Chapter 137

And then Qing let out a sly smile and added,

“You’re talking about Prince Deokhyeon too, right?”

At that, Jayu’s expression twisted awkwardly.

He seemed to be at a loss for words, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, but ultimately he settled on a sardonic, self-deprecating chuckle.

“Did I not say? He only cared about saving his own skin. He had no real affection for the people, so how could he genuinely care?”

“Who cares? I heard they were crying and causing a ruckus in the streets over the prince’s death. If people can wail like that for someone they’ve never even seen, then he must have been a pretty remarkable guy, right?”

“But that doesn’t mean he was good.”

“Enough already. At least I think that way, and so do those poor folks crying in the streets. So, like a real man, he should just own it and strut around with his chest out, saying he fed them.”

“Heh.”

Jayu shut his mouth tightly.

He seemed to be deep in thought.

Good grief, a guy feeling shy.

Of course, regardless of who cried or praised him, Qing could tell right away.

Jayu was, after all, one of the best people Qing had ever met.

Sure, compared to overwhelming figures like Qing, they had a difference as vast as the sun and the moon, but having just one good person among the rest of the decent folks was nothing to sneer at.

Qing now had a rough understanding of how good and evil karma was measured by visible deeds.

Causing harm to others led to malicious karma, turning someone into a villain in the eyes of the world.

Only when it came to people.

Once you turned into a villain through malicious karma, you were treated like a pest, something harmful that should either be eliminated or subdued, thus acquiring good karma for saving the world.

However, this karmic bond didn’t consider personal circumstances, intent, or nature.

Even with good intentions, if it resulted in countless lives suffering, that made you the worst villain imaginable, while having malicious intentions but nonetheless helping a good person to laugh gave you the highest praise.

It was a ruthless branding, evaluated solely on results.

Yet, that didn’t make Qing ruthless himself.

If he wanted to be kind, he could choose to overlook things like Grandpa or Representative Ho, or he could pursue personal satisfaction just like the other villains through enjoyable dissection practices.

Who says he cannot?

If it’s garbage, it’s still a good deed to clean up.

If he didn’t pick up the rubbish lying around, was that a bad thing?

If you insult him for not picking up plastic while grabbing trash, he’d just scoff and tell you to pick it up yourself.

The filthiest of them should just keep their hands off if they can’t do it well, right?

Qing wasn’t in the business of saving villains either.

He didn’t have a duty to wipe out every rotten villain.

Even the annoying tasks asked him about his duties and which side he would take.

In a situation where he wasn’t forced to get rid of the bad guys at all.

At that moment, Qing’s thoughts began to veer off course.

Hmm. If they at least forced him, things might be a bit easier.

They must understand why he fell into this world.

Not knowing someone’s intentions was making him anxious.

This was the foundational fear that Qing possessed.

Qing still struggled with restraint in front of food.

It wasn’t about gluttony.

He simply couldn’t hold back.

He remembered when he first fell into the Martial World.

He recalled how terrifying hunger could be.

If a person was hungry enough, they would end up eating bugs and rotting scraps.

The excruciating memory of forcing himself to swallow disgusting rubbish, those moments of discomfort still haunted him like an indelible mark.

So he felt he had to stay filled.

Because if he ever faced relentless hunger again, that piercing pain advanced by memories would terrify him even more.

His relatively peaceful life had dramatically dropped into a state worse than that of crawling bugs in filth for no reason at all.

It wouldn’t be strange if such things occurred again.

What a frightening thing uncertain existence was.

What if suddenly, he was told, “Hey, why are you not doing as told?” followed by a lightning strike that changed the genre into an eternal hell experience?

Just then, a warm sensation enveloped him.

“Friend? Why are you like this? Friend!”

Plus, at the sound of being called, Qing snapped back to reality.

“Ah. Huh? Ah. Huh.”

Qing finally realized he had been holding his breath this whole time.

After letting air into his complaining lung, he still couldn’t shake off the tremors, so his legs buckled, and his knees wobbled in pain.

Qing frowned as he tried to shake off the disgusting feeling.

What’s up with the Grand Martial Elder not doing his job?

Wasn’t he supposed to stop this stuff?

Why would he ask such questions and make a person feel worse?

Feeling hurt led to him speaking sharply as well.

“What do I care about the emperor or anything? Anyway, to me, he seems like a real jerk. If he’s the emperor, he should think like one and rule well, not complain about the Martial World or the heavens. Isn’t it just all about filling his own pockets?”

“…I didn’t ask you to say such disrespectful things.”

“What the heck, the emperor? If he was sent down from heaven, it must have been to do good, not to sit on a high throne and show off, thinking I’m the best. He should drop to hell once he dies. Good people should be rewarded, and only the bad should be punished.”

In reality, he was just talking to himself.

Good people deserve rewards.

Only the bad guys should pay for what they’ve done.

To Jayu, he seemed like a bomb that had exploded out of nowhere.

In advanced psych-sociological terms, it was called a sudden breakdown.

Jayu’s expression hardened.

For anyone unaware of Qing’s feelings, this would sound like he was harboring deep resentment against the emperor.

Wasn’t it said that his parents were gone?

A girl so gutsy could quickly turn pale and tremble in fear, to the point of not even breathing. Clearly, she was dealing with something connected to that.

Moreover, his hand. His hand. His hand.

“Are you… okay?”

“I’m fine. No, I’m not fine. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Oh really? Well, then I can hold on to you a bit longer until you calm down.”

“Ah.”

