Tales of the Wandering Swordsman – Part 2, Episode 181
Steep cliffs, sculpted by time and weather, displayed bizarre rock formations.
Climbing those stairs led to a place where lush foliage welcomed visitors like a warm embrace. Wading through the seemingly untouched thicket, one was greeted by the pungent scent of medicinal herbs, and soon found themselves enveloped in a fog that obscured everything beyond arm’s reach.
Suddenly, it became clear: this place was indeed Beomranhwa.
“It struck me as odd, seeing a medicinal herb shop in such a small mountain village. When Great Master Cheon first arrived here about a hundred years ago, I figured it was one of two things.”
Either he was a madman, or a murderer.
“Oh? Why would you think that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? An outsider suddenly appears in a secluded mountain village, claiming to open a medicinal herb shop. What else would I think?”
No village readily welcomes a sudden outsider, especially during a time of war.
“What ordinary person would suddenly come to a desolate mountain village and run a medicinal herb shop that couldn’t possibly be profitable? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it’s either a wounded, renowned cultivator [a martial artist who cultivates internal energy] seeking refuge, or a madman experimenting on innocent lives. It had to be one of the two.”
When he first arrived, the people of Iongeol all thought the same thing.
Naturally, they didn’t show it outwardly, but they whispered amongst themselves, kept their children away, and even the remaining young men and heads of households avoided the vicinity of the strangely named Beomranhwa.
But as time passed, Beomranhwa slowly became integrated into Iongeol.
The owners of Beomranhwa, Old Man Cheon and Madam Cheon, were kind-hearted elders.
Whenever someone in Iongeol was injured, they used their medicinal herbs to treat them, and they used their extensive knowledge to solve not only illnesses but also the everyday problems plaguing Iongeol.
Gradually, Beomranhwa became an indispensable part of Iongeol.
Like a drizzle soaking through hemp clothing – slowly, steadily, completely.
Thus, a hundred years passed.
Beomranhwa became the pillar of Iongeol.
* * *
Beomranhwa.
A medicinal herb shop nestled in a remote mountain village, perpetually shrouded in thick fog.
The boy from Iongeol, having reached the front of it, smiled and pushed open the gate.
“Hey, I’m home!”
Bursting through the gates of Beomranhwa, he was greeted by a medicinal herb shop as grand as a palace. However, the boy, as if accustomed to it, paid no attention to the meticulously arranged herbs and spoke familiarly to the girl who was constantly munching on something near the dried medicinal herbs.
But the girl didn’t even acknowledge him, crunching on a ginseng root with obvious relish.
“Still prickly as ever. Is Great Master Cheon inside?”
The reply came not from the girl, but from elsewhere.
“My old man is inside.”
“Ah, Madam, you were here!”
“Hwadam, what brings you here this time?”
“Great Master Cheon gave me an errand, and I’ve come after completing it!”
“My old man gave you an errand? Is that true?”
The boy named Hwadam was scruffy, but his eyes were clear and bright, and his personality was lively. In short, he had an affable personality, making him a pleasant uninvited guest who often visited Beomranhwa, asking endless questions and expanding his knowledge.
“Of course! Even though I look like this, I’m quite swift. I ran for three days and nights to the neighboring Bocheong Village and back.”
“Hoho, such a long journey alone. And you say our old man sent you on this errand.”
“That’s right!”
“At an age where you haven’t even reached adulthood, and your growth isn’t complete, so you’re only up to my waist?”
Madam Cheon was subtly teasing Hwadam for being young and short.
“You’re too much, Madam Cheon. I may not be fully grown yet, but there’s no one swifter than me in Iongeol. I may not be of age, but I can still do the work of a full-grown man.”
“Yes, yes. I know. I was just teasing, so don’t get so upset.”
Hwadam was dumbfounded at Madam Cheon’s brazen words.
Madam Cheon’s eloquence and audacity were so remarkable that her talk was often the subject of gossip in Iongeol.
In a rather negative way.
“The old man is busy talking with that Yeomgang fellow, so wait a moment.”
