“Ah, sorry. I’m sorry.”
The tea that Ak Mujin spat out splashed directly onto Jang Cheon-woo’s face.
Jang Cheon-woo wiped his face with a soft cloth while closing his eyes.
“Who on earth came…”
“Hyung. How did you bring this person here?”
Jin Geum-ryeon was quite excited as soon as he saw Ak Mujin, but he calmed himself as much as possible and asked calmly. Ak Mujin couldn’t bring himself to look up at Jin Geum-ryeon’s face and only fiddled with the teacup.
“Ryeon is here?”
Jang Cheon-woo straightened his clothes and turned to look at Jin Geum-ryeon. Jin Geum-ryeon’s face was smiling, and he was holding a basket covered with a white cloth in his hand.
“Ah, yes. Did you get the medicinal herbs?”
“You’re not going to use these medicinal herbs on that person, are you?”
Jang Cheon-woo blinked as Jin Geum-ryeon asked perceptively.
“What if I am? You’ve been barging in and calling my guest ‘that person’ and ‘this person’ since earlier, are you two acquaintances?”
Jang Cheon-woo retorted. Jin Geum-ryeon scanned Ak Mujin from head to toe and smiled even more deeply. His gaze lingered for a while on the large scar on Ak Mujin’s upper body.
“Of course, Hyung. He’s my old friend.”
Ak Mujin felt goosebumps run down his spine at the honeyed voice. If Jin Geum-ryeon was a typical hot-blooded male protagonist, he would have immediately become furious upon seeing Ak Mujin and rushed to kill him.
But Jin Geum-ryeon was hiding his true feelings and pretending to be friendly, which made it even more chilling. Jang Cheon-woo didn’t think Jin Geum-ryeon’s words were genuine, but he thought it was just a joke this time as well, since he was usually good at making jokes.
“You know each other?”
Jang Cheon-woo asked Ak Mujin.
“Ah, a little…”
Jang Cheon-woo raised his eyebrows and looked at Jin Geum-ryeon when his expectations were wrong. Jin Geum-ryeon crossed his arms triumphantly.
“I… Have I stayed in this pharmacy for too long? I’ve recovered to some extent, so now I should leave…”
Ak Mujin asked Jang Cheon-woo carefully. He wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible.
“No. You have to stay here longer. You haven’t even finished detoxifying yet, what are you talking about.”
Jang Cheon-woo said sternly. The way he spoke seemed similar to his master, Physician Noh. Jin Geum-ryeon looked back and forth between Jang Cheon-woo and Ak Mujin, then made a ‘hmph’ sound, wondering what he was thinking.
“Well, the treatment is done, so take a rest for now. I’m sorry for making you nervous because this guy suddenly barged in.”
“He’s an old friend, you know?”
Jang Cheon-woo ignored those words.
“No, it’s okay.”
While Ak Mujin was waving his hands, Jang Cheon-woo closed his clothes and tied the knot well. Then he got up and gathered the medicines.
“Then, I’ll see you this evening. Ryeon, you come with me and let’s take a look at those medicinal herbs. You haven’t met my teacher yet, have you?”
“No, I haven’t.”
Jin Geum-ryeon seemed to glare at Ak Mujin for a while, even as Jang Cheon-woo prepared, before slowly following Jang Cheon-woo out.
Only then did Ak Mujin feel like he could breathe again. He was so tense that the bandage he had just changed was almost stained with blood again.
‘Hah, hah. That really surprised me!’
How could he meet the enemy who killed his parents so suddenly like this?
He hurriedly tried to get out of bed, but because his wounds hadn’t fully healed yet, it was painful just to strain his upper body to get up. Only after his feet dangled hesitantly out of bed and he supported himself with his arms on the bed was he finally able to stand on the floor.
However, his body, which had been unconscious for five days, had no strength at all, and his legs trembled like springs, causing him to slump back onto the bed.
Ak Mujin lay on the bed, sprawled on the golden silk sheets, staring up at the ceiling.
In this state, he couldn’t even run away.
For a long time, he lay on the bed, flinching in surprise every time someone passed by the hallway near his room.
How much time had passed?
Perhaps it was due to the medicinal properties of the herbs applied to his body, but just as his eyelids were drooping, someone spoke from outside the window.
“Are you sleepy?”
“Umm….”
As Ak Mujin rubbed his eyes and looked up, Jin Geum-ryeon stood outside the window with a playful smile on his face.
Ak Mujin was startled and fumbled for something on the bed. Jin Geum-ryeon was now leaning against the window frame, looking down at Ak Mujin.
“You have a tenacious lifeline. How did you survive?”
I don’t know. Ask your Jang hyung…. Ak Mujin had expected Jin Geum-ryeon to return, but he didn’t expect it to be so soon. It seemed he really just exchanged greetings, handed over the medicinal herbs, and rushed back.
