Book 27 Chapter 1

Floor to Floor

-byuliyon, to vomit

It's early in the morning, just before dawn.

The ashen, dark lake was surrounded by a dense fog. It was early enough in the day that there was not the slightest hint of a boat traffic. Then a boat sailed into the empty dock on the shore. It was a medium-sized boat that could hold about fifty people.

With a rattle, the bridge lowered from the ship, and a dozen people shuffled across it. As they came ashore, each rubbed their sleepy eyes or yawned languidly before dispersing into the fog. All had spent the night on the ship. Even the sailors on board had left, except for one ruined man, in search of a tavern where drink, food, and shelter awaited.

'Hahahahahaha! Damn it! Damn it! Why am I on call again!'

A grumble and a yawn escaped Zhenqi's mouth, which protruded five feet into the air. Now, as a newcomer, all the hard and troublesome work seemed to fall to him. By now, the older men would be lounging in warm taverns, eating hot food and selling their wares. At this point, it was a wonder that his grievances didn't pile up and form a mountain.

"I'm just going to be a dick?"

Being forced to stand on my feet didn't give me a proper night's rest. It didn't matter when my heavy eyelids would fall down. The lure of sleep is sometimes more terrifying than the lure of a woman. But he quickly shook his head.

"No, no, no. You've got a job, you've got to do it right. And if you happen to get caught sleeping by a bad-tempered shipowner, you'll be able to find me at……."

I can only imagine the horror that followed. Fired……. I'm an idiot……! I'm an idiot…….

The next scariest thing after a snitch is a white knight!

In the end, he decided to be a young man and stick to his guns.

"Oooh, maybe I'm a sailor of one will that comes out once a decade or so?

The rusted hinges were screaming, and the source was clearly inside the ship. Zhenqil suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

"Ship, there's no one in the ship. Stand, no way, ear, ghost?

Panicked, you look around. The fog is still thick around him, making it difficult to see more than ten paces ahead. It was as if the ship was isolated from the rest of the world. Zhenqil grew more and more frightened. It was then.

Blah, blah, blah!

You hear footsteps coming from the back of the cabin, where no one should be. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Something was approaching the door.

Standing on the bun with his bare hands, pounding his fists loudly and confidently, Zhen Qiqi quickly looked around for a weapon. A hammer lying next to him caught his eye. He picked it up and felt a little relieved. Whether it would help him chase the ghost or not remains to be seen, but it was at least a little comforting.

"Man, this is a preemptive strike!

Boom!

Swallowing hard, Zhenqil grabbed the door handle of the cabin, counted to one, two, three in his mind, and swung the door wide open. He then swung the sledgehammer high into the…….

"What? Nothing?"

The area behind the door was empty. I checked the stairs leading down to my room, just in case. Again, nothing. No more creaks, no more friction, no more footsteps. Relieved, Jeon Chil relaxed a bit.

"Oh, was it the mood again?"

His nerves must have gotten the better of him, because as he turned to go, a man in white stood in front of him.

"Huh! Who……!"

The white-clad man's hand seemed to move for a moment, and before Zhen Qil could see the man's face, he was gone.

Poof!

Ding dong!

The hammer slipped from his loose hand and fell to the floor, rolling to the side of Degururu.

"I'm sorry. I'll let you sleep for a while. I don't want to be seen by anyone."

The white-robed man muttered as he looked down at Zhen Qi on the ground. His hair was unblemishedly black, his eyes were full of beak-like brilliance, and his long, glossy black beard flowed down to his chest, reminiscent of the Guan Yunzhuang of the Three Kingdoms. This middle-aged man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, naturally exuded majesty from his entire body.

"If I'd known, I'd have bought a pot, but I only brought one sword, Yuan."

He pulled a sheet of research from his bosom and began to read, frowning.

"I can't believe I have to entrust ……Lynnie's life to a horse's ass like that!"

His face was a cloudy mix of anguish and lamentation, like the fog around him. The middle-aged man frowned and resumed eating, then lifted his head and swept his gaze around, as if glaring at his surroundings. As if his enemies were hiding in the fog.

