“Mmhm, what should we trim? Should we slice up the dried daylily root? Or do you want to cut honey-locust thorns? Honey-locust is better, right?”

What even is that?

Tang Juhee, excited all by herself, hummed as she pushed open the door to the Medical Hall. At the same time, a heavy medicinal-decoction stench whooshed out.

The Medical Hall Master was squatting in the courtyard, simmering a decoction. His face, waving a fan without energy, practically dripped exhaustion.

Last time, he hadn’t looked this hollowed out. Is he sick?

“Master. I’m here.”

“Welcome. You came early today.”

“I’m bringing my little sister to look around the Medical Hall.”

Before Tang Juhee even finished answering, the Medical Hall Master appeared right in front of me and grabbed my shoulder.

“Oh? Are you interested in joining?”

Wh—! You scared me. When did you get in front of me?

When I flinched in surprise, the Medical Hall Master’s eyes sparkled as he asked again.

“Are you interested in joining?”

“Huh? No?”

“I see.”

At my refusal, the Medical Hall Master’s shoulders sagged. He shuffled back to the decoction.

Watching him fan with dead eyes like nothing had happened, I overlapped him with the image of an office worker who’d just pulled an all-nighter and had all the life drained out of them.

Reading the room, I gestured Deokju toward him.

“Um, Master. My guard got hurt. Her internal energy got all stirred up—could I take some medicinal decoction with us?”

“Ask again in two hours.”

“Yes.”

With my mouth shut, I bounced on my feet and looked at Deokju. The bruise around her eye was way darker than before.

She’s turning into a panda.

Unlike me, panicking, Deokju stayed impassive.

“Deokju. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine at all.”

“It’ll be better by tomorrow.”

It didn’t look like something that would heal in a day no matter how I looked at it, but if she said so, what could I even say?

What are martial artists, seriously. Do you lose your sense of pain once you learn martial arts or something?

Pulling my gaze away from Deokju, I whispered to Tang Juhee.

“The Medical Hall Master... he looks really tired.”

“It’s because the Medical Hall is short-staffed. The workload’s brutal, so nobody applies. People keep getting carried in after swallowing poison—how could it be just one or two? I’m the only one who joined recently. Everyone ran off because it was too hard.”

“What? You’re a Therapist?”

When I asked with my eyes wide, Tang Juhee giggled.

“In the Tang Clan, who doesn’t know medicine? Everyone’s a Therapist.”

......Well, sure. Physical therapy is still treatment. If we count punching people as medicine, I guess.

“I don’t know medicine. Anyway, I thought you just researched poisons.”

More accurately, I thought she went around feeding people poison.

At my words, Tang Juhee answered like I was saying the weirdest thing.

“That, you can do by yourself. Saving people is way more fun. Killing’s easy, but saving is hard, right?”

Uh... is it?

It was an extremely Tang Juhee reason.

The Medical Hall Master, who’d been listening quietly, also cut in.

“She’s right. Killing is much easier. The better the Therapist, the better they are at killing people, too. Because you can kill without leaving a trace.”

Stop saying scary things. You’re talking like you’ve done it.

“That’s not what matters. Little sister. Sit here a second.”

Tang Juhee brought out a mat and spread it on the ground, then dragged over a big burlap sack and dropped it beside it with a THUD. Inside the sack was an armful of sharp, thorny branches.

“Here. Sit. Let’s start by trimming the honey-locust.”

“You want me to trim this?”

“If you want decoction, you have to wait anyway. You’ll be bored—trim it while you’re waiting.”

What kind of logic is that? That’s like saying if you’re bored waiting at a restaurant, go peel onions.

I was dumbfounded, but Grand Elder Tang Jung told me to help with the Medical Hall’s work, so I couldn’t exactly refuse.

When I slowly sat on the mat and stared at the burlap sack, the Medical Hall Master came rushing over in a panic.

“I’ll—! I’ll show you!”

“No. You don’t have to—”

“Honey-locust is easy to trim. I’ll have the decoction materials ready soon, so just peel one sack and go.”

“One sack? Not one basket?”

The Medical Hall Master lightly ignored me and started demonstrating with a dagger.

“Look. When you cut it like this, only the ones with hard thorns and a reddish-brown cross-section go into that jar.”

“Ah... yes. The thorns.”

“Exactly. I’ll pick a blade that cuts well for you. Let’s see....”

He’s really making me do it? I’ve never done this before.

I was stunned, but watching him dig through his sleeves, practically thrilled, I couldn’t bring myself to say I didn’t want to.

Because the face that looked like it was about to drop dead from overwork just a moment ago had turned into a radiant, euphoric face—like someone watching a sudden downpour on cracked earth.

I hurriedly looked at Tang Juhee.

“What about you?”

“I’m not doing it. I’ll break a nail.”

You’re worried about breaking a nail, but you throw punches like that?

You dragged me here because you were excited to put me to work, weren’t you.

