The God of Death and the God of War - Chapter 83

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

 

Chapter 83

 

Zoetrope .

 

It’s one of the lanterns that creates the optical illusion of pictures drawn on a lantern appearing to move.

 

While this is sometimes used to represent the transience of time, its more famous usage would be the saying that one can look back on their life like a zoetrope just before death.

 

‘I never believed it at all.’

 

Hae-yeon had never believed such claims.

 

What do you mean looking back on your life just before death?

 

Kurururu!

 

Kugugugu!

 

The entire research lab trembles as if an earthquake had struck.

 

It seems like a massive explosion could occur at any moment.

 

But now that a life-threatening crisis had actually arrived.

 

Her life really did flash before her eyes like a zoetrope.

 

-What’s a girl doing studying!

 

The first thing that came to mind was her father’s roar.

 

His overbearing and irritating voice sounded like a beast growling.

 

-You’ve ruined our family!

 

Hae-yeon’s father had said this.

 

Hae-yeon was from a civil official family in Beijing, what you’d commonly call the gentry class.

 

What distinguished the gentry class from local gentry was that power was essential for the accumulation and maintenance of wealth.

 

So for the gentry class, power – that is, the civil service examinations – held meaning beyond just being simple tests.

 

That’s why Hae-yeon’s father had staked everything on his only son.

 

His son needed to pass at least the provincial examination to maintain their identity as gentry class.

 

But his only son had no interest in studying and was only focused on playing, eating, and enjoying himself.

 

Meanwhile, his daughter Hae-yeon showed exceptional talent and ability in her studies.

 

This was the problem.

 

No matter how outstanding Hae-yeon was, women couldn’t become government officials.

 

The son who should study but doesn’t.

 

The daughter who shouldn’t study but excels at it.

 

Her father interpreted this strange contradiction in a bizarre way.

 

-Since you’re flitting about claiming to study, haven’t you stolen all the good fortune that should have gone to your brother!

 

-Burn it all!

 

Swoosh!

 

Hae-yeon’s father tore up all the books his daughter had been reading and made them into kindling.

 

Hae-yeon screamed, but her father didn’t even pretend to listen.

 

Rather, he was about to have the servants beat her, which those around barely managed to stop.

 

It must have been from that time.

 

When she thought that no one would acknowledge her.

 

So she left home.

 

She thought that if she continued living in this suffocating household, she might die of suffocation someday.

 

‘Let’s go to Changsha.’

 

There was one reason she chose Changsha.

 

Because it was far from Beijing.

 

And because it was a place her family’s influence couldn’t reach.

 

So that her father, her family, would never come looking for her.

 

Thus Hae-yeon arrived in Jangsa Land and threw herself into the martial world.

 

It was a simple reason.

 

If the political and government circles wouldn’t acknowledge her, she could go to a world that would.

 

So she knocked on the doors of Gangho.

 

Those who walked the path of Dosan Geomrim didn’t look down on her for being a woman.

 

The place she entered was the Sadocheon Military Division.

 

The Military Division suited Hae-yeon’s aptitude, and she could study to her heart’s content while developing her abilities.

 

…Until she caught the eye of Yachu, Jijung-yeong.

 

The moment she thought she had gotten entangled with a filthy and vile person, and her life had fallen into a second quagmire.

 

-Would you like to learn martial arts from me?

 

Hwang-no approached her.

 

Of course, Hae-yeon didn’t trust Hwang-no.

 

Having been hurt by her closest family, she was in a state of distrust toward humans.

 

-It will be helpful.

 

But Hwang-no taught her martial arts without asking for anything in return and soothed her wounds.

 

Thanks to that, Hae-yeon was able to endure.

 

And she gained a realization.

 

That wounds caused by people can only be healed by people.

 

-Are you alright.

 

-Rest, you must be tired.

 

And then, she was saved by Jeok-un.

 

He used a golden needle on her upon first meeting and worked hard to save her life.

 

He eliminated Yachu, the source of her downfall.

 

Such a benefactor made a request of her.

 

-Salt can be extracted from waste rock.

 

-Really? That’s fascinating. What’s the method?

 

-I don’t know.

 

-…Pardon?

 

-From now on, you’ll figure it out. I believe in you.

 

Saying he believed in her.

 

The person who left after assigning her an impossible task.

 

Hae-yeon was dumbfounded, but she didn’t feel angry.

 

Probably because she sensed sincere faith in Jeok-un’s attitude.

 

‘So I wanted to complete it before he returned.’

 

When she thought of Jeok-un, regret was the first emotion to surface.

 

But even when there was no progress in research, Jeok-un always said this.

 

-It doesn’t matter if it’s a little late. You’ll definitely succeed.

 

The last words Jeok-un left before departing.

 

Those words pulled Hae-yeon out of her zoetrope.

 

* * *

 

‘Let me pull myself together-.’

 

Hae-yeon looked around the research lab and unconsciously bit her lip.

 

Various tools like reagents, medicine bottles, and porcelain mortars were scattered on the floor.

 

The cause of all this was the cauldron placed in the center.

 

It was a hodgepodge of various reagents and materials gathered and boiled together.

 

Except for the abnormal phenomena, the results were quite good.

 

Yes, except for the abnormal phenomena.

 

‘It’s dangerous. It’s become almost like a thunderbolt bomb.’

 

The reagents inside the cauldron were boiling vigorously and emitting light.

 

She had made a dissolving solution with a new formula, but this runaway phenomenon had suddenly occurred.

