The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 94

신마의선 (94)

It was while Yeom Sain was grumbling like that.

“Lord Jang.”

Startled by the voice suddenly coming from beside him, Yeom Sain turned his head. A gray-haired man of similar age was standing next to him with a smile, having been there since who knows when.

“When did you get here?”

At Yeom Sain’s question, Jang Sam replied with a smile.

“Quite a while ago.”

Discomfiture rose on Yeom Sain’s face.

That meant he had been watching him mutter to himself. He had been so engrossed in the Go board that he hadn’t noticed someone standing right next to him.

Jang Sam smiled at Yeom Sain, who cleared his throat.

“All the tasks you instructed have been completed.”

“You secured the promise, right?”

“Yes, for the next month, all courier company carriages will have flags with the same insignia displayed throughout their journeys.”

“Good work.”

Yeom Sain nodded with a satisfied expression.

Jang Sam, the chief manager who oversaw the estate’s finances and overall business, always handled matters meticulously, just like now. Suddenly feeling something was off, Yeom Sain looked up at Jang Sam.

“Is there something more you want to say?”

Jang Sam, who had been gazing intently at the Go board, nodded.

“If you place it there, the upper left corner will be in danger.”

“……!”

“If it were him, he would respond like this.”

Jang Sam picked up a black stone and placed it in a spot.

Clack.

With the sound of the stone being placed, Yeom Sain’s face crumpled.

“Why didn’t you boldly fight in the Central Plains? If you had, you wouldn’t have collapsed so futilely.”

“…….”

“You’re not sulking, are you?”

“I’m not sulking.”

“Your Go skills don’t seem to be improving at all?”

“Now I’m sulking!”

Jang Sam chuckled at Yeom Sain’s sulky demeanor.

“That’s why you keep losing.”

“What?”

“Weren’t you the one who said that a rolling stone gathers no moss? That we should humbly accept advice from others and strive for constant improvement……”

“Do you think I’d forget my own words?”

Yeom Sain said, as if he had to make this point clear.

“And I’m going easy on you.”

Jang Sam smiled as if to say, ‘As you wish,’ and nodded.

“Yes, yes. I know.”

Yeom Sain bristled at the sight.

“Don’t you have work to do? Is it okay for the chief manager to be so idle?”

“Well, there are those who spend all day with a Go board.”

When Yeom Sain glared at him, Jang Sam quickly changed the subject with a ‘Ouch, that’s hot’ expression.

“You’ll definitely win next time.”

“I should.”

Yeom Sain quietly sighed.

“If we meet again, that is……”

* * *

That evening.

A man was entering the village, carrying the burning sunset on his back.

It was Cho Ak-ryang.

Cho Ak-ryang looked around the village, which was distinctly different from before, with emotion-filled eyes.

“It’s become quite a livable place.”

He was very pleased and happy to see the village gradually erasing its desolate past as time went by.

A small village with only about fifty households.

The long poles lined up in front of each house, with cloths fluttering in various colors, created a picturesque scene.

After looking around the village with a satisfied gaze for a while, Cho Ak-ryang began to move towards the manor on the hill.

Was it because he was stepping on his hometown soil after a long time?

Cho Ak-ryang, wearing a playful expression, leaped over the manor’s wall. It was then that he caught sight of an old man engrossed in Go alone in the pavilion in the distance.

Hiding his presence, Cho Ak-ryang quietly approached and suddenly opened his mouth.

“I wouldn’t place it there if I were you?”

“……!”

Thud.

Startled, Yeom Sain dropped the Go stone he was holding.

The black stone that rolled across the Go board eventually settled in one spot. And that position was subtle.

It was the only move that would open a path for the precarious upper left corner.

Cho Ak-ryang smiled and said.

“Seeing you reminds me of the saying, ‘A bad move after long deliberation.’ I’d rather you just throw it. It’s much better that way.”

Yeom Sain turned his head sharply and glared at Cho Ak-ryang.

After a moment of doing so,

He shouted.

“Manager Jang!”

Shortly after.

Jang Sam, who had been rushing over, was startled to find Cho Ak-ryang. But soon, he bowed politely with a welcoming smile.

Cho Ak-ryang also bowed in response.

On the other hand, Yeom Sain shouted at Jang Sam in a thunderous voice.

“Is that a ghost standing in front of me right now? Or a person?”

“Isn’t it too early for ghosts to be wandering around?”

“Is that so? So you’re saying it’s a person?”

“As Lord Jang sees it.”

“Then go and slap him across the face!”

Jang Sam gave him a dumbfounded look.

“If I did that, I’d really become a ghost.”

“It’s okay! You have sins to atone for, so you wouldn’t dare do anything.”

As if such pointless spitefulness was nothing new, Jang Sam shook his head with a familiar attitude.

“I’ll close the manor gates early today.”

Jang Sam gave Cho Ak-ryang another nod before retreating.

Only then was Cho Ak-ryang finally able to face his old friend after a long time.

The face of his friend, who seemed to have aged alone with the years.

That appearance, having gone through considerable hardships, made him feel inexplicably sorry and sad.

“Why are you staring at such a plain face?”

Cho Ak-ryang chuckled at Yeom Sain’s nagging. His brusque tone was still the same.

“Your face is beaming. You’re the only one who’s avoided the passage of time.”

Yeom Sain’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at Cho Ak-ryang.

“Share the good stuff. What’s the secret?”

“Why? Are you finally thinking of learning martial arts?”

Yeom Sain frowned deeply.

“At this age? No thanks.”

Cho Ak-ryang chuckled and sat down on the cushion prepared in advance, across the Go board.

Thus, the two men sat facing each other across the Go board, naturally arranging the board and dividing the Go stones.

