RPPL C18

“Wh-what is this!”

In the meantime, the government office slaves appeared one by one, screaming. Each held a sickle, a rake, or a pickaxe in their hands.

They appeared with great vigor, but it was short-lived. As soon as the Goeigong raised its head from the wooden floor, they were startled by its enormous size and began to back away.

The Goeigong was not a creature that originally held a grudge, nor was it a Dokkaebi; it was merely a monster. Yet, the fact that ordinary people could see it meant that this centipede monster had crossed a line. Its evil deeds had accumulated to the point where the monster’s form had crossed the boundary between the illusory and the real.

Though he had suspected it, confirming that this matter could no longer be resolved in the best possible way, Bipa’s expression turned bitter before he erased it.

The last person to arrive among the gathered crowd seemed to be a low-ranking official.

“Oh my, what in heaven’s name is happening!”

“This is not a matter of the heavens and earth turning upside down.”

Just then, Muyun handed the pipe to Bipa. Bipa, who had mumbled the words, coughed as he exhaled smoke toward the centipede with its head raised. In response, the Goeigong’s struggle intensified. Bipa, letting out small coughs, asked Muyun.

“Is there a storehouse nearby?”

“Right behind us.”

“Go and open the storehouse doors.”

Bipa shook the bell. To others, it would have looked like he was just waving his hand in the air. But Muyun was dizzy from the clamorous sound of the bell.

When he arrived in front of the storehouse, he saw it was secured with a heavy, large latch. As he placed his hand on the latch, the fuss-making low-ranking official ran over and tried to stop Muyun.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

Muyun didn’t answer and roughly moved his arm. The official grabbed Muyun’s body and tried to pull him away from the latch, but when Muyun threw his head back and struck the official’s nose, he staggered back. His vision went black for a moment. Muyun took that opportunity to open the latch.

As soon as he threw both doors wide open, a hollow laugh escaped him.

Inside, it was filled to the brim with rice.

“Just how much did they plunder in the fall?”

Even at Ahn Gyeomho’s house, which was quite large even if not mansion-sized, they had served barley rice instead of white rice. The ones truly steeped in poison were here, more so than the centipede. Greed was in full swing. Muyun turned to the side and shouted to Bipa.

“Master!”

Bipa immediately threw the bell into the storehouse. The sound of the bell receded into the distance, trailing a long tail.

At that, the Goeigong, which had been tormented by the thick tobacco smoke, unable to see and feeling its whole body burning, immediately chased after the sound of the bell. To the giant centipede, that sound was not a bell, but the sound of a stream that could wash away this noxious smoke.

The centipede rushed past Muyun, who was holding the door.

Bipa came running right after. Together with Muyun, he pushed the storehouse doors shut and slid the latch. The giant centipede was crumpled up and trapped inside the storehouse.

Bipa looked around, then ran to someone holding a torch and snatched it from them. He immediately threw the fire at the storehouse.

“You, you, you, you crazy bastards!”

The official, with a nosebleed streaming down his face, shouted. But the fire engulfed the storehouse with astonishing speed. Bipa swept his hair back in front of the blazing fire.

“You… you bastard!”

The official, realizing Bipa was the ringleader, ran towards him. Bipa didn’t notice it, but Muyun did. Muyun instantly threw himself forward, knocking the official to the ground. Then, he got on top of him and grabbed him by the collar.

The blazing fire brightly illuminated Muyun’s face. Because of it, the boy’s eye, which hadn’t been visible until now, could be seen.

“Hiek…!”

Even though only one eyeball was visible because the other was covered, the official felt a fear as if a thousand eyeballs were surrounding him. The fear of looking into an endless abyss, of feeling like someone would kick him from behind at any moment and throw him into it.

The moment the official was about to let out an unwitting plea, a tremendous roar was heard. It was the sound of the giant centipede screaming as it shattered a window with its head. In the sea of fire, its body was burning away, and only its head, with its poison fangs remaining, burst out. It scraped its way across the ground with its sharp fangs, heading for the room where the Gammu was sleeping. The official, barely regaining his senses, shouted.

“Hey, hey! You bastards! Stop it at once! You useless sons of bitches!”

However, not a single one of the government slaves moved. Nobody liked the Gammu. And of course, the same went for the Gammu’s henchman who was yelling right now.

“That… that thing….”

Rather, the government slaves fixed their gazes on the storehouse.

Grains of rice, produced with their blood and sweat. Rice they had grown but could not put in their own mouths, a pie in the sky that would earn them a beating to the brink of death if they begged for some, as they were about to starve.

It would be better if it burned.

