Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
64. Faith and test (14)
Tao Sihu’s superpower wave was pretty unstable.
Even after opening his eyes, he stared into the air with a blank face, like he couldn’t come back to his senses.
Did he have a bad dream?
But because I don’t dream, I didn’t know what good and bad dreams were like.
“Sihu-ah, are you okay?”
Jang Namuk urgently approached Tao Sihu’s side.
Tao Sihu, who had been blinking, came back to his senses a little and stood up when he discovered Jang Namuk.
I guess seeing the face he knew was reassuring.
“Whe… where are we?”
“I took you outside for a moment while you were unconscious.”
Jang Namuk briefly explained about our current location, the permission to stay out and about the process of cooperation between the Military School cadets.
It was really like Jang Namuk to handle things like a flag bearer, even when Qítiān Dàshèng was standing right beside them.
“Your superpower wave looks a bit unstable… Do you remember what happened?”
“…. Uh?”
“You suddenly activated your Gwangrim. And then you’ve fainted. Please explain in detail what happened.”
Tao Sihu wasn’t able to reply right away, he fell into thoughts.
He appeared to be tracing back his memories.
Not even an hour had passed, but he looked like he wasn’t able to properly recall events from a moment ago, because he was absorbed by other thoughts.
Did he see something when he fainted, or was there something related?
Soon, Tao Sihu started to explain the things that happened to him in a weak voice.
“I was trying to send a message to Wonu hyung, but suddenly my Gwangrim activated on its own.”
Tao Sihu didn’t activate his Gwangrim out of his own will?
I thought it was perhaps because of Wúzhīqí grudges.
The power of Wúzhīqí, who was just released, must have headed towards the party she accumulated grudges towards when sealed to take the revenge.
“After the Gwangrim activated, I heard a voice of some woman in my head, and… when I heard that voice, my body became heavy and I couldn’t breathe…”
“Sihu-ah…”
Tao Sihu trailed off and he finally shut his mouth.
Jang Namuk looked at Tao Sihu with great worry.
“It’ll be fine. I soothed Wúzhīqí for a while with my power.”
Qítiān Dàshèng, who didn’t say anything since Tao Sihu woke up, opened his mouth for the first time.
“However, Wúzhīqí’s grudges aren’t completely resolved.”
“… Wúzhīqí?”
“The name of the Jin you have sealed with your power. And I’m Wúzhīqí’s older brother, Qítiān Dàshèng.”
At the words Qítiān Dàshèng, Tao Sihu at first made a very confused expression.
Unable to believe it, he looked around, and looked at Jang Namuk, Yu Sang-hun and me with a surprised face.
Tao Sihu would know that the three of us weren’t the type to joke around with the name of Qítiān Dàshèng.
“… Really?”
“Yeah.”
When I answered, Qítiān Dàshèng clapped his hands once.
Qítiān Dàshèng summoned one of his symbols, somersault cloud, and perched on it, matching Tao Sihu’s gaze.
Tao Sihu looked at the golden headband sitting above the cloth-covered eyes and swallowed salvia.
It seemed he realized there was a real Qítiān Dàshèng in front of him.
‘… But when he achieved the position of Fighting Buddha, the golden headband should have disappeared.’
Journey to the West’s last scene.
When Qítiān Dàshèng, who finished his travel to the west and became the Fighting Buddha, asked for the golden headband to be removed, Tripiṭaka laughed and said ‘Touch your head, there is already no golden headband’.
When Qítiān Dàshèng raised the hand to his head, the golden headband already disappeared as Tripiṭaka said.
Did this constraint appeared when Qítiān Dàshèng descended to the human world?
If not, it may have been a penalty for choosing to be a Jin, rather than a higher being.
“Tell me what happened when you sealed my dongsaeng. If you lie, I’ll never forgive you.”
At a glance, those were scary words, but it also sounded like he could b forgiven if he spoke the truth.
As if I wasn’t the only one who thought so, Jang Namuk seemed very relieved.
Soon, Tao Sihu started to carefully tell an old story.
“… I had a dream when I fainted. I think I saw the moment I had forgotten.”
* * *
It was the first test involving Tao Sihu’s life.
Tao Sihu could use his Gwangrim thanks to the kidnapper’s trick, but it was still impossible for him to escape with his own power.
Moreover, he was on a ship.
Tao Sihu was severely sea sick and couldn’t swim, so thinking of escaping was illogical.
In the midst of it, the kidnapper made a certain suggestion.
— Seal the being in front of you with your Gwangrim.
At that time, Tao Sihu had used his Gwangrim only once.
The very moment when he awakened as a Player.
