Did I Become a Doctor for This?
“I’ll ask again. Who did you know at the time of the crime at the mountain villa?”
“Hwanggeum-seon... Yu Ji-gyeong...”
“How many people attacked the Yeo Family Mountain Villa?”
“Twenty-one...”
“Even if you don’t know their true identities, is there anyone you can guess at?”
“Heuksi... merchant...”
“What did the Heuksi merchant look like?”
“Thin... with long nails...”
“Who did you know at the time of the crime at the mountain villa?”
“Hwanggeum-seon... seon... Gae Myeong... bu...”
Yeo Il-ye could feel that this interrogation was finally drawing to a close. Mak Yeo-bu’s vital energy was already spent beyond recovery. Both wrists had been sheared clean off by sword qi, so internal injuries were a given, and on top of that his dantian had been shattered. The mental shock of losing his dantian could not be left out of the accounting either.
Yeo Il-ye pressed her fingers to Mak Yeo-bu’s mixed-blood pulse.
“Hoo.”
She let out a long breath. Mak Yeo-bu was nothing more than a small fry. That did not mean his martial strength was pathetic; it meant that in the affair of the Yeo Family Mountain Villa he had not even been a core conspirator—just one more body among the participants.
The reason he possessed the Seven Treasure Jade Belt was not because he was important, but because he was a fool.
Mak Yeo-bu might believe he had stolen a precious treasure, yet the Seven Treasure Jade Belt was a famous artifact precisely because of its distinctive beauty. The others had likely left him alone after he took it because they figured that even if he ran off with it, his trail would be found soon enough and the whole business would only become a headache.
“I could still take my revenge, of course...”
The names that had come from Mak Yeo-bu’s mouth were few, yet revenge was still possible. In the crudest terms, she could storm into the Hwanggeumga, seize Hwanggeum-seon, shatter his dantian, and force a truth serum down his throat.
Having used truth serum herself, Yeo Il-ye had learned it was no panacea. It was not simply a matter of realm; the information that could be cleanly extracted was limited, and none of it was particularly precise.
Still, her enemies were many. If she dragged them in one by one and put them to the question, learning the identities of all twenty-one was entirely within reach.
The problem was this.
If I do it that way, I’m nothing more than a slaughterer.
Revenge was the requiem Yeo Il-ye offered to the people of the villa. A ritual of blood to lay their grievances to rest. What would happen if she simply charged into the Hwanggeumga? How many of their warriors would she have to cut down before she even reached Hwanggeum-seon?
And afterward, how many moths drawn to fame—men who would come running at the chance to avenge a “renowned master”—would she have to cut down as well?
“Tsk.”
Yeo Il-ye glared down at the collapsed Mak Yeo-bu with open distaste. Part of her wanted to carve him into a thousand pieces right then and there, yet she needed him alive if she was going to hunt down the remaining twenty enemies.
To finish her revenge without spilling the blood of the innocent, she first had to tear down the renown and power those men possessed.
And for that, Mak Yeo-bu—who could serve as a living witness—had to be kept breathing.
For now, at least.
With that thought, Yeo Il-ye opened the door of the barn Dokui had provided.
“You... are you an idiot?”
Dokui had been curious whether things with Heukmyo had been resolved cleanly. Since it was hardly a secret, I told him the whole story—and his reaction was volcanic.
“Heh... heh. Good heavens.”
Dokui kept wiping his forehead. He adjusted the cloth he always wore, then suddenly bellowed.
“It’s the Great Yin Constitution! The Great Yin Constitution! Face like a flower, bearing like the moon! Beauty that topples nations! The golden lotus of nine colors! Every heroine of the old tales had the Great Yin Constitution, and that Great Yin Constitution belongs to the girl called Heukmyo—and you...! Aigoo. Heh-heh... I personally confirmed you still had your manhood during the last examination, so how in the world could something like this happen...!”
“Well, she was ridiculously pretty, I’ll give you that.”
“You son of a—! Of course she was!”
Dokui clutched the back of his neck.
“Aigoo, hoooo... oh my.”
Watching him groan and thrash for a long while, I clicked my tongue. It was time for the blood draw.
He must have been expecting some sweet, syrupy romance; the face that had been sparkling with anticipation now looked five years older in an instant. Dokui pounded his chest and poured out his grievances.
“Did I become a doctor for this? I feel nothing but self-loathing and misery. Am I supposed to call this a patient? I have to listen to the most unheard-of ghost story under heaven and then swallow this frustration all alone because I can’t even tell anyone else...!”
Then some new idea seemed to strike him, and he summoned Mak-i.
“Hey, Elder, you told me not to show my face while you were treating patients, so why are you calling me again...”
“You little bastard! If you don’t want to die without an antidote, starting today you are a doctor!”
“???”
“Answer me, you dog! Are you becoming a doctor this instant, or are you dying?!”
“W-well... becoming a doctor is better than dying, but...”
Wait. Is he seriously doing this just so he can trash-talk me in front of someone?
In the time it takes to roast beans over a lightning flash, Mak-i had become a doctor. Dokui’s complaints poured out over the newly minted physician, who sat there looking thoroughly bewildered. At first Mak-i only looked confused, but...
“Heh, from the moment I first laid eyes on that bastard’s face I thought his physiognomy was rotten. Now that it’s all water under the bridge I can say it—if I’d said I was going to fillet his legs, the natural response for a man would have been to draw a blade even if it meant dying, wouldn’t it?”
“Exactly! Exactly! If a man is insulted he has to pay it back right then and there!”
“As expected, Dokui-nim really understands! But that guy just half-listened, got dragged here, and then snitched like some little rat right in front of Dokui-nim!”
“You’re right, my boy!”
Excuse me, Dokui-nim? Do you not remember that you and I fed that same Mak-i the bugs together?
