Episode 211: A plan within no plan
“What memorandum?”
The Poison King guessed my intentions.
“Instead of you writing a memorandum, I have to teach you one reading per day? “What kind of memorandum is this?”
“no.”
“Then, Master Lee, is this a memorandum that you will not be held responsible even if you steal my poison or steal and learn poison?”
“Poison King. I am afraid of the Poison King’s poison and poisonous attacks. “I want to stay as far away as possible.”
“Then what kind of memorandum is this?”
The memorandum I was about to write was something the King of Poison could never have predicted.
“If I lose this bet, I promise to leave the world of the Poison King.”
The poison king was startled. His expression changed strangely.
“What kind of world is my world?”
“I research alone, mix alone, think alone, laugh alone. Dig the ground alone. “That world.”
He put his face close to me. His incredibly young face came right in front of my nose.
But at this moment I could feel it. My body came closer, but the person called the Poison King retreated from me. Standing at the border between his own world and the outside world, he retreated and hid.
“You just take me and get permission from the religious leader, and that’s it, right?”
“you’re right. “That’s why I came.”
“Then it has nothing to do with you whether I’m in that world or not, right?”
“It matters.”
“Who cares?”
“Because I am the one who will become the Heavenly Demon. “This is because I hope that the next Heavenly Demon will be the poison king of our church, not a lonely poison king, but a poison king who roams the world.”
“!”
“Would you like to write a memorandum?”
The Poison King made no reply for a moment. He will be curious about my true intentions. What is my intention in imposing this condition?
But you’ll never know. He would never know that I was planning to prevent that terrible event from happening in the future.
“Why are you hesitating? Anyway, that was after I became a dog. “It doesn’t matter, does it?”
Because they even added a clue that the bet was lost.
Even though he thought there was no way he would lose the bet, he still hesitated. It seems like leaving this place was a burden for him.
I stopped pushing him and picked up the brush.
“Anyway, it’s good. I will write. “There is so much to learn from the King of Poison, so I need to write a memorandum.”
I wrote a memorandum saying that if I were to be poisoned by any poison here in Cheondogrim, it would not be the poison king’s fault, but my responsibility for coming here voluntarily. I even took a photo of the sugyeol there.
The King of Poison was really surprised when I wrote the memorandum. When the story of the memorandum was brought up, it seems that he had no idea that he would actually write a memorandum.
“Are you stupid? Now I won’t be responsible if I poison you and kill you painfully.”
“That won’t happen.”
“What kind of confidence is that?”
“Because only smart people can learn poison techniques. “The Poison King is the smartest among the Mazon, so he would not commit such a reckless act.”
I said, looking around.
“I understand when I come here. The person who has mastered self-pollination is the smartest person. Don’t you have to memorize all these poisonous plants and poisons and make hundreds or thousands of combinations and combinations to make poison? Shouldn’t you also cancel the contract? Where is that? You need to learn Hadoksul in earnest, right? A person who stands at the top of such smart people would do something like that? That can’t be true. “I can dig alone and laugh, but I won’t do something stupid like that.”
The Poison King’s eyes widened. The reaction was as cute as it looked. His big eyes blinked a few times and he spoke as if he was surprised.
“You talk a lot and speak well.”
At this moment, the Poison King was truly amazed.
Poison King, we haven’t even started yet.
“You won’t be bored if you stay with me. Now then, I will continue with what I was doing.”
After handing him the memorandum, I continued my work. I brought a bag of poisonous weeds and unwrapped it. The Poison King, who was watching me clean up the poisonous plants, blurted out to me.
“What should I write? You use it, I don’t. Does that make me the only one who is petty?”
In the end, I decided to write a memorandum.
“Oh, there’s nothing special. I just go out to Cheondogmun once every ten days. “This is enough.”
“That’s enough?”
“yes.”
“Can I stand in front of the entrance to Cheondogmun Gate and then come in?”
“It doesn’t matter. “All you have to do is get out of here.”
“What does that mean?”
“The scenery you see from here will be different from the scenery you see in front of the gate.”
The Poison King looked at me silently. Do you want something like this? If you are a crazy person, then I am also a person who listens to people calling me crazy. Let’s give it a try, poison king. Let’s see who is crazier.
The King of Dog wrote a memorandum and stamped it.
