Chapter 986: Tears, Drop by Drop (7)

The humans who belonged to the Evil Path—more broadly, the kind of crowd people called dark-world bastards—were oddly obsessed with names that sounded impressive.

And the result of that obsession was the laughably grandiose name Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition.

Even though it was clearly a title forcibly stretched out by cramming in lofty-sounding words, the Evil Path people still took pride in saying it out loud.

So by now, even if Bu Anpyeong—the current Grand Leader of the Evil Path Alliance—wanted to replace that ridiculous name, it was practically impossible.

Which meant there was only one thing he could do: curse the founding Grand Leader of the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition who’d first hung up that plaque, and call him an ignorant bastard.

*****

That particular tendency of the Evil Path showed up perfectly in the combat units under the Evil Path Alliance as well.

And if that was the case... what kind of status would a combat unit with “special grade” stamped onto it have?

You could tell from the name alone.

Among combat units, the “special grade” units—the absolute elite—naturally shoved the color considered the very best of the best right into the title: gold.

Among those, the Golden Hawk Unit was infamous for missions involving the pursuit and extermination of traitors.

In a world that was, frankly, pretty peaceful as far as the martial world went, what other kinds of missions could there even be?

Either way—

The Golden Hawk Unit Commander had come in person!

Bo-yeol set down the tea utensils he’d been wiping and swung the ladle that had been submerged in the water jar, filling it.

The tea ceremony was supposed to treat even the act of drawing water as part of savoring tea—so you were meant to be careful, taking only the clean surface water without stirring anything up, leaving not even a ripple.

But why would he put in that kind of sincerity for an unpleasant guest?

He shoved the precious White Tiger Silver Needles tea leaves deep into the cabinet, then grabbed a fistful of half-spoiled leaves he’d been planning to dry and use as incense.

It was a scene of pure, petty stinginess.

No matter how much you disliked a guest, hospitality was the host’s dignity, so you normally wouldn’t treat someone poorly—if only because other people would see.

But the dark world didn’t know anything about that.

And Sasa had been from the dark world, too.

Bo-yeol set the teaware onto the brazier, and right on cue—

RATTLE.

The door slid open.

A giant stepped inside with heavy, long strides—tall enough to loom, broad enough to fill the frame, shoulders like a slammed-open gate.

Even though the room was spacious, it somehow felt cramped the moment he entered.

The Golden Hawk Unit Commander.

Hyung Taejak, Iron-Fruit Grim Vulture.

Hyung Taejak bared a vicious grin.

“Heh. Senior Sasa. Well, don’t you look like your fortunes are shining? You up and left, and it looks like you’ve been living real good—eating nothing but the best.”

“Senior....” Sasa let out a tired breath. “So retirement does have its perks. To think I’d hear ‘Senior’ from the Golden Hawk Unit Commander. You didn’t call me that before.”

“Well, back then you were the Head of the Medical-Pharmaceutical-Elixir Refining and Management Office. But you aren’t anymore.”

“Mm.”

Sasa groaned.

It wasn’t anything else—just hearing “the Evil Path Alliance Medical Office,” or in other words, the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition Medical-Pharmaceutical-Elixir Refining and Management Office, after so long.

He’d really wondered what was so great about that uselessly long name. And worse, they didn’t even shorten it—they’d rattle the whole thing off, every time.

Now that he thought about it, it was all pointless.

And in a medical office where even a blink was precious once a patient showed up, insisting on a name that took forever to say—he felt ashamed of it.

“It must’ve taken some effort to come all the way here, but I don’t have anything to say to you. Have a cup of tea and head back.”

“Heh. Don’t be so cold. And does it end just because you have nothing to say, Senior? I came because I have something to tell you.”

The sheer sloppiness of his tone made Bo-yeol’s eyelid twitch.

Even if the Golden Hawk Unit Commander was a dark-world bastard, he was still a master who’d trained orthodox martial arts—

So what was this attitude in front of an elder?

Because trash like this strutted around calling themselves masters, dark-world bastards stayed dark-world bastards forever.

Compared to him... how much of an immortal maiden was the Heavenly Flower Sword?

Thinking of that child—polite, bright, kindhearted, even after learning multiple terrifying demonic arts—Bo-yeol felt it again.

So this was why the righteous sects were called righteous sects.

Well.

That was the level of the dark world.

Even if you brought up “elders,” he wouldn’t listen anyway.

The kind who acted crooked, like—What, is being older something to brag about? You’ve lived longer and your realm is lower, so all you have to wave around is your age—

That was exactly what dark-world bastards did....

Bo-yeol was thinking like he’d never been a dark-world bastard himself, but thoughts were free.

