Chapter 4
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Endless Walking
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The feast had ended, and Yu Clan Manor returned to its usual state.
But there was one change: from that day on, Yu Hyun walked without end.
Not skipping a single day, endlessly.
He'd wake up and walk, eat and walk, shit and walk.
He'd swing his arms as he went, sometimes pick up the pace, and then collapse in a sweaty heap...
In any case, he never stopped walking.
It was a rare spectacle that left everyone in the manor dumbfounded, and for Yu Seong-hwan, it became the driving force to return to the front lines once more.
Not that it was like that for everyone.
"Young Master!"
"Good grief, why are you running again?"
"Oh no!"
Personal guard Guard Huang stuck right by Yu Hyun's side, fretting over every single movement...
"No matter how I look at it, it's strange. Why is he walking? Why? What the hell happened in his head?"
Jang Se-yong, the physician who possessed peerless skill yet still couldn't pinpoint the cause of the anomaly in his head, had outright moved into Hwiam Hall to constantly monitor Yu Hyun.
Whatever.
Yu Hyun inwardly fumed at the two who clung to him every day, annoying him to no end, but soon cut off his attention and focused solely on his own task.
The reason for walking? It had to be this damned body of his.
At first, he'd thought casually that if he was fat, he could just find a training method suited to fat folk.
But he'd realized right as the feast ended how wrongheaded that was.
Gorging himself excessively due to the instinctive urge to absorb that activated regardless of his will during the feast—well, that could be excused.
He wasn't unaware of his original owner's appetite, and he couldn't fully control the body yet anyway.
The problem came after he succumbed to food coma and collapsed into bed.
"Fuck, that damned neck fat."
That fucking neck fat had struck again! It squeezed his windpipe!
Thank goodness Jang Se-yong had been there checking his health; otherwise, he might've croaked before trying anything, dying for the exact same reason as the original owner.
A training method suited to a fat body? Bullshit.
He had to lose the weight somehow first.
He couldn't very well fend off the impending chaos in the martial world without securing his life first.
But it wasn't easy.
His trash stamina meant blood pressure spiked with the slightest overexertion, and he'd tire out from just walking a bit faster...
"Hoo."
Yu Hyun finally dragged himself through the last lap he'd aimed for and collapsed flat on the ground with a long exhale.
Splat splat thud!
"..."
The sound of his belly fat draping over his lower body like a bedsheet, his ass cheeks spreading across the dirt like skirt hems.
How could it be like this...
Yu Hyun shook his head with a sigh, and Guard Huang hurried over with water and a towel.
He wiped the sweat from his face, lifted the folds of flesh one by one to clean them...
"No water."
"Pardon? But you've sweated so much."
"I'm fat."
"Pardon?"
You might think it's nonsense, but what can I do if I'm fat?
You can't pamper a body like this with hydration.
It'd soak up the sweat he'd worked so hard to produce.
"Help me up."
"Yes."
Damn, can't even stand on my own.
But no choice. Until he shed the weight and could escape perfectly, he had to hide his personality and play the mild one.
With Guard Huang's help, Yu Hyun barely got to his feet and headed for the iron contraption in one corner of Hwiam Hall's garden.
"Do it."
"Yes."
Clank, clank.
As Guard Huang loaded the heavy iron weights, Yu Hyun eyed the scale's markings with trembling anticipation.
Rattle...
The needle quivered a bit at first, then shook once it balanced.
A slight change from yesterday.
So minuscule... it was barely visible.
Damn, how many days has it been walking without even water...
His hopeful heart plunged into the muck.
Wearing a deeply disappointed expression, Yu Hyun stepped down from the custom-made extra-large scale.
When he'd first asked his father Yu Seong-hwan to have it made, he'd been full of hope, but now, days later, it felt like a cruel joke.
Just how was he supposed to lose weight?
Pushing training? The sheer weight strained his joints so much he could barely endure...
At this rate, forget fending off chaos—he wouldn't even survive the day.
Worse, in six months, the bastard who'd been the vanguard of that chaos would obtain the first spirit herb in Anhwisung Province.
What to do? If time dragged and that fucker gobbled it up, it was all over. That would make coming back here pointless...
Just what method could quickly melt off this bastard's fat?
How...
Then, in Yu Hyun's worried vision, Jang Se-yong entered view, flipping through a medical text on the porch.
His grandfather's old friend.
At thirty, he'd been selected as Imperial Physician ahead of everyone else, fitting the term "while standing," and by his forties, he'd invented his own school of medicine, worthy of comparison to Bian Que...
Suddenly, Yu Hyun's eyes lit up.
Maybe, just maybe?
Yeah, it could work.
Buoyed by the bolt of inspiration, Yu Hyun rushed straight to Jang Se-yong.
"Uncle Jang!"
"Hm?"
As Yu Hyun thudded over and plopped down beside him, Jang Se-yong flinched and scooted back a bit.
"Uncle, you're said to possess the highest medical skill in the Central Plains. That's right, isn't it?"
"Uh? Well, yeah..."
"Then you're not just skilled in medicine—you must be well-versed in pharmacology too, right?"
"Well... more or less?"
"Then!"
"Then?"
"You can make a weight loss drug too, right?"
"..."
"One that sheds a full five catties at a time? Or with long-term use, results in months? You know, like that!?"
"..."
Jang Se-yong blinked repeatedly at Yu Hyun, who was yelling with eyes popped wide in uncharacteristic vigor.
"You... don't tell me?"
"..."
