My Father's Job (1)
Jin I-gang rummaged through his luggage and pulled out a single pill.
"How much medicine is packed in that thing?"
Mu Dae-bo, who had carried over Jin I-gang's chest, asked.
"Half the chest is medicine."
"What kind of medicine?"
"Internal injury salves, poison antidotes, muscle fortifiers, eye tonics, hearing aids, tonics for vitality, anesthetic pills — everything the Jecheon Medical Sage Family makes, plus every drug still in testing. All of it."
"So if you're worn out and take just one of those..."
"I don't recommend sneaking one while I'm not looking."
"Why not?"
"Because it melts you on the spot."
"Melt your body?"
"Your body stays perfectly fine."
"Then what?"
"Your esophagus dissolves first, then your stomach, then your guts — well, your intestines — until you're basically porridge."
"Porridge."
"Yep! Nice, runny, bluish porridge."
Jin I-gang popped the pill into his mouth and sucked on it like a piece of candy. Then he spat it back out.
"That should do it, right?"
"Do what?"
Mu Dae-bo asked, his face going pale with unease.
"Every one of those pills is coated in a lethal poison on the surface."
"Then what you just did was—"
"Washing the poison off."
"Hurk!"
Mu Dae-bo clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Uoegh!"
In the end, he doubled over sideways and vomited. And he wasn't the only one — all five of the Absolute Five Recluses had their faces twisting in disgust.
"You insane bastard."
Jin I-gang stared at Mu Dae-bo for a long moment, then took Hwa Mu by the jaw, pried her mouth open, and pushed the pill inside.
"S-so the medicine you gave me when I was poisoned — you washed it like that too?"
"When you lick honey off a plate, does your hand get it or your tongue?"
"That's, that's just dirty..."
"Saliva and a tongue wash things off way more thoroughly."
"...Here it c-comes again! Uoegh!"
Mu Dae-bo threw up a second time.
"Keep it down, you brat."
"Mmph!"
"I know you've been awake for a while now, so open your eyes, will you?"
Flash!
Hwa Mu's eyes snapped open.
"You were faking unconsciousness from the start?"
"..."
"Why didn't you run?"
"..."
Once again, Hwa Mu said nothing.
"Then let me ask something else. Why is your jaw still intact?"
"My jaw?"
"My fists are basically rocks. Doesn't matter how strong or weak your martial arts are — if I hit you, something breaks. But you're fine. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad your pretty face didn't get ruined, but my pride took a brutal beating."
"..."
"That's a secret too?"
"It's a technique called Geuktan — Extreme Rebound."
Yu Bong-ji, who had been watching with an intrigued expression, spoke up.
"What's that supposed to be?"
"Geuktan is a form of rebound art that gathers one's entire internal energy into a single point and returns the enemy's attack to them."
"If it's a rebound art, I should've been the one hurt. So why am I fine?"
"Doesn't the one being pushed back take the greater damage from rebound force?"
"That makes no sense, and this old woman would know better than anyone."
Compared to Hwa Mu, Yu Bong-ji was hopelessly weak.
And yet Hwa Mu, who had unleashed the rebound art, was the one knocked unconscious, while Jin I-gang stood there unscathed.
"Even I can't make sense of that one."
Her bewilderment was Yu Bong-ji's honest heart laid bare. Even by the most conservative estimate, Hwa Mu's power was at least three full cycles. With that kind of force behind Geuktan, Jin I-gang's arm should have shattered, or he should have suffered internal injuries.
And yet, as if by magic, Jin I-gang was fine.
It must be because of the demon beast...
She had no choice but to conclude that all of it came down to the demon beast.
"Let's set that aside for now. Anyway, are you planning to keep lying there?"
He asked, looking down at Hwa Mu.
"I'm not lying here by choice, you brat. I can't get up."
"Internal injuries that bad?"
"That would be it."
"Then you need another pill."
The moment Jin I-gang said it, Hwa Mu shook her head violently.
"What's this? Not one but two? Look at you, actually doing something. As the saying goes, medicine only works fast when you eat until your cheeks burst."
Jin I-gang fished out two pills and popped them into his own mouth. Then, after cleanly(?) removing the poison coating their surfaces, he pushed them into Hwa Mu's mouth. She resisted fiercely, shaking her head, but it was no use.
The two pills slipped into her mouth, dissolved, and slid down her esophagus.
Having dosed Hwa Mu, Jin I-gang called for Mu Dae-bo.
"Dig a hole for me."
"What do you need a hole for?"
