The Right Advice
After Dang Harin left, Baek Yuseong noticed that Physician Cha’s expression looked rather troubled. The wrinkles between his brows had deepened noticeably compared to usual.
Yuseong let out a sigh of self-reproach. “I should have properly apologized to Physician Cha before seeing her off.” He had almost gotten poisoned—how shocked must the man have felt?
“Physician Cha, let me be the one to apologize for you.”
“No need, Young Master. What wrong has the medical pavilion head done? It’s fine, truly fine. Fortunately, you came with plenty of food.”
Without daring to meet his gaze, the man’s voice sounded strange and unnatural.
“…Pardon?”
“Hm? Oh, no. Well… what exactly do I need to apologize for?”
Physician Cha shook his head vigorously, finally meeting Yuseong’s eyes.
“I was referring to the fact that you allowed Harin to… make a mistake.”
“Ah! If it’s that, then there’s no need to worry. The medical pavilion head would have handled the detoxification anyway, right?”
While receiving trust was enjoyable, the man kept saying it was fine, yet his expression remained gloomy.
He kept staring blankly at the bottle of wine brought by the young servant, as if wanting to drink it right away and get drunk.
Yuseong realized he needed to properly apologize to Dang Harin through Physician Cha. He wasn’t sure how well that would go.
‘She used to ignore my words completely. Now that she’s a poison human, how reckless might she get?’
He hadn’t been unaware of the situation, but the thought of his once-familiar researcher now acting so freely made his head ache. She had caused trouble again today.
“For now, please have something to eat and drink a cup with me.”
Yuseong reached out with his chopsticks for another piece of pork dish.
Physician Cha trusted Yuseong with absolute faith. He hadn’t worried about the poison of a poison human at all.
His only concern was the expensive price of the wine.
Staring blankly at the bottle while worrying, when he saw the chopsticks extend, he snapped out of it.
“Medical pavilion head! Did you forget the poison in that? I should have had one more ordered!”
Asking for the expensive wine now would be embarrassing. With such heavy blood loss already, ordering another dish made him uneasy.
But Yuseong simply ate the dish.
“It’s fine. I detoxified it, so Physician Cha may eat without worry.”
“No, already? When exactly?”
Physician Cha, who hadn’t noticed when the poison had touched the food, marveled at how Yuseong had sensed it in time.
‘No need to order another dish, but still worrying…’
The luxurious wine that he had always wanted to try once gleamed with its beauty, but now even looking at it brought a sigh.
Unconsciously munching on the food, Yuseong asked, “Does it not agree with your palate? I seem to have ordered only the dishes you like. Shall I order something Physician Cha likes instead?”
“No, no. It’s delicious, truly delicious!”
Tears welling in his eyes, the man began to eat.
And the moment he drank a cup of wine.
“Hoo~”
A warm yet smooth sip elicited genuine admiration.
Once he found the answer to why a single bottle cost half his salary, Physician Cha finally relaxed.
“I had always wanted to try this too, but I’m glad it turned out well!”
Watching the man savor the wine and food to his heart’s content, Yuseong finally understood the source of his worry.
“Today I’ll pay. Please enjoy yourselves.”
“What kind of talk is that? I was the one who suggested eating out, so naturally I should pay. If you withdraw your pouch, I won’t let you off!”
Yuseong kept urging him, but Physician Cha refused to yield. He couldn’t simply pull out the pouch on a table meant to entertain.
Newly, waves of resentment toward Dang Harin surged.
‘Why did Miss Tang make the medical pavilion head, who should be freely enjoying herself, worry about my pocket money!’
Fortunately, Yuseong’s expression upon seeing her off had not been bad. It was as if he felt no anger at all over the matter.
In truth, he hadn’t felt anger either. The affection built during the time he spent with Dang Harin allowed him to overlook her mistake.
But he felt the need to correct her for playing a prank on food that Physician Cha could eat. Similar mistakes at important occasions could cause problems.
After the meal ended.
Yuseong tried to insist on paying the bill again, but Physician Cha stopped him and stepped to the counter.
“Guest, the woman from earlier already settled the bill.”
“…Is that true?”
Physician Cha had already withdrawn his earlier insults about her.
‘Still, she isn’t completely hopeless.’
With a relieved sigh, he withdrew his pouch.
“Then what about the additional dish I ordered earlier?”
Eating had made it insufficient, so he had ordered one more.
—Whish—
Twenty silver coins appeared before him, who had boasted it would cost only a few pieces.
“This is…?”
“The group you came with generously paid. This is the change. Please visit again soon.”
“…?”
