When Cho Myung and Jeok Yorap came down from the mountain, Seokcheong, Hua Yunhui, Hua Sochen, and the head of the pharmacy had prepared breakfast and were waiting.
"From now on, let's move the dining place. It's hard to carry it twice. Since that kid Myung eats four servings, some days I might have to carry it three times."
Seokcheong grumbled.
It wasn't that going back and forth was hard.
He was starving, but it was a pain to have to go and get more delicious food after putting it down and not being able to eat it right away.
"Big brother, I'll carry it with you."
Cho Myung quickly said.
Then Seokcheong waved his hand and said.
"Hey, I didn't say that to make you carry it with me. Don't misunderstand."
"It's not that I'm misunderstanding, it's just nice to do things together."
Cho Myung smiled.
Seokcheong also smiled.
It was because he liked the words that it was nice to do things together.
When the two were smiling, the head of the pharmacy looked at Hua Sochen and said.
"Head of the family, aren't you lonely living alone in the inner court?"
After her grandfather and parents had passed away at the same time, Hua Sochen had been living alone in the inner court.
Although she had a maid, she could not fill the empty space of her family.
"Don't tell me to go back to the inner court."
Before Hua Sochen could answer, Hua Yunhui said with a hardened face.
The reason Hua Yunhui was staying at Longevity Hall was because he could not sleep in the inner court due to his longing for his parents. When the incident happened in the past, he had not been able to sleep properly for a month.
Then one day, after falling asleep exhausted while taking care of a patient at Longevity Hall, he had moved his residence to Longevity Hall altogether.
"I'm fine."
Hua Sochen said calmly.
The head of the pharmacy just sighed briefly and did not mention it any more.
Since the parties involved said so, he could not force it any more.
"Are you going to just look at this feast? Please eat."
When Jeok Yorap said with a smile, starting with the head of the pharmacy, they began to pick up their chopsticks.
"Please eat a lot, I will also eat well."
Cho Myung also said, picking up his chopsticks.
"Yes, eat a lot. Doctor Hua, please eat a lot."
"Yes. Old master Jeok, please eat a lot too. You too, sister."
"Okay. Head of the pharmacy, thank you for your consideration. Please eat a lot."
"You too, head of the family. Doctor Seok, please eat a lot too."
"......!"
Seokcheong, who was stuffing his mouth full, stopped his movements and looked at them.
Perhaps because there was no answer, everyone was just looking at him.
Seokcheong, feeling that he had to say something, opened his mouth.
"Don't talk. Just eat!"
When Hua Yunhui shouted, Seokcheong quickly closed his mouth, and everyone smiled and turned their gaze.
Cho Myung, who was watching this scene, turned his head and stared at Old Man Ban's bed.
He felt that one person's empty space was being forgotten.
It was not welcome. But he had to accept it somehow.
His master would have wanted it that way.
Cho Myung turned his head back to the dining table.
The delicious food was steaming, asking to be eaten.
"Good! I'll eat it deliciously!"
At Cho Myung's sudden words, everyone stopped their movements and looked at him.
Cho Myung was busily moving his chopsticks with a smiling face.
***
"This is the martial arts manual that your big brother left behind."
Jeok Yorap held out a book.
It was something Cho Myung had also seen.
"He was very satisfied, saying that it was a relief that he could write down all the words he wanted to convey to you."
"Thank you."
"Rest well for today. Let's think slowly about what to do in the future."
"Yes."
Jeok Yorap left Cho Myung and headed out of Longevity Hall.
It was to go to the pharmacy, which was his workplace.
The other people also went to their respective places.
Since there were no patients at Longevity Hall, Hua Yunhui and Seokcheong went to Healing Hall to take care of the patients.
Cho Myung took a chair outside, sat down, and then opened the martial arts manual and read it.
Since he had already read more than half of it, he went through it quickly.
The Hundred Strikes Art training methods written in the latter half were really high in intensity and could be dangerous.
Cho Myung just read it once and then quickly moved on.
Although he felt that Old Man Ban had put a lot of thought into it, it was not a training method he could do right now.
As he quickly flipped through the martial arts manual, he saw that in the last twenty or so pages, Old Man Ban had written down his fighting experiences.
Cho Myung was completely engrossed in that record.
