I Became the Hidden Ruler of the Martial World

Baek Yoonjun was now in a village quite a distance from the foot of the mountain.

It wasn't just an ordinary village.

It was a village where a plague had spread, with more people lying down than standing.

'Why am I here?'

Of course, he hadn't come of his own free will.

Baek Yoonjun looked at Tang Yuhwa, who was bustling around in front of him, taking care of people.

'It's all because of this brat.'

Baek Yoonjun recalled the time when he had just returned home.

After returning home, Baek Yoonjun had mobilized all the medical knowledge he knew to treat Tang Yuhwa.

It wasn't a complete cure, but there was considerable improvement.

The problem was after that.

Tang Yuhwa, as if she had no intention of returning, settled down in his house and asked Baek Yoonjun to teach her medicine.

Since Baek Yoonjun already had experience accepting Baek Sowol as a disciple, teaching itself was not very difficult.

But the problem was after that.

-Unused medical skills are dead medical skills. Medical skills must save people.

Tang Yuhwa had dragged Baek Yoonjun down the mountain.

After inquiring about rumors and running around, they had found a village where a plague was spreading, and now.

"Master. The decoction is all made."

Baek Yoonjun was taking care of patients with Tang Yuhwa.

'I don't remember the name of the disease well, but I think it was a trivial disease on modern Earth.'

Baek Yoonjun looked around the miserable village.

The smell of rotting corpses was spreading everywhere.

'If I hadn't learned martial arts, I wouldn't have lasted 30 seconds.'

Baek Yoonjun frowned, scattering his internal energy to block the smell and the energy of the disease from approaching him.

'But that brat is holding on well even though she hasn't learned martial arts.'

Baek Yoonjun looked at Tang Yuhwa, who was constantly moving around and taking care of people.

Thanks to the cloth wrapped around her mouth and the pills that gave her immunity to the disease, there was no worry of the disease spreading, but the sight of her taking care of people in such an environment without even frowning was strange to anyone.

'Well, she's not just a doctor in name.'

Watching that, Baek Yoonjun's heart became complicated.

The village was mostly full of patients who couldn't even move and corpses.

Thanks to that, there was no need for much interaction, so it was relatively comfortable for Baek Yoonjun, the homebody introvert, to move around.

But he wouldn't have come here to treat them on purpose.

'It's really not a pleasant sight.'

It was difficult to see the sick and those who had become corpses due to the disease.

'It's more comfortable to just cut the necks of evil people.'

For Baek Yoonjun, the corpses of thousands of evil people who had been stabbed to death were easier to look at than the dozens of people who had lost their lives to disease.

And so, as he was treating the sick one by one, following Tang Yuhwa, even though it was an unwilling task, a strange sense of pride welled up in Baek Yoonjun's heart.

'Come to think of it, I've mostly used what I've learned to kill people.'

In the first place, for Baek Yoonjun, martial arts was the main thing and medicine was a bonus.

But seeing dozens of villagers, who might have lost their lives otherwise, being saved by his hands, his thoughts changed a little.

'To think I saved this many people.'

Baek Yoonjun looked at Tang Yuhwa, who was busy moving around and was now catching her breath under the eaves, with a proud look.

And at the same time, a certain worry took root.

"Yuhwa."

"Why call?"

"Don't you have any thoughts of learning martial arts?"

"Not necessary. I'm a doctor."

Tang Yuhwa had been like that before.

Baek Yoonjun had tried to teach her martial arts while teaching her medicine.

-A doctor only needs the skill to save people.

Tang Yuhwa had refused flatly.

It was a way of thinking that Baek Yoonjun could not understand at all.

'To live in this harsh world without martial arts?'

She wasn't an ordinary person, but a doctor who actively treated the sick.

What would she do if, after she had treated a person, an enemy of that person came and stabbed her?

Baek Yoonjun imagined himself learning only medicine without martial arts and shivered.

And at the same time, his first disciple, Baek Sowol, came to his mind.

His first disciple, who had slammed her head on the floor and asked for teachings on martial arts, and his second disciple had very different pursuits.

Even though their situations were quite similar.

Baek Yoonjun recalled a conversation he had with Tang Yuhwa before.

-Are your parents well?

