WPMTE 37🔐

Chapter 37 …

Just as the largest piece of debris came crashing down toward Seon-o’s head, the Red Dragon flew in at once and shoved it aside with its massive body.

Buying time thanks to that, Seon-o sprinted toward a pile of bone fragments rolling about roughly ten meters away.

“Intruders! Kill them!”

As the earthquake subsided, the yokai who had been panicking outside rushed into the room and charged at Seon-o. Seeing him, the Red Dragon darted forward like lightning, opened its jaws, and spewed a stream of virulent poison.

While the yokai struck by the poison melted away, screaming, Seon-o grabbed a couple of bone fragments, tucked them into his chest, and turned back to look at the Red Dragon.

The fortress, shattered in countless places, was trembling as if on the verge of collapse.

“We need to get out! We have to escape!”

Hearing Seon-o’s words, the Red Dragon spun smoothly and slid toward him.

‘Huh, am I supposed to get on?’

As Seon-o hesitated in confusion, the Red Dragon, as if to say don’t be ridiculous, hooked him with its foreleg and snatched him up like prey.

‘Yeah. No way he’d give me a ride.’

True to Gongun’s personality. Seon-o let out a dry laugh just as the Red Dragon shot up through the shattered ceiling.

A few seconds after the Red Dragon burst through the tangled formation above and escaped into the open air, the sound of the fortress completely collapsing rang out.

It was thanks to Seon-o, who had raised an enormous surge of river water and smashed it into the parts of the ceiling that hadn’t yet fallen. From afar, it almost sounded like the screams of yokai being crushed and drowned beneath the rubble.

After completely destroying the Cheongpa River yokai’s fortress, the two landed atop a nearby cliff.

Gongun tossed Seon-o down onto the cliff, then, in the blink of an eye, returned to his original form and landed smoothly himself.

Running a hand through his sticky, soaked, disheveled hair, Gongun stared at Seon-o—who was sprawled out flat on his back—in disbelief.

“……”

He couldn’t believe what had just happened. That salamander was a yokai so powerful that he wouldn’t have been able to deal with it unless he had transformed into a dragon.

And yet, Gongun could tell that Seon-o had intended to face such a monster seriously—even going so far as to devise that horrifying plan.

The Yin Stone torn from the creature’s stomach was likely the core of its Yin energy. Which meant Seon-o had intended to reverse the usual process—rather than killing the yokai first and then obtaining the Yin Stone, he had planned to tear out the Yin Stone first and collapse the creature from within.

“Gongun, please.”

Recalling the desperate whisper that had called his name just moments ago, Gongun felt a sharp jolt run up the back of his neck, like an electric shock.

Clenching his fist, Gongun looked down at Seon-o. Something buried deep in his chest seemed to be asking whether Seon-o wasn’t, in fact, perfectly suited to be a phoenix.

‘That’s ridiculous.’

Still, his suspicion that Seon-o had known the true identity of the Cheongpa River yokai had not faded in the slightest.

And besides—

“How dare you tell me to run away?”

Only then did Seon-o realize why Gongun had snapped.

‘…So that’s what set him off.’

It was absurd, but in the end, it had worked out. If he’d faced that thing alone, he couldn’t say how it would have ended. Seon-o barely managed to sit up and brushed off the sticky gastric fluid clinging to him. Gongun continued.

“One destined to become the head of the great Wi family never runs away.”

When Gongun repeated himself, Seon-o’s eyes grew tired of it all. Yeah, yeah. You’re amazing.

“So….”

Gongun stepped closer to Seon-o, who was slumped on the ground without the strength to stand, and bent down to meet his eyes.

“Apologize.”

Meeting his gaze head-on, Seon-o replied,

“Pull the poison out of my neck first, and I’ll think about it.”

Gongun pressed his lips tightly together.

“Hah. I really don’t get why you freak out at the word ‘underhanded,’ when you’re perfectly capable of pulling stuff like this.”

“That and this are different. I am not underhanded.”

“Do you even know what ‘underhanded’ means?”

