Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Cooling Foot Soak
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As if he'd been waiting for this moment, Lee Seon spoke up.
"Do you have any uncomfortable spots? I'll fix you right up."
"Can you do something about the swelling in my feet?"
Lee Seon rummaged through his bundle and pulled something out.
"I've got just the right thing."
It was a blue gourd bottle.
"Any big bowls around here by chance?"
Lee Seon glanced around and pointed to one spot.
"Something about that size."
Everyone just stared at each other blankly, no one jumping to move.
Yoo Yeong-mok looked around and fetched a large bowl himself.
"Will this do?"
"Perfect."
Lee Seon carefully tilted the gourd over it.
Plop.
A clear droplet formed at the mouth and fell into the water.
Then he tossed in some dried, withered herbs and stirred with a snapped-off twig.
A few people stifled chuckles at his casual stirring.
After swirling it around lazily, Lee Seon tossed the twig aside.
"Applying this solution should calm the qi in your feet."
The confident offering from Lee Seon looked utterly ordinary.
Just a bowl full of water, one dewdrop, and unidentified scraps of grass.
"That's supposed to be medicine?"
As if they'd expected as much, the escorts shook their heads.
And rightly so—medicine, as they knew it, was usually a decoction simmered for hours.
You couldn't just mix plain water and herb scraps on the spot like this.
Yoo Yeong-mok felt the same doubt, though he didn't show it.
"Never seen medicine like this before. Did you make it yourself?"
Lee Seon flashed an enigmatic smile.
"Of course. You just watched me make it."
Yoo Yeong-mok was skeptical.
Could something like this really ease the qi in his feet?
The accumulated fatigue made it hard to even cram his feet into his usual boots.
If it could at least reduce the swelling, as claimed, travel would be much easier.
Yoo Yeong-mok soon made up his mind.
If it was fake, no harm done. If real, all gain.
He slipped off his shoes and glanced at Lee Seon.
Lee Seon watched him intently, wearing that same smile.
His eyes sparkled unusually bright.
"...Why are you staring like that?"
It was the first time in Yoo Yeong-mok's life he'd felt such fervent eyes on him.
And from a man, no less.
"How could a physician take his eyes off a patient?"
The answer was perfectly reasonable, yet Yoo Yeong-mok felt an inexplicable unease creep in.
Still, he couldn't call it burdensome when the man was just fulfilling his duty as a healer.
"It's not that I don't trust you, but out of curiosity—can you tell me what's in it?"
Before resuming escort duties, Yoo Yeong-mok had managed goods for the Willow Escort Bureau.
He knew most herbs by name and effect.
If anything suspicious was mixed in, he'd spot it instantly.
Lee Seon smiled and deftly refused.
Surely he didn't put poison in it, right?
The sudden urge to back out hit Yoo Yeong-mok.
He felt an unknown sense of crisis.
But as the one in charge of this group, with everyone watching, he couldn't withdraw now.
Why did I volunteer to test this stuff?
He squeezed his eyes shut.
"...Just rub it on, right?"
"That's right."
The deepening smile amplified his anxiety.
What's the worst—my feet rotting off?
Yoo Yeong-mok dipped his hand in to scoop some water.
But his hand was stopped midway.
"Others will use it too, so don't dip your hands in. It might weaken the effect."
He still smiled, but his tone was firm.
"My thinking was shortsighted."
Yoo Yeong-mok admitted his mistake.
"You say it's fine, but could you move that sword away?"
Lee Seon's eyes flicked to the blade hovering at Yoo Yeong-mok's neck.
"What kind of escort dares lay hands on someone?"
Ga Jin growled.
She'd disliked this situation from the start.
If it weren't Yoo Yeong-mok, she'd have chased him off already.
Lee Seon casually gripped the blade with his bare hand.
"No matter how esteemed the patient, to a physician, they're just one more in need."
Their gazes clashed sharply in the air.
Splash.
