Treatment for Blocked Meridian Syndrome (3)
No matter what the Sword Saint was saying outside to the representatives of the Murim world, I had to do my job. Record it. I picked up my brush and documented everything in as much detail as possible. In two versions. One was refined for public reading—something that wouldn't embarrass readers and could be presented officially on formal occasions.
A brief excerpt from that content—written by me myself—
"...Blocked Meridian Syndrome fundamentally arises because excess Yin Qi suppresses the meridians. To address this at its root, if Yin Qi is overwhelming, we can inject Yang Qi into the patient's body to achieve harmony in their inner energy. Based on the fundamental human principle of Yin-Yang unity, by infusing Extreme Yang Qi into a woman's body overflowing with Yin energy, we revitalize her..."
"......"
—For external release, Yang Qi can be transmitted temporarily through the skin, but the effect is so negligible it's meaningless. Therefore, directly injecting a 'medicine' infused with Yang Qi into the body is the only way...
"Physician. Have you finished the record?"
"Yes."
Moyong Seol approached me. Fresh from bathing in the washroom of this annex—now more like a full mansion—she carried the scent of flowers.
"Smells... nice."
"Had to."
"Can't you just say, 'Slept, fucked, cured'? Done?"
"If you could say that verbatim in front of the Murim Alliance Leader, Sinseung, and the Emperor, that'd be ideal."
I lightly unfolded the second paper—the one I'd written first, set aside.
"Hee, heek...!"
The moment I spread it open, Moyong Seol freaked out, her face flushing red.
"Th-this explicit...!"
"I merely transcribed your actions exactly as they happened, my lady. If other Blocked Meridian Syndrome patients act the same way, it might cure them too."
"St-still, it's embarrassing!"
"Realizing that now? You weren't embarrassed when you were doing exactly what I wrote here?"
"W-well..."
Moyong Seol lowered the paper, grinning broadly.
"I was looking at you, Physician, so it wasn't embarrassment—it was more joy and happiness overwhelming it..."
"Same for me."
"Physician..."
"That's why I'm debating whether to include that in this report too."
I took her outstretched hand, interlocking our fingers, and pulled her into my arms.
"The condition that the one injecting Extreme Yang Qi isn't just lusting after a beauty, but has harbored genuine feelings for three years and approaches the treatment with full sincerity."
"Does Blocked Meridian Syndrome treatment require that condition?"
"At least from the treator's perspective."
If that truly were a requirement, most patients might never be cured. Instead, from now on, each patient's family would arrange a man of similar age to stay by her side, nursing her for three years. And three years later, recoveries would begin in earnest.
"Not necessarily three years. Love doesn't always ripen on a fixed schedule."
"...Physician."
"I knew it, my lady. From the day I first saw you, what kind of gaze I gave you."
"No different from any other man. Looking at me like, 'Is this first love?'"
Moyong Seol stroked my face with her hand.
"But once they learned I had Blocked Meridian Syndrome—Nine Yin Blocked Meridians—they averted their eyes. Even those who said it didn't matter because of my father... the Sword Saint... looked away. Everyone but you, Physician."
"I'm truly grateful to be a physician. It let me stay by your side for three years."
"...You hated it a lot, right?"
Moyong Seol's hand slid down to my shoulder.
"Me hurting you like this so much."
"What can you do when a patient draws blood on her doctor?"
Under her hand lay a fairly deep scar. Not just from recent scratches, but marks from wounds that had healed and reopened, like slashes from a sharp sword.
Did Magyo inflict these on my body? No. Moyong Seol did.
"Back then, I was..."
"Anyone with a terminal illness, enduring pain so agonizing they'd rather die—it's normal to want to smash everything. You clawing and biting my shoulder was the same."
"......"
For three years, Moyong Seol had been mad. Just hearing "death in three years" drives people insane, jumping at shadows—imagine daily vomiting blood and body-shattering agony on top. Not going mad would be weirder.
"I'm sorry. Truly, I'm so sorry."
"Is that why you came to me? Out of guilt?"
"No. Not atonement... Even when I was raging like a madwoman in the throes of mania, you always held me, treated me."
Moyong Seol pulled my hand to her cheek, nuzzling into it.
"Hard to say when it started. But maybe that's why I went even madder. Someone loving me this much, yet all I could give him was my dying body—eventually just a corpse."
"My lady."
"Maybe if I stayed the villainess, he'd have no lingering regrets. But I was too selfish."
Moyong Seol hugged me tightly.
"A woman dying tomorrow, selfishly marking her beloved so he'd remember her forever—for my own sake."
"Not true."
"It was selfish! Forcing you without asking, just to ease my heart..."
"Selfish and forceful, yes—but from the moment you grabbed me like that, I liked it too."
"Ah..."
"It wasn't just good for you alone. That's wrong."
"...Really."
Moyong Seol bowed her head. Her clothes grew damp—not icy cold, but warm, seeping in.
"Your selfishness saved you, my lady. Because you reached for me first, you broke through your own death acupoint and survived. So don't worry."
I patted her back lightly.
"Love is selfish by nature."
"...Thanks, but saying it like that makes it sound like you loved someone else."
Moyong Seol puffed her cheeks, poking me repeatedly with her nails.
"You know more about love than me?"
"Of course. It's been three years since I learned what love is—I'm your senior by far."
"Ah."
"What? Did you have someone before?"
"No way?"