“Alright, I’ll speak even though it’s rude. Senior, you’ve lived in the organization longer than I have, so you know this. If you’re quitting, you should come out proudly and say it straight—‘I’m quitting for these reasons’—like a man. Put down what you need to put down, hand over what you need to hand over, settle accounts cleanly, do the handoff. Then leave. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to go?”

Bo-yeol flared.

“That’s only when it’s a proper organization. They framed a perfectly fine man as a righteous sect plant, and once you bastards decided to treat me like a traitor, would you have listened to anything I said? Who betrayed first—”

“‘You bastards’?” Hyung Taejak cut in, voice bright with mock offense. “Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition—Grand Coalition. Do you not know what ‘Grand Coalition’ means? If you lump us all together like that, you’re saying everyone in the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition treated Senior as a traitor. How does that make sense? The Grand Leader didn’t decide that. You only become a traitor when the Grand Leader says, bam, ‘traitor.’ If he says you aren’t, then you aren’t.”

“But—”

“And Senior.” Hyung Taejak’s eyes narrowed. “I took a look on the way here. You really did have contact with the Heavenly Flower Sword. And you even set up a therapist’s clinic right under the Priestess Order.”

“I only fell into a trap! Someone called for me at night, so I went out, and the Heavenly Flower Sword was just there! I only drank one cup of tea and left!”

It was, unbelievably, the exact truth.

Qing had called Sasa out intending to stir internal conflict.

The only unexpected part was that the old man—despite being an old dark-world relic—was naïve and innocent.

“Whoa, whoa, Senior. Hold on. Let’s not get mad. Who called you a traitor? I think the same thing. I know you’re not the type to betray people. If I’d come to hunt down a real traitor, would I be sitting here this calmly? I would’ve drawn my blade right away—according to the Evil Path law.”

“...What?”

“Oh. Senior, isn’t that boiling?” Hyung Taejak nodded toward the kettle. “I heard your tea is amazing.”

The kettle was bubbling furiously.

At this point it wasn’t tea—it was practically soup. Any true tea lover would never forgive it.

But it was tea meant for someone he hated, so it didn’t matter.

Bo-yeol used a white towel to lift the kettle and poured in a thin stream, filling Hyung Taejak’s cup.

Hyung Taejak snatched the cup, slurped a mouthful, and went—

“Aaah,” like he’d just taken a shot of liquor.

“This isn’t some crazy expensive tea? This is insane. Damn. So that’s what it is. Like they said—you’re the best tea master in the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition.”

Bo-yeol’s face hardened.

That wasn’t tea. It was closer to blanched tea water—tea broth.

No fragrance, just bitter and astringent garbage.

He’d boiled spoiled leaves until they were bubbling.

If Hyung Taejak meant it sincerely, he was an ignorant brute who didn’t even know what tea tasted like.

If he said it knowingly, it was humiliation on a level that made your vision go dark.

But the way he kept sipping suggested the first.

Either way, to someone serious about tea, he was the kind of disgusting person you never wanted to speak to again.

“Anyway,” Hyung Taejak said, setting the cup down. “Senior Sasa, you’ve had a pretty enjoyable vacation by now, haven’t you? Time to come back.”

“...What?”

“Senior says he never betrayed anyone, and the official position of the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition is that Senior isn’t a traitor. Then there’s no problem, right?”

Sasa’s expression twisted.

Now—why would he go back to the Evil Path Alliance?

Those dark-world bastards were Harmonization, but they always tried to match him, subtly.

And since the top brass acted like that, the underlings acted like they could look down on him.

If you hit Transformation, they didn’t even bother hiding it.

Like this bastard right in front of him.

But what about Sasa Medical Academy?

His disciples, the merchant house employees—hell, the entire city—welcomed him with bright faces and sincere respect.

And even beyond that recognition, his heart had already clung to warm Jagwi County for a long time.

So much that he even thought—if this was how it would be, maybe he should’ve never learned poison arts at all.

Maybe he could’ve lived as an ordinary therapist.

The Evil Path Alliance, swarming with demonic masters, was a jar of gu poison—stuffed with venomous snakes whose poison had fully risen.

Bo-yeol was one of those snakes.

All day long he’d hissed, bared fangs, raised a venom-swollen head, and threatened everything around him.

When his thoughts reached that point, Sasa’s shoulders suddenly lost their strength, slackening.

Facing a viper and spitting venom back only left one thing behind—

A viper that had swallowed more venom and grown even more venomous.

But venom was still just venom.

A weak poison could be used as medicine, but a strong poison was only used to harm someone.

In the end, you’d be left alone inside that gu jar, lonely until the last....

When he gave medicine, what came back was bright, welcoming smiles.

Warmth had gathered little by little, until it became a gentle spring breeze.

So wasn’t everything he’d done—clenching his teeth, raising his fangs—truly pointless?

Bo-yeol withdrew his venom and exposed his weakness—an old man’s sincerity, bare and unguarded.

