Chapter 172
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Close Your Eyes, Geum Sihyeon....... (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“What’s with you, kid? How do you keep getting yourself slashed up like this?”
“Haha. They say the young have to seek out their sufferings── Aak! Ouch!”
“Quit whining.”
No matter how minor the injury, people always preferred the examination and treatment from a specialist at a general hospital over some local clinic doctor.
Of course, my medical knowledge was substantial enough that I could be called the Medical Dragon without exaggeration.
But naturally, it couldn’t compare to the Life and Death Divine Doctor.
“Eek! Gently, gently──”
“Didn’t I dust you with Paralysis Powder? Why are you making such a racket?”
“But, ugh, eek──!”
Of course….
I was regretting it a little. A lot, actually.
Even with my cheat-like trait Immunity to All Poisons, there were a few weaknesses.
Basic implants like Paralysis Powder—and strictly speaking, most chemical reactions in the body—were immune to it.
Aphrodisiacs like Dream Haze or Ecstasy Powder, even Viagra types, were the same. Heck, even opium-derived narcotics followed suit.
In other words, no matter the situation, I had to grit my teeth and endure with nothing but my rock-solid willpower, never relying on drugs.
“Agh! A little more gently…!”
“Ting, tsk. All done.”
“Augh, ugh….”
Still, natural painkillers worked pretty well.
“Good boy, good boy. Our Sihyeon held up so well.”
“Sniff sniff, Narang….”
It was Myo Narang’s thigh!
Lying flat with my head resting on that soft yet chewy, plump and firm thigh, Mount Tai’s shadow blocked her face from view.
This was healing, this was the cure, this was relaxation.
“Heeek, hee hee….”
“…Narang. Stop staring and cover him up. No pictures either.”
“Eep.”
Putting the brakes on Dang Narin’s creepy desires as she assisted the Life and Death Divine Doctor, I endured the lingering ache and sat up.
Myo Narang let out a soft breath as she stroked my face.
“By the way, you okay without the Reverse Face Technique?”
“Should be fine today.”
Ever since starting to feel the Azure Heaven Society’s threat again, I’d quietly started hiding the name Geum Sihyeon in public activities related to Geumhyeon Sect.
The mask and Jade Masked Prince didn’t quite fit in Shaanxi, so temporarily, I’d apply Reverse Face Technique to my face and wear glasses.
Seo Geumhyeon.
The Jade Face Scholar.
My second alt character.
…Though right now, it only saw use in paperwork.
For now.
But stacking these precautions would let me block any potential variables in advance.
“How’s the student council?”
“No big issues! Hehe, midterms are over, so everyone’s distracted with fun stuff. If it was just me, it might’ve been tough… but Ri Yeon’s been a big help! Narin too!”
Myo Narang had already gotten used to calling her Ri Yeon.
Yeah.
What a cursed fate.
Mom’s Baek-something, Dad’s Ri-something?
…Was that a bit disrespectful to the family? Better hold back.
Jokes should stay jokes.
But wait a sec.
“…Unhak?”
“Ah….”
Myo Narang’s face clouded with embarrassment.
“Unhak seems to still find us intimidating. At least he does what Ri Yeon tells him….”
“…I’ll sort him out properly.”
That damn punk.
I stuck him in the student council to fix his gynophobia, and now I could picture him trembling and unable to even talk to Myo Narang. A sigh escaped me involuntarily.
“Do your romance crap outside. What are you doing in front of an old man?”
“Ah, sorry.”
“Hehe, sorry, Grandpa.”
Under the Life and Death Divine Doctor’s eviction order, Myo Narang and I bowed and escaped the medicine hall.
We strolled silently through the now fully blooming garden for a bit, enjoying a moment of leisure.
“Back to the academy starting tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Then rest up today, Sect Leader. No work thoughts. Got it?”
“Yep.”
Why did that “Sect Leaaader~” tone always warm my heart while sending chills down my spine at the same time?
Contradictory sensations.
The night Geum Sihyeon returned.
Whoosh! Pop!
Today too, Cheon Luri brazenly scaled the wall.
“Hee hee.”
Lately, unsatisfied with Geum Sihyeon’s body, a little devilish smile flashed on her lips as she resolved to torment him double for the shortfall all night long.
But soon.
──! Jiggle!
With footsteps so light they defied onomatopoeia, the shaking of her inner energy pouch—the womanly organ most swayed by mass—rang out.
“Oh my, dear. Where are you off to?”
“Hmph…!”
An uninvited guest tagged along on Cheon Luri’s wall-climbing escapade.
Displeasure flickered subtly on Cheon Luri’s face.
