Chapter 5
Soso’s tiny root pointed toward something, and Jegal Haesu’s eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me you’re pointing at the brush and inkstone?”
Soso nodded and shook her body.
Wiggle, wiggle.
It was a movement that looked very cheerful.
“Oh-ho! You can dance this well too, ginseng?”
Suddenly embarrassed, Soso stopped wiggling. She didn’t want to show such a silly dance anymore.
“The more I see, the more fascinating you are. Truly fascinating. It’s as if you have a will of your own, like a person.”
I am a person! I really am!
Instead of shaking her whole body, Soso wiggled just one small root again.
Jegal Haesu, though doubtful, placed the brush, ink, and paper on the table. Then he carefully set Soso on top of it.
Soso chose the thickest, strongest root among her protruding tendrils and dipped its tip into the ink.
“Oh!”
Jegal Haesu let out a surprised cry and, as though enchanted, spread the paper open.
Soso prepared to write on it.
「Young Master.」
“So it’s not just a dancing ginseng but a talking one. Go on, tell me more.”
「I was actually a woman named Baek Soso.」
“So, not only can you talk, you even claim to have a past life.”
「There is someone I absolutely must find.」
She couldn’t speak in detail about Young Master Eonwoo.
For now, it was better to wait and watch. If she became certain that Jegal Haesu could be trusted, then she would reveal Eonwoo’s name.
“There’s someone you’re looking for? Where is this person?”
「I believe the one I seek was kidnapped by the Demonic Cult.」
Jegal Haesu, who had been answering playfully until then, fell silent.
His eyes remained fixed on the words Demonic Cult.
In an instant, his face darkened. Worry filled his expression.
Could it be that he, too, had some past connection with the Demonic Cult?
“The Demonic Cult… I never thought I’d hear that name from a ginseng.”
Jegal Haesu sighed instead of readily promising to help.
“Is that all you have to say?”
「……So, could you please not eat me?」
Soso had something she absolutely had to do.
Even if she were to die again, even if she were reborn not as a rare medicinal herb but as nothing more than a weed—she still wanted to find Young Master Eonwoo.
Jegal Haesu smiled faintly but gave no reply.
“Anything more to say?”
「I’m not an ordinary thousand-year ginseng, so I probably don’t taste very good.」
At that earnest remark, Jegal Haesu burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! A ginseng claiming to be tasteless! I don’t eat what isn’t delicious. Very well then, I won’t eat you.”
Though it was only words, the fact that he accepted so readily was still a relief.
Soso let out a sigh of relief.
“If you had been tasty, I might have swallowed you whole in one bite… hahaha!”
…Was it really okay to relax?
“Just a joke. In any case, I’m satisfied knowing you haven’t fallen into the hands of the Demonic Cult.”
I… I should be fine, right?
“Have you said everything now?”
Soso flapped her roots to show she had nothing more to say. She seemed surprisingly skilled at controlling them.
“Stay still.”
Jegal Haesu pulled out a handkerchief from his robe.
Then he carefully wiped the ink off Soso’s tiny roots—as if they were hands.
His face, as he gently brushed over her roots, was surprisingly serious.
Not as dazzling as Young Master Eonwoo, but still the sort of face that must have stirred the hearts of many women.
Soso suddenly grew curious about what kind of life Jegal Haesu had lived.
But the curiosity didn’t last long.
Jegal Haesu broke the mood with teasing words.
“This is the first time I’ve wiped a hand that isn’t my woman’s delicate hand, but a medicinal herb’s root.”
Then, resting his cheek against her now-clean root, he spoke shyly—like a bride before her wedding night.
“Ginseng, you’re my first.”
…Could she really trust this man?
Young Master Eonwoo… this man seems insane. Was it truly right for me to ask him for help?
Soso felt deeply, deeply uneasy about the days ahead with him.
That night, when everyone else was asleep, Jegal Haesu was sewing silk spun by celestial silkworms.
