Chapter 110: Running Away (3)
Translator: bjgoofy
“Cho, are you going to eat this?”
When I asked Cho, who was lying limply on the grass after molting, the feeling that she wouldn't eat it came through, as if she didn’t even have the energy to respond.
Originally, centipedes eat their own shed skin to absorb the calcium, protein, chitosan, and minerals contained within the outer shell after molting, to promote the formation of a new exoskeleton.
However, perhaps because Cho molted after consuming a small inner core, it seemed she didn’t need to eat it.
Since she had eaten an inner core full of nutrients, it felt like the shell was unnecessary.
If she had said she would eat it, I was going to cut off a few legs and give them to her, but since she wouldn’t eat it, that was even better, so I went ahead and spread out Cho’s shed skin.
As I spread out the shell, which had been compressed like an accordion, a majestic shell over six meters long was revealed.
Cho’s bluish, glossy, and translucent shell still retained a blue hue, and sparkled in the sunlight.
It was good enough to cut and make pants out of, but there was something that made me frown.
“Ka... That looks awesome. But no matter how much I look at it, this is such a flaw.”
When I spread out Cho’s shell, my eyes were drawn to the spots where two legs had fallen off.
One on each side, they looked like gaps in the middle, as if teeth had been pulled out, and it seriously irritated my sense of aesthetics.
‘That damn hornet, I’ll deal with her next time. That crazy woman is definitely going to get it the next time we meet. But... I do kind of want that hornet too... No, wait a minute.’
At first, I only felt annoyed at the hornet for hurting Cho, but as I grew angry, I suddenly remembered how Wu Qingyu of the Five Poisons Sect had looked when she ran away.
A flash of the golden needles sparkling on Wu Qingyu and Tiger Hornet’s heads passed through my mind.
‘Could it be that the real brainwashing victims are Wu Qingyu and Tiger Hornet?’
Wu Qingyu had talked as if I had been brainwashed, but now it occurred to me that perhaps the ones actually brainwashed were Wu Qingyu and Tiger Hornet.
The Beast Palace’s Beasts Explosive Potential Technique was said to ignite latent power and cause beasts to go wild, but thinking back to the incident with the army ants, it felt like the Five Poisons Sect had made some kind of modification.
‘The chances of brainwashing are high.’
At the end of my thoughts, I became convinced the two of them had definitely been brainwashed, and if so, then shouldn't this Maewoon Fabre be the one to rescue them?
Wu Qingyu of the Five Poisons Sect had formed an alliance with the Blood Cult, putting her on the same level as them.
Even if she was brainwashed, a crime is a crime and must be punished.
I felt that Wu Qingyu should be handed over to the Murim Alliance later, and that the pitiable Tiger Hornet, suffering under the Five Poisons Sect after being brainwashed, should be rescued by my warm embrace.
‘It’s only natural for people to be punished when they do wrong, but what crime did a venomous creature commit? I absolutely must save Tiger Hornet.’
Having sorted out my thoughts, I pulled out a dagger and tried to cut off the joint parts of the legs.
-Kagak.
The shell didn’t yield, not even to the blade.
Thinking about it, even when she was a Blue-Spotted Centipede in her juvenile form, her shell couldn’t be pierced by blades, so now that she had become a Flying Celestial Centipede, it must have become even harder.
I wondered if maybe Yohwa, another of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures, might be able to cut it, so I asked her for help.
“How do I cut this? Yohwa, do you think you can cut this?”
-Kishi?
At my request, Yohwa tried to cut the shell, but then I remembered, spiders are animals that can’t chew.
A spider’s fangs are technically called chelicerae, and apart from those, they have no teeth, so they can't chew.
To cut something, upper and lower teeth need to meet and bite through, but with only large fangs and no other teeth, it’s impossible to cut.
That’s why most spiders inject venom into their prey with their fangs to paralyze them, then either inject digestive fluid or regurgitate it onto the prey to dissolve and suck it up.
“How on earth am I supposed to cut this?”
Yohwa couldn’t cut it either, and while perhaps I could use sword qi to cut it, Sword Phoenix, who uses sword qi, was lying sick in bed.
After much deliberation, I wondered what it might be like from the inside, so I inserted the dagger into the inside of the shell and stabbed at the joint area.
-Tidik.
A crack opened up, like cutting into a well-ripened watermelon.
A moment later, one of the legs dropped off with a plop.
“Oho! So the inside isn’t as tough?”
The outside was hard, but the inside didn’t feel as tough.
I quickly repeated the same process and detached a few of Cho’s legs from the shell.
With a whole bundle of Cho’s legs in hand, I felt a sense of reassurance.
