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SERIES: Return of the Divine Thief
CHAPTER 11: Return of the Divine Thief
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Return of the Divine Thief - Chapter 11
*Creak, thud.*
The heavy wooden door closed, and Heuk Cheolsan was left alone in the hallway.
Not even the slightest sound escaped from within.
He could hear neither the breath of his living daughter nor any sign of the doctor driving out death.
The silence tightened its grip on Heuk Cheolsan’s heart.
He paced the hallway anxiously.
The iron will he had forged through a lifetime steeped in the blood-soaked underworld was nothing but a castle of sand before the fate of his daughter, waiting behind that closed door.
The doctor’s chilling words from moments before echoed in his ears.
‘You truly must not love your daughter.’
“……”
Heuk Cheolsan clenched his fists unconsciously.
Absurd.
For whom had he stained his hands with blood and endured this vicious world?
Wasn't it all for his one and only blood, for Aran?
But the doctor’s voice seeped into his heart like poison, planting a seed of doubt.
‘Is it… really true?’
If I truly loved Aran, I shouldn't have hesitated when I heard the doctor's absurd prescription.
I should have immediately thrown down my sword, left the Daewoong Faction, and headed for a place with clean water and fresh air, a place that would be good for Aran's health.
But what did I hesitate for?
‘I’ll be cast out of the Daewoong Faction. Things will become very difficult after that.’
The words he himself had uttered stabbed into his chest like a dagger.
He had worried first about his position in the Daewoong Faction and his own safety, more than his daughter’s life.
Was that truly the mindset of a man who called himself a father?
‘What if… I abandon all of this and leave?’
Heuk Cheolsan fell into agony.
If he pleaded with the Lodge Leader, citing his past contributions, perhaps he would be allowed to leave.
Money wasn't an issue; he had scrimped and saved tenaciously until now.
Even without money, what couldn't an able-bodied martial artist do?
But the aftermath was the problem.
The enemies he had made over the years would come back to haunt him.
The moment he cast off the armor of his title, Elder of the Daewoong Faction, blades of vengeance would fly at him from all directions.
He didn't care what happened to himself.
But Aran was different.
She was a child who knew nothing of martial arts, as fragile as a candle in the wind.
How could he guarantee that the blades of those vengeful underworld bastards would stop with him, her father?
Overall, it was an inescapable cycle.
He had to leave the underworld to save his daughter, but the moment he left, his daughter would be in danger.
Trapped in this impossible situation, a black fog began to rise in Heuk Cheolsan’s heart.
Just as Muryang had intended, he was slowly sinking into a deep and dark inner demon.
It was at that very moment.
*Creaak—*
Breaking the suffocating silence, the tightly shut door opened.
Muryang, his face pale and drenched in sweat, poked his head through the crack in the door.
“You may come in.”
* * *
Heuk Cheolsan swallowed dryly and stepped into the room.
The suffocating anxiety that had crushed his heart just moments before mingled with the sliver of hope the doctor had shown him, making his heart pound like crazy.
The room looked the same, but the heavy shadow of death that had settled over it had somehow faded.
And then he saw her.
His daughter, who had always lain there with a pallid face, was sitting up in bed, leaning against the headboard and looking at him.
“Ah… Aran!”
Heuk Cheolsan rushed to his daughter’s side without thinking.
Up close, Aran’s face was nothing short of a miracle.
A healthy, faint blush had returned to her once-pale cheeks.
Her lips, once bloodless and dry, had regained their vitality.
Above all, the light had returned to the child’s eyes.
“Father….”
Her voice was weak, but it was clear and bright.
With a trembling hand, Heuk Cheolsan touched his daughter’s forehead. The forehead that had been a ball of fire was now cool.
“Are you all right… Are you really all right?!”
“Yes, Father. I really am.”
The child gave a small, shy smile.
It was the first smile he had seen from her in years.
“It doesn’t hurt at all. It’s easy to breathe… and my body feels as light as a feather. Father, I… I want to eat some delicious sweets, and I would like to go see the marketplace.”
This was the child who, due to her pain, had refused to eat, barely managing to swallow porridge each day.
And now, that same child was saying she wanted to eat something, that she wanted to go outside.
Heuk Cheolsan’s eyes grew hot with tears.
He turned and dropped to his knees before Muryang.
“Doctor! This debt… How can I ever repay this debt…! It is as if you have saved my own life! No, it is more than that!”
His voice trembled violently with overwhelming emotion.
But Muryang, looking exhausted, raised a hand to stop Heuk Cheolsan from paying his respects.
“It is too soon to celebrate, Elder.”
At those words, Heuk Cheolsan’s heart sank.
“What do you mean….”
“I’ve put out the immediate fire, but the root of the problem has not been solved.”
Muryang glanced at Aran, who was sitting on the bed, and lowered his voice.
“Did I not tell you? That child is like a precious snow orchid. I have cleared away the filth of the sewer for a moment, but the child is still in the middle of that sewer.”
Muryang wiped his sweat-drenched forehead and said,
“This is not a conversation to be had in front of the child. Let us move elsewhere.”
* * *
The reception hall in the annex, where the steward had guided him, was quiet and cozy.
But the air within was as taut as a razor's edge.
Having witnessed his daughter's miraculous recovery, Heuk Cheolsan no longer doubted Muryang's words.
