WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 278: Those Who Break Walls (4)
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Once the academy’s break began, all its facilities, including the dormitories, became sparsely populated.
Aside from the few people who remained at the academy, it was practically empty.
The lecturers and instructors went off on their respective vacations, while only a skeleton staff remained in the cafeteria throughout the long break.
Of all those places, the Academy Medical Hall was the quietest.
Hardly anyone visited when there were no examinations or sparring matches.
Even those who stayed behind trained alone, in something close to closed-door training, so there was little chance of anyone being seriously injured.
Still, half the female physicians, including the head of the Academy Medical Hall, had to remain in case of an emergency. Thus, the Medical Hall opened every day despite having no visitors.
Today, Sama Jeong arrived early in the morning and looked around.
Snow had already piled thick in the Medical Hall courtyard.
The female physicians and servants had tried to clear it away, but he stopped them.
There would be no visitors anyway, and there was little to do. He wanted to enjoy the sight of the accumulated snow while he could.
‘What a lonely sight.’
He did not remember feeling this way whenever he saw snow in the past.
Yet this year’s snow felt lonelier than ever.
“Should I just quit...?”
Sama Jeong muttered without thinking as he watched the snow fall. The female physician cutting herbs beside him cried out in surprise.
“What are you saying, Hall Master?”
“Hm? Ah... You heard that?”
“Please don’t say things like that. Do you know how many physicians want to join the Martial Alliance, especially the Academy Medical Hall?”
Sama Jeong clicked his tongue and chuckled at her rebuke.
That was true.
He did hold a position everyone wanted.
“Do you know how many people freeze to death every winter?”
“...What?”
“It happened while I was studying. Every winter, there were always so many patients that I’d be drenched in sweat from morning to night.”
The female physician did not understand where he was going at first. Then, making her own assumption, she nodded.
“So you endured all that hardship and attained such a fine position.”
Sama Jeong neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply chuckled again.
“That’s right.”
An abundance of medicinal ingredients and ample time to treat patients.
During the winter and summer breaks, nobody came by, making it a suitable place for private research as well.
If his master saw this, they would surely praise the environment.
His master had always told him, “You should do something like this.”
But...
Perhaps that was why he wanted it even more.
Of course, he had no intention of standing by like his master and watching patients die in harsh conditions.
How powerless had he felt, watching people die because they could not obtain even a common medicinal ingredient?
That was why he joined the Martial Alliance.
He wanted to build his skill and reputation here, then use the treatment fees he received from the wealthy to treat the poor.
He thought that if he could do that, he would be able to save more people.
But...
“This place makes me feel as though I’ve become a resident physician permanently employed by a wealthy household.”
The Academy Medical Hall staff did not treat outsiders.
No, more accurately, they could not. Outsiders were not permitted to enter the Martial Arts Academy in the first place.
Somehow, he felt as though he had strayed far from the path he had once envisioned.
The female physician stopped cutting herbs, looked at Sama Jeong, and made a fuss.
“Then isn’t that wonderful, Physician? Please stay here for a thousand years, no, ten thousand! We like you very much too.”
“...I should. Ha ha. Thank you.”
Sama Jeong swallowed a bitter smile at that innocent response.
If only he had not made that medicine.
If only he had not been greedy, saying it would be a gift for promising children.
He repeated those thoughts to himself over and over.
‘Can I leave this place?’
He liked looking at snow in peace, but he wanted to be someone who worked out in that snow.
Still, how cold would it be to walk barefoot through snow that looked so beautiful from afar?
He was no longer sure he possessed that kind of resolve.
He seemed to have grown far too weak.
Then...
Step. Step. Step.
A figure walked toward them over the snow, pure as paper.
“Huh?”
The female physician stared at the man with wide eyes.
Sama Jeong’s eyes widened as well.
“You are...”
“It’s been a while.”
The person who had once visited the Academy Medical Hall in a most memorable state stood there, smiling as snow fell directly onto him.
“The tea looks good. May I have a cup?”
#
Snow continued falling in the Academy Medical Hall courtyard.
Jin Sowoon and Sama Jeong sat side by side with a brazier between them, watching the snow fall for a long time.
By the time the snow piled over Jin Sowoon’s hair and shoulders had melted into droplets, Sama Jeong spoke first.
“What brings you here? You don’t look ill... and you surely didn’t come all this way simply to ask for tea.”
“What do you do in winter?”
“Winter?”
Sama Jeong stared intently at Jin Sowoon at the abrupt question.
One had to understand another person’s intent before having a conversation.
Yet Sama Jeong could not guess the intent behind that question.
“Well, I suppose I’ll waste time like this and let the days pass. Did you come all this way just to ask that?”
“Don’t you go out to provide relief work?”
