Chapter 158

Soso came in as usual to change bandages and clean his body with medicinal water.

However, Jin Ja-gang felt uncomfortable with Soso and could no longer accept her care.

“From today on, I’ll do it myself, so just bring me the bandages.”

When Soso tried to make Jin Ja-gang lie down as if asking why, Jin Ja-gang grabbed Soso’s wrist and refused. Soso was flustered and opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.

Soso looked at Jin Ja-gang with an anxious expression, unable to understand the reason, then left the room.

* * *

A little later, Dan Ryeong-gyeong came to see Jin Ja-gang.

“So. Have you thought about it?”

Jin Ja-gang conveyed his thoughts concisely but clearly.

“I will go my own way.”

Not adding any excuses meant his thoughts had become firm.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong was slightly disappointed but respected Jin Ja-gang’s thoughts.

“It seems your mind is made up. To dismiss it as youthful impetuosity would be inappropriate given all you’ve experienced. But don’t think this is knowing the will of heaven.”

Youthful years refers to a young age, around twenty years old, and knowing the will of heaven refers to age fifty. She was metaphorically saying that while she wouldn’t call Jin Ja-gang’s thoughts childish impetuosity, it wasn’t necessarily the correct answer.

“Part of the truth is often hidden.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong threw out this topic, and Jin Ja-gang continued.

“Part of the truth is often hidden, and what you’ve experienced isn’t the entirety of truth. Those were your words from before.”

“That’s right. Those words remain valid even for me who looks toward knowing heaven’s will, and they will never change even when I reach the age of looking toward old age and becoming elderly. The martial world always tries to hide the truth, and we are beings who must live eating the martial world’s rice until our dying day.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong smiled slightly.

“So perhaps in this treacherous martial world… living relying on a single sword without complicated thoughts could be one wise method.”

“Thank you for the advice. I will take it to heart.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong didn’t say she would help or anything like that. There was no need. Jin Ja-gang had clearly expressed his opinion that he would no longer accept help from the evil faction.

* * *

Having heard the story, Bian Bu came to visit and chattered away.

“Disappointing, disappointing… In the end, the dark path is the dark path. You can’t mingle together in muddy water, is that it?”

“Didn’t you tell me to establish standards for judgment myself?”

“I did.”

“I’m going to learn from now on.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. You can’t play with us people, something like that.”

Bian Bu grumbled.

“I don’t really know. How I should act. Whether the path I’m taking is right. But I don’t want to add prejudice to my revenge.”

“The Lord might be fooled by that, but you can’t fool my eyes. Look at me.”

Bian Bu stared sharply at Jin Ja-gang and asked.

“Your eyes changed after hearing that the Medicine Sect attacked the Poison Gate first. Then you started feeling uncomfortable looking at Soso. Am I wrong?”

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t deny it.

“You’re right.”

“Huh.”

Bian Bu lamented.

“Don’t think foolish thoughts. Even if the Medicine Sect were the aggressors and villains, that child isn’t bad.”

“But I don’t know how to look at Soso. Every time I see Soso, I keep feeling troubled. It becomes difficult to judge whether my revenge is justified.”

Bian Bu couldn’t continue speaking for a moment.

He had come to know to some extent how terrible and arduous the experiences Jin Ja-gang had endured to get here.

He had endured thinking only that the Poison Sect was evil, but now he had to completely overturn that thinking, so how great must the shock be.

Every time he saw Soso, past events would continuously come to mind and the sight of the Hundred Flower Valley family dying would resurface.

“I don’t fail to understand. But…”

“Soso… treats me too well. I’m afraid that while receiving such devotion, I won’t be able to neutrally and selflessly establish my will and look at the world without prejudice.”

At that moment, there was a clanging sound from outside.

When Bian Bu went out to look, Soso was standing outside the door with a broken teapot and teacup fallen at her feet.

She had probably been bringing tea when she was shocked by hearing the conversation from outside.

Soso was restless, then hurriedly cleaned up the broken pieces and left.

Bian Bu looked at Jin Ja-gang.

“Listen here. Soso heard that you’re from the same Medicine Sect background. So she knows you’re in the same situation as herself. That’s why she treats you well. What other meaning is needed there?”

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t answer. He only became more confused.

Bian Bu clicked his tongue with a pitying expression.

“Tsk tsk. This damned turbid world… Is establishing firm resolve such a difficult thing?”

* * *

That evening, while bringing bandages and medicine, Soso didn’t make eye contact with Jin Ja-gang.

“I’m sorry.”

At Jin Ja-gang’s words, Soso paused briefly.

Soso hesitated, then raised her head to look directly at Jin Ja-gang. This was the first time they had fully made eye contact.

“Ah…”

Soso tried to speak but made a sound like a groan and closed her mouth again.

She continued looking at Jin Ja-gang in that state. She seemed to want to say something, but it was impossible to know what.

After thinking, Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Do you want to ask how I got these wounds?”

Soso shook her head to indicate no.

“Did Guizhou Medicine Sect and Yunnan Medicine Sect know each other?”

Shake shake.

Jin Ja-gang thought again.

“Do you mean you won’t take care of me anymore?”

Soso smiled and shook her head again. Anyway, since she was smiling, it probably wasn’t a bad meaning.

“Are you saying what Uncle Bian Bu said was wrong?”

“Do you want to talk about something related to the Lord?”

She shook her head to all of them.

Now she was sparkling her eyes as if it was fun and grinning.

But Jin Ja-gang, who was being subjected to this, was sweating. He had never looked directly into someone’s eyes for so long. Especially not a girl’s.

