Chapter 268
Chapter 268
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 268
Chapter Title: The Mythical Herb
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A heavy silence settled over the warehouse for a while.
Lee Soo-hyuk offered no detailed explanation. The words had been spoken, and it was up to Je Un-hak to interpret them.
I wonder how he sees me.
“Lee Soo-hyuk...”
A hollow laugh escaped Je Un-hak's lips. After chewing over the name for a moment, he nodded.
“So that's how it is.”
“Pardon?”
Soo-hyuk was the one caught off guard.
What does he mean, 'that's how it is'?
“Elder?”
“What's the matter?”
“Did you hear me right?”
“I did.”
Je Un-hak nodded.
“Don't underestimate me just because I'm holed up in the mountains. My ears are still open to the world.”
Rumors of Kim Ye-ryeong and Kim Si-woo showing up at the Blue House had spread far and wide. There were plenty of eyewitnesses, and those peddling info in the dark maps had helped fan the flames.
No matter how secluded one was in the mountains, anyone with a kit could learn the truth easily enough.
“With two ancient legends come back to life, there's no reason you couldn't return as well.”
He said it casually, but Je Un-hak didn't seem truly convinced.
It was merely keeping the door open to possibility.
Even that was astonishing.
Soo-hyuk knew full well how full of holes his story was.
“If I were really Lee Soo-hyuk, I wouldn't need to come asking for your help.”
“I know.”
“And yet you're buying this?”
“I shouldn't. Obviously.”
“...”
Soo-hyuk seriously wondered if the old man had lost his marbles.
He knew it wasn't the sort of question to ask after revealing himself, but he couldn't hold back.
“Then why aren't you doubting it?”
“Didn't you do the same earlier?”
“Me?”
“The elixir.”
Before arriving, Choi Mu-gyeol had fed Soo-hyuk the elixir.
Swallowing something unknown—medicine or poison—without a second thought required trust. At least, that's how it must have looked in Je Un-hak's eyes.
“You trusted first, so I trust in return. That's only fair.”
Je Un-hak demanded no proof from Soo-hyuk. It was as if handing over the elixir had been a test of sorts, and now he was repaying faith with faith.
All the arguments Soo-hyuk had prepared to convince him evaporated in an instant.
Soo-hyuk couldn't make sense of it.
“Haven't you been burned once already?”
Je Un-hak's expression remained unchanged.
Soo-hyuk's words didn't dredge up memories the old man wished to forget. He relived that day every moment, anyway.
“I have.”
His hand, gently stroking the poisonous herbs on the shelf, trembled ever so slightly.
“It was a rainy day.”
Shwaaa—
Rain poured in his mind.
The instant he voiced the story he'd kept locked in his heart, Je Un-hak was transported back to that day.
“The weather was foul, but my luck was incredible. It was the day I found what I'd spent my life searching for.”
“What was it you sought so desperately?”
“The Mythical Herb. A spirit medicine known only from legends, its very existence in doubt.”
The memories up to that point were fond ones. A smile tugged at Je Un-hak's lips unbidden.
“That boy Mu-gyeok was over the moon. He knew it was his old man's dream, so he'd scoured everywhere for it day after day. And he finally found it.”
Je Mu-gyeok.
Je Un-hak's son. His sole remaining kin, raised alone after losing his wife too soon.
“That's when Dang Bae-gun showed up.”
Shadow fell across Je Un-hak's smiling face.
On that rainy day, Dang Bae-gun had climbed Kunlun Mountain with heavy steps.
“He demanded the Mythical Herb.”
It wasn't just Dang Bae-gun. Anyone who dealt in poisons or medicines coveted the Mythical Herb.
“The Sacheon Tang Clan and the Poison Sect have been allies for ages. The Tang shared their knowledge with us, and we enjoyed their protection as we advanced together.”
“Was Dang Bae-gun interested in herbs?”
Je Un-hak shook his head.
“The Mythical Herb can become anything. A spirit medicine, a panacea for all ills, or a supreme poison that could kill even those immune to all toxins.”
“So you refused.”
“No. I couldn't refuse.”
“...?”
Je Un-hak's answer felt off somehow.
Neither acceptance nor refusal. He couldn't refuse.
“Dang Bae-gun didn't even wait for my answer. He poisoned Mu-gyeok on the spot. Said he'd die unless I brought the herb.”
As if their lives had always belonged to him.
Dang Bae-gun spat the words while trampling his blood-vomiting son.
“I was going to hand it over. The Mythical Herb? What of it? That mere weed—I could've piled up a hundred of them at his feet.”
“Then why...”
“That foolish boy... took his own life.”
The son swallowed the poison he always carried. Rather than dying slowly from the toxin, he chose death right there on the spot.
No god, however skilled, could revive the dead. Clutching his son's cold corpse, pulse long gone, Je Un-hak fell into despair.
“I didn't surrender the Mythical Herb. I became the dead man in that room.”
“How?”
“I took a drug that stopped my heart. Dang Bae-gun thought it was poison-induced suicide.”
“...”
“Ever since, revenge is all I've thought of. These... are preparations for that day.”
Time had flown by in the blink of an eye.
