CLS-Chapter 166

Chapter 166

So Wei Yan-ho thought this job would be incredibly easy.

If he could just get the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance’s certification and sell secret manuals in front of them, wouldn’t making a fortune be no problem at all?

In fact, those secret manuals were genuine, and the martial arts were real too, so literally speaking, it was a situation where he could run a proper business.

The problem was that Wei Yan-ho thought too lightly of Divine Strategist Cho Hyeon.

In exchange for getting the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance’s support, Wei Yan-ho agreed to do one thing in the name of the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance.

Huh?

You think that’s too radical a condition?

It’s not like Wei Yan-ho is someone who would take a loss. Of course there were strings attached to the conditions

From what I know, there were several conditions like: don’t make him do work that requires going outside, don’t make him do work that requires walking more than one shijin per day, and so on.

Combining the conditions, simply put, he was asking them to give him work he could do while lounging around in his room.

Huh?

You’re asking if the Divine Strategist accepted that?

Of course he did.

From Wei Yan-ho’s perspective, he must have thought he’d struck gold.

But who is the Divine Strategist?

Wei Yan-ho is clever, but the Divine Strategist is a military advisor who has led the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance for decades. When it comes to brains alone, even Wei Yan-ho has no choice but to be outmatched.

Thanks to this, Wei Yan-ho also learned something.

That contracts aren’t something to be made carelessly. But Wei Yan-ho had some excuse for this situation.

As it turned out later, Wei Yan-ho at that time seemed to be feeling quite anxious.

Why, you ask?

His head didn’t know, but his body was sensing it.

That they were coming.

Huh? The Demonic Cult?

No, no.

Wei Yan-ho is someone who has almost no fear whatsoever, so even if Asuras came from hell instead of the Demonic Cult, he wouldn’t be someone to get scared.

So what was making him anxious?

From Wei Yan-ho’s perspective, there are people more terrifying than Asuras.

You know who they are, right?

Yes, them.

His family.

***

“Saint!”

“P-please don’t do this.”

Jin Ye-ran waved her hands in panic as she watched people bowing deeply toward her.

Most people had finished their treatment by now, so they were on their way to close the temporary clinic and leave. And those who learned of this fact had rushed over in droves to block her path.

“Saint! If you leave like this, what are we supposed to do with the grace as deep as the ocean that we’ve received?”

“P-please don’t call me that!”

Jang-il whistled as he watched the scene.

‘What a picture.’

With that face being so stunning, watching her blush and decline with that beauty made it look like a legendary scene.

‘Actually, it might really be true.’

If those calling Jin Ye-ran a saint and worshipping her started spreading rumors, real rumors of a saint might actually spread throughout the Central Plains.

“Please at least tell us the name of your clinic.”

“Ah…”

Jin Ye-ran was genuinely flustered.

She couldn’t say Sacred Hand Hall, and it wasn’t like she had any particular affiliation either.

Jin Ye-ran had no choice but to mention the name she had been thinking of hanging as a signboard if she ever set up a clinic again.

“I’m Jin Ye-ran of the Nameless Clinic.”

“Nameless Clinic.”

“Indeed, you don’t make a show of your name.”

All the martial artists looked at Jin Ye-ran with admiring faces. They were genuinely impressed by Jin Ye-ran, who had treated them with utmost dedication without any compensation.

And her outstanding beauty was multiplying that emotion several times over. This is why people need to be blessed with good looks.

“We worked hard too…”

When Wei Jeong-han’s lip stuck out, Han Sang-ah smacked his back.

“Don’t be jealous of things you shouldn’t be jealous of!”

“But it’s true!”

“She might become family. It’s not bad if her reputation gets higher.”

“…”

In Wei Jeong-han’s eyes, the image of Jin Ye-ran cutting out patients’ infected areas and squeezing pus until they fainted flickered.

‘I-I prefer a more delicate daughter-in-law.’

She seems delicate normally, but when something happens, it feels like she’d chase after someone with a knife. Scary.

No, thinking about it the other way, maybe that kind of personality is exactly what’s needed to definitively cure Wei Yan-ho’s laziness.

Then it’s not bad, right?

“Saint, I will definitely repay you!”

“I will spread word of the Saint’s good deeds throughout the Central Plains!”

“Sob, must you really go?”

The farewell scene didn’t quite look like sending off a doctor, but it was heartwarming nonetheless.

Wei Jeong-han’s group was finally able to start their carriage after receiving the patients’ send-off.

“Jang-il.”

“Yeah?”

Jang-il looked up at Wei San-ho’s call.

“Where is Yan-ho right now?”

“He should have reached Luoyang by now, I think?”

“Luoyang…”

Wei San-ho’s eyes blazed with fire.

“Father.”

“Yes, San-ho.”

“Now we’ll head straight to Luoyang without stopping anywhere else!”

“Right, I think so too. We’ve dragged this out too long!”

Since it was necessary work, they couldn’t help but take time, but they couldn’t leave Wei Yan-ho wandering around like that any longer.

“I haven’t seen that boy for five whole years! To drag it out this much longer! At this rate I’ll die from my burning insides!”

“That’s right.”

Han Sang-ah also nodded with a stern face.

“If we go to Luoyang this time and Yan-ho isn’t there either, neither you nor San-ho should expect to get fed.”

“…Sang-ah, that’s not my fault, is it?”

“Shut up!”

“Yes.”

Wei Jeong-han, who had the shining title of Righteous Hero Sword that the Alliance Leader cherished and Wei Yan-ho used well instead of a name card, still couldn’t properly open his mouth in front of Han Sang-ah.

