A Night of Warmth and a Medicinal Bath
As soon as Cheong opened the door to her room in the Mucheon Pavilion, still dead on her feet, Dang Nan-a popped out like she’d been waiting and cupped both hands under her own chin. “Tada! A flower for my Cheong!”
Cheong simply stared at the cringey display with an exhausted expression. Dang Nan-a, caught between embarrassment and disappointment that her gesture had been ignored, was about to launch into a complaint when she finally got a proper look at Cheong’s face and immediately raised her voice.
“Cheong!? What happened to your face!? Were you crying!?”
Her body had swollen during the torture, but now that it was over, her face was puffy and swollen. She had cried until she ran out of tears. Cheong answered in a drained voice.
“It’s not that……”
“Then why does your voice sound like that!?”
Her voice was completely hoarse, reduced to a thin, wheezing sound like air leaking from a balloon. “It’s nothing. Anyway, where’s Master…?”
“He said he’d be catching up with some old friends today?”
That made sense. Master had his own circle of friends, and the Murim Alliance Conference was one of the few times they could all gather. No wonder Dang Nan-a was here—she had pounced on the chance the moment their master stepped away.
Whether that was the case or not, Dang Nan-a chattered away about everything that had happened that day. “Oh, right. Today the Great Aunt gave the Ban-Geom-Ssang-Do Association some guidance.”
“The what association……”
“Ah, you wouldn’t know. The Great Aunt said it was delightful to see such passionate youngsters, so why not form a little group? That’s how we ended up with the name.”
When Namgung Sinjae pushed for the Sword Polishing Society, Gongson Yoye had shyly raised her hand in agreement. A gathering to refine the sword. Then Paeng Cho-ryo insisted they use the character for saber instead and call it the Saber Refining Society, with Paeng Daesan backing her up. Calling it “saber” when the one pushing the idea was a saber user made their intentions painfully obvious.
Voices rose. Someone pointed out that while they argued over half-sword this and twin-saber that, one of them was flitting back and forth like a bat. In the end, they settled on the Ban-Geom-Ssang-Do Association.
There had been a fierce debate over whether it should be Twin-Saber Half-Sword or Half-Sword Twin-Saber. But since blades were commonly referred to as “saber and sword,” the half-sword side yielded. Paeng Cho-ryo had declared, “That makes sense. The saber should give way first,” and so the name was decided.
“What the… haha……”
Cheong was simply too tired to care. In a single step she shed her outer robe, in two steps her skirt, and in three or four more left her underclothes behind like a discarded skin before flopping face-first onto the bed.
“Cheong? You should lie on your back. It may be warm, but you still need a blanket.”
“Do it for me……”
Dang Nan-a was a martial artist, so lifting one person and straightening her out wasn’t particularly difficult. The problem was that people usually tensed up to help when being moved, but Cheong’s consciousness had already sunk deep, drifting somewhere between sleep and unconsciousness. Because she had gone completely limp, Dang Nan-a had spent the night grunting and struggling to arrange her.
----
Cheong woke when her arm went numb. The world outside was still pitch black—it was the middle of the night. Dang Nan-a had fallen asleep using Cheong’s arm as a pillow, face buried against her neck, breathing soft and childlike.
When she hadn’t known what the weight was, it had felt suffocating. Now that she did, the gentle sound of breathing against her ear was peaceful and strangely pleasant. With the strongest body in the world, one Dang Nan-a on top of her was hardly a burden. The enveloping warmth was comforting, and the slow, steady thump of a heartbeat against her chest brought an inexplicable sense of security.
At least while they were touching like this, there was no chance of a sudden “It was all a dream” ending.
What perfume does this girl use? It smells so nice and toasty.
I want a cup of warm milk right now. Blow on it, then drink it slowly.
Cheong smiled and closed her eyes again.
When she opened them once more, she felt completely refreshed, as if yesterday had been a dream… as if it really had been nothing but a nightmare……
Yesterday. Uggghhhhh……
Cheong shuddered violently. Just remembering it made her knees weak and the back of her head throb. A truly horrific experience.
But she had to do it again? Nineteen more times? Wouldn’t twenty years of regular training be better?
While Cheong was seriously weighing her options, Dang Nan-a stirred and sat up. Cheong offered her a gentle smile.
“Nan-a. Sleep well?”
“Huh? Uh?”
Dang Nan-a’s face went completely blank. The poor girl had opened her eyes to a bright, affectionate smile at extremely close range. It was terrible for the heart.
Her face flushed crimson and she slammed her head into the pillow.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“No, nothing. It’s not. It can’t be. I’m not, so it isn’t.”
“Why is she like this first thing in the morning?”
Thanks to Cheong’s superhuman hearing, she caught muttered words about “a son-in-law for the family,” “they need a capable man to work for the clan his whole life,” and the like—then suddenly realized the room was bright.
“Ah. What time is it? Nan-a, I’m going! Master will be waiting!”
Cheong threw on her clothes and bolted from the room. Using her peerless Thousand-Li Flight footwork, she flung open the bathhouse door. This time the air was thick with the fragrance of countless medicinal herbs.
Cheon Yuhak, fanning the fire beneath the tub, grumbled sullenly. “What the hell? I told you to come after lunch. Why are you here so early?”
“Huh. You did? Yesterday I basically passed out.”
“Mm. Maybe I didn’t say it. I was the one who nearly fainted.”
Only then did Cheong notice how haggard he looked, utterly worn out.
“Master? Are you all right?”
