CLS-Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Jin So-ah collapsed, forgetting about food and everything else.

Chomp chomp chomp chomp.

“This is delicious!”

“……”

If only that person weren’t in front of me, I think my appetite would return a little.

He was someone whose reasoning was incomprehensible—why he chose to eat at the same table in Jin So-ah’s room when there were countless other rooms available.

“Not eating?”

Jin So-ah glared at Wei Yan-ho, who was picking up the large meat skewer placed in front of Jin So-ah and bringing it to his mouth.

“How can food go down when there’s someone dying of exhaustion right in front of you?”

“Delicious!”

“Ugh.”

Jin So-ah massaged his arms and legs.

“At this rate, I’ll become a patient first. These days I don’t even have time to study.”

“That’s because you’re lazy, lazy.”

“What?”

Jin So-ah touched his ears.

Did I hear that wrong?

He never imagined that the day would come when he’d be called lazy by Wei Yan-ho.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black…

No, this was an insult to pots and kettles.

Even if everyone in the world could discuss laziness, Wei Yan-ho was the one person who shouldn’t say such things.

Jin So-ah trembled and shouted.

“Anyone else might say that, but Young Master Wei shouldn’t say such things! Me, lazy!”

“Why can’t I say it?”

“Young Master Wei is the world’s number one lazybones!”

“That’s exactly why I know lazy people well.”

“…Huh?”

Now that I think about it, it makes sense?

“People who’ve eaten know food well, and people who’ve drunk know alcohol well. And people who’ve been lazy know laziness well.”

Jin So-ah found himself nodding unconsciously. It was strangely persuasive.

“Anyway, it’s really hard. Can I really develop as a physician like this?”

“Of course.”

Wei Yan-ho said while stuffing rice into his mouth.

“Divine physicians are usually advanced in age. Have you ever seen a young famous physician?”

“No.”

“There are many prodigies in the world, but there are no prodigies in medicine. If one could become a famous physician just by reading medical texts, then divine physicians should appear at young ages too.”

“Please finish what you’re eating first before speaking…”

Seeing Jin So-ah’s grimacing face, Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue.

“That’s because medicine develops by seeing patients! You’re seeing more patients than anyone else, so you can develop more than anyone else.”

“Ooh!”

Jin So-ah nodded vigorously and said:

“What an amazingly plausible lie.”

“Did I give it away?”

“Yes.”

“But it’s true.”

“…I’ve never seen someone so hard to trust.”

Jin So-ah spoke curtly and put rice in his mouth. He had no appetite, but if he didn’t eat, he wouldn’t be able to endure the afternoon consultations.

“But what happened last night?”

“Nothing happened.”

As soon as dawn broke, the people from the Sacred Hand Hall were dragged to the government office. Since Wei Yan-ho had made his threats, the Sacred Hand Hall would probably be half-destroyed within a day or two.

‘Then it’s a bloodless victory.’

With the one physician who was any competition destroyed, the Sacred Hand Hall would certainly solidify its position as Hubei’s only major medical clinic.

“Ahem.”

Having finished his meal, Wei Yan-ho lay down right where he was.

“Now I can just watch the show and eat rice cakes.”

Everything Wei Yan-ho needed to do regarding the Sacred Hand Hall was essentially finished. Now there was nothing to do even if he wanted to.

Wei Yan-ho thought all problems were solved and could rest easy.

No, he thought he could rest.

“Tell the Hall Master to come out.”

“Miss, this is troublesome for us.”

“Didn’t you hear me? Tell the Hall Master to come out immediately.”

The servants were flustered.

Some woman at the gate was asking for the Hall Master. Normally, if something like this happened, they would immediately drive her away with bamboo sticks, but wasn’t this woman claiming to be the Hall Master’s older sister?

If by any chance that was true, they couldn’t bear the consequences of treating her roughly. In the end, they had no choice but to reluctantly contact the Hall Master.

“I’ll inform the Hall Master immediately. This is a place with patients. If you keep shouting like this, you’ll startle the patients.”

At the mention of patients, the woman flinched and nodded.

The mention that patients might be harmed seemed to move her.

“Then I’ll wait here, so please call the Hall Master as quickly as possible.”

“Yes. Please wait.”

The servant left the woman standing there and rushed inside.

He thought he would definitely drive her away if it wasn’t true, but the impact of some woman claiming to be the Hall Master’s sister and asking for him at the gate was tremendous.

It made the Hall Master, who never left the treatment room, run barefoot to the gate.

“Si-sister!”

Jin So-ah was startled and shouted when he discovered Jin Ye-ran waiting for him at the gate.

“Come here.”

Jin Ye-ran called Jin So-ah with a stern face.

“Ah, please come inside.”

“You want me to go inside there?”

At Jin Ye-ran’s sharp voice, Jin So-ah wavered, unable to do this or that.

What saved him was a low voice heard from behind.

“With so many patients here, are you planning to have a family fight in front of them?”

At Wei Yan-ho’s words as he approached slowly, Jin Ye-ran looked around with a stern face. The line of patients was long. Whatever was said in front of them would become a disgrace to the Sacred Hand Hall.

“Please come inside, Sister.”

“Hmm…”

Jin Ye-ran nodded and followed behind Jin So-ah.

Naturally, she had to pass by where Wei Yan-ho was standing, but even as she passed by, she didn’t spare Wei Yan-ho a single glance.

“A cold wind is blowing.”

Wei Yan-ho smiled and followed the two into the Hall Master’s office.

