The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

We rode horses directly from Anhui to the mountains near the Huai River. After two full days of riding, we were able to pass Boyang. Although we wanted to rest in Boyang, we ignored it and moved straight to the Huai River for fear of being caught by the Namgoong clan.

As we led the horses up to the rugged mountains near the Huai River, the air suddenly changed at some point. It was the domain of a formation that blocked outsiders’ entry.

After waiting there with Hyuk Dojin for a moment, Yoo Doha came out, tearing through space, and greeted us both.

“You’ve arrived?”

“Has Ji Seok returned?”

It had already been over five days since I couldn’t take my medicine.

Knowing that my body condition was worsening, Hyuk Dojin urgently looked for Ji Seok. I slowly took off my rain cape and let out a long sigh. Yoo Doha examined my face and made a regretful expression. His head moved slowly.

“He arrived just now and is resting.”

“Guide us.”

Yoo Doha nodded and turned his body. Although it was a quite intricate formation, as Yoo Doha led the way, the path that had been going in circles returned to normal. As we followed behind him and entered, the air changed completely.

Then, miraculously, the trees that had been standing densely just a moment ago slowly disappeared, revealing an open space. And people gathered closely inside came into view.

The people who had been sitting and resting stood up abruptly when they saw Hyuk Dojin and me.

“You’ve arrived, Young Cult Leader. Young Madam.”

Hyuk Dojin lightly acknowledged their greetings and then looked at Ji Seok. Ji Seok, who had been lying down away from the open space, perhaps resting, got up from his seat upon receiving our gaze.

Without saying anything, he rummaged through his bag and brought out a tightly wrapped cloth and held it out. While Hyuk Dojin was receiving the medicine from him, Ji Seok turned his gaze to me.

“How is your condition? No, I think I can tell without asking.”

Excuse me. After saying that briefly, he grabbed my wrist. I watched him quietly closing his eyes and taking my pulse, then turned my head.

Hyuk Dojin unwrapped the cloth and examined the medicine inside. When I turned my head back to Ji Seok, his mouth opened gently.

“Your blood vessels are unstable. In this state, within a few days, you’ll find it difficult to even use your body, let alone martial arts.”

“Will I get a little better if I take that medicine?”

“Although it’s made with medicinal ingredients said to contain yang energy… honestly, I can’t say for certain it will be effective. Still, it should have the effect of stabilizing your currently turbulent blood vessels.”

Hyuk Dojin held out the medicine to me. I received the round pills and glanced at Ji Seok. He nodded as if to say it was fine.

As I pushed the black pill into my mouth, I frowned at the bitter taste that rushed to the top of my head.

“Haha, it will be a bit bitter.”

“…It’s not just a bit.”

It was a bitterness that made me want to spit it out immediately if possible. The foul smell and bitter taste filling my mouth, which made me think chewing dung would be better, made all the hair on my body stand on end.

“Isn’t good medicine supposed to be bitter for the body?”

“…”

The medicine made from thousand-year-old fleeceflower root had no taste at all, so it was easy to eat… I narrowed my brows while looking at the more than ten pills still in Hyuk Dojin’s hand.

“You should take three a day.”

“Three?”

I asked in surprise at his words. Eat three of those tasteless things?

“Since the efficacy is far inferior to the original medicine, we have to make up for it with quantity, don’t we? Taking one each in the morning, afternoon, and evening will help a little in balancing the collapsed yin and yang.”

“…”

…Three times of that. Thinking of eating dung three times instead of medicine made the future look bleak. Additionally, anger welled up towards those who had burned that medicine.

“…I understand.”

I nodded while looking at the poop… no, medicine that I wouldn’t even glance at if it wasn’t medicine. I let out a small sigh.

Hyuk Dojin examined my face and spoke slowly.

“Is it that distasteful?”

“Would you like to try it?”

“I can’t eat my wife’s precious medicine.”

“…”

I glared slightly at Hyuk Dojin, and he grinned. Instead of tasting it, he tilted his nose slightly and sniffed above the medicine. Then his face scrunched up.

Hyuk Dojin glared at the medicine with the face of someone who had smelled something he shouldn’t have, then hurriedly turned to look at Ji Seok.

“Did you grind some dung in here or something?”

“Did you figure it out?”

At Ji Seok’s words, Hyuk Dojin’s face hardened.

Dung? Really dung?! I thought it smelled strange, but could it really be true? For a moment, I felt something refluxing inside me. Just as I covered my mouth, Ji Seok slowly withdrew his serious face and grinned.

“It’s a joke.”

“…?”

I narrowed my brows at his following words. As I stared blankly at Ji Seok, he continued speaking leisurely.

“I made such a joke because both your faces were too stiff. I know you’re worried, but if you walk around with such heavy faces, even the spirit herb that’s supposed to appear won’t show up and will hide.”

He nodded his head while making a prayer gesture.

“Buddha always said where there is intention, there is will, and where there is will, there are results. Aren’t you two people with the strongest will to live, stronger than any other will? So, surely the medicine will reveal itself.”

To make a joke about mixing poop in the medicine. Hyuk Dojin and I looked at him with drained faces and let out empty laughs. We lost even the energy to get angry at his words and shook our heads.

I glanced at the medicine and spoke quietly.

“But why does it smell so foul and taste so bad? It really seems like dung was mixed in.”