“Yes, I will. I’ll play with Tamhwa for a bit.”
“Tamhwa doesn’t like you, does she?”
“Eyy! Isn’t that just because she’s shy? It’s understandable when she has a handsome older brother like me!”
“Really? For someone like that, didn’t you get beaten up by Tamhwa and faint last time?”
“Well… it seems like something like that happened, but that’s all in the past!”
Madam Cheon smiled, her wrinkles deepening.
“A man should have a steadfast side. I like that about you. My old man used to be so persistent, tugging at my clothes….”
Hwadam didn’t want to know Madam Cheon’s past, so he quickly closed his ears and approached Tamhwa.
Hwadam liked Beomranhwa.
He was an orphan in Iongeol, a boy living alone.
When he was on the verge of death after mistakenly eating a poisonous root due to hunger, it was Great Master Cheon of Beomranhwa who saved him.
He thought nothing could cure him, but when he chewed and swallowed a petal given by Great Master Cheon, his illness vanished instantly.
Since then, Hwadam had become deeply interested in medicinal herbs, frequenting Beomranhwa as if it were his own home, and broadening his knowledge of herbs and mystical plants by observing from the sidelines.
Hwadam liked everything about Beomranhwa, but what he especially liked was Tamhwa.
Seeing Tamhwa, who was like a single exquisite flower blooming in Beomranhwa, Hwadam was always filled with smiles.
Tamhwa had a different air about her compared to the other children of Iongeol.
Unlike the children of Iongeol, who were often dirty and unkempt because they couldn’t wash well, she was always clean and tidy, exuding a mysterious atmosphere.
“Tamhwa.”
But Tamhwa didn’t seem to like Hwadam, always ignoring him.
It would be disheartening to most, but Hwadam didn’t seem to care, taking something out of his bundle and showing it to her.
“I secretly brought you a precious mystical plant from Bocheong Village. It’s called Bocheonhwa [Bocheong Flower].”
Only then did Tamhwa make eye contact with Hwadam.
“If I were to tell you how I got this, I risked my life….”
Tamhwa ignored Hwadam, who was about to launch into a long, rambling speech about Bocheonhwa, and swallowed the Bocheonhwa whole.
“Ah!”
“Not tasty.”
“Ah… I got it by emptying out the expenses I received from Great Master Cheon.”
But Tamhwa’s interest had already waned and cooled.
Hwadam often obtained such mysterious mystical plants or delicious snacks and brought them to Tamhwa.
Each time, Tamhwa judged whether they were delicious or not based on her subjective opinion, but Hwadam knew well that it wasn’t just a matter of taste.
When Tamhwa said it wasn’t tasty, it was the same as saying that the medicinal efficacy of Bocheonhwa was insignificant, which was why Hwadam was so disappointed.
Hwadam’s dream was to become a member of Beomranhwa in the future, become its owner, and live happily with Tamhwa like the Cheon couple.
To do that, he had to develop a keen eye for medicinal herbs and mystical plants, but at his current level, it seemed like it would never happen.
“They said that if you boil and eat Bocheonhwa, even a dying person will spring back to life, but those guys must have scammed me.”
As Hwadam muttered and became gloomy, a loud voice was heard from one side of Beomranhwa.
“Great Master Cheon, please reconsider just once!”
The one who burst out of the door was Great Master Cheon and a farmer from Iongeol called Yeomgang.
Great Master Cheon was an old man with snow-white hair, but he was tall, had thick bones, and had a stern face, so the villagers envied him, saying he had the face of a tiger.
Despite being an old man, the women made a fuss when they saw Great Master Cheon from afar, though Hwadam couldn’t understand them at all.
“I’m sorry, but if it’s about the previous story, I have nothing more to say. Beomranhwa is something I do because I enjoy it, and there’s no reason to take on unnecessary burdens at my age. How much longer will I live to do such troublesome things? I don’t want to waste time on your business when there’s not much time left to laugh with my wife. Just go back.”
