Chapter 47
47
- The Youngest is Weary
Whether she enjoyed our first meeting's doll play, Dang Ju-hee visited me frequently.
"Youngest!"
"What is it?"
"Youngest!"
"Yes, yes, Sister. I need to train, so please stop talking to me."
"Look at this, Soso. The Youngest always answers properly? Cho-hee doesn't even acknowledge me. Isn't she cute?"
Uh, is that so.
She would come to watch my early morning training from the crack of dawn.
"Won't you spar with me?"
"No."
"Aww, I'll go easy."
"If I get hit by your fist, I'll die, you know?"
"Don't be like that, let's play. Want to learn hand techniques? It's really fun, you know?"
"No, thank you. Growing my nails would be inconvenient when throwing Hidden Weapons."
"That's why I'm telling you to learn. Close combat is fun."
She would also pester me to spar.
Of course, I refused all of it. I knew my place.
If I fought Dang Ju-hee, who had been training in fist and leg techniques for over ten years, all the bones in my body would surely break.
Pretending not to hear, I threw a coin into the pond, and Dang Ju-hee clung to my side.
"Just once. Huh? You can use Poison, you can throw Hidden Weapons, I'll take it. Let's spar. Huh?"
I can't hear you. I can't hear you.
"Or should I teach you how to make potent Poison? How to make antidotes? If you don't like that, want to go see the Iron Fortress? Let's have tea with Cho-hee, the three of us. Going out is fine too. How about going to the fabric store and buying new silk?"
Is it just my imagination, or does it feel like a non-existent tail is wagging excitedly?
Seeing Dang Ju-hee, who was chattering away excitedly, I felt a pang of pity.
You don't have any friends, do you?
"Sister, I need to train. If I slack off, Grandfather will scold me."
"Then seeing the Iron Fortress would be good. You should go to the Iron Fortress too. You've never been, have you?"
"No, I'm telling you, I'll get scolded."
"If sisters get along well, Jonghyun-jo will be happy too."
Are you even listening to me?
Dang Ju-hee, who had come to her own conclusion, pulled me. A scream burst out from the strong grip.
"Ah! It hurts. Sister, my arm is going to fall off. Pull gently. Gently."
"Really? You're much weaker than I thought? Okay. Gently."
Dang Ju-hee, repeating my words, grabbed the end of my sleeve with her thumb and forefinger. Her touch was as careful as if she were touching dandelion fluff.
"It doesn't hurt now, right? You need to train harder. You seem weaker than my maid."
"Then don't disturb my training."
"I don't want to. I'm bored."
Dang Ju-hee, answering sulkily, started walking briskly while holding my sleeve.
Since Grandfather was away, there was nowhere to run.
With an expression of worldly detachment, I was dragged along by Dang Ju-hee.
Summer was just around the corner, and the weather was warm, even hot.
As I rolled up my sleeves because the temperature was a little too warm, Dang Ju-hee tilted her head.
"Hot? It's not that hot yet. The Youngest is very sensitive to heat?"
"Isn't it that you're not sensitive to heat, Sister?"
"Have you ever seen a Sichuan person sensitive to heat? You're the strange one."
Dang Ju-hee clapped her hands and laughed as if she had heard a funny joke. The sound of jade rings clashing was loud.
Wouldn't it be strange for someone wearing two layers of gorgeous Long Robe over their Martial Arts uniform and adorned with lots of accessories not to sweat a single drop?
Too lazy to retort, I trudged along, when someone greeted me.
"Who do we have here, if it isn't the Immunity to all poisons Youngest sister."
Turning my head at the sarcastic tone, I saw Dang Juyeop staring at me.
Wearing a pure white Long Robe and fluttering a pure white fan, he looked like a refined scholar enjoying the life of a hermit.
His face was so clean that it was hard to believe he had been lying like a living corpse.
He looked serious when he was taken to the Medicine Hall, but it's amazing. Was it really nothing?
"Yes, yes. Hello."
"Did you have fun that day?"
I was about to wonder what nonsense he was talking about, but the image of Dang Seho's face being used as a canvas for Dang Juyeop's brushstrokes flashed through my mind.
I flinched and avoided his gaze.
So you knew I drew on your face. But I only drew one dot.
Dang Ju-hee, who had been looking Dang Juyeop up and down with her arms crossed, shook her head.
"Are you going to the pleasure house again? I told you not to go to Moon Scent Pavilion. Father will get angry if he finds out."
"He won't find out."
"How can he not when you go out looking like that?"
Dang Ju-hee clicked her tongue and retorted. Regardless, Dang Juyeop smiled foolishly and fluttered his fan.
"I'll hide it well."
"Make sure it doesn't splash on me."
"Of course. Anyway..."
The guy, who had replied slyly, lowered his upper body and met my eye level. I took a step back, startled by the uncomfortable distance.
"What is it?"
"Are you free this afternoon? I'd like to treat you to a cup of tea, sister."
"I don't want to."
I saw with my own eyes what you fed me, why would I want to have tea with you?
Then Dang Juyeop drooped his eyebrows as if he was disappointed.
"Don't you trust me?"
"Would you trust yourself if you were me? You fed me Poison right away when we first met?"
"That was my mistake. I should have fed it to you after gaining your trust."
