Mercenary Black Mamba

Slowly, Mu Ssang started laughing. His teacher's body might have been only skin and bones, but his power was still intact. Even his playfulness and childlike brightness were still the same. His anxiety disappeared completely.

"Teacher, quit your soulless joking. It's not even that funny. Stop trying to satisfy your needs from your apprentices' stories and go get your own. If you have no money, then sell the place. You don't even have anything to give to your apprentice anyway."

"Look at this disrespectful punk. I think you're the one who needs to pull out your account. I've only been eating vegetables so I can't get my energy up. You got me used to the best cuts of meat and then went off running to a foreign country."

Monk Dae Woo licked his lips with his eyes ablaze.

"Oh, how scary!"

"Child, I used to wear a bowler hat and spit my way around town too."

"Puhahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

The teacher and apprentice laughed raucously. After exchanging frivolous jokes, they finally arrived in Amja.

"Teacher, wait just a little longer. I'll prepare an offering for you ."

"You have nothing, so what are you planning to do?"

"Our time to chew plants is now over."

The mountains in early April were incredibly cold. It was even cold for him, so he worried about his teacher. Even special powers could not prevent the pains of old age. There was a lot to talk about, but he knew he should warm up the room first before continuing their conversation.

First, Mu Ssang looked for an ax. Some time ago, he had made and ordered an ax from a blacksmith. It was named Jang Han Bu. He stared down at the rusty ax blade. The angst he must have felt!

He had originally made the Jang Han Bu for chopping the necks off of filthy men. If he had not met his teacher, what would have happened? Just thinking about it was terrifying.

Jang Han Bu's ax blade was 30 centimeters in width and double-edged. It had a thickness of 30 millimeters, starting from the connector region of the handle. The ax was a terrifying weapon to be considered just a tool for chopping down trees.

He brushed the rusty ax blade with his palm. The rust fell off of it. It was a result of using his resonance. After rubbing it two or three times, the blade glistened in blue as its sharpness returned.

"Child, put down that terrifying item and fix the electricity first. It's been a year since I've watched television. Do you know the pain of not being able to watch fresh white legs going up and down for this long?"

"Yes, I'll start the fire first and quickly fix it for you."

Monk Dae Woo muttered to himself as he stared at his apprentice's back, disappearing into the woods.

"Skilled, such a skilled person. His road to chaos and enlightenment looks to be the same. He will burn himself to brighten up the world. His explosive energy has been diminished, and the smell of blood has already attached to his soul. What to do? Namo Amitābhāya!"

Monk Dae Woo chanted with his eyes closed. The smell of blood emanating from his apprentice's body made his heart numb. Even a warrior who had swung his ax for 10s of years did not have the deep smell of blood that his apprentice carried around him.

"The world needs chaos sometimes. I should at least get rid of the smell that's attached to his soul. I'll have to relinquish the stirring myself. Apprentice, it's been a while since you felt my power. You have grown quite a bit, but I have a hidden trick up my sleeve. Hahaha!"

Tap—

Monk Dae Woo flicked the last bead with his thumb and shot up. The purveyor of the stick would soon be trembling from it. This was the mountain of the cuckoo bird's song.

It had been a long time since Mu Ssang had excitedly swung his ax around. He had been 23 years old. At the age of 18, he had gained the nickname, godly ax. He had flung the necks off of three people and chopped the arms of Baek Baek pontoon.

Swish—

The ax slit through the air. The ax did not even make a sound as it sliced through the bottom of the tree. The tree that had been standing for 10s of years fell with a thud on the ground.

Swish swish swish—

The ax's blade glistened in the light. Instantly, the branches fell, and the wood pieces were sliced into the length of a man's arm. It was a skill only seen in Chinese legends.

Soon, a mountain of logs were piled up high. Mu Ssang didn't even bother tying them up with a manila bar. Instead, he lugged it on his shoulder as he climbed down the mountain.

His left arm faltered a bit, and his knee buckled. One log which had been peeking out on his left side pushed into the right side.

