The Defection of the Heavenly Spider
A large café on the first floor near Gangnam Station.
Closing time was drawing near, so the place wasn’t very crowded.
The bell above the door tinkled as I stepped inside. Detective Nam Gyuho, seated in a corner, shot to his feet.
His face was deathly pale.
“You’ve arrived, Mr. Suho.”
Just as I’d expected.
The vengeful spirit coiled around Detective Nam Gyuho’s entire body was a special-class entity shaped like a centipede, created through Gu Poison. Someone had sent it as a killing curse out of pure malice.
To send a special-class spirit as a killing curse…
Detective Nam Gyuho staggered the moment he stood. The fact that he could remain conscious and force himself upright after receiving a special-class killing curse spoke volumes about his mental resilience.
“I’m suddenly… feeling ill… I think I should go to the hospital…”
Excuse me, but that’s not a cold.
In my spiritual eyes, the centipede was perfectly visible, jaws clamped around the detective’s neck as it greedily drained his vital energy. It would soon consume his origin energy as well and send him into fatal shock.
There was no longer any reason to hide the truth. I needed to learn the cause.
Why would anyone unleash such a powerful killing curse on Detective Nam Gyuho?
“Shamans capable of launching killing curses through vengeful spirits at the special-class level are called Grand Masters by the Daoist sects.”
“…Pardon?”
“The special-class spirit currently biting your neck is the Heavenly Centipede, a creature forged through Gu Poison. A centipede.”
I lightly rubbed Detective Nam Gyuho’s right eye with my palm. His ghost gate was already open; I simply channeled a trace of spiritual power into it so he could see.
“Hiek! What the hell is this?? A centipede!!!”
“Do you happen to know a Wudang Sect shaman named Zhang Chen?”
“P-please, save me…”
Detective Nam Gyuho began begging, his voice thick with terror. No one could stay calm while watching a giant centipede swallow their life force in greedy gulps.
“Dispelling a special-class vengeful spirit isn’t easy, even for me.”
A lie. Any ghost that so much as brushed against me was finished in one strike.
“Om hum mani dabara, om mani guru.”
Another lie. I didn’t know the first thing about true Buddhist incantations carrying Buddha nature.
Tadadattattadat!
I wove my fingers through an intricate series of dazzling hand seals. Copying a scene from an anime had produced a surprisingly convincing shaman cosplay.
“Withdraw from Detective Nam Gyuho at once!”
I thrust my sealed hand forward until it touched the giant centipede’s body. Then I softly commanded in my mind: extinction.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Fissures raced across the massive centipede. The special-class vengeful spirit born of Gu Poison—the Heavenly Centipede—couldn’t even scream before it was annihilated in an instant.
That was when it happened.
“Cough, cough, cough!!”
The man who collapsed, vomiting blood, wasn’t Detective Nam Gyuho. It was the stranger who had been sitting near the café door, watching us the entire time.
“So you’re Zhang Chen!”
I shouted without thinking. I had never imagined the shaman who cast the curse would be lurking so close.
The man was in ruins. He spewed a bowlful of black blood and crumpled to the floor. The full backlash from his special-class spirit’s destruction had slammed into his body.
Blood vessels had burst in his eyes. His meridians flowed in reverse, painting bluish veins across his skin.
He was the one who had sent the White Spirit Ghost curse after Minah. He was the one wielding the Half-Human Half-Shikigami technique.
Zhang Chen.
The recoil from a shattered special-class killing curse would shake one’s spiritual power and throw their vital energy into chaos. That was precisely why shamans hid in safe locations before launching such curses.
“Hoo?”
An involuntary sound of admiration slipped out.
Zhang Chen was already overcoming the backlash at frightening speed.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He pressed his own acupoints, forcibly trying to redirect the reversed spiritual energy.
If he recovers, things will get dangerous for me.
If Zhang Chen regained his strength, both Detective Nam Gyuho and I would be in trouble. I was a one-punch man against ghosts, but against living humans I was still flesh and blood.
A glance at Detective Nam showed he had already fainted from total exhaustion of his vital energy. Zhang Chen, meanwhile, was recovering rapidly.
If I showed any weakness here, I wouldn’t be the only one at risk.
“Tsk…”
I did exactly what Detective Nam had done earlier—I bit down on the straw of my iced Americano and chewed it vigorously. Both hands shoved into my pockets, I walked slowly toward the fallen Zhang Chen.
He looked exactly as the White Spirit Ghost had described: handsome, yet with small, sharply slanted eyes.
