The Snake, the Flower, and the Tiger - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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43

No matter that she’d failed to perform Exorcism on the creature, there was no reason for her to suffer like this.
Hee-seo resolved to seek out Kim Jong-hyeop as soon as A-seon’s health recovered, and without hesitation she kicked the man downward, sending him tumbling.
After confirming that he’d crashed onto the asphalt road with the dull sound of a rolling log, Hee-seo wiped her damp forehead.
“Let me show you just how much of a nuisance I can be, grandfather.”
She was murmuring this dark resolve when she’d been about to grab the tree and descend the mountain—when suddenly, the man who’d been unconscious on the ground began coughing harshly, hacking and wheezing.
Had he already regained consciousness? Hee-seo’s body stiffened as she concealed herself behind a tree and peered down.
And in that moment, what unfolded before her eyes forced her to doubt her own vision.
‘……What is that?’
It was far too early for fog, yet a thick haze hung over the asphalt. The problem was that the fog was a deep crimson. It looked as though blood had evaporated and become mist.
Her body, still damp with perspiration, felt a chill creep through it and began to tremble involuntarily. Hee-seo froze where she stood, her lips pressed hard together.
The crimson, desolate fog spreading before her eyes was not unfamiliar.
‘It’s definitely…….’
A memory as vivid as yesterday came flooding back in a flash.
The crimson serpent crawling across the roof of that vast manor, and the crimson fog that surrounded it. The scales of the snake and the gleam of its two eyes.
As Hee-seo froze like ice, the crimson fog continued to fill the road until the fallen man was no longer visible.
The crimson fog writhed like a living thing, growing larger. And from no discernible direction came a sound: hiss, hiss, hiss—
Hee-seo’s senses sent her a clear warning.
Run now. This instant.
Just as she tried to lift one of her leaden legs to move, a branch snapped. A broken twig crumbled beneath her foot.
It was a small sound, but the crimson fog stopped moving as if sensing a prey.
“……!”
In that moment, a pair of enormous eyes surfaced from within the fog, gleaming as they fixed upon Hee-seo.
Hee-seo bolted. She ran toward the mountain again, then suddenly changed direction and descended. She didn’t know what was chasing her, but her only aim was to shake it off by any means.
“Ha, huff, huff……!”
Hisssss— hisssss!
Yet despite her efforts, it closed the distance between them steadily. Unlike when she’d evaded the men, there was nowhere to hide atop rocks or trees.
Before long, the crimson fog surged forward like a tidal wave, wrapping itself around Hee-seo’s ankle.
“Ugh, ack!”
Mere contact with the fog brought a pain as though she’d been touched by a blade.
Yet Hee-seo gritted her teeth and ran on. Behind her, the great crimson serpent seemed to open its jaws and breathe down her neck.
She stumbled several times but refused to look back. Yet even on familiar mountain paths, running through the dark without light was no easy feat. Eventually her foot caught on something and she tumbled headlong to the ground.
Even as she rolled downward, Hee-seo curled her body tight and wrapped her arms around her head. It was an effort to minimize impact.
“Ah!”
Despite her precautions, a jagged stone caught her shin squarely. Unable to overcome her momentum, the collision was fierce, and pain shot through her as if bone had shattered.
Not long after, Hee-seo crashed onto the asphalt road where she’d first fled.
“Ugh……, ha, huff.”
Hee-seo lay on the ground, cradling her shin as she surveyed her surroundings. She thought she’d run far, yet not far away the unconscious man still lay exactly where he’d fallen.
“……Damn it. Not even a trickster’s game at this point.”
Spirits were more fearful than humans, and things close to divine beings were more fearful than spirits.
The mountain where Baek Song-am stood was a place where the Mountain God’s presence yet lingered, so Dokkaebi and lesser spirits could not rampage freely.
Until now, certainly.
Hee-seo shifted her weight to her uninjured leg and pushed herself up, drawing on strength that wouldn’t fully come. Already the crimson aura had closed to within arm’s reach.
