Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Development 1
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The woman’s name was Ga-seol.
Mu-heun decided he needed to get a clue about the doctors from Ga-seol and began asking questions one by one.
“What are these doctors like?”
“They are very good people. If not for them, everyone in this village would have died from the plague.”
“When did the plague break out?”
“Hmm…, I think it was about half a year ago.”
“That coincides with when the Chi Pyeong Temple disappeared.”
“It does. Perhaps they never met the doctors? Or maybe they died trusting only in the martial arts they believed in.”
The members of the Chi Pyeong Temple had almost certainly been annihilated by those doctors. The unsettling situation and his intuition told him so.
Mu-heun needed to find out what kind of plague had spread half a year ago, how it had spread, and how the doctors who suddenly appeared had treated it.
However, when he asked Ga-seol about the plague's cure, the only answer he received was, “I don’t know.”
It was as if the formation laid over this place, which obstructed thought, was preventing her from speaking about the plague.
In the end, all Mu-heun could find out was that the current village was actually a merger of more than ten smaller villages, and that the doctors were staying in a central pavilion built in the deepest part of the village.
“Have the doctors ever done anything suspicious?”
“Suspicious? Hey! You’re a doctor yourself, why would you say such a thing? You’re a strange one, aren’t you? The doctors are our saviors. Don’t speak of them so carelessly.”
“…I see.”
But why were Ga-seol’s eyes turning red?
Mu-heun raised his doubts about the doctors several times, but Ga-seol only expressed gratitude toward them, never questioning their identities or finding them suspicious.
And it wasn't just Ga-seol; it was every villager here. They simply lived each day happily, grateful to the doctors.
“I understand. Then, let me ask one last thing. If you live in this perfect village created by such wonderful doctors, why were you perched on this old desk, sighing with such a troubled expression?”
“That’s…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know either.”
“You don’t know…”
“It’s just… I feel like I had something precious, but I can’t remember what it was. I only know that it felt incredibly important.”
“Something precious… Do you happen to have a husband or a child?”
Mu-heun asked if Ga-seol had any children, as for most women, their children were what they held most precious.
“What? Ah… Yes, I did. I heard my husband was eaten by a monster that appeared in the Yangtze River a long time ago.”
“A monster from the Yangtze River?”
“Yes, and I had a son. I remember a son who would cling to my skirt every morning, crying for food. His name is Ha-pyeong. He was a boy with a mole under his eye.”
Ga-seol acted as if her memory of her husband had been erased. How could she speak so dismissively of a husband devoured by a river monster?
No, more importantly, what the hell was a monster from the Yangtze River?!
The questions were piling up, but rather than asking about things she couldn't speak of, he needed to ask about what she did remember. So he pressed on about her son.
“A boy with a mole under his eye. Are there any other distinct physical features? Like his hair color, height, build, or age.”
“He would be in his late teens by now, a bit older… When he was with me, he was so soft-hearted I wondered if he’d ever be able to act like a proper man when he grew up.”
“I see.”
Mu-heun could tell it was difficult for Ga-seol to speak about her son.
“Where is the boy now?”
“That… I can’t remember. I think the doctors came and took him away, saying he had a problem with his body…”
“The people called doctors took him and didn’t bring him back?”
“What? No, of course not. I’m sure that boy has gone to a good place and is receiving an education to become a fine man. So there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Then, you’re not worried about your son?”
“Of course not. The boy must be doing well. It’s a shame I can’t see him every day, but thinking about how well he must be doing is enough for me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure.”
“…If you’re truly sure.”
“…?”
Mu-heun hesitated for a moment, then took a breath and spoke.
“Why are you weeping so sorrowfully?”
“What?”
Ga-seol was crying.
From the moment this woman, Ga-seol, had started talking about her son, tears had begun to well in her eyes, and the rims had turned red.
And as she spoke of her son being in a good place, the tears that had pooled in her eyes overflowed and streamed down her cheeks.
It was just that Ga-seol herself didn't perceive her own tears… nor the reason for them.
The sense of loss from losing a child still existed within the woman.
As Mu-heun saw it, the emotions Ga-seol was feeling were likely misery, pain, and sorrow over the loss of her child.
However, while those feelings were being forcibly suppressed by the formation, the sense of happiness directly instilled by it was growing ever larger.
The dissonance between Ga-seol's testimony and the tears streaming down her cheeks was the result of the contradiction she was experiencing.
Mu-heun said to Ga-seol.
“That’s enough. For now, just…”
But he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence, swallowing the words.
‘For now, just remain as you are, without fully realizing it. I will do my best to find your lost son. If he is already dead… I will do everything I can to at least hold a funeral for him.’
Mu-heun suspected that Ga-seol’s son had likely become a test subject for the doctors and had disappeared.
After that, Mu-heun continued to wander the village, asking people what had happened. He questioned an old man who looked like the village chief.
“Without the Chi Pyeong Temple, who protects the village if bandits attack?”
