Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Check-Up and Sisters
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“Ah, come on, I told you I’m fine.”
“Shut up and say ‘ahh.’”
The very next day after his spar with Jin Bae, Wi Seongcheon found himself dragged to the infirmary by Dang Heeran. She plopped the reluctant Wi Seongcheon down and glared at him.
“……Ahh.”
He couldn’t exactly refuse when she was just worried about him. Thinking about it, it was pretty unfamiliar to have someone outside his family fussing over him like this. Wi Seongcheon opened his mouth wide as Dang Heeran instructed.
“Doesn’t it smell?”
“Worry about your own mouth.”
Dang Heeran wrinkled her brow at Bang Jun’s snide remark. She peered carefully into Wi Seongcheon’s mouth. It was bound to be embarrassing. Wi Seongcheon held his breath, suddenly self-conscious of Bang Jun’s comment.
“Breathe.”
“……Why?”
“Breath matters too. Now, take a deep one and let it out.”
Hearing her single out the smell made it even more awkward. Still, he did as told. Wi Seongcheon took a big breath in and let it out.
“Slowly, one more time.”
“Urk.”
“Hey, you bastard, quit interfering and go cower in the corner! Your breath’s way worse!”
Dang Heeran snapped irritably, and Bang Jun flinched, clamping his mouth shut. Taking some solace in the fact that Bang Jun’s breath was supposedly worse, Wi Seongcheon exhaled once more. Dang Heeran pressed her nose right up to his open mouth and sniffed.
“……As I thought. Your internals are damaged.”
“It’s nothing much…….”
“Not severe enough to be critical, but not something to ignore either. External wounds heal even if neglected, but this’ll only get worse over time.”
“Won’t good food fix it……?”
“Cut the nonsense. Now, say ‘beh.’”
“……Beh?”
“Stick out your tongue, tongue!”
He obediently stuck out his tongue. But that wasn’t enough for Dang Heeran—she grabbed it with her fingers and pulled. It was a strange new kind of pain.
Wi Seongcheon flailed in shock, but Dang Heeran’s eyes were utterly serious.
Next came the eyes. Dang Heeran gripped his face with both hands, lifted his eyelids as far as they’d go, and examined his pupils.
Wi Seongcheon rolled his eyes this way and that as instructed, showing the whites. Then she lowered the lids to check their color, massaged his palms, and even took his pulse.
“How’s your qi and blood?”
“Fine.”
“No tightness in your chest?”
“I’m good.”
“Don’t lie.”
Dang Heeran prodded his solar plexus as she spoke.
“Didn’t this happen before? What’d they do at Heavenly Flower Sect?”
“Ate well, circulated my qi…….”
“Medicine?”
“Took some when it was bad. Not bad enough now.”
“……That make any sense?”
“It does.”
Wi Seongcheon gave an awkward smile in response. Blood paths developed through backflow. The pain of internal injuries had been a constant companion since childhood. Through that, his body had developed in bizarre ways.
His natural recovery from internal injuries, in particular, rivaled the immortality arts often featured in wulin legends.
Not that he’d ever compared directly.
“……I’ll make you some restorative pills for now. Take them with every meal. Got it?”
“You’ll make them?”
“What, don’t trust me?”
“No, it’s not that. We’ve got the infirmary head and other physicians—why bother…….”
“Because I want to.”
Dang Heeran shot back as she started to rise. Then she tilted her head. Wi Seongcheon’s eyes had gone wide.
“What?”
The moment she asked.
She knew. It was the reflection in Wi Seongcheon’s pupils. Dang Heeran whipped around in surprise.
“……Sister.”
Serpent Beauty.
Dang Seona stood at the doorway. Her ever-present animal-eared maids were nowhere in sight. Though startled, Dang Seona quickly composed herself.
This was the infirmary. Students came and went as needed. Especially Dang Seona, a favorite of the infirmary head and president of the Youth Society’s Poison Physicians Club. To her, the infirmary was as familiar as the dorms or classrooms.
