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

Hyuk Dojin tried quite hard to prove his innocence by explaining his story in great detail.

It wasn’t his intention to watch me but rather to help, like accidentally seeing my shoulder or such simple stories.

In fact, it didn’t matter whether he looked at the shoulder or even below it. It wasn’t like looking at it would wear it out.

Moreover, it was the person who would become my husband, not some other man.

Even if the marriage is nothing more than a political tactic.

But his awkward reaction was amusing, showing a demeanor of appropriate caution.

The more so, Hyuk Dojin let out a deep sigh as if to admit to himself. Still, anything had to be appropriate to be fun.

“Please be careful next time.”

It didn’t matter if he looked at the shoulder several times, but Hyuk Dojin nodded twice as if he would definitely keep his promise.

“I’ll be careful.”

What was he going to be careful about? Wasn’t it him who wanted to share a room?

I took a seat at the table with a wry smile.

Hyuk Dojin also sat down on a chair, and as soon as he finished preparing the meal, the dishes seemed to be waiting for the round tray, revealing their appearance.

The dishes were placed on the table one by one, a total of six kinds of dishes. It wasn’t excessive, but it was an appropriate amount of food.

But even this felt like too much to me.

How much could I eat?

“I hope it suits your taste.”

“I’ll enjoy it.”

Smiling, I picked up the chopsticks.

What should I eat? I glanced around the table. Hyuk Dojin was dragging noodles onto his plate with chopsticks.

Which one would be better? Usually, when I was in my room, servants brought me food. So I’ve never chosen food like this before…

Moreover, there was a difference between the food in Liaoning and Guangxi.

So, at a glance, I couldn’t tell what kind of food it was.

‘Nothing I can do about it.’

I picked up the most familiar dumpling* with my chopsticks.

However, in Liaoning, dumplings were boiled in a steamer and were a little dry, but here the dumplings were in a soup-like broth.

I quietly looked at the translucent broth and moist dumplings on my chopsticks and slowly moved them into my mouth.

It was a very unfamiliar form, and I was curious what it would taste like, but it was quite a familiar taste. It seemed to be similar to the mandu* soup I often ate in my past life. The broth seemed to be made from beef bones. (tl/n: mandu is Korean dumplings, a few more words at the end of the chapter.)

Even back then, my mother often cooked it until I got sick. It was easy to digest and very tasty, so I ate it all the time.

I somehow felt nostalgic.

I picked up another dumpling with my chopsticks and put it in my mouth, and my corners of the lips slowly rose again at the familiar taste.

“Do the dumplings suit your taste?”

While I was chewing my food, I turned my head when I heard a voice.

Hyuk Dojin, who had been busy moving his chopsticks just a moment ago, was staring at me intently.

Not only that, but the tall man who had been serving the food behind him was also looking at me with a very pleased expression.

Why are they staring at a person eating food so intently…

“It seems you like it very much. I didn’t think you would show such a smile to the dumplings.”

“A smile… to the dumplings?”

A soft smile covered Hyuk Dojin’s face. As he snapped his fingers, a tall man approached from behind and bowed his head.

“My name is Geum Baekcheon, and I am the chef of the inner palace. I’m very relieved that you liked my cooking, Miss Moyong Sowol.”

The man with a hearty laugh and a cool voice introduced himself.

“I will do my best to continue making dishes that you will enjoy.”

I just ate two dumplings…

I rolled my eyes slightly. Since it wasn’t something negative, I smiled and spoke up.

“These dumplings are really delicious.”

“Are they? Then let me bring out a few more…”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’m full now.”

“What?”

Geum Baekcheon widened his eyes wide as if he was surprised. His surprised expression made me also widen my eyes at the sight of him.

Geum Baekcheon looked at me blankly before shifting his gaze. At the end of it was Hyuk Dojin.

He was staring at me with a stern face, probably shocked by my words.

Thinking I might have misspoken, as I was about to cautiously speak, Hyuk Dojin spoke up.

“Do you usually eat so little?”

“A little… I have trouble digesting a lot of food, so I tend to eat just enough so that I’m not full.”

“But two dumplings is too little, isn’t it?”

“Yes. but I’m just used to eating this much…”

I rolled my eyes, wondering if I ate too little. The servants who had been avoiding my gaze seemed surprised and muttered among themselves.

In the meantime, Geum Baekcheon looked at me and then quietly bent his knees and met my gaze directly.

“Where do you usually feel discomfort?”

“What?”

“Where?”

Somehow startled by his somewhat ominous words, my hand moved naturally.

As I touched the end of my clavicle with my fingers, his eyes narrowed.

“The Jung Bu acupoint…” **(tl’n: the acupuncture point of the Lung Meridian)

He murmured quietly, then opened his mouth again after a moment of thought.

“Have you ever experienced discomfort in your back when you had difficulty digesting?”

I looked at Hyuk Dojin after looking away from Geum Baekcheon. Why was he suddenly talking about my health issues instead of the food?

I asked with my eyes if it was okay, but Hyuk Dojin still stared at me with a stiff expression.

Is it irrelevant?

I turned my gaze back to Geum Baekcheon and said:

“Yes.”

