Thwack!
“Gaaaaaah!”
Screams and wails echoed across Mount Daeyo as a man, tied spread-eagle to the four posts of a dining table, thrashed like a freshly-caught fish.
The one delivering the punishment was none other than the Red Yao chieftain, sleeves rolled up as he swung the rod down repeatedly on the young man’s bare buttocks.
Thwack!
Each blow sent ripples across the flesh like crashing waves.
Ugh. It was an ugly sight.
“Aaaargh!”
A true assault on the eyes.
“Chief, please, that’s enough. The boy may have done wrong, but he’ll end up crippled.”
“No, Young Lord. I intend to beat some proper discipline into him today! Do you know how many people were hurt because of him? Don’t even dream of walking back home today!”
“Please, spare me!”
I tried to step in, unable to watch any longer, but the White Yao chieftain held me back.
“Just let it be, Young Lord.”
“But this is... disgusting— I mean, won’t he die at this rate?”
“He won’t go that far. He’s my son.”
“Well... if you say so...”
Indeed, the one being punished wasn’t the Red Yao priestess.
If it had been, I wouldn’t have called it disgusting.
No—this was the Red Yao chieftain’s son.
A dark-skinned bastard.
The one who killed the dog was the Red Yao priestess, so why was he being beaten?
Well, because this punk had been two-timing.
The Yao allowed polygamy, so if this had just been a petty jealousy incident, it would’ve been the priestess who got the rod—she killed a sacred dog, after all.
But after questioning both women, it turned out this guy had sung duets with both the Red Yao and the White Yao priestess.
Each in secret, of course.
But no secret stays secret forever.
Isn’t love like a cold? You can’t help but brag about it, like a sneeze you can’t suppress.
Eventually, the White Yao priestess ended up boasting about it to the Red Yao priestess, and everything blew up.
Normally, the priestesses stayed at the Mount Daeyo shrine, with each tribe taking turns to provide food and clothing every month so they could live in comfort.
They needed someone to deliver these supplies—and the Red Yao had tasked the chieftain’s son with the job.
This punk ended up wooing both priestesses on his delivery rounds.
Living secluded in the mountains, aside from a few shrine attendants, the priestesses were often lonely. So when a handsome young man paid attention to them, both of them fell hard.
The Red Yao chieftain’s son.
A real piece of work.
When the whole situation came to light, the chieftain, livid, tied up his own son and started beating him instead of the priestess.
And as blood began to spray from his son’s rear, the two priestesses, unable to bear the sight, clung to the chieftain’s legs in desperation.
“E-Elder! I was the one who killed the dog! Please punish me instead!”
“No! I’ll take the punishment!”
Despite being two-timed, they still loved him enough not to let him suffer alone.
The Red Yao chieftain looked down at the two priestesses clutching his legs and turned to the White Yao chieftain.
“Sigh. Is it alright if I send salt?”
The White Yao chieftain nodded solemnly.
“That girl lost her entire family to plague and became a priestess. I’ll accept the salt on her behalf.”
“I’m truly sorry.”
“No need. We’re lucky it ended like this.”
As their conversation ended—
—the Red Yao priestess burst into loud, uncontrollable sobbing.
“Huuuuu... Hwaaaaah...”
Nearby, one of the children, Gang—the one whose arm had been broken by the priestesses—asked,
“Hey, what’s with the salt? Why’s that lady crying so much about it?”
Apparently, the mention of salt had sent her into a fit, and the kids were curious.
Gang, who had been glaring at the chieftain’s son with absolute hatred, replied bitterly.
“When a Yao gets married, they send a sack of salt to the other family as a bridal offering.”
“Oh. So then...”
“Yeah. Looks like the chieftain’s marrying him off to the White Yao priestess. Crack.”
‘Gang, you liked her, didn’t you?’
So that’s why the Red Yao priestess was crying.
The chieftain had chosen to make the White Yao priestess his daughter-in-law.
