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

The martial arts match with Lee Jehak, which I thought would be a big deal, ended very on a very dull note.

The victory went to Moyong Sowol… that is, me, but since I hadn’t participated from the beginning, both the Murim Alliance and I concluded it as the Moyong clan’s victory for now.

However, neither the Righteous Sect nor the victorious Moyong clan seemed particularly happy even during the awards ceremony after the martial arts competition ended.

That’s understandable, as they had suffered a great blow to their pride by showing a terrible appearance and being eliminated in the finals.

The Moyong clan was barely able to salvage a tiny bit of pride.

In the world, they even had to hear words saying the Moyong clan should be stripped of their position as one of the Five Great Clans because they were a group cooperating with the Demon Cult due to my intervention.

But if I hadn’t stepped up, the Moyong clan could have suffered an even worse disgrace.

Knowing that, the Moyong clan didn’t hold me responsible. Likewise, they didn’t thank me either.

It was a truly ironic relationship. Once they were family, but now they were family who wished for my death.

I didn’t expect anything, but I couldn’t help feeling bitter.

After the awards ceremony ended and the martial arts competition came to a close, some festivals and banquets were held, but I didn’t participate in any of them.

I was ready to return immediately, but the reason I couldn’t go back was partly because I wanted to meet Moyong Do who had just woken up and regained consciousness, and also…

“How can you try to leave with such a sick body? You need to rest until your fever goes down.”

Because I had fallen ill with a fever, perhaps as the price for forcibly using inner energy.

I just smiled without saying anything and looked up at the ceiling at Hyuk Dojin’s worried grumbling.

Monk Jeongun emphasized that unless the vessel containing the original true energy was restored, it wouldn’t be completely cured just by balancing yin and yang.

Unlike before, I felt like I was all better since I could see sunlight and move around healthily to some extent.

But considering that masters who have reached a certain level don’t catch minor illnesses like colds, it certainly reminded me that I was still suffering from illness.

“From now on, I’ll have to refrain from letting Sowol use her strength. Every time you exert yourself excessively, you collapse with a fever, so it’s nerve-wracking for me watching from the side.”

Hyuk Dojin’s hand rubbed and smoothed out my furrowed brows. I smiled faintly, feeling good at the cool sensation.

“Then why didn’t you stop me?”

“Would my wife listen if I tried to stop her?”

“Am I a child? I listen well.”

“Is that so?”

Hyuk Dojin chuckled and stroked my cheek, then removed his hand.

He pulled up the blanket to cover me, then spoke leisurely.

“Then rest well today. My obedient wife.”

I pouted my lips, and he laughed pleasantly. I looked at him quietly as he laughed, then relaxed my expression.

A moment of silence flowed in the warm atmosphere full of laughter and gentle smiles.

I looked at him quietly in the silence, then slowly opened my mouth.

“What happened to the Black Dao Sect?”

“They left. They didn’t participate in the awards ceremony and just left.”

Hyuk Dojin leaned his back against the chair and crossed his arms with an incomprehensible face.

“No matter how I think about it, I don’t understand why they participated in the martial arts competition. It wasn’t to gain a position in the Murim Alliance, nor to build positive fame in the Righteous Sect, and they weren’t even in need of money.”

I slowly rolled my eyes at his words.

Hyuk Dojin had been very angry at Lee Jehak’s words.

“If he wanted Sowol, what was the point in aiming for victory in such a martial arts competition?”

“…”

I let out a slow sigh at Hyuk Dojin’s words.

I didn’t want to lie to him or create secrets, so I had a conversation with him as soon as the match ended.

I carefully conveyed the words Lee Jehak had said to me, and that he wanted me.

When I avoided his gaze, Hyuk Dojin immediately followed and continued speaking.

I wanted to push his back as he was about to say he would go after Lee Jehak and kill him right away, but I had to stop him because I felt only Hyuk Dojin would be in a difficult position.

Fortunately, Hyuk Dojin quickly regained his reason.

I closed my heavy eyes tightly.

“No matter how I think about it, it feels unsettling. When I had the final martial arts match with Lee Jehak… I clearly felt like he could fight more. The overwhelming energy I felt momentarily was not something a person with depleted inner energy could emit. But Lee Jehak forfeited saying his inner energy was exhausted.”

I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling, frowning.

Whatever Lee Jehak’s intentions were, I couldn’t erase the feeling that I had been played by Lee Jehak the moment he forfeited and left.

The Black Dao Sect, and the Murim Alliance.

The assumption that the two groups had some kind of relationship didn’t disappear.

As I was taking a breather while letting out a low breath, Hyuk Dojin looked behind.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Guests have come.”

“Guests?”

Hyuk Dojin nodded and stood up from his seat. As he approached the door and opened it, familiar faces came into view.

Peng Muryeong, Cha Yeonhwa, and…

“Brother?”

It was Moyong Do. Peng Muryeong fidgeted as she looked at Hyuk Dojin standing in front of her.

She seemed to hesitate, unsure whether to greet him and if so, how to be polite.

On the other hand, Cha Yeonhwa and Moyong Do made cupped hand salutes and greeted Hyuk Dojin with the utmost courtesy.

“Umm…”

Peng Muryeong also looked around, then soon took the same posture as the other two.

Hyuk Dojin looked at the three people blankly, then soon fixed his gaze on Moyong Do.

“I heard you just woke up not long ago, is it okay for you to be walking around already?”

