King Shura Chapter 13

Chapter 13. Human Killing Medicine

Inside the moving carriage. Cho Ryu Hyang, Um Seung Do, and Jo Gi Chun were all sitting in it. Um Seung Do opened his mouth.

“Like I said before, we don’t have much time left. So we’ll have to go all the way to the church without stopping.”

Um Seung Do took out a small bottle as he spoke.

“I’m going to tell you this in advance. The trip isn’t going to be very comfortable. We’ll have to go as fast as possible, which will probably strain you both physically and mentally. We’ll still be moving as you two sleep.”

“How are we going to move while sleeping?”

They were traveling for over 6 hours already. The carriage did not stop once, unless they had to go do their business. When Jo Gi Chun asked his question with a tired face, Um Seung Do opened the bottle, and answered the question.

“You will have to sleep in the carriage. I wanted to avoid this situation, but this really is urgent. Please, do understand.”

Jo Gi Chun’s face grew dark. He wasn’t confident of these kind of trips, especially with his old age. Um Seung Do, as if he had seen what Jo Gi Chun was thinking, said this with a smile.

“That’s why we brought this.”

“What’s that?”

“This is a very special pill that is made only in limited amounts by the church. This is one of our pride and joy, the Heavenly Demon Spirit Pill.”

“Heavenly Demon Spirit Pill?”

The Heavenly Demon Spirit Pill (天魔靈丹). It wasn’t something really precious or rare. But it was a pill that outclassed most pills that were made in the Martial World.

It was expensive to make, but it had the advantage of being able to be produced securely at any location. Seeing that the pope of the church controlled the production of this pill himself, one could see how valuable this pill actually was.

But Jo Gi Chun and his student had no way of knowing about this, as they weren’t from the Martial World. A treasure is only a treasure in the hands of someone who knows its value. Jo Gi Chun and Cho Ryu Hyang both stared at Um Seung Do with a dull face.

Um Seung Do’s proud face instantly crumbled. He asked the two a question.

“Could it be…. you never heard of this pill?”

“Yes.”

Um Seung Do bit his lip when he heard Jo Gi Chun’s answer.

“How about you, young man?”

“I never heard of it.”

“Hnn……”

Um Seung Do hummed a little in disappointment when he heard the answer. It was a little bothersome to tell them all about the pill. He was caught in an annoying situation.

‘I’m not even a drug dealer……’

Um Seung Do took out a small black pill, about the size of a fingernail, from the bottle.

“Well, this is a pill that is very good for you. I don’t really want to get into this, so just try it. The moment you put it in your mouth, you’ll see how good this is for you.”

Jo Gi Chun simply glanced at the black pill laid out in front of him, but didn’t take it. He was suspicious. Taking a pill like this and eating it without knowing its purpose was something only fools did.

Um Seung Do realized what Jo Gi Chun was thinking, and said this with a smile.

“It’s not harmful for your body.”

Jo Gi Chun didn’t say anything.

“If the church wanted to harm you in any way, we wouldn’t have done this in this sort of a way. We would’ve done it very silently. So much so that even you wouldn’t realize we did something to you.”

Jo Gi Chun still had a suspicious look on his face. In the end, Um Seung Do shook his head, and said this.

“I’ll have to show you myself.”

Um Seung Do took one of the pills. He put it in his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, it melted like water, and flowed down his throat. Feeling the effects of the medicine with his own body, Um Seung Do said this with a proud expression.

“I think I just proved that this isn’t poison. What do you think?”

“……I’ll take it if I really get tired later.”

When Jo gi Chun refused, Um Seung Do looked quite disappointed. It seemed that Jo Gi Chun really didn’t see the church in a positive manner. This was very sad for Um Seung Do, as he was a devout follower of the church.

Right then.

“I’ll take it.”

Um Seung Do looked at Cho Ryu Hyang with a surprised expression. This was a reaction he didn’t expect at all. Um Seung Do asked a question with a happy face.

“You would take this pill?”

“Yes.”

Um Seung Do glanced at Jo Gi Chun. Jo Gi Chun was looking at Cho Ryu Hyang with a hint of reproach.

“Aren’t you suspicious of this pill?”

“Yes.”

“It could be poison, you know.”

“Didn’t you just eat it yourself?”

Um Seung Do faintly smiled. He wanted to tease the boy a little.

“I could have received a special training to resist poison, you know. Aren’t you suspicious of something like that?”

Cho Ryu Hyang fixed his glasses. He then looked at Um Seung Do with a slightly confused face.

“Do you want me to not take this medicine?”

“Huh?”

“Could it be that this is too valuable for a child….”

“Definitely not.”

“It would be good for me to try the medicine right now, then. Right?”