He could understand. If he thought he had killed his parents’ enemy, but then encountered him again, he would feel like he hadn’t finished taking a dump. Ak Mujin looked down at his fingernails with a resigned expression.
If he really died now, he didn’t know what would happen to him either.
“If you’re going to kill me, kill me painlessly. With something that can kill me instantly, if possible. Kill me if you’re going to kill me. I can’t escape anyway.”
He hoped he would choose a method that could kill him instantly, if possible. Ah, but cutting off his head was out of the question. He had seen somewhere that consciousness remained alive for one minute after the head was severed.
Ak Mujin grumbled inwardly.
“Indeed, it seems you have a guilty conscience. You know my heart well.”
Ak Mujin didn’t have anything to say.
“But it’s a pity.”
At those words, Ak Mujin suddenly raised his eyes to look at Jin Geum-ryeon. There was mischief in his eyes, making him uneasy about what he was thinking.
“How could I kill someone whose life the doctor saved? That won’t do.”
Ak Mujin was a little dazed.
Then what…?
Was he going to spare him?
“I will take you to the Murim Alliance.”
Ah.
“As a Vice-Leader, you must know the Demonic Cult inside and out. I will squeeze you dry and leave your fate in their hands.”
Ak Mujin had been happy at the thought of escaping the Demonic Cult, which he was now sick of, but he instantly felt like he had fallen into a pit.
The Murim Alliance?
If he went there, wouldn’t he be locked in a prison for life, having information about the Demonic Cult squeezed out of him until he died?
Ak Mujin’s vision darkened.
“I have a sense of decency, so I won’t say we should move right away. I’ll have to watch you recover. I’ll take care of you. So, take good care of yourself.”
Jin Geum-ryeon finished speaking and let out a small laugh. His voice was truly like that of a male lead, and it was a voice that could only be described as handsome.
Ak Mujin let out a long sigh.
“How can I defy Little Brother’s will?”
Ak Mujin unconsciously reverted to Ak Mujin’s manner of speaking.
Jin Geum-ryeon’s offer to personally take care of Ak Mujin was not just empty words.
Whenever it was time for Ak Mujin to eat a meal or take medicine, or when it was time to change his bandages, he came to Jang Cheon-woo’s side to help, and even when his assistance wasn’t really needed, he stayed in his room, keeping watch and striking up conversations.
Ak Mujin found these actions of Jin Geum-ryeon to be too burdensome.
“Here, it’s mealtime.”
Jin Geum-ryeon brought a tray with a neatly prepared meal.
It consisted only of stir-fried vegetables, rice, and pigeon soup, but Ak Mujin felt hungry at the smell of the food.
However, he hated this time more than any other.
He glanced at Jin Geum-ryeon’s face.
“Haha, am I that scary?”
Yes. I’m so scared I might piss myself.
Whether Jin Geum-ryeon knew Ak Mujin’s feelings or not, he scooped rice into a spoon with soup, placed stir-fried vegetables on top, and held it to his mouth.
Ak Mujin only stared at it and didn’t move.
“There was someone who used to do this for me when I was young.”
Jin Geum-ryeon said with a smile and gestured. Ak Mujin glared at him before raising his hand to take the spoon. However, Jin Geum-ryeon used his Gold Thread Hand technique to skillfully evade Ak Mujin’s grasp.
“So. You didn’t like that?”
Ak Mujin couldn’t stand it any longer and asked irritably.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it? I actually liked it. So, I’m trying to do that good thing for you too.”
“I’ve said a thousand times that I can eat with my own hands.”
“When else would you enjoy such luxury?”
Ak Mujin pursed his lips and glared at Jin Geum-ryeon.
“Just one bite, and I’ll give you the chopsticks.”
Jin Geum-ryeon said with a sly smile.
Ak Mujin seemed to clench his teeth, but knowing he couldn’t stand up to him in this condition, he quietly opened his mouth. Jin Geum-ryeon pushed the spoon into his mouth like a mother bird feeding her baby bird.
“Good job.”
Spilling the stir-fried vegetables was probably intentional. Ak Mujin still glared at Jin Geum-ryeon as he wiped his mouth.
He played the same trick a few more times before handing over the chopsticks after Ak Mujin shouted angrily.
“Memories from childhood are so strange.”
Ak Mujin ate his rice in silence.
“Even the most painful memories have some aspects that are beautified.”
He was quietly looking at Ak Mujin, wondering what he was thinking.
“Why did you save me?”
Ak Mujin choked on the rice he was eating and coughed several times. Jin Geum-ryeon blankly watched him before slowly moving to pour tea and hand it to him. Ak Mujin patted his chest and drank it, coughing several more times even after that.
“Save… cough… save me, who?”
“Who else is there? Me.”
Ak Mujin blinked.
“I, you?”
“Isn’t taking me in with Ire and bringing me to my teacher without killing me saving me?”
Jin Geum-ryeon was purely curious. Ak Mujin couldn’t answer.
How could he say the crazy thing that he thought he would return to the real world if he saved him?