Chapter 154. Cracks Form in the Heart.
I conveyed to the people of the Blood Night Palace the words I had been holding inside.
“At the very least, Elder Heo. This rare, aged man’s man of a senior.”
“…….”
“I hope you change enough that he can think the people left here will be all right even after he is gone.”
Only then did I look down at my belly, which was sticking out.
“I ate too much. I only had jerky on the way here. That was a truly delicious meal.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Give me a room. I don’t think I should call the physician here and leave first. Until he arrives, I’ll sleep here, train, drink, and chat.”
And take shits.
“If I wander around and see anyone suspicious, I’ll assume he’s one of the bastards attached to the Cult Leader and execute him.”
Only then did the people who had been eating with me let out awkward laughs. It seemed they were finally getting used to the way I spoke.
The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.
“You are an honored guest, so of course.”
To Gyoyeong, who was staring at me, I showed Buddha’s Finger.
“……I’ll train my forehead flicks too.”
I laughed by myself, then stopped when no one else laughed.
“……Let’s get up.”
* * *
Moyong Baek, who had come running at the Hao Clan Leader’s summons, spoke cautiously in front of Heo Gyeom’s residence.
“……May I enter?”
After a moment, Yongmyeong came out and replied with a puzzled expression.
“Who… might you be?”
Moyong Baek introduced himself.
“I am a physician summoned by the Hao Clan Leader.”
“The Clan Leader summoned you?”
“Yes.”
“Where is the Clan Leader?”
“He came as far as the front here, then told only me to go in…… and left.”
Yongmyeong looked at Moyong Baek with an incredulous expression.
‘Master doesn’t particularly like physicians.’
Heo Gyeom’s voice came from inside.
“Show him in.”
“Understood. Please come in.”
Guided by Yongmyeong, Moyong Baek looked around the residence and entered a room with an unusual number of bamboo ornaments. Aside from the bamboo ornaments, there were no paintings and no furnishings to speak of, making it a rather plain room.
Moyong Baek bowed his head to the old man dressed in white.
“I am Moyong Baek of the Moyong Medical Family.”
Heo Gyeom turned from the window and replied.
“If the Hao Clan Leader called you all the way here, you must be quite the remarkable physician.”
Moyong Baek pondered for a moment, then replied with a faint smile.
“That is correct. I am a very remarkable physician.”
Heo Gyeom laughed and held out his hand.
“You must have had a hard time coming here.”
Moyong Baek looked around the room, then drew in a deep breath.
“I ask because I do not know well, but is this the scent of bamboo coming in from outside the window?”
“It is. Why do you look so surprised?”
“They say bamboo flowers only once every several decades. It is not a scent one is used to.”
Heo Gyeom nodded.
“Now that I think about it, you are quite young, Doctor. Let us sit.”
The two sat facing each other at a long wooden tea table and looked at one another. Moyong Baek asked.
“Senior, may I ask your age?”
“I am one hundred and eleven.”
“I took you for around seventy, but my estimate was off by about forty years.”
“Did you say that to make me laugh?”
“I was speaking precisely. Should I have lowered it further?”
Heo Gyeom laughed out loud and extended his arm.
“Will you take my pulse?”
“Yes.”
Moyong Baek reached out to take his pulse, then first felt Heo Gyeom’s palm.
“You were a swordsman?”
“A swordsman?”
“Yes.”
“Did you come without hearing anything about me?”
Moyong Baek blinked and replied.
“The Hao Clan Leader sent a letter……”
“He sent one?”
“It told me to hurry up and get my ass over here, so I came in haste.”
“Are you his subordinate?”
“I am not his subordinate. The Clan Leader is my patient.”
“Hahaha.”
“If you were not a swordsman, were you a saber wielder? Or did you use a spear? This is no ordinary palm.”
Heo Gyeom replied.
“No. I am……”
For some reason, the words that he had been an assassin did not come easily to Heo Gyeom. Once, he had taken pride in it, but now, facing death and looking back on the past, what he had considered pride was turning wholly into regret. Lately, because of such regrets, it had become increasingly difficult for him to maintain his composure.
As though confessing a sin, Heo Gyeom spoke to the young physician.
“I am an assassin who retired long ago.”
Moyong Baek’s eyes widened.
“Ah, I see.”
Moyong Baek felt Heo Gyeom’s stone-like palm for a while, then finally took hold of his wrist and examined the old man’s internal condition.
“……Have you lost your internal energy?”
As soon as Heo Gyeom nodded, Moyong Baek hurriedly withdrew his hand. Moyong Baek needed a moment to sort out his bewilderment.
