“Ask again. Who did you know at the time of the Mountain Villa incident?”
“Hwang Geum-seon… Yu Ji-gyeong…”
“How many people were part of the raid on the villa?”
“21…”
“Even if you don’t know their identities, do you have any guesses?”
“A merchant… Black Cat…”
“What does the Black Cat look like?”
“Thin… with long nails…”
“Who did you know at the time of the villa incident?”
“Hwang Geum-seon… and… the guy who got re-named…”
Yeo Il-ye felt that this interrogation was nearing its end. Mo Yeobu had already suffered significant energy loss. His wrists had been severed, meaning he was fundamentally hurt, and on top of that, his Qi had been disrupted. The shock to his mental state from having his Qi broken couldn’t be ignored either.
Yeo Il-ye noted Mo Yeobu’s mixed heritage.
“Ugh.”
With a long sigh, Yeo Il-ye realized that Mo Yeobu was just a minor player. This didn’t imply that he was weak; it simply meant he wasn’t a central figure in the Mountain Villa incident, merely a participant.
Owning the Seven Treasures Jade was due to foolishness, not because he was a key member.
Mo Yeobu might think he’d stolen a precious treasure, but the Seven Treasures Jade was famous for its unique beauty. Others likely left him alone because they thought stealing from him would only lead to headaches.
“Revenge might be possible…”
Though the number of people Mo Yeobu mentioned wasn’t many, it still meant that revenge could happen. If he stormed into Hwang Gold Clan, captured Hwang Geum-seon, shattered his Qi, and administered a truth serum, perhaps it could work?
Having administered the truth serum before, Yeo Il-ye realized it wasn’t a panacea. It wasn’t just a matter of skill; there wasn’t much clear information to extract, and what there was, usually lacked accuracy.
Still, with many enemies, capturing a few one by one and interrogation could easily yield information on 21 individuals.
The problem, however, was…
“Isn’t that just the life of a mere tool?”
Revenge was a ritual of mourning for Yeo Il-ye’s family. It was an exorcism to relieve the resentment of the family members. What would happen if he recklessly charged into Hwang Gold Clan? How many of their martial artists would he have to kill to reach Hwang Geum-seon?
And after that, how many glory-seeking moths would come rushing in, eager to hunt him down for the reputation of having harmed a noble?
“Tch.”
Yeo Il-ye glared at the fallen Mo Yeobu with discontent. It tempted him to chop him into a thousand pieces right then, but he needed Mo Yeobu alive to capture the remaining twenty enemies.
To finish his revenge without spilling innocent blood, he needed to dismantle their reputation and power.
To do that, he had to keep Mo Yeobu, who could serve as a witness, alive.
“Just for now.”
Thinking so, Yeo Il-ye opened the barn door provided by the Poison Doctor.
*
“Are you… an idiot?”
The Poison Doctor looked curious about how things with Black Cat wrapped up. It wasn’t exactly a secret, so Yeo Il-ye shared the details, leading to an explosive reaction from the Poison Doctor.
“Wow, wow. In this world?”
Wiping his forehead repeatedly, the Poison Doctor was upset. After rearranging his never-leaving bandage, he yelled.
“You’re dealing with a rare beauty! Flower-like Face, Moon-like Figure! The main characters of all legends are as good as their looks and that Black Cat…! How could this happen when I confirmed you weren’t an impotent last time?!”
“Uh, but she was incredibly pretty.”
“Of course! That’s a given!”
The Poison Doctor grabbed the back of his neck.
“Ugh, oh my…”
Seeing the Poison Doctor in agony made Yeo Il-ye feel like smirking. It was blood extraction time.
The Poison Doctor, who seemed to expect a sweet romance tale, looked like he aged five years in an instant. Heart pounding and complaining, he lamented.
“Did I become a physician for this? I hear bizarre tales I thought I’d never hear in my life! I can’t even vent this frustration to anyone, so I’m stuck with it!”
Then the Poison Doctor suddenly called for Maki.
“Last time you said stay away during my consultations, but now you…”
“You punk! If you don’t want to die without an antidote, from now on, YOU are the physician!”
“???”
“Answer me, you brat! Are you going to be the physician or die?!”
“Uh, well, being a physician is better than dying, I guess…”
Is he really trying to pull something on me right now?
Just like that, Maki instantly became the physician, looking bewildered as the Poison Doctor began his complaints. At first, Maki was confused but…
“Wow, I thought that guy’s face looked bad when I saw him. Now that it’s over, if I said I would’ve dismembered him, I would’ve had to pull a sword, right?”
“Right. Right! A man should repay a slight immediately!”
“Indeed, the Poison Doctor knows his stuff! But that guy just sat there and acted like a pushover until he got caught and then squealed like a little pig in front of you!”
“Exactly, you’re right!”
Wait, Poison Doctor, do you not remember that we made that dude eat bugs together?
