Episode 51. It Was Good That He Laughed.
Just how terrifying can a man become when he, who once healed the sick and saved lives, harbors a grudge?
The man who proved this was Dokma.
He grew stronger through knowledge of the body and medicine, and even that was not enough, so he studied poison. The two feet that had busily roamed about treating patients suffering from grave illness at the medical hall changed into two feet that traversed treacherous lands in search of poison.
Apparently still unsatisfied, Dokma judged that it would be difficult to kill Daenachal alone, so he tested poisons on his own body. Repeating poisoning and treatment, the physician who had changed spent years sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall, and eventually killed Daenachal.
Was the heart of one who achieved revenge satisfied?
In my previous life, by the time we met, Dokma had already killed Daenachal. However, Dokma did not leave Daenachal's disciples alone either. He tracked them down and killed them, found them and killed them, and even those who had discarded the identity of once being disciples of the Sibi Sinjang to live ordinary lives were eventually found and killed.
By the time I met him, Dokma hated not only murim martial artists but humanity itself. This was because he had treated many patients during that time. While he was going mad, no one had helped him out of fear of Daenachal.
And so, Moyong Baek the Divine Physician gradually seeped into the martial world.
The root of that hatred was learned in more detail while drinking with Dokma.
He said that in his days as an ordinary physician, he had once treated Daenachal, who had suffered a severe wound, and had also saved the Sibi Sinjang several times when their lives had hung by a thread.
In the end, Moyong Baek found all these ungrateful patients and killed them all with poison.
The expression of Dokma when I met him was truly hollow.
After killing and eliminating them all, once the blazing flames of vengeance subsided.
What was he supposed to live for next?
With no loved ones by his side and no one left to kill.
Unable to find an answer, Dokma researched poison and trained in martial arts. He spent the years imagining that people would come seeking revenge for Daenachal.
The reason I feel grateful to such a Dokma—
—is because he broke his vow to never save another person again, and saved me from qi deviation using the old medical arts he had not forgotten.
It seemed the man gradually going mad had sympathized with me, who had already been mad from the start. A shared misery felt only between madmen, perhaps.
I could not help but recall such old memories as I sat alone in the waiting area.
* * *
After seeing to the patients, Moyong Baek returned to his seat and explained their conditions.
"They are not severely injured. Please do not worry."
I had not been worried, but I nodded with a solemn expression. It seemed Moyong Baek thought I was the guardian of the two patients.
Moyong Baek continued.
"Curiously, while the two sustain light injuries, they show signs of psychological anxiety. In particular, it seems Divine Lord Hongsin has not slept properly for several days. She keeps asking what her senior brother is doing. She also said she is suffering from diarrhea. In a half-delirious state, one's words become quite honest."
Moyong Baek stared at me silently, as if asking me to explain what this was all about.
"Is diarrhea a serious illness?"
"Depending on the circumstances, it can be."
"In what way?"
"You reside in the martial world, do you not? When facing an opponent, you could lose due to diarrhea. It is a grave matter when one's life is at stake."
"Hmm."
Who would have thought I would have such a deep conversation about diarrhea with the fearsome man once called Dokma, after returning to the past.
Because I knew Moyong Baek's personality, I satisfied his curiosity.
"Truth is, I deceived Martial Sister Hong by telling her it was a loneliness cure and fed her diarrhea medicine. Among the Sibi Sinjang, I ordered her to kill the tyrannical Noksul, Hwango, and Baekja. If Hongsin had kept resisting me, I would have had no choice but to kill her like the Heukmyo Sect Leader. Thus, the diarrhea medicine is not killing Hongsin, but saving her."
I rebutted with an Introduction to Diarrhea Studies.
Having grasped the situation, Moyong Baek suppressed a laugh with effort, briefly flaring his nostrils.
"I see. Then if I prescribe medicine to stop the diarrhea."
I replied with a snap of my fingers.
"Your reputation for curing loneliness would be added on top. That's simply extraordinary."
"I shall decline that."
"Anyway, since I have dealt with Noksul, I promised to treat her as agreed. Please help me, Moyong-seonsaeng."
"Understood. It is not a difficult task, so leave it to me."
