ethnicity, there is a degree of similarity to one’s expression of emotion. Dok-gosong saw an emotion on the soldier’s face, which he was very familiar with. He was able to perceive the expression of disgust aimed at him. Gradually, some emotion started rising up into his eyes.

“Even you despise me?”

He was thinking hard about his fate, but the scornful expression directed at him made Dok-gosong lose his reason.  He was already at a point where if his emotions were about to explode if provoked.  The soldier’s expression lit the fuse……  Dok-gosong launched his body like a wild animal.  His target was the soldier who made the expression of disgust.

“Huk”

The soldier hurriedly tried to get into a defensive position. However, the opponent’s movement was beyond his expectation. Even though he had lost his Nae-ryuk(TLN: his reservoir of qi), the body movement he had trained in the battlefield could not be overcome by a normal soldier.
Dok-gosong slipped by the clumsy sword thrust like flowing water. Then he arrived behind the soldier and grasped his face. He pull his hand up and the throat that was hidden was revealed. Dok-gosong placed his sword on his neck.

“What, What’s going on?”

The astonished soldiers, who were gathering the orc’s corpses, rushed forth, but the officer was perfectly captured.

“You bastard. Why don’t you let go of me?”

The soldier, who abruptly became a prisoner, yelled out in fear. Dok-gosong gave out a cold smile. In the first place, he didn’t understand what was being said, but even if he understood it, he didn’t really care.

“No matter what you say, I don’t really care. Just think of this as your bad luck. Let us go to our last home together. (TLN: Last home = death)”

Dok-gosong unhesitatingly cut the throat with his sword. No, that was only his wish.

“Kuh-uh-uhk” (TLN: painful gasps)

The instant he put strength into his hand, an extreme amount of pain was sent to his brain. It was the pain caused by the Seven Sect’s Beating Gold Technique. It never failed to activate in the moment when he wanted to murder someone. It was a despicable restrictive technique that was very precise. The pain came as if he was hit on top of the head, and his mind became white.

Zzhang-gu-rung.(TL: sound of sword hitting the floor. Korean sound effect differs a lot from American sound effect.)

The sword fell from his hands, which was sapped of strength. Dok-gosong was shaking on the floor after releasing the soldier’s neck.
The soldier was able to preserve his life after it seemed like he was fated to have his neck cut off. As if he couldn’t believe what had happened, he rubbed his nearly severed neck, while having a shell-shocked expression. After he regained his thoughts, the only thing that he could think of was anger against the person who had almost killed him.

“You son of a bitch.”

He drove the edge of his shield towards the top of Dok-gosong’s head.

Puk. (TLN: sound of shield hitting head)

With one blow, Dok-gosong was freed from the pain that was burrowing into his brain. He instantly lost consciousness. As if his anger hadn’t been satisfied, the soldier held up his shield to drive it down again. The surrounding soldiers ran in and held him back.

“Please hold back, captain. The higher-ups gave orders to transfer him to a different cell and treat him.”

“If you kill him then there would most definitely be a punishment.”

He was barely able to hold back after hearing there might be a punishment. The soldier angrily glared at Dok-gosong. The rules must have been strict since the soldier ended his tirade.

“My neck was almost separated. Thank god. However, why did this bastard not kill me?”

He thought hard about it, but he couldn’t come up with any reasons. Eventually, the soldiers followed orders and they moved Dok-gosong. The underling soldiers ran to Dok-gosong’s small body and they lifted him up. During all this, they got a look at Dok-gosong’s face again, and they automatically frowned.

“No matter how I look at him, he is an ugly bastard. Maybe he is half ogre? No, his physique would be sturdier if that was the case. Isn’t he a bit bigger then an orc?”

For a moment, he speculated this idea, but soon he erased that thought and followed his subordinates out of the prison. The spacious prison only held pools of blood from Dok-gosong and the orcs.

“So. Did the bastard try to kill the guard?”

“Yes. However, at the last moment he wasn’t able to do it and he fell to the floor. The soldiers that witnessed it said he looked like he was experiencing an extreme amount of pain.”

“Is that right?”

Serge was somewhat curious about the foreigner, who had become his experimental subject. He had many facets that was hard to understand. First, he was an amazing sword master at his peak (Benitez had testified that the foreigner was a sword master, so he knew it to be the truth.), but he had mysteriously become a normal person. He was an enigma since this had never happened before in Truvania.
Sword masters are able to handle mana through the blessing of god, so no matter what, one couldn’t lose this ability. That was the case in Truvania.

“That’s really strange. Surprising. It is something that is worthy enough for me to research once.”

“How should we deal with him?”

Serge turned after hearing Benitez speak.

“First, heal him then lock him up in a secure location. After the situation stabilizes, carry on what we discussed before…”

“I understand.”

The cell was filled with darkness. At the location where the moonlight was barely shining, one puppet was absent-mindedly sitting there. It was a cell that was measured to be 3 squared meter, and it was facing towards the moonlight so it was easy to differentiate the shape of the face. The person who was locked up was Dok-gosong. His face was buried deep between his knees as if he had lost the will to live, and he looked very desolate. By looking at his outer appearance, one could see how much damage he had received from fighting with the orcs. When looking at his swollen body, one could guess that he also had internal injuries.
He stayed silent with his head down. However, he lifted his gaze after a while. In between the bars, he felt the lonely moonlight. After a while, the sound that was locked tightly between his lips came out.

