Chapter 26
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Monster Tale Specialist Office: Child of the Centipede (6)
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The three of them finished preparing to head into the mountains and went down to the underground parking lot.
“Been a while since I’ve driven.”
At Taeju’s words, Woli nodded.
“Yeah. We don’t often all go somewhere together like this.”
“Guess that means this is a big enough deal that we all have to go.”
Taeju said it with a serious expression.
“Our job’s never been easy, but this one’s going to be even tougher.”
“That’s what you always say.”
Woli shrugged once.
“But more importantly, didn’t this kid run around the mountains all night? Shouldn’t they get some rest?”
Woli tapped Taeju’s shoulder, looking worried about Hanseol. Hearing it from the side, Hanseol shook their head.
“I’ve got some muscle soreness, but I’m fine with this much.”
Hanseol smiled, saying something tougher than expected.
Taeju had been worried too, so he clicked his tongue at Hanseol’s response.
“At this rate, you might have better stamina than you, Woli.”
“No way, even if they lived in the mountains, they couldn’t have run around that much and be okay…”
But Woli still looked displeased, their worry not fading despite Hanseol’s confident words.
Taeju chuckled, amused that Woli was fretting over someone, then walked ahead of Hanseol and opened the back door of the car.
“Still, just in case, take it easy. Woli, you sit up front, so lie down and catch some sleep.”
“Yeah! Who knows what might happen later—rest now!”
At Taeju’s words, Woli’s expression softened as they chimed in. With them insisting like that, Hanseol couldn’t refuse and nodded.
“Th-then… excuse me.”
Once Woli confirmed Hanseol lying down in the back seat, they sat in the passenger seat with a satisfied look. Taeju got into the driver’s seat last and checked the estimated arrival time on the navigation.
“Three hours? Not too long, but it looks like the roads get pretty rough halfway.”
“Ugh, I hate bumpy rides.”
Woli grumbled softly at Taeju’s mutter and asked,
“So, what’d the giant centipede remind you of? You said you’d tell me in the car!”
Taeju glanced at the route to their destination and pressed the accelerator as he began the story. Their destination was a remote village in Chungcheong Province.
“Seeing that it lines up with where we’re headed makes me even more sure.”
“So if you’re so sure, spill it already! Don’t keep it to yourself like always.”
As Woli shouted loudly, Taeju hurriedly pressed a finger to his lips.
“Hey, shh! They’re sleeping in the back. We’ve got a long drive anyway, so I’ll tell you slowly, nice and slow.”
By now, steady breathing sounds came from the back, as if Hanseol had fallen asleep.
Woli checked on Hanseol and lowered their voice.
“Knew it. They had to be exhausted! I’ll be quiet, so hurry up and tell me!”
“Bossy much… What I’m thinking of is the story known as the Centipede Market. It’s also called the O-gong tale.”
Taeju figured that’d be enough for Woli to get it, but Woli tilted their head like they’d never heard of it.
“Huh? Centipede Market?”
“Yeah, it was even in our textbooks back in school. Different curriculum or something?”
He was a bit flustered, but it wasn’t a long story, perfect to explain on the way. It wasn’t complicated either, and they had plenty of time, so Taeju started leisurely.
“It’s a common human sacrifice folktale from old stories. So, to sum it up briefly…”
~
Long, long ago, in a certain village, there lived a poor young maiden.
The girl was widely known for her kind heart.
One day, a toad came into the girl’s kitchen. It was a small, young toad.
“Oh dear, this isn’t a place for you…”
The girl tried to shoo away the hungry-looking toad, but her resolve quickly softened.
“Alright. You’re struggling to survive too, huh.”
She shared her own food and took good care of the toad. It ate well and grew bigger with each passing day.
The village where the girl lived had a yearly custom of offering a maiden to the centipede. If they didn’t, the centipede would bring harm to the village.
This time, the girl was selected as the sacrifice and was to enter the shrine.
“Don’t cry. Someone has to do it.”
The girl said her final goodbyes to her family and tried to walk into the shrine on her own.
Just as she was about to enter alone, she noticed the toad persistently following her.
“Oh come on, it’s dangerous if you follow me…”
At first, she tried to leave it behind, but no matter how much she shooed it, the toad kept following.
Thinking the toad wanted to go with her, the girl entered the shrine together with it.
When the centipede appeared, the toad fought it to protect the girl.
The centipede spat red flames, and the toad spat blue flames in response.
The girl couldn’t withstand the heat and poison and collapsed.
The next day, the people who opened the shrine door were astonished. Inside was a massive centipede and a large toad.