"We'd better hurry before the fog lifts."

With a light kick to the deck, his body rose like a sculpture into the sky. It was an astonishing display. With a flick of his black beard, the middle-aged newcomer soon disappeared into the dense fog.

* * *

"Follow me."

Rakbio, the king of the West Sea, acknowledged his defeat and, unexpectedly, escorted Bi Ryuyeon to the place where the wooden pipes were stored. He seemed to have an uncharacteristic Black Islander fondness for fairness. In fact, such a clean acknowledgment is rarely found even in White Island.

"Find yourself, Ryuyeon, get a grip!"

In the midst of her battle with the West Sea King Rakvio, Hyorong's words brought her back to her senses, and she regained her coolness. It was as if her head had been steamed with hot steam, and she was instantly cooled down, and she was able to look at her situation more calmly. And so he was able to win his wager with King Rakvio of the West Sea.

Originally, Bi Ryuyeon always tended to take a step back and observe himself. It wasn't in his nature to act on spur of the moment impulses, and he didn't want to. Such actions always resulted in losses, and he hated losses more than anything. But for a moment, he'd forgotten to be objective. The calculations that always ran automatically in one corner of his brain had stopped. It was proof that Na Yerin's presence was important to him.

I couldn't keep going anyway, and if I died before I could rescue the all-important Na Yerin, it wouldn't be a dog's death. On a scale of dog deaths, I'd say it was a passing dog's death, far below a hound's death. I had no use for such low-quality dog deaths. Now is the time to conserve and control the power of anger. The time would surely come when he would have to release it all at once.

"I need to get my body back first.

I couldn't even perform at half my usual level in this condition, and I had to prioritize my recovery.

"Open the woodwork first.

She then decided that she needed to rejuvenate her body by practicing yin yoga.

Rakvio led them to a private room at the back of the great hall. As they crossed the threshold, Bi Ryuyeon's eyes flashed a sharp light.

"That's the one. I haven't opened it yet either."

The wooden pipe lay in a heap in the middle of the room.

"You must be right."

After examining the wooden pipe with a sharp gaze, Bi Ryuyeon muttered quietly.

"That's how it looks to me, too, buddy."

It was the same wooden pipe they'd seen in Kanghorando, made of the same material and using the same techniques as the one that had been handed down to Bai Xiaochun, and it was undoubtedly the same as the one that contained those damned scrolls.

"Come on, let's check it out."

Rakvio stepped back to one side of the wall, as if to say that he would not be involved from now on; he had not brought his men with him, nor did he show any signs of ambushing them from behind.

"……."

Since seeing the pavilion, Bi Ryuyeon's speech had dwindled to a trickle. Ever since she'd entered this private room, her gaze hadn't left the wooden tube.

"Ryuyeon, what do you think?"

Hyo-ryong was the first to speak up after his friend's silence.

"What's the point of asking? Of course I'm going to open it."

You've come all this way just to open that coffin.

"Okay, then, quit fidgeting and open it."

Rakvio urged her on, but she didn't move from her spot, only plucking at the woodwind. Since she was supposed to be able to run faster than anyone else to play the woodwind, woodwind, and sing, she didn't move, as if she was nailed to the spot.

"But why?"

Rakbio was always a hothead, so he didn't want to be puzzled.

"Hmm, on second thought, I think Captain Rock should be the one to open that coffin lid."

Rakvio shook his head in disbelief as Bi Ryuyeon crossed his arms.

"No, why would I?"

He was too simple to read her meaning. Najik sighed and exhaled.

"Because, of course, there might be something nasty in that coffin instead of what I want."

"What do you think of me, I, Lakbio, a man of valor, do not do such cowardly things!"

Rakvio blurted out. Bi Ryuyeon nodded nonchalantly.

"Oh, I believe that too, so I'll just have to open it up and prove it to myself."

He says without raising an eyebrow.

'That's the biryū-yeon.

It's totally un-Ryūyūn-like to knock on a stone bridge three times before sending a sacrificial lamb to test it out.

Hyorong nodded in satisfaction at his friend's return to normalcy. Rockvio, however, was not at all satisfied.

