Scattering Fate (Part 1)
“S-Sub Manager Seo. What is this…?”
“I-I don’t know… what is this?”
Manager Kim and Agent Gang whispered to each other.
But my eyes were locked on the fox’s venom dripping from the sky above.
[This is a group of humans who know the ways of the fox. They won’t harm you recklessly, but if you wish to dwell in my territory, you must pay a price. Give me one of your limbs, and I will grant you a temporary stay in my domain. Which one of you will offer your limb?]
Yes.
Since it had come to this…
“I… I will give mine.”
I offered my left arm, trembling.
In my past life, when I knew nothing, everyone screamed at the sight of the fox.
All died with their limbs torn off, devoured by its rage.
Even being able to survive back then had felt like a miracle.
But now I knew the forest’s courtesy. I had earned the fox’s favor.
Just like in my past life, not all limbs—
Just one person’s limb.
Offering just one would suffice.
Moreover, the cultivators who would arrive in two days would heal me.
[Since you know the ways of the human, I have listened to your courtesy. I will taste your arm as gently as possible.]
The fox opened its enormous jaws and bit straight down on my arm.
“…!!! Aaaah! Kuuuuh! Kuheok! Kuuuuh!”
Flesh was torn by those fangs.
Bones shattered. Veins burst.
Twist. Crack. Pop!
After chewing on my arm for a moment, the fox ripped it straight out of my body with brutal force.
“Aek… Kuuuuh… Kuuak…”
I writhed in agony, half-conscious, and grabbed a handful of the pain-relieving herb I had prepared in advance.
I shoved it into my mouth and swallowed, root and all.
Mud and sand clung to my teeth from the root, but I had no time to care.
It hurt too much!
As the pain-relieving herb took effect, the agony began to subside.
Twist. Crack… Slurp.
After some time, the fox finished devouring my entire arm and licked its lips.
[I was wondering if the taste would be different because of the unusual scent. It’s not that different from ordinary humans. Rather, there’s a lot of impurities in your blood vessels, so it’s stuffy and leaves a bad aftertaste.]
“…I… offer this meager tribute.”
[I have accepted your courtesy. I permit your group to dwell in my territory for seven days and seven nights. With my divine power in place, you will not die from this wound.]
The fox leapt away and vanished beyond the forest.
“H-Huk… Heuk… Heuk…”
I bit down on the hemostatic herb, chewed it, and smeared the juice across the severed stump.
After a while, the bleeding stopped and the pain gradually faded.
“K-Ku…”
“S-Sub Manager Seo!”
“Seohyun-nim!”
Manager Kim and Agent Gang rushed over to support me.
“W-What is all this? What was that just now?”
“…F-For now. Let me explain once we’re inside.”
I accepted their support and entered the cave.
I told them the truth mixed with lies.
“This morning, I woke early and went outside the cave and met that fox. It told me.”
They would have found out soon anyway.
But I presented it as knowledge the fox had given me.
“This place isn’t our original world. It’s an entirely different world. There are immortals, cultivators, and martial artists who actually exist.”
“…Martial arts. This is really making my heart race.”
“Hahaha, who would have thought something like this would happen in my lifetime…”
Manager Kim and Vice Manager Oh looked bewildered but forced themselves to sound excited as they made jokes about the martial world.
“Hehe, Sub Manager Seo. In the martial world, I’m a real expert. So…”
But Kim’s voice trembled, unable to hide his emotions.
“Don’t die. If you die…”
He hadn’t meant the martial world made his heart race.
He was just trying to make a joke to distract from the agony of my severed arm.
Vice Manager Kim and Vice Manager Oh were trying to lighten the mood.
They were the oldest among us here.
“…I’m fine. I won’t die. Didn’t the fox say its divine power would keep me alive from this wound?”
Even in my past life, where we didn’t follow courtesy, none of us died despite the unbearable pain.
We couldn’t die.
