Chapter 21
Chapter 21
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 6
>Chapter Title: Where Evil Dwells (4)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
The surface of the book, made of human skin.
No one would ever think to tear it off and shove it into their mouth.
Who in their right mind would put something made from human skin—something that oozed ghostly energy just by looking at it—into their mouth?
It was sheer madness.
*Crunch crunch!*
‘Tough.’
Mok Kyung-un stuffed the human skin into his mouth and chewed away furiously.
Strangely enough, no matter how much he gnawed at it, the skin was so resilient that it neither damaged his teeth nor tore apart.
But it wasn’t entirely ineffective.
*Gasp!*
Cheongryeong’s presence twisted her delicate brow and clutched at her heart.
She seemed to be feeling some kind of pain.
Seizing the moment, Mok Kyung-un chewed even harder on the human skin.
“Damnable mortal!”
*Whoosh!*
In that instant, Cheongryeong’s eyes turned blood-red.
With a swing of her long pipe, the blood pooling on the floor from the dead Jo Il-sang lifted into the air and began to spin.
‘What’s this?’
It was no illusion.
The sight of the blood droplets hovering and swirling in the air was utterly intimidating.
Mok Kyung-un’s eyes trembled as he fixed his gaze on them.
They spun so fast it was hard to track with the naked eye, but he was managing somehow.
“This guy…”
Even Cheongryeong’s presence noticed that Mok Kyung-un was accurately tracking the blood droplets.
It was astonishing for a human who hadn’t learned any spells or martial arts.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say his body and reflexes far surpassed those of an ordinary person.
“Still just a mortal.”
Cheongryeong’s presence pointed her pipe at Mok Kyung-un.
At that moment, the blood droplets whirling rapidly through the cavern surged toward him all at once.
*Splash splash splash!*
*Splatter!*
It was in that split second.
As he stared at the droplets, Mok Kyung-un slid across the floor the instant Cheongryeong swung her pipe, launching himself toward her presence.
“Foolish.”
He was mere inches from reaching her.
A rain of blood poured down on his upper body, the droplets burrowing into his flesh.
*Pierce pierce pierce pierce pierce!*
Mok Kyung-un furrowed his brow.
Ordinary pain barely registered with him.
But these blood droplets slicing into his flesh were like razor-sharp hidden weapons, shredding his skin wildly.
As if savoring his agony, Cheongryeong’s presence curled her lips.
“Does it hurt? Then spit it out.”
*Clench!*
Cheongryeong’s presence mimed grabbing at Mok Kyung-un.
The blood droplets burrowed deeper into his body, stimulating his nerves.
“Urk.”
A groan escaped him for the first time.
Cheongryeong’s presence clicked her tongue at the sight.
Any normal person would be writhing in agony, begging for mercy by now.
But that was all he mustered.
“Are you accustomed to pain? Or do you have the endurance of a fool? *Suck*.”
Cheongryeong’s presence bit down on her pipe and inhaled.
She exhaled a plume of hazy smoke, then thrust the pipe forward as if to finish him off.
“Foolish mortal. Just die.”
Mok Kyung-un, wracked with pain, muttered.
“Aseung.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Ahsuuuuu!”
His pronunciation was off with the human skin in his mouth, but what Mok Kyung-un shouted was none other than—
*Shhh!*
The Demon Monk, emerging through the ceiling.
But his condition was oddly poor.
Though he was always somewhat faint as a vengeful spirit, now black spots had appeared all over his body.
Seeing this, Cheongryeong’s presence smirked and said,
“It was you.”
At her words, the Demon Monk dropped to one knee and bowed his head to her in respect.
‘Why?’
Mok Kyung-un couldn’t make sense of it.
Was it because she was of a higher order of ghost? But as the author of the Ghostly Arts Yin-Yang Basics had said, that was just a law from the sorcerers’ perspective.
It wasn’t entirely accurate.
“You must have spiritual talent. I can tell from your link to the vengeful spirit. Unfortunately, this monk is little more than an extension of my own limb.”
‘Limb?’
Someone he knew in life, regardless of rank?
If so, that was trouble.
The Demon Monk was his familiar spirit, but if she could control it, he was useless.
He’d have to escape this on his own.
*Crunch!*
Mok Kyung-un resumed chewing the human skin in his mouth vigorously.
“Gah! You!”
Cheongryeong’s presence clutched her heart again, her face twisting in rage as she glared at him murderously and swung her pipe.
*Pierce pierce pierce pierce pierce!*
With the swing, the blood droplets inside his body were expelled outward.
It might have looked like mercy, but it wasn’t.
*Splatter!*
The expelled droplets merged into a single sharp thorn.
As Cheongryeong’s presence swung her pipe downward,
‘Damn!’
*Boom!*
The sharp thorn targeted Mok Kyung-un’s heart.
He rolled sideways to dodge it.
“Hmph!”
Cheongryeong’s presence snorted derisively and swung her pipe again, as if escape was impossible.
The thorn embedded in the floor twisted around toward Mok Kyung-un.
*Boom!*
Its speed was too great to evade.
Yet,
*Thud!*
‘Huh?’
It should have pierced his heart dead-on, but something shoved Mok Kyung-un aside.
It was the Demon Monk.
“You dare, monk?!”