"Three, three, oh my God, do you even believe that?"

Looking at Rakvio's dumbfounded expression, Bi Ryuyeon quickly nodded.

"You must have really bad eyesight, where is it? It's here, it's here, it's here."

Without hesitation, she pointed to herself.

"That unhesitating shamelessness is also a sign of a Bi Ryuyeon.

Of course, he was well aware that the person on the receiving end would be so full of resentment that he would feel as if his stomach would burst. That's exactly what Rakvio was in right now, but Bi Ryuyeon's words had already cleverly closed off one escape route after another, so that in the end, Rakvio would have no choice but to do as Bi Ryuyeon said.

"Or is there something that's bothering you? Because if there's nothing on your mind, you wouldn't have to take it out like that, would you?"

With the last remaining avenue blocked, Rakvio was left with only one option.

"All right, I'll prove my innocence myself, I'll do it, I'll do it!"

Rakvio strode angrily over to the flute and, without hesitation, unscrewed the lid.

Yay!

Finally, the woodwork opened up.

"Huh? This is……."

Rockvio was speechless for a moment.

"Damn……."

After opening the lid of the wooden coffin and peering inside, a panicked voice came out of Bi Ryuyeon's mouth.

Tsk-tsk!

The inside of the woodwork was starkly empty.

"……."

I had an idea. She was prepared. But her disappointment was indescribable.

I hadn't believed that Na Yerin was trapped in here, of course, but I had failed to abandon every last shred of hope. Disappointment washed over me like a tidal wave as I realized the reality of the situation. Then Rakvio pointed a finger at the base of the woodwork and spoke.

"Hey, there's a search right here."

The wooden tube wasn't technically empty. At the bottom was a barrel of scrolls, just as it had been at Kang Horando's dock.

"By any chance……?

The culprit must have been a pervert of a pervert, leaving some sort of clue for his own amusement, and the bastard is out there somewhere, enjoying himself.

"That's why you've ordered Nie Baiqian to do something as ridiculous as assassinating the Black Heavenly Monarch. Please, just make one mistake, and I'll end you right now, you pervert!''

It was a bitter pill to swallow that the only thing I could rely on now was something as obscure as a minor blunder by the enemy's ego clown. But that didn't mean I could ignore any of the clues.

Wham!

With a thud, a stone fell to the bottom of the coffin. It was the exact spot of the search.

"Hmm, not much of a reaction."

Before she knew it, she had a few small stones in her hand.

Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham!

To make sure that wasn't enough, she threw two more rocks, and only when she was sure that nothing was wrong did she walk over to the wooden pavilion.

"Hmm?!"

Watching from a step behind, Hyo-Ryong's expression was stony.

"What is it, what's stopping me?

Something wasn't right.

"What is this, this anxiety welling up inside of me?

Hyo-ryong couldn't control the anxiety that shook his body and mind. He was uneasy before the coffin was opened, but even after it was opened and he saw that it was empty, his anxiety only increased. Why did I still feel uneasy about the empty coffin, which was not equipped with any secret agency devices that exploded as soon as the lid was opened?

"Why…… is my chest thumping like this all the time?

Hyo-ryong's grandfather's words flashed through his mind.

"Your brain sees more, remembers more, and reasons more than you think. You just don't usually realize it. But if you have a 'flash of insight' at some point, it's never wrong, and those who ignore their intuition and subconscious, even then, end up losing a lot."

"Yes, my unconscious has seen something, it just hasn't realized what it is yet!

Otherwise, there's no reason to be so insanely anxious, is there?

What did you see that you didn't recognize, what did you unconsciously miss?

Immediately, Hyorong's mind spun at an incredibly fast pace, going over what he had just seen when he entered this room.

Coffin, wooden coffin, empty coffin, empty floor, floor, floor, depth!

"Got it! Suck!"

Hyo-ryong finally realized what had been bothering him: the bottom of the wooden pipe was strangely shallow compared to what he'd seen at the dock. "What's that?" you might ask.

Upon realizing this, Hyorong stomped on the ground without delay.

