The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 286

Divine Doctor of Demonic Arts (286)

The wave of martial artists that had been rushing in like a tsunami faltered greatly, their momentum broken.

Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi’s might, cutting deep into the enemy ranks, proved unmatched!

Their overwhelming power dwarfed any previous concerns.

No one could withstand their attacks.

Crack!

“Kuaaack!”

Splat! Tear!

“Keueok!”

Blood sprayed in every direction, a gruesome ballet of screams and carnage.

“……!”

Dan Ak-seon couldn’t help but groan at the sight of the two men tearing through their opponents like demons.

Beyond the relentless momentum, he was stunned by their ruthless efficiency.

A scene far bleaker than he’d imagined.

Dan Ak-seon’s eyes wavered.

Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi.

To him, they were normally the warmest of people.

Yet now, they slaughtered without hesitation.

It was as if Sik-sa (食邪) [a legendary ghost who devours demons], who eats three thousand demons each morning and three hundred each evening, had descended upon the world.

The sight of them fighting with such ferocity was shocking.

Sensing Dan Ak-seon’s distress, Han Seol-hwa quietly placed a hand on his shoulder.

That simple gesture reminded Dan Ak-seon who they were fighting for.

It was for him.

Even for their own sakes, they wouldn’t want him to see this side of them.

‘They’re getting their hands dirty so I don’t have to.’

Dan Ak-seon steeled his wavering heart.

No matter how terrible, how gruesome, he couldn’t turn away from them, who walked a path of corpses and blood for his sake.

He faced the chaos and madness consuming the arena.

On the other hand, Dang Gok trembled, his face pale.

He prided himself on surviving Dosan Geomrim [a trial of swords and forests, implying a dangerous experience], but he’d never witnessed such horror.

Ephemeral lives extinguished amidst agonizing screams.

Their desperate resistance was meaningless.

The Dang family was being shaken to its core by this sudden disaster.

The dead, sprawled out by the two men, already numbered in the hundreds.

Dang Gok now understood the despair the Moryong family must have felt.

About an il-gak [roughly 15 minutes] later.

Bang!

Beom Gye-wi, having just smashed an opponent’s head with the Great Beginning Black Dragon, scanned the area with demonic eyes.

No one remained standing nearby.

The same was true for Cho Ak-ryang.

His indifferent gaze swept over the hellish landscape before settling on Dang Gok.

Hurriedly, Dang Gok, who had been standing blankly, flinched and tried to retreat.

But he couldn’t.

Dan Ak-seon, having approached unnoticed, blocked his escape with Mukryong.

“Why didn’t you take the Cheongeuk Divine Pill?”

Dang Gok was speechless at the question.

Dan Ak-seon, staring into Dang Gok’s shaking eyes, pressed on, surprised.

“You never intended to take it?”

Dan Ak-seon felt his heart turn cold.

Then, an indescribable anger surged.

Thud!

“Keuheok!”

Dang Gok clutched his chest and collapsed.

The black rod in Dan Ak-seon’s hand had pierced his solar plexus.

Dan Ak-seon’s eyes, looking down at Dang Gok vomiting on the ground, were filled with contempt.

Dan Ak-seon’s face grew even colder.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

Dan Ak-seon spoke in a chilling voice to Dang Gok, who looked up in bewilderment and fear.

“I will hear the truth from you.”

Dan Ak-seon pulled a wooden box from his robes.

Dang Gok’s pupils dilated when he saw the needles inside.

“Wa, wait! I’ll tell you everything!”

Holding up a hand to stop Dan Ak-seon, Dang Gok blurted out, “It wasn’t me who gave the family secrets to the Demonic Sect! It was the previous head of the family… my older brother! He sold Shin-ui and Ma-ui to the Demonic Sect!”

“Are you saying the mass poisoning at Potala Palace was a plot aimed at my parents from the start?”

“Th, that’s right! By the time I found out, it was already done!”

Dan Ak-seon stared at Dang Gok.

After a moment, he spoke.

“Then what about you, who remained silent even knowing everything?”

“……!”

Dang Gok started to reply, but Dan Ak-seon’s cold voice cut him off.

“You’re no different.”

As Dan Ak-seon approached, Dang Gok shouted desperately, “Shin-ui and Ma-ui were doctors! So are you!”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Do you think this is how a doctor should act? Do you think your parents would want to see this!”

The dignity he’d held as head of the family vanished, replaced by a desperate struggle for survival.

He looked miserable and pitiful.

“I want to ask you something too.”

Dang Gok clung to him until the end, but Dan Ak-seon’s next words made his face drain of color.

“But my voice doesn’t reach them.”

Dan Ak-seon smiled sadly.

“They are… in a very distant place.”

Dan Ak-seon’s eyes flickered strangely.