“……”
The Demon Monk waved his hands helplessly, at a loss.
Mok Kyung-un found the situation baffling too.
Just moments ago, the Demon Monk had been kneeling and bowing, yet now he’d helped dodge her attack.
‘Why?’
Cheongryeong’s presence clicked her tongue and said,
“Hoh. So you’ll fulfill your duty as a familiar?”
“……”
The Demon Monk couldn’t hide his distress.
Mok Kyung-un didn’t know their relationship, but seeing the Demon Monk glance nervously after helping him, he couldn’t suppress an inward chuckle.
For whatever reason, the Demon Monk was helping him against his will.
That was crucial in this situation.
“Maga!”
*Shhh!*
At Mok Kyung-un’s shout, the Demon Monk naturally moved to block Cheongryeong’s presence.
The Demon Monk clearly couldn’t refuse his orders.
So even if her rank was higher, he might be able to make him fight her…
*Thud!*
No such luck—in an instant, Cheongryeong’s presence closed the distance and seized the Demon Monk by the throat.
“Then I’ll kill you both.”
“……”
With his throat gripped, the Demon Monk couldn’t budge.
Despite his larger frame, the difference in rank was evident.
Not all vengeful spirits were equal.
*Crunch crunch!*
Mok Kyung-un chewed furiously on the human skin to help the Demon Monk break free.
“Gah! You’re desperate to die.”
Cheongryeong’s presence, enraged, swung her pipe with a twisted face.
Once more, the scattered blood droplets rose into the air.
*Whish whish whish!*
They sharpened into thorns and spun rapidly around Mok Kyung-un.
This time, she meant to end it for good.
In that fleeting moment, Mok Kyung-un’s thoughts veered in a direction Cheongryeong couldn’t predict.
*Gulp!*
He swallowed the chewed human skin whole.
“!?”
Cheongryeong’s blood-red eyes wavered at the sight.
No one had ever chewed it like that, let alone swallowed it.
“You mad mortal!”
Cheongryeong’s presence swung her pipe at Mok Kyung-un.
The countless blood droplets encircling him surged forward.
*Pierce pierce pierce pierce pierce!*
‘Kuh!’
As the sharpened droplets burrowed in, Mok Kyung-un’s body twisted.
They didn’t just hit nerves—they stiffened his muscles too, making his body jerk uncontrollably.
“I’ll rip your body apart and drag it out…”
Cheongryeong’s presence couldn’t finish.
Her hand trembled on the pipe, her face contorting in agony.
“Wh-what…”
She glared at Mok Kyung-un, utterly baffled.
Chewing had hurt her, but this was incomparable.
Her soul-body felt like it was cracking apart everywhere.
‘She’s in pain.’
Mok Kyung-un didn’t know the exact reason.
But one thing was clear: after forcing down the skin, his stomach burned hot.
‘My gut…’
The heat felt like his organs were scorching.
It had been ages since he’d tasted poison—the pain was familiar, and the corner of his mouth curled wickedly.
And then—
*Crunch!*
Cheongryeong’s presence, writhing, suddenly appeared before him and seized his throat.
“Insolent mortal!”
*Drip drip!*
Light flickered in Mok Kyung-un’s eyes.
Tears of blood streamed from Cheongryeong’s furious gaze.
The sight was chilling, her resentment so profound it fit the term vengeful spirit perfectly.
“For one like you to dare!”
Cheongryeong’s presence strangled him with both hands.
As his breath constricted, Mok Kyung-un reflexively grabbed her wrists to pry her off.
*Clench!*
In that instant, a bizarre scene flashed in Mok Kyung-un’s mind.
An opulent hall drenched in blood, countless people brutally slain.
At the center, someone soaked in blood, sword plunged into the floor, panting heavily.
It was Cheongryeong’s presence.
[*Hah… hah…*]
She was a total wreck.
She could have died right then.
Turning her head, Cheongryeong’s presence looked toward the jade throne in the hall.
Someone sat there arrogantly.
His face was shadowed, but she glared at him with eyes of pure hatred.
[*……*]
Cheongryeong’s presence bellowed at the throne’s occupant, vomiting blood.
Yet strangely, no sound reached him.
In her rage, she gripped her sword hilt tightly.
Tearing her clothes, she wrapped her wrist hastily and launched herself at the figure on the throne.
*Thud!*
[*!!!!!!!*]
In a blink, the throne’s occupant had plunged a hand into her chest.
Then, he pulled something out.
It was none other than—
‘A heart?’
A still-beating heart.
How often does one get to see their own heart while alive?
And to watch it crushed by another?
*Crunch!*
With that—
[*Aaaaaaaaah! *]
A scream that tore at his eardrums.
Then the vision faded, revealing Cheongryeong’s presence—crown dislodged, hair disheveled, face shocked.
‘A woman…?’
With the crown and her sharp, intimidating aura, it hadn’t been clear before. Now, she unmistakably looked female.
But why was she reacting like this?
Puzzled, Mok Kyung-un noticed a red thread extending from his body, connecting to her.
‘This?’
And not just her—it linked to the Demon Monk too.
‘No way?’
He had a rough idea what it was, but Cheongryeong’s presence tore at her hair and wailed.
[*Aaaaaah! To think I’ve become a mere familiar!*]
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────