Chapter 64
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: I'll Try to Be Greedy
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"Wait, stop!"
Ak Yeong-gi cried out in a hurry, but by then, a chilling energy, cold as ice, had already enveloped the surroundings.
*Sshhhk.*
With a gruesome sound, the heads of his subordinates flew into the air.
Transparent ice blades, materializing from the frozen air, severed the necks of the Joyful Paradise Gang members at Han Seol-hwa's will.
Having lost their will to fight, they couldn't even put up a proper resistance.
Not a single member of the Joyful Paradise Gang survived. Only Ak Yeong-gi, drenched in a rain of blood, stood there with a dazed expression.
A single breath.
That was all the time it took for the Joyful Paradise Gang, who prided themselves as the rulers of Shanxi, to be wiped from the martial world.
Cho Ak-ryang asked Ak Yeong-gi, who stood blankly with unfocused eyes.
"Who told you about the Divine Physician's son?"
"..."
Ak Yeong-gi did not answer.
No, he couldn't answer. He was already out of his mind with terror and despair.
Cho Ak-ryang changed the question.
"Are you married?"
Ak Yeong-gi, who had nodded absentmindedly, snapped to his senses at Cho Ak-ryang's next words.
"Then you must have a wife and children?"
Cho Ak-ryang's chilling voice pierced Ak Yeong-gi's mind.
"You said it's the karma of blood for a child to bear the father's sins, didn't you?"
"...!"
Ak Yeong-gi shuddered as if struck by lightning.
"Isn't that the way of the martial world you spoke of?"
His own words thrown back at him, Ak Yeong-gi couldn't offer any rebuttal.
*Thud.*
Ak Yeong-gi dropped to his knees and shouted.
"The Black Market! The Shanxi branch!"
Cho Ak-ryang's eyebrow twitched.
The Black Market.
Stolen goods, all sorts of items and information, even human lives.
They were an underground organization that dealt in anything that made money.
Operating as a cell-based organization with a strict top-down hierarchy, almost nothing was known about their structure, including their leader, the Proprietor.
"P-please, I beg you."
With those final words, Ak Yeong-gi closed his eyes.
Cho Ak-ryang nodded to Beom Gye-wi, who had approached at some point.
*Crack.*
Beom Gye-wi's merciless hand snapped Ak Yeong-gi's neck.
It was then that Dan Ak-seon walked out of the pavilion. Looking around with pained eyes, he gently bit his lower lip.
The valley, once filled with the fresh scent of flowers and medicinal herbs.
But now, the thick smell of blood and the aura of death had replaced it.
"Please go back inside, Valley Lord."
Despite Neung So-mil's attempt to stop him, Dan Ak-seon shook his head.
"We can't just leave the bodies like this."
"I will take care of the cleanup."
"Let's do it together. This happened because of me."
Facing the deep shadow on Dan Ak-seon's face, Cho Ak-ryang let out a quiet sigh.
"It's not your fault."
"I know. But..."
Dan Ak-seon said with a sigh in his voice.
"Where did it all go wrong?"
Cho Ak-ryang looked at Dan Ak-seon with pity in his eyes.
"This situation wasn't what I wanted."
Hearing the regret in Dan Ak-seon's voice, everyone felt a complicated mix of emotions. But no one dared to step forward and offer comfort.
They could only watch him with sorrowful eyes.
"My parents were the same. They only ever saved people... yet they had to hide away in this place."
Dan Ak-seon raised his sleeve to wipe his eyes.
"I think I was too greedy."
"What do you mean, too greedy?"
Dan Ak-seon gave a sorrowful smile in response to Cho Ak-ryang's question.
"I imagined establishing a house of medicine. A dream of saving people with everyone. I thought maybe I could leave this place and live in harmony with the world."
Only then did everyone realize that the Divine Demon Valley was both Dan Ak-seon's sanctuary and his prison.
And yet, Dan Ak-seon was blaming himself for everything.
The sight of him stirred their hearts with a profound pain.
It was after a long while that Dan Ak-seon moved again.
Then he began to collect the bodies scattered everywhere.
Neung So-mil tried to stop him several times, but Dan Ak-seon stubbornly refused to yield. His face grew pale at the horrifying sight he was facing for the first time in his life, but he did not turn away from the grim reality.
A short while later, a large pit was dug at the base of a cliff in a secluded part of the valley.
Dan Ak-seon didn't say a single word until the bodies were moved and buried together. He simply did his best at the task at hand in silence.
After cleaning up the area with everyone, Dan Ak-seon stared at the large grave with a complicated expression.
"If I learn martial arts, will I one day end up hurting people too?"
At his words, a look of concern fell over the faces of Cho Ak-ryang and the others.
It wasn't that they couldn't understand his current confusion. But there was an inexplicable anxiety in Dan Ak-seon's voice.
"There is a saying in the Dhammapada."
Ignoring the two who were glaring at him as if to ask what nonsense he was suddenly spouting, Cho Ak-ryang continued.
"Rust is born from iron, but in the end, that rust slowly eats away the iron."
As his eyes met Dan Ak-seon's, Cho Ak-ryang spoke firmly.
"Do not be consumed by doubt and suspicion. The same water becomes medicine when a deer drinks it, and poison when a viper drinks it. I believe you are different from those monsters who, drunk on their martial arts and desires, oppress the weak."
"That's right! Our Physician Dan would never do that!"
Dan Ak-seon nodded at Beom Gye-wi's confident voice.
"I know. You must be confused and afraid."
After a short pause, Cho Ak-ryang spoke again.
"But one who does not choose cannot move forward."
His voice was gentle yet firm.
