Episode 13: The Poisonous Wine Bottle
A few days later.
Won Seung had lunch at the Ha-Won dining hall. He usually brought lunch to the Poison Master to eat together, but today he deliberately came down to Ha-Won.
Before eating, Won Seung drank a bowl of water and then discreetly poured a vial from his sleeve into the water jug. His hands moved so quickly that no one noticed.
The children finished their meals and drank the water. Although it tasted slightly off, no one suspected anything.
As the children finished eating and ran out, Won Seung, who had confirmed that everyone drank the water, slowly followed them out.
‘To be sure, I’ll need to add the antidote again tomorrow. They should be grateful to me for removing all the Blood Drying Powder.’
The children would take the Meridian Cleansing Pill again next spring. However, it wouldn’t trigger the poison’s effects, only increasing their internal energy.
‘Heh heh…’
Having been pushed around until now, it felt good to finally lay the groundwork for revenge.
*
Training continued as usual.
In the morning, they practiced martial arts, including swordsmanship, and in the afternoon, they learned various skills. They started learning pottery, which Won Seung found particularly enjoyable.
One day, Won Seung crafted a wine bottle. It was a long-necked bottle, and he carefully painted a picture on its surface. The image depicted a person holding the bottle, gazing at a high mountain floating above the clouds, with an inscription:
‘After one drink, I shall climb that mountain, and with two, I shall reach the heavens.’
He thought it was a very stylish phrase.
And it aligned with the secret contained in the bottle. After firing the wine bottle in the kiln, Won Seung filled it with water and placed it in his room.
A few days later, the Poison Master visited Won Seung’s room and took a sip from the wine bottle. Just then, Won Seung entered and hurriedly shouted.
“Master, you mustn’t drink that!”
At Won Seung’s words, the Poison Master immediately spat out the water. He had felt a subtle strangeness and hadn’t intended to swallow it anyway. However, it was so faint that even the Poison Master couldn’t identify what poison it was.
“What kind of poison did you put in there?”
“It’s not poisoned; the wine bottle itself created it.”
“Hmm?”
Won Seung proudly explained. He had mixed flame stone powder into the clay and added ground dragon’s blood root to the glaze. The Poison Master was dumbfounded.
The two poisonous ingredients were extremely rare and expensive, stored separately. He had forgotten to put them away after using them to save Won Seung’s life earlier. Won Seung had ground them to make the wine bottle.
The Poison Master asked in disbelief.
“You used such precious ingredients just to make a wine bottle?”
“If someone drinks from this bottle, they won’t die, will they?”
The Poison Master was about to get angry at the naive comment but sighed instead.
“They’ll die of old age before they die from poisoning.”
“What about alcohol?”
“Hmm.”
The Poison Master pondered over Won Seung’s words.
If the heat of the alcohol penetrated the dragon’s blood root’s sap and dissolved the flame stone’s toxic elements, it would create a poison where wood and metal energies clash. Drinking strong alcohol from this bottle would lead to poisoning in no time.
The body would stiffen, the liver would fail, and it could be interpreted as death from excessive drinking.
After thinking for a moment, the Poison Master burst into laughter.
“To think of making a wine bottle into a poison.”
While Won Seung’s poison brewing skills were still lacking, his methods of using poison were undeniably ingenious.
However, the Poison Master shook his head and said,
“But this isn’t a good method. Innocent victims could arise, creating unnecessary enemies. Didn’t I tell you the basic principle of poison use is to kill only the intended target?”
“That’s true.”
The Poison Master meant to break the wine bottle, but Won Seung, while agreeing, hid the bottle under his bed.
‘What is this kid planning?’
The Poison Master knew Won Seung was up to something but didn’t ask. He had another reason for visiting Won Seung.
“Go to Instructor Jang and tell him I’m stopping the poison class for the trainees.”
Won Seung hesitated before going.
“Why aren’t you going?”
“Master, you’re a scary person, so I could just tell Instructor Jang roughly, but I’m not like that.”
“So?”
“What should I say if Instructor Jang asks why?”
The Poison Master chuckled. Thanks to his clever disciple, he now had to make excuses to someone like Instructor Jang.
“Tell him I’m working on a new poison.”
There were still six months left in the poison class. As expected, when the Poison Master suddenly announced he was stopping the class, Instructor Jang frowned and asked.
“Do you know why he’s doing this all of a sudden?”
“I’m not sure, but it seems he’s working on a new poison.”
Instructor Jang stared at Won Seung for a moment before waving him off.
“Alright. You may go.”
Once Won Seung left the office, Instructor Jang fell into thought.
He was cautiously observing, suspecting the Poison Master of planning to steal his writings. He had noticed the Poison Master’s condition worsening day by day.
Claiming to be making a new poison was just a cover. The real reason was likely that his condition had deteriorated to the point where he couldn’t teach.
The opportunity was right in front of him, but something felt off.
Instructor Jang had once been a first-class assassin. Though he never reached the top tier, he had completed numerous assassination missions without failure. Even though his sensitivity had dulled with age, his long-honed instincts were still sharp. Those instincts were telling him something was amiss.
When the Poison Master arrived as the Poison Master, Instructor Jang was greatly surprised.
