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SERIES: Return of the Divine Thief
CHAPTER 9: Return of the Divine Thief
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Return of the Divine Thief - Chapter 9
When people hear the name Divine Thief, they think of a mere technician who scales walls like a ghost and picks locks in silence.
‘How foolish. A third-rate thief scales walls, and a second-rate thief picks locks. But a first-rate thief, a true thief, steals the hearts of people.’
True thievery is making the target lower their guard and open their gates wide on their own.
In his past life, Muryang had to become dozens, even hundreds of different people to achieve this.
To steal the treasures of the imperial palace, he became a fawning official and earned the trust of a powerful figure.
To get his hands on a great merchant’s secret ledger, he took a job as a naive new clerk and handled all the menial tasks for months.
Sometimes, he would infiltrate the mansion of a corrupt official as a guard, pretending to protect him while learning everything about him.
The fundamental teaching behind all that disguise and infiltration came from his master.
—The foundation of thievery is ‘understanding.’ To steal an item, you must know its value and origin. To steal a person’s heart, you must understand the person themselves.
His master didn't just teach Muryang martial arts, Lightness Skill, hidden weapons, and lock-picking skills.
—To understand people, learn the structure of their bodies and minds. A killer learns how to kill, but a Divine Thief must also know how to save. It’s the same principle as having to learn how to detoxify before you can learn how to use poison. Our Way is not merely the art of taking. Only when one reaches a state of perfect understanding of the target, to the point where one can temporarily borrow its very essence, can one truly be called a Divine Thief.
This was no hodgepodge of knowledge picked up by eavesdropping or looking over someone’s shoulder.
The medical arts his master taught him were the secret techniques of the Divine Thief, meant to delve into a person’s deepest places, and the core skill that formed the basis of all his disguises.
Muryang drained his cup and rose from his seat.
The plan was now set in stone.
‘Diagnose Elder Heuk’s desperation, prescribe a treatment of trust, and win his heart.’
He pictured the most bustling marketplace in Uiju.
A legend, after all, always begins where the most people are watching.
‘Good. There’s not much time, so I’ll show them a miracle.’
It was time for the Divine Thief to fade into the background for a while, and for the divine doctor, Hwa Un, to take the stage.
His first house call would shake the entirety of Uiju.
* * *
The next day, in the middle of the busiest market in the Daewoong Faction’s territory.
Amidst the countless people coming and going, an old man suddenly collapsed with a cry of “Ugh!”
It was ‘Old Man Bang,’ a man everyone in the market knew.
He was well-known for his chronic cough, a malady he’d suffered from for decades, which was loud enough to echo through the whole neighborhood.
“Oh no, it’s Old Man Bang again!”
“Someone call a doctor!”
Into the heart of the chaos, where people were running around in a panic, a man strode forward with purpose.
He was a middle-aged man in shabby but clean doctor’s attire, with a worn medicine box on his back.
It was Muryang, wearing a Human Skin Mask.
“Everyone, make way. The patient needs space to breathe. If you crowd him like that, he’ll suffocate.”
At his stern voice, the crowd parted without thinking.
Muryang glanced over the collapsed Old Man Bang’s condition, then shook his head and sighed.
“Tsk, tsk… what a cruel twist of fate.”
He took Old Man Bang’s wrist and closed his eyes, pretending to take his pulse.
A moment later, a shocking diagnosis came from Muryang’s lips.
“This is no simple chronic illness. The candle of his Gate of Life is flickering out. The Five-Poison Miasma is flowing through his blood vessels and constricting his heart. At this rate, he won't last even an hour.”
Five-Poison Miasma?
The people began to murmur, having never heard of such a disease.
Muryang paid them no mind and took out a jet-black pill from his robes. A strong, earthy smell filled the air.
“This is the ‘Dragon’s Breath Pill.’ A divine medicine made with the breath of a dragon. Once this pill enters his body, it will either drive out the poison and he will live, or his soul will ascend with the poison. His fate is in the hands of heaven.”
It was all a bluff, of course.
But it would be effective, so what did it matter?
Muryang forced open Old Man Bang’s half-closed mouth and shoved the pill inside.
Then, he swiftly struck the acupoints along his esophagus.
A breathtaking silence fell over the surroundings.
A moment later, Old Man Bang, who had been lying still as a corpse, suddenly began to tremble as if having a seizure, then coughed up a large glob of black phlegm.
And then, a miracle happened.
As if he had never collapsed, Old Man Bang shot up and took a deep, clear breath, seemingly for the first time in decades.
“Hah… I can… I can breathe! I’m not coughing!”
A tremendous cheer erupted from the crowd.
People tried to offer him money to express their gratitude, but Muryang quietly waved his hand.
“Fate merely guided me here. My work is done.”
With only those words, he vanished into the crowd.
Only the legend of the divine doctor, ‘Hwa Un,’ was left echoing in the market.
* * *
The power of a legend was potent.
Rumors of the ‘divine doctor Hwa Un’ spread like wildfire, and a long line formed in front of the shabby clinic he had temporarily set up.