Before he knew it, Qing was grasping Jayu’s hand tightly.

Startled, Qing quickly released it.

Jayu withdrew his empty hand with a disappointed expression and began to hurriedly massage it with his other hand.

He felt like it would bruise if he didn’t massage it.

While Qing’s grip was no joke, the awkward atmosphere pressed on.

Qing felt the turmoil wasn’t entirely on him either.

This was all that Representative Ho’s fault.

Because when he had that attack, the embrace had been too warm and comforting.

Since then, just a little unsettled, and immediately she would notice and hug him, leading him to seek warmth from another person whenever he felt even slightly off.

What a bad habit he’d developed.

Before, he would just be sulking on his own.

Yet, it turned out having someone by your side during moments of worry was the best thing.

One of the side effects of Supreme Hand-to-Hand Combat was that his hands were always cold.

One benefit, however, was that because they were always cold, he could feel warmth whenever he touched someone else.

As Qing regretted the warmth fading from his remaining hand, he realized he didn’t really need to feel that way.

Don’t I have family-like bonds, too? He thought.

“Unless you have more to say, may I be excused? I’m feeling under the weather.”

“Yeah. It seems like you’re getting pretty busy.”

Jayu’s expression seemed to ease with a sense of relief.

—-

“Hey. Um… Qing Ah, hey.”

“Huh? What?”

“No, just wondering what you were doing.”

It was a question about why he was hanging onto someone else’s side when he had perfectly good legs.

“Well, it’s just something Grandpa would do. If my legs hurt, I just shouldn’t be standing.”

As if saying if you’re hungry, you should just eat.

Having tilted her head in confusion, Tang Nan-ah responded quietly.

But just being hungry doesn’t guarantee someone would feed you, right?

However, since Choi Riyong nodded as if that was perfectly normal, she just figured that’s how those two grew up.

“I can’t sleep, so I’m getting drowsy. Grandpa, if anything happens, wake me up.”

“Sure. You should get your rest. Go to sleep.”

With that, she awkwardly leaned against him to settle down, resting her head and closing her eyes.

What is she, a seven-year-old child?

Is this how a grown-up is supposed to act?

Tang Nan-ah found herself shaking her head in disbelief.

Seeing that, the Grand Elder observed with a mix of envy and a begrudging acceptance that some of it just stemmed from jealousy.

Then, perhaps with a thought, stepped closer to Tang Nan-ah and asked,

“Are you sleepy too? Want me to hold you?”

“Hmph, who do you think I am?”

“You may want to look at your friend. Beautiful ladies aren’t called sleepyheads for nothing.”

“…Still, it’s embarrassing.”

And that was only to be expected.

Only someone with a sturdy face like Qing could pull off such a skill.

Then Choi Riyong unexpectedly wore a swaggering, triumphant look.

—-

“Listen here, Tang Family Chief.”

“Yes, Wang Ya. What is it?”

“I’ve given it some thought. If you’re thinking about using Prince Deokhyeon as a backing, you should release the medicinal techniques.”

Release the medicinal techniques.

That said, he meant let the Tang Family’s researched medical arts flow into the martial world.

“Your Majesty, but…”

Medical techniques were also a strategic resource.

If a critically injured person could be revived with superb medical skills, it was only right to consider them a resource.

“You don’t have to do it in your name. It’s for the benefit of the world, and your family will naturally be praised for it. Why bother having hesitations?”

“Though, Wang Ya…”

“Explosives masked in the quarry. And you’ve been conducting separate research on thunder pellets as well, haven’t you? You should feel free to go ahead openly from now on. How about it?”

He was suggesting that they no longer operate in secrecy but to openly make use of Prince Deokhyeon’s name.

It was a way of granting forgiveness yet an implicit demand for them to release their medicinal techniques and explosives, too.

But if they were against it, they should have refrained from plotting revolt.

“…I will comply.”

“Don’t think too negatively. You may not know, but perhaps the Tang Family will be called genius doctors in the world.”

That made Tang Tu-juk’s expression brighten a little.

If they transformed from being referred to as sinister poisoners to having the best medical arts, that wasn’t too bad at all.

Moreover, if they became high-ranking officials among the Five Great Families, or even the Nine Great Martial Clans, that wouldn’t be bad either.

“Are you planning to mobilize the troops?”

“Last night’s incident seems to have exhausted everyone. I expect everything should be organized before dawn, so just think of ways to recover your wealth.”

With that, he shifted his weight to the hastily made throne, signaling it was time to leave.

Once Tang Tu-juk left, a shadow stealthily emerged from a corner of the underground, approaching.

“Wang Ya, how about this? As a method for reconciling with the government office and the martial world, a marriage would do just fine.”

“Shut it, Guja. How could a prince holed up in a mountain corner talk grandly about the government office?”

Since Sichuan was surrounded by heavenly mountain peaks, it wasn’t entirely untrue to describe it as a corner of a mountain.

That said, from that corner, they had enough fertile materials and resources that could easily sustain half of the Central Plain.

Young man, Yang Sang-joo, grinned back gleefully.

“Exactly. Bringing up gifts that haven’t even been prepared? No, why are you hitting me? It doesn’t even hurt.”

“Your mouth sure is quick. That’s enough. Go announce that the time has come. Seems like you cannot expect to live off your brother’s kindness forever.”

“Old Dog seems really eager, huh? If he wants to fulfill his wishes, he better get moving. I told you, it won’t matter if you beat me up. It’s the same if you kick me out, Wang Ya.”

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