Those Who Break the Walls (4)
When the Murim Academy's break period began, the dormitories and all other facilities emptied out. Aside from a handful of people who stayed behind, it was practically deserted. The instructors and masters took their vacations, and even the cafeteria operated with minimal staff during the long hiatus.
Among them all, the quietest place was the Medical Hall. Without exams or sparring matches, hardly anyone visited. Even those few who remained focused on secluded closed-door training, so serious injuries were rare.
Still, to prepare for any emergencies, the head physician and half the medical aides had to stay. That's why the Medical Hall opened its doors every day, even without patients.
Today, as always, Head Physician Sama Jeong arrived early in the morning and surveyed the surroundings. Fresh snow had quietly blanketed the courtyard. The aides and servants moved to clear it, but he stopped them. With no customers or tasks ahead, he wanted to savor the sight of the piled snow.
What a lonely scene.
Snow had never felt this desolate before. This year's flakes seemed especially forlorn.
"Maybe I should just quit it all..."
Murmuring to himself as he watched the gentle snowfall, Sama Jeong didn't realize the aide slicing herbs nearby had overheard and jumped in alarm.
"What are you saying, Lord Hallmaster!"
"Hm? Oh... you heard that?"
"Please don't even joke about it. Do you know how many healers are dying to join the Murim Alliance—let alone the Medical Hall?"
Sama Jeong chuckled wryly at her scolding. Fair enough. He did hold one of the most coveted positions.
"Miss Aide, do you know how many people die of frostbite every winter?"
"...Pardon?"
"It was like that when I was studying. Winters brought a flood of patients—I'd sweat through the entire day."
The aide, momentarily puzzled by his words, nodded with premature understanding.
"And after all that hardship, you rose to this fine position."
Sama Jeong neither confirmed nor denied it, just chuckled again.
"That's right."
Abundant herbs, leisurely treatment times. During winter and summer breaks, with no visitors, it was perfect for personal research. His master would have praised such conditions. After all, his master always said, "This is what you're meant for."
But that made him want it even less.
Of course, he had no intention of watching patients die in squalor like his master had. How helpless he'd felt back then, unable to even procure basic herbs as people perished before his eyes.
That's why he'd come to the Murim Alliance. Build skill and reputation here, use fees from the wealthy to treat the poor. That way, he could save more lives.
But.
"This place makes me feel like a house physician for the rich."
The Medical Hall's staff didn't treat outsiders. Or more precisely, they couldn't. No laypeople could enter the academy anyway.
Suddenly, it felt like he'd strayed far from his original path.
The aide paused her herb-slicing and fussed over him dramatically.
"That's why it's so great, Doctor! Stick around forever—we all love having you here."
"...Yeah, I suppose. Haha. Thank you."
He swallowed a bitter smile at her innocent response.
If only he hadn't made that thing.
If he hadn't gotten greedy, promising it as a gift to promising young talents. He replayed the regret endlessly.
Can I really escape this place?
He enjoyed idly watching the snow, but he wanted to be the kind of man who worked through it.
Yet stepping barefoot on those beautiful flakes—how bitterly cold that would be. He wasn't sure he had the resolve anymore.
He felt too softened by now.
Then.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
A figure approached over the pristine snow, footsteps clear as paper.
"Huh?"
The aide stared in surprise at the man. Sama Jeong's eyes widened too.
"You're..."
"Long time no see."
It was the young man who'd left such a striking impression on his previous visit to the Medical Hall, smiling as snowflakes dusted him.
"That tea looks delicious. Mind if I have a cup?"
#
Snow continued to fall in the Medical Hall's courtyard.
Jin Sowoon and Sama Jeong sat side by side by the bonfire, gazing at the winter scene for a long while. Only when the snow on Jin Sowoon's shoulders and head melted into droplets did Sama Jeong speak first.
"What brings you here? You don't look ill... and you wouldn't come just for tea."
