Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 157

157. The Moon Caught in a Spiderweb (1)

Hyun-woo followed the Human-Faced Spider. The destination was somewhere within the ruins.

The path was treacherous, forcing them to squeeze through collapsed buildings.

The routes seemed designed for beings with three-dimensional movement capabilities, like spiders, featuring many bizarre twists and turns. Hyun-woo suspected there were more ways into the ruins than he initially thought. Fortunately, the passages were wide enough for him to navigate.

Following the Upper Moon Spider, Hyun-woo suddenly spoke.

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Why are you dressed like you walked out of a light novel?”

The Human-Faced Spider seemed taken aback by the question.

He glanced down at his attire: a frilly, puffy dress, an appearance seemingly designed to appeal to human, especially male, sensibilities.

Hyun-woo wondered why a monster would concern itself with such an appearance.

“What does it matter?”

“Well, I was wondering if you were trying to seduce me.”

It wasn’t a joke; Hyun-woo considered the possibility that this might be another trap set by Monstrill.

The Human-Faced Spider’s lips twisted in what might have been a grimace.

“The Whispering Star dictated our appearance into this form.”

“Monstrill did?”

“The Whispering Star, Monstrill, values beauty as much as affection and attention. But beauty is not a fixed concept. Therefore, he and his creations manifest in many forms.”

The Human-Faced Spider muttered, sounding almost weary.

“We gained great power, but we can only maintain our individual egos by adhering to this form. If our appearance becomes too distorted, our ego will fragment, and our intelligence will degrade. It’s not an efficient form for combat, but it’s the most stable.”

It seemed like a penalty for easily acquired power.

A bizarre penalty, to be sure, but fitting for Monstrill.

At least the Starving Star or the Wailing Star wouldn’t care about appearance.

***

The place they finally reached was a room filled with countless spiderwebs.

The dried-out corpses of insects were scattered everywhere, and the air was thick with the cloying scent of crystallization.

It was enough to make one’s head ache.

Through the window, between the alleys, crystallized structures were visible.

“You actually brought him.”

A voice echoed from a seemingly empty space.

A Human-Faced Spider, identical in appearance to the one who had guided Hyun-woo, was suspended in the air. However, her hair was short, styled in a bob.

Upon closer inspection, nearly invisible spiderwebs supported her.

[Lower Moon Human-Faced Spider (LV 63)]

The spider who guided Hyun-woo was the Upper Moon, while this one was the Lower Moon.

There seemed to be no other distinguishing names.

For convenience, he decided to call the long-haired one the Upper Moon Spider and the bobbed-hair one the Lower Moon Spider.

The Lower Moon Spider looked down at Hyun-woo with a dissatisfied expression.

“Sister, do you really think this human has potential?”

“This human is the only being who retains continuity of memory even after death and demonstrates a clear purpose in approaching crystallization. If this human can overcome crystallization, the Queen may regain her consciousness.”

“He doesn’t look promising. He was dying before he even got close to the womb [the central structure of the spiderweb]. If we hadn’t saved him, he would have become nutrients for the womb.”

Good. Hyun-woo sensed the Lower Moon Spider’s deep dissatisfaction with him.

In fact, that was to be expected. Monsters are fundamentally hostile to humans. The Upper Moon Spider was the exception.

That meant this situation was particularly unusual. The Upper Moon Spider spoke gently, as if to appease the Lower Moon Spider.

“You agreed to it too, didn’t you?”

“I always do as you say, Sister.”

The Lower Moon Spider seemed to defer to the Upper Moon Spider’s judgment, even if she harbored reservations.

‘Then she’ll end up doing whatever the Upper Moon wants.’

The Lower Moon Spider descended in front of Hyun-woo.

Her upper body was that of a normal woman, but the grotesquely intertwined legs beneath her skirt were unsettling.

The Lower Moon Spider held up three fingers in front of Hyun-woo.

“Listen carefully, human. There are three reasons why I can’t trust you. One is…”

“Ah, never mind.”

Hyun-woo slapped the Lower Moon Spider’s hand away.

“It’s not like I came begging you for help. Tell me your plan right now. I’ll use you as much as I can, so you can use me however you want.”

