CLS-Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Glug glug glug.

In the darkness of the descending night, Jin Ye-ran sat alone, filling her cup with wine. Though she didn’t usually enjoy drinking, on nights like this she couldn’t keep her wits about her without alcohol.

Looking at the cold wine filling her cup, Jin Ye-ran let out a deep sigh.

“…Wow, what a scene.”

Wei Yan-ho found himself nodding unconsciously as he watched Jin Ye-ran drinking alone under the moonlight.

A beauty under the moon…

Even for Wei Yan-ho, who could be said to have almost no interest in others, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that scene as beautiful.

But now wasn’t the time to be admiring that beauty.

“Drinking alone ruins your stomach.”

Wei Yan-ho shuffled over and sat across from Jin Ye-ran. Though Jin Ye-ran glanced at Wei Yan-ho sideways, she didn’t stop him from sitting down.

“Could you pour me a cup?”

When Wei Yan-ho looked around for a cup, Jin Ye-ran silently handed him the cup beside her.

Glug glug glug.

As Wei Yan-ho took the cup, Jin Ye-ran lifted the wine bottle and filled it for him.

“Drinking alone is poisonous.”

“Right now, isn’t looking at your face more poisonous?”

“Hmm, then should I lie down? You won’t be able to see my face.”

“What a very Wei Yan-ho-like solution.”

Jin Ye-ran bowed her head deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“Even knowing that Young Master Wei has done much for me, I couldn’t control my momentary anger and said those things. I thought I should apologize, but I was too shameless to come see you.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“How can I not worry about it?”

Jin Ye-ran looked at Wei Yan-ho with somewhat dazed eyes. Her face, slightly flushed from the rising alcohol, made her beauty shine even more.

“It’s not easy.”

“What isn’t?”

Jin Ye-ran seemed to think for a moment before continuing.

“Following the teachings of my predecessors is already difficult, but what’s truly hard is knowing that So-ah’s words aren’t wrong either. Perhaps I was just being stubborn.”

“Mm…”

“No, I was definitely being stubborn. Saying that a physician should be this way, I was forcing my idealistic vision of a physician’s path onto So-ah. The truth is, Father only asked me to raise So-ah into an excellent physician and to rebuild the Sacred Hand Hall. But I seemed to have decided on my own what that ‘excellent physician’ should be.”

“Mmm.”

Wei Yan-ho didn’t hide his expression that showed difficult conversations were his least favorite. Seeing that face, Jin Ye-ran couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m sorry. This story has nothing to do with Young Master Wei…”

“Actually.”

“Yes?”

Wei Yan-ho quietly looked at Jin Ye-ran.

As their eyes met and time passed, Jin Ye-ran, unable to bear the awkwardness, blushed and slowly turned her head away.

“I don’t really understand what you’re worrying about.”

“Pardon?”

Jin Ye-ran tilted her head slightly.

It probably wasn’t such a difficult story. Considering that the Wei Yan-ho she had seen so far might be lazy but wasn’t a stupid person, his current statement didn’t mean he couldn’t understand Jin Ye-ran’s words.

Then?

“My master used to say… hmm, this seems to have become my catchphrase lately… anyway, that old man said that if you want something, you have to achieve it yourself.”

“…”

“That old man was spiteful and extremely annoying, but he was at least someone who never said wrong things. To be precise, he kept saying only the right things, but those right things were all things you didn’t want to hear, making him twice as annoying…”

Just as Jin Ye-ran was feeling bewildered at suddenly hearing gossip about someone she didn’t know, Wei Yan-ho brought the topic back from its tangent.

“Anyway, if what that old man said was mostly right, then the saying that if you want to achieve something, you must do it yourself is also right. Most people tend to expect others to achieve what they themselves want to achieve, but it’s the thirsty person who digs the well.”

“So you’re saying…”

Jin Ye-ran composed her voice.

“I should do it myself?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded without hesitation.

“Isn’t it something you want yourself?”

“Young Master Wei, So-ah is the legitimate heir of the Sacred Hand Hall.”

“I think this is the first time I’ve heard that only the legitimate heir has the right to revive a family?”

“I’m a woman.”

“I think this is also the first time I’ve heard that only men can revive a family. Especially for a medical family.”

Jin Ye-ran couldn’t hide her confused expression at Wei Yan-ho’s words.

‘Me, directly?’

She had thought her mission was to make Jin So-ah into an excellent physician. She had never once considered doing something in Jin So-ah’s place.

“Me?”

The confused Jin Ye-ran asked again and again.

Wei Yan-ho looked blank and didn’t answer. He knew that question was seeking confirmation, but the person who could answer that wasn’t Wei Yan-ho but Jin Ye-ran herself.

“Could I do it?”

“No one knows that.”

Wei Yan-ho spoke honestly.

“But from what I’ve seen, the ideal physician that Miss Jin desires is different from the Sacred Hand Hall’s policy and different from the path So-ah wants to take. If you force that on others, problems will definitely arise.”

“Ah…”

“And I think Miss Jin is connecting two different things.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Wei Yan-ho tapped the wine cup in front of him with his finger. The wine inside rippled.

“Raising So-ah into an excellent physician and rebuilding the Sacred Hand Hall are clearly different matters, but you seem to think they must be done together.”

