NOVEL NEXT Chapter 157
Chapter 157: The Wrath of Bin Ah
“Uh-oh! Crunch! Smash!”
As Bin Ah’s furious cries echoed, the sound of bedbugs getting obliterated followed suit.
The room, once filled with the subtle scent of herbs, quickly transformed into a stench reminiscent of corroded iron.
The reason these little bedbugs smelled like herbs was that the scientific name for coriander, Coriandrum sativum, originates from the Greek word for bedbug, koriōs.
Both East and West refer to coriander as “bedbug herb” simply because it emits a similar aroma to the bedbug.
Additionally, the pungent iron odor filling the room was due to the bugs’ droppings, along with blood that all of them had in their bellies.
Earlier, the bedbug droppings trickling down the wall was essentially digested blood, oxidized to emit a foul and rusty scent due to its iron content, coupled with blood sprayed everywhere as they exploded under Bin Ah’s attack.
“Bin Ah! Swing towards the lanterns Dad dropped and get out!”
With that plea in my heart, I watched as Bin Ah valiantly fought on, fully braving the situation.
Though she was quite the fighter, I knew how widespread these bugs could be in town, and I needed to alert others quickly.
Tap.
Crackle.
Hearing my request, I saw Bin Ah’s tail swinging, followed by the sound of flames spreading.
Soon, a wave of heat washed over me as Bin Ah pulled me towards the exit.
Once outside, she shook herself off and dropped me to the side before attacking the ground.
Crackle!
Crash! Crash!
In Korea, when they’re flattened, they call it “bedbug pancakes,” and as Bin Ah raged, the bedbugs were squashed into an even flatter form.
Blood, dark red and viscous, dribbled from the crushed bedbugs that were glowing in the firelight.
Bedbugs wriggled, staining the earth around Bin Ah a deep crimson as we, shaken from the grim scene, stared into the flames.
Suddenly, the patrolmen I had asked to investigate the recent murders came rushing in, yelling through the chaos.
“F-Fire!”
“F-Fire! There’s a blaze!”
Then, one by one, lights began to flicker on in nearby houses.
And at that moment, my eyes caught two houses that stood out starkly different.
Near the first and second victim’s homes, two other houses showed no signs of fire.
You would expect people to wake up in such commotion, especially with flames nearby, but those two houses were eerily quiet, as if mice had died inside.
I shouted towards the four panicking water bandits who had rushed in yelling, “Forget about the fire! Check if anyone’s alive in those two houses! Be careful! There are bedbugs!”
“B-Bedbugs?”
“B-Bedbugs?”
As they hurried toward where I pointed, the water bandits blinked, clearly confused as they couldn’t grasp the meaning behind my sudden warning of “bedbugs.”
After all, in this era, bedbugs were common to encounter in any home, varying only in abundance.
Before the pesticide known as DDT, bedbugs were something we couldn’t escape from.
They sneakily hid in the gaps of bedding or furniture, persistently tormenting humans.
So, warning them about common bedbugs had left the water bandits with blank expressions.
I pointed back towards the burning house and shouted again, “Not just any bedbugs, those are the ones!”
“What? Eeeek!”
“Wh-What kind of bedbugs!”
The sight of large, black bedbugs crawling out of the inferno sent the water bandits into a frenzy.
Bedbugs, the size of palms, were crawling out in droves, fleeing the flames of the burning house.
The water bandits, panicking, darted towards another house.
“G-Go!”
“Quick, move!”
‘People would handle their own rescue. We need to stop the bedbugs from spreading any further.’
Having sent people to help the affected houses nearby, it was now time to ensure those creatures couldn’t escape.
Bedbugs were surprisingly fast, so I ordered Bin Ah to circle the burning house and eliminate the bugs trying to escape.
“Bin Ah! You need to prevent those things from fleeing! Circle the house and pop all the ones trying to get away!”
Crackle!
Much like a dance, Bin Ah swiftly moved around the burning house, mercilessly smashing the bedbugs trying to escape.
And at that moment, behind me, I saw Lee Tae, Seol, Hua Eun, Chao, and Yo-hwa rushing toward me.
Upon witnessing Bin Ah crushing bedbugs before the burning house, both Seol and Hua Eun stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
“W-What the… What kind of bugs are those, they look like palm-sized monsters!”
“Chao! Help Yo-hwa and Bin Ah!”
Crackle!
Sizzle!
At Hua Eun’s urging, Chao soared into the air, with the taller Yo-hwa helping to stomp the bedbugs, swiftly reducing their numbers.
Now that we seemed to have control, I instructed Lee Tae to check on his men who went to help those in the extinguished house.
“Lee Tae, your subordinates went to help people in the burned house but haven’t returned yet. Go help them…”
In the meantime, I was considering setting fire to the house where the young couple had died yesterday when one of Lee Tae’s men staggered out of a nearby house.
That man, with a dazed expression, looked towards Lee Tae.
“S-Sir, d-dash…”
He reached out with trembling hands before collapsing.
Thud.
Seol gasped at the sight, shouting with horror.
“D-Does that mean what I touched? Aaaah!”
Being a martial artist, you wouldn’t expect her to scream, yet the image of bedbugs crawling on the man’s back, large and puffed up, caused panic.
These bedbugs are utterly greedy creatures, draining blood until their bellies swell, and even after, they expel clear fluids, shrinking to gorge even more.
Thus, the mysterious liquid Seol found on the bed was essentially blood plasma.
As the water bandit collapsed, Lee Tae called out his name loudly, rushing toward him.
“Yeon Geol!”
Initially flustered, Lee Tae rushed back with a club leaned against the nearby wall, pounding at the bedbugs clinging to the man’s back.
Thwack! Thwack!
“Yeon Geol! Get it together!”
