The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 126

Cho Ak-ryang hurriedly stopped her.

“Sister Byeok! Hold on!”

Byeok Hwa-ryeong, who was about to light the cannon, turned to Cho Ak-ryang with a chilling gaze.

“Come to think of it, there was one more human to blow away.”

Cho Ak-ryang was briefly taken aback by Byeok Hwa-ryeong’s eerie expression. However, he soon began to persuade her in a calm voice.

“Sister Byeok, are you going to give up like this?”

“……?”

“If you shoot that, it’s really over.”

“Isn’t it already over?”

“No. You never know what might happen.”

Cho Ak-ryang continued with a serious look.

“Don’t throw away a long wait with just one act of venting. If you fire the cannon, you might feel relieved for a moment, but the regret will last a long time.”

At those words, Byeok Hwa-ryeong’s eyes wavered.

Cho Ak-ryang pressed his advantage.

“Think about all the effort you put into winning that guy’s heart! All the effort you put in until then! Isn’t Byeok’s life too precious to throw away with just an act of venting?”

“…….”

She looked back and forth between Beom Gye-wi and the cannon with confused eyes for a moment.

“Ah! What am I doing!”

Belatedly regaining her senses, Byeok Hwa-ryeong grabbed a rope nearby and threw it to Beom Gye-wi.

Then she smiled brightly, just like before.

“Come up quickly.”

However, Beom Gye-wi shouted with a face full of anger.

“Hey, you crazy woman! Just shoot! Let’s have one of us die today!”

“Why are you saying such scary things? It was just a little joke.”

“A joke? This is a joke?”

“Can’t I even be a little difficult after such a long reunion?”

“Difficult my ass! You looked like you were going to turn me into fish food!”

“You won’t die from getting hit by this.”

She gave him a smile mixed with coquetry, as if she had never threatened to kill him.

“And you deserve this much punishment.”

“Punishment? What punishment?”

“For making me lonely all this time.”

“……!”

“How can a person be like that? Not even a single letter for ten years, let alone coming to see me.”

Beom Gye-wi was speechless.

No matter what anyone said, he couldn’t deny that he had neglected her. In the end, Beom Gye-wi reluctantly grabbed the rope she had lowered and climbed onto the ship.

Byeok Hwa-ryeong reached out to Beom Gye-wi, who was soaking wet.

Beom Gye-wi flinched for a moment, but he couldn’t shake off her hand that was stroking his beard.

“You still look good even when you’re wet. I really have a good eye for men.”

Beom Gye-wi shuddered at her creepy transformation.

Cho Ak-ryang too.

It was a rare sight to see Cho Ak-ryang cast a pitiful look towards Beom Gye-wi.

“Raise the anchor! Return at full speed!”

“Aye, aye!”

At Byeok Hwa-ryeong’s command, the Hainan Sect’s warriors shouted in unison.

Soon after leaving the port and turning the bow, the ship began to move forward at a terrifying speed, cutting through the waves.

* * *

An inn near Mount Jeomchang.

A middle-aged beggar in rags climbed the stairs leading to the second floor. The only group occupying a table caught his eye.

“Are you Young Sir Dan?”

The beggar approached them with hurried steps.

“You’re from the Beggars’ Sect?”

When Dan Ak-seon pretended to recognize him, the beggar smiled and nodded.

“I am Jin Wi-yang, the head of the Yunnan region. I have a message from the Sect Leader, so I came to see you, even though it’s rude.”

“Did the matter you went to handle go well?”

“Yes, thanks to your concern, it seems to have been resolved smoothly. The Sect Leader headed straight this way and said he would be able to join us tomorrow morning.”

“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”

“You’re welcome. I was just doing what I had to do.”

“You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Have a meal with us before you go.”

Jin Wi-yang glanced at Han Seol-hwa with a troubled expression.

“No. The Sect Leader gave strict orders. He told me to just report and run away… I mean, retreat.”

He knew very well how much Han Seol-hwa hated beggars through the Sect Leader’s repeated explanations. Dan Ak-seon saw Jin Wi-yang off with an apologetic look as he disappeared down the stairs.

Dan Ak-seon, who had returned to the table, sighed softly.

“It feels empty without Uncle Beom and Uncle Cho.”