At Seon-o’s muttering, which sounded almost like talking to himself, a vein throbbed on Gongun’s forehead once again. And then—it happened. While staring straight at Gongun’s face, Seon-o suddenly reached out and pressed the back of his hand firmly against Gongun’s cheek.

Startled by the unexpected contact, Gongun froze—only to feel sharp pain immediately afterward, and he screamed.

“Agh! What are you doing?!”

Gongun stumbled back in alarm and snapped angrily.

“Looks like the filth that salamander spat earlier got on your cheek. Your skin’s melting. Well, you’re from a famous medical family, so you can treat it yourself, right?”

After explaining nonchalantly, Seon-o drew up a large volume of river water and poured it over both of their heads, trying at least to wash away some of the sticky gastric fluid. Gongun seemed grateful for that much, calmly shaking the water off himself.

Watching him, Seon-o stood up and stepped even closer to Gongun, whose entire body was drenched.

“Now pull out the rotten poison you stuck in my neck.”

Gongun, who had been shaking off the water, looked down at Seon-o sharply.

“Whose poison are you calling rotten?”

At this point, Gongun’s habit of getting prickled at the strangest things was almost entertaining.

“Oh. What, are you going to keep dodging the issue and following me around? Do you like me or something?”

Gongun’s eyes stiffened in disbelief. Feeling like he’d figured out exactly how to provoke him, Seon-o smiled brightly, as if he’d found the right answer.

“Oh? So that’s why you went on about treating me that day—pulling some sneaky trick just to find an excuse to trail after me. Instead of doing something this underhanded, you should’ve just said so.”

“……”

“But what a shame. Young Master Wi just isn’t my type.”

At that, Gongun’s ears burned bright red. He needed to deny it—but the blow had landed so hard it felt like his throat was completely blocked.

Not her type…?

Stung at a place he’d never expected, Gongun abandoned his attempt at rebuttal and quickly changed his thinking. He forced himself to swallow everything rising up in his chest.

Gongun realized he was reacting excessively to the woman in front of him. That was unbecoming of the future head of the great Wi family.

He should have been controlling and toying with his opponent, just as he always did. That was who Wi Gongun was.

Finally regaining his composure, Gongun smiled.

“I don’t know what misunderstanding you’re under, but I didn’t put anything into your neck.”

“……Your shamelessness is really something.”

“Can you prove it?”

A cheap glint sparkled in Gongun’s eyes as he seized on his little trick.

The poison inside Seon-o was Gongun’s trump card—a poison he had researched and developed over a long period of time. It couldn’t be found on the market, and unless you were Gongun himself, you wouldn’t even know it was inside your body.

Seon-o seemed to realize that as well and glared at him with furious eyes.

Even so, Gongun merely twitched his eyebrows in relaxed confidence.

Seon-o may have planned to kill the Golden Salamander, absorb its Yin energy, and sprout the seed—but strictly speaking, Gongun had delivered the killing blow, so that Yin energy had been absorbed by him instead.

Seon-o’s plan had failed.

Satisfied with just that, Gongun stepped back slightly, and Seon-o’s eyes widened in urgency.

“Where do you think you’re going?! I said pull the rotten poison out right now!”

Gongun answered with an infuriatingly thin smile.

With Seon-o’s plan ruined, he would no longer be able to sprout the seed. Of course, there was still plenty of time left—but there wouldn’t be another high-ranking yokai who already knew all the information like this one.

That meant Seon-o would fail to pass the second trial and be eliminated. At that point, Gongun could remove the poison whenever he liked.

But until then—absolutely not. Gongun was not about to let go of his suspicions about Seon-o.

So—

“If you return safely to Myeonggyeong, I’ll consider it.”

After saying that, Gongun slowly stepped backward—then suddenly turned and hurled himself off the cliff.

“Gasp!”

Just as a shocked Seon-o rushed forward to look down, the Red Dragon soared up from below the cliff.

The massive Red Dragon circled once, as if mocking the stunned Seon-o, then flew off into the distance.

“Young Master Wi! Hey! Wi Gongun!”

Damn that crazy bastard!

The Red Dragon’s figure eventually disappeared completely.

“No, seriously, what is wrong with him…?”