Muryang hung a banner that read, ‘I even fix ghosts. But only when I feel like it,’ and officially began his business.
“Next.”
This patient was an enforcer from the Daewoong Faction, with a large sword scar on his shoulder.
“Doctor, this wound won’t heal. Every night, it feels like hundreds of insects are crawling on it.”
“Hmm… let me see the wound.”
Muryang pretended to examine the scar carefully, then spoke with a grave expression.
“This is no sword wound. You were cut by the lingering resentment imbued within the sword. The one who gave you this wound must have died with an extraordinary grudge. That resentment remains in the wound, eating away at your flesh.”
“What? R-Resentment?”
“There is only one cure. Find that person, sincerely apologize, and ask for forgiveness. Then you will be healed.”
“But, Doctor! That person is already dead!”
“Then you must find his grave and beg. What other choice is there?”
The enforcer’s face turned pale at Muryang’s absurd prescription.
And for good reason, as the bodies had already been collected and burned after the battle.
“P-Please! Isn’t there another way?! I’ll give you all… all this money!”
Muryang glanced at the pouch full of silver coins and then spoke.
“Since you show such sincerity, I will treat you.”
“R-Really?!”
“I will slightly twist the meridians through which your qi flows, so the vengeful spirit will temporarily lose its way.”
In the blink of an eye, Muryang placed needles in several spots on the patient’s arm.
Then, as if by magic, the pain seemed to fade.
In truth, it was just a clever trick to temporarily paralyze the nerves, but the ignorant Faction Member had no choice but to believe it was a divine power.
“Whoa…! It… it doesn’t hurt! You truly are a divine doctor!”
“But be careful. If you ever do anything to incur another’s resentment, the pain will return even stronger.”
It was impossible for an underworld enforcer not to incur someone’s resentment.
He had more than enough of an excuse for when the anesthesia wore off in a few days and the pain returned.
And since he was swindling an underworld thug, he felt no guilt.
As these strange diagnoses and miraculous treatments continued, ‘Hwa Un’ began to be treated as less of a mere doctor and more of a demigod.
And finally, just as Muryang had designed, the biggest fish took the bait.
A few days later, a luxurious carriage decorated with the finest silk stopped in front of the clinic.
‘That’s the carriage I saw at Elder Heuk’s residence.’
Sure enough, the person who emerged was the steward in charge of Elder Heuk’s estate.
He concealed his arrogant demeanor and bowed respectfully.
“Greetings, doctor Hwa. Our Daewoong Faction’s Elder Heuk has heard much of your great reputation. We implore you to grace us with your presence and relieve the Elder of his worries.”
Elder Heuk had finally taken the bait.
But Muryang didn’t even turn his head as he replied curtly.
“Can you not read the words on my banner? I said I do not make house calls. Is being an Elder some high office? In my eyes, he is just another sick patient.”
“Of course, I respect your wishes, Doctor. However, the patient’s condition worsens by the day, so I have no choice but to be rude and make this request. I promise you treatment beyond anything you can imagine.”
Despite the steward’s persistent persuasion, Muryang didn’t bat an eye.
He simply focused on the patient before him.
“Go back. I do not see patients with whom I share no fate. It seems your Elder and I are not fated to meet.”
Muryang’s mind was perfectly calm and calculating.
‘Yanking on the line the moment you get a bite is what an amateur would do.’
The foundation of fishing is patience.
You must engage in a slow, very slow tug-of-war until the fish that took the bait is exhausted and gets dragged out on its own, without ever realizing it was bait.
‘If I run over there right now, I’ll be just one of many doctors. A slightly more skilled one, who charges a slightly higher price. Nothing more, nothing less.’
But if he refused, the story would change.
The eccentric doctor who flatly rejected the call of Elder Heuk, the second-in-command of the Daewoong Faction.
An eccentric who cannot be moved by money or power.
The gossip would only serve to wrap his reputation in an even greater mystique.
‘Desperation makes people weak. Let’s see just how desperate you can become, Elder Heuk.’
* * *
The day after the steward left, nearly in tears, he returned. And he came back the day after that, without fail.
Only on his third visit did Muryang reluctantly rise from his seat.
“Hmph. Your persistence is so irritating, I suppose I’ll have to go. Lead the way.”
Having perfectly orchestrated the three visits to drive his own value to the heavens, Muryang leisurely boarded the carriage.
Upon arriving at the residence and being led inside by the steward, a suffocating silence greeted him.
The servants he encountered silently made way, bowing their heads, while the warriors guarding the hallways were as still as parts of the wall, not even twitching.
Every movement followed a set discipline, operating with flawless precision.
‘Interesting. This feels less like the underworld and more like an army.’
In his past life, he’d had a slight connection with Elder Heuk, so he knew the man came from a fallen general’s family.
Still, seeing the atmosphere of the residence for himself, he was struck by it all over again.
‘He seems capable enough to be put in charge of the Uiju underworld.’
Uiju was a key transportation hub in Guangxi Province.
Countless people and goods would pass through, so strong discipline and control were necessary.
It seemed Elder Heuk would be more than capable.
To achieve that, he first had to steal the heart of a despairing father.
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