I Will Become a Phoenix More Noble Than the Emperor - Chapter 3

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

3.

 

 

 

 

It was only a few hours’ journey.

 

Only then did goosebumps rise on the back of Seon-o’s neck.

 

‘They said it would take ten days on foot.’

 

When the quietly stopped carriage suddenly opened its door, Seon-o hesitated for a moment before jumping down with apparent resolve. As soon as the passenger got off, the carriage mercilessly closed its door and disappeared down the mountain slope on its own, just as it had come.

 

The mountain where the carriage had left was desolate. It was absurd that there would be a building in such a treacherous and gloomy place.

 

So, according to what was known, it was a group that manufactured mysterious elixirs on Jamil Mountain, which was said to have strong energy.

 

Since Ji-woon had been lying in that condition for a whole year, it wasn’t incomprehensible that their parents had risked danger to come to this place. Anyone would have done the same.

 

Seon-o raised his head to look up at the golden plaque hanging at the entrance.

 

 

Bu meaning ‘to split’ and Jin meaning ‘to divide.’

 

He knew what they split and what they divided in this terrible place.

 

Shaking off the eeriness creeping up his throat, Seon-o entered Bujingak without hesitation.

 

Bujingak had a closed structure with dozens of small halls surrounding a large central hall. Seon-o’s gaze turned to the pond positioned beyond the Central Hall. The vast pond that spread out on both sides was beautiful in a way that didn’t match the location.

 

Just as Seon-o was about to step toward that place, someone suddenly popped out and blocked his path.

 

“Who might you be?”

 

It was a man with a brightly smiling face and a kind voice. From his attire, he appeared to be an employee of Bujingak. Which meant…

 

Goosebumps ran down Seon-o’s spine as he knew the man’s true identity.

 

“…Ah. I came to make a delivery.”

“A delivery? What kind?”

 

Hiding his dizziness, Seon-o smiled brightly.

 

“A Gamhyang Wine delivery.”

 

Then the employee’s gaze smoothly moved to Seon-o’s hands. Fortunately, Seon-o had brought a bottle of Gamhyang Wine from home before departing. The question was whether his parents had arrived earlier than him.

 

If so, they would ask what he was talking about, but if not…

 

Soon the employee smiled brightly and said,

 

“Ah! You’ve come! We’ve been waiting eagerly. It’s fortunate you arrived safely.”

 

Not yet!

 

“Please come this way.”

 

Seon-o swallowed a big sigh and followed behind the guiding employee. As they entered the hall on the left, he felt cold air. The man passed through a long corridor and opened the door to the room at the end.

 

On the large table in the room was spread a feast grand enough to bend the table legs. The appetizing smell was so rich that just smelling it made his mouth water.

 

“You must be tired from coming all the way to this rough place, so please have a meal before you go.”

 

It was excessive kindness.

 

“Thank you, but I just need to receive the elixir and go.”

“This is a token of appreciation for delivering all the way to this distant place, so please don’t refuse. It’s a special instruction from our Pavilion Master, who is very fond of your special Gamhyang Wine.”

 

Seon-o was about to decline once more when he noticed that one wing of the appetizingly grilled chicken was missing and raised his eyebrows.

 

“…Then I’ll gratefully accept without shame.”

 

When Seon-o handed over the Gamhyang Wine and answered, the man’s face brightened even more.

 

“Yes, then I’ll go get the elixir, so please eat and wait.”

 

The man carefully cradled the Gamhyang Wine and left the room, closing the door. Seon-o gauged the retreating footsteps for a moment before quickly turning around.

 

The chicken missing one wing was suspicious. It felt as if someone had been eating and suddenly stopped.

 

Seon-o held his breath and slowly looked around the room. The room, which only had a dining table, was excessively spacious and luxurious for its purpose. Without even touching the food, Seon-o carefully examined the room and discovered what looked like soy sauce stains on the expensive silk spread on the floor. The black soy sauce stains led to the edge of the silk.

 

Going to the edge of the silk, Seon-o looked down intently at a chicken wing that had been dropped there.

 

Suddenly crouching down and pulling back the silk, Seon-o’s eyes widened greatly.

 

There was a handle carved into the floor where square cracks were drawn. Having immediately found the room’s secret, Seon-o promptly lifted the handle and threw open the door.

 

“Gasp…!”

 

It was as expected.

 

Someone was trapped in the secret space beneath the room.

 

It was his own parents.

 

Discovering his parents looking up at him with gags in their mouths, Seon-o covered his mouth to stifle a moan.

 

His parents had arrived one step ahead of Seon-o!

 

They had clearly already arrived and were having their meal when they were hastily imprisoned here due to Seon-o’s visit. Fortunately, both parents were unharmed. At the thought that her parents were alive, Seon-o’s eyes filled with emotion.

 

Though her parents’ faces changed from relief at their narrow escape to horror upon seeing Seon-o, she shushed them and hurriedly went down below. Using the kitchen knife she had brought to cut the rope binding her mother’s hands and remove the gag, her mother grabbed Seon-o’s shoulders in shock.

 

“Seon-o…! Why are you…!”

“Shh, Mom. They might hear. Keep your voice down.”

“No, you can’t. Run away. Run away, Seon-o!”

“Mom!”

 

Seon-o firmly grasped her panicked mother’s shoulders. It was a miraculous reunion. This was a face she thought she would never see again. Though she was moved to tears, to properly enjoy this emotion, they needed to survive this place.

 

“Pull yourself together. Listen to me carefully.”

 

At her daughter’s unprecedentedly resolute gaze, her mother’s frantic struggling stopped.

 

“I’ll buy us time, so use that opportunity to escape.”

“What…?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll definitely come back.”