“Even boiling one bowl of medicine requires watching the fire all day. Preparing an entire bath? You think that takes ordinary effort?”
“I’m grateful, but don’t you usually say it’s no big deal?”
“Hmph. If I suffered, I should show it so people appreciate it. I stayed up all night making a fuss for my disciple. Of course you should know.”
“Hehe. Thank you.”
It turned out that after she had collapsed yesterday, he had gotten up in the middle of the night and spent the rest of it preparing a fresh batch of medicine. Cheong felt both sorry and deeply grateful. The lingering resentment in her chest melted away like snow.
It had all gone according to Cheon Yuhak’s plan. The “come after lunch” comment? He had never said it. That way she would see his exhausted face in the morning while he prepared the bath.
In truth, Cheon Yuhak knew his own master about as well as a dog knew dung. The harsh training and constant teasing had long since turned into resentment. The phrase “passing down of grudges” fit perfectly, and it was common for the master-disciple relationship in the Divine Thief lineage to become a love-hate friendship.
But when Cheon Yuhak finally took a disciple and tried to repay everything done to him, he decided being respected was better than a short moment of fun. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed himself—he had tormented her thoroughly and fully intended to continue while pretending to be a wise and benevolent master.
Whether his heart was black or white, the sincerity of his effort was real. To Cheong, he was simply a master worthy of gratitude.
“Mm. It smells wonderful. Just smelling it makes me… hungry……”
Her stomach growled right on cue. Cheon Yuhak cackled and tossed her something.
“Hm? What’s this?”
“Chinese yam.”
Cheong looked down at the neatly peeled yam. The slippery texture was unpleasant, but it carried a distinct plant scent that somehow smelled appetizing. She took a bite. It was hard and crunchy like raw sweet potato, yet sticky enough to cling to the inside of her mouth.
“Mm. It’s surprisingly decent?”
“A well-bred girl eats anything, huh? It’s bland. Most people wouldn’t eat it raw unless they were starving.”
Chinese yam had poor texture and little flavor. He had thrown it as a joke, not expecting her to actually eat it. The well-raised Cheon Yuhak himself couldn’t stomach it. Despite his sloppy appearance, he was the precious son of a prestigious family and head lecturer at the Hanlimwon.
“Well-bred? Who? Didn’t you hear I’m from beggar stock?”
“Oh, is that so? I thought the girl had such grace she must be the precious daughter of some wealthy and powerful clan.”
Cheon Yuhak smoothly turned his near-slip into a compliment. Cheong, not catching it, giggled. “I suppose I do have some noble air.”
“Noble air my ass. I’m the one from a family that held offices of the fifth rank or higher for generations. Do I look noble to you?”
“Want me to be honest?”
“You already said plenty……”
Since she was there anyway, Cheong helped prepare the bath while they chatted. They ground Chinese yam, mountain yam, and more, then finely minced onions, scallions, and lotus root, then added taro……
“Master? Are you sure this is medicine? It’s starting to look like vegetable porridge.”
“I already told you I have no medical knowledge. I’m just following the recipe that was passed down. I don’t know why each ingredient goes in.”
“There’s ginseng in here too, right? I can smell it.”
“Ginseng? Yah, do you have any idea how many roots of hundred-year snow ginseng are in this? We’ve got a good amount of Summoning Pills and two Taechung Pills too. This is an elixir bath. Spiritual medicine absorbed through the body, not eaten.”
“Ooh, an elixir. Come to think of it, I’ve never taken one before. Wait a second.”
Suddenly she remembered—back in the Demonic Cult, hadn’t that bastard Jijon ordered his subordinates to give her all the elixirs along with the Fairy Art? Why had only the martial arts arrived and not the medicine? Had someone pocketed them?
Of course. The subordinates who only pretended to obey Jijon had no reason to hand over precious elixirs to her. The martial arts could be scattered freely because learning them would prevent her from returning to the righteous path anyway.
Meanwhile, the medicinal bath was finished.
“The elixir bath is only for disciples who practice the Awakening Divine Art. It must be absorbed through the skin for the technique. Otherwise it’s better to just feed it raw. One dose will shoot you straight to fifty percent completion.”
“Wow. Fifty percent? That fast?”
“All the elixirs combined are worth roughly two hundred gold taels. Honestly, this isn’t something you have to do for a disciple. Two hundred taels is a burden even for the Divine Thief.”
In other words, he was doing it specially for her. Cheong was moved and bowed deeply.
“Ah. Thank you, thank you again. This disciple will engrave Master’s grace into her very bones.”
“Hmph. Don’t engrave it with words—show it with actions. And with your talent, you might reach even higher than fifty percent. You sucked up every last bit of the medicinal properties yesterday. Normally most of it goes to waste because it isn’t fully absorbed, which is why I hesitated.”
After seeing her absorb the entire vat yesterday, he had decided she could consume the elixir bath without wasting any. In truth, slowly feeding her the ingredients over a year or two would be far more efficient. This was a secret emergency method used only when the successor was advanced in age, ill, or had completely blocked meridians requiring drastic measures.
“Right, then. We should eat lunch before you enter the bath.”
“Oh. What should we have? Hmm, for some reason milk porridge sounds really good today. How about that?”
“Why would I go buy something when I’ve already made a perfectly good stamina soup? I used all the best ingredients. You should taste it. I’ll scoop some out, add rice, and boil it.”
In other words, her bath water was also her lunch. To anyone else it would have sounded incredibly off-putting, but Cheong simply beamed.
Wow. That sounds delicious.