Chapter 9

Will I get arrested by the constables if I go to the mastermind’s and the protagonist’s house?

“Then please come to the Namgung Clan whenever it is convenient for you.”

“Yes, I will.”

Namgung Do-hae exchanged farewells with the Master of the Baek Clan and left the mansion first.

After he departed, I received the medicine payment from the Master along with Sima Jin and left the mansion as well.

Since this is Hefei, Anhui Province, where the Namgung Clan is located, the home Namgung Do-hae spoke of must be their main family estate.

If that’s the case, naturally, the female protagonist, Namgung San-san, would be there too.

‘Should I take Sima Jin with me?’

Even if I didn’t want to take him, it was obvious that Sima Jin would whine about following me.

Thinking about that time already gives me a headache.

‘I don’t know, let’s think about it later.’

For some reason, I brought Sima Jin, who had been pouting his lips since earlier, to the marketplace.

“Aren’t we returning to the medicine shop?”

“Don’t ask questions and just follow me.”

At my words, Sima Jin shut his mouth and obediently followed behind me.

And we stepped inside a fabric store located on the commercial street.

“Hello. I’m here to get some clothes made for this person.”

The owner of the fabric store quickly scanned Sima Jin up and down at my words.

Then, waving his arms, he measured Sima Jin’s body size—his shoulders, chest, and all.

‘Well, he’s working hard in his own way, so I should buy him clothes.’

As a young master, I couldn’t possibly let him wear just a single set of clothes. Since his clothes hanger [figure] is too good to waste, he should wear a variety of outfits.

“W-What are you…”

As the fabric store owner felt around Sima Jin’s body, he looked at me in a flustered manner.

“Go ahead, choose the fabrics.”

At the owner’s words, I examined the fabrics spread out across the counter.

Black fabrics certainly suited Sima Jin better. His hair color was also a subtle bluish-black, so he was definitely a cool-tone.

‘Though red fabrics would suit him well, too.’

Alternating my gaze between Sima Jin and the fabrics, I carefully selected the materials.

But since summer was coming soon, black clothes would probably be hot.

‘Ah, wait, what am I doing?’

Whether Sima Jin is hot or dies of heatstroke, what business is it of mine?

I picked out a few fabrics and showed them to me—I mean, showed them to Sima Jin.

“Cheon-dol, look at this. Which one is better?”

“I, I am fine, Master.”

“Hey, are you a one-outfit man or what?”

“One… Pardon?”

You can’t live wearing just a single set of clothes.

Besides, because he only wore intense and gloomy colors, a guy whose impression was already bad looked even more like a mastermind villain.

“Choose when I tell you to choose.”

“……”

With a small groan, Sima Jin examined the fabrics I had picked out.

As his hand drifted toward a black fabric, I grabbed his wrist.

And I moved his hand toward a white fabric with a bluish tint.

“Ah, this one? It’s nice, it’s pretty.”

“…Yes, that’s right. White is best after all.”

‘You sure have firm preferences.’

Although he had a gloomy expression, Sima Jin didn’t put up much resistance to my forcing.

I picked up the white fabric I had chosen—no, the white fabric Sima Jin had chosen—and handed it to the fabric store owner.

The owner, who received the fabric, wrote my name down in the ledger.

“You’re the doctor from the Baek Medicinal Shop, right?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“Shall I have it sent to the medicine shop?”

“Hmm…”

At that moment, the herbal merchant uncle who said he would send the cheonma to the medicine shop when I purchased it crossed my mind.

Isnt’t some other Demonic Cult guy going to show up this time saying he wasn’t a carrot in his past life?

‘Come on, no way.’

Sighing softly, I nodded my head.

If it’s a dangerous Demonic Cult guy, that fellow [Sima Jin] is already enough.

After hearing that it would be sent in a few days, I left the fabric store.

Leaving the commercial street, I arrived in front of the medicine shop and stopped walking. Sima Jin, who had been walking behind me, also stopped in his tracks.

“Why are you stopping?”

“Wait a moment.”

At my request to wait, Sima Jin looked at me obediently.

I rummaged through the money pouch I usually carried.

“Here, this is your share.”

I took out two copper coins and handed them to Sima Jin.

I couldn’t drag Sima Jin around like a lackey forever; I had to help him build independence. For that, Sima Jin would need money, too.

“It is fine. You took me in, so I cannot accept money on top of that.”

Sima Jin waved both hands and adamantly refused.

“Take it. Thanks to you, we protected the herbs, so you deserve to take it.”

