Chapter 2: This is Sane (1)

Chirrr.
The sound of crickets flows through the wooden bars late at night.

Past midnight, nearing dawn, a man and a woman lie together under a single blanket on one bed.

The white-haired woman breathes softly, her head nestled in the man’s embrace, while the black-haired youth holds her, his free hand tracing the red marks—not quite wounds—scattered across his neck and collarbone.

“…”

That youth is me.
Any man would be envious, no doubt about it.

They say a beauty is beautiful even in sleep, and those words must have been meant for this woman.

Moyong Seol, the unparalleled beauty of the martial world.
The daughter of the greatest under heaven, her beauty was such that it wouldn’t be surprising if countless women envied her.

Yes.
It wouldn’t be surprising.
But right now, no one envies her.

Why?

‘Even the most wicked woman wouldn’t be jealous of someone who will die before reaching adulthood due to severed meridian syndrome.’

Because she’s not a rival.
Her beauty may be enviable, but what’s the point if she dies shortly after becoming an adult?

Marriage and childbirth.
If a handsome, well-built man from a prestigious family or sect were to marry her, they’d share love at her most beautiful moment, bear children, and then part ways in death.

But if she dies without even having the chance to bear a child?

‘All a woman with severed meridian syndrome receives is pity.’

In the martial world’s clans and sects, she cannot fulfill the ‘ideal role’ expected of a woman.

To be blunt, if severed meridian syndrome guaranteed a lifespan until forty, or even thirty, other women might have scorned her as ‘that woman who’ll die anyway’ out of jealousy.

They’d resent losing a fine man to her for those fleeting years, only for that handsome widower to later take a younger second wife.

In that sense, many women will mourn Moyong Seol’s death openly but sigh in relief behind her back.

Because she won’t steal the heart of the man they wish to marry.

That’s the kind of woman she is.
A woman countless men would have thought, ‘If only she didn’t have the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.’
Her father being the greatest under heaven might have spurred young, ambitious men to pursue her regardless.

That’s how severed meridian syndrome works.
A terminal, incurable illness so severe that even the most dashing men would give up on this unparalleled beauty because of it.

Yes.
That’s what I’ve learned and studied about severed meridian syndrome.

Why am I thinking so much about her illness while holding such a beauty?
Because the common sense I’ve held until now is crumbling in real-time.

“Mmm…”

She makes a slight whimpering sound.
It’s almost like whining, yet she burrows closer, pressing her body against mine.

“…”

Thanks to that, the blanket, already lifted above her ankles, now threatens to slide up to her knees.

I must endure.
Right now, I need to use all my medical knowledge to assess Moyong Seol’s condition.

Severed meridian syndrome is caused by an excess of yin energy.
The more severe it is, the lower the body temperature becomes.

Rustle.
With the hand holding her, I gently grasp her shoulder.
Though far from her heart, it’s close enough to feel the unique chill of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.

It’s warm.
A warmth that shouldn’t be there.
Not just from being under the blanket, but the heat of a living person flows through her skin into my hand.

Grip.
I pull my other hand to take her wrist.
Her hand already rests on my chest, making it easy to check her pulse without waking her.

Thump, thump, thump.

My heartbeat? I wish it were.
I wish my body were going wild because of the warmth of the woman pressed against my side and waist.

But I know.
This steady, relaxed pulse belongs to Moyong Seol.

“…Occupational hazard.”

Moyong Seol slowly speaks.

“Checking my pulse the moment you wake up.”

Her eyes remain closed, but her voice gradually gains vitality.

“Are you trying to save me?”
“Well, I—”
“Shh.”

Moyong Seol places her index finger on my lips.

“Don’t fall in love with me.”

Staring at me, she speaks gently with sad eyes.

“I know how much effort you’ve put in for me, physician. Even when your master was killed by that vile Demonic Cult, you cared for me while preparing her funeral.”
“Miss, listen—”
“Nope.”

Moyong Seol covers my mouth with her hand.

“Stop it. If you keep doing this… you’ll make me waver.”

Her blue eyes, characteristic of a woman with severed meridian syndrome, shimmer with tears.

“I’ve finally accepted my death, but you keep making me want to live.”
“Miss—”
“Yesterday. No, last night too.”

Moyong Seol presses closer, her face near mine.

“Do you know how much it pained me to think I could only experience something this wonderful once before it’s over?”
“Listen—”
“Forget it. You’ll never do this again for the rest of your life. Unless you’re doing it with a corpse, just think of it as a one-night fling. That’s why you agreed, right?”
“I—”

I grab Moyong Seol’s hand.

“Please, please… if you keep talking, I’ll really want to live…”

I try to pull her slender wrist away from my mouth, but I can’t.

“I didn’t want to have regrets before dying, but if you make me not want to die…! I want to part with everyone smiling, before I cause my father and others more pain…!”

She is the daughter of the greatest under heaven, and the Nine Yin Severed Meridians is caused by an ‘excess’ of yin energy.

“Let me fall asleep thinking of this happiness, I beg you. Otherwise…”

Moyong Seol glances outside.

“It’s almost dawn, so there’s probably time for breakfast. One last time, if we do it again…”

Moyong Seol averts her gaze from me.

