Chapter 77
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Chapter 77
Beneath a desolate night sky where the moon lay hidden behind clouds.
Jjak Jjak, perched upon a wooden roost and drowsily blinking, suddenly began fluttering his wings with violent, stuttering motions.
Flap! Flap, flap—!
The bird's frantic wing-beats grew desperate, as though suffocating, his cries turning to anguished gasps—
Caw! Caw-caw, caw!
He regurgitated his meal like a cow chewing cud, then collapsed in a heap.
Jjak Jjak's body darkened to pitch black, and something round and glistening burst forth between his beak.
"Grrrrr...."
A poison beetle began slowly inflating its body.
"Grrrrr... grrrrr...."
The first to rush out at the commotion was none other than Jeok Soya.
"Jjak Jjak!"
Jeok Soya screamed as she beheld Jjak Jjak's blackened form collapsed upon the ground and the poison beetle swelling to monstrous proportions.
"Grrrrrrrrr...!"
Unlike its listless demeanor during the day, the poison beetle now roared with the fury of its grotesquely bloated form.
Sayeon and the villagers who came running at the sound froze in horror.
"By the heavens, a poison beetle!"
"Danger, little one!"
Baek Gayul cried out in alarm from among the crowd.
In that instant, the poison beetle lunged toward Jeok Soya.
"Grrrrr...!"
Crash—!
As Sayeon swiftly snatched Jeok Soya away with one arm, the stone wall behind her crumbled to dust.
In moments, the entire area descended into chaos.
"Little one, are you hurt?"
Sayeon kept his gaze fixed upon the poison beetle while tightening his protective grip around Jeok Soya as he spoke.
"No, Father. I'm fine. But the poison beetle...."
"The darkness. It was waiting for its chance inside Jjak Jjak's belly, and when the light vanished, it crawled free."
Gunggi's poison beetle was as formidable as any demon beast when deprived of light as it was now.
Each time the poison beetle dripped its venom, the ground where it fell hissed and corroded away.
"Everyone, take shelter!"
At Sayeon's command, the villagers scrambled behind the gates.
The poison beetle turned its head, searching for prey with a guttural growl, when it spotted Baek Gayul, who had failed to escape in time.
In an instant, the poison beetle charged toward him.
Its speed was inconceivable for such a massive body—faster than lightning itself.
Yet Sayeon was faster still.
He rolled swiftly and leaped, snatching Baek Gayul with his remaining arm and tucking his body away from danger.
Then he set Jeok Soya and Baek Gayul down in a safe location.
"Stay quiet here, little ones."
Sayeon drew his long blade and advanced toward the poison beetle.
"Father, you're wounded...!"
Jeok Soya belatedly noticed blood dripping from Sayeon's sleeve.
He had been grazed by the poison beetle while rescuing the two children.
Yet Sayeon showed no change in expression as he rushed forward and cleaved the poison beetle in a single stroke.
A sickening spray—
"Grrrrrrrrgh...!"
The poison beetle's corpse convulsed in its final throes before collapsing with a wet, squelching sound.
As Sayeon turned away from the repugnant sight, his brow furrowed.
A faint rustle.
Sensing a presence from behind, Sayeon's expression froze in an instant.
He tightened his grip on the sword's hilt, about to turn back.
"Father!"
The moment Jeok Soya rushed toward him, the poison beetle's corpse exploded with a sharp "bang!"
Black ichor sprayed in all directions, shimmering as though it could corrode the entire world.
"Cotton puff, you!"
Sayeon dodged by a hair's breadth and pulled Jeok Soya into his embrace.
"...!"
Yet in that instant, his eyes trembled violently as he looked at the child.
He had spotted the poison beetle's black ichor splattered across her fair cheek.
A sharp sting—
"Ugh."
Jeok Soya's eyes narrowed at the eerie sensation of the liquid eating through her skin.
In an instant, the venom burrowed deep, turning her flesh pitch black as it surged toward her core.
"Cotton puff...!"
With Sayeon's desperate cry—
A sharp crack!
Something surrounding her core shattered, and Jeok Soya's pupils dilated.
"Ah...!"
Jeok Soya gasped involuntarily.
In an instant, the entire world flashed brilliant white.
Crackle, crackle. Crackle—
In the profound silence, only the sound of flames burning echoed through the space.
Jeok Soya had felt something similar once before.
In a world where time itself seemed frozen, where only she alone seemed to breathe and live—that strange, uncanny sensation....
—Child.
Soon, a magnificent phoenix wreathed in enormous, radiant flames appeared before Jeok Soya's eyes.
—At last you have found me, little bird.
A voice both gentle and soft yet simultaneously majestic and overwhelming resonated in her mind like a transmission.
"Who are you...."
I swallowed hard.
Tap, tap—.
I had seen this magnificent fire bird with brilliant crimson feathers that blazed like dancing flames somewhere before.
Long ago.
Back when I lived at the Joojak Residence.
In the Phoenix paintings scattered throughout the estate, I had glimpsed such a colossal and beautiful being.
An ancient divine beast—Phoenix.
"Phoenix...?"
As I murmured in disbelief, the crimson bird opened its beak with a voice tinged with quiet laughter.
―Yes. I am the Purifier of the Southern Lands. A divine beast, Phoenix. Long ago, you awakened me. Little bird of the south.
"...!"
My eyes widened in shock.
'That voice calling to me all this time... was Phoenix?'
―Since you awakened me, I shall grant you the purifying flames that cleanse all things.
Soon the blazing fire enveloped my body in warmth, then dissipated like smoke.
At the same moment, a small flame kindled in the palm of my hand.
The instant I saw it, I understood.
I could now command this purifying flame freely in the palm of my hand.
Just as I had known how to move the moment Baekho handed me the Baekho Sword...
―Fire is precise yet small. Yet this single spark can grow to consume the entire world at any moment.
I lifted my gaze at Phoenix's voice.
―So always be careful, little bird. Lest you yourself be consumed.
"...."
I remained silent for a long while.
I simply stared at the flame blooming in my palm.
―Child?
The brilliant fire bird tilted its head, shaking its crimson feathers.
"You're saying... I awakened you?"
I lifted my head again to look at Phoenix.
"That doesn't make sense. How could I possibly awaken you? I... I've never even met you before!"
Phoenix smiled softly at my outcry.
―That day was just like this blazing flame—a night when a crimson moon hung in the sky.
Soon the flames surged and encircled me in a perfect ring.
―Let me show you the day we first met.
"Oh."
As the flames grew fiercer, I squeezed my eyes shut.
And when I opened them again.
"This place..."
The Joojak Residence, bathed beneath a blood-red moonlight, welcomed me.
I looked around with a bewildered expression.
At that moment, a man with red hair passed in front of Jeok Soya, his face etched with anxiety.
A flutter of recognition.
Startled, I lifted my head to examine the man's face once more.
"That person is...!"
He appeared slightly younger than I remembered, yet there was no mistaking his identity.
Jeok Ahyun.
The patriarch of the Jujak Family—the man I had long regarded as my father.
'Why is he here...? Is this an illusion...?'
As I gazed up at the man in bewilderment, Phoenix's voice resonated within my mind.
―It is both illusion and a true memory from the past. Twelve years ago. The night when the crimson moon rose, child.
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