Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 177 - Embroidered Uniform Guard (4)
Chapter 177 – Embroidered Uniform Guard (4)
“Ah.”
“O-oh, does it hurt?”
“Of course it hurts.”
Even if I had Indomitability, that did not mean pain stopped hurting. Peng Chae-hyang seemed to be applying Gold Trauma Medicine for the first time and was rather clumsy. Then again, as the young lady of the Hebei Peng Clan, she probably never had reason to apply medicine to anyone else.
“I’m sorry. I’ve applied it to myself a few times, but this is my first time putting it on someone else.”
As expected. After saying that, Peng Chae-hyang focused once more on dabbing the medicine onto my wounds.
The Commander-in-Chief had cut me quite a lot, so I had no small number of injuries. It was a rather awkward time. Only Peng Chae-hyang and I were in the room, and because I had to have medicine applied to my wounds, I had stripped down to the waist.
Originally I could have applied it myself, but there were places like my back and shoulders that were hard to reach alone, so Peng Chae-hyang had volunteered.
“This is actually my first time walking around without Black Elder and White Elder too.”
Peng Chae-hyang spoke abruptly. Apparently the silence was awkward for her too.
“You have a lot of firsts.”
“I really do. It’s because I’m with Young Master Muk.”
Silence came again. I looked up at the ceiling for no reason and memorized the patterns on it.
Once again, it was Peng Chae-hyang who failed to endure the silence first.
“But you were really amazing.”
“What was?”
“Lasting ten exchanges against the Commander-in-Chief. Even if he’s not on the same level as my father, he’s still counted among the greatest masters in the palace.”
“Can I really call this enduring when my body’s turned into a rag?”
“Of course you can.”
“Ah, I’ll do this part myself.”
As Peng Chae-hyang leaned over from behind me, I tried to take the medicine bottle from her, but she pulled her hand far back.
“No. Since I’ve already started, I’ll do it for you.”
“Well, all right.”
There was no reason to stop her if she insisted on doing it. Peng Chae-hyang came around in front of me and knelt down.
And so the awkward time returned. Judging by her flushed face, she knew perfectly well what she was doing.
“If you’re going to blush that much, wouldn’t it have been better to let me do it?”
“…You’re mean, Young Master Muk. To say something like that out loud.”
I found that reaction amusing and was about to tease her further, but the hand that rubbed the medicine into my wound hurt enough to make me cry out.
“Ow.”
“I meant for it to hurt.”
“Wow, that’s harsh. If it was going to be like this, I should have done it myself.”
“Be quiet.”
Peng Chae-hyang went back to applying the medicine gently. As a martial artist, her hands could not truly be called soft, but I could feel the care in her touch.
“Still, the Commander-in-Chief went too far. To wound you this badly.”
“He really did.”
“That’s why I said something to him. He usually listens to what I say.”
“I’m grateful.”
“What do you mean, grateful.”
I let out a short laugh. Despite her words, there was pride on Peng Chae-hyang’s face.
“He probably treated me that way because he thinks I’m a martial artist.”
“That is true. The Commander doesn’t like martial artists.”
“But it seems like he cares about Young Lady Peng.”
“He does.”
“Can I ask why?”
“I’ve known the Commander since I was little. Back from when he was still the Northern Pacification Commissioner. He’s doted on me ever since.”
If he had known her since childhood, then I supposed that put her outside the broad category of martial artist. After all, people came first and martial artists came after, not the other way around.
“That’s unfair. If I were from the Hebei Peng Clan too, I would have been showered in the Commander’s affection.”
“That won’t do.”
“Why not?”
“Then we’d become siblings.”
“You don’t like that? I think it’d be nice to have a younger sister like Young Lady Peng, since you’re younger than me.”
“I hate it.”
I hadn’t expected her to say that so firmly. It stung a little.
As we chatted, Peng Chae-hyang’s hand moved from my chest down to my abdomen. I had wounds there too.