 

Because of that, Hae-yeon had also fallen, the desk was broken, and reagents had spilled.

 

‘Considering safety, I should retreat even now, but…’

 

She couldn’t do that.

 

If she didn’t stabilize this solution, it could lead to an explosion.

 

If an explosion occurs, without exception, an investigation will be conducted.

 

And suspicion will pour down on Jeok-un who’s at the end of it all.

 

Then Jeok-un, who’s already accumulating resentment through his radical actions, might be driven into an even tighter corner.

 

‘I absolutely can’t let that happen.’

 

She hadn’t even repaid the first debt of gratitude yet.

 

In such a situation, she couldn’t create anything that would harm Jeok-un.

 

‘First, this…’

 

Hae-yeon picked up a reagent bottle with trembling hands.

 

Her hands felt like they were burning from the heat.

 

But she didn’t care.

 

‘I must stabilize it here no matter what. And I’ll find a solution.’

 

Until now, no matter what solution she put into the waste rock, there had been no reaction.

 

But the fact that a new reaction had occurred meant there was progress in the research.

 

She had to see it through to the end here no matter what.

 

‘Let me think. How did the runaway reaction start?’

 

The starting point of the reaction and the critical point where the explosive reaction occurred were key.

 

Hae-yeon recalled everything about the research progress with her brilliant mind, and soon pinpointed the moment the first reaction occurred.

 

‘Yang energy, it was when I added the ingredient containing yang energy.’

 

The moment she put the ingredient containing yang energy into the reagent, the runaway reaction began.

 

Then what if she added an ingredient containing yin energy instead?

 

She had to get through this situation first…

 

‘No.’

 

But Hae-yeon soon shook her head.

 

When hot oil is boiling furiously, pouring water on it doesn’t extinguish it but rather causes an explosion.

 

‘Then this is a situation where I need to cool down the heated oil.’

 

Several hypotheses and dozens of methods repeatedly mixed together in an instant.

 

The product of hypotheses and methods was the total amount of solutions.

 

There were dozens of ways to solve the current situation.

 

She could only choose one from among these.

 

‘Perhaps, no, with high probability there won’t be a second chance.’

 

So she had to choose carefully but decisively.

 

Hae-yeon pushed her brain to the absolute limit.

 

‘Yes, this is it.’

 

Finally, she thought of one method.

 

At the same time, Hae-yeon without hesitation.

 

Thud thud thud!

 

Added more flesh of the Fire Carp, the extreme yang ingredient that had caused the runaway reaction.

 

‘Once more.’

 

That’s right. There was only one way to lower the temperature of hotly boiling oil.

 

Namely, to increase the amount of oil.

 

Thud thud thud!

 

Hae-yeon added the ingredient several times.

 

The scorching heat that seemed to cook her skin threatened Hae-yeon repeatedly, but she didn’t back down.

 

Finally…

 

Hissssss!!

 

With a strange sound like air escaping, thick smoke filled the interior.

 

“Cough, cough!”

 

At the same time, someone burst into coughing as they entered the research lab.

 

“Cough cough! Hae, Hae sunbae? Are, are you all right…?!”

 

It was Go Bok-gil.

 

Knowing there was a fire from the vibration and smoke that occurred in the research lab, he had rushed right in.

 

Go Bok-gil covered his mouth with his sleeve to block the smoke and called out to Hae-yeon, but there was no response.

 

Then Go Bok-gil became terrified.

 

What if Hae-yeon had collapsed from suffocating on the smoke?

 

‘Absolutely, absolutely not!’

 

Go Bok-gil pushed through the smoke, desperately searching for Hae-yeon.

 

Every time he inhaled smoke, his lungs felt like they were burning, but it didn’t matter.

 

Go Bok-gil had already grown attached to the people of the Baekya Unit.

 

‘Damn it! Damn it!!’

 

Having learned such trivial martial arts had never been so frustrating.

 

He should have learned earnestly when Jeok-un offered to teach him.

 

If Hae-yeon died like this, it would feel like his fault.

 

But then.

 

“!!”

 

Finally, when the smoke cleared slightly, he found Hae-yeon at last.

 

“Cough, cough! Hae, Hae sunbae…!?”

 

Go Bok-gil’s eyes gradually widened as he approached Hae-yeon.

 

Because Hae-yeon, standing tall in the middle of the research lab that had become a mess.

 

“Junior, please call the Daeju.”

 

Said while holding a pure white lump of salt.

 

“I’ve completed the formula.”

 

Even though more smoke would come in, Go Bok-gil’s mouth fell wide open.

 

* * *

 

Smack!

 

Whack!!

 

“Aaaaah! It hurts, it hurts, Daeju!”

 

“You bastard!! Do you know what I thought had happened!”

 

Jeok-un raised his voice angrily as he beat up Go Bok-gil.

 

Hwang-no also wanted to punch him with his fists like Jeok-un.

 

“Ack! Aack! Why, why are there stones!? Aack!”

 

He was stealthily kicking his feet, hitting him with small pebbles.

 

Go Bok-gil ran around frantically to survive, fleeing from Jeok-un.

 

Of course, Jeok-un was running around to catch and beat up that guy.

 

“They were tears of emotion, tears of emotion!”

 

“Then now I’ll make you shed tears of pain!”

 

“Aaaaah!!”

 

Go Bok-gil had to shed salty tears as much as the salt piled on the ground.

 

And watching that commotion.

 

Hae-yeon was showing such a bright smile.

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