Chapter 3
“How is your body feeling?”
Yoon Seol asked as she pulled her webbed hand out of Wen Ling’s mouth.
“I’m fine.”
Wen Ling swallowed the remaining blood lingering on the tip of his tongue.
Just drinking it made the pain throughout his body fade away instantly. Looking at the wound on Yoon Seol’s finger, he asked,
“Did you injure yourself on purpose because of me?”
“It’s better for you to drink a few drops of my blood than for me to drag you to a hospital. But don’t start expecting immortality or anything like that. My father is just an ordinary human. I’m only a half-mermaid.”
Holding onto Yoon Seol, Wen Ling slowly swam toward the shore.
Looking at her up close, her fishlike traits were obvious.
A dorsal fin protruded along her spine, and both hands were sharp and webbed like fins. Beneath her pale upper body, a deep-blue tail fin moved gracefully through the water.
Though she was naked, it felt mysterious rather than indecent.
“Hey, there’s something very important I forgot to mention.”
Yoon Seol, who had been swimming ahead, suddenly spoke.
“What is it?”
“If I stay in this form, my metabolism speeds up and I get hungry really fast. I’ve been like this the whole time while rescuing you, you know? I’m already on the verge of losing my sanity from hunger.”
“And?”
“If you keep staring at my naked body like that… I might not be able to control my appetite and end up tearing you apart and eating you alive.”
“S-Sorry.”
Wen Ling tightly shut his eyes, determined to survive.
Yoon Seol calmly swam onward and eventually reached a nearby beach.
“Hmm!”
Wen Ling slowly stood up on the sandy shore.
Even though he had been shot twice earlier, his body was completely healed without a single wound.
It was truly astonishing.
Was this the effect of mermaid blood?
“Hey!”
Yoon Seol, who was still in the water, called out to him. She pointed awkwardly to the base of her tail.
A bullet was deeply embedded where her tail joined her waist, and blood was streaming down.
It must have happened while she was escaping.
“Would you mind helping me now?”
* * * * *
“Ugh…”
Wen Ling walked along the dark beach carrying Yoon Seol in his arms.
The strong wind and the black basalt rocks scattered everywhere made walking difficult. More than anything, when Yoon Seol transformed into a mermaid, her skeletal structure changed, making her heavier.
“Heavy, right?”
“N-No.”
“If it’s heavy, just say so. I’ll just eat one of your arms instead. Injuries like this heal immediately if I eat some meat and take a good nap.”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“No. Of course not.”
Yoon Seol seemed strangely amused by the situation.
At the end of the beach was a small pond surrounded by a circular stone wall.
Wen Ling carefully placed Yoon Seol into it.
She moved to the center of the pond and flicked her tail fin several times.
“This place is a C-grade managed artifact of Jeju Island that I oversee—Gumdul-Aegi Water.”
“According to legend, long ago mermaids used to come here to wash their wounds.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her wound slowly began to heal, and the bullet embedded in her flesh popped out.
Looking at the now-healed spot, she continued,
“For ordinary people, it’s just a normal spring. But for mermaids, even touching this water instantly heals wounds and fatigue.”
Yoon Seol stretched out her tail.
Soon the fin split in two, and human legs emerged.
The blue scales gradually sank away, replaced by pale human skin.
“This is the unique ‘Trait’ that the Great Museum recognized in me.”
Now fully back in human form, Yoon Seol stepped out of the pond.
As the sea breeze dried her wet body, she continued speaking.
“I am an S-rank preserved lifeform managed by the Great Museum’s Jeju branch—”
“—and the last mermaid remaining in Korea.”
* * * * *
“Come in.”
Yoon Seol opened the door to the Jeju branch office and walked inside.
Wen Ling, still drenched in seawater, dragged himself into the room.
He glanced around the office.
A large glass window overlooking the sea, a bookshelf beside it, a desk with a computer, and a refrigerator with some small kitchenware—everything was crammed into a single modest room.
“It’s small.”
“It used to be an empty shop. The Jeju branch hasn’t existed for long, and I’m the only one working here.”
She answered casually and immediately walked to the refrigerator.
She pulled out a large icebox.
Inside were frozen tuna wrapped in packaging.
She grabbed one and began chewing it down ravenously.
“I lost a lot of blood. I’m starving.”
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound of frozen fish being crushed echoed through the room.
Watching this, Wen Ling asked awkwardly,
“If you had such power, why were you hiding it?”
“Don’t you know? Even the most terrifying shark is just a fish that can’t breathe once it’s on land. I can only transform when I’m in water!”
Yoon Seol crushed the fish bones in her mouth with a loud crack.
It almost sounded like a warning that she might chew him up next.
“Is there somewhere safer than this?”
