Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: The Cheong Family Clinic, Mujeon Branch
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#022: The Cheong Family Clinic, Mujeon Branch
Not long after Dan Un appeared, Ha Jin-hyeong came running.
He had been lying in wait in front of the main fortress, ready to let me know the moment Dan Un showed up.
“But I started running first…?”
Watching him startle at the sight of Dan Un standing before me, I thought.
‘My mistake.’
I never imagined Dan Un would use his movement arts to rush over.
No matter how skilled Ha Jin-hyeong was in movement arts, compared to Dan Un's Shadow Scent Steps, he was no better than a turtle.
But what was done was done, and regrets wouldn't change a thing.
‘I have no choice.’
I slowly rose to my feet, approached Dan Un, and looked up at him.
At that, people began to notice us.
“Looks like the Fighting Dragon and the Blue Dragon Sword are about to duel!”
“So the rumors were true?!”
“Where? Where?!”
“Over there!”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
In an instant, a crowd gathered, forming a wide circle around us.
A sharp aura, like a well-honed sword, washed over me.
From that pressure alone, I could easily guess Dan Un’s intentions.
And then.
Like a thunderbolt, I stomped my foot down.
Boom!
As the ground buckled, Dan Un’s sword flashed out like a beam of light.
A preemptive strike?
Not a chance.
I should be running for my life. What kind of idiot would throw the first punch?
I drew upon all sixty years of my internal energy, executed the War King Step, and shot forward.
Swoosh!
My surroundings blurred and rushed past me.
The War King Step wasn't a lightness skill for traveling long distances by making the body lighter, but a movement technique that relied on explosive acceleration.
Naturally, it consumed a lot of internal energy, making it unsuitable for long escapes.
However, it had one advantage.
‘The zero-to-sixty is insane.’
I wasn't trying to get far away, just shake him off for a moment. There was no better way.
And so, I used everything I had to escape Dan Un's clutches.
“The Fighting Dragon and the Blue Dragon Sword have started competing with their movement arts!”
Leaving the shouts of the oblivious onlookers behind me.
Two hours later.
“Pant! Pant!”
Having exhausted every last drop of my internal energy, I reached the midway point of a wild mountain outside the Nine Dragons Fortress.
‘I can't let my guard down.’
Dan Un was an opponent I might not be able to beat even in perfect condition.
Running into him now, with my internal energy completely depleted, would be a disaster.
I scraped together the dregs of my energy and started digging into the ground.
It was the Earth Evasion Art I had learned in the basic curriculum back at the Heaven-Ascending Pavilion.
I'd learned it planning to use it when I eventually left the Nine Dragons Fortress, but I never thought it would be so useful today.
It really is true what they say—you should always be learning. With the mindset of a senior soldier hiding from the supply sergeant, I entered the tunnel.
Six hours later.
“Phew!”
I emerged when the sky had grown dark and moisture was rising from the ground.
Of all places, I had hidden in a damp, shady spot where water collected, so my whole body was caked in mud.
“That damn Vegeta.”
He should know when to give up if someone's not willing to fight.
This is all because the Heaven-Ascending Pavilion's curriculum focuses on martial arts over character education.
‘If they’d had group projects, he might have at least learned some teamwork...’
‘Of course, I would’ve just bailed on my team.’
Dressed like a beggar, I crossed the outer fortress, and the entrance to Black Serpent Road came into view.
As if to prove it was a crime-ridden area, a vicious-looking thug was sitting in a corner right at the entrance.
“Hey! I told you not to create a scene in the neighborhood. You're driving down property values.”
In a world without mortgages, once they drop, they don't recover.
I tossed out a casual remark as usual, but the guy glared at me.
“You beggar! You must have a death wish!”
“What’s with this bastard? What’s his problem all of a sudden?”
Smack!
At his unexpected defiance, I lightly swung my palm and touched his cheek.
“Kegh!”
Clatter.
Kernels of corn spilled from the man's mouth and fell to the ground.
The man’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed.
“Must’ve been something he ate.”
A moment later.
After returning home, I understood why that guy had acted that way.
“What happened to your face?”
