Side Story 18. Gyun-go And Nok-su (2)

Ah-jeo.
The name Baek Sang-ye had given it.
The piglet that had lost its mother beneath the collapsed earth had looked harmless.
As people’s gazes gathered on it, it grew flustered.
It sniffed with its snout and didn’t know what to do.
Its still-small body was covered in soft fur.
Its black shining eyes were moist.
Its body trembled, and like a puppy searching for its owner, it hid itself at Baek Sang-ye’s feet.

Baek Sang-ye couldn’t push Ah-jeo away.

“……Ah-jeo is a yokai?”
“Ah-jeo? That thing’s name is Gyun-go.”

They were saying that the yokai called Gyun-go was Ah-jeo’s true identity.
But were yokai not, by nature, terrifying beasts.
Whether an animal lived long enough to gain yokai energy and become a yokai, or was born anew under the influence of the yokai realm, or crossed over directly from the yokai realm.
A yokai was clearly distinct from an ordinary beast.

“In terms of danger, you could call it Tiger Grade. The two children who died in our Tang Clan were Peak Realm masters as well.”
“How…….”
“Because it changes bodies. Mimicry is Gyun-go’s defining trait.”

The abilities yokai possessed varied greatly.
There were yokai that could call down lightning, so a yokai that changed its appearance was not impossible.
Baek Sang-ye kept her mouth shut, but Tang Eun-seol spoke coldly.

“Gyun-go changes its body into a weak and likable form, one that earns people’s affection. To be exact, it may not even be mimicry. It inhabits the corpse of a dead beast.”
“Then it imitates really well. It doesn’t seem like a yokai at all.”

Whether it knew they were talking about it or not, Ah-jeo lightly bumped Baek Sang-ye’s ankle with its head.
From its cries to the way it behaved, it was as cute as any ordinary baby beast.

“It can do that because it spreads fungal threads into the brain and takes control. That is why it is frightening. It slips into groups of humans or other beasts and infects the others.”

Without realizing it, the people around it inhaled its spores.
Once infected, they went about normally, then suddenly collapsed and died. Then, once they rose again, they attacked those around them indiscriminately.
Then they spread spores one more time and died.
It was like a mushroom. More specifically, like cordyceps parasitizing an insect’s body.
That was probably why it had been named ‘Gyun-go.’¹
So-ryu, who had been listening in silence, asked quietly.

“Is this certain truth? How did you know this piglet was that yokai?”

At that, Tang Eun-seol snorted.

“The Sichuan Tang Clan studies all poisons. We have been hunting the yokai called Gyun-go for two years already. I say this on the honor of the Tang Clan. That beast is Gyun-go.”

Poison Beauty had staked the Tang Clan’s name on it.
If so, then it would be the truth. Even if it were not, it was no longer something anyone could dispute.
To do so would be to disregard Tang Eun-seol, and also the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Even if So-ryu herself was a Transcendent master and of the Baek Clan, there was nothing to be done about that.

“I’ll ask just one thing.”

But Baek Sang-ye would not care about that.
So-ryu suddenly thought so.

“The people who have already been poisoned by Gyun-go, will they be alright if Gyun-go is killed?”

Tang Eun-seol gave a small laugh and answered.

“The main body that gives the commands would be dead, so they’ll be fine. Given time, the inhaled spores will be expelled, and the fungal threads that formed inside their bodies will dry up and die as well.”
“That’s a relief.”

Baek Sang-ye placed a hand on Ah-jeo’s head as it wriggled at her feet.
Ah-jeo rubbed its head against her hand.
Seeing that, Tang Eun-seol thought to herself.

‘She’ll cry her eyes out.’

Toward the yokai called Gyun-go, Tang Eun-seol held something close to vengeance.
The one from the Tang Clan who had died to Gyun-go had been her younger cousin.
But before collapsing from the poisoning, she had never suspected Gyun-go.
At that time, Gyun-go had been a white rabbit.
She had heard that her cousin had personally saved and cared for it after it had nearly died from a venomous snake bite.
When they discovered Gyun-go’s true identity and tried to kill it, her cousin insisted that could not be true and delayed things by fleeing.

Looking at Baek Sang-ye, it was obvious she cared for the piglet.
She surely would not stop them if they tried to kill it, but she would probably shed tears all the same.
But there was no helping it.