The man’s back turned bright red with every strike against the bugs.
With each swing of the club, Lee Tae’s face also became tinted.
The man lay still, unresponsive.
Hua Eun shook her head at the sight, dismayed.
For an adult man, the human body holds about 5 liters of blood.
When a bedbug feeds, it can suck up to six times its body weight, but how much blood could a bedbug the size of a palm take in one go?
It’s said a loss of over 30% of blood leads to death, and without a doubt, that man was no longer alive.
Losing even 1.5 liters would be fatal.
I approached Lee Tae and grabbed his shoulder, trying to snap him out of it.
“Yeon Geol, focus! You said you wanted to see your mother back home! Yeon Geol!”
“Lee Tae, stop already! He’s gone.”
“N-No! So Ryong! This guy can hold his breath better than anyone, he’s definitely just holding it in!”
Lee Tae seemed to be losing his grip on reality in this bizarre situation.
Hua Eun stepped in closer, her voice cutting cold.
“Get a grip! Are you trying to get everyone killed?!”
“D-Different?”
Lee Tae blinked in confusion as if trying to process.
Nodding, he replied, “We don’t know how many bedbugs could be lurking in town. Evacuate everyone to the docks immediately!”
“R-Right. Understood.”
The water bandits and Lee Tae rushed to evacuate people to safety at the dock.
As we set fire to the two quiet houses and the second victim’s home, more bedbugs began to emerge from the shadows.
Judging by the time, it was between 1 and 3 AM.
It seemed we were in for a long night.
“Chao, Bin Ah, and Yo-hwa, you must prevent the bedbugs from getting into the village! It looks like there aren’t too many, so let’s swiftly deal with them!”
Crackle!
Hiss!
Against a backdrop of burning houses, the black mass of bedbugs clashed with three venomous insects, their shrieks echoing into the night sky.
CRUNCH!
Screeee-
*
As dawn broke, all the bedbugs vanished as if by magic.
Bedbugs are nocturnal creatures, and they usually hide in gaps of beds and floorboards when daylight arrives, making a hasty retreat to their hiding spots.
“Ugh, so tired.”
Seol plopped down on the floor, avoiding the bedbugs stuck to her.
Beside her, the water bandits, who had rallied to assist, sprawled on the ground, looking wiped out.
“Pant, pant… Finally, it’s over.”
“That was horrific.”
I had anticipated only a few bedbugs emerging from the four houses, but our lengthy battle continued into the dawn because they were only the advance party.
When we incinerated the houses where the first victim lived, as well as three others, I had thought that would be the end of it.
After all, we had taken care of every bedbug crawling out of those four homes.
But, just beyond the now-charred remains of the first house, Seol pointed out, “Long! More are coming!”
“More!?”
The suggestion of more on the way prompted me to summon my eye technique, revealing what seemed to be an endless stream of bedbugs filing out from the shadows of the mountain behind the first burn site.
It felt as if the source of these bedbugs was that very mountain.
Thus, our fight had to carry on until dawn, at which point the battle came to a temporary halt.
Well, technically speaking, it was over only in the sense that they’d retreated to a lull for the moment.
“You guys doing okay?”
Crackle!
Hiss.
Crackle.
Chao and Bin Ah seemed lively, while Yo-hwa appeared slightly fatigued.
As I offered Yo-hwa my finger to nibble on, I felt an overwhelming Yang energy being drained from her, resulting in a mild lethargy creeping in.
Sitting down on the floor alongside Seol, I said, “Ugh, I’m tired too. Since it’s filthy, let’s send Chao, Yo-hwa, and Bin Ah off to wash up by the riverside.”
All three of their legs were covered with the dried-up fluids from the bedbugs.
As I noted this, they glanced at their bodies and nodded in agreement.
As the three girls headed off for a bath, Hua Eun approached with water, asking, “You okay? So Ryong?”
“Yes. How about you?”
“I’m fine.”
Just then, we heard Seol, who sounded like she was about to faint, cry out, “I’m not okay! Help me too…!”
With a smile, I handed her water, which she eagerly gulped down.
As Seol chugged the water, she shivered with revulsion at the thought of bedbugs, creating a reaction similar to encountering cockroaches.
“I hate these bedbugs so much. But they’ll probably come back tonight, right?”
“Probably?”
“Our problems won’t vanish until we’ve fixed the boat, will they?”
“They said they’d have to patch the leaking spots, so yes, likely.”
Since we had torn apart the leaky sections for waterproofing repairs, we would be stuck here for about a week.
Seol let out a big sigh at my response, “Haa… But where did such large bedbugs come from?”
In response to that question, I decided to inspect one of the remaining specimens that retained a semblance of form.
‘They’re identical to Cimex lectularius…’
The Cimicidae family encompasses insects that feed on warm-blooded animals’ blood, commonly known as bedbugs.
Among them, the best-known bedbug is what we call Cimex, and the ones invading our village seemed to match the description of these Cimex almost perfectly.
The only differences were that they had grown to the size of my palm and had much stronger saliva that contained substances preventing blood clotting and mild anesthetics.
Feeling a thought forming, I turned to Seol with a serious expression, asking, “Doesn’t it smell too familiar?”
“Huh? Smell? Scent of incense?”
Seol seemed to think I was alluding to the herb aroma of the bedbugs, but I shook my head and replied, “No, I mean doesn’t it feel like that time with the strange army insects?”
“The army insects!?”
Seol jolted in surprise at the mention of army insects.
Hua Eun nodded along, agreeing with my insight.
“Right! The location of the bedbug appearances is also too coincidental. The Zhang River Gorge is a place where they can quickly spread. So Ryong, you’re right, it does smell the same.”
The reason I brought up the army insect incident was simply that my instincts sensed a familiar aroma resembling that of the Five Poisons Sect in the air.