The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

I had a dream of my childhood after a long time. To be precise, it was a dream of a distant past life when I was trapped in a hospital, not in this world. It was a time when I always looked out the window, wondering when this terrible pain would end.

I was always lonely. My parents always had to work to pay for hospital bills, and I could only see them late in the evening.

My parents’ faces were flushed red, and fatigue was etched around their eyes. When I faced their appearance that looked like they would collapse if pushed, I could only force a smile.

After exchanging a few words of conversation like that, my parents returned home for tomorrow. Then the warmth that had lingered around me faded away, and darkness settled again.

When winter came, I could feel my life fading. At those times, I quietly looked at the light seeping through the window cracks.

The colorful lights of Christmas and the laughter heard through the faintly open cracks. That was an experience I couldn’t have.

I probably couldn’t enjoy the many things those people were enjoying. I would probably slowly die while staying sick like this.

I clearly remembered the last day I was dying. That day was the only day that was more peaceful and painless than any other day. My condition was better than usual, so I ate a meal with my parents who happened to be resting, and I could even take a walk at night.

The doctor smiled saying I seemed much better, but that wasn’t the case. The night when hope arrived ended with unbearable pain.

It still remained in my memory. The faces of my parents crying while holding onto me as I was dying.

What thoughts did my parents have while looking at me? Did they pity me? Or did they feel sorry? Were they sad?

Or did they regret not just letting me die without trying and without spending money, since I would die like this anyway?

‘…Dojin.’

Will you end up regretting it too? If it’s a fate to die no matter what struggles I make, will you regret the choice you made today? If I was going to die anyway, you would have made a different choice… that is.

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes. The bright sunlight flooding in beyond my blurry vision irritated my eyes.

When I opened my eyes a little more, my blurry vision cleared. Beyond my clear vision, I saw swaying curtains. While blankly following the movement of the curtains with my eyes, I slowly turned my head and saw Hyuk Dojin’s face staring intently at me.

“Have you woken up?”

It was a monotonous and peaceful morning greeting as if given to someone who had just woken up from sleep. I smiled softly because his voice sounded nice. A thin smile also hung on Hyuk Dojin’s lips.

“I’m glad. I was worried because you hadn’t woken up for days.”

“Has a lot of time passed?”

I asked with a slightly cracked and hoarse voice. Hyuk Dojin rolled his eyes as if counting the days, then calmly answered.

“About three days have passed.”

“Three days…?”

I was just hit by a sword in the shoulder, but could I have been collapsed for three days because of that?

When I asked in surprise, Hyuk Dojin’s hand approached. His hand calmly tidying my disheveled hair that had been irritating my eyes was quiet. As I stayed still at the feeling brushing my forehead, his voice was heard next.

“According to Ji Seok, your body condition was terrible. He said your meridians had become very weak, making it difficult to handle the inner power flowing from your dantian. Not only that, but he said there were many problems with your nutritional state and various other issues.”

“Is that so…”

“Yes. He said it was amazing that you didn’t show any signs of pain or complain with such a body.”

It was a slightly blunt voice as if scolding. I smiled faintly at his appearance as if asking why I hadn’t said anything.

“It wasn’t that hard. I’ve been in more pain and had harder times than that before, so that much was bearable.”

“…”

I tried to smile to cheer up Hyuk Dojin, but instead, the corners of his mouth slowly went down.

Hyuk Dojin quietly looked at me with tightly closed lips and shaking eyes, then spoke slowly.

“…I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“Back then…”

Hyuk Dojin bit his lip tightly while speaking. When he closed his mouth, I stared blankly at him in the flowing quiet silence.

Hyuk Dojin met my gaze and spoke again.

“If I hadn’t acted stupidly and foolishly back then, you wouldn’t have had to suffer more pain… Because I hesitated stupidly, I increased your pain. I was so stupid and incompetent that I have nothing to say even with a hundred mouths. I’m sorry…”

I quietly looked at Hyuk Dojin, who was calmly conveying his feelings in a heavy voice, then turned my gaze to look at my shoulder.

