After leaving the village, Baek Yoonjun stopped in a secluded place.

Then he carefully set Tang Yuhwa down.

Tang Yuhwa had the same sullen expression as always; on the outside, she didn't seem particularly affected by Baek Yoonjun's fast lightness skill.

But the first thing Tang Yuhwa did as soon as she touched the ground was.

"Uweeegh."

To throw up what was inside her.

It was something he had experienced when he brought Tang Yuhwa home, so Baek Yoonjun calmly patted Tang Yuhwa's back.

"Are you okay?"

"Not okay."

Tang Yuhwa threw up for a while and then took out a pill from her bosom and put it in her mouth.

It was a type of pill that helped recover a stomach upset by vomiting.

"Is there no medicine to get rid of motion sickness?"

"Well. I could probably make it if I tried, but I'd have to get the ingredients separately."

The herb garden behind his house was mostly filled with things effective for wounds, internal injuries, and training.

Baek Yoonjun didn't go far in the first place, and even if he did, he had no reason to get motion sickness, so he didn't have any herbs with good effects for it.

"I'll have to increase the variety of herbs in the backyard."

"Good idea. A doctor must have medicine for all kinds of illnesses."

Baek Yoonjun chuckled at the sight of Tang Yuhwa, who spoke as if teaching with a sullen face and nodded her head.

As the scars and poisoning symptoms on her body disappeared to some extent, a rather pretty face was revealed.

If Baek Sowol had a childlike cuteness appropriate for her young age, Tang Yuhwa had the appearance of a woman with somewhat delicate features.

But she was small.

Compared to Baek Sowol, who was likely older, there wasn't much of a difference.

Even considering that ordinary people who didn't learn martial arts in this era were not very large, she was small.

"I didn't grow because of the poison!"

Tang Yuhwa, as if she had read Baek Yoonjun's thoughts like a ghost, snapped.

'Does she have superpowers or something?'

Although Baek Yoonjun, who had learned martial arts that could be called superpowers, existed, Tang Yuhwa's intuition was amazing no matter how many times he saw it.

"It's true!"

"Right. I got it."

"Why don't you believe me?"

"I believe you."

And so, as they were taking a short break while having a useless conversation.

"Are you listening?"

"I'm listening... hmm?"

Baek Yoonjun felt something and immediately spread his senses.

Seven people were caught in his senses.

'They've learned martial arts, but fortunately, they're third-rate or lower.'

They were all people who had learned martial arts where internal energy could be felt.

It didn't seem like their martial arts would be a problem, but the direction they were going was the problem.

'The place those people are heading to is that village from before, isn't it?'

Judging by the direction they were heading, it seemed they would surely arrive at the village where Baek Yoonjun's party had stayed before long.

'If I'm not careful, we might run into them.'

Baek Yoonjun's social battery was already hitting rock bottom from meeting several villagers.

Baek Yoonjun quickly picked up Tang Yuhwa and left the place, performing his lightness skill.

'Now, let's just go home, please.'

Baek Yoonjun, who was about to leave the place and go home.

"Oop."

Seeing Tang Yuhwa covering her mouth with her usual sullen face, he gave up and landed on a nearby peak.

Fortunately, there were no people around the peak, and it didn't seem like the people he had felt with his senses earlier would come this way.

"Uuup! Uup!!"

Baek Yoonjun, who was focusing on the people's presence, felt Tang Yuhwa's hand covering her own mouth with one hand and frantically patting his forearm with the other, and quickly set her down.

"Uweeegh!"

Tang Yuhwa, freed from Baek Yoonjun's arms, immediately threw up.

'Looking at Yuhwa's condition, I'll have to rest here a little longer before moving.'

Although Baek Yoonjun wanted to be cooped up in his room as soon as possible, he couldn't leave his disciple behind.

'There don't seem to be any people around, so let's rest for now.'

The only good thing was that there was no sign of people around.

"Uweeeeegh!"

Baek Yoonjun moved a little away from Tang Yuhwa, who was throwing up with tears and snot, and fell into thought.

'If I had my way, I'd want to stay cooped up at home, but Yuhwa will somehow drag me out.'

Of course, if he used his force to refuse, there would be nothing Tang Yuhwa could do.

But for some reason, Baek Yoonjun didn't want to do that.

-Unused medical skills are dead medical skills. Medical skills must save people.

The words Tang Yuhwa had said still remained in his mind, stimulating Baek Yoonjun.

He had tried to ignore it, but perhaps because Tang Yuhwa was right next to him.

That thought kept coming up and moving Baek Yoonjun.

'Do I have to keep doing this in the future?'

Baek Yoonjun's future looked bleak.

It seemed it would be more comfortable to just cut down thousands of evil people.

"Phew."

Baek Yoonjun let out a sigh.

"Phew."

Nearby, Tang Yuhwa, whose stomach seemed to have calmed down, caught her breath.

As soon as Baek Yoonjun confirmed that Tang Yuhwa's condition was better, his true feelings instinctively popped out.

"Shall we go home now?"

"No."

Hearing those words, Tang Yuhwa shook her head from side to side like crazy.

