158

Chapter 158 - Inevitability - Part 2

Why is the lady coming out from there?

Didn't that lady run away to Shaanxi Province? Did Dang Geo Ho go all the way to Shaanxi in search of Dang Hwa Rin?

So, a person who lived in Sichuan Province marked the clan head of Daehung County in Hubei Province and went to a mansion in Shaanxi, and after hearing that Hwarin was in Yichang and would go to Sichuan, they even set a trap? Not to mention taking Hwarin's mother as a hostage?

To be a villain, you need to be diligent and earnest. With such fervor, they could have created the greatest clan under heaven if they had put it towards something wholesome. Truly remarkable passion.

'Even if it's a barren wasteland, escape will be difficult.'

There aren't many of the survivors in black left, but every single one is a skilled fighter. My feet may as well be a tortoise's scurry to them.

For now, let's observe the situation.

"That crazy b*tch? This f*cking woman dares to say such things to her mother whom she hasn't seen in so long."

Such a warm mother-daughter relationship.

Hwarin's mother, seemingly forgetting where she was and that she was tied up, immediately bit back at Hwarin's 'crazy b*tch' remark.

As expected, not your average person could ruin so many lives as a clan head's lady.

"Why are you here?"

"What, you think some b*stard dragged me here? Are you clueless or are you toying with me... ugh!"

"Shut up."

With a look of annoyance, Dang Geo Ho pressed on Hwarin's mother's neck, silencing her words.

Did he press an acupoint? The more I see it, the more amazing it seems. There's a mute button and even a sleep button.

"You brought this crazy woman here for what? Don't tell me you're trying to threaten me with her death."

Dang Hwa Rin looked at Dang Geo Ho with an incredulous expression.

Are they really threatening with death? Doesn't seem like it will work. Perhaps she would rather eat the poison if we promised to let this woman live out her days in peace and prosperity.

"I shall give you control over your mother's life and death."

Dang Geo Ho also knew the fact and made a shocking statement.

"What?"

"Your mother knew everything and yet chose wealth and glory over all else, even colluding with the enemy. No, she went as far as to demand poison from me as a threat when her relationship with the clan leader soured."

Did Hwarin's mother know about the experiment? And she even killed her husband? A prince who delights in seizing the throne through rebellion would concede in terms of villainy.

"So what? Who do you truly wish to kill?"

As Hwarin's enmity filled his gaze, Dang Geo Ho opened his mouth with a smile as generous as a father's.

"Hwarin. I understand you wanting to kill me for turning you into what you are now. But I am different from your mother, who pushed her child into the pits of hell. I cared for you as if you were my own child. If you become a poison master, I will grant you all the wealth and glory that transcends your years of suffering. So release your anger on this wretch, and let us go on our way."

Parents do experiments on their own children nowadays. What absurd nonsense.

"Untie her."

Hwarin, surely you're not fooled by such fallacies?

As Dang Hwa Rin glared at her mother with fiery eyes, Dang Geo Ho nodded and released the acupoint.

"Ha, Hwarin."

Dang Hwa Rin's mother, with a terrified look on her face, gazed back at Hwa Rin.

"Did you really know everything?"

"I, I learned about it later!"

So you did know. A shadow fell over Hwarin's face. Hwarin sighed lightly, seemingly trying to suppress her anger by closing her eyes.

Hwarin's eyelids trembled, signaling she was not calming down. This isn't good. At this rate, Hwarin might cross an irredeemable line.

"Hwarin! There's no need for you to become a beast by killing a beastly woman!"

I shouted at Hwarin, and she looked at me with startled eyes.

Hwarin. I'm not saying not to commit such a deed because it's morally wrong. You, more than anyone, have a tender heart.

If Hwarin killed her mother in a fit of rage, the trauma would haunt her for life.

That trauma could turn Hwarin into a true poison master. That is not the outcome I wish for.

"This woman isn't worth killing."

Did she read my mind? Hwarin threw the knife she was holding.

"If she's useless, then she's got to be killed."

"No!"

Hwarin parried the hidden weapon Dang Geo Ho threw.

"So much for cherishing a mother's life. If you want her to live, take it."

Dang Geo Ho sneered at the sight.

"What are you saying. She is not worth saving."

"You talk like that, but you are trying to protect your mother."

Dang Geo Ho slyly watched Hwarin trying to shield her mother with her own body.

"I am not this crazy woman."

That's true. I don't want her dead, but she's not worth eating poison for either. Yet if left unattended, Hwarin's mother will die.

And then Hwarin too would become like her mother – a passive bystander to all this.

