Chapter 44
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: A Cure Too Costly
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“Could that be…”
Sa Mu-sim’s eyes trembled violently.
It was unmistakably the wooden box he had been searching for so desperately.
Unconsciously, Sa Mu-sim strode toward Dan Ak-seon.
His eyes, which had been timid from watching Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi, now flickered with an intense desire for the first time.
“Here you go.”
Dan Ak-seon offered the wooden box he had brought to Sa Mu-sim.
“Thank you!”
Snatching the box, Sa Mu-sim took a key from his robes, inserted it into the bottom of the box, and turned it forcefully.
*Click.*
With a heavy metallic sound, the box opened.
Dan Ak-seon, who had been secretly curious about its contents, moved closer to Sa Mu-sim.
“It's safe!”
Sa Mu-sim beamed after inspecting the inside of the box.
Seeing this, Dan Ak-seon tilted his head in confusion.
He had assumed Sa Mu-sim was a man who made a lot of money, so he expected something incredible to be inside.
But the box was filled only with well-worn papers.
Sa Mu-sim took the papers out one by one and examined them for a long time.
A moment later.
After confirming the contents of the papers, Sa Mu-sim took out a flint and steel from his robes.
He then set the papers on fire, burning them all.
The papers turned to ash in an instant, scattering into the air. Sa Mu-sim watched with hollow eyes.
Finally, Sa Mu-sim bowed his head to Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi.
“I will not forget the grace you have shown me.”
Cho Ak-ryang shook his head.
“You should be thanking Physician Dan here, not us.”
“Pardon?”
Seeing Sa Mu-sim’s confusion, Beom Gye-wi grumbled.
“Do you have any idea how much of a treatment fee he gave up for that thing?”
And now he just burns the contents.
If he was just going to do that, why did he risk his life searching for it?
Beom Gye-wi couldn't understand it at all.
Belatedly grasping the situation, Sa Mu-sim bowed to Dan Ak-seon again.
“Thank you, truly.”
His demeanor was polite, filled with sincerity.
“I will go to the Jinseong Clinic after I've composed myself.”
In the somewhat solemn atmosphere, the group nodded obediently.
On the way to the Jinseong Clinic, leaving Sa Mu-sim behind, Cho Ak-ryang spoke.
“I wondered what kind of great treasure he was cherishing so much, but they were just letters.”
“But why burn them?”
At Beom Gye-wi’s question, Cho Ak-ryang tilted his head.
“Who knows? Maybe he was worried the children's whereabouts would be revealed?”
Having lived for years as the Money-Grubbing Ghost Lord, Sa Mu-sim had many enemies.
“He probably wanted to completely sever the connection to the children he helped before he died. For their safety.”
Beom Gye-wi nodded at Cho Ak-ryang’s plausible guess.
“So he wasn't a bad guy, just a foolish one.”
As promised, Sa Mu-sim arrived at the Jinseong Clinic two hours later.
Dan Ak-seon immediately called him in and took his pulse.
Then, with a stunned expression, he asked.
“How on earth can you even move with your body in such a mess?”
Dan Ak-seon said, looking at Sa Mu-sim.
“You said you had three months left, but from what I can see, it's a month at most. There are no warning signs, but you're in a state where a seizure could happen at any moment without being strange.”
Sa Mu-sim seemed surprised at first, but soon accepted it with calm resignation.
“I'm fine. I was already prepared for this.”
Sa Mu-sim smiled faintly.
“I've achieved everything I wanted, so I have no regrets.”
Suddenly, Sa Mu-sim felt a strange sensation.
Not only Dan Ak-seon, the one who had just delivered the terminal diagnosis, but also Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi reacted with indifference.
Sa Mu-sim suddenly felt a surge of emotion.
‘We've at least gotten to know each other...’
They couldn't even offer a word of comfort to a dying man, nor did they show any sign of pity or sympathy.
‘They're all villains like me, what did I expect?’
Still, Dan Ak-seon’s reaction was unexpected.
‘Then again, the saying ‘one who touches pitch will be defiled’ doesn't exist for nothing.’
