The 'Tang' of the Tang Clan Means Sugar # 4
"A potion that prevents Hydra venom…? Such a thing? Oinoi has never heard of any such thing…! If it be true, then it is truly incredible…!"
Illinoi marveled at the news that Hydra's deadly poison could be prevented. Tyrenol, the Poison Nymph herself, looked equally astonished.
"Hydra's venom is said to be beyond even gods and heroes…! If a Ditch Water Nymph could purify or guard against such a poison, that would be a truly magnificent thing…!"
Every nymph, so it was said, evolved from the Ditch Water Nymph—the Nymph of Medicine, the Nymph of Ice Water, the Nymph of Poison, the Nymph of Beasts, and so on. The Ditch Water Nymph was a being of infinite potential, and yet, at the same time, the weakest of all nymphs.
But Oinoi, unlike most of her kind, knew a great deal and could do a great deal.
And now she spoke. "You Kores must help this Oinoi…! Bring the herbs you have on hand, and clean water as well…! It must be done quickly…!"
The villa had a swimming pool—a nymph-friendly one, naturally, since nymphs loved to splash about in the water. But the pool was currently tainted with venom, and refilling it from scratch would have taken a considerable amount of time.
Splash—!
At that very moment, Oinoi hurled herself into the venom-stained pool.
"Nymph Secret Technique: Wild Splashing…!"
Splash, splash—!
She flailed her arms and legs, sending up sheets of spray, and at the sight of it, Illinoi and Tyrenol seemed to receive some grand enlightenment. They leapt into the pool after her, thrashing the water with all their might.
Splash, splash—!
Bit by bit, the pool water began to brighten, and then it gleamed—crystal clear and radiant.
Seizing that opening, Oinoi shouted, "Now the Kores must toss all the herbs into the pool…! And you must not forget to heat the water to just the right temperature…!"
The villa in Rimbu Forest, Sichuan was crammed with every herb imaginable. Dang So-hae and So So-hee, heedless of what each jar held, hurled their contents into the pool one after another.
"Ah! That's my century ginseng! The hundred-year honey-preserved kind I was saving! You're throwing it in the pool?! So So-hee, you wicked girl!"
"Is now really the time to be counting jars?"
"I've never liked you, not from the very beginning! If it weren't for this situation, I would never have joined hands with you! When this is over, you and I are settling things once and for all!"
Growling at So So-hee all the while, Dang So-hae worked alongside her anyway until the pool was brimming with herbs. Then Seo Yerim dipped her fingers into the water and began to heat it, little by little.
Bubble, bubble, bubble—.
The pool grew hot as a spring bath. Just as I was thinking it looked like one enormous medicinal decoction, Oinoi spoke again.
"Now we must splash with all our might…! Kores, bring something like a great big stick and help stir the pool water…! Quickly, now…!"
Slap, slap—. Splash—!
As the nymphs churned the water, So So-hee and Dang So-hae fetched something like a pair of oars and stirred the pool this way and that. And then something remarkable happened.
The furiously boiling water began to evaporate, steadily shrinking. The water level dropped until it barely reached the nymphs' ankles, and at last the whole pool had dwindled into a single puddle the size of a small pond, radiating the colors of the rainbow.
Tyrenol stared at it in open disbelief. "This is the Legendary Gutter Water itself…! The very substance said to be craftable only by the Nymphs of the Legendary Gutter Water…!"
The Legendary Gutter Water—better known as Greenstone Oil. Drink it, and your circulation would open, your mana would grow, and you would gain strength far beyond your former self. Or so the story went. This was the genuine article, not the counterfeit Greenstone Oil I'd received as the grand prize of that martial arts tournament—and it had been created by nymphs pooling their power with the women here.
"This Oinoi never dreamed it would come to this…! Master once told me that brewing a preventive against Hydra's venom requires the love of Kores, the devotion of nymphs, and an absolutely enormous quantity of herbs…!"
Even Oinoi was astonished by the result. With a practiced sweep of her hand, she ladled the gutter water into a cup and offered it around.
"Drinking this should certainly guard you against Hydra's poison to some degree…! However, it is plainly not perfect, so the master of the house must remain careful…!"
She stressed that he must not let bare skin touch the venom under any circumstances. The preventive could only block the toxins that entered through the respiratory system.
"Thrilling. It's been a while since I felt like this."
I gave a firm nod with a grimly resolute expression, then handed Keongkeongi and Kwang-kwangi, who were clinging to my shoulders, safely over into the nymphs' waiting hands.
"You two stay here. It's time for human Ha Ildo to take the stage—not dog-squirrel Ha Ildo, not honey ant Ha Ildo, not ghost spider Ha Ildo."
Where I was headed was extraordinarily dangerous—lethal, surely, to animals with keen noses. At that point Seo Yerim seized my arm.
"I'm going. Ha Ildo, my resistance to venom might be higher than yours."
"No. If anything happened to you, the security vacuum people would have to endure would be enormous. I'm only B-rank. There are plenty of people who could replace me."