“There’s no problem. Rather, my body feels light as if I’ve rested well.”

“Still, you collapsed from poison, so be careful with your body. If you suddenly collapse again, my already sick and weak wife will fall ill, so be careful.”

I sat up on the bed and rolled my eyes at Hyuk Dojin’s words. He shrugged his shoulders.

“Come in.”

The three people came in and stood in front of me. The first to open her mouth was Cha Yeonhwa.

“We heard you were unwell. We came because we were worried.”

“I’m fine. I’m much better. Yesterday I couldn’t even get up, but today I’m well enough to have conversations like this, so there’s no problem.”

Cha Yeonhwa smiled faintly at my answer. She glanced at Moyong Do, then spoke in a light voice.

“That’s good then. I had a hard time stopping Hero Moyong Do yesterday, who was anxious saying he had to go see his collapsed younger sister, that she collapsed from overexerting herself because of him.”

“…When did I ever get anxious?”

“Oh my, didn’t you? Didn’t you keep sighing with a restless face at the banquet? It wasn’t just me who saw it… Right, Miss Peng?”

Peng Muryeong, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation and watching the situation trying to join in somehow, made a startled expression.

She seemed flustered by the conversation suddenly jumping to her.

I smiled faintly at her cute reaction, and Peng Muryeong looked at people alternately with a face red like a ripe persimmon, then soon looked at Moyong Do.

When Moyong Do glanced down at her, she lowered her head deeply with an even more flushed face.

“Th-that’s… ri… right.”

Her stuttering appearance looked more than just a little embarrassed.

Peng Muryeong rolled her eyes and slowly opened her mouth again.

“Yesterday at the banquet, he said he didn’t need it and had to go see his younger sister, looking like he would rush out at any moment.”

At Peng Muryeong’s testimony, Cha Yeonhwa smiled as if saying ‘See?’ and jerked her chin.

Unlike her appearance that seemed like she would be delicate and sensitive, her actions one by one were refreshing, which was impressive.

Moyong Do stared intently at Cha Yeonhwa, then turned to look at Peng Muryeong before clicking his tongue.

“If you two ladies say so, I suppose it must be true.”

“What do you mean ‘I suppose’… You were acting so anxious like that until just before coming here… Young Madam. Hero Moyong Do seems to be embarrassed.”

Cha Yeonhwa giggled lightly like a young girl.

At her innocent appearance, I too naturally smiled and slightly rolled my eyes to examine Moyong Do.

In fact, I had expected a heavy and awkward atmosphere as soon as I saw Moyong Do, but thanks to Cha Yeonhwa, that atmosphere disappeared and a gentle conversational structure was created.

Whether she intended it or not, I thanked Cha Yeonhwa for her consideration and calmly met Moyong Do’s eyes.

He looked at me not with the gaze he had shown before, but with a softer… no. He looked at me with the exact same gaze of the Moyong Do I knew.

“You’ve become much healthier.”

“You’ve become stronger too, Brother. You’ve become more dashing and handsome.”

“I just kept my promise.”

Promise? I tilted my head, and Moyong Do smiled. At his smile, I recalled the words he had said on the day I left the Moyong clan.

-Don’t go. This brother will grow up and protect you. So don’t go…

Was that the promise? As I was thinking for a moment, Moyong Do’s voice flowed slowly.

“When we met before, there were too many eyes watching so I couldn’t speak comfortably, but to be able to have a conversation like this now…”

Moyong Do bent his knees to match my eye level. His hand grasped my thin wrist and he quietly spoke while placing his lips on it.

“It feels like a dream.”

I quietly looked at his quiet expression of affection. There was a rustling sound from behind, and Hyuk Dojin called Cha Yeonhwa and Peng Muryeong before quietly opening the door and slipping out.

[Have a comfortable conversation.]

[…Thank you.]

Thanks to Hyuk Dojin’s consideration, only the two of us could remain in the room.

As the watching eyes disappeared, Moyong Do’s voice became even softer and his expression brightened.

“I can’t believe that you, who seemed like you would never leave this brother’s arms since you were a baby, have now become an adult and a man’s woman. When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t find you anywhere, though it felt like you would still be by my side.”

A lament and sigh flowed from his mouth along with a deep breath.

The touch of his hand coming to caress my cheek was still warm and gentle.

Moyong Do was always consistent, just like that day when he tried to hold me back as I was leaving in tears.

“I thought I would never be able to see you again, but here you are in front of me…”

“Brother.”

“I want to bow down to the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult who did what I couldn’t do for you. If you want, I wouldn’t regret giving my life.”

I closed my mouth tightly at Moyong Do’s words.

I had always been anxious in one corner of my heart. The evaluation of the changed me and the Moyong clan’s attitude towards me. And Moyong Do who had established himself as the next Clan Leader in such a Moyong clan.

Perhaps, I thought that Brother Moyong Do might have changed too, just as the Moyong clan had changed.

That’s why when I met Moyong Do again, his formal reaction was disappointing and it was true that it weighed on my heart.

I thought I would never see him again. I thought I would never feel it again.

The love and warmth I receive from Hyuk Dojin heals me, but what I could receive from blood-related family was a different feeling.

The kindness I had forgotten for a long time tore through the veil of worry and concern and scattered light.

Feeling Moyong Do’s kindness touching my cheek, I raised my hand to stroke his cheek in return and quietly smiled.

“I missed you.”

It finally felt like I had met my family.