LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 40
Chapter 40: The Always Prepared Man
Thump thump.
Yujinhwi felt her heart pounding beneath the pressure bandage.
Her face flushed slightly.
From now on, she would clean the disciple’s body.
‘My, my hands…’
Just thinking about it made Yujinhwi’s cheeks turn even redder.
Thankfully, the disciple couldn’t see her blushing face since she was holding him from behind.
Yujinhwi thought to herself.
Thump, thump.
Feeling the disciple’s body heat made her heart race even faster.
Her emotions surged like a turbulent sea.
Yujinhwi bit her lip.
‘What a shameful thing to think while leaving the hurting disciple alone…!’
As a pang of pain shot through her lips, the heat in her cheeks and head cooled down a bit.
The disciple had sustained internal injuries while fighting off the dangerous individuals sent by the Sayeong Hoe to protect the sect.
But wasn’t she just having indecent thoughts while leaving him alone?
In fact, the disciple looked pale, and beads of cold sweat streamed down his back.
It was not right.
Yujinhwi shook her head to dispel her distractions.
Yeah, this is a perfectly valid nursing act.
As a younger sister and as a fellow man, she was the only one capable of taking care of the struggling disciple.
Thinking this, Yujinhwi’s heart started racing again.
Indeed, she had made a good decision to live as a man.
If she had revealed her identity as a woman to the disciple, she wouldn’t be able to care for him like this now.
‘I will become a more reliable elder brother.’
She would be an ideal elder brother to the disciple.
Biting her lip, she tried to ignore her racing heart and laid him down.
“Here, disciple. Lie down comfortably. I’ll clean you up.”
“Ugh…”
The disciple’s groan reached Yujinhwi’s ears.
‘Disciple, you’re in so much pain…’
Worry crept into Yujinhwi’s eyes.
‘From now on, I’ll protect you. I’m sorry.’
As she thought this, her hands wrung out a wet towel, and she gazed at the disciple’s back.
His well-defined muscles, like a statue, were intrinsically beautiful and had an enchanting allure that could captivate any woman.
Especially around the waist, the muscles were thick and sturdy, perhaps due to his horse stance training.
Thanks to Lee Cheol-soo’s achievements in the color spectrum practice, it deepened slowly.
‘This is… the disciple’s body…’
Yujinhwi’s face reddened again.
Her heart began to race once more.
It wasn’t her first time seeing the disciple’s body.
A year ago, when extracting the venom from a deadly assassin, she had also stripped the disciple to see his body.
But back then, it was an emergency, she didn’t have the luxury to observe closely like now.
So this was her first time truly looking at the disciple’s body.
What she saw was beautiful, and the solid foundation built from external martial arts training was clear.
‘How hard must it have been…’
As she carefully wiped down the disciple’s body with a cold towel, her other hand moved to caress his back muscles.
She knew.
The disciple was a commoner. Yet, he never showed insecurities due to his talent nor envied her.
Instead, he generously even gave her the rare elixir. He helped her like a shadow. Furthermore, in the inn, he led the battle against the black dragon sect to promote the sect’s honor.
But that was it.
The disciple continued to dedicate himself for her, for the sect.
Even after a year, he still neglected to take care of himself.
‘He should at least think of himself a little…’
Her racing heart calmed down, and the heat in her cheeks cooled off.
Yujinhwi’s vision blurred.
How much effort must have been invested to create these beautiful muscles? How much effort did he put in to chase after unparalleled talent?
Without a single complaint, he must have exerted extraordinary effort to stand beside her as a commoner.
Remembering this made her heart ache like it was being squeezed.
No one knew the disciple’s pain but her.
No, this time, even she failed to protect him.
Just the fact that feelings arose when being with him made her distance herself from the disciple.
‘I won’t ever do that again. Never… I won’t leave you alone.’
Yujinhwi bit her lip and continued to wipe down the disciple’s body carefully.
“Ugh, ugh, sob….”
Combined with the disciple’s pained groans, a sobbing sound reached her ears.
Yujinhwi’s face showed a look of panic.
“Disciple, it’s okay. I’ll make it painless. Don’t worry.”
Her soft, delicate hands caressed the disciple’s back.
A surge of her internal energy shot from her lower abdomen to her fingertips.
To relax the disciple’s body and muscles, she needed to perform the pressure point massage.
Yujinhwi thought this as she pressed her fingers, imbued with internal energy, onto his back and pressure points.
It was the pressure point massage.
“Ugh, ah! Ughh….”
A stifled scream burst from the disciple’s mouth as he received the massage.
“Just hang in there, disciple. I’ll make it feel better soon…”
The pain that accompanied loosening knotted muscles and unblocking the meridians was natural.
The disciple’s scream arose from that pain.
Still, she couldn’t bear to hear his pained groans any longer.
She didn’t want to hurt him anymore.
With a determined expression, Yujinhwi bit her lip.
‘The only one who can care for you is me… So we’ll always be together. As elder brother and disciple.’
The disciple was so small and fragile.
Thus, he needed her.
Thinking this, Yujinhwi continued the pressure point massage for a long while.
*
“It’s over, disciple.”
The embarrassing time, which felt like a century and seemed like an eternity, finally ended with the elder brother’s declaration.
The elder brother got off her body.
He meticulously wiped her down, as if it were something unnecessary.
Just the thought of a man’s hands meticulously washing her body was terrifying beyond comparison.
Her elder brother’s touch strangely felt like a woman’s, adding to the discomfort.
Damn it, did I act like a patient for nothing?
