Living Dangerously with a 999-Year-Old Gumiho – Chapter 36

Hyun slowly began to regain consciousness and met Yoonhwa’s gaze.

Yoonhwa, noticing that Hyun seemed to come to his senses, released the hand she had been tightly holding.

At that, Hyun picked up the sword with a strange expression.

Yoonhwa, startled by his sudden action, shouted,

“Don’t!! Don’t die!!”

Yoonhwa’s warning echoed sharply through the air, but Hyun’s next move left everyone baffled.

Holding the sword tightly, he turned his body in an unexpected direction.

The woman looked shocked as she saw Hyun turning towards her.

Fear and terror flickered in her eyes, and the smirk on her lips had vanished.

“You… what are you d–”

The sword soared into the air, its trajectory vividly traced against the dark air.

And then, after a moment of silence, the sword struck the woman’s shoulder with pinpoint accuracy.

The woman collapsed to the ground in agony. Her face twisted in fear and despair, and a hideous scream erupted from her lips.

“How could… this happen…!”

Her scream was filled with the anguish of a soul being torn apart.

From her eyes flowed tears mixed with disbelief and despair.

“Ahhh!! Why… why am I…!”

Her voice resonated with a mixture of desperation and fury that rippled through the air.

Her cries were suffocated with an aura of terror that filled the space around her.

“Am I… dying?!”

The woman’s scream revealed the pinnacle of madness and pain rising from within her.

Her cries starkly unveiled the brutality of her situation and her horror at herself.

The teacup she had been holding fell to the floor, making an eerie and ominous sound.

It sounded as if ancient magic had awakened.

The teacup shattered upon hitting the ground, and shards scattered around.

Yoonhwa looked at Hyun and said,

“Good job..! I’m glad you’re alive..!!”

Seojin and Kangtae moved closer to Hyun and Yoonhwa, exchanging firm glances.

A relieved smile appeared on their faces, as if tension had lifted.

Seojin warmly looked into Hyun’s eyes and said,

“Hyun… you did well…”

“Was it hypnosis or something..?”

Yoonhwa nodded at her friends’ words and wiped away the tears welling in her eyes.

Her voice trembled with emotion.

“Thank you.. If it weren’t for you guys, I would have given up…“

Yoonhwa, feeling the lingering malice still emanating from the woman, resolved to ensure she posed no further threat.

Taking a deep breath, she focused, activating her magic.

Light slowly blossomed from her fingertips, flowing toward the woman.

“Enough, your foolishness ends here.”

Yoonhwa’s voice was firm, and a powerful will illuminated her gaze.

Her magic stretched towards the woman, quickly enveloping her and beginning to restrict her movements.

The woman suddenly realized her body wouldn’t move and looked around in shock.

“What, what is this…!”

“This… this monster!!!”

Transparent, glowing threads emerged around her body, binding her tightly.

She struggled to move, but the threads created by Yoonhwa’s magic blocked every effort.

Trapped by Yoonhwa’s magic, the woman felt her condition deteriorating.

She writhed in pain but resisted fiercely, even in her bound state.

Yet, Yoonhwa’s magic neutralized every one of her movements, and she grew weaker by the moment.

“N… how could this happen to me…!”

The woman’s voice dripped with despair, tears streaming from her eyes.

She looked at Yoonhwa and her friends with fear, anger, and pain, unable to believe her circumstances.

Hyun, Seojin, and Kangtae silently observed the scene. They felt awe for Yoonhwa’s decisiveness and power, yet they harbored complex emotions regarding the suffering the woman was enduring.

Yoonhwa glared at the woman and said in a calm voice,

“Think about the suffering you’ve caused so many people.”

“I’m just getting started.”

The woman could only stare back at Yoonhwa, unable to respond.

She flailed in deep regret and despair, confronted with the consequences of her actions.

“Ah… no… no… don’t…”

In that moment, everything grew quiet, and the woman began to lose strength within the bonds of the magic encircling her.

