Baek Saheon’s head jerked up.
Just now, a tremendous crash had sounded behind him. Maybe something even worse was happening in the village…
‘Fuck, is this the time to be thinking about that?’
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to keep moving.
He had to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible.
On Baek Saheon’s back as he ran down the mountain path was a huge backpack, packed with water, food, and survival gear he’d agonized over selecting.
It was all stuff he’d collected and hidden in a secret place, planning to use it one day if he ever had to make a desperate escape from the village. He could hardly believe he was finally getting to use it.
The bones left behind after the traditional band had collapsed and vanished.
Among them, the bones that had once been his older sister.
He should have left them behind. They were too heavy to carry.
He knew it was a stupid thing to do, but he just couldn’t bring himself to abandon them on the ground now.
That was the only thing that occupied his mind.
‘I wish everyone would just die.’
It would almost be better this way.
The villagers, the outsiders who’d come to the village, even the agents who failed to rescue him.
He wished they would all die, and this damned village would disappear without a trace.
Just imagining it sent a tingling thrill up his spine.
The young agent with glasses who he had maneuvered into drawing the ‘special prize’.
Surprisingly calm, never mocking or getting angry at him even once. Someone who, even after helping him, never demanded anything in return.
And, in the end, kept his promise.
The promise that both of them would survive.
That he wouldn’t betray him.
A strange feeling stirred inside him.
It was probably a sensation he was experiencing for the first time in his life.
That peculiar feeling you get when you do something good—something you normally would never do—and succeed, purely by chance.
People called it a sense of fulfillment.
That must have been why, on impulse, he left behind the ‘paper boat’.
Of course, it would only matter if that agent survived to the end and found it.
‘…I’ll think about it if he picks it up.’
Considering all the chaos earlier with the centipede, the ceremonial blade, all that madness, that guy could very well be dead by now…
A bizarre, hair-raising pressure gripped the back of his neck, sending chills down his spine.
Something was behind him.
There was no doubt that something even stranger was happening in the village.
In the end, Baek Saheon couldn’t resist. He glanced back.
His face went pale as a sheet, and he broke into a run along the mountain path once more.
He never looked back again.
The scene he’d just glimpsed.
Crimson blood was pouring down from the sky.
I collapsed to the ground.
It happened automatically. I fell forward, both hands pressed to the earth.
Red blood poured onto my head and the backs of my hands.
Wretched beast, plague, ancient fox spirit
A pain hot enough to make me scream suddenly flared in one hand. My left hand, the one that hadn’t been severed.
I feel like I’m going to die!
I clawed at the ground with my hand.
I could hear Agent Bronze and Agent Choi bickering.
“Isn’t that the Great Tiger General of Daecheongbong[1]? Are you crazy?! Summoning a supernatural entity that’s not even friendly to humans…!”
“Later! Just be quiet for now!”
I stifled my groans and hastily turned my head to the side.
Director Ho, in the shape of Assistant Manager Eun Haje…
Filthy, base creature
Let’s see your true form
…was smiling in the rain of blood.
“These people are my acquaintances. Elder, you need not concern yourself. Please, go on your way.”
Blisters bubbled up on the back of one of my hands.
“These people are my acquaintances. Elder, please shout your greetings from beyond the threshold.”
The blisters burst and pus oozed out, marks of contagion.
Your tail has been cut
“These people are my acquaintances. Elder, why don’t you sit on the porch and have a meal?”
The pus burst and trickled down.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s body floated into the air.
Her limbs twisted and contorted, as if bound by brute force, but her gentle smile did not change.
Agent Choi pressed down on my shoulder.
Leave only your hide behind
“I don’t want to though?”
Through the flashes of lightning, Director Ho’s face appeared.
“Leaving only your hide after death, huh. That’s what tigers do. I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He was still smiling.
“They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, how frightening. But I’m no fox spirit. Is there any proof that I’m a fox? Or a ghost? How about this: ‘Begone, evil spirit! Namu Amita Bul Kwanseum Bosal, Geupgeupyeoureong, Thy kingdom come, Father God.’ I’ll even sprinkle salt and red beans.”
Lightning struck again.
“But it’s not working.”
“What a shame. It seems you’ve made a mistake… How unfortunate…”
A calm voice came from the one suspended in midair.
A giant eye appeared amid the blood raining down from the sky.
Director Ho’s limbs twisted.
Festering for so long
“How vicious of you. Forcibly tearing me and my acquaintance apart .”
That smiling face turned to look at me.
“What a pity, Soleum-nim.”
And in the next moment.
The body of Assistant Manager Eun Haje, twisted unnaturally and suspended in midair, vanished as if it had never existed.
And with it, Director Ho, who had possessed her.
I started to speculate in confusion, just how was he controlling Assistant Manager Eun Haje, what kind of binding had been placed on her, was she alright now…
At the same time, I looked up at the sky.
The falling blood had stopped.
I looked down at the back of my hand again.
The blisters and pus had all disappeared, as if they’d been washed away by the blood.
“No, General! Didn’t you say you’d make him grovel and pay his respects? But he ran off so easily!”
Agent Choi’s throat was seized and he was lifted into the air.
I hastily looked up at the sky and shouted,
“I’m sorry! And thank you!”
A child who knows manners
Something looked down at me.
And proclaimed one thing.
[1] Daecheongbong – the main peak of Seoraksan, which is located in Gangwon-do and about 3 hours away from Seoul ↩
(More details on the Tiger General in Chapter 201.2)