The Blood Hand Honored One, Mang Mountain's Thistle, and even that expressionless woman with the air of a master. What could a child possibly have learned among such monsters?
Just then, Dan Ak-seon smiled and asked.
“If you could live longer, what would you want to do?”
“Well...”
Sa Mu-sim smiled bitterly.
“What could a man who's going to die in a month possibly wish for?”
“In a month…”
Dan Ak-seon trailed off vaguely and shook his head.
“That will probably be difficult.”
Sa Mu-sim’s heart sank.
“Don't tell me I have even less time than that?”
Cho Ak-ryang answered instead.
“He means you won't be dying in a month.”
Beom Gye-wi nodded.
“That's right. Not a chance, now that you're in Physician Dan's care.”
“What? But my Qi Deviation…”
“It doesn't matter if it's Qi Deviation or its grandfather. Our Physician Dan is the kind of person who would storm the underworld itself to drag a patient back.”
Dan Ak-seon looked troubled by Beom Gye-wi’s praise.
“Even I can't bring back the dead.”
Sa Mu-sim’s eyes widened at Dan Ak-seon’s next words.
“But Qi Deviation… I can manage that somehow.”
“You're going to… treat it? Qi Deviation?”
Dan Ak-seon nodded at the still-disbelieving Sa Mu-sim.
“It might have been difficult before, but now I have plenty of elixirs and the Dignified Fire Therapy.”
Sa Mu-sim couldn't decide how much of this madness he should believe. So he glanced at Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi, but their faces were calm, as if this were perfectly normal.
Beom Gye-wi asked Sa Mu-sim.
“Hey, Money Ghost. You have that saying, don't you?”
“Pardon?”
“That you can't live with debt?”
After a moment, Sa Mu-sim nodded.
“Ah, yes. I did say that.”
There was a famous saying in the martial world related to him.
It was said that if you owe a debt to the King of Hell, you sell your house to repay it, but if you owe a debt to the Money Ghost, you'd have to sell your grave.
Beside him, Cho Ak-ryang began counting on his fingers.
“Let's see. I saved you twice, and then once more at the Martial Alliance, so that's three times. And now I've introduced you to a physician who can cure Qi Deviation, so this makes the fourth time I've saved your life.”
Beom Gye-wi shot Sa Mu-sim a look of pity.
“For a guy called the Money Ghost, you sure are generous about racking up debts everywhere. Just how many life debts do you have?”
“Three, to be exact. My Qi Deviation hasn't been cured yet.”
At Sa Mu-sim’s protest, Beom Gye-wi’s round eyes widened.
“Are you disrespecting our Physician Dan right now?”
“What? Ah, no. That's not what I…”
“If Physician Dan says he'll save you, he'll save you.”
Sa Mu-sim held his breath and nodded.
The killing intent pouring from Beom Gye-wi’s eyes felt like tangible blades, slicing at his skin.
“With this much debt, you probably couldn't repay it even if you died and were reborn several times, huh?”
Cho Ak-ryang began, looking at Sa Mu-sim with a meaningful gaze.
“But seeing you again in the next life would be tiresome, so let's just have you repay the debt in this life.”
Sa Mu-sim nodded dazedly.
“By the way, you said you were a martial artist, right?”
Dan Ak-seon asked.
“Yes. For now…”
A foreboding feeling washed over Sa Mu-sim again at Dan Ak-seon’s suddenly serious expression.
Just as he expected.
“Physician Dan, what's wrong? Is there a problem?”
Dan Ak-seon nodded at Beom Gye-wi’s question.
“I can save his life, but… sigh… at this rate, his dantian will be too damaged for him to use martial arts.”
“...!”
Sa Mu-sim nodded with a bitter expression.
“If I can just live… asking for more than that would be greedy. That's enough for me.”
But Dan Ak-seon shook his head.
“Life comes first, that's true. But the patient's quality of life after treatment is just as important as the treatment itself.”
“But…”
“It'll be difficult, but it's not like there's no way… I'll think of a way to restore your dantian somehow.”