This had become a battle of presence.
Zhang Chen was rapidly restoring his spiritual power, but his eyes flew wide as he watched me approach. I flashed him a wide grin.
“Zhang Chen. I received your gift quite well. A Half-Human Half-Shikigami and a White Spirit Ghost… Such a precious present. I’m making excellent use of it. Thank you.”
Cough.
Zhang Chen vomited another bowl of black blood.
“H-how did you…”
“Why wouldn’t I know?”
I deliberately displayed a portion of my spiritual power, letting it radiate outward. After all, I had far more than I knew what to do with.
The reason for that abundance was something I preferred not to dwell on.
“!!!”
Hope vanished from Zhang Chen’s eyes in an instant. The sheer volume of my spiritual power had already surpassed the Absolute Class and entered the realm of the Underworld Class.
“I’ll raise the White Spirit Ghost with care as a disaster-class evil spirit and use it as my shikigami. As for any requests connected to me, keep your hands off. I’m only feeling this generous today.”
Zhang Chen’s pupils trembled violently. After witnessing me annihilate the Heavenly Centipede, he had already lost all will to fight.
“S-senior… Why… are you sparing this one?”
He had misunderstood, exactly as I anticipated. I was only watching because I had no convenient way to kill him, but I wasn’t about to waste this golden opportunity.
“As expected, you have keen eyes. I heard a Grand Master had finally appeared in the Wudang Sect… Your talent is truly exceptional. To kill a man like you would make it impossible for me to face my Wudang ancestor, Zhang Sanfeng, with any honor.”
I spoke in a calm, deliberately slow tone. Even while chewing on the straw, my gaze remained razor-sharp. When I flared my spiritual eyes, Zhang Chen lowered his head, unable to withstand the pressure.
“This junior will never forget the grace Senior has shown… as merciful as a senior’s favor.”
I welcomed the misunderstanding. He clearly believed I was some half-immortal expert. Annihilating a special-class vengeful spirit in a single strike was not a common sight.
Yet something strange caught my attention.
An alien presence perched atop Zhang Chen’s head. A special-class vengeful spirit was glaring at him as though it wanted to kill him. It, too, was a spirit born of Gu Poison—the Heavenly Spider.
A Heavenly Centipede and now a Heavenly Spider… A shaman who practiced Gu Poison had placed a curse directly on his own body? The pieces refused to fit.
“But, you brat. That Heavenly Spider riding on your head doesn’t appear to belong to you. How is it that a Grand Master of the Wudang Sect has fallen captive to the Miao tribe’s Gu Poison? Is this the Triads’ doing?”
The information that the Wudang Sect operated under the Triads had come from the White Spirit Ghost.
The moment I finished speaking, he slammed his forehead against the floor.
“If Senior would take pity on this junior and dispel the Gu Poison… this one will never forget the grace.”
I had assumed Zhang Chen cooperated with the Triads, but it seemed he was being controlled against his will.
“The Half-Human Half-Shikigami technique was also taught to you by a Miao shaman of the Triads who uses Gu Poison.”
“Yes…”
It was the exact moment I moved to flick the Heavenly Spider from Zhang Chen’s head and erase it.
The Heavenly Spider had seen straight through the source of my power. An interesting creature.
It transformed into a small spider and leaped from Zhang Chen’s head onto the floor.
“Huk…”
Zhang Chen’s eyes flew wide. The Gu Poison that had bound him mentally had been dispelled with ridiculous ease.
“The grace Senior has shown this unworthy one…”
Zhang Chen began kowtowing in earnest, slamming his forehead against the floor.
“Thank you… Thank you…”
At that moment, the wail of police sirens rose in the distance. Patrol cars had been dispatched.
“Get moving. It’ll be troublesome if you’re caught. I may be friendly with the police, but I hold no real power.”
“The Wudang Sect never forgets a grudge for three generations, nor a favor for seven.”
“Yeah, I heard you. Now hurry up and go.”
I raised my hand and flicked the back of it twice. That was enough.
After Zhang Chen disappeared, I slowly lowered myself into a chair. He wasn’t someone ordinary police could handle. It would take four special-class shamans working together to even stand a chance.
I had witnessed the power of special-class and Thousand Shudders shamans before—flames that blanketed the sky, blood-red needles that claimed hundreds of lives. Recalling those scenes from the Underworld sent a chill racing down my spine.
“Aish… Fuck. How the hell did I get out of there… Tsk.”
