Chapter 5 – Family Member (2)

The problem was that I was too soft-hearted.

Considering the nature of centipedes disliking water, I thought that entering the water would surely detach them. Indeed, when I did enter the water, I could see them evacuating to the top of my head.

So, now I just had to slightly dive and catch those that floated up in a jar.

I thought I was relieved, but as my head slowly submerged, the centipedes on top began to cry pitifully.

-Tsurur.

-Tsur.

-Tsururururu.

‘Brother, why are you doing this? Why are you treating us like this? Brother, please! We hate water!’

It’s not like I could understand the voices of centipedes.

It was just a feeling, but somehow their voices seemed to be saying that.

So, what could I do…

‘Maybe I should just leave them for a few days since they’ll fall off anyway?’

My thoughts hardened towards leaving them alone for a few days, influenced by the pitiful cries of the centipedes.

First of all, these were centipedes who had lost their mother. Was it right to separate them this harshly?

Centipedes leave their mother’s body after undergoing two molts, and that period isn’t very long.

Moreover, it seemed like they considered me as their mother, and they were not dangerous at this stage since they had no poison.

Besides, it might be slightly inconvenient, but carrying large centipedes on my body could be a dream for all those who love venomous creatures.

Insects, arthropods, and reptiles don’t recognize their owners, and they are not even the kind of pets that bond with humans, so there’s a downside in terms of interaction when raising them.

But carrying them on my body was almost like having a pet-like bond.

“Alright, I’ll leave you guys alone for a while. But you must not bite or hurt your big brother, understand?”

-Tsurur!

-Tsur!

Responding to my question, the centipedes made noises, and after finishing my bath, I hurried towards the abandoned conduit.

And just as I was crossing the threshold of the conduit entrance.

A middle-aged man sitting on the stone steps of the pavilion I used.

The head of some family called Tang or something was sitting in front of the pavilion and greeted me with a happy face.

“Ah!? Elder?”

“Oh! Young Hero!”

His happy face suggested he wanted to repay me for helping him hunt the mother centipede.

He had said he would reward me if I found the centipede, after all.

‘It looks like a wealthy family. Maybe they’ll give me some money? Should I ask them to catch a few deer? Jerky would be good to have, especially since I’m still growing.’

Just as the man with the bright face was getting close to me.

I suddenly felt a chill down my spine, and something like a wind flew towards the man, who was then sent flying backwards, hitting the stone steps and coughing up blood.

-Kwagwang!

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

“Elder! Cough!”

Startled by the scene, I tried to rush towards the man, but my neck was caught from behind.

My legs slowly lifted off the ground, and I began to lift in mid-air.

Then I heard the voice of the old man.

“The Tang family’s men entered Haenam Island, and I came to see, only to find the son of the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons injured and alone.

I have never forgotten the faces of you and your father that I saw from a distance, not even for a moment in the past ten years! Today, I will send your head to your father, the Man of Ten Thousand Poisons! Hahaha!”

Although I didn’t know the details, it seemed like the head of the Tang family had a grudge against this man’s father.

And judging by the nickname ‘Man of Ten Thousand Poisons,’ it seemed these people were somehow connected to some organization.

The feeling was like a nickname for dual swords or dual axes.

‘Why are they doing this to me? They should settle it among themselves.’

Soon, the middle-aged man who got up, blood dripping from his mouth, asked the old man holding me.

“Cough! Who are you, senior, to oppress a young hero and me?”

“Hahaha. Do you not recognize this face and the red fists? I am Blood-Hand Rakshasa Tak Wun-yang, the very person before you!”

With the laughter of madness and a voice full of resentment, it seemed like today was going to be a big problem.

The old man’s grudge seemed immense.

But the head of the Tang family, asking me to be released in a serious voice.

“Please release this young hero. He is not a martial artist and has no connection with us. Your grudge is related to our Tang family, isn’t it? If you release this young hero, I will willingly offer my neck.”

It felt like a plea not to involve civilians.

I thought he was quite a decent person and agreed in my mind that the grudge between their subordinates should be settled among themselves.

However, the old man, who had a nickname Blood-Hand Rakshasa, which sounded like something out of a teenage fantasy, scoffed at his words.

“I will slaughter anyone who has even brushed against my Tang family! Haven’t they said in the Buddhist scriptures that even a mere brush of the sleeves indicates three thousand past life connections? Hahaha!”

