CDBW 09

Chapter 9

Dayoung smacked her lips in disappointment, as if she truly regretted something.

“It’s been a while since I took the form of a child. I was thinking of tasting a liver or two, but that damn nuisance had to interfere.”

Hyerim, who had been watching her, scolded her.

“Don’t you think it’s about time you fix that disgusting hobby of yours?”

“That’s only because you’ve never tasted a freshly beating liver. Want to try some? As the adult here, I can generously give you the heart.”

Dayoung grabbed the man by the back of the neck with her long claws.

Her nails, sharp as blades, dug into his flesh. The man’s face turned pale as he swallowed a scream.

“Uaaaaaah!”

Hyerim clenched her fist in warning.

“If you go any further, I will fulfill my duty as a curator of the Great Museum and stop a rampaging A-Class hazardous creature.”

“Ugh, you’re so inflexible.”

Grumbling at Hyerim’s warning, Dayoung released the man’s neck.

Still looking irritated, she asked Hyerim,

“Why are you here instead of rotting away in Gangneung? What about your shop?”

“Yoonseol requested support. She asked for help. And don’t worry about the shop—the Seoul branch chief said he’ll take care of it.”

At those words, Dayoung frowned.

“That half-fish? How long has she even been the Jeju branch chief?”

“I’m not sure, but it sounds like things got pretty complicated. If even a curator from Shaanxi Province in China came all the way here, it must not be a small matter.”

Hyerim briefly explained the current situation.

She roughly knew what had been happening in Jeju and why a curator from the Shaanxi branch in China had come, thanks to an official report.

“Anyway, come to Jeju with me and help Yoonseol. You’ve got nothing to do anyway.”

“I’m busy! Find someone else.”

Dayoung snapped irritably. But Hyerim only snorted.

“I already got permission from the Jeolla branch before coming here. For someone who’s doing nothing but eating rice, you sure talk a lot. If you refuse, I’ll beat you up and drag you there anyway. So let’s settle this peacefully.”

“Peace, my ass. Hearing that word come out of your mouth makes me sick.”

Dayoung grumbled irritably, then shouted at the man who was still staring at her with terrified eyes.

“Hey! This elder is leaving now.”

She drew circles in the air around the man’s face with the tips of her nails.

The moment he saw it, the man instantly lost consciousness.

“Tsk. A half-wit who peeks under little girls’ skirts, yet somehow his life is stubbornly tough.”

Dayoung muttered while glaring at the man’s face.

Seeing this, Hyerim casually asked,

“He’s definitely unconscious, right?”

“Yeah. He probably won’t remember anything that happened today.”

Hearing that, Hyerim suddenly raised her leg and stomped down hard on the man’s right shoulder.

Crack!

The sound of bone shattering echoed through the area.

Dayoung gasped in shock.

“Hey! You just told me not to eat people!”

Hyerim smiled brightly.

“I didn’t kill him. His right shoulder is shattered so he’ll be crippled for life, but he’s still alive, isn’t he? Guys who have filthy thoughts about children deserve at least this much.”

Dayoung only shook her head.

“I still don’t understand what goes on inside your head.”

“Enough. Get ready to leave. You’re not planning to go out looking like that, are you?”

“You think I would?”

Dayoung suddenly flipped through the air.

In an instant, she returned to the form of a small girl.

Straightening her clothes, she muttered,

“Jeju Island, huh… I think the last time I went there was during King Hyeonjong’s reign. I wonder what it’s like now.”

“I heard it’s become a completely different world. Anyway, the car’s waiting outside. Hurry up.”

Hyerim pointed toward the nearby road.

A large limousine was parked there.

Soon the car door opened and a scruffy man in a suit stepped out. When he saw Dayoung, he bowed politely.

“Long time no see, granny.”

The moment she heard that, Dayoung exploded with anger.

“Who are you calling a granny?! Dungsoe, do you want your tongue ripped out the moment we meet?”

The man called Dungsoe simply smirked.

“Your personality hasn’t changed a bit.”

“Where would it go? Anyway, did you come alone? Where’s that bed-wetting brat?”

At Dayoung’s threatening tone, Dungsoe glared.

“The old man can’t leave his post freely. So I came in his place.”

Dayoung scoffed.

“Old man, my foot. Just yesterday he was walking around with a basket on his head begging for salt. Now that he’s sitting in the branch chief’s seat, he’s become arrogant. Next time I see him, I’m kicking his ass.”

Grumbling, Dayoung climbed into the car.

Dungsoe quickly gestured to Hyerim.

“Mountain Lord, please get in as well.”

At that, Dayoung immediately protested.

“Hey! How come I’m the granny and she’s the Mountain Lord?”

“Well, because you’re a terrifying monster.”

Dungsoe’s simple answer left Dayoung speechless.

“Well, this poor monster can hardly bear hearing that.”

Unable to watch their bickering any longer, Hyerim intervened.

“Alright, that’s enough fighting. Since everyone’s gathered, shall we head to Jeju? Yoonseol must be waiting for us so long her gills are drying out.”

