Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: I Could Even Make You Number One (2)
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As I approached while cracking my knuckles, Yeom Jin-hoe flinched and took a step back.
"This is the badge of brotherhood between me and the North Pass gatekeeper—purely personal! And this is the badge from that Doctor Byeon you dared call a 'shit doctor.' Can you see the words 'Medicine King Hall' written on it?! This is someone who could easily get your apprentice tag stripped off!"
Yet even as he said that, there was no sign of remorse.
On the contrary, he rummaged through his sleeve pocket and pulled out a bunch of flimsy badges symbolizing his meager connections, raising his voice even louder.
"As you can see, I could have you kicked out of Luoyang today! And yet you're trying to threaten me right now? Get on your knees this instant! If you kneel and take three slaps from me, I'll consider putting these badges back in my sleeve!"
Wow.
This guy was truly hopeless.
- A frog in a well, puffing itself up and spewing poison. He needs a beating to come to his senses.
'Even Master thinks so, right?'
Truth be told, I hadn't initially planned to actually use force.
I figured if he got scared enough by my presence and backed off, I'd just warn him not to do it again and send him on his way.
'I'm only here for a day anyway.'
Good things should stay good. I didn't want to create extra work for the already busy Mercy Hall.
Besides, going full-on martial arts lesson on someone who didn't know any kung fu felt a bit much.
I'd planned to stop at an appropriate point if he showed any regret.
But that was before. My mind had changed.
"You're the one doing the threatening. Do you think threatening has to involve physical strength to count? Waving around someone else's livelihood and cursing it out—that's a threat too."
Not knowing martial arts doesn't make someone any less of a villain.
A great villain is someone ready to trample anyone weaker than them at any time.
Anyway, that was the end of my thinking.
"Young Master Yong-un! What's going on?!"
"Can I help with anything?"
Eun Ha-seong and Woo So-rung, who were also apprentice escorts like me, came running over.
The moment I confirmed their arrival, I opened my mouth.
"Eun Ha-seong, Woo So-rung, Han Jong, Gok Jun-pyeong. Erect the Wall of Truth right now."
At my words, Han Jong and Gok Jun-pyeong looked a bit puzzled.
"Huh? Wall of Truth?"
"What's that?"
But Ha-seong and So-rung were there.
"Don't even Jong and Jun-pyeong get it? Well, you haven't been serving Young Master Yong-un long enough to know. As his sworn younger brother, allow me to explain kindly. What he means is to surround this guy so he can't run. Like this, all four of us boxing him in."
"And with eyes watching, it's also to keep things discreet!"
I had no idea why they were so proud of something like that.
Anyway, as the four of them surrounded Yeom Jin-hoe at my command, he suddenly became a rat in a trap made of people and urgently opened his mouth.
"D-Do you think you'll get away with this?!"
"We'll get away with it just fine. I'm not trying to do anything to you—I'm just going to give you a little treatment."
"W-With your fists clenched like that?!"
"Don't you remember getting a stomachache as a kid? Your mother rubbing your belly and saying this hand is a healing hand? Something like that?"
"What kind of nonsense is that?!"
"This is that healing hand. I've cured plenty of people with it. Though some ended up in pretty bad shape."
"Th-That's ridiculous! H-Help! They're killing a man!"
At my words, Yeom Jin-hoe thrashed about as if greatly wronged.
I let out a hollow laugh and rummaged through my sleeve pocket.
"Setting all that aside, wasn't it you who said having those badges means three slaps are fair game?"
Then I pulled out two badges I'd received earlier but had no real use for, so I'd just kept them tucked away.
One was the badge from Myeong Tae-seong, the top captain of the direct strike team.
The other was from the Murim Alliance Leader, Gong Son Mu-gyeol.
"...M-Murim Alliance Leader's b-badge...? W-Why do you have that?"
"Doctor Byeon and the North Pass gatekeeper's badges were worth three slaps. With mine, doesn't that make it about a thousand?"
"...Overstep."
"Just kidding. Kidding. I'm too busy for a thousand. I'll just give you enough to make that gall bladder in your neck want to run away."
"...Blublub."
"It won't take long. About fifteen minutes? Oh, but bite down hard. Wouldn't want your corn flying out. By the way, corn means teeth."
Did the sight of Yeom Jin-hoe receiving physical therapy serve as some kind of warning?
After that, the people who'd been complaining from morning about why others were being seen first and demanding fairness with emergency patients vanished as if washed away.
'Did it become a case of punishing one to warn a hundred?'
Well, whatever.
There had been quite a few of them, so my workload suddenly lightened up.
Taking advantage of the spare time, I borrowed a small table and writing materials to start drafting documents.
It wasn't anything else—just a report accusing Yeom Jin-hoe to the Murim Alliance.
'Something like this has to be written by me, the guy with the nickname "Prime Gold," to get processed quickly.'
It wasn't difficult.
In my previous life, during my most mundane days, I'd written reports until I was sick of it. And as vice president of the Blue Bamboo Pavilion, I'd learned over the shoulder from Yin Xia Lian what went into documents of this era and what didn't.
'Let's see. Start with an overview of the incident? Then facts confirmed during it: intimidation using influence and connections, disruption of Mercy Hall operations. Witnesses: Eun Ha-seong, Woo So-rung, Han Jong, Gok Jun-pyeong, and patients nearby. Finally, end with suspicions since he was flashing badges from Doctor Byeon and the North Pass gatekeeper—looks like something shady behind it.'
Nice.
I'm a proper Central Plains man now.
Perfect.
It was then.
