It was ti for the Senior Division students of Mushincheon to begin their field training.
There were many institutions vying for Sunwoo Baek and Jang Woon, but Jang Woon was assigned to the Guardian Hall, where his father worked.
Sunwoo Baek was assigned to the Judicial Hall, and the rest of the students were all placed in core Mushincheon institutions—unlike during their underclassman years.
Yeon Woo Jin was assigned to the Hall of the dicine King (Yakwangdang).
It wasn’t a random assignnt—Yeon Woo Jin had specifically requested it. He wanted firsthand experience with the dical arts.
And, while he was at it, he also intended to learn the process of crafting dicinal pills.
The theory was already in his head.
But theory alone often wasn't enough.
To make up for that lack, he had chosen the Hall of the dicine King.
The herb storage chamber of the Hall of the dicine King.
That was the first location for their fieldwork.
The very first thing Yeon Woo Jin did upon arriving was to morize the nas and locations of all the herbs.
The supervisor barked at them to have everything morized within a single day.
Not just a few—but the nas and exact placent of a countless number of herbs.
Anyone else would’ve panicked.
But not Yeon Woo Jin.
In less than an hour, he had committed every single herb’s na and location to mory.
As he casually looked around, he noticed that the other students seed just as relaxed as he was.
They all moved like they were in their own hos.
Their expressions said it all—they already knew everything.
A few were scrambling—not to morize the herbs themselves, but their placent.
As he looked around, his eyes t soone else's.
The young man who t his gaze tilted his head curiously and walked over.
“Are you also from the dical House?”
The one who initiated the conversation.
“No. Are all the people here from the dical House?”
“Yes. This is the Hall of the dicine King, after all. Naturally, people connected to the dical field would be assigned here.”
“I see.”
“You don’t look like soone from that background. You were still assigned here?”
“It just kind of turned out that way.”
“I thought so. In that case, now’s not the ti to be taking it easy, is it? What the supervisor said wasn’t just bluster. If you fail to morize everything, you could actually be kicked out.”
“Are you worried about ?”
“Well, we’re colleagues for the ti being, aren’t we? We should help each other while we’re here.”
He seed like a good person.
Yeon Woo Jin smiled and replied,
“I’m Yeon Woo Jin.”
“Oh! So you’re Young Master Yeon. I’m Jin Un Hwi of the Immortal dicine Guild.”
Jin Un Hwi introduced himself with a clasped-fist salute.
He didn’t ask about Yeon Woo Jin’s family.
“You’re not curious about my background?”
“Haha! I am, but I figured you must have your reasons for not ntioning it.”
“I’m the grandson of the head librarian of the Muryang Archive.”
Even with that reveal, Jin Un Hwi’s expression didn’t change.
If anything, he looked impressed.
“Oh! So you’re the grandson of the one who manages the Muryang Archive.”
There wasn’t even a trace of scorn or condescension in his eyes.
From beginning to end, his gaze remained unchanged.
Yeon Woo Jin chuckled softly at that.
“Did I do sothing wrong?”
“No. I was just happy to et soone admirable—it made smile without realizing. I apologize.”
“Haha! By ‘admirable,’ you an , I assu?”
“I do.”
“Thank you. I still have a long way to go, so I appreciate the kind view.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m eighteen.”
“Sa as . It’s fate that we t like this—shall we be friends?”
“I’d like that! I didn’t know anyone here, so this works out perfectly.”
Jin Un Hwi accepted the offer without even a hint of hesitation.
“Then let’s speak informally from now on.”
As Yeon Woo Jin dropped to casual speech, Jin Un Hwi looked montarily flustered.
He’d clearly been well-trained in etiquette.
“Is... is that okay?”
“Of course. We’re friends now.”
At the word friends, Jin Un Hwi smiled.
A pure, unpretentious smile.
Yeon Woo Jin felt good—he felt like he’d t soone decent here.
“So, the Immortal dicine Guild—you’re from a healer’s family, huh?”
“Yeah. You’re the first student from a general Senior Division I’ve t.”