“…Then what are immortals? Cultivators?”
Vice Manager Oh tilted his head at the words. Vice Manager Jeon stepped in.
“There’s a genre called xianxia novels, not wuxia…”
Jeon Myeong-hoon explained the concept of xianxia to the others.
“I see…”
“So Jeon-jnim knows strange things too.”
“I’ve always been interested and looked it up.”
‘While at work, I was reading xianxia instead of doing actual work…’
So that’s why he kept assigning me overtime work.
I was momentarily furious but quickly calmed myself and continued.
“Anyway, if the owner of this forest allows us to stay a while, we must offer tribute. I offered my arm for that. With the price paid, we should be safe here for a week.”
“A-A week? After a week, what happens?”
“…We will have to offer another tribute.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to my shoulder.
All their faces were deathly pale.
“By the way, give me some more pain-relieving herb. It still hurts.”
“Ah, got it. This one?”
“Thank you.”
I chewed another pain-relieving herb and swallowed it.
“I’ll sleep for a bit. Please… understand.”
The shock was too great. Once the tension left me, sleep came naturally.
After the pain-relieving herb dulled the pain, I fell into a sweet slumber.
* * *
Of all human senses, hearing lasts the longest.
That was why, without realizing it, the first thing I heard when I woke was voices.
“What’s a tribute?! What kind of nonsense is this…”
“After a week, we’ll have to offer another tribute like that?”
“Let’s try to get out of here as fast as possible within the week.”
“Poor Sub Manager Seo… what can we do…”
“Sub Manager Seo was basically eaten alive for the first time…”
“More like he was sacrificed for the first time.”
I heard the conversation continue in my half-conscious state.
“But what if we can’t leave the forest even after a week?”
Jeon Myeong-hoon asked in a cold voice.
No one answered.
“Then who else will have their arm torn off?”
Silence hung inside the cave.
‘Anyway, after three days the immortals will come and kidnap you, so it doesn’t matter…’
I didn’t need to explain regression.
Then I heard a very annoying sound.
“Hey, Sub Manager, are you asleep?”
“Y-Yes… I’m completely out.”
“Sub Manager, if you’re awake, I have something to tell you. Wake up for a second.”
I kept my eyes closed and pretended to sleep.
Jeon Myeong-hoon confirmed I was asleep, then stood up.
“Let’s step outside the entrance for a moment.”
“Eh? Why not talk here…”
“No, come outside.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon dragged the others out of the cave entrance.
A while later, complaints echoed from outside.
“Vice Manager Jeon! How could you think of something like that?!”
“Sub Manager Seo sacrificed his own arm for this…”
“Hmm. Vice Manager Jeon, I can’t accept that either.”
“Uuuh…”
Outside the cave, Jeon Myeong-hoon raised his voice.
“What? So who among us will have our arms or legs torn off by a monster fox in a week?”
“No matter how you look at it…”
“Vice Manager Oh, what do you think? I think this is reasonable.”
“…I don’t know. And Sub Manager Seo is competent. He knows a lot about herbs and what’s edible…”
“So we should learn as much as possible from Sub Manager Seo for a week…”
I couldn’t hear clearly outside the cave, but I could guess.
‘Since I’m now a disabled person, they want to cut off my limbs and offer them to the fox every week.’
There was nothing I could do about it, but the feeling was disgusting.
Very, very disgusting.
‘Should I kill them?’
With just one arm, the ‘violence’ I had learned over fifty years in my past life was still formidable.
With one arm, even someone like Jeon Myeong-hoon, who hadn’t fully escaped modern civilization, could be killed easily.
‘…No. No.’
The two days later cultivators who would find us weren’t looking for us.
They were looking for ‘talented beings.’
‘Vice Manager Oh Hyun-seok, Agent Kang Min-hee, and Vice Manager Jeon Myeong-hoon. They were amazed by the talent of these three.’
Without any one of them, it was uncertain whether the immortals would come.
