Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The First Favor
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Heuk Gyewon, the heroine Heuk Ayan, and I were all subject to guilt by association.
In the original story, the heroine had to endure all sorts of injustices simply because her father was exiled to the east.
Children like Heuk Daewi, who are from the direct line and cherished by the family, receive a high-level education from a young age.
Once they reach a certain level, they examine and diagnose patients carefully selected by the Heuk family.
They build their skills by having easy access to the formulations provided by senior physicians and apothecaries.
Naturally, that's impossible for me.
“So what? I’ll just have to survive on my own.”
Of course, it’s not like I need to learn anything anyway.
“I’m gaining expewience.”
“...It doesn't exactly look like you're just gaining experience.”
Jeok Yunha pointed to herself.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve seen plenty of skilled people, from hidden physicians to royal apothecaries. But I’ve never seen anyone make medicine as fast as you, little physician.”
Jeok Yunha strode closer, only to be pushed back by a gust of wind.
“Keep your distance.”
“...Hah, honestly. Hey, father over there. I don’t mean any harm, you know?”
“Then say it from there.”
“Hey, Lady Biyu. I think your father is going to kill me. What if he unleashes his old skills on me?”
“It’s okay. He doesn’t bite.”
“...Excuse me?”
I shrugged.
Anyone would be startled if you approach them like that, sis. It’d be an even bigger problem if you caught on fire.
‘I think Dad dislikes her even more because of her Divine Beast...’
I'll tell her later.
But what exactly did Dad do in the past?
He wasn't an ordinary warrior.
I have a rough idea, but you never know the full truth.
I'll have to poke my uncle about this later.
“The Heuk family pwobably wouldn’t give me a chance even if I died.”
I calmly turned my head. Even before the diagnosis was finished, the water was already swirling continuously.
What did I go through to be able to move it like this...
I’ve been beaten by patients while begging them to let me treat them.
I was nearly stabbed by people who thought something was wrong with the medicine...
“So, I have to make my own oppowtunities.”
“...”
After handing the medicine to the patient, I turned my gaze.
“You’we going to make me famous, wight?”
“...Me?”
“Yep, you can do that.”
It wasn't for nothing that I chose the apothecary next to Jeok Yunha's building. I smiled brightly.
“That’s how you wepay the fiwst favow.”
* * *
Five hours.
Since this morning, the baby physician-slash-apothecary had seen over twenty patients.
Five per hour. That’s one every twelve minutes.
Factoring out the time for patients to come and go, she finished everything from diagnosis to medicine preparation in an unbelievable amount of time.
Was that all? The effects of the medicine were also incredibly fast.
Even bleeding and minor injuries were healed on the spot, so it was impossible for word of her efficacy not to spread.
‘A genius, a genius has appeared!’
‘Such a precious and skilled physician!’
At the same time, a common question arose in people's minds.
‘Why... is she so young?’
Was that all?
‘Why? Why is she in such a shabby place?’
Biyu's judgment was correct. There was no better way for a child to become famous.
In less than half a day, the rumor had spread through every market.
Jeok Yunha had heard that the child had come to the market three hours early and started doing something strange.
‘I thought I’d misheard! What kind of skilled physician would do something so crazy?’
She’d arrived at the appointed time, but found the scene so unbelievable that she wasted two hours just watching.
And now, five hours had flown by just like that.
The little physician’s special clinic session thus came to a close.
She had felt it ever since the child had completely cured Tak Minjae’s illness, a condition that all other physicians and healers had given up on, but...
‘That’s how you wepay the fiwst favow.’
‘That’s how you wepay the fiwst favow.’
Jeok Yunha swallowed hard. For the first time in a while, a chill ran down her spine, and tension gripped her.
How could she swallow this giant before her?
She was fire.
A fire that greedily wanted to consume everything. *I want her. She’s incredible. How can such an interesting being exist?*
*I have to get her while she’s young. I’ll protect and raise her. And then, for our merchant guild...*
The wind howled, blowing menacingly.
“Keep. Your. Distance.”
