So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon? Chapter 115

Chapter 115: Reform (1)

I gritted my teeth and endured the pain. In my ntal world, I was repeatedly struck by Jin Hayeon’s White Hand Demonic Art.

As the cold qi seeped into my entire body, the seizure caused by the rampaging demonic energy began to subside.

"Huff... Whew."

I took a deep breath, and the mont I closed my eyes and opened them again…

Flicker.

Instead of the empty wasteland, I saw a strangely familiar ceiling.

And not only that—

Tap, tap, tap!

Jin Hayeon was there, tapping my body with hands infused with the White Hand Demonic Art.

"...Am I still dreaming?"

As I muttered to myself without thinking, Jin Hayeon, who had been channeling her Demonic Art with beads of sweat on her forehead, turned her gaze toward .

"!!!"

An extrely rare emotion—relief—flickered in Jin Hayeon's eyes before disappearing.

"Damn. I'm still dreaming."

There was no way Jin Hayeon would ever make a face like that. Besides, why would she, who should be at the main headquarters, even be here?

Then, as if what I had seen was an illusion, Jin Hayeon returned to her usual indifferent expression and spoke.

"What nonsense are you spouting, Young Master? This is the dical hall. Doesn’t it look familiar to you?"

She was right, the ceiling was familiar.

This was the place I'd been dragged to after being attacked by Eldest Brother, and then again after being attacked by Jang Hwi.

“Then why are you hitting my body this whole ti?”

“Your body kept heating up, Young Master. I was lowering it by using the usual massage.”

Only after hearing her answer could I sowhat piece things together.

‘So my physical condition in reality is also connected to the ntal world?’

The rampage of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword had pushed my ridians and muscles to their limits, which must be why my entire body had been aching in my ntal world as well.

Moreover, Jin Hayeon's appearance at the end might have been because she was actually treating in reality.

No, maybe every ti Jin Hayeon appeared—even if the other enemies were just phantoms—I had actually been receiving her treatnt.

"Ugh."

Was it because I was now aware of my body’s poor condition? When I tried to move even slightly, my entire body scread as if I were dying.

"Neither your muscles nor ridians are in good condition, Young Master. You absolutely must rest first. Ah, if your side effects flare up and you feel the urge to swing your sword, please let know."

"??? You'll let swing it?"

“I will do as I did last ti.”

"Last ti...?"

Naturally, I recalled the incident when Jang Hwi attacked .

The enlightennt I gained about sword energy had co at the price of worsening the side effects.

Every ti I woke up, Jin Hayeon would press my pressure points to put back to sleep.

"Ahem. The side effects have subsided a bit now, so don't worry."

Rembering how awful it felt to be forcibly put to sleep, I quickly refused.

"Then I'll finish the treatnt first."

Even as she spoke, Jin Hayeon’s hands were still busily moving, massaging various parts of my body.

"Your skills seem to have improved quite a bit."

When Jin Hayeon first began attending to , she couldn't speak while performing the treatnt.

She had to focus entirely on White Hand Demonic Art and the treatnt, or it would be dangerous.

But now, she was doing it while conversing as if it were nothing.

Even after hearing my praise, Jin Hayeon simply maintained her indifferent expression, giving no response and focusing only on the pressure point treatnt.

'Ahh... In my ntal world, I was shivering from the cold, but this actually feels pretty refreshing.’

As the overloaded muscles from the rampage cooled down, a strange sense of relief washed over .

I was enjoying the cool treatnt for a short while when—

Creak.

The sound of a door softly opening was followed by soone entering the room.

“Hoh. You’re awake, Deputy Master.”

It was a familiar voice.

“It’s been a while, Elder Demonic Physician. I apologize for not being able to show my respects, given my condition.”

"Hahaha. If you had tried to get up, I would have been angry instead."

“So, what brings the esteed Hall Master of the Pure Mind Hall here?”

"dical skills also rust if one neglects training. Even now that I've moved to the Pure Mind Hall, I still personally handle serious patients from ti to ti."

I asked with a sullen tone.

"...Is my condition serious enough to warrant your personal attention, Elder?”

"It was quite serious when you first arrived. But we’ve put out the urgent fires, so there’s no need to worry. You’ll need to rest for a while, but there shouldn’t be any major problems. I’m just here to finish up what I started.”

With that, the Demonic Physician looked back and forth between and Jin Hayeon, then nodded.

