After I ask Leader Hwang to bring the money, I wait for his reaction with the feeling of ‘what will he say to piss me off more?’
Leader Hwang speaks very cautiously.
“… it isn’t easy to suddenly raise money. If you give me time, I can prepare.”
I point my fingers at him and turn to Moyong Baek.
“See that?”
“Yes”
“Look at his expression. Most of them will act like this. It doesn’t deviate an inch from our thoughts.”
I warn Leader Hwang.
“You shut your mouth for now.”
“….”
I turn to Moyong Baek.
There was a reason we came to the Great Raven Clan to steal money and seek this guy, but I had Moyong Baek to focus on. Leader Hwang next to him is someone who can be dealt with anywhere, so I tell Moyong Baek,
“I have something to convey to you.”
Moyong Baek nods.
“Please tell.”
“What could it mean for this guy to come out like this?”
Moyong Baek replied like he didn’t have to think.
“They send us back, they will either gather the people that they can mobilize or investigate the Low-Down Sect and come up with ways to avoid paying us.”
“Right.”
Lord Hwang wanted to open his mouth and speak but I shushed him.
“I told you to shut up. Do not move that mouth. You are staring at the dagger right? That dagger has the greatest chance of becoming one with your body.”
I look at Moyong Baek and say,
“Life has its own pitfalls, Moyong.”
“…”
“In my case, the traps came too soon. All that was left was an inn for them, but they went ahead and were ready to burn it down. And for whom?”
I point my finger at the leader.
“These bastards… It’s because they don’t do anything right. They burned up everything.”
Moyong Baek nods as if he is listening.
“Where is the logic in this, Moyong?”
“There is none.”
“None. So, I was beating down these bastards without logic. Often taken over by craziness which you tried to cure me.”
“Right.”
I continue to talk to convey my sincerity to him.
“I think like this… I felt rewarded and proud for saving people. I keep a pure heart when working and you are a physician who does the same. But everyone falls into the traps of life. What is the biggest that you, a physician, can fall into?”
Moyong Baek ponders and says,
“Well.”
“I think, because you often treat people in Kangho, one day Kangho will betray you.”
Moyong Baek replies with a thin smile.
“Could that happen? I saved lives.”
I smile too.
“There will be bastards like Leader Hwang all around. One day he will visit because he is injured. Pretend he was someone you didn’t know, then you would treat him, right?”
“Yes.”
“The guy barely survives after the amazing treatment you do, but he has a stained heart. Or steals something from your place and runs away. Or let’s assume that something like running away after eating a pill which was supposed to treat another patient who is severely ill…”
“…”
“Look at Leader Hwang.”
As soon as he hears my words, Moyong Baek glares at the man.
“This is the guy who came out looking proudly after eating that pill which the escort service was working on. If this guy got stronger than us, what would’ve happened to you and me?”
Moyong Baek glares at Leader Hwang and says,
“I would have died right away.”
“Can you be sure that while working as a physician, you won’t face what happened to the escort services? Take a good look. You healed a patient with a pure heart but what if it comes back as a betrayal? Can you handle it? Imagine if you went to argue and got beaten because you didn’t have martial arts? Are you going to be able to live fine at the unfairness in life?”
I say to Jun Pyung standing there,
“Get down on your knees. It is a dangerous situation right now, Jun Pyung.”
“Ah, yes.”
Jun Pyung kneels down with a shocked expression and Moyong Baek tells me,
“If that happened, I wouldn’t have been able to live right, Sect Leader.”
Actually, this guy was the same in the previous life. I nod.
“Believe me. I am not asking you to help me or even the Low-Down Sect. Just practice martial arts for your own sake.”
“…”
“So that when you fall into a pitfall of life, you can jump out on your own and be alive. Even if life goes on, you won’t feel happiness at all. Even if you beat those bastards to death when you see them, it must be, your heart might be feeling empty, but taking them down might fill the heart. Because you cannot go back to being innocent at any point in your life.”
Moyong Baek nods.
I continue speaking in a calm tone.
“I knew that you wanted to return to your home as soon as possible after you healed Elder Heo, but why do you think I brought you to this place?”
“It is alright.”
“It wouldn’t be wrong of you to go crazy from how I act and leave us. For yourself, it is my wish that you practice the martial arts as hard as you can and save people too. I am not saying this for the sake of Low-Down Sect. You need some training for your sake and the sake of your family. This is my wish for Moyong Baek.”
I turn to Leader Hwang.
Leader Hwang quietly descends from the chair and kneels down.
“…”
I speak to him, holding my calmness.
“You are a bit smart. I was about to throw the dagger and you did the right thing to stop me.”
He replies,
“Sect Leader, please spare me.”
Every time he shows such actions, the expression of Moyong Baek only gets worse.
I tap on the dagger and say to him,
“Look at this worthless guy. What these bastards have in common is that they are strong against the weak.”