At this time, Bi Ryuyeon was looking over the scroll that he had just taken from the coffin. His entire attention was focused on this one scroll, and it read, "The following words are written on it.

Die!

Boom!

At that moment, from the bottom of the empty coffin, a sword as sharp as a skewer suddenly emerged and stabbed heartlessly into Bi Ryuyeon's heart.

"Dodge!"

Hyo-ryong was the faster of the two, leaping ahead of Bi Ryuyeon, who was preoccupied with thoughts of Na Yerin.

CHANG!

The assailant's halberd was cut off by Hyorong's sword before it could reach Bi Ryuyeon's chest. If it hadn't been for Hyorong's quick reaction, the attack would have left a gaping wound in her chest, if not her life.

"Reveal your identity!"

Hyo-ryong parried the blow and kicked the pipe with his foot. With a tremendous kick of momentum, the heavy wooden pipe floated up into the air and shattered.

"No, no, no!"

Rakvio's eyes widened as he stood against the wall.

He could just make out a diminutive black-clad assassin amongst the shattering bits of wood. He was short and unusually lanky, like a dwarf, and, as is typical of assassins, he wore a mask over his face.

"The floor was empty after all!

The woodwork had a double floor underneath, so someone was hiding underneath. The letter was a distraction, a lure to draw the target closer.

Mockery burst from Hyorong's mouth.

"Hmm, maybe that will take up less space."

An assassin who fails to kill a target on the first hit is already a failed assassin.

"That's good, he'll take up less space in the grave because he's smaller."

Hyolong swung his twin swords and charged at the attacker. White light flashed, shredding the wood in the air.

However, realizing that he had already failed, the dwarf assassin chose to flee rather than fight head-on.

Pah-bah-bah-bah!

Before he even hit the ground, the dwarf assassin moved his hand like the wind and sent out a blast. The surrounding debris flew like arrows toward Hyorong. The dwarf assailant used the recoil to pull himself back. It was clear that he intended to escape.

"Long Yong, you must capture that dwarf sack of shit alive!"

It was the voice of Bi Ryuyeon, crumpled up in her scroll. If the search hadn't yielded any clues, the only one left was the dwarf.

"Sure."

Hyolong unleashed the Eternal Sword Technique and charged at the assassin. Splinters of wood pipes ricocheted in all directions as he unleashed his sword. The only way out of here was the main entrance to the great hall, and it was already blocked by Bi Ryuyeon.

But the dwarf assassin's expertly trained escape skills were anything but ordinary; his small size made him quicker, and in an instant he was out of Hyorong's grasp. The dwarf flung himself toward a small skylight high up in the wall of the annex. It was a small enough opening that he'd be lucky if he didn't get his head stuck in it, let alone his body. Common sense would dictate that it should never be a place of escape, but for the dwarf assassin, it was an excellent doorway.

"How dare you!"

Deciding that it was too late to give chase, Hyo-Ryong swung his twin swords and struck with his sword qi.

"Mutual Crossed Sword!"

A crisscrossing blade sliced through the wall, but in the nick of time, the dwarf assailant had already slithered out the skylight.

"Oh no, I missed it!"

Rockvio, who had been watching, frowned and exclaimed, but the flame of determination still burned brightly in Hyorong's eyes. He had inadvertently burdened his friend earlier, but he could not make the mistake of losing his assassin again here. He could not allow himself to do that.

"Ha!"

He threw the two swords into the air, but it wasn't out of frustration, and it wasn't out of anger.

"Fly, fly, fly!"

A quip burst from Hyorong's mouth.

Then two swords flew out of the skylight like arrows toward the still-fleeing enemy. These were arrows of will.

Wu Yi (奧義) Flying bird twin moon man (飛鳥雙月刃)

In a flash of light, the two swords pierced both thighs of the fleeing dwarf assailant, and then plunged into the ground. The assailant fell to the ground. It was a fairly drastic method, but I had no intention of giving the sneaky assailant the benefit of the doubt. If you're going to stab someone, you have to be ready to be stabbed yourself.

"Stay right there!"

Boom!

There was no time to turn back. Even in his condition, he might try to escape again. He gathered his qi in both hands and punched the wall.