“...”
Sama Jeong’s face stiffened.
“What are you talking about?”
“I heard that whenever the Martial Alliance went on break, you would go out to provide relief work while you were at the Divine Physician Pavilion. Did coming to this academy put you out of favor?”
Sama Jeong’s expression twisted unpleasantly.
Generally speaking, affiliation with the academy was bound to concern those active in the martial world.
Yet Sama Jeong had never cared much about such things.
“Did you investigate my past? Are you trying to get something out of me? I’m sorry, but things won’t go as you wish.”
Perhaps a physician growling at him looked amusing.
Jin Sowoon smiled faintly.
“Of course not. I only asked because I wanted to know what kind of person you are.”
“...”
“I heard that the Divine Physician Pavilion has traditionally filled its important posts with people from the Divine Physician Hall. They even say the Divine Physician Hall heavily influenced its name.”
“...”
Those from the Divine Physician Hall mainly secured positions at the Divine Physician Pavilion, pulling and supporting one another as they firmly built their influence.
No matter how hard Sama Jeong tried, he could not blend in among them.
How could he work with people who placed medical skill on the same level as their wealth?
‘It made me realize again just how remarkable Master was.’
Sama Jeong had calmed somewhat when he spoke.
“I didn’t go drinking at pleasure houses with them. I spent my personal wealth treating the poor, so I gave them more than enough reason to dislike me.”
He released the frustration he had never been able to share with anyone, letting it drift away with the softly falling snow.
“To them, I was someone who helped anyone at all, someone who cheapened medicine.”
“Hmm... So you were driven to the Academy Medical Hall because of that?”
Sama Jeong slowly shook his head.
“No. I made elixir pellets for prospective academy students, and that was what caused the problem.”
“The Heart-Calming Pellet?”
“...You know about that?”
“Yes. I took one myself.”
The corners of Sama Jeong’s eyes drooped.
“How was it?”
“It was excellent.”
Excellent.
Sama Jeong recalled the past for a moment, then gave a hollow laugh.
“Don’t flatter me. As I said before, there’s nothing you can get from me.”
He did not know why.
But he found himself calmly telling this academy student things he had never been able to tell anyone.
“Considering the ingredients and the cost of preparing it, its effect was dreadful. I was disciplined because of that.”
“You have it quite good for someone who was disciplined.”
Sama Jeong slowly looked around the courtyard.
The snow looked warm as it lay thick on the ground. Yet it would certainly be painfully cold to step on.
“...What feels like a warm resting place to one person can feel like a suffocating prison to another.”
“Is that so?”
Jin Sowoon thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I think you were in the wrong, Hall Master.”
“...What are you talking about?”
“The relief work. From their perspective, you learned medicine at great expense, then gave it away cheaply. Wouldn’t that make you look like a hypocrite?”
Sama Jeong’s brow twisted sharply.
“Do you know how many people beyond those gates are dying because they can’t take even a single dose of medicine? How many must lose fingers and toes every time it snows? Do you only wield a sword to kill people?”
His face grew redder as he spoke.
As if venting every bit of anger he had bottled up, he pressed Jin Sowoon relentlessly.
“Medicine belongs to everyone. If we only treat those with money, power, and strength, then why should medicine advance at all? Even the strong will become weak one day, so should we cut off their heads without mercy when that happens?”
His shout echoed in every direction, followed once more by silence.
After venting his rage, Sama Jeong thought he had become needlessly worked up.
Jin Sowoon was quietly drinking tea without the slightest change in expression.
“If that’s what you believe, shouldn’t you leave the Martial Alliance?”
“...”
“You should go out into the streets and save people right away.”
Sama Jeong soon realized that his own argument had trapped him in a contradiction.
Jin Sowoon smiled gently at the silent Sama Jeong.
“It seems the weather is too cold for that.”
“...”
Sama Jeong’s face reddened with shame, and he rose from his seat.
“Yes. As you say, I’m all talk and a hypocrite. Is that enough? If you feel better now, leave.”
Despite the clear order to leave, Jin Sowoon calmly ran his fingers around his teacup.
“I haven’t finished speaking.”
“Do you still have something to say in this situation?”
“Because of this situation, I do.”
“Then say it quickly.”
Sama Jeong barely suppressed his anger as he urged him on.
He wanted to get this brat out of his sight as quickly as possi...
“How would you like to come to the Taeul Sect?”
“What?”
What had he just heard?
Sama Jeong’s eyes filled with bewilderment.
#
The Heavenly Cat Divine Physician being at the academy had been unexpected from the start.
When I heard that the reason was the Heart-Calming Pellet I had taken long ago, pieces of the story I had not known finally seemed to fit together.
‘That was why he wouldn’t make Heart-Calming Pellets later, no matter how desperately the Martial Alliance pleaded.’