It was a bluff.

Hyun-woo needed help because he was at a dead end. However, the Lower Moon Spider looked utterly bewildered.

“Do you want to die?”

“Try it.”

Hyun-woo glanced around.

“I’ve already seen where this is, and I know the way here. If I come back, you’ll be the one to die. Or can you be reborn and come back like me?”

The Lower Moon Spider looked back at the Upper Moon Spider, as if seeking guidance.

Hyun-woo prepared to draw Tam [his weapon] while keeping his eyes on the Upper Moon Spider.

The Upper Moon Spider shook her head.

“We sought out someone who can communicate because we couldn’t find a solution ourselves. Our interests align. The human wants to stop crystallization, and we want to save the Queen. So don’t be rude.”

The Lower Moon Spider grumbled, her voice sharp, but she stepped back at the Upper Moon Spider’s instruction. Hyun-woo rubbed his forehead, bothered by the scent of crystallization emanating from her as she retreated.

“The smell of crystallization is terrible. It seems to be coming from you. Have you been inside?”

The Lower Moon Spider frowned and retorted.

“I wish you wouldn’t smell it so much.”

The Upper Moon Spider stared at Hyun-woo before shaking her head.

“Once, at first. After that, we only approached the structure. We know very well what happens if we go in.”

“Then where is the smell from?”

“We couldn’t go in directly, so we sent many small ‘us’ instead. Only a few of ‘us’ return, but there’s no other way. The smell probably came from then.”

“But why did the Widow Queen Spider go into that dangerous place?”

The Human-Faced Spiders fell silent at Hyun-woo’s question. A sense of unease filled the air.

“That’s…”

“Ah, never mind. Don’t tell me if you don’t want to. It’s not that important. I’m not that curious anyway.”

The Lower Moon Spider looked slightly offended. But he didn’t need to concern himself with her feelings.

“By the way, what are the small ‘us’? Are there others?”

The Upper Moon Spider slowly raised her arm. Soon, her fingertips crumbled.

What poured out was a swarm of countless spiders. They were as small as dust, but each possessed a level.

[Upper Moon’s Spiders (LV 6)]

Only then did Hyun-woo realize that the Human-Faced Spiders were an aggregate of countless smaller spiders. The densely packed spiders were simply forming a human shape.

“The more our numbers decrease, the weaker our power becomes. More than half of us were lost when we first went in, so it’s hard to reduce our numbers any further.”

The Upper Moon Spider said, looking at Hyun-woo.

“But you are different. You try repeatedly without losing any strength and try new methods again. I think we can definitely do it with our knowledge and your body.”

All that’s needed is a body, huh? They seemed to view Hyun-woo as an expendable tool they could control as they pleased.

The Upper Moon Spider asked, as if she had no intention of elaborating further.

“Is that okay?”

Hyun-woo’s lips curled up into a smile.

The Upper Moon Spider’s proposal was one that Hyun-woo welcomed wholeheartedly. He had even been worried that they might refuse, deeming him unsuitable.

Of course, they probably didn’t want to sacrifice any more of their own. They likely saw Hyun-woo as a card they could discard as many times as necessary.

But he had no choice.

Hyun-woo was already neck-deep in the swamp that was this quest. The Human-Faced Spiders were a suitable stepping stone to escape that swamp.

They only had their ankles in the swamp, but Hyun-woo was planning to step on their heads to get out.

He had no choice, even if he didn’t want to.

“If you want it that much.”

Hyun-woo replied in a tone of bestowing a favor.

***

The biggest problem was the scent of crystallization.

Smelling it clouded judgment and made one clumsy.

The Human-Faced Spiders seemed to be using it to their advantage. The smell was useful when hunting prey.

If so, there was a possibility that they had deliberately applied the scent before meeting Hyun-woo.

“First, we need to overcome the scent of crystallization.”

On the rooftop of a ruin, the Upper Moon Spider said to Hyun-woo.

“The scent of crystallization is more addictive than any chemical substance and compels obedience. It won’t be easy to overcome. But it’s not the greatest pleasure.”

“I guess not.”

