Mercenary Black Mamba

Mu Ssang disappeared in the blink of an eye right in front of him.

Bang—

He couldn’t even tell when the door had opened and closed. Sang Chul shook his head from side to side. He recalled the Wol Song San’s transportation explosion accident that had been the talk of the town when he was young. Five of his friends had died, and Mu Ssang was the only one who had escaped unscathed. Since then, Mu Ssang was nicknamed “goblin.” He really ended up becoming a goblin.

The bridge village was a place with several stories of goblin sightings. There was Jin Pyeong Daek who had become a bit mad after being chased out of the communal graveyard, Bang Chon ajussi who had witnessed a large Imoogi in the flooded Nakdong River, and brother Kang Soo who had wrestled with a goblin in Wol Song San until he walked with a limp. More than 10 people he knew had encountered a goblin.

Even an elderly man had gotten into trouble last week because of a goblin. At dawn, he was found screaming like a whale in the paddy fields and dragged out by the villagers.

From Sang Chul’s point of view, all of them were silly events without impact. People either became senseless in fear of meeting a goblin or a ghost, wandered about on strange roads because they were lured, or fled in fear of the horrible sight.

In the end, there was no substantial evidence. The people who got injured caused the injury themselves by either falling or tripping without any direct contact. They were all incidents in which truth fell short by two percent.

“Hehehe, to become a goblin, they should at least be that skilled.”

Sang Chul smiled like a fool as he stared at Wol Song San. Relieved that he got to live, his optimistic personality surfaced. With a built body, dark skin, a face that looked like a murderer, the strength to pull out a rock the size of a house, and the ability to leap over rocks and trees in a single step—that was the appearance of a true goblin instead of a weak one.

He was someone who had survived meeting a real goblin instead of a weak one. His chest swelled with pride. The black goblin was just like a real goblin, although a little bit stupid. Sang Chul had unknowingly become Samedi’s fan.

“A goblin? Samedi?”

“Oh, is that dark-skinned goblin called Samedi?”

“He’s not a goblin but someone from the Maasai tribe who serves as Ssang oppa’s servant. He looks a little scary, but he’s really kind.”

“Kind?”

Sang Chul’s eyes grew wide. Compared to the goblins that appeared in legends, the dark-skinned goblin was 1,000 li away. The gang members who were done in by that dark-skinned guy had their bones shattered and faces crushed. Even the b*stard who had tried to escape was dragged back by his ankle and covered in blood. He didn’t see the person whom he had fought with either. The goblin must have eaten the guy as a midnight snack.

While he could agree that Samedi was cool, he couldn’t agree that Samedi was kind. If he hadn’t talked about Mu Ssang sooner, he would have been eaten by the dark-skinned goblin too.

“Ya, despite his scary exterior, he listens well and is calm. Ah! Don’t curse out Ssang oppa when Samedi’s around. He’ll get really mad. Oppa said that a flick of Samedi’s fingers can kill a person. He has sharp ears too, so you have to be careful.”

Jin Soon warned him firmly. Since he was little, Sang Chul oppa would often fool around and act mindlessly. In middle school, he would leave home because he didn’t want to brew beef stew, so what else could he do?

“Mu Ssang, that brat. He used to play the leader when he was little, and now he’s bossing a goblin around. Aigo, that pitiful brat!”

“Sh!”

“Oops!”

Sang Chul, who was cursing mindlessly, immediately opened the door and checked outside. He wasn’t scared of his village brother Mu Ssang, but his gall started trembling at the thought of that goblin named Samedi.

Bullhead’s anger didn’t subside. The foundation of the gangster world was illegal activities. Betrayal was a serious offense that shook the roots of the gang organizations. Driver Kim was still being cursed out when Mu Ssang arrived.

“A b*stard like you don’t deserve to be on a family list. Oh, you dirty b*stard! Tui, tui!”

“That b*stard need to be shoved in a s***hole after his head is removed.That traitorous b*stard.”

“You b*stard without an ounce of loyalty, did you think you can survive after escaping by yourself? You earned it.”

Splat—

The three gang members didn’t stop cursing out driver Kim who was the cause of all their troubles.

Mu Ssang tilted his head while the group of guys created a commotion under the pine tree. Three gang members were cursing out one another as much as they could and spitting, but the one on the receiving end remained silent.

“What are they doing?”

Mu Ssang turned to look at Samedi. Samedi raised his palms and shrugged. It was a gesture that meant, “what would he know?”

“They’re not even gang members, just street boys. They look fine though.”

