With her eyes wide open, Gun Hye-rin asked with an expression of disbelief.
“You, you’re saying it becomes two?”
“That’s correct. If you cut it with a blade, it becomes two, centered around the severed part.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? You cut it at the waist, so how—?”
“The part with the head continues to function normally, and from the lower severed part, a new head grows.”
“W-What... That kind of absurd venomous creature... What on earth is that thing?”
Gun Hye-rin looked like she couldn’t believe that such a venomous creature could exist, but in truth, it wasn’t all that rare.
It’s just that people don’t usually look closely enough.
These creatures can be found quite easily in the mud of the sea, tidal flats, under rocks, and even in brackish water or freshwater.
“I don’t think it has a formal name in the Central Plains. But if we were to give it one, calling it a sachung—sil-worm—might work?”
“Sachung?”
The creature that had just shot out its proboscis at Hwa-eun and subdued her instantly before clashing with Gun Hye-rin was Lineus alborostratus.
Also called a ribbon worm, or nemertean worm.
An invertebrate belonging to the phylum Nemertea, it’s usually found in marine environments, but some species also live in freshwater. There was once a time it became famous on the internet due to videos showing it ejecting its proboscis—this whip-like, moving blood-vessel-looking thing.
These creatures have an organ called the proboscis, which is coiled inside a sac called the rhynchocoel above the digestive tract and can be ejected rapidly when needed. You could think of it as a type of venomous dart.
When it shoots this out, it spreads like tendrils in a horror movie, like a living parasite, extending everywhere like blood vessels. That was what made it go viral.
Even when separated from the body, the proboscis moves as if alive.
‘Well, to a normal person, it probably looks amazing. And disgusting.’
These creatures eject their proboscis when capturing prey or when threatened. Some species have a venomous dart at the tip, and some don’t—these are classified as armed and unarmed types.
The armed type pierces with the dart and uses venom to subdue prey, while the unarmed type wraps the prey with the proboscis and paralyzes it with digestive fluids and toxins.
The toxin they use is tetrodotoxin—the same venom found in pufferfish.
At least, that’s what’s been reported.
‘Damn it, to think it actually used saxitoxin.’
This was the reason I hadn’t identified the creature sooner.
Some foreign papers did mention that the creature used saxitoxin, but the data wasn’t confirmed.
Because they were old papers, some had mistakenly swapped tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin, and because the authenticity of those papers hadn’t been verified, I had assumed all ribbon worms used tetrodotoxin.
Because I only trust scientifically verified research.
But it seemed that the paper suggesting saxitoxin wasn’t entirely wrong.
If the paper was false, then either this regional ribbon worm actually used saxitoxin, or the Five Venoms Sect had done something to it.
“Yes, well, it looks like a thread, so calling it that is fine.”
“I see. But there’s nothing to worry about, right? Even if there are two of them, I can easily deal with them.”
Even though I hadn’t said a word, Gun Hye-rin must’ve felt bad for having caused it to split into two and said it wouldn’t be a problem to handle that many.
I thought the same.
Even if a ribbon worm had been turned into a spirit creature, it wasn’t that strong in itself.
I had only said not to create two of them because it’d be annoying if they launched sneak attacks in secret.
So I nodded.
“Yes, originally they live in coastal mudflats, sand, or under rocks, and they hunt by ambush. So they’re annoying, but not strong.”
“R-Right. Next time, I’ll be sure to take care of it myself.”
Gun Hye-rin looked a bit relieved.
Still, perhaps feeling awkward, she avoided my gaze and looked around. When she spotted Hwa-eun, she asked with a worried voice,
“By the way, is Hwa-eun okay?”
Hwa-eun had removed the proboscis clinging to her body using Sammae True Flame and was now circulating her qi in breathing meditation.
I nodded as I replied.
If Gun Hye-rin had been hit, either I or Hwa-eun would have had to help with detoxification, but Hwa-eun was completely fine.
Of course. She’s from the Tang Clan—what else is there to say?
She had also trained her poison arts to the Flower Realm.
“If Gun Hye-rin had been hit, it might have been dangerous, but Hwa-eun has trained in poison arts. So toxins like lower-grade or even strong poisons should be no issue. I’ve heard that once a Tang Clan practitioner reaches the Flower Realm, they’re almost completely immune to poison.”
