Chapter 92
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: The Power of a Name
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“No, what nonsense is that?”
An unexpected squabble was unfolding at the entrance to the medical hall of the Haenam Sect.
A middle-aged physician, clad in white robes with pristine arm sleeves, raised his voice.
“What do you mean? Haven’t you already examined the Young Successor’s condition? Do you have permission from the higher-ups to be doing this?”
Nangong Seong, facing him, wore a troubled expression as he pleaded his case.
“I’m terribly sorry about this. Our Latent Dragon Leader couldn’t just stand by and watch the Sect Leader grieve so deeply... she insisted so vehemently...”
“What?”
“You might not know this, but our Leader’s family physician is quite remarkable. She thought he might be of help...”
“What? A f-family physician? Is he insulting me right now? How great could some household doctor possibly be!”
“I understand. But...”
“But? No buts! This is no joking matter—the patient is the Young Successor!”
“I know that. How could I not?”
“Then why say such nonsense? A household doctor, of all things!”
The physician’s neck veins bulged as he jabbed his finger dismissively, but Nangong Seong only looked more awkward and refused to budge an inch.
“...Sigh. I told her the exact same thing. ‘Leader, asking the family physician to reexamine the patient is an insult to Haenam Island’s healers,’ I said.”
“And?”
“But then... oh, what was that physician’s name again? I heard it and forgot it already.”
Nangong Seong scratched his head sheepishly with a grin, turning the physician’s face red then pale.
“Enough! I’ve heard every excuse now. Get lost...”
“Ah!”
“...?”
“Jang Se-yong! That’s the family physician’s name.”
“...”
The physician froze mid-rant at Nangong Seong’s sudden clap of recollection.
“Phew, I suppose that won’t work after all. Of course not. Our Leader’s stubbornness is getting the better of her...”
“...”
“Sigh. Sorry for the fuss this morning. We’ll be off then.”
As Nangong Seong bowed and turned to leave, the physician grabbed his sleeve in alarm.
“W-wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
“You said... his name is definitely Jang Se-yong...?”
“Yes. Why?”
“...”
Nangong Seong tilted his head, and the physician’s eyes widened into perfect circles.
“You don’t mean that Jang Se-yong—the former Imperial Physician...?”
“Oh? You know him?”
“W-what? The one whose skills rival Bian Que himself?”
“I wouldn’t know about Bian Que, but yes, it’s the Jang Se-yong who served as Imperial Physician. But how did you...?”
“...”
The physician’s face went slack, as if his soul had fled.
Jang Se-yong—who was he?
Any who walked the path of healing dreamed of meeting him at least once.
The supreme healer of the world. The teacher of all Central Plains physicians—the Physician of Physicians, Jang Se-yong.
The man who once wandered the land in his youth, curing all ills with a single needle... and he was a mere family physician?
“...Then we’ll be going.”
“...”
As Nangong Seong bowed once more to leave, the physician seized him desperately.
“H-hey! Hold on! We’re not done talking—how can you leave now?”
“What? But earlier you clearly said to get lost...”
“When did I? I have no memory of that!”
“You did. Your face said it, and your eyes were practically cursing me...”
“Misunderstanding!”
“Oh... a misunderstanding, I see.”
Nangong Seong muttered indifferently, and the physician pressed on, still harboring a thread of doubt.
“But tell me—how does a mere Latent Dragon Leader have the clout to employ Jang Se-yong as a family physician? I’ve never heard of him serving as a guest healer anywhere.”
“Well, that makes sense. Haenam Island is so far from the Central Plains...”
“...”
“I don’t know the family name well myself, but it’s the household of Lord Yu Seong-hwan, who once served as Imperial Tutor. Apparently, he even cured our Leader’s obesity.”
“Obesity?”
“Yes. She was enormously overweight before—couldn’t even move, bedridden for nearly seven years, they say.”
“A person can’t possibly...”
“I heard it was over five hundred catties...”
“F-five hundred catties? That’s inhuman!”
“Exactly. Anyway, she took the medicine prescribed by this Jang Se-yong and became who she is now.”
“Such an absurd tale... Did he invent a weight-loss elixir?”
“So I’ve heard...”