When I slightly moved my shoulder, I felt compression and slight pain as if it was wrapped in bandages. I looked at Hyuk Dojin again.

“Why is Dojin sorry? You don’t need to be sorry. It’s not your fault either. You’re neither stupid nor incompetent.”

I slowly smiled while caressing his cheek with my uninjured arm.

“Rather, I was surprised that you showed a more human-like reaction than I knew. Can I even dare to imagine how surprising it was for someone who was always cool and rational to be so shaken?”

“That…”

“Besides, it would be stranger not to be shaken there. Anyone would be shaken if such a precious person appeared again. How could I not understand that?”

I could fully understand what meaning Geum Soso held for Hyuk Dojin just by seeing and hearing from the side.

His childhood experiences were very important ingredients that made up the current Hyuk Dojin. And most of those ingredients were from Geum Soso, his mother.

And although he didn’t say it, the biggest reason Hyuk Dojin was interested in me at first was my health condition, which was my biggest problem.

He must have been able to see Geum Soso’s image in me who was sick. So, for me, the existence of the woman called Geum Soso was not someone else, but perhaps a bridgehead that helped me connect well with Hyuk Dojin.

So, I couldn’t blame Hyuk Dojin.

“Dojin, just as you understood and cared for me, I too understand you. So, don’t be sorry. You hesitated for a moment, but in the end, you saved me. That’s enough.”

“…”

Hyuk Dojin didn’t give any answer to my voice, just bit his lip tightly and rolled his eyes, then slowly nodded his head.

I smiled brightly at him, then raised my body. With Hyuk Dojin’s support, I sat up and leaned my back against the wall, when Ji Seok entered by opening the door as if he had been waiting.

He opened his eyes wide in surprise as soon as he saw me.

“You’ve woken up?”

“Thanks to you.”

“Your recovery is fast. I thought you would be lying down for at least a week…”

He trailed off and glanced down at the medicine bottle in his hand. Following his gaze, I also lowered my gaze, and Ji Seok approached with a grin.

“It seems the medicinal energy of the Five Leaf Fire Grass is effective.”

“…Five Leaf Fire Grass?”

Ji Seok nodded his head once, then approached and sat in a chair next to Hyuk Dojin before lifting my wrist.

“Yes. The Five Leaf Fire Grass that the Young Cult Leader brought himself. Have you forgotten?”

Ah, that’s right. I had completely forgotten about the existence of the Five Leaf Fire Grass, surprised by Geum Soso’s appearance. As I froze with my mouth slightly open, Ji Seok smiled and slowly took my pulse.

“After you collapsed that day, we immediately used the Five Leaf Fire Grass to make medicine and treat you. Fortunately, since it’s an herb containing a large amount of yang energy, it had quite a good effect on wound healing too. Thanks to that, the treatment was much easier. Moreover, the medicinal effect was better than expected, so your body condition has stabilized. How do you feel? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”

I shook my head after checking my body condition by slightly lowering my eyes at his question as he stared at me.

Strength overflowed from all over my body to an unbelievable extent for a body that had just woken up. Even the meridians that had been flowing thinly as if about to break had regained health.

“Honestly, it’s an efficacy that’s hard to believe even seeing with my own eyes. I want to eat a little myself if possible, but if an ordinary person drinks it, they would die unable to handle the massive yang energy.”

“Is it to that extent?”

“Yes. With this much, the disease you’ve always had should be resolved without any problem. And…”

He grinned and lowered his hand that had been holding my wrist.

“There should be an improvement in inner power as well.”

“Improvement in inner power…”

“Probably, when your body fully recovers and you circulate qi and breath, you’ll feel that the inner power residing in your body is considerable. Even before, when I took your pulse, the pure energy and inner power sleeping in your body were considerable, but after eating the herb, you’ll have achieved growth incomparable to before.”

