The Golden-Haired Divine Ape
“Huff, huff.”
I stopped midway up the steep mountain path and gasped for breath. A massive load was strapped to my back. Behind me, four companions climbed the trail in single file, their steps light as if they were out on a picnic.
“Out of breath, lower-rank? Too bad. Nothing’s free in this world. Still, thanks to your seniors you’re getting a free pass on one trial. You should be grateful for this much.”
Aryun tapped the mountain of luggage on my shoulder with a sneering smile and strode past me.
I should’ve just cursed him out.
I was only human. Right after making a huge mistake and clashing sharply with Mumyeong, I couldn’t afford to create another problem so blatantly. I barely swallowed the curse that had reached my lips.
“Panting over something like this.”
Daesajun approached and scolded me.
“As expected, just a good-looking empty shell with a decent body. To think I briefly suspected this guy of wiping out the Green Forest Band and the Blood Sect down the mountain.”
Daesajun shook his thick neck and took the lead.
“What’s your name again? I think you said it earlier. No, before that—where are you from? Let’s get along. I’m from the Qingcheng Sect. You look like you’ve trained some, so you must be from the Nine Sects and One Gang, right?”
Eunpyeong walked ahead of me and struck up conversation.
“I’m not from the Nine Sects and One Gang.”
“Then?”
I hesitated briefly.
“Just a nameless minor sect.”
“Ah.”
Eunpyeong’s smiling face didn’t change.
“Then I don’t need to know your name. Haha. Take your time coming up.”
She muttered quietly to herself.
“I thought I could make some connections… What a waste of time.”
I stared blankly at them, then adjusted the load on my back.
“Hup.”
The artificially labored breathing cut off as if sliced by a knife.
“……”
I climbed the mountain path unhindered again, maintaining a moderate distance from those ahead.
Their trial as members of the upper hall, Chu-mu-gwan, was to investigate the monster originating from the Blood Sect in the forest of Hyeonhobong. At first they had persistently interrogated me about the corpses of the Green Forest Band and Blood Sect they found on the way. But knowing I was just a Ha-mu-gwan nobody, they expected no real answers. They eventually decided to climb Hyeonhobong as planned to investigate the forest monster linked to the Blood Sect. Since I also needed to search the monster’s lair for the golden bronze incense burner, I got their permission to join by carrying their luggage.
“Do you think the monster ape, said to be a legacy of the Blood Sect, really exists?”
The problem was this bastard. The third man among the Chu-mu-gwan martial artists’ party. I looked back.
A snake’s face. That was the first impression I got when I saw him. A man with a pale white face and a seemingly good-natured expression was following with his hands behind his back, smiling cheerfully. He stuck right behind me and my huge load, closing in.
“I’m asking you. So, it’s Moyong Bi-gun, right? Earlier when you quietly introduced your name and trailed off, I overheard it carefully. Well done, right?”
“……”
He walked up beside me without a single ragged breath.
“You are…”
“Ah, you still don’t know my name. Please take care of me. I am…”
His bright red blood-colored eyes sparkled beneath the pale skin as he opened his mouth.
“Ryu. Hwa. Sa. Just call me Ryu Hwasa comfortably. Things like Young Master Ryu give me goosebumps. Moyong Bi-gun.”
Every time his white teeth flashed between red lips, my fine hairs stood on end. I’d felt something similar before. Who was it? There definitely was someone.
“You keep not saying anything. Are you always this quiet? Looking at you, you don’t seem that out of breath either.”
His attire was similar to mine. I wore flapping martial robes down to my ankles with wrists and ankles bound tight; he wore blood-red martial robes with his limbs bound the same way. I examined him carefully but couldn’t tell what his main weapon was. Still empty-handed. Just hands behind his back. Only the red robes covering his whole body formed a strange harmony with his red eyes.
I didn’t reply a word, but he chattered nonstop.
“The way Moyong Bi-gun and I walk side by side like this looks like black mist and red mist walking together. Ahaha.”
I ignored him. As I hurried my steps and left him behind, Ryu Hwasa shouted after me.
“Huh? Ignoring me now? Ahaha!”
Ryu Hwasa laughed cheerfully and bounced after me.
“Ahaha, let’s go together! Let’s talk a bit too! If you keep ignoring me, I’ll have no choice but to tell a creepy story!”
“Please stop talking to me. It’s hard.”
“Oh come on, don’t be like that!”
“……”
“Are you really going to avoid conversation?”
“Yes. I have nothing to say.”
“Nothing to say, my foot.”
Ryu Hwasa frowned.
“You killed all our guys down below.”
I stopped dead and looked back.
“Now you’re looking at me a bit. Moyong Bi-gun.”
“What did you just say.”
Ryu Hwasa grinned and waved his empty palms.