“Right.”
“The commonality of those who are always strong to the weak is that they always serve the strong.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“This means most of the men I killed were like this, get it?”
Moyong Baek nods.
“I understand.”
“The ones who attacked me with red faces were lucky if they survived.”
As soon as I said it, Leader Hwang went pale faced.
“Sect Leader….”
“Do not interfere when I am talking.”
“Yes.”
Today is the day where I talk a lot, but it was all for an important moment.
“The reason you and I became stronger is because of those guys. Because even those stronger than us are all trash. Of course, there are far more warriors stronger than you and me and anyone we know. That means that you will probably get as sick as me.”
The guy who is kneeling, slams his head to the ground.
And he says,
“Sect Leader, Mister Moyong. Please spare me. I have committed so much rudeness.”
I asked Moyong Baek about him.
“Can we trust him?”
Moyong Baek says,
“They cannot be.”
I watch Moyong Baek’s expression and he gulps as he asks,
“Should I kill him?”
I look at him with a determined expression and say,
“Moyong…”
“Yes.”
“I told you, if possible I will do it. But for this time, let us do this way. I have a plan.”
“What kind…”
Looking at him, I smile.
“I am going to make a proper poison this time.”
“….”
“A poison that can only be cured by the Moyong family. Originally, we should kill him, but since you are amazingly skilled, he is saved. Poison to save people. If you don’t give the antidote, then they betrayed me and looked for you.”
Moyong Baek’s expression brightened.
“Ah.”
“I know your strengths and weaknesses. Just like the poison I had in the past. You can study venom and decide on the life and death of others. Then your poison will become the medicine. You cannot gain fame by just saving people. Titles like Poison Demon which kill people wouldn’t fit, so how about a new title for the person called Moyong Baek who decides on the life and death of people? Like the Physician of Life and Death.”
“Physician of Life and Death of the Low-Down Sect?”
I nod.
“It would be an honor if you did that. However, poisons and their antidotes will not be enough. Train in martial arts.”
Moyong Baek nods.
“Sect Leader, I will never treat martial arts this lightly again.”
I hold my hand out to him as if asking him to take care of Leader Hwang.
Moyong Baek says,
“Leader Hwang, get up.”
“Yes.”
“The funds which Sect Leader spoke of. Prepare them all without missing a single coin.”
“Yes, I will do it right.”
Moyong Baek looks at him and says,
“While preparing the funds, I plan to gather the materials needed for a poison and the cure. Of course, either of them is meaningless now. After all, your word of paying back will keep you alive. Do you get it?”
“Yes.”
And I say to Leader Hwang now.
“Yah, Leader Hwang, is the way to go pretty long? You were going back and forth at the entrance to the underworld.”
He replies as he folds his hands.
“Thank you for sparing me, Sect Leader.”
“Since this suddenly happened, it feels like I am watching a drama. Right, Moyong Baek?”
“Exactly.”
Leader Hwang quickly responds,
“N-No. After thinking about it, yes.”
I ask,
“What are you thinking?”
“That… I heard that the Low-Down Sect Leader accompanied The Murim Alliance in the attack against the Namak Sect. I expected that the person who was there as Sect Leader would be older, so I didn’t expect you to be him. Listening to this… the Sect Leader of Low-Down Sect seems to be you.”
I nod.
“That is me.”
“Yes”
As soon as I say, ‘that is me’, Moyong Baek snorts, making me ask,
“Why are you laughing?”
“No. It seems like something you often say.”
At the atmosphere which suddenly turned warm, Leader Hwang smiles.
As soon as Leader Hwang’s face was noticed I ask in a serious expression,
“Did you smile?”
“N-No.”
“Did you smile?”
“I apologize.”
“Is a guy who just escaped death acting like this? You are a funny one. It is ridiculous.”
I pull out the dagger from the table and wave it in front of him.
“If you keep interfering with me, I will end this.”
“Yes”
“You crazy bastard. And you seem to think that I will give you plenty of time to prepare that money, but no. Bring all the funds your clan has right now and pile them up. Now.”
Leader Hwang repeats,
“Right now.”
“You give the order and come back. And Jun Pyung.”
Jun Pyung who was kneeling responds right away.
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“Put some drinks and snacks on the table. I will have a drink and wait.”
“I will prepare it.”
I put my hands and feet on the table and push the chair back. While the chair was shaking as if it would trip over, I glared.
“But what does the Great Raven Clan do for living? You seemed to have made a lot of money. This shouldn’t be normal right? What do you think, physician?”
Moyong Baek replies as he examines the atmosphere.
“You must have made money doing bad things right? Would these guys be farming or selling dumplings?”
I push Moyong Baek to stimulate his anger and he says with a bland expression,
“There are a lot of such people in Kangho. All enemies of the Low-Down Sect.”
I closed my eyes and rocked in the chair.
