Is This for Real? (6)
At that very moment, in a certain forest near Yodong Castle.
"Heavenly Sword Brigade! Comb this forest from top to bottom starting now!"
"Yes, sir!!"
Warriors clad in white uniforms with blue headbands scattered into the woods at the middle-aged man's command.
Only one warrior remained before the middle-aged man, assisting him as he swept his hand over the blood splattered across the dirt path, surveying the gruesome scene.
"It looks like it's been at least two hours already, family head."
"Hm."
The middle-aged man—Namgung Hwi, head of the Namgung family—grimaced with a complicated expression at the blood strewn across the clearing, grinding his teeth.
"Heavenly Sword Brigade leader. Any chance this blood is mixed with someone else's?"
"Th-that... unlikely, sir. This is all from one person."
"Then does that mean he's dead?"
"If someone lost this much blood, nine times out of ten they'd be gone. Unless they have twice the blood in their body compared to a normal person."
The brigade leader wiped the blood from his fingers and shook his head firmly. By his common sense, blood soaking the ground like this meant the person was already dead.
"Do you hope he's still alive, family head?"
"...I have no choice but to assume he is."
"Why is that?"
"This sword qi... it's the Sword Saint's."
"!!"
The brigade leader's eyes widened in shock at Namgung Hwi's words.
"The Sword Saint... why?"
"There are several possibilities, but it seems the Sword Saint figured out his identity, killed him, and took the body."
"Took the body...? You're saying the Sword Saint captured a demon alive and carried him off? A demon?"
"That's what I think."
"...Frankly, I can't believe it. Why would the Sword Saint bother recovering a demon's corpse?"
The brigade leader countered Namgung Hwi directly.
"He could've just killed him and left the body."
"That's exactly why it's strange. Would he be the type to bury the demon he killed himself, or drag him off somewhere with empty air steps and hide him out of sight?"
"...Maybe he's become that kind of person?"
"What?"
"Ever since his daughter came back to life, his mindset might have changed. Sometimes people who come back from the dead live differently, so maybe the Sword Saint has had a change of heart."
"......."
"If not, then the Sword Saint noticed and took him away."
Namgung Hwi's face twisted briefly at the brigade leader's words.
"Using Seophonsul..."
"Enough."
Namgung Hwi raised a hand to cut off the brigade leader.
"We'll know the details once we go in ourselves. Tell 'Ye-a' to proceed as planned."
"Is that wise? What if they catch on...?"
"What does it matter if they do? We're not criminals. And even if Honma gets caught, that guy won't spill our plans."
Namgung Hwi twisted his lips and turned his gaze south.
"Honma's original body is sealed deep inside our family estate right now. You think he'd betray us?"
The bodies of Namgung family warriors house two souls. One is the warrior's own soul, and the other is the soul of Honma that has possessed it.
...Which wish would the miracle grant?
I wondered if the experiment might cause one soul to vanish or never awaken.
But nothing like that happened.
The third-rate warrior was in a so-called brain-dead state—body alive, mind dead.
Apparently, even the Namgung family drew the line at possessing a perfectly healthy person's body with Honma, so from our perspective, it was a vessel that eased our conscience a bit. The result?
"As expected, even Honma is a woman at heart."
"Don't say it like that, Physician Seok."
Here appeared a twenty-year-old woman with gray-dyed hair. Even if it was originally a man's body, she'd transformed into a proper late-stage prodigy-level gray-haired beauty.
"Is this your younger self?"
"No. A completely different person."
"Pardon?"
"If I turned into my younger or original self, someone might recognize me, and information could leak to the Namgung family. Rest assured. This face has no connection to the Namgung family—they wouldn't even recognize it."
Honma had become an entirely new person.
The Geukyang Jihwan works miracles based on one's deepest desires, and it seems Honma's strongest wish right now is to hide her true identity.
"More importantly, Demon Poison Master. Your expression..."
"Hm, thinking about it, it feels a bit off."
Dang Yuri scanned Honma up and down with a sour look.
"Pretty packaging, looks delicious inside, but knowing the raw ingredients makes you hesitate to dig in...?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Food, obviously. Even the best meat—if it's from pig intestines or 'offal,' it kinda turns you off, right?"
"I hate that I understand what you mean."
Dang Yuri wasn't thrilled about the transformed Honma. Probably because Honma's body had changed from a man's, not a woman's.
"What if Honma had turned into this form from her original body?"
