Chapter 59
“Ah, no, that’s… No matter how I think about it, it sounds like nonsense.”
“Before I smack your face with a shit bucket, hurry up and speak, huh?”
“Well, you see. What if the Saripgoe didn’t secretly go to the mainland, but was killed by humans?”
“Humans killing a Saripgoe? Talk sense, will you!”
“But the Inmyeonjo was attacked too, wasn’t it!”
Although the sun was hidden by rain clouds, the incident had occurred during the day when all ghosts are weakened, so they hadn’t taken the damage to the Inmyenjo very seriously.
Thinking it wasn’t completely nonsensical, the Mongdalgwi nodded at the Yagwanggwi’s words and lowered his waist, twitching his nose. He was trying to find traces of humans.
Sniff sniff.
Sniff sniff.
Even though generations had completely changed since the Mongdalgwi was alive, there were no humans on the small, isolated Wolhwa Island with enough spiritual power to face an Inmyenjo. It was more likely to be a monster hunter from outside the island.
His anger flared at the unexpected interference of unwelcome guests. The Mongdalgwi, who had been persistently searching places where the Saripgoe might have gone, caught a faint human scent in the valley used by ghosts as a toilet.
“It’s here. I smell an unfamiliar human scent here.”
“It’s true. It’s a human smell!”
It was very suspicious that there was a strong yang energy, usually felt only in sunlight, in the valley where yin energy was concentrated in clumps.
“Ahem… This is strange. There’s a dokkaebi smell mixed in.”
“What’s this weird mixed smell? Don’t tell me that half-breed bastard brought someone here to trick us?”
“Whatever it is, the mushroom dropped by the Saripgoe must be somewhere around here. I’ll look this way, you search over there.”
“Alright. Got it.”
Teaming up with a human who hunts monsters? That half-wit is finally causing trouble!
Trembling with fear and anger, the Yagwanggwi headed towards the opposite side of the valley that the Mongdalgwi had pointed to.
“That rotten bastard. I came all this way with him, and he thinks I won’t notice him trying to save only himself?”
Only after confirming that he had distanced himself from the Mongdalgwi did the Yagwanggwi stop his staggering walk and stomp his feet clad in fur rubber shoes.
He shouldn’t have been fooled by the promise of bringing one of the dokkaebi’s shoes and followed along. The Yagwanggwi, who had no loyalty even when playing together, quickly changed direction to return to the flat rock where the Eodukseoni was.
“Oh? What’s this sieve doing here!”
As he was about to enter the mountain god’s domain after crossing a shallow stream, the Yagwanggwi’s eyes caught sight of a sieve hanging on a long pole. The sieve, with its many small holes, was something the Yagwanggwi, who loved counting holes, couldn’t pass by. Even if it was a human who had defeated the Saripgoe, they wouldn’t likely cause trouble in the mountain god’s domain during the ox hour, the time of ghosts. And even if they did, he could attack by emitting light. The Yagwanggwi took the sieve from the pole and started counting the holes one by one.
“One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three… Oh my? Where did I count up to? Ah! It’s two, two! Hehehehe!”
Despite dying pathetically from smallpox, he was actually much smarter than the Mongdalgwi, who liked to act superior just because he was originally human. Staring intently at the second hole in the sieve, the Yagwanggwi started counting again.
“Two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three… Oh? Where did I count up to again? Right! It’s one, one!”
“Wrong. It’s three.”
Three?
A sudden unfamiliar voice stuck to the Yagwanggwi’s ear. At the same time, the human scent mixed with the half-dokkaebi’s energy that he had smelled earlier in the valley seeped into his nostrils.
If he hadn’t been intoxicated by the mushroom’s poison, he would have instinctively felt the danger and fled while emitting light in all directions. However, with his reason numbed by the strong intoxication, the Yagwanggwi couldn’t resist his curiosity and unconsciously turned around.
“…Gack!”
Cold eyes without a single gap and three rough scars.
An enormous yin energy, unimaginable for a human, was emanating from the tall man.
It was an energy that could only be felt from the Jangseung-dokkaebi who had left this island and disappeared somewhere ten years ago.
Whoosh—
An eerie flame that rose from the man’s palm engulfed the Yagwanggwi’s body. The flame, which instantly spread all over his body without giving him time to dodge, turned into a fireball with a cold color that seemed like it would freeze his skin.
“Aagh! It’s hot! It’s hot! Uwaaaaaaaah!”
Despite its appearance, the high-temperature heat intensely burned the Yagwanggwi. His skin, sizzling and burning from the uncontrollably spreading blue flames, dripped down like melting candle wax. The smell of the black liquid oozing from between the foaming and cracking flesh was terribly foul.
