To Cure an Illness, Money is Needed
No matter how kind a doctor you meet, even if you receive free treatment, you must gather the herbs yourself.
There was no money to buy those herbs.
And there was no money to buy opium to ease the pain of his dying wife.
His wife held his hand and spoke.
She asked him to take care of their daughter.
She worried because he was too kind-hearted.
She asked him to raise their daughter without any lack in her place.
That was her last will.
After that, she groaned in pain for days, suffering until she died painfully.
She couldn't even close her eyes due to the pain.
It was the moment when the Bow Ghost became a Bow Demon.
Afterward, he gained a fortuitous encounter and learned martial arts.
It was suitable for him, who was an archer.
After that, he did anything that made money.
Escorting, wars, hunting, and various other tasks.
Through the mediation of the Black Spot, he did many things and killed countless warriors.
With the money he earned, he held his wife's funeral and raised his daughter.
He wanted to pamper his daughter as much as he couldn't do for his wife.
However, he didn't know that it would become poison.
The grudges of the martial world targeted him and his daughter.
Therefore, he hid his daughter's identity and had to gather more wealth to protect her.
And now, he was saying he would give all his wealth if only his daughter could be saved.
He said it was the money he earned for this purpose.
"What is the matter?"
Finally, Jegal Rin came out.
Long silver hair, a handsome appearance.
A tall, well-trained martial artist's body.
In contrast, his pale skin, which seemed devoid of any pigment, stood out.
Even those who didn't know him wouldn't doubt that he was the senior of Baekrin Medical Sect.
As expected, the Bow Demon bowed his head to the ground.
Thud!
"Please, please save her."
"First, let's hear where it hurts."
"My daughter was attacked by seven strangers. The doctor at Hwaju Medicine House said she had internal injuries, diagnosed her with shattered organs, and used medicine, but there has been no improvement."
"The grudges of the martial world are indeed frightening."
Jegal Rin inferred how things were going just from those words.
No matter how he avoided harming civilians and only killed warriors, the fact that he did it for money didn't change.
They were all someone's teacher, disciple, or master.
The Bow Demon was skilled in both archery and movement techniques.
If they couldn't kill him, there would be scoundrels who would take it out on his family.
"Let's see the patient first."
Jegal Rin approached him.
The Bow Demon offered his daughter's wrist, which he had laid down.
He checked her pulse and sent his energy to slowly examine her insides.
Eventually, he sighed.
"…It's a wonder she's still alive after all this time."
"Then…."
"It's already too late to treat her, and she cannot be saved."
"…!"
Bloodshot eyes appeared in the man's eyes.
He reached out to grab Jegal Rin's neck.
'Oh! Master!'
Slam!
But his hand stopped in midair.
Yoo Ho lightly blocked him.
"Please calm down, family member of the patient. This is Baekrin Medical Sect."
'Yoo Ho! As expected… In the novel, he wasn't explained much, but… he's strong.'
Jin Cheonhee widened his eyes as he watched.
"Let go! Are you treating my money as dirty? Both Hwaju Medicine House and your Baekrin Medical Sect are just hypocrites! I will…."
Murderous intent overflowed.
Jin Cheonhee felt a chill down his spine.
'This is murderous intent….'
The bodies of the medical sect members froze in the fierce murderous intent.
They couldn't even breathe in front of the thick killing aura.
He was indeed the Bow Demon.
At that moment.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The martial artists who had been standing by stepped forward.
And more martial artists appeared from here and there.
It was only natural.
The medical sect also had roots in the martial world and dealt with martial artists, so it couldn't be without a force.
The difference from other sects was that they didn't use force to fight for interests.
They operated the sect by selling medical skills.
Tension filled the hall.
But Baekrin Medical Sect's leader sighed.
"Impossible things are impossible."
"Then kill me and let my daughter die here too! Otherwise, I swear on the name of the Bow Demon, I will kill everyone in this medical sect! And I will also kill that hypocrite from Hwaju Medicine House!"
The Bow Demon spread his anger and murderous intent.
However, Jegal Rin and Yoo Ho, Jin Cheonhee's masters, calmly faced his murderous intent.
Jegal Rin spoke calmly.
"Do as you wish. However, you will see the corpses of the Bow Demon and his unknown daughter rotting in the marketplace."
"What do you mean…."
Jegal Rin smiled coldly.
"Do you think I'm joking?"
Jegal Rin held neither a sword nor a spear.
He only held an ordinary fan that could be seen anywhere.
Jin Cheonhee knew what kind of power it held.
But the expression his master showed now was something he never showed Jin Cheonhee.
The coldness, as if he were a different person, gave him goosebumps.
The Bow Demon laughed.
It was the twisted smile of a madman.