Why did the atmosphere become so solemn just to stop some diarrhea? I briefly met Moyong Baek's eyes and nodded once.
"Let's wrap up the shit talk here."
"Yes, indeed. By the way, it seems Divine Lord Geumhae also suffered a mental shock."
I asked Moyong Baek a question.
"Do you know what that guy likes most?"
"Well, I don't mean to speak ill of him, but I suppose money, miraculous medicine, and gluttony?"
"Well observed. He lost quite a lot of inner power fighting me, and was robbed of his money as well."
"I see. Those who have always enjoyed success tend to take failure harder."
I nodded and pointed toward the patient room.
"Pull Hongsin out of the swamp first, then come back."
"I shall return shortly."
I stared blankly at Moyong Baek's back and thought.
They say those who have only known success take failure harder. That applies to you too.
But it does not apply to me.
I have very few memories of success.
The inn went bankrupt. I was chased out by my employer while working as a grave digger. I even recorded consecutive losses in martial arts gambling. I trained in martial arts but ended up on a bad path and suffered from qi deviation. The Haomun Sect collapsed immediately after I founded it. Whether learning martial arts or consuming miraculous medicines, things never went smoothly for me.
A life filled with failure—that was my previous life.
Because it was a life that failed so wretchedly, I was chased by both the Martial Alliance and the Demonic Cult.
And as a result, I ended up swallowing the Heavenly Jade...
I believe failure is merely a process.
What matters is enduring without hurting yourself.
Suddenly, Hongsin's voice was heard from the patient room.
"Thank you!"
Indeed. One simply needs to live gratefully.
With the hope that the diarrhea would stop and the anticipation of a massive dump. It seemed "Doctor" was now slipping naturally from Hongsin's lips too.
For Moyong Baek, who had once been so respected by patients, to have suffered such a terrible betrayal by them.
The title of Divine Physician disappeared, and Dokma was born.
Therefore, Daenachal must die by my hand before Moyong Baek goes mad.
By the way, since I was sitting alone, bored and lost in thought, it felt as though my stream of consciousness inevitably veered toward shit no matter where it began; I calmed my mind.
Whenever the pretty medicine girls passed by, they would slightly bow their heads to me.
With my fair face and pure white attire, yet my head filled with nothing but shit, I felt anew apologetic toward the medicine girls.
‘You pathetic fool.’
After conveying the precautions to the medical women inside, Murong Bai walked back out.
“Sect Master, I believe Divine General Hong Xin needs some sleep. Divine General Jin Hai’s qi circulation and breathing will also take some time, so you may have to wait quite a while. It should be enough for you to return tomorrow.”
“Are you busy, Doctor?”
“Not particularly.”
I pointed across from me.
After watching Murong Bai take a seat, I pushed the box containing the gold pieces toward him. Murong Bai looked at the box and asked.
“What is this?”
“The treatment fee.”
“May I open it?”
“Of course.”
As soon as Murong Bai opened the box, he confirmed that it was filled with standard gold pieces.
“This is far too much. How many are there in all?”
“Fifty gold pieces.”
“May I ask why you are giving me so much?”
“The truth is, it’s about time I did some qi circulation and breathing myself. While I wait for my junior brothers’ treatment, prepare a quiet bed for me as well.”
“That is not difficult, but in that case.”
Murong Bai took three gold pieces from the box, then pushed the box back toward me.
“Even this much is excessive.”
A brief tug-of-war broke out.
“Take it.”
“I refuse.”
For a moment, I recalled that the Poison Demon from my previous life had been terribly stubborn as well. Murong Bai spoke to me with a somewhat relaxed expression.
“Sect Master, I am a physician, so I have treated people without discrimination. But I am human too, and I do distinguish between those I dislike and those I favor. Use this money for what you intend to do. I received fifty gold pieces, but I am returning forty-seven of them so you may use them as military funds.”
Money was something to be earned and scattered like flower petals.
Murong Bai swept up those petals and scattered them back in my face.
Also, if one examined the meaning of his words carefully, they contained the implication that I should use it as money to kill the Great Rakshasa.
“Since it seems you’ll keep refusing, I’ll use it, then.”
“Yes.”
“But you must accept this.”
