Chapter 49 : Sacred Hand Grounds (2)
Chapter 49: Sacred Hand Grounds (2)
Then the child let out a soft breath, as if breathing had become slightly easier.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
The woman repeatedly bowed her head in gratitude, thinking the child’s condition had improved.
But Wi Yeonho shook his head.
“I only helped him breathe more easily. He still needs to be treated by a physician.”
Wi Yeonho was not a physician.
Even though he had some knowledge about acupoints and the like, he had virtually no understanding of how to treat an illness through those points.
All the medical knowledge he possessed came from being beaten up by Baek Muhan—regarding external and internal injuries. Illnesses weren’t his field.
“But…”
The woman held the child in her arms and began to cry.
“You don’t have money?”
“…Yes.”
Wi Yeonho clicked his tongue.
Physicians weren’t living off dirt either. If one wanted treatment, they needed money.
He turned toward the receptionist.
“How much is it?”
“It depends on the illness.”
“Then why do you ask for money upfront?”
“We charge five pun to see the physician.”
“Five pun?”
“That’s right.”
Five pun was about the cost of five bowls of noodles.
‘They couldn’t get treatment because they didn’t have that little money?’
Wi Yeonho frowned.
In other words, they were denied treatment because they couldn’t pay the price of five bowls of noodles.
“You left someone to die because of that?”
The receptionist responded irritably.
“If we started taking people in like that, do you know how much unpaid debt we’d rack up? If you’re not paying, step aside.”
Wi Yeonho let out a deep sigh.
“I’ll pay.”
The receptionist looked at him with a sulky expression.
“Really?”
“Have you been scammed all your life?”
If the cost had been higher, he might have hesitated. But Wi Yeonho wasn’t coldhearted enough to ignore a child dying over just five pun.
‘I’ll just skip a few meals. Just go to sleep without eating.’
He decided to take it lightly.
Wi Yeonho reached into his pocket, took out five coins, and handed them to the receptionist.
“Here.”
The receptionist took the coins in silence.
“Go in.”
Wi Yeonho watched the woman enter.
She bowed repeatedly to him as she went into the room.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“It’s not my turn.”
“I’ve seen you lying there for a while. Your turn has already passed. Just tell me your symptoms.”
“I’m not sick.”
“Not sick? Then why are you here?”
“To see the physician.”
“What? Why would someone who’s not sick want to see the physician?”
“I have business with him.”
“…What are you saying?”
“I came because I have something to discuss. Where’s the Head?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No. But I brought a letter of recommendation.”
The receptionist looked at him suspiciously and said,
“Then why didn’t you say so earlier? Would’ve saved time.”
“I tried, but who do you think didn’t even let me speak?”
The receptionist coughed awkwardly, then led Wi Yeonho to the largest building.
“Head.”
“What is it?”
“A guest is here.”
“Where did he say he came from?”
As the receptionist turned to him, Wi Yeonho opened his mouth.
“I brought a letter of recommendation from the Great Scholarly Institute.”
“…Great Scholarly Institute? Come in.”
Wi Yeonho opened the door and entered.
The room was quite different from what he expected.
He had imagined the scent of medicinal herbs filling a physician’s room, but instead it looked like a luxurious office.
Even the table and chair showed obvious signs of money.
‘Do physicians make this much money?’
Well, it was such a large medical center, so perhaps it made sense.
“Hello.”
A middle-aged man with a sharp face greeted him.
He appeared to be the Head of this place.
“Welcome. You said you’re from the Great Scholarly Institute?”
“Yes.”
“The Great Scholarly Institute is a prestigious school in the Confucian Forest. What business do you have with me?”
“I was hoping to stay here and study.”
“Study? Are you trying to become a physician?”
“Not exactly. I just wanted to see how a medical house operates.”
“We don’t accept people like that.”
Wi Yeonho tilted his head.
“Huh? But Academic Scholar Mun Yuhwan told me that if I mentioned his name, I’d be allowed to stay here.”
“Grand Historian Mun Yuhwan?”
“Yes.”
The Head looked puzzled.