* * *

“Alright, here I go.”

Yoonseol took a deep breath and dove into the sea.

Wenling stood at a distance, trying his best not to look at Yoonseol’s naked body.

She hadn’t said anything specifically, but last time he accidentally said the wrong thing nearby and nearly got eaten alive.

The moment Yoonseol’s body touched the seawater, deep blue scales began covering her skin.

Soon she was no longer human—she had transformed into a mermaid.

Amid the rolling waves, Yoonseol surfaced with only her face above water and took a deep breath.

“What do you think? Is Baekryundang still there?”

Wenling shouted from afar.

A fish’s sense of smell is far more sensitive than people realize.

Especially carnivorous fish like sharks—they can detect blood diluted to one part in a million.

While Yoonseol’s senses as a human were only slightly above average, in her mermaid form her perception was sharp enough to scan the entire island of Jeju.

“Wait a moment.”

She dipped under the water several times, then suddenly raised her voice urgently.

“They’re gone!”

“Gone? Don’t tell me they escaped already?”

Yoonseol shook her head violently.

“No! Something enormous—something enormous is masking the scent of Baekryundang!”

Her face was filled with confusion.

After thinking for a moment, Wenling spoke.

“Let’s go back to Wimi Harbor.”

“What? You want to go back to that dangerous place?”

Yoonseol asked in shock. Just the night before they had gone there and even been shot at.

But Wenling continued firmly.

“We still don’t know what Baekryundang is planning. But the item they possess could cause mass destruction if things go wrong. You said something massive is blocking their scent, right?”

“Don’t tell me…”

An uneasy thought crossed Yoonseol’s mind.

Wenling nodded.

“They may have already done something.”

His voice was resolute.

After a moment of hesitation, Yoonseol slowly emerged from the sea.

“Alright.”

As soon as she stepped onto the water’s surface, the blue scales covering her body vanished instantly.

It was a miraculous sight every time.

While quickly putting on her clothes, she warned him firmly.

“But I won’t allow you to act alone like yesterday. As the Jeju branch chief, I have a duty to minimize casualties.”

Her tone was far more serious than before.

There seemed to be no room for negotiation.

“Understood.”

Wenling agreed immediately.

Yoonseol looked surprised.

“You accepted that more easily than I expected. If you refused, I was planning to bite off one of your legs.”

“What?”

“Well, it’s better than getting shot to death by acting recklessly, isn’t it?”

Yoonseol finished speaking and smiled sweetly.

Between her lips, rows of sharp teeth glinted.

It looked like she could chew through a human leg as easily as gum.

Wait… even mine?

Wenling shuddered at the thought.

* * *

Not long after, they arrived at Wimi Harbor.

But strangely, a crowd had gathered near the port, murmuring among themselves.

Both of them immediately sensed that something was wrong.

“Excuse me! Please move aside!”

Yoonseol squeezed through the crowd with her short limbs.

“Wait for me!”

Wenling struggled to follow her.

Soon they reached the beach beyond the crowd.

And at the same moment, both their faces froze stiff.

“My god.”

A horrified gasp escaped Wenling’s lips.

Where Baekryundang’s ship had been docked the night before, there now stood a grotesque mass of reddish hardened metal.

Concrete and wood were embedded throughout it.

At its edges, seagulls and fish were stuck inside, hardened like grotesque taxidermy.

It looked as if everything in the surrounding area had been mixed together like dough and then the leftover lump had been tossed there.

“What on earth is this?”

Yoonseol muttered in shock.

It was a scene too bizarre to define.

More than anything, the foul stench coming from the grotesque mass made her head spin.

Yoonseol realized that the enormous thing masking her senses earlier was this very object.

“It seems Baekryundang used the artifact recklessly.”

Wenling looked at the mass rising from the sea and guessed.

An unstable Philosopher’s Stone caused unstable reconstruction.

He had only read about it in records before—this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.

“How horrible.”

Yoonseol summarized the entire scene in one word.

Thankfully this had happened near the sea. If it had occurred in a crowded city street, the casualties would have been severe.

The thought that something so dangerous was roaming within her jurisdiction made her head ache.

“It looks like Baekryundang has already fled. Several ships that were here yesterday are gone. Judging from the situation, they must have escaped in a hurry.”

As Wenling said, the docks where Baekryundang’s ships had been were now empty.

Yoonseol looked at the grotesque lump left alone by the shore.

“Do you think something went wrong while they were escaping?”

“That’s likely. The artifact stolen this time isn’t something amateurs can handle easily. They probably made a mistake while packing up in a hurry.”

Baekryundang must have grown anxious after learning that curators were chasing them even in Korea.

If they rushed to flee and made some mistake with the artifact’s storage, the situation would make sense.

Just as Wenling was lost in thought, Yoonseol’s phone suddenly rang.

“What? Already?”

She answered quickly, her voice rising in surprise.

Turning to Wenling with a tense expression, she said,

“The reinforcements from the mainland have just arrived in Jeju.”