Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: Turn 3
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Ga-seol thought about her husband.
Something was strange.
He was a man who had never gone anywhere without telling me. He’d never even left this area, let alone visited a big city nearby…
And then he had suddenly vanished.
For days on end, I searched and searched for my husband. But he was nowhere to be found.
Then.
A physician came and told me. He said my husband’s plague had returned, and that he had died. They said his symptoms had worsened so rapidly that he died before they could even try to help.
…
…
…
How could that be?
How could a man who was perfectly fine just yesterday suddenly die?
It was absurd, but they were physicians, so I had no choice but to believe them. No, I was made to believe.
A few days later, thinking of my husband again, I went to see the physician. I begged him to at least let me find the body. In response, I received a different answer.
My husband had actually been devoured by the monster of the Yangtze River.
The monster of the Yangtze River…
There was no such thing.
If there were any monsters, weren't they these people who had appeared so suddenly?
But my suspicion soon faded.
These were the words of the physicians who had saved everyone in this area from the plague. Why would these kind physicians lie to me? What could they possibly gain?
However, for some reason, I was sad.
My heart ached.
From a certain point, Ga-seol felt like she wasn't herself anymore.
Her beloved husband was dead, yet she felt no sadness.
A human being should be overcome with a great sense of loss when they lose a loved one, yet I felt no sadness at all.
No, in fact, I felt happy.
My son, too, was growing up healthy, having completely forgotten about his father. However, a strange anxiety would occasionally wash over me. Rumors circulated in the village that teenagers were often disappearing.
Then one day.
The physicians came to visit again.
They said my son was also showing signs of the illness,
and that they had to take him.
Ga-seol willingly handed over her son. No, the truth was, she didn't want to. Why on earth would she hand over her son, the apple of her eye, to these suspicious people?
If her son disappeared just like her husband…
She wouldn't have the will to live.
However, she handed him over willingly. No, she was made to. It felt like blessings would come if she listened to the physicians. But again, an inexplicable anxiety would occasionally wash over me.
My mind wasn't clear. The days continued, feeling happy yet sad, sad yet happy.
It felt like I was living a very stable life, yet a sense of unease would creep in. And just as the unease crept in, I would immediately regain my composure.
Soon, I realized I was not in a normal state. I wanted to clear my head.
What came to mind then was…
The Mind-Clearing Sutra.
I once again recited the sutra I had learned and memorized from the monks at Chipyeng Temple when I was young.
As I did, an unknown sadness seized me. My eyes reddened, and my nose stung. It felt as if a deep despair was hiding behind the happy emotions. But I had no idea what was causing it.
Just then, a young man came to the village.
“Greetings. May I ask you a few questions?”
He was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. Judging by his well-defined physique, he seemed to be a martial artist.
“Haha, yes. I am a physician traveling from Sichuan to Hubei. I stopped by this place on my way.”
A physician… Even now, whenever I recited the Mind-Clearing Sutra, thoughts about the physicians would come and go. And now, another physician had arrived? This one seemed fundamentally different from the village physicians, but the thought echoing in my head was, ‘We don’t need any other physicians.’
“I would like to ask a few questions about this village. My grandfather told me he also used to live near the Yangtze River here. Of course, his home was destroyed by an unorthodox poison fiend when he was young.”
The young man had a tragic story. I wanted to sympathize with him, but I couldn't. In fact, it was a feat just to be able to converse this much. If I hadn't been reciting the Mind-Clearing Sutra, I would have chased him away already.
“Yes. I heard that the villages around the Yangtze River back then weren't this large. I also heard there was a temple nearby called Chipyeng Temple… but now I don't see it.”
“Things that were once here are gone, and for a rural village, its scale is beyond imagination, so I was curious.”
Chipyeng Temple was a place to which everyone in this village was indebted at least once. How could anyone forget such a place?
However, I didn't know what happened to Chipyeng Temple after the plague broke out. No, I couldn't even try to find out. My thoughts wouldn't allow it.
“It suddenly vanished…?”
“Then how did this village become so prosperous? From what I see, the wood in all the buildings—the market, the shops, the houses—looks new… but there are no signs of trees being cut down here.”
I thought I had to tell him. That the growth of the village, the spread of the plague, and the disappearance of Chipyeng Temple all coincided in a strangely specific period. That it was half a year ago.
But it was impossible to say it directly. So I began to answer him indirectly.
“The nearby villages?”
“A plague… could you tell me more about it? As a physician myself, I'm interested.”
“Other physicians…?”
The young man collected my answers one by one and nodded. I could tell, even after talking to him for just a short while. He was an incredibly bright and wise young man.
Perhaps this young man could deduce the truth from just these fragmented answers. No, I hoped he would.
“What kind of people are those physicians?”
That's when the problem started. As soon as the young man asked for information directly about the physicians, my thoughts were hindered again, and my mind became a blissful haze.
“When did the plague break out?”
“That coincides with when Chipyeng Temple disappeared.”
