If it were any other scam, it might have been different, but when it came to insects and venomous creatures—my area of expertise—the best way to catch a scam was to witness it with my own eyes.

Only by seeing exactly how they drove away the millipedes could I be certain what kind of trick they had pulled.

Whether they used some substance the millipedes hated, some pheromone they liked, whether it was some martial technique like mine, or some completely different method.

So first, I decided to confirm whether the Taoist was still at the giru.

According to Ji-ryong, who had reviewed the information with me, the man moved in roughly one-month intervals, meaning it was about time for him to act.

Therefore, once he moved, we planned to trail him and see what he was up to.

"Geom-ryong, Kwon-ryong, I leave it to you."

Ji-ryong made the request to the two who would scout the giru.

The ones heading out for reconnaissance at the giru were Geom-ryong and Kwon-ryong.

Given the assignment, they were surprisingly all smiles.

"Don’t worry. Have we ever failed at this kind of job?"

"Exactly. Just leave it to us."

Though technically it was reconnaissance, it seemed they intended to thoroughly enjoy the process.

The reason was simple—getting information from the giru meant posing as customers.

Thus, entering the giru, drinking, and casually asking the courtesans about the Taoist’s whereabouts was the plan—which, in the end, meant simply drinking with the courtesans.

No wonder they looked so excited at the thought.

As for why they were the ones going, it was because they were the only bachelors among the men on this boat.

'But... why does seeing my hyungs so happy make me tear up a little?'

Gyu-seong brother, Yang Seong-hu, and Ji-ryong were all in relationships, so we couldn't send them into the giru.

Even if they volunteered, their respective partners—Geom-bong, Eum-bong, and their wives—would never allow it.

Once you’re in a couple, your body isn’t your own anymore, right?

Even Hwa-eun had bristled the moment I mentioned the word "giru." So there was no need to explain for the others.

"Ryong, we’ll be back."

"Please take care."

"What’s with the formality?"

Neatly dressed, the two left the boat, grinning.

The women looked on with less-than-pleased expressions, and once the two vanished from sight, they began to mutter.

"How happy can they be?"

"Men, honestly."

"Utterly disgraceful."

"If you hate it so much, why not rescue Gung-bong while you’re at it?"

"What did you say!? I do have standards, you know!"

Hyung threw in a pointless comment and was promptly glared at by Gung-bong.

At the tail end of the conversation, Hwa-eun pulled me aside and whispered into my ear.

[So-ryong, you must never be like that.]

[O-of course. I only have eyes for you, Hwa-eun.]

Seemingly satisfied with my answer, Hwa-eun nodded with a pleased smile.

Watching the direction where the two had disappeared, I muttered.

"By the way, when do you think they’ll be back?"

Now it was evening, after we had anchored near Goaechon the night before and waited for the giru to open.

We had timed it so they could sneak in when the giru opened.

When I asked for opinions about when they might return, Hwa-eun guessed they’d probably come back late at night after having a good time.

"Well, judging by their faces, they won’t be back before midnight, right?"

"Seems that way."

"Yeah, they didn’t exactly look like they were planning to hurry back, did they?"

"True enough."

With their grinning faces earlier, it seemed certain they would thoroughly enjoy themselves tonight.

Turning to everyone gathered near the boat’s railing, I suggested,

"Shall we all have some tea while we wait?"

"Hmm. Why not?"

"Sounds good."

"Let's do that, Senior."

Thinking it would be a good way to pass the time until the two returned, I suggested we have some refreshments.

Everyone nodded.

-Bubble bubble.

As the teapot began to steam over the brazier, time passed.

While waiting for the tea to boil, Sister Seol, scanning the surroundings, suddenly pointed toward the village.

"Huh? Isn’t that Geom-ryong and Kwon-ryong?"

Everyone’s heads turned toward the village, and sure enough, there were Geom-ryong and Kwon-ryong, sprinting desperately toward us.

"Ryong!"

"Ryong!"

It hadn’t even been a full meal’s time—barely thirty minutes by my past-life reckoning—since they had left for the giru.

It was strange.

Seeing their faces, full of regret and disappointment, a thought popped into my mind.

'Wait... why are you back so fast? Were you... rejected at the door?'

In my previous life, some clubs or high-end lounges would refuse entry based on your clothes or looks, calling it an "ip-bbaen"—a "rejected at the entrance" situation.

Seeing the two hyungs like that, I wondered if even the giru had turned them away at the door.

'Just how tragic is this going to get, hyungs!?'

