There’s a Monster Inside Me Chapter 17

There’s a Monster Inside Me

Chapter 17

A sorrowful sound echoed through the whirlwind.

“Maruuuu… Jin-dallaeeee…”

“Gurumiiii… Maruuuu…”

Baek Eun-ok waited.

But no matter how long he waited, the echoes could not escape the whirlwind.

It seemed that both Gurumi and Jin-dallae couldn’t escape the whirlwind on their own.

In an instant, Baek Eun-ok’s pupils narrowed vertically. His body transformed into a white snake just as quickly.

His smooth body was sucked into the whirlwind.

The first thing Baek Eun-ok saw was Dol Jin-dallae. Her bright red hair was a mess, tangled like flames.

Baek Eun-ok wrapped his tail around Jin-dallae. Shortly after, he found Bada Gurumi and coiled his body around him.

With a leap, he landed gracefully and placed them on the ground of the crevice.

“Oh my… the world is spinning round and round.”

“Where are we…?”

Having spun so much, it took them quite a while just to hold their heads straight.

When the two regained their senses, they were startled to see the immortal standing before them.

How could such a remarkably handsome young immortal be in a place like this!

In white silk clothes with flowing white hair, the only dark color on the immortal was his black pupils.

“Th-thank you for saving us!”

“Thank you!”

Gurumi and Jin-dallae immediately knelt down and bowed.

“Um, by any chance, have you seen another child?”

No answer came.

Baek Eun-ok simply gazed at them calmly, saying nothing.

Suddenly coming to his senses, Gurumi bowed his head toward Baek Eun-ok.

“Thank you for saving us, but I’ll properly thank you later. I need to find my friend…”

After touching his forehead to the ground, he quickly rose to his feet.

In this pitch-black darkness, the only light came from the bubbling red lava.

Thinking of Bada Maru wandering alone in such a place made him anxious.

Just as Gurumi was about to step forward, Baek Eun-ok blocked his way.

“SHUSH!”

Both Gurumi and Jin-dallae stopped abruptly, feeling something strange.

Everything was quiet.

BUBBLE! BUBBLE!…

The boiling lava was the only noise. But that wasn’t all.

RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLE!…

There was a tiny sound, almost inaudible.

RUSTLE! RUSTLE! RUSTLING!…

Dozens, hundreds of footsteps continued endlessly, approaching the three of them!

“GASP!”

“UGH!”

Jin-dallae held her breath at the sight of the monster that appeared before them. Gurumi too was frozen, as if his entire body was being pressed down.

A long body with hundreds of legs… a shiny black armor on its back…

The enormous monster that barely fit in their field of vision was a black centipede dozens of times larger than a human.

The two had never seen such a terrifying monster in their lives.

“KAAAK!”

The mountain-sized centipede raised its body upright. From high up in the cavern, it looked down on them as if it would crush them.

SHIVER… goosebumps rose.

The centipede’s head had only one large black eye.

When the centipede opened its mouth, sharp fangs spread wide. The monster thrust its yellow teeth down toward Baek Eun-ok.

CRASH!

The dark gray rock shattered into pieces.

The white figure disappeared in an instant.

The confused centipede monster shook its head, searching for Baek Eun-ok.

Far away on a rock, Baek Eun-ok stood straight as if nothing had happened.

He pulled out a fan from his wide sleeve.

SWOOSH!…

The fan, as white and beautiful as the immortal’s appearance, had pale bamboo ribs lined up neatly.

“How vile.”

Baek Eun-ok raised the fan to cover his nose. Yellow demonic energy scattered from between the centipede’s teeth.

“KAAAK!”

The poisonous roar struck their eardrums. The tail that had been waving threateningly now aimed at Baek Eun-ok.

BANG!

At the moment the massive tail hit the rock.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH…!

The sound of cutting through wind was heard. Something cleanly sliced off one of the centipede’s tail legs.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!…

THUD!

Gurumi caught it as it returned.

A gracefully curved wooden plate had returned to his grasp.

As if he couldn’t believe he had thrown and caught it himself, Gurumi couldn’t close his mouth.

Since obtaining the bow-shaped rotating blade, Gurumi had not removed it from his body. He kept it attached to his back, tucked at his waist.

After acquiring the weapon, he practiced at every opportunity without taking a day off, but handling the rotating blade wasn’t easy.

Setting aside imbuing the weapon with divine power, just throwing and catching it was difficult to master.

Yet in this moment of crisis, he had unconsciously succeeded in cutting off the centipede monster’s tail.

“KAAAK!”

The centipede that had lost part of its tail bared its ferocious teeth toward Gurumi.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Before that, the bronze divine object left Gurumi’s hand.

“KEEEEK!”

The rotating blade that cleanly cut off one of the monster’s yellow fangs returned to Gurumi again.

