The sound of the poisonous insect’s wings beating in Chungui’s hand heightened the sense of danger.
The poisonous insect looked as though it might fly over and bite me at any moment, but I gazed at her calmly and said,
“There is a subordinate I cherish as dearly as my own heart. She was abandoned by her parents when she was young. Even so, she grew up so bright and strong.”
Perhaps Chungui’s fingers tightened, for the poisonous insect’s wingbeats grew even faster.
“She must have had a turning point as well. If she had taken a different path then, she would have lived an unhappy life filled with resentment and vengeance toward her parents.”
“Why are you telling me that story?”
“Because, Doctor, you are serving as a signpost at that turning point.”
“!”
Chungui was startled.
“You knew?”
“Yes. I know about the kindness you secretly bestow.”
I knew why she was so obsessed with money.
She was sponsoring countless abandoned children. She provided them with food, sent them to schools, sent them to martial academies. In that way, she prepared paths for them to live and sent them out into the world. Though she was called by the contemptuous name “money grubber,” she was in truth the godmother of orphans, having lived her entire life for children.
This truth would be revealed only after her death. The reason I said I would give her five hundred thousand nyang was that, after deducting the treatment fee, I was donating the rest for those children.
She stared at me, then crouched down where she stood, tore the wings off the poisonous insect, and plucked off its legs one by one, popping them into her mouth.
“I’ve built up resistance to poison, so ordinary medicine can’t control my poisoning. I’m barely holding on by fighting poison with poison (以毒制毒).”
Perhaps the pain from that was severe, for she kneaded her shoulders, arms, and legs.
“How did you find out about my work?”
I sat down beside her.
“I am the second son of the leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”
There were advantages to being Father’s son. If you were about the successor of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, people tended to accept it even if you knew most secrets.
“Then why did you give me more money?”
Even after I revealed my identity, she was not surprised, nor did she try to curry favor. It was precisely because of that nature that she must have been able to devote herself steadfastly to children all her life while enduring abuse.
“Yes. I, too, wished to add my heart to your good deeds. To me, Elder, you are not Chungui. You are a Great Divine Physician.”
At the words Great Divine Physician, Chungui’s eyes trembled slightly. Great Divine Physician was the highest praise that could be given to a doctor.
“I hid it because I did not want to receive thanks like this.”
Chungui chewed up the poisonous insect she was holding, body and all. It must have been terribly bitter, for she grimaced, but she forced it down.
She did not seek praise, but I thought her true feelings were different.
Wouldn’t she wish, at least once, for someone to recognize her good deeds? Wouldn’t she want, at least once, to receive such sincere respect and praise? Just once.
There was something I had learned in my life before regression. That a single word could sometimes release deep wounds and emotions that had piled up over a very long time.
If only someone would say that one word. If only they would say it just once. Yet we do not easily hear that one word.
Thank you, you worked hard, I’m sorry, it was thanks to you… Just one word would be enough.
Because they cannot hear that one word that seems about to come but never does, people fall ill in their hearts. They live their whole lives carrying wounds that could have been healed with a single word.
I hoped that what I had just said to her would serve that purpose. That it would become the one phrase that unraveled her weary life. Your life was admirable.
Chungui turned to look at me sitting beside her.
I, too, stared straight at her, then abruptly said,
“You are holding my wrist right now.”
At some point, she had taken hold of my wrist. Of course, I could have avoided it, but I did not.
“Ah, forgive me. It has become a habit to take the pulse whenever I see a person.”
Though she said that, she was examining me. She wanted to know whether my words were true. She intended to judge not by my words, but through my body’s reactions. Through the smallest changes in my body, by reading my pulse, she could determine whether the other person was telling the truth or lying.
A martial artist did not carelessly allow others access to their pulse. The fact that I did not stop her from taking my pulse now was no different from saying, I sincerely trust you.
Then Chungui, who had been examining my body, was startled and asked,
“Could it be? Have you achieved great completion in the Heavenly Meridian Strengthening Art?”
As expected, a Divine Physician was a Divine Physician. With this brief pulse examination, she had realized that I had achieved great completion in the Heavenly Meridian Strengthening Art. In the past, thanks to the Blade Ghosts, subordinates of the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, I had been able to attain great completion in the Heavenly Meridian Strengthening Art.
“That is correct.”
For the first time since we met, I saw her gaze tremble with genuine emotion. I knew where her surprise came from.
* * *
Seo Daeryong had a dream.
It was a dream in which, let alone the finals, he was stabbed by a sword and died in the semifinal bout.
Looking down at him as he suffered a mortal wound and lay dying, Geom Mugeuk said,
“I spent five hundred thousand nyang, and you die this pointlessly? Isn’t that too much?”
