Free Web NovelSeeing every last thread snap, Eun Woojeong clapped.
“Oh, impressive. That must’ve been a trap they put some effort into on their end, and you cracked it in one go.”
His tone was light and teasing, like he was praising a dog.
“Ha. Can’t somebody sew that fucker’s mouth shut?”
Kwon Seoyul grumbled as he put the violin back into his inventory, then immediately grabbed Cha Seohu’s arm and clung to it.
“Hyung, I did good, right? I’m way cooler than that white idiot, right? It’s always me in the end, yeah?”
“‘Idiot’? That’s a little harsh.”
“Yeah. You did good.”
Since he really had noticed and dealt with it before Yoon Jeha got hurt, Cha Seohu was tired, but he gave him at least that much.
“Haa.”
As soon as the crisis passed, everything turned into a mess. Kwon Taehyuk let out a sigh.
Yoon Jeha, who’d been looking at the men with a fed-up expression, started moving again. With no more obstacles, her motion was unhesitating.
Click.
A gray steel door. Yoon Jeha grabbed the round knob, twisted it, and pulled.
Kiiiiii—
A creepy screech of rusted hinges stabbing at their ears.
What the opening door revealed was a spacious room. But the inside was so empty it was almost baffling, with cold air drifting through it.
This wasn’t the alien darkness created by the item in the hallway—inside the room, it was simply pitch-dark because there was no light. In the center sat only a single bed.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
An IV stand and medical devices were set up beside the bed. A steady mechanical tone came from the machine.
“Hhk... hng....”
From the bed draped in a white curtain, the sound of a woman crying seeped out. It seemed a small lamp was on somewhere on the opposite side—behind the cloth, a human silhouette wavered in the yellow glow.
‘What...?’
They’d been expecting Spiderweb’s head to be here, to some extent, so an unfamiliar person showing up wouldn’t have been surprising.
But that faint sobbing, and the figure in shadow... no matter how you looked at it, it was too strange to be someone who’d been hiding down here for ages, waiting for a chance to kill Eun Woojeong.
‘Of course, I can’t let the atmosphere make me drop my guard...’
Even Yoon Jeha, who’d looked ready to charge in, frowned at the scene that didn’t match her expectations and crossed her arms.
Yoon Jeha’s red eyes turned to Cha Seohu. A look that asked, Now what? ƒгeewebnovёl.com
But Cha Seohu didn’t know anything either. Scratching at his forehead with a low hum, he reluctantly started to approach the bed—
“Hold on, Cha Seohu.”
Eun Woojeong, who’d been quiet the whole time, spoke up.
He said it gently as he stepped forward.
“I’ll do it.”
“......”
Cha Seohu, about to ask if it was really okay to get close, simply shut his mouth.
This was Spiderweb’s core, after all, and that woman was the one who’d handed Eun Woojeong the head’s position and the ring. There had to be a shared past between the two of them that Cha Seohu didn’t know. For now, the right call was to watch what Eun Woojeong did.
In the room that had been filled only with a woman’s crying, the sound of Eun Woojeong’s dress shoes mixed in.
Without hesitation, Eun Woojeong walked up to the bed and stopped at a fixed distance.
He stared quietly at the shadow swaying behind the cloth for a moment, then greeted her first.
“It’s been a while.”
The voice that came from him was calm and steady, unlike his usual self.
At his words, the crying that had been spreading from the bed stopped dead.
“Eight years... no, a year has passed, so it’s nine now. We’re meeting for the first time in nine years—would you at least answer a greeting?”
Silence.
No sound came from behind the cloth. The shadow didn’t move either.
Eun Woojeong let out a small sigh that carried a hint of laughter. He clasped his hands behind his back and leaned his upper body slightly toward the bed.
“Why so quiet? Coming from the one who’s been living here in hiding—and even gave the order to kill me the moment it looked like you’d be found.”
“......”
“Oh, is that why? Because I didn’t die and I still dragged myself all the way here? That’s cruel. Even just out of respect for the effort it took me to get here, shouldn’t you at least return my greeting?”
Eun Woojeong whispered like a taunt, then asked,
“Isn’t that right, Mother?”
The instant that word left his mouth, the still curtain flipped up violently.
“......!”
Before Cha Seohu could even call out to Eun Woojeong in shock, killing intent burst from the bed.
“Ugh!”
Along with a killing intent so sharp it felt like needles stabbing into skin, a fierce gust—impossible to exist indoors—exploded through the room. Staggering, Cha Seohu looked past Cha Sahyeon’s shoulder as Cha Sahyeon pulled him in to shield him.
The cloth that had been fixed in place flew up, fluttered through the air, and fell to the floor.
“You ungrateful bastard!”
At the same time, a sharp scream rang through the room.
It was nothing like the weak sobbing from earlier—this shout was rough like sandpaper, with hatred so clear it made your skin crawl.