‘Should I beat them until they’re almost dead? Or turn them all into disabled people?’
The immortals had already found us even when we were limb-less in my past life.
Even if their limbs were broken, they would still come looking for us.
But I quickly stopped thinking and shook my head.
‘They’re probably all in shock. Everyone’s a good person. It’s just the situation that’s too sudden and absurd.
And if I want to rely on Manager Kim later, I shouldn’t show such cruelty now.’
Rather, I should be seen as someone who needs protection or sympathy.
Moreover, if Vice Manager Kim joined the plan, he would take care of me later out of guilt too.
‘It’s better this way. After three days, everything will be resolved anyway.’
After two days, Jeon Myeong-hoon, Oh Hyun-seok, and Kang Min-hee would never see me again.
After three days, Oh Hye-seo and Kim Yeon would also be taken.
I and Vice Manager Kim Young-hoon would escape the forest with the help of the monster.
I lay on the ground and pretended to sleep.
A while later, dark-faced people entered the cave, as if they had seen some dirty agreement.
“Hey, Sub Manager. Are you okay? Wake up.”
Vice Manager Jeon shook me vigorously to wake me up, even though I was pretending to sleep.
“Haha, Sub Manager Seo. Sorry about before. I didn’t know you had such a strong spirit of sacrifice.”
“….”
“From now on, I’ll have to trouble you.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon looked at me with a smile I hadn’t seen in a while and patted my back.
I checked the others’ faces. They were all dark.
‘This trash. How did he convince them with his three-inch tongue?’
Anger surged. I considered strangling the man hugging me to death.
‘Calm down. Hah, I’m staying calm.’
“…Yes. We have to survive together in this difficult situation.”
“Haha, right. By the way, do you know where those berries you picked yesterday are?”
“….”
This guy woke me up just to ask that.
“…I can teach you. Actually, I was planning to teach you specially from the beginning.”
“Hah, really? Thank you! Thank you!”
“You don’t have to worry about surviving in the forest. I’ll teach you everything.”
I smiled at him.
Yeah, I’ll teach you all the knowledge I can.
After joining the cultivation sect, it would be useless knowledge anyway.
* * *
“Vice Manager Jeon. Haven’t I told you several times that this isn’t the berry?”
“No, it was definitely…”
“The stem is split; that’s another berry. This one will kill you if you eat it. Understand?”
“….”
While teaching Jeon Myeong-hoon about herbs and edible berries, I no longer called him Vice Manager.
He was eating my abuse while licking his lips and learning the herbs.
‘Even if I taught him, those low-grade herbs would be useless once he joined the cultivation sect.’
How angry he would be when he realized.
“Hey, Vice Manager Jeon. Can’t you listen? I’ve explained this how many times? Is there a problem with your concentration?”
“…I got it…”
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s face was as red as a strawberry.
At the beginning of his employment, he had been bullied by me exactly like this.
He was probably holding back because he wanted to steal knowledge for a week.
Sorry, but we won’t see each other for the rest of our lives in two days.
“Look. This is called green-leaf ear-gut. Chewing it releases a strange scent. It can clean teeth and repel insects.”
“Green-leaf ear-gut…”
“Hmm, but I’ve never heard of these in Korea…”
Vice Manager Oh Hyun-seok tilted his head, confused.
“They’re probably a bit specialized and not common in the country.”
Of course, they didn’t exist on Earth.
I was using knowledge I learned in this world.
But Vice Manager Oh wasn’t an expert and was simply believing it.
“I see. Keep teaching me.”
“This is called blue-baby hand-vein, also known as blood-clearing herb. Hey, Vice Manager Jeon, you’re not listening right now?”
“…Sorry, my bad.”
I poked Jeon Myeong-hoon hard enough for him to see it and continued the herb lesson.
The day passed that way.
And the next day.
We had to face a two-headed giant red snake staring at us in front of the cave.