“General? Which one are you from?”
“Yakseon Senior Division.”
“Yakseon? The one next to Jungcheon?”
“Yep. That Yakseon. Everyone here is from there.”
“That explains why they were all so relaxed. They probably co here for fieldwork every year.”
“Exactly. So they already know all the herb nas and placents. That supervisor earlier was probably talking to the few who didn’t—like the underclassn and you.”
“No wonder he kept looking right at .”
“He’s not a bad guy. Still, it’s surprising. Normally, the general Senior Divisions never send anyone here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s not unheard of, but I haven’t seen it in recent years.”
Makes sense.
The Hall of the dicine King managed all of Mushincheon’s healers.
Naturally, they’d only want people from related backgrounds.
Outsiders wouldn’t be helpful—only get in the way.
“If I don’t cause trouble, that’s good enough.”
At Yeon Woo Jin’s remark, Jin Un Hwi responded,
“So what? Even if you’re not a healer, it’s still a valuable experience to see what this work is like. And if you pick up so healing techniques along the way, even better.”
“You think I’ll have ti for that?”
“Why not? I’ll teach you. Even just learning basic first aid will be useful.”
“Thanks.”
Yeon Woo Jin smiled again.
To which Jin Un Hwi replied,
“Your smile’s really sothing. I want to be able to smile like that too.”
“What are you talking about? Your smile is great. I think it’s cool.”
“Really? Thanks.”
He grinned happily for a mont—then suddenly blurted out in a panic,
“Oh crap! This isn’t the ti to be chatting. I need to hurry up and morize those herbs and their locations. I’ll help you.”
“No need. I already morized everything.”
“...What? Y-you’re serious?”
“Yup. If you don’t believe , test .”
“O-okay. Where’s baekgangjam?”
“Section 3, shelf 17.”
“Yukgye?”
“Section 7, shelf 3.”
“Gilchogeun?”
“Section 5, shelf 14.”
“Nokgak?”
“Section 2, shelf 16.”
Every answer was correct.
“You actually morized all of it?”
“Of course.”
“Incredible. What Senior Division are you from again?”
“Baekyeong Senior Division.”
“Oh, Baekyeong! The first full unification in Mushincheon history!”
“Huh? You know about that?”
“Of course I do. Even Jungcheon was in an uproar over it.”
“An uproar? What kind?”
“They said it doesn’t count as a real unification since Jungcheon still exists.”
Just as he’d expected.
“Well, whatever the case, Jungcheon is a special institution. Among the regular Senior Divisions, it was the first true unification.”
“Exactly!”
“Wow! I never thought I’d et a Baekyeong student here! This is wild!”
Was it really that wild?
“You’re in the literary track?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you probably don’t know how the unification happened.”
Yeon Woo Jin smirked.
Doesn’t know, huh?
He personally led the whole thing.
“Yeah. I don’t really know.”
“Too bad. I really wanted to hear about it.”
“I’ll introduce you to a friend who knows all the details. Ask him.”
“Really? Thanks!”
“You’re that curious? Even though you’re a healer?”
“Before I’m a healer, I’m still your age, aren’t I? Who wouldn’t want to hear about sothing that epic?”
Fair enough. He was still young—his blood ran hot.
And being a healer didn’t an being clueless about martial arts.
You had to know a certain amount of martial arts to treat warriors.
Also, to subdue those powerful martial artists for treatnt, healers had to train martial arts themselves.
Most martial techniques in the dical Guilds were developed not to kill—but to restrain.
“If there’s ever anything you’re curious about or don’t understand, just ask . I’ll help you however I can.”
“Thanks.”
“No need to thank . We’re friends, rember?”
Jin Un Hwi’s cheerful grin made Yeon Woo Jin laugh along with him.
****
The next day.
The physician assigned to supervise the field trainees spoke with a sharp, intimidating look in his eyes.
“I made myself clear yesterday. You were to morize all the nas and locations of the herbs here by today. You did as instructed, yes?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good. Then let’s begin the test. One at a ti, step forward.”