At his cold response, Seo Daeryong felt a surge of resentment.
“You’re the one who’s too much, Pavilion Lord. I’m dying. I’m dying, I said.”
“Everyone dies. Though no one dies right after receiving treatment worth five hundred thousand nyang.”
Feeling wronged, Seo Daeryong shouted,
“That’s why I said I wouldn’t do it!”
As he shouted, Seo Daeryong woke from his sleep. He flinched at the sight before him. Just like in the dream, Geom Mugeuk was looking down at him.
“I told you not to do it too.”
Unlike in the dream, Geom Mugeuk’s gaze was gentle, and Seo Daeryong let out a sigh of relief.
“I dreamed I died in the semifinals.”
“Dreams mean the opposite, so it’s fine.”
“You said it was a waste of five hundred thousand nyang while watching me die!”
“Then I guess it’s not the opposite? Looks like you’re going to lose in the semifinals.”
“Please don’t say anything unlucky.”
Seo Daeryong tried to get up, but his body would not move.
“Huh? My body won’t move.”
Seo Daeryong lifted his head and looked at his body. He was shocked. His entire body was densely covered in needles.
“She must have placed the needles wrong and paralyzed me. I can’t move at all!”
“They’re important needles. Chungui suppressed your paralysis acupoints.”
Only then did Seo Daeryong feel relieved.
“I’m sorry. For getting hurt for no reason. For making you spend so much money.”
“Listen, Investigator Seo. At times like this, you’re supposed to say this: ‘No, Pavilion Lord. You made me enter the martial arts tournament for no reason and got me hurt like this. This is too much. Even if it costs not five hundred thousand nyang but five million nyang, please cure me!’”
“Ugh, don’t make me feel even more sorry. Please leave.”
Geom Mugeuk turned to go out, but Seo Daeryong spoke from behind him.
“To be honest, I wanted to receive treatment. I said it was too much money and that I couldn’t, but in my heart, I thought it would be nice if I could be treated and go up onto the dueling platform. So I pretended to be unable to resist and accepted the treatment. If it had been my own money, would I have received it?”
“You would have.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because someone who spends another person’s money but refuses to spend his own wouldn’t have agonized over this in the first place.”
“Couldn’t it be a feint? Me pretending to be good until the very end.”
“What would you gain by pretending to be good in front of me? Give me just one reason.”
“……”
“See? It’s not that.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
I left him and came outside.
Beneath the window of the room I had just left, Chungui was sitting in the sunlight. I sat down beside her. Perhaps she had heard the conversation inside, for Chungui asked me,
“Then why are you pretending to be good in front of me? Is the successor of the Demonic Cult worried about orphans of the Central Plains?”
As she asked the question, Chungui took my wrist pulse again.
At the moment that would become another turning point in my life, I revealed my honest feelings.
“As you said, since I am a successor of the Demonic Cult, I am walking a path where I might die at any time. So is it not only natural that I would want to make a good impression on someone with medical arts said to revive even the dead?”
“Is that all?”
“What else could there be?”
She released my wrist.
After staring at me for a moment, she suddenly held something out. It was one of the poisonous insects she had eaten earlier.
“Would you like to try one too? It’s delicious.”
“If I won’t die from eating it, I will.”
“Shall I make sure you don’t die?”
At that moment, I knew I stood before another turning point in my life.
“There is one thing I have wanted to accomplish all my life as a doctor. But it is something I cannot even attempt unless the person’s blood vessels and meridians are as strong as yours. It may be dangerous, but if it succeeds, it will be a test that greatly benefits you.”
After thinking for a while, I nodded.
“I will try it.”
“Why don’t you ask what kind of test it is?”
Because I already know what kind of test it is, and I already know the result.
As I brought Seo Daeryong here, I had wondered whether this fortuitous encounter would truly reach me. It was not a fortunate chance that could be obtained by force. So I had decided that if I obtained it, I would, and if I did not, I would simply let it pass. Yet now, that fortunate chance was reaching me. In that sense, the one who led me to this opportunity was Seo Daeryong.
“Because I trust that a test given by someone who has lived her whole life for orphans will at least not be one that harms me.”
“Are you a fool? It could be a scheme to kill the successor of the Demonic Cult.”
“It is fine. There are others besides me who can inherit the position. A line of them, even after that.”
Chungui chewed up the poisonous insect she was holding and tapped her shoulder.
“It hurts so much I could die. Massage it for me.”
I massaged Chungui’s shoulders.
“It seems you have a great deal of work. Why not take in a disciple? You could have them massage your shoulders too.”
“What young ones these days would like poisonous insects? They all endure a month or two, then run away.”