“Hi, hiik…”
“Huuuuh…”
The others trembled in fear inside the cave, while I cautiously spoke to the snake.
“…Why have you come?”
And the snake spoke.
[The owner of the territory said they tasted a human with unusual scent.]
It wasn’t as terrifying as the fox, but the snake was still a frightening existence to me.
Of course, it didn’t have the same trauma as the fox.
[Anyway, since you have already offered tribute and obtained permission to dwell here for seven days and seven nights, I won’t disturb you during that time. But…]
The snake clicked its tongue with two heads.
[If you let me taste even a little of your blood, I won’t touch you even after the seven days.]
Unlike the fox that had bitten off my entire arm, the snake was quite gentle.
Even in my past life, when we hadn’t been allowed to stay, this two-headed snake had simply come, bitten into Vice Manager Oh’s body, sucked his blood, and left.
But now it was asking for a small amount of blood with our permission.
‘No problem.’
Our bodies were full of cholesterol and fat, like modern people.
Thanks to that, the snake had found Vice Manager Oh’s blood too rich and left.
“How much blood do you want?”
[Just a pinch. A pinch of blood only. Then I will leave.]
I smiled and looked at Jeon Myeong-hoon.
“Vice Manager Jeon. Give him a little blood.”
“W-What?”
“It’s not like you have to sacrifice your arm like me. It just wants a pinch of blood. That can be stopped with hemostatic herb right away.”
“T-This…”
“Ah, Vice Manager Jeon. Do you need any herb knowledge?”
“…I understand.”
Jeon Myeong-hoon’s face was scarlet as he cut his own hand with a sharp stone knife I had made nearby.
Drip. Drip…
The snake happily drank his blood.
A while later.
[Too much impurity in the blood. Even poison. Horrid taste… Worse than any human blood I’ve ever tasted.]
The snake shook its two heads and retreated.
The blood of a 21st-century office worker full of cholesterol and nicotine was no small thing.
[Anyway, since I’ve tasted your blood, I’ll leave.]
After the snake left, I applied the hemostatic herb to Jeon Myeong-hoon’s wound.
He looked very annoyed, as if the feeling of being licked by the snake disgusted him.
“Seohyun-ssi. I’ve bullied you a lot at the beginning of employment, but even so, something like this is too much!”
“Then what should I do? I can’t do it to the female employees. And Vice Manager and Vice Manager… it’s a bit much to suck the blood of older people.”
“A pinch of blood is something you…”
“…Yesterday my arm was torn off, so my blood is a bit short. A pinch is a big deal for me.”
“Kuu…”
Jeon Myeong-hoon bit his lip and breathed in.
‘What a funny guy. While planning to sell me to the fox in a week.’
He was angry for no reason because I had become a sacrifice.
Anyway, this guy couldn’t do anything to me.
‘Well, from tomorrow there won’t be anything left to do with me…’
I started rolling him around as much as I could before that, to extract every bit of information.
* * *
It had been three days since we fell into this forest.
Whoosh. Whoosh…
The wind had been strong since dawn today.
Zzzit. Zzzit…
At the same time, the air felt turbulent.
I laughed quietly and woke Vice Manager Jeon early in the morning.
“Vice Manager Jeon, let’s go pick some herbs in the morning.”
“Morning already…”
“Ah, quickly.”
“….”
I took Jeon Myeong-hoon and wandered around, searching for herbs everywhere.
A while later.
“Oh! I found some!”
“I-This looks like good herb!”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“It really does resemble ginseng…”
Jeon Myeong-hoon swallowed hard looking at the ginseng-like plant in front of him.
The plant in front of him was a type of ginseng called Huangzhou ginseng.
It wasn’t particularly rare.
But the important thing was its size.
Since it was Deungsunhyang full of heaven and earth spiritual energy, the normally tiny Huangzhou ginseng had grown as thick as my forearm.
