The Poison King Hall, wrapped in poison fog, lay sunk in silence. The poison mist was so thick the world on all sides looked blurred.

Wasn’t there that horror movie that starts with a village swallowed by fog? Creepy as hell.

Brushing off the poisonous aura that seeped into me, I pushed at the front gate. It opened with a spine-crawling sound.

CREEEEEAK!

“Hello?”

“.......”

“Is anyone there?”

“.......”

I couldn’t sense a single presence. There was no way they’d all gone out together, which meant something had happened inside the Poison King Hall.

Should I pretend I didn’t see anything and just go back?

But I was supposed to take the castor seeds.

Hesitating, I glanced down the mountain. It was the kind of height that made you want to avoid climbing it twice.

Better to just shut my eyes and go in.

I took a big breath and stepped over the threshold.

At the same time, something soft squished under my foot.

“AAAH—what is that?!”

I jumped back with a scream and looked down.

It was a person.

A man who looked like a guard martial artist was sprawled on the floor.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

“.......”

No answer. He’d passed out.

I crouched quickly and brought my hand to his nose. I could feel a faint breath.

After a brief moment of indecision, I slid my hands under the man’s armpits and hoisted him up.

I didn’t know why he’d fainted, but leaving him in poison fumes didn’t seem like a good idea.

When I came back down alone—except now with a whole person slung over me—Deokju’s eyes went wide.

“Young Lady? Who is he?”

“He was collapsed in front of the gate. Can you take him to the Medical Hall and leave him there?”

“Understood, Young Lady.”

Handing the unconscious guard over to Deokju, I headed back into the Poison King Hall.

But it wasn’t just one guard who’d gone down.

Like ears of grain scattered across a field after the harvest, bodies were strewn everywhere.

It was the kind of scene you only saw in a horror movie, and goosebumps rose all over my skin.

Wow. What the hell happened here?

I hurriedly gathered people up and carried them outside the Poison King Hall.

Some of them were barely conscious.

“Hey. Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

“Mo... Monghwan-yeon...”

“Huh?”

“......Ugh... the jar...”

He let out a short groan and went limp again.

A jar? What jar? And what even is Monghwan-yeon—another poison?

Rolling my eyes around, I dragged the unconscious man outside.

Even without counting too carefully, it looked like I’d pulled out around fifteen people. With everyone knocked out like this, it felt like they’d been hit with something that had an anesthetic effect.

I wanted to do some kind of first aid, but I didn’t know anything.

I’m sorry. I still don’t even know how to take a pulse. I’ve only learned how to blend medicinal herbs.

I fell into indecision—should I wait here until Deokju came back, or go down and ask for help?

No one looked like they were about to die any second.

More than the people, it seemed more important to figure out where the poison fumes were leaking from and block it off.

There might still be someone inside I hadn’t spotted and carried out yet.

Scratching at my head, I wrote words in the dirt.

[Poisoning victims. Ask the Medical Hall for help.]

If I left that, Deokju would handle the rest, right?

Rubbing my nose, I stepped back inside the Poison King Hall.

Finding the source of the poison fumes wasn’t difficult. The origin of that dense poisonous aura was a cauldron boiling furiously.

I slapped the lid onto the cauldron and lowered the fire underneath. A harsh, acrid smell rose from the cauldron, blackened like it had been scorched.

Once the cauldron was covered, the air started to clear little by little.

Next to the boiling cauldron, shards of a shattered jar were scattered across the floor, along with yellow powder. It looked like someone had been mixing poison into the cauldron and dropped the jar.

Seeing what looked like an experiment accident, I finally understood why they’d gone out of their way to build this place halfway up a mountain.

If something like this blew up inside the Tang estate, the poison fumes would drift all the way into the middle of Chengdu’s streets. Trying to clean it up would wipe the family out.

Grumbling, I fetched a broom from a shed and swept up the poison powder.

Should’ve brought Cane. If it were him, he’d be thrilled and gobble it all down.

...Wait. Is that why Grand Elder Tang Jung told me to keep him with me?

Only then did I realize the deep meaning behind my grandpa’s words, and I clapped my hands.

Cane was basically a lab assistant.

A creature that cleaned up poison for me.

From now on, I had to bring him with me no matter what.

With that resolution, I packed the swept-up poison powder into an empty jar and sealed it. Then I put the broom back into the shed.

After that, I checked every corner of the Poison King Hall to make sure there were no more collapsed people. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like I’d missed anyone.

In the meantime, the poison mist thinned and the world slowly returned to its original colors.

Just as I was dusting off my hands like, Okay, that should do it—

I heard Deokju’s voice outside.

“Young Lady! Young Lady—are you inside?”

“Yeah! I’m here!”

I ran over and threw open the gate.

Deokju stood there with her sleeve over her mouth, coughing.

She looked pale, like the poison aura was more than she could handle.

“Hey—Deokju. If it’s this hard on you, why did you come up here? Let’s go back down.”

I pushed at Deokju’s back and guided her down the steps.

For Deokju—who never showed even a hint of strain no matter what—to look like that... the poison floating in the air really was vicious.

“Did you go to the Medical Hall? What did the Medical Hall Master say?”

“He said it looks like the Poison King Hall guards inhaled a nerve toxin, so it may have been an accident during an experiment. He sent people. They’re handling things down below.”

“How did he know that? Does this happen a lot?”

“It’s my first time here as well, but I’ve heard it does. They say there was even a time one of the halls exploded.”

What? How do you even manage to explode a building?

While answering, Deokju started crying thick tears, like she’d been hit by an allergy bomb. I handed her a handkerchief.

