By Zephyria The Lifeline (5)
In Mount Hua, all Disciples had to solve their own problems.
One could not cultivate Tao while ordering servants around with their fingertips. Most Taoist family Sects did not employ servants. Even the Sect leader would make his way to the dining hall when it was time to eat, which said it all.
However, those rules did not apply to Yak Seon.
Seong Mu-yeon happened to learn this fact. Yak Seon, tired of chasing away Seong Mu-yeon, who persistently came to find her, eventually locked her door. But he was not one to give up, so he sat in front of the dining hall, waiting for Yak Seon to appear, thinking that she would eventually come to eat. However, Yak Seon did not appear even after three meals had passed.
The kitchen staff had been bringing her a Food box every meal!
‘She is someone who deserves special treatment.’
How many people were burning with desire to invite Yak Seon even once?
Anyway.
Seong Mu-yeon stole the Food box meant for Yak Seon. Yak Seon was also a human who needed to eat, so she would not be able to avoid him this time.
‘I’m so smart.’
Seong Mu-yeon cheerfully headed to the Guest room.
Knock, knock.
“I brought your meal.”
Seong Mu-yeon, worried that Yak Seon might recognize him, deliberately lowered his voice and attempted to modulate it himself.
“Come in.”
The door, which had been firmly closed to him, slid open.
Seong Mu-yeon carefully entered.
The room, which had been clean just a few days ago, was now a complete mess. The room did not get much sunlight, and it even smelled musty. And there were bottles of alcohol rolling around everywhere. It was even dirtier than Baek Ryeo-il’s room.
Yak Seon was sitting with her back to the long desk by the window. Without even turning her head, she casually pointed to the table.
“Leave it there.”
Yak Seon, puzzled by the lack of sound of him leaving, turned her head and met Seong Mu-yeon’s eyes. He gave her a bright smile.
“Hello.”
“You…!”
“Please eat first. It’s best to eat it while it’s warm. I’ll wait here since I have to take the empty Food box back after you’re done.”
“I want to kill you right now, but I’m barely holding back, so you better disappear before you regret it.”
Scary.
So scary.
But he couldn’t back down here.
“The, the Food box?”
“……”
Eventually, Yak Seon, whose patience had run out, jumped up and strode towards him. Seong Mu-yeon quickly stepped back and stuck to the wall.
“A-Are you going to hit me?”
“Yes.”
Yak Seon raised her fist. Seong Mu-yeon’s face turned pale. He pleaded with sincerity.
“Please spare me! I heard you saved my life before! As the great one knows better than I do, I don’t have much time left. If the great one doesn’t help me, who else can…?”
“Whether you live or die, what does it have to do with me?”
Yak Seon got closer and closer. An intangible energy surged in her tightly clenched fist. If he got hit by that, he would die instantly.
Seong Mu-yeon quickly knelt down. And he bowed his head to the floor.
“You can use my body as an experimental subject! I’ll do anything you tell me to! Please, just save my life. I don’t want to die yet!”
He had some faith in his heart, but he prepared for the impending impact.
He had not seen Yak Seon trying to kill him directly, but he had heard that she had suddenly changed her mind and given him medicine. There must have been some change of heart. As evidence, over the past few days, she had shown an attitude of trying to get Seong Mu-yeon out of her sight like a bug, rather than trying to harm him. At least, she didn’t seem to have any intention of causing a physical conflict within Mount Hua.
‘…Still, I might get hit once or twice.’
He could endure that much. If he could just save his life.
“……”
“……”
But the expected impact did not come. He mustered the courage to lift his eyes slightly and saw Yak Seon’s feet, and when he raised his gaze a little higher, he saw her face, twisted in displeasure, staring at him.
“Hey.”
Yak Seon lowered her body, and Seong Mu-yeon hurriedly bowed his head again.
“Yes, yep!”
“…Don’t you have any pride?”
“No, I don’t.”
Yak Seon fell silent at the immediate answer that came without the slightest hesitation. Seong Mu-yeon, gaining confidence, drove the wedge in further.
“What good is pride in the face of death? I’ll lick your feet if you tell me to. Should I do it now?”
“I don’t need that! You crazy bastard.”
Yak Seon made a complicated expression and then started eating as if she had given up. It seemed she had decided to completely ignore him now. He quietly crouched in a corner and waited.
After Yak Seon finished eating and returned to her desk, Seong Mu-yeon carefully took the empty dishes so as not to disturb her.
“Then, I’ll come again.”
Clack.
“Haa…”
As the tension was released, a long sigh flowed out involuntarily.
It seemed that it would not be easy to quell Yak Seon’s hostility because he had given her a bad impression from the beginning.
‘But I took the first step.’
Seong Mu-yeon borrowed Baek Ryeo-il’s method of persuading Yak Seon from the original story.