“W-Wow, it’s really thick. Is this ginseng?”
“Yes, I guess. If you’re unsure, let me look a little more.”
“T-Then…”
Jeon Myeong-hoon thought he was searching for ginseng and followed me even more diligently.
As a result, we could dig up two or three more roots from a couple of places.
“Hahahaha, w-Wow. Is it really okay to dig up so much ginseng?”
“….”
Jeon Myeong-hoon seemed overjoyed, but I was quietly laughing inside.
‘He won’t eat any of that from now on anyway.’
Even the ginseng Jeon Myeong-hoon himself dug couldn’t be eaten by him.
For cultivators, Huangzhou ginseng was a low-grade herb for criminals.
‘Of course, martial artists would use it to increase inner energy… I’ll give it to Vice Manager Kim later.’
“Here, eat the ginseng later. Put them here first.”
I handed him a pocket I had torn from my clothes. Jeon Myeong-hoon carefully put the ginseng inside.
“Then let’s head back.”
It was almost time for the cultivators to arrive.
I returned to the cave, asked Jeon Myeong-hoon to light a fire, and sat down.
And as I sat quietly looking at the sky.
Kwa-gwang! Kwa-kwa-kwang!
Suddenly, something flashed. Something crashed from the sky.
It looked like black light, golden light, and white light collided.
And at that moment.
“Kuaek! Kuuuuh!”
Vice Manager Jeon suddenly vomited blood and sat down.
“Aaaah, aaah!”
Agent Kang Min-hee also sat down and screamed. Her scream became a ghost cry that echoed around.
Vice Manager Oh Hyun-seok clutched his heart and sat down.
‘It’s time.’
A while later.
Paaat!
Three balls of light flew over the cave where we were.
[Hoo, surprising. I thought colliding with bothersome guys would only give me pebbles.]
[Who said that? Disappear, Geumbyeok-ho. These three all belong to me.]
[What a shameless voice. Hwaak.]
From the light orbs came an old man in golden robes, a man or woman in black robes with unclear gender, and a giant in blue armor.
“Y-You… who are you…?”
Vice Manager Kim asked in a fearful voice.
They glanced at him once and ignored him.
[No spiritual root.]
[Criminal.]
[Unrelated to my law treasure.]
Their gazes swept over our seven members.
[The ones with spiritual roots are those three.]
[Surprisingly, how did criminals who didn’t practice cultivation end up in Deungsunhyang…]
[Kuku, one of them seems to have been bitten by the fox. Judging by the wounds, they offered it themselves. A criminal with guts.]
Kuuung!
The giant in blue armor stamped his foot, and faint cyan light rippled out in all directions.
At the same time, when the light touched my body, something amazing happened. The sky-blue light swirled, and my arm regrew.
“T-Thank you!”
I prostrated myself before the giant. The giant laughed loudly.
[Neither a cultivator nor just the blood of a criminal; it’s very easy to recover. There’s no need to be that emotional. By the way…]
Ka-tak
The giant in blue armor flicked his hand toward the sky.
With him, my body was pushed back,
and the bodies of Jeon Myeong-hoon, Vice Manager Oh, and Agent Kang were pulled forward.
[These three have spiritual roots, so I’ll choose one of them.]
The old man in golden robes stepped forward and reached out.
A golden sword appeared above his hand.
Wuuuung!
Pajijik!
At the same time, golden lightning roared through the sky, and Vice Manager Jeon collapsed to the ground again, vomiting blood.
[As expected… amazing! Heavenly Golden Thunder Body…!]
[Step aside, my turn.]
The man or woman in black robes pushed the golden-robed old man aside and pulled out a black flute from the wind.
Tung—
When the flute string was plucked, Agent Kang Min-hee grabbed her head and screamed.
“Aaaah!”
Her scream spread like a ghost cry in all directions.
A blush appeared on the black-robed person’s face.