“I’ve heard the name, but I have no connection to him. What are you talking about?”
Wi Yeonho’s mouth fell open slightly.
“That can’t be. He said you two were friends.”
He took a letter out of his pocket.
“I brought a letter of recommendation, too.”
The physician glanced at the letter and let out a short laugh.
“You’ve come to the wrong place.”
“…Excuse me?”
Wi Yeonho stood there, dumbfounded.
The wrong place?
“That’s a letter of recommendation to Sacred Hand Grounds (聖手場). This place is Lustful Hand Grounds (性手場).”
“…What?”
Wi Yeonho looked at the writing on the letter.
To the Head of Sacred Hand Grounds (書体).
“Then… this isn’t Sacred Hand Grounds?”
“This is Sacred Hand Grounds too. But it’s not the one you’re looking for. If you want to reach your goal, cross the street and go down the alley to the other Sacred Hand Grounds (聖手場). Though, I doubt you’ll find anything worth your expectations there.”
Wi Yeonho, looking crestfallen, stepped outside.
“So this wasn’t the place.”
He had wasted half a day for nothing.
The sun was already beginning to dip beyond the horizon.
“Phew…”
Wi Yeonho let out a deep sigh as if the ground was collapsing beneath him and trudged out.
“Please, sir! Please save my wife!”
“I promise I’ll repay the money!”
“If you don’t help us, my father will die!”
People were seen pleading desperately with the receptionist.
“Hmm…”
Wi Yeonho shook his head.
This was far from the kind of medical house he had imagined.
At the very least, he had thought that a physician wouldn’t turn away a patient over money.
But apparently, there were plenty here who couldn’t get treated because they couldn’t pay.
“Life really is about money.”
Wi Yeonho suddenly found himself enlightened by one of life’s harsh truths and walked out.
“They said to cross the street and go into the alley, right?”
But no matter how he followed the directions, he couldn't find any other medical house.
Wi Yeonho stopped passersby to ask.
“Uh… excuse me, but where is Sacred Hand Grounds?”
“It’s right over there on the main road.”
“No, not that one. Isn’t there another Sacred Hand Grounds?”
“Haha, what are you saying? Where else would Sacred Hand Grounds be besides over there?”
He asked several people, but the answers were all the same. After wandering for quite a while, he finally received a promising reply.
“You mean Sacred Hand Grounds?”
“Yes! Do you know it?”
“It’s right here.”
“No, not that one.”
“I’m telling you, it’s right here.”
“…Pardon?”
The middle-aged woman he was talking to raised her hand and pointed ahead.
“There it is.”
Wi Yeonho rubbed his eyes.
“Please, don’t joke with me…”
“I’m not joking. That’s Sacred Hand Grounds. See the signboard?”
He looked where she was pointing.
“…Here?”
A thatched cottage on the verge of collapse.
On one side of a makeshift fence built with gathered branches, a bug-eaten plank hung with some letters written on it.
Sacred Hand Grounds (聖手場).
Wi Yeonho was speechless.
“So you’re telling me that collapsing shack over there is the Sacred Hand Grounds, a five-hundred-year-old medical house famous throughout the land?”
“Yes, well… technically.”
“Technically?”
The woman let out a light laugh and explained.
“It used to be in that big place on the main road. But last year, a new owner took over there, and the original Sacred Hand Grounds moved here.”
“….”
“Anyway, that’s the place.”
Wi Yeonho lowered his head to express his thanks.
“W-well, thank you.”
Standing before the thatched house, he fell into thought.
“So, this is the Sacred Hand Grounds I was recommended to?”
He recalled what Mun Yuhwan had said before writing the letter of recommendation.
“You said you wanted to enter a medical house? The Sacred Hand Grounds in Hubei is famous throughout the world. Fortunately, I have a personal connection with the current Master, so I’ll write you a recommendation. If you show it, they’ll surely treat you well.”
“Treat me well, my foot. I’ll be lucky if I don’t starve to death.”
Wi Yeonho sighed.
Still, since it had come to this, he decided to think positively.
