A Physician’s Measure
“Do you know anyone in the clan who’d be worth introducing me to, or not?”
At Cheon Sohyeon’s irritated stare, Sama Ryang drew in a startled breath and hurriedly said, “S-sorry. I’m afraid my standing within the family is rather narrow. Since I haven’t had much contact with the others, I don’t know what kind of ideas the clansmen have.”
Cheon Sohyeon nodded.
“So I figured. Just as I expected. Well, then.”
“Pardon?”
“Forget it. So you don’t have anyone to introduce me to, then?”
“No, I don’t. If you’re asking about an introduction, is it because you want to find a way to stop the grand plan?”
“That’s right. I heard they were discussing it in the Military Council, so I thought I’d go ask them directly. Since the Sama Devil Family makes service in the Military Council a family trade, I figured I’d ask you to introduce me.”
“I’d have to look into it carefully, but if you yourself make the move, it may not be impossible. Still, once the grand plan is settled, the Military Council will become the busiest place in the cult, so whether we can even meet the people in key positions…….”
“Doesn’t matter. If I can meet even a foot soldier instead of the leadership, I’ll meet him. Right now, whether it ends up being soup or rice porridge, we need to grab at even a straw, don’t we?”
Sama Ryang met his eyes silently. This wasn’t empty resolve; there was a hard, unyielding spirit in that gaze.
He’s already made up his mind that firmly?
After hearing the news of the grand plan in the clan and predicting the tragedy that would follow, he had agonized over it for a long time.
And yet he still couldn’t bring himself to decide. That wasn’t simply because Sama Ryang’s nature was timid.
As a disciple of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, he couldn’t possibly dare oppose an order decided in the depths of the organization.
“I didn’t realize, Prince, that you had resolved yourself so decisively…… I see now this is no time to dither. I’ll move quickly and look for another way.”
“Another way? You’re saying there is one?”
Sama Ryang’s expression darkened at once.
“First, I’ll go to the Military Council.”
“You?”
“Yes. They won’t throw me out at the gate, so I’ll request a conversation.”
“Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, I can go myself.”
“No. Even though you’ve been through an illness, you’re still searching for a way forward. I can’t very well start whining now, can I? Your recovery is gaining momentum, so it would be best if you kept your focus on training as you are now.”
“You’ve at least got some decency, don’t you? Fine. Hurry up and go.”
“Yes, then I’ll be off. Heavenly Demon Rea—”
“You still haven’t left?”
“I’m going!”
At once, Sama Ryang bent deeply at the waist, clenched his fist as if steeling himself for a great undertaking, and hurried away.
What on earth had happened in his family to require such a solemn vow?
Was he being ostracized because he was too dense to notice it?
Still, he seems like a good person…… tsk, tsk.
Watching Sama Ryang disappear into the distance, Cheon Sohyeon shook his head.
* * *
The Military Council’s office was filled with trembling lamplight.
A man in scholar’s robes was scanning documents with weary eyes. He was not only accomplished in letters, but in martial arts as well—both a strategist and a military counselor.
For him, losing a few nights to work was nothing, but recently the workload had swelled to the point that exhaustion had become unbearable.
We need more hands. If there’s anyone in the clan worth using……
Several names flashed through his mind. Thanks to his sharp intellect, he quickly found the right candidates.
“Tsk.”
Clicking his tongue, he turned back to the documents.
By the time the papers piled around him had swallowed his entire body, and the stacks of parchment circling him made the room look like a prison, he frowned at a disturbance from beyond the door.
“Who’s there?”
Creak.
A man in scholar’s robes opened the door and stepped inside.
“What’s all the commotion? This doesn’t seem related to work.”
“I apologize. An outsider has come…….”
“An outsider? Who do you mean?”
“Sama Ryang.”
The man’s brows narrowed ever so slightly. A trace of curiosity entered his otherwise expressionless face.
“You mean Ryang-ah has come?”
“……Pardon? Yes, that’s right.”
“Tell him to come in.”
“Understood.”
Sama Yu, the scholar who had been making the report, bowed and stepped back. Though his manner remained as calm as ever, a great ripple had already surged through his chest.
He’s been calling Sama Ryang by his childhood name all this time?