[Ghost Dao Yin Transformation Immortal Root…! So that actually exists! Aaah…]
[Huhu, I believe my feelings were not false.]
The giant in blue armor passed the black-robed person and approached Vice Manager Oh Hyun-seok. __GT
“W-What?”
Vice Manager Oh looked fearful, but the blue-armored giant surprisingly examined his wrist perfectly.
A while later.
[One Chaos Holy Body! Is this a real body that exists?! Impossible…]
A while later, the three shocked ones seemed to calm their hearts and asked us.
“Do you have any intention of cultivating immortality?”
The old man in golden robes asked Vice Manager Jeon with a gentle expression.
[You each have the talent to overturn the world. It’s impossible to waste such talent.]
The black-robed person looked at Agent Kang Min-hee with sticky eyes.
[Immortality and immortality! The power to overturn heaven and earth! Immense wealth and fame! Don’t you want all of it? I guarantee it. If you follow me, you will obtain everything within a hundred years.]
The blue-armored giant approached Vice Manager Oh Hyun-seok and said while massaging his body.
[I am the Supreme Sect Master of Geumshin Cheonroe, Geumbyeok-ho. Wouldn’t it be good for all three of you to enter our sect?]
[Hmph, you’re greedy too! If you enter our Black Ghost Bone Valley, there are no attribute-less techniques. This one is the head elder of the valley’s elders, Baekgol Gwima. All of you entering our valley would achieve maximum growth.]
[Well, I don’t need those two. You come, One Chaos Holy Body. Changcheon Gaebyeokmun’s founding ancestor, Changhoja, will take you as a direct disciple and teach you well. If you want, I can pass on Changheon Gaebyeokmun. Ah, if the other two want to come too, come. Although the directions are different, you have immense talent, so I will accept you as direct disciples.]
The cultivators seemed to give the three a choice with words,
but in reality it was no different from strong-arming them.
The giant in blue armor was literally crushing Vice Manager Oh’s shoulder.
The androgynous black-robed person was doing something while staring into Agent Kang Min-hee’s eyes.
Agent Kang Min-hee’s eyes were gradually becoming hazy.
The one called Geumbyeok-ho was pressing Vice Manager Jeon with invisible pressure, as if he would kill him if he didn’t choose.
A while later, Vice Manager Jeon, Vice Manager Oh Hyun-seok, and Agent Kang Min-hee were forcibly taken into the three cultivation sects.
[Hahahaha, welcome to our sect!]
[Our elders will take good care of you.]
[Disciple, let’s go.]
The cultivators seemed about to fly off with the three.
By then, Vice Manager Kim, who had been looking at the situation blankly, quickly came to his senses and rushed out.
“Wait! Hey! Can you… take us out of this forest? We’ll all die if we stay here!”
[Hmm, because you’re criminals, you’re worried a lot. Are you worried about the fox? Don’t worry.]
The blue-armored giant, Changhoja, laughed loudly.
[I crushed all the demons and monsters in Deungsunhyang on the way! I’ll go catch the fox too. Deungsunhyang will be safe for the next ten years!]
“Ah, no… hey! Vice Manager Jeon! Vice Manager Oh! Agent Kang! Say something! We don’t even know where we’re going!”
But in fact, Vice Manager Jeon was being stuffed into a golden bottle by Geumbyeok-ho like a potion,
Agent Kang Min-hee was completely mad-eyed, as if she had been charmed by Baekgol Gwima,
and Changhoja was just laughing loudly no matter what Vice Manager Oh said, not caring at all.
‘It was like this fifty years ago too.’
Those three were indifferent, out of their minds.
No matter how hard we screamed, they ignored us like insects and kept walking.
I touched my newly regrown arm instead of calling out to the three cultivators in a hoarse voice.
‘Still, someone gave me my arm back.’
I sighed and inwardly thanked Changhoja.
Vice Manager Kim was shouting at the top of his lungs at the three disappearing light orbs, but there was no response.