“Thank you, Young Lady. Kgh!”

My kid’s weak to poison.

I’d better take care of her, make sure she eats something nourishing and keep an eye on her.

Smacking my lips, I reached a fork in the path—and saw a crowd of people gathered thickly.

On one side, they were rinsing patients’ noses and mouths with clean water. On the other, they were loading those who’d been treated onto stretchers and carrying them down to the estate.

And there was a familiar face.

Tang Juhee.

Tang Juhee flipped a patient’s eyelids up to check their condition, barked some instructions, then moved to the next patient.

It wasn’t the same Tang Juhee who usually looked like a spoiled young lady.

Startled by the unexpected sight, I stared.

Tang Juhee noticed my gaze and lifted his head.

“Little sis! Get over here and help— ...No, don’t. Go over there. Stay over there. You went into the Poison King Hall, didn’t you? Poison powder’ll blow around.”

Those people are only here because I carried them out.

If even Tang Juhee was saying that, then my clothes were probably coated in poison.

When I just stood there blankly, Tang Juhee snapped.

“Hurry up and go. We finally rinsed everyone’s eyes, noses, and mouths—don’t make it all get contaminated again because of you.”

“Yes.”

I backed off obediently under Tang Juhee’s pushing, then realized something.

So Deokju had it rough because of me?

Sorry, Deokju.

Awkward, I moved farther away from her.

“Deokju. Don’t follow me—go to the annex and bring Cane. Tell him to come and suck all the poison aura up.”

“Understood, Young Lady.”

Sniffling, Deokju left.

Left alone, I watched the cleanup—then realized I’d forgotten something.

Right. The castor seeds!

This can’t be helped. Grand Elder Tang Jung will understand.

...He’ll understand, right?

*****

Thankfully, Tang Jung didn’t ask about the castor seeds. After sending me off, he apparently remembered the prescription and immediately wrote a reply and sent it out, or something like that.

Even when he heard there’d been chaos at the Poison King Hall, he didn’t care.

“It’s common. Don’t bother worrying about it. A bunch of useless fools. If this many got carried out, you’d think they’d have learned not to screw up by now. Tsk.”

After dismissing the entire Poison King Hall as useless fools, Tang Jung pressed down firmly on Cane’s belly where he was draped over my shoulder.

“KEEEE!”

Cane threw a fit like, What the hell are you doing? Tang Jung snorted.

“So you’ve been stuffing yourself until your guts are dripping grease. What did you go and pick up to eat this time?”

“I think it was something called Monghwan-yeon.”

“Monghwan-yeon? That’s closer to ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) a sleeping powder than a poison.”

“More specifically, it looked like someone put yellow powder into a cauldron that was boiling poison. The bottom of the jar was shattered.”

“...Girl. Don’t tell me you cleaned it up yourself.”

“Yes.”

“And the poison aura left in the Poison King Hall—this thing sucked it all up?”

“That’s right.”

Tang Jung’s face twisted.

Was there a problem? Why did he look like that?

At that moment, a booming shout rang from outside.

“Elder!”

“Damn it. She’s already here.”

Tang Jung muttered and scrubbed his face dry. His expression said he was annoyed to death.

“Elder! It’s Onjeong! May I come in?”

“You’ll deafen an old man. Quiet down.” 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

“Onjeong is coming in!”

The door burst open, and a warm-looking middle-aged woman strode in.

“Elder! Have you been well all this time?!”

“I’m about to not be, because of you.”

“Ohoho, your jokes haven’t changed!”

That didn’t sound like a joke to me.

She had a bright voice that didn’t match her age. Unlike Clan Head Muheok, she seemed to treat Tang Jung warmly and familiarly.

Maybe that was natural if he was her teacher since she was young.

She covered her mouth and laughed, then turned her eyes to me and grabbed my shoulder like she was thrilled.

“So you’re Sohae!”

“Y-Yes?”

“I’m your aunt! Oh my—there isn’t a single thing about you that resembles my older brother. You’ve grown well.”

After saying something I couldn’t tell was praise or an insult, Tang Onjeong laughed loudly. I smiled awkwardly and dipped my head.

“I heard you saved our kids today?”

“It wasn’t anything that grand, ma’am.”

“Not that grand? Uncle Simhong said if they’d been exposed to those poison fumes even half an hour longer, everyone would’ve gone blind! You saved our kids’ eyes!”

Tang Onjeong patted my shoulder like she was proud, then she pursed her lips at Tang Jung.

“Elder—how could you keep such a treasure with you and never once show her to me? Huh? Myriad-Poison-Immune Body? I didn’t even know there was a Myriad-Poison-Immune child in the main family!”

“Now that you know, lower your voice. I’m not deaf.”

Tang Jung pressed at his forehead.

Tang Onjeong’s laughing face shifted.

Her eyes sank, sharp like a predator locking onto prey.

“This child—she hasn’t had her hair-pinning ceremony yet, has she?”

“Right. Not yet.”

“Then shouldn’t you send her to the Poison King Hall, of course? I’ll take responsibility and teach her.”

At that blunt, unilateral talk about where I’d be sent, Tang Jung’s expression turned ugly.

“I never said I’d hand her over.”

“Oh my. What do you mean? Where is there a place more fitting than the Poison King Hall for a treasure with a Myriad-Poison-Immune Body?”

“Sohae will experience things and decide little by little. And Onjeong—she’s not going under you.”

“What kind of hurtful thing is that to say, Elder! What’s wrong with me?”

As their voices rose, I shrank back, watching their faces.

...Excuse me. What about my opinion?