The moment he awakened his superpowers, Tao Sihu unknowingly captured his father, who was about to go to work.
After the Ship King, who was restricted by Tao Sihu’s chains, shook them off with his own strength, he headed to the Player’s Association with Tao Sihu .
Then, a Gwangrim Seal was engraved on his left hand and he couldn’t use his Gwangrim.
Tao Sihu knew to a degree that his Gwangrim was sealing superpowers though.
However, he couldn’t understand why the kidnapper knew about his Gwangrim and what they wanted to seal.
‘Did someone informed those people about my Gwangrim? … One of the People working at the house? Or a relative?’
Tao Sihu didn’t dare to use his Gwangrim and just kept wrecking his brain.
When Tao Sihu hesitate, the kidnapper said with a soft voice.
— Unlike your father, you have sea sickness and can’t swim.
— I’ll remove the sea sickness and make you be able to swim.
— In exchange, use your Gwangrim to seal some necessary beings from time to time. [1]
For the young Tao Sihu it sounded like a very sweet offer.
He even prayed for a higher being or a Jin related to water to appear and bestow him such a blessing.
‘If they can erase the Gwangrim Seal, isn’t this much possible?’
The young Tao Sihu worried for a long time.
At the end of those worries, Tao Sihu kept his eyes tightly closed, as he opened his mouth.
— I want to overcome water to do good things.
— I don’t want to do good while hurting somebody.
Though it was just little by little, Tao Sihu was getting used to boats.
Moreover, after Tao Wonu started to help him in the swimming class, his time above the water became a few seconds longer.
It was agonizing and difficult, but it seemed Tao Sihu would be able to overcome water on his own one day.
Tao Sihu chose the difficult path.
— You’re the type of human that’s difficult to use, eh?
— Should we kill him?
Tao Sihu almost unknowingly opened his eyes at the casual comment about killing him.
Even though Tao Sihu trembled, he didn’t say he would use his Gwangrim.
— No, let him live. We don’t know when a person born with such a Gwangrim will appear on this land if he dies.
— Don’t many of Tao family’s humans are born with Gwangrims related to chains? If we wait just a little bit…
— I can’t wait any longer. Do you know how long I’ll have to wait until the next child is born?
Someone walked closer to Tao Sihu.
As someone’s footsteps drew closer, it seemed like the air became heavier and damper.
— I was disappointed because even though I waited for a long time, no person with superpower restricting Gwangrim was born. I can’t easily kill him here.
— Are You going to use that then? However, it’s still incomplete, so it’s just a one time use…
— It’s a pity, but shouldn’t I use it up at least once?
Someone whisked Tao Sihu by the hair.
Feeling pain from his scalp, Tao Sihu let out a short scream, but the opponent didn’t bother.
— You’re lucky. I’ll let you live until Wúzhīqí, tied to this land by your chains, completely loses her power.
After that, Tao Sihu’s memories became blurry.
The only thing he remembered was Tao Sihu’s chains activating on his own and the resentful voice of someone directly hit by the chains.
***
Kim Sinrok’s mood, as he left the Yong tribe’s territory at a late hour, wasn’t very good.
The reasons were many and complex, but the biggest one was the stress of his mission not going well.
‘The Jin, who left his name in a myth, is indeed different. Even though he feels pain, he doesn’t show it much, so it’s difficult to add or subtract.’
Cadmus’ interrogation was progressing worse than he expected.
The Yong tribe and the Red Lion had a hard time already, so he was somewhat ready, but it felt like he was piercing and torturing a stone with iron needles.
In the end, he did his job by directly touching the nerves roots, but the process of dismantling the body was difficult, and even touching the nerves was complicated and gave him quite the trouble.
‘Even so, that’s work, so I can endure.’
There was one other thing Kim Sinrok was angry about.
It was Yong Jegeon, who suddenly disappeared saying he had to go out with Yeom Juneyol.
At first, he refused him a few times, because he didn’t want the Game category Yong to participate in the torture process.
However, because Yong Jegeon pestered and annoyed him to the point he disrupted his classes, he agreed, unable to help it.
Yong Jegeon was excited for the entire day, about personally watching the torture after a long time.
‘If I knew it would be like this, I wouldn’t have agreed.’
But in reality, when Kim Sinrok came to the Yong tribe’s territory, Yong Jegeon swiftly disappeared following Yeom Junyeol, who said he was going out to do some Student Council work.
Kim Sinrok, whose ire rose, wanted to throw a cutter blade at Yong Jegeon’s back of the head, but he already disappeared.
