Chapter 27. Head-Opening
Tap, tap-tak, tap!
Dot-like bruises were engraved across several parts of Dong Bong-su's body.
Careful yet razor-sharp movements.
At last, the Head-Opening Great Method of the Tang Sect's secret arts began unfolding upon Sosam—no, upon Dong Bong-su's body.
To perform the Head-Opening Great Method, Tang Wu had to arbitrarily create meridian pathways within Dong Bong-su's body using Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles. Since there was no path, the work of creating one had to come first.
Tang Wu's hands swiftly sliced through the air. Following his movements, the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles floating in midair began embedding themselves across Dong Bong-su's body, and Tang Wu's true energy weaved between the needles, carving out pathways.
Passing through the Zhongfu, piercing Shaoshang and Shangyang running through Yingxiang and Jiquan, breaking through Shaochong and Shaoze, crossing Qigong and Tianchi, passing Zhongchong and Chengqi, striking Yutang and Yinbai, marking Dafu and Qingming, crossing Zhiyin and Yongquan, striking Youfu and Guanchong, scraping Sizhukong and Tongziliao, piercing Zuqiyin and Dadun, and reaching Qimen.
[T/L: Above mentioned are the acupuncture points.]
At last, pathways were opened through all twelve meridian points according to yin-yang and the five elements.
From that moment on, the true Head-Opening Great Method began in earnest.
Papapap!
Tang Wu's hands and the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles roamed across Dong Bong-su's entire body.
As he continued the Head-Opening Great Method, he felt even more deeply the astonishing nature of the Bloodless Body. Despite following temporarily created meridian pathways, there was not the slightest obstruction in the flow of qi and blood. Rather than being blocked, the qi flowed several times faster than in an ordinary martial artist.
He grew excited and gradually became immersed in the Head-Opening Great Method.
That said, he had not completely lost his reason. There was still an important task he had yet to complete.
As the Head-Opening Great Method neared its conclusion, Tang Wu pressed a button attached somewhere on the bottom of the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needle case. The base opened, revealing a hidden compartment inside the case.
Inside were countless tiny, pitch-black granule-like objects. But upon closer inspection, those tiny things were wriggling. They were not grains—they were insects.
They were a type of ultra-fine insect known as Thousand-poison Insect.
Thousand-poison Insect was a poison insect secretly developed by the Tang Sect, a special breed created by refining multiple poison insects together and infusing them with ten thousand poisons.
Once a Thousand-poison Insect settled in a host's dantian, it would devour any poison that infiltrated the body. Thus, even someone without any poison resistance could become a Body Invulnerable to Ten Thousand Poisons simply by harboring a Thousand-poison Insect.
However, the Thousand-poison Insect was abandoned shortly after its creation.
The reason was the danger involved in its use.
Thousand-poison insects lived in colonies like ants or bees, but once they encountered hosts, the colony would disperse. At that point, the person harboring the Thousand-poison Insect Queen could control all others who carried the remaining Thousand-poison Insect.
In other words, if someone harboring the Thousand-poison Insect Queen harbored malicious intent and endangered the Tang Sect, the Tang Sect could be driven down an irrecoverable path. Aware of this danger, the Tang Sect buried the Thousand-poison Insect despite having developed it.
And yet, the Thousand-poison Insect believed to be lost was now in Tang Wu's hands.
Why did Tang Wu bring out Thousand-poison Insect at this stage, when the Head-Opening Great Method was nearly complete?
It was obvious.
It was to restrain Dong Bong-su.
He did not want such an outstanding specimen as Sosam to be taken away elsewhere, even by chance, and he wanted to make him completely his own.
However, there was something he did not know.
Dong Bong-su had already heard everything.
Knowing all this, he accepted Tang Wu's proposal in full and was now allowing a single male Thousand-poison Insect into his body. The reason was simple: he could kill the poison insect whenever he wanted. The Inventory Divine Art worked the same way even inside the body. This was something he had discovered only recently.