There were four subjects wrapped with arrowroots like a cocoon under the pine tree. They didn’t look that battered considering that it was Samedi who had beaten them up.

Why did those b*stards dig his father’s grave? The mountain owner had received a decade’s worth of fees for his father’s gravesite. There weren’t any problems, legally. There were no disagreements regarding the grave’s location, and the countryside mountain owner had no reason to hire gang members.

It came down to two reasons as to why the grave was dug up. Someone wanted to swap out the remains because the gravesite was a good location, or someone just wanted to destroy the remains.

What was a eum-taek feng shui location[1]? Regardless of the feng shui geography theory, any land that allowed the remains to return to nature quickly and peacefully had good feng shui. A land without groundwater, plant roots, groundhogs, and insects was an ideal land. If the remains failed to return to nature, the soul would wander around in a void, and the body would wander around on land. The non-corporeal beings wandering around in this world were called ghosts.

The reason why feng shui used various kinds of tools such as the paecheol, nakyung, and samryongcheok to survey the surrounding area and spot water veins was to find a place where the body would decompose easily. Paecheol looked at the orientation of the surrounding area but also checked the existence of any underground minerals.

In the presence of an underground metalliferous lode, corpses would absorb the energy and decay more quickly. A talented feng shui reader could locate underground metalliferous lodes. Here, the lode was not equivalent to a commercial lode.

In the past, he would search the underground using his dimensional sight. He hadn’t seen a single piece of metal, let alone a metalliferous lode. If that had been the work of a feng shui reader capable of switching bodies, the reader would have known that his father’s gravesite wasn’t a good location. Back then, his situation didn’t allow him to ask a reader to look for a good location, either.

It meant that someone had attempted to destroy the remains out of grudge, but his father wasn’t the kind of person who’d offend anyone. He suddenly remembered Madam Jang’s salmusa-like eyes.

No way, to this extent?

An aunt-in-law destroying her brother-in-law’s grave? If it had been during the Joseon Dynasty, her family would have been executed. Madam Jang directed her hatred toward him and his mother. There was no reason why she’d attack his father. Then who? He should start investigating now.

Rustle—

Rustle—

When Samedi appeared, the gang members closed their mouths and lowered their heads closer to their chests. They seemed extremely frightened.

Mu Ssang’s anger disappeared at the sorry sight of those gang members. They were too weak for him to fight against. Lackey was the best when it came to dealing with those kinds of b*stards. Leaving the situation to Samedi would bury them instantly.

Hm! He already killed one.

Mu Ssang found an awkwardly positioned rock and stared at Samedi. Mu Ssang’s gaze flickered back and forth from the rock to Samedi, causing him to flinch.

“Keh!”

He laughed at Samedi’s naive response. There was no reason for him to activate his dimensional sight. There was a 100 percent chance that a corpse was buried under that rock.

“Samedi!”

Hic—

Surprised by the sudden call, Samedi started hiccupping.

“Did you drink blood?”

“Oh, no, no!”

Hic—

“You don’t want to drink these b*stards’ blood?”

“No, no!”

Hic—

The gang members and Samedi’s faces creased at the same time. The gang members felt an inexpressible fear. Even Samedi was scared. He didn’t want to think about the pain that would explode from within his head.

The ends of Mu Ssang’s mouth curled up. He tapped on his head and made an exploding gesture. Samedi’s face grew pale.

Brat, he already experienced it.

Samedi had been done in by his teacher’s Tight-Fillet Spell, so he wouldn’t dare think of consuming human blood again. The problem was Samedi’s immense strength. An uncontrollable strength was a disaster on its own. If he casually held a child because they were nice-looking, a disaster would occur.

He needs power control training.

Mu Ssang pulled out a rock embedded under a tree. He shoved his hand into the ground and scraped off some soil. Four large eggs, a width larger than quail eggs, were dragged out. They were rat snake eggs.

“Samedi, hold two in each hand. You’ll get a scolding if the egg breaks. Keep watch over these guys too.”

If Samedi were to touch anybody, there would be another death. He intended to prevent any more destruction with that method. Mu Ssang crossed the mountain soon after.

“I lived!” Samedi raised his hands and shouted.

His master had forgiven him despite learning that he had killed someone. The eggs that he was holding slipped out.

“Ugh!”

Surprised, Samedi dove to catch the eggs. He would be beaten to a pulp if he broke one. Samedi was on edge, trying not to break the white objects in his palms.

“No way!”

He could instantly see the yellow ground in the middle of the white snowfield.

