'Me, the best?'
The Weird Physician, a man in his forties who thought himself beyond such delusions, found his heart pounding wildly at those words.
He had never heard anything like it.
It was the first time.
He had struggled and clawed his way into the ranks of the Six Great Physicians, but the world's regard placed him at the very bottom of that list.
There had always been someone better beside him.
The Divine Physician.
The title bestowed upon the greatest physician of the age had gone not to him, but to his senior brother.
They had studied under the same master, and the Divine Physician had succeeded him to claim that top spot.
The Weird Physician accepted it.
Right. Our paths diverged anyway.
What was the point in comparing who had gone farther when they had chosen opposite directions on the medical path?
It wasn't wrong.
It was a reasonable justification.
But could he truly claim there was no inferiority complex or rationalization hidden within it?
He knew better than anyone.
That the Divine Physician's talent surpassed his own.
Even their master—who had once borne the name Divine Physician and now, having produced countless physicians, earned the supreme honor of Medical Ancestor—had acknowledged as much.
"...And the Divine Physician?"
"Your medical skills are superior."
No hesitation.
This girl might look like a beauty unlike any he'd seen in his travels across the world and beyond to the western regions, but within her dwelt the incarnation of heaven's blessings and curses combined.
The opinions of the world, his senior brothers, his master...
All melted away before her utterly calm declaration.
"...In that case, I have no choice."
She thinks I'm the best.
The possessor of such innate genius.
When everyone else called another the greatest, if the owner of such talent truly believed him the foremost and sought to learn from him...
If someone born with unparalleled gifts desired his, the greatest's, medical arts...
Then.
"I accept you as my disciple. From this moment, I am your master."
It was inevitable, wasn't it?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Wi Sowol waited for the Weird Physician in the main hall of the residence.
With his declaration of acceptance, she had officially become a resident of the house, stepping into the central main hall reserved for guests.
When she first arrived, it had been in the side room opposite—a storage shed or servants' quarters called the inverted chamber. That was where the Weird Physician had spoken with her.
He used the side room as both storage and treatment area. The bed she had lain on was for patients.
In any case, as Wi Sowol waited in the main hall, the doors soon opened, and the Weird Physician entered.
His attire had changed from the crow mask and billowing robe to a neat black scholar's robe.
The Weird Physician gazed at Wi Sowol for a moment, cleared his throat with a hem-hem, and spoke sternly.
"When the master enters, the disciple rises to greet him."
"Ah?"
Abbot Deung Hwa hadn't said anything like that.
'Well, he and the abbot weren't exactly master and disciple.'
Still, Wi Sowol followed his instruction without protest.
Her first disciple in past or present life—she figured she'd just do as told and see.
She rose smoothly from her seat without scraping the chair, then felt she should say something and opened her mouth.
"You're here."
"Ahem. And one addresses the master with respect. The master is to be treated as a father."
"...Not easy."
It really wasn't.
"I have no father. I don't know how."
There had been guys in her past life who tried to play father willy-nilly, but...
An ordinary person might have been flustered at her slip and apologized, but the Weird Physician was no ordinary man.
Why else would he be called the Weird Physician?
He was unflinching.
"So?"
"Hm?"
"You've seen how fathers and daughters interact around here."
No parents?
You still know what that's like, right?
Do it that way.
'Indeed. No room for argument.'
Did growing up without parents mean Wi Sowol didn't know respect?
No.
She used it with those who deserved it, like Bang Elder or Abbot Deung Hwa.
Seon Woo Hoon was the exception, of course.
Besides, among those she'd dealt with in her past life, there were filial sons and daughters.
She knew roughly how they honored their parents, if not in detail.
"Fine. I'll do it."
"Again."
"I'll... do it, Master."
"Good."
Then, silence.
Wi Sowol got the policy but didn't grasp the perspective of child or disciple.
The Weird Physician had experienced master-disciple bonds but had no idea what to say first as the master taking a disciple.
The two stared blankly, waiting for the other to speak.
And they were no ordinary folk.
Normally, someone would break the awkwardness.
Wi Sowol waited blankly, figuring he'd explain the master-disciple thing.
The Weird Physician watched how she'd react while desperately maintaining his master's dignity.
In the end, the one who surrendered was the Weird Physician himself.
"...I don't even know your name. Introduce yourself first. Now that we're master and disciple, it's only right I know as your master."
Wi Sowol answered immediately.
"Name's Wi Sowol. From a village near Baek Eun County in Gansu. Age fourteen. No parents."
Was this disrespectful?
The Weird Physician pondered correcting her but let it slide.
Nitpicking every bit would never end.
"Do you know letters? No, with that aptitude, of course you do. Write your name."
He pushed the inkstone and brush from the desk toward her.
Wi Sowol took it and wrote her name straightaway.
Pseudo Little Moon.
She nearly wrote Sun, but moved her hand twice more to correct it to Moon.
The odd stroke order made her glance at the Weird Physician, but he didn't seem to notice.
Instead, he found issue elsewhere.
"The Wi clan. That's strange."
"Why?"
Staring intently—
"Why, Master?"
"There are many surnames in the world. But in all my travels through the Central Plains and the western regions, I've never seen this character used as a surname. No one uses it."
The Weird Physician declared firmly.
"It's an alias."
"Alias?"
"You said no parents? In my view, they might not even be from Gansu."
They committed a crime or fled from pursuit, using a false name to hide in Gansu.
Entirely plausible.
'Should've investigated sooner.'
Her name spreading meant whoever named her—or knew it—had told her home village.
Someone knew.
Who had given Wi Sowol her name.
In her past life, she hadn't cared; in this one, she'd been too busy saving Bang Elder and Ban Brother to notice.
The Weird Physician, lost in thought, continued his reasoning.
"Choosing 'false' Wi to begin with reeks of intent. If it had to be Wi, it should have been Wei (魏), Wei (韋), or Wei (衛). Those aren't rare."
Did the namer not know proper surnames?
He didn't rule it out but leaned elsewhere.
"They deliberately picked 'false' Wi. Perhaps the character itself holds special meaning."
"Meaning in the character..."
"And Sowol sounds like a childish name. 'Little' (小) is for nicknames or pet names, rarely formal ones. Not hugely important, though."
Sowol.
Soil in her past life.
She'd thought they came from her marks' shapes.
The Weird Physician could speculate freely because he didn't know.
Wi Sowol's instinct told her not to dismiss his casual words.
"You have an idea."
"Yes, well."
"We'll discuss that later. For now, it's only proper I introduce myself too."
Disciple revealed herself; master should reciprocate.
Recalling how the Medical Ancestor—who had taken him in—had carried himself, he tried imitating, then gave up as it didn't suit him and spoke normally.
"My name is Ma Yu Seung. I learned medicine at the Wu Medical Academy under Medical Ancestor Yang Jong Myeong."
The Wu Medical Academy always came with a tagline.
The foremost medical sect under heaven.
Seated in Jiangnan, it had produced countless physicians and half of the era's Six Great Physicians—a true pinnacle among sects.
The Weird Physician had studied there too.
"I'll teach you two things: my unique martial arts and medicine. I can't teach the Medical Ancestor's arts. But as you said, my medicine diverges from the academy's path."
He lacked authority for the academy's martial arts.
But he was confident.
His own surpassed the academy's.
"You already know my medicine, but I'll state it clearly here."
And his medicine too.
"Acupuncture and pharmacology are mere flowery fists and fancy footwork."
What he called.
"Surgery—that is the true art of the physician."
He was a surgeon.
you can read more at novelshub.org