CLS-Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Wei Yan-ho stretched out to his heart’s content.

With the chattering Jin So-ah confined to his room, there was no one left at Sacred Hand Hall to nag Wei Yan-ho.

Ever since the servants had taken over the task of bringing meals, Wei Yan-ho no longer needed to worry about even the smallest concerns, and he was enjoying his peace without any reservations.

Though Wei Yan-ho was criticized and humiliated by everyone who saw him for lazing about in an inhuman manner, the truth was that he had never properly indulged in laziness like this in his entire life.

There had always been someone nagging, always someone cursing at him.

At home, there was his mother, and after growing up, Su-ryeon would constantly nag him. His older brother before entering the academy was like the grim reaper himself, and his father—an uncle he felt like he was seeing for the first time—was someone who thought he would die if he laid his back against the bed.

When he entered the cave, talking would only hurt his mouth, and even at Hanrim Grand Academy, wasn’t there that ill-tempered woman who was desperate to devour him?

If you thought about it, he was currently enjoying a luxury that would never come again in his lifetime.

‘But why do I feel so strange?’

This should be a situation where he’d be jumping for joy, but now that he was actually in it, Wei Yan-ho felt a subtle sense of discord.

It was a repetition of waking up, eating, sleeping, then waking up again and eating.

‘Isn’t this just breeding?’

A serious question began to form.

What exactly was the difference between this and a pig in a pen?

When they say that dignity is the most important thing for a human to exist as a human, fundamental doubts began to arise about whether Wei Yan-ho currently possessed any human dignity.

“Your meal is here.”

At the sound from outside the door, Wei Yan-ho laboriously lifted his body.

Laboriously?

He was the disciple of Light Sword Baek Mu-han.

If he put his mind to it, he was a martial artist with such profound martial learning that he could collapse this house with a single sword.

Yet getting up from the floor was difficult!

Wei Yan-ho shook his head. They say humans are creatures of adaptation, and it seemed his body had adapted from being buried in bed for too long.

The door opened and a large dining table was brought inside.

Wei Yan-ho trembled as he looked at the food on the table.

Wasn’t it about time they set a more modest table?

The table setting hadn’t changed much from the first day.

Watching them continuously prepare such lavish feasts from a household without money made him feel uncomfortable. Wei Yan-ho had obtained good treatment through extortion or negotiation before, but had never received such voluntary treatment.

Moreover, the fact that this voluntary preferential treatment was due to a single letter written by Moon Yu-hwan made him feel embarrassed.

Speaking truthfully, without Moon Yu-hwan’s letter of introduction, would he have ever dreamed of receiving such treatment?

“Please eat.”

After the servant set down the table and left, Wei Yan-ho erased his embarrassed expression and picked up his chopsticks.

“Hmm…”

Though it was embarrassing and uncomfortable, they say a ghost that dies after eating has a better complexion, so he had to eat first.

“I’m lacking nutrition.”

It had been a full five years since he’d been unable to eat properly.

He wasn’t naturally much of a glutton, otherwise he would have gone crazy at just the sight of food like other people would have.

In the past, even if a dining table came in while he was sleeping, Wei Yan-ho would have preferred to sleep even one more shijin rather than get up to eat, but now seeing him look for the dining table first showed that life in the cave to had somewhat cured Wei Yan-ho’s laziness.

“Let’s eat!”

Wei Yan-ho quickly tore off one leg of the roasted duck.

“This will do.”

Wei Yan-ho neatly portioned out just enough food onto the plate in front of him, then set the plate on the floor, opened the door, and pushed the dining table outside.

“I’m finished eating.”

“Already, sir?”

When the servant who had brought in the table came running over to ask, Wei Yan-ho nodded without hesitation.

“Then I’ll take the table away.”

“Yes, please do.”

Wei Yan-ho had the table cleared, went back into his room, closed the door, and picked up the plate.

“This is more comfortable.”

Ever since learning that there were people who ate the food he left behind, Wei Yan-ho had been trying to eat as cleanly and sparingly as possible. Though he had developed some food cravings, he just needed to fill his stomach moderately—he wasn’t obsessed with the food itself.

After roughly emptying the food on his plate, Wei Yan-ho grabbed his stomach, let out a hearty belch, then gathered up the blanket again and lay down.

“Oh dear, I’m going to get fat.”

Thanks to Baek Mu-han’s harsh training, Wei Yan-ho had always maintained an optimal physique naturally, but with this repetitive cycle of eating and sleeping, who knew what might happen.

Wei Yan-ho nodded as he imagined himself getting so fat that he’d roll around on the floor.

“That wouldn’t be bad?”

At least it would be soft.

What did it matter what others thought of his appearance? As long as he was comfortable.

Unless he became so fat that moving with nokmoongup would be difficult, but if not, his own comfort was most important.

With his stomach full and his back warm, it was natural that sleep would come gently.

If only a loud sound hadn’t reached Wei Yan-ho’s ears just as he was drifting off to sleep.

“…told you to come out!”

“What a shock!”

Wei Yan-ho, who had been half-asleep, was startled awake by the loud voice that pierced through his door.

“What, what is it?”