“That’s… that’s ridiculous…”

 

Mmph! Her father, who still had his gag on, shook his head frantically, saying no.

 

Seon-o looked back at her father, who had clearly devoured the chicken wings on the table, and smiled like the wind. Even here, he maintained his stubborn preferences – how very like him.

 

“Please promise me. That you’ll do as I say.”

“…”

“Otherwise… there’s no point in me coming here.”

 

When Seon-o pleaded in a voice that seemed ready to crumble, her parents’ faces froze in bewilderment.

 

What on earth was this…?

 

It was already shocking enough that Bujin Pavilion, which supposedly made elixirs, had suddenly tied them up and thrown them under the floor while they were eating, but to reunite with their daughter in such a place.

 

They were confused, unable to understand why Seon-o, who should be at home, was here, how she had found them, or what she meant by telling them to run away and leave her behind.

 

“Please, I’m begging you.”

 

At her desperate plea, her mother could no longer voice her objections and froze, her lips trembling.

 

That’s when they heard footsteps in the distance, and all three pairs of eyes widened.

 

Seon-o hastily climbed up, leaving her parents behind, closed the lid, covered it with silk, then quickly took her seat at the table. Just as Seon-o barely managed to sit down, a black shadow fell across the doorway.

 

-Creak.

 

“…”

 

The man who opened the door saw Seon-o holding a handful of mixed vegetables with her mouth open.

 

“Ah, you’re back already.”

 

Seon-o smiled awkwardly and put down the mixed vegetables. The man looked down at the heaped pile of mixed vegetables for a moment, then smiled.

 

“Is the meal to your liking?”

“It’s very delicious.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, the Head Chef’s skills are truly excellent.”

 

Then the man’s head tilted smoothly to one side.

 

As the man’s face, which was blinking in apparent puzzlement, twisted to an angle that would be impossible for a human neck, Seon-o’s expression hardened.

 

“But why haven’t you taken a single bite?”

 

At the cheerful question, cold chills ran down Seon-o’s back.

 

After staring at the creature for a moment, Seon-o replied bluntly.

 

“You think I’d eat it knowing what you did to this food?”

 

Then the corners of the creature’s mouth, bent at a 90-degree angle, rose upward.

 

“What a clever girl. But what to do? Your father already ate some.”

 

As if delighted by this fact, the man’s mouth tore open to its limits. Seon-o’s stomach churned at the transformation of the demon that had been shape-shifting as a human.

 

When long tentacles shot out from its mouth, Seon-o, who had been prepared, quickly grabbed some chicken and threw it at the tentacles.

 

The disgusting tentacles barely missed Seon-o and wrapped around the chicken instead.

 

Seeing the tentacles confirmed it was indeed a high-level demon. A high-level demon from the very start! Swallowing the curse that wanted to escape, Seon-o focused her mind.

 

“Ptui! You damned bitch!”

 

Taking advantage of the moment, Seon-o grabbed a plate full of chili oil and without hesitation splashed it across the creature’s face, causing it to scream.

 

“Aaaah!”

 

As the creature collapsed, clutching its burning eyes, Seon-o quickly vaulted over the table, leaped over the fallen creature, and ran down the long corridor.

 

“C-catch that girl!”

 

Running desperately until she escaped the hall, she saw demons emerging from halls in all directions. Though they maintained human forms and mimicked humans, they were monsters with tentacles protruding from their mouths and ears. Bujin Pavilion was a demon den where demons lured humans to dismember and devour them.

 

In the novel, On Gang’s parents were the final victims. Shortly after, the Imperial Palace arrived to eliminate them, exposing their true nature and burning Bujin Pavilion to the ground.

 

But there was no telling when the Imperial Palace forces would arrive. It definitely wouldn’t be today.

 

“That wench smells delicious! I must eat that wench to replenish my energy!”

 

The demon who had been shedding tears from the chili oil had somehow crept up right behind Seon-o. The one she had thought was just an employee seemed to be the Bujingak Leader himself. At his command, three or four demons drooled as they chased after Seon-o.

 

Seon-o deliberately ran in the opposite direction from the hall she had just left, trying to buy time for her parents to escape.

 

Just then, one of the demons that had gotten closest and was reaching out its tentacles toward her suddenly collapsed.

 

“Damn it! Who grabbed my ankle! Was it you!”

“You idiot! Who’s grabbing who! Get out of the way! Ugh!”

“Where do you think you’re going! You’re not going anywhere either!”

 

The enraged demons tangled together and fell, then began strangling each other.

 

No one noticed that some mysterious man who had grabbed those demons’ ankles was perched on top of a large tree, looking down at the scene.

 

Thanks to the time the man had bought her, Seon-o escaped the crisis but soon found herself blocked by a dead end wall. Behind a large tree stretched a towering stone wall. On both sides spread a vast pond, leaving her nowhere to escape. Seon-o looked at the pond with trembling eyes.

 

Finally, the voice of the demon that had caught up to Seon-o could be heard.

 

“Hehe, did you think you could escape from here?”

 

Swallowing her ragged breath, Seon-o turned around. Grotesque demons that no longer maintained human form were approaching, drooling.

 

“You smell delicious. After eating your parents as an appetizer, I’ll devour you bones and all.”

 

At those despicable words, Seon-o gritted her teeth and pulled out the kitchen knife she had hidden in her clothes. The demon let out a tearing laugh at that pitiful weapon.

 

“Now I see you’re the head chef!”

 

Despite his mockery, Seon-o resolutely raised the kitchen knife.

 

Her heart was beating so fast it hurt.

 

Left chest. Left chest…

 

Seon-o carefully confirmed the location of her heart and then—

 

Thunk.

 

She plunged the knife toward her own heart.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————