Chapter 153
Chapter 153: Flesh and Blood (2)
On the question asking about my mother's life, death, and whereabouts.
Ten Thousand Poison Commander frowned.
"What nonsense! Cough—. Why are you looking for your dead mother from me?"
"……"
Eyes that held no lies.
‘I'd hoped, but.’
Ten Thousand Poison Commander extended the skull toward me again with trembling hands.
"Just take the Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder. Dang Seon! Are you not also dreaming of becoming a legendary Poison Man?"
He emphasized the words Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder.
I didn't take the skull.
He continued speaking.
"What are you doing? This is the skull of Demon Wind Manor Master Myo Dan-u! I went to Demon Wind Manor and retrieved it personally."
"……!"
My brow furrowed on its own at the mention of Myo Dan-u's skull.
[Reward upon success: ③ His bone powder]
The reward for the bonus mission.
‘The main ingredient of Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder is Myo Dan-u's bone powder?’
Ten Thousand Poison Commander nodded.
"I read the Family's research records. Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder's primary material is the bones of one who has wielded poison. I spent my entire life experimenting on my worms and collected skulls and bones, yet I could never complete Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder. Cough—."
His trembling hands shoved the skull into my face.
"But then I saw this skull of Myo Dan-u that you left behind at the manor, and I finally understood."
He shook the skull in his hand again.
"That this is the ingredient for Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder!"
‘Was that so.’
‘So that's why.’
‘Inside the manor of Poison Valley.’
‘There had been so many skulls stacked up against the windbreak walls.’
I clicked my tongue.
"You speak of experimenting on innocent common folk as though it were something to boast about."
At that, Ten Thousand Poison Commander cackled.
"Those were worthless creatures! Worms living pointless lives—if anything, they found value in their existence thanks to me."
"That is sophistry."
"Heh heh heh. Dang Seon. Acting like some great saint, are you? Cough cough—. You too must have conducted countless experiments to gain the power you now hold!"
"You and I are fundamentally different."
I tapped my own chest.
"My only test subject has always been myself."
"……!"
He coughed up blood.
Each time he did, the skull of Myo Dan-u dangling in his hand swayed.
"Heh heh heh—. Whatever you ramble on about. You will still covet this ingredient for Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder……. But a single skull won't be enough!"
He strained himself to crane his neck toward me.
A faint trace of poison energy drifted from his mouth.
"Spare my life. And I will……tell you where the rest of Myo Dan-u's bones are."
Myo Dan-u's skull swaying before my eyes.
Ten Thousand Poison Commander raised the skull toward me as though it were a treasure.
Swish.
I quietly reached out and took Myo Dan-u's skull into my hand, and—
"It is true that Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder's ingredient is the bones of one who has wielded poison."
"That's right! Cough—."
His eyes shifted, becoming like a snake eyeing its next meal.
"But you were only half right."
Crumble—!
I grabbed Myo Dan-u's skull and crushed it.
Ten Thousand Poison Commander's eyes went wide as lanterns.
"Y-you……! You! What are you doing right now!"
Shock flashed across Ten Thousand Poison Commander's eyes.
"Myo Dan-u is not enough."
Ten Thousand Poison Commander's brow creased between his eyes.
"Only the bones of one who has spent an entire lifetime handling poison—bones marinated in poison energy, marrow consumed by it, poison pouring out with every breath—only those qualify as the true ingredient for Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder. So the answer is."
I pressed close to his ear and spoke.
"You. Ten Thousand Poison Commander."
"……!"
"Your very bones are the ingredient for Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder."
"D-Dang Seon!"
"You should be happy. The Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder you have spent your entire life searching for turns out to be none other than yourself."
‘……As you said.’
Thwump—!
I swept the dagger and severed both femoral arteries, the carotid artery, and the aorta of Ten Thousand Poison Commander entirely.
Creak— thud.
The Human-Shaped Iron Spike Prison was shut again.
Drip drip—. Blood poured out, and the prison that had rattled for a brief moment soon fell silent.
