Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Mysterious Medicine
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Tae Jeongheon.
True to the name his parents had given him, he had always strived to live uprightly.
Yet the world always tested such people.
Today, another trial had come.
His body lay sprawled on the floor.
Even though it wasn't winter, the floor felt as cold as ice.
Each ragged breath brought the acrid smell of hot blood rising from his throat.
The Deputy Strategist had secretly pinned down both his arms with his knees, and that pressure was too much for the patient to overcome.
All Tae Jeongheon could do was cast a pitiful glance toward the Chief Strategist
and glare at the Deputy Strategist with eyes full of fury.
The Deputy Strategist trembled at the corners of his eyes, shedding tears.
‘That repulsive bastard… to deceive us all this time…’
His acting skills were so good that no one had suspected him until now.
Tae Jeongheon screamed inwardly at the top of his lungs, but all that came out was a gurgling ‘grrrk’.
‘I’m as good as dead anyway. I have to reveal that bastard’s true colors!’
He hoped someone would notice something suspicious, but it didn’t seem likely.
In truth, with Tae Jeongheon’s face twisted in agony, no one could distinguish between pity and rage in his eyes.
The Deputy Strategist had already calculated everything.
Through a window he had opened in advance, several warriors rushed out to capture non-existent assassins.
Those imaginary assassins would gain the notoriety of having assassinated someone in the heart of the Murim Alliance and escaping without a trace.
At that moment, the Chief Strategist pulled out a small gourd bottle.
‘Don’t do something pointless—read my eyes!!’
Tae Jeongheon cried out in his mind.
The Chief Strategist uncorked the gourd and tilted it toward himself.
‘Ha, how did he know I like liquor? Is he letting me wet my throat one last time? Fine, let’s taste it.’
Mistaking the gourd for a liquor bottle, he awaited the flavor on his tongue in a state of resignation.
But then.
Drip, drip—
The Chief Strategist’s choice was to pour the contents down his own throat.
In his lowered field of vision, he glimpsed a liquid shimmering with a golden hue, as if mixed with gold dust.
‘Sparkling gold? Why’s it that color?’
The instant that golden liquid touched the wound on his throat.
‘Mm?’
The pain began to fade gradually.
“It’s working! Someone staunch the bleeding here!”
The Chief Strategist urgently shouted to one of the warriors.
The warrior hastily pressed a cloth against his throat.
Tae Jeongheon was slow to grasp the situation amid the chaos, but he caught sight of the Deputy Strategist’s eyes bulging wide in shock.
“You scum deserving heavenly punishment, wh-what?!”
The sound of his own voice emerging made Tae Jeongheon’s entire body jolt.
A voice had come out, like a miracle.
He couldn’t let this chance slip.
“The Deputy Strategist is a spy! He ambushed me, grrk!”
Perfect!
He had shouted loudly, and his throat burned fiercely again, but he had said everything he wanted.
Even if he died for real now, he had no regrets.
Tae Jeongheon poured out all his energy and fainted.
The moment Jegal Yeongyeong heard his words, she sprang into action.
Her hand struck like lightning, subduing the Deputy Strategist.
“Chief Strategist, Jeongheon’s delirious and talking nonsense. The assassin tried to attack me but struck poor Jeongheon instead and leaped out the window. We need to catch that bastard first.”
The Deputy Strategist remained calm.
He had been stunned enough that his eyes nearly popped out when the mysterious medicine began healing Tae Jeongheon’s critical wound.
‘If I were going to crack that easily, I would’ve been caught long ago. I still have a good chance of escaping this crisis.’
The moment he realized Tae Jeongheon had caught him switching the reports, only one thought crossed his mind.
Kill Tae Jeongheon and silence him!
Unfortunately, Jegal Yeongyeong had come out of the Chief Strategist’s office, preventing him from finishing the job perfectly.
He had only applied some medicine and let him linger on the brink of death—Tae Jeongheon was still in critical condition.
If he just died as expected, the Deputy Strategist could walk free without suspicion.
He could claim one of the two reports he carried was a discarded draft with errors.
‘The golden liquid was miraculous, but he used it all up just now. His condition improved a bit, but Tae Jeongheon still can’t survive. No matter how skilled the Medical Pavilion Leader is, he lost too much blood, and how do you mend a throat split that deeply?’
The Deputy Strategist continued.
“But given the circumstances, an investigation is necessary. I’ll cooperate fully, so please save Jeongheon no matter what.”
Calm yet concerned for his subordinate.
Jegal Yeongyeong even began to wonder if Tae Jeongheon really was just rambling in his death throes.
‘No, something feels off. It contradicts how desperately he was calling for Jeongheon earlier. But saving Jeongheon comes first.’
She ordered the surrounding warriors to investigate the Deputy Strategist, then tended to Tae Jeongheon.