“Aaaaah! Save… me.”

Then, turning my body to face him, he slowly began to exert strength in his hand gripping my neck.

The powerful feeling of his grip.

And, separately, a strange feeling that made my legs go numb and my body tremble.

-Tsururururu!

-Kwadeuk!

The centipedes brothers hidden in my clothes suddenly made a sharp noise, emerging from my sleeves and neck, and bit the old man who was gripping my neck.

“Cough!”

The bulging eyes of the old man facing me.

His eyes, full of disbelief, were fully captured in my sight.

And slowly, the strength began to drain from the old man’s hand.

Quickly breaking free from his grasp and looking at his face, the old man, now completely turned black, collapsed to the ground.

-Thud.

‘Good Lord! Weren’t they supposed to be non-venomous at this stage?’

The confusing situation where my pets had killed a person.

Slowly turning my head, I asked the middle-aged man.

“Uh… This person was a bad guy, right? He, he seems dead?”

I asked with a dazed expression, knowing he was probably bad, but shocked by the fact that my pet had killed someone.

It was the first time I had seen someone die.

Excluding my own death.

However, the middle-aged man seemed oddly happy in response to my question.

Someone had died, after all.

‘Is he a psychopath?’

***

The fact that the centipedes had venom.

And the fact that their venom was deadly enough to kill a person sent shivers down my spine, but I calmed down and hurried to help.

One was already dead, and if I was late, another might die too.

The middle-aged man had vomited a lot of blood, so I thought there would be a mass funeral if something wasn’t done quickly.

Of course, I couldn’t support him.

I was worried the centipedes might jump out and bite the middle-aged man again.

So, I led him into the inner part of the pavilion I used.

There was a bed there, and it was the most intact building in this abandoned conduit, so it was the only place to lay down the head of the Tang family.

The door had been slightly damaged by the stone fragments that had sprung up when the man hit the stone steps, but the interior was still intact.

“Please lie down here.”

“Cough. Thank you, young hero.”

“But the village is far, and I can’t call a doctor. If you tell me where your companions are, I’ll go see them. No, I can’t just leave you here.”

I paced back and forth, wondering what to do, but the man spoke with a kind smile.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. A few days of rest will do.”

Vomiting blood meant internal injuries, possibly intestinal rupture or gastric perforation, but he was saying a few days of rest would cure it.

I seriously responded to the man’s carefree words.

“Don’t say such things. You vomited blood. You are in a critical condition!”

But the man still smiled and replied to my words.

“I am a martial artist, it’s fine.”

“A martial artist?”

“Yes, a martial artist.”

Upon reflection, I remembered the man’s words during the urgent situation earlier, insisting that I was not a martial artist and should be released. It reminded me of something like a martial arts movie from a past life.

‘Could it be?’

Doubtful about the man’s words, I asked.

“So… if you’re a martial artist, does that mean you can fly and shoot energy blasts like in those martial arts stories?”

“Not everyone can do that, but yes, that’s essentially correct.”

Thinking it over, it seemed like the middle-aged man flying earlier might have been hit by an energy blast.

‘Wow!’

Only then did I understand why such giant centipedes existed here.

It seemed like I was in some other world, not the past.

As I shuddered at the realization that I had fallen into a strange world,

“Thanks to the young hero, I have saved my life. I am deeply grateful for your life-saving grace. Let me formally introduce myself. I am Tang Cheol-san, the head of the Sichuan Tang Family.”

“Ah, I am Wei Xiaolong.” (TL: The name MC used here is (small dragon) the nickname of Bruce Lee in Chinese and the korean that author used here is the Name of Bruce Lee in Korean.)

I didn’t originally have a name in this world, but thinking of martial arts reminded me of a famous martial artist actor from a past life, so I quickly made up a name.

Introducing myself as Wei Xiaolong, the man nodded.

“A small dragon. That’s a good name.”

“Thank you, elder. But since you’re unwell, should I go to the village and bring someone from your family? That grandfather?”

After a sufficient introduction, I asked if I should call other people from his family, but he shook his head.

“No need for that. My father has left for Sichuan with other warriors. The warriors remaining in the village will all come here in two or three days.”

“Oh, then what should I do? Water, maybe… Ah, but you vomited blood, so water is not good… Porridge… Porridge is also not right.”

Feeling helpless about what to do, the man smiled and asked.

