Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Mission, Investigation (13)
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“Young Hero Mok! Are you all right?”
Mok Ri-won’s vision, upon opening his eyes, was first filled with Dang Hwa-seo’s startled face.
Behind her was an unfamiliar ceiling, and a bitter medicinal scent pierced the tip of his nose.
“Where….”
Mid-sentence.
“…Ugh!”
Mok Ri-won felt a headache.
It was a stinging pain, as if someone were stirring his brain with a knife.
Along with the pain came resurfacing memories.
*-You’re intoxicated by killing intent.*
Yeon Ri-geon’s voice and the sensation from that moment.
The thrill that rose with the thickening killing intent.
And Yeon Ri-geon’s killing intent, revealed in sharp clarity.
Mok Ri-won’s eyes wavered.
“Young Hero! Pull yourself together!”
Dang Hwa-seo grasped Mok Ri-won’s cheeks.
Mok Ri-won came to his senses and looked at Dang Hwa-seo.
The warmth of her touch on his cheeks allowed him to quickly regain his reason.
“…What happened?”
“We successfully activated the formation. The demons fled immediately, and it’s been two days since then.”
“Two days….”
Mok Ri-won tried to sit up at those words but suddenly froze, halting his body.
It was due to the pain.
“Please stay lying down. Your fractures are severe and require rest.”
“Where are the other squad members?”
“They’re all recovering. The relatively unscathed Jegal fellow is helping with outside tasks.”
“I see….”
Mok Ri-won relaxed his body.
Then Dang Hwa-seo, with a belated sigh of relief, gently rubbed his cheeks.
“You’ve suffered so much. That man….”
“He introduced himself as the Sword Demon Yeon Ri-geon.”
“The Sword Demon?”
Dang Hwa-seo’s brow furrowed.
Her expression turned grave, as if lost in thought, and Mok Ri-won quietly gazed at her before reaching out a hand.
He placed it ‘tap’ on her cheek.
Dang Hwa-seo flinched and stiffened.
“…Hm?”
“Are you all right, little sister? No injuries?”
Dang Hwa-seo’s face flushed slightly.
Her gaze trembled.
Her lips quivered, leaving Mok Ri-won puzzled at her reaction.
“Little sister?”
“…I’m fine.”
Dang Hwa-seo’s mouth corners twitched upward awkwardly.
“Fine…? You don’t look fine at all?”
Her face didn’t look fine in the slightest, so Mok Ri-won narrowed his brow.
He sat up and grasped both her cheeks again.
He brushed under her eyes with his thumbs, placed a hand on her forehead to check for fever, and held a finger under her nose to check her breathing.
It was indeed abnormal.
Her face was too hot, and her breathing rough.
“Little sister, you don’t seem fine at all. Come here. Let me check your pulse.”
As he said this and reached for her neck.
Smack!
Dang Hwa-seo swatted Mok Ri-won’s hand away.
Mok Ri-won flinched in surprise.
Looking at her with puzzled eyes, he saw her shoulders heaving as if holding something back, breathing heavily.
Her mouth corners were jaggedly upturned, and her eyes gazed at him in a way that felt somehow frightening.
Mok Ri-won shrank back.
“L-Little sister…?”
His instincts were warning him.
That the current Dang Hwa-seo was dangerous.
But his worry for her outweighed the sense of peril, so he crept toward her again, and Dang Hwa-seo firmly grabbed his hand and said.
“…I’m fine, so rest a bit more. Ah, shall I fetch some water? Wait here.”
Her voice lacked any ups and downs for some reason.
It was stiff and rough.
Mok Ri-won nodded frantically.
“Wait here.”
Dang Hwa-seo abruptly stood and headed for the door.
Bang!
She opened and closed the door as if to shatter it.
Gulp.
Mok Ri-won swallowed dryly, his throat bobbing.
*
Dang Hwa-seo had left only a short while ago.
Mok Ri-won turned his head at the soft sound of the door opening.
Thinking it was Dang Hwa-seo returning, he parted his lips when another voice spoke.
“Youngest brother Mok?”
Peeking in was Jegal San.
Mok Ri-won’s face brightened.
“Brother Jegal!”
As rumored, with fewer injuries than others, Jegal San stood there neatly dressed, leaning casually.
Jegal San quickly glanced around outside the door.
As if searching for something, he soon sighed and entered, closing the door.
He sat by Mok Ri-won with quick steps and asked.
“Nothing happened?”
“What do you mean? What’s going on?”
“You know, that nun… no, never mind.”
Jegal San dry-washed his face then shook his head.
Composing his expression, he said to Mok Ri-won.
“…Anyway, glad you woke up safely. I was worried sick since my little brother wouldn’t open his eyes.”
Mok Ri-won felt moved by those words.
Perhaps because they were sworn brothers, he was grateful that Jegal San had come all this way despite being busy running errands.
“Glad you’re safe too, Brother Jegal! I heard you worked hard defending the Inner Cabinet entrance! No injuries?”
“I specialize in running away, don’t I? I just bolted! Lucky the demons chased me. I was tempted to ditch them and head to the Inner Cabinet while fleeing!”
Mok Ri-won burst into laughter.
It was so like Jegal San.
“Anyway, glad you’re safe. How’s the work you’re helping with going?”
“Don’t ask. These Black Dao folks don’t know gratitude and treat us like slaves. What happened was….”
Jegal San unpacked his tales.
A true witty storyteller, he drew Mok Ri-won in completely.
Clearing rubble from collapsed buildings when one shat itself.
Disgusted, he went to help elsewhere, then personally fed porridge to exhausted courtesans.
Then, flirting with one who had a husband, he fled here to escape the husband.
Having heard all the stories, contempt settled on Mok Ri-won’s face.
