Mountain Stronghold 3
I'd wondered if the man might be the leader of the Centipede Unit — and once again, the rule that bad premonitions never miss their mark proved itself true.
The report of the two martial artists who came racing into the cave right behind him confirmed my hunch beyond any doubt.
"Unit Leader! The deputy unit leader appears to have been dead for at least twenty or thirty days! Judging by the dried skin around the neck, stained red, it looks like he took his own life with Fire Extinction Poison…"
The report was clearly about the owner of the diary. Then another martial artist's startled cry rang out as he cast a glance around the cave.
"Th-there it is — the breeding facility! Wait… intruders!?"
"Who the hell dares!?"
The two martial artists first looked shocked at the wide-open breeding pit, then fixed us with cold, glittering eyes. Hwa-eun and I were clearly rats in a trap. Only three of them were in sight, but it was a safe bet that at least three more of their returning companions would show up soon enough.
So-ryong, what do we do?
Hwa-eun's tense voice brushed against my ear through a secret transmission. She was asking me what we should do, but I kept my eyes locked on the man who looked to be the Centipede Unit's leader and gave her no answer. I couldn't risk a transmission — any whisper or sudden movement of mine might set them off. Still, if Cho came back with Sister Seol, we could get out of this somehow. Until then, I just had to make sure we didn't get captured.
It had taken about half a shichen to get here from the water bandits' stronghold. Counting the round trip, Cho should arrive in roughly one shichen. If we were caught before then, everything would go sideways. Even if Cho could wipe the rest of them out once he got here, if our lives were being held hostage, there was no telling what might happen after that.
That unit leader is probably about elder-level for the Blood Sect, isn't he?
Judging by the restrained look in his eyes and the aura rolling off him, he felt like the Blood Sect elders I'd run into before. Hwa-eun and I alone couldn't handle him — but there was no such thing as an absolute in a fight. Seol, Bing, and Dong-i were under Hwa-eun's skirts, and Hyang-i and Yeondu were tucked against my chest. Those were the trump cards I'd have to use to hold out somehow.
That was when the man looked our way and jerked his chin at his martial artists.
"Doesn't look like the intruders feel like talking. Bring them here!"
"Yes, Unit Leader!"
At the order of the man standing with his arms crossed, the two martial artists shot toward us like the wind.
"Be careful!"
As the two men came pounding in, their footsteps booming off the cave walls, Hwa-eun shouted a warning and dashed forward to meet them. In the cave's darkness, relying on the torchlight that painted each other's backs, Hwa-eun and the two martial artists flung themselves at one another. The distance between them was almost gone.
They had charged as if for close combat, yet neither hands nor feet had quite connected — and they weren't far apart either. An awkward range, which was another way of saying a range lethal for hidden weapons. Flying needles spilled from Hwa-eun's sleeves and shot forward.
Chwarrrrk.
"F-flying needles!"
Caught off guard by the dense swarm of needles suddenly filling the air in front of them, the two men went pale with shock — but they kicked off each other's feet and stuck themselves to the cave walls on either side by a hair's breadth.
Tadat.
The moment they clung to the walls, the bedbugs came swarming.
Sagak-sagak.
The martial artists flipped their bodies in an instant and dropped back to the floor. It looked like Hwa-eun had meant to finish one of them quickly with a sly — no, a stealthy — technique, but the two men had dodged it with acrobatic skill. Hwa-eun clicked her tongue in frustration.
"Tch…"
And in that moment, the Centipede Unit leader's voice rolled through the cave again, bouncing off the walls.
"Flying needles? Girl — what is your connection to the Tang Family?"
There weren't many sects in the murim that used flying needles well, so a single volley of them had as good as blown her cover. No point in answering. Hwa-eun pressed her lips shut, her face set and resolute, and drew fresh needles up between her fingers. The Centipede Unit leader let out a short laugh.
"Ha…"
I wondered what the laugh meant — and the instant his smile ended, a chill shot up my spine. Killing intent exploded from the unit leader and poured toward where Hwa-eun and I stood.
