Inevitability - 6
No matter how grueling the night, morning always comes.
The bandits' trap, Dang Geoho's appearance, the sudden raid by the Demonic Cult, the battle itself. It had been a brutal night — but fortune had smiled on us enough to let us see the morning sun.
And of course, there was no need to say that Hwarin had been the four-leaf clover that brought us that luck.
"Antidote! We need antidotes!"
"Come here."
Was it the power of a Dokin? Hwarin touched the poisoned victims a few times, then drew the toxins out of their bodies as casually as a mutant bending iron at will.
"Good heavens…"
"So this is a Dokin."
"They weren't just a legend after all?"
Even I found it incredible, and I barely knew anything about poison arts. How much more astonishing must it have been for people who actually worked with toxins for a living?
The Medical Pavilion members stared at Hwarin with the same stunned, disbelieving faces you'd wear watching the friend you were certain would die a virgin stroll into a gathering with a stunning girlfriend on his arm.
"Over here! We need bandages!"
"Yes! Coming!"
I tore my eyes away from Hwarin's miraculous display and hurried between the wounded.
"We'll take it from here. Please rest."
As I bustled around checking on the Medical Pavilion people, the members who had managed to pull themselves together began tending to the more critically injured.
"If there's anything else I can do, just say the word."
I touched the spot one of the men had treated for me, my face apologetic.
"The lightly wounded have already been seen to. From here on, it's better if those who know medicine work in sync with each other. You've been up all night — rest for a while."
Right. These were Medical Pavilion people who could heal themselves. Offering to help with medicine in front of them was about as useful as a civilian wandering into an operating room.
"Understood. Call me anytime if you need me again."
Not wanting to get in their way, I found a seat a short distance off — close enough to spring back into action the moment I was needed.
"Resting?"
While I sat staring blankly at the Medical Pavilion members, Hwarin appeared in front of me. So she was done, then.
"Yeah."
"I'm resting too."
With that, she sat down right beside me.
There were plenty of other places to sit — why glue herself to my side? I considered telling her to scoot over, then decided against it. Mentally and physically, she had to be exhausted. No point poking at her temper.
We watched the Medical Pavilion people bustling about in silence. The quiet was getting awkward. I should say something.
"So you became a Dokin?"
Everyone had already figured it out, but I tossed it out the way you'd start a conversation by remarking that the weather was nice.
"Yeah."
Hwarin looked at me and gave a small nod.
"Is your skin okay? When a friend of mine became a Dokin, their skin would sometimes crumple or melt away."
Thinking of the original Dang Hwarin, I looked at her with genuine worry.
"It was already messed up to begin with."
She answered with her lower lip pushed out a little, as if she had a complaint.
"No, that's not what I meant…"
Skin talk was apparently not weather-level safe conversation. But what was I supposed to do when I was worried?
"I-if you want to check, then check."
Hwarin glanced down at her own chest — something she could see just by tipping her head a little. What? Surely she wasn't telling me to undo her collar and inspect her.
Common sense said she just meant check her skin. The real problem was that filthy mind of mine. One stray glance and rational thought went right out the window.
"Looks fine to me."
I said, rolling up her sleeve to look at the exposed skin.
"Haaah."
Hwarin let out a sigh, studying me and the skin revealed under my hand with a complicated expression.
"Now that I look at you, your face seems better too."
Up close, the difference was clear. The blotches hadn't vanished, of course. But compared to before we'd set out, she definitely looked improved.
"Really?"
Color visibly returned to Hwarin's face at my words.
"If you put on a little makeup, guys would be lining up to hit on you."
It would take some work at the vanity, sure. But I guaranteed it. Back in college I'd once accidentally seen a junior's bare face — under that pretty exterior had been a battlefield of acne scars.
A sad memory floated up out of nowhere. She'd shown me her bare face without a care, so I'd thought, Wow, she's even willing to show me her unfiltered self. Is this a green light? I'd gotten my hopes up for nothing.
The second a slightly better-looking guy showed up, she'd panicked, ducked her head, and bolted. I hadn't been a green light. I'd been completely off her radar.
"You too?"