“What in the world happened?”
Both the centipede and the toad were dead. The only survivor in the middle was the girl.
The girl returned home safely, and the village’s curse was lifted.
The people destroyed the shrine that honored the evil centipede and built a new one for the toad.
To remember this event, they renamed the market there the Centipede Market.
That’s why the market in that place is called the Centipede Market.
~
“The toad spat fire? No way! Toads are water types! Centipedes make sense, though!”
That was Woli’s first reaction after hearing the whole story.
Taeju shook his head slightly at Woli’s absurd comment.
“You haven’t played too much Pokémon, have you…?”
“Are you dissing Pokémon right now?! Pokémon’s based on real stuff, you know. There’s a lot to learn from it! Anyway, so we have to find the toad?”
Woli said it with perfect confidence in the ridiculousness. Taeju chuckled.
“Nah, nothing like that.”
“Nothing? I figured we’d start by looking for something like that. Normally.”
“Well, that toad was a spirit from the start, I think. Unless you’ve got one you’ve been raising, what’s the point of hunting for one now.”
At Taeju’s rebuke, Woli pouted. They’d come up with something for once, only to be shot down right away, so they felt a bit hurt.
“Oh, okay~? No toad, but there is a centipede, huh? Sounds dangerous! Hmph.”
“That’s why I’m counting on you this time. You’re the only one who can deal with that giant centipede if it shows up. For real.”
“Ehem, well, yeah. If it comes to a straight fight, I’m the only one who can handle it!”
Taeju hyped Woli up to cheer them, and their face brightened immediately. Then they suddenly scowled and lowered their voice.
“But… do I have to catch it barehanded?”
That seemed to be what Woli was really worried about.
Honestly, it was a valid concern. Woli hated even small bugs as gross, so a giant one would be unbearable to even look at.
“Dunno? If you don’t wanna touch it, we might need to grab a spear or something from somewhere. Think there’s any around?”
“Ugh—I don’t wanna touch it with my hands.”
Woli said that and fell into serious thought for a while.
Taeju had his own mental sorting to do, so he didn’t say more.
‘Offering sacrifices periodically would’ve required a lot of people.’
The village in the story clearly wasn’t small. A small village couldn’t sustain offering a maiden regularly. Taeju figured it was a large village or multiple small ones pooling sacrifices.
And if so, the centipede had to be something fearsome enough that even a group of villagers couldn’t defeat it.
‘Plus, we thought it was dead, but it’s been alive all this time. Just how strong is that centipede?’
“What’re you thinking about?”
“Oh, just organizing my thoughts.”
Taeju shared his speculations with Woli—about how powerful the centipede must have been, and how much stronger it might be now.
“That strong? Then it probably wouldn’t have lost to the toad either.”
“Who knows. I don’t get that part. Anyway, we can’t take that centipede lightly.”
Woli grimaced at Taeju’s words.
“It’s still just a bug. The only weird thing is that it eats people.”
“Yeah, if you say so.”
When it came to raw power, Woli outclassed Taeju. If they were confident they could win, Taeju didn’t argue. Better to have that self-assurance.
“And one more thing—this story’s got another oddity. The ending feels rushed.”
“Huh? It has a clear ending. They all lived happily ever after, right?”
“Sure, but think about the Tale of Shim Cheong. She becomes queen, throws a feast to find her dad, and he regains his sight too. That story has a proper wrap-up. But this folktale’s ending isn’t fixed. Depending on the version, it varies, and the most polished one is just something like ‘She married a nobleman and lived happily ever after.’”
“Aren’t all old tales like that? ‘And they all lived happily ever after~ The end!’”
At Woli’s words, Taeju gripped the steering wheel tighter with his fingers.
“Most are, yeah. But this one’s weirder. The centipede and toad dying is the end. What comes after has no consistency, no matter how many sources you check. Feels like it was slapped together, that’s my take.”
Stories varying by region happened often, but this one’s ending was unclear.
The only solid common points were the centipede dying, the shrine being destroyed, and a new monument for the toad being built.
“Really? I don’t see it. Wait, no. Either way, the centipede’s gone, right? So why’s that kid being chased by one?”
“Dunno. That’s the tricky part of this case. No clue on the reason. But it’s not a new centipede popping up. There hasn’t been some huge centipede story trend lately that we missed.”
For something as massive as the one Hanseol described to spawn anew, it’d need to be a nationwide sensation. No such story had blown up recently, so that possibility was slim.
In the end, it had to be the original centipede from the tale.
So the key now was why this centipede, quiet for ages, had suddenly reappeared.