After rattling the Go stones in his hand for a moment.

Clack.

Cho Ak-ryang placed a black stone in the center of the Go board, the most central point among the nine *hwa* points [starting points], the *Cheonwon* [center point of the Go board].

Then, as if he had been waiting, Yeom Sain responded by preempting the *hwa* point in the upper left corner with a white stone.

Cho Ak-ryang smiled.

No matter how much time passed, their Go playing styles, as well as their personalities, remained the same.

Cho Ak-ryang nodded and was about to place a Go stone when.

“I believed you were alive.”

Yeom Sain suddenly spoke. Cho Ak-ryang chuckled and looked at Yeom Sain.

“You spread too many flags for someone who believed that?”

“…….”

“Every courier group I encountered on my way here had a *Won Gyeon Myeon Gi* [a flag indicating ‘desire to meet’] planted without exception.”

It was a special type of flag agreed upon long ago, used when wanting to meet.

He must have spent a considerable amount of money on the courier companies.

“Did you make some money?”

“I made a lot.”

Yeom Sain answered confidently and stared at Cho Ak-ryang.

“More than that, how did you get involved with those venomous bastards?”

“Venomous bastards? Who?”

When Cho Ak-ryang tilted his head, Yeom Sain sighed softly.

“I’m talking about those crazy bastards crouching in the Tang Clan. I heard you took the head of their leader?”

He was referring to the head of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

“Ah, *Cheonsuamje*?”

He almost died, but Cho Ak-ryang, the person involved, was nonchalant.

“I didn’t start the fight. They didn’t seem to value their lives and rushed at me.”

“The entire Chengdu area was turned upside down because of that.”

Cho Ak-ryang snorted.

He seemed to disregard the Tang Clan, which had reigned as the overlord of Sichuan for many years along with the Qingcheng Sect.

Yeom Sain’s eyes, looking at such a friend, were filled with indelible worries.

“Sometimes I think this.”

“……?”

“I wonder if this Sichuan is pushing you away.”

Cho Ak-ryang quietly nodded.

When you think about it, it was here in Sichuan that he first gained the ominous title of Blood Demon Venerable. And that was also the reason why he left his hometown and wandered the Central Plains.

But Cho Ak-ryang didn’t care much.

In the end, wasn’t it just one more insignificant bad relationship?

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not much different anywhere else.”

Nowhere else welcomed him.

The only place that welcomed him was here.

‘No, has one more been added now?’

Cho Ak-ryang, suddenly thinking of Dan Ak-seon, smiled.

Unlike before, he now had a place to return to.

Shortly after, Jang Sam visited the pavilion again with servants. They were carrying refreshments and alcohol in both hands.

“Are you going to rest for a few days?”

Cho Ak-ryang nodded at Jang Sam’s question.

“I plan to.”

“Please make yourself comfortable. Oh, right! Drink the alcohol alone.”

At Cho Ak-ryang’s puzzled look, Jang Sam gave Yeom Sain a bitter smile.

“Lord Jang has been drinking a lot lately. I’m worried something bad might happen.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. He was so distraught that his only friend had died a violent death that he had to find the body himself. It was like a house in mourning. That’s how ominous the rumors circulating in the Jianghu [martial world] were.”

Yeom Sain, who was listening, frowned.

“Stop acting so familiar and leave. Anyone would think you’re his friend, not mine!”

Despite Yeom Sain’s nagging, Jang Sam did not give in.

“It’s a good thing I was here, or else a real funeral would have taken place if I hadn’t desperately stopped him. He would have either died from crying or drowned in alcohol……”

“Ah, go away! You’re good at everything, but you talk too much.”

Jang Sam smiled and retreated with the servants.

Once they were alone, Cho Ak-ryang chuckled and asked.

“You said you believed I was alive?”

Yeom Sain flinched and then nodded.

“I did.”

“Then why look for the body?”

“Because I felt like I had to.”

Yeom Sain’s face clouded over.

“What I desperately want always turns out the opposite.”

Upon hearing those words, Cho Ak-ryang silently picked up a glass and brought it to his lips.

* * *

The next morning.

Yeom Sain, holed up in his workshop on one side of the manor, clicked his tongue and stood up.

The pattern he was engraving on the fabric didn’t come out as satisfactory as usual. Perhaps because of Cho Ak-ryang’s visit after a long time, he couldn’t concentrate on his work.

After gazing silently at the fabric in front of him, the beeswax and white wax scattered all over the place, and the jars filled with dyes of all colors for a while, he abandoned the mountain of work without regret and turned around.

Just as he was about to leave the workshop.

“Where are you going?”

“Tch.”

Yeom Sain clicked his tongue with a displeased expression at Jang Sam’s voice that came from somewhere.

He had to run into the most annoying person.

“Are you perhaps spying on me?”

“Me?”

Jang Sam retorted with a bewildered expression.

“Do I look so free that I have the leisure to spy on Lord Jang without anything to do?”

Yeom Sain frowned.

It was because of Jang Sam’s appearance, who was holding a pile of documents.

Jang Sam sighed, looking towards the workshop.

“There are only ten days left until the deadline.”

“I know.”

“And the person who knows that……”

Before a barrage of nagging could continue, Yeom Sain preempted him.

“I’m just going to catch a carp and then start working again. You know that Cho goes crazy for carp dishes, even in his sleep.”

“I’ve already caught that and put it away. I’m just coming back from handing it over to the cook.”

“What?”

Flustered, Yeom Sain quickly gave another reason.

“Then I’ll have to pick some Sichuan pepper leaves. As everyone knows, steamed carp……”

“I’ve already prepared that in advance.”

“…….”

Jang Sam smiled and opened his mouth.

“Just continue with what you were doing.”