Chapter 834

Everyone has their own way of forgetting their troubles.

Some people soothe their grief with books and music. Others shake off their anger with good food and a drink.

Getting physical works, too. Run until you’re gasping for breath, exercise hard enough, and all those half-baked thoughts get wiped clean from your mind.

I’d always preferred that last method. I was born weighing over eleven pounds, after all—a record-breaking baby at the local maternity clinic.

“Nothing beats vigorous exercise. Don’t you think so too, Mujin?”

At my voice, soft as a cat’s paw, Hyuk Mujin—who’d been listening to my lecture on “overcoming your troubles”—finally opened his tightly shut mouth.

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re going to hit me.”

“Who says? I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“Your fist, Captain. It’s practically howling.”

Hyuk Mujin’s eyes trembled as he looked at me—or, more precisely, at my clenched fist. I nodded readily.

“Yeah. You’re right.”

“…You’re admitting it that easily?”

“I have to. That’s reality.”

“Could you spare me just this once?”

“People could misunderstand that question. Anyone listening might think I’m trying to kill you.”

“You may not kill me, but you hit me like you’re trying to.”

“When did I do that?”

Hyuk Mujin stared at me in disbelief, then shouted as if his life depended on it.

“Yesterday! The day before! Since last year! All the time! Rain or snow—”

Wham!

“Urgh!”

There’s always a reason someone gets beaten up.

I got into the swing of it, happily beating Hyuk Mujin until my troubles in the modern world began to fade. Then I sensed people approaching, and familiar voices came through the slats of the tightly shut carriage window.

“Why did the carriage stop—wait, why are there only guides here? Where’s Hyuk Mujin?”

“I don’t see Taishan either!”

After the urgent voices of a young man and woman came an old man’s shout.

“What! That Taishan brat has disappeared?”

“Yes. He should be with Hyuk Mujin and the other guides, protecting the Pavilion Master.”

“Oh, thank you, gods of heaven and earth. Ever since I met that bastard, the back of my head’s been throbbing, and I thought I’d kick the bucket any day now. Looks like I’ve got another twenty years in me.”

“Now that’s going too far!”

“Going too far, my ass. What’s going too far is the appetite of that underling of yours—Taishan, Scenic Mountain, whatever his name is. I’ve spent decades in Nanman and seen all kinds of strange beasts, but I never imagined there’d be a man who ate more than an elephant.”

“Now, listen here, Elder Nam!”

“Hey, hang on. This little shit’s been mouthing off at me for a while now… You think you can act like this in front of Senior Jeok? You’re still wet behind the ears—how dare you raise your voice at an elder!”

As that dizzying conversation went on, Hyuk Mujin, sprawled on the floor and twitching, called out.

“I-I’m right here! Help me!”

A short silence followed. Then everyone shouted at once.

“Dark Heaven! It’s an attack by Dark Heaven!”

“Hyuk Mujin will be fine—save the Pavilion Master first!”

“Damn it, were the guides in on it too? Then Taishan must’ve—!”

“By this old man’s keen eye, that Taishan brat’s in on it too! If he shows up, kill him! Please, kill him!”

Clang, clang, clang!

As swords were drawn and the Nanman guides screamed in terror, I found myself thinking:

Ah. I miss Mom.

Murim really wasn’t easy.

The people who saw me step out of the carriage unharmed reacted in all sorts of ways.

“We’re saved!”

“O Apostle of the Earth Mother Goddess!”

“Mother Goddess Heaven! Unbeliever Hell!”

The guides from the Nanman Beast Palace, who’d been branded Dark Heaven’s lackeys and nearly killed without a chance to explain themselves, sank to the ground.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Soul-Chasing Guest Song Ilseom and Black Dragon Saber Sama Pyo had been ready to cut someone down first and ask questions later. They both froze at the same instant, like mirror images.

“Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung… was with Dark Heaven all along?”

Namho, a Hidden Shadow Pavilion agent who’d lived in Nanman for decades since the Great Faction War, finally started showing signs of dementia.

“Benefactor!”

Last of all, Ju Hwaran—the Escort King’s granddaughter and the Young Bureau Head of the Yongbong Escort Bureau—ran toward me with a cry that sounded almost like a scream.

She threw her arms around me.

Well, coming to Murim really had been the right call.

But I was a man who kept personal feelings separate from official business, no matter the circumstances. I forced the corners of my mouth to stay down and spoke solemnly.

“What shampoo do you use?”

“I was so worried something had happened to you, I was terrif—what?”

“N-Nothing.”

I must have been a little out of it.

I took a deep breath to collect myself. Ju Hwaran asked, her voice full of concern, “Are you really all right?”

“I’m fine all year round—rain, snow, thunder, hail. But seriously, what shampoo do you use?”

“Oh no. You must have hit your head.”

“…Sorry. I didn’t hit my head. I’m just a little confused.”

That stream-of-consciousness thing is no joke.

I’d only just returned from the modern world, and maybe I was still half asleep. With my tongue doing whatever it wanted, proving I was in my right mind took a little time and effort.

Which meant submitting to a test administered by a certain old, eccentric Hidden Shadow Pavilion agent.

“What is this old man’s name?”

“Why do I have to do this?”

“Answer the question. I’ll ask again. My name?”

“This is driving me nuts.”

“This old man’s name isn’t Mi.”¹

“Wow, I’m going to lose my mind.”

“It isn’t Wa, either.”

I was about to say I was going crazy, but gave up and answered.

“Namho.”

