Chapter 115: Chapter 115

Chapter 115: Reform (1)

I gritted my teeth and endured the pain. In my mental world, I was repeatedly struck by Jin Hayeon’s White Hand Demonic Art.

As the cold qi seeped into my entire body, the seizure caused by the rampaging demonic energy began to subside.

I took a deep breath, and the moment I closed my eyes and opened them again…

Instead of the empty wasteland, I saw a strangely familiar ceiling.

Jin Hayeon was there, tapping my body with hands infused with the White Hand Demonic Art.

"...Am I still dreaming?"

As I muttered to myself without thinking, Jin Hayeon, who had been channeling her Demonic Art with beads of sweat on her forehead, turned her gaze toward me.

An extremely rare emotion—relief—flickered in Jin Hayeon's eyes before disappearing.

"Damn. I'm still dreaming."

There was no way Jin Hayeon would ever make a face like that. Besides, why would she, who should be at the main headquarters, even be here?

Then, as if what I had seen was an illusion, Jin Hayeon returned to her usual indifferent expression and spoke.

"What nonsense are you spouting, Young Master? This is the medical hall. Doesn’t it look familiar to you?"

She was right, the ceiling was familiar.

This was the place I'd been dragged to after being attacked by Eldest Brother, and then again after being attacked by Jang Hwi.

“Then why are you hitting my body this whole time?”

“Your body kept heating up, Young Master. I was lowering it by using the usual massage.”

Only after hearing her answer could I somewhat piece things together.

‘So my physical condition in reality is also connected to the mental world?’

The rampage of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword had pushed my meridians and muscles to their limits, which must be why my entire body had been aching in my mental world as well.

Moreover, Jin Hayeon's appearance at the end might have been because she was actually treating me in reality.

No, maybe every time Jin Hayeon appeared—even if the other enemies were just phantoms—I had actually been receiving her treatment.

Was it because I was now aware of my body’s poor condition? When I tried to move even slightly, my entire body screamed as if I were dying.

"Neither your muscles nor meridians are in good condition, Young Master. You absolutely must rest first. Ah, if your side effects flare up and you feel the urge to swing your sword, please let me know."

"??? You'll let me swing it?"

“I will do as I did last time.”

Naturally, I recalled the incident when Jang Hwi attacked me.

The enlightenment I gained about sword energy had come at the price of worsening the side effects.

Every time I woke up, Jin Hayeon would press my pressure points to put me back to sleep.

"Ahem. The side effects have subsided a bit now, so don't worry."

Remembering how awful it felt to be forcibly put to sleep, I quickly refused.

"Then I'll finish the treatment first."

Even as she spoke, Jin Hayeon’s hands were still busily moving, massaging various parts of my body.

"Your skills seem to have improved quite a bit."

When Jin Hayeon first began attending to me, she couldn't speak while performing the treatment.

She had to focus entirely on White Hand Demonic Art and the treatment, or it would be dangerous.

But now, she was doing it while conversing as if it were nothing.

Even after hearing my praise, Jin Hayeon simply maintained her indifferent expression, giving no response and focusing only on the pressure point treatment.

'Ahh...  In my mental world, I was shivering from the cold, but this actually feels pretty refreshing.’

As the overloaded muscles from the rampage cooled down, a strange sense of relief washed over me.

I was enjoying the cool treatment for a short while when—

The sound of a door softly opening was followed by someone entering the room.

“Hoh. You’re awake, Deputy Master.”

It was a familiar voice.

“It’s been a while, Elder Demonic Physician. I apologize for not being able to show my respects, given my condition.”

"Hahaha. If you had tried to get up, I would have been angry instead."

“So, what brings the esteemed Hall Master of the Pure Mind Hall here?”

"Medical skills also rust if one neglects training. Even now that I've moved to the Pure Mind Hall, I still personally handle serious patients from time to time."

I asked with a sullen tone.

"...Is my condition serious enough to warrant your personal attention, Elder?”

"It was quite serious when you first arrived. But we’ve put out the urgent fires, so there’s no need to worry. You’ll need to rest for a while, but there shouldn’t be any major problems. I’m just here to finish up what I started.”

With that, the Demonic Physician looked back and forth between me and Jin Hayeon, then nodded.