‘Damn dragon… He kept yapping his mouth like ‘say if you need anything’ and ‘I’ll help from the side if needed’ during Cadmus interrogation, and then did this?’
In fact, it would be just dangerous for Yong Jegeon to be in front of a dragon slayer, so he couldn’t help it at all.
Even so, thinking of Yong Jegeon, who had easily changed his words and left him, working, alone to play, made him clench his fists.
Kim Sinrok promised to himself that he would go to school early in the morning and hide thumb tacks in Yong Jegeon’s personal belongings.
‘Slippers, sitting cushion, drawer handle…’
Just thinking of causing trouble for Yong Jegeon made him feel better.
Though the fact that Yong Jegeon never fell for Kim Sinrok’s traps until now bothered him a bit.
“Hello, teacher-nim. Feels I’m seeing You often, huh?”
On the night road with a few pedestrians, Seong Gukeon stood alone.
Seong Gukeon was wearing casual clothes, and Jeon Mu-yeong, who would usually stay at his side like a shadow, was nowhere to be seen.
So perhaps because of that, he kept thinking about his old student Seong Gukeon, rather than the Assemblyman Seong Gukeon.
Kim Sinrok belatedly greeted them.
“… Hello.”
“Muyeong-i isn’t here for a moment, so he will be sad when he learns that I ran into teacher-nim.”
Seong Gukeon asked with a light tone, like he was talking about the weather.
“The Red Lion team’s building is around here, correct? Were You perhaps going to see that Game category Yong?”
He spoke as if testing him.
Perhaps because Kim Sinrok’s nerves were fried, it sounded to him like he was doubting ‘Why a mere teacher keeps visiting the Yong tribe’s territory?’.
In haste, it seemed for Kim Sinrok like it was a good idea to sell Yong Jegeon’s name here, so he decided to affirm.
“… Yes, I had an appointment.”
“…”
Seong Gukeon looked at Kim Sinrok for a moment, and then turned on a hologram.
The hologram showed one of the tabs on the Player’s Association official homepage, the otherworld conquest status board.
The moment he saw the most recent updated record, blood drained from Kim Sinrok’s face.
“That Game category dragon in on the list of Players participating in the otherworld conquest announced by the PlayerSAT-K a moment ago.”
“Ah…”
That damn Game category dragon went to conquer an otherworld?
Kim Sinrok momentarily fell into panic.
He couldn’t come up with an excuse.
Moreover, if he speaks at length, won’t Seong Gukeon discover his true identity with his ability?
Seong Gukeon, who examined Kim Sinrok who couldn’t link a sentence and hesitated, turned around.
“I have to get going. See You next time, teacher-nim.”
Even after Seong Gukeon left first, Kim Sinrok couldn’t move for a while.
*~*~*
[1] kidnapper tone — I’m not sure if I said that, but the boss kidnapper is using exactly the same tone as Qítiān Dàshèng. Meaning, they use plain form/ 해라체 (haerache)/non-polite tone most of the time, but use 하오체 (haoche)/semi-polite when requesting someone do something. (in this case, they used it exactly once, when trying to convince Tao Sihu to work for them). — So as the result of this examination we can see that Qítiān Dàshèng treats kids much more politely and respects their boundaries (as he uses 하오체 (haoche) more often).
Translator’s note: Kim Sinrok’s greatest fear: people close to his heart.
Patron thank you note:
Thank you patron, Nobody, please accept this Vahlia capensis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Al, please accept this Paederia scandens’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Dust, please accept this Serissa japonica ‘s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Maru, please accept this Pseudopyxis depressa’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, kamisonk, please accept this Paederia foetida’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Kasimir Ilmonen, please accept this Spermadictyon suaveolens’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Tara Hess, please accept this Dirichletia pubescens’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Ice, please accept this Pentanisia angustifolia’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Hematite, please accept this Pentas lanceolata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Deflubs, please accept this Asperula arvensis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, TheFloorGuy, please accept this Asperula conferta’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Akemidy, please accept this Asperula involucrata’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, vicky moch, please accept this Asperula orientalis’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Diana-Maria, please accept this Asperula tinctoria’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Reichie, please accept this Kelloggia galioides’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, Ch W, please accept this Phuopsis stylosa’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, aila ilzyana, please accept this Rubia peregrina’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Thank you patron, MeltedMochi, please accept this Otiophora calycophylla’s flower as a token of my sincere gratitude.
Links to support this translation and access to 8 advanced chapter (Patreon & Kofi)
> Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LibraryKeyTranslations
> Kofi-Euro: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslator
> Kofi-USD: https://ko-fi.com/wanthetranslatorusd
Did you see a mistake? 🐞
Leave a Reply