It was a low voice, but the warning was clear enough. A faint trickle of blood ran down Jeok Yunha's cheek.
Thanks to that, she snapped back to her senses.
‘Tsk. Did I lose myself again?’
This is the problem with these damn fire-wielders.
As an unstable fire-wielder herself, she had almost lost control again.
But this was something worth obsessing over.
Where else could you find someone who shines so brightly... such a remarkable being?
‘Though she does have something terrifying attached to her side.’
She didn't know if that man remembered, but Jeok Yunha and Heuk Bihu had been active during the same period in the past.
Back in the days when she worked as a fixer, taking any dirty money without hesitation.
She had taken on an escort request, but it was the day the client died before anyone could do a thing.
At that time, she was standing in the blood-soaked room of an apothecary.
‘...Hey pal, I surrender. Just let me live, okay?’
‘...Hey pal, I surrender. Just let me live, okay?’
‘...’
‘...’
The red eyes she had faced back then were still so vivid.
‘His energy is a mess, and his eyes are so vacant.’
He seems like a completely different person. What on earth happened to him?
Many people didn't know it, but Heuk Bihu, who had once caused a stir in this city, had abandoned everything and run away with a commoner woman.
After that, she heard he had returned to the city alone for some reason, and then disappeared.
‘Then a daughter who doesn’t even resemble him pops out of nowhere, and why is that daughter a genius of the century?’
They were certainly a curious father-daughter duo.
I want to swallow them both up!
Jeok Yunha put on a friendly face, as if she hadn't just revealed her obsession.
“Haha, if that was repaying the first favor, does that mean there’s a second and a third?”
“No way, wewe you weally going to call it even with just spweading a few wumows?”
Seeing Biyu's wide-eyed, surprised expression, Jeok Yunha laughed awkwardly.
“Of course not.”
The fact that the little physician had used her genius abilities to cure Tak Minjae was, in truth, something Jeok Yunha wouldn't have regretted giving her entire fortune for.
She had saved her family.
“Let’s not bother with a second, a third... How about this? I’ll just give you a blank check.”
And Jeok Yunha knew how to hunt. If you want to catch a big fish, you need patience and a generous offering.
“Is there anything else you want?”
At that, the little physician’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled lovingly.
Looking at her face alone, you’d think she’d be perfect for a children’s clothing advertisement.
*Should I try to scout her later? Maybe start a new business?*
She admitted it. She’d been momentarily distracted by the cuteness.
“You won’t wegwet saying that?”
And so, she had no idea. What kind of... miser was hiding behind that lovely face?
* * *
“Thank you, thank you...!”
After returning the borrowed apothecary, we went to our original meeting place.
Before long, Uncle Woondeok and Tak Minjae came in. Uncle Woondeok began to sob as he gave a deep bow.
‘...I expected this.’
I scratched my cheek. It wasn't a familiar feeling.
In my third life, I became the greatest physician and apothecary in the empire.
But the fame I had accumulated was all infamy.
‘The woman who seduces and kills warriors, the woman who destroyed a family... things like that.’
So I hadn’t seen many people this moved.
Unless you count the ones who were moved for a moment before remembering my notoriety and running away.
‘Framing and public image are truly terrifying things.’
I experienced failure like that before, but this time will be different.
“Thank... you.”
Tak Minjae, who walked in on legs that were perfectly fine unlike three days ago, knelt beside his father and shed pearl-like tears.
However, unlike Uncle Woondeok, he quickly wiped them away and faced me with composure.
‘Wow... looking at him like this, he’s a really handsome young man.’
When he was sick, his eyes were sunken and his complexion was so poor that it wasn't as noticeable.
Just then, Gyewon quietly placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Biyu, what are you looking at so intently?”
“Huh? Oh... him. Because he’s handsome.”
I had only answered without much thought.
“Ugh, what are you doing? I can’t see!!”
“Don’t look.”
“Ehh?”
“It’s too soon. No. You’re too young to be so forward!”
“Ehh?”
What is he even talking about?
“Do you even know how many yeaws apart we awe? And it’s not like that!”
I’m three years old, brother