Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Precept 5
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The woman had vanished. The enormous maw was gone as well. Standing against the backdrop of the slowly chilling bluish sky was a single tiny girl.
"M-Mina!"
Ibi's face lit up in an instant. She rushed straight to Mina and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I survived thanks to you! Thank you!"
"Get off. It's hot."
Mina shoved Ibi away without hiding her displeasure. But something was off about the way she stared seriously at her right hand, clenching and unclenching it. Mina wasn't one for big expressions to begin with, but...
"We're in trouble."
"Huh?"
"Let's run."
"Is something wrong? Wasn't that woman just eaten by you?"
But Mina shook her head firmly.
"Not at all. I felt nothing."
Hearing that sent a chill down Ibi's spine. She'd clearly seen her swallowed whole in one gulp. How could she have escaped that?
"So she'll come back? C-Can't you just finish her off?"
Mina let out an openly irritated sigh.
"She's on a different level! My shrine is across the sea! Even that's crumbling!"
Anxiety seeped through Mina's flat tone. Realizing that made Ibi sense the situation was graver than she'd thought.
Without another word, Ibi bolted to Haewon. She grabbed his arm and slung it over her shoulder to support him.
"Can you walk?"
"Y-Yeah..."
Thank goodness—he seemed to have come to his senses. Ibi glanced at the overturned bell before asking,
"How long have you been trapped in there?"
"...No idea. I remember coming here around dawn, but after that... it's all..."
That meant Ibi spotting Haewon around midnight last night hadn't been a hallucination. Had he been stuck inside ever since? Nearly a full day, with no visible air hole. The thought of it happening to her made her shudder just imagining it.
"Anyway, let's get down from here fast. Before that woman comes chasing."
There was no time to hear the full story. She was curious how Mina had found this place, but escaping came first.
The three hurried away from the temple grounds, following the path downward. It wasn't much of a mountain to begin with—just a hill. Going down was quick.
They'd been sprinting for a while when it happened. Ibi looked up and spotted a white misty mass ahead, rushing toward them.
What she'd thought was churning fog was actually a mourning gown fluttering in the wind. The cloth still veiled her face, billowing as she approached.
Mina was right. The woman Ibi had thought swallowed appeared unscathed, striding forward confidently. Not a scratch on her.
"This way!"
Ibi yanked her companions off the path. It was a faster route down the hill, even if detour. But even there, as they pushed on, the woman appeared ahead again.
"......"
Ibi held her breath and veered sharply elsewhere. She poured on the speed, sprinting hard.
It was no use. No matter where or how they went, the woman popped up from every direction. Always with that leisurely gait, as if saying she could catch them anytime but was just toying with them for now.
"She's herding us. Blocking the back mountain so we keep circling and can't escape."
Haewon, still pale-faced, forced the words out. Ibi gritted her teeth. They'd definitely gone up and down this puny hill three or four times by now. Yet they were still lost, unable to break free.
But Ibi shook her head.
"No. We've come all the way down now. Just a bit farther ahead. Hurry!"
This was her first time straying so far on the hill, but as she said, it was a forest the size of a hand. Grasping the general direction was no problem. She urged the others onward and ran.
Lights were visible ahead now—just a little more and...
"What is this?"
Ibi stumbled out of the brush and muttered blankly, coming to a halt. The other two looked just as stunned.
This couldn't be. The place was so familiar to her. No way she'd mistake it.
"Why are we back?"
Far below her feet gleamed the lit-up Precept Temple.
Her legs trembled. This was no mere mix-up in direction. Just moments ago, she'd truly believed they were about to burst out of the woods. Yet unnoticed, they'd climbed right back to the summit.
It was enough to make ghosts weep.
"Can't leave."
Mina murmured lowly beside her.
"Sun hasn't set."
Ibi looked up at the sky.
The eastern horizon still held a bluish tint. But in the west, the sun was quietly dipping below the line, trailing red sunset hues and deepening indigo.
