Chapter 197. The Living Buddha of Gangbuk (2)
Judging by the bandages wrapped tightly around him, it wasn't an ordinary injury.
The important thing was that someone had bandaged him and treated both that person and himself.
'Does even the afterlife have physicians?'
Se Jaeo shook his head at the question that arose in his mind.
As he lay there shaking his head, Se Jaeo realized his body moved smoothly.
"This is definitely the land of the living..."
Trailing off, he rose from his spot and began inspecting the room.
The room was filled with expensive-looking scrolls and ceramics.
Born into a merchant family, Se Jaeo instinctively began calculating their value.
Once the calculation was done, Se Jaeo let out a sigh.
"Phew, that's a relief."
What he found relieving was the thought that the afterlife couldn't possibly have such costly items.
And anyone who collected such valuables wouldn't harm him, he was sure of it.
Just as Se Jaeo was about to exhale in relief—
The door opened.
Creak.
A child with a soot-blackened face entered.
Se Jaeo's eyes widened in an instant.
"Reaper of the afterlife?"
The child looked baffled.
"Mister Volcanic, why don't you recognize me?"
Se Jaeo tilted his head.
It was unmistakably Seol-hwa's voice.
But the soot-black face was nothing like Seol-hwa's.
Come to think of it... her clothes were odd too.
The front was strangely charred black, while the back remained pristine white.
Then Jang Ja-myeong entered.
As he wiped the soot from Seol-hwa's face, he cried out in a voice thick with near-tears.
"Seol-hwa! Didn't I tell you not to touch the medicine? Last time you just burned the herbs, but this time you nearly torched the whole house, heh heh."
"Sorry, Doctor Uncle. I thought I should brew the medicine for Mister Volcanic myself."
At their exchange, Se Jaeo turned his head.
Confirming he was safe and that his comrades were here, his attention shifted to the figure wrapped head to toe in bandages nearby.
"Could it be... Sa Gongja..."
Se Jaeo couldn't continue.
He grasped the situation roughly.
If Sa Gongja had used his innate qi to heal him, he wouldn't have emerged unscathed from the poison qi.
Se Jaeo sprang from the bed and rushed to the bandaged figure.
"Sa Gongja! Sa Gongja!"
Frantic, Se Jaeo searched for Han Bin.
Then—
Someone called from behind.
"Brother Se, why are you looking for me?"
Se Jaeo tilted his head again. It was definitely Han Bin's voice.
He whipped around to see Han Bin standing there, arms crossed, looking baffled as he stared back.
Se Jaeo felt the same.
Then who was this bandaged figure lying there?
As the thought hit him, fear sprouted in Se Jaeo's chest.
It wasn't Han Bin, but someone he knew must be inside those bandages.
Who?
Se Jaeo shook his head.
He didn't want to lose anyone from Cheonsu Manor.
But moments later, he stopped shaking his head.
Jang Ja-myeong was approaching the bandaged patient from behind.
Jang Ja-myeong glanced at Han Bin and said,
"His condition looks stable enough to unwrap the bandages, Sa Gongja."
"Yes, I'll leave that to your judgment, Physician Jang."
"Then..."
Jang Ja-myeong stepped up to the bandaged figure.
He carefully examined the body covered in bandages.
His hand went to the head.
At the crown of the head—the baihui acupoint—a silver needle was embedded.
Jang Ja-myeong extracted the silver needle from the baihui point.
That was the beginning.
Hidden by the bandages, there were quite a few silver needles.
Jang Ja-myeong began removing them in sequence.
The extracted needles were placed on a tray Seol-hwa held.
Plink. Plink.
His speed was so swift it sounded like rain pattering down.
Once all the silver needles were out, a groan leaked from between the bandages.
"Nngh."
At the groan, Jang Ja-myeong smiled with satisfaction.
"He's alive."
Muttering to himself, he glanced at Han Bin.
Their eyes met, and Han Bin nodded.
Jang Ja-myeong wiped the sweat from his brow and continued.
"Now, I'll unwrap the bandages."
With that, he slowly began peeling them away.
Inside the bandages, sticky black fluid occasionally came into view.
Finally, the face emerged.
Seeing it, Se Jaeo tilted his head.
It wasn't the face he knew.
A youthful face like Seol-hwa's, with baby-soft pale skin.
The hair was completely gone, evoking the image of a Shaolin novice monk.
Se Jaeo, still tilting his head, blurted out,
"Who is this child?"
He'd asked Jang Ja-myeong, but the physician was focused on removing the remaining bandages.
He checked the inside of each layer before proceeding to the next, apparently inspecting for lingering poison qi.
Han Bin answered Se Jaeo's question.
"The child Brother Se saved. Well, precisely, you put in about thirty percent of the effort to rescue him."
"I saved him? What do you mean, Sa Gongja? And what's this about thirty percent?"
Se Jaeo stared at the child, baffled.
Han Bin shrugged at the sight.
"The treatment isn't fully done yet, so let's talk later, Brother Se."
At Han Bin's response, Se Jaeo was struck dumb, like a man with a mouthful of honey.
He realized this was a treatment in progress.
His words could interfere.
A short while later.
Se Jaeo had changed clothes and was now seated in a room more luxurious than the sickroom.
This was none other than the Gong Son Sega's guest hall.
After the fierce battle in front of the inn.
Uncertain if poison qi lingered, they had stayed at the Gong Son Sega for the time being.
Before Se Jaeo sat a teacup wafting a rich aroma.
Of course, Han Bin sat across from him.
