The Divine Doctor
In the afternoon heat, even the children who had been chattering and running about under the blazing sun had retreated into the shade.
A stray breeze slipped through the city gate and entered Sichuan.
"It's boiling out here. Why don't we go somewhere and cool off for a bit?"
Young Alliance Leader Yeon Mukseol asked as he exaggeratedly fanned the collar at his neck, but Jeok Hanseong, the Left Guardian and renowned Divine Doctor, didn't even look back. His answer came flat and immediate.
"You ought to show at least a shred of decorum before saying things like that. And you're thinking of heading straight to a pleasure house, aren't you?"
Having been seen through, the corners of Yeon Mukseol's eyes curved pleasantly.
"If I'm going to rest, I'd rather do it in a woman's arms."
Jeok Hanseong let out a thin sigh and shook his head.
"It's hardly unusual for a man to be fond of beauty, but too much of it becomes a flaw."
"Don't worry. I know how to separate public from private matters. I'm not about to ruin work by drowning in wine and women."
The words, Looks like you've already done plenty enough of that, rose to his lips, but instead of speaking them aloud, he let his eyes say it for him.
"Ho. What an insolent look. Who do you think you're glaring at like that?"
Yeon Mukseol scoffed with one hand on his hip, and Jeok Hanseong clicked his tongue before resuming his steps.
"A brat who doesn't know how high the heavens are..."
The comment, carrying all the rustic bluntness of an Unorthodox martial artist, was too much for Yeon Mukseol to suppress; in the end, he burst out laughing.
"You old codger and your temper. Fine, fine—I'll come with you!"
---
On the road to Sichuan, one thought refused to leave the minds of Yeon Mukseol and Jeok Hanseong.
The last descendant of the Im family.
How in the vast reaches of Sichuan were they supposed to find Cheongwol?
There were indeed a few pleasure houses operated by the House of Bounty, but because they had to avoid the attention of the Beggars' Sect, communication with them was kept to the bare minimum.
Without their help this time, they would have to handle matters themselves, and just as they had feared, it would not be easy.
"Leader of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Cheon."
"And this is Jeok Somebody-or-Other, who only pretends to be a physician."
When they saw Namgung Cheon, who looked just as stunned as they were, Yeon Mukseol and Jeok Hanseong quickly exchanged glances.
Why was Namgung Cheon, who should have been in Anhui, here at the Sichuan Tang Clan?
Suddenly, something Jeok Hanseong had told him before flashed through Yeon Mukseol's mind.
The day tragedy struck Namgung Clan Estate... they never did find the child's body, did they?
The last descendant of the Im family, whose whereabouts had been confirmed in Sichuan.
The Namgung Clan head, who had appeared out of nowhere in Sichuan.
It was all so uncannily aligned that it was impossible not to narrow one's eyes.
If this Cheongwol truly was Namgung Clan's lost child...
As his expression hardened under the weight of that tangled thought, a voice filled with delight called out to them.
"Master Divine Doctor!"
Before he even had time to turn and see who it was, a young woman rushed over and threw herself into Jeok Hanseong's arms.
"A grown young lady should know some shame before hugging people like this."
Though his words were gruff, Jeok Hanseong's own face softened with pleasure, and he reached out to ruffle the woman's hair with a large hand.
"Isn't it all thanks to you, old sir, that I've grown healthy?"
The woman lifted her head and smiled bashfully, and he pinched her cheek with obvious satisfaction.
"I rescue you from drowning, and now you've got no end of nonsense to say. Well, we've said enough by way of greetings. What brings you looking for me?"
Only then did Ak Seo-ah step out of his embrace and glance about her nervously.
"Well... to be honest, we brought you here because we wanted the Master Divine Doctor to look at someone else. I truly am sorry to have dragged you into this on my own authority."
Jeok Hanseong looked at Ak Seo-ah, and for a moment, he drifted into memory.
More than ten years earlier, he had happened to hear that a child of the Shandong Ak Family was on the brink of death from an incurable disease, and on a whim he had gone to see for himself.
If a life was destined to end so young and so pointlessly, then at the very least he should lessen the injustice of it.
Since he had been passing nearby anyway, Jeok Hanseong had gone straight to the Shandong Ak Family without delay.
But the desolation and resignation in that child's eyes had been so terrible that Jeok Hanseong had poured even his own inner power into the treatment, despite not being entirely certain it would work.
Then, as the years turned and the snow melted once more and spring blossoms began to open, the child had finally managed the faintest smile and taken his hand.
The life you saved, Master Divine Doctor, I will surely use for the sake of others.
The sight had been so endearing that he had told the child he would help, once, without asking for anything in return.
But there had been no word from her for such a long time that he had forgotten all about it. To think she had grown so well and still remembered that promise...
