Jin-ho's Spring (4)
Last time he had visited Luoyang, he had stopped by Da-byeol Mountain and obtained Cheonhyangroju.
A spiritual elixir capable of curing any blocked pulse affliction.
From that place, he had acquired a total of three bottles, and one had been given to Branch Leader Min-ik's son to cure his illness.
Half a bottle had been mixed into other liquors and gifted to those around him.
He had originally promised to host a banquet, but simply hadn't found the time.
So he had given a bottle each to the people who had been with him then, his family, and the branch leaders.
The reason half a bottle had sufficed for so many people was the sheer richness of Cheonhyangroju's flavor and aroma. It could be diluted dozens of times with other liquors without losing its essence.
Even after those gifts, a fair amount of the diluted liquor remained in his warehouse.
Of course, everyone who received it had nothing but praise.
Thus, the pure Cheonhyangroju left was one and a half bottles.
Ha Su-min's affliction was Three Yin Blocked Pulse.
It was a blocked pulse, but not as severe as Nine Yin Blocked Pulse. Ordinary blocked pulses didn't allow one to live past eighteen, but since hers was Three Yin, she had made it to around twenty before passing.
Half a bottle of Cheonhyangroju should be more than enough, then.
No matter how miraculous the elixir, too much was never good.
He knew that firsthand from consuming the Qingbing Snow Plum.
He had nearly met his end back then.
But he had no intention of giving it to Ha Su-min himself.
Every story had its protagonist. And in the tale of Jin-ho and Ha Su-min, that protagonist wasn't him—it was Jin-ho.
So Jin-ho should be the one to give it to her.
After finishing his training, he headed to the dining hall for breakfast.
He could stop by Jin-ho's pavilion before work began and hand over the Cheonhyangroju.
When he arrived at the dining hall, his father was already seated.
"You're late."
"No, I just got here myself. Sit."
"Yes, sir."
As he took his seat, the other family members began gathering one by one.
But... even after everyone was seated, Jin-ho still hadn't arrived.
"Jin-ho's quite late."
"I'll check on him."
At Grandfather's words, Father summoned a servant.
Moments later, Father's servant rushed back with a flustered expression.
"Uh... there's a problem."
"What is it?"
"Well... the Second Young Master isn't in his quarters. And..."
Hesitating, he held out a letter.
"This was on the table."
Father took it, read it, then pressed a hand to his forehead with a sigh.
"Ha, that fool...!"
"What's wrong, Father?"
At Jeong-ho's question, Father handed over the letter. Jeong-ho unfolded it.
Eun Seo-ho quickly stood and read over his shoulder.
[I am setting off to find a spiritual medicine. Ha Su-min has Three Yin Blocked Pulse. To save her, a Yang energy elixir is needed. Without Ha Su-min, I cannot live...]
Ah...
He had forgotten about Jin-ho's drive.
No, even so, this was too fast.
He already had an elixir that could cure Three Yin Blocked Pulse, yet Jin-ho had run off to find one.
Aigoo, Jin-ho. That's not it.
That was all for nothing.
On the other hand, it showed just how sincere Jin-ho was toward Ha Su-min.
Jin-ho's sudden departure—
Was it really running away from home?
Anyway, the family was briefly thrown into an uproar by Jin-ho's impulsive act, but they calmed down and ate breakfast.
Everyone knew Jin-ho wasn't the type to die in some roadside inn.
.
.
.
After breakfast, he began handling work in the Hyeonpung Branch office.
But he couldn't focus.
Still, he forced himself to concentrate and push through until Deputy Jo Yeong-yeong came to see him.
"The Branch Leader requests your presence."
"Pardon?"
Tilting his head, he followed Deputy Jo Yeong-yeong to Father's office.
Come to think of it, she still seemed to have her eye on Chief Yu... He'd look into that later.
"Hyeonpung Branch Leader has arrived."
"Send him in."
Entering the office, he saw Father buried in paperwork.
"......"
After a moment's wait, Father looked up, set down the documents, rubbed his dry face, and got straight to the point.
"Geum-ryeong, was it?"
"Ah... yes."
"I hear you need silver to work."
"That's right."
He must have remembered the one time he'd mentioned it.
Thud.
Father pulled out a few pieces of silver and held them out.
"Go find Jin-ho."
"Pardon?"
"If it can deliver a letter precisely to me from that far away, it must be able to track anyone, no matter where they are. Isn't that so?"
Exactly.
That ability was how he'd rescued the kidnapped gold accountant last time.
"So go bring your brother back."
Just what he'd hoped for.
He hadn't been able to focus on work anyway, wanting to go after Jin-ho, and now Father had given him the perfect excuse.
"I knew Jin-ho admired Ha Su-min, but I didn't realize his feelings ran this deep."
"......"
"Still, charging off without a plan does more harm than good. If it's an elixir, we can source it through the merchant group."
Father was right.
The Eunhae Merchant Group's main goods were medicinal herbs.
Even so-called spiritual medicines could be procured at the group level.
That's how he'd obtained and consumed the Cold Spirit Ten Herbs in his previous life.
Jin-ho surely knew that, so this outburst must be his way of not burdening the group.
But vanishing without a word had already caused plenty of trouble.
"She has about a year left, they say. We can start looking now."
"Pardon?"
How did Father know that?
Father cleared his throat awkwardly at his question.
"Actually, the Cheongin Escort Agency's leader and Ha the Escort Head visited earlier. I asked around."
They must have come to request help finding an elixir.
"And they already knew Jin-ho had left home."
Word of Jin-ho running off to find an elixir for Ha Su-min had spread that far already.
Wait...
The merchant group's security wasn't that lax. How had the rumor spread so fast?