“Hah!”
The physician blinked in shock, then grew grave, stroking his beard repeatedly.
“No, wait—it’s possible. With him, anything’s possible. Jang Se-yong isn’t ordinary. He must have altered her constitution with medicine. Yes, that has to be it.”
“...”
As the physician nodded vigorously, praising Jang Se-yong’s arts, Nangong Seong smirked inwardly.
The physician before him: Yi Ja-mun.
Nangong Seong had sought him out deliberately.
Gye Du-sin had already scouted the healers frequenting the medical hall in detail.
Most had been replaced after the new Sect Leader’s ascension, but a few held their posts. They were respected for their reputation but lacked peak skill.
Likely out of concern for prying eyes.
If any physician reported Gok Ja-heon’s true state, the Haenam folk might believe it was qi deviation.
Yu Hyun had selected one among them.
Someone who had guarded the sect’s medical hall since the previous Sect Leader’s time, untouched by the new one’s influence.
Above all, one immersed in the healing arts.
The one who had pondered most fervently how to save Young Successor Gok Ja-heon, trying every method imaginable.
That man was Yi Ja-mun.
Didn’t all warriors dream of crossing blades with the world’s greatest?
Yi Ja-mun was no different.
Dropping the name every healer revered would set him ablaze with eagerness.
And thus, he would kindly aid Yu Hyun and his group from here on.
“So, Jang Se-yong himself will examine our Young Successor?”
“Well, not in person...”
“...”
“But the Leader said she studied healing under him during her long battle with obesity.”
“Jang Se-yong’s healing arts?”
Yi Ja-mun swallowed hard as he asked.
“Yes. Apparently, she was as good as a prized disciple. Patient diagnosis, treatments— she mastered his arts completely... But since you refused, it wouldn’t be proper to insist further...”
“Who said anything about refusing?”
“Pardon?”
“This is no refusal—it’s absurd to even suggest!”
“...”
“With a chance to cure the Young Successor’s qi deviation, how could we hesitate?”
“But we still don’t have permission from the higher-ups...”
“Out with it! How can you be so rigid?”
“...”
“Treat the patient first, ask permission later! I’ve lived by that maxim for years!”
“Oh...”
“Come on, hurry! We can’t waste Jang Se-yong’s time! Let’s go see how he examines the patient.”
Visibly urgent, Yi Ja-mun even shoved Nangong Seong’s back to hurry him along.
Pushed along, Nangong Seong stifled a laugh inside.
His expressions, voice, breathing... and the trembling fingertips on his back betrayed his excitement plainly.
Yi Ja-mun would now believe red beans could brew soybean paste.
In any case, they’d sold the absent Jang Se-yong to reexamine Gok Ja-heon.
Yu Hyun had taught him diagnostic methods and remedies matching the symptoms.
“By chance, do you have lodestone?”
“Pardon?”
“The Leader said it’s needed to examine the patient in detail.”
“What? Never heard of such a thing...”
“That’s what she learned from Elder Jang Se-yong.”
The physician pondered briefly, then steeled his resolve.
“I do! I’ll fetch it right now—don’t move a muscle!”
“...”
Watching Yi Ja-mun dash off, Nangong Seong grinned while sinking into thought.
Good—the physician had bitten the hook as planned. But would it work on his uncle, as Yu Hyun claimed?
The real test began now.
While he examined the patient, Gye Du-sin would evade surveillance to scout the Moon Tribe and six clans, probing the new Sect Leader and Jukrip warriors.
The most arduous and perilous task.
Even with stealth arts, it wouldn’t be easy for Gye Du-sin. He’d have to lurk as shadow and rat, ears perked near them.
But how would Yu Hyun draw their eyes?
His mind was an enigma.
“...Well, he must have a plan.”
* * *
“What do you mean? That Nangong Seong visited the medical hall again?”
“Yes.”
“...”
Gok Ja-seong’s face twisted at the report.
Wasn’t it over?
Why? And without even asking permission?
“The Latent Dragon Leader wants her family physician to check the Sect Leader’s condition out of sorrow.”
“Her f-family physician?”
“Yes.”
“Hah! Who was foolish enough to open the doors for such drivel?”
