Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 168

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 168. Parasite (2)

“What’s the situation?”

“We’ve taken control of the entire Inner Courtyard. The White Tiger’s Tiger Shadows have occupied the Three Forests and Four Halls, and by now they should be dealing with the Inner Courtyard warriors.”

Though he said “dealing with,” it didn’t mean killing the fallen warriors, but rather completely subduing them.

Making them unable to dare resist even when they awakened again.

Jegal Myeong smiled coldly.

“Everything is proceeding smoothly.”

In fact, it was an operation that couldn’t fail.

For a very long time, he had steadily taken control of everything in the Jegal Family together with collaborators within the family.

Of course, he couldn’t know who those collaborators were. Baek Cheong had coordinated everything from the middle.

Though slightly uneasy, Jegal Myeong thought it was fine. Such uneasiness was a natural emotion for someone preparing a great undertaking.

Jegal Myeong glanced around his surroundings.

In front of Madam’s bedroom, all the guards had collapsed. They too had succumbed to the Dream-Form Demon Incense.

“Kill all these bastards.”

“Did you say to kill them?”

Killing intent swirled in Jegal Myeong’s eyes.

“They’re incompetent fools who couldn’t even properly protect their master. Tear them apart.”

Though it wasn’t something he should say given that he was the one who had directly carried out this deed, Bai She knew Jegal Myeong’s ugly desires better than anyone and wasn’t surprised.

Swoosh! Rip!

Bai She’s subordinates tore apart the fallen guards.

Blood splattered in all directions. The vengeful spirits of the guards who died unjustly created a gloomy atmosphere with their soundless screams.

“I’ll wait here. You must finish your business within half an hour.”

“Shut up and do your job.”

Even at the harsh response, Bai She didn’t get angry in the slightest.

Opening the door and entering, Jegal Myeong could soon see the Madam of the Jegal Family, withered away unsightly.

She was Jegal Dan’s wife and the mother of the three brothers, Lady Chu.

Jegal Myeong’s eyes looking down at Chu Ssi were filled with love and hate.

“Can you hear it? The sound of the Jegal bloodline with its deep history crumbling so futilely?”

Naturally, Chu Ssi couldn’t open her mouth.

To Jegal Myeong’s eyes, Chu Ssi looked like a wooden doll whose entire body was wrapped in something similar to spider webs draped around an abandoned house.

“I told you, didn’t I? That I would be better than Jegal Dan.”

In his deep voice arose an undisguisable longing and bitter solitude clinging to an irreversible past.

“You must know how much effort I put in trying to win you. You must know how desperately I gritted my teeth and worked to make you mine.”

The family elders pressured Jegal Myeong to marry as he aged year by year.

Jegal Myeong ignored all the threats disguised as suggestions.

He argued for the legitimacy of remaining single, saying that since his elder brother had already married, the family line wouldn’t be cut off, and having children needlessly would only increase the possibility of threatening the direct bloodline.

But there was only one reason he didn’t want to marry.

Though he had taken numerous women and satisfied his carnal desires, not one of them filled the emptiness in his heart.

And now he was looking at the one person who could fill that empty heart.

“But you probably don’t know this. How miserable it feels to call the person you were certain would be your lifelong companion ‘sister-in-law.'”

She was someone he had known before his brother.

She was someone he had befriended before his brother.

She was someone to whom he had revealed his heart before his brother.

But that person had not accepted him as a companion. No, it seemed she had never even thought of him as a companion.

The other half of his life that he wanted to possess even if it meant killing his own blood became an empty shadow that tormented and troubled him day by day.

Jegal Myeong had no choice but to accept the Evil Demon’s proposal.

“Isn’t it interesting? If you had chosen me, I would have lived a life of daily effort, even if I was a somewhat lacking husband. At the very least, to protect you, for this family you so admired, I would have fought against any enemy.”

Now he wasn’t sure if that would really have been the case.

At the time, he had truly resolved to do so. He might have lived his entire life for his wife and the Jegal Family, or he might have gone astray again and rotted the elders’ hearts.

But now, Jegal Myeong thought of that painful and agonizing past as fortunate.

“You, having become like this, can never fill my empty heart.”

Chu Ssi had been beautiful.

She was a virtuous wife to her husband and a strict yet caring mother to her children.

She was a mistress the family members could lean on, and to guests visiting the family, she received countless praises as another pillar supporting the Jegal Family.

A woman beautiful in both appearance and heart.

To the current Jegal Myeong, Chu Ssi was not like that.

Poisoned by Blood Worm Poison, she was in such a state that it was difficult to call her beautiful even as an empty compliment, and since she had not loved him, it was hard to see her heart as kind either.

Quietly looking down at Chu Ssi, Jegal Myeong was suddenly seized by the desire to violate her.

It wasn’t mere lust. It was a much more vicious and destructive desire, a terrifying cry of madness that even he couldn’t express.

But Jegal Myeong didn’t do so.

“You’ve become too ugly.”

In the past, I was ugly, and Chu Ssi was beautiful.

Now it’s different.

She had become a wretch worse than a rotting corpse, while he had become a lotus blooming on mud, soaring brilliantly.

In this beautiful life, a woman reeking of decay doesn’t belong.

Jegal Myeong coldly turned around.

“Seeing your state makes me regret why I only moved now. I came to see you one last time, but it would have been better not to see you.”

With those words, Jegal Myeong left Madam’s chamber.

Together with the demons waiting outside, he headed toward the place that would be spoken of as a legend of the new era.

How much time had passed like that?

Swoosh.

A shadow appeared beside Chu Ssi.