For a man consumed by a single goal, time passed faster than for others.
“Fifteen years.”
Je Un-hak turned to Soo-hyuk.
“No opportunities in all that time. I lacked the power. Perhaps I've been waiting for a day like this. Believing your wild tale? It's because I have to, in my pathetic state.”
The approaching Je Un-hak seized Soo-hyuk's hand.
“So please... kill him for me.”
The old man's shoulders, pleading desperately, were still damp. He remained trapped in that downpour, unable to escape.
Soo-hyuk gazed down at Je Un-hak's hand for a moment.
A hand etched with wrinkles, dry and rough as parchment.
“...I promise you.”
Seeing it, he couldn't pull away.
“We'll make him regret that day—for good.”
The Poison King Dang Bae-gun's death was already set in stone. Securing the antidote for Hyeo-min came first, but he intended to punish the man regardless.
Dang Bae-gun had been there during the Hydra raid, after all.
“That will do.”
Je Un-hak smiled faintly. He didn't realize it himself, but it was his first smile in fifteen long years.
“Then speak. What aid do you need? To slay that damned wretch.”
“First, there's something you must see.”
Soo-hyuk pulled the kit from his buzzing pocket.
The broadcast had just begun.
That meant things were unfolding exactly as Soo-hyuk and Ye-ryeong had anticipated.
“See what?”
“What we need is the Poison Sect's help. Public support, even.”
We?
Come to think of it, Soo-hyuk had used “we” earlier too. He hadn't come alone from the start.
As Je Un-hak opened his mouth to ask who else, Soo-hyuk pressed on.
“That's why we need your disciple—not me.”
“That shouldn't be hard. I can convince Mu-gyeol...”
“Before that, you should learn about your disciple again.”
“My disciple?”
Je Un-hak's face twisted in confusion, as if wondering what that meant.
Instead of replying, Soo-hyuk tapped at the kit in his hand. Some things were better shown than told a hundred times over.
Clatter-clatter—
A fragrant tea aroma filled the room. While Kim Ye-ryeong prepared the tea, Choi Mu-gyeol sat awkwardly in the center of the inn room.
She's really alone.
It seemed the other Tang Clan retainers had all left.
Choi Mu-gyeol was on edge. Whether one or many, the fact remained: his opponent was a Tang Clan warrior.
Proof hung at the woman's waist—several metal gadgets that looked like hidden weapons.
Ye-ryeong's flying darts, of course.
Click—
“Have some tea.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Choi Mu-gyeol accepted the cup from Ye-ryeong and took a sip.
He blew on the steaming liquid and swallowed a mouthful, his expression turning ambiguous.
The aroma was decent, but the tea itself was watery and poorly steeped. Even if under-steeped, the leaves were too scant to begin with.
Can't brew tea? A Tang Clan member?
Impossible.
The Tang Clan specialized in poisons. They excelled at concoctions where the slightest error altered effects dramatically.
Poison demanded precision; bungling water ratios for mere tea didn't add up.
She did this on purpose.
Gulp.
Just one sip of tea, and Choi Mu-gyeol's nerves jangled.
What's her angle?
Slurp.
To gauge her intentions, Choi Mu-gyeol pretended nonchalance and studied Ye-ryeong's face.
She, meanwhile, inwardly wondered why anyone would drink something so bland.
The silence between them weighed heavier on Choi Mu-gyeol.
Unable to bear watching her sip tea wordlessly any longer, he finally spoke.
“The tea is delicious.”
“Is it?”
What's with that surprised reaction?
In the awkward air, Choi Mu-gyeol clenched his fist beneath the table.
“I've given your proposal much thought. After agonizing deliberation...”
“And?”
“The Poison Sect has decided to bow to the Sacheon Tang Clan.”
With those words, Choi Mu-gyeol gulped down the scalding tea as if his gut burned. His mouth blistered with pain, but he barely registered it.
Ye-ryeong smiled at Choi Mu-gyeol, who acted as if it were inevitable, like a man with a broken heart.
“I figured as much.”
“Pardon?”
“Truth is, the Sacheon Tang Clan and Poison Sect were never outsiders. The Tang already distributes the medicines and poisons we've made. You've even shared a few recipes.”
Why dredge up the past now?
A sharp pang stabbed his chest. His long-eroded conscience peeked out once more.
But only for a moment.
“Haha, it's only natural for those living under the Tang's banner.”
Choi Mu-gyeol shoved it down. His master's face flashed in his mind, then faded.
Yes.
This is for Master.
Even if the truth came out someday, he'd surely smile and say he'd done well.
“Exactly. Wise choice. So, what can the Poison Sect offer the Tang Clan?”
Ye-ryeong's eyes narrowed to slits. Choi Mu-gyeol swallowed hard.
He knew precisely what the question implied.
How far will you go for us?
Their answer would dictate the Tang Clan's disposition toward the Poison Sect.
He hadn't come down the mountain empty-handed; he'd prepared in his heart.
This moment might be the chance to finally revive the sect.
“The herb...”
Something the Sacheon Tang Clan—Poison King Dang Bae-gun himself—coveted beyond measure.
The Poison Sect possessed it.
“I'll offer the Immortal Herb.”