“Hahahaha! This fellow must really be new here, eh? Don’t you worry. We have the Yangtze River Guard here.”
“The Yangtze River Guard?”
“That’s right. If you were to compare this village to a country, they are like the Imperial Guard of the court. They protect the village from outside attacks. And that’s not all. The Yangtze River Guard constantly patrols the village, helping to maintain order.”
“I see… Then, do you have to pay them tribute or anything of the sort?”
“Tribute? Tsk! You young man! They serve the doctors, who are like the emperors of this village! Have you ever heard of paying tribute to an emperor? It’s not tribute, it’s an offering! We give it with the same sentiment as paying taxes to the country.”
“Ah… haha. I see.”
“Besides, the work they do is far more valuable than ours. They purify the nearby Yangtze River and sometimes defeat the monsters that emerge from it.”
“Monsters…”
“You should be careful too. Make sure you don’t get caught by the monsters.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
He gathered more information, and as a result, he learned that teenage boys and able-bodied adult men were periodically disappearing from the village.
‘The ones who disappeared were all young boys not yet of age, or able-bodied adult men. Is their experiment related to age and physical ability…?’
Just then, in the distance, the men responsible for maintaining order in this village, the Yangtze River Guard, were walking over.
“Are those them… Huh?”
That man?!
The man serving as a member of the Yangtze River Guard in the village of Ok-hwa on the Zhongqing Plains was a face Mu-heun knew well.
His name was Chang-yeon.
Back when Mu-heun was the Divine Doctor, even while continuing his research at the Sichuan Tang Clan, he never forgot to send donations to the Chi Pyeong Temple that had saved him in his youth.
After losing its Arhats, the Chi Pyeong Temple had been reduced to an unremarkable rural temple or sect, and they seemed incredibly grateful to Mu-heun for his continuous support.
They had sent a messenger every year to express their thanks, right up until Mu-heun’s death.
There was one person who came every year to deliver the Chi Pyeong Temple’s gratitude all the way to Sichuan. It was always the same boy, and his name was Chang-yeon.
But… the man should not have been past his thirtieth year, yet from his current appearance, one would believe him to be in his fiftieth.
“How did that man end up like this…”
Mu-heun immediately sent a mental message to Chang-yeon.
[Chang-yeon! Is that really you, Chang-yeon?]
However, Chang-yeon didn't seem to hear Mu-heun’s message at all. He just trudged toward where Mu-heun was standing.
‘Hm? He’s coming this way?’
The man walked straight toward ‘me’ and, looking me in the eye, said.
“You there! With a well-developed frame like that, you’re no ordinary man! Why don’t you join us in hunting the monsters of the Yangtze River?”
Up close, Chang-yeon’s eyes were devoid of color.
However, he could feel the thick killing intent emanating from him.
This… was not Chang-yeon speaking to me.
The Chang-yeon I knew… was not like this.
The current Chang-yeon was strange.
The pure eyes he had shown in Sichuan were gone.
His face was not that of a valiant warrior who had grown strong.
His eyes were not filled with the sharp intelligence of one who sought to understand the ways of the world.
Just… hollow, corpse-like eyes.
“Ah… yes.”
He didn't know who these people were, but he couldn't just let this go. Chang-yeon was no longer a living person.
He didn't seem to have heard the mental message I sent, and now he was merely a puppet for someone else, relaying words as commanded.
I received the full force of the man’s killing intent as I looked around. The villagers were gathering one by one around Chang-yeon, smiling as if to show how happy they were.
‘Dammit…’
I hadn’t yet uncovered the enemy’s identity, but my presence had been revealed to them.
The enemies must have noticed my favorable disposition toward the villagers. That’s why they were gathering them here now, to use them as hostages.
What was worse was that the state of the Yangtze River Guard seemed even more severe than that of the villagers. If so, there was no guarantee of the condition of the children who had been taken.
“Excellent! Then follow me!”
“Yes…”
The old man I had been talking to just moments before saw me being chosen by the Yangtze River Guard and spoke with great delight.
“Wow! I thought you had an extraordinary build, but to be chosen by the White Dragon Guard! That’s amazing! I’m so envious! Go on, have a good trip!”
“Ah, haha, yes. I’ll be on my way.”
I obediently followed Chang-yeon, who had become one of the Yangtze River Guard.
It was still early, but I had no choice. A dagger was hidden in the man’s sleeve, and if I refused his offer, that hidden weapon would surely be aimed at the old man behind me.
Fighting while protecting the villagers in this situation was an impossibility.
‘Them noticing my presence was within my expectations. However, I hope they haven’t gauged the extent of my martial prowess…’
The Sealing Talisman wrapped around my wrist was my only hope.
Chang-yeon led me toward the White Dragon Lake, and on the way, he opened his mouth to speak.
But…!
In that moment!
Chang-yeon’s face contorted, and an illusion began to swirl around it.
“Kh, kaka… kahak! Wh-who are you? How did you break free from the Daydream Formation?”
“……!”
A grating, metallic sound came from him, and a chill ran down my entire body.