Chapter 21
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: An Unconventional Proposal
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“What?”
“But why?”
“For what reason?”
The three of them shot back, their eyes filled with disbelief.
But Dan Ak-seon’s reply left them speechless.
“If I choose one of you, the other two will be disappointed. I don’t want that. I prefer things as they are, with all of us together.”
The three of them couldn't believe it.
If they were to announce they were taking a disciple, the most talented prodigies in the world would come flocking. Their respective martial arts were all more than sufficient to elevate a practitioner to the pinnacle of the world, depending on their dedication.
But Dan Ak-seon had rejected them flat out.
They could only be bewildered.
It was then that Han Seol-hwa’s eyes sparkled. Dan Ak-seon looked at her with a curious gaze.
“Huh? You mean I can learn without becoming your disciple?”
The expressions on Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi’s faces hardened. They realized Han Seol-hwa had sent a telepathic message.
“Wait!”
“You wait too!”
Beom Gye-wi glared at Han Seol-hwa.
“What kind of trick are you pulling?”
Cho Ak-ryang’s face was also deeply creased in a frown.
“Are you out of your mind? You’re going to teach him your martial arts even if he’s not your disciple?”
Han Seol-hwa responded coldly.
“What’s the problem? I’ll teach the martial arts I created however I see fit.”
Beom Gye-wi tilted his head.
“Huh? Now that you mention it…?”
Then he nodded, as if it were no big deal.
“Come to think of it, you’re right. Why do we have to take him as a disciple?”
Cho Ak-ryang’s face was stern.
“That’s absurd! Have you no shame before your master?”
“Shame? My master only ever wanted one thing: for his art to be perfected. Doctor Dan is more than capable of doing that. My master would be thrilled, even in the afterlife.”
Left with nothing to say, Cho Ak-ryang found himself in a difficult position.
Han Seol-hwa pressed her advantage.
“You called him your savior, didn’t you? What’s so special about some martial art?”
“Some martial art?! It’s as precious as my own life!”
“And who was it that saved that life?”
“...!”
Beom Gye-wi chimed in.
“You know, she has a point. Brother Cho, I never took you for such a petty man.”
Suddenly labeled a petty man, Cho Ak-ryang was speechless. Meanwhile, Beom Gye-wi excitedly exclaimed.
“So, who do you want to learn from? Me or the witch? You don’t have to be a disciple.”
Cho Ak-ryang gritted his teeth.
“He doesn’t have to be my disciple either!”
In the end, Cho Ak-ryang abandoned his stubbornness. Arguing here somehow made him feel foolish for being so hung up on the master-disciple relationship.
For now, securing Dan Ak-seon was the priority.
“Then how about this?”
Sensing things couldn’t continue like this, Dan Ak-seon proposed a compromise.
“I’ll make my decision later, after careful consideration. For now, please give me some time to think. This is about my future, after all.”
It wasn't the answer they wanted, but the three reluctantly nodded. It was, at least, better than his initial refusal to learn at all.
Besides, they felt a little embarrassed.
They were, after all, renowned masters in the martial world.
To bicker like children in front of a young boy was unbecoming of their reputation.
Dan Ak-seon, on the other hand, was suppressing a smile. The decision was now his to make, whenever he pleased. In ten years, or even a hundred.
He believed he could maintain this good relationship until then.
But that was a naive thought.
Dan Ak-seon had overlooked the fact that he was dealing with hardened villains from the treacherous martial world.
In reality, the three of them were thinking something entirely different from Dan Ak-seon.
And so, the four of them were all on different pages.
* * *
That night.
Dan Ak-seon, who had been asleep, opened his eyes, feeling something strange.
A peculiar heat was stirring within him, and suddenly, his entire body began to grow hot.
“Huh?”
It was then that he noticed a large shadow looming over him.
He stared for a long time, relying on the faint moonlight seeping through the window.
“Mister Beom?”
Beom Gye-wi grinned and nodded.
“Yes, Doctor Dan. It’s me.”
“What are you doing…?”
“Shh. Don’t speak right now. Just relax and focus on the flow of your internal energy.”