The second round began.
I held out to Murong Bai the box containing four roots of White Flame Herb, preparing my counterarguments no matter what words he used to refuse.
“Only if you are healthy, Doctor, can you save many people.”
Murong Bai smiled without even opening the box of White Flame Herb.
“Sect Master.”
“Go on.”
“If I am to fully absorb this White Flame Herb, I would have to devote myself to qi circulation and breathing for more than ten days. Patients come to me every day, so I cannot simply eat this and leave my post. Is this not precisely the medicine you need, Sect Master? I am only grateful that you think so well of a humble neighborhood physician. If you take it here and now and begin circulating your qi, I will prepare a decoction to help you quickly regain your body’s balance.”
This is the kind of man I am.
In other words, I even lost the argument.
“……”
While I was struggling to find something impressive to say because I had no decent reply, Murong Bai called the medical women and gave them various instructions.
“Escort the Sect Master to the innermost room. He will be taking a spiritual medicine and then circulating his qi, so be especially careful.”
“Yes.”
“And until tomorrow morning, hang up a sign saying I am absent, and close the doors early today. I have work to do as well.”
“Understood.”
While the physician and the medical women moved in perfect harmony, I sat still like a patient.
“Sect Master? Please go in now.”
“Goodness, I wonder if this is all right after paying only three gold pieces.”
Murong Bai said with a smile.
“We have come to know a master stronger than the leader of the Black Cat Gang as our guest, so this is a good thing for us as well. I look forward to your favor in the future, Sect Master.”
In the end, the man with nothing but shit in his head followed the pure white medical women inside.
* * *
Left alone for a moment, Murong Bai watched the medical women bustling about with his hands clasped behind his back, then entered his office.
Murong Bai untied the sweat-soaked headband, washed his hands and face, and then wrapped a clean headband around his forehead again.
Next, he took ingredients one by one from the drawers where various medicinal herbs were stored and placed them on the table. During that time, he recalled the Hao Sect Master’s manner of speech, gaze, complexion, and breathing, and while considering ingredients that could neutralize the energy of the White Flame Herb, he muttered.
“……Fundamentally, he seems to have an ailment of pent-up rage.”
It was Murong Bai’s belief that a patient’s words were not to be trusted wholly.
Since some of the ingredients had to be finely crushed into powder, Murong Bai sat at his desk, took up a tool, and began personally chopping the ingredients into small pieces.
It was work that took quite a long time.
But the efficacy of medicine could be heightened by such small actions and devotion.
Normally, this was work he entrusted to the medical women, but today, for the first time in a while, he prepared the medicinal ingredients by hand.
Naturally, as he made the medicine, he had no choice but to keep reflecting on the patient’s condition.
In Murong Bai’s eyes, the Hao Sect Master was an impressive person because the range of his emotions was extremely narrow. He had made quite a few jokes, but that was only the surface.
At his core, Murong Bai thought, he possessed cold, clear emotions that neither greatly rejoiced nor greatly raged.
Based on what he had studied so far, the many human types he had seen in various books, and his own thoughts, Murong Bai viewed the Hao Sect Master as follows.
A man who, if things went poorly, would turn the world into his enemy and even wage war.
A man who, if things went well, would lead and protect many people.
The point was that whether he waged war or offered protection, he was absolutely not the sort of person who would live ordinarily and quietly.
If one were to classify him as a human type, he was a man at war—in other words, the commander type.
No matter how things turned out, he was the sort of person who would become a leader commanding troops.
And so Murong Bai prepared the medicinal ingredients even more diligently.
With the wish that the Hao Sect Master would use the money somewhere more meaningful, overcome his pent-up rage, better overcome the Heart Demon that might arise in the future, defeat the Great Rakshasa, continue to prosper, and protect their Murong Medical House as well…….
He gathered good medicinal ingredients and carefully crushed them into powder.
Murong Bai, who had been concentrating on preparing the ingredients for quite some time, suddenly found the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. Then, in the end, Murong Bai burst into laughter by himself and had no choice but to take a brief rest.
“Ah, I keep thinking about that damned diarrhea story. How troublesome.”
The man who had been the Poison Demon in his previous life smiled brightly.