"How’s that village doing now?"

It was while I was using light footwork along the western coast to look for Zimjo.

One village came to mind.

The one we saved from the kissing bugs.

Later I heard my father-in-law had sent medicine and physicians so they could carry out additional prevention, but I was a little curious about what happened afterward.

Whether they were living well.

Weren’t they the first people this So-ryong saved?

I also remembered the Jangtak Banquet—like a full Korean table spread they laid out for us.

Because it was a feast that set out wild greens, meat, even fruit so neatly, it resembled Korean food and let me taste a bit of my past life.

"I should stop by if things work out later."

Thinking that once things worked out I’d swing by to see if they were living well, I flew west for about half a day and reached the Yuezu village that had become a ghost town after everyone there died.

"Wow, I thought I wasn’t going to find it."

I wandered a bit after arriving; this place was no longer a ghost town but a ruin completely swallowed by jungle.

So it was hard to quickly spot traces of a village, and I drifted around the area.

Back then, that villain who died like an extra had just finished looting the place, so it was only at the “ghost town” level.

But now strangler figs had taken deep root and turned it into a complete ruin, so no trace caught the eye.

A strangler fig is a plant that proliferates ferociously in tropical and subtropical regions—those tropical vines you see growing over places like Angkor Wat.

The vine you think of when you think “jungle ruins.”

It’s a tropical plant that coils around ruins or grows straight through them; it shows up in tons of films and photos.

This thing grows at a truly insane speed.

It had overgrown the village here and there, making it hard to find.

Only after studying the place for quite a while did I spot vines that had punched up through a roof.

By now all traces of the village were gone and leaves filled everything around.

Roads and houses were all covered over; it had just become jungle.

Once I confirmed the location, I ran up the mountain above the village, stepping on the vine leaves.

Then the view near the summit—charred black—came into sight.

Quite some time had passed, but only now were small grasses beginning to grow here.

"Wow, I thought the miasma vanished right away back then. I guess it only got to where it wouldn’t kill people; it still wasn’t okay for plants."

Seeing sprouts only now pushing up after so long, Zimjo’s poison must have been lethal to plants as well.

I looked around and moved toward where I’d found it before.

"This was where I found it, right?"

It was a shallow, basin-like hollow a little distance from the cave.

The villain had piled up the corpses of people he’d murdered to practice Blood-Hole arts here and left them.

The stacked corpses and the venomous insects that had gathered were mostly melted away and gone by Zimjo’s poison at the time.

Thinking of it as a grave, I bowed my head in silent tribute.

It was a memorial to the souls of the victims.

When the tribute ended, I climbed to the highest peak of the mountain.

From the highest point, looking around, I saw sea to the west and mountains to the east.

I tried thinking from here as the center.

Where Zimjo would be.

"Well, the sea’s to the west. Centering here, odds are higher it’s to the east."

From where I stood, the east was the island interior, the west the sea.

So if Zimjo was on this island, the chances were higher it was east of here.

It wouldn’t live in the sea, after all.

Kicking off the rock, I shot south ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) and murmured,

"Where might you be, our Lord Zimjo."

I began a search with the mountaintop as the center.

***

—Ssshhhh.

It began to rain.

This season is when Hainan gets a lot of rain.

I was taking shelter from the rain in the cave where I’d once hidden from Zimjo’s miasma.

"Not easy."

Two days since the search began.

I hadn’t expected to find it easily, but traces of Zimjo were elusive.

Maybe it’s the type that doesn’t exude poison unless threatened; I found no other traces of miasma nearby, and I found no likely spots for it either.

It was my first time with a bird, so I mainly checked places where it might nest, but then I recalled that most birds don’t build nests outside the breeding season.

Most of them just sleep up in trees.

The whole world is their home and their range of activity.

I might not know much else about birds, but I knew at least that much.

"This is frustrating."

Up to now the Twenty-Four Poison Branch or the Ten Great Venoms had turned up too easily, so I was brimming with confidence, but thinking about it, finding a single living bird was the toughest search so far.

Unlike reptiles, amphibians, or insects, there were too many variables. It could be migratory, and it could be a bird with a wide range.

On top of that, it might have only come to this island during breeding season.

But I wasn’t discouraged.

"Heh, usually this is when it suddenly shows up, right?"

It had always gone that way up to now; usually it would suddenly appear like this.

A guy with bad luck trips and bumps into a woman’s chest and gets reported for molestation, but a guy with good luck falls and buries his nose in a woman’s chest, and then that turns into a flirtation and ends in marriage, doesn’t it?

So there I was in the cave, deciding I should check the north next, when Cheong-yu Sojeo’s voice came through the group chat.

"—Siaa (So-ryong, we think we’ll arrive tomorrow morning. We just started crossing the sea.)"

They were saying they’d just entered the sea.

Cheong-yu Sojeo’s party was taking the same route as me: just straight southeast from the Beast Palace.

That way you pass through Dai Viet and arrive directly at Hainan.

Saying they’d entered the sea probably meant they’d just left Dai Viet.

Cho had sped up and was flying pretty fast.

"‘Oh! Really? Got it. Just keep flying straight southeast, and when you spot the coastline, head up to the northwest. There’s a sandbar on the northwestern coast—if you see that, let me know. I’ll come pick you up.’"

"—Siaa. (Okay!)"

I’d made the northern city where I’d been living my reference point, so I flew north and used the abandoned Daoist hall as my bearing from that side, but if you’re coming from Dai Viet, this spot is closer.

So I guided them here, and after scouting north until evening, I roasted something like a pheasant I’d caught, ate, and fell asleep.

