My Disciples Became Scoundrels - Chapter 102

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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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Total Annihilation.
All my disciples dead. The moment I read those words, the ground beneath my feet turned to quicksand.
A reflexive surge of emotion clawed up from my gut. Something was dragging at my legs.
“I think it would be better to show you directly rather than explain. I’ve enclosed a Memory Stone.”
I saw a black stone gleaming with an opalescent sheen. A Memory Stone—an object that could let someone experience another’s memories firsthand.
“Master, what is that?”
Cesare’s blue eyes fixed on me. The gaze was innocent, untainted. Eyes that knew nothing of what was to come.
“Jeremiah saw the future, it seems. I’ll take a look at it carefully, so finish your treatment and rest.”
“All right. Yes.”
Cesare seemed reluctant, dissatisfied with the answer. I ruffled her hair once and headed to my quarters.
The Memory Stone continued to emit its strange light. It was an object that shattered after a single use.
I had to be careful. No matter what scene appeared.
I placed the Memory Stone in my mouth and crunched down hard. A heavy, indeterminate taste—neither bitter nor sweet—coated my tongue.
The scenery around me slowly transformed. It felt entirely real.
Underground. A fairly spacious underground. And a prison—cages that looked more like animal enclosures by their dimensions.
Darkness pressed in from all sides, and the stench of blood hung thick in the air. I turned, searching for its source, and found it.
Cesare lay crumpled. His head was gone.
Jenia and Arkel lay beside him. Blood pooled across the floor in quantities that turned my stomach.
Gai was sliced to pieces, as though by a sharp blade. Bella’s white hair had turned crimson with blood.
I… was alive. I sat collapsed, cradling Bella in my arms. Even as reality felt distant, I caught sight of my own face.
So this was an expression I could make.
My shoulders trembled without end. The Bella in my embrace forced words out with difficulty.
“Hyeoldu was a Guardian… Guardians have such different abilities…”
“Don’t speak, Bella. Don’t say anything.”
I didn’t know I could make my voice so fragile. It felt strange. Like someone else’s.
Each time Bella tried to speak, blood surged from her abdomen. It was a mortal wound. There was no saving her.
She worked her rigid lips. A smile crossed her face—as though she were trying to comfort me.
“It’s all right, Master. I’ll do better next time…”
I heard nothing after that. Not Bella’s voice. Not my own either.
Only silence, left standing among the dead.
I closed my eyes, then opened them. Slowly, the familiar surroundings returned. My room. Our home.
The bitter taste still lingered in my mouth. As I forced myself to swallow, heat flooded my head.
Calm the emotion. Think through what I saw. Location: Underground Prison. Killed by a Guardian—likely an enemy we hadn’t anticipated.
The way my disciples fell…
I was there.
I was clearly there, and yet they died while I alone survived.
Some survivals are sins. The life remaining would become its own punishment.
It felt as though a yoke had already been placed upon my shoulders.
Knock. Knock.
The rapping at the door snapped me back to myself. A familiar voice came from beyond it.
“Master. We’ve returned.”
It was Arkel. I yanked the door open to find him whole and unharmed, standing before me. His eyes were full of concern.
“What’s wrong? Has your health worsened?”
“No… I’m fine.”
My disciple. Alive. Blinking, breathing, calling out to me.
I steadied myself against the sound of his voice. I tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
“Are the others in the Living Room? I received a letter for Jeremiah, and all of you need to know about it.”
When I entered the Living Room, my disciples were gathered on the sofa. Gai looked up from peeling an orange.
“Master, your expression looks like a corpse’s. What’s happened?”
“There’s something I need to tell you all. Gai, sit down and listen.”
I couldn’t leave Gai out of this. He was dead too.
Already he knew about Jeremiah anyway. I’d told him when he’d mistaken her for Hayden.
When I finished the story, my disciples sat stunned. Cesare, who’d been staring blankly, finally spoke.
“We all die? What in the world happens to us? And who is Hyeoldu anyway?”
“An alias for the head of criminals, it seems. It appears we’ll be taking on this commission.”
I picked up one of the request letters. It was among those I’d been deliberating over.
“Hyeoldu is suspected to be the mastermind of a Human Trafficking Organization. The request is for evidence.”
It seemed we died in the course of carrying out the request. Gai wore an expression of discomfort.
“Then we can simply decline that commission. Problem solved, isn’t it?”
Under normal circumstances, that would have been my decision. But the Guardian was involved in this matter.
I wanted to use this opportunity to capture the Guardian. Yet there was an emotion greater than that.
Fear. I would have to accept a commission where my disciples might die.
If I had died instead, there would have been no hesitation. The future that hadn’t come kept hovering before my eyes.
When I couldn’t speak at all, Cesare’s voice reached me.
“Why are you avoiding it? The Guardian’s out there, so of course we have to go capture them.”
Cesare remained unfazed even at the mention of his own death. Gai spoke with a twisted edge to his voice.
“Is Prophecy just Prophecy for nothing? I don’t see why we’d deliberately seek out danger. There really is no helping stu…….”
Crack!
Cesare brought the back of his hand across Gai’s head. The sound was so satisfying it would’ve been believable if he’d passed out.
“What’s with you? Who’s stupid! Besides, we’ve already proven that Master is stronger than Prophecy.”