THUD!

He was dumbfounded.

The heavy wooden blade that fit snugly in his hand couldn’t have felt better.

“I’ve got the hang of it!”

The corner of Gurumi’s mouth curved into an arc as he clenched his fist.

Baek Eun-ok’s gaze lingered on Gurumi.

“Birds of a feather flock together, not bad at all.”

With a smile that seemed to both form and fade, Baek Eun-ok was already standing on the centipede’s body.

The monster writhed and tried to shake him off, but it was of no use.

Baek Eun-ok climbed to the very top of the centipede’s head with leisurely steps, as if he were ascending stairs.

And then, gently like the wind, lightly as if dancing, he folded his snow-white fan and thrust it into the centipede’s eyeball.

“KYAAAAARGH!”

Starting from the eyeball, each segment of the centipede split cleanly. Dark blue blood spurted from every cut.

Baek Eun-ok leaped into the air and blocked even the smallest droplets of blood with his fan.

SWISH!

When he opened his fan and shook it in the air, it returned to its original white color.

“KEEEEK!”

The dismembered centipede monster writhed in agony before eventually flipping onto its back and going limp.

The hundreds of legs trembled slightly, and then there was no more movement.

When Baek Eun-ok returned to Gurumi and Jin-dallae’s side, she still maintained her elegant composure.

As if nothing had happened at all.

“…There he comes.”

Baek Eun-ok, who was tucking the white fan into his sleeve, peered into the depths of the crevice.

As the two people followed her gaze, a familiar figure emerged.

“Th-that’s…!”

“Maru! It’s Bada Maru!”

Gurumi and Jin-dallae shouted.

Beyond the bumpy, dark gray rocks, a human shadow was visible.

Bada Maru, supporting a young girl, was coming over the rocks where lava was boiling.

***

“ARGH! It hurts, I’m telling you it hurts!”

The girl’s voice, higher than a yangeum, filled the room.

The doctor of The Thousand-Year School, Chu Shini, shook his head.

“Your Highness, since you’ve received the blessing of Yangliu Guanyin, it shouldn’t hurt that much…”

“What are you saying?! Are you saying I’m pretending to be in pain? It hurts! It really hurts! I’m dying from the pain, I tell you!”

The girl flopped down and stomped her feet in frustration.

Those same feet that couldn’t move due to pain earlier were now moving quite well when throwing a tantrum.

Even the divine doctor with white hair shook his head disapprovingly. In all his years, he had never seen such an exaggerated fake illness.

After closing the door and stepping outside, he found his disciples waiting for him with long faces.

“Master, does the princess really have something wrong with her?”

Master Chu Shini walked to the end of the corridor surrounded by his disciples. Then he left them with one comment.

“Her mind is unwell… it’s her heart that’s sick.”

“Ah…!”

The disciples nodded as they watched their master’s retreating figure.

He meant she was out of her mind.

Princess Eun-deok, rescued from the crevice of the rift, was to stay at the The Thousand-Year School until people from the palace arrived.

Eun-deok was the precious daughter of Grand Duke Sudeok, who was the brother of the former king, Gwangmu Shinwang, and the uncle of the current king.

King Gwangmu Shinwang also cherished his young niece during his lifetime and granted her the title of ‘Princess,’ which was usually only given to the king’s legitimate daughters.

When this precious jewel was sucked into the rift between worlds, the capital was thrown into chaos.

The Thousand-Year School dispatched outstanding talents to the royal palace and was in the process of executing a plan to infiltrate the rift and rescue Princess Eun-deok.

Unfortunately, the rift disappeared as space twisted.

In the meantime, another rift appeared. Right at the top of the Thousand-Year School.

No one knew that the rift that appeared in the Grand Library was the same one that had swallowed Princess Eun-deok.

The divine power wielders of the the Thousand-Year School were planning to place a barrier around the rift and throw the entire rock mass into the nether realm.

The problem was that three new students, who must have lost their minds, had entered the rift.

Almost no living being who fell beyond the boundary between this world and the netherworld had ever returned alive.

First of all, there was absolutely no food that living beings could eat there. Moreover, it was overflowing with terrifying predators that loved blood and flesh.

Yet, all three new students returned safely from such a place.

It was surprising enough that none of them was seriously injured, but the fact that the Grand Prince Sudeok’s precious jewel was among them was truly astonishing.

“Excuse me. I’ve come with something to deliver to the Princess.”

Pureum Usol, carrying a wooden tray, came looking for Princess Eun-deok.

The healing-class divine power wielders lined up in the corridor nodded, giving their permission.

SLIDE!

As soon as Pureum Usol opened the door, she saw Eun-deok kicking a pillow with her toes. Usol’s brow suddenly furrowed.