Boom, boom, boom!

The wall was blown away by the powerful punch, and a hole opened up in it.

"My building! My building!"

Rakvio screamed when he realized that a giant wind hole had opened up in his troop building. Bi Ryuyeon wordlessly gave him a thumbs-up. It meant well done.

Once the hole was large enough for two people to pass through, Hyo-Ryong didn't hesitate to launch himself into the air and run toward the fallen assailant on the ground.

"Gotcha, now let's take it slow and have some fun!"

Pavabababat!

I quickly applied acupuncture points to immobilize the body, then turned the fallen assailant over.

"Now, stop being shy and show me your face."

He quickly unmasked the assailant and examined his face. At that moment, his eyes widened.

"This, this……."

To my surprise and horror, the dwarf assailant's mouth was sewn shut with wire. The tarnished wire was buried in the flesh around it, and it was hard to tell where it was wire and where it was flesh. It had been like this for a long time.

"Oof!"

Hyo-Ryong felt a wave of nausea wash over him.

It was the most egregious of all silencing measures to prevent anyone from speaking out.

"Oh, no! No!"

Suddenly, a scream erupted from Hyorong's mouth.

A single trickle of blood escaped from between his wire-bound lips.

The color of the blood was black, which meant poisoning.

"Oh no, you're going to kill yourself!"

Without hesitation, the dwarf assailant bit down on the dogma in his mouth. As if sewing his mouth shut with wire wasn't enough, he had also planted a poisonous dagger in his mouth before sealing it. Hyorong tried to control his blood supply and make him vomit out the poisonous blood before it could spread any further, but it was impossible with his mouth sealed with wire.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Hyorong shouted frantically, sending an internal force into the assailant's body.

It was a clue, and I couldn't lose it for nothing.

So vainly…….

"It's too late, Long Dragon. He's already dead. So stop it."

Unexpectedly, it was Bi Ryuyeon who stopped the almost luminescent Hyorong. His expression was also rigidly set. In fact, he was the one who had something to tell this assassin. However, the last remaining clue had already been unceremoniously cut off.

"We're back to square one."

To that moment when I had no clue.

Hyo-Ryong couldn't bear to look at his friend.

"I'm sorry, Ryuyeon. If I'd been more alert, I could have……."

If only he had reacted more quickly……. I knew in my head that they were capable of much worse, but it was my own fault, not anyone else's, for not being prepared.

As far as he was concerned, this raider should have been captured by him instead of Bi Ryuyeon, who had expended more energy than necessary in the fight just before. He hadn't been helpful in the fight against King Seo, so he should have been helpful in other ways, but he hadn't been helpful again. Instead of blaming someone else, he blamed himself.

Hyo-ryong was depressed with self-doubt. But it was Bi Ryuyeon who was distracted. It was he who had approached without his usual thorough preparation, and it was he who had picked up the scroll in the empty coffin with such carelessness. But he hadn't bothered to tell her that. Underneath it all, he had calculated that it wouldn't hurt to keep her in his debt. She was Bi Ryuyeon after all.

"Don't be so depressed. We still have work to do. We still have work to do here."

"What is that?"

With the coffin shattered and the only clue, the assassin, dead, what more is there to do?

Her gaze flickered to Rakvio.

The big man flinched for a moment.

Even though it was hidden by his long bangs, the sharpness of his stance was not lost on me.

"Why not, if the cowardly captain who led us into this cowardly trap had a mouth, he'd have to make some sort of excuse. Of course, if he had a hundred mouths, he wouldn't have anything to say. That's assuming he has a conscience, which I don't know if he actually does."

With arms crossed and a provocative stance, shoot Rockvio a look.

"Mu, what are you talking about? I have nothing to do with that raider! Never!"

Rockio shouted in frustration. Bi Ryuyeon shook her head in disappointment.

"Now I see you had no conscience."

The words stabbed like an awl into Rakvio's chest, sinking in.

"That's right, you were so upstanding a moment ago, and then you lied, coward."

Hyo-ryong chimed in, and Bi Ryuyeon agreed, saying, "Yes, she's very cowardly.