"For now, thanks to Miss Jin, the heat in your muscles has subsided somewhat, so we need to revitalize the energy in your blood vessels."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Hayeon, having completed her treatment, moved aside, and the Demonic Physician took her place beside me. Read complete versıon only at novel★fire.net

He then took out a rolled cloth from the needle case he had brought, unfolded it, and extracted the needles wrapped within.

As I turned my head slightly to watch him, the sound of me swallowing dryly echoed in the room.

“Uh… Elder Demonic Physician?”

“You are not going to stick that needle directly into my pressure points, are you?”

"Why ask a pointless question?"

"...Without even disinfecting them?"

My pupils began trembling uncontrollably.

The side effects of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword that I had barely managed to calm were about to burst forth along with my hygiene obsession.

'Damn. Has my level increased to this extent?'

My hygiene obsession had definitely gotten worse.

In the past, I had considered washing with water and rubbing with salt to be clean enough, but now, that level was no longer satisfactory.

‘Damn you, modern knowledge.'

If I had known nothing, I would have just accepted the treatment. But for me, someone who understood the concept of germs and disinfection, this was completely unacceptable.

Hearing my question, the Demonic Physician tilted his head.

“Hahaha. Disinfection? What are you talking about, Deputy Master? Can’t you see? These are silver needles. If there were any poison, they would change color. There’s no need to worry.”

I almost spat out a curse at this quack doctor's nonsense.

'Damn it. What good is silver if it's not properly maintained?!'

I wasn’t a science major, so I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed unlikely that silver was completely free from bacteria and viruses.

“Alcohol! Bring me alcohol! The strongest you have!”

At my urgent cry, the quack doctor who had been hesitating burst into laughter.

“Hahaha. Don’t worry. It won’t hurt that much. Ah, if you really need anesthesia, would you like a little bit of ‘that’ instead?"

This crazy quack thought I was asking for strong liquor as an anesthetic. And what the hell was ‘that’ supposed to be?

“By ‘that,’ you don’t mean… drugs, do you?”

"Didn't you say so yourself, Deputy Master? It was acceptable to use on patients who couldn’t bear extreme pain. If you’re really afraid it will hurt, I can give you a little.”

Was this quack trying to get someone killed?

As my cursed other self was already starting to rear its ugly head and make a fuss, listening to this quack's nonsense on top of it gave me a headache.

"Sigh. Just bring me the liquor for now. I’ll explain the reason later.”

The Demonic Physician put down his needles and left with a mischievous smile.

"Hehehe. I suppose even the Deputy Master can't be as formidable as Guan Yu. Making such a fuss ."

Ignoring the quack's nonsense, I waited for a moment.

"Whew. I never thought I'd be giving this to the Deputy Master first."

The Demonic Physician returned with a somewhat regretful expression. He was carefully holding what appeared to be an old bottle of liquor.

“Well, since we’re opening it anyway, I might as well drink the rest after the treatment is done. Hehehe.”

True to being a quack doctor, he seemed to love his alcohol.

As he broke the seal on the bottle, an intense alcoholic aroma wafted over.

The way he stuck his nose in and enjoyed the scent was the very picture of a drunkard.

After enjoying the aroma to his heart’s content, the drunkard quack poured some of the liquor into a cup he’d brought and offered it to me.

"I didn't ask for it so I could drink it."

"Then shall I drink it?"

Seeing him about to bring the cup to his own lips, I quickly shouted, “The needle! Put the needle in the cup!”

Just smelling the liquor was enough to make my head spin from its strength. He was going to drink that and then insert some needles into my body?

At my urgent cry to stop the Demonic Physician, he glared at me fiercely.

"Why put needles in perfectly good liquor? Are you suspecting me right now?"

I took a moment to process his nonsense before I belatedly understood. “Ahem. I wasn’t suspecting that the liquor was poisoned. As I said before, it’s to disinfect the needle.”

At my explanation, the Demonic Physician looked at me with narrowed eyes and asked, “You’ve been going on about disinfection. What does alcohol have to do with disinfection?”

I felt relieved inside at that question.

Trying to explain viruses and bacteria to someone from this era would be pointless. While he was gone fetching the liquor, I had already formulated a story to persuade him.

“Elder Demonic Physician, do you remember the story of how I was a waiter in an inn before I became my Master’s disciple?”

“Of course. Didn’t you say that the owner of that inn also taught you that Black Bean Tea or whatever it was?”

