I Won't Do That
In the center of Muwichon stood a single, shabby tent.
“…”
Lee Cheongryeo stepped into a place so filthy it was hard to describe. For someone as beautiful as her, it was the last place that seemed fitting, yet she entered with polite grace.
“Fist Hero Geumgang, it is an honor to meet you.”
She offered a respectful fist salute and bowed her head. Before her stood a man. The one called Geumgang was an extremely disheveled middle-aged man. He wore rags for clothes, his beard was unkempt, and one leg trembled nonstop. He looked like a complete wreck! He hardly seemed like someone a renowned figure like the Sword Beauty should treat with such courtesy.
And his mouth was even filthier.
“Aigoo, calling someone like me a great hero! Have your eyes gone bad? If so, we’ll have a beautiful blind woman added to Muwichon today.”
Geumgang openly mocked her, his words dripping with sarcasm.
“If a blind beauty like you plans to stay in this village, you’d better watch out for trouble. Our villagers don’t have the energy for that sort of thing, but still—you never know.”
“…Fist Hero Geumgang, I did not come here to mock you. I am the one known by the empty title of Sword Beauty—”
“I know. Sword Beauty. Who around here doesn’t know you?”
Geumgang looked her up and down before continuing.
“Everyone knows you’ll soon be miserably killed by the Sadoryeon.”
“!”
“Don’t pretend to be surprised. If you understand the situation you’re in, you’d know exactly why you came here.”
Geumgang’s lips curled into a sneer.
“Obviously, you’re being chased by the Sadoryeon, so you want us to hide you. Do you even realize how selfish that is?”
“Pardon?”
“The people here have already lost everything. Dragging another disaster called the Sadoryeon to their doorstep? That’s incredibly selfish.”
It was pure cynicism, but he was right. Geumgang had pointed out something Lee Cheongryeo hadn’t even considered.
“The Sadoryeon is a cruel organization. If they hide you, they’ll definitely target us too.”
“Wouldn’t it be fine as long as we aren’t discovered?”
“Well. Maybe for someone else, but you stand out way too much.”
Geumgang’s words were skeptical, yet they carried weight. If there was even the slightest risk, he couldn’t afford to take it.
“Just leave.”
“Fist Hero, are you truly going to abandon me?”
Disappointment colored Lee Cheongryeo’s question. Even though they had just met today, she had trusted him.
“How can a hero once called the Fist Hero act like this!”
Though he was now a nobody, Geumgang had once been a righteous martial artist of the Murim. A secular disciple of the prestigious Shaolin Temple, he had mastered fist techniques and reached the Peak Realm. The Peak Realm! A level only sect leaders or high-ranking elders could attain.
But—
“What good is being a hero? Right now I can barely beat a second-class opponent.”
Geumgang spoke indifferently as he pointed at himself—his ruined body and the leg that wouldn’t stop shaking.
“Well, I do feel sorry for your situation. I once resisted the Sadoryeon myself. This is what it cost me.”
Back when he was known as the Fist Hero, Geumgang had clashed with the Sadoryeon. Unable to tolerate their evil deeds, he had stepped forward, only to lose most of his martial arts as punishment.
“As revenge, the Sadoryeon severed most of my meridians and destroyed my leg. Now I’m not even as good as a first-class martial artist. I’m no hero. I’m nothing.”
“But don’t you still have a sense of justice in your heart? Just look at Muwichon…”
“I don’t have any of that crap, okay? Contrary to what you think, this place wasn’t made to save broken people. It’s a place where we comfort ourselves by looking at each other’s miserable states. Ah, at least I’m better off than that guy over there!!!”
Geumgang’s final words sounded like a scream. The moment she heard them, Lee Cheongryeo realized this was a warning not to expect any help from him.
“…I understand.”
In the end, she gave up and asked for something else instead.
“I will leave. But please protect my benefactor.”
“Benefactor?”
“The person who saved me when I was being chased by the Sadoryeon. Right now, that person is more precious to me than my own life.”
Elena is more precious than my life!
There wasn’t a single trace of falsehood in those words. It wasn’t just that Elena had saved her life. She had saved her heart. The fact that she had only met Elena moments ago didn’t matter to her at all.
“Hah, more precious than your life?”
Unaware of the full story, Geumgang looked utterly bewildered by the unexpectedly solemn declaration.
“Looks like this friend still doesn’t know much about the world.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just because someone saved you doesn’t mean it’s a fair trade to offer them your life.”
Geumgang recalled the past—how no one had helped him when he ended up like this.
“Whether they saved your life or not, just pretend you don’t know them. Like how people treated you and me.”
“Are you telling me to betray my benefactor right now?”
“That’s exactly what I would do. I won’t treat someone as my benefactor and feel grateful just because they helped me. Never.”