Of course that was true. Jo Gi Chun looked like he was about to collapse at any given moment. He should take the medicine before he really gets sick, but it was hard to convince the man.

In this situation, if Cho Ryu Hyang eats the pill now, and shows Jo Gi Chun that the pill was harmless, perhaps that man would take the pill. Um Seung Do thought quite highly of the boy when he realized that.

‘But……’

Does the boy really trust in him that much? Um Seung Do wanted to show the boy how scary the Martial World could be. When he was about to open his mouth, Cho Ryu Hyang spoke up.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not eating it because I trust you. I would be a fool to trust you when I met you not long ago. I’m not that dumb.”

Jo Gi Chun was like this, too, but this boy was also too honest. When Um Seung Do was insulting Cho Ryu Hyang in his mind, the boy spoke.

“I don’t trust you, but I feel that that medicine is very effective. That’s why I’m saying I’d eat it.”

Um Seung Do was confused. It sounded logical, but the sentence didn’t make sense at all.

“This is indeed a precious medicine, but how did you know about it?”

Um Seung Do said this as he glared at Cho Ryu Hyang. He tried to search Cho Ryu Hyang with his gaze. Indeed, this boy was suspicious. Um Seung Do couldn’t figure out what the boy was thinking. It felt like the boy was hiding many things.

‘What are you hiding?’

While Um Seung Do was thinking about such things, Cho Ryu Hyang, too, was organizing his thoughts quickly. He was able to know that the medicine was precious, using his unique sight.

But Cho Ryu Hyang didn’t feel like telling the man about it. Like he said earlier, Cho Ryu Hyang didn’t trust the man. Cho Ryu Hyang took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and spoke up.

“It’s just instinct.”

“Ins….tinct?”

Um Seung Do made a surprised face. And that soon turned into a tired one. He was looking at the boy with a careful gaze. It seemed that the halo he saw on the boy didn’t leave his mind.

‘It was…. probably an imagination.’

Cho Ryu Hyang stretched out his hand. Um Seung Do put a pill on the boy’s hand.

“Will you be alright?”

When Jo Gi Chun said this with a worried face, Cho Ryu Hyang nodded. The pill had a blue glow to it, when seen with his eyes. When something had a blue glow, it usually meant it was good.

“It’ll be alright.”

Without hesitation, Cho Ryu Hyang swallowed the pill.

“How is it?”

One of the good points of the pill was the fact that the effect was immediate. When Um Seung Do looked at Cho Ryu Hyang confidently, Cho Ryu Hyang’s face contorted in pain. Looking at that, Um Seung Do smirked.

“Ha, don’t joke around like that. I’m scary when I get angered, you know.”

Cho Ryu Hyang’s face didn’t change when Um Seung Do said that. It contorted even more. dokun– (TL: Didn’t want to come up with the romaji for korean onomatopoeia for heartbeat. Just used this.)

‘Huh?’

Cho Ryu Hyang put his hand over the place where his heart was, and made a pained expression. His heart started to beat faster, and his breath grew short.

‘What’s this……’

His whole body started trembling. Cho Ryu Hyang eventually fell down, while sweating profusely. His eyes were twitching, even. Um Seung Do’s face turned pale.

“A side effect? It can’t be…..”

After thinking a bit, Um Seung Do’s eyes shook. The Heavenly Demon Pill wasn’t the best pill to ever be created, but the church paid attention to the pills a lot because it didn’t have any side effects.

However.

‘The medicine guy did say there was an exception.’

Um Seung Do looked back at his memories. This pill was something that took years of research to be made. There was no side effect from this pill. Except one.

‘The reversed intestines! (內臟逆位)’

This was when the position of the intestines had its locations flipped, as compared to the normal man. It was a condition that was only found 1 in 10,000, so Um Seung Do didn’t realize a side effect would occur.

Um Seung Do pushed away Jo Gi Chun, who was holding on to Cho Ryu Hyang, and took hold of the boy. He then searched the insides of the boy with his inner power. Um Seung Do’s face then twisted.

As he thought, Cho Ryu Hyang had reversed intestines. All of his intestines were completely reversed.

‘Damn it.’

Um Seung Do swore in his mind. He knew the cause of this, but couldn’t treat it. Um Seung Do’s mind began to get chaotic.

“hnn….”

When a painful moan rose out of Cho Ryu Hyang’s unconscious body, Um Seung Do came back to his senses.

‘Damn, he doesn’t look like he practices martial arts……’

Um Seung Do’s face twisted. Cho Ryu Hyang’s condition was all too clear to him.

‘Zuo Huo Ru Mo (走火入魔)’

This happens when a martial artist takes too much damage while training, and his insides become chaotic. But this wasn’t caused by something like a physical injury, so it was even more dangerous.

