The Granddaughter of the Manhyang Escort Agency Hides Her Magic - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1

Extreme terror swallows even sound.

In the cave filled only with darkness, where the only thing that shone were the imugi’s eyes, Shin Ah, a courier of Manhyang Express, couldn’t even breathe properly.

Standing before the imugi that stared at her with gleaming eyes, Shin Ah’s body convulsed incessantly, and her mind went completely blank.

Even the obvious thought of running away didn’t occur to her.

The imugi, which had been motionless like a giant hill, flicked its long tongue.

Only then did the breath that had been trapped in Shin Ah’s throat burst out.

‘Am I going to die?’

She couldn’t see any hope at all.

The imugi was large enough to fill the entire cave. It was coiled up, making it difficult to know its exact length, but it looked to be easily 8 jang (about 24m) long.

Just by looking, its body’s circumference was formidable, so its weight would be beyond imagination.

If bitten, instant death.

If crushed, instant death.

Either way, all that awaited Shin Ah was death.

‘If only I could use magic, that mere imugi would be nothing.’

Shin Ah gritted her teeth.

Shin Ah had been a great mage in her previous life. Then she opened her eyes in an unfamiliar body in a world without magic, and had been obsessed with magic ever since.

After a long obsession, she had barely managed to let go of her attachment to magic and resolved to live earnestly as a courier for Manhyang Express just a month ago.

But to encounter an imugi on her first delivery mission—what was this about?

Moreover, judging by the murderous aura it emanated, this imugi didn’t seem to be one that was cultivating to become a dragon.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Shin Ah’s mind.

‘So that’s why he gave me this commission.’

She recalled the face of her uncle, So Baekrim, who had told her that a delivery commission had come in for her.

It was a face full of greed, connected to the deaths of her grandfather, Shin Ah’s father, and her older brother.

So Baekrim had taken over the express company when So Hyeokho, who had been the head of Manhyang Express, died. After that, he thoroughly ignored Shin Ah.

But as soon as Shin Ah said she would do her part as a courier this time, he gave her work.

‘I didn’t notice anything strange then because I was too flustered, but was his plan to throw me into the imugi’s mouth?’

Could it be that her father and older brother, whose bodies were never found, were also dealt with in this way?

Thinking that far, goosebumps rose all over Shin Ah’s body.

‘He didn’t send me on a delivery mission, he sent me to the Snake Den.’

This place was to be the site of her grave.

Shin Ah clenched her fists, broke free from the imugi’s pressure, and looked down at her sword that was nothing more than an ornament.

‘If I had known this would happen, instead of making a fuss about getting my magic back, I should have built up my internal energy.’

Shin Ah touched her bean-sized dantian and laughed hollowly.

‘What should I do here?’

Shin Ah’s contemplation wasn’t long.

Since she had decided to become a courier after a long period of wandering, let her first finish her work as a courier.

Shin Ah put strength firmly in her belly and shouted.

“So Shin Ah, courier of Manhyang Express, has come to deliver a package sent by Lee Haengseong, owner of Moran Pavilion.”

The imugi’s hissing sound only grew a little louder, but no sign of human presence could be heard from inside.

‘I had a feeling. So the person who’s supposed to receive it… isn’t a person but an imugi.’

Shin Ah put down the package.

The imugi, which had only been flicking its tongue until then, began to move leisurely.

Right after the strange thing had entered the cave, it had watched quietly, wondering what it was, but it was just a worthless human with internal energy as thin as a mouse’s tail.

To the imugi, Shin Ah was less than a mouse in a jar.

As the massive body moved, stone fragments fell down onto Shin Ah’s head. Shin Ah reflexively squeezed her eyes shut.

The imugi didn’t miss the opportunity and rushed at her like lightning, sinking its teeth into Shin Ah’s side.

“Heuuk.”

A scream filled with pain burst out. She had prepared for death, but when pain actually struck, she instinctively began to struggle.

The more she did so, the deeper the poisonous fangs dug in.

Shin Ah realized how arrogant she had been.

“Heua, heu, sa, save me, heua.”

Preparing for death had been a childish thought. When the moment of death actually struck, she wanted to live.

“I want to live…”

Shin Ah gasped and pleaded, but it was futile.

The imugi’s poison quickly invaded Shin Ah’s body. The places where the poison spread felt like they were burning fiercely.

‘Am I really ending here?’

It was the moment when strength completely drained from Shin Ah’s body.

“Am I too late?”

Rough breathing and a desperate voice were heard.

