Translator: bjgoofy

Perhaps one wasn't enough, because thanks to Hyang, who shot killing intent at them, three more bats met their end.

And yet, as if she had gotten a taste for it, she kept pestering to do more.

-Tsururut!

“Oh my, that's enough now. Three was plenty. You did well, Hyang.”

“Yes, really. Well done.”

-Tsurut....

Barely managing to calm Hyang down, we proceeded into the passage.

However, the tsurut sounds they made continued for quite a while.

The ones perched on both shoulders kept tsurut-ing at the occasional insects appearing in the passage, as if practicing how to emit killing intent.

Eventually, after sternly warning them not to kill living creatures recklessly, the sounds stopped and we were able to pick up our pace.

“Ahem, we shouldn't recklessly take the lives of living beings.”

So, giving a little morale boost to the second one, Hyang, and the third one, Bin, we moved further inside.

-Pong. Pong.

Only the sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling and our footsteps echoed quietly in the cave. Amidst this silence, Seol noona's voice came from along the cave wall as she inspected it while walking.

“But there's nothing special here? I thought there’d be something since this is said to be where the Five Poisons Sect was sealed.”

Just as she said, the long cave continued without any noticeable traces.

There was no sign of human presence at all along the lengthy passage.

The only things visible were water flowing out of crevices in the rocks and then disappearing into other crevices, and stalactites that had merged with stalagmites to form stone pillars.

-Tsurut!

Startled by a cold droplet that fell on her head, Hyang, who had been looking around from my shoulder, began shaking her antennae.

“That surprised you, didn’t it? Hyang. Hold on, Dad will wipe it for you.”

Wiping the droplet from Hyang’s head with my sleeve, I replied to Noona’s comment.

“There might have been something in the initial cavern we entered, but the entrance was collapsed, and the place was covered in bat droppings… This here looks more like a passage. Let’s keep going a bit more.”

“True, but I wonder how long this passage goes on?”

“Who knows?”

We started walking again, and had we walked for about another quarter of an hour?

“Oh!? Looks like something's coming up!?”

Just as Noona said, the passage began to widen, revealing a fairly large space.

What appeared before us was a large rectangular space, clearly man-made, about 330 square meters in size.

“What is this place for?”

“Could it be a training ground?”

At first, upon entering, it seemed like a training ground, but as we moved toward the middle, the light from our lanterns revealed the surroundings clearly.

“There are quite a lot of caves.”

“Over there! It’s the Five Poisons.”

As Seol noona pointed out, there were several holes on the left and right, slightly smaller than the passage we had been walking through, and on the front wall that Hwa-eun was pointing at, there were carvings of five venomous creatures depicted magnificently.

Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad, the five venomous creatures were magnificently engraved in relief, and even after a hundred years, they retained their original form in near-perfect condition.

And here and there on the floor were scattered skeletons.

Could this have been the final battleground?

“This must be the last stronghold of the Five Poisons Sect.”

“Looks like it, doesn’t it? So what now? Should we wait here? Or take a look around a bit?”

Though we had decided to check out the surroundings first, we hadn’t clearly defined the boundary of our mission.

For now, we decided to look around and think it over.

‘Doesn't really feel like any survivors from the Five Poisons Sect were here…’

The surrounding area was thick with undisturbed dust, and judging by the uncollected corpses, it didn’t seem like any surviving members of the sect had come back.

Since nothing dangerous had happened so far, and it didn’t feel like anything dangerous would occur, I smiled at Seol noona and responded.

“Hmm. Should we look around a bit more? It might be fun.”

Until just a moment ago it had been a bit dull, but now that we were facing a place where the five venomous creatures were carved into the wall like some kind of ancient ruin, it suddenly felt like we were archaeologists exploring an ancient site, and I thought it might be interesting.

‘Feels like we’re grave robbers too?’

“Shall we? Now I’m finally starting to feel a bit excited too.”

“Unnie, Soryong, we’re not here on a sightseeing trip....”