“That’s a relief.”
Just then—
Cho came fluttering over, breathing heavily, and asked the same thing as Gun Hye-rin.
—Chrr! 『Bad thing! It dug underground and got away! Dad, is Mom okay?』
“Yeah. She should be okay, Cho. Are you hurt?”
—Ch. 『I’m fine, but Mom...』
It seemed the creature had escaped underground, and Cho had chased it on Gun Hye-rin’s behalf, then returned. I smiled and patted its head, which split off into antennae on both sides.
As Cho looked at Hwa-eun, its expression wilted, and it spoke in an apologetic tone.
—Chrrr... 『Sorry, Dad. It’s my fault Mom...』
Did it think that because Hwa-eun’s clothes were burned from the Sammae True Flame, she had been seriously injured?
In truth, the ambush had been allowed by Hwa-eun herself, and since the ribbon worm’s attack didn’t emit killing intent like a human would, it would have been difficult for her to sense it in time.
Unlike spirit beasts, which overtly radiate bloodlust, wild animals don’t include that intent in their attacks, which makes them hard for martial artists to detect.
Animals don’t hunt with murderous intent—they do it to survive.
Because of that, when learning martial arts, you often hear advice like “conceal your killing intent like a wild animal”—which is basically the philosophy of becoming a killer who can kill as naturally as breathing.
Still, there was something odd.
Even if there was no killing intent, Hwa-eun should have sensed its movement.
It was strange that someone at the Flower Realm like her hadn’t dodged, but there was a word for this.
Carelessness.
Now that I think about it, it happened while I was arguing with Gun Hye-rin. If her attention had been on that, she might not have noticed the ambush.
So it wasn’t Cho’s fault. I patted its head again and said,
“It’s not your fault, Cho. Don’t worry.”
But then I heard its hesitant voice again.
—Chrr... No, I was chasing the owl...』
“Owl?”
—Chrrrrr. 『So what happened was...』
At Cho’s words, I recalled the owl that had cried noisily earlier.
As Cho continued, the reason why Hwa-eun had allowed the ambush became clear.
It was bad luck—Cho had left its post for a moment, and the creature had occupied Cho’s spot at that very time.
But that wasn’t Cho’s fault.
It was just Hwa-eun’s bad luck.
Who would have guessed that thing would appear right at that moment, right there?
“From what I hear, it doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong. But if you ever get involved in something this dangerous again, make sure to ask Mom first before doing anything.”
—Chrrrt. 『Okay, Dad.』
Rather than just saying it wasn’t Cho’s fault, I gave a bit of guidance to help relieve its burden. Cho nodded solemnly, promising to follow it from now on.
Cute little thing.
Just as I patted its head again—
A voice came from Hwa-eun, who had apparently finished expelling all the venom and regained her senses.
“So-ryong.”
“Oh! Hwa-eun, are you alright?”
“Yes, but... it was so disgusting.”
As she recalled the moment the proboscis had wrapped around her, Hwa-eun shivered from head to toe.
A rustling sound suddenly reached my ears. Wondering what it was, I looked down—only to see Tang Hwa-eun’s clothes beginning to crumble apart.
“Ah!”
As Hwa-eun startled and moved, her clothing broke apart even faster.
Even though she had ignited her Sammae True Flame, the outer shape of the clothing had remained, so I thought it was fine—but apparently, everything had burned and carbonized.
It was clear now: her clothing had turned to charcoal.
“Wait a moment, Hwa-eun. I’ll get you some clothing—”
“J-Just wait a minute!”
As Hwa-eun’s garments crumbled into fragments, I hastily began to remove my outer robe to drape it over her—but Gun Hye-rin moved faster.
Gun Hye-rin spread her arms wide and stepped between me and Hwa-eun.
“So-ryong, turn around! No—close your eyes!”
The one whose clothes had come off was Hwa-eun, yet Gun Hye-rin’s face was flushed bright red.
She was the one embarrassed.
At her words, Hwa-eun spoke with an apologetic expression.
“Hye-rin, instead of trying to make So-ryong close his eyes, wouldn’t it make more sense for you to step aside a bit...? I need to take the clothes from him...”