It was the so-called annoying persistence.
Baek Ryeo-il had sat in Yak Seon’s lab for days, causing a ruckus and threatening, ‘If you don’t help us, I’ll harass you for the rest of your life,’ to get Yak Seon to come out.
This was the best method for Seong Mu-yeon, who didn’t have the strength or guts to do the same.
‘By the way, where did that guy go?’
Baek Ryeo-il had not shown his face for several days since the day he first met Yak Seon. If someone who could protect him had been with him, he might have been able to use a more daring tactic, but it couldn’t be helped.
‘What’s going on?’
He had disappeared immediately after meeting Yak Seon, so it seemed like something had happened. He was such a person who was here one moment and gone the next, so he didn’t worry too much, thinking that he would return when the time came.
There was something more important than that.
He was planning to barge into Yak Seon’s room again at the next meal, but she was not an easy person to deal with.
From the next day, Yak Seon appeared in the dining hall. It seemed that she had decided not to let Seong Mu-yeon come and go in her room as he pleased.
Even better.
Seong Mu-yeon quickly received his food and sat opposite Yak Seon.
“We meet again.”
Yak Seon’s eyebrows twitched. She probably didn’t expect him to openly sit at the same table. It was like giving him wings. There were many eyes watching in the dining hall. At least he didn’t have to worry about being killed and buried without anyone knowing.
“Why did you come to the dining hall? I would have brought it to you if you had stayed in your room. But it’s not bad to eat together in a crowd, right?”
“……”
Yak Seon did not respond, but Seong Mu-yeon continued to talk. During that time, the smile never disappeared from his shameless face.
Every day, every meal, he waited for Yak Seon in front of the dining hall. If she asked for it to be brought to her room, Seong Mu-yeon would bring it, and if she went to the dining hall, Seong Mu-yeon would be waiting. Yak Seon, who couldn’t not eat, completely ignored him for several days.
Seong Mu-yeon, unconcerned, served her with water and even a handkerchief with a smile on his face, even though she didn’t ask him to.
When Yak Seon moved her seat, Seong Mu-yeon also moved, and Seong Mu-yeon followed her wherever she went.
“Are you going for a walk? I’ll guide you.”
“……”
Every day.
“If you go that way, there’s the Training hall. They must be training hard right now.”
“……”
“Be careful near the pond. It’s where dark men take off all their clothes and wash. Haha.”
Every meal.
After about three days, Yak Seon’s patience finally exploded. She shook her fist and shouted.
“I’ve had enough!”
“Eek!”
“I’ve been letting you get away with it, but you don’t know your place and keep shoving your face in my business, so you must want to die!”
What kind of doctor brandishes her fists so often!
As Yak Seon raised her voice a little, some Disciples who heard the sound stopped walking and stared at them.
Thanks to that, Seong Mu-yeon straightened his hunched back.
“What are you talking about? I’ve told you so many times that I want to live!”
“Y-You…! You…!”
Yak Seon, who was furious, trembled as if she was about to explode, and the onlookers came closer.
“It looks like Yak Seon is going to hit Young master.”
“Did you hear that rumor? Yak Seon tried to kill Young master Seong Mu-yeon in the Hall of Medicine. The Hall of Medicine Lord saw it himself.”
“Is that true?”
As people began to whisper, Yak Seon frowned as if she was in trouble.
“Even so, to someone who hasn’t been up from his sickbed for long…”
“Where is Senior Brother Baek! Leaving someone who isn’t well to wander around alone.”
Although they did not try to protect him directly like Baek Ryeo-il or Ma Jin-cheon, gazes that were openly displeased were directed at Yak Seon.
Even though Seong Mu-yeon was a Demonic Cult Young master, he had been in Mount Hua for a long time, and after sacrificing himself to save Ma Jin-cheon’s life, the other Disciples were also treating him more favorably. On the other hand, Yak Seon was a guest of the Sect leader and a famous master, but she had a quirky personality and was still trying to hit a patient, so they couldn’t say anything nice about her.
Yak Seon watched the people flocking to Seong Mu-yeon with a sour expression for a while, then turned away.
“Great one! Where are you going!”
Seong Mu-yeon excused himself to the people and hurriedly chased after Yak Seon.
A short time later, he was able to find Yak Seon near the Training hall. She was staring blankly at the trainees practicing in the Training hall.
As Seong Mu-yeon approached, familiar boys, including Gang Woong and Seomun Yuha, found him in the Training hall and waved to greet him.
Yak Seon, seeing this, muttered.
“I don’t understand.”
Seong Mu-yeon, who had been returning the hand gestures to the boys, quietly lowered his arm.
“What is it?”
“How did you win over Mount Hua? What did you do?”