Since this was a medical hall, loud noises were common. On days when urgent patients were brought in, the medical hall would be as noisy as a marketplace.

When the loud voices of the large physicians combined with the voices of guardians screaming to save their patients, nothing could be more clamorous.

There had been such commotions several times before, but something was definitely different about this one. If it had been that kind of situation, Wei Yan-ho wouldn’t have awakened so easily. Wei Yan-ho could sleep through a war next to him if he set his mind to it.

‘What should I do?’

He had a feeling that something was a bit urgent, but he didn’t want to go out and stick his face into it. The feeling of the blanket clinging to his back was soft, and the quilt covering his stomach was incredibly warm.

‘It’s not my business anyway.’

Just as Wei Yan-ho was about to ignore it and sleep some more, sharp high-pitched sounds kept stabbing into his ears, making him flinch.

“Didn’t I tell you to come out!”

The medicinal herbs laid out on the floor for drying scattered in all directions.

“Why, why are you doing this!”

The physician who had come out to check on the herbs cried out in surprise at the ruffians who had suddenly started overturning everything.

“Tell the owner to come out!”

A man with a scar on his face and a menacing appearance shouted at the physician.

“O-owner, you say?”

“Tell the owner here to come out! Where did Jin Ye-ran go?”

“Why are you looking for Miss Jin…”

“Are you guys playing around!”

The scarred man began trampling the medicinal herbs without hesitation.

“Oh my, what kind of precious herbs are those! You mustn’t! You mustn’t do that!”

When the physician clung to the scarred man, the man pushed him away and began kicking down doors and causing a commotion.

“Come out! Won’t you come out!”

“Oh dear, you mustn’t do this! There are patients taking rest!”

“That’s none of my concern! Where’s the head lady of this place!”

Once the man started causing a disturbance, the physician was helpless. What strength could a pale-faced scholar who had only treated patients have to stop a ruffian?

“Wh-what’s happening?”

Jin So-ah, who had heard the commotion, rushed out of his room but froze when he saw the ruffian.

“Well, well, there you are.”

“Huh!”

Jin So-ah gasped.

“Why, why did you come here?”

“Why?”

The man laughed as if incredulous, then threateningly thumped his chest with his hand.

“Why indeed! I came to collect money!”

“…What money do we have?”

“If you don’t have money, is it okay to steal other people’s money and wipe your mouth clean?”

Jin So-ah couldn’t say anything.

“That money is a debt your late father incurred.”

“If parents incurred debt, isn’t it natural for their children to pay it back!”

Jin So-ah grabbed the man’s sleeve.

“Let’s go outside and talk about this. There are patients resting.”

“Patients?”

The man chuckled mockingly.

“You don’t have money to pay back, but you have money to lavish on patients? Do you physicians have no conscience? I can’t stand seeing you act virtuous with other people’s money after stealing it!”

“That’s not what’s happening, as you well know.”

“What do you mean it’s not! Then whose money are you using? I showed you consideration, and now you’re just trying to look good with other people’s money?”

Jin So-ah was ready to go mad.

Showing consideration?

The one who had confiscated their pavilion and ransacked their storehouse to pay back his father’s gambling debts was now saying he had shown consideration—it was enough to make his insides burst.

They had swept away all the assets of Sacred Hand Hall, which had boasted of its history and tradition, in an instant, forcing them to end up in this place, and now what kind of shameless talk was this?

“I don’t need long explanations—when will you pay back the money?”

“We need to have money to pay it back.”

“You don’t have money? Then where did all these medicinal herbs come from?”

“We saved up little by little…”

“If you saved up little by little, you should pay back the money first, not spend it on useless things!”

“It’s not like that. We need patients to make money. How can we treat patients without medicinal herbs?”

“Oh ho, so… you’re saying you can’t make money because you have patients?”

“…Excuse me?”

The man smiled cruelly.

“Then you just need to get rid of the patients. Right?”

“Wh-what are you saying?”

“I’m saying this.”

The man kicked Jin So-ah, who was holding onto his sleeve.

“Ouch!”

Jin So-ah rolled on the floor.

The man who had kicked Jin So-ah strode toward the patients’ rooms, opened the doors, and began dragging out the patients inside.

“Come out! This place is closing down now. Get out!”

“Why, why are you doing this?”

The patients who still had some strength tried to resist, but those without strength were dragged out speechlessly.

“Stop it! These are patients!”

“That’s why—what charity work are you doing when you can’t even pay back money? Get out of the way!”

The man pushed away Jin So-ah, who was rushing at him, and flung open another door in front of him.

“Get out right now…”

Suddenly, the man closed his mouth.

The scene in the room was a bit strange.

All the rooms he had seen so far had only people with bandages or who looked uncomfortable somewhere, but the guy lying in this room looked far too fine—too fine indeed.

Lying under blankets in broad daylight, he certainly seemed to be sick somewhere, but to simply see it that way, the oil flowing down his face seemed to symbolize some kind of comfort, and that body looked too solid to be called a patient.

“Uh…”

While the man was bewildered, Wei Yan-ho’s eyes slowly opened.

At the sudden commotion, Wei Yan-ho, with a face still not fully awake, slowly opened his mouth.

“What is it?”