Whoosh—

A snowstorm formed beneath his feet. Mu Ssang kicked off the ground, flew in the air, and landed before the grave. The casket was missing. Only a rectangular hole remained where the casket used to be. It was exactly as Sang Chul mentioned. Those b*stards even dug out the bones.

“Mm, those f***ing b*stards!”

Confucian values were deeply rooted in the DNA of Koreans. Although times have changed, respecting parents and ancestors was considered unquestionable. That was the same for Mu Ssang. Destroying a grave was an unforgivable sin.

Mu Ssang carefully went down into the grave. Traces of dirty footprints on the remains, shattered pieces of bones wrapped in nylon bandages, skull and leg bones shattered by a shovel—all of which were the work of the gang members. The situation was worse than he had imagined. He couldn’t tell whether that was a dream or reality.

Mu Ssang gathered his father’s shattered remains with trembling hands. On a spring day in a peach field when the blossoms fell, his father would carry him on his sweaty back and tell stories of the past. His father, who used to call himself an old father after pulling out the stake his son had pierced through a pumpkin, his father who had run 20 li and kicked open a hospital door with his sick son on his back, his father who had a splitting smile on his face as soon as his son memorized the alphabets—all the good times he had spent with his father passed by in a flash. Tears streamed down from the eyes of Black Mamba, the Angel of Death with iron-like bravery.

“Father, ugggh!”

A suppressed groan escaped. Red light spread out from his eyes. The soil started crumbling from the grave’s wall as his bloodlust took form.

Cra-ack—

Something twisted in his mind as though it was breaking out of a shell. It was the Epidium’s violent nature.

“Om Mani Banme Hum… Om!”

Mu Ssang hurriedly chanted and calmed his mind down. Despite his teacher’s mind control, mind training, and bloodlust release, he couldn’t get rid of the Epidium’s destructive nature engraved in his DNA.

It wasn’t something to be recklessly angry about. There was always a reason behind unnatural events. Depending on the cause, the outcome of his actions would turn out differently. Right now, he had no answer as to what he should do with the wrecked grave.

“I have no choice but to ask teacher.”

Whether it was luck or misfortune, most of the remains had almost turned to dust. It didn’t seem like he needed to get another casket. To cremate or to bury again?—that was a question he had to ask his teacher.

Mu Ssang cleaned up the casket and picked up the shovel and pickaxe lying around the grave. He got rid of any foreign substances, picked up the remains, and placed them in a bag. He sealed the bag and covered the grave with soil.

Bang—

Bang—

Loud sounds were heard in the mountain. It was the sound of Mu Ssang piling up rocks. He placed 10 or so large rocks on top of the grave to make a layered gravestone. Now, no one would dare touch the grave, be it a body snatcher or a grave robber.

“Samedi, drag those over.”

The distance from the tree to the bridge village wasn’t far. It was close enough for the villagers to hear whenever somebody screamed. If the villagers heard some screams, there’d be questions to answer.

With a perplexed expression, Samedi looked at the snake eggs and the subjects he had to carry. The snake eggs could crack if he placed them inside his pockets. Samedi contemplated for a while before shoving all four eggs into his mouth. He looked just like an alligator protecting its hatchlings in its mouth.

Samedi twisted about 10 arrowroot vines into a rope. He pulled the rope that was as thick as his arm and tested its tension. It would be bad if the rope broke and he lost the subjects.

Twang—

Twang—

The rope that was as thick as his arm withstood Samedi’s strength. A rope that had dozens of thin vines weaved together was stronger than one thick vine. A 10-millimeter iron chain could withstand four tons of weight, but it would break once it exceeded the tensile strength. Meanwhile, a 10-millimeter wire rope could withstand eight tons of weight, and each vine would gradually break once it exceeded the tensile strength. That was why heavy machinery used wire ropes instead of iron chains when lifting structures.

That was the same for the rope made out of arrowroots. Samedi tied the four gang members together like he was tying up firewood. He made a strap and lifted the human stack onto his back.

“Ho! You’re smarter now.”

“Hehe!”

Samedi, who turned four adult men into a stack of twigs, laughed in satisfaction.

“Let’s go!”

Mu Ssang flew in the direction of the forest’s region that had not been trekked. Samedi tilted his head but soon followed. The four men on his back didn’t affect Samedi’s speed at all.

“Agh!”

“Ugh!”

The stack on his back swayed just like a rodeo man on a bull. All kinds of screams erupted, but Samedi continued without much care.

[1] The theory of finding a place to bury the dead.