“I... honestly don’t want to go back. To tell the truth, I’m tired now. The time I spent in the Evil Path Alliance... thinking back, it was that hard. My martial arts improved, sure, but there was always some bastard chasing me with a blade at my back, so I had to be desperate. I was so exhausted... I didn’t even realize I was exhausting myself. Now I’m just... tired down to the bone. At this point, I think it’s enough to live like this and die like this. Yes. That’s fine.... That’s all it needs to be.”

All of a sudden, Bo-yeol felt something strange rising—like an odd warmth filling the inside of his dried-up spine.

As an old martial artist—and a therapist—how could he not recognize what it was?

Transformation Realm, mid-stage.

A step he couldn’t reach when he’d been forcing himself like a madman, carrying venom—

He let it go, and suddenly he advanced, restoring vitality to his aged body.

Of course, it might not have been pure coincidence.

All this time he’d been gathering poison, sealing it tightly in his lower dantian as a poison core, suppressing it—swallowing poison, then suppressing the poison that was dangerous even to himself—so he’d had no room to pour strength anywhere else.

But after opening the clinic, he hadn’t increased the poison.

So now, at last, he likely had enough capacity to truly contain that poison core.

Or maybe this was what the Buddhists and Taoists meant—

That emptiness was the same as being filled.

Bo-yeol smiled quietly.

But to someone watching, it could look like the smile of a defeated man, drained of venom and sprawled limp.

“Hah!” Hyung Taejak laughed. “Senior really is getting old. This is perfect. I wasn’t planning to call you back to the Medical-Pharmaceutical-Elixir Refining and Management Office seat anyway.”

He could’ve just said “the medical office” or “the clinic,” but Hyung Taejak insisted on using the long name—only to change it slightly every time it came out of his mouth.

There wasn’t more than one medical office in the Evil Path Alliance, and yet he still stretched it out—

Because if he shortened it, it would sound ordinary.

And if it sounded ordinary, it would sound weak.

Like a snake with its poison risen, holding its head high.

“Senior Sasa’s name is high for saving lives with benevolence. And I heard on the way here people flat-out call you a divine physician? That’s incredible. That’s so good. Us Evil Path people—no, wait, us Evil Path people are nothing without loyalty, right? Senior spread that far and wide, didn’t you? So this junior wants Senior to keep doing exactly this. Seriously.”

...What was this?

Did sincerity really get through? Did the Evil Path Alliance’s hunting dog feel pity?

Of course not.

“Instead, since we’re doing it, let’s do it right. The Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition is going to back you properly. We’ll throw up buildings, pull in therapists, act like we’re going to care for every patient under heaven—yeah? You get what I’m saying?”

Bo-yeol’s face twisted hard.

“That’s bullshit.”

“This means the Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition is walking a chivalrous path in our own way, just like those Martial Alliance bastards. Ah, sure, the righteous hypocrites might try to interfere, but Senior has nothing to worry about. My Golden Hawk Unit will stay here and protect you.”

Bo-yeol’s mind snapped fully awake.

If he’d been too stupid to understand the Evil Path Alliance’s intention after hearing this much, he never would’ve been able to learn medicine in the first ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) place.

“What—what kind of trick is that!”

Watching Bo-yeol shout, Hyung Taejak smiled with a wet, fishy edge.

“Why? Senior says he didn’t betray anyone. This is a special order from the Grand Leader. Are you saying you’ll disobey? Then you’re a real traitor. And look—there’s a guy right here whose job is dealing with traitors.”

“You—!”

“Oh, come on, Senior. Don’t get so heated. Don’t decide right away. Cool your head and think about it slowly. All you have to do is change the plaque—no, not even. Just put our Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition...”

Hyung Taejak flinched for a second, then started folding and unfolding his fingers, sounding out each syllable like he was counting.

“...nine characters. Just slap them riiight under the sign. Sasa Medical Academy, Evil Path Thug Grand Coalition. Aaah. Then money will just roll in like it’s pouring in, and you can give medicine to the poor under heaven. Senior gets to practice medicine and feel good, and we get to spread Evil Path chivalry across the world. Win-win.”

At the same time, Hyung Taejak gulped—GULP, GULP—and chugged down the now-cold tea-water in big swallows.

“Aaah. Senior could open a teahouse and strike it rich.”

“If everyone under heaven had a tongue like yours, every teahouse would be rolling in cash. You’d pull grass off the roadside and brew it and still guzzle it down saying it’s delicious.”

Bo-yeol’s venom rose again.

Hyung Taejak whistled lightly.

“Anyway, this junior’s staying in Jagwi County. Word of where I’m staying will spread fast. Once you decide, come bring me your answer. You’re a poison-arts master, after all—so it’s pretty scary for me to come back here again, right? Alright. See you.”