That meant the Red one had been... rejected.
Honestly, I wasn’t too keen on a daughter-in-law who strangles sacred dogs either.
But that was just my view. What the chieftain said next surprised even me.
“Stop crying. I’ll send a sack of salt to your house too. But this must never happen again.”
“Th-Thank you! Thank you!”
At that, all the young men from both tribes shot furious glares at the chieftain’s son.
I mean, isn’t it true? Women in uniforms always stir a man’s heart.
But two priestesses?
He’d just become public enemy number one among all the young men.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped the beating...’
My eyes had suffered enough watching his jiggling butt, but for the sake of peace among the Yao men, maybe he should’ve been beaten half to death.
***
With the case closed, it was time to begin the search for the spirit beast.
Step one: investigation.
Back at the shrine, the chieftain’s son lay facedown, his rear slathered in herbal paste, while the two priestesses fussed over him.
I asked them both,
“The truth is, the reason I came here was to see if I could find spirit beasts similar to the ones I raise. Have either of you seen anything like this?”
Mount Daeyo was one of seven locations Ji-ryong had marked as likely.
These two knew the area best, so I started with them.
I’d eventually release the kids to search, but locals knew their own territory better than anyone.
But both shook their heads.
“Not really.”
“We’ve never seen anything like your spirit beasts before.”
Utterly deflating answers.
If I hadn’t come, one of them might’ve ended up beaten to death or forced to commit suicide for slander after losing a duel.
I’d given them a happy ending—they should be trying to repay me.
‘People really ought to think before they speak. If I’d known they’d be this useless, I should’ve had that bastard beaten somewhere else—maybe between the legs.’
Grumbling to myself, I changed the question.
Their answers might have been lacking, but some spirit beasts were skilled at camouflage or concealment. It wasn’t strange for ordinary people to miss them.
So I revised the question to focus on things they might have sensed.
“It doesn’t have to be appearances. Have you ever noticed strange sounds, vibrations, or unusual illusions? Maybe a weird smell?
Or perhaps animals suddenly fleeing, or unexplained phenomena?”
“Strange sounds or vibrations?”
“Unexplainable phenomena? Hmm... nothing comes to mind.”
“Same here.”
“Guess I’ll have to send out the kids myself.”
I was about to order the search when the man lying behind them suddenly shouted.
“Ah!”
Everyone turned to him.
Groaning, he spoke.
“Uugh... Mount Daeyo has lots of springs and caves on its northern side. I remember hearing something strange when I stayed there once, where the springs and caves gather...”
“Something strange?”
A loud sound of agreement came from the man who said he had heard the strange noise, and I looked at him, gesturing for him to explain in detail.
-clap!
“Ah! I remember now! It was the sound I heard when we went to sing, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Ah, no, I mean...”
The priestess of the White-Trousered Yao used the word “sing,” but everyone knew she meant that, and her face flushed with embarrassment.
I asked them where exactly this rendezvous took place.
“Where was it?”
“Urgh... would you take the guest there? I can’t move.”
“I’ll take him.”
I followed the White-Trousered Yao priestess to the north side of the mountain.
It was located midway on the road to the Red Yao village.
We walked a bit into the jungle along what seemed like an animal trail next to the path, and there we found a small cave.
It was a shallow limestone cave, and straw had been laid at the entrance.
It was clear—this was their “karaoke room.”
‘So karaoke dens are still the refuge of poor lovers, whether in a past life or now...’
As I was thinking how karaoke was always a sweet thing, the priestess’s voice came from ahead.
“Here it is.”
The White-Trousered Yao priestess, cheeks flushed red, shyly guided us to the place where they’d had their secret meetings.
“A limestone cave, huh.”
They’d said there were many springs and caves around here, so ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ this area must be part of a limestone cave formation.
And limestone caves usually mean a high possibility of spiritual creatures living nearby.