“Just a joke—why so surprised? Ha-mu-gwan disciple-ssi?”
“……”
“What. Did you really kill them?”
I looked at him making an innocent expression. An inky tension filled the forest.
“……”
I turned my head and climbed the mountain path again. Ryu Hwasa grinned and followed.
—Thud thud.
We walked up the mountain path. The sound of sand being stepped on. Ryu Hwasa and I walked side by side. No more acting. Two people climbing a steep mountain path, yet not even a single breath sound. Even walking on flat ground there would have been more breathing.
In the distance the cave entrance came into view. In front of it the companions who had already arrived were gathered discussing something.
“What’s the matter?”
As if nothing had happened, Ryu Hwasa approached them and spoke.
“Ryu Hwasa. Looks like the rumors are true.”
Daesajun pointed to the ground with those words.
“This is…”
There were droppings that clearly didn’t look human, along with golden beast hairs scattered here and there.
“And the rumor about eating human flesh seems true too.”
In the droppings were human clothing scraps along with miscellaneous ornaments that looked like a woman’s.
“Since the investigation is done, how about we withdraw? It’s not like this is the only trial.”
Aryun’s face turned pale as he hesitated. Eunpyeong’s legs were also trembling slightly. Daesajun was trying to act calm but had become much quieter.
“No, no. That’s not right. We’re not third-rate martial artists; we’re renowned orthodox sect members. Are we going to leave a lowly creature that harms civilians alone?”
Ryu Hwasa stepped forward in front of them and said,
“Even if it’s a monster, it’s just an ape. Even ordinary adults can fight an ape on equal terms if it has a weapon, and we’re martial artists who’ve trained—ones classified as elites in the orthodox path, just promoted to Chu-mu-gwan at Cheonsubaekryeonsa. There’s a reason Cheonsubaekryeonsa gave us this trial. If we withdraw like this, it won’t just end as failing the trial as disciples of Cheonsubaekryeonsa; it might even tarnish our sects’ reputations.”
Tarnishing a sect’s reputation. That was like a taboo.
“L-Let’s go!”
Daesajun stood up abruptly and clenched his fist.
“Y-Young Master Dae. But something this dangerous…”
“M-Miss Eunpyeong, if anything happens I’ll protect you, so don’t worry!”
Aryun stepped forward competitively as if he hadn’t been trembling. Then he casually put a hand on Miss Eunpyeong’s shoulder and thumped his own chest with a fist as if to say trust me.
These idiot bastards.
I looked at them with a dumbfounded gaze, but the atmosphere had already completely fallen for Ryu Hwasa’s three-inch tongue. They started striding into the secret cave.
Just looking at the entrance of the secret cave, I knew. Having suffered near death in the sixth cave, Yuk-bi-dong, I could vividly feel that sensation just from the entrance. That’s no ordinary cave. The moment you enter there, something begins. You can’t just rush in like this.
“Moyong Bi-gun? Are you going to stay here alone? The golden bronze incense burner and the sacrifices that are the goal of the Ha-mu-gwan trial seem to be collected inside by that monster guy.”
Ryu Hwasa smirked and gestured from the entrance of the secret cave. He gave me a smiling eye as I hesitated, then vanished into the darkness. It was as if his expression said, What can a guy like you do if you don’t come?
Damn it.
I bit my lip. Since it had come to this, I decided to at least trust their potential. They were Chu-mu-gwan after all. I was a bit disappointed by their outward appearance, but a true martial artist isn’t judged only by external arts, right?
Thud.
I entered the fifth cave, O-bi-dong. The damp, muggy feeling was exactly the same as Yuk-bi-dong.
—Fwoosh.
Daesajun stood at the very front holding a torch. Next was Aryun, Eunpyeong, me, and finally Ryu Hwasa.
—Drip….
—Drip drip….
Water droplets from the ceiling fell. With each step the dense beast smell grew stronger.
The structure is much simpler than Yuk-bi-dong.
I couldn’t openly use Red Eyes, but I carefully examined the walls of the secret cave with all my might. There were no drawings of any kind. Just a roughly hewn straight passage. Only stalactites jutted out here and there as if it had been built long ago. As we wound deeper I felt the slope descending more and more. The humidity thickened; the ground underfoot grew slippery. Due to the air flow, faint noises grew denser. That’s why the others seemed not to hear them. But I could hear them.
At first I doubted. But after hearing it three times in a row, I was certain. No need to look back. I adjusted the load and asked.
“Ryu Hwasa, I have a question.”
“What is it, Moyong Bi-gun.”
—Fwoosh.
The torch held by the lead flickered.
“You already know what’s going to happen here, don’t you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
As the passage ended, a huge cavern suddenly appeared and the surroundings brightened. I looked back and muttered.