"To bury that man."
Jin I-gang pointed at Bi Geom.
"So it's true — he really did transfer his internal energy to you?"
No matter how he turned it over, Mu Dae-bo couldn't wrap his head around the idea of Bi Geom handing his cultivation over to Jin I-gang.
"Just dig."
Mu Dae-bo hammered palm strikes into the ground.
Soon a pit large enough to hold a grown man gaped open. Jin I-gang turned his head toward Hwa Mu. She was circulating her energy, guiding her qi through its channels.
"Use Void-Grasping to lower him in."
"You're working me for free now?"
"Free?"
"I dug the grave, didn't I, you brat."
"Should I give you another pill?"
"N-no, that's fine. I don't need one."
Mu Dae-bo lifted Bi Geom's body with the Void-Grasping technique, lowered it into the pit, and hurried away.
Because he could feel another round of vomiting coming on.
Jin I-gang fetched a stone and carved words into it. The gravestone he shaped read: Hwa Woong Sleeps Here.
He set the stone upright before the pit and sat down.
His gaze drifted to Hwa Mu. Having finished her circulation, she was looking this way. Their eyes met across the empty air.
After watching him for a while, Hwa Mu rose to her feet and walked over. Her chest was stained deep red. A moment later, she stood before the grave.
She gazed quietly at the gravestone Jin I-gang had made.
"So his name was Hwa Woong."
Hwa Mu murmured softly.
"He never told you."
Jin I-gang said.
Hwa Mu looked at him.
"He only found out he had a daughter right before mobilizing. He tried to tell you, over and over, but apparently the words just wouldn't come out."
"Even so, I... can't forgive him."
"I made a deal with him."
"..."
"He gave me his internal energy in exchange for sparing your life."
"I never asked to be spared."
"Turns out that's how it goes. Parents, it seems, want to give you things whether you ask for them or not. My father was a beggar."
Jin I-gang rose to his feet, pushing soil into the pit as he spoke. At first he worked alone, but before long Hwa Mu was pushing earth in beside him.
She stopped and looked at him.
"I entered the temple when I was four."
"What..."
"My father couldn't afford to raise me. From the age of four, I had to study at the temple. I buried myself in books every single day without fail — not knowing why I studied, or even why I lived there. Then the limit came. I simply couldn't study anymore. Just looking at a book made it hard to breathe; the suffocating pressure was unbearable. So I went to Beiping to find my father and tell him I was quitting. Of course, he had no idea I was coming. He was always busy — I only saw him once or twice a year. It was the dead of winter, a day when snow was falling..."
Jin I-gang paused, hands stilled, and looked up at the sky.
As if recalling that day.
"My father was standing at the gate, bowing. At first I watched without thinking, but at some point I started counting his bows. By evening he'd passed a thousand. People going in, people coming out, people who came out and went back in, people stepping out briefly on an errand... My father used to brag to me that guarding the imperial palace was a grand and mighty profession. Turns out he was a greeter. Not even a silent bow-and-nod — the man bent his back a full ninety degrees, over and over. I stood there and watched him for two whole days. That was how my father earned the money to educate me — by bending his back. And he never once let on how hard it was. Not a single time."
"So that's why you studied?"
"Whatever I look like, I did swallow a fair amount of ink, you know."
"Pfft!"
Hwa Mu snorted a laugh.
"You're pretty when you laugh."
"..."
Her face froze solid instantly.
"What, you turn back into a rock the moment I say it?"
Soon the grave was finished. They raised no burial mound, leaving the ground flat and even. Jin I-gang leaned back against the very spot where Bi Geom had rested not long ago.
"Why did you tell me all that?"
Hwa Mu asked.
"Tell you what?"
"About your father. You've never met me before."
"Exactly because I don't know you."
"..."
"Telling someone who knows you would be embarrassing."
"I see."
Hwa Mu nodded.
"You have to go back, don't you?"
Jin I-gang said.
Hwa Mu nodded again.
"Have you thought about why that poison-needle bastard slipped away?"
"There's a reason?"
"If there weren't, he'd never have abandoned a wounded man."
"...What reason?"
"Those people."
Jin I-gang pointed at the Absolute Five Recluses.
"Who are they?"
"One of those five is an old woman, and when that old woman takes off her clothes, she's invincible. Half the people hiding in Cloud Ridge were wiped out by her alone."
"Necks severed by something razor-sharp and invisible... the Ph-Phantom Demonic Cord!"
Hwa Mu cried out, her face a mask of shock.