Swallowing the tears that clouded my vision, I asked, putting on an innocent expression.

"What happened, hyungs?"

Once they caught their breath on the boat, they answered.

"Huff, huff... So-ryong, about that Taoist!"

"Yes? What happened to the Taoist?"

"The Taoist went to drive out millipedes in a village a bit toward the Shaolin side!"

"What!? Is that true?"

So it wasn’t that they got turned away—they actually brought real news!

The two continued explaining.

"Yeah, we overheard some people talking about the Taoist at the village entrance, and when we asked, they said... what was the name again?"

"Sosangchon."

"Right, Sosangchon! A bunch of millipedes appeared there, so he went to drive them out. They said it was yesterday evening!"

"He’s already moved? Then we need to move quickly too."

"Agreed. Ji-ryong."

Hearing that the fraudulent Taoist had gone to a nearby village, we decided to head immediately for Sosangchon.

***

"Everyone, if you see people, you know to hide quickly, right?"

At my reminder, the kids nodded firmly.

-Tsrrr.

-Kssit!

-Kkukku.

Heading along the mountain path toward Sosangchon.

The path was crowded with both people and venomous creatures.

The ones traveling with me were Gyu-seong hyung and his wife, Ji-ryong, Gung-bong, Hwa-eun, and Sister Seol—but that wasn’t all.

Since we were setting off after dark for once, all the kids insisted on coming too.

Yo-hwa, Cho, Hyang, Bini, along with Cheongyu, Seol, Bing, Dong-i, and Jeokwol Sister, even Moji, Soji, Hwayang, Hongdan, Yeondu, and Orange.

Everyone except Cheongwol had come along.

The reason the group had grown so large was simple.

Having been stuck on the boat for so long, the kids were feeling restless and cooped up, and they demanded to come along.

Normally I would have said no, but since we were heading along the slopes of Songshan, full of places to hide, and moving at night, I agreed.

Mostly, I just felt sorry for them—being trapped on the boat for so long must have been suffocating.

'Once this job is done, we should return to the Tang Clan.'

Now that I had completed the Five Poisons, it was time to let the kids rest comfortably back home.

Just then, Cho’s voice echoed in my mind.

『-Tsrr! Daddy, something’s coming!』

-Tsrrr.

-Kkukku.

-Piiiii!

With Cho’s warning, the kids in the group chat also sent alerts, and everyone quickly hid in the woods flanking the path.

Since the kids were hidden, we couldn’t just keep marching forward openly, but stopping completely wasn’t an option either.

I slowed my steps and pretended to walk casually forward, when a man emerged from the opposite side of the path, carrying a lantern.

A Taoist robe.

A greasy-faced man.

In that moment, all of us locked eyes in the darkness.

It was clear that everyone thought the same thing—this guy had to be the one we were looking for.

"Hmm?"

The fake Taoist flinched when he spotted us approaching from the darkness.

"Who are these people, lurking in the dark?"

At his words, Ji-ryong quickly smiled and asked,

"Ah, what a relief. We lost our way when night fell while traveling. May I ask you something? Would you happen to know which way Sosangchon is?"

"Ah, you're lost travelers? I’m coming from Sosangchon myself. Just follow this path and you’ll reach it."

"Thank you. It seems we didn’t stray far then. By the way, I heard something strange happened in Sosangchon. How is the village?"

Ji-ryong continued speaking skillfully, without a single change in his expression.

At his question, the Taoist stroked his beard and answered.

"Ah, you must be referring to the trouble with the millipedes."

"Yes, that’s right."

"Don't worry. I am Taoist Taiheo, the one who dealt with the millipedes at Sosangchon upon their request."

The guy’s face, full of self-importance, gleamed even in the faint moonlight.

"Oh! You’re the esteemed Taoist Taiheo?"

"You’ve heard of me?"

"Yes, we’re coming from Goaechon. We've heard your name countless times there!"

"Ahem. I told those people not to spread my story so much. Anyway, why are you all heading to Sosangchon?"

"Ah, we're planning to climb Songshan by way of Sosangchon. People in Goaechon said this was the path."

"Ah, sightseeing at Songshan, is it? Well, there’s still a bit of smell lingering from the millipedes, but don’t worry. I burned them all, so you should be fine."

"Thank you, Taoist. Then, we’ll be on our way."

Ending the conversation simply, we moved in opposite directions, and once the lights were completely out of sight, we all stopped walking.

Ji-ryong spoke in a slightly regretful voice.

"Looks like the job’s already done."