Yeomgang glanced at Great Master Cheon and Hwadam as if he was sorry and sighed deeply.
“It’s not just for my own benefit. A foundation is being laid for Iongeol to prosper further, but if we do nothing, what sin have those children committed?”
“No need.”
But Great Master Cheon was stubborn.
Yeomgang shook his head and left Beomranhwa, saying he would come again next time.
“You’ve come.”
“Yes, Great Master. I have perfectly completed the task you ordered last time.”
Great Master Cheon nodded and strolled through the nearby garden with Hwadam.
“Hwadam, what did you see in Bocheong?”
“As Great Master Cheon said, there were merchants there called Sangseon [a powerful merchant guild]. They were disturbing Bocheong by wielding magical artifacts and performing all sorts of divine feats….”
Hwadam frowned and fidgeted with his fingers as he spoke.
“They seemed to be looking for someone while saying strange things.”
“Strange things?”
“Yes, they say they are looking for the cultivators who entered Gonggakchun [a legendary hidden realm] five hundred years ago. And they are capturing young men and children, testing them in several ways, and if they seem okay, they take them away, saying it’s probably because of the war going on outside.”
“Hmm… I see. Well done. I’ll give you this as promised.”
Great Master Cheon handed Hwadam several books from the herbalist’s shop.
They were herbalist’s books containing the ecology and observation records of the medicinal herbs being grown and harvested in Beomranhwa.
Upon receiving them, Hwadam was overjoyed.
“Are you that happy?”
“Of course! If I master these well, I won’t have to worry about dying from eating the wrong root like before, and Great Master Cheon might hire me to manage Beomranhwa!”
“That’s right, the other young people of Iongeol usually leave the village to become cultivators. What’s so tempting about this insignificant herbalist’s shop for you?”
“What kind of cultivation would I do? My dream is just to live and die without getting sick or hurt. It would be great to help those who are hurt, and it would be even better to have a happy family with the woman I love!”
“Yes, that’s not bad either. A man doesn’t necessarily need to have a grand dream. Even a simple weed, once it takes root, never moves again, so the important thing is prudence and one’s own satisfaction.”
Hwadam couldn’t fully understand all the meanings contained in Great Master Cheon’s words.
However, he vaguely knew that he was being praised, so he just smiled and scratched the back of his head.
“It’s late tonight, so stay here.”
“Oh, is that okay?”
“You were going to make excuses to get a meal anyway, weren’t you?”
“Hehe, you knew?”
“It’s not like you and I are strangers, and it’s been almost ten years since we’ve known each other. If I didn’t know your intentions, would I be qualified to be called Great Master Cheon?”
“Then I won’t refuse your kindness! Can I have dinner with Tamhwa?”
“You greedy beggar. Do as you please. I don’t know if that child will allow it.”
Hwadam greeted him cheerfully and left Beomranhwa.
He ran out excitedly, saying that he had something hidden that Tamhwa would definitely like.
Madam Cheon approached Great Master Cheon, who was watching the scene with a hearty laugh.
“He’s a good kid, old man.”
“Yes, he is. He has such a bright and kind heart that it’s hard to believe he was born and raised here.”
However, the two people looking at Hwadam’s back couldn’t hide their bitterness.
“Is it today?”
“Probably.”
When Great Master Cheon spread his hand, the pattern of the Eight Trigrams [a set of symbols used in Taoist cosmology] appeared.
The Eight Trigrams were divided into multiple layers again, overlapping to become the Sixty-Four Trigrams [further divisions of the Eight Trigrams, used for divination], and he narrowed his eyes as if looking at a divination and clicked his tongue.
“Are they dying?”
“Probably all of them.”
“Aren’t you going to save them?”
“…Well. What should I do?”
Even if I save them from death.
What will change?
“I once saved Hwadam from death. So he lived for ten more years. But even so, death comes again. Even if my intervention allows that child to live again, the same thing will happen again someday. Death is the law of nature and the order of heaven….”
What I have to do is.
“Just watch.”
That’s why I’m here.