The standoff between Dang Geo Ho and Dang Hwa Rin lasted for a while. All this trouble over someone neither worth killing nor saving. What a predicament over a thorn in the flesh.

"Stupid woman."

Contrary to my thoughts, Hwarin's mother wasn't a bland chicken breast needing a dash of salt for a diet. Picking up the fallen knife, she said,

"What, what?"

"Have you always been this slow? Do you think they'll let me live doing this... aaargh!"

Dang Hwa Rin's mother charged at the agent in black with the knife, and the agent was not one to simply watch.

In a single move, both her arms were severed, and she crumpled to the ground.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Dang Hwa Rin rushed to her fallen mother in shock.

"Idiotic woman. The moment I was dragged here, I was as good as dead, so I at least played the role of a mother."

The bleeding was too severe. It seemed it wasn't just her arms—there was also a gaping wound in her abdomen.

"Stop the nonsense! Why do you play the good one? Why pretend to be good!"

"Damn you. It's not pretending; it's messing around till the very end. So you better live well and not have a messed-up life like mine. You like that man just now, don't you? But think hard about it. Once you date a man with black hair, you can never date another man."

"Crazy bitch! Hey! Heeeyaaa!"

Hwarin shook her mother's shoulder, but the latter's focus was fading fast.

"I don't want to see your face, so in the afterlife make sure you come as late as possi..."

Had Hwarin's demeanor awakened a moment of maternal affection? Or was it the last defiance of a villainess, unwilling to be manipulated to the end?

The end of a woman who had shaken the lives of her daughter and the whole clan was pitifully anticlimactic.

No tears came from Hwarin's eyes as she watched her mother's death.

"...Mom."

She bit her lip in grief, and that was all.

-----------

"Useless until the very end."

Dang Geo Ho uttered this upon witnessing the absurd death of the last pawn he had prepared.

"What did you say?"

"If you don't eat it. I'll kill them all. And if you still refuse, I'll drag you off to the Demon Sect."

"Hwarin! Even if you eat it, we're all going to die anyway."

Everyone here was a hostage to Hwarin. As long as Hwarin remained in the state of Schrödinger's poison master, our lives were maintained.

"This guy with black hair has been a nuisance since a while ago."

Apparently no longer able to ignore my words, Dang Geo Ho grabbed my neck and lifted me up. Is it choking again?

Contrary to my expectations, it wasn't pain in the neck I felt, but a sensation as if gravity had disappeared.

"Huh?"

A sense of being suspended. Like the moment a massager appears in a video and it's fast-forwarded fivefold, my surroundings whirred by.

Ah. I've been thrown.

With that brief realization, a tremendous shock was felt on my back.

"Yoonho!"

I could faintly see Hwarin, a blur through the blood, running towards me.

************

Dang Hwa Rin ran towards Kang Yoonho with a panicked face.

"Yoonho! Are you okay? Yoonho! Yoonho!"

Could something be terribly wrong? Dang Hwa Rin began to check Kang Yoonho's condition with hurried worry in her touch. Yet, ironically, the one who was more composed was the injured Kang Yoonho himself.

Kang Yoonho grabbed her wrist to show he was fine, then spoke softly so only she could hear.

"Hwarin. Let's escape on horseback."

Thankfully, it's just the skin that was hurt. Seems like there are no serious injuries on a body that doesn't even take a knife. Dang Hwa Rin sighed softly in relief. But escape, what does he mean?

Without turning her head, Dang Hwa Rin followed Kang Yoonho's gaze and looked beside her. Now she noticed that the place Kang Yoonho had been thrown to was the stable of the inn.

It was a building with a roof shaped like the character '丁,' without any entrance, so they could immediately escape if they just untied the horses.

To think of a way to escape amidst being thrown. This man's crisis management skills truly deserve recognition.

'Can we escape together?'

The horses that the people of the Dang clan rode must be exceptional. It would be difficult for even a skilled fighter to catch up.

Dang Hwa Rin felt the gazes of the agents in black staring at her from behind. They hadn't followed her when she ran to Yoonho, confident that they could catch her at any time.

'If we escape together, I might live, but Yoonho will die.'

Her mother had died, and the man she had thought of as her father for ten years had deceived her. Now, there was only one person left who was precious to her.

Was her life worthy enough to be risked for that?

"Yoonho. Pretend to be dead."

Dang Hwa Rin had made up her mind.

"What?"

Yoonho looked at Dang Hwa Rin with a dumbfounded expression.

"Run when it gets noisy."

I don't want to die. But if I must, I wish the last image he remembers of me to be smiling.