“Sister!”

Princess Eun-deok opened her mouth happily, but Pureum Usol did not answer.

She quickly closed the door and then the window on the opposite side. As if that wasn’t enough, she formed a hand seal and put up a barrier around them.

“Sisterrr, why did you come only nowww?. HMPH!”

Pureum Usol hardened her expression at the whining tone.

“Your Highness, I asked you not to call me that while we’re here.”

“Then what should I call my cousin sister if not ‘sister’?”

“Call me Scholar. Scholar Pureum Usol.”

“Oh come on, why so formal? And why are you Pureum Usol? You’re Cheongbaeksong!”

“Cheong Eun-deok!”

GRIND!

Only after Usol gnashed her teeth did Eun-deok finally close her mouth.

“Hic. I’m sorry.”

“If you understand, leave quickly. Go to the palace.”

Usol’s atmosphere was nothing short of menacing as she clenched her teeth.

If it were someone else, their heart would have skipped a beat and they wouldn’t have been able to say anything more, but Cheong Eun-deok wasn’t fazed.

“I don’t want to! I’m going to attend the Thousand-Year School too! Just like you.”

BANG!

The sound of putting down the wooden tray was so loud that Eun-deok hiccupped again.

“This is not a place suitable for a precious princess to stay.”

“But you’re here, and you’re even more precious than me, the kingdom’s one-and-only REAL-PRIN-CESS!”

“You have no idea how hard I worked to get here…!”

As her voice naturally rose, Usol clenched her teeth.

“SIGH… Why….On….Earth. Do you want to stay here?”

“I have divine power too! I have that, so I qualify to enroll in the The Thousand-Year School, right? I want to attend too!”

Those of royal blood born with silver hair…. Whether direct or collateral lineage, it was true that they were born with divine power, though the degree varied.

“So, why?! Why are you suddenly bringing up something you’ve never shown interest in before?”

Usol asked.

Only a childish cousin sister could push Pureum Usol, who was normally calm like a still lake, to this extent.

That, if anything, was quite a remarkable ability.

Princess Eun-deok gripped the silk quilt tightly.

“I want to repay the favor! I want to repay the person who saved Cheong Eun-deok’s life!”

“Are you a magpie returning favors now?”

“I’ll become a magpie! I’ll become a magpie, I tell you!”

Dealing with the completely unreasonable Cheong Eun-deok, Usol felt like she was facing her greatest trial in a long time.

Usol took a slow, deep breath.

“Haah… Your Highness, please just bestow a royal gift. That alone would be sufficient for you to be a magpie.”

“No! I want to repay the favor like the fairy in the shell! I’ll stick right by their side and help my benefactor whenever needed, like a shellfish!”

“Shut your mouth, Cheong Eun-deok!”

“…!”

Eun-deok bit her lip and glared at Pureum Usol.

“If your uncle hears such words from you… far from repaying any favor, you’ll only burden the very person who saved you.”

“What, why?”

“Is it even thinkable? The only daughter of Grand Prince Sudeok having her heart stolen by a mere orphan! If your uncle were to learn of this…!”

“UGH!”

Eun-deok bit her tongue at this piercing truth.

Even though she was childish, Eun-deok knew well that if she misspoke, she could threaten the life of her benefactor rather than repaying any favor.

“I know that. I won’t say anything! I only told you because you’re my sister. You don’t care about noble or common birth, or social status. You hate that kind of thing!”

“Even if I don’t care, bloodline and status don’t just disappear. No matter how careful you are, in the end, those around you get hurt. Because of me, Bada Maru almost died before even enrolling in the the Thousand-Year School! Without even knowing why he was dying.”

Bada Maru nearly lost his life to a sorcerer who was after her precious bloodline.

She couldn’t let someone unrelated face such danger again!

Eun-deok pursed her lips. Though she was called an immature princess, she vaguely understood what Usol meant.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t give up her desire to stay at the the Thousand-Year School.

“Sister, please, I’m begging you. Isn’t there a way? You came all this way with a desperate heart too. Why can’t I? I’m desperate too…”

Pureum Usol quietly looked down at Eun-deok, who was clinging to her arm.

She was a bit surprised that her cousin sister’s feelings were more sincere than expected, even shedding tears.

But Usol knew Eun-deok well.

How long would that stubbornness last?

Eun-deok was an extremely impulsive child. Her interest would soon wane, and her attention would disappear.

Usol knew well both how to make Eun-deok’s stubbornness burn brightly and how to make it disappear.

If forbidden, she would become as strong as a bull, but if left alone until tired, she would quickly lose interest.

‘Is there no other way…?’

Usol thought of the boy with eyes too deep for his age.

Though it was regrettable, it seemed the only way to break that stubbornness was for the boy to endure the annoyance for a while.