Free Web NovelAt my blank reaction, Tang Juhee scratched her head.
“What’s with you, little sister. You haven’t heard anything? I thought you knew.”
“I don’t know anything, so please explain. What’s this coming-of-age talk, and what do you mean by choosing an affiliation?”
“In the main house, once you hold your coming-of-age, there’s a family rule that you have to fulfill your responsibilities as a member of the clan. You pick where you’ll belong—either stay in the clan and work under one division, or join an armed unit and go out on missions.”
So there were actual family rules. I thought this place just ran on vibes. But yeah—no matter how it looked, it was still a sect.
“So I have to choose an affiliation no matter what?”
“Of course. They raised you until you’re an adult, so you have to earn your keep. If you laze around with no affiliation, how are you different from a freeloading leech?”
Tang Juhee answered with a razor.
...Calling someone a freeloading leech was a bit much.
Still, I understood why the rule existed. If they wanted to run an estate this huge without relying only on blood relatives, every pair of hands mattered.
Watching my expression, Tang Juhee leaned in and whispered in a sweet voice.
“Ancestor Jonghyeon told you to go help with Medical Hall work, didn’t he? He’s probably thinking of sending you there.”
No, he wasn’t.
I pretended not to hear and brushed wood dust off my clothes.
“I can stop trimming now, right?”
“Sure. Looks like you’ve paid your decoction fee.”
You beat her up—I shouldn’t be paying for it.
The shameless answer made me speechless, but I didn’t even have the energy to argue. Grumbling, I set the dagger down.
The Medical Hall Master, who had finished wrapping up his own work, called Deokju over.
“Come lie down. Let me check your pulse.”
After taking Deokju’s pulse, he shrugged like it was nothing.
“Your qi and blood are just clotted up. It’s not severe, so I’ll put in some needles.”
“What about her face? The bruise is really bad.”
“A martial artist getting a bruise—what’s the big deal?”
As he answered, the Medical Hall Master drove thick needles into Deokju’s body—THUNK, THUNK. In an instant, Deokju looked like a porcupine and her whole body shuddered.
...That has to hurt.
I tried not to look at the needles and spoke again.
“Still. It’s her face. What if it leaves a mark?”
My kid was so rigid she’d probably refuse to put ointment on it, too.
“If you’re that worried, I’ll make one dose of decoction that reduces swelling. Feed it to her before you go.”
With cloudy eyes like I was being dramatic, the Medical Hall Master jerked his chin behind him.
Tang Juhee, like she’d been waiting for that cue, thrust a decoction pot at me.
“Here. Brew it.”
...Even the medicine is self-service?
I let out a hollow laugh and took the pot.
*****
Tang Juhee didn’t forget Tang Jung’s instruction to send me back before mid-morning. She shoved me out precisely around the time mid-afternoon ended.
“Alright. Little sister, go now. Ancestor Jonghyeon might come looking for you.”
Tang Juhee sent me off cleanly, but the Medical Hall Master looked openly disappointed that I was leaving.
He followed us all the way to the front gate to see me off.
“You worked hard. It’d be nice if you came tomorrow and worked hard again.”
What kind of farewell is that?
Tang Juhee piled on.
“Yeah. Want to come again tomorrow? It’s about time to sort the old medicinal stock. If you help, I’ll teach you how to combine ingredients. Don’t you want to know how to make antidote pills?”
The Medical Hall Master nodded along like she was saying the obvious, his eyes shining like he’d set stars into them.
“If I have time. I’ll take my leave.”
I fumbled my way through the answer and edged backward. Their expectant gazes prickled between my shoulder blades.
Somebody, please send more people to the Medical Hall.
Maybe because of the needles the Medical Hall Master used, Deokju’s bruise had faded a lot.
“Deokju. Are you okay? The swelling went down a lot.”
“I’m fine. Thank you for worrying about me, young lady.”
Deokju answered with a faint smile. Seeing her smile for the first time, I widened my eyes.
“Wait, Deokju—you just smiled.”
“......” freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
“You smiled, right? You did, right?”
At my commotion, Deokju wiped her expression blank again.
Hey. I saw it.
“Our Deokju can smile now. You’ve grown up. You’ve really grown up.”
“......”
Teasing Deokju, I headed for Tang Jung’s residence.
Contrary to my expectation that Tang Un would be waiting, only Tang Jung was there.
He sat at a desk in complete disarray, gripping a brush.
His brows were tightly knit as he scribbled something in silence—like he was writing an important letter.
This room’s turned into a pigsty. Tomorrow, I should clean for him.
I tried to slip out without disturbing him, but Tang Jung called out.
“Don’t just stand there. Come over and sit.”
His eyes were still on the brush tip. How did he know it was me without even looking? Confused, I asked,
“How did you know it was me?”
“In this old man’s residence, you’re the only one who walks in fluttering around like you’re out for a stroll. There’s no way I wouldn’t know.”
That didn’t sound like a compliment.
I smacked my lips and dragged a chair over to sit beside him. Tang Jung set the brush down and asked,
“So. How was the Medical Hall?”
“It looked short-staffed. When I helped trim medicinal materials, the Medical Hall Master seemed unbelievably happy.”
“Everyone ran away from Juhee’s nagging. That’s why. That brat’s temper isn’t exactly normal.”
...So it really was because of Tang Juhee. At that point, shouldn’t you be the one to send Tang Juhee out?
“And trimming medicinal materials—was it manageable?”
“It was... okay.”
At my answer, Tang Jung gave a quiet snort.
