HDCLSSRS Ch 169

Chapter 169 The Badger (4)

“AAAHHH!”

Seong Muyon let out a shrill scream.

A group of boys and girls of varying ages, all wearing animal masks, had surrounded his bed and were staring intently at his sleeping face.

“I told you not to do that!”

The moment Seong Muyon shouted, the colorful assortment of animal masks scattered in every direction.

Clutching his pounding heart, Seong Muyon stood there panting for quite some time.

I almost died of a heart attack…

Seriously, what is wrong with them…?

Grumbling inwardly, he threw open the window.

Beyond it stretched a lush green forest overflowing with vibrant life. As he took a deep breath, the fragrance of grass damp with morning dew filled his lungs.

After rubbing the sleep from his eyes and changing clothes, Seong Muyon turned to glare at the mask resting quietly on the bedside table.

“……”

It was a wooden mask carved in the shape of a badger.

Letting out a long sigh, he picked it up.

Why me…?

With obvious reluctance, he slipped the mask over his face.

It was one of the rules that absolutely had to be followed if one wished to remain here.

The kitchen was already bustling with preparations for breakfast.

“You’re awake. Go wake Lord Yakseon….”

The attendant wearing an owl mask spoke as soon as Seong Muyon appeared.

“Yes.”

“……”

The moment Seong Muyon answered, the owl-masked attendant stopped preparing the meal and stared fixedly at him.

He flinched.

“W-What is it?”

“‘Hyungnim.’”

The Owl corrected the word he had omitted in a firm voice.

“Ah… right… Hyungnim….”

Only then did the Owl nod in satisfaction before returning to preparing breakfast.

Why do I have to?!

Seong Muyon wept inwardly.

How in the world had he ended up addressing attendants who barely reached his chest as Hyungnim and Noonim?

Opening Yakseon’s door, he was immediately assaulted by the thick smell of alcohol.

“Please wake up, Lord Yakseon.”

“Mmm….”

At the touch of the hand shaking her shoulder, Yakseon frowned deeply and simply rolled over.

“My lord!”

“Quiet! Get lost!”

After roaring at him, Yakseon immediately drifted back to sleep, her soft breathing filling the room.

It was absurd.

Every morning was a battlefield just to wake her up.

What made it even more unbelievable was that once she was fully awake, she remembered absolutely nothing.

Only Seong Muyon, who was cursed at and frequently smacked around every morning, was left feeling wronged.

Just as he was debating whether to dump a bucket of cold water over her—

The Owl entered.

“My lord… I’ve brought you some cold water….”

At the Owl’s quiet murmur, Yakseon’s shoulders twitched.

“Aren’t you thirsty…?”

After coaxing her for a while in that gentle voice, something astonishing happened.

Yakseon slowly sat upright.

Without even properly opening her eyes, she accepted the cold water from the Owl and gulped it down.

“You went into the village yesterday again. Just how much did you drink?”

“Hm? Uh… I don’t remember.”

Scratching vigorously at her back, Yakseon climbed out of bed.

“Where did my shoes go?”

She couldn’t even find one of her shoes, having apparently lost it somewhere.

Tsk.

Seong Muyon clicked his tongue inwardly.

With her hair sticking out in every direction like a bird’s nest and her swollen, puffy eyes blinking blankly, she looked utterly pitiful.

Who would ever believe she was the renowned master of pharmacology?

She looked far more convincing as a homeless vagrant.

It was hard to believe she was the very same person he had once regarded with reverence and awe.

Still… she’s the one who saved my life.

Three years earlier, Seong Muyon had barely recovered his health thanks to the medicine Yakseon prepared for him.

However, because his face had become known throughout the Central Plains, stepping outside was nearly impossible.

When even Namgung Cheonchu, who had sheltered him, was placed in danger, Seong Muyon ultimately left with Yakseon instead.

Disguising himself as one of her attendants, he had managed to survive unnoticed until now.

Besides, he had no other choice.

He needed a new prescription every three months.

In the end, Yakseon was too hungover to eat breakfast, so Seong Muyon sat down to eat alone.

“……”

As he picked up his chopsticks, cold sweat trickled down his back.

Around the table stood more than a dozen attendants, silently watching him eat.

…He was going to get indigestion at this rate.

“Could you please stop staring at me?”

Despite his timid protest, the attendants remained completely unfazed.

Some even rested their chins on their hands as they continued watching him.

From the very first day he had arrived, the attendants had observed his every move as though he were a monkey locked inside a cage.

Whether he slept, ate—

They looked ready to follow him to the latrine as well.