‘Is this what it feels like for a dad to bring home fried chicken after work?’
Holding a handful of Cho’s legs made me think, maybe this is how a father feels on payday, buying something for his kids on the way home. I quickly turned to Yohwa.
“Yohwa, keep an eye on Cho for me. I’ll go get the other kids.”
-Kishi.
At my request, Yohwa, who had taken on Hwa-eun’s form, tapped her chest with her pedipalp as if to say, “Leave it to me.”
Amused by the cute gesture, I scratched her chin until she wore a pleased expression, then headed to where Grandpa was.
It was right when I arrived at Grandpa’s residence.
-Tsurur...
-Tsurutsuru...
-Clang.
“You darn brats! Aigoo, you lot need to stay still. Why can’t you keep still even for a whole day? If you keep this up, I’m handing you over to Soryong!”
From inside the residence, I could hear the noisy sounds of the little ones and the exhausted voice of Grandpa, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons.
‘He’s really going through it.’
-Tsurut!
-Tsurut!
From the sound of his voice, it seemed the kids weren’t staying still for even a moment, and he was having a hard time.
Even Hwa-eun had struggled a lot because the little ones wouldn’t settle down, and now the latest victim seemed to be Grandpa, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons.
「“These little ones came looking for me this morning, didn’t they? Maybe it’s because they’ve grown attached to me? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them.”」
When I had visited in the morning, he had confidently said he’d look after them, but clearly, after just half a day, he’d had enough.
It was like how in my past life, grandparents would be overjoyed when their grandkids came to visit but would be secretly waiting for them to leave after just an hour.
“Ahem. Grandpa, it’s me, Soryong.”
“Mm? S-Soryong? Kids, your dad’s here!”
As soon as I called out, I heard Grandpa’s most delighted voice since I came to the Tang Family.
And when I opened the door and entered, chaos greeted me.
Broken inkstones, shredded paper from who-knows-what, flower petals scattered all over the floor like they had plucked them from somewhere.
It looked exactly like what you’d see when a puppy with separation anxiety had destroyed the house, an utter mess.
“Th-This is...?”
“Good thing you came, Soryong. Ohh... take these two away already. Not even when I was learning martial arts did I feel this drained. They’ve completely worn me out.”
Grandpa, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons, was known as someone quite formidable in murim, and yet Hyang and Bin had managed to utterly exhaust him in just half a day.
Apparently, the centipede kids were the beagles of the venomous creature world.
I looked around for them, but couldn’t find the little ones.
Seemed they had hidden somewhere when they heard my voice, and as I glanced around, Grandpa pointed behind his back with his thumb.
“?”
At Grandpa’s gesture, I looked closely at his shoulders, and saw something barely brushing the sides.
Upon closer inspection, it was Hyang and Bin’s antennae.
They had probably hidden behind Grandpa’s back when I came in.
‘Still sulking, huh.’
I held back a laugh at their behavior and played along with a chuckle.
“Ahem. Now what do I do? I brought something similar to the inner core I promised last time, but where could those little ones have gone?”
-Tsurut!?
Then, from behind Grandpa’s back came the surprised voices of the centipede kids, and Hyang leaped from Grandpa’s shoulder into my arms.
She soared through the air and dove into my embrace.
Once in my arms, Hyang saw Cho’s legs I was holding and tilted her head.
She had come running, excited at the mention of an inner core, but it didn’t look like what she expected.
I scratched Hyang’s head and answered.
“It might look like this, but it’s similar to an inner core. Give it a try.”
-Tsurut?
She tilted her head at first but cautiously brought a piece of Cho’s shell to her mouth.
-Crunch. Crunch.
Soon, the sound of munching was heard. Apparently, it tasted good, as Cho's shell quickly disappeared into Hyang’s mouth.
That was when it happened.
A voice criticizing Hyang came from Grandpa’s shoulder.
-Tsurururut! Tsurut!
Bin poked her head out from behind Grandpa’s shoulder and fiercely scolded Hyang.
It seemed Bin was angry that Hyang had come over alone, and Hyang glanced at Bin, who had yet to come over from Grandpa’s shoulder, then turned her head away and shoved more of Cho’s molted shell into her mouth.
-Crunch. Crunch.
The message was clear: “If you’re not coming, then I’m eating it all myself.”
Bin was the type who would only come over if I laid out the red carpet, so I asked in a gentle voice.
“Bin, aren’t you coming?”
-Tsurut!
At that, Bin whipped her head away.
Unlike Hyang, she still seemed a bit sulky.
I reached my hand toward Grandpa’s shoulder and said,
“Daddy and Mommy were in the wrong. We just didn’t want our Bin to be disappointed. Come on, let’s let that go and eat this, okay?”