“Ah, that’s natural. One of the medicinal ingredients mixed in there is the corpse flower (*Rafflesia).”

“…Corpse flower?”

“It’s a plant that emits a very strong odor that’s said to linger on the body for three days once it sticks. It doesn’t have much healing effect, but when compounding medicine, if one side has strong efficacy, it becomes toxic, so it’s used to suppress that.”

Ji Seok grinned and spoke lightly.

“However, the smell from that flower is exactly the same as the smell from a corpse, so it’s not often used… but there was no alternative medicinal ingredient, so I had to use it reluctantly.”

“…”

So the foul smell from the medicine I just ate was the smell of a corpse? As I stared quietly at Ji Seok, he calmly nodded his head. The moment I heard his answer, I had to hurriedly cover my mouth as I felt like my insides were about to turn over.

* * *

“Are you alright?”

I nodded while holding the candy Hyuk Dojin gave me in my mouth. My stomach felt like it would turn over immediately, but with the sweet taste, I felt somewhat better.

Hyuk Dojin looked at me quietly, then turned to look at Ji Seok. Seeing that he seemed about to say something, I stopped Hyuk Dojin, swallowed the candy in my mouth, and spoke slowly.

“I’m fine.”

Hyuk Dojin narrowed his brows as if displeased, but since I said I was fine, he seemed to have nothing more to say and nodded while smacking his lips. He turned his gaze back to me, stared blankly at my face, then opened his eyes slightly.

“But it seems the medicine is having an effect.”

“Why?”

“Color is returning to your face. It looks clearly more reddish and better than before.”

“…Isn’t it just that I’m so dumbfounded by how bad the medicine tastes and smells that I’m getting angry and blood is rushing to my face?”

“…Ahem.”

Hyuk Dojin let out an awkward cough. I looked at him with a blank face, then lowered my eyes slightly to check my body condition. When I lightly moved the inner energy flowing in my blood vessels, I could clearly feel it was better than before.

Previously, the flowing inner energy felt like it would burst through the thin blood vessels at any moment, but now it was flowing in its proper place.

“It’s definitely better.”

“Is that so?”

He asked with a brightened expression while slightly turning his head and avoiding my gaze. After putting another candy in my mouth, I nodded.

“It’s better than before.”

“That’s really fortunate…”

“However, having to give up my nose and tongue is a big side effect.”

Hyuk Dojin closed his mouth again. I stared blankly at him for a moment, then smiled slightly and shook my head. Meeting his gaze looking at me with a puzzled face, I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m joking. As Ji Seok said, it seems like we haven’t laughed in days, so I tried making a joke.”

“Wife…!”

“Don’t worry too much. Do you think I wouldn’t take the medicine just because it tastes bad?”

Of course, taking that three times a day is quite an ordeal, but it’s better than coughing up blood. I smiled brightly while swallowing the latter part of my words.

Hyuk Dojin stared at me intently, then let out a long sigh of relief.

During the five days I couldn’t take medicine, Hyuk Dojin hardly smiled. No matter how much I tried to cheer him up, he couldn’t smile while I was coughing up blood and struggling beside him.

“So will you smile for me? Like usual, like this.”

I raised my hand and pressed the corners of Hyuk Dojin’s mouth. The awkwardly raised corners on his stiff face looked strange. I chuckled softly at that sight.

Hyuk Dojin stared at me blankly with his twisted lips, then raised his eyebrows slightly and soon grinned.

“Alright. If you’re not in pain, I’ll smile a hundred times more a day, so don’t be in pain.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get better. We just need to find the spirit herb, right?”

As I tilted my head slightly, Hyuk Dojin nodded as if in agreement. While we were resting and having various conversations, one of the Blood Flow Thousand Wolves Corps members who had been dispatched for reconnaissance returned and reported something to Yoo Doha.

After receiving his report, Yoo Doha approached us and spoke quietly.

“Young Cult Leader. It seems there’s a problem.”

“A problem?”

Hyuk Dojin’s head turned slowly. Yoo Doha continued speaking calmly while meeting his gaze.

“The Murim Alliance has reportedly controlled the Huai River.”

“Controlled? What does that mean?”

“According to the member who just returned, since this morning, the Yeonwi Left Army, the Murim Alliance’s most elite military force, has blocked all roads leading to the Huai River. Not only that, they are searching the entire Huai River area with over 500 masters.”

“…The Yeonwi Left Army? Then…”

“Their leader, Geum Hyul, is also said to be there.”

As Yoo Doha’s words fell, a sigh escaped from Hyuk Dojin’s mouth. While the two were looking at each other and conversing, I also sent a voice transmission.

[Eun Do.]

[Yes.]

I rolled my eyes while looking at Hyuk Dojin and Yoo Doha.

[Who is Geum Hyul?]

[As the Thousand Wolves Commander just said, he’s the master leading the Yeonwi Left Army. He’s known to be a Flowering Realm master with no equal in the Murim Alliance except for the Sword Saint of Thousand Streams.]

[…Flowering Realm.]

[And, I heard that when the Young Cult Leader left the sect to carry out the Cult Leader’s orders before, he clashed with this person named Geum Hyul.]

[He fought with him?]

[Yes. Didn’t you hear about it?]

As I narrowed my brows at hearing this for the first time, Eun Do’s voice transmission penetrated again.

[He’s a monstrous man who, together with the Yeonwi Left Army members, drove the Young Cult Leader to the brink of death.]