“An unmarried girl like you sneaking over the wall at night—wouldn’t a mother naturally worry, Luri?”
“Mmm….”
Luri’s face twisted: smirking at “unmarried girl,” sulking at “mother would naturally worry”—a complex swirl of emotions.
Gazing at that awkward emotional vortex,
“Come on, come on. Onward ho?”
Cheon Yuri smiled and pushed Cheon Luri’s back.
“Hmph.”
Grumbling but determined to reach her goal, Cheon Luri stepped forward.
“…Why are you two here together?”
Suddenly hit with a mother-daughter house call, Geum Sihyeon blinked, wondering if he was seeing things.
Well, yeah.
To him, Luri looked like she was double-stacked with her mom in a bizarre overlap.
But the bewilderment was brief.
“….”
Trouble bloomed on Geum Sihyeon’s face.
“Hee.”
Luri, who looked underdeveloped rather than mature, climbed onto his lap without hesitation and leaned in.
“….”
No matter how you sliced it, she seemed 100% blood-related.
Yet Cheon Yuri’s lingering gaze—calling her “daughter” but not looking like she’d birthed her—was overwhelmingly burdensome.
“…Putting Luri aside, what brings the Cult Leader here?”
“Oh? Can’t I come?”
“Not that, but….”
“My girl’s sneaking over the wall at night, so I followed, worried she might get tangled in something shady. …Ah! Were you planning something shady, and did I ruin it?”
“…I swear on the Primordial Heavenly Lord, nothing like that has happened yet.”
“Ahaha!”
Cheon Yuri burst into innocent laughter.
And rightly so.
Yet?
That implied he’d make a move given the chance.
Funny invoking the Primordial Heavenly Lord when he practiced Daoist arts yet harbored killing intent.
“I noticed last time too, but you sure have a way with words.”
“…Thank you?”
He even had that teasing charm.
…The kind you wanted to keep around and poke at forever.
“Hmph.”
Glare──
Cheon Luri’s eyes stabbed toward Cheon Yuri for a split second.
“Aha.”
Though Cheon Yuri learned it first, Cheon Luri was a proper inheritor of Heart Moon Void Image Art.
She’d read the greed in that gaze.
Meeting it head-on, Cheon Yuri licked her lips lightly.
“Flirting’s fine, but… mm, Luri? I need to discuss something urgent with Geum Sihyeon here.”
“No── Ubhe──”
Luri, the main wife candidate, tried to refuse outright, but alas, her squishy cheeks muffled her protest.
“Is it about that incident?”
“Yes. I spoke with the former Alliance Leader too.”
“Sigh. You should’ve come in daylight.”
“Hmm? The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Leader boldly visiting Geumhyeon Sect’s Sect Leader in broad daylight?”
“…Welcome. Luri, that’s that.”
“Eeeek…!”
Geum Sihyeon scooped up the wriggling Luri—hands naturally under her armpits—and set her down outside the room, all while holding her.
Cheon Yuri watched with utter delight, beaming.
The girl had grown up without a father, unable to distinguish affection from possession.
She didn’t fully grasp her feelings as love yet—the poor thing.
Not very motherly, but….
Teaching her what jealousy was couldn’t hurt.
“Narang.”
“Oh! Luri, did you meet Sihyeon?”
“Hieeek…!”
Traumatized from last time’s breast squeeze, Dang Narin fled from Luri, but Cheon Luri paid it no mind.
Her gaze fixed solely on Myo Narang.
Since entering the Central Plains, excluding Geum Sihyeon, the one she trusted most.
The third authority in Luri linguistics.
Cheon Luri bounded to Myo Narang, grabbed her hand, and shot a serious look.
“What’s up?”
Facing Luri’s rough thoughts and anxious eyes head-on, Myo Narang first lifted her onto her thigh before asking.
Soon.
“Mom.”
“Bad.”
“Other person too.”
“Suspicious.”
“Geum Sihyeon.”
“Mine.”
Threading the fragmented Luri-ese words like beads.
“Mm… I figured he’d be popular, but lately it feels like the competition’s growing too indiscriminately….”
Geum Sihyeon’s daily share for Myo Narang had been shrinking by the day.
No incidents yet, but more rivals weren’t welcome.
So.
As future main wife, time for some firm sorting.
And.
Cheon Luri’s feelings ran deeper than expected—whether she realized it or not, it wasn’t the gaze of a young cult leader eyeing possessions… but a woman eyeing a man.
“Luri.”
“Yeah?”
“If I said I like Sihyeon a lot—a whole lot—what would you think?”
As her closest friend.
It was time to tie the knot and move on.