Things You Shouldn't Do at a Funeral (1)
It was close to dawn.
"Deputy Family Head. The scene has been cleared."
"Good work."
Moyong San, the deputy head of the Moyong Family, gazed at the medical hall building as he sighed in lamentation at the report from the servant.
"We poured quite a fortune into building it back then."
"Deputy Family Head...."
"After learning that Seol had Jeolmok Jeong, we went to great lengths to gather countless physicians. And to ensure they could stay here more quickly and safely while treating her, we fitted the facilities with the finest available."
"......."
"It's been well over ten years now. Buildings are supposed to last at least thirty years as a baseline, and their purpose often shifts with the passage of time...."
Moyong San shook his head slowly as he watched people being carried one by one into the medical hall.
"I never imagined it would become a place toyed with by Magyo's schemes."
"D-Deputy Family Head."
A group of men approached Moyong San, who was standing with his hands behind his back, staring at the medical hall. They had done their best to straighten their clothes and present a neat appearance, but they couldn't erase the red marks lingering on their bodies and skin, nor the faint traces of that colorful fragrance still clinging to them after merely dousing themselves with cold water without a proper bath.
"You've all worked hard. Tell me, were there any cases where it wasn't their 'first time'?"
"Not for me."
"Me neither."
"...Same here."
All the warriors shook their heads with awkward expressions. The women they had been with were all virgins, and now they had truly become one woman's man in every sense.
"I see. Magyo's schemes are truly terrifying."
"Deputy Family Head?"
"They drug women with aphrodisiacs and throw them at you. It doesn't end with just giving in to the body."
Moyong San ground his teeth as if trembling with rage, continuing on.
"You men are good people. You don't casually sleep with women. You take responsibility for your actions and are righteous youths whose hearts weaken at a woman's tears."
"......."
"Ordering you to deal with those women might have been my greed, or perhaps a forced measure. Just as Magyo seeks to use you, I too harbored intentions of using you."
"Deputy Family Head, how can you say such things?"
Motaebok stepped forward first, clasping his hands in a formal salute.
"You explained everything in advance, and we accepted it ourselves."
"Yes. We all steeled ourselves before undertaking this mission."
"...I didn't expect it to be two people, but a man embracing two women isn't such a big issue, is it?"
"Thank you for saying that. I will keep my promise, without fail."
Moyong San pointed at the medical hall building with a serious expression.
"That place will now serve as temporary lodging for your 'wives.' Physician Seok and Seol alike probably don't want to keep staying in a place where people died. In the first place, this is only possible because the Family Head permitted Seongnakwon for those two."
"Seongnakwon...."
"Though someone died on the third floor, the dead brought it upon themselves with their wicked deeds. The evil energy that seeped in will be appeased by summoning monks and Taoists to console their souls, so rest assured and treat your women well."
Moyong San scanned the warriors with a heavy expression.
"Magyo has shackled you. With the shackles of marriage. Using all women except one to bind you with the chains of 'responsibility.'"
"......."
"Some of you might think that way. Why call marriage a shackle? Well...."
Moyong San glanced subtly at the fourth finger on his left hand, then continued with a deep sigh.
"You'll know when you experience it. And now, you will."
"......."
"Becoming the husband of one woman. And the father of several children. Magyo sent you virgins, and you've lost your freedom. Though it's due to their schemes that you must take responsibility for these women, I hope you don't view it as a bad thing."
"Not at all, Deputy Family Head."
At Moyong San's words, the warriors simultaneously clasped their hands in salute.
"We're grateful, in fact. For allowing us to marry like this."
"How many vixens in the world scheme to enter our family targeting the Moyong wealth, the Moyong name, or Moyong itself? Bringing in such women would only get us expelled alongside them, so we can't even casually court women."
"In that sense, thanks to your careful selection, Deputy Family Head, we could embrace decent women. Even if they bear emotional scars and are 'orphans' with nowhere to go, as men, how could we fail to take responsibility for the woman who will be our wife?"
"...Truly, truly, I am grateful."