“…This bastard is really—!”
Unable to endure his continued nonsense, Lee Cheongryeo’s patience snapped.
“Oh? Planning to kill me? Go ahead. Honestly, I don’t even want to live anymore. Hahaha!”
Just as Geumgang continued mocking her and the situation reached a breaking point—
“Village chief! Come out for a second!”
A voice called for him from outside.
“What is it?”
“Th-that! It’s hard to explain, so just come out and see!”
“What the hell is it?”
The urgent tone eased the tension. Geumgang shoved past the awkwardly standing Lee Cheongryeo and stepped out of the tent.
And then—
“A fairy?”
The moment he saw the scene before him, Geumgang unconsciously muttered those words.
A girl of breathtaking beauty stood in the middle of Muwichon.
Is she a Westerner?
Silver hair and white clothes. It was an exotic appearance and outfit he had never seen before, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“A-ahhh!”
“I’m healed! My body is completely healed!”
What truly mattered was that everyone the girl touched became healthy.
What is this!
Geumgang trembled in shock. As the village chief, he knew exactly who she was treating. They were undoubtedly the sick of Muwichon. People who had been waiting only for death were being restored to health with a single touch.
Medical arts? No, was it some kind of qi healing? Either way, it made no sense!
It’s harder to save one person with qi than to kill a hundred!
Treatment through internal energy was powerful but extremely inefficient. Despite the massive consumption of inner power, the girl was healing people without any sign of strain.
Just how much inner power does she have? To waste it so recklessly on something so pointless!
Pointless. It was a cruel thought, but it was true.
Instead of treating dozens of these worthless commoners, if she healed just one rich person she could earn a fortune.
The more he marveled at the girl’s ability, the more he felt she was using it in the wrong place.
And why does she look so calm?
Her attitude was equally mysterious. Muwichon was full of people in wretched condition. Even he, the village chief, would frown at the sight, yet the girl remained completely composed while treating them.
“There are maggots and pus filling the wound on your chest.”
She touched the wound with her delicate hands without the slightest hesitation and healed it. Geumgang found the sight absurd.
She’s so focused on healing that she doesn’t even care about getting dirty? The clothes she’s wearing alone look so expensive that even if we sold everyone in the village into slavery, we still couldn’t afford them.
Questions kept piling up. As if in a trance, Geumgang approached the girl and asked,
“Why? With an ability like that, why are you doing something like this in a place like this?”
At that moment—
“If not me, then who?”
An answer he had never expected came back. There was no grand solemnity or deep conviction in it. It was simply the tone of someone doing what was obviously the right thing.
…She thinks helping others is only natural? A girl this young?
Along with the absurdity, he felt a wave of shame. Even if he couldn’t do as much as her, he could have helped the villagers. Even at the second-class level, he still had some martial arts left. He could have used that power for something.
But he hadn’t. He had simply wallowed in despair.
No, I’ve already done enough. I created this village, didn’t I? Besides, my own body isn’t in good shape, and if I tried to take care of all the sick here, there would be no end…
Unable to bear the fresh surge of shame, Geumgang began making excuses to himself even though no one had accused him of anything.
R-right! This woman must have some ulterior motive for doing this! There’s no way she’d do something like this for free… Ah! So this woman must be the benefactor Cheongryeo mentioned!
Having finally realized Elena’s identity, Geumgang tried to guess her intentions.
She’s planning to hide here, so she’s trying to win the villagers’ favor! She may look young, but she’s quite cunning…
His speculation was cut short.
“You seem to be in pain as well.”
Elena casually placed her hand on Geumgang’s body. In that instant, every severed meridian was perfectly restored.
“…What?”
Geumgang blankly circulated his inner power. It flowed smoothly through every meridian without obstruction. He could feel the lost power of the Peak Realm returning. He should have been overjoyed, yet he could only stand there in a daze.
The absurd event was followed by something even more absurd.
“Next.”
Having performed a miracle, Elena simply waved him off and accepted the next patient. As if the miracle she had just bestowed upon Geumgang was nothing at all.
So she wasn’t trying to win favor.
If she had been trying to win the villagers’ hearts to stay in the village, she would have demanded recognition for this achievement. No, she wouldn’t have any reason to stay in a place like this in the first place. If she went straight to the imperial palace and offered her services, wouldn’t the emperor run out barefoot to greet her?
This is a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. Like Cheongryeo, I have received a favor from this person that I can never repay.
Geumgang stood there with a stupefied expression, trying to process the situation. But as he had said earlier, he had no intention of treating Elena as his benefactor.
Because—
“My Lord! I swear my loyalty to you. Please accept this worthless wretch as your subordinate!”
She was not someone who could be honored with something as trivial as the title of benefactor.