“Do you feel discomfort on your side near your ribs?”

“Exactly.”

“In that case, it connects to the Gyeong Mun acupoint.” **(tl’n: the acupuncture point of the Kidney Meridian, more at the end)

He murmured the name of another point quietly and stood up from his seat.

“Do you usually feel cold in your body?”

“Yes. I tend to feel cool.”

“…I see. I’ll prepare dishes that are easier to digest from the next meal. You should be able to eat a little more then. Please stop eating today and I will prepare something to eat later and bring it to you.”

I tried to say it was okay, but I hesitated as it seemed like it might not be a good idea, so I nodded quietly.

Geum Baekcheon hurried off to prepare something, and Hyuk Dojin, who had been sitting with a stiff expression, slowly spoke:

“When you said you have a short appetite, I thought you would eat like other noblewomen…”

As he spoke, a faint laugh came out.

“It seems Sowol has a knack for surprising me. I didn’t expect you to eat just two dumplings…”

Hyuk Dojin nodded quietly, as if understanding.

“Remember what I said earlier? I said I should feed you more. I was only half joking, but I never thought I would make that my goal.”

He chuckled softly and lowered his chopsticks.

“Of all the goals I’ve set, it seems like the most difficult and challenging one.”

Hyuk Dojin smiled slowly with a meaningful expression.

* * *

Returning to the room after guiding Sowol to her residence, Hyuk Dojin immediately spoke up.

“Eun Do.”

[You called me, Master.]

Like before, the voice echoed in the darkness. Hyuk Dojin sat in his chair, pressing his eyelids with his fingers as he spoke.

“What about the information I told you to find out?”

It had been a day since the order was given, yet Hyuk Dojin was pushing Eun Do for results.

Although his attitude seemed perplexing, the voice in the darkness answered calmly.

[No accurate information has come out yet. However, according to the investigation, it seems the Moyong clan is keeping all information related to Moyong Sowol hidden and hasn’t leaked anything outside. The reason is…]

“Because of her white hair, I presume.”

Eun Do responded to Hyuk Dojin’s words with silence.

Hyuk Dojin removed his fingers from rubbing his eyelids and stared blankly at the ceiling.

‘…Just two dumplings.’

Even a toddler crawling on all fours would probably eat more than that. Among the people he had met, Moyong Sowol ate the least.

He didn’t usually comment on other people’s meal portions. If they were full after eating that, he should understand, what else could he do? People couldn’t all be the same.

But Moyong Sowol was excessively thin. When he held her hand, it felt almost weightless.

That meant Moyong Sowol’s meal size wasn’t adequate, but rather excessively small.

He thought she had caused quite a stir as soon as they met, but her meal size was another surprising shock.

He never thought he would be genuinely surprised by someone else’s meal size.

Hyuk Dojin smirked.

“Eun Do.”

[Please make an order]

“What is the biggest goal for you?”

[To enter the Central Plains and establish the roots of Demon Cult.]

Yeah, that’s right.

It was only natural for grandiose goals to come to mind first if it was a goal. Hyuk Dojin chuckled at his goal set just now.

“If my goal were to increase the meal size of a lady, what would your reaction be?”

There was no answer. It must have been shocking. Hyuk Dojin didn’t urge Eun Do for an answer, just nonchalantly stroked his chin.

“So what should I do?”

His lips slowly parted. His other hand tapped the desk rhythmically.

Tap, tap, with the regular sound, Hyuk Dojin’s forehead furrowed.

His eyes narrowed.

“What should I do with my wife?”

A wife who ate a little, was sick, and was also skilled at lying.

His lips curled into a dark smile.

-Trust me.

He remembered Moyong Sowol, who lied so skillfully when he asked, ‘Can I trust you?’

Did she think she could deceive him?

If she’s going to lie, she should do it convincingly. It was difficult to be fooled when the lie was so obvious.

“How long will you keep lying?”

He wondered when he would hear the truth she was hiding in her mouth, Moyong Sowol’s mouth.

Tl/note:

1*When Sowol picked up a dumpling, in raws was used the word ‘gyoza’, which are Japanese dumplings. But since it’s a Korean novel and setting, I thought a simple ‘dumpling’ would be better. And when in the text was used exactly the word ‘mandu’ (soup), it probably meant the same dumpling. Koreans call any form of dumplings mandu. That’s why I could use ‘dumplings’ but I left ‘mandu’ because the author wrote specifically the latter.

So you can say that gyoza/mandu/ordinary dumplings are all the same. Well, even ‘dumplings’ can be cooked one or another way with different ingredients and meat, so don’t bother much with their differences.

2*The Jung Bu acupoint – this is the point where the energy of stomach and spleen is gathered in the lung meridian. Located on the outside of the collarbone; in English it’s also called ‘Middle Assembly’ or ‘Central Treasury’, in Chinese ‘Zhongfu’.

The Gyeong Mun acupoint – is a front point of the Kidney Meridian which dominates the primary energy of the body in general. It is like the door through which the energy of the kidney enters and exits. Located on the lateral side of the abdomen, on the lower border of the free end of the 12th rib; in English it’s also called ‘Capital Gate’, in Chinese ‘Jingmen’.