He wasn't sure what to believe and what to doubt anymore.
But now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to believe.
“If you can really do that, I'll do anything.”
Beom Gye-wi snorted at his words.
“You already have to do anything, you know?”
“Ah! Yes… I suppose so.”
Come to think of it, his creditors were the Blood Hand Honored One and Mang Mountain's Thistle. One of them was terrifying enough; the thought of being hounded for debt by two such monsters sent shivers down his spine.
“We can't delay the treatment. The longer we wait, the slower the recovery. We'll proceed with the Dignified Fire Therapy tonight.”
Dan Ak-seon took out a wooden case of needles from his robes.
“Mister Sa, you need to build up your strength, so please get some sleep.”
“But I'm not sleepy at all?”
Dan Ak-seon took a needle from the case and smiled brightly.
“You will be soon.”
* * *
Two hours later.
“Valley Lord! Surely not?”
At Pung Jin-seong’s near-scream, Cho Ak-ryang, Beom Gye-wi, and Han Seol-hwa all came running.
At first, they looked at Pung Jin-seong strangely, but then they realized he was staring, pale-faced, at the medicinal tonic Dan Ak-seon was holding. Then they spotted a small porcelain bottle rolling at Dan Ak-seon's feet.
“Huh? That looks familiar.”
Unlike the puzzled Beom Gye-wi, Cho Ak-ryang asked Dan Ak-seon with a look of horror.
“Don't tell me what was in there… it can't be, right? Right?”
Seeing Cho Ak-ryang ask again and again with a look of disbelief, Beom Gye-wi finally realized something was very wrong.
“What is it? Brother Cho, what's gotten into you?”
Han Seol-hwa let out a soft sigh.
“It seems… he put the Azure Stone Marrow into the tonic.”
“Wha-what!”
Startled, Beom Gye-wi’s expression became identical to Cho Ak-ryang’s.
“Physician Dan! Who is that for?”
Dan Ak-seon pointed to the sleeping Sa Mu-sim. At this, Beom Gye-wi began to gasp for air.
“Huu. Huu. Brother Cho, can you knock me out? I can't bear to watch that go down the Money Ghost's gullet!”
“Don't talk to me. My head hurts.”
Cho Ak-ryang rubbed his throbbing temples with his thumbs.
To use the Azure Stone Marrow they had worked so hard to obtain on someone like Sa Mu-sim.
It was something he could neither permit nor accept.
“I had no choice.”
Dan Ak-seon gave an awkward laugh.
“I already promised I'd fix his dantian.”
“But…”
“If I don't do this, I'd be lying.”
Exchanging a glance, Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi quickly nodded.
“It's fine. You have to lie a little to be human.”
“That's right. I have to lie a few times a day just to sleep peacefully. I've already lied to Brother Cho three times today.”
“What? You and I are having a talk later.”
Cho Ak-ryang tried to stop Dan Ak-seon.
“If you were to drink it yourself, Physician Dan, I wouldn't stop you. In fact, I'd welcome it. But not him.”
“Right. We're going to use him as a steward anyway. Why does a guy like that need martial arts?”
Unable to watch any longer, Han Seol-hwa also chimed in.
“His martial arts are nothing but miscellaneous skills. Giving him the Azure Stone Marrow is like casting pearls before swine.”
Despite their persistent persuasion, Dan Ak-seon shook his head firmly.
“I want to do my best for every patient. And right now, this is the best way.”
In the end, unable to sway the stubborn Dan Ak-seon, the group sighed in dismay.
Dan Ak-seon approached the sleeping Sa Mu-sim and propped up his upper body. Then, he slowly poured the tonic containing the Azure Stone Marrow into his mouth.
Beom Gye-wi couldn't bear to watch and stormed out, while Cho Ak-ryang clenched his fists so hard they could have shattered.
Han Seol-hwa, too, watched the scene with her rarely-furrowed brow deeply wrinkled.
Sa Mu-sim remained fast asleep, his face peaceful.
Unaware of what he was swallowing.