“Hand it over. It will weigh on your heart, so I’ll take it and deal with it myself.”

That was Tang Eun-seol’s consideration.
The moment she moved to take Ah-jeo, no, Gyun-go.
Baek Sang-ye rose from her place.
She was holding Gyun-go by the neck. Gyun-go struggled within Baek Sang-ye’s grip.

“My eyes were clouded, and I committed a great wrong.”

So-ryu was calm.
The softhearted young woman Tang Eun-seol had imagined was not there.
Even as a child of a Murim family, it did not seem likely one could wear such a composed expression.

“I carried in my arms a yokai that harms the people, and not only that, but an evil and vicious kind. My regret is immense.”
“……”
“If my father had known, he would have rebuked me severely. If so, then it is only right that I correct it even now.”

Tang Eun-seol felt a certain aura from Baek Sang-ye.
It was not the aura of a martial artist.
It was the aura that came from someone who was served by others, and who understood the responsibility that came with such a position.

“How could I entrust the act of correcting that to someone else.”

Baek Sang-ye was no longer a childish royal.
She took responsibility.

Udeudeuk!

She killed with her own hand the piglet she had saved with that same hand, snapping its neck bone in her grip.
What expression did she wear then?
It did not twist in misery, nor did she shed tears.
Like a sailor searching for a path through a storm, she met Tang Eun-seol’s eyes with hers opened wide.
A faint smile touched Tang Eun-seol’s lips.

“Excellent.”

Were all those of the Baek Clan’s blood like this?
Just as Tang Eun-seol had that thought.
Something happened that even the Tang Clan people, who had been hunting the yokai called Gyun-go, had not expected.

Gyun-go, which had been hanging limp in Baek Sang-ye’s hand, began to thrash.
It flopped so violently, like a fish, that Baek Sang-ye ended up letting go of it.
Gyun-go was not merely thrashing.
Before it even hit the ground, its limbs split apart from one another.
Its head, torso, and limbs tore apart, yet instead of bones or sinews, they were connected by something like white mucus.
That mucus swelled at a terrifying rate.
Within the span of a few blinks, the shape of a white monster took form.
It was grotesque, with the head and limbs from its time as a boar attached all over its body.
It looked like a four-legged spider.
The white body looked as though it had been torn from a mushroom.
The torso of that house-sized monster had a long vertical split running through it.
Seeing the sharp teeth visible within, that must have been Gyun-go’s maw.

“U-uaaagh!”
“It’s a yokai!”

The commoners scattered in panic.
Even the martial artists were frightened by that bizarre appearance.
Gyun-go opened and closed its maw.

“Kkwiiik, kkwiik.”

Those nearby who recognized the sound flinched.
It was the squealing cry of a piglet.
It was unmistakably Ah-jeo’s voice.

Baek Sang-ye heard that voice.
The expression that had been stiffened hard eased slightly.

“……That’s a relief.”

Yes. There was no way her heart could have been at ease while snapping the neck of the little one she had taken in.
But instead, it had revealed its true form.
The darkness that had seemed about to settle heavily in her heart was instead swept away.
If so, there was no reason to hesitate.

She picked up the iron staff she had been using just before.

Sensing hostility, Gyun-go let out a shriek and lunged.

“Kwiiieee……!”

But the shriek was cut off halfway.
Because the staff smashed through its maw.

Peok!

Gyun-go’s flesh broke apart far too easily, like soft tofu being crushed.
Baek Sang-ye hadn’t swung the staff only once.
The iron staff rained down with far more ferocity than when she had fought Cheongho just before.

Hududduk!

Only the sound of Gyun-go’s shattered chunks of flesh hitting the ground remained.
Only a third of Gyun-go’s body remained.
The remaining limbs lost their strength and rolled across the ground.
And then they began to rot at a speed visible to the eye.
Even among yokai, it was a strange lifeform.

“Hoo.”

Baek Sang-ye lowered the iron staff.
Tang Eun-seol let out a small laugh.

“Good. Now Gyun-go has been exterminated.”

She gestured to the Tang Clan martial artists around her.

“Check on those who collapsed from the poisoning. It won’t be anything too serious, but many of them will have lost their strength.”
“Yes!”