“This is actually my first time seeing a man’s body from this close. Sometimes I saw the clan’s martial artists strip and bathe, but that was always from far away.”
“Don’t say weird things.”
“It’s kind of… impressive.”
Even though I had told her not to, Peng Chae-hyang finished saying the strange thing anyway. Judging by how red she had turned, she seemed embarrassed by it herself.
I lowered my head and looked down. The contrast of the times was quite something. Back when I had only been a merchant, I had not even exercised much, let alone practiced martial arts, so my belly had stuck out. Now, perhaps because I had cultivated martial arts, I could see defined muscle.
As I looked at my own body, I also saw Peng Chae-hyang, whose face was red but who was still applying the medicine with a serious expression. It occurred to me only then just how close we really were.
I found myself studying Peng Chae-hyang’s face again. Her large eyes, straight nose, pale skin, and small lips came together in pleasing harmony. She definitely had the sort of face people would call beautiful.
At that moment, Peng Chae-hyang suddenly raised her head and looked at me. At the same time, the scent of canola flowers washed over me.
“….”
“….”
Our gazes crossed. Even I could feel heat rise to my face then.
Neither Peng Chae-hyang nor I could endure it, and we both jerked our faces away. Fortunately, we turned in opposite directions.
“Still, Young Lady Peng, I think you’ve improved a lot. Normally you never would have been able to do this.”
I said it in a hurry. I had blurted it out quickly, but it was something I truly felt.
In the beginning, she would not even offer her wrist, and now she was looking at my half-naked body while applying medicine for me. I found myself wondering whether a person could really change this drastically.
“…I’m just enduring it. Even now I’m dying of embarrassment.”
Peng Chae-hyang said it in a voice so small it was like an ant crawling. I gave a hollow laugh.
“There’s no need to force yourself. You don’t have to go that far.”
“I want to get used to men quickly. I’m frustrated with myself.”
“Well, the guardsmen of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were pushing far too hard. At times like that, you need to know how to be firm.”
“That doesn’t really matter. The reason I want to get used to men is because of Young Master Muk.”
What was that supposed to mean? Peng Chae-hyang glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, then went back to applying the medicine. When I said nothing, she started making excuses on her own.
“You’re my benefactor, and compared to other men, I’m at least a little more comfortable with you, that’s all I meant.”
“Yes, yes.”
“What is that reaction!”
The truth was that I had nothing to say, so I had deliberately responded vaguely. Once I had provoked her anger a little like that, all the medicine had been applied to my wounds.
I immediately got dressed again. Peng Chae-hyang covered her mouth and coughed softly.
We then headed straight to the training ground of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. As Peng Chae-hyang and I walked in together, the guardsmen’s jealous looks stabbed at me. Even so, those looks were no longer purely hostile like before. They seemed to grant me a certain recognition for having endured ten exchanges against the Commander-in-Chief.
The Commander-in-Chief was there too, naturally, since he had to look over my martial arts.
“So you’ve come.”
“Yes.”
“It seems I was too heavy-handed.”
“As long as you know it.”
The Commander’s face twisted. But he could not say anything. Peng Chae-hyang was standing beside me with her eyes wide open.
Before applying medicine to me, Peng Chae-hyang had apparently said something to the Commander. And judging by the way he acted now, she must have spoken to him rather sharply, because the Commander actually seemed to be watching her reaction.
“Since you’re a censor anyway, it shouldn’t be a problem for me to teach you.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
That response came from Peng Chae-hyang. At the same time, all the guardsmen who had been training also turned their attention toward me and the Commander.
The Commander seemed not to understand why all those eyes had suddenly gathered on him, but I did.
“Um, is it really all right to reveal here that I’m a censor?”
“…Those others didn’t know?”
“I think not. The Southern Pacification Commissioner knew, though.”
The Commander let out a hiss. He had admitted his mistake. And with that alone, he had firmly proved that I was indeed a censor.
“You were a censor?”