"There's no need to be so apologetic. I'm only glad to see that your kind heart seems unchanged."
At that, Ak Seo-ah's face brightened, and she threw her arms around him once more.
"Old sir!"
"I told you not to keep hugging me like this."
When their exchange finally seemed to come to an end, Dang Hyeongeuk, who had been watching from the side, stepped forward.
"I have long heard of the Divine Doctor's renown. I myself am both a martial artist and a physician. Allow me to offer my respect for your skill and your deeds."
Jeok Hanseong gave an awkward smile at Dang Hyeongeuk's almost overly lavish praise.
"I've been told that during the journey here, there wasn't a single person in Sichuan who hadn't been examined by the Tang Clan's physicians. And on top of that, I hear you charge only the bare minimum. I couldn't help but admire the Tang Clan's generosity."
"It is only natural for one who practices medicine."
Dang Hyeongeuk barely kept the corners of his mouth from rising, then cleared his throat for no reason in particular.
"Now, perhaps we'd best move along. It would be proper to offer you tea first, of course, but there are people waiting anxiously for the Divine Doctor to arrive."
---
Following behind Dang Hyeongeuk and walking only a short distance, they were soon greeted by the sharp smell of medicinal herbs drifting through the area.
Just how bad must the patient's condition be for the scent to carry all the way to the room?
While they were bracing themselves for the worst, their steps came to a stop before the door.
"I've brought the Divine Doctor. We'll go in."
A moment later, when Dang Hyeongeuk opened the door, Jeok Hanseong's body gave a slight start.
Beside the man lying in bed stood a woman so breathtakingly beautiful that it stole the breath from the room, her eyes fixed on them.
"My name is Cheongwol."
When the name left the woman's lips, Yeon Mukseol, who had seemed largely unmoved even by such extraordinary beauty, widened his eyes.
This was one of the reasons they had come to Sichuan.
The last descendant of the Im family had revealed his identity.
He drew a breath and was just about to speak when...
Don't say a word. I'll explain everything that's happened.
Namgung Cheon's voice pressed directly into both their ears.
There was no shortage of questions they wanted to ask him on the spot, but with so many eyes watching, what could they do?
"I'll take your pulse first."
With a stern face, Jeok Hanseong stepped up to the bed and carefully took Seomun Hwi's wrist.
"I am Seomun Hwi, the young clan leader of Seomun Clan."
"I see. Don't move. Stay still... Seomun Clan?"
Namgung Cheon and Cheongwol already being in the same place was disorienting enough, but when the impossible kept piling up one after another, suspicion began to grow in Jeok Hanseong's heart.
Could it be...
Had he walked straight into some fiendish scheme laid by the righteous sect's dogs?
"There are reasons for it."
But that thought lasted only a moment. At Dang Hyeongeuk's flustered, apologetic voice, Jeok Hanseong let out a dry laugh.
"If it's something you can't speak of, then there's no need to say it. I was only taken aback, that's all."
While Jeok Hanseong examined Seomun Hwi's pulse, Yeon Mukseol's gaze turned toward Cheongwol.
The child born between the Namgung Clan and the Tang Clan ought to have been a boy without question.
And yet the Cheongwol who had been named as the descendant of the Im family was a woman, so there was no reason to connect the two.
If he had not known the truth of the Sunflower Manual, he would surely have thought exactly that.
He was staring intently at Cheongwol when he felt someone tug at his sleeve.
"...?"
As he turned his head slightly, he saw a woman with beauty no less striking than Cheongwol's.
She was a daughter of the Tang Clan named Dang Sohye, standing beside Dang Hyeongeuk with her elder brother.
"Since he's already spoken for, you ought to stop staring."
Her voice was low enough to be barely audible, but there was no softness in it—only a firm warning.
Yeon Mukseol stared at Dang Sohye, whose face remained utterly cold, then slowly lowered his head toward her ear.
"...!"
Whatever he said to her there, Dang Sohye's frost-pale face turned bright red in an instant.
"I'm not joking. If you know what's good for you..."
By contrast, Yeon Mukseol's face, which had been full of lazy amusement, twisted sharply.
A sudden pain had shot up over the top of his foot.
"You'd do well to save that kind of lowborn talk for a pleasure house. Before I cut something off."
Forcing down the sound that nearly escaped him, Yeon Mukseol gave a thin smile.
"I'll keep that in mind."
So the flowers of Sichuan were incomparably beautiful, but they hid thorns sharp enough to pierce the hand.
Feeling the truth of that saying in his own foot as it began to swell, Yeon Mukseol looked down at it with a wry expression.
After the small commotion passed, Jeok Hanseong, who had at last finished checking Seomun Hwi's condition, let out a low groan and spoke.
"...I'm afraid this may be difficult."
---