10s of logs sitting atop him trembled ever so slightly. It had trained him to sense such vibrations of movement. A master trained from daily tasks.

Pak—

Pak—

A strange sound echoed through the lawn. Monk Dae Woo cracked open the room door. Mu Ssang was excitedly chopping down the firewood.

His apprentice had thrown the ax away and was chopping up the firewood with his hands. He playfully swung down at it with his hands. Every time his hand made contact, the birch firewood split in half with ease. He couldn't help but laugh upon observing the scene.

"Haha, that guy is cutting firewood using resonance! The creator of the skill will jump up from his grave if he sees that."

Monk Dae Woo's eyes curved into a crescent. It had never happened before, and it will never happen again.

In swift movements, a power could be felt. The air whizzed with each movement. It had been the sound of air being split. The apprentice was about to complete his task.

"Haha, that's good. Every interval is coming alive."

He could imagine built, strong muscles under his apprentice's clothes. Mu Ssang's physique was not ideal. He was tall, but his bones and muscles were not that large. He was actually on the thinner side.

"Incredible!"

His apprentice's physique had always taken him by surprise. His muscles looked to be twisted tightly together like rope for strength and had the added elasticity for agility. His bones were so strong that if he got hit by a speeding car, he would be fine. The ligaments connecting the bones and muscles were stronger than that of a whale.

Standing here now, he had become an Asura with the help of his incredible genetics, training, and his experience in ending numerous souls.

"It is Buddha's will. Namo Amitābhāya!"

There were high chances that he would become a nuisance to society. However, the fact that he had come under his wing was again, Buddha's will. As luck would have it, it was also Buddha's will to send him to war.

War usually turned a man into a beast, but for his apprentice, he had returned as a human. His menace and wildness had been released. All he had to do was release the menace from his eyes.

I need to come up with a reason if I want to give him a beating.

Monk Dae Woo smiled wickedly.

"Mu!"

"Yes, teacher!"

Mu Ssang stopped working and turned his head.

"Have you shown your skills to others?"

"Well, you see..."

Mu Ssang hesitated. He had forgotten his teacher's request several times. Recently, he had blocked the air to suffocate Ariba. He had done it without thinking due to the inherent anger he had for that man.

"You have forgotten your teacher's request and have gotten drunk off your strength."

"I'm sorry. I was short-sighted."

Mu Ssang lowered his head in shame.

"There is a sky above your sky. If you become cocky from small pleasures, you will lose the ability to gain much bigger things. The world is not simple. Physical skills are not that noteworthy, but mental skills can bring about stronger effects on the world. Karma can swing back like a boomerang and put you in a difficult situation."

"I will keep that in mind."

"You only keep in mind what your body experiences."

"What! Teacher, I understand even with you just telling me. What should I do if your prediction comes true?"

"There's nothing to worry about. Do you not know that you must wash, tighten, and oil your engines to get it running properly? In martial arts, you must continuously move your bones so that you don't get rusty. I also heard that you cursed your teacher by calling him an old man."

I'm in trouble!

Mu Ssang's face turned sour. He had not thought of his teacher's heightened hearing skills.

"Today, I have to listen to your stories all night, so prepare to do so after finishing tomorrow's dinner preparation. Hm...hm!"

Monk Dae Woo laughed heartily, shoving his feet into his rubber shoes before going up to the temple.

"Haha, this muddied world needs an Asura. Having raised him gives my life enough meaning in this world. However, what woman could dig her way through his barricaded heart? In this time and age, what does it matter if he brings home a foreign wife? He needs to get married and have children so I can hand all this over to him. I should go throw a tantrum and ask Buddha to blow a hurricane into that boy's heart."

Mu Ssang inspected the large room's furnace. Ash had completely blocked the portion of the furnace where smoke and heat were released. He pushed the fire poker deep into the area to clean it out. He lit dried pine needles and surrounded the firewood with its flames. The furnace, which had not seen fire for a long time, swiftly sucked up the fire.

He stepped into the big room and checked to see if smoke seeped in from other places. Smoke was filtering in from all over the place. The strong fire started heating up the damp floor.

