Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Top Scholar
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By the time Wi Sowol and Hwangbo Yun had calmed the surviving villagers and gotten the situation under control.
Things seemed to have wrapped up on the Silver Mine side as well. Ha Maeng-hun came stumbling down, looking even more like a beggar than before.
"...Horrible."
He caught sight of the villagers' corpses neatly laid out in one corner of the village and quickly averted his eyes.
Ha Maeng-hun felt a sense of responsibility.
As the branch leader of Baek Eun County, if only he'd handled things a bit more shrewdly, he might have prevented this.
If he'd sought help from the Hwangbo Family sooner and convinced them to boldly stand against Rampaging Demon Heaven.
But such regrets were soon overshadowed by shock at the sight of a decapitated corpse.
"Yeok Gyeong-hyo...?"
He couldn't confirm the face, so there was a sliver of doubt, but the clothing and the skewer-like sword he wielded left no mistake—it was Yeok Gyeong-hyo.
'Arm severed by a sword, head crushed by a fist strike. They must have taken him down together.'
No matter how renowned the Weird Physician was, that applied only to his medical skills.
It defied common sense to think his disciple and guard had subdued Yeok Gyeong-hyo through sheer solo effort.
True to form as a Beggars' Sect branch leader, Ha Maeng-hun rationally analyzed and deduced that Wi Sowol and Hwangbo Yun had teamed up to kill him.
'The other Rampaging Demon Heaven corpses look similar too. Did they train some kind of combination technique?'
Regardless, their remarkable skill was skill all the same.
If the Weird Physician's disciple was a young beggar like Ban Taeseung, her age couldn't differ much from his.
At most, she'd be around Ji-hak's age. That detail would be confirmed later by checking the records of the medical exam applicants.
And though the guard had his face veiled in muslin, he couldn't hide the distinctive aura of youth.
Ha Maeng-hun's keen eye told him the guard was around twenty or so.
'Two youngsters, one a scholar and one in his twenties, subdued ten Rampaging Demon Heaven warriors including Yeok Gyeong-hyo... The murim's younger generation is in for a shake-up.'
It was akin to an elder from the Nine Great Sects falling to two juniors.
If word spread, the entire martial world would turn its eyes to them.
The thought that he might be the one to spread the news made Ha Maeng-hun's lips twitch.
"Weird Physician's disciple. You planning to make this public?"
He decided to leave the choice to the person involved.
Wi Sowol, standing blankly like a stone statue with her face hidden behind the mask, turned her head.
The translucent visor of her bird-beak mask reflected Ha Maeng-hun's image.
"What if I don't want to announce it?"
"I'll keep it under wraps. Though it probably won't hold for long."
"Why?"
It was an act of kindness.
In Wi Sowol's view, reporting the incident upward would bring Ha Maeng-hun greater benefits than covering it up.
Fame built on flimsy pretenses would eventually unravel anyway, and hiding it would saddle him with the massive threat of Rampaging Demon Heaven.
It was clear folly to risk that for hollow glory from slaying a mere Yeok Gyeong-hyo and thwarting Rampaging Demon Heaven's ambitions.
"I owe your group a debt. Consider it my beggar's atonement. Anyway, I'll do whatever you want. If you choose to announce it, I can make it big news. I've got solid connections in the Beggars' Sect, you know."
That must be why Ban Brother had recommended him for headquarters.
Though it sounded like bravado, Wi Sowol knew there was truth to Ha Maeng-hun's words.
"Atonement? This wasn't your fault."
The culprits here were the Silver Sword Sect thugs and Rampaging Demon Heaven.
Far from blame, Ha Maeng-hun had protected Bang Elder and Ban Brother from Rampaging Demon Heaven, then allied with the Hwangbo Family to check them.
By all accounts, he'd done his utmost.
Yet he spoke of atonement.
'Is this what it means to be righteous sect?'
Mount Hua Sect hadn't been quite like this.
"...It's a matter of moral duty. If I'd acted faster, more decisively, these villagers might not have died."
"That's not certain. There could have been even more casualties."
"Maybe..."
Ha Maeng-hun didn't outright deny Wi Sowol's words.
Since becoming a Beggars' Sect disciple, he'd been exposed to countless pieces of information.
That had fueled his own deductions, even earning him a stint at headquarters.
And he'd realized something.
No matter how much information and experience one gathered, perfectly predicting the future was impossible.
Human actions formed chains that always exceeded imagination, and events tangled with people bounced unpredictably like a ball on rocky ground.
Once he understood that, his drive to work at headquarters vanished.
So he'd returned to his hometown in Gansu.
"But I clearly had the ability to achieve the best outcome. The discretion to do so, too. My hesitation is why I didn't."
Regretting what you could have done but didn't was different from regretting the impossible.
"No matter what you do, there's always regret. Better to judge wisely, minimizing it as much as possible..."
Ha Maeng-hun trailed off.