The words of reproach again became rainbows, flying and piercing into Rakvio's heart.

"No, I'm not, I'm not, please listen to me."

Of course, Bi Ryuyeon and Hyo-ryong refused to listen to him at all.

"If that's the case, don't look for a political party in the first place."

"I didn't know! I didn't know! I'm so guilty! I'm so guilty!"

"You really didn't know?"

"I had no idea. You can swear on the name of heaven and earth and our Father."

He couldn't have been more wrong.

Probably.

But what's a lie without a lie. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.

"Well, sure, but is it okay to just say you didn't know?"

At that, Rakvio flinched again and instinctively jerked back.

"Moo, what do you mean?"

Instead of answering, she spread her arms and looked around.

"Where am I?"

"Of course it's the West Sea."

I didn't ask because I didn't know.

"So whose territory is this west coast?"

In a quiet voice, Bi Ryuyeon began to point them out one by one.

"That's our teenage territory."

"Who is responsible for that teenager?"

"No, of course not."

Who else could be in charge but Rakvio, King of the West. Rakvio's voice was a shadow of its former self.

"It's not like anyone is above you, right?"

"That's right, but……."

"Ho-ho, so it's your fault after all. You can't even see what's going on in your own territory, let alone recognize the presence of an intruder. You're not trying to tell me that you're not responsible for such a grave mistake, are you? Or are you suggesting that you have some kind of 'irresponsible' idea that being in charge is a position of entitlement, where you can do whatever you want and be as careless as you want? Oh, no. One of the four thousand kings of the world wouldn't do that, would he?"

"Well, that's…… of course not, but……."

I had no choice but to reply. This simple man could not demean himself, even in death. On horseback, Rakvio was no match for Bi Ryuyeon.

"Responsibility, you know, why don't you accept it like a man, like a man?"

She purposely emphasized the word "manly" twice. Rocky was so vulnerable to those words. To deny it would be to be unmanly. This was something he could not tolerate.

"Joe, that's great. You're responsible. Be a man and admit it. Admit it!"

Let it be what it is, Rockvio shouted.

"What a manly teenage captain, I've seen it again."

Bi Ryuyeon crossed her arms and nodded, as if she was truly impressed.

"Well, yeah, I guess, hahaha, with what I've got. Uhhhh, but I'm kind of a manly man."

The compliment made him feel a little smug. It was good of him to admit it like a man. He had been so 'manly' that he hadn't even realized that he was being completely played by Bi Ryuyeon. He didn't even realize that this was just the introduction.

"Okay, so you said you're responsible, how are you going to be responsible?"

As Rakvio looks on, Bi Ryuyeon asks him a question.

"What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't there be some kind of concrete way to hold them accountable? I mean, you didn't mean to just talk your way out of it, did you?"

She looked at him with a gaze that said, "You didn't think to do such an unscrupulous thing, did you?" Hyo-ryong, who was standing next to her, also sent a subtle glance to Rakvio, and silently supported her.

"Well, of course I didn't mean to pay lip service to it. No, of course not. My bad, my bad. What do you want me to do?"

"Only one thing: proper accountability."

"What is that?"

Without a moment's hesitation, she thrust her hand in front of Rakvio.

"What is this hand?"

Rakvio replied with a puzzled look.

"Give me two of the most auspicious 'elixir' grade pills in town, and we'll pretend this never happened."

"What, what?"

"I'll make sure to ask for something good, not some cheap medicine like Soyangdan. You can't tell me that the king of Seohae, who's in charge of Seohae Island, doesn't have a pill or two that's effective?"

At the slightest hint of pride, Rakvio's temper flared.

"Of course not! I have two elixirs from my master… Suck!"

"Ouch!

Rakvio quickly covered his mouth with his hand, but it was too late.

"Ho-ho, a secret elixir? Now that's an interesting story."

Bi Ryuyeon's eyes were those of a hawk that has already captured its prey.

"No, it's nothing like that, I got it from my master on the way down. It's nothing much, just a couple of life-saving pills called 'resuscitation pills' that he told me to take in the most urgent situations. Of course, I was strong, so I never had to use them."