...What is he saying.
He looks sly like a fox, and every word he says is so annoying.
"I have no intention of doing anything to you, sister. I've already confirmed that Poison doesn't work on you."
"Ah, okay."
Dang Juyeop did not lose his smile even at my perfunctory reply. His face, which was slowly approaching, was full of mischief.
"I'm just curious."
He leaned down and whispered in my ear.
"Is Immunity to all poisons also free from the control of Gu Poison? I'm curious about that."
Dang Juyeop smiled, stretching the corners of his mouth wide.
It was a playful tone, but I felt a chill for a moment. It was like facing the pure malice of a child.
The same eerie feeling as watching a child tear the wings off a butterfly out of curiosity, step on a frog to death, and smile brightly.
As my body stiffened, Dang Juyeop chuckled.
"Just kidding. There's no secret method to control people with Gu Poison in the main Family."
"If not the main Family's Gu Poison, then?"
"Oh my. Are you talking about the sorcery of the Southern Barbarians? Our Family has its roots in the Orthodox Faction, how could I have such sorcery in mind?"
"......"
"Don't mind it. Sister. It's just a joke."
He whispered in a light tone as if it was nothing, and moved away from me.
"Hey! If you're going out to play, sneak out through the side gate. The Gatekeeper is watching."
"Going out to play? I'm going to find the resonance of my soul. There is no music within these walls that can save me."
"He's talking nonsense again."
Dang Ju-hee snorted and frowned.
I blankly stared at Dang Juyeop, who was going his way as if nothing had happened.
I couldn't move, feeling a creepy sensation as if bugs were crawling all over my body.
Dang Juyeop's curious voice lingered in my ear.
'Is Immunity to all poisons also free from the control of Gu Poison? I'm curious about that.'
What does he know? Why is he curious?
As far as I know, it wasn't the Southern Barbarians who used Gu Poison to control people.
The Demonic Cult.
Only the Demonic Cult's Demonic Bell Soul Exchange Gu.
* * *
As a novel whose protagonist is the Young Patriarch of the Namgung Family, the leader of the Orthodox Faction, <Namgung's Conquest> treated the Demonic Cult as absolute evil.
In fact, judging from the descriptions alone, they were absolute evil. They did all sorts of things to create absolute masters.
Kidnapping children with good physiques, human trafficking, and kidnapping and torturing Orthodox Faction figures for the purpose of deciphering Martial Arts Techniques. They were truly a group of evil.
The Demonic Cult's cruel hand did not discriminate between outsiders and cult members. When they sent cult members to the Central Plains, they forcibly fed them a parasite called Blood Yin Gu.
It was a worm that burrowed into the host's body and gnawed at their internal organs, and the worm would only remain dormant and not harm the host if the antidote given by the Demonic Cult was taken every three months.
This meant that without the medicine, they would suffer the pain of having their internal organs eaten away and die.
Cult members who had eaten the Blood Yin Gu had to report to the cult at regular intervals to receive the antidote.
In other words, it was a time bomb that could track the cult member's location, collect information, and prevent betrayal.
But the Demonic Cult was not satisfied with the Blood Yin Gu.
They wanted a more powerful Gu Poison than the Blood Yin Gu. A Gu Poison that could control the opponent at will.
After a long period of research, the Demonic Cult created a new Gu.
Demonic Bell Soul Exchange Gu.
The Gu with the eerie name of "Soul Exchange" was a parasite that burrowed into the brain and controlled the host.
Unlike the Blood Yin Gu, the Demonic Bell Soul Exchange Gu did not cause pain to the host. Instead, it took away control of the body.
Those who had the Demonic Bell Soul Exchange Gu implanted in them would lose their reason and obey the orders of the caster when they heard the sound of the bell shaken by the caster.
I remember Namgung Hwi had a hard time because of this Demonic Bell Soul Exchange Gu. He had to cut down his colleagues who were controlled by the enemy with his own hands.
But that was a story from ten years later.
Namgung Hwi was still a thirteen-year-old child, and the Demonic Cult had not yet risen to prominence.
To mention Gu Poison that controls people now, when most people don't even know about the existence of Blood Yin Gu, let alone Demonic Bell Soul Exchange Gu.
Something smelled fishy.
Since the Tang Clan are all obsessed with Poison, there must be people who study Gu Poison.
But is it a coincidence that he specifically mentioned the sorcery used by the Demonic Cult in the future?
My mouth went dry with the chilling sensation.
Could it be...
"...Youngest! What are you thinking so hard about?"
A cool hand cupped both of my cheeks.
Startled, I raised my head and saw Dang Ju-hee looking at me with a puzzled expression.
"Were you surprised? Your face is pale."
"Ah."
"Is it because Juyeop might feed you Poison? Don't worry, the Poison he makes is terrible. No one can be killed with that Poison."
"Sister, don't tell me that's supposed to be comforting?"
"It is comforting."
Oh, is that so. I think your comfort is terrible.
The tension was relieved by Dang Ju-hee's attitude, which did not feel even a speck of sincerity.
Well, it wouldn't change anything even if I worried about it now.
"It's nothing. I just paused for a moment because the sun was too bright. Let's go to the Iron Fortress."
I rubbed my eyes and pushed Dang Ju-hee's back.