The beautiful scenery and delicacies he had enjoyed all the way here were not as enjoyable as before.

On the other hand, Han Seol-hwa had a carefree expression.

“It’s quiet and nice, though.”

Ga Du-dal was the same.

With the number of people they had to be mindful of reduced from three to one, it seemed their minds had become more at ease.

“Is that so? I feel like something’s missing…”

Dan Ak-seon, who was trying to soothe his disappointment by taking in the scenery outside the inn, suddenly had a question and asked.

“But who is the person from the Hainan Sect that Uncle Beom has a connection with?”

“Hmm… Has it been about fifteen years?”

Han Seol-hwa, who had been organizing her thoughts for a moment, opened her mouth.

“There was a man named Wi Bul-gun who had some influence in the Guangdong region. He was a rather unique person with a history as a well-known figure in the orthodox [righteous] faction.”

He had once served in the military, but after his superior was purged for political reasons, he left the military and devoted himself to the martial arts world.

Because he had wandered the battlefields for a long time, he possessed practical martial arts skills, and thanks to his upright personality and generous character, he had been respected by many people.

“One day, he announced that he would be performing ‘washing his hands in a golden basin’.”

Washing hands in a golden basin [quitting the martial arts world] was an event to settle the entangled grudges of the past with a golden basin. (金盆洗手)

After that, no one could hold him responsible for the grudges of the past, and the person who had washed his hands in a golden basin could not be involved in the affairs of the martial world at all.

“At the time, Wi Bul-gun invited many orthodox figures who had been close to him. He was afraid that those with grudges would flock to the event on the day, as it was a place to settle old grudges.”

There was also the principle that new grudges could not be made in order to settle old grudges, so he simply gathered a lot of people.

“Such a thing happened. But why did he say he was going to wash his hands in a golden basin?”

“Because of Brother Cho.”

“Uncle Cho?”

Han Seol-hwa nodded.

“Brother Cho declared that he would kill him.”

“Why?”

“Orthodox people who are obsessed with justification and unorthodox people who act according to their interests can live according to their respective ways of life. They may hate each other, but unless they are villains, it is difficult to blame them and pick a fight. However, there are cases that neither orthodox nor unorthodox people can tolerate.”

“……?”

“Hypocrisy.”

Wi Bul-gun had killed many notorious unorthodox people in the past, and through this, he had gained considerable fame within the orthodox faction. However, among those he killed was one of Cho Ak-ryang’s few acquaintances.

“He was the leader of the Iron Thread Gang, and he was still quite decent among the unorthodox guys.”

Wi Bul-gun ambushed and killed him while he was drunk.

Up to that point, it was something that could be done, but he personally stepped forward and spread rumors in the martial world that it was a fair duel.

Not only that.

After a few people investigated, it turned out that most of the achievements he claimed were achieved by killing unorthodox people who were much weaker than the rumors, and then he bribed gossipers to inflate the rumors.

“It turned out that he was far from being upright.”

Han Seol-hwa also participated in his golden basin washing ceremony.

It was because she found out that he had secretly raped a young girl and then killed her to silence her.

“Beom Gye-wi also came.”

He had challenged Beom Gye-wi and then ran away, but he distorted this and spread it in the martial world that Beom Gye-wi had run away.

“Byeok Dae-gyeong, the Sect Leader of the Hainan Sect, also participated with his daughter and over two hundred warriors.”

It was because of the debt that existed between the Hainan Sect and him.

Using the fact that he came from the military, Wi Bul-gun extorted a lot of money from the Hainan Sect in the name of referral fees and commissions.

But in the end, all of that was revealed to be a lie.

When the imperial court and the Hainan Sect established a direct relationship, the absurd fraud that had deceived the Hainan Sect for a long time was exposed.

“They were exchanging arguments when Beom Gye-wi suddenly broke in. He blew away the golden basin filled with water and blew up his head as it was.”

Dan Ak-seon was startled.

“He fell in love with the manly spirit of blowing Wi Bul-gun’s head off with the momentum of cutting through tangled hemp with a sharp knife? It was from around that time that Byeok Hwa-ryeong started following him.”

Han Seol-hwa chuckled.

“After that, they happened to have a separate meeting, and they fell in love once again while talking all night. It’s unbelievable, but.”