Her expression was no different from usual, but her complexion was pale, and she didn't look well.

"Then would it be okay to rest a little longer?"

This time, Tang Yuhwa nodded her head up and down like crazy.

She looked as if she were possessed by a heavy metal vocalist Baek Yoonjun had seen in his past life.

"Right. Let's rest a little longer."

"Thanks."

As soon as she heard Baek Yoonjun's words, Tang Yuhwa lay down nearby.

Seeing that, Baek Yoonjun thought he would be staying here for a while.

'What should I do?'

If he were cooped up in his room, he wouldn't have to think about anything, but the environment of being outside put pressure on Baek Yoonjun in a way that said, 'You have to do something.'

And so, Baek Yoonjun, who was fidgeting inwardly, spread his senses.

It was an action he could take since he had nothing particular to do, and the only people around were that group of martial artists far from here.

And so, as Baek Yoonjun spread his senses, the conversation of those martial artists reached his senses.

-By now, all the villagers must be poisoned, right?

-What kind of poison is it that a country bumpkin could withstand?

Hearing that conversation, Baek Yoonjun immediately grasped the situation.

'Those bastards poisoned the village.'

If he hadn't heard the conversation, it would be a different story, but now that he had heard it, there was only one thing for Baek Yoonjun to do.

"I'll have to kill them."

Normally, he wouldn't have stepped forward, but now that they were caught in his senses, he had no intention of letting the evil people go.

It wasn't particularly out of a sense of justice, but out of the thought that they might get involved with him somewhere, sometime, and become a nuisance.

Hearing Baek Yoonjun's muttering, Tang Yuhwa was startled and sat up.

"Isn't it too much to kill me just because I'm resting?"

Baek Yoonjun was momentarily flustered by Tang Yuhwa's words, but he soon grasped the situation and immediately reassured her.

"I'm not talking about you."

"Then what?"

"Over there are the evil people who poisoned the village."

Tang Yuhwa looked at the place Baek Yoonjun was pointing to.

Since it was quite a distance, of course, she couldn't see.

Tang Yuhwa squinted her eyes and strained with all her might, but she couldn't see.

"Can't see."

"Of course. Because there's a distance."

Baek Yoonjun said so and pondered how to deal with the martial artists.

'It's a little too far for my sword to reach.'

It would be hard to reach by swinging his sword as usual.

This was not a clear fact, but Baek Yoonjun's personal thought.

Thinking so, Baek Yoonjun took out a fine needle from his bosom and threw it into the air.

The small, sharp needles most commonly used in acupuncture.

As they left Baek Yoonjun's hand, they hovered in the air as if they were living creatures.

'Good. It's going well.'

It wasn't the first time he had moved the needles with his internal energy, but this time, the distance was greater than when he usually moved them.

Until he was somewhat confident, Baek Yoonjun made the needles hover in the air using his internal energy.

Tang Yuhwa, who was watching the needles move, asked.

"Are you going to kill them?"

"They are the ones who spread the plague in the village. They are perfect evil people, so is there a need to let them live?"

Answering Tang Yuhwa's question, Baek Yoonjun checked Tang Yuhwa's complexion.

Perhaps because she usually had little expression, he couldn't tell what she was thinking with his naked eye.

But for some reason, he could feel Tang Yuhwa's thoughts.

"Do you wish I wouldn't kill them?"

Tang Yuhwa, who said that treating people was more important than avenging her father's enemies.

In a way, her inner thoughts were very easy to read.

Tang Yuhwa nodded her head at Baek Yoonjun's words.

"Yes. But I can't force my personal thoughts."

Baek Yoonjun was a little surprised by Tang Yuhwa's answer.

Considering Tang Yuhwa's usual behavior, he had expected that she would naturally be reluctant to kill, whether they were evil or good.

'But she won't force her personal thoughts.'

Thinking so, Baek Yoonjun moved his internal energy.

The fine needles flew towards the martial artists like bees, and a moment later, Baek Yoonjun felt the martial artists' breaths stop simultaneously in his senses.

"They're all dead."

"Ah."

At Baek Yoonjun's words, Tang Yuhwa's pupils trembled slightly.

Compared to her appearance so far, it was a look that showed quite a bit of emotion.

Baek Yoonjun, having finished his work, retrieved the fine needles by moving his internal energy, stored them in his bosom, and checked Tang Yuhwa's complexion.

Although it was a face where he usually couldn't figure out what she was thinking, at this moment, he felt he could tell what she was thinking.

Pity for the death of an evil person she didn't even know.

It was a feeling that Baek Yoonjun could not understand at all, but for some reason, he understood it a little.

'It might be a difference in perspective on accepting life itself.'

To Baek Yoonjun, death was not something light, at least until his past life.

In this world, too, death was not that light, but.

'In this place, death itself is so common. On top of that, although my achievements are small, I have power, so I have no intention of letting a guy who should be killed live.'

Whatever Tang Yuhwa's thoughts were, Baek Yoonjun had no intention of letting an evil person who could be a threat to him live.

His thoughts hadn't changed, but he couldn't just leave Tang Yuhwa, who had shown her emotions so clearly, alone.

