< Episode 18 Galjeo (羯狙) (2) >
Not far from the valley where the iron ball battle took place and the mountain where the flag battle took place.
There was another cave there.
-Kirilik! Let’s go!
A procession of five wagons led to such a cave.
Warriors in red belts were pulling a cart and entering a cave lit with torches.
The carts that entered the cave stopped somewhere.
The bodies of numerous boys were lying there.
“Whew. Is this the last time? “Then let’s move it.”
Warriors in red belts pulling a cart began the task of placing the bodies side by side.
The same was true for the remaining carts that arrived later.
-widely!
“I guess it was because I took it out late that my body started to swell.”
A warrior in red belts clicked his tongue as he looked at the swollen body in the water.
It was shallow valley water but there were some places where it was deep so I guess my whole body was submerged.
At that time a middle-aged man wearing a uniform with a yin-yang symbol on it approached and said.
“Take that out.”
“Isn’t this good enough?”
“I can’t work with this.”
“Wow.”
Accordingly warriors in red belts moved the body to a cart on the left side of the cave.
While the body was being moved on a cart one of the warriors could not stand it anymore and ended up throwing up.
“Ugh.”
Seeing the warrior like this the other warriors clicked their tongues.
“Tsk tsk.”
“I wonder if someone is new.”
Of course they say it like this but it actually makes sense.
Fortunately the bodies lying there have few injuries so they have human shapes.
However the items in the cart are ‘leftover’ items.
There is nothing okay about these things.
It was common for heads to be crushed and there were also many cases where a leg was missing or organs were torn off.
It was so horrible that just looking at it made me vomit.
“Do it in moderation. “Newbie.”
“Oh I understand.”
After spitting out what was inside the warrior barely got up and answered.
When the sorting of the bodies was completed to some extent nearly three cartloads of items were left behind.
Then the middle-aged man wearing the uniform from before came up and spoke to the warriors.
“Let’s go.”
A middle-aged man in uniform took the lead and warriors in red belts pulled a cart piled with corpses.
The cart moved along a narrow slope and stopped only after reaching the cliff at the foot of the mountain in half an hour.
A middle-aged man in uniform took out a bunch of things from his chest.
It was a talisman.
[Chae(鎖)]
It was written down and a middle-aged man in uniform said as he attached amulets to each of the dead bodies on the cart.
“Don’t look at the bottom of the cliff when you throw.”
“All right.”
The warriors in red belts responded casually and threw the corpses with talismans down the cliff one after another as if they were used to it.
Seeing this the new warrior couldn’t understand it.
If it’s a body that can’t be used it would be cleaner to just burn it but if you throw it all in a place like this wouldn’t the area below be literally overflowing with corpses?
Even in broad daylight it would be so terrible that you wouldn’t even dare to go down there.
The new warrior asked the gunner who was also carrying the body.
“senior. “Why are you throwing it off the cliff here when you can just burn it?”
“I’m just going to do as I’m told. What are you curious about?”
“I’m so sorry.”
Looking at the new recruit who was so discouraged that he kept his mouth shut the gunner clicked his tongue and spoke in a low voice.
“Listen and let it go with one ear. “I don’t know but I heard that the water stream coming down from the cliff here continues down a tributary of the cave.”
“What does that have to do with this?”
“You said you didn’t know. They say it’s a good thing but for low-ranking people like us it’s okay to just do as we’re told. I had doubts for no reason and it only lasted four months. Do you understand?”
“….All right.”
‘food?’
What kind of nutrients are you talking about?
I didn’t understand at all.
By the way this is what they did every time the gateway to Sihyeolgok progressed. How many corpses were dumped under this cliff?
As of now there are over a hundred.
– Creepy!
I looked down without thinking and in an instant skin appeared all over my body.
It felt like something eerie and ugly was creeping up in the darkness that felt like I was being sucked into it.
-widely!
“omg!”
Then someone grabbed his shoulder.
He was a man in uniform who used to attach amulets.
A man wearing a uniform spoke in a low voice to the startled new warrior.
“What did you say earlier?”
“yes?”
“What did I say earlier?”
“Don’t look down that cliff…”
“If you do it you’d better never look at it.”
“yes yes?”
As he looked confused the man in uniform warned him in a meaningful tone.
“You could be possessed.”
What does it mean to be possessed?