She was still full of hurt feelings, but eventually, unable to resist, Bin came over and promptly pushed Hyang aside, kicking off a molted shell feast.
-Tsurururu!
-Tsururut!
-Crunch crunch.
***
The food worked better than expected.
Hyang and Bin, who had eaten everything in my arms except for two shells, licked my face happily.
-Tsurut.
-Tsurururu.
Seemed their moods had completely improved.
I gave them the last two pieces, one in each of their mouths, and said,
“Alright, these are the last ones.”
-Tsurut....
-Tsururu....
Even though they had just eaten an amount that matched their body size, they whimpered in disappointment at hearing it was the last.
I worried they might be eating too much, but seeing that they weren’t full, it must be that, being shells of a spiritual creature, they didn’t fill the belly the way inner cores did.
"Then, do you want to eat some more?"
I asked since they seemed to want more, and they immediately perked up.
-Tsurut!?
-Tsururut!?
Their cries, as if asking if there was really more, prompted me to nod and say,
“There’s more over there. Want to go with Daddy to get it?”
-Tsurut!
-Tsurutsuru!
Their excitement to go fetch more was clear, and feeling happy about our now-restored peace, I quickly picked up the pace.
The cold war was over, and with Cho’s shell still in plentiful supply, I figured maybe these two would molt as well if they kept eating, so I moved in high spirits.
-Crunch.
With the cheerful sound of shell munching echoing from my shoulder, I arrived in front of Yohwa and pointed at the shells.
“Look, there’s a lot, right? Daddy will cut them up for you right away.”
-Thud.
That was when it happened.
A piece of Cho’s shell rolled off my shoulder.
Looking to my right shoulder, I saw Bin staring blankly, the shell dropped.
“Did you drop it? Let’s see, you almost got it dirty.”
Thinking nothing of it, I picked up the fallen shell, wiped it off on my clothes, and was about to hand it back to Bin.
-Tremble tremble.
Suddenly, my shoulder began to shake.
Looking at my right shoulder, I saw Bin's body trembling.
“Bin?”
I had no idea why, until I heard a voice filled with anger.
-Tsururururu!
Bin suddenly yelled out in a burst of fury, jumped down from my shoulder, and began to stomp around in a tantrum.
Too much! How could you! A flood of emotions came pouring out of her, so much so that I couldn’t even guess what she was actually upset about.
I had no idea what was wrong.
Hyang was already happily munching on Cho’s shell without a care.
“Why? Bin? What’s wrong with her?”
I was bewildered, unable to understand her reaction.
That’s when a voice called out.
“Young Hero Soryong.”
When I turned my head, I saw Sword Phoenix being supported by Spear Dragon, walking toward me.
“Ah, Sword Phoenix. Are you alright? Is it okay for you to be walking around like this?”
Since I’d heard she was seriously injured, I asked with concern. Sword Phoenix blushed and bowed her head.
She spoke shyly.
“I came to thank you. You helped this fool open his eyes....”
“Ah...”
They didn’t really need to, but it seemed they had come to thank me for helping with their relationship.
“Well, I just helped them confirm their feelings. I hope it becomes a good relationship.”
-Tsurururu! Tsururu!
I answered casually, but Bin stood between me and Sword Phoenix, fuming.
As Bin bounced around angrily, Sword Phoenix tilted her head and asked,
“Why is that child acting like that? She seems upset about something?”
“I’m not sure. That’s actually the problem, I don’t know either. It all started with...”
Wondering if she might understand since she was a woman, I briefly explained what had happened to Sword Phoenix.
Then I heard a voice transmission.
[You, Young Hero, you just made a big mistake.]
“?”
I blinked at the sudden comment about a mistake, and Sword Phoenix’s explanation continued through voice transmission.
[It’s like giving her her older sister’s hand-me-downs. Of course she’d be upset. That’s like giving someone old clothes. Before I entered Diancang Sect, I had many older sisters above me, so I always got hand-me-downs too. Every time I did, I’d get so mad. I wanted to wear new clothes too....]
‘Gasp!’
At her words, I suddenly realized, Cho’s shell was basically a set of old clothes.
And Bin, as we know, is a tsundere with a neat-freak personality.
She thought what Daddy gave her was new, but upon realizing it was her older sister’s hand-me-down, she was furious.
Hyang, on the other hand, is more laid-back, so she just let it slide.
‘Raising daughters isn’t easy!’
Raising three daughters turned out to be far more complicated than expected, and just then, as Hyang began to molt after eating the shell, Bin’s anger exploded even higher.
-Tsururu!