"Yes, it does."

We had wanted to catch him in the act, but judging by his words, everything had already been dealt with.

"So what now? Do we wait until he moves again?"

If we returned, we’d have to wait a whole month, given his movement pattern.

Shaking my head, I answered,

"Let’s head to Sosangchon first. Maybe there’s still some traces left."

Waiting a month was too long, so we decided to check for any remaining evidence first.

"Understood. So-ryong, Do-ryong, could you follow him and see where he goes?"

"Got it. I'll chase after him with Sister Seol."

Leaving the fake Taoist to be tracked by Hyung and Sister, we called out to the kids hidden in the bushes and made our way toward Sosangchon.

When we arrived at Sosangchon,

We hid the kids in the forest at a distance from the village lights and the adults headed into the village.

"Ugh, the smell."

As soon as we reached the village entrance, Sister Seol wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Just like the fake Taoist said, the entrance to Sosangchon still reeked.

-Woof woof woof woof!

Just as we hesitated at the stench, dogs started barking fiercely.

And along with the barking, several men carrying torches rushed toward us.

"Who goes there in the middle of the night?"

A few held clubs, clearly wary of strangers appearing so late.

Ji-ryong stepped forward, offering a respectful greeting.

"We were sent by Shaolin to check on Sosangchon."

"Shaolin?"

"Shaolin?"

At the mention of Shaolin, the men, startled, quickly hid their clubs behind their backs.

Ji-ryong nodded and continued explaining.

"I am Ji-ryong of the Martial Alliance, sent by Shaolin to investigate the reported disturbance in the village."

"Ji-ryong? Ji-ryong...? Gasp!?"

"Ji-ji-ji-ryong!?"

At Ji-ryong's name, one man dashed into the village. Shortly after, an old man came running out, huffing and puffing, to greet us.

***

The village chief, arriving in a rush, lamented that if he had waited just one more day, he could have saved a fortune.

He had to pay five silver coins to have the millipedes driven out.

That money was supposed to get them through the winter, and now, with it gone, surviving until spring would be difficult. His face was full of regret.

As we listened to his complaints, I used the excuse of "checking the outcome" to get the chief to show us where the millipedes had been burned.

Since we were here to look for any remaining traces, the first thing to check was the burning site.

"This way."

"This is where you gathered and burned the millipedes?"

A faint smell of ash lingered.

The place we were led to was a large clearing near the village, now just a pile of ashes.

There was nothing else left.

Though along the path from the village, there were quite a few crushed millipede corpses trampled underfoot.

"Yes, young master."

"You may leave, village chief. We'll take it from here."

"Understood."

Once the village chief left, we began our full inspection, but all that remained at the burn site was ash.

They had burned straw with the millipedes, and straw burned cleanly, leaving nothing but ash.

"I'll check to see if anything unusual is left behind."

"I’ll examine the dead millipedes."

"I’ll check the remaining talismans."

While Hwa-eun sprinkled reagent solutions around the area to check for poisons or substances, and Ji-ryong inspected the talismans, I focused on examining the dead millipedes.

I needed to make sure there were no artificial signs left behind.

From the Taoist's brazenness, it didn’t seem he was from the Five Venoms Clan, but I had to be thorough.

'Hmm. Trigoniulus corallinus.'

All the dead millipedes were of the species Trigoniulus corallinus.

Known as the rusty millipede or Asian millipede, characterized by its red color and growing up to 7 centimeters.

These millipedes sometimes bred explosively in Asia, causing trouble.

"Find anything special, So-ryong?"

"Not yet. What about you, Hwa-eun?"

"Nothing special. Everything’s too burned to tell."

"So it seems."

Hwa-eun had returned quickly.

She had sprayed various reagents but found no traces of poison or strange substances.

Disappointed, just like the village chief, that we had arrived a little too late.

If we had come sooner, we might have caught him in the act—but now there was only ash.

Still, we decided to check everything thoroughly.

The first millipede I inspected was too badly crushed to glean anything except the species, so I laid out dozens of others on leaves for inspection.

As I examined twenty or thirty of them, I noticed something strange.

"Huh?"

Spotting a common feature among several of them, I flipped others over to check—and the more samples I gathered, the clearer it became.

"What is it? Did you find something?"

"Did you find something, So-ryong?"

"So-ryong, what did you find?"

Everyone started questioning me when they noticed my expression.

Grabbing my chin, I nodded and answered.

"Yes. They’re all males."

Strangely, every single one of the millipedes was ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) male.