I barely managed to maintain my sanity and answered a couple more times. I had squeezed out my mental energy to reply, but after that, my train of suspicious thought was severed.
“Have the physicians ever done anything suspicious?”
When the young man asked about the physicians’ behavior, a fire of rage erupted in my head, and I ended up yelling at him.
“…I see.”
It was like a nightmare from which I couldn't escape. Perhaps this young man could do it. He could save me from this strange village and this nightmare.
“I understand. Then, I’ll ask one last thing. If you live in this perfect village created by such wonderful physicians, why were you sitting on this old desk with a face full of worry, sighing so deeply?”
My heart felt like it would explode.
“That is?”
But no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't find the reason.
“You don’t know…”
It was just that… I felt like I had something precious, but I couldn't remember. I just felt that it was incredibly precious… something I should never, ever forget…
“Something precious… Do you happen to have a husband or a child?”
When the young man mentioned a husband and child, my heart sank. My head… my head felt like it was going to burst.
My thoughts churned wildly. Yes, I had a loving husband and a son who was the apple of my eye.
He was a husband I had grown up with in the same village, a man I had promised to spend my life with. He was a diligent person, and as long as he was around, I feared nothing in this world.
But my husband was gone. No, I had to assume he was dead.
And that wasn't all. I had a son who would grab my skirt every morning, crying for food.
His name was Ha-pyeong, and he was a child with a mole under his eye.
“A child with a mole under his eye. Is that the only distinguishing physical feature?”
I used all my strength to describe my son, Ha-pyeong, to the young man.
“Where is that child now?”
I couldn't remember. Other than that the physicians took him, saying they would cure his illness. But that was a lie. I knew it. I just couldn't bring myself to say it.
“So those people who call themselves physicians took him and haven't returned him?”
At that moment, my thoughts began to break off again. It felt like I was being interfered with by something. My heart pounded like crazy, and tears streamed down my face. It was so unfair.
Damn them! Those bastards deserve to be struck by lightning!
“Then, aren't you worried about your child?”
From this point on, my mind and my emotions started to act separately.
“Is that really true?”
“…If that’s really true.”
The young man hesitated for a moment before speaking, and I could guess why.
“Why are you crying so sorrowfully?”
It was because tears were flowing from my eyes without me even realizing it.
Two days later.
I was sitting at the desk, fighting to hold onto my sanity as usual.
Not only that, but I felt something squirming inside my body. I could also sense how dangerous it was. At this rate, everyone in the village would be consumed by it.
Just then.
I suddenly started running toward the central pavilion. I didn't know why. It was as if I was being controlled by someone.
It wasn't just me; all the villagers were running toward the central pavilion. If someone fell, they were trampled. If something was in the way, it was broken.
An old man collided with a protruding piece of wood, fell down foaming at the mouth, then got up and started running again.
If someone were to see us, they could only describe us as puppets.
Then.
A purple light began to shine in the sky. Hundreds of characters blazed in the air. And then…
My mind, my mind, my mind.
It became clear.
‘Ah… ah… my husband died so meaninglessly. Oh, my son. Where in the world are you.’
Please, please… gods in heaven, please…
Save my son.
“My son! My son! Where are you! Ha-pyeong! Please! Please! Just be alive!”
Ga-seol shrieked in despair.
* * *
Mu-heun looked back at the Yangtze River Sentinels who had broken through the Cloud-Watching Formation.
The Sentinels were all infested with Golden Needle Insects, a species so ancient that its origin was unknown.
Mu-heun couldn't think of any cure other than to burn them all.
And even if there was a cure, it would require time, which it seemed the Sentinels no longer had.
They were no longer plants, insects, or people.
They were merely following the monsters' commands, letting out inhuman sounds and showing intense hostility toward Mu-heun.
Following behind them were more humans. They weren't completely consumed by the parasitic insects, but their eyes were half-covered in green.
At a glance, they were teenagers, clearly subjected to horrific experiments by these monsters.
They must all be the children of the villagers. If so, the son of the woman I met this morning would be among them.
He carefully examined the teenagers infested with the parasitic insects.
‘Found him.’
A slender boy with a mole under his eye.
That must be the woman's son. However, he wasn't sure if he could be saved.
The children were also half-infected by the insects. It didn't seem too late, but… if the infestation progressed any further, he didn't know if they could be returned to normal.
Mu-heun calmly suppressed the inferno raging inside him. No, he began to convert his anger into demonic energy.
This malice that seethed throughout the world.
Like in Gocha Hyeon village, like Dang Baek-ho in Sichuan, malice was so cruel to the powerless, and it spread so easily.
Mu-heun made a vow to himself.
Today,
in this very place,
he would cleanly dispose of this disgusting filth.
Just then, Mang-ryang shouted at the Yangtze River Sentinels and the children.
“Haaack! Go and kill that man! If you can't kill him, at least grab his ankles and hold on!”
At his command, the parasite victims foamed at the mouth and charged forward.