[Bonus Mission Success]
[Separation of Gu Cheon-sa, Ten Thousand Poison Commander's blood and flesh]
—Mission (39th floor) counted as complete!
—Happiness Points +1,500,000!
—His bone powder will be dispensed.
[Time taken to complete mission: 1 hour, 14 minutes, 33 seconds]
[Overwhelming Clear (GOLD)!]
[39th floor of the Murim Tower turns golden.]
[The entire world turns its eyes to the Republic of Korea's tower.]
[This is the door leading to 40th floor.]
As I turned around, I spotted a small funerary urn placed on the floor with bone powder already inside.
Even without opening it, it was clearly Ten Thousand Poison Commander's bone powder.
"At least I won't have to repeat that unpleasant act from my past life again."
I looked toward the door ascending to 40th floor.
"'His bone powder', huh—that was rather entertaining. Murim Tower."
The medicine cabinet I had brought.
I had added a section cut from the top of Poison Valley's medicine cabinet.
Even that wasn't enough, and I wrapped an armful of poisons from the Endless Storage Pouch and tied it all together.
"Let me see. Did I get everything?"
I collected the high-grade Poison-Warding Beads that Ten Thousand Poison Commander had been holding, and—
His treasured poison gloves, and even the poison energy Ten Thousand Poison Commander had been harboring, I absorbed each and every one of them meticulously.
‘Hmm?’
‘Come to think of it, this guy Ten Thousand Poison Commander.’
‘He was like a giving tree.’
‘Almost on the level of Bae Geum-sang of Wunbo Trading House.’
Clink.
The 2 high-grade Poison-Warding Beads in my hand were radiating a murky dark light.
Not quite the level of Wunbo Trading House's top-grade Poison-Warding Beads, but still precious treasures.
"Shall I try something."
I decided to attempt something I had been turning over in my mind for a while.
I took one high-grade Poison-Warding Bead in hand and used the Reversal Secret Art.
[The high-grade Poison-Warding Bead transforms into a high-grade Poison-Gathering Bead.]
Poison-Gathering Bead?
‘A bead that absorbs poison.’
Its color changed too.
From black to white.
I circulated the Heavenly Poison Blood Divine Art and released poison energy.
Fsssss—.
The poison energies swirled around the white Poison-Gathering Bead as their center, and were gradually absorbed.
The Poison-Gathering Bead slowly deepened in color until, shortly after, it transformed into a pitch-black poison bead.
"Hmm."
I reabsorbed the poison energy stored in the Poison-Gathering Bead.
‘Less impressive than I expected.’
……No wait!
"If it transformed into a bead that stores poison, that means it can absorb poison on its own even without me being present."
A Poison-Warding Bead merely blocks poison at a basic level, but a Poison-Gathering Bead could absorb poison energy, protect those who carried it, hold the poison energy and store it.
"Not bad?"
If I gave these 2 Poison-Gathering Beads to Chief Han, had she absorbed Poison Valley's poison energy, and then brought them back to me?
Ta-da.
A poison auxiliary battery made exclusively for the Poison Demon.
I converted the remaining high-grade Poison-Warding Bead into a Poison-Gathering Bead as well.
‘Once I return to the poison herb field, I'll convert the top-grade Poison-Warding Beads I've set aside too.’
Just then, a crashing sound rang out.
I turned to look, and the remaining Poison Valley stragglers had been trying to quietly slip away to the corner—and knocked over an unneeded poison jar in the process.
"……!"
Shiver shiver shiver—.
The stragglers, whose eyes had met mine, were frozen stiff as ice.
"Where do you think you're going?"
‘……You all have nowhere to go.’
‘You're trapped in this space-time.’
"Pick up that medicine cabinet over there and follow me."
"Y-yes!"
They were people who deserved death, but.
"I've seen too much blood today."
I didn't kill them.
They had put in their own effort through my selection process.
They knew poison well enough.