Dang Hwa Rin gave him a smile and turned around.

"Give me the poison pill of Thousand-Year Wugong."

Dang Hwa Rin approached Dang Geo Ho and extended her hand, leaving Yoonho behind.

"Looks like you've made up your mind at last."

"If even one more person dies, I won't follow you."

"I promise."

Dang Hwa Rin looked at the poison pill of Thousand-Year Wugong resting on her palm. Closer inspection revealed it was not one solid piece but a fragmented chunk.

Perhaps it was too precious an item to be consumed by just one person.

Dang Hwa Rin looked at the blood on her palm—Kang Yoonho's blood. The face she had just seen could be Yoonho's last. Perhaps she should have kissed him, claiming it to be a farewell.

No, that would've kept the attention on Kang Yoonho.

He needed to escape without drawing notice.

Dang Hwa Rin clenched her fist, soaking the poison pill with Yoonho's blood as a talisman, and swallowed it whole.

----------

The poison pill entered her stomach and spread through her body instantaneously.

The excruciating toxin, unbearable to humans, rampaged freely through Dang Hwa Rin's blood vessels. She felt as if burning centipedes were crawling all over her body.

Though the toxin should have dissolved her flesh, it failed to escape Dang Hwa Rin's blood vessels. A body prepared for over ten years would not easily surrender control to the poison.

'Follow my command without question.'

At Dang Hwa Rin's mental command, the poison energies began converging into one place.

'I have to condense the poison energies.'

Obedient to Dang Hwa Rin's will, the poison energies, which had been spreading across her body, gathered at a point, starting to form a new poison pill.

The deadly toxins that had lain dormant in her body for over a decade encircled the Thousand-Year Wugong poison, helping it to coalesce.

Much like a spider wrapping its prey into a cocoon, Dang Hwa Rin's will and the poison energies within her worked together to create a new poison pill.

'No, it's not enough.'

The barely gathered poison energies started to leak. If she couldn't hold on, her body might collapse. She had to endure. But it was insufficient. Something was missing.

She was going to fail at this rate.

As despair crept into Dang Hwa Rin's heart, she heard the conversation between the agent in black and Dang Geo Ho.

"If this woman becomes a poison master right here, couldn't she seek revenge on us?"

"That's impossible."

"Why is that?"

"I've already fed pieces of the Thousand-Year Wugong poison pill to several experiment subjects."

"Didn't they all fail?"

"There was a semi-success. Two of them died in the process of forming the poison pill, one succeeded but died days later, boiling in high fever as her brain melted. The last child withstood the fever but her body melted away and she couldn't survive for long. This girl here will eventually lose consciousness to the fever, too. When that happens, we'll just take her away."

The last child must be Yoonho's friend. Suddenly, Dang Hwa Rin remembered Yoonho's face, longing for a woman. A sudden ache washed over her heart, as sharp as the pain from the poison.

She had to endure this. If she died like this, she would leave another scar on his heart.

There was something she detested even more.

'I refuse to be second.'

If she died now, she would simply be remembered as 'the second', next to a lifelong friend.

She wanted to live. Being second was okay as long as she was alive. One day, she would be able to tell Yoonho that she had pushed aside the first and claimed her place.

If she stayed alive, she would be the ultimate winner. But in death, she would always remain the eternal second.

'Yoonho. Yoonho. Yoonho.'

A man filled Dang Hwa Rin's heart. If she died, she would become the second. Worse yet, Yoonho too could die.

She couldn't afford to lose him.

Was it because a man had occupied her heart that she felt something strange stirring within her?

'Is this.... Yoonho?'

The blood she ingested with the poison pill. From there, she sensed Yoonho's energy. As she touched upon Yoonho's energy, it strangely flowed toward the most dangerous place—the poison pill.

'Could it be?'

A slight lead, but it could solve the biggest problem at hand.

Dang Hwa Rin clung to it.

"Then we no longer need the hostages. I'll start by taking the head of the guy who was thrown."

An agent in black drew his sword upon Dang Geo Ho's words.

"Who do you think you are?"

"Argh!"

Dang Hwa Rin opened her eyes, stood up, and grabbed the agent's shoulder; the man melted away in an instant.

"Is it a success? Speak."

Dang Geo Ho stepped back, his face a mixture of wariness and elation, and asked her.

"No, it's a failure."

Dang Hwa Rin looked confidently at the agents and regarded her own body.

It's not enough.

Not complete.

She knew better than anyone.

She was not a full poison master.

But.

"I think it's enough to kill you guys, though."

It was sufficient to keep him safe.