"Yes. He was both an inn owner and a cook. So he regularly prepared food at the inn, and one day he had this question: Why does food spoil faster on hot summer days?"

The Demonic Physician as if telling me to continue.

“And there was one more question. Even when it wasn’t summer, customers would sometimes get a stomachache after eating the food he served. As Uncle Tae-hyun reviewed his daily cooking process, he realized it happened more often with a specific dish, and especially frequently in the summer.”

"Hmm. So what was the cause?"

"According to Uncle Tae-hyun, after trying a few changes to the cooking process, he found that it often happened when he used the same knife that had cut other meat to cut more meat or vegetables, especially in summer."

"Hmm. Come to think of it, wounds from dirty blades that had already cut many people on battlefields often don't heal easily and tend to fester or rot."

As expected of a physician, he was drawing a parallel to a patient-related example.

"Exactly. So, Uncle Tae-hyun initially started washing his knife with water every time he cut meat before continuing with preparation. But even then, some customers would still get stomachaches in the summer. As he pondered what to do, a thought suddenly occurred to him.”

"What kind of thought?"

The Demonic Physician, who had initially seemed indifferent, was now showing a flicker of interest.

“Just as they say that stagnant water rots, if water is left to sit in a bottle or dish, it spoils. But what about liquor? If properly sealed, doesn't older liquor actually become more valuable? So, Uncle Tae-hyun tried washing off blood with water after cutting meat, then wiping the surface once with strong liquor before handling the food."

“Hoh. And what was the result?”

"From then on, the number of customers with stomachaches decreased noticeably. However, questions still remained. Why is liquor fine while water isn't? And why did even liquor spoil if it wasn't sealed properly?”

Though expressed through food ingredients, the Demonic Physician seemed to sense that this story was also related to medicine, his eyes shining with curiosity as he looked at me, as if urging me to quickly reveal the answer.

"Uncle Tae-hyun's theory was simple. Liquor makes people feel good in small amounts, but it's definitely poisonous if consumed in large quantities. Water, on the other hand, is essential for all living things, including humans, to survive. Isn't that right?"

"From this, Uncle Tae-hyun's theory was this: Perhaps there exist extremely tiny living creatures that our eyes cannot see, and among them are disease-causing germs (細菌)."

“That’s the name Uncle Tae-hyun coined. In stagnant water, they continuously drink that water and multiply, becoming toxic to humans, but liquor is also toxic to these germs, so they die. Since they're living creatures so small as to be invisible, even a tiny amount of liquor would kill them. However, if liquor isn't properly sealed, new germs would continuously enter through the air, eventually causing it to spoil."

I had no way of knowing if this was scientifically accurate. I hadn't majored in biology, and I wasn't even from a scientific background.

But that wasn't my concern.

The only thing that mattered right now was this: was it a plausible story for someone from this era?

"Oh. Germs, you say. An interesting theory indeed. So do these germs really exist?"

And apparently, my fabricated story had worked.

"As you know, Uncle Tae-hyun was a cook and inn owner, not a physician. He didn't have the resources to experiment and verify if his theory was correct. But circumstantially, isn't it worth considering?"

“Hahaha. Though his path differed from our Cult’s, the ancient sage called Confucius once said, 'When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher' (三人行 必有我師). To think this old physician would have something to learn from a cook. Hahaha.”

With a satisfied expression, the Demonic Physician laughed heartily and began disinfecting by dipping his silver needles into the cup of strong liquor.

He then dabbed a bit of the liquor on the spot where he was going to insert the needle. As it evaporated, I felt the familiar cool sensation of rubbing alcohol.

Feeling that coolness, my hygiene obsession subsided and my mind became somewhat calmer.

Then Ma-ui, who had been applying the liquor, smiled contentedly and said.

Just then, the Demonic Physician, who was applying the liquor, said with a fond smile, “It’s truly a shame about that innkeeper, Tae-hyun. If he were alive and had come to the Cult with you, Deputy Master, I’m sure he would have accomplished great things. Hahaha.”

“Y-Yes, I think so too. Ha. Hahaha.”

First Black Bean Tea, now germs and disinfection.

Maybe Uncle Tae-hyun’s name would leave a significant mark in the historical records of the Demonic Cult.

‘W-Would he be happy?’

I felt a wave of guilt, knowing that because of me, his name was about to be recorded in the history of a cult.