001
Prologue
I am Hwata.
The fellow martial artists of the Gangho called me the legendary physician, but in truth, that was nothing more than an exaggerated tale.
The reason I came to bear such an alias was because, contrary to my intentions, I became entangled in an incident and managed—if one could call it that—to seize the martial arts of the era’s strongest warriors in exchange for fair compensation.
I was merely a physician wandering the Murim. I had gained some fame for devising a revolutionary surgical method for those times, but I was hardly a legendary physician. Rather, driven by a desire for wealth and honor, I toured the Gangho, obsessed with collecting secret manuals.
I had rushed to the battlefield of Hwa Mugeol, the Sword Emperor known as the Absolute Martial Emperor, and Ma Cheon-gang, the Heavenly Demon called the Heaven of the Demonic Cult, out of the same greed as everyone else—hoping to scavenge something of value.
Their battle lasted a full ten days and nights, and in the middle of fighting, they disappeared somewhere.
It was nothing short of a heavenly blessing for me when the vanished Hwa Mugeol and Ma Cheon-gang appeared before my eyes.
I demanded one thing each from Hwa Mugeol and Ma Cheon-gang as payment for treatment: namely, the secret formula for the Great Heaven Sword Technique, Hwa Mugeol’s unique martial art, and the secret formula for the Heavenly Demon Three Scriptures, Ma Cheon-gang’s unique martial art. Trembling, they had no choice but to tell me. They wanted to rise quickly and finish their duel.
In any case, I treated them, and they immersed themselves in battle once more but could not settle the score.
After snatching—if one could call it that—the Great Heaven Sword Technique and the Heavenly Demon Three Scriptures, I devoted myself to martial arts. As my martial realm rose, my medical skills reached even greater heights.
From that point on, I came to be called the legendary physician.
I spent my whole life striving to obtain precious medicinal herbs, wandering the land and offering free treatment to the poor. Perhaps that is why my fame grew even more.
For thirty years, I roamed the Gangho and obtained three Shaolin Great Rejuvenation Pills, and even acquired the Demonic Spirit Pill known as the sacred object of the Demonic Cult.
Thus, the years passed.
Thirty years after learning martial arts.
I attempted to fuse the Great Heaven Sword Technique and the Heavenly Demon Three Scriptures to create the ultimate martial art.
But now, I was facing death.
I only realized it now, but the Great Heaven Sword Technique and the Heavenly Demon Three Scriptures were absolutely incompatible. My plan to gather only the strengths of each and create a new martial art to stand unrivaled in the Gangho had ended in failure.
While the people of the world call me the legendary physician and sing my praises, I wonder if they know that I, having become a cripple trying to master martial arts, am about to meet a miserable end.
Still, I do not regret it.
Though I had not used my medical arts solely to heal the sick and honor life, I have no regrets about having lived doing what I wanted.
The one thing that pains me is that I did not succeed.
The fusion of the Great Heaven Sword Technique and the Heavenly Demon Three Scriptures.
The attempt to mix two martial arts standing at the pinnacle of the righteous and demonic factions was unprecedented. Had I not been intimately familiar with the human body, I would never have conceived of such an attempt.
My eyes are closing.
Even so, the fact that I can leave behind writing before I die is likely what people commonly call the dying flicker of consciousness.
—Hwata, who had roamed the world unchallenged, lays down to rest in the foothills of the Heavenly Mountain.
1. Awakening
That was how Hwata died.
It was undoubtedly qi deviation. No matter who he was—no, even if he was the legendary Hwata—there was no way to save himself.
The fellow martial artists of the Gangho called Hwata the legendary physician, or even the Medical Saint, but he was only human; he could not cure every illness.
He was called such because he had created revolutionary surgical techniques and practiced medicine.
For that reason, he died. There was no choice but to die.
‘What is this feeling?’
A sensation of my whole body sinking.
I had wondered what kind of feeling might settle in before death, but I realized that was utterly impossible. And the moment I realized that, Hwata opened his eyes.
“Huk!”
The moment I breathed, a foul, stinging air flooded my throat. I had never inhaled such turbid air in all my life.
“Where in the world is this?”
Hwata looked around.
It was a cramped room barely three jang across.
Garbage was strewn here and there, and nearby, the smell of medicine hung thick. Having performed many surgeries, Hwata recognized it as a kind of anesthetic.
A strange medicine bottle hung there, and liquid dripped from it.
“What in the world is this……?”
I tried to rise but could not move at all. Only my right hand moved. And even that, only up to the wrist.
“Haah!”
Cases of hemiplegia or full-body paralysis due to qi deviation were not uncommon. Nine out of ten who escaped death suffered such fates. A sigh escaped him, but for now, there was nothing to be done.
“This is madness.”
Hwata sat blankly like that for a long time before falling asleep.
***
Hwata had a dream.
It was a dream about a person’s life.
The protagonist of the dream bore the name Go Hajin.
He appeared to have lived a happy life in his early childhood.
He had parents and a younger sister. The four of them had lived harmoniously, but on the day before Chuseok, they were in a traffic accident while heading to his father’s family home.
The parents died in the accident, and while trying to protect his younger sister, he became paralyzed from the waist down.
After the accident, relatives discussed what to do with the siblings but ultimately decided to send them to an orphanage.
And so, they were abandoned.
Life at the orphanage was suffering itself. The ridicule and violent beatings from the children around him were unbearable, and living with a disabled body was even harder. In the end, in the year Go Hajin turned eighteen, he left his younger sister at the orphanage and entered the workforce.
