SALT 09

Chapter: 09

Master of Stars (1)

“Ugh.”

“Stay still. I’m trying to treat you properly.”

“By the way… is this really treatment?”

From head to legs, his entire body was wrapped tightly in bandages like a mummy… no, Minjun asked Sohee in a doubtful voice.

“You said I have the [Emergency Treatment] skill, didn’t you? It may look like this, but it should stop the bleeding just fine.”

“…Ah? This… is a skill?”

“What is that? That kind of rude reaction?”

Sohee was actually using a skill for the first time, but she answered with a composed expression.

It was because she wanted to show that she was a useful member of the group to that lone-wolf-like man.

“Gently…”

“Hiss!”

“…Please go easy on me.”

“Then who told you to fight like that? I have to tie it tightly to stop the bleeding, so just bear with it a little.”

She felt sorry that Minjun had taken the falling spotlight meant for her.

And because she had been overwhelmed by the force with which he, covered in blood, had beaten up Park Ki-dong, she couldn’t even properly look Minjun in the eyes, thinking she hadn’t been much help.

But Minjun himself was too busy hiding his own feelings…

He had no time to notice Sohee’s subtle emotions.

Having always done everything on his own, Minjun found the rough but warm helping hands awkward.

As the uncomfortable, somewhat embarrassing atmosphere continued, Sohee, unable to bear it, spoke first.

“Ah, by the way… in this condition, can we depart today?”

“Actually, I wanted to discuss that. Could you give me your hand?”

“My hand?”

At Minjun’s sudden request, Sohee looked suspicious but held out her hand.

Minjun took her hand and said,

“[Transfer 100 Hours]”

“…?”

“What are you doing? Hurry up and accept it.”

“Why are you suddenly giving me survival time?”

“I’ll explain later. Just accept it first.”

“…Accept.”

When Sohee agreed, the numbers on her wrist changed. Minjun now had 1,563 hours, while Sohee had 402 hours.

After confirming the transfer, Minjun got to the point.

“Let’s take a ‘rest’ for a bit.”

“…?”

At that moment, silence fell for a brief moment.

Sensing something was wrong, Minjun tried to add something belatedly, but Sohee—her face already flushed red—was faster.

Smack!

“Ugh! Wait, let me explain….”

Smack!

Sohee’s palm began landing harder and harder on Minjun’s back.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

‘What is this pain?’

He had survived being crushed under a massive spotlight, yet Sohee’s hands stung more than anything.

“I really… didn’t think you were that kind of person, Minjun!”

“Wait—”

Minjun hurriedly grabbed her arm to calm her down.

“No! I meant my body is in this condition, so we should rest a day and leave tomorrow! What on earth were you thinking?!”

“…Ah?!”

Only then did Sohee realize she had misunderstood on her own. Her face, already red, turned even deeper crimson.

“Ah… no, you should’ve said that properly! Leaving out the beginning and end like that—of course it can be misunderstood!”

“Look at our condition. Isn’t it stranger to think like that in this situation?”

“…”

Sohee had no choice but to fall silent at Minjun’s words, as she herself thought she had taken things too far.

Her face, now as red as a ripe apple, showed no sign of returning to normal even as time passed.

The next morning.

Minjun and Sohee gathered again in the first-floor lobby, organizing their belongings.

“Before we depart, let’s begin the briefing. Are you ready?”

At Minjun’s words, she nodded firmly, lips pressed together.

“Of course!”

“No sudden actions like I mentioned earlier, right?”

“If you say that one more time, it’ll be the tenth time. I get it, so just tell me the plan already.”

At her urging, Minjun rummaged through his bag and pulled out a sheet of paper. In the corner it read: “Songpa Tourist Map.”

“Right now, we are here—Golden Apartment, across from Seoul Tower. And Sohee’s destination is the ‘Garak Fire Station’ next to Garak Market, correct?”

Using a red pencil he had taken out, Minjun marked their location and Garak Market with an X.

“Yes, that’s right. There I have….”

“You don’t need to explain the reason. All I have to do is get you there and receive survival time.”

“Tch, how cold.”

“Anyway, we’ll go straight down this route.”

The tip of Minjun’s pencil moved from the Jamsil Station intersection, following Songpa-daero southward all the way to Garak Market.

“You’re going straight down Songpa-daero?!”

“Yes. You saw how many meteors fell from the sky, didn’t you? Even if we avoid the ‘star’ at Jamsil Station intersection, if we take a detour without knowing the surroundings, we might run into another star.”

“But that intersection is swarming with larvae!”

Sohee protested, and Minjun tapped the map with the pencil.

“Will you go alone?”

“Well, still….”

“The thing we should be most wary of isn’t those bugs outside—it’s this guy.”

Minjun pointed at the numbers tattooed on his left wrist. The remaining time had decreased from 1,563 to 1,539.

“You’re right. I only have 378 hours left too.”

“Of course I’m not crazy enough to just go out recklessly. But if we fear the larvae, survival will only get harder. In any case, we have to kill them and buy time.”

“Fine. I understand all that. So how are we getting out?”

“Follow me.”

Minjun led the dissatisfied Sohee somewhere.

Sohee had always believed her instincts were reliable.

Though she hadn’t lived a long life, her instincts had always guided her at critical turning points.