A childhood name was a term of affection, something that only stuck to the tongue if one held warmth for the person. And to think the Chief Military Counselor himself was the one using it?
It was all the more surprising because the man was so unnervingly cold by nature.
People in the Military Council rarely heard praise or even a single kindly word, even if they were from the same family.
I don’t understand this at all.
Then Sama Yu’s steps halted.
In the chaotic office where documents seemed to fly through the air, he could see his fellow workers, who were assigned the same tasks as he was.
Just how many days they’d gone without washing, he couldn’t tell. Most of them were a complete mess.
No—this wasn’t even a matter of cleanliness.
Every one of them had dark hollows beneath their eyes, and their pupils were bloodshot. They looked as though they had forgotten what rest even was.
They had spent night after night struggling to prove their own worth, clawing through exhaustion with their teeth clenched.
The cult’s doctrine of survival of the strongest wasn’t limited to martial arts.
Anyone who failed to meet the standard was ruthlessly cast aside. Under that pressure, most of them had fallen prey to anxiety and developed a desperate thirst for the Chief Military Counselor’s approval.
Why did Sama Ryang get to receive such earnest favor and recognition so easily?
He was nothing more than a foolish brat who had abandoned his family and walked away from the clan.
Crack.
Clenching his fist hard, Sama Yu passed through the wooden corridor.
After leaving the inner hall, he spotted Sama Ryang trying to stop one of the Military Council members and ask whether he had time to speak.
“Sama Ryang.”
Sama Ryang flinched, then smiled.
“Brother, it’s been a while. Have you been well……?”
Sama Yu cut him off flatly.
“This isn’t a private setting. Mind your words.”
“……Yes.”
Sama Yu’s eyes shifted to Sama Ryang’s clothes.
The long-sleeved white robe and white scholar’s headband made him look every inch the physician, yet for some reason there were specks of dirt on it here and there.
“So you’ve been studying medicine, and this is the state you’ve turned yourself into? You look ridiculous. Did you run all the way here or something?”
Looking down at himself, Sama Ryang gave an awkward laugh and brushed off the dirt.
“Haha, well, I came in a hurry…….”
“Enough. The Chief Military Counselor wants to see you, so go in.”
Sama Ryang blinked in surprise.
“The Chief Military Counselor?”
Sama Yu nodded, clearly displeased.
It was an invaluable opportunity, but Sama Ryang’s heart was flooded with unease. After all, that was the person he least wanted to face.
It was easy to imagine just how disapproving that gaze would be, and how pitiful he would be made to feel.
After a moment’s hesitation, he shook his head.
No. Now isn’t the time to weigh every little thing.
As the Third Young Master had said, when even a straw had to be grasped, this was the time to try anything.
“Yes, I’ll go. Thank you for telling me.”
“Tsk.”
Sama Ryang walked toward the office.
Once he passed the entrance and entered the inner hall, he saw countless scholars. They moved about in chaotic haste. Some faces were unfamiliar, but most were recognizable.
They were friends from the same academy, the ones he had studied with and, when hungry, sat together with to share the food they had brought from home.
Now and then someone recognized him and stopped walking, but that was all. No one called out to him.
Keeping his head slightly lowered, Sama Ryang avoided their eyes.
Before long, he stood before the Chief Military Counselor’s office and swallowed once before knocking.
“Come in.”
A detached voice answered from within.
Creak.
Sama Ryang looked at the Chief Military Counselor, who seemed none too pleased, and offered his greeting first.
“I trust you have been well.”
The Chief Military Counselor, Sama Hyeok, finally set down his documents.
“So, what business brings you here? This isn’t somewhere a vagrant would come. Did you come to beg for handouts?”
His voice was as cold as frost.
Sama Ryang let out a short breath and steadied the tremor in his chest.
“I came because I have a favor to ask.”
“Cutting straight to the point, are you……? Good. A favor? What is it?”
“Could you connect the Third Young Master with someone from the Military Council?”
“……What?”
For an instant, Sama Hyeok’s eyes flashed slate-gray. In the flickering gray demonic qi that revealed his deep disappointment, a clear and unmistakable anger simmered.
“Not only are you caring for someone who’s lost consciousness, you’ve now taken up errands too?”