Upon entering the Hall Master’s office, Jin So-ah offered the seat of honor to Jin Ye-ran.

“Please sit, Sister.”

But Jin Ye-ran didn’t even look at the seat of honor and sat in a side seat. When Wei Yan-ho shuffled in and sat across from her, Jin So-ah looked around, unable to find a place to sit.

“What are you doing? Sit in your seat.”

“……”

Jin So-ah looked at the seat of honor with burdened eyes, then sat in it as if he had no choice.

“What is all this about?”

Jin So-ah found it difficult to explain. The question was too broad. He couldn’t get a sense of where to start explaining.

“First, well…”

“Stop immediately and come back.”

“Pardon?”

“Medicine is the art of benevolence. It’s not work for merchants! But you’re now doing business with medicine.”

Jin So-ah looked at Jin Ye-ran with a subtle expression.

“Aren’t physicians people too?”

“What did you say?”

Jin Ye-ran looked at him with a slightly surprised face at Jin So-ah’s outburst.

“I said, aren’t physicians people too? Everyone else tries to make money and gain fame to achieve success and honor, so why must physicians always live in poverty, eating thin gruel?”

“Have you forgotten the teachings of our ancestors!”

“Sister!”

Jin So-ah said with a stern face.

“Those ancestors lived in houses as grand as whales. The Sacred Hand Hall building is still there—don’t say anything else. Anyone can say with their mouth that medicine should be freely given. But didn’t our ancestors also live comfortably from money earned through medicine!”

“That naturally followed from practicing medicine. Why don’t you understand that it wasn’t money earned with the intention of making money from medicine!”

“It’s Sister who doesn’t understand!”

Jin Ye-ran was startled by Jin So-ah’s attitude as he looked at her with firm eyes.

‘Since when has this child…’

She had always thought of Jin So-ah as young, but seeing him look her straight in the eye and state his opinions felt impudent, yet also made her feel proud.

Having his own opinions was a very good thing. The problem was that those opinions were too different from what Jin Ye-ran had in mind.

“Medicine is the art of benevolence.”

“I’m not denying that it’s the art of benevolence. But if physicians must starve to practice benevolent medicine, who would want to practice it? It’s not me but Sister who isn’t properly following our ancestors’ path.”

“……”

Jin Ye-ran bit her lips tightly.

She had tried to raise him as an excellent physician with no shortcomings in inheriting the name Sacred Hand Hall, but in the end, Jin So-ah had chosen the path of a merchant.

“What do you think our late father would think seeing you now?”

Jin So-ah didn’t back down.

“Father wanted to save the Sacred Hand Hall even by gambling. If the Sacred Hand Hall’s glory had nothing to do with money, why would he have chosen such a path? Father knew too. Without money, it would be impossible to spread the Sacred Hand Hall’s name. Why is Sister the only one who doesn’t understand this?”

“Don’t you think that’s exactly why it failed? Because we strayed from the physician’s true path, the Sacred Hand Hall’s name couldn’t continue. So shouldn’t we walk the physician’s path again, even now?”

“Stop it.”

Jin So-ah stood up abruptly.

“I don’t think what I’m doing now is the righteous path either. I have neither the arrogance nor the self-righteousness to think I’m definitely walking the right path. But I also know that if we do as Sister wants, we could spend our whole lives and never spread the Sacred Hand Hall’s name to the world again. Look. The Sacred Hand Hall, which we struggled with for years only to hear that it was ruined, is spreading its name throughout Hubei again in just a few days.”

“So-ah!”

“I’m not someone who does as Sister tells me to. Sister should walk Sister’s path. I will let the world know in my own way that the Sacred Hand Hall is not dead.”

“Are you truly going to defy my words?”

Jin So-ah said to Jin Ye-ran with sunken eyes.

“It’s not defiance, Sister.”

“……”

“It’s not defiance, but establishing my own will. No matter how much, Sister is my sister, I am the legitimate heir of the Sacred Hand Hall. Only I have the right to use the Sacred Hand Hall name and the right to decide the Sacred Hand Hall’s direction.”

Jin Ye-ran’s eyes trembled.

Right now, Jin So-ah was declaring his independence from her.

She had thought that someday he would leave her embrace and spread his wings toward the world, but she had never dreamed it would happen at this time and in this way.

“I will make the Sacred Hand Hall the greatest medical institution in the Central Plains as the complete Hall Master. So Sister, please don’t interfere with me anymore.”

After saying that, Jin So-ah walked out of the Hall Master’s office with heavy steps.

“So-ah!”

Jin Ye-ran called to him, but Jin So-ah went outside without looking back.

Jin Ye-ran, who had been staring blankly at the door Jin So-ah had left through, turned her head with cold, resentful eyes and glared at Wei Yan-ho.

“Ah, why?”

Wei Yan-ho, suddenly under eye-attack, flinched and buried himself in his chair.

“This is all because of you, Young Hero!”

“What?”

“I asked you to guide So-ah on the right path, and this is the result! Even if I die, I will never forgive you. Never!”

“What?”

Jin Ye-ran jumped up from her seat and ran outside. Watching this scene, Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.

“They say when whales fight, the shrimp’s back gets broken.”

Of course, in Wei Yan-ho’s case, it wasn’t because the whale moved violently, but because he was too lazy to move even when he could clearly see the whale coming and got caught in between.

Wei Yan-ho suppressed his reluctance to get up from the chair and slowly rose from his seat.

“Ugh.”

I’d rather die than suffer like this.