“I will be fine just resting and practicing Qi for a few days. If I need food, I will let you know then.”

“Understood, elder. Uh… Then, I will wet a cloth and wipe your mouth.”

“No, before that, I have many questions. Is it okay to talk for a bit?”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you to rest?”

“This is fine.”

Stopping my action of preparing a wet cloth at the man’s request, I sat back down next to him.

Then the man began to pour out questions as if he had been holding them in.

“That venomous creature wrapped around your body, is it a centipede? Where did you get them and how did you tame them? And, I saw inside while waiting for you to arrive, are all those venomous creatures yours?”

“Uh… Well…”

I sincerely answered the man’s questions.

The centipedes were from the eggs of a Blue-Spotted Centipede that the men had caught, and the venomous creatures inside were indeed mine.

“Oh ho! You hatched them from eggs!?”

“Well, it was almost time for them to hatch…”

“You can tell that?”

“Yes? Well, kind of.”

“Remarkable!”

The man, Tang Cheol-san, praised my breeding skills.

Having had no one to boast to all this while, his praise made me feel good, so I decided to show off my years of breeding achievements.

“Just wait a moment, elder.”

I quickly went to my small cabinet and took out a Bawangling Cave Gecko.

A typical Bawangling Cave Gecko has yellow stripes on its body and white stripes on its tail, but this one had a yellow body and white tail.

It was a creature of just two colors.

In a past life, this culmination of my breeding would have been worth tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of won.

“Ahem. You can also raise them like this.”

I presented it to the middle-aged man as if to show off my skills, but he just blinked, seemingly unaware of its significance.

Not realizing how impressive it was, I brought another creature to explain.

‘It seems I have to spoon-feed the explanation.’

“Hmm… This is a common cave lizard. I selected the ones among these creatures with prominent yellow stripes on their bodies and white stripes on their tails, pairing them repeatedly until I produced one with just these two colors.”

“You, you created these colors?!”

The man was finally astonished by my achievement.

In an urgent tone, he asked me,

“Then, is it possible to select only those with strong venom and breed them to create even more venomous ones?”

It was theoretically possible, but since there was no way to measure the potency of the venom, it was impractical.

Shaking my head, I replied,

“It would be possible if we knew which ones had stronger venom. But that’s difficult…”

“That’s it! So that’s how it is!”

“Whoa! You scared me!”

The man who seemed close to death suddenly yelled out, startling me. He then grabbed my hand with fervent eyes and said,

“You. Become a member of our family!”

“What!?”

By ‘family’, he seemed to be inviting me to become a part of his clan.

Like raising me as a subordinate or something.

It might be good to learn how to fly and shoot energy blasts, but the problem was that martial artists seemed slightly dangerous, judging from what I saw earlier.

As I hesitated to answer, the man began to list various benefits.

“Firstly, if you become our family member, I will teach you all of our Tang clan’s martial arts without reservation. You will have access to miraculous medicines and herbs, and any kind of poison you desire.

With your abilities, you could even capture or breed the Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains, which are legends in the martial world.

And of course, not to boast, but one of my daughters is among the Three Beauties of the Central Plains…”

“Wait a moment!”

I quickly interrupted the rapid introduction of benefits.

Something unbelievable had just been mentioned.

“What did you just say!?”

“Huh? Ah, you’re young but still a man, right? Indeed! My daughter, one of the Three Beauties of the Central Plains…”

The head of the Tang family kept pushing the topic of some beauties.

I wasn’t interested in such beauties, so I shook my head and asked again.

“Not that, not the beauty. Before that.”

“Huh? Martial arts?”

“No, after that.”

“Miraculous medicines and herbs?”

“No, after that.”

“The Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains?”

In my past life, I had died searching for the world’s top ten deadliest snakes, so the mention of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains struck a chord in my heart.

So, I eagerly asked the head of the Tang family,

“Are they as impressive as the Blue-Spotted Centipede?”

Smiling slyly, the head of the Tang family replied,

“Indeed, they are. The Blue-Spotted Centipede doesn’t even compare to the lower ranks of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures. From scorpions as large as houses to golden frogs that shine like gold. Whatever you imagine, they are beyond that.”

The mention of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures of the Central Plains made me think about joining the family.

‘Should I?’

To a man, or at least to me, the Ten Great Venomous Creatures are a kind of romance.

Anyway.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – 에르훗]

[Translator – Roshi]