<Chapter 4. Saying it for the first time in my life>
Along with the weight of reality, Beom Cheon’s body was also heavy.
Would it be the slight bleeding from the past that was the issue?
With just a flick of the sleeve, he could have sent Beom Cheon flying far beyond a hundred meters.
But not now.
Beom Cheon climbed onto his chest and pressed down his arm with his knee; he couldn’t breathe, nor could he push him away.
Beom Cheon was almost like a mountain.
No, let’s put it correctly. Even an old man who hadn’t mastered martial arts wouldn’t be able to handle this body; it was like a clump of grass.
“Beom Cheon, I can’t move away at the m…agh…”
Before he could vent all his anger, his mouth began to open.
Beom Cheon opened his mouth with both hands and shoved his hand in.
“Eat this and die. I’ll be following soon, so your journey to the afterlife won’t be lonely!”
“Agh… Stop it right… Gurgle…”
Even as he tried to close his mouth, Beom Cheon’s hand was like steel pincers.
Moreover, even though he had only exerted a little force, he already felt dizzy and powerless.
In the meantime, Beom Cheon had forced poison into his mouth.
“Ugh!”
The Beom Cheon who was tearing at the mouth just a moment ago now covered it with his palm to prevent it from opening. His palm also covered the nose, forcing Hu-Gong to struggle frantically even to breathe.
During that, the poison that had touched the tongue began to melt.
‘Am I going to die like this?’
To suddenly come into a different body and then suddenly die.
Hu Gong couldn’t help but be perplexed.
‘By a mere snack of poison? Me?’
Even if he had to die by ingesting something, it couldn’t be poison. No, even giving a hundred concessions, dying without knowing why wasn’t the way it should be.
In the meantime, Beomchun was giving it his all, as he was prepared for the suicidal pact.
He was desperately clenching his mouth shut so that the poison could not be spit out.
“Die, die—, you bastard!”
While writhing, Hu Gong managed to free one arm.
Smack!
He struck Beom Cheon’s throat with the blade of his hand.
“Kuk! Huoek, Huoek….”
Beom Cheon clutched his throat and fell to the side.
In the meantime, Hu Gong hastily spat out the poison.
He had to spit out even the bit that had started to melt on his tongue, so while coughing violently, he did his best to spit it out along with the saliva.
“Kehaek! Kehkeh! Huh?”
At that moment, Hu Gong felt dizzy.
His head spun around.
His mind became dizzy, and the floor seemed to move.
Was it his body spinning, or the floor?
Then, the floor approached closer to his eyes.
Thud!
Hu Gong fell face-first onto the floor.
The toxin was so potent that even the small amount that had slightly melted while he held it in his mouth exerted its toxic effect.
‘This can’t be. Am I really going to… here…’
It felt like his chest was burning up, and half of his body started to become paralyzed.
His throat stiffened, and his mouth involuntarily opened.
He couldn’t breathe properly.
Even as he twisted his body and clutched and tore at his throat, his airway wouldn’t open.
“Kuhhh… I, I am… I am…”
I am not your grandson. I am the leader of the martial arts world!
No matter how he tried, the words wouldn’t burst out.
Hu Gong, holding his throat, looked up at Beom Cheon soaked in confusion. Beom Cheon’s shadowed face had become even colder.
“That’s right, die now. Isn’t this the death you’ve wanted so much? You, who considered pain insignificant as long as you could die, isn’t that what you said!”
‘Why is it like this.’
Even if he had been reincarnated, aren’t there many ordinary people? Why did he have to switch bodies with someone caught in a suicidal impulse?
Saying it was unfair to die like this was an understatement.
But at this rate, death was a foregone conclusion.
In that case, he had no choice but to resort to the last desperate measure.
In a split second, Hu Gong consolidated all the information. At the same time, he gathered the last ounce of strength he could muster. He truly did not want to go this far, but Hu Gong had no other choice.
Whether it could work was the issue, but he had to do it.
Trembling, Hu Gong reached out his hand.
“Sa…”
“What?”
“Sa, sa…”
“…?”
“Save… me. Grand… father… Kuh, kuh…”
“…??”
As his vision blurred, his consciousness began to drift away.
At the fringe of his consciousness, Hu Gong could see Beom Cheon’s pupils shaking.
* * *
In the bedroom of the great scholar of Cheonhwa Library.
Family head Beom Cheon and a doctor were looking down at a young man sleeping beside the bed.
“How is Beomhang’s condition?”
The family head asked.
The doctor’s voice came right away.
“Don’t worry. Although the poison from the Blood Mushroom (혈우독, Hyuludok) remains, it is at a level that does not threaten his life. In a fast case, one month, and at latest, a month and a half, we will be able to remove all the toxins. The pain will gradually decrease, and the partially paralyzed body will return to its original state.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Not at all.”
‘Damn it, it was the blood mushroom poison?’
The young man, no, Hu Gong, was awake but pretended to be asleep and was listening to the conversation.
He had managed to save his life through a desperate measure in a moment of crisis, but Hu Gong felt wronged to be considered fortunate. He didn’t expect to end up saying such pathetic words as “please save me.”
It was the first time in his life that he had asked to be saved.
Until now, he had only heard such words.
It was up to him to decide whether to forgive or kill, and that was the end of it.
Furthermore, it was infuriating to hear that the poison was from a blood mushroom.
He knew the blood mushroom all too well.
The blood mushroom, also referred to as a blood fungus, was a poisonous mushroom.