Gazing at the steaming teacup, Se Jaeo sighed.
The last thing he remembered before blacking out was a hellish scene of people dying.
Yet here he was with a teacup before him, making it all feel like a nightmare from his slumber.
Moistening his lips with the tea, Se Jaeo asked,
"Was it really you who saved me, Sa Gongja?"
He wasn't doubting it.
A smile spread across Han Bin's lips at the question.
"Yes, it was."
"Why did you save me?"
"Would you just watch a comrade die? Brother Se, you had a chance to flee Jangun-hyeon but stayed and fought alongside us."
"Ah..."
Se Jaeo let out an exclamation.
To anyone watching, he'd only stayed because Han Bin had grabbed his ankle when he tried to run.
Before his exclamation faded, Han Bin continued.
"Subordinates are family, disciples are family, comrades are family."
"So I'm a comrade?"
"Or are you an enemy?"
"Heh heh."
Se Jaeo burst into hearty laughter.
Matching his laugh, Han Bin pressed on.
"I've entrusted you with my most important task, Brother Se. And you've held my most precious possession. If that's not comrades, what is it?"
Finishing, Han Bin regarded Se Jaeo with a kind, affable face.
Se Jaeo met his gaze.
Their eyes locked over the table.
It was a pure gaze, devoid of any ulterior motive.
In that instant, memories of his time with Han Bin flashed through Se Jaeo's mind like a lantern show.
Every single event confirmed they were comrades.
Se Jaeo had acted as mediator at the Henan Jeong Family.
And Han Bin had taken—er, held—his Plum Blossom Token and Plum Blossom Three Classics.
Well, more like seized them.
The token was still in Seol-hwa's hands, of course.
In a low voice, Se Jaeo said,
"Comrades? So you shared your innate qi..."
Trailing off, he rose abruptly.
And suddenly knelt on one knee before Han Bin.
Caught off guard, Han Bin also stood.
"What are you doing, Brother Se?"
"I sincerely thank you for your benevolence, Sa Gongja. I, Se Jaeo, will never forget this grace, nor will the Volcanic Sect forget the one who saved its Plum Blossom Sword Scholar."
Se Jaeo's tone brimmed with newfound respect, unlike before.
Finishing, he rose.
Han Bin stared at him, baffled, then said,
"Didn't I say we're comrades, Brother Se?"
"Comrades don't share innate qi. Isn't that right, Sa Gongja?"
Se Jaeo shifted to a casual tone.
But his expression toward Han Bin remained earnest.
At those words, Han Bin recalled the events from two days ago.
It wasn't his innate qi that saved the poison-ravaged Se Jaeo.
It was a stance from the Yongrin Sword Art: Return of the Dying.
Just like when he'd saved the Huangbo family's young master.
The issue was that Return of the Dying could only save those worth saving.
That was the tricky part.
Leave thirty percent of the poison qi?
That was as good as leaving it all.
Like pure water tainted by ink.
With thirty percent remaining, it could never return to purity.
So Han Bin had driven that thirty percent straight to the heart.
Then jammed in five doses of antidote.
Seven would be overkill—six might work, but it risked deflating him like a punctured leather ball.
In Han Bin's judgment, five was perfect.
The result spoke for itself: Se Jaeo, chatting fit as a fiddle.
The awakened Se Jaeo seemed to mistake the Return of the Dying stance for Han Bin's innate qi.
Han Bin wasn't one to correct such a convenient misunderstanding.
With his affable face, Han Bin replied,
"What's innate qi, anyway? Brother Se."
"..."
Se Jaeo was speechless.
Using innate qi to heal him must have set Han Bin's martial arts back at least a decade.
Yet he spoke as if it were nothing...
Se Jaeo bowed his head deeply.
Han Bin waved it off.
"It's all in the past."
"I'll repay this grace someday."
"Sure, keep that in mind. Better yet, put it in writing later."
Se Jaeo's eyes widened at Han Bin's words.
But then he remembered one lingering question.
"Who was that child earlier? And what do you mean I saved him?"
"Oh, it's not that big a deal. When I was saving you, Brother Se, the child was clinging to your ankle. So I ended up treating him too."
"Heh heh."
"You seem curious about the child... He's Cheong Yeon, disciple of Cheon Dok."
"Ch-Cheon Dok's disciple?"
Recalling the scene from two days ago, Se Jaeo stuttered unwittingly.
"The one who stabbed Cheon Dok in the throat at the end was Cheong Yeon."
"Didn't that child lose his vitality? How on earth..."
"Well, a bit of the innate qi I shared with you must have flowed into him, creating this serendipity."
"Then because of me, you..."
Se Jaeo stared at Han Bin in bewilderment.
If he'd used innate qi not just for him but also for this Cheong Yeon, Han Bin might have lost his martial arts entirely—not just a decade.
With a faint smile, Han Bin continued.
"It's all heaven's will."
Finishing, he rose.
Se Jaeo rubbed his eyes, watching Han Bin leave.
He'd seen the compassion of Avalokiteshvara in Han Bin.
Even after Han Bin departed, that image lingered in Se Jaeo's eyes.
Se Jaeo sincerely repented his past misconceptions about Han Bin and quietly pressed his palms together in prayer.
Then, with a warm smile, he gazed at the sky outside the window.
"Primordial Heavenly Venerable..."
A few days later.
Han Bin and the Red Blood Alliance Tiger Squad members returned to the inn.
Upon arrival, the squad members' jaws dropped.
The merchants of Jangun-hyeon were lined up in front of the inn.