“You're really going to stick that needle into your own arm?”
“Yes. If there's even the slightest risk that Hoja might die from this, we can't take chances.”
“That’s absurd...”
When I said I’d try the needle on myself, Gun Hye-rin looked completely dumbfounded.
She turned to Hwa-eun and shouted.
“Hwa-eun, stop him. There are important meridians and blood vessels in the arm—why stab a perfectly fine body?”
But Hwa-eun glanced at me, sighed, and responded calmly.
“Gun Hye-rin, you’ve only just met So-ryong, so you probably don’t know yet... but there’s no use trying to stop him. The look in his eyes right now says it all. No matter what we say, he’s going to do it.”
“What!? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When it comes to venomous beasts and spiritual creatures, he’ll throw his body in without hesitation. You might as well give up and focus on how to assist with the treatment—or say a prayer. It’s just a needle. Honestly, compared to the stuff So-ryong’s done before, this is cute. It’s practically adorable.”
Gun Hye-rin looked stunned, then asked her again.
“So this is... normal for the master?”
“What do you mean by ‘normal’?”
“Like... he’s a little too obsessed with spiritual beasts and venomous creatures? No, not just ‘too obsessed’... the Heavenly Demon Cult is known for its members being power-obsessed lunatics. He gives off a similar vibe when it comes to these things...”
‘Hey now, I’m not that crazy, right?’
That felt like a bit much.
I thought it was overkill, but then Hwa-eun let out a long sigh and nodded in agreement.
“Haa... yeah.”
‘You’re agreeing with that?’
I wanted to object, honestly, but I knew nothing good would come of it—so I just held my tongue. I’ve learned to read the room now, after all.
Gun Hye-rin muttered in resignation.
“Feels like I’ve pledged loyalty to a lunatic...”
“You’re going to suffer a lot from now on, too, Hye-rin.”
“Sigh...”
A sigh not born of sleep, but contagious nonetheless.
Just then, as both Gun Hye-rin and Hwa-eun sighed together, Sister Seol—who had been listening—spoke to Hwa-eun.
“Still, Hwa-eun, our So-ryong doesn’t act like that only toward venomous beasts or spiritual creatures, right? He’s like that with anything he really cares about.”
As expected, Sister Seol defended me. Blood really does run thicker.
But listening closely... it didn’t sound entirely like praise. It almost implied I was just obsessed with everything.
‘Sister Seol... are you just saying I’m a lunatic?’
Maybe I was the only one who took it that way.
Then again, Hwa-eun nodded in agreement too.
“Well, that’s true.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gun Hye-rin asked.
“So-ryong is the kind of man who’ll put his life on the line for what he values most.
When I and the people of the Tang family were in danger from a Blood Cult elder, So-ryong had the guard hounds latch onto him, then charged in while bleeding and nearly dead, saving all of us.”
‘Well... yeah, I did do that.’
But explaining all that to Gun Hye-rin? That’s just embarrassing.
I gave Hwa-eun a sheepish look, but she looked at me with such loving eyes.
‘Tonight?’
‘Okay.’
After that silent promise, I finally got Cheong-yu Sojeo to embed the needle in my arm.
Since they weren’t going to stop me anyway.
Sure, I’d get better compliments if I didn’t do it, but we couldn’t risk Hoja dying. Safety had to come first.
And the moment the needle went into my arm—
“Gaaaahh!”
The pain exploded instantly.
Cheong-yu Sojeo, startled, stammered in concern.
—Sh-Shia. 『A-Are you okay, So-ryong? I told you not to...』
I gritted my teeth and answered, chewing on my lower lip.
“I-I’m fine. Ngh... Just thinking about how much pain Hoja’s been enduring... damn those Five Venoms! Those monsters!”
I said I was fine, but honestly... I cried a little.
Just sticking the needle in hurt like hell.
The thing was ridiculously long.
And when Gun Hye-rin began to channel qi into it, I started sweating bullets.
But after going through the whole test, the conclusion was: it was relatively safe.