“You’ve been holding back laughter this whole time, thinking I wouldn’t notice—”
—Whoosh!
A white snake-like face laughing with its mouth torn open rushed at me and shoved my body. The shoving force was weak compared to my trained physique. Even as a surprise attack, it only pushed my body back two or three steps at most. But that was enough. Ryu Hwasa leaped back and retreated.
“What are you doing!”
From the darkness Ryu Hwasa raised his voice with a bizarre laugh.
“Isn’t it obvious? How could I not laugh watching the world’s biggest idiots who, far from running from that monster, are approaching it themselves!”
“What?!”
Before I could say more, Ryu Hwasa quickly groped both sides of the passage.
—Rumble…!
The ground began to shake. The passage started narrowing, and the entrance in front of Ryu Hwasa began to close.
“Then please enjoy a pleasant time with the golden ape! Uha, uhahaha!”
“This!”
I hurriedly tried to shout to the companions ahead to inform them of the anomaly.
“Kyaaaaak!!”
But a step ahead of that, filling the secret cave was a scream as if tearing. I tried to look back.
Get down!
At Mumyeong’s scream I immediately ducked my whole body.
—Baaaooong!!
Even while pressed flat to the floor from the massive wind pressure, my body shook. Only after ducking did I think of Eunpyeong who had been standing in front of me.
“This!”
—Thwack.
Blood droplets exploded and scattered in all directions. In front of me, Eunpyeong’s body that had been standing fine until just now was left with only white ankles, spurting blood.
“Miss Eunpyeong!”
Aryun’s desperate scream echoed through the cavern.
—Crash!
The massive object that had swept through Miss Eunpyeong’s body flew and smashed into the cavern wall, unable to control its force.
“What is that.”
What on earth should I call that. I couldn’t even call it a sword. It was closer to something made by pulling out a huge iron door whole and grinding it, rather than a rectangular guillotine blade.
—Grrrr….
A huge shadow loomed. I first realized how terrifyingly the storytellers of the capital often expressed “arms as thick as a person’s waist” could approach. There was a giant ape with yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness.
To think the Golden-Haired Divine Ape was not a monster of legend but a real spiritual beast.
Mumyeong sighed quietly. I looked back.
“Aaaah, Miss Eunpyeong! No!!!”
Aryun was wailing. Beside him Daesajun was also tense, hesitating and unable to even draw his sword properly. It was already impossible to expect anything from them. The passage we came from was blocked by a huge boulder. There was no retreat.
I looked forward.
“Grrr.”
The Golden-Haired Divine Ape wasn’t moving. Clearly that monster was getting extremely sharp and displeased at each of Aryun’s cries. But after the first attack it wasn’t taking any action. It was only looking at me. What that meant was clear.
—Thud.
I undid the pack on my shoulder. The huge load rolled off. The neck bones suppressed by the heavy load loosened with a crack. I inhaled and exhaled. My lungs swelled, filling with the damp, endlessly familiar cave air.
The Golden-Haired Divine Ape looked at me. I looked at the Golden-Haired Divine Ape.
—Crrrack.
I clenched my fist.
“Lower-rank bastard! What are you doing there! Hurry and run! It’s not a monster you can handle! Even we of Chu-mu-gwan can’t handle it!”
Daesajun shouted with a pale face. Aryun chimed in from the side.
“Know your place! No, no! Better die—die and apologize to Miss Eunpyeong!”
“You guys.”
In the darkness I quietly muttered while fixing my gaze on the golden monster before me.
“From now on if you want to live, shut your mouths. Even if I go all out, it’s fifty-fifty whether I live or not.”
“What?! How dare a Ha-mu-gwan—!”
Lightning-like thunderbolts began wrapping my entire body. Crack… Crackle crackle! The two jiazi of internal energy from the Heavenly Flower White Ginseng and Heavenly Thunder White Ginseng, plus the one jiazi gained from training in the secret cave—totaling three jiazi of internal energy—flowed through my whole body, and the secret cave began to shake.
“Hi… Hic!”
Aryun’s eyes bulged as he hiccuped.
“H-How does a mere Ha-mu-gwan have such internal energy…”
Daesajun collapsed and muttered in bewilderment. Dense red killing intent filled my two eyes.
“Grrr.”
The Golden-Haired Divine Ape let out a low growl. With a clatter it gripped the guillotine blade in both hands.
—Thud.
A heavy haze erupted. It clashed with my three jiazi of energy without yielding an inch. It even gave the feeling that it had known from the beginning that I had such energy. The Golden-Haired Divine Ape spread both arms toward me. As if inviting me to come.
“Kehehe. Yeah. You already knew, huh.”
I smiled pale with cold sweat.
“Shit. This won’t be easy.”