“You lost, Mr. Lee. I will never be persuaded, so this memorandum is nothing more than a piece of tissue paper. “If my will is like this, how are you going to break it?”
In fact, there was no special plan to persuade him. As Hyeolcheondoma said, we will just treat him the way we have been treating him until now.
“I have to do my best.”
“Do you really look like the kind of person I would bark at in the gym?”
“At least once in your life.”
“How did other mazons fall for you, who are so weak? “I don’t understand.”
The poison king’s eyes were full of confidence and firearms. Now he is a different person from the Poison King who used to dig with dirt on his face.
“be careful. From now on, I will not be responsible if you die.”
* * *
The next day, I worked hard as if nothing had happened.
The Poison King thought that everything I did was intentional. I habitually said this every time I spoke.
“Anyway, I know it’s just a ploy to impress me. “It’s a futile effort!”
But I didn’t care what he thought.
If there was a plan amidst no plan, it was this.
Let’s focus on the work, not on the people.
I learned the job sincerely. I didn’t learn poison to use it. Because working here is my first experience. There are always lessons from first experiences.
“When will I ever live a life carrying a bag full of poisonous plants and sorting them out? “It is a valuable experience for me.”
I was living in a different way than before. This is something I had never experienced before, even before my regression.
Think differently and use your body differently.
I hope this will have a positive impact on my life and martial arts. No matter how hard you try to come up with a certain thought, there are times when it doesn’t work. However, there are times when it suddenly comes to mind while taking a bath or while walking down the street.
Same thing. I hope that this unfamiliar experience in Cheondokgrim will have a fresh impact on my life and martial arts. While classifying poisonous plants, I hoped that Pungsin Sabo would become a prosperous twelve star. By mixing poison, I hoped to realize a new side of life.
When I thought about that, everything I did here wasn’t nerve-wracking and was fun.
I thought that if I did that, I would definitely have a chance to move the King of Poison’s heart. That opportunity will come when I truly indulge in self-interest.
“be careful! “You have to pour only half this time!”
When will I have the opportunity in my life to mix the fifteen ingredients of Danhonsan (斷魂酸)?
“it’s okay! done!”
I followed exactly what he told me to do. How could I not do something accurately with my martial arts level? Perhaps I can work to his liking better than anyone else here at Cheondogmun.
“But do you usually do this all by yourself?”
“okay.”
“It must be difficult.”
I also knew the reason why Germans were not allowed here.
There are so many deadly poisons in his abode, and if he brings in the wrong disciples and causes an accident, the problem will increase.
In reality, Cheondogrim was a place that was under strong surveillance and investigation by Tongcheongak. When poison was used, it had to be reported and its inventory was always inspected.
After finishing the mixing of monohonsan, I honestly expressed my feelings with a happy expression.
“It’s fun! What poison mix are you going to make next?”
Of course he didn’t believe me.
“Do you think you would be better off as a low-level actor rather than a heavenly devil?”
“Next time you go to Jungwon with me, how about joining the performance troupe? “If you have the looks of the Poison King, I think you can aim for the lead role.”
The poison king was disgusted. His expression said exactly this. I don’t want to leave here, so what? Play the lead role in a play?
“Just now, in the Poison King’s imagination, all the actors on stage and the people watching were poisoned to death.”
“Did you really survive, Lee Gongja?”
I shouted at him as he turned around.
“The performance is canceled!”
He walked away without even pretending to listen.
* * *
The poison king was not very interested in other people’s affairs.
If this level of interest is shown to me, who came to me for such an important matter, I can only guess how other people view it. To him, people would exist beneath the poisonous plants.
Of course, I impulsively asked a question. Like right now. The Poison King suddenly asked while grinding poisonous herbs.
“Hey, Lee Gong-ja, be honest. “Are you planning to steal and learn the poison technique here and poison your brother?”
I answered by moving it into a large bucket and filling it with water.
“I know for sure that you are here to the King of Poisons, but if your brother is poisoned and dies, who would be the first to suspect? “I am the one who has to worry about my brother getting poisoned and dying.”
Thump thump! Instead of a rebuttal, the sound of the Poison King grinding poisonous herbs grew louder.
“I have no interest in poisoning. “If I could learn one thing from the Poison King, I would like to learn something else.”
“what kind of thing?”
