By Zephyria 
Setting the child on the floor, he leaped and bounded up the wall. From the ceiling, arrows, spears, and harmful sorcery poured down as if they had been waiting. Young-pa avoided them by jumping or smashed them to pieces, and at times, he deflected them by coating his arms in spiritual energy. After several mid-air flips, his fingertips touched the mirror. He snatched the treasure and landed on the ground.
“Mister, you’re amazing!”
The child jumped up and down in delight. Young-pa gave a smirk and wiped the surface of the mirror with his sleeve. His own face, filled with anticipation, was reflected in the glass.
He flipped the mirror over, shook it, and held it to his ear, but nothing happened. For an object so exquisitely crafted, it felt devoid of any energy, hardly seeming as if it contained a part of a deity.
His face, which had been full of excitement, twisted.
“They tricked me.”
As he hurled the mirror away, the surface cracked with a sharp clink. Young-pa was furious to the point of madness that an object supposedly imbued with divine power shattered from a mere drop. He leaped toward the mirror and stomped violently on the debris.
“It’s a fake, you bastards!”
As he let out a primal scream, dust fell from the cave ceiling. Wudam and the four guards stood silently, even in the face of such a menacing sight.
Young-pa bent down and picked up the largest shard of the mirror. As he ground his teeth and tightened his fist, the mirror dug into his palm, and blood dripped down.
“Where is the changjingyeong, you fuckers!”
His voice thundered through the entire cave. Wudam, who had been quiet, wore a meaningful smile.
“Screaming is useless. That mirror has been lost for a long time.”
“Lost?”
“Yes. Word has it that the ancestor of this foolish human lost it. Not that the Masters have any interest in such a trivial object anyway.”
“What? Masters?”
“What the Masters want is you, Master Young-pa.”
Wudam—or rather, the something dwelling within his body—answered. Looking at Wudam’s glowing yellow eyes, Young-pa trembled. He felt as though killing and destroying everything here would not be enough to quench his rage.
As Young-pa strode forward, the four guards surrounded Wudam. Judging by the fact that the one dressed in black was at the front, he seemed to be the leader.
The four guards simultaneously took combat stances. Fitting their colorful attire, the ritual weapons they drew were all different. The black one held a sword, the red one a staff, the white one a fan, and the blue one gripped chains.
“Hehehe, he, hahahaha!”
Young-pa’s shoulders shook before he threw his head back and laughed thunderously.
“Sending such trash as a trap… just how much do you despise me!”
Young-pa charged like a bolt of lightning. He swung the mirror shard into the black master’s stomach while simultaneously summoning a storm wind to blow the others far away.
Young-pa and the black master exchanged several blows in an instant. Every time Young-pa swung the mirror, a chilling sound echoed as it sliced through the damp air. The black master slashed horizontally with his sword, but Young-pa had already moved behind him, stabbing his shoulder with the mirror shard and using his body as a shield to block the chains swung by the blue master.
As the chains wrapped tightly around the black master’s neck, the blue master panicked and let go of his weapon. Young-pa then hoisted the black master upward, using him to deflect the staff struck down by the red master. Since it was a strike that reinforced the wooden staff to be like a chunk of iron, the black master vomited blood upon taking the hit to his back. When Young-pa yanked the chains around his neck, the black master screamed before suffocating and going limp.
Young-pa discarded him and leaped upward. A lasso spell thrown by the blue master struck the spot where Young-pa had been standing just a moment ago, hitting nothing.
The white master, who had been chanting spells in the corner, summoned a wind monster. At his command to kill the enemy, the giant monster lunged at Young-pa, savagely clawing through the air.
“Cute.”
Young-pa scoffed. Since he was well-versed in wind spellcraft, it was only natural that he knew how to dismantle it. Young-pa rolled on the ground to avoid the monster’s teeth and dashed somewhere.
“Here, take this!”
