Chapter 672
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 672
Chapter Title: S-Swindler!
Even Yeon Da-hye had enough sense to pick up on it.
How her mother had transformed into such a beauty.
Who had cured her mother's blocked meridians.
She could guess from the atmosphere here.
The fact that her mother was deliberately chatting with these people in the reception room.
In the end, it had to be because this man named Ha Mu-baek had treated her mother.
"M-Me too! Cure me too!!!"
Yeon Da-hye glared at Ha Mu-baek and shouted.
Her eyes brimmed with resentment.
He could have cured her, but until now, he'd pretended not to know, surely mocking her ugly appearance.
He'd treated her mother but radiated killing intent at her.
There was no way that could be allowed in this world.
Of course, he had to treat her too.
With that thought, she shot Ha Mu-baek a fierce look.
"Hurry up!! Right now!!"
Her desperation twisted into venom.
Ha Mu-baek looked at her and smirked.
"Why should I?"
That was his response.
"You treated Mother!!!"
Her words grew shorter.
"That was a situation worth treating."
"Then me!"
"You don't seem worth treating?"
Yeon Da-hye's face flushed crimson.
Ha Mu-baek wore his usual impassive expression.
Yeon Wol-a gazed at her daughter with a heartbroken look.
She had words she wanted to say, but she couldn't utter them, merely watching on.
She seemed utterly frustrated, but Yeon Da-hye didn't notice.
Ha Seol-ran looked at Yeon Da-hye with equal pity.
Before she had arrived here.
Yeon Wol-a had asked Ha Mu-baek to treat her daughter Yeon Da-hye.
His response to that.
Yeon Wol-a's mother, Cheon Su-ryeon, could be treated immediately, but Yeon Da-hye needed observation first.
The reason was simple.
Her temperament.
Because of her arrogant and tyrannical nature, he couldn't help her easily.
But he hadn't refused outright.
He had no choice but to help, for Ha Mu-baek had certainly received aid from Yeon Wol-a and Heuk Hwa-rin.
Without Heuk Hwa-rin's clash of ten exchanges holding back Yeon Baek-woo.
Ha Mu-baek couldn't even imagine what state Gong Hae-jun would be in now.
It was a massive debt.
They had bought him time to protect his new disciple.
In comparison, treating Yeon Wol-a was nothing.
By Ha Mu-baek's standards, Heuk Hwa-rin's ten exchanges weighed far heavier.
If he placed something of equal value on the other side of the scale, he could treat not only Yeon Wol-a's mother but Yeon Da-hye as well.
However, treating Yeon Da-hye in her current state might not repay the debt to Yeon Wol-a but harm her instead.
Her temperament was already ruined.
Even if ruined by her appearance, fixing her looks wouldn't mend her temperament.
On the contrary, intoxicated by sudden beauty, her past bitterness might explode in a twisted form, making her temperament even more vicious.
No, it would happen that way.
Ha Mu-baek could see that future clearly.
That's why he said she needed watching—he'd address her temperament first before considering treatment for her blocked meridians.
And if her temperament didn't improve?
There would be no treatment for the blocked meridians either.
"I told you people aren't fixed and reused... but depending on the method, some can be mended."
When Ha Mu-baek said this to Yeon Wol-a, Jin Na-yeon's family, Yeon In-hu, Yeon Gong-hu, and Yeon Da-hye arrived.
And now the scene unfolding before them.
Yeon Wol-a had hoped that once Yeon Da-hye recognized her mother's beauty, her inferiority complex might ease a bit.
It hadn't.
Instead, it was exploding even more viciously.
An ugly appearance matched with a vicious temperament.
It was heartbreaking and frustrating.
Ha Seol-ran felt the same.
"She can't go on like this......"
"Master said you have to become kind to become beautiful......"
Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun whispered to each other so only they could hear.
But given the atmosphere, everyone present caught their words.
Yeon Wol-a wanted to say it herself but couldn't step forward, so she was frustrated.
How grateful she was that the two children spoke up instead.
Ha Seol-ran looked relieved too.
However, Yeon Da-hye's already flushed face twisted further.
Just as she was about to glare at the children with a blood-red, asura-like face.
She flinched to a halt.
Fear of the killing intent etched into her body.
Yeon Da-hye's gaze quickly turned back to Ha Mu-baek.
"You're not stupid, at least."
Ha Mu-baek said calmly.
If she'd glared at the children with that expression or spewed abuse, killing intent would have flown at her instantly.
"So you understand why I don't want to treat you?"
A sneer curled at the corner of Ha Mu-baek's mouth as he spoke.
Yeon Da-hye trembled violently.
By her temperament, she should have spat curses and slapped him right then.
But she couldn't.
Ha Mu-baek was stronger than her, and he didn't care about the Yeon Clan's bloodline.
Even the power of the Hubei Yeon Clan couldn't touch him.
There was nothing she could do.
She desperately wanted it, yet she couldn't control him with her own power or her clan's.
Drip.
Drip.
Tears streamed from her eyes, falling in drops from her chin to the floor.
Tears of frustration.
Gazing at Ha Mu-baek's sneer, Yeon Da-hye slowly knelt down.
"I-I'm begging you like this. Please, please treat me......"
The venom drained from her voice.
Instead, desperation deepened into earnest pleading.
Ha Mu-baek looked down at her with his usual calm, cold eyes.
"Your head's smarter than I thought, and you've got a talent for acting too. Squeezing out fake tears and all. Wait, not smart—sly?"
