Chronicles of the Martial God’s Return - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Nnngh……!”
Jang Sam-tae forced his reluctant eyes open.
Severe pain radiated through his marrow, clouding his mind. He couldn’t remember what had happened.
It was as though a brutal impact had knocked half his memories away.
That was when it came.
A voice, sudden and unforeseen.
“You awake?”
“Ah?!”
Before he could collect himself from the shock, he jerked his head around. A dark silhouette stood motionless — how long it had been there, he couldn’t say.
‘Wait. Where am I?’
Jang Sam-tae swallowed dryly and opened his mouth.
“You… who are…!”
“Dan U-hyeon.”
“Ah……!”
Dan U-hyeon’s cold voice sent ice down Sam-tae’s spine. He’d met quite a few martial artists before, even fled from them, but this man seemed to inhabit an entirely different world. Thieves survive by reading people quickly, so in that brief moment, Sam-tae studied Dan U-hyeon’s cadence, even the rhythm of his breathing. Yet everything about him was utterly unlike any ordinary martial artist. He’d never felt such danger—not just perilous, but ominous in a way that turned the blood cold.
Thieves live or die by their instincts.
All of it—the tone, the aura, the weight of his presence—was foreign to anyone Sam-tae had ever encountered.
As Sam-tae sat trembling, swallowing nothing, Dan U-hyeon slowly opened his mouth.
“I was going to kill you.”
A chill ran through him.
Those words, spoken as casually as one sips tea, sent genuine goosebumps across Sam-tae’s skin.
He knew it wasn’t a lie. The Killing Intent woven through that single phrase was real.
Without thinking, he bowed his head and trembled, not daring to meet those eyes. Even facing that gaze made him feel as though his breath might stop.
“But I changed my mind. Do you know why?”
Sam-tae’s fear-clouded mind couldn’t parse the intent behind the question. All he could manage was to stare at the floor with trembling eyes, breathing shallowly.
“I… I don’t know, sir…….”
“Sir?”
“I… I don’t know, sir.”
Dan U-hyeon let out a soft chuckle.
“Every person has a value to their life.”
“…….”
“What do you think your life is worth?”
He had no answer.
He’d never had the luxury to consider such things in all his years. He’d only ever stolen and run—stolen and run.
But now he had to think carefully.
“I… I suppose I’m worth… a million silver taels.”
“A million? That’s quite high.”
“I think… I must be worth at least that much.”
Dan U-hyeon let out a quiet laugh.
By his own reckoning, a mere thief was worth less than a single silver tael.
But for this wretch to claim himself worth a million meant he had genuine confidence in his own skill.
Where such confidence came from, he couldn’t fathom.
“Your life: a million taels. The price of my forgiveness for attempting to kill So-mi: another million. Two million taels total, then.”
“……?”
“That’s the ransom if you want to live.”
“……!?”
Jang Sam-tae’s jaw fell open in shock.
Two million taels was not a sum one could easily scrape together.
For all his thieving, for all the stolen goods he’d fenced, Sam-tae had never once held a million taels in his hands.
‘He wants me to produce that? That’s insane…….’
Just as he was about to protest, he met the razor-sharp gaze of Dan U-hyeon.
“I… I don’t have the money now. But I swear I’ll bring it. Please.”
“Hmm…….”
Dan U-hyeon let out a short grunt. His eyes burned with terrible clarity—he was thinking hard.
‘He’s serious.’
For a moment, Sam-tae felt the blade of death itself.
The master before him was not joking.
Moreover, he was skilled enough to kill someone like Jang Sam-tae without a second thought.
The moment his head and heart grasped this truth, his body moved of its own accord—he slammed his forehead into the ground.
Thud!
He struck so hard that his forehead split open and blood sprayed, and through it all came the trembling voice of Jang Sam-tae, shaking with terror.
“Spare my life, I beg you! I will do whatever you command—anything at all!”
……
But Dan U-hyeon said nothing.
He simply wasn’t inclined to respond.
What could a thief do, after all, except steal?
Dan U-hyeon reached out and placed his hand on Jang Sam-tae’s head.
The moment the cool touch registered, Jang Sam-tae cried out.
“I can do anything—absolutely anything! Cleaning, washing, even… even cooking! Just command me, and I’ll do it!”
At those final words, Dan U-hyeon’s eyes lit up.
Cleaning and washing were things Dan U-hyeon could handle with a mere gesture.
So servants were hardly necessary—with or without them made little difference. There was no real inconvenience in his daily life.
But the last matter was different.
Cooking.
For Dan U-hyeon, who couldn’t prepare a single dish even when ingredients were at hand, those words held tremendous weight.
Dan U-hyeon nodded readily.
“Then I’ll hold onto your belongings until you’ve repaid your debt through labor.”
Jang Sam-tae nodded silently.
He had no choice. This man had surely seen what lay in his pocket.
Though he might not have calculated its exact value, Dan U-hyeon clearly believed Jang Sam-tae wouldn’t flee and abandon it.
With his head bowed, Jang Sam-tae laughed silently to himself.
‘Damn fool. Things won’t go your way.’
He was a thief.
More than that—he was the Grand Thief who had robbed the Royal Mansion itself, something no one else had ever managed.
He was not to be compared with ordinary petty thieves.
He was the greatest thief in all the Central Plains.
‘Just get through this crisis. Once I have a chance, I can take it back anytime I wish.’
Jang Sam-tae bowed his head deeper, clinging to this thought. As long as he kept his life, creating an opportunity would be simple enough.