Caves like this are known for rare new species being discovered.
“What kind of sound did you hear here?”
“It was in the middle of the night. While we were lying down, there was this woooong... woooong... kind of sound.”
“Did you know where it came from?”
“No, it was a sound that kind of shook my chest, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.”
“Then we’ll need to search around here first. Got it. Thank you.”
I sent the priestess back and decided to begin the search.
Our search area would be this limestone zone.
“Everyone, thoroughly search this area and see if any of our other friends are around.”
-Tsrrt. 『Got it, Dad.』
-Kisit. 『Got it, big bro.』
-Chiiii.
Cho and Jeokwol, who could scout the skies, lifted their older sister up into the air and spread the other children out around the area.
***
-Crack. Crack.
A campfire was burning at the cave entrance.
The smell of grilled venison filled the air as the meat from a water deer Hye-rin had caught roasted over the fire.
I used my dagger to cut a cooked piece of meat from its leg and handed it to Gun Hye-rin as I spoke.
“Didn’t find anything again today?”
“I moved around and tried to sense for energy, but I didn’t feel anything yesterday or today.”
“So this one’s a bust?”
“A bust?”
“It means we failed.”
“Ah, I see.”
We’d been searching for two days, but couldn’t find a trace of the spiritual creature.
We discovered three limestone caves nearby, but only found bats and salamanders—nothing else.
It really felt like this place was a bust.
Sure, you could say it’s only been two days, but with the instincts I’ve developed catching creatures, this place just didn’t feel right.
Even though new species are often found in cave environments, limestone caves have specific conditions.
Because they’re cold and low in nutrients, you need some kind of external nutrient source—like a hole in the ceiling, bats, or something to feed the ecosystem—for creatures to survive.
But this cave was too clean.
That meant it wasn’t a good environment for living things.
Of course, spiritual creatures feed on energy rather than nutrients, but still—
Even Seol and Bing, whom I’d found in caves, lived in places with better environmental conditions.
So I was starting to think nothing lived here.
Then Hye-rin asked,
“You still haven’t heard that sound the guy mentioned?”
“Nope. Whatever it was, we spent two nights here and didn’t hear a thing.”
We couldn’t trace the source of the sound that the Red Yao village chief’s son and the priestess had supposedly heard either.
We’d spent two whole nights here in this cave, and not a peep.
Still, I couldn’t just give up. I figured tomorrow, I’d expand the search radius and lay down on the straw.
And just as I was about to fall asleep—
-Bwoooong.
A sound rang out, vibrating deep in my chest.
‘What was that!?’
The sound buzzed through my chest like an electric hum. I looked across the fire at Hye-rin, but she didn’t seem to hear it. When our eyes met, she awkwardly turned her head away.
Then the sound came again.
-Bwoooong.
Was it only audible from this side?
I called out to her quickly.
“Miss Gun, come over here.”
I patted the spot next to me, urging her to come. Hye-rin flinched.
“T-there?”
“Quickly!”
“O-okay... but then what about Hwa-eun...”
“What’s she got to do with this?”
“O-okay.”
She lay down next to me, and when I patted the ground for her to listen, she suddenly rested her head on my arm.
“L-like this?”
“What are you doing?”
What the hell was she doing? This was so random it was practically on Geumbong’s level of nonsense.
-Bwoooong.
The sound came again.
“Mm!?”
Now she understood why I’d asked her to lie down beside me and looked at me with wide eyes.
“What is this?”
“Where is that sound coming from?”
She quickly sat up and swept away the straw on the ground around us.
And then—a hole, about the width of a pinky finger, appeared on the cave floor.
The sound was coming from it.
-Bwoooong.
The straw had been muffling the sound, so I’d been the only one to hear it while lying on top of it. Now that the straw was gone, Cho leaned in and pressed her ear to the hole.
-Tsrrr. 『Dad, someone’s calling for help down there!』
There was something down there!
