CHAPTER 55: THE GLUTON BEAST RETURNS

In Hwayang Village, people frequently hunted in the mountains, so their footwear was made of tanned animal hide, making them exceptionally sturdy.

However, they rarely used leather for clothing, except for the occasional fur-lined cloak worn during the coldest seasons—and even then, only when visiting neighbors, never for work.

Bok Taejin turned his gaze toward the creature in Heo Taegeon’s hand.

It had a long, constantly twitching tail and a small head with vicious, gleaming eyes.

Even in the grip of a human, its life hanging by a thread, it still bared its teeth menacingly.

"Is this... a rat?" Bok Taejin hesitated.

Something seemed off.

He knew that rats came in various types—house rats, field rats, bamboo rats, even giant rats.

There were also lab rat, which had contributed greatly to scientific research.

But the only ones he had ever seen with his own eyes were the common house rats scavenging in garbage piles.

At first glance, this creature looked similar to a house rat, but upon closer inspection, Bok Taejin noticed its ears were much larger—almost like pig ears.

A tiny head with oversized ears might have made it look cute, if not for the sheer malice in its eyes.

Heo Taegeon had already crushed the life out of it and tossed it to the ground.

He spat twice for good measure before saying, "This ain’t your ordinary grain-stealing rat. We call these creatures the ’Gluton Beast,’ though some folks call ’em ’Bone Eating Beast.’"

Just the name alone was enough to send shivers down one’s spine.

"They eat... bones?" Bok Taejin was puzzled.

For creatures that scavenged human food waste, gnawing on bones wasn’t that unusual.

"Human bones!"

Bok Taejin sucked in a sharp breath.

Now that was truly terrifying.

Heo Taegeon who is still seething with anger, used his spade to fling the dead rat into a distant thicket, sending it flying out of sight.

With a deep frown, he continued, "These damn things are the worst. No one knows exactly when they first appeared, but it was about a few decades ago. Back then, over in Dohwa Village, a family decided to relocate their father’s grave. When they dug it up, they found the coffin completely chewed through—and their father’s corpse reduced to nothing but bone fragments, all gnawed away by these Gluton Beast!"

People in this world held proper burials in high regard.

Ancestral graves were of utmost importance.

One could only imagine the devastation that family must have felt upon discovering such a horrifying scene.

"After that, other villagers got anxious and started digging up their own ancestors’ graves to check. Sure enough, two more families found these damn things inside." Heo Taegeon spat again, his disgust palpable.

"The whole thing blew up. The news spread like wildfire, and folks from all the surrounding villages rushed to check their own graves. It even attracted con artists—frauds claiming to communicate with spirits, saying that Dohwa Village had angered the gods by selling charcoal at exorbitant prices during an especially harsh winter. The punishment? These Bone Eating Beast were sent as divine retribution to devour their ancestors’ remains."

"At first, the villagers actually believed them. That winter was particularly brutal, and Dohwa Village had jacked up their charcoal prices ridiculously high. We never had to buy from them, but for those who did, it was a nightmare. What they did was despicable."

"The villagers fell for the scam and planned to hold a forty-nine-day ritual to appease the spirits! But before they could finish, more reports came in—other villages found the Bone Eating Beast in their own graves too. That’s when people finally stopped waiting around. No one cared about picking an auspicious date anymore; they just went straight to digging."

"Dohwa Village realized they’d been duped, so they dragged that fraud out and beat him half to death before tossing him aside. Then they joined in, checking their own graves."

"But the scammers kept coming, each with more elaborate lies than the last."

"In the end, it was your master who came down from the mountain to put a stop to all of it."

Hearing his master’s name mentioned out of the blue, Bok Taejin immediately perked up, listening even more intently.

"The immortals of One Flower Sect are indeed different from swindlers. With just a few moves, he drove all the Bone Eating Beasts into the Jade Blossom Mountain Range. It was quite a sight—an enormous horde of The Gluton Beast following your master into the mountains."

Bok Taejin was just about to ask if Heo Taegeon had seen it with his own eyes when Heo Taegeon smacked his lips and said, "Unfortunately, I wasn’t born yet at the time. This is all passed down from our elders."

Then he scoffed, curling his lips. "The people from the other villages are such cowards. I heard that when they learned the rats were being driven into the Jade Blossom Mountain Range, a whole crowd followed to watch, but they didn’t even dare to enter our Hwayang Village. They only stood outside, watched for a bit, and then left. But our villagers are tough—we followed all the way into the mountains, and that’s how we discovered that the Bone Eating Beasts grow alongside the Hunting Vines."

Bok Taejin was stunned.

A sudden flash of insight struck him.

Hunting Vines?

"Later, the immortal cast a spell and told us that these Bone Eating Beasts wouldn’t leave the mountains for at least several decades. But... sigh, how long has it been since the immortal passed away? And now, they’ve reappeared."

At this point, Heo Taegeon suddenly let out a surprised sound, scratching his head. "Wait a minute, Taejin, what’s going on with these Bone Eating Beasts? They used to feed on bones and only went to graves. Why are they appearing in the fields now?"

His eyes widened in realization. "No way! Could it be that there are too many of them now, and even the graves don’t have enough to eat, so they’re starting to steal crops like ordinary rats? This won’t do! I have to go tell Second Uncle right away and have him decide what to do!"