‘What do I do?’

It wasn’t like there was no way to fix it. There was a certain solution to this. The problem was, it was extremely dangerous.

“Stop!”

When Um Seung Do shouted this, the carriage slowly came to a halt. Before the carriage fully came to a stop, Um Seung Do said,

“Stay away from me for a moment.”

Um Seung Do left Jo Gi Chun inside the carriage, and carried Cho Ryu Hyang outside. Jo Gi Chun grabbed onto Um Seung Do’s clothes, and asked a question.

“C, can you save him?”

“…….I’ll try.”

Um Seung Do grit his teeth. He couldn’t tell the man that this was going to be an easy procedure. He opened the carriage door. The wind from outside came into the carriage.

Was it because of that? Cho Ryu Hyang’s body trembled, and a painful moan came out.

“hn….nnn…..”

“A, are you alright!? Wake up!”

Jo Gi Chun shook Cho Ryu Hyang with an urgent face, but the boy wouldn’t wake up. Um Seung Do shook his head, and said this.

“It’s the Zuo Huo Ru Mo. I’ll try to fix the boy, so hold on.”

Jo Gi Chun looked at Um Seung Do with a furious expression.

“Was this caused by that medicine?”

“……Yes, but I didn’t expect this either. To think that the boy had reversed intestines…….”

Um Seung Do couldn’t say anything else. That was because Jo Gi Chun’s face was turning red in anger.

Um Seung Do really couldn’t say anything at this situation. But he did feel a little wronged. He didn’t realize anything like this, either.

“…….I’ll take the insults after this.”

Jo Gi Chun was looking at Um Seung Do with a furious face. Um Seung Do went outside, ignoring Jo Gi Chun’s gaze. He put down a carpet from the carriage, and lay down Cho Ryu Hyang on it.

‘Damn……’

He didn’t expect anything like this to happen. Um Seung Do didn’t say this to Jo Gi Chun, but Um Seung Do was also putting his life at stake here. He sat Cho Ryu hyang down, and bit his lips.

‘Alright. Let’s see who dies first here.’

Um Seung Do began to take out his inner power.

Right then, Cho Ryu Hyang was still conscious. No, he was actually observing the area with a clearer mind than usual. He could obviously make out the conversation between the two men, thanks to that.

‘Reversed intestines? Me?’

Cho Ryu Hyang was surprised. He didn’t know about it either. So he half believed what Um Seung Do said a little while ago. He thought the man just said it for the show.

Then.

[That guy’s right, you idiot.]

Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes widened when he heard this voice. No, his eyes would’ve widened if he could move his body.

[Remember how you opened the Mystical Door (奇門) a while back?]

Open the Mystical Door? Cho Ryu Hyang remembered what happened during activating the formation, and nodded. Yes, he did feel something strange inside him when he completed the formation.

[Usually, you’d have to go through one more thing before you open the Mystical Door. I thought it was strange for you to open the door without going through that. To think your body was like this……]

Were his intestines really reversed, like Um Seung Do said? When Cho Ryu Hyang was trying to take this in, he heard the voice again.

[You earned too much, too suddenly. Because of that, the balance of your body has crumbled. There was a need for the intestines to reverse, because of that. Well, it happened at a strange time, it seems.]

He could feel a tinge of playfulness in the old man’s voice. This was a bad omen. He felt that the treatment would not be simple. His expectations were correct.

[Your instincts have gotten better. You’re right. The treatment you’re about to go through will be quite painful. You’d usually die in a fit of pain when going through it.]

Cho Ryu Hyang’s face twisted. Come to think of it, the old man had the tendency to speak as if he didn’t really care about other people’s well being.

[Try to endure it. If you survive….]

……If he survives? The old man hesitated for a while, and spoke again.

[…….You’ll earn quite a lot in return.]

What would that be? before he could even ask that, a hot energy transferred to him from his back. Cho Ryu Hyang was surprised by this extreme heat. At the same time, he could hear Um Seung Do speaking in his head.

[I know you’re still conscious.]

What was he about to say? When Cho Ryu Hyang tried to listen, Um Seung Do spoke again.

[I’ll use all my energy for this treatment. Usually, this treatment ends up in the patient’s body expanding and exploding from excess energy.]

Cho Ryu Hyang carefully listened under the heat. There wasn’t much choice for him, other than to listen to the man who was treating him.

[I’ll try to control my output, but I’m not very confident I’ll do well.]

‘This irresponsible……’

Cho Ryu Hyang felt like spitting out insults.

[Please try to endure this as much as possible. Don’t get unconscious. That would mean certain death.]

The moment the sentence finished, an astronomical amount of energy came into Cho Ryu Hyang.

At the same time, his body expanded twice in size.

Chapter end