“…Brother Jegal, there must be a reason you act like this?”
Though he liked Jegal San, such moments brought unwelcome aversion, so he said.
Jegal San was Jegal San.
“Youngest brother Mok, others’ rice always looks bigger. Big… I should let you taste this too….”
“What will you teach me?”
Suddenly, a new voice overlapped the space.
A voice laced with coldly burning anger.
Mok Ri-won rolled his eyes to see Dang Hwa-seo, veins bulging on her forehead.
Gulp—
Mok Ri-won swallowed dryly.
Turning back, Jegal San’s face was pale.
Cold sweat poured like a waterfall, pupils trembling as if in an earthquake.
His upturned mouth looked more like a cry than a smile.
Creak, creak—Jegal San’s head turned.
Like facing a monster he didn’t want to confront, he fearfully shifted his gaze, then froze solid.
“…Sister, greetings?”
“Thanks to you, I’m not well.”
Dang Hwa-seo set down the tray with the water cup and cracked her knuckles.
Crack, crack—
With menacing sounds, a dark green aura gathered around Dang Hwa-seo’s fist.
“My apologies….”
Jegal San tried to apologize, but Dang Hwa-seo’s fist was faster.
Pow—!
“Guhk!”
The fist struck true into Jegal San’s solar plexus.
His legs trembled, waist bending like a bow.
Mok Ri-won closed his eyes, averting the scene, murmuring inwardly.
*‘Brother Jegal….’*
*Self-inflicted.*
*
Another day passed.
Mok Ri-won could now walk.
Lightly stretching and circulating his qi, Mok Ri-won smiled.
*‘I’ve finally reached the Peak Realm.’*
The fifth star rising in his mind.
The single path leading to it.
Breaking through the wall wasn’t just about increased power.
Mok Ri-won felt his inner energy deeper and more abundant.
Of course, its ferocity had intensified too, but the leash controlling it had grown much sturdier.
The Star-Link Divine Art was a cultivation of the mind.
As the realm advanced, one gained deeper mental strength, building an immovable heart unshaken by any adversity.
Mok Ri-won recalled Mok Seon-o’s words from the past.
Words heard when he was still first-rate.
*-For now, with your low realm, handling inner energy consumes much mental strength, but it’ll get easier over time. That’s why Star-Link can be seen as an art of immovable heart.*
*-Does the realm alone make it possible?*
*-That’s why it’s called divine art.*
Cool words delivered with a dashing smile.
They were undoubtedly true.
*‘Master was right. Controlling inner energy is no longer as difficult as before.’*
Of course, consecutive perilous experiences had built skill too, but fundamentally, it was the Star-Link Divine Art’s merit.
Mok Ri-won opened his eyes.
*‘But I mustn’t get complacent.’*
This too was Mok Seon-o’s teaching.
*-Ultimately, martial arts are tools. What matters most is that your will is firm. So refine yourself further. Not just for strong power, but devote all to polishing an unshakable conviction. Power is but a secondary tail following firm belief.*
Mok Ri-won stood.
He stretched and donned the gray uniform issued by the Hao Sect disciples.
The neat, comfortable uniform eased his mind.
*‘A martial artist must wear a uniform! Of course!’*
As he buckled his sword at his waist and headed for the door, Mok Ri-won sensed presence outside.
An unfamiliar one.
“…Who is it?”
Expecting one of the disciples, he asked.
A voice replied.
*-I am Ma Cheol-gon, elder of the Hao Sect. May I enter?*
Hao Sect Elder Ma Cheol-gon.
A name Mok Ri-won knew.
Dang Hwa-seo had said Ma Cheol-gon was the benefactor who treated the squad.
A smile rose on Mok Ri-won’s lips.
“Ah! Come in!”
*-Then, without hesitation.*
Slide—
The door slid open sideways.
Only then could Mok Ri-won see Ma Cheol-gon’s appearance.
White hair fully tied up in a neat bun without a single strand loose.
Eyebrows drooping long like a beard, and a beard reaching his chest like an immortal’s.
And tanned skin etched with wrinkles.
Mok Ri-won clasped hands in salute.
“You probably know, but allow reintroduction. Mok Ri-won of the Dragon-Phoenix Squad under the Murim Alliance. I greet my benefactor.”
“Ma Cheol-gon of the Hao Sect.”
Ma Cheol-gon returned the salute, then relaxed.
Mok Ri-won followed suit and sat.
“But what brings you here?”
“How is your body?”
“Great! Your treatment was so effective, I can walk without issue now!”
She had said he used the best golden sore medicine left in the vault.
Indeed, Mok Ri-won realized treasures were treasures for a reason.
At this rate, he’d recover fully in three days.
In high spirits, with a smile ear-to-ear, Mok Ri-won tilted his head at Ma Cheol-gon’s oddly grim expression.
“Any discomfort?”
Ma Cheol-gon’s brow was furrowed.
His fists clenched tightly for some reason, gaze dropped to the floor.
Tension and worry.
“…Elder Ma?”
“I have something to ask you.”
“Hm?”
“I took your pulse for treatment.”
Thud—
Mok Ri-won’s body stiffened.
His eyes widened as if tearing, lips agape.
*‘Pulse….’*
His secret was exposed.
Extreme Demonic Physique.
The body where qi meridians flowed in the exact reverse of a normal human’s.
Normally, just taking a pulse wouldn’t reveal such anomaly.
But he was a physician who knew medicine.
One who had even infused his own qi into Mok Ri-won’s body for treatment.
Thump—
Mok Ri-won felt his heart sink.
Unable to respond, clenching his fists.
“I’ll ask.”
Ma Cheol-gon asked.
“Are you….”
Laden with tension and wariness.
“…a demon?”