Looking at eyes full of goodwill without malice, Jin Ja-gang felt strange.

But he also became stubborn.

He was determined to find out what she was trying to say. It would be convenient to write it down, but since she was deliberately doing this, it was also annoying.

“Are you trying to talk about tonight’s dinner?”

“Or do you want to know how I lived before?”

“Do you want me to ask about Guizhou Medicine Sect?”

When he mentioned Guizhou Medicine Sect, she did show somewhat sad eyes, but she quickly smiled brightly again.

Jin Ja-gang had been asking questions like riddles for almost half an hour. Since he had almost no connection with Soso, his questions eventually had limits.

“Ha…”

Jin Ja-gang finally raised his hands. He had asked dozens of questions but hadn’t guessed a single one correctly.

“I really don’t know. I give up. Is that enough?”

But Soso shook her head again.

“What on earth is it? Are you angry because I spoke carelessly during the day?”

Soso shook her head even more vigorously at those words.

“It’s not that you’re deliberately playing a prank, and it’s not that you want to torment me, so I’d like you to stop now.”

Soso looked disappointed. Jin Ja-gang was generally patient, but he had no way to deal with stubborn goodwill.

“Stop. Let’s stop. I really don’t know.”

Then suddenly Soso nodded vigorously.

“Huh? To stop?”

Shake shake.

“Then…”

Jin Ja-gang had a suspicion.

“My way of speaking?”

Soso nodded more quickly.

“You want me to change my way of speaking? Not to use formal speech?”

Soso smiled brightly.

Jin Ja-gang felt completely deflated. After struggling for over half an hour, what he found out was just not to use formal speech.

But that wasn’t the end. Soso pointed alternately at Jin Ja-gang and herself with her finger.

“Ah…”

“That’s…”

This time it was even more difficult. Wasn’t it about formal speech? Or was there something else related to formal speech?

Soso gestured to Jin Ja-gang with hand and foot signals. Then, as if that wouldn’t work anymore, she took Jin Ja-gang’s hand and placed it on top of her head. Then she made Jin Ja-gang pat her head with his hand.

Jin Ja-gang had something come to mind and pointed alternately at himself and Soso as Soso had done.

“Older brother… younger sister?”

This time he seemed to have gotten it right.

Nod nod!

“But…”

Jin Ja-gang wondered how she could approach him so closely. She had seen how messed up his body was. Anyone who saw such a body would find it hard to get close due to disgust.

“Aren’t my wounds disgusting?”

Soso shook her head. From Soso’s eyes, Jin Ja-gang felt a strange sense of kinship.

Soso, like himself, had gone through harsh adversity.

Guizhou Medicine Sect, like Yunnan Medicine Sect, had suffered terrible treatment, and Soso too would have seen all kinds of horrific scenes.

That’s why she could nonchalantly clean his wounds, Jin Ja-gang could feel.

Because those were scenes she had become accustomed to seeing.

So Bian Bu’s words that she cared for Jin Ja-gang because he was from the Medicine Sect were half right and half wrong.

Soso, seeing Jin Ja-gang who had arrived in terrible condition, recalled what she had experienced at Guizhou Medicine Sect. And she identified Jin Ja-gang with the people of Guizhou Medicine Sect who had been brutally tortured and slaughtered.

But rather than avoiding because it was painful, she was doing through the process of caring for Jin Ja-gang what she should have done but couldn’t do in the past.

That’s why she could care for Jin Ja-gang with such seemingly incomprehensible devotion. As if caring for her own family and sect members…

That was Soso’s own way of overcoming the past.

Realizing this, Jin Ja-gang’s heart ached.

If he could, he wanted to erase the terrible things remaining somewhere in this young girl’s memory.

No, but actually Jin Ja-gang didn’t need to do that. In some ways, Soso was better off than Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang thought silently for a moment.

Actually, he had been thinking of leaving soon.

The burden of having a new relationship where they would call each other brother and sister and become close was great, and he didn’t have enough time to maintain it.

However, looking at Soso’s expression as she looked at him with eyes both fearful of rejection and hopeful, he couldn’t bring himself to say words of refusal.

Jin Ja-gang opened his reluctant mouth and said.

“Alright, So… So. Is this how I should speak?”

Soso looked very satisfied.

Watching the happy Soso, Jin Ja-gang was overwhelmed with complex emotions.

He thought that people could be happy and joyful over such small things, and at the same time felt somewhat overwhelmed.

While he couldn’t even understand and notice this small girl’s heart, could he really find his own path and truth in this complex martial world?

* * *

It had been more than ten days since coming to the manor.

Jin Ja-gang expressed to Bian Bu his intention to leave soon. Bian Bu naturally objected, saying it was nonsense.

“No, what are you talking about? The doctor said it would take at least half a year before you could do daily activities. I understand your feelings, but first focus on treatment. Whatever you do, it’s not too late to think about it after that. You have plenty of time…”

Jin Ja-gang’s physical condition, having learned Mad Acupoint Piercing, an assassin’s technique, wasn’t very good. The more he used Mad Acupoint Piercing, the more his lifespan would gradually decrease.

So saying Jin Ja-gang had plenty of time didn’t fit. Of course, if he moved before fully recovering, it would worsen even more.

“Hmm. Anyway, I’m opposed. If you go around with bandages wrapped all over your body like that, you’ll easily catch people’s attention.”

Beside them, Soso also nodded, agreeing with Bian Bu’s opinion.

Then Jin Ja-gang began unwrapping his bandages.