I set the Heavenly Spider that had emerged from Zhang Chen’s head onto the back of my hand and grinned while staring into its eight eyes. Having watched another special-class spirit vanish instantly, the creature had become remarkably obedient.
A special-class vengeful spirit refined through Gu Poison. Because it was special-class, it could materialize and maintain the form of a small spider.
Heh heh. So you were capable of choosing your own master? If someone stronger appears, you’ll switch sides, won’t you?
Of course, Master.
Oh? Look at this one.
The longer one lived in society, the rarer it became to find someone whose outer and inner selves matched. It meant the creature had no tendency to deceive.
A smile crept across my lips before I could stop it.
Would someone stronger than me even need a creature like you?
It is honestly a great mystery to me why Master would need someone like me.
A truly refreshing answer.
What is your name?
Its eight eyes sparkled. Seemingly embarrassed, it began diligently polishing its fangs with its front legs—careful, sincere strokes.
I waited, but no answer came.
I asked for your name.
Please bestow one upon me, Master.
Looking at the fluffy, bashful spider, I realized for the first time that spiders could be cute. Its front legs especially resembled the pom-poms cheerleaders waved.
Since you’re incredibly cute, let’s call you Mongsil.
Thank you, Master.
It bowed its head deeply, then shook its fluffy fur and danced with joy, waving its pom-pom legs.
No, why is this little bastard so adorable?
It hopped lightly and slipped into my thick hair.
Master, please don’t scratch. It tickles.
Ah. I never even asked what your abilities are.
Does Master have need of this humble one’s power? How disappointing.
After all, there is a difference between a knife used to kill dogs and one used to kill chickens.
Understood. I can withstand the combined assault of ten special-class shamans and five special-class vengeful spirits.
Wasn’t it a special-class spirit? Could it actually be spirit-class?
A Gu capable of freely changing its master. I had known it was at least special-class, but learning it was spirit-class was genuinely encouraging. It meant the creature could wield physical force without restriction.
You were a spirit-class vengeful spirit?
Yes.
Can you block bullets too?
Of course.
I almost asked Mongsil where it had learned to speak like that, but stopped myself.
When refining Gu, the sacrifices were not limited to poisonous creatures. Human lives were required—most of them young children.
“Sigh…”
The being that had been created held no sin. Those damn Miao bastards.
Bullets, blades, any attacks that use gunpowder—those are annoying, so block them for me.
Yes.
If anyone tries to kill me, block them too.
Yes.
If anyone is spying on me, let me know.
Yes.
If there’s poison in my food, tell me.
Yes.
You were just thinking that this person wants to live far too comfortably, weren’t you?
Yes.
“Are you all right?! We received a report of a patient vomiting blood here!”
The person who arrived before the police was a 119 paramedic. Firefighters truly were the best.
“I’m fine. But that man over there needs help.”
I pointed at the unconscious Detective Nam Gyuho. He had been drained of a great deal of vital energy by the centipede and required immediate stabilization.
“It’s fainting caused by severe malnutrition. Please administer plenty of nutrient drips.”
“Huh?? Ah. Yes, understood.”
The paramedic loaded Detective Nam Gyuho onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.
“By any chance… is all that blood from the patient?”
Zhang Chen’s blood was splattered horrifically across the floor.
“No. Some crazy drunk must have vomited that.”
I had no desire to explain the current situation. Avoiding the chaotic crowd, I stepped outside.
On the slow walk home, my thoughts grew even more tangled.
Zhang Chen had clearly come to turn me into a Half-Human Half-Shikigami. He must have received information that Minah and I were sharing a bed and that my vitality was being drained with enthusiasm.
Yet the first target he had aimed for was Detective Nam Gyuho—and with a special-class vengeful spirit, no less.
What I couldn’t understand was that shamans normally avoided staying near the target of their curses. I had never seen or heard of anyone with the perverse hobby of watching their own killing curse from mere steps away.
Perhaps he had come to find the one who had blocked the first-class vengeful spirit. Learning that person was me must have left him utterly confused.
But why had a spirit-class Gu Poison been cast upon Zhang Chen?
There were far more than one or two questions swirling in my head.
“Zhang Chen targeted Detective Nam the moment he arrived in Korea… Why?”
I muttered to myself, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.
Then an unexpected answer echoed inside my mind.
Mongsil had given me a clear answer to my question.
“Ah. So you’ve been watching every move Zhang Chen made?”
I’ll tell you everything you wish to know about Zhang Chen.
The little spider bastard suddenly started acting smug. Yet somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to dislike the bouncy little creature.