It was obvious he didn't want to delve deeper.
"So, what'll you do?"
Wi Sowol hated owing debts.
They were invisible chains binding her.
But with Ha Maeng-hun now, it didn't feel like a debt.
After all, she'd stepped in to resolve his hesitation, effectively putting him in her debt instead.
"Cover it up."
"Got it. I'll keep quiet about your guard too. Though the Hwangbo Family will probably catch on quick."
"...They already have."
Ha Maeng-hun shrugged.
"Your martial arts are too distinctive."
The villagers freed from the Silver Mine returned.
Escorted and supported by Beggars' Sect disciples and Hwangbo Family warriors, their wretched state was heartbreaking.
Their bodies, far gaunter than Wi Sowol remembered, spoke volumes of the starvation and grueling mine labor.
They embraced family and friends with tear-streaked faces.
And they sorrowfully bid farewell to those executed as examples by Rampaging Demon Heaven.
Fires were lit.
Gansu had many Buddhists.
The victims' funerals were held by cremation.
The flames danced.
In the darkness, the flickering firelight bathed the gathered faces in orange glow.
Even with Hwangbo Family warriors nearby, Hwangbo Yun stuck close to Wi Sowol.
Does she plan not to return yet? Wi Sowol thought so.
"Why not head back now? The Beggars' Sect branch leader caught on."
"......"
"Even without them, it'll leak soon."
Analyzing the Rampaging Demon Heaven corpses would reveal traces of Hwangbo Family martial arts in no time.
"...Not yet. I don't want to go back."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure. I just know too little about the world. I want to see more of it."
Hwangbo Yun spoke with fragile caution.
Usually so cheerful, blending perfectly into her male disguise like a spirited young servant boy, now she seemed the epitome of a delicate lady.
"Is... that no good?"
"Do what you want."
"Huh?"
She hadn't expected Wi Sowol to agree so readily.
Hwangbo Yun blinked her large eyes wide and parted her lips in surprise.
"I'll tell them to burn the Rampaging Demon Heaven corpses too. That should obscure your martial arts traces and buy some time."
The Hwangbo Family had tried to secure the bodies immediately, but Wi Sowol blocked them.
She'd argued that the corpses bore her own martial arts marks—what were they trying to spy on?
To civilians, it sounded absurd.
But in the jianghu, where martial arts were life itself, her claim was perfectly reasonable.
"We're accomplices, after all."
"...Pfft. Yeah, we are. Accomplices. Heh."
"Why laugh?"
"No reason."
This ordeal had filled Hwangbo Yun with thoughts.
She'd known kin could die, but seeing corpses firsthand was new.
She'd resolved to slay evildoers, but acting on it was another first.
Alone, she'd likely have returned to the family by now.
But she had a comrade to share this tangled melancholy with.
A comrade who seemed gruff yet subtly attentive.
One who felt reliably sturdy, like he'd handle anything, yet might vanish like a stray cat if she strayed too far.
"Take good care of me."
Hwangbo Yun didn't know.
What expression lay beneath Wi Sowol's mask.
Perhaps that was a great fortune for her.
It let her fully savor the swelling emotion in her chest right now.
'Looks like I've got an excellent decoy.'
Back in Nanju for the medical exam results, she could toss Hwangbo Yun out there and draw all the attention?
Then slip in, confirm her pass, and bail.
The day of the exam results announcement.
They were publicized in two main ways.
One was the (bangmok), posting the list publicly on the exam hall walls like a notice.
The second was the (bangbang), calling out the names of those on the list.
Both events were open to the public, of course.
"Heard a bunch of medical students bombed this spring exam."
"You mean the Stopped Brush Flower thing?"
The flower that halts the brush.
Overwhelmed by another's writing talent mid-composition—that was "stopped brush." Adding "flower" implied being so captivated by its beauty that one forgot to write.
That was her first nickname, unbeknownst even to Wi Sowol.
Nicknames in the jianghu were bestowed by others, so this was textbook origin.
Unlike Wi Sowol, who'd unwittingly spawned countless rumors, Bang Elder knew better than anyone they were about her.
"Heh heh..."
Bang Elder wasn't sure whether to be pleased by the gossip.
But his ears were wide open for it.
And soon.
The bangbang began.
Whether they planned to call names first before posting the list, the official cleared his throat and unfurled the bangmok.
"I shall now call the names of the provincial exam passers!"
One by one, names rang out loudly.
Despite claims of total failure, some had scraped through.
Bang Elder thought.
'Lucky bastards must've sat where they couldn't see our Sowol.'
Or was it bad luck?
The medical exam came every three years, but seeing Wi Sowol's face was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance!
Bang Elder's initial delight grew anxious with each name called.
'Why hasn't it come?'
As he thought the list neared its end by length.
"Top Scholar! Wi Sowol! That concludes the list!"
Top Scholar.
The first place in the provincial exam.