"Hehehe. I've heard rumors that Baekrin Medical Sect's martial arts are unparalleled in the world. I know that I might become a corpse as you say. However, I think I can take at least one person with me to the afterlife."
His gaze reached the young Jin Cheonhee, who was watching from a distance.
'Me? Why me?'
Jegal Rin spoke.
"Indeed, you speak like a Bow Demon. To take a child as a hostage. This has removed any hesitation."
Jegal Rin looked down at him with a languid voice.
His movements were as natural as if they were part of everyday life.
Contrary to his voice, which grew softer like a spring day, cold air began to flow around Jegal Rin.
Frost formed on the ground.
He intended to kill him for daring to take his only disciple as a hostage.
And he wouldn't kill him gently.
'I must stop this.'
Jin Cheonhee decided and took a step forward.
"Master."
"Why, Cheonhee?"
Even in this situation, his voice was warm only to his disciple.
Everyone's gaze turned to Jin Cheonhee.
They seemed more amazed that he was calm rather than scared by the murderous intent.
Even the Bow Demon glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
'This is a bit burdensome.'
Still, it was better to say what he needed to say.
"Can I take a look?"
"What?"
"I agree with Master that she cannot be saved. But if she's destined to die anyway, I think it's worth taking a risk. Also…"
"Also?"
'And I'm thinking of recruiting that villain.'
Jin Cheonhee swallowed the last words.
Eventually, they moved the patient inside the medical sect.
Just that was enough to change the Bow Demon from a madman back to a father's face.
Jin Cheonhee thought that nothing was as hard to change as a person, yet nothing was as easy to change as a person.
'He wasn't originally someone who would take a child as a hostage.'
In the face of his daughter's life and death, a father easily discarded all his pride.
The Bow Demon looked down at his trembling hands for a long time.
The face of his wife, who died with her eyes open, still came to mind.
It seemed as if she was blaming him, asking why he started a family when he couldn't even afford to buy medicine.
In reality, she had asked him to take care of their baby, saying that he was the only one the child could rely on now.
With the malice gone, only worry remained.
He grabbed his trembling forearm and cursed.
When Jin Cheonhee approached, the Bow Demon spoke.
"I'm sorry…."
"It's okay. Haha, next time, why don't you take someone else as a hostage instead of me?"
Jin Cheonhee joked casually.
It was to ease the guardian's tension.
He didn't realize it while doing it, but after doing it, he clicked his tongue, realizing this habit came out again.
It was a long-standing habit as a surgeon.
The Bow Demon spoke.
"To handle a bow, you need good eyes. Walking the path between the black and white ways for a long time, the only thing that improved was my eye for things. I saw the eyes of Baekrin Medical Sect's leader then. Those were eyes that didn't see people as people."
"What did they see them as?"
"I don't know. He wore a beautiful face and elegant demeanor as a mask, but my intuition told me. No matter who died there, that man wouldn't budge. Except for one person."
Was he referring to Jin Cheonhee himself?
"My master cares deeply for me."
"Yes. I felt that. Those who rise to the position of a medical sage have experienced death far more than ordinary martial artists. So I knew they were more eccentric than ordinary people. Hwaju Medicine House's leader was also a strange person."
"Have you seen him in person?"
"I couldn't see him while carrying my daughter. He never met me, but I saw him from a distance once when I took on an old request. He had the eyes of an old fox obsessed with honor and money. But he was very different from Baekrin Medical Sect's leader. At least he seemed like a person."
He picked up a pebble from the ground.
"With my long experience as an archer, I felt that the medical sage would smile the same way at this and at people. So I became impatient."
He knew it was a father's self-justification when cornered.
But he also knew that to apologize properly, one must be honest.
"I'm really, really sorry, child."
If Jin Cheonhee hadn't stepped forward then, would he really have shot Jin Cheonhee?
Neither Jin Cheonhee, who had read the book, nor the Bow Demon himself could know the answer.
All Jin Cheonhee knew was that people could do anything and change into anything for their family.
'In the novel, the Bow Demon lost his daughter and burned paper money.
Not paper money for rituals, but real money.'
He searched for the culprit who killed his daughter and killed the doctors who refused treatment.
Later, he even killed unrelated people and burned that money.
Whether it was silver or gold, he collected it and exchanged it for paper form at a merchant group.
If that was difficult, he bought things his daughter liked when she was alive.
And he burned those.
But that was a future that hadn't happened yet.
He was the Bow Demon, but he hadn't become the Bow Evil or Bow Devil yet.
The Bow Demon spoke.
"Please save my baby. I will give anything for that. Please…."
The man sobbed.
The demonic energy filled the air.
It was a taste more bitter than any poison.
Jin Cheonhee held the Bow Demon's wet hand and thought.
'Yes.
This is a hospital….'
Though the world he lived in and his age had changed, the boy felt he was back in the ring.