Old Man Ban had fought with various martial artists who had learned the saber, sword, spear, and fist and palm techniques, and he had written down in detail what he had learned in real combat about the pros and cons of each weapon.
It was one of the best teachings that a master could pass on to his disciple.
Divine Sword of Huashan, Lee Yeoncheong.
Old Man Ban was talking about his fight with him at the end.
But he was sparing his words about the absolute realm. It was because he was worried that he might instill a wrong prejudice or judgment in Cho Myung.
However, he had said that no matter how much one trained the power of the body to the extreme, one could never win in a head-on fight.
He had ended by saying that unless one could move so fast that even a master of the absolute realm could not perceive it, one would have to rise to the absolute realm like them to have an equal fight.
Old Man Ban's mind and body had been completely broken by the single sword strike of the Divine Sword of Huashan.
Although he had intended to say at least one dignified word, if not revenge, after taking Cho Myung as his disciple, he had not left a single word about it in the martial arts manual.
He had ended by enduring his own anger himself and had not passed it on to his disciple, Cho Myung.
But Cho Myung had noticed to some extent.
It was because he had seen the sight of Old Man Ban pouring out his anger without anyone knowing.
- This master was really happy to have met Myung. Watching you grow day by day, this master tasted the greatest happiness he could receive in his life. So do not be sad about this master's death.
- Myung, live with a smile. The path of a great man is the path of great virtue. Only one who can embrace everyone can be called a great man. So if it is someone who does not oppose you, treat them with a smile.
- The Fighting Demon, Ban Nahan, who only knew how to fight, leaves this to his best disciple, Myung.
"Master..."
Cho Myung's eyes, which were staring at the last phrase, became moist.
After reading the martial arts manual, Hua Sochen came to visit while he was lightly moving his body in the backyard of Longevity Hall where he had trained with Old Man Ban.
"Do you have to train?"
"No. I was just moving because I had nothing to do."
"Then let's go somewhere with me."
"Where?"
"You'll know when we get there."
Hua Sochen took Cho Myung and left the Hua Family Clinic.
Cho Myung, whose build was quite strong but whose face still had a youthful look, and Hua Sochen, a twenty-year-old whose beauty had fully bloomed.
When the two walked side by side, they looked like a good brother and sister to anyone who saw them.
"Do you remember what Doctor Seok said?"
"Big brother Cheong?"
"Yeah."
"What did he say?"
"The words that you smell sweet."
Hua Sochen, who was going out of Longevity Hall to get clothes for Cho Myung the previous night, had also heard what Seokcheong had said from outside.
"I remember. But why do you ask?"
"It's really so."
"What?"
"Even now, there's a really sweet scent."
"From me?"
"Yes."
Cho Myung tilted his head, lifted his arm, and smelled it. But even Cho Myung, whose sense of smell was extremely developed, could not smell it.
"I don't smell anything..."
"You can't smell your own body odor."
"Really?"
"You said so yourself. That you always went to find that demon because of the sweet smell."
"Yes."
"Perhaps what you took from that demon was what was giving off that sweet scent."
If there really was a sweet smell, it would be as Hua Sochen had said.
But was this a good thing?
"It's not a bad thing, is it?"
"Of course not... It's probably a good thing."
"A good thing?"
"Yes. Because it's a scent that makes you feel good. If it's someone who has even a little bit of goodwill towards you, it will make them like you more. Maybe..."
"Maybe? What is it?"
"Maybe you'll be a little popular with women."
"Hey, I don't know about that..."
This time, Hua Sochen looked at him and asked.
"Why did you trail off?"
"I think I'm really becoming an adult."
"......?"
"I've become curious about women."
"What are you so curious about?"
Hua Sochen asked with a smile.
"What's different from men? Why are men and women separate. In the medical books, it says that men are yang and women are yin, and I'm curious why that is. Thanks to you, sister, I've read quite a few books. The contents about men and women mentioned in those books, I didn't understand then, but now that I look back, there are things I understand, so I'm even more curious..."
Cho Myung scratched the back of his head.
There was also a medical book with drawings of the male and female bodies.
Suddenly, those drawings came to mind, and he felt a little embarrassed.
When he had looked at that medical book, it was just a drawing, but why did he feel different now?
It was a strange thing that he himself could not understand.