***

……
He looks up at the sky.
It is perfectly clear.
He looks down at the ground.
Filthy. Utterly filthy.
Swish, swish—
Sweeping, Jang Sam-tae found his eyes brimming with tears as he contemplated his lot. The moment Dan U-hyeon’s words were transcribed and Jang Sam-tae pressed his fingerprint in blood upon the page, he had transformed from thief to servant.
Why must heaven heap such hardship and trials upon him?
It was no easy task to sweep with a face puffed and swollen. Dan U-hyeon had given him no time to rest, working him relentlessly, and his entire body ached with exhaustion and lethargy.
Yet he couldn’t afford to shirk.
Hwa So-mi was watching from the courtyard.
She kept her distance, observing him intently with an intent gaze. Whenever their eyes met, she would dart behind a pillar and hide.
She had clearly been frightened badly by the incident before.
‘Cursed girl! If it weren’t for her—’
Seething.
There was nothing kind in the way his eyes regarded Hwa So-mi.
If not for that child, his hiding place for the stolen goods would never have been exposed, and he wouldn’t have been forced into this humiliating predicament—coughing up two hundred thousand silver coins to pay off an extortion debt.
On top of that, Dan U-hyeon had issued a warning.
If he were caught fleeing, he would be made to pay double. The deed was already signed and sealed, so he was completely bound to his labor.
Of course—
‘I have no intention of being caught if I do flee.’
Even as he appeared to work diligently, there was a plan forming in his mind.
His Lightness Skill ranked among the top three in all the Central Plains—he was confident of that. If he made up his mind to flee, there was no one alive who could catch him.
All he had to do was retrieve the stolen goods Dan U-hyeon held, and then he would reclaim his freedom, of that he had no doubt.
‘Time is running short. I must recover them before the fence arrives at the meeting place.’
Still, he didn’t allow panic to take hold.
Escaping from the grip of a master like Dan U-hyeon was no simple feat. One careless slip—one hint of what lay beneath the surface—and everything would crumble to dust.
That was when he appeared. The saying proved true: speak of the tiger and it arrives. Dan U-hyeon strolled leisurely from behind the manor.
“You’ve arrived, sir?”
“Yes, you’re working hard. But it seems to be evening already.”
“Ha… haha, don’t worry. I’ll have your meal ready right away.”
Jang Sam-tae cursed under his breath even as he hurried toward the storehouse. Until he recovered the stolen goods and made his escape, he could not afford to displease this man. Whatever it took, he had to play along.
He gathered ingredients and made for the kitchen, turning over in his mind what meager options were available. The supplies were sparse; only simple dishes were possible.
“It’s been so long since I’ve done this. I hope it turns out well.”
But he had to try.
Gaining the opportunity he sought required Dan U-hyeon’s trust above all else.

***

“Better than I expected.”
Dan U-hyeon was genuinely surprised.
It was the first time.
Since establishing the manor, he had never eaten a proper meal. Before him lay nine small dishes arranged in careful order.
He found himself thinking: mountain greens could transform into something like this.
The wild boar meat was not merely roasted—it had been seasoned with countless condiments, releasing a fragrant aroma.
The flesh was so tender that the moment it touched his tongue, it seemed to melt away.
“Your skill is remarkable.”
“Haha, are you satisfied, sir?”
It was far more than satisfaction.
He had thought the man useless at first. He’d intended to work him as a servant for a few days and cast him out if he proved inadequate. But such skill in the kitchen changed his mind entirely.
Dan U-hyeon’s gaze fixed upon Jang Sam-tae.
There was something unsettling in those gleaming eyes.
“Hic!”
“You’d have been better suited to this than to thievery.”
“Thievery, sir?”
“No—never mind. It’s nothing.”
Hwa So-mi’s head snapped up at the word thief. So lost had she been in the taste of food such as she had never experienced before that her face was smeared with bits of it.
Dan U-hyeon wiped her face clean with a cloth and opened his mouth again.
“Your wages shall be three silver pieces per month.”
“Ha… haha, th-thank you.”
Here was a man offering reward when he had not even asked—yet Jang Sam-tae found himself biting down on resentment. It felt like being offered rice cakes while being denied the proper meal.
In truth, when he had first glimpsed the manor’s immense size, he had harbored high expectations. Compared to the manors of Ak-yang, this one seemed positively overwhelming.
But within a matter of hours, the truth revealed itself. Despite the manor’s vast expanse, there was not a coin to spare—no jewelry, nothing of value.
Even the clothes were cheap, and everything in the storehouse consisted largely of things gathered from mountain and field.
While lost in these thoughts, Dan U-hyeon—picking at a morsel of meat—suddenly fixed his gaze on Jang Sam-tae. The moment their eyes met, Jang Sam-tae rushed to compose his expression and bowed his head.
“Do you know what they say?”
“Sir?”
“That the Monkey King, even if he dies and awakens, remains forever in the Buddha’s palm.”
“Ha… haha, of course I know it, sir.”
Jang Sam-tae kept his head lowered, his manner deferential.
But his heart thought otherwise.
He filed away Dan U-hyeon’s words while a bitter smile played at his lips.
‘That’s what you think. But the Monkey King can escape the Buddha’s palm if he has a way out.’
Jang Sam-tae’s way out was not Dan U-hyeon. It was the stolen goods.
The Monkey King upon the Buddha’s palm believed in that much.

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