There was an order to visiting the sick.
When word spread that Tang Sadok—the Family Head and an elder of the clan—had awakened, the members of the Tang Clan dropped everything and came running.
But not all hundred-plus of them could see him.
“Benefactor, when can we go see Grandpa Tang?”
“Hard to say. The people ahead of us have been in there for a while, so they should be coming out soon.”
“Oh, I see.”
Cheongpung nodded at my answer.
Wait. Cheongpung?
“What are you doing here? When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
He had joined the conversation so naturally that I hadn’t even noticed him. But why had he come here?
As if he had read my mind, Cheongpung pointed at his chest.
“Mimi said she wanted to see him.”
“…?”
What the hell had I just heard?
Now he could even communicate with a snake. Was this guy from Slytherin instead of Huashan?
Cheongpung tilted his head at my suspicious stare.
“Why are you looking at my forehead all of a sudden? Is there something on it?”
“I was just checking whether you had a lightning-shaped scar on your forehead.”
“What?”
“There is such a thing.”
The instant I finished speaking—
Clunk.
The tightly shut door of the infirmary opened, and about a dozen people emerged.
They were among the few surviving direct descendants of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Tang Horyong, whom I had met before, was among them.
“Whew…”
His eyes bloodshot, he looked up at the sky before walking toward us.
“The Family Head wishes to see you.”
“We’ve been waiting.”
Jin Wikyung nodded and led the way. Cheongpung and I followed him into the infirmary.
We walked through the heavy smell of medicinal decoctions until a physician with a white cloth covering his nose and mouth led us into a treatment room.
At last, we came face-to-face with several familiar people.
“Cough… You came.”
Tang Sadok’s condition was serious at a glance. His limbs were broken, and the qi within him was unstable from his internal injuries.
The Divine Physician, who exchanged a brief glance with us, stopped Tang Sadok as he tried to sit up.
“Family Head, did I not tell you not to move?”
“This old man is a sinner. I committed a crime deserving of death, so it is only right that I ask for punishment.”
Tang Sadok shook his pale head, stared directly at me, and continued.
“I will make no pathetic excuses. The Western Heaven Demon Lord went to the underground prison because I told him about it.”
I folded my arms at an angle.
“Ah. No wonder.”
“…?”
“Why?”
Tang Sadok asked with a flustered expression.
“Ah, you knew?”
“Of course I didn’t know at first. Things were too hectic back then. But when I thought about it later, I started wondering how the hell that bastard knew where the Myriad-Poison Ring was.”
Only a tiny number of people knew its location.
Cheongpung might have looked as light as a flower petal, but he was as steadfast as the roots of a tree. That left Tang Sadok as the only person who could have revealed it.
“Why did you do it?”
“He said that if I told him where the Myriad-Poison Ring was, he would preserve our family’s bloodline.”
“And you believed him?”
“This old man was foolish. My judgment was clouded for a moment, and I did something I never should have done.”
“At least you realize that much.”
Tang Sadok’s eyes trembled as he looked at me.
“The reason this old man survived must have been Heaven’s will. I was spared so that I might apologize to you and receive my punishment.”
“Then what punishment do you seek, Family Head?”
The cold voice belonged to Jin Wikyung, who had been silently listening to our conversation.
“Are you the Lesser Family Head of the Jin Family of Taiyuan?”
“Yes. I am also the elder brother who raised my two younger brothers as if they were my own sons.”
Unmistakable anger smoldered in Jin Wikyung’s dark eyes.
“It was something no one who walks the righteous path should have done.”
“I know. No… I am well aware. That is why I ask to be punished.”
“What if I order you to take your own life?”
“…!”
Everyone, myself included, stared at Jin Wikyung in shock.
Everyone except Tang Sadok.
His expression perfectly calm, he answered.
“I betrayed the principles of the Way, yet because all of you risked your lives to fight for us, our family’s bloodline will endure. If this worthless old man’s life can serve as atonement, I will gladly offer it.”
A brief silence followed. Then Jin Wikyung sighed.
“Whew…”
He regarded Tang Sadok with a complicated look before turning to me.
“What will you do?”
“…What? Have him take his own life?”
“Anything.”
Having the hilt of a sword suddenly placed in my hand made my heart clench.
Especially when the life hanging from the other end belonged to the Family Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Look how icy the mood suddenly got.
Of course, this wasn’t something I could just laugh off. I wasn’t some perfectly impartial, broad-minded Great Hero of Benevolence and Righteousness. When I figured out the whole story, anger had quietly begun simmering inside me.
Everyone’s lives had been on the line back then, not just mine.
But…
“Forget it. I don’t want to take it that far.”
The truth was, part of me understood Tang Sadok’s position.
If I had to weigh an outsider I had met only a few times against my own blood—people I was duty-bound to protect as the head of my family—I might have made the same choice.
Besides, I owed him.
Tang Sadok’s help had played a major part in Jeok Cheongang’s awakening.
Even if there had been a certain deal involved, Tang Sadok had still been the one who lent us a divine artifact without telling even his own blood relatives.
“So let’s call it even. No, that’s going too far. Let’s just say the Sichuan Tang Clan owes us a huge debt for what happened.”
When I finished, Cheongpung and the Divine Physician spoke up.
“It was definitely Grandpa Tang’s fault that Benefactor was put in danger… but I’ll follow Benefactor’s wishes, too.”
“I have already forgotten about it. If I have one wish as a physician, it is for the Family Head to recover as soon as possible. There are still clan members who survived, aren’t there?”