“Can you fall in love again with someone you’ve already fallen in love with?”

“It’s only possible for Byeok Hwa-ryeong. Of course, I don’t understand.”

“So?”

“I heard that Byeok Hwa-ryeong confessed right away. Beom Gye-wi refused on the spot. Then Byeok Hwa-ryeong said that he would regret it for the rest of his life if he refused. She persuaded him, saying that he would never meet a woman like her again.”

“So what happened?”

Han Seol-hwa quietly smiled, finding Dan Ak-seon’s excited expression cute.

“Beom Gye-wi boasted on the spot. He said that he would find a lover within five years. If he didn’t, he would marry Byeok Hwa-ryeong.”

“Ah! So…”

Han Seol-hwa chuckled.

“Maybe we’ll get to see the rare sight of that ugly bald guy getting married this time.”

On the other hand, Dan Ak-seon was lost in serious thought.

“It wasn’t an ordinary matter.”

“You don’t have to worry. It’s something those two idiots will take care of.”

“Two? Is Uncle Cho also involved?”

“Of course.”

Han Seol-hwa chuckled, as if she still couldn’t believe it.

“Brother Cho was the one who stepped up to be a witness when Beom Gye-wi made that foolish vow.”

* * *

“That damn alcohol is to blame.”

Cho Ak-ryang sighed as the sight of Hainan Island came closer.

“I shouldn’t have drunk that alcohol back then.”

Beom Gye-wi nodded as if he remembered.

“Wasn’t it Hwajoju (花雕酒) [flower carved wine]? The one Byeok Hwa-ryeong gave us back then.”

In the Shaoxing region, when a child is conceived, a jar of Jiafan wine (加饭酒) [rice wine] is traditionally buried in the ground. When the child born is a daughter, the wine is taken out when she gets married and served to acquaintances.

So it is called Nu’er Hong (女兒紅) [daughter red].

On the other hand, when a son is born, the seal is broken when he grows up and goes on the examination path, wishing him success in the civil service examination.

This is called Zhuangyuan Jiu (壯元酒) [Number One Scholar wine].

The alcohol itself is the same, but different meanings are given depending on the gender.

Cho Ak-ryang smacked his lips.

“The intense sweetness that hits the tongue as soon as it enters the mouth was very impressive.”

Cho Ak-ryang’s eyes, as he continued to speak, were dyed with nostalgia.

“When it goes down the throat, it is spicy and hot, and the lingering bitter aftertaste continues for a long time with the scent of flowers and fruits. The intense heat that comes up late intensely imprints that complex taste in my mind. Haa… There really wasn’t any alcohol like that.”

“You’re exaggerating… Isn’t all Shaoxing wine the same?”

Cho Ak-ryang snapped at Beom Gye-wi’s taunt.

“That was Hwajoju! Real Hwajoju where flower patterns naturally form on the wine jar after being aged properly for a long time! Not fake Hwajoju that just has flower paintings drawn on the wine jar and sold randomly!”

“Don’t worry. If this matter goes well, I’ll buy you a big drink.”

Cho Ak-ryang sighed and shook his head.

“Don’t bother. Do you think it’s that easy to find fifty-year-old Noju (老酒) [aged wine]?”

Byeok Hwa-ryeong, who had heard their conversation, slyly chimed in.

“I have some alcohol left over that I was going to open on my wedding day. It’s also sixty-five years old…”

Cho Ak-ryang’s eyes wavered.

Beom Gye-wi, who became anxious at the sight, quickly blocked Byeok Hwa-ryeong.

“Don’t lie. You’re forty-five years old, how can you have sixty-five-year-old Nu’er Hong?”

“My grandfather buried it, but I accidentally found it a while ago. My father passed away before he grew up, so it was forgotten without being opened.”

Cho Ak-ryang’s eyes intensified at those words.

“Just get married.”

Beom Gye-wi growled at those words.

“Are you going to sell me off for just one jar of alcohol?”

“That’s a high price to pay. Honestly, who would like a guy as ugly and bad-tempered as you if it weren’t for her?”

Byeok Hwa-ryeong burst into laughter.

“As expected, Brother Cho! I’m glad I didn’t blow you away with the cannon.”