Flight was already impossible. Perhaps it had been impossible from the moment she first saw the crimson fog.
Hee-seo steadied her breathing, drew the Sambuljeon from her waist, and began to recite the Shen Wang Jing.
If she couldn’t escape, she would stand and fight by borrowing the Mountain God’s power.
“Beyond the distant peaks, great Mountain God, precious and noble deity, great Mountain God…….”
As she unfolded the Sambuljeon, soft light radiated from the three Buddhas who sensed the supernatural presence. She closed her eyes to focus her mind. Then from within the fog, a sinister aura became starkly apparent.
Her lips trembled involuntarily at the presence of a power far greater than anything she’d ever felt before. This confirmed without question that the serpent she’d seen in Je-eon’s manor had been real.
Even as Hee-seo recited the Shen Wang Jing and straightened her stance, the crimson fog drew steadily closer.
She could almost smell the metallic stench of the fog now. Her grip on the Sambuljeon tightened. And the moment all her Vital Power concentrated into the fan—
‘……It comes!’
In that instant, she felt the full breath of a massive beast exhaling with a hiss.
Then, brilliant light flooded from behind Hee-seo. A horn blast, near deafening, shook the mountain.
“Hee-seo!”
A car surged toward her through the dust and engine roar, and as she spun around in alarm at her name, it stopped with perfect precision just before her and spun a half rotation.
A man sitting in the driver’s seat called out to her through the open window.
“Hee-seo, hurry!”
Screech—!
In that same instant, an enormous serpent burst from within the crimson mist. Hee-seo clenched her teeth and swung the Sambuljeon at it.
When the fan struck that massive head—large enough to swallow a grown person whole—the impact and pain crashed through her simultaneously, as though she’d driven a hammer into stone.
Fortunately, the crimson serpent recoiled from the blow, its body convulsing as it released a grotesque, inhuman cry.
But there was no time to catch her breath. Faced with the hellish scene unfolding before her eyes, Hee-seo stifled a scream and hurled herself through the open car door.
Screech—!
The tires spun loudly against the asphalt as the car lurched forward at full throttle. Hee-seo yanked the door shut. The vehicle tore down the road with the same violent intensity with which it had appeared.
The writhing serpent gave chase, moving faster now than the crimson mist itself, its body never touching the ground—as if it were flying.
Hee-seo glared at Je-eon, who sat at the wheel, her swollen wrists clenched in her other hand.
“You—!”
“You look like hell. And what was that all about running away, anyway?”
Even as they were pursued by this bizarre creature through a dark, narrow mountain road, Je-eon remained unnervingly composed.
Faced with a situation that made no sense at all, Hee-seo pressed her head against the headrest and forced herself to breathe. Then she glanced in the side mirror and confirmed the serpent was still in pursuit.
“Do you know what that thing is?”
“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t seem like ordinary mist, that much is clear.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about! Not the mist!”
“If it’s not mist, then what? You didn’t see a ghost in the mountains, did you?”
“If you’re joking right now, I swear I’ll kill you.”
The sharp edge in Hee-seo’s threat made Je-eon’s expression grow serious. He checked the rearview mirror as well, but still delivered the same answer.
“I’m sorry, but all I see is mist. What am I supposed to be looking at?”
Was Je-eon telling the truth? If so, how had he appeared at the exact moment she was in danger?
A thousand questions swirled through Hee-seo’s mind. But the crimson serpent gave her no time to think.
Bang, crash!
A violent jolt followed the impact—as though a dump truck had slammed into them from behind.
“Ugh, Hee-seo, are you alright?!”
“Ah—!”
Hee-seo hadn’t fastened her seatbelt, and she nearly went through the windshield—until Je-eon grabbed her shoulder hard and held her back. She bounced back against the seat, her chest striking the dashboard as she cried out in pain.
“How badly are you hurt? Hee-seo! Answer me!”
“I’m fine—just keep going, don’t stop, speed up!”
Hee-seo barely managed to speak, her hand gripping Je-eon’s as it lay across her shoulder.

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