“It’s not like we’re here to play. I just meant we should search the area a bit more. Right, Ryong?”

“Of course, Seol noona. Then, shall we start by checking out that cave over there?”

“Alright, let’s go!”

Seol noona and I, were we perhaps siblings in a past life? Or maybe the life before that?

Though I caught a glimpse of Hwa-eun shaking her head at the perfectly in-sync conversation between Seol noona and me, I pretended not to notice and decided to begin the search from the cave on the right.

As we entered the passage, about two meters in height, what we saw were connected rooms.

It appeared to be carved out of stone, and the area we entered looked like a dormitory, with a long hallway lined with rooms.

“These rooms seem to be connected on this side.”

‘A residential area, perhaps?’

Maybe it had been completely wiped out and stripped bare. We searched each room, but there wasn't much to find.

The rotted blankets and wooden pillows, and the boxes that seemed to have been used for storing personal belongings, were either smashed or left open in disarray.

The air was better than expected, possibly due to a separate ventilation system. A neighboring cave looked like it may have been a dining hall, but the stored food was dried up or rotted and scattered.

Next to it was a food storage area, and then a section that seemed to be for storing clothes or bedding, nothing more.

After thoroughly inspecting all the caves on the right, Seol noona, refilling the lantern with oil from her pack, spoke with a bored expression.

“Looks like this area was just for eating and sleeping? Boring.”

“Seems so.”

As Seol noona said, there was nothing noteworthy on the right side.

The space was simply a cluster of rooms necessary for living.

Still, we needed to find traces of survivors from the Five Poisons Sect, so we moved to the left side of the chamber.

“Come to think of it, we came here to find signs of survivors from the Five Poisons Sect, but at this rate, it feels more likely that only the ones outside survived.”

“Yeah, right? If anyone had survived, they would’ve at least collected the corpses.”

Looking at the skeletons dressed in decayed clothing here and there, we concluded that the ones who had been here hadn’t escaped.

We began searching the left side of the chamber, but there were only a burned-down library, a warehouse, and a few large rooms, all filled with shattered furniture and mostly charred spaces.

“Looks like a library, but it's all been burned.”

“They probably set everything on fire after destroying the Five Poisons Sect a hundred years ago.”

In the end, we found nothing and returned to what looked like the central plaza.

Since we couldn't just stand around, we looked around, and in front of the central wall carved with the five venomous creatures, we noticed something like an altar.

“We can’t just stand around. How about sitting over there for a bit?”

“Shall we?”

“Sure, Soryong.”

As we approached, the carvings of the five venomous creatures on the wall became clearer.

At the center was a round stone orb, about the size of a palm, and around it, a snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard, and toad appeared as though they were competing against each other.

I took a cloth from my pack and laid it over what looked like the altar, then sat down side by side with the others and looked at the wall.

“....”

A silent space with no sound at all.

Somehow, it felt awkward to remain completely silent, and feeling a little mischievous, I turned to Seol noona and spoke.

“Seol noona, did you know?”

“Know what?”

Seol noona tilted her head at the sudden question.

I approached the wall where the five venomous creatures were carved and spoke.

“You know how these walls with orbs like this? If you press the orb, a hidden door might appear.”

“What?”

“Really?”

A cliche from those escape-room style games I used to play in a past life, especially ones with an ancient vibe.

Pressing the orb carved between the venomous creatures would reveal a secret passage, such games always had that kind of setup.

Well, of course, this place probably wouldn’t be like that, but I walked up to the orb and tapped it, just to liven up the awkward mood.

With a mischievous grin, I said,

“Like this.”

-Tap tap!

Then Seol noona, who had jumped down from the altar, came right up beside me and began pressing the orb repeatedly.

“What the heck. No secret door’s showing up.”

“Haha, well, it’s possible, not guaranteed.”

It was just how the cliche went in games, not like this place would actually have that sort of thing.

When I smiled and replied, Seol noona pouted.

“What, that’s just....”