Kh. How laughable. Is that what he's saying?
I was just drawing up my own energy so I wouldn't be crushed under that tingling killing intent when Hyang-i burst from my robes in a fury, reacting to the killing intent aimed at me.
Tseurrrr!Who is it!
Who dared shoot killing intent at our dad — Hyang-i's eyes spun as she glared at the Centipede Unit leader.
No, Hyang-i, you're cute and reliable, but you're my trump card…
Hyang-i was supposed to be my hidden card, and she'd already blown her cover by reacting to the killing intent. I was frantically pressing her head back down when, out of nowhere, the unit leader's mouth spilled my name — a name no one had introduced.
"Azure-Spotted Centipede? Don't tell me… So-ryong-nim?"
What? Why are you acting so friendly with me?
When had these Five Poisons Sect bastards ever met me, that they were acting familiar? Still, I needed to buy time until Cho arrived. I composed my face and asked the Centipede Unit leader in a polite voice.
"You know me?"
He nodded and clasped his fists in a martial salute, as if I were his superior.
"First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Kwon Sam, leader of the Centipede Unit. And as for your question — of course I know you. How could I, Kwon Sam of the Centipede Unit, not know So-ryong-nim, master of the Flying Centipede and Lady Cheong-yu's man?"
Being known as the master of the Flying Centipede I could accept — but the Centipede Unit leader was suddenly spouting nonsense about me being that goth woman's man. That woman, O Cheong-yu… it felt like she had evolved from goth girl into stalker girl the same way Bin and Cho had evolved.
"Pardon? Wh-whose man, you say?"
I asked back in confusion at the Centipede Unit leader's words, and Hwa-eun's expression went ice-cold. It was hers, and someone had just transferred ownership without asking — she had every right to be angry. But that was their one-sided claim. At my question, the Centipede Unit leader nodded and went on.
"Lady Cheong-yu, of course. The lady clearly told you her real name — surely you haven't forgotten? No, that couldn't be."
"Ah, Cheong-yu. O Cheong-yu, that person…"
I answered awkwardly, and Hwa-eun stared at me with her eyes round. She was clearly wondering why I remembered the name — but what was I supposed to do when the woman was so completely insane that she stuck in my memory? I was thinking I'd have to explain myself properly to Hwa-eun later when the Centipede Unit leader spoke again.
"So you do remember. What a relief. The lady nearly would have been heartbroken. Ah, and since So-ryong-nim is here, that wench must be a Tang Family girl. Perfect timing — Lady Cheong-yu asked me a favor, and to meet you so soon… excellent."
"A f-favor, you say?"
I asked back, cold sweat running down my back at the idea that the goth woman had asked him for something on my behalf. Of course it would be anything but normal — a request from a woman who wasn't right in the head. Sure enough, the Centipede Unit leader smiled with a chilling look.
"Bring So-ryong-nim in… no, escort him, and kill the Tang Family wench in a humiliating way and send her back to the Tang Family."
"Humiliating!?"
"Well, a young So-ryong-nim has no need to know the details. Heh heh. I was flustered when I came back from being away and found my subordinates had made a huge mess of things — but this works out perfectly. Humiliate the Tang Family girl and escort So-ryong-nim back, and all the effort we put into raising these bedbugs will have been…"
He ran his tongue over his lips and raked his eyes up and down Hwa-eun's body, and the two martial artists snickered along with him. Feeling all three gazes on her, Hwa-eun burned with shame and fury.
"Y-you bastards! All of you, die!"
From the enraged Hwa-eun's hands, flying needles shot out again, filling the cave. It wasn't quite Grandfather Lord of Ten Thousand Poisons's Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers, but the needles packed the passage so densely that they glittered like stars in the torchlight. The unit leader, however, tossed his torch aside with a snort, stepped forward, and swept his hand through the air — and Hwa-eun's needles never reached their target, flying into the cave walls and burying themselves there.
His triumphant voice rang out.