Just as she was about to grovel, Ha Mu-baek's words made her body stiffen.
"You heard the kids, right? You have to become kind to become beautiful. But you don't seem interested in that at all."
Yeon Da-hye said nothing in response.
Kindness.
A word Yeon Da-hye despised.
She'd seen how her kind, kind mother was treated by the clan members.
Fawning thanks to her face, then cursing her ugliness behind her back—that was the underlings' way.
Those underlings were wrong, mistaken.
Yet Yeon Da-hye's twisted temperament saw kindness as the mistake, the wrong path.
"Do you really want treatment?"
Ha Mu-baek asked in his cold voice.
"Yes. Please, treat me."
"Are you prepared to pay any price?"
Yeon Da-hye snapped her head up from her prostrated position.
"What do you want?"
Her temperament shone in her eyes.
Glinting slyly.
I knew it—that smug expression.
Once I become beautiful, what will he demand from me?
Her gaze bordered on accusation.
Ha Mu-baek could see her pathetic thoughts plainly, and it was so absurd he nearly laughed.
Right now, Yeon Da-hye was already imagining and acting as if she were as beautiful as her mother.
"I want nothing from you. As if someone like you has anything to offer."
At his mocking words, Yeon Da-hye clenched her fists against the floor.
"I'm asking about your resolve. Beauty isn't handed to you. It's a path of torment and suffering."
Yeon Da-hye glanced at her mother.
She was beautiful.
Indescribably so.
Concern for her was clear, yet her demeanor was utterly serene.
No trace of endured pain anywhere.
That's why.
She thought Ha Mu-baek was just scaring her with lies because he didn't want to treat her.
So she answered.
"Of course. I can endure any torment or pain!"
Yeon Da-hye declared loudly.
A thick smile crept across Ha Mu-baek's face, as if he'd caught her.
"Remember, you promised with your own mouth."
"Yes."
"I despise and scorn promise-breakers most of all. No matter what you say now, I won't stop."
With those words, finger winds shot from Ha Mu-baek's hand, striking Yeon Da-hye's body in key spots.
And then.
"Kaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!"
A gut-wrenching scream erupted from Yeon Da-hye's mouth, as if it would collapse the Golden Hall.
Ha Seol-ran swiftly pulled the two children into her arms.
Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun plugged their ears and burrowed into her embrace.
The others couldn't bear to look at Yeon Da-hye and turned away.
Only Yeon Wol-a watched her daughter's agony clearly, despite her pained expression.
"Kyaaaagh! It h-hurts... I-it hurts... Kughhhhhhhaaagh."
Clutching her head, rolling on the floor, Yeon Da-hye wailed in torment.
"Y-You swindler! V-Villain! Scum! Kyaagh!!"
Resentful screams at Ha Mu-baek mixed in.
"F-Fucking bastard! Th-this is tr-treatment? Kaaaagh!!! T-Torture! T-Torture... St-stop! Stop it!!! You dog bastard!!!"
Curses, screams, and shrieks intertwined.
Ha Mu-baek's face remained serene.
"Seol-ran, take the children and withdraw. This will take time. Not a sight for kids."
At his words, Heuk Hwa-rin stepped forward to guide Ha Seol-ran and the two children to a rest area.
Yeon In-hu and Yeon Gong-hu, Jin Na-yeon and Yeon Ha-min.
These four stared at Yeon Da-hye with queasy eyes.
And rightly so.
She was growing even uglier.
Before, at least her slender figure's curves rivaled Yeon Ha-min's beauty.
Now even that body was distorting grotesquely.
Her skin darkened, cracked, and swelled.
It was no longer human.
"Tch. This is serious."
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue at the sight.
"Why is this happening?"
Amid Yeon Da-hye's nonstop screams, shrieks, and curses, Yeon Wol-a asked.
Ha Mu-baek erected a barrier of energy around Yeon Da-hye, as if her words weren't worth hearing.
Silence fell.
"Poison qi from a failed prior treatment. The medicine meant to unblock her meridians turned toxic instead, burrowing into her brain marrow. It clouded her mind and made her temperament vicious and cruel. I'm extracting the poison qi first. As it leaves her brain and courses through her body, this is the result."
In other words, treatment for the blocked meridians hadn't even begun.
Ha Mu-baek explained calmly.
Of course, not everything.
Not that he could incinerate it instantly or extract it painlessly.
Ha Mu-baek was using the most agonizing method to draw out and expel the poison qi.
How much time passed?
Yeon Da-hye's skin turned pitch black.
Black pus oozed from cracked flesh.
Her body had swollen to three times its size, resembling a hideous pig.
"That's enough for today."
The moment Ha Mu-baek spoke.
Yeon Da-hye's screams cut off.
Of course, the barrier meant only she heard them.
"We'll continue tomorrow."
Ha Mu-baek bowed to Yeon Wol-a, glanced at the dazed Yeon Da-hye, and said.
"Tomorrow will be worse than today."
Ha Mu-baek left.
A foul stench filled the reception room.
The stench from poison qi seeping from her body.
Far worse than what had come from Yeon Wol-a's body.
"Help her bathe."
At Yeon Wol-a's request, maids supported Yeon Da-hye to the bathhouse.
Moments later, barely regaining her senses, Yeon Da-hye looked in the bathhouse mirror.
"Kyaagh!!!"
A scream burst out.
"Ha Mu-baek!!!!! You dog bastard!!!!"
Venom-laced curses at Ha Mu-baek followed.