‘He is one hundred and eleven. He has lost his internal energy. He is a former assassin. How in the world has he survived until now?’
What was strangest of all was that there was nothing particularly wrong with his health.
Moyong Baek stared silently at Heo Gyeom.
‘Did he try to take his own life?’
As if to gauge the young physician’s skill, Heo Gyeom asked.
“What is my condition?”
Moyong Baek replied.
“Mm, you have managed your health to an astonishing degree. Maintaining it like this is itself an extremely difficult thing. Forgive my impertinence, but it seems you have also cultivated your mind for a long time. If the Hao Clan Leader could attain even the smallest part of your composure, Senior, his madness would be cured in no time.”
Heo Gyeom smiled.
“I doubt that. It is a difference in the way we live. Or perhaps a difference in mindset. I was only trained because I could survive only by maintaining my composure. It was not as though there was any special method.”
“Is that so? Well, if the Hao Sect Leader had learned about assassination from you, Senior, he would have run away before ten days had passed. It is a martial art that requires training the mind first, and it would not suit the Hao Sect Leader’s temper.”
Heo Gyeom laughed.
“Now that I think about it, I suppose so.”
Murong Bai also smiled silently. Heo Gyeom, watching Murong Bai’s expression, asked.
“Is there some particular reason you keep mentioning the Hao Sect Leader, young physician?”
“In truth, there is.”
“Let us hear it.”
Murong Bai looked over the wooden tea table placed in the center, then touched a slightly cracked spot with his hand.
“The tea table is cracked.”
“It has been used for a long time……”
“Senior, the Hao Sect Leader’s heart is cracked just like this tea table. His madness comes and goes through that crack. What is unusual about the Hao Sect Leader is that he has little desire to fill it in. He does not think to painstakingly hide it, cover it over, or stuff something into it to seal the gap. He merely recognizes roughly where that wounded place is. He knows how large the wound is. And he has also realized when it hurts especially badly. To some extent, he is looking at his own wound objectively. That is the Hao Sect Leader’s attitude toward the wound in his heart.”
“Mm.”
“The Sect Leader is living on while carrying that crack in his heart.”
Heo Gyeom asked.
“Then what am I?”
Murong Bai replied.
“Senior, thanks to your composure, you have no cracks. Even if one did appear, you would have filled it in without leaving a trace. Because you were an assassin of a high level, you would have erased the traces perfectly.”
Heo Gyeom nodded.
Murong Bai spoke with a faint smile.
“But Senior, people are originally all cracked somewhere in their hearts. Conversely, someone whose heart is not wounded at all no matter what happens has grown distant from what it means to be human. Perhaps you, Senior……”
Murong Bai pointed at the crack on the wooden tea table.
“Of late, it seems a crack has formed in your heart. You must have had a great worry. In the past, you erased such things well with your composure, but now the wound may have widened further.”
Heo Gyeom stared silently at the crack in the wooden tea table.
“……It seems I have been afraid of the Cult Leader all this time.”
“By the Cult Leader, do you mean the Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult?”
“I do.”
“Because his martial arts are strong?”
“No. To put it in your words, Physician, that man will no longer develop cracks in his heart.”
“I see. As far as I know, wasn’t he originally that sort of person?”
“There was something of a limit to him in his own way, but it seems he has even removed that.”
Murong Bai nodded.
“If so, as someone who was an assassin, Senior, there is no way you fear death. Your concern must be great for those who will be left behind.”
“It must be because I have grown too old.”
“That is not necessarily the case.”
“Why is that?”
Murong Bai looked at Heo Gyeom.
“……Senior, putting down your weapons and losing your internal energy does not mean you retired from being an assassin. Only when you put down the mindset of an assassin does retirement begin. A high-level assassin has no cracks in his heart, and cracks form in the heart of one who has retired from being an assassin. Because only then has he returned from an assassin to a person who understands compassion. It took you a very long time.”
Heo Gyeom looked at the table.
Murong Bai said.
“I have cracks in my heart as well, and so does the Hao Sect Leader. And now, Senior, you have also recognized the crack in your heart. In the past, you would have erased it with an assassin’s mindset, but now it is simply……”
“Say it.”
“Hwabyeong.”
Heo Gyeom replied with a flustered expression.
“Hwabyeong?”
“Yes, to some extent, your symptoms are the same as the Hao Sect Leader’s. The Hao Sect Leader also goes back and forth from time to time. But since your cultivation of the mind is deeper than the Hao Sect Leader’s, Senior, you will handle it well. For now, I will inform the Hao Sect Leader that your illness is hwabyeong……”
Heo Gyeom hurriedly raised a hand.
