Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 243

Weapon-Eating Bastard 243

The man removed the cloth covering his head as soon as he spotted me.

Beneath the swaying sunset, the man’s face was revealed.

A gentle impression, a soft smile, white hair, and wrinkles.

“Butler Choi?”

The one standing before me was none other than Butler Choi.

“How are you here? I heard you were missing. Are you alright? What happened all this time…….”

Currently, Butler Choi was known to have disappeared after the incident caused by Lee Gun-sung and had not yet reappeared.

Although he was called a butler, he was practically an elder, so the main family had formed and operated its own investigation team.

Nevertheless, they couldn’t find a single trace or clue about Butler Choi’s disappearance.

But now, Butler Choi was standing within the main family’s property, right in front of me.

“I’m sorry, Young Master. I want to tell you everything right away, but I don’t have time to explain now.”

Incomprehensible words.

Only then did I calm my surprised heart.

Then, I felt something strange.

‘……It’s not a human body?’

The one who appeared before me looked like Butler Choi, but it wasn’t Butler Choi.

I couldn’t feel the vitality that a person should naturally have.

No, I could feel the vitality, but the energy flowing through the body felt unnatural and artificial.

It was like…….

“Butler Choi?”

I opened my eyes wide and called Butler Choi once more, and Butler Choi replied with the same gentle smile as usual.

“As expected, Young Master, you recognized me.”

“……I need an explanation. I can’t trust you right now, Butler Choi.”

“I understand you have many questions. But there are many eyes and ears on the main family’s property. I can’t tell you here.”

“There’s only you, Nanny, and me around here.”

If I wanted to, I could put the entire training grounds under my senses.

And I couldn’t catch any other presence in my senses.

“What you feel isn’t everything, Young Master.”

I paused for a moment.

And it was around the time that the words ended.

Faaasst!

Suddenly, Butler Choi’s arm crumbled like sand and scattered into ashes.

Soon, the crack spread through his arm and into his body, and soon his legs, which were on the ground, also crumbled.

“I don’t have much time left. I know it’s not polite to have you come to find the one I serve, but please, I hope you will find me.”

“How am I supposed to find you when I don’t know where you are, Butler Choi?”

“With your eyes, Young Master, you will be able to find where I am.”

That was the end of it.

Butler Choi’s body scattered, leaving only ashes.

-Do you remember the story about the mountain climbing that you and I shared, Young Master?

And finally, that voice passed by my ear.

I frowned, watching the ashes scattered by the wind blowing through the garden.

Butler Choi, who I thought was missing—no, honestly, I thought he was dead—was not only alive but had come to me.

Moreover, with a sudden invitation.

‘What the hell happened?’

Did something happen to Butler Choi?

What is the allowed time? And why did he call me?

No, in the first place…… is that really Butler Choi?

‘It could be a trap.’

I’ve come into contact with too many hidden sides of the world, including the Puppeteer.

There are many unknown forces in this world as much as the known forces.

And there is also an organization called Six Nights that only uses such forces.

In the end, Butler Choi left a story that only the two of us knew to prove that he was ‘real,’ but I was still suspicious.

If this is a trap…….

“Young Master?”

At that time, Nanny approached me with a nervous look.

I stared at Nanny’s face for a moment, then smiled bitterly and made a decision.

“Nanny, did you prepare a meal this time too?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“I’m sorry. I was looking forward to only Nanny’s food for three years. But I think I need to go urgently. I think I’ll have to go secretly.”

“…….”

Nanny looked at me hesitantly for a moment, then nodded with a strong look.

“……Young Master had dinner with me today and went to bed right away. And tomorrow, you’ll be talking to me about what happened.”

Nanny said that out of the blue.

‘As expected, she’s perceptive.’

She heard that I had to leave secretly and said she would create an alibi.

“Blackbird, come out.”

-Bbyak!

At my call, Blackbird peeked out of Eun-han’s pocket.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to ask you to take care of Nanny again.”

-Bbyak! Bbyabyabyabyak!

He was saying something like, ‘How long has it been since I saw you, and you’re leaving again!’