-They were attacked by bandits on their way to a distant hospital and passed away.

-You have no thoughts of avenging your enemies?

-In the time it takes to avenge my enemies, I must save even one more sick person.

It was a way of thinking that Baek Yoonjun could not understand at all.

At the same time.

'Amazing. To have such a firm conviction even at a young age.'

To Baek Yoonjun, a homebody introvert who had only learned martial arts, Tang Yuhwa, who acted with her own conviction, looked very dazzling.

His first disciple, Baek Sowol, couldn't be said to have no conviction, but as a child, she hadn't firmly chosen her path, and thanks to that, Baek Yoonjun was able to teach her many things as a master.

On the other hand, Tang Yuhwa.

'Is there anything I can teach this child besides medicine?'

Baek Yoonjun fell into deep thought while mixing medicinal herbs.

And so, as he was pondering for a long time, a certain scene came to his mind.

'Come to think of it, when I first met Yuhwa, she used poison without hesitation, didn't she?'

Tang Yuhwa, who had sprinkled poison on the assassins as if feeding pigeons.

Recalling that scene, Baek Yoonjun thought of things he could teach Tang Yuhwa.

"Yuhwa. Didn't you use poison when we first met?"

"I used it because it wasn't life-threatening and could be fully detoxified."

Tang Yuhwa agreed with a face that Baek Yoonjun couldn't figure out what she was thinking.

At that reaction, Baek Yoonjun saw a way to teach Yuhwa not only medicine but also self-defense.

"Right. Didn't you use it as a means of self-defense?"

"That's not it."

"What?"

Baek Yoonjun's eyes twitched at the unexpected answer.

"At that time, there were many children to treat, so I needed time."

"Right. In preparation for such cases in the future, how about learning martial arts?"

"...I don't feel like it."

It was her usual expression, but it suited the words she was saying now so well.

'I expected this reaction!'

Since he had expected the words this time, Baek Yoonjun smiled triumphantly inwardly and took out a fine needle from his bosom.

"Look at this."

Baek Yoonjun raised his internal energy and made the fine needle float in the air.

Then he stuck them into the wall one by one.

"If you learn martial arts, you can place needles even from a distance."

Baek Yoonjun was triumphant.

"Is there a need to do that?"

But Tang Yuhwa was indifferent.

Baek Yoonjun was flustered.

'Wasn't long-distance medicine the romance of medical professionals? Doesn't this era have such a romance?'

Having failed to persuade her, Baek Yoonjun quickly voiced his next move.

"Wouldn't it be necessary to subdue and treat a patient who has lost their reason!"

"Poison is enough."

"Isn't poison's safety low?"

"I only use safe poisons that I have tested on my own body."

Baek Yoonjun couldn't give up like this.

Baek Yoonjun was someone who would always teach at least one self-defense method to the people of the village at the foot of the mountain that he had picked up one by one.

It was far from kindness, and he had taught them simply because he himself was anxious.

It was the same now.

'To live in this harsh world without a single martial art?'

Baek Yoonjun was anxious.

He was even more anxious because she was a disciple who was learning medicine from him, not someone else.

Therefore, he gave another answer to the indifferent Tang Yuhwa.

"The more treatments for a disease, the better, isn't it?"

Tang Yuhwa looked at Baek Yoonjun with her characteristic sullen face.

"There's a point."

Whether her sullen face was just her usual face, a positive reaction came back.

Baek Yoonjun was relieved.

"Good. Then let's learn medicine, long-distance acupuncture."

"Okay."

Baek Yoonjun was able to pass on the martial art of long-distance acupuncture, which was read as a hidden weapon technique.

Perhaps because one worry was resolved, Baek Yoonjun's movements became a little faster, and the plague treatment was quickly finished.

"Thank you. Thank you, doctor."

"We will never forget this kindness."

And so, as the treatment was somewhat finished, the villagers who could move their bodies repeatedly expressed their gratitude to Baek Yoonjun and Tang Yuhwa.

"I have only done what I had to do."

"Thank you! Thank you!"

For Baek Yoonjun, the homebody introvert, the excessive thanks were just burdensome.

'I want to go home.'

He just wanted to go home and be cooped up in his room.

"Master. The cause."

"I know."

