Chapter 330 – Do You Despise Me? (2)

Ju Yaksun felt her breath catch in her throat at the man’s words.

This morning, Lord Sungyeon had come to see her. She had only mentioned her symptoms and had not explained exactly how she had come to be in such a state, but Ju Yaksun could easily guess what had happened the night before.

She had written a prescription for the guards who had accompanied her, but she could not forget the awkward smile on Lord Sungyeon’s face.

Even if she could not intuitively understand what it meant, she could easily guess that Lord Sungyeon had spent a satisfying time with the man in front of her.

And that guess made Ju Yaksun rethink her own feelings about the time she spent with the man and realize that it was too early for her to feel that way.

“Do you despise me?… What do you mean?”

“I don’t understand what you mean by that.”

“Then why are you avoiding me?”

“… What?”

Ju Yaksun had not realized that she had unconsciously distanced herself from the man.

Then, when the man suddenly approached her, Ju Yaksun quickly stepped back and could vaguely guess what he was saying.

Suppressing her fluttering heart, Ju Yaksun opened her mouth.

“Ah, maybe the smell of herbs is coming from my body, so I might have done it unconsciously… But I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Ju Yaksun thought that this excuse would not be convincing even to herself. There were so many herbs in this room that it was ridiculous to say such a thing.

But the man nodded his head.

“Is that so? I thought you were avoiding me because of what Lady Ruler did to me…”

Ju Yaksun took a deep breath in surprise, but the man did not react.

It was true. It was just that she had realized that she was narrowing the distance between herself and the man, not to the extreme emotion of contempt.

She was not a teenage girl, so it was not a crush, but it was a feeling that had more personal emotions than before.

“I’m okay with the smell of herbs. In fact, I like the refreshing scent that you, Doctor Ju, carry around.”

“Uh, ahem, ahem!”

Ju Yaksun quickly coughed to divert the man’s attention.

She didn’t know if it was because her age was similar to the man’s wives, or because she was not attracted to her plump appearance, but it was not something she could easily say.

“Oh, excuse me.”

“It’s okay. But please be careful next time.”

After accepting the man’s apology, Ju Yaksun turned her head to attend to her own work while the man read through the paper.

After some time had passed, the man called out to Ju Yaksun.

“This looks good…”

“What do you mean?”

There were quite a few things she had thought of, but unfortunately, many of them had been altered from the original prescription.

“If we use this well, it could work, but it’s hard to say for sure without actually trying it out.”

And he glanced at Ju Yaksun’s stomach, as if to suggest they try it out now.

Since she had already declared that she was not avoiding him, it would be strange to avoid him again here.

‘What should I do…’

Ju Yaksun pondered for a moment and examined the man’s face and hands.

His expression was stoic, and his hands were stretched out like a statue. She couldn’t sense anything suspicious from him.

Although he pursued women like a beast, at least for now, he seemed to be interested only in the potential of his own prescription.

‘It should be okay…’

Ju Yaksun nodded her head, and the man also nodded in agreement.

The man didn’t show any strange signs, even when he placed his hand on her stomach and focused solely on his breathing exercises.

Ju Yaksun couldn’t guess the man’s sinister intentions, which were being prepared in secret.

Seoan Muryeong.

The decision to let Fahrenheit stay in Muryeong was quite sudden, so they had to clear out an entire wing to accommodate them.

The medical wing, with its ordinary name of Uigak, was fortunately quite large, so there was no shortage of space even with the entire Fahrenheit group staying there.

Although it was known as the representative of the orthodox martial arts, it already had full-time doctors, but there was no conflict even when they came under the jurisdiction of Fahrenheit.

Since they willingly shared the vast knowledge contained in the Fahrenheit’s extensive medical texts, there was no need for any competition.

Although the knowledge they shared was limited to non-misuseful teachings, there was still much to teach even to the well-educated doctors of Muryeong.

“Thanks to you, I feel lighter. Thank you.”

“Well, even though training is important, it’s also important to give your body enough rest. Don’t forget that.”

As a result of the sudden influx of medical personnel, even the martial artists of Muryeong who were carrying a few remaining injuries were knocking on the doors of Fahrenheit’s clinic to receive treatment. The Fahrenheit group had so much enthusiasm that even nearby residents were coming to Muryeong to receive their treatment.

“But why did Fahrenheit come all the way here?”