The heat swirling inside his body pulsed once, then began to race through his energy channels at high speed.
For a long while, Beom Gye-wi carefully guided the energy of the Tri-Yang Cultivation Art he had infused into Dan Ak-seon. Once the guided energy completed a full cycle, it settled in Dan Ak-seon’s dantian.
Confirming this, Beom Gye-wi asked Dan Ak-seon.
“How is it? Can you remember the sequence of the flow?”
He had expected it to be difficult, but to his surprise, Dan Ak-seon nodded.
Beom Gye-wi asked again, his face a picture of astonishment.
“Really? After just one time?”
Dan Ak-seon slowly circulated the Tri-Yang Cultivation Art.
His internal energy was incomparably weaker than Beom Gye-wi’s, but its flow was precise, moving without obstruction along the correct path.
“Our Doctor Dan, you’re a true genius. It took even me, a supposed genius, more than five tries to memorize it…”
Beom Gye-wi looked at Dan Ak-seon with a proud expression.
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you the other martial arts whenever we have time.”
With those words, Beom Gye-wi turned to leave.
His movements were especially cautious, as if he were afraid of being discovered.
Because of this, Dan Ak-seon missed the chance to tell him about the two who had already visited.
The next morning.
The three began their breakfast with the herbs Dan Ak-seon had brought. However, the atmosphere was quite different from yesterday. An air of tranquility enveloped them, making it hard to believe they were the same people who had engaged in a fierce struggle the day before.
Beom Gye-wi, in particular, seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.
“Brother Cho, try this one. It’s actually edible.”
Though suspicious, Cho Ak-ryang accepted the herb with a smile.
“Thank you. You eat up as well.”
“You seem to be in a good mood today. I expected you to snap at me for being disgusting.”
“Well, there have to be days like this.”
Cho Ak-ryang replied with a smiling face.
He felt a pang of guilt for secretly teaching Dan Ak-seon his martial arts the night before without the other two knowing.
But Beom Gye-wi was in the same boat.
“By the way, what’s with your complexion? You look like you didn’t sleep a wink.”
At those words, Cho Ak-ryang flinched. But Beom Gye-wi didn't pay it much mind.
Instead, he turned his smile toward Han Seol-hwa.
“Witch, want one?”
“Sure, why not.”
Han Seol-hwa also accepted the herb Beom Gye-wi offered with surprising readiness. At this, Beom Gye-wi tilted his head.
‘What’s this? Something’s strange today.’
The other two felt the same way.
They couldn't quite put their finger on it, but the way they were treating each other was unusually suspicious.
An awkward silence surrounded them.
The one who broke it was none other than Dan Ak-seon.
After carefully observing Cho Ak-ryang’s complexion, Dan Ak-seon sighed and spoke.
“I told you last night. You pushed yourself too hard when your internal energy hasn’t even fully recovered.”
“...!”
Cho Ak-ryang flinched.
“You’re only at the stage where you can barely circulate your own energy, yet you performed an energy transfer to guide my qi… Mmph!”
Dan Ak-seon couldn't finish his sentence.
Cho Ak-ryang had clapped a hand over his mouth.
“No way.”
“Could it be?”
Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa asked, their faces filled with shock.
Glancing nervously at the two of them, Cho Ak-ryang gave a bitter smile. He was at a loss as to how he would answer their impending interrogation.
Finally, Cho Ak-ryang let out a sigh.
“I apologize to you both.”
But what could he do? The rice was already cooked.
The previous night, Cho Ak-ryang had passed on his Primordial Infinite True Energy to Dan Ak-seon.
And he had done so by personally guiding the energy through him.
Moreover, he had confirmed that Dan Ak-seon could successfully circulate the energy according to the incantations.
All that was left was to practice and refine it.
But then, a strange feeling crept over him.
The two, whom he had expected to lash out in anger and accuse him, were sitting there without a word.
And their pupils were trembling as if an earthquake had struck.
A sudden sense of foreboding washed over Cho Ak-ryang.
‘Don’t tell me…?’