“And now you’re telling me he kicked a peerless beauty away with his own two feet? Dokui-nim, are you absolutely certain that bastard’s equipment still works?”
“I took his pulse lightly while drawing blood and it was perfectly normal! That’s why I’m going out of my mind with frustration!”
“Aaaaargh! This is killing me! Dokui-nim, you’re too much! You turned me into a doctor just so you could dump this chest-clenching story on me?!”
“You little bastard! A bandit scrap like you should be rolling on the floor in gratitude that you got to become a doctor just for listening to one story!”
“Who wanted to become one?! Being a doctor is one thing—why are you suddenly force-feeding me sweet potatoes?!”
“You’ve heard everything, so get out!”
“This is insane! Aaaagh! This is so unfair!”
Is this the reality of the medical world? The expression on newly minted Doctor Mak’s face after being force-fed an entire sweet potato of frustration looked utterly wronged, but what was he going to do about it? The fellow who had been thrashing on the floor in rebellion was finally kicked flying by Dokui.
“So, has there been any progress on the research into my blood?”
“I still don’t know about internal energy cultivation methods, but for everything else it looks like you can begin training now. That said, you’re having blood drawn every day, so no matter how sturdy your body is, your vitality will inevitably weaken. Don’t overtax yourself.”
Dokui fixed me with a faintly disapproving stare before speaking again.
“So. Do you truly intend to raise that girl’s realm together with her?”
“Haha, Dokui-nim. Isn’t it the natural path of a martial artist to spend a lifetime chasing higher realms?”
“You certainly know how to coat your words in honey. Fine... the Transformation Realm, is it? Heh-heh.”
Dokui kept letting out hollow laughs, as if even he found the words absurd coming out of his own mouth. From his perspective, of course it was absurd. How many martial artists in the world ever reached the Transformation Realm, and here we were talking as if that was the premise.
“If you really do reach the Transformation Realm, consider it repayment of a favor and bring that Heukmyo girl to see me once. A constitution that appears maybe once in several centuries, and then she reaches the Transformation Realm on top of it... my curiosity as a physician is thoroughly piqued. When that day comes I’ll brew you a tonic good for stamina.”
“Haha, understood, Elder.”
“Good. Who knows whether the affairs of men and women will ever go the way an old man hopes. As for the research on your blood, I’m slowly starting to grasp a lead. The problem is that the absolute quantity of blood is far too small. I’m thinking of collecting more of yours so I can run some experiments to confirm that lead.”
“Hmm. You’re already drawing quite a lot, aren’t you?”
Honestly, the amount Dokui took was enough to make me wonder if this was even safe. He was pulling a full basin’s worth every single day, and now he needed to stockpile it.
“It’s still only at the stage of conjecture, so I’m reluctant to say more. For now let’s keep collecting blood for a few more days.”
Just being able to do basic training again was enough to lift my mood considerably.
“Ah, you’re back, Senior.”
When I returned to the inn, Heukmyo waved and called out to me.
“Waiter! A bowl of noodles and some dumplings over here!”
“Coming~”
I sat across from Heukmyo, glancing at the cook and waiter who had somehow already returned to their posts.
“What did Dokui-nim say?”
“Mm. He said simple training should be fine. Let’s eat first, let it settle, and then do a light session.”
“My, Senior actually training~ If the nangin at the Wanderer Inn hear about this, the whole place will flip upside down.”
“Ah, first I’ll have to plant Jeong Sam and Yeo Jinsang upside down in the ground.”
Those two had a whole pile of debts to pay for constantly sneering at me as a second-rate.
“Come to think of it... Heukmyo, what’s your real name?”
“My real name... mm. All right.”
Suddenly Heukmyo grew reflective.
“My real name... Actually, I left home at fifteen and started living as a wanderer. Officials, Murim masters, great merchants... every last one of them made a habit of turning my mother’s fabric shop into a wreck. From then on, every time I went somewhere new I changed my alias.”
Heukmyo spoke her own name.
“So Yeon-hwa. That’s my name.”
“Mm. All right. Should I call you Yeon-hwa from now on?”
“No. Just keep calling me Heukmyo. I’ll take the name So Yeon-hwa back on the day I reach the Transformation Realm and completely master my energy.”
“Got it.”
Her own kind of resolve, I supposed. That aside, So Yeon-hwa... as expected, a name that did not exist in my memories.
Which was only natural.
“By the way, how did you usually travel while roaming the rivers and lakes?”
“Mm. Most of the time I stuck to places without people, and I usually used all sorts of disguises. Sometimes I covered my eyes and walked like a blind woman, sometimes I wore a human-skin mask...”
She had never once operated under the name So Yeon-hwa, so of course that name would not be sitting in my memory.
The enlightenment data I had memorized was built from a database that players who obtained the artifact Ho Cheon-an in the game Murim Cheonha had compiled—hunting down characters in-game, checking their enlightenment through the artifact, and registering the results in an online spreadsheet from the game’s group chats, cafés, and galleries.
Players who obtained Ho Cheon-an were rare to begin with, and the data had been gathered by hand, so I could not claim there were no omissions. Even though it had been steadily updated for ten years, the number of players who actually acquired the artifact was small, and the number who bothered to input data into the database was smaller still.
Still, the possibility remained that someone had seen Heukmyo’s enlightenment while she was hiding her identity behind a mask and had recorded it under a different name.
In other words, Heukmyo’s enlightenment might already be sitting in the database under some other alias.
I had no way of knowing her limit realm, but the odds of that limit being the Transformation Realm... well. With a constitution as magnificent as the Great Yin Constitution it was hard to imagine her ceiling was low, yet the higher the limit the better—that much was certain.
Once I returned to Sichuan, the first thing I needed to do was recover the Setting Collection.