Wen Ling asked skeptically.
Yoon Seol sighed.
“There really isn’t anywhere else in Jeju. The branch here was established recently.”
Wen Ling looked around again and sighed.
“If we capture Zhuhan and recover the dangerous artifact, the curators from the Chinese branch may temporarily store it here before they arrive. But this place doesn’t seem equipped for that.”
“Well… we can just toss it into a cabinet for now.”
Yoon Seol said jokingly.
But Wen Ling immediately frowned and snapped,
“You should never joke about something like that! Don’t you have even the slightest sense of responsibility as a curator? There may be a dangerous artifact within your jurisdiction, and you’re making jokes about it!”
At his reprimand, Yoon Seol shot back,
“Oh please! What does that have to do with responsibility? Then how did your oh-so-responsible branch let a grave robber sneak all the way to Jeju?”
“There were unavoidable circumstances!”
“Wow, you talk big. Weren’t you the one begging for help when you came to my branch?”
Wen Ling raised his voice.
“Begging? Don’t you remember that nationality means nothing to a curator of the Museum? Bringing up nationality alone is grounds for disciplinary action!”
“That again with the discipline! Who’s the one barging into someone else’s branch and yelling? Shouldn’t that count too? And if it weren’t for me, you’d be dead! Is this how you treat your lifesaver?”
Wen Ling snorted.
“Ha! If someone hadn’t created the opportunity for that attack in the first place, maybe none of that would have happened.”
“What? Are you saying this is all my fault?!”
The two glared at each other, completely forgetting the purpose of Wen Ling’s visit.
Just then—
A powerful gust of wind shook the office.
CRASH!
The window shattered violently.
A strange voice came from outside.
“I didn’t realize I was interrupting a lovers’ quarrel.”
A man wearing a flashy floral aloha shirt appeared beyond the broken window.
He brushed back his messy shoulder-length blond hair and grinned brightly.
“A wanderer searching for love, dreams, and paradise—”
“Hou Zhuhan greets the Great Museum’s Jeju Branch.”
* * * * *
“Step back!”
Wen Ling shouted quickly and pulled a fountain pen from his pocket.
With swift movements, he drew a trajectory in the air.
“Bind!”
Following the pen’s path, glowing red characters appeared in the air.
They shot forward like bullets.
“So cruel! It’s been a while since I’ve seen my little brother, and that’s quite the greeting. You were so cute when you were younger.”
Wen Ling shouted angrily,
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear that from a lunatic like you!”
“You’ve really changed as you grew up.”
Zhuhan sighed lightly and raised his left arm, murmuring strange words.
“Knowing I cannot escape, I dare to face the waves.”
Glowing red characters burst from his arm.
He swung them like a whip and easily deflected Wen Ling’s attack.
Shock flashed across Wen Ling’s face.
“On the elm tree, the cat laughs alone.”
With those words, Zhuhan’s body vanished instantly.
Moments later, Wen Ling’s shadow twisted.
Zhuhan’s face emerged from its edge.
Wen Ling hurriedly moved his pen, but Zhuhan was faster.
“Do you hear the cry of the insect trapped in a spider’s web?”
Wen Ling’s shadow surged again.
Thin glowing red threads shot up and wrapped tightly around his body.
Zhuhan raised both arms and recited rapidly.
“Rise—ten thousand cavalry, a thousand riders, a hundred cannons.”
Immediately, red glowing characters burst from his arms.
They circled around Wen Ling, who was bound by the threads.
“My little brother, stop resisting. If I say just a few more words, you’ll be reduced to mush.”
Zhuhan smiled as he said this.
Wen Ling glared at him fiercely.
“If you want to turn me into mush, then do it!”
Zhuhan clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. It’s been years since I last saw you, and you’re still so immature. You struggle so much just to write a single character. Can you really call yourself a member of the Hou family?”
“Pretty bold words from someone who was expelled from the family.”
Wen Ling glared at him, gripping the pen tightly.
Zhuhan shrugged.
“Expelled? Me? Let’s get that straight. I wasn’t kicked out of the family.”
“I walked out on my own.”
“You were the one who secretly sold the precious books and heirlooms passed down through generations on the black market!”
“I do feel a little sorry about that. I needed funds for independence. Our ancestors will understand. I believe in their generosity.”
“Every time I see your shameless face, it makes my blood boil.”
“Isn’t that my charm, little brother?”
Zhuhan burst out laughing.
Wen Ling clenched his teeth, trying to suppress his boiling emotions.
He didn’t know how Zhuhan found this place.
But this man loved mocking people.
If he fell for the provocation, he would be the one in danger.
Wen Ling gritted his teeth.
Right now, he had to stay as calm as possible.
