The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

I was doing morning meditation together with Hyuk Dojin after a long time.

While enjoying the cool air of the quiet training ground, I quietly circulated the energy flowing through my whole body.

I could feel with my body that there had been many changes in myself since the Crimson Lotus Festival.

Simply put, the speed of the energy flowing through my body had become faster than before. And I could feel, if only a little, the natural energies filling my body.

Also, more inner energy had filled my dantian than before. Considering how slowly it had increased until now, it was an exponential development.

And the most important thing was the feeling of having actually fought with a sword.

The people who had taught me until now were several levels above me, and most of their training was about pointing out my weak points and making me aware of the diversity of fighting methods.

But the martial arts matches at the Crimson Lotus Festival had an urgency where one wrong move could mean life or death.

Those frightening and tense emotions turned into experience as time passed.

I wanted to fight again. I wanted to cross swords again. I wanted to feel this sensation more, no matter who it was against.

I felt myself becoming belligerent to a degree that even I noticed.

I recalled the memory of the martial arts matches in my mind, thinking if there were better ways I could have won.

In the midst of this, Hyuk Dojin, who had been sitting next to me, got up from his seat. I gathered my energy and looked up at him. Hyuk Dojin looked at me as if everything was fine, then turned his gaze to the door.

As soon as his gaze reached there, the door opened as if it had been waiting, and Yoo Doha entered.

He always wore a faint smile, but today was different. With a slightly serious face, he approached Hyuk Dojin and spoke quietly.

“We regrettably lost him.”

Hyuk Dojin clicked his tongue lowly and rubbed his neck.

“It can’t be helped. If he’s determined to run away, it would be difficult to catch him. What about the item?”

“Lee Seonghak took it and fled.”

“…So the evidence has disappeared, is that it?”

Hyuk Dojin let out a deep sigh. Yoo Doha hung his head low. Seeing the two of them like this for the first time, I got up from my seat and approached closer.

Yoo Doha greeted me as I approached, and only then showed a gentle smile.

“Good morning, Young Madam. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Good morning to you too, Yoo Doha. But what’s going on?”

I tilted my head diagonally.

Yoo Doha rolled his eyes to glance at Hyuk Dojin, then looked back at me and spoke quietly.

“Do you know about the public search of the Southern Manchuria Do clan recently?”

“It was so noisy, of course I know. Besides, I directly heard about the order to search.”

“Yes. Actually, the reason for searching there was not so much to find something, but more to show that we were looking for something. We thought that by doing so, the culprit would feel a sense of crisis and take some action.”

Hyuk Dojin continued Yoo Doha’s explanation. He ran his hand through his hair and spoke softly.

“We divided the Blood Flow Thousand Wolves Corps into two groups and attached them to Lee Seonghak and Do Hyul. In the meantime, we confirmed Lee Seonghak fleeing with a man called Muk Beon, and tried to secretly follow and capture them all, but Lee Seonghak skillfully broke through the encirclement and escaped. Moreover, with the Vein-Bursting Powder that would be used as evidence.”

“Isn’t that troublesome?”

“We needed that evidence to quickly handle this matter and root out those involved. But now the evidence has disappeared and there are no witnesses. The only good thing is that we captured Muk Beon and the others… but it’s uncertain how much they will confess.”

Yoo Doha turned his gaze to me as he faced Hyuk Dojin, who closed his mouth worriedly.

“Still, there should be something that comes out. We are interrogating them, but it will take time.”

Yoo Doha trailed off, then with an exclamation of ‘Ah!’ as if remembering something, he took out a letter from his bosom and held it out to Hyuk Dojin.

Hyuk Dojin’s hand, which had taken and opened the letter with a face asking what this was, stopped abruptly and looked at Yoo Doha.

Yoo Doha shrugged his shoulders with a smiling face.

“Monk Jeongun said he’s leaving the main sect for a while to obtain medicinal ingredients. He said he’s already made enough of the necessary medicines, so there won’t be a shortage. Also, he’s glad that the Young Madam showed a healthy appearance at this Crimson Lotus Festival, but since you’re not completely healed, he said to be careful not to stop taking medicine or neglect management, or you might return to how you were before.”

Hyuk Dojin, who had folded the letter and put it in his bosom, jerked his chin. Yoo Doha nodded his head and quietly withdrew.

As soon as he disappeared, Hyuk Dojin exhaled. I quietly watched his side profile for a while, then gently held his hand.

Hyuk Dojin’s gaze turned to me.

“It’ll be alright.”

I quietly smiled at him. Hyuk Dojin stared at me intently, then made a very serious expression and turned his body.

“Wife. Do you have any plans this evening?”

“No, I don’t.”

My schedule would only consist of training or eating, so how could I have such plans?

At my answer, Hyuk Dojin slowly turned his head to look at me. His mouth opened softly.