Hyun cautiously asked,

“What’s your name?”

“Why are you, a human, after the Fox Orb…?”

The woman showed a moment of surprise at Hyun’s question.

Her eyes were tangled with complex emotions. Even amidst deep regret and pain, she managed to reply with difficulty.

“My… my name is Miryeong…”

Her voice was weak and trembling. Miryeong took a moment to catch her breath before continuing.

“I… I was the most famous hypnotist in this town…”

“But… there’s so much more I could do with hypnosis…?”

Miryeong’s voice grew fainter, yet her recollections of the past remained vivid.

A shadow of dark desire flitted across her eyes.

“Controlling people… bending them to my will, nothing was as exhilarating.”

“Making them my pawns… I was intoxicated by that power.”

Her confession was cold and chilling.

The brief power and greed her hypnosis had brought her ultimately led to her downfall.

“But that wasn’t enough for me… I craved greater power.”

“That… was the Fox Orb.”

Miryeong’s voice now brimmed with painful regret.

The power she once sought had ultimately led her to ruin.

“I can’t see you all clearly…”

“Please… please save me…”

Yoonhwa felt a weight in her heart at Miryeong’s words.

She was angry at the deeds Miryeong had done, yet at the same time, she felt a sense of sympathy for her dire situation.

“H… how can I save you…?”

Yoonhwa asked cautiously, glancing at Hyun and the others.

Seojin checked the wounds and said,

“You’ve… lost too much blood…”

Miryeong’s voice weakened as if remembering something, and she pleaded with Yoonhwa and her friends.

“There should be a bell in my pocket…”

“Could you hand it to me…?”

“Please…!”

Yoonhwa was moved by Miryeong’s weak voice and desperate plea.

She carefully searched through Miryeong’s pocket until she found a small bell.

The bell shone in a soft silver light, modest yet exhibiting a mysterious aura.

“Is this it?”

Yoonhwa held up the shiny bell to Miryeong for confirmation.

Miryeong nodded, struggling to answer.

“Yes… shake that bell.”

Yoonhwa cautiously began to shake the bell as Miryeong had asked.

The sound it produced was very clear, spreading a calm atmosphere around them.

The sound from the bell seemed to twist the very space around them.

Suddenly, a subtle transformation was witnessed in the space before Miryeong.

As if responding to the bell’s sound, the air shimmered transparently and began to exude a strange energy.

Yoonhwa exclaimed in surprise,

“Y… in this space…?!”

“I can feel an incredible Qi…!!”

“What on earth does this bell do…?”

As the air shimmered, something began to take shape slowly within the transparent space.

It had no distinct form but exuded a sensation as if it were a conscious being.

Yoonhwa and her friends held their breath, watching the mysterious phenomenon.

At that moment, a voice echoed through the air, its source unknown but undeniably present, as if directly addressing everyone’s hearts.

“Do you want to live?”

It wasn’t a loud sound, yet it emitted an eerie quality that pierced their ears.

Miryeong weakly nodded in response, even in her pain.

Her eyes were a mix of desperate hope and fear.

“Please, save me…”

“You can do it…”

“The Fox Orb is right in front of you…!”

Within the transparent space formed from the shimming air, the voice suddenly shifted.

What had been calm and engaging became something entirely different. In response to Miryeong’s earnest plea,

A bizarre and ominous laughter spread from within that space.

The laughter was unlike any sound familiar to human ears.

It resonated with an unnerving, discordant harmony that pierced the ears, as if multiple voices blended together, producing a sound without pitch.

Within that laughter lay mockery, contempt, and an echo of some unfathomable force.

The laughter seemed to swallow everything in an instant, revealing Miryeong growing weaker in the center of that sound.

The undulating entity began to slowly take form and approached Miryeong.

The uncertain presence gradually solidified, and Miryeong looked up with eyes sparkling in expectation.

A thread of joy began to break through her despair.