* * *
It was about an hour and a half after the battle to secure the flag began.
As a considerable amount of time had passed nearly half of the flags had been discovered by the boys and the fight to defend and recapture them was in progress.
However an unexpected variable occurred within this battle to capture the flag.
that
-Kkkkkkk!
It was the appearance of Galjeo an imamangryang.
He was already so ferocious that he could not be compared to a wild beast but for boys who were banned from even internal attacks and had no weapons it could be said to be the worst variable.
In particular the boys who were searching various places for the flag alone without any group members were being attacked and killed indiscriminately.
-Quad!
“Kwaaaaaak!”
In the middle of the mountainside another boy was attacked by Galger.
The galger liked human heads so it crushed them with its vicious teeth and ate them.
I didn’t even eat any other parts.
As a result bodies with crushed heads were discovered all over the mountain raising the boys’ alertness to the extreme.
“Shit. what’s this? “Is this really what happened because we fought?”
One group that had not yet found the flag was shocked when they discovered the body.
No matter how you look at this it was not a sign that he had died in a fight.
“No matter how much inner strength is banned you could have been attacked by a wild beast?”
“That’s right. “These are teeth marks.”
“no. Even if it’s a wild beast can you chew off its whole head? “Even if it was Daeho wouldn’t you have eaten the bones of his head?”
A corpse without its entire head.
No matter how much I looked I couldn’t understand it.
Mok Yu-cheon who was with them had puffy eyes under his eyes.
‘ha….’
This place really felt like hell.
During the battle to capture the flag the five of us lost three of our fellow boys and were running around looking for another flag.
However in the process I saw over twenty corpses.
Only about three of them appeared to have died in a fierce fight over the flag and the rest met strange deaths.
There are ten headless bodies like this one.
And they found seven cleanly dead bodies.
‘…Most of them had their necks broken.’
Although not all had their necks broken most seemed to have been killed in a similar manner.
It wasn’t a hand-to-hand combat or a fierce fight but it seemed like he died without even being able to resist someone properly.
‘what? ‘What?’
Those killed in this way seemed to have lost their lives unrelated to the flag.
The problem was this.
Everyone was struggling with their eyes turned on just by the flag fight but it seemed like something unknown was killing the boys at random.
‘Who on earth does these things?’
A mountainside about 200 miles east of Mokyucheon Stream.
One of the real culprits he was curious about was absorbing the death energy by placing his hand on the chest of a headless corpse.
He was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.
Mok Gyeong-un who was quickly absorbing the morale soon withdrew his hand.
And he muttered in displeasure.
“It’s not much.”
-You mean fraud?
“yes.”
-Of course. Bodies affected by imaemangryang are eroded by the yogi and most of their energy is quickly used up.
Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue at Cheongryeong’s words.
Even the energy that comes out when you die is used up so quickly.
It was quite embarrassing.
“Hmm.”
I tried to gain morale by moving diligently and killing more boys than Galjeo the leader of Imamangryang but I was falling behind.
“It’s starting to get a little annoying.”
Unlike himself who took time because he had to absorb the morale Imae Mangryang known as Lee Galjeo ate only his head and went after another prey.
This should be enough to fill you up but you keep eating.
“It feels like I’m eating the scraps left behind by others.”
-Hmm.
“Why are you doing that?”
-But this guy… seems to be eating more than expected.
Mok Gyeong-un shrugged his shoulders and said.
“It looks like you’re not full.”
-no. That’s a lot more than that. I’m sure I’m full at this level but I’m eating quite a lot.
“It could be because it’s a period of growing up.”
-…..i get it.
“What is it?”
-Maybe it’s just before it becomes an adult.
“The Eucharist?”
-okay. Among these species there are those that need a lot of energy to reproduce or become adults.
“Are you saying Galjeo is that type too?”
-maybe?
The young man stroked his chin as if he was having trouble lifting his neck after hearing these words.
If this guy continues to eat like this his share will be significantly reduced.
So Mok Gyeong-un decided to change his direction.
“That won’t work. “I just need to catch this guy first.”
I thought that if I left it alone it would actually benefit me by causing confusion to those around me.
But in its current state it only serves as a hindrance.
That’s why Mok Gyeong-un decided to kill Galjeo first.
-How do you mean that?
“Can you help me?