“Huk… Heuk… Damn…”
Vice Manager Kim finally sat down on the spot.
“What… should we do… in this forest…”
Only four people remained now.
Me, Vice Manager Kim, Agent Oh Hye-seo, and Junior Kim Yeon.
‘Probably tomorrow, Vice Manager Oh and Junior Kim will also be kidnapped(?).’
The time with Vice Manager Kim was coming soon.
* * *
Vice Manager Kim was momentarily gloomy, but when he saw my arm healed, he was greatly delighted and congratulated me.
“It’s really good, really good…”
“Indeed. And Changhoja said he would catch the fox too. If we just want to survive, we can live.”
“Huu… that’s right…”
“When Sub Manager Seo’s arm was torn off, I really thought he was dead… Ah, actually, even now, with three colleagues gone, I’m a little, no, really, really shocked…”
“Vice Manager, it’s really good.”
We sat in place unable to cry or laugh in this strange situation where we had lost colleagues and were guaranteed life.
A while later.
Like a meteor passing through the sky, a white light crossed the sky again.
“E, eeet…”
It wasn’t the only one.
After the white light, several, dozens of lights flew across the sky like a meteor shower.
All were heading in the direction where Geumbyeok-ho, Baekgol Gwima, and Changhoja had flown.
“T-This… is there something in that direction…”
Vice Manager Kim looked at the direction in confusion, and I gathered the berries I would eat today, lit a bonfire, and started roasting them.
Tomorrow I would say goodbye to Vice Manager Oh and Junior Kim too.
* * *
Swaaaaa—
The next day came.
Today it rained unusually.
Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and thunder roared.
“…That means it’s not the right day to go look for berries. What should we do?”
Junior Kim Yeon looked at us with a worried expression.
“…Vice Manager Oh isn’t doing well either.”
That was exactly right.
Agent Oh Hye-seo was lying down with a high fever, muttering at the sky with dazed eyes.
“…Let’s wait a little longer.”
I looked at the sky and said.
“Maybe today’s miracle will happen like yesterday.”
“…Should we call that a miracle? Ah, of course, Sub Manager Seo’s arm returning is really… really like a miracle…”
I smiled and told Junior Kim.
“Don’t you think someone might come and heal Vice Manager Oh’s illness completely?”
I looked up at the sky with Junior Kim and Vice Manager Kim.
It was lunchtime.
Kwa-rung!
Thunder roared.
Koolk! Koolk!
Vice Manager Oh’s cough and fever grew worse. Blood flowed from her nose.
“S-Sub Manager. Do you have any herb we need when this happens? H-How should we…”
“First, let’s give her some anti-fever herb.”
At that moment.
Slosh. Slosh…
Someone entered the cave.
He was a handsome middle-aged man in blue robes.
On his head, a pair of small deer-like horns sprouted.
[Criminals in Deungsunhyang. The situation is like ants breaking their waists in the competition of dragons.]
“W-Who are you?!”
Vice Manager Kim warned the new person without relaxing his guard. The blue-robed middle-aged man smiled leisurely.
[Haeryongwang, Seohyeol. A sudden typhoon appeared because of the lack of heavenly qi, so I came to find the source of the twist. That person is using the magic of the typhoon.]
The middle-aged man who introduced himself as Seohyeol pointed at Vice Manager Oh.
[No, it’s not exactly magic… yeah. He’s swinging the power of the typhoon. Human flesh body wielding such vast qi is taking a toll.]
“H-Hurricane typhoon?”
[Yes. Hurricane typhoon. Really strange. Human. Criminal… a female human without a spiritual root wielding such vast power… even unconsciously. So strange.]
Strange…
I asked Seohyeol the thing I had been curious about.
“We are even stranger. Yesterday, three incredible cultivators each took one suitable disciple from our group. And today you came to look after Vice Manager Oh.
Why do you come to us like this?”