"Half of the world is women, and the other half is men. The reason men and women exist separately is because just as yin and yang must become one to be perfect, people also must meet to bloom a perfect flower."
"A perfect flower?"
"Yes, I don't know if that's love or a baby conceived through love, but anyway, that's what they say."
"You don't know either, sister?"
"Yes, I don't know. But there's something I know for sure more than you."
"What is it?"
"That a woman is a being to be cherished, and a man is a being to be respected. How can a man who cannot cherish his partner embrace the world, and how can a woman who does not know how to respect her partner conceive a baby?"
It was a statement that felt plausible.
While Cho Myung was mulling over those words, Hua Sochen stopped walking.
"This is it."
When Cho Myung lifted his head, he saw a cloth store in front of him.
"Why are we here?"
"You only have the clothes I gave you yesterday. You're not a child anymore, you have to pay attention to your clothes."
Hua Sochen smiled brightly.
Perhaps because he had only seen her hardened face, her bright smiling face looked very beautiful.
She bought five sets of clothes at the cloth store.
He had said that it was too much, but Hua Sochen had said that he needed that much to be able to change cleanly and had told him to change into one set right there.
"They say clothes make the man, and it's really so."
When Cho Myung changed into the bright indigo clothes, even his impression seemed to have changed.
Although he was not a nobleman, he looked like a disciple of a wealthy family or a prestigious sect.
Hua Sochen asked for the remaining four sets to be delivered to the clinic and then came out with Cho Myung.
"Since it's lunchtime, let's eat and go."
"Lunch too?"
"I don't even remember when I last had a meal outside."
After experiencing the tragedy of her parents' death, Hua Sochen had gone out of the Hua Family Clinic only a handful of times.
Although he did not know that fact, Cho Myung, who had felt a gloomy feeling from Hua Sochen, quickly nodded and looked around.
He happened to see an inn.
"How about there?"
"Yes, let's go there."
The two headed to the inn side by side.
The people they met would glance at the two, pass by, and then look back.
"I guess you're pretty, sister. Everyone looks back."
"It's probably because of the sweet scent from you."
The two, who had entered the inn, were guided by a waiter and took a seat by the window on the second floor.
Since the two looked so outstanding, like a handsome man and a beautiful woman, the waiter had guided them to a good seat.
When Hua Sochen ordered a hearty meal with several dishes, the waiter bowed and ran to the kitchen.
The food at the inn and the food they always ate at the clinic were clearly different.
In terms of taste, although there might be a difference in preference, it could not be said that the food at the clinic was not delicious.
The only major difference was that the portions of the food at the clinic were large, and the portions of the food at the inn were small, but the appearance was good.
Thanks to Hua Sochen, who knew Cho Myung's appetite and had ordered a hearty meal with various dishes, it was not lacking.
Cho Myung ate to his heart's content without caring about anyone's opinion.
Hua Sochen watched the scene with satisfaction and occasionally moved her chopsticks.
"I have something to ask."
When Cho Myung had put down his chopsticks and was making a pleasant face, full of satiety, Hua Sochen said.
"What is it?"
"What do you want to be in the future?"
"I wanted to be an outstanding doctor like big brother Yunhui."
"Does that mean you don't now?"
"Yes."
"Then?"
"I'm going to be a martial artist. I've decided to become a strong martial artist who can protect not only my grandfather but also big brother Yunhui, big brother Cheong, and you, sister."
"Then you won't leave the clinic?"
"Do you want me to leave?"
Cho Myung, who had been speaking pleasantly, widened his eyes.
Then Hua Sochen quickly continued.
"I was worried that you might, so I asked."
"Of course not. You know how much I like the clinic."
"Thank you."
A look of relief appeared on Hua Sochen's face.
She had no one to lean on.
Three years had passed. Although he had returned as a strong young man, she had to rely on Cho Myung, who was only eight years old in reality, so her connections had been cut off.
"Sister."
"Yeah?"
"Shall we go since we're out?"
"Where?"
"To Hundred Herb Forest."
"......!"
"Whether it was one night or three years, I've returned like this, but I feel like it's not the way of a disciple to just stay still. Besides, they're harassing the clinic, so we can't just stay still."
Cho Myung got up from his seat as if he were really going.
(End of Chapter)