If I could only take them to the poison herb field, they'd make excellent workers.
‘A shame.’
I had them carry everything and placed it all in front of the door to 40th floor.
"That will do. Go off and live your lives happily."
"Th-thank you!"
I was about to add ‘don't do anything wicked’ but stopped myself.
‘They're trapped in this Murim Tower anyway.’
Come to think of it—what would become of these fellows once I was gone?
‘Would they vanish like dust, or would they starve to death just as they are.’
I decided to leave the unanswerable question behind on 39th floor.
"Heave-ho."
I slowly pushed the medicine cabinet through the door to 40th floor.
The secret to growing Hair Growth Elixir and Wind Fur Moss, which I haven't yet completed—it must lie within the poisons filling this medicine cabinet.
[Entering 40th floor of the Murim Tower (Republic of Korea).]
* * *
[Park Je-hwang's House]
"39th floor's Golden Tower?!"
Park Je-hwang had been swinging his sword in his basement training room when he jerked upright in shock.
The TV he had left on during training.
The news broadcast was showing 39th floor, glowing brilliantly.
"What on earth……"
‘He had clearly told Ghost!’
‘That he would see him on 39th floor in 10 days.’
"Ugh!"
Park Je-hwang clenched his fist so hard his hand bled.
Ring ring ring—.
A call came in immediately.
His grandfather, President Park Jae-yeol's call.
"Yes, Grandfather."
—…….
Park Jae-yeol had placed the call and said nothing.
‘He understood.’
Park Jae-yeol had not anticipated a Golden Tower on 39th floor.
He had believed, as Park Je-hwang had said, that the climb would happen together with Ghost on the scheduled date.
"Grandfather."
—Connections……will be coming your way from the Nameless Hero.
"Do you know how to contact him?"
—He has always come to find me first.
"Yes."
—Stay quietly at home. Don't let anyone in.
"Understood."
The call ended.
"Haah……"
He swung the sword in his hand aggressively back and forth, making it whoosh, and then—
"Damn it!"
He slammed it onto the floor.
The famous sword the strange old man had crafted drove into the concrete floor and quivered with a z-z-z-z-ing— as it rang.
‘Am I being abandoned?’
‘By Ghost.’
‘And by Grandfather.’
Park Je-hwang went up to his room on the 2nd floor and stood by the window.
All the thick blackout curtains were drawn, so the entire house was pitch dark inside.
The basement was the only place with lights on.
His chest felt suffocating, as though someone had drawn blackout curtains across his heart as well.
"I wish I could at least open the window."
Park Je-hwang stared at the curtains and then—
Before he realized it, he had opened a corner of the curtain and peered outside.
True to a neighborhood where conglomerates and high-ranking politicians lived—
The alley was quiet and hushed, still as a dead mouse.
"No journalists."
The house he was currently living in was Ye Bo-yeong's property.
The apartment in Cheongdam registered in Park Je-hwang's own name was teeming with journalists every single day.
"Damn it, I can't even open a single window freely."
The feeling of being imprisoned brought a wave of self-reproach.
Just as he was about to close the curtain—
"Who's that?"
He caught sight of someone loitering at the end of the alleyway.
A shabby man at the foot of the street lamp, dressed in a hoodie and coat.
Someone he had never once seen in the neighborhood.
A cold wind blew, and both sleeves of the man's coat, which had been stuffed into his pockets, fluttered limply.
"He has no arms?"
‘A disabled man like that in a neighborhood lined with high-end detached houses.’
The man drew Park Je-hwang's gaze. His cap was pulled down so deeply that his face wasn't visible, but—
Something about the feeling was strange.
‘I feel like I know him.’
The man fumbled awkwardly and tried to use his mouth to grab the coat's sleeve, rubbing it against his shoulder to push it back into the coat pocket.
In the process, the man's cap flew off.
At that instant, Park Je-hwang's eyes snapped wide open.
"……Kang Hae-san?!"