While I was lost in that miserable recollection, Hwarin lifted her head and looked up at me.
"Huh?"
"You too?"
"Uh? Y-yeah."
I stammered out a vague answer, flustered.
"What? What's with that wishy-washy reaction?"
That was a flustered reaction. Why was she suddenly like this?
The old green-light detector I'd once used to gauge interest from women flickered back to life for the first time in ages. Of course, every time it had ever lit up green, the accuracy rate had been a perfect zero percent, so it was useless.
Maybe a single night packed with disasters had just worn her out, body and soul.
"The enemy could strike again at any moment! Move faster!"
While I was still trying to figure out how to answer, Uigakju's roar cut through the air. It was a miracle the man was even alive with those wounds — and here he was, still directing the whole operation.
"Young Lady Hwarin. Given the circumstances, I'm afraid we won't be able to bring your mother with us."
As Hwarin and I looked toward Uigakju, one of the members approached with an apologetic air to inform her about the disposition of her mother's body.
"It's fine. Please handle her the same as the others."
"Yes. Then we'll cremate her along with the other Medical Pavilion members."
The member nodded and returned to his post.
"You going to be okay?"
I asked Hwarin, who was silently tracking the departing member with her eyes.
"…I can't become a burden."
She muttered, sounding depressed.
I had nothing to say. No matter how bad their relationship had been, watching your own mother die right in front of you had to be a shock. A clumsy word of comfort could just as easily cut deeper.
While I was fretting over what to do for her, I felt a weight settle on my shoulder. Instinctively — the way you'd dodge a drunk uncle's head flopping onto you on the subway — I gave my shoulder a little shrug to shake it off.
Hwarin shot me a piercing glare. Sorry. I'd never had this kind of experience before. I tilted my body slightly and made room on my shoulder for her.
Hwarin rested her head against the now-unprotected shoulder again.
"Hang in there."
"I'm not sad, exactly. I just feel weird. Those bastards turned my whole life into garbage."
"From now on, only good things are going to happen."
Should I pat her? I carefully reached out and wrapped my arm around her other shoulder. I felt her shoulder tremble a little, as if she found it awkward too — but thankfully, she didn't pull away.
"Ahem."
"Ah, youth."
"This is almost enough to make a man cry."
The Medical Pavilion members coughed awkwardly and kept sneaking glances our way.
Realizing they'd heard the whole conversation made me burn with embarrassment. Hwarin must have heard them too — she startled and put a little distance between us.
"Hwarin."
Partly to clear the heavy, awkward air, I decided to ask her something I'd been dying to know.
"Yeah?"
"About that Poison Kill Space earlier—"
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
The instant the words left my mouth, Hwarin let out a pterodactyl shriek and shot straight up off the ground.
"Pfft—!"
I couldn't hold it in. Looking at Hwarin's bright-red face, there was no way I was keeping a straight face.
"D-don't laugh!"
"Hahaha!"
Folks, let me tell you about Hwarin. So she used Poison Kill Space, right?
"Yaaaaaah! Stop laaaaughing!"
Hwarin grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently. My head flopped around like one of those dancing balloon figures outside a newly opened store while I kept howling with laughter.
"Ugh. I should just die."
When I still wouldn't stop laughing, Hwarin muttered it with a soul-leaving-her-body look on her face. After everything it took to stay alive, dying was not an option.
I forced the laughter down and spoke to her properly.
"Hwarin, you were seriously amazing. The martial art you unleashed was way cooler than anything I'd ever imagined."
"R-really? It was cool?"
The corners of Hwarin's mouth started creeping upward. Yeah. Anyone with eyes could see it had been an incredible moment. She probably wanted to brag about that technique herself, honestly.
"I just never expected you to do the line too."
"Uuuuugh!"
Hwarin's face went redder and redder. The way she squirmed at the mention of her dark history was adorable. Almost enough to make me want to tease her a little more.
"I was too far away to hear it properly. Want to say that line for me again, right here?"
"Yunho. Do you actually want to die?!"
"By Poison Kill Space?"
"Yaaaaaah!"
"Hahahahaha!"