"What do you do in winter?"
"Winter?"
Sama Jeong stared piercingly at the abrupt question. He needed to grasp the intent to converse. But he couldn't guess this one's.
"Well, I just kill time like this, day by day. You didn't come all this way for that, did you?"
"Don't you go out for relief efforts?"
"..."
Sama Jeong's face stiffened.
"What are you talking about?"
"I heard you went on relief missions every break when you were at the Alliance's Shinui Pavilion. ...Is that why you ended up at the academy—because you fell out of favor?"
Sama Jeong's expression soured unpleasantly. Academy student status mattered greatly to those active in the jianghu. But he wasn't one to care much about such things.
"Did you investigate me? Looking to squeeze something out? Sorry, but you won't get what you want."
A physician growling like that—did it look ridiculous? Jin Sowoon smiled faintly.
"Of course not. I was just curious about the man himself."
"..."
"Shinui Pavilion is mostly staffed by Shinui Clinic descendants in key roles, right? Even its name was heavily influenced by them."
"..."
Shinui Clinic alumni dominated Shinui Pavilion, propping each other up to solidify their faction. No matter how hard Sama Jeong tried, he couldn't infiltrate them. How could he align with those who equated medicine with wealth?
It really drove home how remarkable my master was.
A bit calmer now, Sama Jeong replied.
"I didn't carouse in brothels with them or spend my own fortune on the poor—that was enough to earn their ire."
He poured out the frustration he'd never shared, into the quietly falling snow.
"To them, I was just helping anyone and everyone, cheapening the art of healing."
"Hm... So that's why they banished you to the Medical Hall?"
Sama Jeong slowly shook his head.
"No. It was the spirit pill I made for prospective students. That caused the trouble."
"Jeongsimdan?"
"...You know it?"
"Yes. I took it myself."
Sama Jeong's eyes drooped wearily.
"How was it?"
"Excellent."
Excellent. Recalling the past briefly, Sama Jeong snorted.
"Save the flattery. Like I said, there's nothing to squeeze from me."
For some reason, he'd calmly confessed things to this academy student he'd never told anyone.
"Its effects were dismal compared to the herbs and processing costs. That's why I got disciplined."
"Not a bad punishment, from the looks of it."
Sama Jeong glanced around the courtyard. Snow piled cozily at first glance. But stepping on it would sting fiercely.
"...What feels like a warm haven to some might be a stifling prison to others."
"Is that so?"
Jin Sowoon nodded after a moment's thought.
"I think you're the one in the wrong, Hallmaster."
"...Wrong how?"
"The relief efforts. From their view, you were selling expensive, hard-won medicine cheaply. Didn't that make you look like a hypocrite?"
Sama Jeong's brow furrowed deeply.
"Do you know how many die outside these gates without even a single dose? How many lose fingers and toes with every snowfall? Do you only swing your sword to kill?"
His face flushed red as he unleashed his pent-up rage, pressing Jin Sowoon.
"Medicine belongs to everyone! If we only treat the rich, powerful, and strong, why advance it at all? Even the mighty weaken someday—then we can just lop off their heads without mercy!"
His shout echoed everywhere, followed by silence. Breathing heavily after his outburst, Sama Jeong realized he'd gotten needlessly worked up. Jin Sowoon sipped his tea calmly, expression unchanged.
"If that's your thinking, shouldn't you leave the Murim Alliance?"
"..."
"Go save people on the streets right now."
Then he realized his own logic trapped him. Seeing Sama Jeong speechless, Jin Sowoon smiled gently.
"Too cold out there, I suppose."
"..."
Flushing with shame, Sama Jeong rose.
"Fine. I'm all talk, a hypocrite—just like you said. Satisfied? Now get lost."
Even with the clear dismissal, Jin Sowoon leisurely toyed with his teacup.
"I still have more to say."
"More in this situation?"
"That's why I have more to say."