“San-ho.”

“Yes, Father.”

“When you get married later…”

“Yes?”

“Never, ever go on a martial arts journey! If you say you’re going on a martial arts journey, I’ll break your legs!”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Family harmony… family harmony is what makes everything successful.”

Listening to Wei Jeong-han’s sorrowful voice filled with regret, Wei San-ho looked at the carriage. Pal-bi, who had been sitting in the driver’s seat, nodded and began driving the carriage.

‘I’m coming now, Yan-ho.’

Soon he would finally meet his younger brother. There was so much he wanted to say when they met.

“What do you think that boy is doing?”

“Tsk, obviously just wasting money and being lazy. That guy never changes.”

***

Wei Jeong-han’s thinking was half right. Wei Yan-ho hadn’t changed. That was accurate.

But Wei Yan-ho wasn’t wasting money—he was making a fortune, and unfortunately, he was in a crisis where he couldn’t even be lazy.

“…Instructor?”

“That’s right.”

“So you’re saying, instructor?”

“That’s right.”

“Um, let me ask one more time…”

Wei Yan-ho picked at his ear and asked again.

“You said instructor?”

“I’ll answer once more, that’s right.”

Wei Yan-ho stared at Cho Hyeon with a dumbfounded expression.

As far as he knew, this person was called the Divine Strategist and was the greatest sage in the martial world. And now this person was telling him to become an instructor to teach people.

‘Is he sane?’

Wei Yan-ho had no choice but to fall into contemplation. Any person with even a little common sense about living in the world wouldn’t assign Wei Yan-ho the role of teaching others.

This was a truth of the same level as ‘water flows downward.’

“Are you really telling me to teach other people right now?”

“That’s right.”

“…”

When Wei Yan-ho fell silent, Cho Hyeon smiled and answered.

“It doesn’t require much effort as you wanted, you don’t have to go far, and you don’t particularly need to move your body. You should know that it meets all your conditions.”

“That’s true.”

Wei Yan-ho had to admit it. Certainly, the instructor position Cho Hyeon offered met all the conditions he had set. But…

“I… I think it’s a bit presumptuous of me to say this, but…”

“Speak.”

“Are you really planning to use me as an instructor? I don’t like saying this about myself, but I think I’m the person least suited for teaching others in the Central Plains.”

“Why?”

When Cho Hyeon asked as if he didn’t understand, Wei Yan-ho sighed and answered.

“I’m too young and lazy to teach people.”

Cho Hyeon chuckled.

“What kind of talk is that? I’ve never heard that age is an obstacle to one person teaching another. They say Confucius would willingly bow his head and seek learning from those younger than himself if there was something to learn, so what are we to refuse learning from the young? If there’s someone like that, they don’t deserve to enter the Dormant Dragon Hall.”

“…That’s just your thinking, Military Advisor.”

“My thinking will become their thinking.”

Watching Cho Hyeon answer confidently, Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue.

Well, Divine Strategist Cho Hyeon isn’t just any military advisor of the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance. He was someone who could be called the living history of the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance, having maintained the position of second-in-command for decades even as Alliance Leaders changed.

If such a person directly appointed an instructor?

Even if he brought a dog and called it an instructor, there wouldn’t be many people who could openly object.

“But I’m the laziest person under heaven. What would they learn from me?”

Wei Yan-ho was certainly aware of his own situation.

But Cho Hyeon seemed to think differently.

“Heh heh heh, how did such a lazy person build up such profound martial arts?”

“…Well, there were some special circumstances.”

“That’s it.”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking you to share some of those special circumstances with others.”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes trembled slightly.

“A-are you serious?”

Cho Hyeon smiled broadly and answered.

“Is there any reason it shouldn’t work?”

“You’ll regret it…”

“That won’t happen.”

Wei Yan-ho thought the Divine Strategist Cho Hyeon was saying this because he didn’t know what kind of ordeal he had gone through to learn martial arts.

“You’ll really regret it…”

“I don’t need to worry about that.”

But Cho Hyeon cut off Wei Yan-ho’s words sharply.

“Then let’s write a contract.”

“A contract?”

“If you write a contract saying you won’t hold me responsible for whatever happens during the course of lessons, I’m willing to give it a try.”

“That’s not difficult. I’ll write it.”

“Ugh.”

Wei Yan-ho sighed at the thought of taking on a troublesome job.

“Can’t I not do it? It seems like it’ll be incredibly bothersome.”

“Petitions keep coming up asking if we can’t move locations because it’s hard to get in and out due to the people copying texts at the main gate. But I keep ignoring the petitions to protect the prime location you wanted.”

Cho Hyeon pressured Wei Yan-ho with a friendly face.

“The money you’re earning seems to be more than the entire Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance’s income?”

“Ugh.”

Wei Yan-ho groaned and slumped back in his chair.

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it! Just don’t regret it.”

“Well, would there be anything to regret?”

As Cho Hyeon began chuckling, Wei Yan-ho slumped down and stared at the ceiling.

‘Oh, my fate.’

He hadn’t even rested for a few days and now he had to start work again.

‘Since it’s come to this, I’ll make them quickly demand I quit!’

Wei Yan-ho was burning with determination in a direction Cho Hyeon never intended.

And Cho Hyeon looked at such a Wei Yan-ho and smiled broadly.

‘You fool! I’m one step ahead of you!’

It was the moment when Divine Strategist Cho Hyeon and Wei Yan-ho’s mutual misunderstanding began.