Chapter 64: Spiderweb (5) (Illustration Included)

Translator: bjgoofy

The old man, having entrusted Yohwa to me, began bidding farewell to her.

The old man gently patted the spider’s head with his trembling hand and said,

“Yohwa, please follow this young master. Your father is now old and can no longer care for you. Do you understand? Cough! Cough! If you cannot overcome your hunger and end up sucking others' yang energy, people might try to harm you. Please follow this gentleman and live a long, long life.”

As he finished speaking, tears welled up in the old man's eyes and trickled down. Strangely, even the antenna-leg of Yohwa, who had taken the form of Namgoong Seol, also shed a tear that dripped onto the ground.

The fact that real tears could fall from mimicked eyes was astonishing, but even more surprising was that she could express the emotion of sadness.

Seeing this, I could tell just how sincerely the old man had raised the spider named Yohwa.

The ability of a pet to understand human words and emotions and respond to them indicates that deep rapport had been established during the rearing process.

Being intelligent, understanding human speech, and reacting to the owner's emotions correlate with how much time they spent together.

‘At that level, he must have practically lived with her as if she were his daughter.’

Looking at this scene, I felt a slight desire rising.

With such traits, he was indeed a rare talent in this area.

Since the old man was experienced, I wondered if he could help with raising Yohwa, so I asked in a cautious tone.

“Old man, would you consider coming with us to Sichuan? Rather than parting ways, how about coming along with us?”

Though he was old, if he had raised Yohwa for twenty years, he must have a lot to teach.

As I asked cautiously, the old man smiled through his teary face and answered.

“Young master, your words are very kind. But I am no longer of an age to endure such a long journey. Also, my family’s graves are here. How could I possibly leave this place? Cough!”

Indeed, he appeared to be quite ill, and his age made long boat travel difficult.

Moreover, with his family’s graves here, it was only natural that he would want to be buried nearby.

So, nodding with regret, I decided to ask something I was curious about.

“Then, could you perhaps share the experience you've gained raising Yohwa? She's the first spider of this kind I’ve seen.”

The old man wiped his tears and nodded at my question.

With a happy expression, the old man replied.

“Ask me anything, and I will answer with all I know.”

Since I could acquire the know-how of rearing directly from someone with experience, his words were practically a bible.

So I decided to first ask what I was most curious about.

“Ahem. What I’m most curious about is, well... how exactly do you give her yang energy...?”

Nothing is more important than food, so naturally my biggest question was how to handle this creature’s meals.

Since it needed yang energy, how to provide this had been my constant curiosity, so I asked the old man about this first.

Then came his absurd answer.

“You just let her suck it.”

"S-suck it!?"

Surprised at his abrupt reply that she should just be allowed to suck, I looked shocked, and the old man raised his own finger and said,

“Yes, just like this, let her suck your finger. Or let her lick your palm, or in any case, let her lick your body. That’s the best. Also even sleeping together transfers yang energy.

But why are you so surprised? Are you not ready to touch her yet?”

‘Ah, r-right. Of course, he meant the f-finger. I overreacted for nothing.’

Realizing that of course the old man meant the finger, I wondered why I’d been startled and responded to his question.

“No, it’s fine. I can touch her.”

So I approached the old man, squatted beside him, and stroked the spider’s real head. The old man looked pleased.

“As I thought. My eyes weren’t wrong.”

“Then, which mouth is it? Is it the real mouth?”

And when I asked whether I needed to insert my finger into the spider’s real mouth, the old man inserted his own finger into the mouth of the pedipalp, meaning the antenna-leg that had taken the form of Namgoong Seol, and said,

“No, not at all. The real mouth is used occasionally to paralyze things, but yang energy is absorbed through this part.”

Indeed, the pedipalp is an organ used for both hunting and mating.

It was understandable that it might be used to absorb energies like yang energy.

“Have a look. Like this, once you insert your finger into its mouth, the person who has their yang energy absorbed will cause it to transform into the image of the person they consider the most beautiful.”

As the old man said this, the pedipalp, which had taken the form of Namgoong Seol, began to transform starting from the crown of the head, as though a ripple were spreading.