“Then could you spare some time for me this evening?”

I tilted my head curiously.

* * *

I squatted down next to Hyuk Dojin, who was digging the soil with a gardening trowel. His trowel, much smaller than his hand, was busily scooping out soil.

When he asked me to spare time in the evening, I thought there might be some urgent matter, but contrary to such worries, the place he brought me to was the garden of the inner palace.

“I’m thinking of sowing the seeds of the flowers I mentioned before.”

He smiled, pointing to the empty space he had said he would gift me before.

He kept digging the ground with the trowel, and when I planted the seeds, he covered them with soil.

At first, I wondered what we were doing in the middle of winter, but seeing Hyuk Dojin’s very joyful face, I thought, why not?

“Do you know? Hydrangeas have various colors, and what determines their color is the composition of the soil. They say if you plant them in one kind of soil, they become white, and if you cover them with another soil, they become blue. Isn’t that amazing?”

I smiled inwardly at his innocent smile like a child.

To be precise, it’s the flower’s pigment that changes according to the soil’s acidity, but that wasn’t important.

“Were you always so knowledgeable about flowers?”

Hyuk Dojin lightly shrugged his shoulders. A person who had devoted his whole life to swords and martial arts couldn’t possibly be interested in flowers.

I knew he had studied for my sake. I could see without looking that he had prepared many things for me.

I quietly spoke while covering the seeds in the hole he had dug.

“What color will the flowers grown in this soil bloom?”

“White like Sowol would be nice, and blue like the clear sky would be good too. Red might also be beautiful.”

“So you like all of them?”

“Yes. They’re all good. What does the color matter?”

He tilted his head and looked at me. The smile on the corners of his lips was gentle.

“They’re flowers we planted together.”

“…”

‘We’… That expression that flowed so naturally made my heart flutter.

A life with a time limit always had an unstable future, so the word ‘we’ didn’t exist.

Me who would leave, or you who would be left behind.

There was no ‘we’ between that.

I quietly watched his side profile, then rested my cheek on my knee and tilted my head.

But Hyuk Dojin always bound me and himself together.

Does this man know how much that simple expression makes me live?

“Dojin.”

“…?”

Meeting his gaze turning to me, I leaned forward and kissed his lips.

Amidst the cold wind blowing, our lips were very warm and soft.

After savoring Hyuk Dojin’s stiffened lips for a while, I pulled my head back and grinned.

“Thank you.”

“…Sowol?”

I got up from my seat, facing his blank face calling my name.

Hyuk Dojin’s head slowly rose to follow. I held out my hand to him.

“Actually, I also had someone I wanted to introduce to Dojin today.”

“…Introduce?”

I nodded.

Hyuk Dojin took my hand and got up. I looked up at his face that had instantly risen above my eye level.

“I should have introduced you earlier, but I kept postponing it as the opportunity didn’t arise. Still, it’s someone who helped me, so I really wanted to introduce you and called them here. Is that okay?”

Hyuk Dojin tilted his head, then soon brightened his expression. His mouth opened readily.

“It’s fine. Someone who helped Sowol is also my benefactor. You can introduce me anytime.”

At his light-hearted answer, I turned my body with a slightly heavy heart.

The tightly closed door slowly opened, and the person I had contacted in advance slowly entered.

Hyuk Dojin, like me, was looking at the door, but as soon as he saw the person appearing, his face completely stiffened.

I glanced up at his face and grasped his hand.

Hyuk Dojin’s gaze, which had flinched, slowly came down. I looked up at him and nodded.

Deep wrinkles were drawn between Hyuk Dojin’s brows. His mouth opened painfully.

“That person…”

“You know each other, right?”

“That’s…”

Hyuk Dojin, who couldn’t finish his words, eventually stepped back.

I put strength into the hand I was holding and quietly said.

“Don’t run away. Running away doesn’t solve anything. Just as you pulled me out of the mire of deep illness with no promise, turning your head doesn’t make what exists disappear.”

Hyuk Dojin’s lips trembled slightly.

He bit his lip hard, took a deep breath, then turned his head to face me and spoke softly.

“…You’ve thoroughly deceived me.”

“But you knew, didn’t you? Who else would have given me those roots?”

Isn’t that right? When I tilted my head, Hyuk Dojin let out a deep sigh.

Only then did the force applied to my hand loosen.

Hyuk Dojin turned to look at the man approaching him.

The person who revealed himself on the path where torches were lighting the way, coming out of the darkness.

“It’s a good night.”

“Yes, it’s a good night.”

At Hyuk Dojin’s gruff answer, he came out of the darkness and smiled.

Hyuk Dojin also made the same smile that reminded one of someone, and continued speaking.

“Father.”

It was the Cult Leader, Hyuk Muhyeol.