Episode 135
As expected, Rodney’s eyes gleamed coldly behind his glasses.
He looked at Chris with suspicion.
“Excuse me, but I don’t recall ever seeing you at the Sacred Grounds of the Uiseon Clan. How is that possible?”
Evan shot Chris a questioning glance, but Chris answered calmly.
“I was taught separately by a master from a branch family, so I’ve never actually been to the Sacred Grounds. However, I’ve heard much about the beauty of Taebongsan Mountain. If I ever get the chance, I’d like to see the Pond of Minus as well.”
“!!”
Taebongsan. Minus.
These were names only known to disciples of the Uiseon Clan.
Rodney relaxed his expression.
“Ha ha, there will be a chance. In fact, if you help us treat these patients, I’ll personally ask my master to invite you.”
“Thank you for the offer.”
“Then, please come this way.”
Rodney led Chris out of the mansion to a large warehouse-like building some distance away.
“This is where the patients are.”
The door creaked open, revealing a horrifying scene.
“Ugh…”
Cough, gag. “I don’t want to die.”
“Please, save me.”
Hundreds—no, easily over a hundred—lay on the floor, groaning in pain.
Yet, there was no sign of any doctors attending to them.
“There used to be doctors helping here, but they all succumbed to the plague. Now, I’m barely able to hand out the medicine I make through the servants who assist me.”
Rodney sighed deeply, full of regret.
“We’re truly grateful you came in such difficult circumstances. Please take good care of these patients.”
With that, Rodney closed the door and disappeared, promising to find the cause of the plague and a way to eradicate it.
“What will you do now?” Evan asked once they were alone.
“First, we have to treat these patients.”
“…What’s the point? Isn’t that just a waste of time?”
Evan asked coldly.
Even if they treated the patients, if they didn’t find and eliminate the source of the plague, it would be like pouring water into a bottomless pit.
“To resolve the situation.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know why this plague started?”
“…Because of cursed black magic, right?”
“Exactly. Then why would someone cast such black magic? These people are sacrifices—offered up to achieve some goal.”
“!!”
Chris averted his gaze.
People dying in agony.
A scene he had seen countless times before.
“They’re offering these lives as sacrifices to fulfill some terrible greed.”
In truth, even for Chris, solving this crisis wasn’t easy.
Find the cause and eliminate it?
The cursed magic user was involved—where could he possibly find any trace?
It was impossible.
Even if he tried, it would take a long, grueling time.
Instead, Chris shifted his thinking.
“If I can’t find it, I’ll make the culprit come crawling out.”
“I’ll make sure not a single patient dies from now on. Then, with fewer sacrifices, the one who caused this plague won’t be able to achieve their goal, and they’ll reveal themselves.”
That was when he planned to strike and capture the culprit.
Chris’s plan was simple.
Eliminate deaths caused by the plague.
If no one dies, there are no sacrifices, and the mastermind’s plan will be disrupted.
The question was whether that was even possible.
“You’re going to treat all these patients? By yourself?”
Evan asked incredulously, but Chris nodded.
“Yes, it’s possible. This is the ‘Jinyeol’ plague—a curse caused by black magic.”
If it were a normal plague, it would be impossible.
How could one person treat patients whose conditions worsen uncontrollably?
But the Jinyeol plague was different.
“The symptoms are similar to the plague, but the way it spreads is completely different. It’s not spread by rats, but by a curse.”
In other words, the number of new patients each day was fixed.
“About 200 to 300, roughly.”
That was a significant number.
But Chris’s abilities could cover it.
“Especially since there’s a special antidote for the Jinyeol plague.”
If left untreated, the Jinyeol plague was even deadlier than the regular plague.
But Chris knew of a potion from the Uiseon Clan’s knowledge that could cure it completely.
“By specially combining herbs, you can interfere with the curse.”
Chris immediately got to work.
First, he examined the medicine Rodney had made.
“This isn’t a proper medicine.”
Chris’s eyes darkened.
“It’s almost like poison.”
It wasn’t just that the medicine was ineffective.
It was cleverly designed to worsen symptoms and drastically increase the death rate.
“Why would a disciple of the Uiseon Clan use such a medicine?”
He couldn’t have been unaware.
But that wasn’t the only suspicious thing.
“It’s strange that there isn’t a single doctor here.”
The Jinyeol plague didn’t spread just by contact with patients.
As mentioned, it was part of a curse.
So the story that all the doctors caught the disease and died didn’t add up.
“They must have died for some other reason.”
Chris shook his head.
For now, saving the patients in front of him was the priority.
If the death rate dropped sharply, and the mastermind’s plan was disrupted, they would reveal themselves.
“Alright, let’s begin.”
And so, in the midst of despair, a divine will descended.