Mu Ssang went down the mountain, holding a pail. In Chunsang mountain, there were places with white mud. Rough red mud must be sifted, but white mud would spread onto the ground immediately after mixing with water. The Sahel's Azrael was Chunsang mountain's fire.

"Teacher, please sleep in the little room tonight."

"Haha, it's becoming a hassle ever since your return."

Mu Ssang quickly hid his dirty hands behind his back.

"Haha, teacher will not be having intercourse anytime soon, so what does it matter to you?"

"Only your speaking skills seem to have gotten better after being out of the country. Light the fire in the small room too. It'll be damp."

"I will do that."

"You've come a long way, are you not tired?"

"Haha, there's no way I'll be tired."

"A person's body is no different than a machine. Overexertion causes problems to parts of the body, and if that persists, it will cause damage. Don't overdo it."

Monk Dae Woo smiled cheerfully. Even as a teacher, he could not comprehend his apprentice's immense physicality. Even if 5,000,000 people had died, his apprentice would be fine, but for the teacher, it wouldn't be the same.

"There are raccoon babies in the gongyanggan."

"Ah, that thing. During winter, it snowed a lot. It crawled into the lawn, so I threw a couple of sweet potatoes. From that day on, it kept coming daily. I can't send it away empty-handed when it comes over. Every time it came, I gave it sweet potato or corn. It must have seen me as a pushover. It made its place right in the gongyanggan."

"It even had babies."

"Yes, it seduced a stupid mate and made babies. Never in my life have I seen such a shameless creature. If you wait a little bit, it'll return. There's a lack of food there, so it comes back after finding some."

"Hahaha! That is very likely of you, teacher."

It was what he had expected from his teacher. While his apprentice was snapping the heads off of lives like the stems of a cucumber, the teacher had saved a family of raccoons.

There was no younger brother better than his older brother and no apprentice better than his teacher. As he was destroying life, his teacher had dedicated his life to save it.

He put firewood into the small room's furnace and cleaned the gongyanggan. He left the raccoon nest alone. There were no ingredients left in the gongyanggan. There was not one radish sprout or a single lettuce leaf. The raccoon wouldn't have left anything behind.

It was over four kilometers to get to the market. There was nothing to burn right now. He had sent over the gamulchi from N'Djamena to the Korean embassy in France.

He could have gotten it faster if he had sent it over by the Hercules and consigned with France. That had been his mistake. However, based on Chad's abysmal delivery skills, he couldn't say much, even if it arrived a year later.

People were cunning. It was six kilometers away from the market. He could easily arrive there in 10 minutes. 20 months of comfort defeated 20 years of time.

"Should I buy a bicycle?"

Mu Ssang was going on about buying a bicycle when he had earned enough money to buy 1000s of apartments. A person's nature did not easily change.

Mu Ssang ran down the darkened mountain to the city. He bought ingredients to make food and a can of kerosene before hurriedly returning to Amja.

The Murata generator turned on without any trouble after putting in the kerosene.

That was my mistake.

He blamed himself for not filling up the kerosene supply before leaving. His teacher was not one to buy oil for himself. He didn't know how to use the light bulbs, refrigerator, or the television by himself. His teacher would use whatever was available and would still be content without.

It had been a long time since the teacher and apprentice had enjoyed each other's company.

"Hm, still the same as always."

Monk Dae Woo watched his apprentice as he ate straight from the rice cooker. His smile seemed to reflect in every wrinkle. He didn't care if there wasn't any electricity, if his room was cold, or if he had warm food to eat.

It had been a long time since he had lived without the comforts and ease of foreign items. His apprentice was sensitive and kind. If it made his apprentice comfortable, then that was enough for him.

Greedy humans had forced his selfless apprentice to become an Asura. That was also Buddha's will and a burden his apprentice was forced to carry. The apprentice could be the reincarnation of Bali[1]. He was sad that the end of his story was covered in fog.

[1] A good and wise Asura that was on the same level as God.