It only hurt when the needle went in. Once the qi was channeled or it was removed, there was no pain at all.
Even when the tissue detached during the qi infusion, there was no sensation—meaning we could even wrap it in a stronger layer of qi without issue.
“Seems relatively safe. I think we can proceed.”
“Really? Since So-ryong tested it himself, then it should be fine. Cheong-yu Sojeo can lead, and Lady Gun can do the extraction.”
“Oh! Perfect. You’re the best, Sister Seol!”
“Understood.”
—Shiaa. 『Let’s do that. Lady Gun is the best among us at handling qi, after all.』
So Gun Hye-rin stepped up to assist with the procedure, and everyone but Sister Seol moved their conversation to the group message room to begin.
『—Shiia. (We’ll start with Greedy Wolf at the bottom and move clockwise.)
“Got it.”』
“Start as soon as Moji and Soji begin radiating healing energy. Moji, Soji, help this unni with your power.”
—Myu-myu.
—Myuu.
As soon as I asked them to begin, the room brightened.
Lady Gun moved her fingers, placing them over the first gold needle embedded at the bottom of Hoja’s head.
『“I’ll begin channeling qi now.”』
The moment she spoke, energy flowed from her fingertips into the needle, and it slowly began to rise.
She wasn’t physically pulling it. She was drawing it out with internal energy.
An explanation followed immediately.
『“I’m extracting it using qi absorption.”』
The long needle, about a hand-span in length, slowly withdrew from the head.
Then, the small hole left behind was filled in by Moji and Soji’s healing aura, flesh knitting together and even the outer shell regenerating perfectly.
Watching it, I thought: we could heal Geumdo’s shell this way too.
We’d only done a temporary fix before—but this would fully restore it.
‘Man, I really am something else.’
To think we had this kind of ability and weren’t using it effectively. I felt like an idiot.
Just then, Hoja’s antenna twitched slightly.
No abnormal reaction. We could keep going.
“Let’s move on to the next one.”
『—Shiaa. (Yes, So-ryong. After Lady Gun, the next one is Giant Gate. Go clockwise from the one just removed.)』
“Got it.”
Following Cheong-yu Sojeo’s instructions, the needles were removed in order: Giant Gate, Stored Fortune, Literary Song, Chaste Integrity, and finally, the most significant—Literary Song.
With the longest of the golden needles now extracted from Hoja’s head and the small wound completely healed by Moji and Soji’s power, the unsealing process of the Five Venoms Brain Piercing Technique was complete.
“Phew. It’s done.”
It must have taken intense focus—Gun Hye-rin wiped sweat from her brow as the precision of the procedure had clearly drained her.
“Good work, Gun Hye-rin.”
“No need to thank me.”
After thanking her, I immediately turned my attention to Hoja.
I needed to confirm that the treatment worked and see what kind of response she had.
Very cautiously, of course.
She had been tormented for a long time while imprisoned by humans, and that kind of trauma calls for gentle handling.
Wild beasts wounded by humans tend to be extremely wary afterward.
So first, I decided to let the other children take the lead in approaching her.
—Creak.
“Hey kids, come in. Our new big sister Hoja has been treated.”
—Tsrurrr. 『Really?』
—Krrrng. 『A new member.』
—Skah. 『Hyungnim, aren’t you going to give her a name? “Hoja” sounds too... weird.』
I opened the doors wide and called the children up to the room.
They all rushed in, excited.
“Yohwa, let’s untangle the thread around her head first. She must be disoriented, so just give her a moment. We’ll start by freeing her head.”
—Kisit. 『Got it, big brother.』
I asked Yohwa to take care of it, and she approached, using her toes to snip the thread.
—Snip.
With that, the threads binding Hoja’s head and eyes unraveled, revealing her face and mouth.
What stood out the most was her fearsome jaw—like it could slice through anything in front of her.
She had two compound eyes to perceive objects.
And between them, three simple eyes.
Smiling at her, I began introducing the children.