Dang Gok’s heart sank.

Thud.

The needle in Dan Ak-seon’s hand pierced Dang Gok’s vital point.

Dang Gok gasped, trying to scream, but couldn’t.

More needles pierced his blood points in rapid succession.

His eyes lost focus.

Chwisaengmongsa [a method of interrogation using needles to induce a dreamlike state].

It was the same method he’d used on Bat-eulji, a dalja [a rank or title] of the Hyeolunsa, some time ago.

“Ah!”

Dan Ak-seon exclaimed.

He realized the flow of qi [internal energy] he’d detected through the needles was unusual.

Dang Gok’s life was rapidly fading.

Beom Gye-wi’s crushing blow to his lungs had been decisive.

No doctor could save a patient with crushed heart veins.

But Dang Gok wasn’t even aware of that.

Realizing he had little time, Dan Ak-seon asked quickly, “Tell me everything you know about your parents’ deaths.”

Dang Gok, looking up with hazy eyes, moved his lips.

“Those two people…….”

A faint, intermittent voice.

Dan Ak-seon leaned closer to hear.

Then, a different light appeared in Dan Ak-seon’s eyes.

‘Subo?’

A key figure in the Demonic Sect, overseeing all their conspiracies, had come to the Dang family himself?

Dan Ak-seon was deeply suspicious.

The name Subo triggered an unsettling feeling.

‘I have to track him down.’

He was about to ask a question.

“Kuek!”

Dang Gok trembled and vomited a bowlful of blood.

Dan Ak-seon was startled.

With his life ending, he had limited time for questions.

Only one question.

Something more important came to Dan Ak-seon’s mind, overriding his curiosity about Subo.

“Where is the antidote for the Bushi poison?”

The Bushi poison spread by the Dang family must have already reached nearby villages.

If left unchecked, a terrible tragedy would unfold.

Dan Ak-seon couldn’t stand by.

“…Inside the Josadang [ancestral shrine] of Hyeonjunggak.”

Dang Gok’s voice faded after those words.

Then, intermittent convulsions seized him.

Dang Gok, who had been vomiting blood, suddenly stretched out his limbs and died.

Beom Gye-wi gritted his teeth.

“Hmph! Lucky bastard.”

Cho Ak-ryang agreed for once.

Dang Gok didn’t deserve a comfortable death.

Thud.

A blood-colored gangjeon [a type of coin used for the dead] rolled next to Dang Gok.

Cho Ak-ryang tossed the Jeolmyeongjeon [coin for the deceased] he held.

“I’m returning it as promised. Add it to your travel expenses to the afterlife.”

Cho Ak-ryang, looking away from Dang Gok, patted Dan Ak-seon’s shoulder.

“Well done.”

“Yes?”

“I mean the question you asked at the end.”

Dan Ak-seon was curious about Subo’s identity.

But he chose to save lives.

Thinking of others before revenge.

Not everyone could do that.

“It was a great choice.”

“It’s only natural.”

Dan Ak-seon nodded with a bitter smile and checked Dang Gok’s pulse to confirm his death.

Then he looked around the arena.

A musty, fishy smell of blood hung in the air.

Dan Ak-seon shuddered at the tragic scene.

Han Seol-hwa spoke quietly.

“Do you think their deaths are unfair?”

Dan Ak-seon, silent for a moment, turned to face the three.

“What if I become like them for revenge?”

Beom Gye-wi jumped.

“Dan Doctor would never! If you were that kind of person, we wouldn’t care for you like we do.”

“What if… what if I did make that choice?”

Beom Gye-wi looked sad.

“I can’t watch you become like that. I’ll stop you, even if I have to bite a knife and fall on my face [a Korean idiom meaning to do anything, no matter how difficult].”

“I guess so, right?”

“Of course! Of course!”

Beom Gye-wi nodded vigorously.

His eyes were innocent, as if he hadn’t been beating people to death moments before.

Dan Ak-seon nodded with a forced smile.

“That’s right. We’re a community bound by fate, relying on each other.”

Dan Ak-seon turned to the dead martial artists of the Dang family.

“But they weren’t.”

Dan Ak-seon continued sadly.

“Some of them must have felt something was wrong. But no one questioned it. They closed their eyes and ears and blindly followed orders. Their blind obedience made this possible.”

They created the monster that was the Dang family and Dang Gok.

Cho Ak-ryang saw Dan Ak-seon’s pain.

Dan Ak-seon was the most affected by his parents’ deaths.

Now that he’d vowed revenge, he must be conflicted about his identity as a doctor.

He was admirable, and pitiful, for trying so hard to control himself.

Cho Ak-ryang said nothing.

Han Seol-hwa and Beom Gye-wi were silent too.

Perhaps they felt the same, nodding to each other.