“……”
Evan swallowed hard.
Two days had passed.
Unbelievably, Christian had done exactly as he said.
He had treated every single patient.
Since starting treatment, not a single patient had died.
“How is this possible?”
Even watching with his own eyes, Evan couldn’t believe what Christian had accomplished.
“No matter how good the potion was…”
Taking the medicine didn’t guarantee survival.
But Christian had saved everyone on the brink of death with his medical knowledge.
“There’s something even more amazing.”
Christian was known to be a genius.
So it was somewhat understandable that he could perform such a miracle.
But what caught Evan’s attention was something else.
“When he treated the patients, I saw his heart.”
Evan possessed a power called ‘Divine Insight’—the ability to glimpse someone’s true intentions.
A blessing from the stars that allowed a chosen hero to distinguish good from evil.
“…He has the heart of a true saint.”
When Chris treated the patients, there was no trace of malice or greed.
Only one feeling shone through.
Compassion.
The will to save.
Who could point a finger at someone with such a heart and call them a demon?
“The worry he showed when a patient’s condition worsened was genuine.”
Of course, Christian never showed it outwardly.
On the surface, he said with a grumpy tone,
“If patients die because I can’t treat them, it just means the mastermind’s plan succeeds. So I’m just doing my best to stop that.”
But Evan’s Divine Insight couldn’t be fooled.
It was sincere concern.
Not only Evan, but the patients who had been treated seemed to feel the same.
“He’s truly a saint. He came to save us.”
“He saved us.”
The patients looked at Christian, who was sleeping quietly in a corner.
Christian had stayed up all night for two days straight treating patients and was now taking a brief nap.
Sunlight streamed in, touching his hair and scattering light around him.
Sleeping peacefully, bathed in shimmering light.
“If he were awake, he’d probably be making a smug face and showing off again. But seeing him asleep like this… he really does look like a saint.”
Evan shook his head.
[What are you waiting for? Strike his neck now.]
Evan’s heart sank.
Since reuniting with Christian, the whispers of the stars had been relentless.
[Didn’t I tell you? He could be the seed of a great disaster.]
He had heard similar warnings before.
‘Christian might destroy the world?’
It was unbelievable.
But he couldn’t ignore it.
It was the unanimous warning of a nine-star transcendent ‘Prophet’ and the stars themselves.
[You are the hero chosen by the heavens to prevent the coming destruction. Killing him now is the way to save the world. Draw your sword immediately.]
“……”
If he truly was the chosen hero, then killing Christian might be the right thing to do.
Especially now, while he was off guard and asleep, it wouldn’t be difficult.
But…
“I can’t.”
Evan recalled how Christian had treated the patients.
Every time a patient was saved, the faint smile that flickered on his face was genuine.
And…
[Don’t you want revenge?]
The concern that had filled Christian’s heart when he saved Evan.
Now he was certain.
Christian was a good man.
If Christian was darkness, he was a darkness brighter than light.
With his Divine Insight, Evan knew this clearly.
Step by step, Evan walked over to where Christian slept.
Perhaps mistaking Evan’s resolve, the stars spoke joyfully.
[Good. You’ve made the right choice. Now, strike his neck…!]
“Shut up.”
[…What?]
Evan cut off the ‘channel’ connecting him to the stars.
He was a little worried about the consequences, but…
‘If I truly am the hero chosen by the heavens, they won’t harm me over something like this.’
Evan knew the heavens had their own desires in making their contract with him.
So they wouldn’t arbitrarily punish or abandon him.
More importantly, he wasn’t a puppet of the stars.
Better to break this contract than become a mindless doll.
Therefore, Evan made his own decision.
He would not kill Chris.
Evan casually pulled out a thermal magic tool and tossed it over to Christian, who was shivering slightly in his sleep from the cold.
Another day passed.
Unbelievably, Chris had managed to keep zero deaths for three days straight.
As a result,
the target took the bait.
“I can hardly believe it. Not a single patient has died.”
It was Rodney, the head of treatment.
Despite his words of admiration, the gaze behind Rodney’s glasses was cold and calculating.
“To have such incredible skill… Were you perhaps a senior disciple of the Uiseon clan?”
“That’s impossible. If I were a senior disciple, I would have used the secret Uiseon martial arts. I just happened to know the recipe for the rare elixir against the black plague, passed down only to direct disciples.”
“I see.”
Rodney nodded slowly.
“Regardless, thanks to you, countless patients have been saved. As a token of gratitude, I’d like to offer you something. Could you spare a moment?”
“Alright. But I have patients to attend to, so only briefly.”
“Ha ha, you truly are a dedicated healer.”
Rodney finished in a low, almost subdued tone.
“Don’t worry. It won’t take long.”