The Human-Heart Thief’s parents saw Jeok Wigang’s attire and did not know where to put themselves.
“I-it is already shameful that we have made such an honored person come to this humble place. How could we receive you while lying down?”
“I am fine. Please remain lying down. That would make me more comfortable.”
“But still...”
Yu Muncheol spoke to his hesitant parents.
“He wishes to look at the condition of your bodies, Father, Mother. May I show him for a moment?”
“What? Oh dear. There is nothing worth seeing, my lord.”
The two elders refused again and again, saying there was nothing worth seeing, but Jeok Wigang was already examining their condition.
They were paralyzed from the waist down because the paddle struck them badly. They were beaten so much that their muscles were severely damaged.
The fact that they had not died was practically heaven’s fortune.
They were alive because the Human-Heart Thief had cared for them with utter devotion.
Hmm. Their injuries are old. Will a healing mantra work? Or do I need to use a restoration mantra?
Jeok Wigang pondered for a moment.
For now, he decided to use a healing mantra first.
“May I place my hands on you for a moment?”
“Of course, my lord.”
“It will not take long. Please close your eyes.”
“Very well.”
Once they closed their eyes, Jeok Wigang placed his hands on the two elders’ abdomens and chanted the mantra.
“Heavenly qi, flow. Earthly qi, gather. Essence, recover. Wounds, vanish. Life force, fill completely.”
When he chanted the mantra, white light poured from Jeok Wigang’s hands and began being absorbed into the two elders’ bodies.
At the sight, the Human-Heart Thief sprang to his feet in shock, but then he felt how warm the energy in the light was and realized it was not dangerous.
So he watched in silence.
CRRRK— CRACK—
The sound of bones twisting came from the two elders’ legs.
CRRRK— CRACK—
After that came the sound of muscles twisting.
It was an eerie sound even to hear, so the Human-Heart Thief swallowed dryly over and over as he watched in tension.
When his parents’ bodies jerked along with the sound, he even grew restless, not knowing what to do.
Meanwhile, Jeok Wigang sensed that the healing mantra alone was not enough.
No. I need to mix in the restoration mantra properly.
While maintaining the mantra, Jeok Wigang began rapidly calculating a new formula.
Combining two mantras into one required an enormous number of calculations, yet he was doing it right now while casting the healing mantra.
Done. I completed the Revival Mantra.
Jeok Wigang had merged the two mantras into one in a short span of time.
As soon as he completed it, he chanted it.
“Heaven and earth, restore. Soul and flesh, return to origin. Qi vessels, return to order. All wounds, recover.”
The white light turned silver and spread over the two elders’ bodies.
CRRRK— CRACK—
The sound of bones twisting came from all over their bodies, louder than before.
At the same time, their muscles twisted as well, and before long, black liquid began flowing like sweat from every pore on the two elders’ bodies.
The sight was so grotesque that the Human-Heart Thief was horrified.
But he did not make a sound.
He was afraid that if he cried out, he might disrupt Jeok Wigang.
What if his interference caused something to go wrong with his parents?
He did not even want to imagine it.
“Ugh!”
An overwhelming stench rose from the black liquid that had come out of his parents’ bodies.
“Prepare warm water and cloths to wipe them with.”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, the Human-Heart Thief hurried outside and lit the fire.
Before long, he returned with warm water and cloths, then saw an astonishing sight.
His parents, who had possessed no strength, barely moved, and had wrinkled, shriveled skin, had changed as though they had grown at least twenty years younger.
“Wh-what is this?”
At first, he thought different people were lying there.
“What are you doing? I’ll step outside, so wipe your parents down.”
When Jeok Wigang rose from his seat, the Human-Heart Thief asked in a trembling voice, “Wh-what... happened to my parents?”
Jeok Wigang grinned and said, “Can’t you tell by looking? It seems like you already know.”
“They... they are truly healed?”
“Yes. So wipe them clean and change them into new clothes.”
Jeok Wigang was about to leave after saying that, but the Human-Heart Thief prostrated himself before him.
“My lord! I will repay this grace by serving you with my life for as long as I live!”
“No need. You don’t have to go that far. Just do your work properly and treat your parents the way you have until now.”
“My lord.”
“Are you acknowledging me now?”
“How could this humble subject dare say whether I acknowledge you or not, my lord? If I offended you, please punish me.”
“That’s enough. As long as you acknowledge me. Your parents are undergoing Bone-and-Body Rebirth, so their bodies are being reconstituted. They will not wake from sleep all day today. Change their clothes, then go select the talents you need.”
“What? B-Bone-and-Body Rebirth? Th-that... is that possible when they have not even learned martial arts?”
“Yes. It isn’t perfect, but their bodies have been reconstituted to some extent.”
“What?”
He was speaking of Bone-and-Body Rebirth as if some village physician had simply inserted a few needles.
Bone-and-Body Rebirth was the dream of every martial-world person.
“So this is the result of mixing two mantras.”
“What?”
When Yu Muncheol stared blankly at him, Jeok Wigang grinned.
“Never mind. Don’t worry about it. Something like that exists. Anyway, they are fully healed and twenty years younger, so do everything you couldn’t do for them until now.”
“U-understood.”
“Then I’ll come again tomorrow.”
“Thank you, my lord!”
“Just do your work properly.”
“But what work am I supposed to do?”
“Nothing much. Enter the palace and take over the work the officials used to do.”
“What?”