"For now, thanks to Miss Jin, the heat in your muscles has subsided sowhat, so we need to revitalize the energy in your blood vessels."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Hayeon, having completed her treatnt, moved aside, and the Demonic Physician took her place beside .

He then took out a rolled cloth from the needle case he had brought, unfolded it, and extracted the needles wrapped within.

"Gulp."

As I turned my head slightly to watch him, the sound of swallowing dryly echoed in the room.

“Uh… Elder Demonic Physician?”

"What is it?"

“You are not going to stick that needle directly into my pressure points, are you?”

"Why ask a pointless question?"

"...Without even disinfecting them?"

My pupils began trembling uncontrollably.

The side effects of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword that I had barely managed to calm were about to burst forth along with my hygiene obsession.

'Damn. Has my level increased to this extent?'

My hygiene obsession had definitely gotten worse.

In the past, I had considered washing with water and rubbing with salt to be clean enough, but now, that level was no longer satisfactory.

‘Damn you, modern knowledge.'

If I had known nothing, I would have just accepted the treatnt. But for , soone who understood the concept of germs and disinfection, this was completely unacceptable.

Hearing my question, the Demonic Physician tilted his head.

“Hahaha. Disinfection? What are you talking about, Deputy Master? Can’t you see? These are silver needles. If there were any poison, they would change color. There’s no need to worry.”

I almost spat out a curse at this quack doctor's nonsense.

'Damn it. What good is silver if it's not properly maintained?!'

I wasn’t a science major, so I couldn’t be sure, but it seed unlikely that silver was completely free from bacteria and viruses.

“Alcohol! Bring alcohol! The strongest you have!”

At my urgent cry, the quack doctor who had been hesitating burst into laughter.

“Hahaha. Don’t worry. It won’t hurt that much. Ah, if you really need anesthesia, would you like a little bit of ‘that’ instead?"

This crazy quack thought I was asking for strong liquor as an anesthetic. And what the hell was ‘that’ supposed to be?

“By ‘that,’ you don’t an… drugs, do you?”

"Didn't you say so yourself, Deputy Master? It was acceptable to use on patients who couldn’t bear extre pain. If you’re really afraid it will hurt, I can give you a little.”

"......."

Was this quack trying to get soone killed?

As my cursed other self was already starting to rear its ugly head and make a fuss, listening to this quack's nonsense on top of it gave a headache.

"Sigh. Just bring the liquor for now. I’ll explain the reason later.”

The Demonic Physician put down his needles and left with a mischievous smile.

"Hehehe. I suppose even the Deputy Master can't be as formidable as Guan Yu. Making such a fuss like this."

Ignoring the quack's nonsense, I waited for a mont.

"Whew. I never thought I'd be giving this to the Deputy Master first."

The Demonic Physician returned with a sowhat regretful expression. He was carefully holding what appeared to be an old bottle of liquor.

“Well, since we’re opening it anyway, I might as well drink the rest after the treatnt is done. Hehehe.”

True to being a quack doctor, he seed to love his alcohol.

As he broke the seal on the bottle, an intense alcoholic aroma wafted over.

"Mmm~"

The way he stuck his nose in and enjoyed the scent was the very picture of a drunkard.

After enjoying the aroma to his heart’s content, the drunkard quack poured so of the liquor into a cup he’d brought and offered it to .

"I didn't ask for it so I could drink it."

"Then shall I drink it?"

Seeing him about to bring the cup to his own lips, I quickly shouted, “The needle! Put the needle in the cup!”

Just slling the liquor was enough to make my head spin from its strength. He was going to drink that and then insert so needles into my body?

At my urgent cry to stop the Demonic Physician, he glared at fiercely.

"Why put needles in perfectly good liquor? Are you suspecting right now?"

I took a mont to process his nonsense before I belatedly understood. “Ahem. I wasn’t suspecting that the liquor was poisoned. As I said before, it’s to disinfect the needle.”

At my explanation, the Demonic Physician looked at with narrowed eyes and asked, “You’ve been going on about disinfection. What does alcohol have to do with disinfection?”

I felt relieved inside at that question.

Trying to explain viruses and bacteria to soone from this era would be pointless. While he was gone fetching the liquor, I had already formulated a story to persuade him.

“Elder Demonic Physician, do you rember the story of how I was a waiter in an inn before I beca my Master’s disciple?”

“Of course. Didn’t you say that the owner of that inn also taught you that Black Bean Tea or whatever it was?”