So So-hee, China's only S-rank, was equally out of the question. S-rank awakeners were the hope of the people. If they were injured or fell, how many thousands would tremble in fear? Every time I read the news articles about the national security gap Korea had been suffering since Lee Jeonghun's downfall, my chest had ached.
"It's fine. I've done plenty of dangerous missions like this."
Think back seven years, when a rift had opened at the nuclear plant and a meltdown had nearly occurred—that had been an even worse situation than this one. It had never been made public, disclosed to no one beyond high-ranking officials and participating awakeners, for fear the public would spiral into panic.
Kang Cheolmin had lost an arm back then. He'd shoved his hand into the red-hot furnace of the control assembly and pulled the lever, they said.
"I'm going. Seo Yerim, you're a pyrokinesist—too many variables. If you got worked up in there and set off an explosion, it would all be over."
"……"
Instead of answering, Seo Yerim flashed me a grin. Then she held out her fist.
"Ha Ildo, I rate that drive to climb of yours highly. I know you're not the kind of guy who'd go and die in a place like this—but even so. Don't you dare die."
Gulp—.
I downed the rainbow-colored water in the cup. It tasted something like a sports drink.
"Not bad, actually."
A coolness spread through my whole body even as a warmth settled in alongside it—the sensation of lying under a thick blanket in a room with the air conditioning blasting. It felt pretty good.
"Alright. I can do this."
Trusting in the preventive potion everyone had made for me and the suit stitched from anteater hide, I set my feet toward the basement, where the venom churned and seethed.
Ssssssss—.
The moment I stepped forward, my leather suit let out a sound like samgyeopsal sizzling on a grill pan. The potent venom was corroding the suit, no doubt about it. By my estimate, it would hold for roughly five minutes.
"……"
Five minutes. Five minutes was enough time to accomplish a great deal, so it was ample, by my reckoning.
But there was a problem.
The venom had risen past my waist and up to my chest, which meant I couldn't see a thing.
Pat—.
Then something leapt onto my back.
━Mio-ong…!
"Myeong-i! You followed me!"
━Kwang-kwang…!
Myeong-i was a super-spider whose body was built from a special alloy—its durability would outclass the suit I wore. And thanks to steel nerves, it seemed to possess near-total immunity to poison; it didn't so much as flinch in this venom-flooded basement.
"Good. Let's go together."
━Kwang-kwang…!
Sss—sss—.
Myeong-i skittered back and forth across the venom-shimmering floor. Watching the feed linked to Myeong-i's eyes on my phone, I advanced at a careful crawl.
"I heard about the ventilation system."
Control Zone C. I'd been told there was a lever-like mechanism there, and that pulling it would start the ventilation fans and drive the venom down to a processing facility in the deeper basement levels.
Making my way toward Control Zone C, I spotted the lever through my safety goggles. I hauled down on it with all my strength—and it crumbled away in my grip with a dry snap.
"Oh, come on—tsk!"
Corroded and rotted through from years of exposure to the concentrated venom, no doubt! I'd expected complications, so I fought down the panic and focused on keeping my breathing steady.
Even so, my throat stung from every direction and my eyes burned, tears streaming down my face in ropes.
━Mio-ong…!
Myeong-i tugged at my trouser cuff. Was it warning me that my suit might melt away if I stayed put? Before that happened, I might lose consciousness altogether. It was more dizzying than I'd anticipated—like sitting down in a blazing blast furnace after dousing myself in oil. Was I imagining it, or was the feeling in my hands and feet growing steadily numb?
━Mio-ooooooooo-ong….
Even Myeong-i's cry had begun to stretch and warp, like an old broken cassette tape mangling its playback.
I had to think clearly. If I didn't find a solution here and now, I might miss the golden window entirely.
━Kwang-kwang…!
Then Myeong-i cried out. It scurried up onto my shoulder, extended its legs to either side, and stretched itself into a long, rod-like shape.
Watching it, I understood what Myeong-i meant.
"You're going to be the lever?"
━Mio-ong…!
It was a good idea. I set Myeong-i's leg where the broken lever had been.
Clunk—!
I felt Myeong-i's leg clamp down tight on the ruined lever, and I pulled with everything I had.
"Ngh—!"
Clunk, flash—! Screeeech—!
WoooooooOOOO—.
The sound of something vast rumbling to life. The venom began to withdraw.
Shuaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—.
Soon my breathing came easier. About five minutes must have passed.
"Ha Ildo! You alive in there!"
Someone came charging down into the basement. It was Seo Yerim, a gas mask on her face, with the nymphs behind her.
"Ha Ildo, your hands—your legs…!"
Seo Yerim recoiled in horror, pointing at my limbs. I looked down and saw that the sleeves and leggings of my suit had already melted away, leaving bare skin exposed.
"Ah. Well."
That was the last image I remembered. My vision flickered and went dark as I pitched over—I was dimly aware of the fact that I was falling, and everything else sank away beneath the surface of a deep, deep sleep.