“We need to head to the Medical Pavilion right away.”
With help from several warriors, she took Tae Jeongheon there.
A warrior carrying Tae Jeongheon on his back raced like an arrow.
Another kept pace, firmly pressing his throat.
One of them hesitated, unable to contain his curiosity, and asked Jegal Yeongyeong.
“What was that thing earlier?”
It wasn’t a precise question, but Jegal Yeongyeong understood exactly what he meant.
She was just as curious.
“It’s a medicine I obtained by chance. Hurry, let’s go.”
Jegal Yeongyeong kept her answer brief.
What she had just witnessed was hard for even her to believe, and it seemed best not to reveal it without consulting Yuseong first.
Just moments ago.
When the golden liquid from the gourd touched the slashed throat, the torn flesh sealed itself, and the bleeding from the worst spot trickled to a stop.
Yuseong hadn’t given her much of the holy water, so complete healing was impossible.
It was only a makeshift emergency measure for now.
Yet pulling someone back from the edge of death like this was astonishing enough.
‘I thought it was just a bit better than Golden Wound Medicine, but what the hell is this?’
If Yuseong could create such an incredible medicine, she trusted he could definitely save Tae Jeongheon.
***
Jong Hakjin spotted the group rushing in like the wind and tensed up.
Even without experience in the treatment room, there was no doubt this was an extreme emergency.
Better to overprepare than miss a patient.
“Jang Chil! Tell the physician a critical patient is incoming!”
Watching Jang Chil dash off, he asked other warriors to clear a path.
Fortunately, since it was the first day, most visitors were there out of curiosity, so no one was in a rush.
And so.
Yuseong was able to greet Tae Jeongheon without delay.
He carefully peeled away the cloth the warrior had been using to staunch the bleeding.
Anyone seeing the pale face and the blood gushing from the throat would think it was too late.
“You can save him, right?”
Jegal Yeongyeong’s eyes brimmed with trust as she asked.
Yuseong nodded.
“Yes, I’ll definitely save him. What happened?”
“He was slashed with a blade. The details are still under investigation. But the wound was even bigger at first. I had some excellent medicine on hand, so it’s healed this much.”
She meant she had used the holy water.
With warriors present, she was being cautious with her words.
The amount of holy water he had given Jegal Yeongyeong wasn’t much.
It seemed only the vital areas had been partially treated, meaning the original wound must have been far worse.
“This man was lucky. Anyway, leave the rest to me—I’ll treat him.”
“Please, I’m counting on you.”
After Jegal Yeongyeong and the warriors left, Yuseong placed his hand on Tae Jeongheon’s nape and activated his Healing skill.
The wound was too wide for needles; using his palm for the skill was more effective.
‘Good thing there haven’t been many serious patients today. I have plenty of Divine Power left.’
He didn’t heal him completely.
Even making excuses about Divine Arts, displaying power too far beyond common sense wasn’t wise.
He left quite a bit of the external wound intact.
The rest would be suturing the surface.
‘A few days of hospitalization and care, and it’ll heal nicely. A scar on the throat? He’s a man, he won’t mind.’
He called servants to move him to a patient room.
***
The investigation into the Deputy Strategist wasn’t forceful.
Tae Jeongheon had shouted that he was a spy, but without confirmation, the strategist’s office couldn’t treat a veteran and respected figure like a criminal.
Of course, if Tae Jeongheon had been in a normal state, it would have carried much more weight.
On the table beside the interrogation room sat one money pouch, one brush, and two reports.
All his possessions laid out.
The Deputy Strategist deliberately avoided looking at the brush.
It was a bit heavier, but since he had hollowed out a thick wooden one on purpose, no one suspected the tiny blade hidden inside.
“Failing to discard the report on time was my mistake, but I’m innocent. With my mediocre martial arts, how could I have done that to Jeongheon?”
He maintained a confident demeanor.
The bloodstains on his face from being next to Jeongheon weren’t an issue either.
‘No matter how I think about it, Jeongheon can’t survive. I just need to get past this hurdle.’
With no evidence found, the investigator handled him routinely.
“We’ll need to catch the assassin, it seems.”
“Of course. If we capture the one who did that to Jeongheon, I won’t let him off easy.”
“Rest for now.”
Expecting release soon, the Deputy Strategist leaned back leisurely.
‘Because of that sharp-eyed brat, I’ll have to lay low for a while. What a hassle.’
The next morning.
The Chief Strategist visited him, shut in the interrogation room all day, and comforted him.
“Sorry. It’s necessary procedure.”
“Of course. Superiors must set an example. I’ll wait until the suspicions are cleared. By the way, how’s Jeongheon—”
As the Deputy Strategist asked after Jeongheon with a worried expression.
Someone entered the interrogation room and delivered the news.
“Chief Strategist! Strategist Tae Jeongheon has woken up!”