Peninsula: My pet is my idol

(Chapter 42, A25: B4.)

According to the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica, crows that often roam around burial grounds are "yin birds in yang".

From the "crow carrying cinnabar" recorded in oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty to the modern "crow serum active peptide," the crow seems to have always been an entity that teeters between auspiciousness and omens.

Koreans consider crows to be bad omens, but in Tang Xin's mind, who studies traditional Chinese medicine, crows are a mysterious bird that always hovers over "traditional Chinese medicine".

After some consideration, Tang Xin decided to let the crow in.

Perhaps the crow was just hungry, or perhaps there were birds of prey chasing it outside.

Saving someone's life in the dead of winter was a simple act.

What truly made Tang Xin decide was that the crow wasn't very big, with a wingspan of less than half a meter, and its size was even smaller than a normal domestic chicken.

Open the window and let it in.

After the crow entered the living room, it hopped a few steps on the ground and shook the snow off its feathers.

The three children looked at the crow that had broken into their home, all puzzled.

They were Koreans and couldn't understand why Tang Xin would let a crow, a symbol of misfortune, into the house.

Aren't you afraid of bringing bad luck?

Tang Xin squatted down and slowly, tentatively, reached out a finger and scratched the black bird's head.

Um~

It feels good.

Tang Xin had long heard that crows were like little dogs in the sky, very affectionate and intelligent.

Tang Xin gently stroked the crow's feathers, picked it up, and placed it on the coffee table in the living room.

"Are you hungry? Or are you being hunted by other birds of prey outside?"

Tang Xin continued scratching the bird's head.

And this crow, after entering the house, didn't even glance anywhere else.

He kept a close eye on Tang Xin the whole time.

Very weird.

"Do you want me to take care of you from now on? You'll be safer here with me."

Send an invitation.

The crow nodded.

I accept the invitation.

Both parties reached a mutual agreement...

link……

Achieved!

The three little ones, who had been watching from afar in the kitchen, suddenly collapsed straight down at the same time.

At the same time, the three people in the IVE dormitory woke up simultaneously.

Tang Xin didn't notice the three little ones falling down and was still smiling as she said:

"Hmm... what name should I give you...?"

However, at that moment, his smile froze on his face.

An indescribable power surged forth from his chest.

Suddenly feeling numb all over, Tang Xin uncontrollably knelt down on the ground.

A mouthful of blood gushed from his throat.

Vomiting blood!

The excruciating pain, like a tearing apart of the soul, directly triggered the release of norepinephrine in Tang Xin's body.

His internal organs began to operate at high speed, and a large amount of heat was expelled from his body.

Tang Xin suddenly raised her head and stared intently at the crow standing on the coffee table.

It's it! It's it!

My abnormality must be because of it!

Why? Why is this happening?

Norepinephrine forcibly numbed the physical pain, causing Tang Xin's body to go numb.

But that tearing sensation, like a piece of one's soul being ripped out, was unstoppable.

Tang Xin vomited blood again.

This time, he vomited even more blood than before.

It easily permeated half of the living room.

Finally, he could no longer hold on and collapsed in his own living room, in a pool of his own blood.

And a little while after Tang Xin collapsed.

The crow hopped off the coffee table and came to the position in front of Tang Xin's head.

The black beak carefully searched for something in the pool of blood.

A few minutes later, the crow found what it wanted.

In the pool of blood, there was a single "blood grain" that remained solidified like sago pearls.

The bird picked up the "blood pellet" with its beak and swallowed it.

He stared intently at Tang Xin's face for a full minute, as if trying to memorize it.

Then, the bird's claws stepped on the pool of blood.

They headed toward the window that wasn't completely locked.

The crow actually forced open the heavily resisted window.

He then departed.

……

Several days later.

Gyeongsangnam-do.

Miryang City.

A crow, undaunted by wind and snow, traveled a long way to reach this place.

If someone were to notice it at that moment, they would realize that this crow is enormous.

Its wingspan is over one meter.

Spreading its wings, it soars through the sky like a black eagle.

However, this was not an eagle, but a small-billed crow with a long, sharp beak, like a sharp black awl.

The crow landed on a black stone tablet.

Standing atop a high tree, I gazed silently into the distance.

The snow fell heavily, like jasmine blossoms falling.

……

I.

It was a crow.

It was seen as an ominous sign, and was rejected, cursed, and driven away.

I eat carrion, eat insects, drink dirty water, and even hunt rats.

I don't know what kind of breed I am...

Huh?

variety?

What is a variety?

It seems I've lived on this land for a very long time.

Spring goes and autumn comes, year after year.

I seem to have lived in a daze for a long time.

Everything changed starting from that night.

As I was roaming the skies above Seoul in search of food, I suddenly noticed something unusual.

It was a kind of... indescribable call.

It's like something has been punctured, or perhaps... a breakthrough?

I saw... three "lines".

Those three lines stretched from a house on the banks of the Han River to a house in the south of the city.

I flew along the three lines until I reached a tall building, where I discovered that all three lines eventually converged on the same human being.

I... need his strength.

Eh?

Why do I need his power?

What was I supposed to do again?

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I crave this human power.

After I frantically banged on the window for a while, I finally caught the human's attention.

I entered the house, and this human touched me…

He said something that I think I understood, but I also think I didn't.

But in the end, I nodded.

This human started vomiting blood...

I found a drop of blood in his pool...

Heart's blood?

I made some kind of connection with this human, and I took a part of his soul.

Do not……

It wasn't that I took away a part of his soul, but rather that his soul became a prison.

They provide for me, they imprison me.

This human power will be at my disposal.

In the moments before I left that human, I learned his name from a part of his soul.

Tang Xin...?

I will remember you...

I will come back...

But I have things I have to do now.

As I left Seoul, a power that wasn't inherent to birds allowed me to fly fearlessly through wind and snow.

I returned to a place that felt familiar.

A very quiet mountain forest.

I think I was born here...?

My memories seem to begin from here...

A black stone tablet.

Has anyone died here...?

Who is it...?

Who died here?

who is it?

Is it someone I know?

It seems like I only know that human named Tang Xin...

Do not……

I am a crow, and I can recognize many human faces!

Who on earth is it?

Is she someone very important?

Yes…

Yes…

Yes…

I remember now...

I died here.

So, this is where I died...

Why did I die?

Because of the relentless and endless suffering...

Why did I think of that again?

Because my suffering has not yet ended...

I want to be free... I want to be free... I don't want to suffer anymore...

Kill them...

Kill them!

Kill them!

……

raven, crow.

revenge.

Not far from the black stone monument, a small-billed raven, as large as a crow, let out a sharp cry.

Tears, like blood, flowed from the crow's eyes.

My suffering is endless...

My hatred is indefinite.

Revenge! ...

This hatred is boundless!

Death! Difficulty! Utter extinction!