WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Retuned Zenith wants to Rest ◈
Episode 10:
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Yoo Kangmin took his time answering.
He had already examined her condition completely.
‘Simply reconnecting the damaged meridians won’t be enough. I need to disperse the mana gathered around her heart and correct the flow that’s been twisted out of shape.’
It would take time, but it was not impossible.
The Limitless Heavenly Origin Art was an internal cultivation method that had united even the qi of the orthodox factions, unorthodox factions, and the Demonic Cult, which were said to be incompatible.
Handling mana with slightly differing natures did not even qualify as difficult.
“I can fix it.”
“...!”
Baek Dohee tried to rise from her seat.
But her body swayed because her right leg lacked strength.
“I-Is that really true?”
Baek Dohee grabbed Yoo Kangmin’s arm.
Not a trace remained of her earlier coldness.
“Is it really possible?”
“Yes.”
Baek Dohee’s lips parted.
Those were the words she had wanted to hear so badly.
Yet upon hearing them, her mind went blank.
“Please treat me. I’ll pay whatever you ask.”
“Of course you will.”
Unblock the obstructed qi, reconnect the severed meridians, then receive sufficient payment for the treatment.
It was only natural to receive fair compensation.
However, there was one thing weighing on Yoo Kangmin’s mind before treatment began.
“Before that, let me ask you one thing.”
“Yes. Please do.”
“If you went back to that day, would you make the same choice?”
“That day...?”
“The day your body was ruined. Even knowing how it would end, would you do the same thing?”
After returning, Yoo Kangmin had spent several days at home doing nothing but watching television to learn about the world he had lost.
Yoo Gaeun had looked at him with contempt, as though he were an unemployed bum, but television was an excellent source of information for Yoo Kangmin.
During that time, he had watched a documentary about Baek Dohee, so he knew what had happened to her.
‘She might have made that choice because she didn’t know it would turn out this way.’
What Yoo Kangmin wanted to ask was whether she would still make that choice now.
Baek Dohee did not answer right away.
“...”
“Take your time and think it over.”
“Thank you.”
A brief silence followed.
Baek Dohee slowly opened her mouth.
“I would want to run away. I would retreat, or wish for someone else to step forward in my place.”
“Is that so?”
“But...”
Baek Dohee bit her lip hard.
The pain of that day was rising within her again.
“If there is no one else.”
“If there isn’t?”
“I will always step forward.”
In the end, she had not changed.
She said she would make the same choice as before.
Then and now, there would be no one but herself to step forward.
“You’re foolish and stupid.”
“I know.”
“You’re the kind of person who’ll ruin her body again after I fix it.”
“I’m sorry.”
Watching her, Yoo Kangmin remembered something from long ago.
The Emei Sect nun who had pushed him behind her and stood against the bandits when he knew nothing of martial arts.
‘If not for her...’
He would have died alone on the slope of some nameless country mountain.
After that day, Yoo Kangmin had vowed to uphold at least a minimum standard of righteousness, no matter what happened.
‘The person I am now would not exist.’
Why was that?
There was Yoon Seoha, who had been terrified at the convenience store but still shouted for him to run.
And there was Baek Dohee, standing before him now, who said she would repeat the same foolish choice despite having already made it once.
The two lived differently, yet they were strangely alike.
‘What tiresome people.’
They reminded him of those called chivalrous heroes of the orthodox factions.
‘And people I can’t hate.’
Even if they had feared him and tried to kill him, Yoo Kangmin understood their choice.
He knew they had not stepped forward for selfish gain.
Yoo Kangmin liked Baek Dohee’s foolishness.
‘Come to think of it, perhaps I owe Baek Dohee as well.’
Could he truly call it luck alone that his family had survived safely in a world where gates had opened?
In a way, everyone living in this world owed hunters.
The present peace was maintained because they fought while risking their lives.
‘Even if they receive compensation worthy of it.’
Yoo Kangmin looked down at Baek Dohee’s cane.
Of course, she had not saved his family.
Still, the people who survived that day five years ago had been someone’s mothers and fathers.
Their survival had been possible because of Baek Dohee’s sacrifice.
“Haah.”
A short sigh escaped him.
“It seems I’ll have to change the method.”
“D-Does that mean treatment will be difficult?”
“No, not that.”
Originally, Yoo Kangmin had planned to stop at rebuilding Baek Dohee’s severed mana circuits.
That alone would have been enough for Baek Dohee to recover her former strength.
‘But...’
Baek Dohee would hold a spear again, and someday, a situation similar to that day might arise.
And Baek Dohee would try to fight while staking her life.
So Yoo Kangmin intended to do more than simply heal Baek Dohee. He intended to make her stronger.
So she would not break.
“While we’re at it, I’ll make you an entirely new body.”
“A-A new body?”
“Yes.”
To make a new body.
In the martial world, this phenomenon was called Bone Rebirth, and Yoo Kangmin intended to grant Baek Dohee that transformation.
It was an exceedingly rare stroke of fortune even in the martial world, but Baek Dohee had favorable conditions.
‘She has enough qi.’
Her body had once belonged to an A-rank hunter.
Judging by the amount of mana remaining in her heart, she was not inferior even to a peak master of the martial world.
He would use the mana that was killing Baek Dohee to remake her body.
Of course, he had no intention of forcing it through with his own internal qi.
‘She has to learn how to control it herself.’
After all, his role was only to teach her martial arts.
“You’ll have a lot to do.”
“I’ll do anything.”
“You don’t even know what I’m going to make you do yet.”
“I’m used to rehabilitation. I can endure pain, too.”
“Is that so?”
Yoo Kangmin answered with a smile.
“Then that’s a relief.”