"Ahem."
Just as Hwarin's relentless shaking was about to launch my neck into satellite orbit, the Medical Pavilion members approached us.
"Is something the matter?"
"Young Lady Hwarin. The martial art you used just now — was that a technique of our Dang Clan?"
One of the members asked on behalf of the group.
"It's a technique Yunho and I created together."
"Then you truly used the Poison Kill Space from Dangga Pungun?"
"Ugh… Yes."
Hwarin nodded, looking a little embarrassed. The crowd around us immediately began to stir.
"I told you I was right! I definitely heard it!"
"So it was a real technique all along!"
"Young Lady Hwarin! The moment you shouted Poi! Son! Kill! Space! I knew victory was ours!"
"Young Lady Dang is none other than Dang Jeong herself reborn!"
"If Poison Kill Space was a technique you prepared together, then was that final move something you saved for Volume Three?"
"N-no, that's—"
Hwarin looked thoroughly flustered, clearly unused to this kind of fervor.
The members paid no attention to her reaction and kept calling out to her from the depths of their collective ecstasy.
"That line you shouted so boldly in front of the Demonic Cult! Could you please say Dang Jeong's line for us one more time?"
"I nearly wept when I heard it. Please, let us hear it again."
"Urgh…"
She could have just refused — but she didn't seem used to receiving this much positive attention in front of a crowd.
"W-welcome… to my Poison Kill Space."
And just like that, she updated her dark history on the spot.
"Oooooooh!"
"Poi! Son! Kill! Space!"
"Hwarin! Do the one that goes, I am the butterfly that walks in darkness. Welcome to my Poison Kill Space!"
Hwarin. If you're going to update the dark history anyway, you might as well upgrade it while you're at it.
"Oh, that line is magnificent! Did Author Hopil write it especially for Young Lady Dang Hwarin?"
"Yes! That line suits Hwarin perfectly!"
"I completely agree!"
"Dangga Pungun! Dangga Pungun!"
"Poison Kill Space!"
"Poi! Son! Kill! Space!"
"I swear I'm going to kill every last one of you!"
In the end, Hwarin couldn't take it anymore and exploded.
Once the cleanup was well underway, Uigakju approached Hwarin.
"May I examine you?"
He asked, apparently wanting to check the condition of the newly made Dokin.
"Yes."
When Hwarin held out her wrist, Uigakju took her pulse.
Only a brief moment. He had barely begun reading her pulse when his face suddenly turned grave.
"Th-this is—?! Bring me those medicinal herbs over there at once!"
"What's going on?"
What now? I asked him immediately.
"Child. Quickly — sit in the lotus position and look inward."
Uigakju ignored my question entirely and spoke to Hwarin in an urgent voice.
"What? O-okay."
Hwarin looked bewildered, but she sat in the lotus position at once and closed her eyes.
"Everyone, withdraw fifty paces immediately!"
At Uigakju's shout, every member nearby scrambled back to put distance between themselves and her. Had something gone wrong?
"Huh?"
As if realizing something, Hwarin snapped her eyes wide open while still seated and stared at Uigakju.
"This is no time to be startled! Child! Draw the poison qi out to one side!"
"I can't!"
Hwarin cried in a desperate voice.
"Is it impossible? If the poison qi won't move under the pull of the Poison Core, then bind as much of it to the core as you can! Quickly!"
"Yes!"
Hwarin closed her eyes again, still in the lotus position.
Was there a problem with the poison qi? Had she not become a complete Dokin after all?
A heavy silence pressed down around her. How much time passed? Hwarin opened her eyes with a sorrowful face and searched for someone.
She found me among the crowd and gave me a sad little smile.
"Yunho… I'm sorry. I think I failed too."
Then she collapsed where she sat.
"Hwarin!"
"It's still dangerous! Do not come any closer!"
"What on earth is happening?!"
She'd been fine just a second ago. Why was she collapsing?! I barely managed to stop myself from rushing to her and shouted at Uigakju instead.
Uigakju looked at the two of us with a grim expression, then finally spoke.
"Right now. To save this child — we must go to the Sichuan Dang Clan."