But even if he had treated the disease, if he left without dealing with the cause, he didn't know when the plague would spread again, so he had to check what he had to check.

Baek Yoonjun performed a polite fist-and-palm salute towards the person who looked the oldest among those who had greeted him.

"Old sir, do you know when and where this plague spread from in this village?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry I couldn't be of help."

Baek Yoonjun immediately understood the old man's words.

The medical level of this world was about that of medieval China.

'One day, at some point, in a flash, the disease must have spread throughout the village.'

Baek Yoonjun continued his questions without any particular expectation.

He was so eager to find the cause or starting point of the disease and return home that he had no hesitation in speaking to others.

And so, as he continued his investigation.

"Uh, I don't know if that's related, but."

He met someone who seemed to know something.

"Please tell me whatever comes to mind."

"Well, it seems the plague spread rapidly after the Taoist priests of Kunlun visited."

"The Taoist priests of Kunlun?"

To Baek Yoonjun, Kunlun was not a completely unfamiliar name.

'Didn't that person, Zhuge Hyun, say he was in the Kunlun Mountains?'

It wasn't very pleasant to hear a somewhat familiar name.

If what he said was true, it was as if.

'It's like the plague was spread artificially.'

Since it wasn't a very pleasant thought, Baek Yoonjun frowned and continued his questions.

"Was there anything unusual about the people called the Taoist priests of Kunlun?"

"If there was anything unusual, the fact that they visited this village itself is unusual."

"Why is that?"

"Well... as you can see, our village is in the middle of nowhere, isn't it?

Occasionally, a group of merchants on a trade route would stop by, but there were almost no outside visitors, so the fact that such people visited itself is unusual."

At those words, something flashed in Baek Yoonjun's mind.

'Come to think of it, don't plagues also spread easily in places where there is a lot of human traffic?'

In the first place, Baek Yoonjun didn't even know of this village's existence.

It was just a place that Tang Yuhwa had accidentally discovered while moving through the air with her lightness skill.

Baek Yoonjun continued his questions with a firm expression.

"Were there no outsiders who came and went around the same time as the Taoist priests of Kunlun visited?"

"No, there weren't."

"Did the Taoist priests of Kunlun do anything suspicious in the village?"

"There was nothing like that in particular."

"I understand. If you think of anything, please let me know."

Baek Yoonjun judged that he had asked the man everything he could and continued his questions to another person.

"I'm sorry. I didn't even know that outsiders had visited."

"The people called the Taoist priests of Kunlun only stopped by the village for a very short time and left quickly."

But he didn't get much.

'There's nothing more I can do.'

Having finished his assessment of the situation, Baek Yoonjun called Tang Yuhwa.

"Yuhwa. Let's leave now."

"Now? Already?"

Tang Yuhwa, who was called, had her usual sullen face, but it was a face that seemed to have a complaint.

It seemed she was not happy about leaving without finding the cause.

"It seems there's nothing more we can do. If something bothers you, let's stop by again later and find the cause."

Baek Yoonjun had no particular intention of visiting this village again, but he spoke a lie without any hesitation to persuade Tang Yuhwa.

'It's burdensome to visit a strange village, and I've done everything I could by doing this much, haven't I?'

He thought he had done all he had to do just by treating the plague and helping to dispose of the corpses.

Whether she knew Baek Yoonjun's thoughts or not, Tang Yuhwa nodded her head at those words.

"Okay."

"Right. Then let's go."

Baek Yoonjun took Tang Yuhwa in his arms, and in an instant, his figure blurred.

"Doctor!!"

A villager called out to Baek Yoonjun belatedly, but Baek Yoonjun's figure had already disappeared.

"Hah, to suddenly appear, treat the sick in the village, and disappear without wanting any reward."

The villagers stared blankly at the place where Baek Yoonjun had disappeared and muttered.

"He is truly a doctor like an immortal."

Awe and admiration overflowed in their eyes.

"A benevolent doctor."

The villagers shed tears of emotion, recalling Baek Yoonjun's immortal-like appearance.

At that time, Baek Yoonjun had long since left the village.

'Ah, I want to go home.'

Baek Yoonjun had long since forgotten about the village and just wanted to be cooped up in his room.

(End of Chapter)