But life outside was just as arduous. Perhaps society was far more difficult and harsh than the orphanage. Still, what made it bearable was the hope and duty that he had to bring his younger sister back.
When he had more or less settled into a position, an accident occurred.
Due to an employee’s mistake, piled-up goods collapsed and buried him beneath them. Because of this accident, Go Hajin became completely paralyzed.
The only reason he could survive like this at all was workers’ compensation insurance.
Of course, he had not been fully compensated. The company had pulled strings to make it his fault, and after several procedures, payment was denied. However, they promised to provide rehabilitation treatment until he could get up.
The problem was that his living expenses would be cut off in a month. It was an abyss of despair with no light ahead. It seemed he wanted to give up on everything.
***
“Heoeo!”
Hwata, awakened from his dream, could not tell whether it was a dream or reality.
He looked around once more.
It was a familiar scene.
Piled-up dishes, scattered garbage, and a body that could not move on its own.
It was fortunate that a social worker came once a day; otherwise, he would not have been able to sustain his life at all. Because his disability was severe even among severe disabilities.
“Am I Go Hajin?”
That was it. He was Go Hajin.
“An awakening of a past life?”
His mind was Hwata, but his body was Go Hajin. Whether Hwata had reincarnated or Go Hajin had awakened a past life, it was confusing. He pondered several possibilities, but the latter seemed more plausible.
In the end, the memories as Hwata were merely a part of a past life. The Hwata who had lived a tumultuous life was no longer here. It was merely a past life, and the reality was a crippled body that could not rise from this spot or move.
“Haah……”
He closed his eyes again.
The only things he could do here were to lie down and wait for the social worker to come, or hold onto a thread of hope and visit a rehabilitation center.
***
“You’re healthy again today.”
Hajin twisted his body in unbearable shame.
Until now, he had lived without such thoughts, but after awakening to his past life as Hwata, he could not bear to expose his infirmity so openly to a beautiful woman.
He wanted to refuse, but since he was completely paralyzed, he couldn’t even relieve himself without help, so there was no choice.
After changing his diaper, Hajin barely opened his mouth.
“…Thank you.”
“Not at all. It’s what I should do.”
Her name was I Inhye.
She was a social worker who had worked on Udo for about two years after graduating university.
This place was Udo, an island belonging to Wando.
Udo was a small island without proper medical facilities.
It was a situation where young people were all leaving the island; for her to have come to such a backwater for welfare activities must have been purely out of a sense of mission.
For now, she was enduring purely through that sense of mission, but before long, she would hit her limits, become jaded, or quit.
“Teacher Jeong is coming tomorrow. I have to go to the mainland for work.”
“Understood.”
The one commonly called Teacher Jeong was among the worst human beings Hajin had ever encountered. He was displeased that such a person would come precisely on the day he went for rehabilitation training.
“But I’ll see you next week, right?”
“Of course.”
She smiled brightly. Perhaps his younger sister would be around her age by now.
For now, he didn’t have the courage to look for his younger sister. If he were to find her in this state, dark clouds would surely fall over her life.
“Haah……”
After the social worker left, Hajin let out a deep sigh.
He was at a complete loss as to how long he would have to continue this life.
***
The next day.
Hajin’s daily routine was still nothing more than lying down and breathing.
Clack.
Around ten o’clock, one social worker arrived.
She was a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties, stiff and uptight, and perhaps because her relationship with her husband was not harmonious, her face was full of pent-up frustration. The problem was that she vented that frustration on disabled people.
Slap!
“Kuk!”
“It smells like shit again today.”
“Please don’t hit me.”
“Didn’t I tell you to eat less?”
“I’m sorry.”
Slap!
“Kkueueuk!”
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Jeong Sunja pummeled Hajin indiscriminately.
The reason he couldn’t report her, at least, was because his life could only be sustained if she came like this.
He couldn’t give up hope yet. Because of the duty that he somehow had to bring his younger sister back, he had no choice but to endure all of it.
“I’m sorry.”
Hajin could only swallow his bloody tears inwardly.
***
Whirrr!
With Jeong Sunja’s help, Hajin was able to get into the wheelchair.
The electric wheelchair could be operated with just a finger. With only his right hand, he could go and stop, and move left and right. The wheelchair was leased by the insurance company.
Originally, it was the rule for Jeong Sunja to accompany him to the hospital, but there was no way that woman would show such kindness.
Of course, Hajin did not wish to go with Jeong Sunja either.
It was the only time of the week when he could be free. At this time, he could look around the world without anyone’s interference.
If even this freedom to go outside had been taken away, he would have chosen suicide long ago.
It took about thirty minutes by boat from Udo to reach Wando. Wando had a relatively large rehabilitation center, so he had no choice but to come this far. The Udo where Hajin lived didn’t even have a proper hospital.
Most of the villagers were simple and the island was not properly developed, but Wando was different. It was crowded with many people, urbanized, and quite complex.
Beep!
“You disabled bastard! Can’t you see straight ahead?!”
Hajin’s head was tilted at an angle.
Because his spine was paralyzed, he couldn’t properly hold up his head. Naturally, he couldn’t see properly.
“Honey, let’s go. He’s a disabled person who can’t even see straight ahead.”
“Ptui! Just my luck, running into something inauspicious!”
Being cursed at on the street was a common occurrence.