Chapter 23: Great Doctor Of Ten Thousand Deaths (1)

The day I became the disciple of the Ghastly Monster, I had a drink after a long time.

Hae Ack-chun was excited after getting a disciple for the first time, so we all went down to the bottom of the mountain and brought the alcohol. He threatened that he wouldn’t let us sleep until we emptied it all.

But Hae Ack-chun was weaker than I thought. He didn’t even drink a couple glasses, and he already looked like he was down and out.

And he would recount the past days of his youth, shed tears, and talk about meeting women he longed for.

Usually, skilled people could control poison in their bodies. But this old man said that alcohol was meant for one to get drunk on and that he wouldn’t use his internal qi to remove the effect.

This felt like having drinks with a squad leader. Occasionally, funny things would come up. But that was a trap.

“Puah!”

“You smiled?”

‘...?!’

Song Jwa-baek, who burst into laughter, was punched on the spot.

Maybe that made him come to his senses. The bruise on his eyes and the nervous way he drank the alcohol proved it. Everyone was a long way from being normal in front of this man.

I was so hungover the following day that I couldn’t do anything. I realized I couldn’t do anything, so I decided to sharpen the blade of Iron Sword to soothe its mood.

-Shhh!

The rusted parts would have to be worked on by a blacksmith, but it wasn’t too difficult to sharpen the blade.

-Ah, right there...

At first, he acted all moody, but now he seemed to be liking it. I wanted to tell him to shut up, but for the sake of the cause, I decided to let him enjoy it.

-Haaa, soo good...

Clench!

-Kuak!

Ah, sorry.

My hand clenched on its own. However, the blade wasn’t damaged at all.

“What are you doing right from the morning?”

I turned my head at the sound of a voice next to me. It was Song Jwa-baek, whose face was still swollen from emptying the drinks last night.

One eye was also still black.

“Why are you speaking without honorifics? Especially to your sahyung?”

At my words, he shouted.

“Yah! What sahyung? The only difference is the number of times we bowed.”

Yesterday, Hae Ack-chun was in front of us, so he couldn’t speak and went along with it. But he seemed miserable about me being his sahyung.

“So who became the disciple first?”

Be it half a day or half a minute, if one came first, they were sahyung.

“Yah. Are you going to act rudely? You owe me your life.”

“Ah? Owe?”

“Right. Thanks to me, your life got saved, so let’s just be disciples.”

He didn’t want to call me his sahyung.

“That is true.”

“Right? Huh. Then let’s be friends. You tell the teacher too.”

I smiled at him and said,

“Okay. Then call me master.”

“What?”

“I won the match, remember?”

“No. It was a draw.”

“If the teacher hadn’t intervened in the middle, you would have crossed into the other world by crossing over the Sanzu river. Do you realize that?”

“T-that...”

The Sanzu River was a river that was often thought to lead to the underworld.

After hearing my words, Song Jwa-baek tried to catch me by my throat. His internal wounds were healed, so it could have been my words burning inside him.

“Still, in terms of internal qi, I am ahead of you!”

“Continue to say that. But did you lose? Or did you not lose?”

Clench!

As this exchange continued, I noted that he seemed exhausted. Still, seeing that he didn’t insist on winning, it felt like he had a clear view of how the fight went. Song Jwa-baek, who had been staring at me for a long time, trembled and said,

“... Sahyung.”

“What?”

“Sahyung.”

“Ah... I cannot hear you. Maybe my ears aren’t working well? What was that?”

“Elder! Didn’t I tell you that now isn’t a good time?”

Hae Ok-seon seemed to have run out to stop us from entering, and the man said,

“Huh! Not a good time!”

“T-that...”

At his question, she hesitated but failed to find a correct answer. The opponent was Hae Ack-chun. No one in the position of a leader could disobey the man.

“Are you going to block my way?”

“No. Elder. It isn’t that...”

“Huh!”

Well, what else can someone with the name of Ghastly Monster do? Ignoring her embarrassment, he shouted out loud.

“Is the Great Doctor of the Ten Thousand Deaths here?”

‘...!’

What was that?

Now I knew why he had called me.

‘Today is the day!’

-Is this the day you spoke of? The arrival of that noble man?

Short Sword must have remembered my words.

‘Right.’

I came here a little over 6 months back in my past life, so the timing was right. This had to be the way to save my dantian.

Now I was at the place that I had only heard rumors about.

“Elder... if this happens, then...”

Drrr!

The door to the two-story building opened. Two people came out of it, one was Gu Sang-woong, and the other was a woman I had never seen before.

At first glance, she looked like a grim reaper.

Pale face, purple lips, and sharp eyes. No one would approach her with only her face visible and garbed all in black.

-Doesn’t she look a little old?

As Short Sword said, she looked to be in her mid to late 40s.

Yet, she looked beautiful, contrary to the eerie feeling she was giving out.

Tak!

The woman with cold eyes walked toward Hae Ack-chun.

“It has been so long. Elder.”

Hae Ack-chun smiled.

“Kulkul, you were a noble? Even though years have passed, you still look so pretty. Bloody Hand Witch.”

‘B-Bloody Hand Witch?’

When I found out who she was, I was shocked.

Han Baekha, the Bloody Hand Witch.

She was one of the Seven Blood Stars in the cult and 6th in the overall rankings.

The high-ranking members of the Blood Cult, who were a rarity to even see, were now in front of me. Knowing her identity, I was ready to bow. But as I was about to bend my knees, someone grabbed me by the collar.

And I can’t bow.

“What are you doing?”

The person holding me by the collar is Hae Ack-chun. And he had a dissatisfied expression as he shook his head.

“How can you bow down to someone when I am right next to you?”

“Ah!”

For a moment, I almost made a mistake.

The Bloody Hand Witch, Han Baekha said.

“If he is a trainee of the cult, he should be bowing to us, don’t criticize him too much.”

Hearing her words, Hae Ack-chun laughed.

“Criticize? Are you saying that a guy who is my disciple is to leave my side and bow to everyone with a higher position?”

As soon as he said that, everyone went silent and looked at me. Even Han Baekha looked a bit taken aback as she spoke.

“You took in a disciple?”

Ahh...

This was an unexpected announcement. Now the world knows that I was the first disciple of the Ghastly Monster, Hae Ack-chun.

-Oh my. Look at you being shocked.

Short Sword chimed in.