Jin Wikyung spoke last. Unlike before, there was no longer any anger in his voice.
No—perhaps he had known what my answer would be from the start.
“So that is what they say. What do you think, Family Head?”
“…!”
Tang Sadok’s eyes shook with emotion as he looked at us.
After a brief silence, a hoarse voice escaped his lips.
“This old man… The Sichuan Tang Clan owes all of you a tremendous debt of gratitude.”
The instant Tang Sadok bowed his head in heartfelt thanks—
Ding. Ding. Ding.
System
Confessing one’s sins is difficult, but something else requires even greater courage:
Forgiveness.
Hidden Quest Atonement and Forgiveness successfully completed!
Lv. 115 Tang Sadok expresses his profound gratitude for your goodwill. He and the Sichuan Tang Clan will never forget the kindness and aid you showed them today. The people of the Sichuan Tang Clan will remember you as their Benefactor!
You have acquired the Title: Tang Clan’s Benefactor!
You have received a tremendous amount of EXP and Fame as a reward for completing the Hidden Quest!
Level Up!
What the hell? A Hidden Quest out of nowhere?
While I stood dazed by the unexpected System notifications, something cold brushed between my legs and slipped past.
Sssrikk, sssriririk.
“Mimi, you little rascal.”
Seeing Mimi and Tang Sadok reunited after so long reminded me of something I had momentarily forgotten.
“Oh, right. About the Myriad-Poison Ring… Luckily, I’ve kept it safe all this time—”
“Is that so?”
Tang Sadok cut in before I could finish.
“Then continue keeping it.”
“Yes, then I’ll keep it… Wait, what?”
“I entrust our family’s divine artifact to you. Consider it a token of our gratitude to our Benefactor, and please do not refuse.”
Ding.
System
By the owner’s will, Myriad-Poison Ring has been transferred to you!
A new Item has become bound to you!
Currently bound Items: White Flame, Myriad-Poison Ring, ???
One bound Item has not yet been given a name. Please give it a new name.
What was with today?
I was starting to get nervous. What kind of fucked-up shit was waiting for me if the System was showering me with rewards like this?
Seeing me open and close my mouth like a goldfish, Tang Sadok smiled faintly.
“If there is anything you desire, tell me. So long as it lies within our family’s power, I will grant it.”
The Divine Physician smiled along with him and answered,
“All I desire is for the patients to recover as soon as possible.”
“Oh?”
An answer worthy of the Divine Physician. Or should I call him Dong Feng now?
One thing was certain: he too was a Divine Physician in every sense of the title.
“What do you desire?”
Cheongpung jumped at the sudden question.
“M-Me?”
Tang Sadok nodded. Cheongpung twisted his hands and feet awkwardly as he answered.
“I… Well… Hmm. Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I don’t think there’s anything.”
“…”
“…”
Hey, you little bastard. Take your eyes off Mimi-chan1 and talk.
I wanted to bring him a mirror and show him what he looked like. His eyes were filled with aching longing and desire for Mimi-chan1.
At this rate, he’s going to bore a hole through her scales.
Just then, Tang Sadok spoke.
“This little one is an old friend of mine. For the past several decades, she has been the only one with whom I could share the joy, anger, sorrow, and delight I could never reveal to anyone else.”
Cheongpung looked at Tang Sadok with pity.
“Grandpa Tang, you don’t have any other friends.”
“I did not make any. Being the Family Head of the Tang Clan was that kind of position.”
“So you don’t have any friends.”
“It is not that I had none. I could have made them, but…”
“You didn’t have a single friend. How sad.”
“…”
The Divine Physician hurriedly grabbed Tang Sadok by the shoulder.
“Family Head, calm yourself. You’re breathing far too quickly!”
“Huff… Hoo, huff…”
“Take deep, slow breaths. Now, follow me. One, two…”
“Whoooosh…”
After narrowly surviving a bout of high blood pressure, Tang Sadok looked at Cheongpung and spoke.
“But I could entrust Mimi to you…”
Cheongpung covered his mouth with both hands.
“No, Grandpa Tang. I can’t take your only friend away from you.”
“…I haven’t said I would entrust her to you yet.”
“Oh. Ohhh.”
Tang Sadok let out a deep sigh. For a moment, he had undoubtedly wondered whether it was really safe to entrust Mimi-chan1 to someone like that.
“Yes, you guessed correctly. Since we do not know what will become of our family, I wish to entrust Mimi to you. Temporarily, of course.”
“Yaaay!”
“Did you hear that last part? Temporarily.”
“Yaaay!”
I’ll bet Hyuk Mujin’s right wrist he didn’t hear it.
Cheongpung was beside himself with joy at becoming Mimi’s temporary guardian.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her!”
“From what I saw last time, Mimi does seem to follow you well. However, she is naturally quite fussy and very wary of strangers, so…”
“Mimi. Whirlwind, then spin around and around and say hello!”
Sssriririk!
“Oh, shit.”
She busted out a new move right here.
Jin Wikyung, who had been half out of his mind at the sight, muttered in a dazed voice,
“It seems you have nothing to worry about, Family Head.”
An earthquake struck Tang Sadok’s eyes.
Tang Sadok asked Jin Wikyung to remain behind for a private conversation, so Cheongpung and I left the room first.
No—one more person had just been added.
“Young Hero Jin, could you spare this old man a moment?”
“Me?”
The Divine Physician nodded with a gentle smile.
“There is something I must ask of you before you leave.”
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