Yoo Yeong-mok shattered the tense mood.
He scooped the solution and poured it over his feet.
Ga Jin's face hardened, while Lee Seon's smile lingered.
Lee Seon released the blade and approached Yoo Yeong-mok.
"How does it feel?"
Yoo Yeong-mok blinked in confusion at the unexpectedly cool sensation.
"It's like dipping my feet in a winter valley stream. Refreshingly cold."
The water had been fetched from afar, so it shouldn't hold chill—truly bizarre.
"If it feels that way, it's a success."
Yoo Yeong-mok stared at his feet in wonder.
It wasn't just cooling; the swelling had visibly receded a bit.
The pain had eased noticeably, widening his eyes.
"It's really much better!"
Worth treating someone who reacts like this.
Such a hearty response for mere swelling reduction.
Lee Seon briefly scanned the surroundings and returned with an armful of something.
"What's that now?"
"Left like this, it'll only cool briefly—the medicine won't absorb evenly into the soles. This prevents that."
Large leaves, big enough to wrap his entire foot.
Lee Seon deftly bound his foot with them.
"Leave it overnight, and the swelling will be gone completely."
By now, everyone's eyes were fixed here.
The other escorts pretended nonchalance but strained toward this spot.
The long journey fatigued everyone equally.
"Can you do that for us too?"
"Of course."
Lee Seon pointed to the bowl beside him.
"Scoop from this and rub on your feet."
They all rushed forward at once.
Lee Seon extended a hand to block them.
"Haah. I said no rushing."
He pointed at the bowl in front of him.
"Single file. Line up."
Everyone marveled.
"No way this is possible!"
For escorts, foot pain was practically chronic.
Ointments only worked fully with rest.
But escorts made their living traveling the world.
Even with treatment and rest, pain flared up again on the road.
No veteran escort escaped that agony.
They just endured it, nothing else for it.
Yet a young man appeared out of nowhere and solved their woes instantly. How could they not be stunned?
"Are you perhaps the Divine Physician in disguise?"
One escort asked with a straight face.
Lee Seon furrowed his brow seriously.
"Please don't say that."
Hahaha!
The surrounding men burst into laughter.
The Divine Physician was famed even among murim folk for his striking appearance.
Not just murim—he treated commoners too, his renown piercing the heavens.
Everyone knew no young man could be him.
It was their way of expressing awe at this youth's skill.
The Divine Physician title was every healer's dream praise.
But one thing they overlooked: other physicians might crave it, but Lee Seon didn't.
No, really, it's a problem.
Lee Seon forced a smile.
'That old codger and me—how many years apart are we?'
He didn't want to hear it even as a joke.
Then Yoo Yeong-mok sidled up, gauging his mood.
"Mind if I take a bit of this solution?"
"No can do."
Lee Seon shook his head firmly.
"That's the exact amount. Use too much, and it backfires."
"Don't worry. Not for me."
"Who for, then?"
Yoo Yeong-mok flushed.
His reaction made it obvious he planned to give it to someone.
Truth be told, among those here, only Ga Jin hadn't taken any solution.
The others' reactions had already proven its efficacy.
Her reason for refusing was easy to guess.
First impressions, clashing with him—it'd be awkward for her to accept.
"Go ahead and take some."
Yoo Yeong-mok bowed his head at the ready permission.
He'd likely guessed Lee Seon knew who it was for.
Even so, handing it over so readily—who else but a true physician would?
"Truth is, at first I didn't fully trust you."
"I knew."
Yoo Yeong-mok sighed.
"This job shows you every type of person. Sorry for misunderstanding you."
"Will you trust me now?"
"How could I not?"
Yoo Yeong-mok let out a hearty laugh.
"I was worried you might be a quack."
Twitch.
"Even suspected poison in that solution."
Twitch twitch.
"...You didn't, right?"
Lee Seon smiled smoothly past it.
"As if I'd poison it."
He never said there was no poison.