Mercenary Black Mamba

[I am ecstatic. Up to the present moment, I had been living solely for the "what," and not the "why." The suffering and sorrow I had been through eventually turned into the source reserves for my empathy which enabled me to comprehend the sadness and pain of others. I had a grasp of love because I had encounters with sorrow. Love is passion and passion is joy. A person who strives to win the hearts of a million people is not able to appeal to the hearts of mothers and junior humpback whales. A truly great soul does not boast of might. Those in high places are in fact, just wielding illusions of might and dominance.]

Mu Ssang affirmed these reflections in silence. This was truly the case. Your passions truly reflected your character and motivations. If it was the case that Mu Ssang was resentful of his pathetic circumstances and tried to take revenge for his grievances upon rising to great power, he would just turn out to be another version of Ocelot who performed assassinations as a hobby.

The world is driven by a vast ecology of major and minor dynamic interactive networks. The rise and fall of affirmative or toxic interactions compose the delicate textures of fate, directing occurrences, and gathering karmic energy.

Adras and Epidium referred to the fossil remains of the intelligent life that had lived 150,000,000 years in the historic past, during the period of the Concretus. Once the universe conceives a life and bestows them with spiritual gifts or innate talent, this is accompanied by correlated functions. If it were not Mu Ssang, Homo sapiens Epidium, who would have revived Kamdoong or seized hold of Ocelot?

The revived Epidium's lingering ghost led to a disastrous situation. Seven months ago, at harbors in Singapore and Spain, Ocelot's "museums" had been unearthed. Four hundred fifty bodies had been discovered in underground warehouses. This stunning volume paled in comparison to the way in which they had been murdered. The DGSE autopsy officer reported in the postmortem review that 50 methods had been used to assassinate the deceased.

Karma refers to an applied action and its resulting outcome. If he had not been reborn as Epidium, if he had not learned Five Combined Movement, Kamdoong would still be unconscious in the nether world and Ocelot would still be performing assassinations for pleasure.

Kamdoong and Ocelot's fight dragged on. The result had been predetermined. Even basic parasites could determine human behavior. A sophisticated being like Kamdoong had no reason to fail to possess, inhabit Ocelot's body.

The night slipped by and dawn started gradually broke in Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. The veil of Hypnos was met with resounding silence. If Mu Ssang had not become a mercenary, he would not have known of the presence, the existence of such a place.

The strong waves rising the Indian Ocean and those from the Atlantic were crashing against each other. A heart-wrenching screech rose to pierce the silence of the shore shrouded in the dark. A seal attacked by some predator? A baboon that fell off the cliff? Just as Mu Ssang pondered in wonder, shooting stars started rapidly descending from just over the horizon.

"Mother!"

He was about to make a wish when the meteor shower abruptly halted. In the middle of the milky way shrouded in the thick haze, so that it seemed like actual milk would ooze out if you squeezed, wrung it out, stood the full moon. The moon slowly morphed into his mother's face. His bright-faced mother was shining down from the milky way from the full moon.

His mother's face, conjured in his imagination for the last dozen or so years, remained beaming radiantly always. Not once had the face revealed any trace of expression of pain or sorrow. Her face was always compassionate and warm upon the moon, upon the river, and in the wind blowing past. Could this further reflect her motherly affection towards her son?

The true blessing that flows out from humanity is love. If you can grasp sadness, you can grasp love. Only in the event you truly grasp sorrow, you can grasp love. Love, hope, and joy were the three pillars or rocks of life.

Countless refugees leaped over barbed wire and traversed the desert. Their desires were perennial. They desired their children to attain a better, more comfortable life than theirs.

His chief cook had also lost his wife and son as they fled. His young daughter was the motivation that drove him. The mother humpback whale, a mere animal, also shielded the great white shark's teeth with her body in order to keep her baby from harm. Unconditional love ultimately resulted in joy and planted seeds of hope.

A shooting star rapidly traversed the sky. He could not harbor, articulate a wish at this point also but remained content with bliss that swelled to the volume of the many stars adorning the sky.

He designated Novatopia as a shelter for empty, tormented souls. It was not quite so. He himself was an empty, tormented soul. With some irony, the many beings that he had considered as empty, tormented souls quenched his own empty, tormented, abysmal spirit.

