Chapter 480

“Ugh.”

The wrinkled skin around the old man’s eyes twitched. He tossed and turned with a groan, then finally opened his eyes after a long while.

Where am I…?

Instead of damp, yellow-stained wallpaper, he saw a ceiling so starkly white that it was almost oppressive.

He lay there blankly, unable to make sense of the situation, until a calm voice reached his ears.

“Are you awake?”

“U-uh…?”

It wasn’t hard to find the source of the voice.

The old man sat up with a start and saw a young man seated before a small brazier, watching him.

“Wh-who might you be?”

“There are ultimately only two kinds of people in a clinic: medical apprentices and patients. Since you still belong to the latter category, you should lie back down.”

“Ah.”

Only then did the old man realize that this unfamiliar place was a clinic. He also realized the identity of the young man, who looked barely more than a boy.

“So you’re a medical apprentice, sir. But why am I in a clinic… Ow.”

As he spoke in bewilderment, a sudden headache made him groan.

Only now did he realize that his aged body ached everywhere. He was drenched in sweat and trembling uncontrollably.

Good heavens. What on earth happened?

The young medical apprentice crossed the room and came to his aid.

“I’m going to insert a few needles now. Calm yourself and breathe slowly. All right. One. Two…”

Tap.

“Wha—?”

The old man’s eyes went round. The crown of his head prickled as though an ant had bitten him, and then his headache vanished as if it had been washed away.

Holding a slender needle, the young medical apprentice smiled faintly at the old man’s astonished stare.

“Are you all right?”

“Pardon? Yes.”

“Then lie back down. From what I’ve observed over the past two days, fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything seriously wrong… but you still shouldn’t be moving around yet.”

“Ah, I-I understand.”

His medical skills were nothing short of miraculous, and something about his presence inexplicably put both body and mind at ease.

Up close, he looked much younger than expected, yet he seemed more seasoned than even an elderly medical apprentice.

“I’ll help you. Relax and lie down slowly.”

“Yes, yes.”

The old man lay back down as though entranced. The young medical apprentice raised several fingers.

“I need to perform a simple check. Elder, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“It looks like three.”

“And now?”

“Two.”

“Correct. Where do you live, and what is your name and age?”

“…Do I have to tell you that too?”

“I need to make sure your mind is completely clear.”

“Hmm. Let me think.”

Unlike the earlier questions, these required some thought.

The old man had only just awakened, and his condition was still unstable. Feeling a faint headache, he slowly opened his mouth.

“I’ve lived my whole life around Wuhan and Dongting Lake. My name is Gwak Bongchul. No one kept proper track when I was growing up, so I don’t know my exact age, but I reckon I must be past seventy.”

“So you’re Elder Gwak. You’re remarkably fit for your age. What do you do?”

“I… Well, I…”

The old man frowned and hesitated until his occupation came back to him.

“I row a boat.”

“You’re a boatman.”

“Yes. When I was young, I worked as a deckhand on a merchant ship. After I bought my own boat, I mostly carried passengers around Dongting Lake and showed them the sights.”

Before long, the old man—no, the elderly boatman—was delving into old memories and talking without prompting. Each time, the young medical apprentice encouraged him with a gentle smile and a nod.

“There was an older fellow I used to work with. He put it into my head that a man with his own boat was bound to find himself a woman. So I took the plunge and bought a sleek little beauty made by Baekchu.”

“Is that so?”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard of Baekchu, sir. These days, boats like that are common at the Wuhan ferry docks, but when I was young, a man who sailed a Baekchu vessel was considered a first-rate husband prospect. That, or an Audi. You know, the one with four circles on the bow.”

“That sounds somewhat like Five Qi Returning to Origin.¹”

“Huh? What’s Five Qi Returning to Origin¹?”

“It’s something. Let’s move on.”

“Anyway, that boat I bought was sleek and beautiful. It attracted plenty of women, too. Once, a widow from the neighboring village came to me late at night and asked me to show her the Baekchu. Then, all of a sudden, she yanked her dress ties open…!”

“…Let’s skip a little farther ahead.”

The young medical apprentice listened with patience far beyond his years. As the story continued, the solid dam blocking the boatman’s memories slowly began to crumble.

Then, while the boatman cheerfully rambled on, his aching body forgotten, one particular memory suddenly resurfaced.

He froze like a stone statue.

“……!”

It was a bolt of lightning.

A nightmarish memory.

Rumble. Boom!

Graaaaaaah!

The crash of thunder and a furious roar rang vividly in his ears.

He blinked slowly, and the image of a colossal being silhouetted against the black sky flashed before his eyes.

“Gah!”

The boatman sprang upright without realizing it and stared blankly into the air.

“W-wait. Wait a moment.”

His voice trembled, and his eyes were wide open.

Perhaps because he had exerted himself so suddenly, every part of his body began aching again. But the boatman paid no attention to any of it.

The memories flooding back through the broken dam consumed his thoughts.

“Me-medical apprentice! What did you say to me earlier?”

“What are you referring to?”

“Two days! Didn’t you say two days had passed?”

Grab!

A grip far too strong for a man over seventy clamped around the medical apprentice’s slender wrist.