“Finished eating? Drink your medicine….”

The Owl held out a bowl of steaming herbal decoction.

“Thank you.”

Blowing gently to cool the hot medicine, Seong Muyon drank it little by little.

…Who exactly are they?

Three years had already passed since he began living with them.

Yet he still knew absolutely nothing about the attendants.

He had never seen their faces beneath their masks.

Nor had he ever seen them eat or sleep.

Perhaps they did eat when he wasn’t looking.

But if so…

Why bother hiding it?

Questions gave birth to even more questions.

Eventually, Seong Muyon forced himself to push them aside.

He needed to take medicine every single day.

And the only person in the world capable of prescribing it was Yakseon.

What could someone living on another person’s kindness possibly do?

He could grab one of the attendants and forcibly remove their mask.

But if he did…

He would undoubtedly be thrown out.

The one in need was the one who had to bow.

Dwelling on an impossible mystery was nothing more than a waste of time.

Just as he finished eating, Yakseon finally appeared, looking somewhat more awake.

“Come here. Let me examine you.”

At her beckoning gesture, Seong Muyon obediently offered himself up.

She placed a hand against his back and closed her eyes.

A moment later, she opened them again, her brows knitting together.

“Have you actually been training properly? Why does your condition keep getting worse?”

“I’ve been training hard.”

Seong Muyon grumbled in dissatisfaction.

For the first few months, the medicine had worked wonders.

He could feel his body steadily recovering, overflowing with enough vitality to accomplish anything.

But as time passed, its effects gradually diminished.

No—

The medicine itself had not weakened.

Rather, once he reached a certain point, it merely maintained his condition instead of improving it further.

“I’ve told you over and over not to rely solely on medicine!”

Yakseon clicked her tongue in irritation.

“If you don’t raise your martial cultivation and eliminate the root of the problem, then what difference will swallowing this medicine for a hundred years make? You should’ve dealt with it properly in the beginning! Instead, you charged around recklessly without the slightest clue what you were doing. Serves you right!”

“Oh, not this again! I told you I’ve been training as hard as I can! What am I supposed to do if it still isn’t enough?”

His immediate retort only infuriated her further.

Smack!

“OW!”

“Stop exaggerating!”

“At this rate, it’ll be faster for you to make medicine out of an elixir than for me to undergo Rebirth through Body Reconstruction!”

Yakseon’s grip was far stronger than Seong Muyon’s frail body could endure.

The spot she’d hit had undoubtedly turned bright red.

Unable to complain aloud, he cursed her repeatedly in his heart—

Only to realize she had suddenly fallen silent.

“My lord?”

Yakseon was staring blankly into space, a grave expression crossing her face.

“My lord…? The elixir research is going well… isn’t it?”

Concerned, Seong Muyon asked carefully.

Yakseon snapped back to herself.

“Whether it’s going well or not, would you understand a word of it if I explained? Stop worrying about my work and focus on your own training! If you hadn’t caused so much trouble in the first place, none of this would’ve happened!”

“Tch…”

Yakseon openly sneered at him.

Unable to deny it—having done more than enough things that only worsened his condition—Seong Muyon quietly lowered his head.

“In any case, I’ll be making house calls in the village today. The village chief has come down with a terrible cold and is bedridden.”

“Have a safe trip.”

Taking only a few simple medicinal herbs with her, Yakseon left the laboratory amid the attendants’ farewells.

That old hag.

Seong Muyon made no effort to hide his sour mood and didn’t even bother saying goodbye.

Nevertheless, he diligently chopped firewood, washed laundry, and devoted himself faithfully to training.

As unfair and humiliating as it felt, Yakseon remained the only person capable of saving his life.

For the past three years, she had poured all her efforts into researching the elixir.

The new medicine she hoped to create rested entirely in her hands.

And Seong Muyon placed all of his hopes upon it.

Of course…

He had never seriously expected that he would someday reach the Transcendent Realm, cast off his worn-out body, and be reborn in a new one.

It’s not as though the Transcendent Realm is some stray dog wandering the next neighborhood.

If it were something anyone could achieve simply by wishing for it, countless martial artists would never risk everything just for the chance to consume even the smallest fragment of a miraculous elixir.

Seong Muyon was, if anything, remarkably realistic about himself.

Unless Heaven itself smiled upon him, he knew such extraordinary fortune would never be his.

Deep within a remote mountain valley untouched by human footsteps, he sat cross-legged in the warm spring sunlight that bathed the backyard.

With a loud, dismissive snort, he once again immersed himself in his cultivation.

That night…

Yakseon did not return.