Looking down at Chu Ssi with completely different eyes from Jegal Myeong, a voice filled with deep interest flowed from the shadow’s mouth.

“How very interesting.”

The shadow stroked Chu Ssi’s forehead with its hand.

Skin clinging tightly to bone. Seeing her somehow continuing to breathe even in an irreversible situation, the shadow felt wonder.

“You must know too. That affection and hatred are like twins in how precarious they are, like being on a tightrope crossing a sheer cliff.”

A cliff where falling means certain death.

If the depth of emotion is shallow, one wouldn’t even attempt to walk the tightrope; if mediocre, one would crawl across; if terrifyingly deep, one would run on two feet across the tightrope with the mindset that dying doesn’t matter.

“Because they’re similar, people sometimes get confused about whether they love or hate someone. The way to distinguish them is very simple.”

The shadow placed its hand on Chu Ssi’s forehead.

At that moment, countless dark red spots rose on Chu Ssi’s skin. Like the scattering of spots moving across the surface of a fresh squid, those bizarre spots writhed endlessly and screamed in jubilation.

“If you can’t control your overflowing emotions and destroy the object, and your soul rots afterward, that’s affection. If after destroying the object, your soul gains strength instead, that would be hatred.”

The shadow’s lips curved upward.

“Unfortunately, that fool doesn’t even dare to destroy. Even though he ran on the tightrope risking his life.”

Chu Ssi’s body began to tremble.

A moment later.

Chu Ssi’s trembling body soon lost its strength.

She had died.

“But don’t worry. Both you and I can keep alive the spark of that deficient fool who would make even the word ‘stupid’ seem like praise. You too have the right to see the end of a man who burdened you, don’t you?”

The shadow grasped her head with both hands.

“However, for that, a little help is needed.”

Crack!

With a chilling sound, Chu Ssi’s neck twisted.

“Now, let’s go together. Let’s watch together the end of the villain who brought the family to this state.”

The shadow put strength into both hands.

Snap! Riiip!

* * *

“W-wait a moment!”

Jegal Chung Ho said urgently.

“Are you going to Uncle Myeong right now?!”

“You sure like using that title ‘uncle.'”

“Please answer me!”

“Yes, I’m going to that bastard.”

Neung Hyeong’s answer was blunt, and the emotions contained within were complex.

Whatever the case, he was essentially attacking his descendants. To put it bluntly, he had wanted to live a life unconnected to the Sacred Blood Palace and didn’t care whether they lived or died, but now that he was about to face them with his own hands, he couldn’t help but feel disturbed.

Jegal Chung Ho shouted.

“Then where did Moyong Sohyeop go?!”

That’s right.

They were running secretly and swiftly. But Moyong Bi, who should have been with them, was not there.

“That guy can’t even use his strength properly anyway, so having him along wouldn’t help.”

Though he said that, Neung Hyeong inwardly felt regretful.

Moyong Bi was strong. Dismissing him just because his internal energy was depleted was like a child saying a toothless tiger wasn’t scary.

Both he and Moyong Bi had the qualifications to be a threat to someone just by their very existence.

Furthermore, if Moyong Bi had been there, he wouldn’t have had to deal with the awkwardness of striking down his descendants.

He had only accepted this because it was a matter of punishing a traitor of the Jegal Clan, otherwise he might have really shaken his head in refusal.

“But…!”

“Ah, you’re being damn noisy! You bastard! If you’re going to keep whining, just get lost! I’ll find him somehow!”

Feeling that Neung Hyeong was genuinely angry, Jegal Chung Ho shut his mouth.

He wanted to argue back, asking if Neung Hyeong could remain calm if his own bloodline were in such a situation, but he couldn’t be so petty to someone who had come to help.

‘Damn it.’

Neung Hyeong was angry in his own way too.

It wasn’t just because of the reality that he had to fight his descendants.

‘What kind of ugly business is this!’

In war, unimaginable strategies and tactics run rampant.

Sending spies to the enemy side is all too natural, and people commit unspeakable atrocities to win over enemy generals or bring down a faction after investing long periods of effort.

However, Neung Hyeong had despised such sordid affairs even then.

He understood why such things were done, and knew that to win one shouldn’t be picky about means and methods, but the acts that dominated were too ugly and crossed the line to be justified by such words.

Neung Hyeong’s thoughts were firm, both then and now.

That even in fighting, there should be a line.

That line was simple. While you could use others to achieve your purpose, it was unjust to lead those you used to ruin because it was ‘your business.’

In other words, the art of using people deserved praise, but when it became bloody cunning, it became an unforgivable sin.

A sin committed against none other than oneself.

That’s why Neung Hyeong had tried to flee from sin. Because he knew well how terribly that punishment for sin would torment his soul.

But his nemesis had said that neither of them could escape from sin.

That they should take responsibility for what they had done. That those who couldn’t take responsibility didn’t even deserve to be punished.

Neung Hyeong realized there was logic in those words.

Even after realizing it, he wanted to run away, but he couldn’t escape because of the rope that bastard nemesis had put around his neck. In the end, he had no choice but to jump directly into the bloody mud that these unworthy descendants had scattered.

That disturbance and unfocused anger ultimately turned toward that foolish traitor bastard who was beginning to appear in the distance.

Neung Hyeong roared.

“Is that you? The bastard of the ages who fell completely for those sinful brats and is killing his own bloodline?!”

The face of Jegal Myeong, who was walking with the White Snake group, hardened.

“Who are you?”

“Who am I? I’m a sinful being!”

Whoooosh!

From Neung Hyeong’s body as he soared high into the sky, brilliant golden energy surged forth.

“I can’t show mercy to you alone, you son of a bitch!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————