“You’ll be given an official post too. For you, probably around sixth-rank? If you work well, you’ll rise higher, so try hard.”
“What? M-me, an official post? A-and sixth-rank? More importantly, what do you mean, the work officials used to do? Do you mean handling state affairs?”
“Yes. You can do it, right?”
“I have... never handled state affairs before.”
“There’s nothing difficult about it. Just do what you usually do. I’m leaving.”
“M-my lord!”
Unable to stop Jeok Wigang, who said only what he wanted to say and left, Yu Muncheol sat there blankly.
“What in the world...”
It felt as if he had been possessed by a ghost.
Yu Muncheol, the Human-Heart Thief, looked at his parents, who slept with peaceful expressions in their younger bodies.
A smile appeared on his lips.
What did it matter?
Whatever else might be true, his lord was his benefactor.
Even if he could not trust anyone else, he could trust his lord.
The way to repay his grace?
Had his lord not told him before leaving?
“Yes. So what if it’s the palace? How different can it be? Wherever people live, it’s all the same. Let’s do it!”
He slapped his own cheeks a couple of times, soaked a cloth in warm water, and began wiping the foul-smelling liquid from his parents’ bodies.
*****
The next day.
The Human-Heart Thief’s parents opened their eyes.
Unlike usual, they felt strength overflowing through their entire bodies, and both of them sprang upright.
They were startled by how easily their upper bodies rose.
“My body is overflowing with strength... D-dear.”
“Y-yes. Y-your appearance...”
They looked at each other, then began examining themselves here and there with shocked eyes.
“Y-your skin has improved.”
“So has yours.”
“This must be a dream.”
“Can two people have the same dream at once?”
“Who knows? They say a married couple is of one heart and body, so perhaps they can dream together too.”
“I pinched my arm and it hurts... They say if it hurts when you pinch yourself, it isn’t a dream.”
“Then how do you explain this absurd situation? Can you explain it?”
“Th-that is...”
Now that he tried to explain it, it was something he himself found unbelievable.
Just then, the door opened and the Human-Heart Thief Yu Muncheol entered.
“Father! Mother!”
When he saw that the two had awakened, he quickly entered and sat before them.
“How do your bodies feel?”
“My son... can you see our bodies?”
“What? Yes. I can see them very clearly.”
“I am asking whether you can see that we have grown younger.”
“Yes. I can see it very clearly. My lord performed Bone-and-Body Rebirth on you and left. He said you had grown at least twenty years younger.”
“Bone-and-Body Rebirth? We grew twenty years younger?”
“Yes.”
“Does this... make any sense?”
“I do not know exactly what happened either, but whatever the case, it is reality.”
“Haah...”
“Dear. My legs are moving.”
“What? M-mine are moving too.”
“Father, Mother. Try standing.”
At their son’s words, the two carefully raised themselves.
“What? I-I can stand.”
“My legs are full of strength.”
“My wife...”
“Dear...”
The two looked at each other, then shed tears of overwhelming emotion and embraced.
“Sniff, sniff!”
The two cried in each other’s arms.
Their son quietly watched them while wiping away his own tears.
It was just as they were welcoming that deeply moving morning.
“Is Yu Muncheol inside?”
At the sound of someone looking for him, Yu Muncheol opened the door and went out, only to see people covered in blood sprawled across the yard, twitching.
“A gift.”
“Th-these people are...”
He knew them far too well.
They were the ones who had made his parents like that.
And their condition was severe.
Ye Yahyeon said with an indifferent expression, “Big Brother told me to pass this along. He said he avenged you. He also said that if you think this is not enough, you can handle the rest yourself. What will you do? If you want to torture them, I can help.”
“What? T-torture?”
“Just put all the resentment and injustice you felt until now into it. I said I’d help.”
“N-no. J-just looking at their current state is... e-enough.”
Ye Yahyeon’s gaze turned toward his parents.
“Do the two of you want a turn?”
At the question, Yu Muncheol’s parents were startled and shook their heads fiercely.
“N-no! We d-do not!”
“Th-that’s right. This is enough. Thank you.”
Yu Muncheol’s parents wept.
The resentment and injustice that had filled them all this time seemed to melt away like snow.
“Is that so? For now, I made them the same as what happened to you two. They will probably spend the rest of their lives lying down. Ah! You do not need to worry about what comes after. These bastards’ families will fall into ruin.”
Yu Muncheol, who had been standing blankly, soon began to weep.
It had already been a grace vast as heaven that his lord had healed his parents, but he had even stepped forward and avenged them like this.
“In which direction is my lord?”
When Ye Yahyeon pointed toward the palace, Yu Muncheol descended into the yard, bowed sincerely in that direction, and shouted.
“I, Yu Muncheol, will offer this one life for my lord!”
“I’ll pass that sight along to Big Brother.”
*****
The imperial palace was desolate.
It was because most of the officials from the Hanlin Academy had left.
But there were still officials who remained, and they were the people of House of Ouyang.
They could not leave so easily.
If they left, who knew what might happen to the Empress?
The people of House of Ouyang gathered in the Empress’s residence, the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.
Every one of them wore a grave expression.
“Haah. I never imagined His Majesty would come out this forcefully.”
“He must have endured much. How badly did the Hanlin Academy look down on him all this time, calling him an Emperor who knew nothing?”
“This is all because we were lacking. We should have stepped forward and stopped it.”
“What use is saying that now? We must discuss what to do from here.”