I gently rubbed Blackbird’s head with my hand and said.

“You’re the only one I can trust. What else can I do?”

-Bbyabyak. Bbyabyabyak.

Blackbird spread its wings as if it couldn’t help it and flew towards Nanny’s shoulder.

“Then, Nanny, I’ll be back.”

I spread mana throughout my body.

Strong Qi Skill, Water Scale.

In an instant, I hid my presence and appearance, kicked off the ground, and activated the Evil Eye.

Hwaaaak!

An opaque stream of energy stretched out to the north.

‘You intentionally left energy behind.’

A faint energy that I wouldn’t be able to feel if I didn’t have the Evil Eye.

I flew after that energy.

There was no need to worry in the first place.

If Butler Choi really called me, I should definitely go.

If it’s a trap, I just have to break it.

* * *

I moved quickly, following Butler Choi’s energy.

At the same time, I constantly scanned the surroundings with the Evil Eye and my senses.

If I felt like something was following me, I would immediately hide and strengthen my stealth.

‘What is this?’

Was it because I reached the Sword Mind and knew more about all the forces that exist in the world?

I was able to discover a strand of unidentified energy surrounding me.

Energy that couldn’t reach me, following me from afar.

A force closer to sorcery than magic.

‘It’s watching me. No, it’s trying to watch me, to be exact.’

Could this be the eyes and ears that Butler Choi was talking about?

Seogeok!

I immediately swung the Black Night and cut it off lightly.

After that, I continued to quickly track Butler Choi’s energy.

About an hour later.

After running non-stop, I arrived at a natural lake located in the mountains.

There was no sign of people around.

But instead, I could tell that a very special energy was surrounding this place.

‘It’s sorcery.’

I looked down at the lake scenery with the Evil Eye at full power.

A high-level barrier was covering this place, so high-level that I could only see through it by using the Evil Eye at full power.

‘What the hell is this place…….’

Butler Choi’s energy was leading me inside the lake.

I slowly moved along that energy.

The barrier didn’t reject me.

Rather, it gently wrapped around my body, as if guiding me inside.

With a feeling of passing through a thin film, the scenery of the lake disappeared like a mirage, and I came to my senses in a completely different place.

What appeared in front of me was a large door.

And above the door, there was a sign carved in elegant handwriting.

家崔正崇.

A horizontal inscription written in Chinese.

Choi Family of Soongjeong [Soongjeong is likely a region or ancestral home].

What was hanging there was my mother’s maiden family name.

* * *

I climbed over the collapsed building and entered inside.

As if I had entered the territory, the energy here was completely different from the energy outside.

‘It’s being managed.’

There weren’t as many buildings as in the Training Grounds, but most of them were in good condition.

There were also signs of maintenance here and there.

But rather, because of those aspects, this space felt even more desolate.

A place with no unique scent of people living there.

But a place that is being managed.

The one who was managing this place…… I didn’t even need to think about it.

Tuk, tuk…….

Even my small footsteps echoed too loudly in this vast space.

Soon, I arrived at the building in the very center.

And I felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

‘Could this be…….’

Woong!

The Black Night, which was in its scabbard, seemed to emit a heavy sword cry.

I knew this space.

It was my first time coming here, but I had seen it before.

The space where the Black Night’s seal was performed in the Black Night’s memory.

I opened the door of the building as if possessed and entered inside.

“Have you come, Young Master.”

In the center of the building, Butler Choi was standing, burning incense.

* * *

Butler Choi was standing, but…… he was so terribly broken that I didn’t know how he could stand.

One arm was missing, one eye was crushed, and his waist was twisted at a strange angle.

He was in a state where it wouldn’t be strange if he died right away.

But Butler Choi moved.

Because he wasn’t alive in the first place.

“As you might have expected, I am not human.”

I once left a comment that Butler Choi seemed like a goblin.

But now I could see that he was somewhat different from a goblin.

Butler Choi is a doll.

“More than that, we need to treat you quickly.”

“Treatment for ordinary people is meaningless to me.”

“Then I’ll bring the Puppeteer. I captured him this time.”

