Surviving as the Sacheon Dang Clan’s Servant - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 24
When I gently patted his back, Dang Jung flinched and went rigid. He couldn’t bring himself to embrace me in return, nor push me away—his fingers merely twitched at his sides.
He seemed uncertain, at a loss in this moment of awkwardness.
After a long silence, Dang Jung exhaled deeply.
“You soft-hearted thing. You should be upset with me. What do you mean, it’s all right?”
“You spoke honestly to me. So it is all right.”
“Ha!”
Dang Jung snorted as though finding it absurd. Yet his expression suggested he wasn’t displeased by my answer.
When he released his tight grip and stepped back, I saw his face grow noticeably gentler.
I met his eyes and smiled softly, and he let out a quiet laugh, then reached up to brush my cheek.
“For someone who knows so little of the world, you possess an unexpectedly deep heart. I worry how someone so pure will navigate this life. I know you must have felt hurt by what I said. This old man simply… wanted you to soar freely, without restraint. It sounds like an excuse, I know…”
Dang Jung spoke calmly, then fell silent. Even to his own ears, it must have sounded like an excuse.
In that moment, a rough voice called out from beyond the window.
“Soar freely? What nonsense. You’re feeling sorry for yourself. So Hye, there’s no need for you to bear this old man’s selfish burden. Just listen half-heartedly and let it pass through one ear.”
Dang Jung frowned at the flippant remark and hurled his tea cup out the window. As the tea splattered to the ground, Peng Lak clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, such a temper. Did I say something wrong?”
“Irritating wretch. I should stitch that mouth of yours shut.”
“Try it then. If you’re going to stitch my flesh, you’ll need Heavenly Silk Thread. Kra-ha-ha-ha!”
Peng Lak laughed heartily and thrust his massive head through the window frame.
I yelped at the sight of his glowing yellow eyes and clutched my chest.
Goodness. I thought he was a demon.
Grass and leaves clung all over his snow-white hair and beard. He must have been crouched in the undergrowth, eavesdropping.
“Bah. Just because people call you the Tiger doesn’t mean you’ve become one. Look at that snout.”
“Have you finished what you came to say?”
“Yes, you rascal.”
Peng Lak’s piercing eyes focused on me, and I flinched before meeting his gaze. His predator’s pupils, narrow and sharp, curved gently.
“So Hye. Yes, that’s your name, isn’t it—So Hye. Don’t feel burdened by your grandfather’s words. You just live your own life well.”
“You—!”
“Isn’t what I’m saying true? What does a child know? Just grow up straight and strong, and that’s all that matters.”
……
At his blunt retort, Dang Jung smiled wryly and conceded the point.
“…Yes, Peng Lak has the right of it. Child, forget what this old man said.”
Multiple emotions flickered across Dang Jung’s face as he recanted his words.
Watching him, my own heart grew complicated.
How long had he been tormented by guilt?
Time is not a cure for every wound. A wound left festering cannot heal simply by ignoring it, by pretending it doesn’t exist.
Dang Jung’s wound was no different.
If teaching me brought him peace of mind, if it eased the weight of guilt he’d carried all these years, then perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing at all.
When silence settled between us, Peng Lak clicked his tongue and vaulted lightly through the window into the sitting room.
“You drag me all this way and still haven’t poured any drink? When’s the wine coming?”
With his shameless question, Peng Lak naturally shifted the mood and jerked his chin toward the reception room as if to say let’s go.
“Always whining. Come on then.”
Dang Jung chuckled and led the way, opening the reception room door.
Following him, Peng Lak wrinkled his nose in puzzlement.
“No Poison Smoke in this raccoon’s den? Now that’s strange.”
“Raccoon’s den? Is that what you’ve been thinking of my residence all this time?”
“Of course. With all those herbs you spread out making poison, boiling and brewing… Ah, I see now. Just set down whatever’s in your hand.”
Peng Lak waved his hand and shuffled back nervously. His thick brows trembled—apparently he’d been on the receiving end of Dang Jung’s poison before.
Dang Jung replied casually.
“Un Yi has been coming by frequently these days, so I moved it to the other room. The boy was coughing up blood here.”
That’s because you were pressing down on his body with your Internal Force in the first place. This fellow is remarkably shameless.
I squinted at Dang Jung and sniffed the air. Now that he mentioned it, the acrid smell I’d noticed on my first visit to his residence was gone.
So that was the Poison Smoke. Perhaps Dang Jung had kept servants away all this time because of it.