“…”

“So-ah, becoming an excellent physician is one thing. The Sacred Hand Hall doesn’t necessarily have to be rebuilt by So-ah. You keep obsessing over So-ah because you think only So-ah has the right to rebuild the Sacred Hand Hall.”

Jin Ye-ran’s eyes wavered.

Wei Yan-ho spoke honestly.

“I’m a lazy person who can’t even think about other people’s business. But I know one thing: my business is something I have to do myself. If you want to rebuild the Sacred Hand Hall, you shouldn’t leave it to So-ah but do it yourself, Miss. Especially if you want to rebuild the Sacred Hand Hall into your ideal physician’s hall.”

Jin Ye-ran looked at Wei Yan-ho without saying anything.

“Why?”

“…Young Master Wei is a strange person.”

“I hear that often.”

“You’re really strange, really.”

Jin Ye-ran, who had been quietly looking at Wei Yan-ho, raised her head to look at the moon floating in the sky. The moon, half-hidden by clouds, was brightly illuminating the dark night.

“Could I do it?”

“No one knows that. But what’s certain is…”

Wei Yan-ho picked up the cup in front of him.

“People who don’t move, people who don’t try, people who just think—they can’t achieve anything.”

“Self-mockery?”

“Who knows.”

Wei Yan-ho smiled faintly.

“I’m someone who’s very satisfied living like this. I don’t particularly want to achieve anything, and I don’t think about what I should do. But I think I’m happier than Miss Jin right now?”

“…”

“Because I’m doing what I want to do. Though I do have to do things I don’t want to do because of my damn master.”

“That master of yours must be a wonderful person. He makes Young Master Wei move.”

Wei Yan-ho looked up at the sky silently.

— Be happy.

He seemed to see his master’s face smiling gently.

“Perhaps.”

Jin Ye-ran quietly looked at Wei Yan-ho.

Though it was usually hard to notice because of his carefree expression, there was a hint of wistfulness in Wei Yan-ho’s eyes.

“Young Master Wei is truly a unique person.”

“I hear that often too.”

“Young Master Wei is right. If I have something I want to do, I should achieve it with my own hands. Perhaps I’ve been expecting So-ah to walk a path that’s too difficult for me to take. That’s not right.”

Jin Ye-ran’s voice was slightly trembling.

“Could I… do well?”

“I told you, no one knows.”

“Still, please tell me I can do well.”

To Jin Ye-ran, who spoke as if wanting to shake off her anxiety, Wei Yan-ho gave the best answer he could.

“Work hard proportionate to your anxiety.”

“…”

“Being anxious is natural. Everyone is anxious. But there are people who end their anxiety by just being anxious, and people who work hard proportionate to their anxiety. People who work hard don’t necessarily succeed, but most people who work hard become better than their previous selves.”

“Is that so?”

“Actually, I know that Miss Jin has been working hard until now. But the direction of that effort was wrong. Now you just need to work hard in a more proper direction.”

Wei Yan-ho would be the person least suited for such words.

Jin Ye-ran too would have let such words go in one ear and out the other if the usual Wei Yan-ho had said them.

But strangely, the current Wei Yan-ho felt trustworthy.

‘Come to think of it…’

Everything changed after this person appeared.

The Sacred Hand Hall, which had been struggling in poverty, escaped from debt, and Jin So-ah walked his own path and declared the Sacred Hand Hall’s revival. And now he was even showing Jin Ye-ran the way.

‘Strange person.’

Such a strange person.

The moon was looking down on the two people quietly and benevolently.

***

“…Isn’t this a good thing?”

“Good?”

Sa-ga scoffed at Gwang-gu Shin-gae’s words.

“What’s the most successful medical clinic in the Central Plains right now?”

“Why, of course it’s the Sacred Hand Hall!”

“What else?”

“Pardon?”

“Besides the Sacred Hand Hall, where else?”

“Well… the White Robe Medical Gate, isn’t it?”

“Right?”

Gwang-gu Shin-gae wore a bitter smile.

“How is the relationship between those two?”

“Come now, you ask about everything. Shin-gae sir, who doesn’t know that the Sacred Hand Hall and White Robe Medical Gate are bitter enemies who clash and fight over everything?”

“Right, bitter enemies, bitter enemies.”

Gwang-gu Shin-gae clicked his tongue.

“After that day, Miss Jin would have a change of heart and rename the Nameless Medical Clinic. With the meaning of not forgetting the unchanging heart toward patients.”

“No way?”

“That’s right. The White Robe Medical Gate’s predecessor was the Nameless Medical Clinic. Thanks to Wei Yan-ho’s visit, both the Sacred Hand Hall and White Robe Medical Gate came to exist in Hubei.”

Sa-ga’s eyes trembled.

The Sacred Hand Hall was famous for being so powerful it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the greatest medical institution in the Central Plains, and the White Robe Medical Gate was famous for being called the “Gate of Medical Righteousness” for treating patients with utmost dedication. They were medical institutions with such different natures and directions that they couldn’t mix like water and fire.

Not long ago, there was even a situation where affiliated physicians attacked each other with acupuncture needles—it could be said they had the worst possible relationship.

But those two medical institutions came from the same root!

“Siblings becoming enemies happens in an instant.”

Gwang-gu Shin-gae’s tongue-clicking figure somehow looked mischievous. Sa-ga groaned and shook his head.