Chapter 103
Translator: uly
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Lycanthrope (6)
The magpie continued to scrutinize Shrecken intently before speaking to Dong-su.
"The Lycans are still too numerous. Wait."
There were only four animal ghosts he could summon nearby, and even they seemed insufficient to guard the funeral home once Dong-su left.
With the wolves potentially turning back for a surprise attack, it looked difficult to go help Shrecken.
The four cat spirits were tangled with the wolves, slightly on the defensive.
Dong-su punched away a wolf that had leaped past the cat spirits and said,
"Good! For now, let's hold this line and keep the bastards from breaking through."
He couldn't just leave this place entirely to Shrecken and go search for Seol-mi—not with Na-rae and Mi-seon weighing on his mind.
Shrecken was holding his own against the wolves, but the ones attacking him in rotation were no pushovers.
Regeneration was a ability the Lycans possessed as well.
The wolf struck by Shrecken would retreat, allowing another to take its place and buy recovery time.
"No helping it."
Dong-su stepped forward, deciding that despite his own weak physical strength, helping Shrecken clear out these wolves took priority.
"No! Leave it to the animal ghosts and fall back! Your physical power is too low—you can't handle that many Lycans!"
Dong-su's expression remained resolute despite the magpie's shout.
"No time."
At that moment, a taxi with its headlights blazing roared down the narrow road leading into the Gangnam hospital funeral home.
Three wolves bared their hostility and lunged at the sudden arrival.
The taxi's rear doors flew open as Yi-hwa, dressed elegantly in hanbok, and Byung-su, with an imugi forepaw attached to his left arm, leaped out.
Yi-hwa pulled out her silver hairpin, which had her hair twisted up atop her head, with her right hand.
Her long, beautiful hair cascaded down as the hairpin in her grip transformed into a sword—even before her feet touched the ground, it shimmered with silver light.
Yi-hwa's blade lightly severed the head of a wolf charging toward the taxi.
The wolf, its throat cut by the silver sword, collapsed spewing blood without even a scream.
Using the spring of her knees, Yi-hwa vaulted onto the taxi's hood and sliced through the heads of the wolves blocking the front in rapid succession.
"Reporter Kim, you alright?"
Yi-hwa, who looked no older than her early twenties, spoke casually to Byung-su.
Still perched on the speeding taxi's hood, she swung her sword to thin out the wolves.
"Lady Yi-hwa, I'm managing."
Byung-su, who had jumped from the taxi, slammed the imugi forepaw into the asphalt to propel himself up as he replied.
It was an odd pairing.
Dong-su and the magpie exchanged glances and tilted their heads.
Yi-hwa stood on the speeding taxi's hood, one knee bent and her upper body low as she wielded her sword.
The wolves pursued the taxi, leaping toward her.
Sasasak—
With the whisper of hanbok silk and a flurry of silver sword light, blood droplets danced in the wake of her blade.
"You wretched beasts! Don't come one by one—charge all at once! I'll send you all to the grave together!"
Yi-hwa's lovely voice rang out into the night sky.
Drawn by her taunt like moths to a black hole, the wolves chased the taxi.
"Should we just keep circling like this?"
Taxi driver Mr. Kim asked Byung-su, who was running alongside.
Byung-su bashed away a lunging wolf, glanced left and right, and replied,
"Yeah, sure. Lady Yi-hwa said to keep circling, so just drive until she says otherwise."
Mr. Kim nodded at Byung-su's answer and asked back,
"By the way, sir, is that Lady Yi-hwa a fairy?"
Yi-hwa's silhouette visible through the taxi's front windshield looked every bit the celestial nymph.
Byung-su kept swatting away wolves lunging from both sides and replied while diligently circling with the taxi.
"Ha! Out of breath. No, she's a ghost. A virgin ghost."
Byung-su ran alongside the speeding taxi, his red tie flapping, and swung his left arm at a wolf leaping onto the side.
The wolf nimbly dodged his left arm, which then slammed into the asphalt, unable to check its momentum.
Pababak.
Flames erupted on the asphalt, chasing down the wolf and engulfing it.
His proficiency with the imugi forepaw seemed to have improved.
"Then... are you a ghost too, sir?"
Mr. Kim, weaving the taxi through the wolves, cautiously asked Byung-su.
With the grotesque imugi forepaw attached to his left arm, Byung-su resembled a yokai from an illustration.
"No. I'm a reporter. It's just this weird thing on my arm—I'm human. Subscribe to our paper, hit like! Huff huff."
A wolf engulfed in the flames from the imugi forepaw lunged at Byung-su.
Byung-su, providing cover while matching the taxi's speed, extended his left hand and seized the wolf's throat without slowing.
His left arm, fitted with the imugi leg, conjured ghostly flames as it gripped and hurled the wolf away.
The wolf with its neck snapped streaked through the air like a fireworks sparkler.
"You stay here on the taxi and hold the line against the wolves. I need to check on that strange fellow."
Yi-hwa turned her head and said to Byung-su.
Apparently, leaving Kim inside the taxi unattended was a concern if she went to aid Shrecken.
"Understood. I'll guard this place, so hurry on, Lady Yi-hwa."
Byung-su also sensed the urgent aura emanating from the bizarre man and the car he protected.
'It's similar to the energy from that sword... How odd.'
He hadn't imagined Da-hee's stolen sword would be here.
Yi-hwa lightly leaped from the speeding taxi's hood.
The wolves chasing the taxi veered to pursue her.
Byung-su took her place, vaulting onto the hood.
Kwang!
The hood let out a roar as he landed.
It was quite dented.
Byung-su stood tall on the hood but, unlike Yi-hwa, couldn't keep his balance and fell back onto his butt.
Chacha-chang!
His back shattered the front windshield as he finally settled into a seated position on the hood.