It seemed there really had been disciples who had fled that way.
“Shall I become your disciple?”
“Do not say things you do not mean.”
“Are you all right with this, Medical Immortal?”
“With what?”
“If the test succeeds, will the person who may become the successor of the Demonic Cult not grow stronger?”
“I’ve lived my whole life being cursed anyway, so what is there to worry about? Harder. A little to the side. Ah, that feels good.”
* * *
When Seo Daeryong woke again, all the needles that had been stuck in his body had been removed. He felt refreshed, as if he had just woken from a good sleep.
Seo Daeryong sat up and moved his arm, but it did not hurt at all. It felt as though he had never been injured in the first place. No, it felt as though his body was in even better condition than before he was hurt.
‘How can this be?’
When Seo Daeryong came outside, Chungui was sitting in the yard, kneading her arms and legs.
He walked over hesitantly and sat down some distance away from her.
“Aren’t you going to say, ‘Thank you for treating me’?”
“You received five hundred thousand nyang.”
“You impudent brat. If someone is paid, does that mean you don’t have to thank them?”
“I’ll do it in a little while.”
“You look so kind, so why are you so spiteful?”
“You said I looked like a whiner.”
“What use are you if you’re a whiner, spiteful, and narrow-minded to boot?”
As she said that, she rubbed her arms and legs.
“Why is your body injured?”
“I got hurt catching bugs.”
“Why didn’t you treat yourself?”
“What you see now is after treatment.”
“What kind of bugs were you catching, and how did you end up this injured?”
“Stop grumbling and come massage my shoulders.”
“We gave you five hundred thousand nyang, so why do I have to massage your shoulders too?”
Though he grumbled with his mouth, Seo Daeryong went to her and massaged her shoulders.
“Ah! That feels good. You’re better than your master.”
“Since I was young, I’ve often been told I have strong hands. I used to massage my grandmother’s shoulders a lot too.”
“Is your shoulder all right?”
“How did that wound heal so completely? You are amazing.”
“Your inner force should have increased a bit too.”
“What?”
Startled, Seo Daeryong checked his inner force. His inner force had increased substantially. Compared to other rising talents of his generation, what he lacked relatively was inner force. But now, as he possessed inner force no less than theirs, his greatest weakness had disappeared.
Deeply moved, Seo Daeryong prostrated himself.
“You are my benefactor!”
“Not a quack?”
“How could that be? You are a Divine Physician!”
“Save your thanks for your master, who paid the money.”
“Since we’re talking about money, please give me a discount.”
“Are you worried your master will become a beggar?”
“My master has plenty of money, so I’m not worried.”
“Then?”
“It’s because it’s far too much money for me to pay back.”
“You intend to repay all that money?”
“I have to.”
As Chungui looked at Seo Daeryong, a faint smile formed at the corners of her mouth.
“If you massage my shoulders well, I may knock off ten thousand nyang.”
“Yes, Divine Physician! I will massage your arms too.”
Seo Daeryong once again earnestly massaged her shoulders and arms.
“By the way, where is the Pavilion Lord?”
“He is inside that vat over there.”
Seo Daeryong flinched. What she pointed to was a vat in the middle of the yard, filled with a strange liquid. From the moment he had come out, he had been barely enduring the foul smell coming from that vat.
“You don’t seem worried?”
“Who’s worrying about whom? Even if I worry about everyone in the world, I don’t have to worry about our Pavilion Lord. If I worry for no reason, I’ll be the strange one. He must have gone in because it was worth going in.”
“There was a reason he was willing to spend five hundred thousand nyang on you.”
Since it was a compliment about him, Seo Daeryong felt pleased.
“Go over there and bring that purple vat.”
“Yes.”
Seo Daeryong brought the vat over with a grimace. That vat, too, was filled with a liquid that gave off a terrible stench.
“You brat, do you know how precious that is, and yet you’re plugging your nose?”
“What is all this?”
“I became a ragged mess catching those things.”
Chungui took it and poured it into the vat where Geom Mugeuk was submerged. As the liquids mixed, bubbles churned and frothed.
“How does he breathe in there?”
“If you’re that worried, go in for him.”
“I decline.”
Seo Daeryong took several steps back.
“By the way, what kind of experiment is it?”
“While researching poisonous insects all my life, there was one desire I absolutely wanted to fulfill. Your master willingly became the test subject for that research. He will either come out dead, or come out transformed.”
In Seo Daeryong’s mind, Geom Mugeuk’s death was not a possibility.
“What will he transform into?”
Then, from Chungui’s mouth came words he had never expected.
“The Ten-Thousand-Poison-Impervious Body (萬毒不侵之體).”