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

Hyuk Dojin and Yoo Doha returned again only late in the evening. Unlike Yoo Doha, who looked even more of a mess than yesterday, Hyuk Dojin’s lips were drooping with regret. As I approached him, Hyuk Dojin spoke as if he had been waiting.

“We searched for two days but found nothing.”

I smiled faintly at the thought that he seemed to have omitted the words ‘we don’t have much time’ from the beginning and end.

I shook my head slightly. I can’t blame people who are risking their lives to help me. When I smiled at him, Hyuk Dojin let out a small sigh.

As my gaze slid down, I saw Yoo Doha walking unsteadily towards the fire.

It’s rare to see a master like Yoo Doha looking so tired.

“Did something happen?”

“It’s not so much that something happened, but he seems tired from searching some rough places.”

“Rough places?”

“Places like cliffs or the bottom of the river.”

“…”

Surely he didn’t push Yoo Doha into such places? I withdrew my gaze from Hyuk Dojin and fixed it on Yoo Doha.

As if sensing my gaze, he smiled slightly and bowed his head deeply. Suddenly feeling I had done something terrible to him, I too nodded awkwardly.

“If possible, I’d like to go in myself, but if there’s an emergency and we need to run away or use force, I thought it would be better if I did it, so I did that.”

I looked at Hyuk Dojin, who was making excuses that weren’t excuses, as if he had read my eyes. I calmly nodded at his words, then stepped back.

Hyuk Dojin tilted his head as if puzzled by my action, then slowly followed. I turned my body, leaning against a large tree in a place with few people.

“Was there a problem?”

“No. There’s no problem, I just have something to give you.”

Continuing my words, I took out a scroll from my bosom and held it out to him. Hyuk Dojin looked at the scroll I held out with puzzled eyes, then took it and unrolled it.

His eyes rolled quickly from top to bottom, then diagonally. And after confirming the last content, Hyuk Dojin immediately opened his mouth.

“Where did this come from?”

Will he get angry if I say I received it from Namgoong Seolbyeok? Hyuk Dojin and Namgoong Seolbyeok had become entangled because of me.

Recalling how Hyuk Dojin reacted more fiercely than usual when I met him before, I thought it might be better not to say anything.

It was very difficult to bring up because Hyuk Dojin wasn’t unaware that Namgoong Seolbyeok harbored strange feelings for me.

Moreover, I could easily tell that Hyuk Dojin would react sensitively if he knew I had met Namgoong Seolbyeok alone.

But I couldn’t lie either. It would be discovered soon if I made excuses, and there was nothing to gain by hiding it.

“I received it.”

“…From whom?”

Hyuk Dojin’s eyes narrowed slightly. He seemed to guess the source of this information too. I stared blankly at his eyes, then sighed and said:

“From Namgoong Seolbyeok.”

“Did that man come here? All the way here?”

“To be precise, up there.”

I pointed with my finger to the cliff of the mountain where darkness had settled.

Hyuk Dojin rolled his eyes following my finger to check the cliff, then narrowed his brows. When his gaze reached me again, he twisted his lips as if his feelings were complicated.

Meeting his gaze filled with difficult emotions as if he wanted to ask many things, I slowly opened my lips.

“You don’t need to worry. I’ve already asked about everything Dojin is worried about and figured out whether it’s dangerous or not.”

“…Is that so.”

Hyuk Dojin scanned the scroll again and let out a small sigh. He too knew, like me, that this information was quite high-level and also necessary for us.

But he would also know how dangerous it was. It wasn’t strange to be worried since Namgoong Baek’s disciple, of all people, knew our location.

Hyuk Dojin kept silent with his face slightly scrunched, then slowly opened his lips.

“…May I ask?”

“About what?”

“What kind of conversation you had with that man.”

I stared blankly at his face. His careful question seemed separate from the contents of the scroll in his hand. What he wanted to ask about was not the information, but the private conversations between me and Namgoong Seolbyeok.

Since Namgoong Seolbyeok’s feelings for me were by no means simple, he must be worried about that part.

I could vaguely read his thoughts while staring blankly at Hyuk Dojin’s eyes fixed on me.

Hyuk Dojin spoke slowly in a very careful voice.

“I’m not doubting you. But I’m worried that you might have been caught at a weak point, or made an unnecessary deal to obtain this information.”

In simple terms, it sounded like he was suspecting if I had developed some affection. But his tone and expression were by no means like that. It felt as if he was blaming himself for his inability to find the medicine. It seemed like he was asking if I had sacrificed myself to make up for his lack of ability.