“What!? You’re asking me to move, not So-ryong!?”
Gun Hye-rin was shocked to be the one asked to move instead of me, but Hwa-eun nodded and replied,
“So-ryong and I are husband and wife.”
Since we were married, she was saying there was nothing to be especially embarrassed about in front of me—we’d already seen each other in every state, so it was less embarrassing than with an outsider like Gun Hye-rin. But then, an odd response followed.
“S-So what if you’re married!? We’re both women! Why him instead of me!?”
Did she not understand?
Hwa-eun replied with a slightly awkward smile, trying to explain.
“Married couples sleep together naked. It’s not a big deal. But even between women, it’s more embarrassing to be seen undressed.”
“What!?”
Gun Hye-rin’s face was overtaken by shock—maybe because she thought Hwa-eun didn’t consider her that close?
Staring in a daze, Gun Hye-rin then asked again, her expression still frozen in disbelief.
“You two... sleep together naked!?”
‘What... what kind of reaction is that?’
But her point of shock was a bit odd.
It’s not exactly shocking that a married couple sleeps naked.
Hwa-eun and I exchanged flustered glances before she hesitantly asked Gun Hye-rin,
“Well, to make a baby, we have to copulate, don’t we? And to do that, we need to be undressed.”
“Copulate?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know? When a husband and wife take off their clothes and...”
“I—I know! O-Of course I know that!”
‘Yeah right. She totally doesn’t know.’
When asked whether she knew what copulation was, she gave the kind of reaction that made it obvious she didn’t.
Gun Hye-rin seemed like the kind of woman fantasy unicorns would like.
Completely ignorant about sex.
I’d thought «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» recently that our spiritual beasts needed some sex education, but here was another one who did.
At least they’re beasts.
This one’s human, so it was even more serious.
What the hell had those Heavenly Demon Cult bastards been doing if they didn’t even give their grown women basic education?
As Hwa-eun gently began to explain what copulation entailed—something like, “If you say you know, then of course Daeryong would have to enter a woman’s body...”—
Gun Hye-rin’s eyes went wide, and she stared down at my pants.
Then, very quietly, she began backing away from me.
Only then was I able to pass my outer robe to Hwa-eun.
“Yeondu, go get some clothes for Hwa-eun. I’ll tell Cheong-yu Sojeo.”
—Shaaa. 『Understood, So-ryong-nim.』
Yeondu, who had been dispatched to the Beast Palace, returned and handed Hwa-eun some clothing. Even after returning to the Beast Palace, Gun Hye-rin’s behavior continued.
Gone was the Gun Hye-rin who had been shouting at me the previous night.
Now, she seemed frightened of me.
***
We returned to the Beast Palace at dawn and sought out my foster father first.
Then we explained what had happened last night.
Because we had figured out the nature of the malicious beast.
“It was indeed a venomous creature, Father.”
“A venomous creature, you say?”
“Yes, Father. I was wrong. I apologize.”
It was a bit embarrassing since I had so confidently declared that it couldn’t possibly be a venomous creature.
I had insisted there was no way it could be, and yet it turned out to be just that.
“It’s fine. What matters is that you’ve identified it. So—do you know how to catch it?”
Thankfully, my foster father didn’t say anything further about it.
Relieved, I answered his question.
“Of course.”
Though Hwa-eun had been ambushed, now that we knew the creature’s identity—even if it had split into two—it was not difficult to predict where it might appear. Capturing it wouldn’t be a problem.
Though it had crawled onto land, it was still an aquatic creature.
It would have to move along the water’s edge, so predicting its range of activity and route of movement was quite easy.
And if it tried to move underground, we had Orange the Ji-yeong Snake, who could sense vibrations through the earth, and Ranghyang, the millipede spirit beast.
With just those two, no matter how stealthily it moved, we would definitely be able to find it.
“Then I’ll trust you.”
“Yes. I’ll make sure we capture it, so you don’t have to worry. First, I’ll warn the guards not to approach the water’s edge...”
With confidence, I responded and immediately began drafting a plan for how to catch the creatures.
‘Let’s make sure there are no screw-ups this time.’
Even so, I racked my brain, thinking I mustn’t make a mistake again—but nothing in particular came to mind.