As I admired the accusation report I'd written.
A limping old man from the back of the line waiting for his turn—priority low—hobbled toward me.
At the sight of the limping elder, a thought flashed through my mind.
'Is that the Medicine King?'
In the original story, it was said the Medicine King was skilled in reverse age arts, bone shrinking, disguise, and the like, making him hard to recognize when disguised as someone else.
'And he was in the form of a patient.'
I hadn't paid it any mind since it didn't specify what kind of patient, so I'd deliberately ignored it.
Now it seemed that limping guy was the culprit...
No, the Medicine King.
'I saw someone with a similar vibe this morning, but that one wasn't limping.'
The person from this morning and the limper in front of me seemed the same.
And sure enough.
The old man who'd been limping started walking normally.
His wrinkled, shriveled face turned into that of a dignified white-haired elder, and by the time he reached me, even his hunched back was straight.
I hurriedly clasped my hands in respect toward the Medicine King O Gyun-cheon, who had revealed his true form.
"Apprentice escort Eon Yong-un greets the Medicine King."
At that, the Medicine King's lips curved into a smile as a single remark slipped out.
"Though I'm bound to the Murim Alliance, I don't particularly like you martial folk. But you... I rather like you."
The moment he personally hung the visitor plaque for the Leader's office on the cadets out for inspection, the Murim Alliance Leader became primarily responsible for their safety.
Thus, the cadets' every move was reported to Gong Son Mu-gyeol in near real-time.
The first report was important in many ways, so the chief secret agent Guk Do-jin came directly to Gong Son Mu-gyeol and spoke.
"Alliance Leader."
"You're here."
"First, Eon Yong-un and nineteen others. All headed to Mercy Hall."
"See? I said if it were that guy, he'd definitely go to Mercy Hall. You can tell from how he distributed herbs to the bandits at Taeho."
"Indeed. The Strategy Division thought he was too savvy about gains and losses to go straight to Medicine King Hall. Didn't expect their prediction to be off."
"It's not that it was wrong—they just don't know Eon Yong-un well. The intel reports they pore over are thickest with his scoundrel days, so even the sharpest minds can't pin him down."
"Yes. We thought he was insightful enough to read Vice Chairman Namgung Uk's mind and bold enough to speak against it, but going to Mercy Hall first shows he has a sense of justice too. A rare talent these days."
"Exactly. That's why you have to see people with your own eyes, at least when it comes to that."
"But didn't even you not expect all the cadets to go to Mercy Hall?"
That was inevitable.
It wasn't easy to imagine the cadets from Yunmae, Hyangran, Yun-guk, and Cheongjuk meekly following another dorm's leader.
But the prediction being wrong didn't sour his mood.
"I didn't predict that either. Who could've known? A guy who could make Jeon-ga-no's treasure concede a move and the Namgung heir that anxious."
"Yes. More than anything else, that's the most impressive. Whether by carrot or stick, he got them to follow. Academics and martial arts can be honed later, but leading others? That's innate."
"You seem quite taken with him too. First time I've heard you praise a junior talent."
"Have I been that stingy with praise?"
"You have. Ah, but didn't you say 'first' before the report? Looks like there's more."
"Yes. An accusation came from Mercy Hall, written by Eon Yong-un, so I routed it here as a bonus."
"Let me see it."
At Gong Son Mu-gyeol's words, Guk Do-jin handed over the accusation written by Eon Yong-un.
Gong Son Mu-gyeol immediately turned his gaze to the paper.
But the man who processed endless documents in seconds was staring at this single sheet for a long time today.
Guk Do-jin spoke up again.
"Doesn't seem problematic to me. Is there an issue in your view, Alliance Leader?"
"No, no problems from my view either. Intimidation with power and connections, disrupting Mercy Hall's event—that alone warrants cutting ties and banning him from the market, right? And testimonies from Mercy Hall staff, cadets, and patients?"
"Yes."
"Plus suspicions of corruption with Alliance and Luoyang officials? This isn't just market-level. Oh, and weren't there civilian complaints about that Yeom Jin-hoe before?"
"Yes. He always met Alliance delivery deadlines, but there was a petition from dockworkers around Maengjin Port about unpaid wages. Yeom Jin-hoe submitted exonerating documents, and the workers withdrew it, so it fizzled out."
"Any merchant groups to replace Maeng Yeom Merchant Group?"
"Yes. I've shortlisted three here."
"Then boot this guy. Dig deeper into the old petition, current wage issues, and any corruption."
That settled the accusation.
But Guk Do-jin's question lingered.
As chief secret agent, his role was to read the Alliance Leader's mind precisely.
To resolve the rising doubt, Guk Do-jin spoke.
"But why stare at it so long?"
"Ah. It's written too well. Even the new recruits in the direct strike team, a month in, can't write like this."
"......"
"What."
"May I be frank?"
"Speak. Isn't that why you're chief secret agent?"
"...It feels a bit like favoritism. Someone might think Eon Yong-un is your son."
"Saying that to a bachelor? Want to try?"
"Of course not. That's why I asked permission first."
The chit-chat ended there.
Gong Son Mu-gyeol's expression shifted as he revealed what was on his mind to Guk Do-jin.
"So, how about entrusting Eon Yong-un with the birthday envoy to Elder San-seo Geum-bung soon?"
"If he'd take it, he'd be perfect. But he'd need to heed the Strategy Division's advice."
"Hm. Meaning?"
"He's savvy about pros and cons, right? If you want him for this, you'd best prepare a fitting gift yourself, Alliance Leader."