I stared blankly at him, then shook my head while letting out a small breath.

“How could that be? He just gave it to me.”

“He just gave it to you?”

“Yes. He said I might need it and gave it to me. Without any conditions. He even told me that he’s preventing the Namgoong clan warriors from reaching this place quickly. Those warriors we saw in Hefei that time.”

Hyuk Dojin narrowed his brows as if he couldn’t understand. I fully sympathized with his expression and emotions.

Once I had rejected his feelings and married Hyuk Dojin, there was no connection with him. Of course, he harbored various emotions towards me, but it wasn’t simple enough to be lumped together and expressed simply as love.

It was an obsession even more persistent and frightening than that. It was far from possessiveness.

“However, it’s not that there are no conditions at all.”

“What conditions?”

Hyuk Dojin asked with a serious face. I stared blankly at him, then feeling it was pointless to hide anymore, I revealed everything about what had happened before, the stories entangled with him, and the promises made.

Hyuk Dojin’s expression changed several times, then he let out a long sigh with a complicated face and ran his hand through his hair.

“How did it come to this?”

“…I often feel that in some aspects, you are more bold and decisive than me.”

Hyuk Dojin let out an empty laugh and shook his head.

“I wonder how many people in this world would actually say they’ll kill someone directly as a condition for covering up an incident.”

I slightly raised the corners of my mouth, and Hyuk Dojin stared blankly at me. Then he let out another sigh and muttered self-deprecatingly.

“…So that’s why he showed such obsession.”

Hyuk Dojin nodded as if he had realized something, then raised his gaze.

“I understand. If you say so, these materials must be trustworthy and not dangerous. However, if Namgoong Seolbyeok, that man, tries to make contact again, please tell me. Even if he’s trustworthy and safe now, we don’t know how he might change afterwards.”

“Is that in the sense of him as a man, or in the sense of him as Namgoong Baek’s disciple?”

At my question, Hyuk Dojin raised his eyebrows and replied bluntly.

“Obviously the former, isn’t it?”

He grinned with a face mixed with various meanings.

* * *

As soon as morning came, the camp was busy. It seemed they wanted to check once more in case there was even a slight chance that the information I had given yesterday was wrong.

Hyuk Dojin and Yoo Doha moved as one team, and the remaining 15 people were organized into teams of 3 to prepare for the search.

Hyuk Dojin handed out the search areas and maps to the soldiers, explaining precautions and how to respond if discovered.

Since they were soldiers composed of peak masters, not just ordinary soldiers, most seemed to understand quickly.

However, among such members, only Yoo Doha looked particularly tired.

Suddenly, I recalled his appearance stumbling in yesterday. If he moves with Hyuk Dojin again today, he’ll probably suffer again.

Suddenly, Hyuk Dojin seemed remarkable for being able to work a master like Yoo Doha to such exhaustion.

When I was staring blankly at the two, Yoo Doha seemed to recognize my gaze and turned his head. As soon as our eyes met, he brightened his face as if nothing had happened and smiled faintly.

I followed with my eyes as he bowed his head and looked around at the members with a reliable face.

“…”

His appearance made my feelings complicated. These were all people looking for the spirit herb for my sake.

Yet I was just sitting quietly in the shade here, avoiding the sunlight and hoping they would return with the spirit herb.

Considering my current body condition, this was the right thing to do, but it still felt uncomfortable.

As I was examining them intently, Hyuk Dojin finished giving orders and approached me.

“We changed the formation this morning. It’s stronger and more complex, so there won’t be any intruders.”

He smiled gently and pressed his lips to my forehead.

“Then please rest.”

After saying that, Hyuk Dojin slowly turned his body. I quietly watched with my eyes his receding shoulders and back, and the people moving together.

Embracing my complicated feelings, I watched their movements and slightly bit my lip. I know I shouldn’t do this. But still, I couldn’t just sit idly and wait.

“Wait a moment.”

“…?”

At my call, Hyuk Dojin stopped his legs and twisted his waist. Facing him as he turned to look at me asking ‘What’s wrong?’, I moved my lips briefly, then spoke slowly.

“I want to go with you today too.”

“…What?”

“I want to go together. My body condition has improved a lot, and I said I know the location, didn’t I? Although I don’t remember much now, if I go and see it directly, something more might come to mind. Moreover, since it’s not a dangerous search area, wouldn’t there be more I could know if I go and see?”

At my question, Hyuk Dojin stared blankly at me, then rolled his eyes to examine the members behind, then turned back towards me. His mouth opened slowly.