As he spoke, Yoo Kangmin wrote the kendo dojo’s address on a memo pad on the table.
“Come here starting tomorrow.”
“Where is this?”
“A kendo dojo. Though it’s closed now.”
“A kendo dojo?”
“Yes. Yoon Seoha is training there too.”
“Will I receive treatment there as well?”
“Strictly speaking, it isn’t treatment.”
“Then...?”
“Training.”
“Training?”
“Yes. Don’t expect me to fix you on my own. You’ll have to learn everything yourself.”
“I understand.”
Baek Dohee checked the address and placed the memo inside her document folder.
Her hands were careful not to fold or crease it.
“What time would be best?”
“Ten in the morning.”
“Every day?”
“For the time being.”
Baek Dohee looked at the schedule on her desk for a moment.
It was packed with appointments from the morning onward.
Yoo Kangmin noticed where her gaze had gone.
“If you’re busy, we can find another time.”
“No. I’ll adjust my schedule.”
“Can a branch chief be away every day?”
“I can distribute the work. I have been holding on to matters that do not need my personal attention.”
Baek Dohee looked away from the schedule.
Until now, she had focused solely on Association work.
She had believed it was the best she could do after losing her mana.
Now that circumstances had changed, she intended to give herself a little room.
“Treatment comes first now.”
“At least you understand that properly.”
“Now, let’s discuss the treatment fee.”
“Oh.”
Yoo Kangmin adjusted his posture.
“I nearly forgot something important.”
Baek Dohee took a notebook from her document folder.
“First, I will pay one hundred million won as an advance.”
“...”
Yoo Kangmin closed his mouth.
Baek Dohee studied his expression as she continued.
“I will separately cover the costs required for treatment and training. I will also set separate compensation for after I am fully healed.”
“Hmm.”
Yoo Kangmin slowly lifted his teacup.
He was trying to appear calm.
‘One hundred million?’
Yoon Seoha paid him one million won per month.
Baek Dohee was offering one hundred times that amount up front.
‘A-rank really is different.’
Yoo Kangmin took a sip of tea.
It had already gone cold, but this was no time to care about the taste.
“What is your standard for a full recovery?”
“Being able to enter gates and fight again.”
Baek Dohee looked down at her cane.
“At the very least, I would like to recover my former strength.”
“Fine.”
“Then I will pay another five hundred million won.”
Yoo Kangmin’s hand stopped for a moment as he set down his teacup.
‘Six hundred million altogether. With that much... could I buy a decent house?’
Yoo Kangmin did not yet know Seoul real estate prices well.
He was slow to answer as he considered where he might move, but Baek Dohee took his silence to mean something else.
“Is that not enough?”
“No. That will be enough.”
Yoo Kangmin answered immediately this time.
The amount she had named first was more than sufficient.
More importantly, he had no intention of testing how much she could pay when he had already decided to help someone he liked.
“But make sure you show up as promised. Paying a lot doesn’t mean I can train in your place.”
“You needn’t worry about that. I will prepare a contract. Please review the terms and sign it.”
“Fine.”
“And I will need your account number as well.”
Yoo Kangmin pulled out his phone with practiced hands.
This was different from when he received training fees from Yoon Seoha.
He had learned how to use banking apps by now.
A moment later, Baek Dohee tapped at her phone a few times.
Ding.
[Deposit: 100,000,000 won]
Yoo Kangmin stared at the screen.
There were a lot of zeroes.
He counted them once more for no reason.
It was definitely one hundred million won.
“You’re sending it before we even sign the contract?”
“It is a promise that I will visit tomorrow.”
“What if I take the money and run?”
Baek Dohee smiled faintly.
“I have the address, and I know the identity of the person who accompanied you.”
“Huh.”
“I check that much, at least.”
Yoo Kangmin snorted softly and put down his phone.
Just moments ago, she had looked ready to cry. Now, she wore an expression fitting of a branch chief.
‘It wouldn’t be bad to build a good relationship. She is close to the center of power, after all.’
If Baek Dohee underwent Bone Rebirth and regained her strength, she would be able to establish an unshakable position within the Hunter Association.
Knock, knock.
Then someone knocked on the office door.
“Yes. Come in.”
An employee entered with some documents.
“Hunter Yoon Seoha’s special promotion assessment has ended.”
“What was the result?”
“She has been assessed as D-rank.”
The employee held out the evaluation report.
“She met the D-rank standard in the practical evaluation. She even defeated the final hobgoblin projection.”
“I see.”
Baek Dohee accepted the report and watched Yoo Kangmin’s expression.
Yoo Kangmin was not surprised at all, as if it were only natural.
“Will her registration card change as well?”
“Yes. It will be reissued by today.”
“That’s good.”
That was his entire reaction.
“How long have you been teaching Hunter Yoon Seoha?”
“One week.”
“One week...”
Baek Dohee quietly repeated it.
A long time, if one called it long. A short time, if one called it short.
She did not know Yoon Seoha well, but the report alone told her something.
It included a detailed record of Yoon Seoha’s activities up until now.
‘There was nothing there that could explain a promotion from F-rank to D-rank. And the one who killed the hobgoblin was probably this man.’
Baek Dohee was certain that it had been Yoo Kangmin, not Yoon Seoha, who killed the hobgoblin.
‘Yet after training under this man for one week, she clearly changed.’
Yoon Seoha had faced a projection rather than a real hobgoblin, but she would not have been able to face it a week ago.
‘I have to trust this man.’
Clench!
Baek Dohee quietly clenched her fist.
‘I can hold a spear again.’
Her heart trembled.
For this moment, it was not pain she felt, but the powerful pounding of her heart.
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