Who was he? A master of poison arts, comparable to the top ten masters of the martial world. If there hadn’t been a Poison King among the top ten, the Poison Master would have taken that spot.
To think such a master would come to a mere assassin training center as a poison instructor was unimaginable.
But soon, he learned that the Poison Master had suffered internal injuries. Although the Poison Master didn’t show it, Instructor Jang, with his keen senses, could easily tell.
Of course, he pretended not to know in front of the Poison Master. Even with internal injuries, the Poison Master could still use poison arts. If he revealed the injuries, the Poison Master might try to kill him, so he was cautious.
In any case, they had been getting along fine until now, but suddenly stopping the class raised suspicions.
‘Is his internal injury really worsening? Or does he want me to think it is?’
In the martial world, showing weakness invites predators. A seasoned old master like the Poison Master would never show weakness until the very end.
The thought of a trap crossed his mind.
‘He’s surely waiting for me to make a rash move, thinking I covet his writings.’
Considering he was indeed after the poison writings, it seemed highly likely. If he died, no one would know about the Poison Master’s writings.
‘The old man must be desperate. But time is on my side.’
Judging by the Poison Master’s condition, it seemed unlikely he would leave this mountain alive. Once the old and sick tiger died on its own, he could skin it then. There was no need to stick his head into the tiger’s mouth.
‘Enjoy your twilight years and leave peacefully. I’ll take care of the rest.’
Instructor Jang smirked slyly.
*
As autumn deepened, the trees revealed their bare branches.
Sitting in a chair, gazing at the leaf-covered garden, the Poison Master thought Instructor Jang was more cunning than he appeared. After finishing his writings, the Poison Master pretended his internal injuries had worsened. In reality, they had indeed worsened. Previously, he had hidden his injuries, but now he revealed them.
Yet, Instructor Jang didn’t make a move.
‘Is my poison writing really that worthless?’
If it were the Poison Master’s poison writings, anyone would want to secure them before anyone else noticed. The Poison Master thought Instructor Jang would secretly make a move, but he didn’t.
Next spring, the children would be in their ninth year of assassin training. According to what he knew, in the spring of their ninth year, the evaluation report on Won Seung would be sent to the Red Blood Mountain.
The assassin training center was a secret operation known only to the highest-ranking members of the main sect, including the sect leader. If the world found out about the brutal practice of raising assassins by killing countless children, the authorities and righteous sects would try to eradicate the Red Blood Mountain.
The operation was conducted very discreetly. Only Instructor Jang and a few key instructors were from the Red Blood Mountain, while most instructors and warriors, including external masters, were unaware of the main sect’s existence. They only knew someone was raising assassins.
The reason for reporting the surviving trainees’ backgrounds and evaluations to the main sect only in their ninth year was to conceal the connection with the Red Blood Mountain.
‘Before that, I must erase the evaluation report.’
The Poison Master’s original plan was to kill Instructor Jang and manipulate Won Seung’s records.
If Won Seung were classified as an ordinary second-tier assassin, the Poison Master could potentially take him away. He could use the excuse of their bond and claim to keep him as his assistant, and the main sect might agree, considering the Poison Master’s reputation. They might even welcome it if he offered a few poison formulas.
However, if they knew Won Seung was a top-tier or Ten Perfections Assassin candidate, they would never let him go. The very purpose of the Red Blood Mountain’s brutal assassin training center was to produce top-tier assassins. Mentioning a Ten Perfections Assassin would be out of the question.
But the Poison Master couldn’t kill Instructor Jang recklessly. To avoid suspicion, there had to be a reason to kill the head of the assassin training center.
So, he planned to make it look like Instructor Jang died from poisoning while trying to steal his writings, but it seemed Instructor Jang had caught on.
‘He either has great patience or is very honest.’
Having lived long in the world, the Poison Master knew Instructor Jang had a strong desire for power. Observing him with a trap set, he realized Instructor Jang was more cunning than he had thought.
There’s no turning back now. If Instructor Jang realized it was a trap, he would try to find out why. If their relationship with Won Seung was exposed… everything would be for naught.
After careful consideration, the Poison Master decided to erase the records entirely instead of manipulating them.
The Poison Master looked at the last leaf clinging to the bare branch and muttered.
‘I’m not dead yet. Next spring. Can’t I kill just one of you by then?’
“Cough, cough.”
The old tiger, gathering his frail body, plotted to hunt the fox.
Won Seung sensed the subtle tension between the Poison Master and Instructor Jang. However, he didn’t realize it was because of him.
Instructor Jang, too, didn’t fully understand the Poison Master’s intentions. So, he remained cautious, rarely leaving his office. Since his office and residence were together, it was as if he never left his domain.
Won Seung felt regretful.
He knew the Poison Master was a terrifying figure who, in his prime, could have swept away the Red Blood Mountain single-handedly. Yet, the fact that he was maintaining a tense relationship with the head of a mere assassin training center indicated how severe the Poison Master’s condition was.
Won Seung resolved to be a source of strength for the Poison Master.
He wanted to create a medicine to cure the Poison Master, but that seemed like a distant dream. In hindsight, it was only natural. Who in the world knew more about poison than the Poison Master? Such a person couldn’t solve the issue with his own body and was waiting for death.
“What can I do…?”