Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Plague Fox Kang Areum 4
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Despite the vague instructions, Aerin and Haewon seemed to understand perfectly and started discussing something among themselves. The rest prepared to head outside.
Kang Areum looked somewhat dissatisfied at having to follow Nati's orders, but she cooperated without a word for now. This wasn't her city, and it was time to pool their strength.
Kang Areum reached to the nape of her neck and untied the black cloth bound there. Then, folding it into an inverted triangle just like the first time they'd seen her, she covered her face.
Ibi found the sight utterly bizarre. To break the ice and strike up a conversation, she asked.
"Why cover your eyes?"
"Huh?"
With more than half her face concealed, Kang Areum's expression was impossible to read. Instead, the ears atop her head shot up sharply.
"No, just... Is there a reason for wearing that? You can't see anything, right?"
"...Sometimes, things I shouldn't see become visible."
Ibi didn't quite grasp what she meant. But instead of elaborating, Kang Areum changed the subject.
"And with just my nose and ears, it's no different from seeing."
How sharp must her senses be for that to be true? Ibi couldn't help but wonder what the world looked like through senses like hers.
A short distance away, Nati picked up his fan. Aerin tried to stop him, insisting the repairs weren't finished yet, but he brushed her off with, "If not now, then when?"
Outside, the rain was still pouring down. It felt a touch weaker, but it was far from a light drizzle.
The wind chimes above the door tinkled. But the moment the glass door shut, the sound vanished, swallowed by the white-noise roar of the rain.
Nati drew out his fan with a rustle and swung it once. The rain falling over the group immediately lessened. Looking up, Ibi saw raindrops veering off to the sides, as if a vast, transparent dome had been placed over them.
It wasn't completely blocked—enough rain still fell to wet their clothes—but it was no longer an impediment to movement.
Nati folded his fan as he spoke.
"We've got a lot to cover, so let's split up. Mina, you and Maegu head toward the river and keep an eye out for anything unusual. I'll go with Ibi."
It was around 10:30 by then. They were just about to split off in opposite directions when—
"Mmph!"
Suddenly, a rough hand seized Ibi. Her mouth was clamped shut, stifling even a scream.
It was a situation she'd been through before. A sensation she'd felt before.
In one more second, a glinting blade would come slicing toward her throat...
"Tch!"
In the blink of an eye, Nati closed the distance at astonishing speed and yanked Ibi back by the shoulder. The blade missed her throat, merely grazing her cheek.
At the same time, Kang Areum launched herself at the hockey-mask-wearing assailant like a cannonball. Before anyone could even register what was happening, she bared her razor-sharp fangs and sank them deep into the man's nape. She thrashed her head wildly, like a beast savaging its prey, and the thug's neck was torn ragged in an instant.
They thought the sudden monster had been dealt with right away. Even the one who'd ripped out its throat assumed as much.
But the next moment, as Kang Areum tried to pull away, she realized it was impossible. The arm of the masked thug—whom she'd assumed was dead—had clamped down on her body like a vice.
"What the—"
Kang Areum yanked back in panic, but the more she struggled, the more the opponent dragged her in like sticky glue. The thug's sturdy-looking body writhed like a shadow.
It was the same motion she'd glimpsed earlier through the teahouse's glass window. Up close, its belly was even more grotesque.
Its body twisted at impossible angles as the shadow swelled grotesquely. There was no other way to describe it but "proliferation."
Several pale, mask-covered heads sprouted up in clusters. Arms and legs followed. It multiplied endlessly without fully separating, clumping together like dough in a horrific sight.
The bizarre horde born from it was dragging Kang Areum down like quicksand. She flailed desperately, but she was already buried in the burgeoning shadow, with only the crown of her head visible.
"Damn it..."
Nati set Ibi, whom he'd pulled into a protective embrace, down on the ground. He reached out as if to help the swallowed Kang Areum. Across from him, Mina seemed to have the same idea and started to move.
But there was no need.
An arm—thought to have been fully sucked in—burst through the shadow. On the pale inner wrist was something none of them had seen before: two metal-like claw blades protruding straight from the bone, piercing through her skin.
Mina's low mutter carried over.
"W-Wolverine!"
Then the other arm emerged from the shadow in the same fashion. The claws on both arms shredded the shadow furiously until, at last, her upper body—including her head—rose from within.
It was like watching something surface from the deep ocean in an instant. The black cloth still covered her face. And from her mouth came a roar akin to a savage beast's.
"I'll rip out your throat and chew it up!"
It was no empty threat. Kang Areum let out a furious bellow before sinking her fangs deep into the nearest hockey-mask head. In less than a breath, she wrenched the neck free and hurled it aside.
Of course, it was just one of countless heads, but the berserk fox didn't stop there. Once fully extracted, she shot into the air as if leaping, then spun her body once.
In that split second, identical claws erupted from her heels with a metallic screech. They plunged deep into the forehead of another head. Without stopping, she tore through its neck, chest, and down to its waist.
The shadow underwent a change as well. Its ceaseless proliferation halted, and instead, the forms began devouring each other, merging and swelling into one enormous mass.
Ibi backed away, dry-heaving. The colossal head that had formed gaped its maw wide and lunged toward her.
For some reason, it still wore the white mask, though it barely covered its forehead. Its mouth was large enough to swallow one or two people as a snack, lined with several rows of brick-sized teeth.
The gaping jaws came crashing down. But Kang Areum didn't dodge—instead, she drove her claws into its palate. For a moment, her smaller body was pushed back in a contest of strength.
Yet Kang Areum halted the monster without so much as breaking a sweat. With a bestial howl, she clamped down on its lower jaw and ripped the entire thing off, flinging it away.
Next, she shoved one arm straight into its throat. The jawless monster couldn't even bite back.
The hand plunged into its gullet soon went still, as if it had found its mark. It clenched tight, and a satisfied smirk tugged at Kang Areum's lips as she exerted her full strength.
Subtle ripples of muscle flexed beneath her form-fitting top. An unpleasant crunch echoed from within the monster's maw.
At last—like a taut rubber band snapping—the tug-of-war ended. A massive spine was yanked from the monster's throat.
Even that abomination had its limits. Reduced to a husk of skin, it collapsed to the ground. It twitched a few more times before scattering like ash, vanishing without a trace.
The spine clutched in Kang Areum's hand—nearly the size of a full-grown man—faded like mist and disappeared.
Kang Areum stood frozen in place. Her breathing was only slightly ragged, as if she'd just run a single 50-meter sprint.
"......"
Silence settled over them for a long moment.
Ibi, standing there with her mouth agape, grabbed the hem of Nati's clothes right beside her and shook it.
"Don't make her mad anymore."
"Probably wise."
Mina, on the other hand, stared at Kang Areum with the wide-eyed awe of a fangirl spotting her idol. They were about to move as a duo from here on out, and it clearly made her feel secure.
"So badass."
But the one who'd pulled off the feat wore a look of utter disgust, as if she'd crawled out of a sewer drain.
Not a scrap of shadow remained anywhere, and nothing clung to her body, yet she acted as if she'd been slimed. She spat something from her mouth, lifted her wrist to sniff it, and grimaced.
"Fucking pest really knows how to piss me off."
Stunned, Ibi blurted out the question before she could stop herself.
"Th-that was a pest? That monster?"
Kang Areum gnawed at her lip as she replied.
"The attack I got before coming here was that thing's doing too. Different appearance, but the same breed."
"What? Wait, then that means..."
Ibi caught on to what Kang Areum meant. Mina, standing nearby, finished the thought.
"This city's crawling with those things?"