“…Hmm.”

Sima Jin hesitated, looking at the coins resting on top of my hand.

I didn’t know if the guys we met in the mountain were Green Grove bandits or ordinary road robbers, but if he had encountered them alone in the mountain, everything he had would have been stripped away.

He might have even gotten severely beaten up with the excuse that they don’t spare women.

Even though Sima Jin had pushed me and made me roll down the mountain, it was also true that he protected me.

Thanks to that, the encounter with the thugs could end as a minor mishap.

“A person’s life is all about money. Internal energy? External energy? I don’t know anything about that kind of stuff, money is the best.”

“T-Then, I will gratefully accept it.”

Sima Jin carefully took the coins that had been resting on my palm.

Then, he stared blankly down at the coins with sparkling eyes.

Watching that sight, I smiled deviously on the inside.

‘Yes, be deeply grateful like that.’

That was a reward imbued with a tiny bit of ulterior motives.

Be grateful to me with a small amount of money and a little bit of attention, Sima Jin.

So that even if by any chance his memories return, when I tell him to roll, he will roll.

“I should have refused… I’m not even a physician, oh well.”

A few days after meeting Namgung Do-hae, a servant of the Namgung Clan visited the medicine shop.

Feeling a subtle sense of urgency from the servant’s gaze, I prepared myself to head toward the Namgung Clan.

“Are you ready? Let’s get going.”

Sima Jin, who had somehow changed into the clothes he received from the fabric store, finished preparing to leave.

“I didn’t say I was taking you.”

“…!”

Sima Jin wore a shocked expression.

“B-But…”

That’s the Namgung Clan, you Demonic Cult brat.

That’s the righteous faction, you wicked faction brat.

“However… I can carry your luggage.”

“I don’t have much luggage anyway, and I can carry it myself.”

“If something like last time happens again… I am worried!”

By something like last time, does he mean the bandits?

“We’re not going to a mountain, and if it’s the Namgung Clan, it couldn’t possibly be safer than that.”

“……”

“And if you don’t push me, I won’t even pass out.”

“Ugh.”

Sima Jin squirmed and looked as if he was dying to tag along.

‘Good grief, it feels like I’m dragging around an extra burden.’

I was curious about how things would play out if we happened to run into the female lead, though.

Because Sima Jin, who was supposed to be picked up by the female lead, came to me instead, the original plot was already twisted.

Should I take him, I briefly thought, but wondering where else I could make use of him, I left the medicine shop leaving him behind.

“W-What is this? Step aside.”

However, just as I was about to open the door of the medicine shop, Sima Jin blocked my path.

Staring intently at me like a puppy caught in the rain.

“Phew, how annoying. Fine, let’s go together.”

“Yes, Master!”

With a bright smile as if nothing had happened, Sima Jin trotted closely behind me.

‘I’ll never get used to this, no matter how many times I see it.’

I stole a glance at Sima Jin walking beside me with a silly grin.

“My name is Sima Jin. It is a name that will be widely known across the world, so remember this name even in the netherworld, Xiaobai.”

Before my regression, Sima Jin looking down at me covered in blood is still vivid in my mind.

It was utterly hard to believe that the Sima Jin back then and the Sima Jin right in front of my eyes were the same person.

Passing through the residential area, we arrived at the main estate of the Namgung Clan.

It looked huge even from a distance, but seeing it close up, it was an even grander mansion.

As I stared at the mansion in admiration, two guards watching the entrance approached us.

“Who goes there?”

“Ah! I came by the introduction of… Young Master Namgung Do-hae. I am Dang Xiaobai of the Baek Medicinal Shop.”

Hearing my words, the two guards began muttering among themselves.

Then, looking back at me, they nodded as if they understood.

“Who is the person behind you?”

When they gestured with their eyes toward Sima Jin standing behind me, I turned my head.

Sima Jin was looking straight ahead with a blank expression. With him making such a blank expression, he looked as suspicious as could be.

“He is my apprentice. He attends to my chores, so I brought him along just in case.”

At my words, the two guards muttered again.

Once their private conversation seemed to have ended, one of them turned around.

“Wait a moment.”

The one who turned around opened the main gate of the mansion and went inside.

“……”

I stood there blankly, staring at the closed main gate.

Before long, one side of the main gate slowly opened.

The man who had gone inside a moment ago and another man came out.

The man who looked like a servant walked up to me and gave a slight bow.

“Young Master is waiting for you. Please step inside.”