“It’s useless. He’s just another doll. He won’t be able to heal me.”

“Then how…….”

“Rather, please listen to my story, Young Master.”

Butler Choi placed the last incense stick and sat down.

I quickly approached and supported Butler Choi’s body.

“Thank you. I shouldn’t be like this as a servant.”

“Don’t say that.”

Butler Choi sat comfortably on the floor with my support.

It was an injury that would be quite painful if he were human, but there was no change in Butler Choi’s expression.

“Before that, did you deal with the ‘eyes’ that were chasing after Young Master?”

“Yes, thanks to your words, I was able to feel that something was following me. So I dealt with it right away.”

“The owner of that energy is the true Puppeteer. No, it wouldn’t be appropriate to call him a Puppeteer…… He is called an Apostle. The leader of Kabbalah [a mystical Jewish tradition]. His eyes can see the whole world.”

‘And he is the one who made me,’ Butler Choi’s tone implied.

Butler Choi started his story slowly, starting with those words.

* * *

There was an old man.

He was an unknown existence who didn’t know when he was born, how old he was, or what kind of life he lived…….

In his long life, the old man learned a lot.

That included not only material power but also the enlightenment gained as a human being.

The old man gained a piece of enlightenment that someone would have to practice as a seeker for the rest of their lives dozens of times.

The old man was sometimes called a living Buddha, a teacher, a practitioner, a seeker…… He was called by many names.

He was the one with the most sublime spirit and wisdom in the world, so many scholars who craved knowledge and practitioners who sought truth sought him.

“That’s how Kabbalah was created.”

Butler Choi said that.

A gathering of those who seek wisdom and knowledge.

“If he had died like that, the old man would have been respected as if he had entered Nirvana [a state of perfect peace] or ascended to immortality.”

But in the end, the old man refused to die.

The years of accumulation became an obsession that dominated the old man’s sublime spirit, and the greed for truth and wisdom turned into madness.

So the old man had a vain dream.

He wanted to become the god of this world.

He wanted to gain everything through one truth that penetrates this world.

He tried to create a body like a god, carved up his soul, contemplated the world, and lived through the ages.

The old man coveted all the knowledge in the world, and his small body alone was not enough to do so.

So he created those who would become his hands and feet.

He brainwashed his disciples who followed him, sometimes manipulated their souls, and manipulated their bodies…… and scattered them throughout the world.

Soon he gains something.

And through it, he creates creatures as if he were a god.

He shaped forms from the soil and covered them with the souls he created.

“That’s me.”

I stopped breathing for a moment.

“What he gained was a fragment of the Primordial Beast. He made me with it.”

“But…… I don’t feel any unique feeling from Butler Choi.”

The Black Energy reacts to things mixed with the Primordial Beast.

But I had never felt such energy from Butler Choi.

“Yes, that’s right. There was someone who washed away that energy in me and truly made me human.”

Butler Choi turned his gaze and looked at the table where he was burning incense.

I turned my eyes to that place, following Butler Choi’s gaze.

The place where the incense was rising.

There, the three letters Choi Yu-jeong were written.

“That written there…… is your mother’s name, Young Master. And that person made me a person, not a doll.”

* * *

The old man, called the Apostle, the leader of Kabbalah, who was meditating with his eyes half-closed, let out a long breath.

The long white cloth covering his black and skinny body, like an old tree, fluttered in his breath.

“My first work is heading towards death.”

The old man was feeling Butler Choi.

He was the creator, so he could naturally feel the existence of his creations.

“It is truly sad. Why couldn’t he escape the original sin of ignorance? He fell into the tricks of the wrong person and eventually escaped from the hands of the creator, so all I could do was take back what I had given.”

The old man held something in the shape of a dark sphere in his hand.

It was just a smooth black ball, but it was slowly emitting black energy.

It was originally the source of power that allowed Butler Choi to become independent as a doll.

And it was also a fragment of the Primordial Beast that the Puppeteer and the nameless warrior had recovered some time ago.

“Foolish child. But since your death is helping me, I will forgive you…….”

The energy of the black sphere, which had not changed at all, was gradually increasing.

The old man smiled.