“Yi Ja-mun.”
“Yi Ja-mun...? That mad healer?”
“Yes.”
“...”
Absurdity and scorn flickered across Gok Ja-seong’s face.
Yi Ja-mun was the healer who’d exhausted every method to save his bedridden father and brother—even foraging herbs himself.
Stubborn and diligent, yet his skills fell short.
Still, useful to Gok Ja-seong.
His reputation among Haenam folk lent credence when he declared the Young Successor’s qi deviation.
Plus, he’d publicly refuted a drunken healer’s ‘poison’ mutterings, quashing rumors tied to Gok Ja-seong.
“What should we do? We could protest to the Justice Alliance.”
“Let it be. It’s the Latent Dragon Leader’s courtesy. Though a family physician... heh heh heh, what a clown.”
“...”
“Was it only that Nangong pup at the medical hall?”
“Yes.”
“And the Latent Dragon Leader and that beggar?”
“They had nothing to do, so they rode out.”
“Rode out?”
“Yes. Wandering the island, meeting folk... hunting shells.”
Gok Ja-seong stared at his subordinate incredulously, then burst into laughter.
“Kuhahaha! Lucky bastards. Ignorant Central Plains whelps...”
“...But oddly, they’re seeking shells from cold-water currents.”
“Cold water?”
“Yes.”
Gok Ja-seong’s expression warped grotesquely.
Cold water?
Haenam was the Central Plains’ southernmost tip. Swelteringly hot—even midwinter seas were warm...
“Madmen.”
“...”
“Dismissed.”
Gok Ja-seong waved off his subordinate, then opened the door behind his seat.
The Sect Leader’s rear garden.
It brimmed with Jukrip warriors.
None bowed or greeted as he entered.
Gok Ja-seong strode casually toward their leader, Bang Hae-gun, seated among them.
“As you’ve heard, the Latent Dragon folk are no threat. Indulging in pointless frivolities like Central Plains fools.”
“...”
His tone polite for a subordinate, yet they acted as if it were natural—no one spoke or seemed awkward.
“Now all seems settled. No dissenting clans remain, and we’ve seen the Justice Alliance men ourselves—no further worries.”
“...”
“You’ve toiled hard. Relay this to your superiors: thanks to you, I’ve claimed Haenam Island. Henceforth, I’ll regard you as allies and lend aid...”
Gok Ja-seong patted Bang Hae-gun’s shoulder smugly.
Bang Hae-gun glanced at him with a smirk, raising one hand.
Crack.
“Gahk!”
His hand shot out, seizing Gok Ja-seong’s throat in an instant.
“Help? You?”
“Guh...”
Bang Hae-gun’s fingers dug deep into Gok Ja-seong’s neck with a sneer.
“Hey, Gok Ja-seong.”
“Guh...”
“We propped up a shit-stained wretch like you in a fine seat, and now you fancy yourself something?”
“Guh...”
Gok Ja-seong’s face flushed purple, choking out groans.
A faint sneer curled Bang Hae-gun’s lips, but his eyes blazed with murderous intent.
“Ugh...”
Paralyzed by dread, Gok Ja-seong could only stare.
Crunch, creak.
The tightening grip threatened to snap his neck.
Death flashed through his mind...
Drip.
“...”
As Gok Ja-seong dangled, throat clutched, his pants soaked through. Bang Hae-gun’s brow furrowed, and smirks spread among the Jukrip warriors.
“Tch!”
Thud.
With a disgusted click of his tongue, Bang Hae-gun flung him down. Gok Ja-seong hit the ground, gasping for air.
“Scaredy-cat pup.”
“...”
Struggling to lift his head, Gok Ja-seong found Bang Hae-gun crouched before him, grinning sinisterly.
“Listen well, Gok Ja-seong. You’re just a shell we picked out of necessity. Don’t think. Just move as I say. Got it?”
“...”
Too terrified to meet his eyes, Gok Ja-seong nodded frantically, tail between his legs.
“Stupid mutt... Well, that’s why we chose you.”
“...”
“Let’s go!”
Long after Bang Hae-gun and his men departed, Gok Ja-seong remained sprawled, staring at the dirt.