"This whole walking frenzy is to lose weight?"
Yu Hyun nodded vigorously, eyes quivering shamelessly, and Jang Se-yong furrowed his brow in deep thought.
Then it hit him.
This kid... it wasn't a head injury, but a heartbreak.
The marriage proposal rejection that had Yu Seong-hwan raging late after learning of it.
The manor had been in an uproar, and Yu Hyun was the very subject of it. He'd clearly been devastated upon hearing about it after waking.
Yeah, that explained why he'd collapsed while walking, then walked like a madman afterward.
He must've thought the rejection was because of his weight...
Poor kid.
Heart aching, Jang Se-yong also admired how Yu Hyun was trying to pick himself up from the pain of unseen heartbreak.
With moist eyes, Jang Se-yong gazed at him a while, then gripped his plump hand tight.
"Commendable, Hyun-ah."
"..."
Hurry up and fucking talk, I'm dying here...
If you don't want to see this praiseworthy guy keel over, stop squeezing out tears and spill it.
Weight loss drug—yes or no?
"Tell me. Can you make such a drug?"
"Hm... There's one that improves constitution with long-term use. That should help with losing weight."
"Really? How long?"
His face lighting up at the positive reply, Yu Hyun pressed him.
"About ten years?"
"..."
Grind.
Old coot, quit fucking around...
But Yu Hyun didn't give up and asked again.
"Minimum?"
"A few years?"
"Not a few months?"
"A few months... No such drug."
"No?"
"Nope. How could a drug remake your constitution in months? Even if it did, it'd be temporary. And weight loss is just a side effect of improved constitution at best—no one knows when, how much, or if it'll happen."
"No, if heaven helps and I push..."
"Tch. Talk sense. A drug that drops weight in months with a few doses? If it existed, would I be sitting here? I'd be filthy rich, retired from medicine, counting coins."
"..."
Fuck, world's greatest quack!
As Yu Hyun slumped in deep disappointment, Jang Se-yong patted his shoulder soothingly.
"Hyun-ah. A journey of a thousand li starts with one step. It's enough that you've got such resolve. With will and persistence, you'll achieve it someday. Your determination is firm, so the weight will come off. Want me to brew that medicine? Just forget the Nangong Clan's daughter and..."
"..."
What the fuck is this carefree quack babbling?
If you don't know, say so from the start. Man's on the verge of dying from fat, and one step my ass...
Do I look like I have years to choke down pills for weight loss?
And why bring up the Nangong Clan's daughter here?
"So basically, nothing."
"Heh heh, yes. Haste makes waste, right? Even if a short-term weight loss drug existed, it'd hardly be healthy. Side effects for sure. I've thought of you like my own son for ages—how could I make you take something harmful?"
"So... only exercise to burn it off?"
"Yes, indeed. Healthiest way."
Finally coughing up the truth, Jang Se-yong beamed a gentle smile and patted the deathly pale Yu Hyun's shoulder approvingly.
"Right, why not take this chance to learn martial arts as exercise? Bit late at your age, but it'd help shed weight plenty."
"..."
"How about it? I know a few arts. Shall I teach you?"
Pass.
Listening to this bullshit just makes me want to curse nonstop.
Teach me? Martial arts?
Me, who's already mastered the Righteous Six Saints' techniques—the strongest back then—before returning.
I know better than anyone: adapt to the body, pop some spirit pills, and boom, unrivaled under heaven.
But this fucking body is the problem! Can't even walk straight, let alone train!
Argh, idiot me for getting hopes up.
Still, what now. No drug help means brute-forcing the body till the fat melts... Possible in six months?
"Hyun-ah? I'll teach you?"
Lost in thought, Yu Hyun blatantly ignored Jang Se-yong's outstretched hand and stood.
Crack, pop.
"Argh!"
Sat too long?
His perpetually crushed knees screamed.
"Haa... Martial arts? Can't even beat the weight..."
Muttering under his breath, he watched Jang Se-yong smile again for some reason.
Quit fucking smiling.
Adult or not, temperament-wise, I'd just—
"Heh heh, true, your weight might keep you from proper footwork. But it's not hopeless."
"...Pardon? What do you mean?"
At "method," Yu Hyun perked up, and Jang Se-yong nodded.
"Water."
"Water?"
"Yes."
"..."
"Buoyancy."
"!"
Yu Hyun's face lit up like he'd been struck by lightning.
"In water, it's entirely feasible. No, better that way. Water movements demand far more strength than on land. No sweat? Wrong. It just washes away as you sweat, so you don't notice."
"..."
"Hm, thinking on it, it might be a superior training method. Amid water's resistance..."
"Un-Uncle!"
"Training... Hm?"
"Thank you!"
"...Huh?"
As Jang Se-yong blinked at the suddenness, Yu Hyun grinned ear to ear, elated as if he'd conquered the world.
"Uncle truly is the world's greatest physician!"
"W-Well... yeah, but... how about martial arts..."
Whether Jang Se-yong was baffled or not, Yu Hyun was overjoyed at finally finding a breakthrough.
How'd I not think of this?
Found it—the way to train this body.
Bonus: a clever way to lose weight too!
"Guard Huang!"
"Yes!"
"Nearby valley?"
"About ten li out, Jungwon Valley's closest..."
Ten li?
Piece of cake.
Though walking there in this body? Tough.
But...
Leaping to his feet, Yu Hyun bellowed with visions of a bright future.
"Prepare the palanquin!"
"Pardon?"
"Let's go! To the water!