"Make it quick."
Suppressing his anger, Sama Jeong prodded. He wanted this kid gone now.
"How about coming to Tae-eul Gate?"
"What?"
#
Heavenly Marvel Divine Physician being at the academy was unexpected. And learning it stemmed from the Jeongsimdan I'd taken—it pieced together the puzzle I'd missed.
The Alliance begged later, but he never made more.
The Heavenly Marvel Divine Physician, briefly active in the Alliance, had quit the ultimate physician's job for some reason and returned to the secular world. He rose to fame exactly ten years later—when those who'd taken Jeongsimdan escaped qi deviation on their own.
Afterward, revered as Heavenly Marvel Divine Physician, he never made spirit pills again. Not even when sects and families threw money at him.
Those ten years were enough to make the Alliance his enemy.
"Hahaha... hahahahaha!"
Sama Jeong burst into laughter for a good while.
Hmm, that funny, huh? Didn't know I had a knack for comedy.
"Heh... heh."
Shoulders shaking, he finally stopped and asked.
"Me, to Tae-eul Gate?"
"Yes."
"Do you know how Alliance physicians are treated?"
"Start at seventh-grade, higher salary than regular warriors."
My fluent reply deepened the sneer on his face.
"And you want me to go to Tae-eul Gate?"
"We have plenty of money."
"Huhu... You're not making sense. Go home. Talking to you gives me a headache."
I'd poked him deliberately to confirm if his current mindset matched the man from my past life.
If his relief work for the poor started after expulsion, no offer would sway him now.
But he seems the type by nature.
Then recruiting him would be easy. Nothing moves the immovable like the right bait.
"I'll set you up with your own clinic. Work for Tae-eul Gate, do relief efforts on the side. We'll cover all costs."
Sama Jeong flinched, sitting back down.
Hook set. Good.
"You think I'd believe such empty promises?"
"Why empty?"
"Too hard to deliver."
"..."
Why's this old man so suspicious? Though better than swallowing blindly.
"Anyone can talk big. But spending on strangers? Human nature kicks in quick."
"Could be."
"And you expect me to bet on your words and join Tae-eul Gate?"
Still doubting, I pulled out the prepared book and set it before him.
"What about this?"
"What's that?"
"You saw me treat Yaryul Geuk before, right?"
"..."
His face hardened. I don't negotiate without leverage... er, bargaining power.
Hear that gulp? He's already mine.
I calmly revealed the book's nature.
"A medical text on that."
Trembling, Sama Jeong opened it.
One volume of the Mancho Borok, split into three. Forgetting I was there, he devoured it frantically.
"Th-this is..."
"Yes. Methods using cheap herbs."
"..."
"They call it Mancho Borok."
Flipping pages excitedly, he looked up gravely.
"You're... giving me this?"
"Yes. The rest too, if you want."
"Why?"
I shrugged.
"Call it your signing bonus for Tae-eul Gate."
"..."
He stared, baffled.
"This... this is revolutionary. If half of it works, it'll upend medicine."
I agree. Maybe the Alliance hid it fearing that chaos.
But what's the point of great medicine unused? Especially if it'll all burn in the Great War of Righteousness and Evil.
I met his eyes squarely.
"You make it happen, Doctor."
"...I can really use it?"
"Yes. That's why I'm giving it. Oh, release it gradually. Dump it all at once, and places like Shinui Clinic or the Dang family won't sit idle."
Sama Jeong clamped his mouth shut for a long time. Then cautiously asked.
"In return, you want the Medical Hall position?"
Pfft, as if that's all.
"One more thing."
He looked utterly lost.
"That spirit pill that got you kicked from Shinui Pavilion?"
"Huh?"
I smiled brightly at him.
"Make more of those."
As my words landed, his face twisted in shock.
Come on, no need to freak.
"Jeongsimdan. Worked wonders."
So let's mass-produce the hell out of it.