-Srrrk.

The transformed appearance was that of a woman in her thirties from the countryside.

She could not exactly be called a beauty, but most likely, that face belonged to the person the old man loved most dearly.

As I looked at the old man with that thought in mind, he nodded and said,

“Yes, that is... my wife who already passed away. Cough! Cough! Cough!”

Now that I thought about it, the old man was both elderly and unwell, and he had just transferred his yang energy to Yohwa.

The old man suddenly started coughing as if he might breathe his last breath.

“Are you alright!?”

Beads of cold sweat were gathering on the old man’s forehead.

Startled, I asked with a worried expression, and the old man gave a bitter smile and nodded.

“Yes, I’ve longed to see that face again before dying, and I’m fortunate to have seen it. You need not worry. I only gave her a little. Would you like to try? Hack!”

At the old man’s suggestion, I inserted my finger into the mouth of the pedipalp that had taken the form of the countryside woman.

It felt as if my energy was draining away, like after sprinting with all my strength, and then, starting from the crown of the head, her form began to change.

-Srrrk.

But something strange happened.

The transformation wasn’t into a person, but rather into a red mannequin-like figure with no face.

Startled, the old man widened his eyes.

“This is!?”

His gaze toward me was wide-eyed in shock, clearly astonished.

In the spider’s real eyes, reflections of the shocked old man and myself were visible.

“How could this be?”

He had said she would change into the appearance of the one the person considered most beautiful, but rather than a transformation, it felt more like the mimicry had been undone.

A flustered voice escaped the old man’s mouth.

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this. This is definitely the form Yohwa showed only once, before she ever took a human form…”

Seeing the spider’s true form was certainly meaningful, but I could feel the heated stares of the Venomous Creature Squad warriors on the back of my head.

This felt like real trouble.

The warriors of the Namgoong Family and the villagers around Mount Huang all worshipped the beauty of Namgoong Seol.

The reason Yohwa had been able to maintain Namgoong Seol’s form all this time was because the majority of the village recognized her as the greatest beauty in the area.

That’s why she could keep that form consistently.

Just like that, our Tang Family warriors were most likely thinking of Nunim as the most beautiful.

Recalling what Gu Pae had said back on Haenam Island, it was clear that the warriors of our Tang Family worshipped Nunim’s beauty.

The pride of the Tang Family, Tang Hwa-eun, the most beautiful woman in the Central Plains.

But then Yohwa, after sucking my yang energy, her supposed match, did not transform into Nunim?

That would be seen as betrayal, no different from treason.

When she sucked my energy, Yohwa had to transform into Nunim’s form. Absolutely!

And what would happen when Nunim found out about this?

Having begged for the opportunity, if a different form emerged or if Nunim’s form didn’t appear at all, it would become a truly serious issue.

“Ah, perhaps the body was paralyzed, and the transformation couldn’t complete properly!”

“Ah, that could be the case. Cough!”

After I managed to bluff my way out of the situation and narrowly avoid disaster, I asked the old man a few more questions I was curious about, then asked Gu Pae to escort him back home.

And immediately, I dashed off toward Nunim.

No matter how I thought about it, the reason Yohwa hadn’t transformed into Nunim’s form had to be because I hadn’t personally experienced Nunim, at least that’s what I believed.

‘Come on, no matter how much I like venomous creatures, would I really like them more than Nunim? There’s definitely another reason.’

I felt like something more intimate, something that could firmly imprint Nunim in my mind, was necessary, rather than just admiring her from afar.

That’s why I asked the Namgoong Family’s servants and made my way to the inner courtyard of the Namgoong family, the very place where I had once met Namgoong Seol.

There, Nunim was conversing with Namgoong Seol in the same pavilion, and I grabbed Nunim’s wrist and said,

“Young Miss, I have something urgent to discuss. Please, just for a moment.”

“So- Soryong, w-what’s going on?”

“Oh my!”

Both women blushed at my bold behavior.

Nunim looked startled but did not reject me.