Eun Woojeong, as if he’d expected her to attack, calmly lowered his gaze without changing the hands-behind-his-back posture.
A body dried out to the bone. A wrist with patches attached, connected to the machines beside the bed.
What spilled long across the bed in a tangled mess was snow-white hair. The face revealed between those unkempt strands...
It looked startlingly like Eun Woojeong’s.
Even the eyes—heterochromia, blotched irises.
Seeing the woman’s face, Cha Seohu swallowed dryly.
‘He definitely said “Mother.”’
Even without that title, looking at that face, it was impossible not to recognize it as a mother-and-son relationship.
Her features were a little finer than Eun Woojeong’s. She was so gaunt her cheekbones jutted, yet it was hard to even guess her age.
“You disgusting bastard... you chased me all the way here?”
A voice cold with fury came out.
Under his biological mother’s ominously flashing stare, Eun Woojeong straightened his upper body without any change in expression.
“Someone who’s been living here in hiding while pretending to be missing shouldn’t be calling me disgusting.”
For a conversation between mother and son, it was vicious to the point of absurdity. Watching tensely without daring to butt in, Cha Seohu flinched.
“That...”
The woman’s hair, scattered across the bedsheet, suddenly grew even longer in the blink of an eye. It didn’t stop—it kept growing, then poured off the bed and down to the floor like water spilling.
The moment he reeled at the grotesque sight, the hair split into strands and began to move.
Like snakes lunging for prey.
The hair whipped toward him, and Eun Woojeong dodged skillfully, hopping back in one smooth motion.
“Hey, that....”
“Pretty interesting, right?”
It was a skill he’d never seen in his life. Human hair growing, moving, attacking?
‘What the hell is this...?’
It wasn’t just strange—it was outright grotesque.
Yoon Jeha, staring at the woman with the same dumbfounded expression Cha Seohu wore, raised her sword.
“Judging by the presence she’s giving off, she’s S-rank. Then that’s not just hair, is it?”
When Yoon Jeha activated her skill, scorching heat flowed from her body, and vivid red fire rippled along the blade.
“Well, it’s still hair. Can’t you just burn it?”
“It won’t be that easy.” freewebnøvel.coɱ
Eun Woojeong answered flatly and looked at his biological mother.
With a body so thin you could see bone, she was forcing herself up to stand on the bed. Her long hair had split into dozens of strands, swaying and writhing.
She looked like Medusa from myth.
As if she couldn’t see anyone else, she glared only at her son with eyes full of hatred and spoke.
“You came in here with those filthy feet, and you dare run your filthy mouth in front of me?”
Disgusting. Disgusting...
Muttering, she scratched at her arms and wrists in a fit, viciously, over and over—so hard her nails tore skin and blood began to run.
“I... I was told I had to let you live... so I did. And you don’t even know gratitude. How dare you. How dare you....”
Cha Seohu, frowning at the unsettling sight, froze at her next words.
‘...Told?’
A bad feeling crawled up his spine.
As if he’d had the same thought, Eun Woojeong asked lazily,
“Ahh. I wondered why you didn’t kill me and instead handed me this ‘precious’ position. Looks like there was someone who told you to do that, Mother? Figures. I thought it was strange when you stepped down so obediently and withdrew. I ignored it because I didn’t want to bother thinking about it any more than I had to.”
“Shut your mouth! You’re disgusting!”
The woman, biting down on nails smeared with blood and flesh, flashed her bloodshot eyes.
“Yeah... maybe it’s better this way. I’ll just... kill you and offer you up...”
Her eyes shook wildly. Her hair grew longer still, and the number of strands multiplied.
The killing intent filling the room was so thick it made his stomach churn. Cha Seohu covered his mouth and checked her condition again.
‘Dangerous. No matter how you look at it, she’s not normal.’
She wasn’t controlling her presence at all. If they clashed like this, there was a high chance she’d go berserk.
If an S-rank went berserk deep underground, this whole area would collapse.
‘Before that happens, we have to subdue her somehow and knock her out.’
We could always escape with Cha Sahyeon’s shadow skill, but the other Spiderweb members wouldn’t be able to run—they’d be crushed along with the building.
Cha Seohu and Kwon Taehyuk met eyes. Without explaining a thing, they knew exactly what the other was thinking.
Kwon Taehyuk gave a short nod and started to draw his blade—
“I also think it worked out really well, Mother.”
Eun Woojeong spoke as he summoned chains.
“To think you were hiding this close. If I’d known sooner, it wouldn’t have had to get this complicated.”
Chains kept appearing. Their numbers increased at a rapid pace without pause.
Now the room was packed with the woman’s snow-white hair and the snow-white chains Eun Woojeong had summoned.
Eun Woojeong smiled faintly.
“Die now, Mother. By the hand of the son you hate so much it makes your teeth chatter.”