Seohyeol seemed puzzled for a moment, then laughed loudly.
[Hahahaha, I don’t know the details, but there was a talented person in your group. The mentors who fit his talent took your colleague. Today, I appeared fitting to that person. Is that strange?]
Seohyeol asked me as if amused.
[Hey, criminal friend. Do you know where this place is?]
“I heard it’s called Deungsunhyang…”
[Deungsunhyang. It’s also called Feishengtu, a passage leading to the upper realm for ascension. And a few months later, a spatial rift called the Ascension Gate will open.
A time that comes once every thousand years, at which time the surrounding space becomes unstable and countless cultivators and spirit beasts gather around the passage. For ascension to the upper realm. High-level cultivators on this interface will all gather.
It’s not impossible for mentors who perfectly match you to appear. Even I, that person, or other cultivators and spirit beasts of the same level could discover her.]
“I see…”
I had thought there must be some intent behind those immortals scattering us so quickly and sending us to this world.
But it seemed it was just a matter of probability.
“Um, but my colleagues were taken by those cultivators…”
Vice Manager Kim, seeing me talk with Seohyeol, relaxed and asked him the same thing.
“They said they would make us join their sect or pass on the sect. If we ascend to the upper realm… how can we join the sect?”
[Hmm, you might not understand cultivators well since you’re criminals. Among cultivators’ techniques, there is one that shrinks large objects for storage.]
I was shocked by the following words from Seohyeol.
[Probably they will all store their sects in their magic treasures. Their ambition is to bring the sects themselves to the upper realm when the Ascension Gate opens. Ah, actually, I even took one of our Haeryong clan’s cities and put it in my magic treasure. Over a thousand and eight hundred of our Haeryong clan members are sleeping inside.]
My jaw dropped at the outrageous words, along with Vice Manager Kim.
Swish…
At that moment, Seohyeol approached Vice Manager Oh, stroked her forehead, and her rapidly rising fever and labored breathing stabilized quickly.
[…So strange, so strange. But if I accept her as a Haeryong clan member, she could become an enormous existence…]
Swish…
While speaking, Seohyeol picked up Vice Manager Oh. Vice Manager Kim tried to stop him in panic but was flung back by invisible resistance.
“Ouch!”
[This person will accept the king’s blood and become a blood relative. It will probably be good for both of you. And there will be many terrifying cultivators passing through Deungsunhyang, so I’m saying this out of kindness…]
Paaat!
Seohyeol’s pupils split vertically.
“Kuk! Kuaek… eok!”
“K-Ku…”
The two of us who had asked Seohyeol were forced to sit down by the pressure that made breathing difficult.
[Don’t ask high-level cultivators casually. This king likes to answer, but some cultivators with dirty personalities might burst you like bugs just for asking…]
Seohyeol finished speaking and left the cave entrance.
Flash!
Rumble!
Thunder and lightning roared with the light, and a while later we could see a single blue dragon flying in the sky.
Swaaaaa—
The rain still didn’t stop.
Junior Kim Yeon looked up at the sky with blank eyes and muttered.
“…They all got kidnapped. I don’t know what’s what anymore. Suddenly landslides, suddenly another world, immortals, dragons… they kidnap our workplace colleagues… ha, hahaha…”
She covered her face with a sobbing expression.
Vice Manager Kim Young-hoon sighed with a gloomy expression.
“I don’t know what to do. We should find somewhere people live, but we don’t even know where to go. What they’re saying about immortals, dragons… it’s all nonsense… damn.”
“….”
I quietly patted their shoulders.
At that moment, Junior Kim Yeon suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Vice Manager, Seohyun-nim won’t suddenly disappear, right?”
“….”
“If Vice Manager suddenly gets kidnapped, it’s no good. If Vice Manager gets kidnapped too, I won’t have any place to live in this forest…”
I smiled bitterly.
Tonight, the last time, Junior Kim Yeon would be kidnapped by the monster.