Mad Laughter Pill
Geukseon fixed the man in front of her with an icy, murderous stare.
Wow. Cold. Fierce. Terrifying.
I’ll say it as many times as it takes: Geukseon really needs to learn the Ice Soul Divine Art.
At this point, I should probably appoint her as an honorary envoy of the Ice Palace and let her start learning already.
I even know the manual in full—should I just teach it to her? Then would the Ice Palace come storming over like, “You bastard!” and drag me away?
Anyway, even with Geukseon glaring at him like that, the man in front of us didn’t so much as blink.
He simply sat there looking unnatural, his pressure points still not fully released.
Thanks to that, I’d caught a bit of an earful from the Murim Alliance’s Medicine Hall Lord. What in the world had I done, he’d demanded.
Dang Cheong-o, the Medicine Hall Lord of the Alliance. By blood, he was about the fifth cousin once removed of Dang Yeong-young—a wizened old man.
As expected of someone from the Dang Clan, he’d managed to unseal the man’s pressure points somehow. Not completely, though.
At least he’d opened the speech point, so the man could talk.
But even with Geukseon staring him down, the man said nothing.
Well, of course he wouldn’t.
Threats didn’t work. Bribes obviously didn’t work either.
And since his body still wasn’t fully free, he couldn’t kill himself.
Bitten-tongue suicide was practically impossible, especially with a safeguard set to prevent it.
But that didn’t mean there was anything we could do to him.
Torture might have been one option, but this was the Murim Alliance—the center of the orthodox faction.
Which meant we couldn’t just go around torturing people. If matters truly went south, maybe we could, but the cost of that would be far too great.
So Geukseon could only glare.
And the man could meet her gaze without a care in the world.
He’d been captured, yet he was untouchable. Worse, if we accidentally killed him, the loss would be ours.
A deadlock. No way forward.
So I carefully asked the Murim Alliance patrol hall lord standing beside me, “What do you usually do in situations like this?”
The patrol hall lord gave me a slightly troubled look and said, “It’s a bit sensitive to explain to a young lady.”
“You mean you can’t torture him?”
“Not torture, no, but there are methods that produce similar effects. Still, for someone that stubborn, I doubt even those would be very effective.”
What could they be? Now I was curious.
But it didn’t seem like he was going to tell me, so I gave up on asking further.
“Um, excuse me.”
Then Dang Yeong-young spoke up before the gathered crowd.
Since her fifth-cousin uncle was the Medicine Hall Lord, and since she herself was a member of the Dang Clan, and because this whole matter involved me, she’d come to attend.
“Yeong-ah. This is not a place for you to speak carelessly.”
“Even if I have a good method?”
Dang Cheong-o, the Medicine Hall Lord, said that, but Dang Yeong-young was the sort of child who never listened to adults.
Besides, once she mentioned a good method, everyone in the room couldn’t help but pay attention.
“Lady Dang. You said you had a good method?”
The patrol hall lord in charge of the proceedings spoke, and Dang Yeong-young took that as permission and answered at once.
“Isn’t the point to make him want to talk without harming him?”
“Easy enough to say.”
“I’ll make it happen.”
“And you can do that?”
“Yes.”
She said it with the utmost confidence.
At that self-assured expression, everyone around us was practically dying of curiosity.
“Uncle. Do you have white calcium fungu and powder from the Cloud-Spirit Worm?”
At her words, the Medicine Hall Lord’s brow furrowed.
No, wait. Why is he making that face? He seems to know something.
“Yeong-ah. Could it be…?”
“You don’t have them? Then I’ll have to go get them.”
“The Cloud-Spirit Worm powder… that much can be obtained. But you know the white calcium fungu isn’t something that can be casually collected, don’t you? Even herb gatherers won’t touch it.”
“I thought you’d have it, Uncle Dang. If not, it can’t be helped. Uncle, could you tell the Alliance Lord for me? That I’ll be leaving the Alliance briefly for foraging purposes.”
“You’re trying to make Mad Laughter Pill, aren’t you? If so, you’ll need more than just those things….”
“You’ll have the rest, won’t you? You’re the Medicine Hall of the Murim Alliance, after all.”
“That may be true, but—”
“Then that settles it. So please speak to the Alliance Lord for me.”
“Even so, that will be difficult. Not only because of the Mad Laughter Pill, but because I doubt the Alliance Lord will readily approve your temporary release from confinement. So….”
Then Dang Yeong-young stepped closer and whispered something into the Medicine Hall Lord’s ear.
I was close enough to catch a bit of it, but I couldn’t make out the details.
Something about giving him something, maybe?
“Ahem. In that case, I’ll have no choice but to speak to the Alliance Lord myself. Very well. Wait here a moment. Patrol Hall Lord, today’s proceedings can probably be broken off. A solution has come to me.”
And just like that, the man was taken back to the Alliance’s prison.
We returned to our quarters as well.
Except Geukseon, Baek Jin-ah, and Dang Yeong-young didn’t head back to their own rooms—they came with me to mine.
Apparently they were worried about me. I mean, fair enough.
“But Yeong-young. What was that thing you mentioned earlier? Some kind of… fungus? And Mad Laughter Pill? What kind of name is that?”
“White calcium fungu is… hmm. It’s a mushroom that looks like a dog’s leg with white spots on it. And the Mad Laughter Pill is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a medicine that makes you laugh and cry like a lunatic.”