With a pack of wolves in pursuit, Yi-hwa glided across the asphalt toward Shrecken like a skater.
Wolves blocking her path or lunging from the sides collapsed, spraying blood into the night sky.
"You mongrels! Eat this!"
Seated awkwardly on the hood, Byung-su slammed his fist into the asphalt on the taxi's left side.
Chwa-chang.
With a grinding of metal on pavement, a massive wave of flames surged toward the wolves chasing Yi-hwa.
"What are you? You alright?"
Yi-hwa landed lightly on the roof of the sedan carrying Mi-seon, as if descending on the wind, and asked.
With Yi-hwa's arrival, the wolves attacking Shrecken split their attention.
"I'm fine, but it hurts like hell. Who are you? Those aren't ordinary wolves—be careful."
Shrecken yanked off a wolf that had been tearing into his side and warned her.
Not knowing her identity but figuring she wasn't with the Lycans, he cautioned her anyway.
A chunk of his flesh was in the wolf's jaws.
Yi-hwa grimaced at his ragged state and swung her silver-shimmering sword.
The wolf clutched in Shrecken's grip went limp under her blade.
A pack of wolves broke through Byung-su's flames and charged at Yi-hwa.
"Whoa! What are those? Lady, stay behind me!"
Thanks to Yi-hwa, Shrecken no longer needed to protect Mi-seon's car, so he charged at the flaming wolves.
Pababak.
Wolves flew into the sky from Shrecken's bodily assault.
"Hey, fighting like that won't thin their numbers. Send those wolves my way nicely."
Yi-hwa calmly addressed Shrecken, who was relying purely on brute force—a pity to watch.
Even as she spoke to him, she precisely cleaved the wolf lunging at her.
Having cleared the wolves around the sedan, Yi-hwa glanced at Shrecken, still wrestling the burning pack.
With their regenerative abilities, it looked like it would drag on.
Wolf pride was truly laughable.
Yi-hwa shook her head and stepped down to the asphalt.
Peering through the car window, she saw Mi-seon trembling while clutching a small knife tightly.
It was a familiar blade.
Feeling pity, Yi-hwa soothed her gently.
"Little one, you alright? You can come out now."
"Waaah, fairy sister, thank you! Waaah."
Mi-seon sobbed, calling Yi-hwa—who looked much younger—"sister."
Yi-hwa gazed at her with compassion and offered a smile.
* * *
Dong-su and the magpie took no particular action during the wolf fight.
Dong-su was too busy admiring the newcomers' exploits to join in, while the chattering magpie fell silent after Yi-hwa appeared.
Once the wolves were cleared, Byung-su stopped the taxi and got out.
Thud thud.
Approaching Dong-su, Byung-su asked,
"Dong-su, we meet again. So Emel did attack Seol-mi's vigil."
Yi-hwa also approached Dong-su with Mi-seon in tow.
Shrecken was still locked in combat with the burning wolf pack.
Given the Lycans' regeneration, it would take time, but that pack seemed destined for Shrecken to handle.
"Aim, long time no see. That Mia-ri granny you like so much is doing well. But you still listening to villains' woes these days?"
Yi-hwa spoke calmly to the magpie.
Her tone carried no emotion.
The magpie seemed to know her too.
"Virgin ghost, long time. I'm stuck possessing this magpie body because of you. I'll chew you out someday!"
Dong-su was a bit surprised the magpie knew Yi-hwa, but his mind was urgent with worry for Seol-mi.
"Magpie, enough. Let's go. This place is handled—guide me to hell."
The magpie pointed at Mi-seon with a wing in response.
"Bring me that knife!"
As Mi-seon stepped forward, Yi-hwa raised a hand to stop her.
"We can't give you this knife. Its nature is unknown, but it's extremely dangerous."
Her words held concern for Dong-su and the magpie.
Perhaps sensing that, Dong-su nodded in agreement.
"If you like that knife, take it. We're busy—gotta go."
The magpie angrily pecked Dong-su's head with its beak.
"You idiot! Without that knife, rescuing your wife from hell will be tough! It's a blade made from the tip of Longinus's spear infused with Beelzebub's energy and an ancient tooth from Behemoth! Offer it to Beelzebub, and he'll release your wife. Idiot!"
Apparently, not only Emel and researcher Sang-in, but the magpie also knew the knife's true nature.
It must have sensed something from the aura it emitted when drawn.
Byung-su stepped in front of Dong-su at the magpie's words.
"Parrot, what did you say?"
The scales on his left arm, made from the imugi forepaw, glinted under the streetlight.
Yi-hwa smiled and restrained Byung-su.
"Aim, seems you know a bit about this knife. Perfect. Police will swarm here soon—let's move somewhere quiet and talk."
Dong-su was annoyed by Byung-su blocking his path.
He had no need for the knife itself, but if it was key to saving Seol-mi, that changed things.
"Reporter, move that lizard arm out of my sight, or I'll rip it off."
Things were getting noisy again.
Na-rae rushed in to mediate.
"Dong-su! Let's relocate first and talk it out. If that knife is needed to save Seol-mi, I'll plead your case with Lady Yi-hwa."
The tension eased a bit at her words.
"For now, let's head to Baekho's place and discuss. Everyone, get in the cars!"
As Yi-hwa finished speaking and turned to call Shrecken, he was still battling the wolf pack.
Yi-hwa clicked her tongue once and leaped into their midst.
Even with a chance to snatch the knife from Mi-seon and flee while Yi-hwa was away, Dong-su didn't move.
He'd decided to follow for now.
"Il-han, guard Seol-mi's vigil while I'm gone! Don't let the procession leave either."
Na-rae, worried about Dong-su, planned to tag along too.
With no chief mourner present, the morning procession was obviously delayed.