The physician called each student up and showed them herbs, asking for their nas and storage locations.
The students, having studied dical arts, passed through easily—and before long, it was Yeon Woo Jin’s turn.
The physician looked at Yeon Woo Jin with clear displeasure.
Among all the students assigned to the Hall of the dicine King, he was the only one from a general Senior Division.
The physician didn’t like that one bit.
He’d asked several tis if there hadn’t been so kind of mistake.
But the Hall of Recruitnt insisted the assignnt was accurate.
Sotis, when they were short on people, students from general Senior Divisions got sent here—but this ti, there was no such shortage, which made it all the more strange.
Managing students trained in dical arts was already enough of a headache—and now they had to manage soone who knew nothing about it?
He decided to find so excuse to kick him out.
If he did, the Hall of Recruitnt would reassign him sowhere else.
It was unfortunate for the boy, who probably had no idea why he’d been assigned here—but it couldn’t be helped.
No—in fact, it might be better for him to be sent sowhere more suitable.
With that self-justification in mind, the physician began treating Yeon Woo Jin coldly.
But then...
He answered every single question correctly.
What? This isn’t going how I planned.
Even when asked about rare herbs, he answered flawlessly.
He even knew the proper pairings and incompatibilities, down to detailed combination techniques.
Whatever the physician asked, the answers flowed out of his mouth like water.
As if he were reading straight from an open book in front of him.
“You... are you really a general Senior Division student?”
“Yes, sir, that’s correct.”
“Truly?”
“Yes. I’m from Baekyeong Senior Division.”
“Baekyeong!”
At the ntion of Baekyeong, the surrounding students began murmuring.
“I knew which division you ca from. I just had to ask again because I couldn’t believe it.”
There was no point in pressing further.
This brat... must have a gift for morization. Fine, then. Just you wait. I’ll make sure you’re kicked out before this is over.
****
That evening.
The physician sat reviewing Yeon Woo Jin’s records.
“A genius who’s never once lost his top ranking since the underclassman years.”
No wonder he’d answered so smoothly.
If he was this sharp, he should’ve been assigned to the Military Division.
Why in the world was he sent to the Hall of the dicine King?
How could he get rid of this boy?
The physician fell into thought.
Then, an idea struck.
“Perfect. I’ll tell him to fetch water for decocting herbs.”
He grinned slyly.
A general Senior Division student won’t understand the importance of water selection in decocting. He’ll probably just scoop it from a stream or a well.
Later, if anything was brought up, he’d insist he gave clear instructions.
Then he’d scold the boy for not listening and claim he was making excuses—and finally say soone like him wasn’t needed.
Perfect plan.
Good. I’ll do it first thing tomorrow.
But before that, he # Nоvеlight # needed to separate him from the Yakseon students.
From what he’d seen today, the kid was already getting friendly with them thanks to his smooth personality.
If they stuck together, the Yakseon students might warn him about water selection, so he had to isolate him and assign the task separately.
Knowing how to choose the right water was the most basic lesson for anyone studying dical arts.
The physician looked forward to tomorrow.
****
The next morning, before the sun had fully risen.
As planned, the physician ordered Yeon Woo Jin to fetch water for decocting herbs.
And without a word of explanation about which water or how to get it, he turned and walked away.
Yeon Woo Jin imdiately headed to the decoction station and checked what herbs needed to be prepared that day.
After studying them for a long mont, he went outside and tasted the water in one of the storage jars.
Nodding to himself, he picked up a yoke and water buckets and walked out.
“Let’s see... I need five types of water today. First is Hancheonsu—Cold Spring Water. Of course, I’ll have to fetch it from that place.”
He grinned and vanished on the spot.
When he reappeared, it was in Bukhae (North Sea)—the far northern region where blizzards howled and the climate was brutal.
Even in North Sea, he went to the clearest, cleanest source of water and filled his buckets.
Then he returned and poured it into the jar labeled for Hancheonsu.
In an instant, the container was full.
But just then, he realized sothing.
Wait—he’s going to ask where I got this water from. I can’t exactly say I went to North Sea.
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