“Then what’s my affiliation?”

“Hidden Shadow Pavilion.”

“Wrong.”

“What?”

“This old man isn’t just a Hidden Shadow Pavilion agent. I’m its finest agent.”

“Aren’t you just its oldest agent?”

“…”

Namho glared at me without a word. Hyuk Mujin, who’d finally escaped the Truthful Carriage and was recovering, muttered,

“His memory and judgment seem fine to me.”

“Bah! What do you know, you fool!”

“Whoa. Why are you getting so mad?”

“This old man has a plan, too. What would you do if the fellow in front of you were a Dark Heaven lackey wearing Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung’s face?”

“I suspect infirmities of old age, but no, he isn’t. I’ll stake my neck on it.”

“What’s your evidence?”

“I got hit before everyone came over. That punch felt exactly like the Captain’s.”

“…”

“His fist sticks to my skin like glue. My body remembers it. My soul remembers it. I only get that feeling when the Captain hits me.”

Hyuk Mujin looked at me with a sad smile.

“I’m glad you woke up, Captain. I was really worried these past three days.”

I’d been wondering if I ought to hit him a little less from now on. At that, my brow furrowed.

“What did you just say?”

“Huh? What about?”

“Did you say three days?”

“Oh. You didn’t know? You woke up briefly three days ago, then slept the whole time after that, groaning and sweating.”

“…Of course I didn’t know. How would someone who was asleep know?”

Hyuk Mujin rubbed the bump on his head, looking sheepish.

“Sorry. Anyway, everyone was in an uproar over it. Elder Nam searched everywhere nearby with the others, saying they had to find medicinal herbs. Great Hero Jeok left right away, saying he was heading to Sichuan.”

“Old Master—no, my Master went to Sichuan?”

“Yes. I’ve never seen him in such a hurry.”

“But why Sichuan… Oh.”

Before I could finish the question, a thought crossed my mind.

The Sichuan Tang Clan.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord had dealt the Sichuan Tang Clan a devastating blow a few months ago. But the strength of a great family didn’t disappear overnight.

Besides, the Sichuan Tang Clan, which mainly dealt in hidden weapons and poison, was also one of the most renowned medical families in the world.

And on top of that…

The Divine Physician is in Sichuan.

Strictly speaking, the Divine Physician known to the world was actually the Slaughter Saint. But unlike his master, the Disciple had stayed in Sichuan, and he was a physician every bit as worthy of the title.

Jeok Cheongang had gone ahead to bring that new Divine Physician back.

He didn’t have to go that far.

I felt a pang of regret that I wouldn’t get to see him right away, and a warmth stirred in one corner of my heart. Then a stabbing pain rose from deep inside my body.

This is…

There was no doubt. Separate from the System update, the effects of Broken Body remained.

That damage, which even leveling up hadn’t healed, was needling me around the lower dantian.

Mm.

I swallowed the groan, but I couldn’t stop my brow from furrowing a little. The people watching me noticed at once.

“C-Captain. Is something wrong?”

“No. I’ve just got something on my mind.”

That wasn’t a lie.

I was thinking about my injuries—and about Jeok Cheongang, who’d noticed them three days ago.

Old Master must have gone to find the Divine Physician because he realized he couldn’t treat me himself.

I could say this without a doubt: Fire King Jeok Cheongang was a great martial artist and a good Master.

But my injury, which even the System couldn’t heal, must have seemed beyond Jeok Cheongang, too.

Fuck. At first I thought I’d borrowed from a regular bank. Turns out it was a Sunshine Loan.²

I felt like a gambler who’d borrowed from loan sharks to keep playing, only to ruin his life.

But what choice did I have now?

Even if I could go back to that moment, I knew I’d make the same choice. All I could do was give a bitter smile.

It couldn’t be helped.

The stakes in those gambles hadn’t been gold bars or checks. They’d been my life—and someone else’s.

If I hadn’t used One Annihilation at each of those moments of crisis, I wouldn’t still be alive.

It bought me breathing room. I guess it’s time to pay the debt.

The System wasn’t someone I could sit down with and talk to, and I had no intention of whining at it. It had already given me more than enough and warned me again and again.

Every path I’d walked until now had been my own choice.

That’s enough. It is what it is.

With that, I cleared the jumble of thoughts from my mind.

Thinking about it alone wouldn’t make anything better right now. I had to consider how the people around me felt, too.

I’m really a considerate person, aren’t I? No, wait a second.

“Then where’d that Taishan bastard go?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Everyone blinked at my sudden question. One of the guides from the Nanman Beast Palace edged over.

“Um… the big fellow went to get something.”

Namho looked baffled. “Went to get something?”

“Yes.”

“What on earth?”

“Well, um…”

The guide was about to answer when—

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

The bushes some fifty jang³ away shook, and a huge figure burst out. He was so massive you had to wonder if he was human.

“Taishan! Brought it!”

He raised the dark object in his hand high.

“Taishan’s favorite thing in the world—no, a miracle cure for the sick Pavilion Master!”

The people watching stared blankly and murmured.

“That’s honey.”

“Right. A pot of honey.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but isn’t that a beehive, not a pot of honey?”

“That’s true, too.”

Bzzzzzzzz!

It was the first time I’d ever seen it.

Bees that big—and thousands of them all swarming together.

“…Primordial Heavenly Venerable. Gods of heaven and earth.”

Leaving Namho’s sorrowful voice behind, we all quietly climbed back into the carriage.

Murim really wasn’t easy.