“As expected, dokkaebi fire alone isn’t enough…”
Yeo Moon-beom muttered, watching the Yagwanggwi engulfed in flames. He had intended to kill it in one blow, but it seemed it would take time to completely extinguish its life like this.
He couldn’t tell if it was because this method didn’t suit him, as he was more comfortable with direct attacks using fists or knives, or if this was the original power of the technique. Moon-beom channeled the enormous energy flowing inside his body into the axe and struck down on the Yagwanggwi’s body.
With a force incomparably stronger than when he had split the Saripgoe’s head in half with multiple powerful blows.
Like a glass panel cracking in all directions, the Yagwanggwi’s body shattered into pieces even before the axe blade could dig deep into it.
Blue sparks carrying bits of flesh shot up into the air like fireworks, then quickly turned to ash and disappeared. All that remained in the place where the soul had vanished was a single old fur rubber shoe.
“Hey, you damn Yagwanggwi bastard. Are you fooling around instead of searching for the mushroom I told you to find?”
The Mongdalgwi, thinking the Yagwanggwi was idling and doing other things amidst the waves of blue light filling the sky, came splashing across the stream from far away.
The Mongdalgwi was in a foul mood, wanting to grab anyone and beat them up, to smash anything he could get his hands on, as he had found nothing of value.
Intending to pick a fight and steal the Yagwanggwi’s giant mushroom on the pretext that he had secretly slacked off, the Mongdalgwi ran excitedly. But in the place where the eye-piercingly blue light had disappeared, there stood not a naked Yagwanggwi, but a black silhouette with its back turned.
“…Caught, huh?”
The man holding an axe gleaming menacingly in the moonlight turned to look at the Mongdalgwi and grinned. Even though he was a ghost with a yin energy soul that couldn’t feel cold, the Mongdalgwi involuntarily shrugged his shoulders at the chilling sensation that crept over him.
“A human? …Ugh!”
An axe, enveloped in blue dokkaebi fire and spinning rapidly, flew and smashed the Mongdalgwi’s head. It happened before the Mongdalgwi could even dodge.
The Mongdalgwi, who had become a ghost unable to let go of his earthly attachments, lunged at Moon-beom, wriggling like a zombie even with his head blown off. As if determined to leave a curse for revenge even if his soul disappeared.
“If you’re going to die, die gracefully. How pathetic.”
Moon-beom cracked his finger joints with a pop and took a stance like a boxer, then drove his right fist, charged with flames, into the Mongdalgwi’s stomach.
Thwack!
The body, struck without even touching the opponent with a fingertip, crumbled pathetically like a house with its pillars collapsed, then lost its form and disappeared into ashes.
The eternal life gained instead of endless reincarnation had turned to bubbles in an instant.
“Now there are two left…”
The Eodukseoni and the Inmyenjo.
Only two high-level ghosts remained, who could easily bring harm if carelessly provoked.
Moon-beom pulled out the axe that had been stuck in the tree trunk after beheading the Mongdalgwi, and once again recalled the sensation of throwing a punch enveloped in dokkaebi fire.
“A thug should act like a thug and just throw punches, I guess.”
He had been carrying the axe due to the lack of a suitable weapon, but having mastered various martial arts since childhood, he was more comfortable using his body directly in most cases.
However, the reason he had wanted a weapon with a history as a price for the bet was to gain spiritual power that he didn’t possess through a tool.
Now that he could use both physical and spiritual power simultaneously, there was no need to reduce his agility by using an unfamiliar weapon. While it might be necessary in a fight against multiple opponents, in one-on-one close combat, what was needed was bare-handed fighting skills.
He needed protective gear.
Protective gear that could block the sharp claws of the fox monster and help him attack freely.
Moon-beom brushed off the back of his hand that had struck the Mongdalgwi’s stomach, as if it was unpleasant even though nothing had stuck to it. Then he gathered all the luggage he had brought and put the dokkaebi hat back on his head.
Having had his fun, it was time to return to Hwichukdang. Unlike himself, who felt refreshed as if all the poison had been expelled from his body, he needed to take care of Eun-hwi, who had fallen asleep groaning from the aftermath of their sexual activity.
The moment the human wrapped in blue dokkaebi fire like armor disappeared without a trace, a crow that had been watching from a tree flew up into the sky with a flap.
It was an eerie night with neither moonlight nor starlight, obscured by clouds.
Footnote:
1) Janggan (長竿): A long pole ≒ pole