Holding the large sum called change, he cast aside all resentment toward Dang Harin.
‘She was a good person.’
***
The first person to welcome Namgung Yurin upon her arrival at the clinic was Jang Chil.
“Good morning! You’re early again today.”
Jang Chil tended to treat her more politely than others. He was skilled with news too, so Namgung Yurin often asked him if she had questions.
“Good morning. By the way, did Miss Harin come by yesterday?”
“Yes. Medical pavilion head had an evening appointment with Physician Cha, so she left after him. I believe they went together.”
Dang Harin and Yuseong were close; their pairing was perfectly natural.
She soon began her duties.
Exchanging glances with Yuseong, who arrived early, and greeting Jegal Yeong-yeong, who seemed to have a mysterious displeasure, in secret.
Heading to the training ground after finishing work.
Now she could properly resume her training after regaining her composure.
After her personal training ended, and since there was no training session with Yuseong or the Emperor’s Sword Form that day, she went to find Dang Harin.
“Um… Yurin-ah?”
“Harin unni, what are you doing? If you’re bored, I can show you around the Murim Alliance.”
“…Not right now.”
Dang Harin’s condition looked poor.
“What happened?”
***
Before Namgung Yurin arrived, Dang Harin had already visited Yuseong.
Upon entering the clinic, she once again apologized for the previous day’s incident with him…
- You still don’t know what you did wrong?
The only reply was a cold one.
She had apologized for playing a prank on his food, but she couldn’t figure out what other wrong she had committed.
- Then tell me what you did wrong, and I’ll know.
- Ha… you… go back and think about it.
Only Yuseong’s disappointed gaze followed her out.
In her position of having to seduce him, things kept going wrong, leaving her no time to casually enjoy herself with Namgung Yurin.
She was, after all, a rival in love.
But Namgung Yurin was persistent.
“I can help too. If you don’t know, tell me, unni.”
“…”
Dang Harin gazed at the younger Namgung Yurin, two years her junior.
‘She probably won’t help much…’
She didn’t know more about relationships than her, who was younger.
“Did something happen when you had dinner with Yuseong and Physician Cha yesterday?”
“…”
Even as Dang Harin kept her mouth shut, the burning desire of Namgung Yurin to resolve her troubles kept her persistent.
Finally, she cautiously poured out what had happened the previous day.
Yuseong wanting to confirm she had immunity to all poisons was just a simple prank, she explained.
“That… unni made quite a big mistake.”
“I knew I did wrong too, so I apologized, but Yuseong wouldn’t accept it.”
To Dang Harin, who still couldn’t grasp it, Namgung Yurin kindly explained.
“Have you ever seen unni get truly angry when Yuseong played a prank?”
“…Huh?”
Dang Harin looked back at the past. She had played pranks on him tens of times.
Each time, he had been embarrassed, but he had never shown genuine anger.
‘But why this time…?’
Seeing the puzzled Dang Harin, Namgung Yurin smiled faintly.
“Unni, did you apologize to Physician Cha?”
Of course not.
From the beginning, at that place, while Dang Harin suited conversation, she hadn’t paid attention to Physician Cha. Her entire focus had been on Yuseong.
Even when the poison touched her, she only apologized to Yuseong and had never considered Physician Cha’s feelings.
‘Ah…’
Finally, she realized her mistake.
‘I had intruded on the appointment between Yuseong and Physician Cha. No matter how much detoxification potion there was, or how superior Yuseong’s ability was, it was wrong to harm him.’
Dang Harin’s father had always clicked his tongue at her, calling her immature and ill-mannered.
Back then, she hadn’t cared much.
Since she had no one else to blame for her rude behavior except family, she hadn’t even understood the concept of proper manners.
Her grandmother, who only cared about research; her family, who indulged her; and the servants, who couldn’t fight back when she was mischievous.
Living with them all her life, Dang Harin had become quite lacking in social skills.
‘I learned one thing. Even though Yurin is younger, she’s far better at this…’
Thanks to her, Dang Harin now knew what she had to do immediately to seek Yuseong’s forgiveness.
“I need to go see Physician Cha. Thank you, Yurin.”
“Yes, Physician Cha is a kind person too. I’m sure if you sincerely apologize, he’ll forgive you. Don’t worry.”
Adding a few words of advice, Namgung Yurin smiled beautifully.
“…”
“Why?”
Staring blankly, Namgung Yurin asked with a puzzled look. Dang Harin felt a deep sense of guilt.
‘How can I take Yuseong away from such a kind person?’
She even trusted him with absolute faith.
“It’s nothing.”
While heading to Physician Cha, Dang Harin’s heart grew complicated.