Just as Mina said. When they'd first started down the hill, it had been early evening too. By the feel of it, they'd wandered the woods for hours, yet night never came—it stayed the same.
Ibi felt a throbbing headache and closed her eyes, shaking her head.
Then she opened them and looked ahead. Beneath the sky where twilight hadn't fully fallen, the white-clad woman approached with a shrill laugh.
"Hide-and-seek has been fun enough. But don't you think it's time to wrap it up?"
Mina ground her teeth at the woman's words. Loud enough to hear the scrape clearly.
It wasn't just once. Mina's skin split open all at once, like it'd been shredded by a blade. Each slit was a mouth, and every one gnashed its teeth furiously. The sheer menace made even Ibi recoil in goosebumps.
"Don't come closer. I'll chew you up alive."
"Such impudence from the wench who ran off holding another woman's man."
Beneath the veiled face, the only visible mouth curled into a cold smirk.
"Just a scared little bitch."
Kyaak!
Mina let out a piercing shriek. In the next instant, her body swelled. She became a monster of countless mouths and swallowed the woman whole.
But nothing changed from before. Ibi had even seen the massive jaws chomping and gulping, yet the woman emerged from the woods a few steps away, as if sprouting from the earth, and advanced once more.
"So many mouths... Should be fun tearing them one by one."
Mina, cornered, seemed past caring. She thrashed wildly, devouring the woman each time she appeared. Blood splattered everywhere in seconds, chunks of flesh rolling about, but it meant nothing. No matter how many times, the woman returned, got eaten, repeated.
Even if it was just buying time, it wasn't pointless. In that moment, Ibi's thoughts clicked into place. She yanked her phone from her pocket.
The battery was still dead. Still, Ibi jammed the power button repeatedly. Please, just turn on once. Please.
And miraculously, the screen lit up. Ibi operated it frantically, praying silently. Hold on. Just one minute. Please.
She dialed a number. Nati's. This time, the signal connected properly.
But after the first ring, the drained battery died with a click. A despairing voice escaped Ibi's lips.
"No..."
By then, the woman was right in front of her. Ibi trembled, frozen in place. Mina was nowhere to be seen.
"......"
The woman eyed Ibi briefly, then raised a hand as if to grab her—but hesitated. Ibi held her breath.
But the woman suddenly turned and passed her by. For whatever reason, she couldn't touch Ibi. A soft mutter drifted out.
"Can't lay a hand on her. Annoying, but nothing for it."
Her attitude flipped completely upon reaching Haewon. Even her exposed mouth seemed wreathed in warmth. Her voice dripped with coquettish affection.
"Ah, my lord. You can't make me suffer like this. Must I stew over these lowly women?"
She gently lifted Haewon's hand. He gazed up at her with empty eyes, offering no resistance. As if something vital—soul or hope—had drained from his body.
"Now, with me..."
"How about letting go of his hand first and talking?"
The last words weren't from Haewon. Nor Ibi. It was a voice from someone who definitely hadn't been there moments ago.
The woman jolted visibly, like she'd been shocked. The first agitation she'd ever shown. Ibi's eyes widened in surprise too.
"He's my friend, after all."
Without warning, Nati—who'd appeared out of nowhere—swung the folding fan in his hand. The woman and Haewon flew apart in opposite directions, their clasped hands breaking free.
He snapped the fan open to the left, then raised it high overhead.
"Kang Ibi. You're like a comet, truly. Can't stay still for a second."
Even amid it all, Ibi felt Nati's sidelong glare.
"How long since your last mess, and here you are playing detective again, ending up like this."
She wanted to protest that the previous incident wasn't her fault, but now wasn't the time.
Nati swept the raised fan in a wide arc. Inky haze burst from it, shooting skyward. Dark clouds gathered, blotting out the early evening sky.
Finally, Nati lowered his hand and fixed his serene gaze on the rising woman.
"What is this rampage, Taebaek?"