I repeatedly opened and closed my palm a few times, then raised my head.

“However, what I don’t understand is that normally, if that much inner power accumulates in the body, there should be changes in the body even without enlightenment or knowing the method, but it’s strange that there are no symptoms at all.”

“Changes?”

“Yes. The first stage of body constitution that can be called the entrance and most basic of the Flowering Realm.”

Bone Marrow Cleansing, a complete transformation.

Ji Seok slowly opened his lips.

“All conditions are met. The inner power is more than sufficient, it’s saturated. It has far exceeded the amount that can be bound in the dantian without Bone Marrow Cleansing. But I’m curious why there’s no change at all. I’d like to say something helpful, but I’m an unworthy body that hasn’t even approached, let alone reached the Flowering Realm, so I have nothing more to say.”

Ji Seok rubbed his chin, then slightly rolled his eyes to look at Hyuk Dojin.

Hyuk Dojin quietly listened to Ji Seok’s words, then felt his gaze and calmly opened his mouth.

“Although the Transcendent Demonic Realm and Flowering Realm are called similar stages, unlike the Flowering Realm, the Transcendent Demonic Realm doesn’t undergo stages of change step by step. Some undergo Bone Marrow Cleansing several times, while others die without Bone Marrow Cleansing even after reaching the Transcendent Demonic Realm. That’s the difference in what kind of martial arts one has learned, so I don’t know anything either.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame. Anyway, the inner power the Young Madam holds in her body is by no means shallow. So, if you find a method, it will help you escape from the current pain.”

After finishing speaking, he smiled and handed over the medicine bottle in his hand. Previously, it was round pill-shaped medicine, but this time it was liquid, and I could feel it swishing in a small bottle.

Ji Seok said he was brewing more medicine, then got up from his seat. I watched him retreat to the side of the room, then drank all the liquid contained in the medicine bottle.

Hyuk Dojin received the empty bottle from my hand and placed it on the table, then examined my face.

I smiled slightly at his gaze staring intently, and Hyuk Dojin’s expression slowly relaxed too.

While wiping the medicine stained on the corners of my mouth with the back of my hand, I spoke quietly.

“By the way, aren’t you going to tell me more about that incident? I mean, what happened after I collapsed?”

“That… I’ll tell you later. More importantly, there are guests.”

“Guests?”

When I tilted my head, Hyuk Dojin smiled and got up from his seat. He approached the door connected to the next room and slid it open, revealing two people who had been listening behind the room.

It was Jeok Biwol and Moyong Do.

“Brother?”

“Sowol…”

“I’m here too, but you only see your brother and not me?”

Before Moyong Do could smile and call my name, Jeok Biwol opened her mouth bluntly and approached closer. She looked me up and down with disapproving eyes, then raised her eyebrows.

“Hello? It’s been a while.”

“…Jeok Biwol.”

Although she didn’t do anything, for some reason, I felt rebellious whenever I saw Jeok Biwol.

When I quietly recited her name, Jeok Biwol grinned and sat down on the chair. I stared blankly at her actions, then quietly opened my mouth.

“What are you doing here? Help…”

“Ah, by the way, Miss Jeok Biwol gave a lot of advice on brewing the medicine. I thought she was only proficient in poisons, but I didn’t know she was also skilled in brewing spirit herbs. Haha!”

An unsolicited explanation flowed from Ji Seok’s mouth, who had retreated to the side. Thanks to that, my mouth, which was opening bluntly, had no choice but to close tightly.

Jeok Biwol stared quietly at me, then grinned and jerked her chin.

“What? Do you have anything more to say?”

“…”

Jeok Biwol’s expression with a victorious smile on her lips was triumphant. I quietly looked at that appearance, then calmly lowered my twitching eyebrows and quietly answered.

“…No. Thank you.”

“That’s right?”

…She’s really annoying, really. I let out a long sigh inwardly.