“So, first, I will give you the ultimate pleasure to overcome the scent of crystallization. Enough to strengthen your willpower.”

“You know that sounds a little weird, right?”

“Intercourse? The pleasure of intercourse is not as great as you think. Intercourse is closer to an act of preventing or relieving stress caused by sexual desire. If you’re pursuing pleasure itself, it’s better to gamble or do drugs.”

“So you’re suggesting I gamble with you, or are you going to give me drugs?”

Hyun-woo recalled the drugs he had brought to lure Johann.

But they ultimately had no effect on Hyun-woo.

His negative drug resistance had increased, but the drugs Johann used were more about boosting confidence and promoting positive thinking than inducing a high. Therefore, they were far from the ‘pleasure’ the Upper Moon Spider was talking about.

“It’s a little more dangerous than that.”

The Upper Moon Spider slowly approached Hyun-woo. Her black eyes stared at him without emotion.

The Upper Moon Spider raised Hyun-woo’s wrist. Hyun-woo quickly warned.

“Wait, just so you know, my blood is…”

“Toxic? We are the children of the Widow Queen Spider. Both my sister and I have toxin resistance. You don’t have to worry.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Do you know why the Widow Queen Spider is called the Widow?”

“Because she kills people too well?”

“No.”

Her fangs glinted.

Hyun-woo didn’t flinch.

He was curious about what kind of pleasure it would take to overcome the scent of crystallization.

“Because all the males who receive her pheromones die on the first night.”

The Upper Moon Spider gently bit his wrist as if kissing it. In that instant, Hyun-woo felt as if his brain was on fire.

[You have died.]

[Total survival time: 0 days, 16 hours, 23 minutes, 15 seconds.]

***

“You have a trashy expression on your face, human.”

After Hyun-woo’s training with the Upper Moon Spider… whether this should be called training or not, anyway, after that brain-burning training, he met the Lower Moon Spider.

Tolerance to pheromones builds up rapidly if exposed to them consecutively, so they decided to space it out.

The Lower Moon Spider was waiting for Hyun-woo in a gloomy alley filled with spiderwebs.

“My sister even gave you her precious pheromones, so you should have a better expression, human. How dare you.”

“Pheromones… what the hell is that? Is it like a drug?”

“Maybe. But don’t think you’re being treated specially. We originally release those pheromones when we catch big prey. Any creature becomes docile when addicted to pleasure. We eat our prey alive, so.”

“Then what about the males?”

“We release them after mating, intending to eat them.”

“You twisted monsters.”

“I’ll eat you if you do anything even slightly wrong.”

The Upper Moon Spider was at least superficially kind to him, but the Lower Moon Spider didn’t even seem to have the inclination to be.

The Lower Moon Spider, who had been sitting in the air, slowly descended without moving.

Her skill in manipulating spiderwebs was so proficient that it was like she was casting magic.

“My sister will remodel your mind, and I will remodel your body. Human, you know how to handle spiderwebs. Even the Queen’s spiderwebs.”

“We have some connection.”

“But human, the way you handle them is too… insulting. Shockingly.”

“I’m sorry, but I wasn’t born an arthropod…”

“Don’t be sarcastic, human. It’s a sin not to use all the talent you have. Especially if you’re using the Queen’s spiderwebs.”

The Lower Moon Spider proudly folded and unfolded her hands. In an instant, a handkerchief with intricate patterns appeared in her hands. It was like performing magic.

“You should be able to do this much.”

“What is that, like cat’s cradle?”

“…Don’t compare it to cat’s cradle, human!”

No, when I think about it, the Lower Moon Spider didn’t weave it herself. Didn’t some ‘small us’ or something weave it on their own?

Hyun-woo muttered those complaints in his mind but didn’t bother to voice them.

It’s an unproductive conversation. There’s no need to linger with the Lower Moon Spider for long.

“So what are we doing?”

“How to handle spiderwebs and combat techniques using them. As I said, you’re handling spiderwebs too one-dimensionally. If you learn from us, a whole different world will unfold. If your movements change, it will be easier to approach the structure.”

Hyun-woo understood to some extent.

“So it’s either cat’s cradle or embroidery.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be very pleasant to be with you.”