Episode 45
Jin Cheon-hee once again stepped on the snow.
The boy's movements continued, stopped, and continued again.
Jin Cheon-hee thought that the white snow was like paper.
And he was an ant moving on it.
'So that's it.
The Three Talents Step was about the two-dimensional world.'
If that was the case, it was clear that the Miribo would lead to the next stage, the three-dimensional world.
No matter how detailed the book was, the insights gained firsthand were different.
Jin Cheon-hee stopped following the movements.
Instead, a path not found in the Three Talents Step began to unfold.
Footprints bloomed like a mandala along the varied path.
The origin of the word mandala is Mandala, which also means 'essence.'
'The Three Talents of the Three Talents wasn't just about three directions.'
How could the truth of enlightenment be contained within a plane? And why did it take the shape of the Buddha's wheel? Jin Cheon-hee seemed to understand.
Finally, the boy's footprints drew a perfect essence.
A mandala.
A circle.
As the boy moved, his inner energy began to move with him.
It was merely the Three Talents Step.
In the martial world, it was a basic step that everyone ignored, yet his inner energy responded.
The inner energy began to move along the boy's steps, swirling through his entire body's meridians.
Five different types of inner energy formed a circle.
At that moment, the impure energy began to burn away from the boy's body.
Metal energy protected his entire body, earth energy nourished it, and wood energy absorbed the surrounding energy.
Water energy drove out impurities, and fire energy burned them away.
The end of selflessness.
The boy realized that the three enlightenments of the Three Talents Step had ended.
It signified the beginning of the Miribo.
At that moment, Jin Cheon-hee's body collapsed onto the snow.
"Ugh!"
The moment after enlightenment was the weakest for a martial artist.
Jin Cheon-hee realized that his dantian was empty.
At the same time, he realized that the size of his dantian was growing and that energy was quickly filling through his entire body's meridians.
This alone was good news.
However, there was bad news.
The place of enlightenment was in the middle of a snowy mountain, where no one was around.
Normally, he would use fire energy to warm his body, so he didn't need thick outerwear.
But now it was different.
He had no inner energy to maintain his body temperature.
Moreover, the boy didn't even have the strength to move his body.
The time of selflessness had been too long.
If he had trained for enlightenment within the sect, someone would have protected him.
But Jin Cheon-hee realized that if that had happened, enlightenment would not have come.
Because he was alone, if it weren't for the footprints he made alone, there would have been no enlightenment.
"Haa, haa..."
The cold was brief, and a pain like being cut all over his body surged in.
Frostbite starts from the tissues farthest from the heart.
Hands and feet.
The thick snowflakes briefly landed on Jin Cheon-hee's hand, melting away as they stole his body heat.
The wind began to blow as well.
For a child without even a fur coat, the mountain's snowstorm was harsh.
It was only because this area was a volcanic zone that he had endured this much.
Once hypothermia started, he thought it would be irreversible.
Jin Cheon-hee forced himself to stand.
Normally, he would have recuperated with the help of those around him.
But that was impossible.
Jin Cheon-hee moved his legs.
His unconsciousness led him to the most familiar breathing technique he had repeated tens of thousands of times.
Dongwoon Gong.
It was the most basic of basics that Jin Cheon-hee had practiced so much.
With newly purified meridians, Dongwoon Gong began.
Paradoxically, not being able to rest in a situation where he should have rested started to give Jin Cheon-hee another realization.
As the snowstorm became harsher, Jin Cheon-hee's feet silently moved forward.
And in a moment, the boy's feet walked not in the snow, but on top of it.
The realization of ice, which is said to be learned only when reaching the Five Elements Heart Method's Five Stars, began to press on the boy's shoulders.
However, in his will to survive, the boy didn't even know what he was realizing.
The cold continued, and his body temperature kept dropping.
When the snowstorm filled his vision, and he truly didn't know where to go, Jin Cheon-hee stepped on the Three Talents Step with blank eyes.
It was the moment when the sect members who came to greet Jin Cheon-hee were shocked.
"Da, Dapseolmuheun?"
It means the realm of a supreme master who walks on snow without leaving a trace.
In truth, it wasn't the real Dapseolmuheun.
He had merely gained the realization of ice.
But since the boy was stepping on the snow with just the Three Talents Step, the confusion only grew.
Later, when Yoo Ho heard about this, he forgot his position as the chief and laughed until his intestines burst.
Jin Cheon-hee earned the nickname 'Dapseolmuheun Young Master.' It was obvious who the culprit was.
The production of medical books was progressing smoothly.
There were quite a few parts where the master helped, but Jin Cheon-hee had to do a considerable amount himself.
Naturally, medical books must be accompanied by illustrations.
Simply conveying it with words couldn't make one fully understand the human organs.
Surgery is the act of opening a living human body.
Even when under anesthesia, the lungs continue to function.
The heart keeps moving, and depending on the anesthesia, the intestines may also be active.
Without understanding all of this, surgery is impossible.
Yoo Ho drew illustrations according to Jin Cheon-hee's instructions.