“Hi, I’m So-ryong. These are my family. That’s Cho, our eldest, floating up in the sky. The red one’s our second, Hyang. That black one’s Bini.
On Bini’s head are Seol, Bing, and Dong...”
I was in the middle of introductions when Cho’s voice called out.
—Tsrurrr. 『Dad...』
“Yes, sweetheart?”
I turned to answer her, but unlike the cheerful mood a moment ago, the kids all looked frozen.
Confused, I blinked and saw Cho pointing her antenna at Hoja.
—Tsrut. 『That unni... something’s wrong...』
“Something wrong? Cho, it’s not polite to talk like that to someone you just met! Haha, what’s gotten into our well-mannered Cho today?”
Flustered by her words, I turned back to look at Hoja—
And my heart dropped.
Her eyes had gone dim.
The wasp’s compound eyes, which should’ve glowed vividly, had lost all their light and reflected nothing.
“What!? What’s going on!?”
Shocked, I checked her abdomen first.
With insects, whether they’re alive or dead—or in pain—can usually be determined by whether their abdomen is rhythmically moving or not.
Her abdomen was moving steadily. She was breathing.
So she wasn’t dead.
Next, I gently tapped her antenna. It twitched slightly in response.
She was reacting to external stimuli. But her eyes were vacant.
Could she be blind?
I quickly looked around and asked Hwa-eun to toss me a piece of crumpled paper.
“Hwa-eun, can you crumble that paper over there and toss it to me?”
“This one?”
“Yes.”
Hwa-eun balled up the paper and flicked it gently in my direction.
Catching it with one hand, I turned to check Hoja’s eyes—
There. A flicker of light returned to her gaze, a reflection appeared—then vanished.
Wasp eyes have excellent visual tracking.
They’re especially sensitive to fast-moving objects.
Since she reacted to movement, it likely wasn’t blindness.
Then why... what was going on with Hoja?
And then, a thought came to me.
‘Wait... is this PTSD?’
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
A psychological condition that develops after life-threatening or extremely stressful experiences.
Having endured twenty years with needles stuck in her head, subjected to horrific acts against her will... if she didn’t have PTSD, that would’ve been stranger.
‘Those Five Venoms bastards...!’
To finally rescue her, only for her to be in this state—
I was furious.
***
The Five Venoms had been completely routed, and the wedding preparations were underway at full speed... yet my heart was heavy.
Because it was now clear: Hoja had fallen into a state of PTSD.
“See? The weather’s nice today, too.”
We’d brought Hoja onto the ship, and she was receiving the utmost care from me and the children.
But she still didn’t react to any outside stimulus.
Even when we wiped down her body or wings, her gaze remained vacant.
Hoping varied stimulation might help snap her out of it, I enlisted the children’s help and brought her out to the sunny deck.
Just then, Sister Seol came running.
“So-ryong! We have guests!”
“Guests?”
“It’s the Medicine Immortal and the Herb Immortal. The Murim Alliance invited them to investigate the poisons used by those Five Venoms.”
“Really!?”
It was perfect timing.
I was stuck and didn’t know what else to try—but those two might know a way to treat PTSD.
They were the most renowned healers in the central plains.
I rushed to the front of the estate and just in time, caught the two elders as they were finishing their greetings.
“Medicine Immortal! Herb Immortal!”
“Oh, So-ryong!”
“So-ryong, it’s ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) been a while!”
They greeted me warmly.
I didn’t waste time.
“Sorry I can’t chat more, but this is urgent. Do either of you know how to treat someone who’s lost their mind due to extreme trauma?”
“Someone like that is here?”
“We can’t guarantee it—but it’s not impossible.”
“Please, could you take a look at one person for me?”
“If you’re asking, So-ryong, of course we will.”
“Of course. Even if the Murim Alliance brought us here, your request comes first.”
I begged them earnestly, and they agreed without hesitation.
“This way, please!”
As I led them toward the ship, the Herb Immortal muttered.
“Strange... something about this feels familiar.”
It seemed he had sharper instincts than the Medicine Immortal.