“Ah, do not tell him.”
“Pardon?”
Heo Gyeom spoke with a complicated expression.
“I can bear that much. If the Hao Sect Leader is enduring it, then if I cannot even endure that……”
“Senior, that fellow is a pathetic man, so he had no intention of enduring hwabyeong from the start. He is merely blowing up whenever it comes and letting out what is inside him. How wicked a man is that?”
“Ah, because he takes his temper out on those around him?”
“Yes, Senior. He has an exceedingly foul temper, so please coax him well and set him to fighting the Cult Leader. Still, judging by the fact that he called me in such a hurry, he seems to be greatly worried about you, Senior. Until I arrived here, I could not tell whether I was going to examine a patient or whether I had been kidnapped and dragged here. How did you end up becoming close with that temper of his?”
Heo Gyeom laughed.
“I do not know. He kept saying ‘a real man, a real man’ and seemed to like me.”
“Not long ago, it seems he beat about a hundred bandits to death. He told me to come make medicine for someone, so I went, and there was a patient lying under the blazing sun, groaning after being beaten half to death. I could not tell whether he wanted me to treat him or not. He is a truly vicious person.”
“Ah, were you and the Sect Leader not close?”
Murong Bai nodded.
“Before being an acquaintance, he is my patient. We are close, but because he has a temper, I too must choose my words carefully in front of him. I might get beaten as well.”
Heo Gyeom, who had been trying to hold it in, finally laughed in a dignified manner.
“I see.”
Murong Bai lightly took Heo Gyeom’s hand, then said.
“In any case, Senior, illnesses of the heart are also like a cold: they come suddenly, and if you endure them, they disappear as if nothing ever happened. You are doing well, so please recover fully. Since even the Hao Sect Leader is enduring this, you must not lose to it easily.”
Heo Gyeom nodded.
“I shall overcome it.”
“In truth, you have no need whatsoever for medicine or acupuncture, Senior. I will take my leave now.”
When Heo Gyeom tried to rise, Murong Bai supported him.
“You need see me off only this far. Thank you for troubling yourself to listen to the words of a village physician.”
Heo Gyeom nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Yes, then.”
Murong Bai met Heo Gyeom’s eyes, bowed his head, and then went outside.
Yongmyeong, who had been waiting outside, rose and said.
“Are you leaving?”
Murong Bai said in an even tone.
“He may have a little difficulty, especially in the sweltering summer. If he suffers in summer, a mild summer-heat illness may come upon him, so as his disciple, learn how to preserve maesil and offer it to your master from time to time. Since you are learning a martial art that particularly requires patience, it would be good for you to have some together.”
Yongmyeong bowed his head.
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“Yes, then.”
Murong Bai left the residence and retraced the path he had taken with the Hao Sect Leader, then along the way looked over a large tree standing all by itself.
“……Sect Leader?”
A moment later, there came a rustling sound, and the Haomun Master dropped from the tree, landing lightly on the ground.
“Is it over?”
“Yes. Why were you up in the tree?”
The Haomun Master looked around as he replied.
“I was trying to imitate an assassin. This is more fun than I expected.”
“……You always seem to enjoy yourself.”
“I do try to. In any case, it seems the Demonic Cult has planted spies here.”
“I see.”
The Haomun Master extended a hand, as if inviting him to walk.
“Let’s take a stroll. How was the senior?”
Moyong Baek lowered his voice and said,
“It is an illness brought on by pent-up anger.”
“Oh, is that so? That’s a relief.”
“His strength has weakened considerably as well. It seems he has not been eating properly either.”
“Mm. Then what should be done?”
“Plums stimulate the appetite. There should be no major problem.”
The Haomun Master nodded.
“As expected of our Physician Moyong. You went through much trouble coming in such haste. There will likely be times like this now and then, so you too should hurry and find a disciple……”
Moyong Baek stopped walking.
“Pardon?”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“You said you will call me now and then?”
The Haomun Master spoke in an indifferent tone.
“Isn’t the important thing saving lives? If I had learned medicine, why would I have called you? I would have treated him myself. You at least came by carriage. I ran here from the Black Cat Gang on my own two legs while chewing dried meat. Let’s go.”
At a loss for words, Moyong Baek barely managed to answer.
“Yes.”
As he walked with his hands clasped behind his back, the Haomun Master muttered,
“Should I have some plums too?”
Moyong Baek replied,
“Just drink some wine.”
“Excellent. Let’s go have a drink.”
“…….”
Moyong Baek was dragged away without being able to say a word to that patient bastard.