“…And then?”
Something was coming back to me. If I was right about this, the effect that followed would probably be similar too.
“Once they’re drained like that, they start hallucinating. They lose their reason and become obedient to outside stimuli.”
Ha. So it’s basically a drug, isn’t it? Is she insane?
“Is that okay? You can really use something like that?”
“It’s the Dang Clan.”
With those words, Dang Yeong-young neatly crushed any objections.
I’m losing it. What kind of image has the Sichuan Dang Clan built for itself in this world?
Fine. Drugs are medicine too, technically. Medicine, yes. And I do know that some narcotics have strong analgesic effects, so they’re used as pharmaceuticals.
Opium poppy, maybe? That sort of thing. I know that much.
But this still feels off. A confession drug? Something like that?
No matter how you slice it, she was planning to drug someone and force a confession out of him.
I’ll admit it’s efficient. But does that actually get approved?
The Alliance Lord has approved it. Lady Dang is hereby granted temporary release from confinement.
Some time later, a maid came and delivered that message.
Good heavens. It got approved? So this is what Murim is like—utterly incomprehensible!
Was it the Murim Alliance that was absurd? The Medicine Hall Lord? Or was it the Dang Clan?
“Then I’ll be off. Lady Baek, would you like to come with me?”
“How could I possibly let you go out again when I don’t know what might happen? Absolutely not.”
Geukseon said it, and Dang Yeong-young didn’t seem to have high hopes either, because she accepted it immediately.
“How long will it take?”
“Who knows? If you’re lucky, not even an hour. If you’re unlucky, it could take a full day. Still, it shouldn’t take too long.”
“I see. Be careful and come back.”
With that, Dang Yeong-young gave a little bow and headed out at once to find that whatever-it-was mushroom.
After she left, a slight silence hung in the room.
I’d already told Geukseon and Baek Jin-ah everything that had happened, so I guessed they were gathering around me because they were worried.
So, to change the mood a bit, I asked something I’d been curious about.
“Senior.”
“Speak.”
“Could you take a look at this?”
As I said that, I lightly gathered the Ice Soul Divine Art in my right hand and the Purple Sunset Divine Art in my left.
I couldn’t gather too much. So, just like before, I only drew up a little.
Then I brought the two energies together at my fingertips and gently made them touch in front of the two of them.
Bang! A shockwave burst outward.
This time I’d gathered a bit more than before, so the force was enough to send hair whipping back.
Geukseon’s eyes widened. And Baek Jin-ah wore much the same expression.
“What do you think?”
“You… what on earth….”
“Harin? How….”
“Mm. So, it’s like the union of yin and yang, right? Ah—wait. Maybe not exactly?”
At my mention of the union of yin and yang, Geukseon and Baek Jin-ah both looked a little embarrassed.
Right. That phrase had a different meaning too. I could understand why they’d react like that.
“Anyway, it seems like this phenomenon is caused by the collision between the yin of the Ice Soul Divine Art and the yang of the Purple Sunset Divine Art. Do you have any idea what it might be?”
When I asked again, Geukseon pulled herself out of her embarrassment and fell into thought.
“Hmm. I’ve never seen anything like it either. Still, isn’t that only natural? Who in their right mind would learn a yin art and a yang art at the same time?”
At Geukseon’s words, Baek Jin-ah nodded too.
Well, yes. It didn’t make sense. Those were two completely opposite, perfectly incompatible martial arts.
It was only because I was built on a game system that this was even possible; for any other martial artist, the process of learning them would have been impossible from the start.
It was honestly strange that they weren’t clashing inside my body right now.
“Then is there anyone who might know about this kind of phenomenon?”
“Didn’t I just say it? Who would have done such a thing? Still….”
Geukseon trailed off, lost in thought, and then called for the maid outside.
When the maid came in, Geukseon spoke to her.
“Immediately send a letter to Wudang. It’s urgent, so use a homing pigeon. The recipient is Wudang’s Hyeonseong. Tell him to come to the Alliance without delay as soon as he receives it. Just include my name.”
The maid answered that she understood and went back out.
“Wudang? Wudang Sect?”
“Yes. If anyone has delved into the mysteries of Taiji, wouldn’t they know something about this?”
“Ah….”
“At the latest, he’ll arrive in three days. If he’s quick, it’ll be two. So let’s ask him when he comes. But….”
“Yes, Senior.”
“How much larger can it get?”
Geukseon’s face was full of curiosity.
That was right. Geukseon was a martial artist—someone worthy of being called the strongest woman under heaven.
So it was only natural that she’d be curious about a phenomenon she’d never seen before.
“That man from earlier.”
“Yes. Go on.”
“He’s at the Hwagyeong realm, isn’t he?”
“He is.”
“His arm was broken, but he still couldn’t avoid what I did and ended up rolling on the floor.”
At that, a smile spread across Geukseon’s face.
“But… that wasn’t even the full force.”
The smile deepened even further. I could guess what she was thinking.
“Would you like to see it yourself? Shall I try it at full power?”
“Wasn’t that obvious!?”
Geukseon shot to her feet.
She looked ready to go see it this instant.
I knew it. This was exactly how she’d react. Right—Geukseon would never pass up something like this.
If she ever did, then she wouldn’t be Geukseon at all. She’d be a reptilian pretending to be Geukseon.