In the meantime, after choosing a dagger, the Medical Hall Master beamed.

“Yes. This one’s honed the best. Here—use this.”

He handed me the dagger with a bright smile. I took it, like someone swallowing mustard while crying.

*****

SCRITCH SCRITCH.

CHOP CHOP.

SCRAPE SCRAPE.

The cutting sounds blended into a colorful harmony. If you listened quietly, it was the kind of sound that calmed you down.

If I wasn’t the one making it, it would’ve been.

When my fingertips started tingling, I lifted my head—and saw Deokju peeling medicinal bark with intense focus.

Seeing her cut with that bruise around her eye made my stomach tighten.

“Deokju. Take it easy. Don’t push yourself.”

“I’m fine.”

Deokju answered flatly and kept cutting without even looking at me.

For a moment, I was impressed by how skilled she looked—like a craftsman who’d trimmed medicinal materials for decades—then I dropped my gaze and my mouth fell open.

The roots she’d chopped off were scattered everywhere in thick chunks.

“Deokju. Wait. Something’s wrong.”

“Should I cut them thicker?”

No. This isn’t a thin-versus-thick problem. The medicinal material is trash now.

At my words, Tang Juhee—who’d been sprawled out on the wooden floor, playing with her snake—shot up and ran over. When she saw the ruined material, her eyes rolled back as she screamed.

“Hey! What are you doing? You’re ruining everything!”

“I trimmed it exactly as you explained.”

“Who explained it like that? Are your eyes just for decoration? Get out of here! Now—move!”

Dragged out by Tang Juhee’s fury, Deokju wore a rare, wilted expression.

Why are you snapping at my kid?

I flared up, too, and raised my voice.

“She was trying to help—why are you yelling at her? Then you do it.”

“If I have to dry that again, it’ll take two weeks! It’s a medicinal material that only comes out in autumn, so it’s expensive right now!”

“Then why did you make someone who doesn’t know anything do it in the first place? Just buy more!”

“Really?”

At the words buy more, Tang Juhee calmed down instantly and smiled sweetly.

“Then buy it already trimmed. Cutting roots is annoying.”

“...Tell me what I’m supposed to buy.”

“Sure. I’ll write it down so you can see it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° easily. Let’s see—where’s a brush?”

I stared at Tang Juhee’s back as she went looking for brush and ink. I feel like I got played.

Deokju, watching the room, bowed her head timidly.

“I’m sorry, young lady. If you want, I can pay for it out of my monthly stipend—”

“No. You were trying to help. I’m the one who’s sorry. You’re suffering because you got stuck with the wrong master.”

At my weak reply, Deokju’s face darkened.

“But—”

“It’s fine, so don’t worry. I have money.”

Not me. Grand Elder Tang Jung. I’ve saved up a lot of allowance.

After soothing Deokju, I started organizing the finished medicinal materials.

By then, Tang Juhee came back with the list and squatted beside me to watch.

“Little sister. You work well. Is it because you used to be a maid?”

Is that a compliment or an insult?

I shot Tang Juhee a glare and waved my hand.

“If you’re not helping, be quiet.”

“When you’re doing the work of five people by yourself, what’s the point?”

“Seriously. You’re treating me like an ox.”

When I grumbled and lifted my head, I saw burlap sacks lined up in the courtyard.

“Did I do all of that?”

“Yeah.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Five people’s worth.”

Pride rushed in—right along with self-loathing.

I didn’t plan to do that much.... I worked too hard. It’s been a while since I did mindless labor with my brain turned off, so I overdid it.

Tang Juhee, chin propped on her hand while she watched me, asked,

“Little sister. What do you think about joining the Medical Hall?”

“Didn’t you just say nobody applies because the workload’s brutal?”

“You look like you’d be good at it.”

“I wouldn’t.”

I answered sharply, but Tang Juhee didn’t care in the slightest. With the face of someone who’d caught a new slave, she coaxed me softly.

“Come on. Come to the Medical Hall. I’ll make sure you don’t get a single drop of blood on your hands. If you become the Master, I’ll even make you the Deputy Master.”

“No thanks.”

Can you stop talking like you’re proposing? I don’t want blood on my hands at all.

“Why? Unless something happens, I’ll be the next Medical Hall Master.”

“That makes it even worse.”

I recoiled and rubbed at my goosebumped shoulders.

That means I’d be cleaning up after whatever you do every single day.

The people who ran away—did they really run away because the work was hard, or because of Tang Juhee?

After all my refusals, Tang Juhee’s eyes narrowed into an annoyed slit.

“You have to pick one anyway, don’t you? Think about it. Here, there’s nobody to bother you.”

“Pick what?”

At my baffled tilt of the head, Tang Juhee asked like I seriously didn’t know.

“After your coming-of-age, you choose which division you belong to. Aren’t you having your hair-pinning ceremony soon?”

“A coming-of-age?”

I’d never heard about this. When is that?