“The moonlight is the same, whether it is here or Zhongyuan.”

He didn’t really have any attachment to his homeland. Instead, he had bad memories of Zhongyuan that he didn’t want to remember. Dok-gosong thought that he preferred the unfathomably far Truvania.
Suddenly the face of Sah-joonhwan, who was the cause of his predicament, rose up in his brain.
That person was a despicable hypocrite, who had used him thoroughly, and then threw him away without any hesitation when he didn’t have any use for Dok-gosong. The thought of this person made him angry enough that it felt like his blood was flowing backwards. However, there weren’t any expression of rage on Dok-gosong’s face, rather he had a self-deprecating expression.

“Ku-Ku-kuk. This useless body won’t be able to approach that bastard.”

He thought it might be better for him that he was in Truvania. If he lived under the same sky as him while having a body unable to take revenge then it would be a humiliation that was worse than dying.
He put his head between his knees again, and he started thinking about the first meeting with the person who he had considered the most important person in his life.

(TLN: Flash back music~~~~)

“Who, who are you?”

The youth stuttered the words out, and his face was filled with confusion. He looked very hideous so it was hard to tell what his age was. If one looked at his skin, one could guess that he was in his late 20s. His back protruded up as if clothes were bunched up beneath. One could see that this youth was a hunchback. He was clad in rags with dust covering his whole body. He looked like he had come back from an arduous work.
The Shaolin temple gave him every kind of odd jobs, so he was returning home with a tired body. However in front of him, something that he didn’t understand was happening. Suddenly, couple dozen people appeared in front of the youth and prostrated themselves.
Looking at their appearances, they were people of the Murim. Even practitioners that could be considered experts were there. These kind of people were in a submissive position with their whole body towards the lowest ranked person in the Shaolin temple. It was par for the course that the youth would be confused.
The first thing that caught his eyes were the Asura symbol on their chest. The youth had no knowledge of the Murim world, so he had no idea that they were the members of the Bae-sect. The youth instinctively became guarded, so he took a step back.

“Why, why are you being this way?”

Amongst the prostrating forms, the one who looked like the leader slowly raised his head.
He raised his body while showing the utmost respect. The middle-aged man had a black complexion. His face was black as the bottom of an iron pot.

“Please kill us. It was only now that we are able to meet you, young sect leader. (TLN: it’s not actually young…hard to decipher these position in the sect)

“Young sect leader?”

This was totally unexpected, so the youth’s ugly face was filled with confusion.

“Maybe you found the wrong person?”

“That isn’t the case. We came here to find the previous leader’s son, Dok-gosong Kongzi.” (TLN: Kongzi is a title, he is kind of using it as young master.)

“I’m Dok-gosong?” (TLN: he is saying he is dok-gosong, and at the same time asking a question. It makes more sense in Korean.)

After the black middle-aged man glanced at the confused Dok-gosong, he started to politely explain the situation.

“I understand. The fucking monks didn’t tell you anything about your origin.”

“The secret to my birth?”

The dark middle-aged man nodded his head before continuing speaking.

“That is correct. Kongzi-nim is the only son of the 18th leader and commander of Bae-sect, mighty Dok-go-moogi-nim, who was prided as being the apostle of the heavens.”

“Bae, Bae-sect? Then my father was?”

“Yes. Kongzi-nim has the highest of backgrounds. Also, I was his most loyal servant, the Black Yama Do-wichung.”

After he repeated himself, he looked over Dok-gosong and Do-wichung’s eyes were filled with murderous energy. At a glance, he was able to guess the current predicament of Dok-gosong.

“Those despicable monks….. They dare to treat our sect’s Kongzi-nim like this?”

However, Dok-gosong still couldn’t grasp the situation. With an expression filled with doubt, he asked the middle-aged man, who named himself Do-wichung.

“I’m sorry, but explain the general circumstances in detail for me.”

“Of course I will explain. As I have explained previously, your honored father, no, I guess I should call him your late father now. The proud late father of Kongzi-nim was our sect’s 18th sect leader named Dok-gomoogi. He was a recognized magnate that was a great anti-hero, and an apostle of the heavens. After his only son was born, he headed out to assess the world’s affair. Unfortunately, he fell into a trap set by the Shaolin monks. He and his subordinates lost their lives.”

As his explanation continued, the middle-aged man was filled with sorrowful indignation. He continued speaking while gazing directly at Dok-gosong’s face.

“You are his only son, Kongzi-nim. Since we were short on strength, only now have we come to save Kongzi-nim.”

Dok-gosong was silent for a moment. It was because he needed time to process his unexpectedly revealed birth secret. His current age was 28 years old. He had lived in the Shaolin temple since his childhood, and he had become the Shaolin temple’s manual laborer. Moreover, he had become resigned to his familiar situation.

‘I’m the Bae sect’s young sect leader?’

While he was deep in thought, the various moments of scorn and disdain that was directed at him passed by his brain.