While it wasn't an elixir of great renown like the Shaolin Great Wheel, it was still a precious item to Rakvio.

"Perfect, give me that."

Hesitation flashed across Rakvio's face.

"Well, you know, it's not a huge leap, although Master said it was……."

"Ho-ho, did you just lie about being responsible?"

"That and this are two different things, aren't they? That was the last thing Master took care of for me……. He said it was no big deal, but…… said it was only for emergencies."

"You're in a 'crisis of confidence,' and you're in a crisis of credibility! You've got a man named Lacvio who was going to take on the world with strength and justice, and now he's turned into an irresponsible liar and an assassin and a coward, and if that's not a crisis, I don't know what is."

"I am neither a liar nor a coward!"

Rakvio shouted in anger. Lies and sneak attacks, such things threatened his entire identity.

"No, it's not, so give me a shortcut and I'll give you credit."

The bottom line is this.

"Do you mean both……?"

He asks back with a wistful two, but he's already past the "no way" stage.

"Go ahead and get it."

"Oh, okay. I'll be right back."

Unaware of what he was doing, Rakvio went to retrieve the resuscitation kit. Returning a moment later, he held two small boxes in his hands, each containing two fairly thick golden pills.

"Wow, that sounds too good to be true.

She was thinking of a smaller pill, but when she saw it in person, it looked too good to be true.

'Of course, medicine is not what it seems, but…….'

Medicine is not like clothes, you can't judge its efficacy by looking at it. However, the fragrant aroma emanating from the box was not out of the ordinary.

"I have a conscience too, so I'll take just one pill, but can you give me those two pills for a second?"

"Oh, here it is."

Lakbio obediently handed the pill to Bi Ryuyeon.

Bi Ryuyeon shook the box slightly, and two pills popped into the air.

Voila!

Two slender ringworms flashed, and the two golden tablets broke into four pieces. Rakvio, enraged, bellowed.

"What are you doing!"

Bi Ryuyeon didn't respond to Lakbio's comment, but instead combined the two halves of the golden pill into a single pill and handed it to Lakbio.

"Here, eat."

"No, why are you giving this to me, I thought you were going to eat it all?"

Rakvio was right to be suspicious.

"I'll know it when I see it."

Bi Ryuyeon tossed the forbidden drug into Rakvio's mouth.

"Uh…… billion!"

Somehow, Rakvio took it and ate it. The forbidden substance disappeared into Rakvio's stomach.

"Hmph."

After a few moments, Rakvio's complexion began to flush a periwinkle red as the medicinal effects began to circle his entire body.

"What the heck is this……."

Rakvio was surprised to feel his internal energy, which had been drained by the fight earlier, rapidly recovering. Finally, Bi Ryuyeon nodded in satisfaction and spoke up.

"Hmm, maybe it's not poison."

Rakvio's brow crumpled. I have brought forth my most treasured elixir, and the mere mention of it is poison!

"Da, of course! What do you think I am, to deceive you into believing that a sweet pill is poison?"

Rakvio protested with a look that said it was okay to insult people.

"We're in the middle of enemy territory, so anything can happen. It's called ubiquity, which may be a foreign concept to you."

The fact that he couldn't recognize such obvious common sense told me that he must have a rock in his head.

"Hey, I know a thing or two about ubiquity!"

Rakvio bellowed. He meant to tell her not to ignore him, but she wasn't one to raise an eyebrow at a shout like that.

"I know, but you've never practiced it, have you? Didn't you?"

"Well, how do you do that?"

By the looks of it, Rockvio was not without his own sting.

"He's a good guy when he sees one."

With a look on her face like she was asking for something so obvious, Bi Ryuyeon replied.

After watching Rakvio's condition for a bit longer, and seeing that his body was getting better, not worse, Bi Ryuyeon gulped down the forbidden fruit that had been made by merging two halves into one without hesitation.

To heal my wounds as quickly as possible and rescue Na Yerin.

And after swallowing the pill.

Less than half a second later, Bi Ryuyeon gagged and coughed up blood.