What the wind loves are things that never change. When Young-pa threw the golden rim of the fake changjingyeong, the monster chased after it frantically. It grew quiet as it hugged the piece of gold to its chest. The white master screamed in disbelief.
“Attack! I said attack that bastard!”
The wind monster grew fainter and eventually vanished, carrying the gold with it.
Just then, the red master launched a surprise attack from behind. Young-pa blocked the descending staff with his arm while simultaneously deflecting the lasso spell cast by the blue master. He then charged at the white master, closing the distance in an instant.
“A junior should respect his seniors!”
The white master opened his fan and began to chant a spell, but Young-pa struck his lower abdomen with a fist wrapped in a whirlwind, killing him instantly as blood sprayed from his mouth. All that remained were the blue master, the red master, and the monster occupying Wudam’s body. Young-pa caught his breath and glared at them.
“You’re annoying, so all of you come at me at once.”
The two masters charged with a shout. Their spirit was passable, but their skill was not. The blue master was struggling, having lost his weapon early on, and the red master seemed to realize that his staff techniques could not damage Young-pa.
The red master squeezed out his last bit of strength for a final blow. It was a technique that thrust the staff at a speed invisible to the eye. Young-pa blocked all of those attacks with the mirror shard.
When sorcery surged from the floor to wrap around his ankles, Young-pa unleashed a Gale, forcing the blue master backward and scattering the spell. He pursued the fleeing red master and kicked him high with his knee. Then, he grabbed the man upside down and slammed him into the floor. The man died with his skull crushed.
“Since it’s come to this, I have no regrets. Kill me!”
The blue master knelt, having resigned himself to everything. With dark eyes, Young-pa granted his wish. As he slit the throat with the mirror shard, the last remaining guard lost his life.
“Haa, haa…”
Covered in blood, Young-pa panted. He threw away the blood-stained mirror shard and brought his palm to his mouth to lick the flowing blood. Then, he strode toward the final remaining enemy.
He didn’t even need a weapon to finish him. No matter how skilled a serpent might be, there isn’t much it can do once it enters the body of an ordinary human.
As Young-pa approached, the thing occupying Wudam’s body narrowed its yellow eyes and hissed.
“What will you do? Will you kill this human?”
“You think I can’t?”
“The young master is innocent!”
Young-pa burst into a wicked laugh.
“You didn’t know. Unlike ordinary humans, I have no mercy.”
He approached the trembling Wudam and wrapped his blood-soaked hand around his neck. As he lifted his arm, Wudam’s feet left the ground.
“I was trying to find out why I’m so peculiar on this occasion, and a piece of trash like you dares to trick me?”
“Ugh, ugh, ugh!”
“I’ll kill you!”
As Young-pa let out a loud shout and shook the neck, Wudam writhed in agony. No matter how much he struggled, Young-pa did not let go, merely glaring with a vicious expression.
As the violent movements subsided and breath was about to cease, a tawny serpent leaped out from the wide-open mouth. Young-pa released Wudam and snatched the small silk snake.
Looking at the creature, Young-pa ground his teeth.
“Something as tiny as a rat’s cock dared to act so bold.”
The snake thrashed wildly in Young-pa’s grip. Young-pa brought his brow close to its yellow eyes and growled.
“Tell me the way out of here.”
—Kyahhh, there is none!
“There must be something. You’d better confess right now.”
—I told you there isn’t!
“If you had killed me according to plan, there would have been a way to escape, you piece of shit!”
—Hehe, the Masters would have come to rescue us after they finished their meal.
Young-pa thought of Biryoo, who must have been taken by Master Neungui. He was quite exceptionally skilled for a human, but he relied on the help of a suspicious necklace, and his special ability was bound by Young-pa’s spellcraft. Even if Lee Shim was by his side, he was only skilled at disguise and offered no real help.
‘They’re probably both dead by now.’