Cho Ak-ryang looked at Dan Ak-seon.
“It’s not true, is it?”
“Pardon?”
As Dan Ak-seon asked back with a puzzled face, Cho Ak-ryang pressed him again.
“Did those two also visit you last night?”
Dan Ak-seon nodded readily.
“Auntie Han came first, then you, Mister Cho, and Mister Beom came last.”
“...!”
Cho Ak-ryang, flustered, gaped for a moment before shouting.
“You crazy bastards! Are you out of your minds? Are you trying to kill the kid? What if he fell into qi deviation?”
At Cho Ak-ryang’s accusation, a murderous glint flashed in Han Seol-hwa’s and Beom Gye-wi’s eyes.
Just as the three of them shot to their feet simultaneously.
“Please don’t fight. I don’t have enough internal energy to fall into qi deviation anyway.”
Dan Ak-seon calmly stopped the three of them.
“Now that I understand your internal arts, I think I have a much clearer picture of your conditions. It should help with the treatment as well.”
“Huu…”
Cho Ak-ryang let out a sigh and sat back down.
“Whatever you do, don’t try to circulate the internal arts together. Your energy channels will surely become twisted.”
“Don’t worry. I’m a physician, remember? Would I do something that would harm my own body? More importantly, I just had an interesting idea.”
The remaining two then sat down as well.
“Let’s all research it together.”
“Research? You mean research martial arts?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Dan Ak-seon’s eyes sparkled.
“Auntie is extreme yin, while Mister Beom is the opposite, extreme yang. Because of this, the balance of yin and yang in your bodies is broken. Mister Cho is completely different from you two. His internal art is fundamentally well-balanced. If we study all three martial arts together, it will not only help with your treatments but will surely be effective in advancing your martial arts as well.”
The three of them were speechless for a long moment.
It was a method they had never once considered.
The reason was obvious. What martial artist would go around revealing their secret techniques to others? If they did, there would be no reason for the martial world to be so divided into different sects and factions in the first place.
Dan Ak-seon’s words were absurd from the start.
“Doctor Dan…”
For a rare moment, Dan Ak-seon cut Cho Ak-ryang off.
“My mother and father were the same. They acknowledged each other’s skills but never tried to exchange their medical knowledge. The paths they had walked were too different. But then, one day, a patient appeared whom they couldn’t cure.”
“A patient the Divine Physician and the Demonic Physician couldn’t cure?”
“His chronic illness was deep-seated, and he was also poisoned. He fell into qi deviation after trying to force the poison out.”
“That would be difficult.”
“But they saved him. It was the first time the two of them treated a patient together.”
“Ah!”
“They argued a lot, but they treated him by discussing and sharing their experiences. And that patient made a full recovery.”
They knew very well what Dan Ak-seon was trying to say.
How could they not? But they also knew that in the end, such arrangements fall apart because problems arise when someone feels even slightly short-changed.
In the end, it was a matter of respect and trust…
‘Neither of them is normal, but their martial arts are quite useful.’
‘They’re both crazy, but their martial arts are… something else.’
‘They’re both idiots, but…’
The first to agree was Beom Gye-wi.
“If Doctor Dan says so, we should do it!”
Han Seol-hwa also agreed after a moment of thought.
“If it will help, I’ll do it.”
Cho Ak-ryang’s hesitation was the deepest, but he too could not bring himself to reject Dan Ak-seon’s opinion.
“Then we’ll all research martial arts together!”
At Dan Ak-seon’s joyful voice, Cho Ak-ryang smiled quietly. Then, a question arose.
“So, you plan to research them and learn the best internal art?”
“No.”
Dan Ak-seon said with a smile.
“I’m going to learn the internal art we create together.”
The three were momentarily at a loss for words.
“That’s not just research. You’re talking about creating a new martial art.”
“With the level of your martial arts, shouldn’t it be possible? I can help too.”
Dan Ak-seon’s expression held not a shred of doubt.
“And if we fail to create one…?”
For the first time, Dan Ak-seon answered with resolve.
“I won’t learn any martial arts.”