When she got lost at an amusement park as a child, during her civil service interview (which she later passed), and even during the unbelievable disaster yesterday—her instincts had always led her to the best path.

So she believed this time would be no different… but before her eyes now lay a reality she could hardly accept.

“Minjun? Please… tell me that what I’m imagining isn’t… that.”

“I’m not doing this because I like it either.”

“…This is actually a proven method, right?”

“At the very least, it’s better than going out bare-handed.”

In front of them lay the corpse of the giant larva they had barely managed to kill in a fierce battle.

But Minjun had somehow transformed the larva’s corpse into something resembling a lion dance (a mask form).

Its interior was hollow, supported by its exoskeleton, and its detached head had somehow been reattached, held upright.

“I’ve placed the creature’s bodily fluids in a small basket inside the mask. If you wear the mask and coat your body with the fluid to remove your scent, it should work.”

“Is this… really the only way?”

“If you have a better suggestion, I’m all ears.”

At Minjun’s response, Sohee realized she had no choice and let out a silent scream internally.

At the same time.

Rooftop of Songpa District Office.

A middle-aged man with a rough expression was looking outside through binoculars.

“Damn it, those bugs are everywhere.”

“Team Leader Seong Donggil, can you see anything?”

Thwack.

A young man with an impression somewhere between gentle and timid peeked in, and Donggil struck the back of his head.

“Your head. Your head. How many times do I have to tell you not to stick it out?”

“Ugh…”

“Hey rookie. What did I tell you when we left the station?”

“Ask permission for everything except breathing?”

“No. For you, Choi Woojin, you should ask permission even for breathing. The mess you caused… sigh. Do you have any idea how miserable I am, stuck babysitting the youngest at my age? How did someone like you graduate top of the police academy….”

“Team Leader, look over there.”

Ignoring Donggil’s scolding, Woojin quickly pointed elsewhere.

The larvae that had been swarming the streets had begun moving in one direction.

“Did they take the wrong medicine or something? What’s going on?”

To figure out the cause, Donggil scanned their movement direction through the binoculars.

In the lens—Jamsil Station intersection. There was the “black star” and a massive chrysalis.

And all the larvae in the area were gathering around that chrysalis.

“What in the….”

Alarm bells rang in Donggil’s mind.

Something was happening. They needed to get out of this area immediately. His 20 years of detective instinct told him so.

But a sense of duty and curiosity held his feet in place.

‘Every time something like this happens, something awful always goes down….’

Duty and curiosity. If he could control those at will, he would’ve long been working at headquarters, he muttered bitterly.

The larvae around the chrysalis grew in number as they gathered near the black star. Then, suddenly, the chrysalis began trembling violently.

Hundreds of larvae watched in silence, motionless.

“Hey, just in case, get ready to run.”

Donggil, feeling an inexplicable unease, kept watching for another minute.

Just when he felt it was time to flee—

A dry cracking sound echoed, and a black lightning-like crack spread across the chrysalis.

From the split, something long resembling antennae protruded from the darkness.

Then came a head and chest covered in fur.

Wet gray wings.

A plump body tinged with deep orange.

Four long tentacles extending from the abdomen.

Metamorphosis of a moth.

Its form was unmistakably that of something Donggil had seen in the countryside as a child—only its size was abnormally huge.

“L-Team Leader… what is that…?”

“I don’t know, damn it. Just….”

“….”

“If you get caught by that thing, you might as well consider it your funeral.”

The giant moth shed its white chrysalis and climbed atop the four-story “star.”

Watching it, the countless larvae lowered their heads in reverence, as if worshipping a god.

The moth, seemingly accepting their devotion as natural, spread its massive gray wings.

The creature that had trembled upon emerging from the chrysalis soon extended tentacles longer than its own body, wrapping around four larvae.

The captured larvae did not resist—they seemed to accept their fate.

Frrrrrr—

The tentacles continued writhing as they drained time from the larvae, while light radiated from the damp wings.

At the same time, hundreds of larvae worshipping the being trembled their antennae, and a message appeared before Donggil and Woojin.

[‘Arctine’ has become the Master of the Star.]

[All life within Songpa Region 2 must revere her.]

[Master of the Star]

Songpa Region 1: Vacant
Songpa Region 2: Arctine
Songpa Region 3: Atlnak
Songpa Region 4: Hornet
Songpa Region 5: Vacant

‘This is bad.’

After reading the message, Donggil sensed danger.

Not long ago, after a similar message appeared, everyone within a 1km radius of Garak Market had been killed or captured by those damn spiders.

He cleared the message and looked again through the binoculars to check their position for escape—

The giant moth, Arctine, was looking directly at him through the binoculars.

—Piiiiiiiiii!

“Damn it.”

As it flapped its wings, unleashing piercing high-frequency sound waves in all directions, the larvae simultaneously turned their heads toward him.

Gulp.

A chill ran down his spine, and cold sweat dripped.

‘We’re screwed.’

“Hey! Rookie! Get up. We need to run.”

“Team Leader Seong! Something else just popped out over there!”

“You bastard… we’re about to die and that’s what you’re worried abo— huh?”

As Donggil was about to smack the back of the rookie’s head, his eyes caught something strange as well.

On the Olympic Boulevard, where countless larvae were migrating—

A larva the size of a bull staggered drunkenly, weaving through the swarm.