“Well, maybe you have to infuse energy into the orb or something....”

As I was teasing Seol noona and actually infused energy into the stone orb.

-Krrrummmble.

A loud noise suddenly came from behind the stone wall, and the eyes of the five venomous creatures lit up.

-Flash.

Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, Toad.

In the eyes of the five venomous creatures, five things, red, blue, green, white, and black, embedded like gems began to emit light.

‘Wait, this actually works!?’

The lights beaming from the five creatures illuminated the altar where we had been sitting, and as I jumped back in shock and shouted in disbelief, Seol noona and Hwa-eun, who had come up beside me, praised me.

“So-Soryong, you’re amazing!”

“I thought you were just messing around, but you figured out how to activate the mechanical formation right away!”

-Kraaackle.

As the two women praised me, the orb I had infused with energy sunk inward, and in the middle of the five venomous creatures, a large passage revealed itself.

“Ooh! Ryong, the door really opened!”

“Soryong, just like you said, a door opened and a passage appeared!”

-Tsurut!

-Kisit!

-Kukku!

Even the centipedes, lizards, and Yohwa seemed to be praising me, making it feel like I was being applauded.

It was like stumbling into a mouse while trying to catch it, but I answered with a composed expression, as if it had been obvious all along.

"Haha, well, yes, as expected?"

After all, there aren’t many chances to look smart like this.

***

-Whiiiish.

The newly revealed passage must have had good airflow, because the first thing that came rushing in was wind.

Seol noona lifted the lantern and shined it toward the other side.

What came into view was a long passage stretching into darkness, far beyond the reach of light.

With a face full of curiosity, Seol noona looked into the passage and asked,

“What should we do? Should we go farther? Or wait?”

A question of whether to continue on or wait for the others.

I looked at Hwa-eun first.

Since she had poured cold water on our excitement earlier when we joked around, I figured it was better to check.

Surprisingly, however, Hwa-eun, receiving my gaze, responded with sparkling eyes.

“Let’s go!”

“Really?”

Even Seol noona looked surprised, as she clearly hadn’t expected Hwa-eun to be the one saying to proceed. Hwa-eun, in turn, scratched the chins of the lizards beside her and spoke in a slightly awkward, defensive tone.

“W-Well, m-mechanical formations are... fascinating, aren’t they? T-Tang Family also considers mechanical formations to be important... so, seeing them firsthand isn’t a bad idea... might be useful for hidden weapons too...”

‘Whoa, don’t tell me Hwa-eun likes this kind of stuff?’

It seemed Hwa-eun had a liking for machines.

Of course, Seol noona would want to go, and I also felt the urge to explore more.

So I quickly shouted to the two of them,

“Wait a sec!”

“Soryong? Where are you going? Soryong?”

“Ryong!?”

Even conservative Hwa-eun had changed her mind the moment she saw the mechanical formation, so I quickly ran back to the burned-out area on the left and grabbed a charred piece of wood.

“Huff... Huff... Normally, with these kinds of doors, they can close behind you, right? So we need to leave a message that we went inside.”

“Aha! Right, let’s write it down quickly and then head in.”

Removing the cloth we’d laid on the altar, I quickly scribbled on both the altar and the wall with the five venomous creatures.

A message to infuse energy into the orb in the center of the five creatures.

Then, we all stepped into the revealed passage, and immediately came the sound of mechanical formations activating.

-Krrrummmble.

“It’s really closing!”

“Soryong, how do you know all this so well?”

“Uh, I, just...”

I gave an awkward reply as I watched the wall close.

Thinking about Hwa-eun’s question, I realized, maybe the games I’d played in my past life were all simulators of mechanical formations like this?

That sort of thought crossed my mind.

Soon, the mechanical formation finished moving and the wall behind us completely closed. On the now smooth and featureless wall, one chilling line of text was written in a dark crimson substance.

「The Five Poisons Sect will never forget this grudge.」

I felt certain then, the Five Poisons Sect bastards must have used this passage to help a few of their own escape.