With a complex expression that hid his inner thoughts, Dan Ak-seon nodded.
"I'm sorry. I'll be heading in first today."
With those words, Dan Ak-seon disappeared into the pavilion.
Afterwards, Dan Ak-seon shut himself in the pavilion and did not come out.
A day passed, then two. Beom Gye-wi was restless, of course, and even Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa, worried about Dan Ak-seon, took turns pacing outside the pavilion.
But the pavilion door never opened.
On the third day.
Neung So-mil, who woke up early as usual, was startled as he looked around.
He had spotted the long shadow of a person near the valley entrance where the dawn was breaking.
But it didn't take long for him to realize the shadow belonged to Dan Ak-seon.
Normally, he would have approached with a smile and a greeting, but today, for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to speak.
It was because of the strange atmosphere surrounding Dan Ak-seon.
While Neung So-mil hesitated, wondering what to do, the others also emerged from their huts one by one.
"Why are you just standing there? Like a puppy that needs to poop."
At Beom Gye-wi's words, Neung So-mil pointed towards the valley entrance with a troubled expression.
Only then did Beom Gye-wi spot Dan Ak-seon and hesitantly approach him.
Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa followed behind him.
"Physician Dan, what are you doing? So early in the morning."
Dan Ak-seon turned his head to look at the three who had come closer.
"You're here."
His hair and shoulders were soaked with the night's dew, a sign of how long he had been standing there.
"I was thinking about my parents."
Dan Ak-seon answered, his face gaunt.
One could immediately tell how much he had suffered emotionally these past few days.
"Watching my parents live in seclusion here, I always thought it was so unfair. I felt it was unjust that two people who had dedicated their lives to saving others had to hide from them."
After starting with that, Dan Ak-seon slowly continued.
"But thinking about it now, I think it was because of me. No parent would want their child to be in danger."
Recalling a distant memory, Dan Ak-seon smiled bitterly.
"But life inside here wasn't entirely happy. For them, it was the same as giving up their lives as physicians."
Dan Ak-seon toyed with a stone in his hand, lost in thought.
Beom Gye-wi, who had glanced at the stone, flinched.
The strikingly white stone looked familiar. Then, suddenly, his heart sank.
He had belatedly realized where Dan Ak-seon was standing.
A pile of stones stacked near the entrance.
Dan Ak-seon was standing right next to it.
"Physician Dan! Don't tell me...?"
Beom Gye-wi recalled a warning Dan Ak-seon had once given.
Dan Ak-seon had said he could activate a sealing formation using that pile of stones.
"What's with all the fuss?"
Beom Gye-wi raised his voice at Cho Ak-ryang's scolding.
"Look at Physician Dan's hand! That stone is the cornerstone that activates the formation!"
"A formation?"
Cho Ak-ryang, who had been wearing an expression that said 'what's the big deal about a formation?', froze at Dan Ak-seon's next words.
"That's right. It's one of the legacies my parents left me. A type of illusionary formation called the Heaven-Confounding, Logic-Befuddling Dark Formation."
"...!"
A startled Cho Ak-ryang quickly asked.
"Don't tell me it's by the Ghostly Hand?"
The Ghostly Hand was another name for Tak Yo-shin, the legendary eccentric of the martial world known as the 'Incomprehensible' and 'Master of All Arts'.
A peerless genius said to have mastered every art, from poetry, calligraphy, music, and painting to architecture and mystical arts. Among his creations, the Heaven-Confounding, Logic-Befuddling Formation was known as his final masterpiece.
To think he would encounter the final legacy of an eccentric from two generations ago, long since vanished, in this place!
Dan Ak-seon gave a gentle smile to the bewildered Cho Ak-ryang.
"If I activate this, this place will be completely cut off from the outside world. I won't have to get entangled in complicated matters anymore."
The three were startled by the way Dan Ak-seon was looking at them.
"Are you saying you'll stay here alone?"
Before Cho Ak-ryang could even finish, Beom Gye-wi plopped down on the ground.
"I'll stay."
Then, he continued with a determined expression.
"I can't let Physician Dan be lonely all by himself."
Beom Gye-wi waved his hand at Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa.
"It's been fun. You too, witch."
Cho Ak-ryang stared at Beom Gye-wi in disbelief. Just then, Han Seol-hwa spoke up.
"I'll stay too."
"Huh? Why?"
Han Seol-hwa frowned slightly at Beom Gye-wi's question.
"Because I'm worried about leaving you alone with Physician Dan."
Cho Ak-ryang smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"I'll stay as well."
"I-I'll stay too."
Neung So-mil, who had approached at some point, also chimed in. With the situation turning out like this, it was Dan Ak-seon who was flustered.
"This formation..."
"I know. Once it's activated, no one can ever break it, right?"
Dan Ak-seon paused at Cho Ak-ryang's words, which cut off his explanation.
'But... it can be opened and closed...'
He didn't bother to say this. Instead, he honestly expressed the emotions he was feeling.
"Thank you."
The things he had been agonizing over these past few days. Seeing the people before him now, he felt even more certain of his conclusion.
"I'm going to try being greedy."
What was ordinary for others—freely doing what he wanted—was greed for Dan Ak-seon.
"Of course you should!"
Beom Gye-wi said forcefully while looking at Dan Ak-seon, and Han Seol-hwa had already moved to give him a tight hug.
"You've made a good choice."
To her, Dan Ak-seon, who had overcome his pain and fear to stand on his own, was simply admirable and praiseworthy.
Watching them, Cho Ak-ryang also wore a pleased smile.
"I will never give up."
If this was his given destiny, he would face it with all his might.
For the sake of the people supporting him, just like now.