He recalled the final sight of Biryoo’s back as he walked toward Master Neungui. It was none other than Young-pa himself who had tricked him, bound him, and sold him to the serpent. They could have gotten along better, but the only scenes he remembered were himself shouting about whether to rape him or not, and Biryoo’s contemptuous gaze.
As Young-pa tightened his grip, the snake writhed. His thumbnail dug between the scales, tearing the skin open. The snake let out a horrific scream.
“Your master will be torn to shreds by my hands.”
—Kyahhh! You’re the one who should wait quietly. The Masters will carve you into eight pieces and swallow you equally…
Unable to contain his rage, Young-pa crushed the snake. Still unsatisfied, he let out a scream and tore the carcass with his teeth, chewing it up.
“Ma… Master… p-p-please… save…”
Wudam, collapsed on the floor, was weeping and bleeding. As Young-pa approached and placed a hand on his neck, black energy rose from his palm.
“I… I am sorry. Ugh…”
“Don’t speak.”
“I… I went to Master Neungui to explain the situation… and he cast a spell on me… the training center director… suddenly inside my body…”
“I told you not to speak.”
The color slowly returned to Wudam’s pale complexion. With trembling hands, he pulled something from his chest. It was a black band with the four directional gods engraved on the rim.
“Ma… Master Geum Dong… was not on the register…”
Wudam wept uncontrollably.
“He said while wandering the grounds, he noticed something suspicious… and that they e-e-e-ate the Master.”
Young-pa had a rough idea. In fact, he had noticed when the silk snake replied that Geum-dongi had received the band and tied it around his head. This was because he was one-armed.
“Ugh… sob, I’m s-sorry…”
“I told you to shut up.”
Young-pa took his time to fully heal Wudam’s body. Wudam wailed in gratitude. As soon as he could stand on his own two feet, he ran to the child trembling in the corner.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Uwaaaaah, I’m scared… so scared.”
“I’m sorry for showing you such a sight. It will be alright now.”
The child clung to Wudam and sobbed loudly.
Young-pa picked up one of the oil lamps fallen on the floor. He walked through every corner, trying to gauge where they were in the underground. However, the path they had taken was so complex that he could not remember it.
“Boy, don’t you know the way out?”
“It’s too complex here, so I don’t really know… and above all, aren’t we trapped? That door only opens from the outside.”
“Then I suppose I’ll have to break the door.”
Young-pa placed his palm on the door and examined it quietly. It was a false wall, but it was exceptionally thick. While he could destroy it by applying impact, there were too many risk factors. Young-pa recalled how the cave had collapsed when he escaped the snake cave. If he were alone, he would try to break through, but this time he was burdened with two incompetent fools.
Giving up on breaking the wall, Young-pa walked around tapping the ceiling and floor. Then, he lay flat on the ground and pressed his ear to it.
“I’ve been hearing the faint sound of water. If there’s flowing water, there should be an exit. What is beneath us?”
“It is likely an old waterway that connected to an external well. I heard that when a great calamity struck the nation, my great-great-grandfather took only important items and jumped into the waterway. After that, he swam out through the water path. Later, he blocked and removed the well fearing intruders might enter through that passage.”
“Then the exit was blocked, but the passage itself should still exist.”
“I… I’m not sure.”
“Let’s go. It’ll be better than rotting here.”
Young-pa ordered Wudam to hold the child in the corner, then walked to the center of the room and chanted a spell. A small storm formed above his hand and grew stronger. As Young-pa did not stop, the vortex continued to expand until it was as large as his upper body.
Young-pa’s arms trembled, and a bead of sweat ran down his brow. He drew out all the spiritual energy in his body and poured it into the spell. Once the power of the sorcery became unbearable, Young-pa pushed the vortex downward.
K-BOOM!
The black wind collided with the ground, triggering an earthquake. With a thunderous roar, the earth shook so violently that it was impossible to stand.