“Well, this guy. Has he lost his mind? The evil Safa guys are after them!”

“Safa? Are they from Magyo?”

“I don’t think they’re from Magyo… I just heard they were Safa… Anyway, the evil Safa guys are after the elixir of immortality…”

“The elixir of immortality?!”

Ridiculous stories were attached to the rumors, but anyway, the story that Fahrenheit had become a target of some Safa sect had spread throughout Seoan.

Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the top members of Magyo who were planning to slowly infiltrate the central plains, the rumor that it was the work of Magyo was blocked before it could spread, but there was no way for the Fahrenheit group to know.

“What a foolish guy. Why is he spreading that around like it’s something to be proud of?”

“What are you talking about?”

Fahrenheit’s leader, Hwa Unak, exploded at his younger brother, Hwa Uncheon. But Hwa Uncheon just shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.

“When did I say we ran away? That must be a rumor that’s already spread throughout Muryeong’s intelligence network.”

“Then what are people saying they heard from you?”

“Just… some useless gossip…”

In the end, it was a story that he had said something, but Hwa Unak sighed deeply and shook his head at Hwa Uncheon.

“You’re old enough to know better.”

But Hwa Unak couldn’t stop himself, and he scolded him before moving on. It was because of Hwa Uncheon’s contribution during the last attack, where he risked his life for all the cooks and servants.

“But I didn’t exaggerate. It was very realistic, realistic.”

Hwa Unak had no way of confirming the truth, so he sighed deeply again and lowered his head.

“We don’t know when, but the major sects of the orthodox martial arts will gather around Muryeong. We don’t know how strong their forces are, but the prince’s opinion is that we can’t take them lightly.”

“…Yes, brother.”

“When that happens, we’ll have to help them too. We can’t defeat the enemy, but we have to rescue as many masters as possible.”

Right now, they weren’t much help and were just eating their food, but Gumsung had accepted them with that in mind.

“So don’t spread any strange rumors and be careful for a while. Especially, it’s better not to spread stories about them, including the Pang Yeohyeop.”

“Okay.”

Hwa Unak felt a strange feeling from his younger brother’s short voice. He opened his eyes narrowly and looked at his brother again, noticing Hwa Uncheon’s awkward smile.

“You… where are you eating your age…!”

“…I think another patient has arrived. I’ll go out and check.”

Hwa Uncheon lightly used his teleportation technique and disappeared.

As someone who was not confident in his martial arts skills, Hwa Unak could only watch him go.

“Hmm…”

The face of the chief physician, who was close to him, appeared. After struggling a bit, the chief physician removed his hand from Hwa Unak’s abdomen.

“It’s difficult.”

“It won’t be easy. It’s a modified Simbeop from the original form.”

The time spent with the chief physician was divided into two parts.

First, coming up with ideas on how to use the minor copy version of Simbeop, which was a version of the Dungseon Gong.

Second, improving that minor copy version of Simbeop so that people other than me, like the chief physician, could use it.

If the chief physician himself, who had to treat patients, couldn’t use Simbeop, even if I developed a treatment method, it would be of no use.

“In fact, it won’t be easy.”

It wasn’t originally designed to be used by hand, nor was it a Simbeop that started from the abdomen.

I just added a side road to make it usable, even if it reduced efficiency, because my level had increased.

If the chief physician, who didn’t even have the foundation of Dungseon Gong, tried to use it, it would be difficult. It would be more likely for Lady Ju, who had consolidated her strength with the intermediate Simbeop of Saekcheonmun, even if her level was lower.

“Don’t think about it urgently. I’ll help you as much as possible while we’re together… It will be much better if you can use Simbeop.”

Actually, if I induced my strength, it would be much easier for the chief physician to learn. I could do it if I wanted to, but it wasn’t urgent, and I wouldn’t achieve my goal of making the chief physician fall into my trap.

“I’m almost there now. Let’s be patient a little longer.”

I had thoroughly explored the chief physician’s internal state with my strength over the past few days, and I had almost found what I wanted.

Perhaps he had been careless, thinking that I was not even in his defensive range.

As expected, there seemed to be a change in perception about me, as I hesitated. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I hope it’s a good thing…

I cautiously placed my hand on the plump belly of the chief physician, who was now exposed.

One more day. In a day, I would be touching the belly of Hwa Unyeong’s ship, not the chief physician’s.