“Hello.”
Dang Seona greeted them with a bright smile. Bang Jun stood awkwardly, his expression stiffening.
He hadn’t noticed.
The door had been open. But until Dang Seona appeared there, Bang Jun hadn’t sensed her presence at all. Dang Heeran hadn’t either.
Wi Seongcheon had.
“Hello, Senior.”
Wi Seongcheon smiled as he spoke. Bang Jun belatedly bowed his head.
“……Oh, long time no see.”
Dang Heeran said hesitantly. Strange words. They were blood sisters, not estranged, both enrolled at Yicheon Academy.
Even with different years, they could run into each other anytime in the cafeteria or on campus grounds.
Yet she said “long time no see.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you hanging out with friends.”
Dang Seona said with a beaming smile. Friends. The word landed heavily on Dang Heeran. Wi Seongcheon noticed her cheek twitch.
“Heeran was really worried about me.”
Before Dang Heeran could respond, Wi Seongcheon spoke first. He could see her fingertips trembling faintly. Wi Seongcheon casually took her hand. Dang Heeran startled and looked at him, but his gaze wasn’t on her.
“I said I was fine, but she was so insistent.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Dang Seona’s eyes stared fixedly not at Wi Seongcheon, but at Dang Heeran. ……What an odd pair of sisters. He’d guessed from how Dang Heeran clammed up and stiffened whenever her sister came up. These two weren’t like normal siblings.
The attitude Dang Heeran showed toward Dang Seona was more distant than toward strangers.
“Let me take a look.”
Dang Seona approached. She glanced at Wi Seongcheon holding Dang Heeran’s hand. Her smile deepened slightly.
“Hand.”
Her smiling lips parted.
“May I see it?”
Hands come in twos.
She hadn’t specified which. But Wi Seongcheon knew she meant the right one holding Dang Heeran’s—her gaze had shifted. He could ignore it and offer his left…… but he didn’t.
Dang Heeran’s trembling hadn’t stopped.
“Yesterday.”
Dang Seona murmured as she stroked Wi Seongcheon’s right hand. It was ice-cold.
“An impressive fight. That style of combat…… no, that martial art…… I’d never seen anything like it.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Hidden Dragon. Suits you. Oh, should I have congratulated you first?”
“You clapped yesterday. That’s plenty.”
Wi Seongcheon joked lightly.
[What an extraordinary body.]
Dang Seona’s sound transmission reached him.
Wi Seongcheon kept smiling without a hint.
[No wonder Heeran didn’t notice.]
It wasn’t something you could detect just by sending qi through. It defied ‘common sense.’ Even Dang Seona, who’d taken his pulse, and Mu Yeonjun, who’d directly infused inner power, hadn’t noticed his blood paths were abnormal. They hadn’t used backflow.
Same now. Wi Seongcheon wasn’t using backflow. His blood paths looked no different from any normal person’s. Yet Dang Seona had seen through it.
[How did you know?]
[Experience.]
Dang Seona replied as she continued taking his pulse.
[To handle poison, you must know medicines and master the human body.]
[Heeran didn’t.]
[I’m just superior.]
Plain and unboastful. It was fact. Dang Seona. The top talent of Dragon-Phoenix, Serpent Beauty, a genius whose aptitude rivaled the Ten Heroes’ Poison Martial Queen, Dang Sa-yeong.
[If you die, can I have your corpse?]
Wi Seongcheon’s eyes widened at the sudden remark. My. Dang Seona let out a light laugh, not via transmission but aloud.
[Slipped out. Sorry for the weird comment.]
[……Uh…… You’re joking, right?]
[No joke. Granny’d be interested too.]
She meant the Poison Martial Queen.
[Come to the Tang Clan sometime.]
[Too scared to.]
[Don’t be so afraid. Neither I nor Granny force things. Could be a fateful encounter for you.]
[What?]
[You know the arts you practice are dangerous, right?]