Because although he didn't agree with Tang Yuhwa's thoughts, he could empathize.

"They're evil people anyway. They deserved to die."

"Is there no other way than death?"

At Tang Yuhwa's question, Baek Yoonjun recalled his past life.

A civilized society that was incomparable to the era he was living in now.

A world where the law was also much more systematically established than now.

But Baek Yoonjun was skeptical even of the law of that world.

'It's just the lesser of two evils and the second-best option.'

In Baek Yoonjun's view, there was no such thing as a perfect law.

There was no perfect goodwill either.

That's why Baek Yoonjun had no choice but to choose to be cooped up in his room.

'My head hurts.'

It was a headache-inducing thought he would never have if he were alone.

Therefore, Baek Yoonjun pushed aside his worries and brought out his usual thoughts.

"An evil person is like a plague. If you leave them be, they will mercilessly spread their malice and infect others."

"..."

"My thoughts will never change. If they are not in my sight, it's a different story, but I will definitely kill any evil person I see."

Saying so, Baek Yoonjun placed his hand on Tang Yuhwa's head and messed up her hair.

"But as you said, I have no intention of forcing my thoughts. You do as you please."

As he said so, Baek Yoonjun noticed something.

'What? I have a conviction too, don't I?'

It was just now that he had thought that Tang Yuhwa had her own conviction.

And now, Baek Yoonjun realized his own conviction that he had not felt until now.

'I will definitely kill any evil I see.'

A simple, simple conviction.

But the moment Baek Yoonjun realized that it was his conviction, he felt as if he had gotten a little closer to the door of his room, which seemed so far away.

When Baek Yoonjun realized his conviction, Tang Yuhwa.

'An evil person to anyone. But a person.'

Her own thoughts, different from Baek Yoonjun's, were unfolding in her mind.

'Saving a person is medicine. Whether they are evil or good, I will save them first and then judge.'

As long as she had learned medicine, Tang Yuhwa had chosen only the path of saving.

'And whether they are evil or good, it is not something I can easily judge. No, I can't.'

Because she was not a very great being.

Because it was not something she could judge.

'Master judges that. He's amazing.'

To Tang Yuhwa, it seemed amazing that Baek Yoonjun clearly judged evil people.

She didn't know if that judgment standard was simple or complex, but the act of judging itself seemed amazing.

It was something that Tang Yuhwa could never do.

'I will just treat the patients.'

Tang Yuhwa's thoughts had not changed at all.

She didn't know what would happen in the future, but at least from the day Tang Yuhwa first encountered medicine, that thought had not changed at all.

* * *

Baek Sowol, who had parted with Zhuge Hyun, happened to run into the merchant caravan that she and her master had saved, and since they found out their destinations were the same, they decided to travel together.

Rattle. Rattle.

Thanks to that, Baek Sowol was able to move most comfortably during her journey so far.

The merchant caravan, having witnessed Baek Sowol's martial prowess firsthand, not only accompanied her but also readily gave her the best carriage.

"Please let us repay even a little of the kindness we have received, young hero."

"Then I won't refuse."

Baek Sowol, who had become comfortable in the best-looking carriage among the merchant caravan's carriages, became lost in thought.

Among those many thoughts, the one that came to mind most strongly was a single question she had asked her senior brother.

-What is justice?

It was Baek Sowol's long-standing question.

What the martial world forces put forward when they rose up was justice.

But that justice was different depending on the perspective and the one who put it forward.

Leaving aside the forces, even within the same force, the justice they put forward was different.

Moreover, she had seen them commit evil deeds while talking about justice and not feeling any shame for those evil deeds.

That's why Baek Sowol didn't know the justice that the martial world put forward so much.

'I couldn't ask Master.'

She couldn't bring herself to ask her master, who was like the heavens and had readily passed on his martial arts at her almost insistent plea.

Her senior brother didn't feel as heavenly as her master, and since they were on a long journey together, she had plenty of time, so she was able to ask.

-Justice. You're talking some damn nonsense.

Her senior brother, who had heard those words, had answered crookedly as expected.

-Sigh, it was my fault for thinking I would get a proper answer.

Baek Sowol, who had heard Zhuge Hyun's answer, sighed and reflected on herself, and Zhuge Hyun, who saw that, opened his mouth with a slightly serious look.

-If you want to put it nicely, it's an individual's justice, a conviction that will never change even if you're beaten to death or have a knife at your throat.

Baek Sowol was surprised by Zhuge Hyun's proper answer.

And at the same time, she became curious.

-What is Senior Brother's justice?

Hearing those words, Zhuge Hyun just laughed.

It was not his usual crooked smile, but a cheerful laugh, a laugh that seemed as if an answer would never come back.

Baek Sowol, who was recalling that laugh, woke up from her thoughts.

And she thought.

'What is my justice?'

She didn't know about an individual's justice or conviction, but there was one strong feeling that seemed like it would never change.

'Revenge.'

Baek Sowol's gaze turned outside the carriage.

It was just when the sun was setting.

The color of the river at the end of her gaze looked red, perhaps because it was reflecting the reddish sunset glow of the sky.

It was a red color like blood.

(End of Chapter)