-You said you could do it on your own but it seems you can’t do anything in this situation.
The young man snorted and said.
-Then get me out of this cramped place.
In response Mok Gyeong-un held her wooden doll made her hand sign and recited her spell.
“Remove Yeonwon land tax and former Hwandowon!”
-Srrrrr!
Soon a large shadow appeared from the wooden doll and soon Cheongryeong slowly appeared above it holding a bear bag.
When she came out she stretched and said that she felt refreshed.
-After all it’s much better than being locked up. Phew.
Cheongryeong took a bite of her gombangdae and exhaled a long puff of smoke.
Her neck tiller spoke to her like that.
“Can you confirm where he is? No if you can remove it from the Cheongryeong line it’s okay.”
-It’s true even if you don’t fuss. Wait.
-Pot!
The spirit soon soared into the sky.
Unlike her demonic counterpart her rank was high so she had a very wide range of movement radius even without being possessed by her body.
The young spirit flew higher than the treetops and looked around her.
Her blood-red ears slowly scanned the entire mountain.
‘Hmm.’
But Cheongnyeong who was looking around her raised one eyebrow.
She thought that if she was that obsessed with eating humans she would quickly find it but contrary to her expectations she couldn’t see it in her ears.
Since he is on the verge of becoming a monster he must be overflowing with energy but it is strange.
‘Where on earth did they go?’
Isn’t it around here?
As a result Cheongnyeong flew to a higher place.
Because she thought she could have traveled further.
I’m looking around her like that.
-Shudder!
Her eyes were focused somewhere.
‘under!’
An exclamation naturally flowed from her young soul’s mouth.
She couldn’t know this because she couldn’t feel her external energy when she was inside her wooden doll.
But she had no choice but to look natural now.
No it would be strange if her eyes and ears did not go even after seeing this enormous thing.
An immeasurable scream was rising from the far cliff side where she was looking.
At this she immediately went under her.
Mo Kyung-un asked.
“Have you found it already?”
-no. It’s not visible. Rather please follow me quickly now.
Mok Kyung-un could not hide his surprise at her somewhat excited voice.
Either way the spirit flew away first as if guiding it somewhere.
At this her neck tiller followed her.
* * *
It wasn’t that far away.
The place about an angle away was in the direction of a cliff located deep within the edge of the mountain.
I looked at the floor
‘Wheel tracks?’
She must have been pulling a cart so the slope was full of wheel marks.
I’m leaving wondering
-Shudder!
Mok Gyeong-un’s steps were momentarily halted by the sinister energy radiating from in front of her.
‘What the hell is this…’
Ever since my demon eyes opened and my sixth sense opened I couldn’t help but become sensitive to these things so why didn’t I notice this until now?
This made her feel suspicious and she looked around her.
Then she discovered something.
‘ah…’
Amulets and engraved sayings stuck between cliffs and trees.
They were controlling the evil that was flowing out so that it could not come out.
But even though there are so many talismans attached what is it that makes such a huge evil come out when you get close?
When we reached the place where the wheel tracks were cut off we saw Cheongnyeong sitting in front of the cliff smoking a gombangdae.
-Can you see it?
Mokgyeongun’s skin trembled at her question.
-Kyaaaaa!
-Quaaaaaaaaaaa!
-Please help me!
-please! please!
An endless screaming sound coming from below.
Along with that sound an evil energy that made my skin feel stinging was crashing upward as if it was anxious because it couldn’t come up.
-Look closer.
Mo Kyung-un approached the edge of the cliff and looked down.
“Ahhhh.”
It was like an abyss.
Incalculable resentment was coming together spewing out endless malice and ferocity.
Even though there were amulets posted all over the cliff even if you were weak-minded just looking at them would make you faint.
-Rebirth. Do you know what solitude is?
“…How could you not know?”
I knew almost nothing about herbs and poisons.
Of course she never saw Solitude herself but she remembers hearing about it from her grandfather.
It is a secret art derived from the southern Manchurian region where dozens or hundreds of poisonous animals are put into a jar and the lid is not opened until only one survives.
The worst one that survived was called Lonely.
“Why are you asking that?”
Cheongnyeong said twitching the corner of her mouth.
-There is loneliness down there.
< Episode 18 Galjeo (羯狙) (2) > end
ⓒ Hanzhongwolya