It was a conclusion drawn from pondering the extent of the Inventory Divine Art—if he could take items in and out of the inventory, then what exactly was its range?
Could the Inventory Divine Art function even within empty spaces inside the body?
The result was "yes."
Therefore, as long as Dong Bong-su knew where the poison insect inside his body was located, he could eject tiny weapons like needles from within his body and burst the poison insect at any time, killing it instantly.
Tang Wu did not know this and firmly believed he could completely control Dong Bong-su.
Tang Wu inserted a single Thousand-poison Insect into Dong Bong-su's ear.
Creeeeping.
Like an ant burrowing into sand, a single male Thousand-poison Insect disappeared into Dong Bong-su's ear canal.
Even then, Dong Bong-su sat still, feeling the newly accumulating energy within his body brought about by the Head-Opening Great Method. Simply by receiving qi, he was grasping how it flowed and how it should flow within the body.
Though the pain caused by the Head-Opening Great Method and the infiltration of Thousand-poison Insect was horrific, Dong Bong-su—having reached a state of unity between self and all things—gradually forgot the pain.
Though it was not a long time, Dong Bong-su was evolving further into a monster.
***
Several hours later.
Only after the dawn rooster crowed did the Head-Opening Great Method finally come to an end.
A satisfied smile formed on Tang Wu's exhausted face as he looked down at Dong Bong-su and spoke.
"Open your eyes."
Dong Bong-su slowly opened his eyes and looked at Tang Wu. The dullness in his gaze had completely lifted, and in some ways, there was even a dizzying sharpness to it.
"I have given you the name Tang Sam, meaning to cut down demons like mowing grass."
"Yes."
An awkward voice flowed from Dong Bong-su's mouth. To Tang Wu and others, it would have seemed as though he had lost the ability to speak for a long time—just right.
Believing that everything had gone perfectly, Tang Wu smiled in satisfaction. Dong Bong-su smiled back at him. Of course, his smile was also one of satisfaction that everything had gone perfectly.
Which of the two had truly succeeded was obvious without needing to say it.
At last, Dong Bong-su shed the shell called Sosam completely and gained new wings under the name Tang Sam. Though no one in the martial world yet sensed the danger he posed.
Today was the day a monster attached small wings and began preparing for flight. How far he would soar—or whether he would crash before ever taking off—was something only time would tell.
***
(Revision) New Murim Online Rule No. 2: Any object that is in direct contact with any part of the body (addition: regardless of whether it is inside or outside the body) can be placed into the inventory. (However, it must be smaller than the inventory itself and must not be a living creature.)
Addition: It is not limited to inserting and retrieving only one item at a time; through training, that number may increase.
※ All of these rules are still not fixed or certain.
Side Story 1: The Birth of a Psychopath
Being a good person is something that can only be said when brushing past someone. When viewed over an entire lifetime, there is no such thing as a good person in this world.
– Hannibal Lecter, from 'The Silence of the Lambs'
***
I was different from a very young age.
Kim Yang-suk said she was shocked when I didn't cry at birth and instead just looked around at my surroundings. She tried hitting my butt for quite a while to make me cry, but when I still didn't, she pinched me. Only then did I cry from the pain.
Ten months later.
I finally started speaking.
Even then, I was different from other children. The first words I uttered weren't short words like "mom" or "dad" or "milk," but a complete sentence: "Mom, give me food."
It seems my mother, Kim Yang-suk, realized then that I was different from other children. Perhaps because of that, I was given gifted education and learned many things from a young age. However, my progress wasn't much different from other children. In reality, I had already learned everything and was busy enjoying ant-fighting games, but outwardly I pretended to still be learning.
Perhaps even then, instinctively, I knew that standing out was never beneficial.
As time passed, I turned five.
Kim Yang-suk's obsessive gifted education had mostly ended, and I was going through a normal growth phase.
I played with neighborhood kids—ddakji, marbles, land-grabbing games, and various game consoles. Among them, my favorite activity was catching insects, reptiles, and amphibians and playing with them.