“So that guy actually kicked away such a stunning beauty? Poison Doctor, are you sure that guy’s not functioning properly?”
“While drawing blood, I detected he was fine! So now you see why I’m going nuts, right?!”
“Ugh! This is maddening! Are you seriously making me your physician to hear these frustrating tales?!”
“You brat! If a bandit became a physician just to hear a tale, he should be grateful and crawl on the floor!”
“Who wants to be a physician? A physician is a physician, so why are you suddenly feeding me sweet potatoes?!”
“Now that you’ve heard it all, be gone!”
“This is crazy! Ahh! This is so unfair!”
Is this the harsh reality of the medical world? Maki looked truly indignant after being forced to eat sweet potatoes, but what could he do? As he struggled in grievance, he was ultimately kicked away by the Poison Doctor.
“So, was there any progress on your blood research?”
“I don’t know about martial arts, but in other areas, I think training can proceed. However, as I take blood daily, even a strong body can become weakened, so don’t overdo it.”
The Poison Doctor shot me a disgruntled glance.
“So, are you really planning to improve your skills for that lady?”
“Haha, Poison Doctor. Isn’t it the life goal of a martial artist to pursue improvement?”
“That’s such sweet talk. Right… Hwa-gyeong. Heheh.”
The Poison Doctor chuckled, as if realizing how ridiculous it was. After all, how many martial artists achieve Hwa-gyeong? Talking like this was absurd.
“So, if you really do reach Hwa-gyeong, promise to come back and thank me with that Black Cat! It’s a rare constitution born only once every hundred years if that girl reaches Hwa-gyeong… My curiosity as a physician is piqued. I’ll cook you a tonic for vitality then.”
“Haha, understood, Elder.”
“Sure. How can the relationships between men and women play out as the old man wishes? Speaking of your blood research, I’m slowly gathering clues. But the quantity of blood is far too low. I’d like to collect more of your blood for experiments.”
“Hmm. Aren’t we already extracting a large amount?”
Honestly, the amount the Poison Doctor was taking felt excessive. He’s collecting enough daily to fill a bucket.
“It’s merely a guess, so I can’t definitively say. Let’s gather more blood for a few more days.”
Just being able to do basic training lifted my spirits significantly.
“Oh, you’re back, Senior.”
Upon returning to the inn, Black Cat waved at me.
“Jeomsoi! Here are the noodles! Dumplings!”
“Yes, yes~”
Sitting across from Black Cat, I noticed the cook and Jeomsoi were back at their stations.
“What did the Poison Doctor say?”
“Well, he said that basic training was fine. Now let’s eat and then maybe do some light training!”
“Wow, seeing you train, Senior! The outcasts of Outcast Inn would flip out if they knew!”
“First, we have to set up Jeong Sam and Yeo Jin-sang backwards.”
Those two, who often bullied Iryu, were due some payback.
“Speaking of which… what’s your real name, Black Cat?”
“My real name… Hmm. Well.”
Suddenly, she fell into thought.
“My real name… actually, I left home when I was fifteen and started living in the world. I created chaos in my mother’s fabric shop, whether it was the management, martial arts experts, or merchants, I’d leave a mess. Since then, I’ve changed names whenever moving to a new place.”
She finally spoke her name.
“So Yeon-hwa. That’s my name.”
“Hmm. Alright, should I call you Yeon-hwa from now on?”
“No, just keep calling me Black Cat. The name So Yeon-hwa will be returned to me when I have complete control over my Qi at Hwa-gyeong.”
“Alright.”
Sounds like a resolution for her. Nevertheless, So Yeon-hwa… that’s certainly a name I don’t remember at all.
Naturally enough.
“By the way, how did you usually travel through the martial arts world?”
“Hmm. Generally, I traveled to places without people and often used various disguises. Sometimes I went around blindfolded like a blind person or wore a mask…”
Having never operated under the name So Yeon-hwa, there’s no way it would stick in my memory.
The realization I had wasn’t unintentionally stored within the vast channels of the martial world. The information I’d remembered was based on the database built from the people who had acquired [Ho Cheon-an] directly seeking those characters and recording their realizations on an Excel sheet on the Internet.
The number of players who actually obtained Ho Cheon-an was limited, thus complete accuracy couldn’t be guaranteed. Even though it was continually updated for ten years, the number of players who acquired Ho Cheon-an remained small, and even fewer would take the time to input those data into the database.
Still, there’s a chance someone saw Black Cat’s realizations while she was undercover, leaving a possibility they were documented under another name.
This meant, of course, that Black Cat’s enlightenment might be recorded under a different identity.
I couldn’t ascertain her possible limits, but if Hwa-gyeong was indeed on the table… that splendid Taeyum constitution surely wouldn’t imply low potential. While it’s confirmed, the higher the limits are, the better, right?
When I get back to Sacheon, I need to reclaim the [Setting Book] first.