He was still concentrating on grinding the poisonous plant without looking at me. I don’t know when he will go back to his own world, but my answer now was to definitely draw him back to this place.
“I want to learn detoxification. “Isn’t the flower of poisonous poison not hadok, but poison?”
In an instant, the sound of grinding poisonous herbs stopped. His eyes were on me. He had the most surprised face since meeting me. Because I said exactly what he was thinking.
“It’s only been a few days, but what I felt after coming was that it seemed more difficult to create an antidote that would completely detoxify the poison than to create the poison. So this thought occurred to me. A person who can create an antidote that can reliably detoxify the poison he or she created. A person who can detoxify the poison in an instant when the other person sprays it. “Isn’t that person the true master of poison?”
This means that only when not only reading but also decoding are perfected will one realize the true meaning of reading.
“Where did you hear that?”
From the next Poison King who learned poison techniques from you.
“That’s just my opinion. The analogy is a bit strange, but martial arts are like that too. “It’s harder to capture them alive than to kill them.”
I threw a winning bet at him. The most advantageous match for me, who is unstoppable.
“Choose a poison and teach me how to detoxify it. I decipher it, and the Poison King reads it. How is it? “Let’s have a fight!”
You’ve been practicing poison all your life, so you can probably beat that one, right? Isn’t this a pride issue?
It was not provoked in this way. It was clear that hasty provocation would only backfire.
Dokwang, say let’s do it. Let’s have a fight!
That being said, this bet was a win for me.
But the poison king did not go down so easily.
“hate.”
I asked in response to the poison king’s firm refusal.
“Why do you dislike it?”
“Do you think I don’t know your tricks? You probably want me to say something like this. If you can decipher my poison, I will lose the bet. yes? “Is this what you want to hear?”
I didn’t deny it. In fact, if it wasn’t my job, I would have applauded.
“I just have to win the bet, right?”
“How can you guarantee that I will win? “Detoxification is also my detoxification technique.”
The Poison King started grinding the poisonous plants again.
“Go and practice barking, Lee Gongja.”
* * *
That evening I went to visit my father.
The more I knew about the Poison King, the more frustrated I felt. In times like these, you need someone to help you strengthen your resolve. In that respect, the person who is more suitable than anyone else is my father.
When I visited him just before he went to bed, I got to see my father’s pajamas once again.
“It’s a different floral pattern than what I saw back then. This is probably the best self-defense armor in martial arts. When the enemies saw it, they thought, ‘Ah, could the Heavenly Demon wear pajamas like this?’ And it will all just pass by. “Those clothes are the safest clothes!”
My father looked at me with a look in his eyes that asked how long he was going to talk nonsense, but he seemed to know that I would come visit him at least once.
“Did your father know? “The poison king is not the person who will come over to me.”
“Have you given up already?”
“Is that possible? “But I’ve never seen someone so trapped in their own world.”
A unique sneer appeared on my father’s lips. Yes, I came here today to see that smile.
Seeing that smile gave me strength. In fact, I felt better.
Yes, enjoy yourself now. I will definitely bring the Poison King here.
I asked a question I had wanted to ask for a long time.
“Father, you hate the poison king, right?”
My father neither confirmed nor denied. Since he was a father who truly loved radish, it was natural that he disliked poisonous techniques and magic.
“If you don’t like it, why are you keeping it alive? “Kill me.”
“Because it is the most threatening to enemies.”
“Wouldn’t it be possible to cause a rebellion or go crazy and poison the people of our church?”
“If we want to use the Poison King as our school’s weapon, we have to take that level of risk.”
“What if my brother or I die in the process?”
“I still have to take it.”
“You only say that when you have about ten children hidden away somewhere.”
“Why do you think there isn’t one?”
“It shouldn’t be there. “My brother alone is such a pain in the ass.”
A faint smile appeared on my father’s lips. Perhaps, if Sima Ming or Hyeolcheondoma had said this, he might have laughed.
“It was like this before, but when I stand in front of a tight wall, I think of my father first. It’s okay now that I’ve seen your face like this. “Then I will leave. If we continue like this, sooner or later we may show disloyalty, not just unfilial piety, at the Great Yeonmujang.”
After making jokes like that, I was about to turn around when my father suddenly asked.
“Do you think the Poison King is trapped in his own world?”