Covering her mouth, Peng Chae-hyang looked startled. I scratched the back of my head.
“Somehow, yes.”
“I’d heard there was a censor in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but this is my first time actually seeing one.”
Not only Peng Chae-hyang but the guardsmen as well began to watch me carefully. That was because when I had first come here, they had treated me harshly merely because I had arrived together with Peng Chae-hyang.
“Then was there perhaps a guardsman here who behaved rudely toward this friend of ours?”
The Commander seemed to catch on to that as well and asked the guardsmen.
They all began gauging each other’s reactions, but with Peng Chae-hyang here, they could not deny it to the end.
The guardsmen who had picked a fight with me the moment I arrived reluctantly stepped forward.
“We are sorry. We didn’t know you were a censor, sir.”
“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to the censor. Your treatment will be decided according to his will.”
The Commander said that. He was still a palace official, after all, so the hierarchy was strict.
Even if Peng Chae-hyang held an easy place among them because her post only existed in wartime organization, a censor was a position that existed in peacetime too. This made what they had done clear insubordination.
Several guardsmen immediately came before me and threw themselves into full prostration.
“We beg forgiveness, Censor! We dared to treat you rudely because we did not know who you were!”
“Please forgive us!”
I gave a bitter smile. In truth, what had they really done wrong? Wasn’t wanting to show off in front of a beautiful woman a chronic male illness?
“It’s fine. Just don’t do it again next time.”
I was about to leave it at that, but then I added,
“Ah, and Young Lady Peng is uncomfortable around men, so don’t make things too uncomfortable for her.”
The guardsmen looked at me with expressions full of emotion. Then again, military encampments like the Embroidered Uniform Guard were especially sensitive to insubordination. Even if it did not go so far as beheading, it was the sort of matter where no one would object even if someone’s ear were cut off.
Even so, since they had acted that way in ignorance, I did not want to hold them responsible. I also had no wish to make unnecessary enemies.
“Th-thank you, Censor!”
“Thank you!”
The guardsmen prostrated themselves once more in tearful gratitude. Clicking his tongue, the Commander looked around at everyone present.
“The rest of you apologize too. A guardsman behaved rudely toward a censor, and all of you stood there and watched, so all of you bear responsibility as well.”
At the Commander’s words, all the guardsmen knelt before me and slammed their foreheads to the ground.
“We are sorry, Censor!”
Their voices rang out so loudly it felt as though the Embroidered Uniform Guard barracks might split apart. It would not carry outside, of course. I had heard that the encampment was covered by a formation that blocked internal sound. It was fitting for a group that handled secrets.
“Even if the censor says it’s fine, I can’t just let it pass. All guardsmen will forfeit half a month’s wages. Does anyone object?”
The Commander spoke in a stern voice. Since this was his judgment, there was nothing I could do to stop it. The guardsmen almost seemed grateful that it had ended with only that.
“No objections!”
“Good.”
The Commander nodded in satisfaction. Most likely the accounting records would still show that the wages had been paid, and the guardsmen’s wages would end up in the pockets of Embroidered Uniform Guard officers. That was only my guess.
“Good. The rest of you get out. For the time being, only I and Censor Muk Hui-yeong will use the training ground.”
With that, the Commander chased everyone away. Peng Chae-hyang was no exception, so she had no choice but to leave as well. It worried me slightly that she was leaving together with the guardsmen, but since I had already said my piece, they would not bother her.
“Hmph. With a heart that soft, how do you expect to serve as a censor?”
The moment the guardsmen had gone, the Commander grumbled.
Before I could answer, he continued.
“I am Seo Jong-haeng, Commander-in-Chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Since I am the one who will teach you martial arts, remember it well.”
Then the Commander tore at his face. I had half expected it, but it was indeed a human-skin mask. Beneath it appeared a face that looked rather benevolent.
And that was how I came to know one of the empire’s secrets, the name and face of the Commander-in-Chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.