Wait—did he bring me into a residence filled with Poison Smoke? Sir. What would have happened if I didn’t have Immunity to All Poisons?
“How is Un Yi doing? Any improvement?”
“…No. Un Yi’s mother desperately brings whatever Spiritual Medicine she can find, but his condition isn’t improving. At most, I’d say he has a year left, perhaps less.”
“Have you shown him to the Divine Hand Physician?”
“I’ve mentioned it. But that eccentric old fiend does as he pleases. He came to the capital as if he might take the case, loitered about, then suddenly vanished to Mu Han not long ago.”
“That fellow’s principle is never to create unnecessary trouble. Helping Un Yi would mean getting entangled in your clan’s succession dispute, so naturally he won’t budge.”
Peng Lak shrugged as though in agreement.
“I understand. The man’s spent his whole life caught in the web of debts and enmities across the martial world. You save one swordsman, another comes seeking revenge for his fallen enemy—what’s the difference? It’s filthy work. I’d lose the will to practice medicine too.”
……A martial physician really does have an extreme profession. What’s the difference between that and a doctor wedged between gangsters, getting disrespected?
From the way the two of them spoke, I began to suspect that the Lim Family member Dang Jung had mentioned earlier might be Gwi Su Sin Ui.
If he’d earned the epithet “the man with a healer’s hands,” he must be an exceptionally skilled physician—skilled enough to cure a Severed Pulse, perhaps.
The way both of them were trying to show me some hope suggested there might be a chance after all.
I fell into deep thought. I seemed to recall Gwi Su Sin Ui being mentioned briefly somewhere in the novel…….
Gwi Su Sin Ui’s cave lay hidden in a place so secret that others never suspected the existence of a cavern. It was located directly beneath the lake.
This cave possessed a peculiar quality: ordinarily it filled with water, but on the full moon of each month, the water drained away. Once the full moon passed, the water rose again, connecting with the lake, making it virtually impossible for an ordinary person to discover the cave’s existence.
Yet for concealing something—whether treasure or person—it was perfect.
On a night when the full moon hung bright, Nam Gung Hwi traced the edge of the lake searching for the entrance to Bi Dong. At last, the entrance appeared on the western shore.
I remembered. This was one of Nam Gung Hwi’s fortuitous encounters. The man certainly lived up to his role—he collected every opportunity and fortunate meeting imaginable.
In the novel, it only mentioned that Nam Gung Hwi discovered some legacy left by an immortal, but it seemed Gwi Su Sin Ui was still alive at this point.
At that time, Nam Gung Hwi obtained numerous Spiritual Medicines and Spiritual Pills, greatly increasing his Internal Force.
Surely something among them could help Un Yi.
Could I somehow retrieve the treasures stored in Gwi Su Sin Ui’s cave? If I told Dang Jung…….
He’d only suspect me again, asking how I knew. Besides, I don’t even know where that lake is.
Nothing seemed easy. As I pressed my lips shut, Peng Lak asked.
“Why the sigh, child?”
“Pardon? Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Thinking of your brother and feeling frustrated, are you? He’s close with Un Yi. You go study your letters instead. We’ll handle the drinking ourselves.”
Dang Jung waved a hand at me. Just as I nodded and was about to withdraw, Peng Lak caught my arm.
“Ah, you still insist on studying even at a time like this? Never mind that—come sit here.”
“A time like this? Is there a time for play and a time for learning? There’s always more to learn.”
“Really, you’re no fun at all. Make an exception today, will you? Come, sit here, child.”
Peng Lak pulled out a chair with a cheerful laugh. I couldn’t tell whose lead I ought to follow.
As I hesitated, Peng Lak tapped the chair with his massive palm.
“I said sit. Come here now.”
I looked at Dang Jung, and he nodded as if to say it was fine. I approached awkwardly and sat.
With me seated beside him, Peng Lak’s face grew satisfied, and he began ruffling my hair. My carefully arranged locks naturally fell into disarray.
My hair’s going to fall out at this rate. Honored elder, would you mind controlling your strength a bit?
“Are the young girls of the Dang house always this small? How curious—such a tiny head. It fits right in one palm.”
“The child might get hurt. Be gentle. And are you insulting me right now?”
“I never said you were small, sir…….”
Peng Lak mumbled, gauging Dang Jung’s reaction. He quietly shifted his chair, moving away.
“Ahem. Well, since I’m somewhat indebted and all, let me give you a small gift.”
Peng Lak cleared his throat and drew something from his sleeve.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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