“Hm? What about it?”
“It’s covered in mud. You look just like a beggar.”
“…”
That damn Dan Un is ruining everything.
***
That bastard Dan Un’s persistence didn’t end there.
The next day, when I went to the well to wash up as usual, who should I find but Dan Un and Yong Ma-san, sitting at a table prepared by Myo Hyang.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
I was about to bolt, but this time, Dan Un spoke first.
“I am leaving on a mission. I don’t expect to return for at least half a year. So, I’ve come to make a proposal.”
“…Let’s hear it.”
“Next spring, there will be a tournament where young martial artists gather to compete.”
Like a Tenkaichi Budokai, Nine Dragons Fortress edition?
Pushing my curiosity aside, I asked Dan Un.
“So?”
“My proposal is that we settle our score there. With all of the Nine Dragons Fortress watching, could there be a more fitting stage?”
Hearing his proposal, I immediately sized up the situation.
‘My address has been exposed anyway. I can’t keep running forever.’
Not unless I leave the Nine Dragons Fortress for good.
Besides.
As the old saying goes, if it's on credit, you'd even slaughter a cow.
Being given a year’s time put me strangely at ease.
There was no reason not to take the deal.
“Fine, let’s do it that way.”
“A wise decision.”
Hearing my answer, Dan Un’s lips curled up ever so slightly.
As his peer from the Heaven-Ascending Pavilion, I knew that reaction meant he was extremely satisfied.
Then he clasped his fist to his palm and bowed to Myo Hyang.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“I fear my humble cooking may have only spoiled your palate, Young Master Dan.”
“Not at all. It was the most delicious meal I’ve had in a long time.”
After saying his goodbyes, Dan Un left. I quickly washed my face and sat at the table.
I spoke to Yong Ma-san, who was staring at me blankly.
“You’re not leaving?”
“Ahem, I was hoping to have some of Lady Myo Hyang’s tea before I go. I’ve gotten so used to it that a day without it feels empty…”
Even for a man of the unorthodox path, for the master of a hall with two hundred disciples to try and freeload for tea…
I guess the old saying is true: if you love free stuff, you’ll go bald.
As I ate my rice and side dishes under the light reflecting off Yong Ma-san's head, he spoke to me.
“So, what’s your plan?”
“Munch, munch… Whad aboud (What about)?”
“Are you really planning to fight the Blue Dragon Sword? Not long ago, you were about to smash my face in for spreading baseless rumors, weren’t you?”
“Oh, that?”
Gulp.
“I have a plan.”
“Are you learning some divine secret art? Or training, perhaps?”
“I’ll just mess around and get eliminated in the preliminaries. What’s he going to do if I get knocked out because I’m not good enough? Right?”
“…”
Truly, a man must use his head to survive.
***
Fifteen days passed after things with Dan Un were settled.
During that time, I, as a diligent industrial worker of the Nine Dragons Fortress, repeated my daily commute to and from work.
But then, an unavoidable incident occurred.
“…Aren’t you going home?”
“I can’t go back until I’ve made the Seol-eum Water again.”
“You used it to save your daughter’s life. Won’t they understand?”
“It’s not because I’m afraid of my father.”
“Then what is it?”
“My family went through so much because of me. How can I tell them I used up the Seol-eum Water on top of that?”
“…That’s a fair point.”
“So when can we go to the Heavenly Mountains?”
“As you know, I’m tied to the Nine Dragons Fortress, so it’s not possible right now.”
“I know. But I’ll be coming here every day until you agree to go to the Heavenly Mountains.”
And so, Cheong So-so began visiting every day, demanding I keep my promise.
Thanks to her, Myo Hyang had no choice but to prepare meals for Cheong So-so as well.
“Hey, can’t you eat out? A rich family’s daughter like you…”
“I can’t help it. I lost all my money while escaping, so until my family sends more, I have to live like a beggar.”
“You’re a guest from the Cheong Family, for crying out loud. Doesn’t the fortress provide you with meals?”
“That’s fine once or twice, but it’s awkward to freeload every day.”
I thought just feeding her would be the end of it.