He was the first to speak, his voice heavy.
“Your diagnosis and prescription were both correct. My way of life… I suppose it was what made my daughter ill.”
“That is so.”
He continued, his expression pained.
“But Doctor, reality is not so simple. Even if I were to abandon everything right now and leave for a secluded place, there is no guarantee that the grudges and vengeance aimed at me would not turn toward my daughter.”
“It would indeed be dangerous without your position as an Elder of the Daewoong Faction. Having immersed yourself in the martial world, you could never escape its web of debts and grudges.”
“That is correct.”
His words were laced with the deep anguish and helplessness of a man.
Muryang gazed quietly at Heuk Cheolsan before lifting his teacup. The doctor's demeanor had vanished from his tone.
“I will speak frankly.”
In that instant, the atmosphere in the hall changed.
It was not stubbornness or eccentricity, but a cool, overwhelming presence that pressed down on Heuk Cheolsan.
“The real reason I came to Uiju was not to cure the Elder's daughter.”
“I suppose so. With such divine skill, you must have come to help many people.”
Muryang chuckled.
In a way, Heuk Cheolsan, who still thought of him as an ordinary doctor, seemed naive.
“You're not wrong. In the end, my purpose is to save people.”
He seemed to concede the point readily, but then he posed a chilling question.
“But Elder. Does a festering wound heal simply by applying medicinal herbs to it?”
“……No, it does not.”
“It might alleviate the pain for a moment. But unless you cut out the rotten flesh at the root of the problem, the wound will never heal and will only spread its poison throughout the body.”
Muryang's gaze grew as sharp as a blade.
“This city, Uiju, is like such a patient. No matter how many people I treat with my medical skills, it is all for naught if I do not change the diseased structure of this city, which creates new patients every single day.”
He set down his teacup and uttered his final words. The sound echoed in Heuk Cheolsan's ears like thunder.
“That is why I intend to do it. Not with medicine, but with a sword—I will excise this city's largest tumor. The tumor is called The Daewoong Faction.”
They were words he could never have imagined coming from a doctor's mouth.
After all, no matter how remarkable, a Doctor was still just a Doctor.
“A t-tumor… What do you mean….”
“Can you describe the current Daewoong Faction as anything other than a tumor?”
“……”
The Daewoong Faction and its Lodge Leader had not always been this way.
They didn't necessarily help the weak, but they didn't torment them either.
But now...
Muryang's last words were a question, but he didn't seem to expect an answer.
He paused for a moment before delivering the decisive blow.
“Heuk Cheolsan, descendant of the fallen ‘Black Tiger General,’ should be able to understand my meaning.”
Heuk Cheolsan felt a shock as if a dagger had been plunged into his heart.
He almost shot up from his seat without realizing it.
There was no one in the martial world who knew of his family, of his past.
It was a past he had hidden perfectly, erased completely.
Yet this Doctor spoke as if he were looking at everything laid bare in the palm of his hand.
“Who… who in the world are you!”
“My identity is not relevant. What is important is that I am offering you an opportunity.”
Unflinching, Muryang made his proposal.
“Will you not become the new master of Uiju's underworld and join me? A man like you could create a clean garden where a child can breathe freely, not a blood-soaked gutter.”
It was an irresistible offer.
The only solution to his daughter's illness, and the one path that would allow him to break through his own contradictions.
But Heuk Cheolsan did not lose his composure.
“……That's an absurd fantasy. No matter how divine your medical skills and intelligence network may be, the Daewoong Faction's Lodge Leader, Wi Mugeuk, is no easy opponent.”
That was the reality.
All plans are torn apart like paper in the face of overwhelming martial power.
But upon hearing this, Muryang merely chuckled.
“Wi Mugeuk.”
He said the name as casually as if mentioning a stone on the roadside.
“He is my problem, not the Elder's.”
“What?”
“I will be the one to finish Wi Mugeuk. You just prepare to dance on the stage I set for you.”
“Doctor, the power that Lodge Leader Wi Mugeuk wields is a force of destruction that kills and crushes people. If you have never experienced such power…”
“Destruction…”
Muryang murmured, cutting Heuk Cheolsan off.
Still holding his teacup, he lightly flicked a finger.
Ping—
With a tiny sound, something invisible flew toward Heuk Cheolsan.
Heuk Cheolsan reflexively tried to dodge, but he couldn't.
He was completely immobilized by the pressure bearing down on his entire body.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
But there was no pain.
Instead, he felt something warm and soft touch his nape.
‘Th-this is…!’
Heuk Cheolsan's eyes widened in astonishment.
The Doctor could have killed him whenever he pleased.
Muryang rose from his seat and said.
“You have a different mission. From now on, gather the truly loyal subordinates within the Daewoong Faction who follow you. The ones who enjoy senseless violence, the ones who take pleasure in tormenting the weak—you must weed out these rotten parts that do not align with our beliefs with your own hands. Because when I strike the head, you must take full possession of the body.”
Heuk Cheolsan was speechless.
The Doctor who had seen through his past, presented an impossible cure, and demonstrated incredible martial prowess.
Looking into his eyes, he felt the illusion of standing in the eye of a great storm.
“Can you do it?”
He was no longer Doctor Hwa.
He was a great and ambitious man, intent on redrawing the skies of Uiju.
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