Gai groaned. Ignoring the sound, Cesare continued.
“Prophecy? Who made that anyway. That Prophecy came from the prophet that Master beat down.”
Well, I didn’t exactly beat them down.
“Master is stronger than Prophecy, so what reason is there to be scared?”
It was rather unreasonable logic. Though I did defeat Jeremiah…….
But the other disciples didn’t argue back. Not even Bella did.
She had already composed her expression. Her eyes were cold, moving like beads on an abacus.
She’d smiled when dying in my arms, but now there wasn’t a trace of laughter on her face.
“We’ll run into the Guardian again eventually anyway if we avoid this. Going forward is better. We just need to prepare well.”
“With only this much information? It’s uncertain.”
“Life is full of variables anyway. I’ve never seen a certain future.”
Bella spoke with a sly tone.
“If we die anyway, I’ll just Regress……. Ow!”
I reflexively grabbed Bella’s cheek and pulled. She squirmed and tried to push me away.
“I told you not to talk about dying.”
“I was just assuming the worst case, and it hurts!”
“Don’t assume such things.”
I didn’t know what happened after Regression. Does the world return to normal? Or am I the only one left alive in that world?
I couldn’t know. I just didn’t want to see my disciples die.
“……Understood. I won’t say such things again.”
I slowly let go of her cheek. Bella’s face was pouty. Though she didn’t look genuinely upset.
Jenia and Arkel were both calm about it. He spoke.
“If we prepare thoroughly in advance, I believe it should be manageable. I wish to go.”
“Me too. Want to catch the Guardian.”
At that response, Gai spoke irritably.
“Can’t you just leave me in the Warehouse? Yes, I understand.”
I looked at my disciples for a long time. I should have been giving them comfort and stability, yet I was receiving it from them instead.
I’m falling short as a master. On the other hand, I felt relieved. They’ve grown so well.
I trust my disciples. The weak voice inside me began to fade away.
If I’m going to fall apart, I’ll do it after everything is over. Not now. I slowly picked up the envelope.
“Very well. We’ll take this commission.”
* * *
Every city has a Slum District. But darkness has its depths.
The Slum District of the City where Hyeoldu lived. It was less a city than a kind of tower or vertical maze.
Illegal structures packed tightly together had expanded until they formed one massive cluster.
A city littered with the carcasses of half-eaten beasts and charred by fire. As we entered the Slum District, Cesare exhaled in frustration.
“This is too suffocating. Can’t I take off the mask?”
“Bear with it. I want to hide our faces and movements as much as possible.”
Cesare and I were wearing Half Masks. It was to conceal the fact that we’d come to the Slum District.
I wanted to avoid confrontation with Hyeoldu as much as possible. Cesare rattled his mask as he spoke.
“I want to finish this quickly. I don’t like the neighborhood itself either. I’ve been through some pretty foul places, but……. This one’s on another level.”
“That’s probably why the nation didn’t step in and gave us the commission instead.”
To arrest Hyeoldu, we’d have to overturn this entire Slum District. Making a whole city an enemy was too risky, so they hired us.
……And we died. The bitter taste coated my tongue.
“I’m not sure if everyone will be all right. It’s too dangerous to go around in pairs.”
The goal was to investigate as quietly as possible. If all six of us moved together, we’d stand out, so we had to split up.
At my words, Cesare made a subtle expression.
“The people here are more dangerous, though? Arkel said he was happy to kill people for the first time in a while.”
……Right. I’d forgotten. My disciple is a pleasure killer.
“The others are just as crazy. So instead of worrying about us…….”
Cesare glanced over his shoulder.
“You should be worried about them.”
I followed his gaze. There had been footsteps trailing us since earlier.
People were emerging from the narrow alley, each gripping a club in hand.
No blades. The disciples had died to blades.
Ten of them. One looked sideways at Cesare.
“That size is rare. Lucky for us.”
“Good complexion too, solid muscle on him. Looks strong as an ox.”
They spoke like butchers appraising livestock. Cesare bristled, his voice sharp.
“Crazy bastards, grading pork now?”
Cesare closed the distance in an instant. The man raised his club, but it was no match.
Crack!
The club shattered against Cesare’s fist. Cheap work. Then someone burst from the adjacent alley.
He slammed into me, club already in hand.
Snap!
I drove through his guard and snapped an uppercut at his jaw. Concussion sent him reeling, opening the gap I needed. I drove my palm into his sternum.
“Guh……!”
He went down. More came at us from behind and the sides.
The corridor was tight. Barely wide enough for two to pass—no room to evade.
Was Cesare holding up? His size would make fighting difficult. I glanced at him.
Smack!
Cesare’s fist connected with the man’s face. Movement was constrained, but he fought well.
The man’s nose bone crumpled under the blow. As blood spilled, something shifted in his eyes.
“Damn it, that’s worth good money……!”
His knuckle duster flashed. Steel glinted with malicious intent. He drove his fist straight at Cesare’s abdomen.
Thud!
Cesare took the blow. Or rather, let himself be hit. Only a slight furrow crossed his brow.
“Good complexion, solid muscle, you said? Looks strong too.”
Boom!
Cesare grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. His teeth bared in a grin.
“Let me show you the last part myself, you son of a bitch.”

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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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