Using fear as an excuse, they didn’t budge an inch from their spots.

Meanwhile, Muyun, who had been on top of the official, turned at the scraping sound of something crawling quickly behind him. The centipede, having dodged the flying wood fragments, slipped into the main room and disappeared.

The centipede rushed at the Gammu who was lying spread-eagled in the room. Its gaping head bit the Gammu with its poison fangs. They were enormous poison fangs.

Without even time for a death scream, the Gammu’s body instantly turned deathly pale blue. The Gammu, whom the villagers had trembled before while loathing him, met his end in vain, unseen by anyone.

The snoring suddenly stopped, and the main room fell silent. The official, who could vaguely guess the Gammu’s end just from the sounds without having seen it, began to tremble and wail, “Aigo.”

In that instant, Muyun raised his fist and struck the official in one blow. The official, suddenly hit, clutched his ringing head and looked up at Muyun with a dazed expression. Muyun spat out coldly.

“You looked like you were about to wail but had no tears, so I thought I’d help you squeeze some out. What.”

And the official was hit one more time. Unable to even cry out, he lost consciousness.

Muyun spat and got to his feet. A belated worry crept in that Bipa might have seen this side of him. But fortunately, Bipa hadn’t seen; he was busy shoving the torch through the open window to finish scorching the centipede’s body.

Muyun was startled to see him getting so close to the billowing flames and ran over. Moreover, the life-clinging centipede’s body, even after losing its head, was thrashing about so much that it seemed the storehouse would collapse.

“Master!”

Muyun grabbed Bipa’s waist and rolled backward. With a split-second to spare, the storehouse collapsed with a cracking sound. Coincidentally, because the entire roof had caved in, the flames subsided a little.

The relief of having barely escaped was brief; Muyun squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them. He saw Bipa lying beside him with his eyes closed. His face was stained by the blazing crimson light.

“Master…?”

Muyun’s voice trembled as he called Bipa. Bipa slowly opened his eyes. Then, still lying down, he looked at Muyun and smiled, his eyes crinkling.

“Were you scared? Your master didn’t die, you brat.”

“……”

Muyun clenched his jaw and shot to his feet. He helped Bipa up, his gaze lowered. Keeping him standing, he bent his own knees and brushed off Bipa’s clothes.

“Muyun, I’m okay.”

“……”

“Your master is fine. I was just teasing you.”

“…Don’t play pranks like that.”

“You’re not even afraid of a giant centipede like that, so why are you getting so angry over something like this when no one was going to die?”

You almost died…! At the phrase ‘something like this,’ Muyun snapped his head up. Bipa was smiling innocently. He simply looked relieved.

Oblivious to the sinking feeling in Muyun’s stomach, Bipa turned his head to look at the collapsed storehouse and muttered.

“It must have gone without too much pain. Better to die at once than to burn the whole time. Of course.”

Bipa had no interest in the Gammu’s death. He didn’t even reflect on the fact that his own life had been in danger just moments ago.

This is how this person has lived.

“From now on, don’t step forward yourself, just have me do it.”

Today, he had been able to stop the official who rushed at Bipa, and he had been able to save him from danger. He would probably be able to do more as he grew up.

Muyun sincerely wished for it. He wanted to keep Bipa out of danger. He wanted to protect him so that no one could lay a hand on him. And he realized.

That was what he wanted to do.

“Well, of course. Without you, I wouldn’t even be able to eat. What would I do if my disciple didn’t take care of his master?”

Seeing that clear face, Muyun’s tension finally eased. Right. Because Bipa was safe, because he was smiling at him, that was enough. Muyun stood up, wiped his face, and gestured with his chin.

“Master, is it over now?”

He was referring to the centipede head sticking out from the main room. As if biting the Gammu had been its last ounce of strength, the head was twitching in place.

Bipa picked up the pipe that had been rolling on the ground, turned it upside down, and tapped out the bowl. Whether by chance or by design, each time he tapped the bowl, the government office’s pillars, which had been barely holding up, cracked a little more, until finally, they collapsed completely, burying both the Gammu and the centipede together.

“Have a safe journey. Don’t leave any lingering attachments. It’s better for you to just leave without any thoughts.”

Bipa muttered in a bitter tone. Muyun wore a strange expression as he listened to Bipa’s farewell, which was clearly meant for the centipede monster. It was an evil monster. Yet even an evil monster was, to Bipa, something pitiful, pathetic, and dear….

“H-heo. Good heavens.”

Fortunately, Muyun’s thoughts were cut short by a gasp from behind him. The official had collapsed onto his seat and was spouting incomprehensible nonsense.

Everything was over.