The Heavenly Cat Divine Physician had worked briefly for the Martial Alliance, then left what was said to be the finest workplace for physicians and returned to secular life for some reason.
He made his name exactly ten years later.
It began when those who had taken the Heart-Calming Pellet pulled themselves back from qi deviation.
After that, Sama Jeong was revered enough to be called the Heavenly Cat Divine Physician, but he never made another elixir pellet.
No, even when countless sects and clans came to him carrying money, he did not make elixir pellets for them.
Those ten years had given Sama Jeong more than enough time to make an enemy of the Martial Alliance.
“Ha ha ha... Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Sama Jeong burst into laughter for a long time.
Hmm, was what I said really that funny?
I never knew I had a talent for making people laugh.
“Keuk...”
His shoulders shook as he laughed. Once he finally stopped, he asked me, “You want me to go to the Taeul Sect?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know how Martial Alliance physicians are treated?”
“I know they begin at seventh rank and receive a higher monthly salary than ordinary martial artists.”
As I answered smoothly, the sneer on his face deepened.
“And you’re asking someone like me to come to the Taeul Sect?”
“We have a decent amount of money.”
“Heh heh... You don’t understand what I’m saying. Go back. Speaking with you is giving me a headache.”
I had deliberately irritated him to see whether he held the same beliefs as the Heavenly Cat Divine Physician I knew from my previous life.
If his relief work and aid for the poor had begun only after the Martial Alliance drove him out, no condition I offered would persuade him to come now.
‘But it seems that has always been his nature.’
Then recruiting him would not be a problem.
In the end, people who could not be moved by money could be moved by something else.
“I’ll establish an independent clinic for you. Work for the Taeul Sect while also providing relief work. The Taeul Sect will cover every expense.”
Flinch.
Sama Jeong, who had been about to leave, sat back down.
He took the bait right away. Good.
“Do you think I’d believe such nonsense?”
“Why do you think it’s nonsense?”
“Because it’s a promise that’s difficult to keep.”
“...”
Why was this man so suspicious?
Well, he was a hundred times more trustworthy than someone who accepted everything without question.
“Anyone can say convincing things. But when it comes time to spend money on people who have nothing to do with them, human nature quickly begins to resent the cost.”
“That can happen.”
“And you expect me to go to the Taeul Sect because of a few words from you?”
Still unable to shake off his doubts, I took out the book I had prepared and set it before him.
“What about this?”
“What is this?”
“You saw me treat Yayul Geuk before, didn’t you?”
“...”
His face stiffened.
I wouldn’t come to threaten... no, negotiate without leverage.
Listen to how loudly he swallowed. He was already a fish in my hand.
I calmly explained what the book was.
“It’s a medical text related to that.”
Sama Jeong opened the medical text with trembling hands.
It was one of the three volumes into which the Myriad Herbs Compendium had been divided.
He examined it frantically, forgetting I was even sitting in front of him.
“Th-this is...”
“Yes. It describes methods of treatment using inexpensive medicinal ingredients.”
“...”
“It’s called the Myriad Herbs Compendium.”
Sama Jeong kept turning pages with an excited look, then asked me with a stiff expression.
“You... will give this to me?”
“Yes. If you want, I’ll give you all the remaining volumes as well.”
“Why?”
I shrugged.
“Consider it the price of inviting you to the Taeul Sect.”
“...”
Sama Jeong stared at me as if he could not understand.
“This... This is an unbelievable medical text. If even half the things written here are put into practice, it will change the entire landscape of medicine.”
I thought so too.
Perhaps the Martial Alliance had hidden this book away so carefully because it feared that kind of upheaval.
But what use was such excellent medicine if nobody used it?
Especially when it would all be lost during the Orthodox-Demonic War. That would be like treasuring dung until it turned to gold.
I looked straight into Sama Jeong’s eyes.
“You can make that happen, Physician.”
“...You truly don’t mind if I use this?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m giving it to you. Ah, of course, you should reveal it to the world little by little. If you release it all at once, places like the Divine Physician Hall and Tang Clan won’t stay quiet.”
Sama Jeong kept his mouth firmly shut for a long time.
Then he carefully asked me, “In return, all you want is for me to serve as the Taeul Sect’s physician?”
Come on, there was no way that was all.
“There’s one more thing.”
Sama Jeong looked utterly lost.
“You know that elixir pellet that got you expelled from the Divine Physician Pavilion?”
“Hm?”
I smiled brightly at him.
“Please make more of those.”
The moment I finished speaking, Sama Jeong stared at me in horror.
Come on, why was he so surprised?
“The Heart-Calming Pellet. Its effect was excellent.”
So let’s make them like mad.
Footnotes:
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