“It looks like you have plenty of spare rooms. Just give me one.”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
“The maids are gossiping behind my back, saying I just lie around doing nothing. So I’m going to live here for a while.”
Now she was demanding a room.
There’s no way the maids of the great Nine Dragons Fortress would do that.
To become a maid in the main fortress, one had to be well-read in the Four Books and Three Classics, not to mention poetry.
Furthermore, the rigorous character training they underwent afterward transformed them into something akin to five-star hoteliers.
Just look at Myo Hyang. Wasn’t it with such talent and grace that she became the idol of the Golden Flower Pavilion?
However, I didn’t bother arguing the point.
“Feel free to refuse. But my father might just send you a bill for the Seol-eum Water.”
I was afraid Cheong So-so’s father might actually demand payment.
I could argue that I used it to save his daughter, but when has the martial world ever gone my way?
This was the martial world, a place where people would stick a knife in your gut for the slightest loss of face.
You never knew what kind of pretext they might find.
“Ahem, take the room at the very back.”
“Thank you.”
And that’s how I ended up with a new freeloader named Cheong So-so in my house.
***
The next day, as I was getting ready for work as usual, I witnessed a strange sight.
“Ugh…”
The thug I’d slapped a while back, the one who had disappeared since then, was getting treated in my yard.
“What’s with him?”
“He says he was beaten up by some beggar.”
Should I hit him again?
I barely managed to restrain myself with superhuman patience as Cheong So-so explained.
“His jawbone is broken, so he can’t chew at all. He said he went to several clinics in the outer fortress, but none of them could set the broken bone.”
“What does that have to do with him being here?”
“Somehow he heard I was from the Cheong Family and came asking for treatment.”
“You know how to fix something like that?”
“I’ve never done it, but I’ve learned how. I am the youngest daughter of the Cheong Family Head, after all.”
It made sense. If any place could do it, it would be the Cheong Family, a hospital specializing in martial artists.
Even I would look for the Cheong Family first if I ever broke a bone.
You could call them a comprehensive orthopedic hospital, I suppose?
Sure enough, Cheong So-so began skillfully tapping the man's jaw to set the bone.
Then she brought over a palm-sized piece of wood, placed it against his face, and wrapped it tightly with a cotton cloth.
“All done. I’ve placed needles to dull the nerves, so you won’t feel any pain for a while. If you take the medicine I’ve prescribed, you should be fully healed in a couple of months. Oh! And don’t forget to only eat porridge for the time being.”
“Dhank yoo (Thank you).”
The man thanked her with his garbled speech and took out a silver coin from his robes.
Cheong So-so, the temporary beggar, carefully pocketed the silver coin and muttered.
“What a windfall, just for sitting around.”
Watching her, I thought.
Whether in the modern world or the martial world, being a professional is the best.
But then.
An even more amazing sight unfolded the very next day.
A crowd murmured.
All the sick and injured thugs in the neighborhood had started lining up in front of my house.
There were all sorts, from those who limped to those with pale complexions.
“…This is huge.”
“It is.”
When I asked how they all knew, they said the guy whose jaw was set yesterday had spread the word all over the neighborhood.
‘Squad Leader Jin’s house has a world-renowned doctor from the Cheong Family!’
Or so the rumor went.
Thanks to this, Cheong So-so and I quickly entered negotiations.
“Ten percent.”
“Forty percent.”
“That’s too much for just providing the space. Twelve percent.”
“You won’t find a safer place than this anywhere on Black Serpent Road. Thirty-five percent.”
“I’m doing all the work, yet you’re taking almost half. That’s not right. Fifteen percent.”
“Without me, how would you control all those thugs standing out there? Thirty percent.”
“It looks like half of them are Yong Ma-san’s subordinates anyway. What could possibly happen? Seventeen percent.”
“Don’t forget that Yong Ma-san is just another thug from the unorthodox path. Twenty-five percent.”
“Let’s do twenty.”
“Deal.”
“However, I’ll need an assistant, so their monthly salary will be excluded from the calculations.”
“That’s a given.”
And in that moment, in a corner of my yard, the Mujeon Branch of the Cheong Family Clinic was born.