Exactly what Mu Yeonjun had said.
[You won’t abandon them. And if they grow stronger, the risk might fade—but that’s a problem too. No guarantee you’ll live that long.]
“Ahem.”
Wi Seongcheon coughed lowly, and Dang Seona chuckled. Dang Heeran realized they were conversing via transmission but couldn’t bring herself to ask about it.
[The infirmary head can’t help much with your unique body and arts. Same for me. Heeran goes without saying. Best they can do is prescribe temp meds for internals…… Though you might not even need them. Seems you’re used to it.]
[Pretty much.]
[Still, take the pills. They’ll help some. And my invitation to the Tang Clan is sincere.]
[……Because it could be fateful?]
[The wulin’s finest physician is the Ten Heroes’ Leopard Bright Physician, Jin Chung, but Poison Martial Queen’s skills are formidable too. No guarantees—Granny does as she pleases. But if there’s a way, shouldn’t you try?]
She seemed nice.
Wi Seongcheon stared piercingly at Dang Seona. She’d intervened in the spat with Mu Yeonjun’s servant, and now this. Her personality didn’t seem bad. But…… Dang Heeran was still trembling.
“Prescription.”
Dang Seona released his hand. She glanced at Dang Heeran beside him.
“Thought of one?”
“Ah…… Y-yes.”
“Want to make it yourself if you’re up for it?”
“……No. Better if you do it, Sister.”
Dang Heeran hesitated before answering. Wi Seongcheon opened his mouth to say something,
[Don’t.]
But Dang Heeran transmitted immediately.
[Your meds are fine too?]
No reply came via transmission. Dang Seona gazed at her downcast sister, then nodded.
“I suppose so.”
Dang Seona murmured as she stood.
“Wait just a bit. Won’t take long.”
She headed to the medicine room.
“Still so lacking in confidence.”
As she passed Dang Heeran, Dang Seona muttered softly. Dang Heeran bit her lip, silent.
Only after Dang Seona vanished did Dang Heeran exhale sharply and slump into the chair.
In that short time, her face had gone deathly pale, her hands slick with cold sweat. She pressed her pounding chest, steadying her breath.
“Aren’t you overreacting?”
Bang Jun teased, glancing at her. Normally she’d snap back to shut up. This time, Dang Heeran just hung her head without a word. Seeing that, Bang Jun smacked his lips and said no more.
“I’ve got no siblings, so I wouldn’t get it.”
“I’ve got a brother.”
Not by blood.
Wi Seongcheon eyed Dang Heeran as he rolled down his sleeve. She turned to him, incredulous.
“……Weren’t you the sole heir to Heavenly Flower Sect?”
“Now I am. But there used to be a brother. Not blood-related.”
“……I see.”
Dang Heeran replied woodenly. She couldn’t tell what he’d hoped to hear.
“Just saying. Bit rude, but can I ask?”
Prying into family matters was tricky. So he prefaced it.
“……Go ahead.”
“Did your sister bully you as kids or something?”
Dang Heeran let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.
“No.”
Nothing that qualified as bullying.
“……Nothing like that. It’s my issue.”
That was all Dang Heeran said. Wi Seongcheon and Bang Jun didn’t press. But Bang Jun already knew what her ‘issue’ was.
[What?]
[Why ask me instead of her directly?]
[Didn’t seem right.]
[……Heh. Since when’d you get so perceptive?]
[So what is it? Can’t say?]
“Quit whispering via transmission and ask her yourselves, you idiots.”
Dang Heeran blurted out.
“My sister and I are half-sisters.”
She sighed deeply.
“……That’s it.”
“……Uh, yeah.”
Wi Seongcheon coughed lowly, sneaking a peek at her expression.
“My brother and I had completely different parents.”
He’d heard that earlier.
[Can’t we just shut up?]
Bang Jun transmitted impatiently.
Until Dang Seona returned, Wi Seongcheon kept his mouth shut obediently.