Feigning reluctance, she let me hold her wrist, and I led her into a quiet patch of grass behind the inner part of the Namgoong residence.

Once I checked our surroundings and stopped walking, Nunim asked nervously,

“Soryong, w-why are you doing this?”

Lowering my voice, I replied,

“I hope you won’t misunderstand me. Actually... maybe misunderstanding wouldn’t be so bad.”

“What?”

Yes, at this point, maybe a misunderstanding would actually help.

“Young Miss, this may be sudden, but... may I hold you?”

“W-What!?”

Nunim was startled at my request to hold her.

But this was an emergency.

If Yohwa didn’t transform into Nunim, it would be bad for both me and her.

As I gazed at Nunim, she fidgeted with her fingers, her face bright red.

And then she said in a voice as small as an ant’s,

“Ah… so you figured it out…”

When I simply asked for a hug, Nunim somehow thought I’d uncovered something.

I blinked in confusion at her words, and then Nunim hurriedly explained, saying it was all a misunderstanding.

“I-I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t say anything. I’ve only read about it in books, so I couldn’t be certain. That’s why I was going to return to the family and confirm it with my grandfather or father…”

‘What is she talking about?’

I didn’t get it, but Nunim seemed to interpret my gaze differently. She closed her eyes tightly and nodded.

“Yes, you’re right. The name of that spider is Human-Faced Spider... it’s one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures.”

‘Wait! I’ve been entrusted with one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures!?’

I’d thought it wasn’t an ordinary spider, but I hadn’t expected it to be one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures.

Usually a cool-headed woman, Nunim now dug her toes into the ground and awkwardly added,

“I… I never meant to deceive you, Soryong. I-it’s just, I’ve never heard of it being able to change bodies like that either. I thought it would be best to make sure first…”

I’d been wondering why Nunim was so embarrassed, but thinking back, our agreement had been that if I captured one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures, she would become my woman.

Now that it happened sooner than expected, she must have been flustered.

Still, a deal is a deal.

Saying nothing, I just looked at Nunim. Then, keeping her eyes shut, she spread her arms and nodded.

Was this her way of rewarding me?

After that brief moment to firmly imprint Nunim into my mind, I repeated in my head a million times that I found her the most beautiful in the world, and made my way to the Training Grounds.

Just before the warmth of Nunim’s body faded, I placed my finger into Yohwa’s mouth again.

Slowly, she began to transform into Nunim’s appearance.

‘It worked!’

And finally, the Venomous Creature Squad of the Tang Family looked at me once again with eyes of admiration and respect.

‘There really isn’t a single easy thing in this world.’

***

***

The Human-Faced Spider Yohwa recovered in about two days.

“I’ll let you out tomorrow, so stay quiet for just one more day.”

-Kishii!

Upon Yohwa waking, I discovered something new, Yohwa was a much more obedient child than expected.

At first, it had seemed like she couldn’t resist hunger without yang energy, but once she was fed, she became calm and obedient.

Spiders aren’t exactly known for being active creatures to begin with, so Yohwa spent most of her time quietly, almost like she was asleep.

When we tried to take her out of the cage after leaving the Namgoong Family, she broke out of it on her own, which proved she wasn’t weak or timid in any way.

And so, on the day we left the Namgoong Family,

Unpleasant news awaited Yohwa.

When we went to the old man’s house to say a final goodbye, we found that he had already returned to his family, his eternal rest.

-Kishii...

Yohwa wept for a long time, clinging to the old man’s body.

Instead of a burial robe, the old man was wrapped in Yohwa’s own silk, and we buried him beside the family grave that Yohwa guided us to.

“Old man, may you rest in eternal peace. I will take good care of Yohwa for the rest of my life. Yohwa, won’t you come with me as your father wished?”

-Kishit!

After conducting a simple funeral for the old man,

We quickly made our way to Anqing, the nearest port to the Namgoong Family.

The ship’s captain was hesitant about taking Yohwa aboard, but with an extra fee, we finally received permission to board.

And as soon as we stepped onto the ship, it began to make its way upstream.

To Sichuan, where the Tang Family and the Lizards were waiting.