"Anyway, if you run into us again, I might not be able to keep the promise I made to your father."
Jin I-gang pulled out the secret manual Bi Geom had left behind and held it out.
Hwa Mu lifted her eyes and looked at him.
"You heard his last words — he told me to give it to you. Take this too."
Jin I-gang gathered up Bi Geom's weapon and handed it over as well.
Manual and weapon in hand, Hwa Mu rose to her feet.
Then she looked at Jin I-gang and asked.
"The imperial examinations...?"
"My father's drowning himself in liquor and gambling these days. I work myself half to death to pay for his drinks and his gambling stake."
"..."
"He bowed his back for twenty years. I don't intend to stoop that far."
"You're an unfilial son."
"That's right."
"...Thank you. If the chance ever comes, I'll repay this debt. I swear it."
Whoosh!
Hwa Mu launched herself into the air. A moment later, she vanished into the forest.
"I honestly don't know if sparing her was the right call."
Mu Dae-bo came over and said.
"I promised, so I keep promises. Let's head up."
Jin I-gang rose from his spot and walked to the cliff face.
"What are you doing?"
He said, looking at Mu Dae-bo, who had followed.
"What do you want from me?"
"You're supposed to throw me up there."
"Why bother climbing when you'll just come back down?"
"I'm not coming back down."
"Is there a path up there?"
"Yep."
"Then up we go."
Mu Dae-bo grabbed Jin I-gang and shot upward. Soaring some ten zhang, he kicked off a jutting rock and leapt a second time, then slipped into the cave.
"Let's sleep first and leave at nightfall."
Jin I-gang picked a suitable spot and lay down. The moment he did, Mu Dae-bo came over and stretched out beside him.
Mu Dae-bo was asleep in no time.
But Jin I-gang couldn't sleep. He figured it was probably because he'd brought up his father.
Nothing to be done about it.
He sat up with a jolt. Then he began carving stone again. In the cave where everyone slept, only the soft sound of stone being shaped echoed quietly.
That evening.
The party woke, ate, and set out.
Past the cave, the path turned downhill.
Well rested, the group moved fast, their fatigue washed away. Jin I-gang walked with his eyes on the sky. The Night Flight Birds still wheeled high overhead, peering down.
"Why did they leave?"
Jin I-gang asked, moving to Bukgung Hansang's side.
"Who's 'they'?"
"The ones who fought the Demonic Cult warriors — they were orthodox sect fighters, right?"
"So your question is why the Jecheon Bureau warriors fled like cowards?"
"They weren't exactly at a crushing disadvantage."
"Here's my thinking — an imperial decree came down."
"The Emperor ordered them not to attack us?"
"Can't say for certain."
"He's right."
The answer came from above.
"Huh?"
Bukgung Hansang jerked his head up, startled. One of the Night Flight Birds was descending toward them through the air at speed.
Bukgung Hansang's hand went to his weapon.
"He's not an enemy."
Jin I-gang held him back.
By then the Night Flight Bird had swooped down. Its rider was none other than Jang Cheon-ik, Sect Leader of the Haomil Sect.
"Right about what, exactly?"
Jin I-gang asked, staring hard at him.
"...?"
Jang Cheon-ik looked back at him, bewildered. Proper etiquette was introductions first, questions after. But this brat had gone straight to the question — and in banmal, no less.
"Go back up."
When Jang Cheon-ik didn't answer, Jin I-gang waved him off with a flick of his hand.
"I am Jang Cheon-ik."
"I never asked your name. Not interested, either."
"As Sect Leader of the Haomil Sect, I deal in information—"
"Not buying."
"Ey?!"
"Go back up."
Jin I-gang pointed at the sky and quickened his pace.
"Oy, this one's got a temper hotter than a forge. Fine, fine — at least hear me out, young master!"
Jang Cheon-ik barked.
Swish!
In that instant, Jin I-gang shot toward him. His descending fist reversed upward and drove straight for Jang Cheon-ik's jaw.
"Hup!"
Jang Cheon-ik's upper body bent backward, and his whole form shifted to a different spot.
"The Great Shifting Art?"
Bukgung Hansang cried out in astonishment.
The Great Shifting Art was a supreme movement technique — like a fallen leaf riding the wind, it let the practitioner borrow even the slightest force from an opponent and use it to slip away. And now the Haomil Sect's leader, Jang Cheon-ik, had just unfolded it.
"Heh."
A smile curled at the corner of Jin I-gang's mouth.
Then his right foot drove forward in a long, deliberate step.