But the young medical apprentice did not so much as twitch an eyebrow as he calmly replied,

“That is correct.”

“Good heavens. How could this happen?”

“Calm yourself, Elder.”

“T-this is no time to be calm. We must tell the people and report this to the higher-ups at once!”

The boatman was half out of his mind.

His entire body was drenched in sweat and trembling without his realizing it, while his unfocused eyes darted anxiously in every direction.

It was as though something might devour him at any moment.

“We have to run as quickly as possible. Hurry!”

That was when the young medical apprentice reached toward the patient, who was shouting as though in the throes of a fit.

Swish.

A smooth white hand without a single callus touched the boatman’s slightly hunched back. Warmth flowed from it and filled his body.

The inexplicable phenomenon finally calmed the boatman, and he gasped for breath.

“Wh-what was that?”

“Think of it as a miscellaneous technique I’ve practiced from time to time. And, Elder.”

“Gasp.”

The boatman met the medical apprentice’s deep, clear gaze, and for reasons he could not explain, the words caught in his throat.

The young medical apprentice studied him for a moment before slowly continuing.

“The thing you’re worried about will never happen. Do you understand?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s simple. Erase everything you saw, heard, and experienced from your mind. Two days ago, you were summoned to Dongting Lake with the government troops, but you collapsed because you were unwell. You woke up today.”

“P-please wait a moment.”

“Everything I’m telling you is true. It must become true. That day, you carried no passengers, and you never saw the divine spirit of Dongting Lake.”

“……!”

The boatman shuddered as though he had been struck by lightning.

The young medical apprentice’s words were that shocking.

“D-does that mean you saw the Mountain Spirit too, sir…?”

“That may be the case, or it may not. But there is one thing you must remember… You must forget everything you remember about those events.”

The boatman swallowed hard at the young man’s gentle yet blade-cold voice.

Then the suffocating silence in the room was broken by the last bit of courage a man over seventy could muster.

“D-do you intend to kill me?”

“Me? No.”

The young medical apprentice slowly shook his head and continued.

“But someone else may think differently. For example… the City Lord of Hubei Province, who would not want ominous rumors spreading.”

“T-the City Lord!”

The City Lord of Hubei Province.

An official who governed a city by order of the Son of Heaven—a man who, at least within Hubei Province, was as good as a king.

The boatman cried out reflexively at the unexpected appearance of such a high-ranking person. Then he realized his mistake, and his vision went dark.

What a stupid fool! What if someone heard me?

Unlike him, however, the young medical apprentice’s expression remained relaxed.

It was the composure of the person who had ensured that none of their conversation could leave the room.

No—even if their words did leak out, the young medical apprentice would not bat an eye.

The precaution was solely for the sake of the boatman’s life.

Unaware of that, the boatman spoke again in a tightly hushed voice.

“I-I want to live. Why on earth would the City Lord want to kill an insignificant boatman like me?”

“When floods come, droughts strike, and plagues spread, people die in every direction, and wars break out everywhere. Then the rebels who dream of becoming kings and high officials speak with one voice. They say that the will of Heaven has left the Son of Heaven. That we should overthrow this rotten country.”

The young medical apprentice clicked his tongue softly, stood up, and tossed out one final remark.

“Even disasters beyond human power lead to such things. So what do you suppose would happen if the divine spirit of Dongting Lake, a creature as vast as a mountain, went mad and ran wild?”

“……!”

“Thousands died. The Yangtze and Dongting Lake were filled with corpses and blood, and streets that once blazed through the night fell dark. Now, with the frightened people watching Hubei Province, what do you think would happen if everyone learned what you saw and heard?”

He left the rest unsaid, but in the suffocating silence, the boatman found the answer himself.

I’d die. Without a doubt.

He had been born into a poor tenant farmer’s family and lived his entire life illiterate, but he had not spent more than seventy years with his eyes and ears closed.

If anything, ferrying countless passengers had taught him how the world worked through the conversations he overheard.

If I so much as breathe a word about what I know…

It would be the end of him.

Neither the Son of Heaven seated upon the throne nor the City Lord of Hubei Province would want people to learn that the mad divine spirit of Dongting Lake had killed thousands.

No, perhaps they would eliminate everyone involved in the matter immediately.

A martial artist from a prestigious sect might be another matter, but an old boatman past seventy could be disposed of without anyone ever knowing.

“Good heavens. Oh, good heavens…”

As the boatman exhaled like a man whose soul had left his body, a lifeline was extended to him.

“Erase it all from your memory. Sell your boat, keep your mouth shut, and live out the rest of your days. Do that, and nothing will happen.”

“W-will that really be enough?”

“That is all I have to say.”

The young medical apprentice rose from his seat. The boatman stared dazedly at his departing back, then hurriedly called out.

“A-are you really a medical apprentice, sir?”

“Of course.”

The young medical apprentice, Mungyeong, answered without hesitation and released the doorknob.

Then he pointed to the brazier still burning in the corner of the room and the kettle slowly boiling atop it.

“I boiled that decoction myself. Three times a day. After meals. Make sure you take it.”

Caring for a patient until the very end was a medical apprentice’s duty.