Deep in the dark night, lying on cut and dried grasses, sleeping sweetly—

A clear sound slid into my ears, my reason asleep.

—Flap.

The sound of something beating its wings.

It hit my ears distinctly, as if to wake me.

My eyes snapped open at the sudden flap-flap in my sleep.

My heart pounded at the same time.

As if drawn by something, I bolted straight out of the cave.

And there, in the very same place where I’d seen it last time, stood the very creature I had searched for so desperately.

Long legs and a head like a ceremonial crown.

A body of dark purple.

Eyes lofty and proud.

It lifted a foot with a slow, stately air—its grace and nobility made a mere crane unworthy of comparison.

Compared to Zimjo, a crane is a lamp before the sun. Like comparing an A-cup to a D-cup.

Its dark-purple body, the hue medieval nobles prized as the most exalted, was truly the royalty of venomous creatures; the sharp beak was like that of a swordsman who had entered absolute realm—keen as death—and its gaze was profound, as if it held the myriad phenomena of the world.

Ah, my Lord Zimjo.

I’d thought it might appear suddenly, but to show up like this—

My whole body shivering, I took one step, then another toward it.

The instant Lord Zimjo drew near to me—

"—Siaa (So-ryong? So-ryong?)"

From far off, I felt someone calling me.

My brow knit, and at the same time a loud voice came again.

"—Skaa. (Hyungnim, we’ve arrived!)

—Tzr. (Dad, where are you? Cho is here.)"

In an instant, the scene before my eyes vanished.

The lofty, proud figure of my Lord Zimjo scattered like a mirage.

When I opened my eyes, dawn was breaking outside. I sprang up and ran out—nothing there.

Damn dream.

"No wonder it seemed too easy!"

A dream, huh. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Grumbling, I dashed out and met up with Cheong-yu Sojeo’s group at the sandbar we’d agreed on.

And I led everyone straight to the abandoned Daoist hall.

Cho grew large—easily big enough to carry the three of us.

"Skaa. ‘Hyungnim, Yeondu is all right, yes?’"

We were riding Cho toward the old hall.

Orange kept asking if Yeondu was okay.

It was annoying, but I knew how he felt, so I answered with a generous smile.

"That’s the ninth time you’ve asked that. I told you—she’s fine."

"Tzrrr. ‘Dad, Uncle Orange asked a thousand times on the way here when we’d arrive.’"

"Sskat. ‘S-sorry, Cho. I was just anxious.’"

Honestly, thanks to these guys I was in serious trouble right now.

Because their wives were whispering in their ears—when would I let them have children too, since the others had already had babies.

"‘My lord, Yeondu had babies.’"

"‘Right?’"

"‘To think Yeondu had babies—I’m a little jealous? Not that I’m saying you should get me pregnant right away. I’m just saying.’"

Hwa-eun was the first to drop a subtle hint via private chat, and then the Princess.

"‘So-ryong, Yeondu had babies—doesn’t that make you feel anything?’"

"‘Feel anything?’"

"‘Like, I should have as many as I can?’"

Finally, even Gun Hye-rin.

"‘Master, have the babies hatched?’"

"‘No.’"

"‘I’m jealous, Master.’"

No matter what, once this is over I’ll probably have to work until the three of them are pregnant.

If not, with the subtle pressure, I’m clearly not going to live out my natural span.

After one shichen (two hours), when we reached the abandoned hall where I’d been living, Orange didn’t even wait to land fully—he sprang down from the sky.

He scuttled fast to the pavilion where Hongbi sat and shouted at him.

"Skaa. ‘W-where is she?’"

Hongbi smirked and slid aside, and Orange rushed straight through the door.

—Crash!

"Skaaa! ‘Yeondu, I’m here!’"

"Shaaa! ‘Kyah! Is it... you?’"

The door suddenly flew open; Yeondu startled a little, her eyes going round, and when Orange spotted her, Yeondu’s eyes quickly filled with tears.

Orange crawled over and Yeondu twined her body.

They probably didn’t know what it meant, but the two of them made a heart with their bodies.

The two of them looked at each other, then looked at the eggs between them and said,

"Ska. ‘These are our babies!’"

Yeondu and Orange gazed at the eggs with happy eyes.

***

It was just as I thought.

When Cheong-yu Sojeo arrived, she bolstered Yeondu’s energy and breathed qi into the eggs as well, and the eggs began to glimmer.

Seeing the leathery shells ripple, I felt the little ones inside had gained strength.

The babies would grow well, and now Orange and Cheong-yu Sojeo would guard this place, so I decided to resume the search at once.

"Then I’ll leave things here to you. Cho, rest for a day and then go back to your mother and protect her."

"Tzrrr. ‘Okay, Dad.’"

I was just about to step out when Cheong-yu Sojeo asked from behind me,

"Siaa ‘Any results yet?’"

"No. Not yet. It’s hard even to find traces."

The instant I answered that it was hard even to find traces—

Cheong-yu Sojeo nodded and said,

"Siaa? ‘Since it’s a bird, I guess it’s hard to find?’"

"Yes, seems so."

Right—because it’s a bird, its range of activity was sure to be several times that of ordinary venomous creatures, and birds weren’t exactly my specialty either, so it was tough.

At my answer, Cheong-yu Sojeo spoke with a regretful look.

"Siaa. ‘If only we could call it in... that would be nice.’"

I was about to step out of the pavilion when those words—if only we could call it in—made my hand on the door ring pause.

"Hold on."

Maybe... there might be a way.