Seeing the undulating entity approaching her, she felt relief and hope, as if meeting a long-awaited savior.

A smile of joy sadly began to spread across her lips.

“Ahahaha… hurry..!”

Her voice trembled with anticipation, her hand reaching out unsteadily toward the presence.

As the undulating entity approached her outstretched hand, a sudden roar vibrated through the surroundings.

In an instant, Miryeong’s reaching arm was swept away as if devoured by something.

Her arm vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed above her wrist.

A strange scent filled the air along with Miryeong’s wailing screams.

“Uaaahhh…!!!!”

“My… my arm!!”

Miryeong’s face twisted in agony and horror.

She gazed at the place where her arm had been, her eyes wide with disbelief as she looked at the laughing being.

The undulating entity laughed as though nothing had happened.

Even in her pain, Miryeong begged while gazing at the entity.

“What are you doing…? Please…”

“Help me…”

Yoonhwa, hearing Miryeong’s desperate cries, rushed toward the undulating entity, swinging her arms.

Her movements were swift, and her gaze was resolute.

But the moment her hand touched it, she felt no resistance, as though swiping at air.

Yoonhwa’s attack was futile, and the undulating entity continued to laugh right before Miryeong.

In that moment, the undulating entity turned back to Miryeong, swiftly making her remaining arm disappear.

A scream mixed with fear and pain broke free.

“Ahh…!!”

Miryeong gazed in despair at the spot where her two arms had been, and her body sank to her knees, losing strength.

Looking up at the undulating entity, she realized all hope was lost.

Hyun, Seojin, and Kangtae watched in disbelief, terror-stricken.

They could do nothing to save Miryeong. Their powerlessness and despair filled the space.

The undulating entity slowly descended toward Miryeong, seemingly relishing her hopelessness.

As it reached out a hand toward her, the rest of her body vanished in an instant.

In that moment, the space filled with a cruel silence, and even Miryeong’s screams disappeared without a trace.

“You should have let me eat.”

Once those words were spoken, the undulating entity let out a bizarre laugh, as if satisfied after consuming everything.

“This human has ruthlessly slaughtered her own kind.”

“She deserves to die.”

After saying this, the undulating entity laughed madly and vanished.

Those left behind gazed at each other in silence.

Their eyes brimmed only with sorrow and shock.

Hyun calmly surveyed the surroundings before finally speaking up.

“Shall we… go in…?”

His voice trembled.

Seojin and Kangtae nodded in agreement, glancing at each other as they drew strength from one another.

Yoonhwa nodded, resolved to clean up the horrific scene with Hyun, Seojin, and Kangtae.

“Miryeong… she will never be forgiven.”

“It didn’t have to come to this…”

Yoonhwa’s voice was quiet, yet it seemed to resonate with all her friends.

Yoonhwa briefly scanned the surroundings. The bloodied grass and shards of the broken teacup silently testified to the day’s events.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her magic.

A soft light began to emanate from her fingertips, spreading around.

First, the bloodied grass captured her attention.

As Yoonhwa’s light seeped into the grass, the dark stains slowly began to fade away.

Her magic gently caressed each blade of grass, restoring each one to its original vibrant green.

Next, the shattered pieces of the teacup drew her focus.

Yoonhwa lightly waved her hand, watching as the shards began to gather. As if reversing time,

The shards found each other and merged back into their original form. Finally, the teacup reformed perfectly, and she carefully handed it to Kangtae beside her.

Lastly, Yoonhwa ensured not to miss any remaining debris or impurity, cleaning everything with her magic.

Wherever her magic took effect, a peaceful atmosphere settled, and the traces of the incident vanished as if they had never existed.

After completing her task, Yoonhwa let out a sigh and surveyed her surroundings. Disconnected threads and crumpled coins lay scattered on the ground.

Yoonhwa noticed the broken thread and the crumpled coin and bent down carefully to pick them up.

Yoonhwa carefully placed the thread and coin into her pocket.

“Let’s go up.”