“If you didn’t get yelled at, you must’ve trimmed them properly. If you’re bored, drop by once in a while and learn how to handle medicinal materials. It’ll help you.”
“Actually, the Medical Hall Master told me to come tomorrow and suffer again.”
“Simhong did? Ha. That one’s always been good at jokes.”
That wasn’t a joke. He had the look of a man who wanted to lock me inside the Medical Hall forever.
As I rubbed my goosebumped shoulders, something strange caught my eye.
A large bird was perched in the corner of the desk, drinking water.
“Grand Elder, what is that? A hawk? An eagle?”
“A message hawk. It’s trained to bring back replies, so it’s been squatting there the whole time.”
So it was a hawk. I’d seen so many weird animals since coming here.
Now that he mentioned it, I noticed a thin bamboo tube tied to its ankle. If you put a letter in that tube, it would fly back.
“Anyway—because of Wi Jigok, I’m annoyed to death. He keeps pestering an old man.”
Tang Jung raked a hand through his hair irritably and glared at the letter he’d been writing.
The hawk clicked its beak twice and screeched sharply.
“SKREEE!”
“Now even a bird wants to bully an old man. Stop rushing me. I’m writing, aren’t I?”
Tang Jung snapped as he lifted his brush, and the hawk flinched, shrinking in on itself like it was reading the room.
If this was a letter to the Martial Alliance Lord, it didn’t seem like ordinary content. I asked carefully,
“Grand Elder... it looks important. Should I step out?”
“It’s just a simple prescription. It’s fine if you see it. I’m almost done, so wait and go after dinner.”
Dinner was still a long way off.
So it meant it would take a while.
I scooted my chair closer and craned my neck toward the desk. The letter was filled with names of medicinal materials I recognized.
It was the exact mixture I’d learned was used to make an antidote.
Only then did I understand why the Martial Alliance Lord had come.
He must’ve needed an antidote for an extreme poison and had sought Tang Jung out.
As Tang Jung wrote the prescription, he paused, groaning like something didn’t sit right with him.
He suddenly stood, rummaged through the medicinal stock scattered all over the room, then looked at me.
“Kid. Run an errand for your grandpa.”
“Yes. Where should I go?”
“Go to the Poison King Hall and get some castor seeds from Onjeong. Take this entry token.”
“Onjeong?”
“The Poison King Hall Master. She’s your aunt.”
Ah. So I had an aunt.
I had seven siblings myself—there was no way that bastard father of mine didn’t have siblings.
“Yes. I’ll go.”
I turned to leave obediently—then froze.
“...But where is the Poison King Hall?”
“......”
“Deokju will know.”
Tang Jung answered with a swallowed sigh.
*****
The Sichuan Tang Clan was a sect that treated poison and hidden weapons as its secret arts. Of course poison research was active.
But that didn’t mean you could boil and brew poison just anywhere.
Even within the clan, only a very small number of people could withstand the extreme poisons the Tang Clan took pride in.
So the Tang Clan built a poison research facility in the back mountain that bordered the estate, and restricted entry.
“So that’s the Poison King Hall?”
“Yes, young lady.”
“And to run this errand, I have to climb that mountain?”
“Yes, young lady.”
Deokju answered slowly.
When I saw the secret passage leading toward the back mountain, a laugh slipped out of me.
I’d figured they’d have something like a warehouse to store poison, but I’d never imagined they’d hide their poison in the mountains.
You said poison was made only deep inside the inner estate. Since when did the back mountain become part of the inner estate?
Smacking my lips, I started up the back mountain with Deokju.
At the foot of the mountain were fields.
Terraced plots carved into the slope were neatly divided, each section planted with poisonous /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ herbs.
When we reached mid-slope, a fork appeared—left seemed to lead to the Poison King Hall buildings, and right led into a forest.
A black flag forbidding entry was planted in front of the forest, which gave off an eerie, unwelcoming air.
When I glanced that way, Deokju stepped in front of me, blocking me like she absolutely would not allow it.
“The Heavenly Poison Forest is forbidden ground, young lady. You must not go in.”
“Yeah? What’s inside?”
“I don’t know what’s inside either. I’ve only heard it’s a place you cannot enter without the Clan Head’s permission.”
Why was it forbidden? I hadn’t heard rumors about some spirit beast living here. Did they hide a closed-door training ground or something?
Scratching my cheek awkwardly, I turned to the left path.
Thanks to the stairs laid straight toward the buildings, getting up to mid-mountain didn’t take long.
But something felt wrong.
A suspiciously yellow haze hung around the Poison King Hall.
There was also a nasty smell, like rotten leaves mashed into a pile. It wasn’t pleasant.
“Deokju. That looks like poison fumes... hey—are you okay?”
I panicked mid-sentence.
Deokju’s eyes were bloodshot, and she was silently spilling tears and snot.
If something’s wrong, say it’s wrong. Why would you stubbornly endure it alone?
I pushed my stubborn young lady behind me.
“No. This won’t work. Deokju, stay here. No—go down there, all the way.”
“No, young lady. I’ll go with you—”
“Do you want to wait outside, or do you want me to carry you out after you get poisoned? We just went to the Medical Hall—are you trying to go again?”
“......”
“You’ll wait down there, right?”
“......”
“Right?”
Under my insistence, Deokju finally nodded, slow and reluctant.
“I will wait, young lady. If the situation seems dangerous, you must come out immediately.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry.”
I’m Myriad-Poison-Immune.
I waved at Deokju, then stepped forward into the mustard-yellow toxic haze.