When roasted on a fire, the toxicity within the mushroom intensified, but at the same time, it became more savory. He often enjoyed it as a snack while wandering through mountains and fields.
It was regrettable that it was hard to find and couldn’t be eaten often, but the blood mushroom had nothing to do with life or death. However, now he had to lie in bed for a month because of a pill made from the extract of blood mushroom.
It was just a snack!
The conversation between the two continued.
“Family head, but there is something I am curious about…”
The doctor trailed off.
It was a situation where, in the early morning, the family head had reproached his grandson for planning a joint suicide for a long time, crying that he should never do it again.
“Go on.”
“What does it mean that the word ‘please save me’ came out of the grand scholar’s mouth?”
The doctor’s voice was cautious yet filled with wonder.
“It is as you heard. You didn’t mishear.”
“Is that so? But.”
“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t heard it myself.”
An abnormal conversation continued as if it was nothing.
It was natural for someone nearing death to ask to be saved, yet the two reacted as if it was a strange event unparalleled in the world.
“It is good news, but suddenly without any precursors…”
“Hmm, it did feel different than usual. Even the way he spoke.”
“Did you perhaps see a passion for life?”
“It wasn’t that. If it was something along those lines, I would have recognized it immediately. It was…”
Recalling that moment, a frown appeared between Beom’s brows.
“It was just observing.”
“Pardon?”
“It looked different from the indifference arising from despair. It was a true central indifference. What was strange was, he didn’t recognize me. He even called me by my name without any honorifics.”
“Are you saying he didn’t recognize you? Then we must assume that the Blood Mushroom poison affected his brain.”
“The poison’s influence?”
“Yes, Blood Mushroom is notorious for its potent toxicity. Even in small amounts, if it penetrates the brain, it can cause various reactions including becoming violent or, conversely, extremely docile. In extreme cases, it might even cause memory loss, so a change to a rougher manner of speaking wouldn’t be unusual.”
“It might be so. However…”
“Is there something bothering you?”
“Not at all.”
Sect leader Beom Cheon held back his words.
The unfamiliar attitude of his grandson and the roughened way of speaking occurred before the ingestion of the Blood Mushroom poison.
From Beom Cheon holding back his words, Hu Gong understood what Beom Cheon was thinking.
‘He must be thinking it’s a good thing.’
Even if it was just a slim possibility, there was a fear of losing hope. The grandson, who had wished for death by self-inflicting wounds on his neck and wrists, had asked to be saved. There might be a blooming expectation in his heart, hoping for a chance.
“I hope this incident turns out to be a blessing in disguise.”
“If so, there would be no complaints.”
“To be honest, I am more worried about you, sect leader.”
“Hehe, about me? I have absolutely nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t ask much from the sect leader. Just live for another thirty or forty years.”
“Just… I thought you expected more of me.”
The two left the room with a laugh.
In the afternoon, other people came to visit the sick.
They were two young men.
As one young man, intoxicated, entered the room and staggered as if about to fall, the young man beside him quickly reached out his hand to support him. However, rejecting the help with a hand gesture, he just flopped backward onto the ground.
“Brother, are you alright?”
The younger brother looked worriedly.
He had a delicate and gentle appearance.
“I am fine. Hey, Bumong! Don’t get it wrong. I didn’t fall. I intended to sit on the ground from the beginning.”
The drunken young man nonchalantly sat on the ground after falling.
“Yes, I knew you meant to do that.”
“By the way, is that beastly bastard even alive?”
“It seems he is sleeping.”
“Sleeping, you say? Haha, crazy bastard, he can sleep? Hey, little brother, at this rate, that guy might live longer than us. He must be destined to live a long life. Always saying he’s going to die but never does, doesn’t it seem like he plans to live until he’s smearing shit on the walls?”
“He did ask grandfather to save him, so maybe Big Brother changed his mind.”
The younger sibling’s gentle tone angered him.
The drunken young man’s veins bulged in his neck.
“Big brother? Shut your mouth. Before I kill you first!”
“I’m sorry.”
“I only have one brother. That one is a beast, not a human offspring, got it?”
“……”
“Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it, this is disgusting. I didn’t come here to see that crazy bastard’s face. I must be insane. Let’s go.”
“……”
“I said, let’s go!”
“Yes.”
The two young men left and the room became silent again.
‘It seems I have younger siblings.’
Throughout the conversation, Hu Gong felt an urge to see the face of the drunk guy, but he judged that it wasn’t the time yet as he still lacked information.
In the evening, the family head Beom Cheon dropped by again, sat silently for a while, and then left. Also, a physician came to check the pulse, and there were no other visitors to inquire about the patient.
Hu Gong pretended to be asleep the entire time, just monitoring the situation.
With his body feeling beaten and not knowing anything, engaging in conversation would only add to the unnecessary fatigue. Staying still and securing at least some information was the priority.
There was modest but tangible progress.
My name is Beomhang.
A guy who has longed for death.
And, the eldest grandson of Cheonhwa Library.
Two younger siblings.
Moreover, it seems like Cheonhwa Library is heading towards ruin.
The atmosphere somehow felt decadent, and very few people came to visit the sick person.
The eldest grandson of a family almost died and came back to life, yet only three family members came to visit.
Whether the two younger siblings were cousins or brothers wasn’t clear, but considering that one of them came while drunk, it seemed that everyone who could come had come.
It is common for the atmosphere to become gloomy when there is a sick person in the house.
Moreover, since Beom Hang had wished for death by slashing his neck and wrists, it could be assumed that the mental state of the relatives was also in ruins.