He intended to console then received consolation in return. He intended to cheer people up, then received consolation in return. It came as a gift from the refugees in Novatopia. It came as a gift from the mother and baby humpback whales.

'Would they be safe? Wouldn't orcas or great white sharks attack once more?'

Mu Ssang kept pondering about the mother and baby whales that were not even humans. He felt like something was amiss as though he had lost a pair of shoes that his feet were accustomed to.

His buttocks trembled. No, it was the coffin beneath them that was shaking. He checked the time. Seven hours had passed since Kamdoong had usurped, taken hold of Ocelot's body.

"Are you done?"

[Yes. It took time because I needed to uncover the depths of the unconscious psyche as well.]

Kamdoong's thought processes grew more intense. Before, it had felt like a typewriter had been inserting thoughts into his brain. Now, it felt as though messages were being radiated, channeled into his brain.

"Was he of any use?"

[His soul is decayed but his body remained in top form. By human standards, is he considered physically attractive? You said it doesn't hurt to have good looks to stand out from crowds in the corporate world.]

'Oh, well. I can't help be slightly materialistic too.'

Mu Ssang smiled contemptuously. Kamdoong's thought processes had been influenced, drawn from Mu Ssang's memories. Judging by appearances, which he consistently despised, must have been buried deep within her subconscious. Ocelot was certainly gifted with stunning looks. But Kamdoong could not walk around in public with his face revealed.

"He is a vile criminal. You cannot mingle with humans having that face he has."

[Is that so? I don't need to mingle with humans but if you say so. Picture a handsome human's visage which I will use as a mask.]

Good looks were truly desirable. Mu Ssang envisaged the face of Omar Sharif in the movie Lawrence of Arabia. The movie was more than 20 years old but still the all-time favorite of the mercenaries within the Foreign Legion.

Mu Ssang was also mesmerized by the charisma of Omar Sharif walking out of a mirage in a desert. His dashing face with intense features, his sturdy but compassionate gaze. In the movie, Omar Sharif could effortlessly balance contrasting aspects of his personality. Another actor emerged in his thoughts. Soulful, melancholic eyes. Slender lips that hardly parted. Alain Delon, one of the historic icons of French cinema.

[Those humans are considered handsome? I will rearrange these slightly.]

"Whoa!"

Mu Ssang instinctively leaped out of the coffin. The titanium lid was finely dissolved into a sand-like form. It was Kamdoong's main weapon, the high-level ELF. It could have pierced a hole in Mu Ssang's body.

"What is this?"

Illumined by the dazzling moonlight, a man in a dragon robe climbed out from the coffin. Ocelot was dressed in the same garments. However, the man no longer had Ocelot's face but someone else's. Kamdoong's abilities to transform and teleport re-enacted a scene from a horror movie.

"Omar Sharif!"

Mu Ssang gasped. Brunet mustache and asymetrical features. Sturdy and compassionate visage. It was Omar Sharif himself who wielded a rifle upon horseback. On a closer look, Mu Ssang recognized the melancholic eyes, slender lips, and slightly wavy hair of Alain Delon.

'I have made an error. He is too dashing. It stirs up jealousy.'

Mu Ssang was stunned speechless. Kamdoong perfectly exemplified the image in his mind. He was going to turn many heads, draw much chatter if he ever set foot in Myeongdong, the bustling shopping district of Seoul.

The imitation, artificial Omar Sharif remained very much enchanted. The moon in the sky. Twinkling stars. The flow of air caressed his skin. The texture of gravel under his feet. He had not experienced these intense instincts and feelings in the past. This truly captured the essence of authentic, meaningful living.

"Friend, this has to be, the sensation, termed joy."

Kamdoong spoke with brief pauses in between.

"Are you able to speak as well?"

Mu Ssang's eyes grew wide with wonder. Kamdoong no longer spoke through telepathy but with a loud enunciated speech that was almost deafening.

"I had to familiarize myself with the outline of the oral cavity. I will soon familiarize myself with it. Thank you for providing me a lifeline and thank you for providing me with this physical body."

Kamdoong strode up to Mu Ssang and held him close.

"It truly does not matter."

Mu Ssang cleared his throat to conceal his humiliation and repelled the chest of the imitation, artificial Omar Sharif backward. He felt wary, uncomfortable about the intimacy of the gesture between two males. Also, the scent of blood from his dragon robe was pungent with a foul odor.