At that, the Tang Clan martial artists in bamboo hats scattered.
Tang Eun-seol glanced lightly at Baek Sang-ye, then turned away herself.
Until then, Baek Sang-ye had remained standing stiffly in place.
She looked proud, but So-ryu was the only one who accurately understood her condition.

“You’ve done well.”

The moment So-ryu placed a hand on her shoulder, she flinched. That made it obvious.

“It’s nothing.”
“Would you like to rest for a bit?”
“I should go help the injured.”
“Alright, let’s do that.”

Baek Sang-ye gave a spirited smile.
So-ryu answered with a bitter smile of her own.

The chaos in the courtyard was brought under control not long afterward.
Several people had collapsed, but not a single one had died.
Among those who had attacked people around them indiscriminately before being subdued, there were two whose arms or legs had been broken, but even that was not a major matter.
From the injured people’s point of view, it was frustrating and angering, but the problem was that there was no one they could really shout at or vent their anger on.

Since it had happened inside Nam Family Manor, Nam Family Manor itself had suffered the most.
And since the Guild Master had collapsed, the honor of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild had been badly damaged.
The two injured people were ordinary commoners.

But the Nam Family Manor Lord wore the face of a guilty man before the Tang Clan people, and the Guild Master of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild kept silent.
So even the people with broken limbs couldn’t raise their voices.

Still, it was true that it had been Baek Sang-ye who brought in the piglet that had lost its mother, and because of that, all this trouble had happened.
They cast unpleasant looks toward Baek Sang-ye.
That is, until they received a sizable compensation payment from her.

“Oh my, such a large sum of money……”
“It’s alright. Use it until your leg heals. It was my fault.”
“Thank you!”

It was far too much money for merely a broken leg.
Baek Sang-ye was not the only one helping clean up the aftermath.

With the Sichuan Tang Clan as mediator before them, the Nam Family Manor Lord and the Guild Master of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild sat facing each other as well.

“So, you’re saying you obtained the yokai corpse because of that thing?”

By ‘that thing,’ the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild was referring to the yokai living in the eastern forest of Chaesang County.
The one they had tried to kill together, only to lose a disciple and a son.
What did it mean to obtain the corpse of another yokai because of the yokai in that forest?
The Nam Family Manor Lord nodded.

“I obtained it to use as bait. Yokai are drawn to the corpses of other yokai.”

They had secretly obtained the yokai corpse through the Golden Measure Merchant Guild.
That was the answer. Its true purpose had been to catch the yokai in the eastern forest.
The Guild Master of the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild let out a low groan.

“……Hadn’t you people given up on catching that thing long ago?”
“How could I? I lost my son to it.”
“Yeah. You did, didn’t you?”

The Guild Master pressed his lips tightly together as well.
It was all because of that yokai that the relationship between the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild and Nam Family Manor had deteriorated to its worst point.
Without meaning to, the Guild Master blurted out.

“If you really intended to catch that thing, all you had to do was say so. Then I would have helped.”
“……I’m sorry.”

The Nam Family Manor Lord uttered an apology.
At that, the Guild Master’s eyes widened as well.
For a moment, the two remained in awkward silence.

“Now then, since the mood’s gotten awkward, let’s drop that.”

Tang Eun-seol said quietly.

“I believe the two of you have now learned quite clearly that yokai corpses must not be handled carelessly.”
“Yes.”
“That is true.”

It was clear that Gyun-go had been drawn in because of the yokai corpse.
Well, thanks to that, the Tang Clan had caught the one they were chasing.

“If you wish to exterminate that yokai, we will help as well.”
“R-really!”
“That is, if you agree that we will collect and study the yokai corpse.”

It was an offer in which the Tang Clan also stood to gain something.

“Of course!”
“I have no objections either.”

But if it meant receiving the Tang Clan’s assistance, that much was little different from a free bargain.
It was the moment Nam Family Manor and the Three Pleasures Butchering Guild, who had been enemies just moments ago, joined hands once more.

On one side, Tsering had reunited with the beggars.
On another, Geum Yang-bae was embracing Warrior Jang, whom he had met again.

In this way, the incident that had occurred at Nam Family Manor was more or less brought under control.
There was, however, one person who stood alone like an isolated island.
It was Cheongho.