"You thought mere flying needles would be enough to face Kwon Sam, leader of the Centipede Unit? Haha. Go on, throw another tantrum. That's what makes it fun."
Hwa-eun was trembling so hard she looked ready to explode. I called her over to me.
"Hwa-eun, come here."
But she didn't answer. She kept her eyes forward and pulled poison vials from her sash — the gesture of someone ready to dump every toxin she had to kill them. I called her name again, low and short.
"Hwa. Eun."
At the clipped sound of her name, she flinched and finally looked back at me. She'd sensed that my mood had changed. Of course she had — I was furious right now. The reason it didn't show was that old saying: when a person is truly angry, even the rage itself stops coming out. That was exactly where I was. My eyes felt like they should have been rolling back in fury, but instead my head had gone cold.
My wife was beautiful, so every piece of trash — no, wait, that would be rude to the insects listening — every piece of garbage who saw her started leering. Itae had been the same. Every time some scum looked at Hwa-eun like that, a proper lesson was required so they'd never dare again.
So when Hwa-eun backed up to my side, tense, I pulled out the fingerless gloves I'd made from Yo-hwa's silk for spraying Hwa-yang's poison, slipped them on, and spoke to the Centipede Unit leader.
"From what I've been hearing… it sounded like you wanted to share the pleasures of cloud and rain with Hwa-eun. Something like that?"
The Centipede Unit leader looked briefly surprised, then smiled.
"I thought someone so young wouldn't understand — but you're already a grown man, I see. Then this conversation will go quickly. Hand over that wench and come with us. Lady Cheong-yu will be waiting. She's far better than a girl like that, after all. And you seem to be waiting for the Flying Centipede — but we are the Centipede Unit. Surely you don't think the Centipede Unit has no countermeasures for a Flying Centipede?"
I smiled and answered.
"Very well."
The Centipede Unit leader looked surprised, and Hwa-eun stared at me in shock.
Kwajik!
At the same moment, my kick smashed the box holding the female bedbugs. I snatched up the five flat, round bedbugs that came tumbling out and flung them like discs toward the three men. They didn't dodge — they swatted them with their hands. Three of the bedbugs burst midair and were crushed.
Puk. Puk. Puk.
They'd swatted instead of dodging because the bedbugs had come flying like discus throws.
"What on earth is the meaning of this, So-ryong-nim?"
He clearly didn't understand why I'd thrown bedbugs. But as anyone who knows insects knows, they communicate with pheromones — and bedbugs are no exception. The main pheromone languages bedbugs use are fear, aggregation, and attraction. The coriander scent from a female bedbug is the same as a male's, but its effect is completely different: a female's coriander scent is a lure for males. I stuffed the two bedbugs still in my hand into the gloves, flipped them, tied them off, and tossed them to one side. Then I smiled at the three of them.
"Well then. Enjoy yourselves."
I dropped the torch in my hand to the floor and stamped out the flame. Complete darkness flooded the cave. From their side of the dark came the sound of something falling like hail.
Hudududuk.
Then the three of them started screaming, the sound booming and echoing off the cave walls.
"Gyaaaaah!"
"Gyaaah!"
"Uwaaaaaah!"
"Wh-what just happened!? So-ryong."
In the dark, Hwa-eun clung to me in terror. I wrapped an arm around her waist and said,
"I can never forgive men who insult and lust after my woman — so I simply punished them with the thing they like."
"Pardon?"
What did that mean? Bedbugs are truly bizarre creatures. Their reproduction, in particular, is extremely strange. Female bedbugs have no genitalia, and male bedbugs cannot tell male from female — or even whether something is the same species. So their mating is violent and grotesque: when a female's pheromones are released, the male drives his huge, hook-like, needle-sharp organ into anything and ejaculates. Females, males, even other species — they stab and finish anywhere. That is bedbug mating.
The Five Poisons Sect bastards were piled up in there, so what was I supposed to do? I had to let them have at it. Only today, their role was defense, not offense.
Goodbye.
The screams of the three Five Poisons Sect men echoed endlessly through the cave.