Ants, dragonflies, cicadas, beetles, rhinoceros beetles, mantises, various grasshoppers and katydids, frogs, salamanders, tadpoles, and more.
Most of the kids' mothers hated such things, so storing them always fell to me. Kim Yang-suk didn't pay much attention to them as long as I was fine with it.
I usually played with them in my room.
One morning, Kim Yang-suk came into my room and, not seeing them, asked me about it.
"Huh? Bong-su, what did you do with all the bugs you caught with the other kids yesterday? You shouldn't just throw things like that into the trash."
She rummaged through the trash can in my room. But of course, they weren't there.
"I ate them."
I think that's what I said. It wasn't wrong.
Startled, Kim Yang-suk scolded me harshly, saying I mustn't eat things like that. She even told my father when he came home that evening, and I got scolded even more.
In truth, I only ate the frog. The rest I made fight each other. They killed and were killed. In the end, the one that survived was the frog, and I simply ate it. In the end, it amounted to eating them all.
I proved that I was stronger than the frog, but I was still weaker than my parents.
That was when I realized it. You mustn't do what you like in front of others—especially those stronger than you.
Time passed again.
I grew up healthy and exemplary.
I didn't worry my parents, nor did I draw negative attention from teachers. Rather, my younger self was a model student recognized by everyone.
Kim Yang-suk praised me wherever she went.
"A smart and kind son."
Teachers often patted my head and praised me as well.
A perfect child, praised wherever he went.
That was who I was back then—Dong Bong-su. Acting that way allowed me to do what I liked while others conveniently interpreted it as scientific curiosity or easily accepted it.
However, while being a smart, praised child might please parents, it inevitably drew hostility from peers. At the time, I hadn't fully realized that.
It was probably when I was in my second year of middle school.
I secretly captured some stray dogs and cats wandering the neighborhood and made them fight. Then, while burying the dead animals in the school flowerbed, I was caught by other kids. As a result, I was ostracized. After that, for the remainder of my middle school years, it became impossible to continue my hobbies or experiments.
That was when I learned something else. Not only did I need to look good to people stronger than me, but also to those weaker than me—and I needed to hide my hobbies.
Time passed again, and I became a high school student.
By then, at least on the surface, I had become quite ordinary.
My grades were average, I had no particular talents, just an unremarkable high schooler—someone who wouldn't stand out anywhere. That was me, Dong Bong-su.
But.
There was still something that wasn't ordinary.
Strangely, girls liked me and followed me. At first, I couldn't understand why.
Eventually, despite the hassle, I dated one of them. One day, I asked her.
"Why do you like me?"
"Oh my! Look at you. How could I say something like that myself? It's embarrassing!"
So I did what she liked, and when she reached her climax, I asked again.
"Why do you like me?"
Gasping, she finally gave me the answer I wanted.
"I don't know. Maybe… because you're not ordinary?"
"What does that mean?"
"You seem different somehow. You're ordinary, but at the same time, you don't seem ordinary."
That was when I gained a new realization. Even if I did nothing, I wasn't ordinary.
So from that point on, I began wearing artificial camouflage. I exercised like everyone else, watched the TV programs everyone watched, laughed when others laughed, and cried when others cried.
At some point, people started saying this about me.
"Mr. Bong-su, you're really a good person."
"Bong-su, thank you."
"Mr. Bong-su, could you take care of this?"
"Mr. Bong-su..."
"Bong-su...."
"Bong...."
Before I knew it, I had become a good person.
No one hesitated to approach me. Men liked me as a colleague or friend, and women perceived me as just a coworker, a senior at school, or an older brother.
At last, I realized it.
That I had finally obtained true camouflage—ordinariness. Like a chameleon, no matter where I went, even without conscious effort, I had become "a good person, an ordinary person."
I had finally escaped people's scrutiny completely.
Only then could I truly reclaim myself.
It was a truly long time of endurance.
Now was the time to unleash the desires I had restrained for so long—not on insects or animals, but on real prey.
Only in front of them could I shed my camouflage and return to my true self.