Chapter 7

Song Myeong Cheon seemed at peace.

He seemed to be fairly satisfied by it.

Song Myeong Cheon began to suddenly rip apart a rock-hard piece of bread.

Not knowing the reason for doing so, Han Yibi copied him.

At times where you are unsure about something, following along is the best option.

‘Huh?’

Song Myeong Cheon ruthlessly threw the bread pieces into his soup.

Han Yibi bewilderedly copied him.

He watched the dry bread soak up the broth of the lamb soup.

After waiting for Song Myeong Cheon to take the first bite, Han Yibi took a big bite.

It was to die for.

Despite the strange smell, the taste was just…

“This is amazing!”

Han Yibi excitedly yelled, to which Song Myeong Cheon faintly smiled.

‘Finally he smiled! As if it was the stoic old man’s first time!’

Just at that moment, the waiter boy brought a bottle of alcohol to them. He had said it was “Bunju” alcohol or something earlier.

However, even after trying it… baekju alcohol all tastes the same.

T/n: Bun Ju is a type of Baek Ju alcohol.

Only that one taste.

‘The taste of one’s throat burning up.’

Song Myeong Cheong’s eyes seemed to fill with life as he stared at the bottle of alcohol.

This old man… is probably a heavy drinker.

Didn’t they say that heavy drinkers could recognize heavy drinkers?

Han Yibi, when eating alone, was someone who was a frequent drinker.

Gulp

“Kyaah~!”

It wasn’t as good as soju but something about it was just~! His head was already spinning.

T/n: Soju is a korean alcohol.

Song Myeong Cheon drank the Bunju at the speed of light and ordered another bottle.

Han Yibi continuously took shots of alcohol.

At that moment, Song Myeong Cheon said.

“You drink* expensive alcohol quite well, but not drinking too much is probably a good idea.”

T/n: Song Myeong Cheon uses quite a vulgar word for drinking/eating here, sometimes used to talk about how animals or how unruly people eat in a vulgar way.

He understood what the old man meant as he left the inn.

‘Damn old man…’

The water carrying device, now filled with alcohol, was extremely heavy.

Han Yibi felt like dying.

He had used all of the money left over from buying food to buy Bunju.

‘Damn Alcoholic.’

Swear words constantly surged from deep within him, the boy had filled the water carrying device to the brim with Bunju.

“Woah!”

As Han Yibi was about to trip, he heard Song Myeong Cheon shout loudly.

“If you spill even a single drop, consider yourself dead! I warned you.”

The water carrying device, despite having a lid, wasn’t perfectly sealed.

If it was shaken, alcohol would spill out quite easily.

“I shouldn’t have drank any alcohol, I’m so annoyed.”

It was hard as hell, as Han Yibi was quite tipsy and disoriented; he had a hard time balancing the heavy water carrying device while walking.

However, thinking the current situation was hell was a mistake. It was nothing compared to what was to come.

Han Yibi had to carry it up the mountain. He was so exhausted, he felt as if the sky was going to fall on him.

******************************************************************************************

It had been an extremely difficult journey for Han Yibi

Anyways…

“I did it! I did it!”

After a couple close calls, he finally reached his destination.

He collapsed onto the floor.

It was at that moment.

Something made a “diriring” sound.

[Player level has increased from level 8 to level 9.]

[Level up bonus 1: Ki Strength +10, Physical Strength +15, Agility +5, Wisdom +1, Charm +2, Reputation +3]

[Level up bonus 2: The Herbal Encyclopedia Database has been acquired. After discovering herbs, the database can now be used.

Han Yibi realized something.

Exhaustingly hiking up the mountain had the same effect as training.

He was very relieved that his efforts had not been in vain.

“What even is the herbal encyclopedia, and what can it even be used for?”

*************************************

If you exercise a lot, your muscles won’t start hurting until the next day. Han Yibi was currently in such a state.

Han Yibi had cramps all over his body.

However, even today, Song Myeong Cheon woke up early and prepared to head out.

“Whew… It’s not like you’re going to work… why are you doing this…”

However, there was nothing he could do about it.

He had to do it to survive.

Carrying a sack, Han Yibi followed Song Myeong Cheon to the mountain. Today they went further than before to explore.

Han Yibi now realized that Song Myeong Cheon had divided the mountain into regions and was searching for a specific ‘something.’

I really have to ask him today.

“ Uh… mister.”

“What is it?”

“If there’s a specific herb you’re looking for, please tell me as well. I’ll do my best to find it.”

Song Myeong Cheon frowned and seemingly thought for a bit before opening his mouth.

“Hm. Alright. Although I’m not sure if you’ll actually be of help… since you keep pestering me, I’ll tell you.”

“Thank you.”

“The herb I’m looking for is called the radiant silk herb”

“ Aha. I see. It seems that it is a very expensive herb.”

Seeing the old man fret about searching for it, it seemed it would sell for a hefty sum.

Just what kind of wine would he be able to buy with the herb…

“It’s very precious, the price isn’t something that can be argued over.”

Song Myeong Cheon said.

“What does the radiant silk herb look like?

“The appearance of the radiant silk herb is similar to ginseng… The reason Geum(錦) is in its name* is because the herb is bright and beautiful like well-produced purple silk.

T/n: The pronunciation of the original herb is GeumMyeong, in which Geum and Myeong are hanja with specific meanings.

I understood the gist of his explanation…

But how can someone learn to identify it from that…

Nevertheless, Han Yibi viewed knowing what Song Myeong Cheon was looking for as a big gain.

If he were to find it, Song Myeong Cheon might open up to him more.

It was at that moment.

A familiar sound rang in his ears.