Even though he was drawing with a thin brush, the lines were finer and clearer than those drawn with a pencil.
Eventually, the internal map of the liver was completed.
The four lobes, hepatic artery, and portal vein were completed.
It was so precise and easy to understand that it looked like a textbook print.
"Is there anything Yoo Chief can't do?"
Yoo Ho continued drawing without lifting his brush and spoke.
"I can't save the master."
It was a nonchalant voice, but it was quite a pointed remark.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
"You always seem to have great loyalty to the master. Is there a reason for that?"
"Well, that's none of your business, Young Master. By the way, Young Master, you seem to have quite a talent for martial arts. I heard you already gained the realization of ice with the body of the Four Stars of the Five Elements Heart Method."
He subtly changed the subject.
Yoo Ho always did that.
Whenever Jin Cheon-hee tried to probe something, he would block it with an iron wall.
But from Jin Cheon-hee's perspective, Yoo Ho's attitude only fueled his curiosity.
'This Yoo Ho guy, it's so hard to gather information on him even though he's just an extra.'
Information is important.
It's the only weapon Jin Cheon-hee has in a world where swords are rampant.
From the beginning, there was a lot of information about Gung-gwi, who constantly harassed the Heavenly Demon, and the medical hall masters of the White Lotus Sect knew roughly everything, if not all.
But Yoo Ho was different.
This guy was an extra among extras, no, it was too much to even call him an extra.
We call such a presence 'background.' If we rank by importance, the protagonist is the king, the supporting characters are nobles, extras are commoners, and Yoo Ho was something below that.
Such a guy ended up being Jin Cheon-hee's close aide, so it was frustrating.
Yoo Ho spoke.
"Young Master, you seem to have a lot of interest in me. Was the previous threat to kill me not entertaining enough? They say there are people who enjoy being bullied."
"Ha, hahaha..."
Jin Cheon-hee laughed awkwardly.
'He really thinks I'm a lunatic.
This guy.'
Yoo Ho continued.
"No matter how much you try to dig into me, I can't do more work. Do you know that the amount of work you've given me is enough to overwork nine people to death?"
The face of the guy saying that was as lively as ever.
That was always a mystery to Jin Cheon-hee.
What kind of energy does this guy have to handle so much work?
"I'm not digging into you to make you work more. I'm just curious as a disciple since you've been with the master for so long."
"Hmm, is that curiosity as a disciple following the master? Or is it curiosity as a doctor hoping to add something to the patient's treatment?"
"Neither. I'm just curious because we'll be together for a long time."
"Well, that's true. Unless I fail in treatment and end up killing you, we'll be together for quite a while."
'This guy is casually threatening to kill me like it's nothing.'
Handling the work of nine people alone, he's quite a convenient guy, but on the other hand, he's also someone who casually makes death threats like it's nothing.
Of course, Jin Cheon-hee wasn't someone who would blink an eye at that.
Jin Cheon-hee didn't forget the grudge from when he demonstrated in front of the martial arts master.
Jin Cheon-hee smiled cutely and assigned even more tremendous labor to Yoo Ho, and Yoo Ho, while handling that murderous workload, was also doing the illustration work for the medical book compilation.
Still, perhaps because of the increased workload, he's been making death threats more frequently than usual.
Jin Cheon-hee asked.
"Are you really going to kill me?"
"... Then will you let me live after giving me all this work?"
Here's what Yoo Ho is currently doing.
The first nurse in the martial world + the first graduate student in the martial world + the first lab assistant in the martial world + medical book illustrator + medical equipment manufacturing engineer + medical hall manager + original duties as chief + assisting the master + Jin Cheon-hee's personal slave.
Each one is a stressful job that could kill a person.
There are nine of them in total.
Yoo Ho, who threatens to kill a child, is certainly a wicked villain, but Jin Cheon-hee, who laughs it off and puts him in a difficult situation, isn't in his right mind either.
"I'm a bodhisattva, Young Master. You may not want to admit it, but that's none of my business. I am indeed a bodhisattva."
"Isn't your self-assessment a bit too high?"
"Aren't I letting you breathe? It seems you're getting used to my death threats. Shall I sprinkle some killing intent on you?"
'Hmph, just because you're doing nine things at once, you're talking about killing intent.'
Jin Cheon-hee didn't empathize with Yoo Ho's suffering at all.
It wasn't his concern.
Yoo Ho was a useful personal slave for Jin Cheon-hee.
It was a power directly given to Jin Cheon-hee by the master.
"Sigh, Chief Yoo. If you hadn't threatened to kill me, I wouldn't have gone this far."
"No, you would have done it anyway. Because you don't empathize with others' workload."
"Can you kindly say that I don't spare any means or methods to treat patients?"
"Well, I'll agree with that. The proof is that you're also pushing yourself to the limit. That's why I'm putting up with it."
'If I push him any further, he'll cause trouble.'
Even if Jin Cheon-hee is a sociopath who can't empathize with others' workload, he understands human limits better than anyone.
Because Jin Cheon-hee himself is already working to the limit.