"I am contented with being friends."

"I am, content, as well."

Mu Ssang shuddered at the sleazy, lust-filled voice of the imitation, Omar Sharif. Ocelot solicited everyone for sex, regardless of their gender. If only Kamdoong inherited the depraved preferences of Ocelot as well... The very thought was the stuff that nightmares were made of.

"Friend, the human visual stimuli delivers a peculiar sensation. I feel a sense of revulsion."

"It must the distinction between an instinctive reflex and a meditated response. You absorbed too much stimulating content in one go. A human only registers a few objects which are presented to their field of vision to immediate memory. They gloss over most of what they witness upfront."

"Is that truly the case? The situation in which shapes and colors are blended in one visually witnessed plane remains intriguing, still."

Kamdoong taking on the outer form of Ocelot's body remained as thrilled as a child who had just received a limited-edition toy. He seemed to have intense curiosity, hunger for action. Mu Ssang abruptly interrupted him.

"Time will help you adapt to the new physical frame. What is your current state?"

"Thanks to the high-quality material frame, I could regenerate non-eukaryotic cells and get the bionic generator up and running. In six months' time within this location, I can replenish my energy and regenerate eukaryotic cells."

"There is a good place where you can keep a low profile for six months, haha."

Mu Ssang grinned. If he was able to lure Kamdoong to the monastery, his teacher would treat them with proper care. He also revived a sense of humanity in Samdi through merciless blows. The imitation of Omar Sharif's face grew a shade darker. Something didn't feel quite right.

"Kamdoong, I will gift you with a name."

Mu Ssang spoke as solemnly as a headmaster delivering a speech.

"What name? My name is Kamdoong."

Kamdoong did not display any sign of interest.

'This isn't the way it is supposed to go.'

Mu Ssang felt a sense of disappointment.

"You cannot be called Kamdoong in human capacity. What day is it today? Sunday. What about taking on the name "Sunday Leopard'?"

Kamdoong stared at Mu Ssang incredulously.

"Sunday Leopard? It feels inauthentic."

Mu Ssang was taken aback. He was originally on good terms with Kamdoong and now he was turning fussy, temperamental. It was a matter of things taking on their natural course. The first time was a heavy blow. The second time, the pain seemed less severe.

"That is how I name objects and personalities."

Mu Ssang pressed on stubbornly.

"Is that the case? Then I will accept it only when I assume a humanoid form."

Kamdoong conceded with unexpected ease. He had intended to assume the human form only when he had to in any case. For him, Kamdoong sounded a hundred times more amiable and intimate than Sunday Leopard.

Kamdoong felt more compelled to adopt the name Kamdoong than the fancy new label, Sunday Leopard, due to Mu Ssang. He had inherited Mu Ssang's tendency to feel a strong bond to his first love.

"Have you altered your essential manifestation to human too?"

"No. The essential manifestation remains the black leopard. Once a notion is determined, it cannot be easily altered. To maintain a complex outer form as a human, I must expend heavy reserves of energy."

Kamdoong dissolved and transformed back into a black leopard much larger than a male lion. It was the very form Mu Ssang had encountered in the nether world.

"Krrrgh!"

A piercing howl resounded loudly. The physical manifestation of the black leopard with a backdrop of the full moon remained gorgeous and regal. Dino exuded alluring charisma as well, but in comparison to the black leopard, it was like contrasting a firefly with the moon.

"You are truly gorgeous, both in the manifestations of man and leopard."

Mu Ssang gushed.

"Is that the sensation termed jealousy?"

"Jealousy? No. Remain in the form of the leopard for as long as possible. You will drive unsuspecting women wild with desire if you ever wander around in human form."

"Your words do not make any sense. My essence remains unchanged. Why will I abruptly drive women wild with desire? Let me read your mind so I can get a better understanding."

"No need. We can converse now. You do not need to guess my thoughts any further. Change the physical manifestation. The helicopter is approaching."

"I see."

The leopard rapidly transformed into a human male form. The blood-stained dragon robe remained as spotless as a fresh version. The micro-tremors had dissolved the blood caught upon the fabric surface at an atomic level. The helicopter urgently dispatched by the embassy landed on the shore near Cape Agulhas. After loading the two mystery, anonymous passengers, the helicopter took off for the Cape Town airport.