The appearance of the system.

[ Main Quest Started: Find the radiant silk herb.]

[ Unknown Reward.]

Heok. What’s this now?

Find the radiant silk herb as a main quest?

I’m supposed to find a herb that a specialized herbalist can’t find?

This system has gone crazy.

Di~ring.

[ Advice: Do your task and raise your level through rigorous training. If you succeed, you will be rewarded accordingly.

Ahaha. Is the system… threatening me right now?

I’m not sure if it really is an AI.

Anyways, it’s been decided. I have to find it.

The system that I’ve experienced so far has been like that

From that moment, Han Yibi searched for the herb with fire in his eyes.

The “Herbal Encyclopedia” was more helpful than I had expected.

Every time Song Myeong Cheon handed him the herbs he dug up, the database of the Herbal Encyclopedia activated automatically and showed him an image of the herb along with useful tidbits of information.

As an example, it looked something like this.

[ This item was found in the Herbal Encyclopedia Database.]

Name:

Speciality: The stem is 100~180cm long, and the plant has many side growths full of little yellow umbrella shaped flowers. Due to the root’s noxious smell, it is also called Patrinia Scabiosifolia.

Medical Effects: The root can be used as a medicine to fight fever and extract pus or poison. It’s also effective at treating various inflammatory diseases.

Although it didn’t have a search function, it delivered useful information about the discovered herbs.

As a result, simply following Song Myeong Cheon as he went around gathering herbs was a big learning process in itself.

“ Umm… but…. I’m not planning on becoming a traditional korean doctor so where could I even use this knowledge… This book isn’t a medical book but rather a martial arts book so I should be learning martial arts…

Anyways, I need to quickly find the radiant herb or whatever it was called and get on with it.”

Thereafter, Han Yibi confidently and aggressively searched for herbs.

In the beginning, I touched all types of plants including some poisonous ones and suffered from side effects such as itchiness and couldn’t sleep for a while.

However, as I’m able to use the Herbal Encyclopedia, any new herb I came in contact with was soon indexed in it.

It was fun to acquire such information.

“Aha. When I return back to the real world maybe I should become a Shimmani*. Instead of earning a tiny bit of money while listening to loser bastards…”

T/n: Shimmani is a word used in Korea to refer to those that search the mountains for wild Sansam, which is a very rare, wild ginseng root that can be sold for a lot of money.

.

Like that, a few months passed.

Over time, Han Yibi’s knowledge of medical herbs and experience increased.

*  *  *

Despite lying on the ground to sleep, Han Yibi was unable to.

Judging by the deep, regular breaths coming from Song Myeong Cheon, he had already fallen asleep.

Possibly due to hiking, Han Yibi’s had reached level 10.

[Showing the player’s current status.]

[Player Information]

Name: Han Yibi(Jongri Mae)

Level: 10

Class: Low-rank warrior

Nickname: Jongri the Selfish

Occupation: None

Ki Strength: 46

Agility: 33

Wisdom: 10

Charm: 13

Reputation: -29

[Internal Energy]

[External Energy]

None

[Movement]

My other stats are all increasing bit by bit but… what am I supposed to do to raise my internal and external energy…?

Although inadequate, Jonri Mae’s memory contains information on the self-realization breathing technique he had studied.

Han Yibi carefully crossed his legs and closed his eyes.

‘Do I do it like this? It seems like it’s similar to meditation.’

It was at that moment.

With the sound of ‘diring’, the system appeared.

[ Sudden Quest Start (Difficulty ☆☆) : Let your inner energy circulate through your entire body.]

[Reward 1: Internal Energy will increase by 20, Physical Strength by 5, Wisdom by 3, and you will gain experience.]

[Reward 2: Unknown reward.]

[In the event of quest failure: you will suffer from ki rampage and will require 30 days to recover.]

Uack. Another sudden quest?

Why did another quest appear?

And on top of that… It’d take 30 days to recover?

And also, possible ki rampage?

Although I did read more fantasy than martial arts books, this isn’t it.

Ki rampage is nothing to joke about. It can be fatal.

Even grandmasters that can fly in the sky and destroy mountains can pass away from ki rampage.

Or, they could be completely crippled…

What’s this?! This endless quest!

[Advice 1: if you use the map of blood and energy you will be able to carry out the quest successfully.

[Advice 2: If you suffer internal damage and must recover, your physical strength and agility will be reduced until fully recovered.

Aigoo. Is it like that?

How kind.

Anyhow… from here on, what do I do?

‘ let’s see… the system said something about a map of blood and energy?’

After looking carefully, whether to my relief or torment, I found the function.

Han Yibi powered it up.

Will a dull sound of ‘doongdoong’, a green 3d shaped projection of a human appeared.

‘Oooh, this is a bit unusual.’

I squinted my eyes. Although the background got in the way, there was still a clear 3d shaped picture.

‘ This is cool, quite cool.’

Although Han Yibi wasn’t familiar with it, he was quite amused by it and spent some time zooming in and out on the map.

“Aigoo, my legs are numb.”

His legs were becoming numb due to sitting cross legged in order to study the self-realization breathing technique.

However, he was not in a position to stop.

However, the numbness got worse and worse.

Not only just falling asleep, it felt like his legs were becoming paralyzed.

Even if he were to perish, Han Yibi could bare it no longer and wriggled around.

Han Yibi was surprised as the human shaped projection was wiggling its toes.

“Yikes!”

Han Yibi was really surprised.

As a test, he wriggled his right foot’s big toe.

At that moment,

Wh-ack!

Ack! Screaming on the inside, Han Yibi stirred.

(Continued in the next Chapter)