"Yes. He was both an inn owner and a cook. So he regularly prepared food at the inn, and one day he had this question: Why does food spoil faster on hot sumr days?"

The Demonic Physician as if telling to continue.

“And there was one more question. Even when it wasn’t sumr, custors would sotis get a stomachache after eating the food he served. As Uncle Tae-hyun reviewed his daily cooking process, he realized it happened more often with a specific dish, and especially frequently in the sumr.”

"Hmm. So what was the cause?"

"According to Uncle Tae-hyun, after trying a few changes to the cooking process, he found that it often happened when he used the sa knife that had cut other at to cut more at or vegetables, especially in sumr."

"Hmm. Co to think of it, wounds from dirty blades that had already cut many people on battlefields often don't heal easily and tend to fester or rot."

As expected of a physician, he was drawing a parallel to a patient-related example.

"Exactly. So, Uncle Tae-hyun initially started washing his knife with water every ti he cut at before continuing with preparation. But even then, so custors would still get stomachaches in the sumr. As he pondered what to do, a thought suddenly occurred to him.”

"What kind of thought?"

The Demonic Physician, who had initially seed indifferent, was now showing a flicker of interest.

“Just as they say that stagnant water rots, if water is left to sit in a bottle or dish, it spoils. But what about liquor? If properly sealed, doesn't older liquor actually beco more valuable? So, Uncle Tae-hyun tried washing off blood with water after cutting at, then wiping the surface once with strong liquor before handling the food."

“Hoh. And what was the result?”

"From then on, the number of custors with stomachaches decreased noticeably. However, questions still remained. Why is liquor fine while water isn't? And why did even liquor spoil if it wasn't sealed properly?”

Though expressed through food ingredients, the Demonic Physician seed to sense that this story was also related to dicine, his eyes shining with curiosity as he looked at , as if urging to quickly reveal the answer.

"Uncle Tae-hyun's theory was simple. Liquor makes people feel good in small amounts, but it's definitely poisonous if consud in large quantities. Water, on the other hand, is essential for all living things, including humans, to survive. Isn't that right?"

"That's correct."

"From this, Uncle Tae-hyun's theory was this: Perhaps there exist extrely tiny living creatures that our eyes cannot see, and among them are disease-causing germs (細菌)."

"Germs?"

“That’s the na Uncle Tae-hyun coined. In stagnant water, they continuously drink that water and multiply, becoming toxic to humans, but liquor is also toxic to these germs, so they die. Since they're living creatures so small as to be invisible, even a tiny amount of liquor would kill them. However, if liquor isn't properly sealed, new germs would continuously enter through the air, eventually causing it to spoil."

I had no way of knowing if this was scientifically accurate. I hadn't majored in biology, and I wasn't even from a scientific background.

But that wasn't my concern.

The only thing that mattered right now was this: was it a plausible story for soone from this era?

"Oh. Germs, you say. An interesting theory indeed. So do these germs really exist?"

And apparently, my fabricated story had worked.

"As you know, Uncle Tae-hyun was a cook and inn owner, not a physician. He didn't have the resources to experint and verify if his theory was correct. But circumstantially, isn't it worth considering?"

“Hahaha. Though his path differed from our Cult’s, the ancient sage called Confucius once said, 'When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher' (三人行 必有我師). To think this old physician would have sothing to learn from a cook. Hahaha.”

With a satisfied expression, the Demonic Physician laughed heartily and began disinfecting by dipping his silver needles into the cup of strong liquor.

He then dabbed a bit of the liquor on the spot where he was going to insert the needle. As it evaporated, I felt the familiar cool sensation of rubbing alcohol.

'Phew.'

Feeling that coolness, my hygiene obsession subsided and my mind beca sowhat calr.

Then Ma-ui, who had been applying the liquor, smiled contentedly and said.

Just then, the Demonic Physician, who was applying the liquor, said with a fond smile, “It’s truly a sha about that innkeeper, Tae-hyun. If he were alive and had co to the Cult with you, Deputy Master, I’m sure he would have accomplished great things. Hahaha.”

“Y-Yes, I think so too. Ha. Hahaha.”

First Black Bean Tea, now germs and disinfection.

Maybe Uncle Tae-hyun’s na would leave a significant mark in the historical records of the Demonic Cult.

‘W-Would he be happy?’

I felt a wave of guilt, knowing that because of , his na was about to be recorded in the history of a cult.