“Ah… thank goodness. I’m not the only one. Heh heh…”

More precisely, she looks down at the blanket, smiling shyly as her hand slides from my chest to my abdomen.

“See? You’re being honest, aren’t you?”
“Miss.”
“So—”
“Please.”

To keep my newly freed mouth, I grab Moyong Seol’s chin.

“Ah…!”

Tears stream sideways.

“Yes. Please take care of me until morning.”

At the same time, Moyong Seol closes her eyes, slowly opening her mouth and leaning toward me.

“So I can die with this feeling in my heart.”

Moyong Seol waits with her eyes closed.
Though they seem closed, she slightly squints, watching my reaction.

Slide.
As I slowly turn my head toward her, Moyong Seol fully closes her eyes.

“Miss.”
“Yes…”

Now’s the moment.

“Your severed meridian syndrome is subsiding.”
“…?”

I announce the pulse reading with our noses almost touching.

“I’d need to check all your blood points to be sure, but your body seems to be ‘healing’.”
“…What?”
“I don’t know why this is happening either.”

No matter how I think about it, something impossible seems to have occurred.

“It’s… a miracle.”
“A miracle.”

The symptoms of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians are disappearing.

“So, uh, I mean, you… you’re healed?”
“It seems that way.”
“…How?”

Moyong Seol’s face contorts as she looks at me.

“All we did between last night and now was spend one night together…”
“Well, I’m as confused as you are. I don’t know how this happened…”
“…Pfft.”

Laughing through her tears, Moyong Seol buries her face in my chest again.

“Dreams are so cruel, toying with people’s hearts like this.”
“Miss, this isn’t a dream—”
“If it’s a dream, doesn’t that mean I can do whatever I want?”
“No—”

I try to sit up to correct her misunderstanding.

“Physician, dream or not… you can’t hold back either.”

As Moyong Seol says, I couldn’t suppress the beast within me.

“If you could, you would’ve pushed me away by force already.”

With crescent-shaped eyes, Moyong Seol climbs atop me, slowly overlapping her body with mine.

“Before I wake from this dream, I want to feel that happiness one more time.”
“But—”
“Ugh, really.”

Moyong Seol grabs my face with both hands.

“Can’t you grant a dying woman’s wish to do it one more time?”

She brings her face closer, silencing me.

“If this is a dream… if I could keep living and continue this happiness.”

Moyong Seol smiles through her tears.

“I love you, physician.”

Even for a terminally ill person, no one can say exactly ‘when’ they’ll die.

For those dying of old age, signs of death appear gradually before they take to their beds, but most deaths come in a moment when breathing stops and eyes close.

Unless caused by an accident or murder, death from illness is unpredictable in its timing.

Severed meridian syndrome, in that sense, allows some prediction of when it might occur.

Especially with the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.

Most women with this condition die shortly after reaching adulthood.

Often, it’s just days after their ‘birthday,’ and some even meet death on their birthday.

How does this phenomenon occur?

‘It’s a chronic illness born from those who practice martial arts.’

It’s because of martial arts.
When a child is born to a martial artist father and mother, particularly from a highly skilled female master with excessive yin energy, the child cannot withstand the mother’s yin energy.

In other words, they’re born with the illness.

Thus, we can infer when those with severed meridian syndrome might die.

Their hair turns white, or their eyes take on a color distinct from ordinary people, influenced by their parents’ inner energy.

Born with overwhelming inner energy but lacking the knowledge to control it as their parents do, they live with constant pain from a young age.

A woman born to die without experiencing much of life—a clear terminal fate.

There is no cure.

If someone survived the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, they would be the first in martial history to overcome it.

Since that’s virtually impossible, those with the condition must quietly accept death.

To die with as little pain as possible, living as happily as they can in their remaining time.

That is the fate assigned to such a woman.

Yes.
She was supposed to die like that.

“…”
“Are you finally coming to your senses?”

Morning dawns, and Moyong Seol wakes.

No, she was already awake.
Just lost in the illusions and delusions she created.

“…Physician.”

Moyong Seol covers her face with one hand.

“Why am I still alive?”

She looks at me, her face flushed like a ripe persimmon, filled with confusion.

“Why does my face feel so hot right now?”
“That’s because, as your severed meridian syndrome subsides, blood is circulating properly throughout your body.”
“So, then…”
“Even if your condition has been miraculously cured, one thing is certain.”

I point my chin toward the door.

“I’m dead.”
“What?”

“There’s someone outside.”
“…Who’s there?”

Moyong Seol steadies her voice as she speaks.

Crack.
The sound of something breaking.
Given the room’s structure, it’s the iron door handle being crushed.

[Why.]
“…!”
[Is my daughter’s voice coming from the physician’s room?]

The greatest under heaven.
The martial hero who defeated the Heavenly Demon with a single sword.

[Don’t tell me right now…]
“Dad!! I’m cured! My severed meridian syndrome!!”
[?!?!?]
“The physician and I spent one night together, and—”

Thud.

Kyaaa!
Clan leader!!
T-Take the clan leader away!! Hurry!!

On the morning of his daughter’s birthday, he collapsed in front of a physician’s room.