Honestly, it was a bit uncomfortable to be waited on by a girl, so she sent Seoharin to help.
But the aftermath ended up with the elder brother washing her body and doing the pressure point massage, creating a butterfly effect.
Her spine still tingled.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
It felt unjust.
After the kiss mark incident that day, she had been careful, careful not to lose her heart to the elder brother!
And yet, in a lapse of defense, this damnable event occurred.
Honestly, in her heart, she wanted to shake him off mid-way, but she couldn’t.
Right now, she was officially a patient. And the pressure point massage was a legitimate act of treatment.
It would look suspicious if a patient refused treatment. If she wasn’t careful, she could expose the fact that she was acting sick. Seoharin, she could brush aside because of gender difference, but it wouldn’t work with an elder brother since they were both men.
I fell for my own trick.
They say even monkeys fall from trees.
Damn it.
If she had known she would experience something this humiliating, she should have stopped acting like a patient.
“How was the pressure point massage?”
The elder brother’s voice reached her ears.
The pressure point massage.
It was like a medieval martial arts version of a meridian massage.
What is a massage?
It was a great conversation starter to share intimacy with a beauty. Even in old novels, it was a cliché for the hero to excite a beauty through the pressure point massage.
In reality, she had prepared to keep having the pressure point massage on standby for emergencies.
All to create a pleasant atmosphere with an unparalleled beauty to naturally guide things in the direction of pleasure.
One never knows when the chance for a romantic encounter may arise.
So, just like how men keep a condom in their wallets, they ought to be always prepared.
Yet here she was, getting the pressure point massage from the elder brother.
Such a terrible situation had never even crossed her mind.
Moreover, to be asked whether it felt good.
Her head became hazy as the typical question one asks after intimacy flipped onto her.
Rubbing her eyes with her hand, she gripped her sanity with a Kegel exercise and said, “It was good. I didn’t know you’d care this much for me, thank you.”
After all, pressure point massage was a treatment, so it was only natural to express gratitude here.
She expertly acted out a heartfelt gratitude she didn’t feel.
Her words made the elder brother smile.
“Really? I’m glad my first try went well!”
What? First try?
Was she a test subject?
Surely, he wouldn’t experiment with her only to become adept and then use those skills on beauties, right?
Her mind snapped back to reality.
Honestly, she couldn’t believe the elder brother’s skills were a “first try,” they were so excellent.
Even a 30-year veteran of Thai traditional massage wouldn’t stand a chance against the elder brother’s pressure point massage.
A perfectly handsome elder brother doing pressure point massage on a woman?
That should be unthinkable.
“Elder brother, you know according to the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, there’s a proper distinction between men and women, right? No matter how therapeutic the pressure point massage is, it involves physical contact, so it’s better to avoid doing it on an unrelated woman.”
She quickly tried to ward him off.
Before he got any wild ideas, she needed to put up her defenses.
He could’t go around giving pressure point massages to just any woman.
The elder brother nodded at her words.
“Yeah. Disciple. I understand. Clearly, there’s a distinct rule of propriety, so I won’t touch the bodies of women recklessly as you requested.”
The elder brother said with a cheerful grin.
What? Why was he so happy about that?
She had achieved her goal, yet it felt somewhat uneasy.
He couldn’t be really gay, could he?
Just as she was having those kinds of doubt, a burning smell wafted into her sensitive nose.
Wait, burning meat?
There couldn’t be meat in the Gongdong sect, right? No way…
“Elder brother, what happened to the pork?”
“I left it to Seoharin.”
The moment she heard the elder brother’s words, she nearly stumbled and stood up.
As far as she knew, Baekdojeilhwa Seoharin’s cooking skills were laughably bad for the daughter of an innkeeper.
And he left her precious stamina-replenishing potion in the hands of someone like that?
Absolutely unacceptable.
She needed to go to the kitchen right now!
*
At the same time.
In Sichuan’s Heukryongbang, the main hall.
A massive faction supporting the Sado Family, that held one of the positions of the Eight Palaces of Sado.
Boasting its splendor, the grand hall of Heukryongbang was filled with enormous royal chambers that resembled a palace.
In front of the gate, adorned with a black dragon that looked like it could soar at any moment, a woman in a black martial outfit wearing a face veil arrived.
‘Why did I… say such things…’
Hwa Myeon-ho-gyeom, no, Sado Ryeonju Yeomwang Jeoksawol.
She had come to the main hall of Heukryongbang to uphold her promise with Lee Cheol-soo.
Looking back, she regretted the words she let slip about granting one’s wish upon passing the test.
Among those who faced the trial of Hwa Myeon-ho-gyeom, some men had indeed spoken lewd phrases.
Hwa Myeon-ho-gyeom had a stunning figure, even if her face was a melted mess.
But no one could genuinely call her ugly, despite her scarred face.
What she yearned for was a man who would say that ugly faces could also be beautiful, who would see the inner person rather than the outer appearance.
On the contrary, the men who praised her figure while showing disdain for her scarred face were effectively rejecting her true intentions.
So, she had cut down such men as well.
But Lee Cheol-soo was different.
He sincerely spoke that not only her figure but her scarred face was beautiful.
The problem lay with the accompanying lewd phrases.
Yet, he didn’t even wish for an intimate encounter afterward.
She would have preferred it if he said he would accept someone who passed the test as a lover.
A lover? With a boy who hadn’t even matured yet? Ridiculous. It was an unimaginable concept.
Damn it. What was I thinking, spewing such unnecessary words?
As Jeoksawol grumbled internally, she took step toward the main gate of Heukryongbang.