“This is important to me.”
“Important?”
Sama Hyeok’s eyes sharpened.
“Sama Ryang.”
“Yes, speak.”
“You still haven’t rid yourself of that weak nature of yours.”
“…….”
“That is not your destiny. It is not a task meant for one who has inherited talent. Just how much time have you wasted?”
Sama Ryang bowed his head. The razor-edged words drove in like knives, but he was not so fragile that he would be shaken by mere reproach.
“You always said as much. My answer is the same. My destiny is not the Council—it is saving lives.”
“……?”
At the firm answer, Sama Hyeok’s eyes narrowed. Whether his feelings had shifted or not, something in his gaze had changed.
“Foolish boy. You say your destiny is saving lives?”
Sama Hyeok’s tone grew sharper by the second.
“Then what have you achieved by leaving the family? Learning trivial tricks? Running after other people’s messes? What exactly have you done? Do the blood relatives you left trailing behind you know that your inner power has already reached the third level?”
“If you’ve achieved something, then I’ll simply congratulate you. It has nothing to do with me.”
“Nothing to do with you? You were born as a Sama, grew through the family’s support, and now you deny your own roots?”
His slate-colored eyes flared.
“I allowed your wandering because I judged you to be the sort of stock that could build a household of your own. I intended to watch the family’s influence spread further. And now look at you.”
His sharp gaze raked over Sama Ryang’s entire body.
“A ridiculous physician’s outfit, dirt smeared here and there, and you’re running errands for the Third Young Master. You—whom the family once called a prodigy.”
Sama Ryang listened in silence.
“It isn’t too late yet. Come back to the family and devote yourself to the clan business. That is the fate suited to you.”
“I’ve already decided to join forces with the Third Young Master.”
“Join forces?”
At the infuriating answer, Sama Hyeok’s voice rose.
“Pathetic. So the fool who abandoned the family means to take the Third Young Master as his master, is that it?! As a strategist?!”
Sama Ryang paused briefly before answering.
“I’m not sure I can say that so definitively. It’s something that needs time before it can be decided, so I haven’t settled on an answer yet.”
“……?”
Sama Hyeok’s brows drew together slightly. He had read the sincerity in Sama Ryang’s qi. That once-timid presence now carried a kind of passion, as if a fire had begun to burn within it.
Sama Ryang was the very brat who had left the clan in disgust after being told by his family that he should become a strategist for the sake of their great undertaking.
And yet now he was saying he needed time to decide?
It was an unexpected answer. If the Third Young Master truly was the kind of talent worth entrusting one’s fate to, then this was no different from saying he would become his strategist of his own accord.
Sama Hyeok couldn’t help but be astonished by Sama Ryang’s change.
Could it be that the Third Young Master truly has something about him?
The brat who had run off from the family was showing a reaction completely unlike before. There was no need to wonder from whom that fire had been passed on.
Sama Hyeok recalled the news that the Third Young Master had gained the Cult Leader’s favor and would likely be granted a Mahwandan.
So it wasn’t merely luck. In that case…….
Keeping his emotions carefully hidden, Sama Hyeok said, “Very well. If I look around, I’m sure I can find at least one person with some free time. I’ll set the date and place, so go and deliver the message.”
At the unexpected permission, Sama Ryang’s eyes went wide before he bowed deeply.
“Thank you for understanding. I’ll take my leave now.”
Sama Hyeok watched the back of him walking away. His gaze carried nothing but displeasure.
And then, just as Sama Ryang had been walking straight ahead, he stopped.
When he turned around, gray power rose in his eyes. It was the exact same kind of energy as the Chief Military Counselor’s demonic qi.
“And don’t worry about me—I’m still steadily refining Sama Mind-Deciphering Art. I’ll truly take my leave now.”
Sama Hyeok’s jaw twitched. At a glance, he understood that this was no empty boast.
He was hiding the extraordinary beneath ordinary appearance.
Fourth…… no, at least a realm beyond the fifth level.
From the qi he felt in Sama Ryang, he had judged him to be no more than early third level at best.
An uncontrollable regret stabbed at one corner of his heart.
Sama Hyeok turned his eyes back to the documents and suppressed his emotions.
“……Yes. Go on out.”