Shin Ah barely opened her closing eyes. Down there was a man with an unfamiliar yet somehow familiar face.

“You are… Mugyeol…”

Shin Ah murmured the name from her memory in a thin voice.

He was a slave of Manhyang Express who used to help Shin Ah when she was young. Then he disappeared at some point, and now he had appeared as a grown man at this perfect moment.

Hearing his name being called, his eyes lit up as he raised his sword.

And he disappeared before Shin Ah’s eyes. No, it felt like he had disappeared.

Mugyeol, who had moved that quickly, reappeared in front of Shin Ah after

Thud-

the sound of the imugi’s body falling echoed.

Mugyeol had beheaded the imugi!

Before she could be amazed by his skill, Shin Ah’s body began to fall.

“Young miss!”

Mugyeol threw down his sword, ran over, and caught the falling Shin Ah.

“How, how…”

Are you here? What was that just now?

Shin Ah’s eyes were full of confusion.

Mugyeol smiled bitterly, laid Shin Ah on the ground, and carefully separated the imugi’s head.

“Don’t speak. I’ll explain later.”

I’m dying, when is later?

“You won’t die, young miss. I’ll save you. Just wait a moment.”

He replied as if he had heard Shin Ah’s thoughts.

Without hesitation, he picked up the sword he had thrown on the ground and approached the writhing imugi’s corpse.

And shortly after, Mugyeol appeared covered in blood, holding the imugi’s inner core.

“You have to eat this.”

Mugyeol brought the imugi’s inner core close to Shin Ah’s mouth.

But Shin Ah, whose strength had waned, couldn’t move at all. She could only blink her eyes.

Mugyeol bit his lower lip hard. He looked extremely sad and anxious.

‘Why?’

Shin Ah’s eyes were full of puzzlement.

‘Why are you sad?’

She wanted to ask, but the question only circled in her mouth.

Shin Ah, who instinctively knew this was the end, slowly closed her eyes that she had been struggling to keep open.

That’s when it happened.

Something soft was pushed into her mouth. It was fishy, bitter, and hot.

Shin Ah’s eyes opened wide. Mugyeol’s face was right in front of her nose.

Through Mugyeol’s long eyelashes hanging down and the fishy taste flowing down her throat, Shin Ah realized what was happening.

Mugyeol was feeding her the imugi’s inner core through mouth-to-mouth transfer.

Shin Ah’s mind was filled with ‘why.’

It wasn’t just the inner core of some snake that had lived a mere few decades, but an imugi that had surely lived for several hundred years. Without a doubt, it was certainly one of the most precious things in martial arts history.

If she couldn’t digest it herself, she could simply sell it. In that case, she would immediately rise to the ranks of the wealthy.

‘Why would you give something so precious to me…?’

Her thoughts couldn’t continue for long. The inner core’s effects manifested immediately.

The imugi’s inner core melted into Shin Ah’s dantian and became internal energy, following Mugyeol’s desperate True Energy Circulation to detoxify the poison and regenerate her damaged organs.

Nevertheless, Shin Ah’s life slowly faded away.

While the imugi’s inner core could detoxify the poison, it couldn’t fully regenerate organs that had already melted away.

Suddenly, sorrow surged up.

If they were going to kill her, why not do it at once? Why give her hope only to snatch it away?

“Magic… mana… my circle…”

If only she had that, she wouldn’t have reached this point.

It was regrettable and unfair.

Shin Ah’s voice grew faint. Her vision gradually blurred and her fingertips grew cold. Shin Ah’s heartbeat slowly weakened.

“Miss, stay conscious! Miss!”

Mugyeol shouted after finishing the True Energy Circulation, but she could barely hear him.

Light, sound, everything grew distantly far away. Shin Ah soon sank into perfect darkness.

She felt her body floating.

Her heart was about to stop like this… or so she thought, but it wasn’t.

The dantian below her navel began to swirl, and something repeatedly went through a process of being dismantled and reassembled.

Her body wasn’t actually being dismantled, so it must have been just a feeling, but Shin Ah sensed it vividly.

Hidden fragments of energy burst out through bone and flesh, becoming one and taking form.

“Ah…! A circle!”

An exclamation unbefitting of death burst from between Shin Ah’s teeth.

“…Only now?”

Her circle had returned.

So Shin Ah, granddaughter of Manhyang Express who had been the continent’s greatest genius mage in her previous life, became a mage again only at the moment of death.

However, before she could rejoice, death came crashing down.

“Miss!”

The last sound she heard was Mugyeol’s desperate cry.

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