Young-pa ran to the corner and wrapped the two people in his arms. For a moment, it felt as if the ground were undulating, and then the floor split open with a loud cracking sound. Young-pa, Wudam, and the child slid down the tilting floor.
The next moment, they plummeted. The time spent falling felt like an eternal age.
≋ ≋ ≋
When the fall ended, as Young-pa expected, he plunged into water. He accidentally swallowed some water before spitting it out. The water had a foul stench and the temperature was freezing. The sight of dust and filth floating in the water was unusual.
Young-pa realized there was no exit. Seeing how rotten it was, it meant the water had been stagnant for a very long time.
‘I definitely heard a sound… which means there are things splashing around in here.’
Young-pa swam up to the surface.
On the water, Wudam and the child were splashing and struggling. Young-pa had the child cling to his neck and grabbed Wudam by the collar to pull him up.
“Oh my, I’m dying! I’m dying!”
As Wudam remained delirious, Young-pa dragged him to the wall and made him lean against it. Wudam barely managed to brace himself against the wall and vomited dark water.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
“Ma… Master… the water is too cold. What… wh-wh-what do we do now?”
Just as Young-pa was about to open his mouth, there was a splashing sound behind them. Young-pa asked quickly.
“Can you stay afloat?”
“Ah, yes… but it’s so cold…”
“This is no time to complain, so shut your mouth.”
Seeing that Wudam had calmed down, Young-pa handed over the child. Despite being disoriented and terrified, Wudam took the child. The child was sobbing as if he were about to lose his breath.
“This place is full of monsters. I’ll deal with them and come back, so hold onto that child tightly.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a fish the size of a human leaped above the surface. The teeth visible between its open jaws were sharp, and a menacing horn grew from its forehead. Wudam and the child screamed simultaneously.
Young-pa leaped off the wall and grabbed the fish by its waist. The two fell into the disgusting water as one mass.
Young-pa wrestled with the fish underwater. The fish writhed violently and tried to bite, but Young-pa held on with all his might, hugging its waist.
When the resistance weakened, Young-pa climbed onto the fish’s back and snapped the horn on its forehead with a crunch. The fish then became docile.
Young-pa slowed his heart rate and blood flow, holding his breath. Riding the fish and gripping the horn like a sword, he scouted the surroundings. Because the water quality was poor, he couldn’t see far, but he had a feeling it was wide enough that the end was unknown.
All sorts of monsters swarmed there. Young-pa saw an octopus with five eyes, a fish with fins as wide as fans, and water snakes with eyeballs that glowed like beads. The small and harmless ones avoided Young-pa, but the large and ferocious ones bared their teeth and lunged.
Young-pa killed the enemies one by one, stabbing them with the horn. It was a gruesome sight as blood spread through the already filthy water. After clearing out a fair amount of the aggressive monsters, Young-pa returned to the surface.
“Ma… Master…”
Wudam’s face was pale. The sound of his teeth chattering could be heard.
“It’s… it’s too cold. The child is shivering severely; I’m af-afraid something might happen to him.”
Looking closely, Young-pa saw that Wudam’s lips had turned dark; he was on the verge of death. Young-pa could heal wounds, but there was no way to bring back the dead. That was impossible even for a deity.
‘Did I come down here for nothing?’
Young-pa looked up at the pitch-black hole. The passage from the treasure vault they had fallen through was so high it was invisible. Young-pa thought hard for a way out, but the only plan that came to mind was the waterway Wudam had mentioned.
Just as he was about to speak, Wudam screamed and was dragged into the water. When Young-pa quickly dove in, he saw a monster with a tail as long as seaweed wrapped around Wudam’s ankle, swimming away rapidly.
Young-pa urged the fish forward and caught up to Wudam. He swung the horn to sever the tail and pushed Wudam and the child up to the surface. Then, he pursued the monster and cut its throat.
There were about ten similar creatures nearby. When Young-pa burst the eyeballs and entrails of two of them, the rest slunk away and swam far off.