Father sighed.
"He sent a letter to Ha Su-min. Said he'd definitely find the elixir."
"......"
Aigoo, Jin-ho.
"We've agreed to help the group source the elixir."
"I see."
"Anyway, with Geum-ryeong's ability, finding Jin-ho shouldn't take long. You can do it before your birthday banquet. Now go bring him back before he causes trouble."
"Yes, sir."
"Oh, and when you find your second brother, give him a good kick in the shin for me."
Returning to the Hyeonpung Branch, he immediately instructed Palgap and the guards to prepare for departure tomorrow.
Then he rushed through his work as quickly as possible.
.
.
.
The next morning.
With preparations complete, he bid farewell to the family and left the compound.
He flicked his sleeve.
"Geum-ryeong. Come out."
"Oink?"
"We need to find Jin-ho hyung."
"Oink?"
He held out the silver Father had given him yesterday.
Geum-ryeong snapped it up and sniffed the air.
It wanted something Jin-ho had used.
Pulling out one of Jin-ho's garments, he watched Geum-ryeong sniff it before locking onto a direction.
"Ah! Wait!"
He quickly tied a prepared letter to Geum-ryeong's tail.
"Now you can go."
Geum-ryeong bolted southeast, and they hurried after it.
By lunchtime, Geum-ryeong returned.
It had taken an hour and a half round trip, so farther than expected.
Still, if Jin-ho stayed put, they could catch up soon enough.
* * *
Eun Jin-ho scratched under his ear as he read the letter.
A strange animal had just delivered it to him.
'From Seo-ho. Come to think of it, he mentioned raising a little pig. Was that a spirit beast?'
Even to himself, Eun Seo-ho was a mysterious guy, so raising a spirit beast or two seemed plausible.
The letter was written in a familiar hand.
[Jin-ho hyung, I get the situation, but running off like this without warning? The whole family's worried sick.]
[You can't think straight when you hear Ha Su-min has Three Yin Blocked Pulse and is dying soon.]
[Wandering around without a clue where a Yang elixir might be is asking for disaster.]
[The elixir? I know where it is, so stay put and wait!]
— Eun Seo-ho
Ha Su-min's Three Yin Blocked Pulse and impending death had left him unable to think of anything else.
By the time he came to his senses, he was already out the door seeking a Yang elixir.
He knew the family would worry, but he'd rationalized it as unavoidable.
And he'd even left a note explaining why.
Among the Cheongin Escort Agency escorts he'd met on the escort route, he'd shrugged off his first sight of her.
But as the journey continued, she had wormed her way into his heart.
Now, his world was filled with Ha Su-min.
The thought of her vanishing from it tore at his chest, leaving him breathless.
Frowning, he read on.
At that line about wandering cluelessly, Eun Jin-ho sighed.
"What choice did I have? I had to do something. Asking around will turn up the elixir eventually. I couldn't just shamelessly ask the merchant group to..."
He trailed off.
The final line had seized his attention.
* * *
How far had they gone?
He and his group spurred their horses after Geum-ryeong.
Jin-ho wasn't appearing no matter how far they rode, making him briefly doubt if Geum-ryeong was leading them right.
But Geum-ryeong never failed when paid.
It just meant Jin-ho had gone quite far.
How much longer?
Dusk was falling.
"My lord, we should find a place to camp soon."
Seo-u Warrior's words made him nod.
"Yeah. Just how far did this guy go...?"
As he grumbled, a faint light flickered in the distance.
A fire in these mountains?
Geum-ryeong, spotting it, wagged its tail.
Could it be?
He hurried toward it and soon sensed a familiar presence.
Found him in just a day!
"Hyung!"
"Huh? Seo-ho?"
He dismounted and approached Jin-ho, who had risen from beside the campfire.
Then he kicked that leg hard.
Thwack!
"Ugh!"
A touch of personal satisfaction mixed in, but he was merely carrying out Father's orders faithfully.
"Father said to kick you in the shin when I found you."
"Hah..."
Guilty as charged, Jin-ho just rubbed his leg.
"You know what you did wrong, right?"
"Ahem, sorry."
"Dinner... eaten yet?"
"Not yet..."
He glanced at Jin-ho's horse. It had only the bare essentials—clearly a hasty departure.
At least he hadn't gone completely empty-handed.
Looking to Palgap, the man nodded.
"We have steamed buns from an inn. I'll prepare them right away."
Soon, they ate warmed tea and buns by the fire for dinner.
"By the way..."
As they ate in silence, Jin-ho spoke up.
"Is it true?"
"What?"
"You wrote in the letter that you know where an elixir to cure Ha Su-min is. For real?"
"Yeah. It's true."
"So where is it?"
With a sigh, he asked,
"Why? Tell you, and you'll go get it?"
"Of course! I'm saving Ha Su-min! Without her, I..."
Remembering Jin-ho after her death, he made a bitter face.
"Why the long face?"
"Nothing, just... you have to marry her."
"I will."
He hesitated, then spoke.
"Truth is, I have that elixir."
"What?"
"I have it. The elixir."
"......"
Jin-ho blinked, not grasping it.
"I got it by chance before. The moment I heard about her Three Yin Blocked Pulse, I thought of it and planned to give it to you... but you'd already left."
"......"
"Way too fast."
To his words, Jin-ho slowly replied,
"So what? That means I..."
"Yeah. All for nothing."
"......"
Jin-ho buried his face in his knees.
Even he was embarrassed.
Gently patting his back, he said,
"Here, take this."
"What's this?"
"Cheonhyangroju. A spiritual elixir that cures any blocked pulse."
At his words, Jin-ho's eyes welled up.
"So, hyung. Since it's come to this, how about we put on a little play?"