He was making clothes for the ginseng.
Though he didn’t know how a thousand-year ginseng without eyes could see, it seemed uncomfortable wrapped tightly all the time.
But of course, he couldn’t just carry around such a rare herb radiating strong spiritual energy openly.
So Jegal Haesu decided to make a small robe from celestial silkworm silk.
Celestial silkworm silk came from a mystical silkworm and was a special kind of cloth—exceptionally durable and stretchable to any degree.
Jegal Haesu had secretly taken it from his clan.
It was a bit of a waste, but he could always steal more from the family later.
Better to use resources properly than to hoard them and regret it later.
“Phew.”
Still, sewing this silk wasn’t easy. One had to infuse inner energy into the needle.
And for Jegal Haesu, who didn’t have much inner energy due to his illness, it was especially difficult.
Of course, he didn’t resent the ginseng for this hardship. On the contrary, he quite liked this strange encounter.
I only sought out a thousand-year ginseng to help cure my illness, yet it turned out like this.
From the very first meeting in the cave, the ginseng had been unusual.
A ginseng that moved as though dancing.
At first, Jegal Haesu thought he was hallucinating.
What an absurdly supernatural thing.
And yet, this ginseng not only had a past life but could think and even write.
It was so bizarre that Jegal Haesu briefly wondered if he was dreaming.
But the existence of the peacefully sleeping ginseng was proof it was no dream or phantom. It was real.
Jegal Haesu also recalled how it said the person it sought had been kidnapped by the Demonic Cult.
The Demonic Cult, in fact, was closely tied to the very reason Jegal Haesu had left his clan and stepped into the martial world.
Perhaps… this is fate.
When he finally finished the sewing, Jegal Haesu looked at the ginseng wrapped in unsewn silk.
“Ginseng, are you asleep?”
He waited for its roots to flutter cutely, but there was no response.
“To think you can even fall asleep like a human…”
He carefully dressed the slumbering ginseng in the little robe he had made.
The way only its upper part—what might be called its “face”—peeked out looked both funny and adorable.
Jegal Haesu couldn’t help but chuckle quietly.
“Ginseng, just what kind of story do you carry with you?”
But then, as if he had never laughed, he sighed.
“The Demonic Cult… It’s already been five years since my elder brother was kidnapped.”
He thought quietly of the past.
Jegal Haesu, the Idle Young Master (나태공자).
He was the second son of the Jegal Clan, one of the Five Great Families.
But he had been born with an incurable illness called Turbid Vein Syndrome. Because of it, he could not properly cultivate martial arts.
The syndrome caused impure energy to clog the body’s meridians and even damaged the dantian.
Not only could he not accumulate much inner energy, but even using what little he had was a struggle.
In contrast, his elder brother Jegal Sagun, heir of the clan, was a natural-born martial genius.
Not only skilled in martial arts, but brilliant in mind as well, Sagun even mastered the clan’s formation techniques.
From a very young age, Jegal Haesu was constantly compared to such a brother.
“The young heir is so extraordinary… I worry that Second Young Master Haesu may bring shame to the family.”
“Second Young Master should remain within the clan walls. We mustn’t let word of his shortcomings spread to the world.”
A stain on the Jegal name. A useless burden to the family…
Jegal Haesu grew up hearing such things.
Even as the clan leader’s son, the Jegal Clan valued ability above all. It was only natural to look down on those without talent.
Of course, it wasn’t as if Jegal Haesu never tried.
He took medicines in hopes of curing his illness, practiced martial arts diligently, studied minor skills that didn’t require inner energy, and even pursued academic knowledge.
But the illness never improved. His martial skills didn’t either.
And people’s perception of him showed no sign of changing.
Eventually, Jegal Haesu realized that no matter how hard he tried, nothing would change. So he decided to give up on everything.
Trying to become better, struggling to win his family’s acknowledgment… he abandoned it all.