"I'd have eaten it right up, of course."
"I should stop talking."
"You already asked. Hehe. So, Lady Honma? Should we give you a new title too?"
"Calling me Honma or demon leaves traces of the past, so just 'Yacheong' will do."
"Yacheong? Does it mean something?"
"It means nothing. It's not this body's name, unrelated to my original, just a random alias I picked."
I see. Then Honma is Yacheong from now on.
"In that case, Yacheong, you're now a nurse hired by the Moyong family. From here on, interact strictly as physician and nurse."
"Thank you for accommodating me, Physician Seok."
Our positions flipped in an instant, but treating her this rigorously is best for Yacheong herself.
"As for your future duties, we'll run one experiment through Dang Yuri."
"Through me?"
"Cast Seophonsul on Dang Yuri and forcibly draw out her wish in the hypnosis's direction. That's why the Sword Saint brought Honma here."
The Sword Saint is away now, so I have to take charge.
"Dang Yuri. Any wish you desire?"
"Hm... Well, I'd like my hair and eye color to change once!"
"To what color?"
"Not sure."
Dang Yuri tilted her head in thought, and I pointed her straight to the treatment bed.
"Lie down first. Yacheong, cast Seophonsul on her right away."
"Understood. Change her hair and eye color?"
"Yes. For the experiment to work, it should be a color she doesn't want..."
"Hey, my eyes are still open."
Dang Yuri whined from the bed, but I silenced her by draping a white cloth over her face.
"I'm not dead yet."
"Be quiet before I needle your acupoints. Begin, Yacheong."
"...Yes."
Yacheong clenched and unclenched her fists, then stood at Dang Yuri's head, extending her hand toward her face.
"From now on, you will..."
"Is it okay to leave them alone like that?"
As the Seophonsul session was in full swing, I stepped out of the room and bumped into Moyong Seol, who had been preparing simple refreshments outside.
"It's fine. Honma—no, Yacheong—is a reasonable, sensible person."
"Sensible..."
"If one of the demons who still believes in Cheonma and follows Magyo had come here, that'd be one thing, but she came prepared to abandon her own body."
I lightly popped one of the candied fruits Moyong Seol brought into my mouth.
"Oh my. Can you just eat it like that? Who knows what's inside."
"Even if you poisoned these candied fruits, I'd swallow the toxin like medicine."
"Honestly."
Moyong Seol chuckled and grabbed my chin.
"Not like that."
She snatched the fruit away.
"Baa."
Moyong Seol placed the candy on her tongue, slipped it into her mouth, and laughed softly. I suppressed a forced chuckle and sat beside her.
"Next time, you feed me."
"I could do it now if you want?"
"Instead of going back and forth like this, wouldn't it be better to finish one each and take turns?"
"True. Oh, right. So, how are you granting the wish? Specifically, what wish for the Jeolmok Jeong patients...?"
"Hair."
I stroked Moyong Seol's hair.
"I'll use Seophonsul to revert their Jeolmok Jeong to normal while restoring their white hair back to its original black."
"......."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I was imagining something like... turning young again, bigger maternal instincts, smoother skin."
"Those... well, they'll happen automatically to some degree."
No need for separate Seophonsul—the Geukyang Jihwan handles that.
"The real focus is their deepest wish: fixing hair color. So they can't think of anything else."
"Beauty stuff like body or skin is 'instinctual,' so unavoidable, but hair locks out other weird wishes?"
"Exactly. That's the... side effect, not side effect, for the four Jeolmok Jeong patients Yacheong will treat with Seophonsul."
Hair color normalization. All the women except Namgung Ye will turn black-haired.
"Then what about Namgung Ye?"
"......."
"Physician?"
"Side effects on all Jeolmok Jeong patients can't always be positive. Sometimes they go negative."
I stroked Moyong Seol's hair again.
"Namgung Ye's hair will change from the roots. Not your beautiful pure white, but the kind you see on old hags."
"......."
"She should be grateful. At least her hair won't all fall out."
Yacheong's Seophonsul is powerful enough to make someone wish for baldness—
"Kyaaak!"
A scream from inside. I rushed in, opening the door—but
"Down there!! Down there!!"
"Ugh."
I spun around and headed back out.
"......Learned an uncomfortable truth."
"Yeah."
Moyong Seol chuckled and shook her head.
"If there's none at all, you wouldn't even wish for it."
Well. Moyong Seol was right.