Moyong San wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, on the verge of tears. Were they tears of emotion stirred by the warriors' sense of justice and responsibility? Or sorrow from the disgust of leading these men into the grave of marriage as deputy head to protect the family's prestige?
"As promised, I will spare no support for your families."
Moyong San returned the salute to the warriors.
"On behalf of the Family Head, I convey my thanks. ...To the heroes who will protect Moyong, who will protect their families."
Whoosh.
The wind blew.
"Even if they torment us by demanding treatment for Jeolmok Jeong, Moyong will overcome it with dignity."
Seongnakwon is fundamentally a place no one can enter.
Not only is it managed to some extent within the Moyong Family grounds, but no one can enter without the Sword Saint's permission.
It's not just a warning left behind. Near Seongnakwon, the Sword Saint's final sword, the Seventh Star Sword—Chilseong Geom, stands perpetually at the ready.
In other words, the moment someone tries to sneak into Seongnakwon, the autonomous sword flies over and slays them.
Though unofficial, there have been actual deaths like that, so the Moyong Family has spread the tale in roundabout ways to ensure no one approaches.
Thus, if you're conducting something in secret, there's no place more suitable than Seongnakwon.
For instance, human experiments that are hard to discuss openly in the Central Plains.
I'd thought about it, but I never imagined I'd actually do it.
I placed the two corpses I'd personally hauled in a cart in the backyard of Seongnakwon.
No one can enter here, so I had to bring the cart with the two bodies myself.
"Hm."
One had its head severed, but the head was reattached for now. Cut so cleanly, as long as I kept the head and body together, it looked seamlessly intact.
The other was split clean in half from the solar plexus down.
They'd bled out profusely, so no more blood dripped from the cart, but anyone could tell they were pallid corpses.
These were bodies to be incinerated anyway. In that case, it wouldn't hurt to check one thing.
If it's not a change in mindset, it might be preparation for some unforeseen event.
When the Sword Saint first brought up the possibility and hinted at it to me, he asked in a somewhat resigned tone.
Apart from it being in the realm of miracles to revive the dead—
'I can't save the one I most want to bring back to life, so what meaning is there in such a miracle?'
Among the dead, if there was one the Sword Saint most wanted to save, it might be that one who died somewhat unjustly.
"Hoo."
At first, he told me not to attempt it, but as time passed and he regained his composure.
Not just for himself, but because others might face such a case too.
Though I'd stake my life to protect her, if something went wrong with Moyong Seol, knowing the method would be more reassuring than fumbling blindly.
"......."
I pulled back the cloth covering Yugiyeon's entire body.
Then, taking precautions for any potential issues, I pried open Yugiyeon's mouth.
"Hoo...."
Will it work?
I had no idea.
Mosan Sect uses corpses to make jiangshi, but ethical concerns make it something we shouldn't handle lightly.
More importantly.
The jiangshi controlled by Mosan Sect are merely 'puppets,' different in nature from the 'miracle' the Sword Saint and I worried about.
It could be called excessive self-consciousness.
But if such a miracle truly occurred, how should I view my own body?
Is there really something I don't know about myself?
Though my childhood memories are hazy, was I perhaps a spirit medicine human raised by some organization?
To counter Shaolin's Great Return Pill, maybe my body holds the essence of every herb in the world—not producing blood from the heart, but generating medicine itself.
Or perhaps the Godok embedded in me caused some mutation, turning my body into a spirit medicine constitution—like how consuming an inner core from a spirit beast boosts internal energy.
There were tales like that. The Sunfire Carp, a golden fish brimming with yang energy—if ingested, it could cure Jeolmok Jeong.
But that's within the realm of murim common sense.
I could say it's distinctly different from the miracle I'm about to attempt now.
"...Will it work?"
I had no idea.
But one thing I could assert: if it works, great. If not, oh well.
Slice.
I drew my dagger across my palm.
Red blood dripped down, the droplets falling into Yugiyeon's gaping mouth.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
As expected, miracles like this—
Flash!
"?!"
Yugiyeon... opened her eyes.