Even if it was a collapsing shack, as long as the physician inside was competent, it wouldn’t be a problem to learn medicine.
He stepped inside and called out.
“Anyone here?”
No answer.
“Is anyone here?”
Creeaak!
The door opened slowly with a metallic creak.
A small boy walked out from within.
“What brings you here?”
Wi Yeonho looked at the boy.
“I have business here. Is the Head in?”
“Yes.”
“Please let me see the Head.”
“Go ahead and speak.”
Wi Yeonho frowned.
“I said I want to see the Head. What do you mean by ‘speak’? Is he not here?”
The boy, looking a little flustered, answered.
“You can speak now.”
“…Huh?”
“I’m the Head of Sacred Hand Grounds.”
Wi Yeonho looked him up and down.
“…You?”
“Yes.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirteen.”
“And you’re the Head?”
“Yes.”
Wi Yeonho smiled faintly.
“Quit joking and call your father.”
The boy stared at him and replied in a weak voice.
“He’s not here.”
“Out on business?”
“He passed away.”
“Oh, I see… Wait, what?”
The boy let out a sigh.
“He passed away last year. So now, I’m the Head of Sacred Hand Grounds.”
Wi Yeonho’s face contorted in disbelief.
“Passed away?”
“Yes.”
“And now you’re the Head?”
“Yes.”
Wi Yeonho collapsed to the ground, screaming in frustration.
“Of course! Of course, nothing good would happen to me! I’m lucky lightning hasn’t struck me yet! Argh! That damned Master, why did he send me on this errand?! I want to go home!”
His voice, filled with resentment, echoed across the sky of Hubei.
---
“A problem has arisen, Father.”
The old man dressed in snow-white robes twitched an eyebrow.
His long white brows quivered.
The old man stroked his long white beard a few times, then calmly opened his mouth.
“You said there’s a problem?”
His voice held a serene clarity that soothed the listener’s heart.
The middle-aged man standing before him lowered his head in apology.
“We failed to seize the Imperial Palace.”
“The palace… Did Nok Gi disobey orders?”
The man shook his head.
“No, Nok Gi is still under our control. However, the Royal Inspectorate reacted far more forcefully than expected, and Nok Gi’s influence has diminished. It will take more time, and we may even have to abandon the plan to infiltrate the palace entirely.”
“I see.”
Even after hearing a report that a plan over ten years in the making might have to be abandoned, the old man showed no sign of wavering.
“And there’s also a minor issue on the Green Forest side.”
“Green Forest?”
“While attempting to take control of Green Forest, a fly got in the way. The fly itself is not the issue—but the fact that he’s affiliated with the Paeng Clan of Hubei is.”
“So the Paeng Clan has caught on?”
“Judging from the situation, it seems it wasn’t the Paeng Clan directly. It appears someone from the Sungcheon Righteous Martial Alliance got involved.”
The old man's eyebrow twitched.
“Sungcheon Righteous Martial Alliance… the Righteous Martial Alliance…”
As the old man’s mood seemed disturbed, the middle-aged man lowered his head.
“It happened due to my negligence. However, I do not believe the Righteous Martial Alliance became aware of our plans and sent someone intentionally. It seems the individual encountered us by chance while responding to what he thought was a simple bandit suppression.”
The old man gave a slow nod and then spoke.
“Jeok Ah-ya.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Do not concern yourself with trivial matters.”
The middle-aged man’s eyes lit up.
“When pursuing a grand enterprise, one is bound to face various obstacles. One must not fear such disruptions. What matters is how you clean them up.”
“I will bear that in mind.”
“What of the other plans?”
“Everything related to the medical house side is progressing without issue. The other operations are also proceeding smoothly.”
The old man lightly stroked his beard and looked out the window.
“The time to reap our harvest is drawing near.”
“It has been a long and trying period.”
“Since that gentleman went into seclusion, we’ve faced countless ups and downs. It was a grueling time. But now we’ve amassed enough strength that we need not worry about filling his absence. Soon, we’ll be able to show the world that once oppressed us—just how terrifying our sword truly is.”
The old man's smile felt cold enough to freeze the soul.
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